The Beginning in San Jose, La Paz!

I hope all is well...I haven´t posted in a while! But, it´s because it´s been crazy here trying to find a good computer and you´ll have to wait on photos because I can´t get this computer to load my pictures. But, anyways, I´m officially in San Jose, my site for 2 years. It is indeed pretty and sort of small )so I don´t get lost), but it´s sort of big too.

Life Here
So far, we´ve had two celebrations in the town: The Honduras Independence Day on Sep. 15 and the Day of the Hight School, which was fun. We danced and ate and hung out. Also, on that day, they sent up fireworks or firecrackers at 6am in the morning, so that was fun to wake up to! :=o Also, I´ve visited a little of the outlying communities ,and it´s a very peaceful place. Also, sometimes very cold and now with the Hurricane season, it rains A LOT!!! Like it rained all night last night, literally. But, it was peaceful and it cools things down. However, that doesn´t help during showers. The water here is extra cold than the water in my other two homes. My family says it´s because the water coms straight from the mountain, we live in a mountain and so it´s cold, but fresh water! I drink straight from the faucet and nothing has happened! Praise the Lord! But, anyways, I´ve started to boil my water for my showers and take bucket baths. A warm luxurious bucket bath is better any day than a shower with cold water. lol.


Work
So far, I´ve given 4 charlas, or talks, in my site and they´ve all been about safe sex, values, rights of children, etc. It has been interesting. But, many people and young children have attended!! So it´s been a success I think so far. Also, I must mention that I don´t give the charlas alone, I have a Honduran counterpart that helps me.

Family
The family here that I live with is really nice. They have a lot of patience with my, especially now when I´m eating more selectively and less because I want to lose wait! They had me eating like 10 tortillas a day and everything fried! So, I´m cuting down to 3 tortillas a day, because I do like them-they´re fresh made with fresh corn!! OMG, they are good. But, yeah, and I´m drinking less coffee, eating less cookies ,and more fruits!! That´s my plan as well as walking more...I don´t think I´ll run, though! But, anyways, the food is good!!! I love plantains, rice with milk, the tamales, the juice, everything!! My family makes juice of nancee, lemon, and orange...it´s SOO good! Also, I have 9 other people in the house with me and their are 6 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms!! lol. But, one of the bathrooms is inside the apt. of the teacher who lives downstairs. So really there are 9 people using one bathroom. But, it doésn´t seem to be a problem. There are 2 younger girls of around 5 and 10 years of age, 3 teenage girls or 14 to 15 years, 2 teachers who rent the rooms downstairs, and the mom and dad- the owners of the house. But, it´´s nice to have so many people in the house because I never get bored and their´s always someone to talk to. So, all is well with the fam.

New things with Me
I drink coffee, now! I never knew this day would come, but I actually like it! AND, the coffee here is extra fresh because they grow it in the backyard. So, I don´t know it I´ll coffee in the U.S. the same, we´ll see. Also, I got a haircut, finally. You´ll see it when I get the pics up. The mosquitos are biting my like crazy!! My host cousin painted my nails for me...yeah that´s prety much it for now.

Let me know how everything´s going in the U.S.!!
Love you all,
Victoria!

So Much Moving!!

This past week was the last week in Talanga. We wrapped up training, had a celebration in our school, which was very nice! We cut up fruit and had salsa and bean dip and cookies and cokes as well as a pinata, of course! It was very nice...the children really enjoyed it and the got to present their songs that they learned in English (Old McDonald and BINGO) with their masks of the different animals and their tambourines that we made out of plastic plates and beans! AND, we displayed their artwork. SO, I think it was a great ending and a great success. It was very emotional leaving because it's very possible that it will be my last time seeing them. But, even though we were only with their school for 7 weeks (2 days a week), we could already see the change in some of the children. For example, one of the little girls was very shy in the beginning, she wouldn't even participate, she would just stand outside the classroom. But, by the end, she was the one making the most noise...meowing randomly during the performance. It was so great to see her break out of her shell! Many children here have that problem becuase they don't get much experience presenting in front of people like we do in the states. They normally just copy what their teacher writes on the board. AND, they don't get to attend school much anyways because of teacher strikes, etc. SO, it was good that we were able to come in and help facilitate a different type of learning.

So, anways, we're all back to our original site near Teguz, now and it's SO weird being back, but it's good because that means we're even closer to getting into our sites!! We leave this Saturday for our sites and we meet our counterparts (the people we'll work with in our communities for 2 years) on Friday and then we will go the American Embassy and get sworn-in as volunteers in the Peace Corps!!! How crazy is that!!!?? It's all very exciting...I can't wait to be in my site. But, I must wait and live this week out.

Hope all is well in the States...keep me updated on the news, cause we don't get much American news here. However, I did here about Hurricane Earl...did it really do anything bad?

Also, enjoy the photos:

My bedroom with my Mosquito Net...cause I'm not trying to get Malaria or Dengue!


My family in Talanga...Host Dad (Don Rogelio), Me, Host Mom (Dona Antonia), y Host Brother (Barron)


Host family with host sister (Gabby)


The School with all the children...the girl in the yellow dress in the front row was the really shy one.


One of the girls who helped us a lot during our time in the school...preciosa!

Keep me updated!
Love,
Victoria