Food!

I can't believe the it's Wednesday already! Lots has happened. On Monday, I bought two loafs of bread. They are fresh and I'm SO excited to get them! I recieve them tomorrow! I ordered cheese bread and apple bread. :)

Also, by the way, there are these pretty incredible cookie/crackers here called Marias. I'm not sure if they also have them in the states, but you should check them out if you see them! Here they're only $0.50! So, anyways...the food here is GREAT! I get eggs, beans, rice, meat, tortillas, and cheese most nights. Last night, however, I got a soup. It was pretty good. I'm not much of a soup person, though. AND then last Sunday, we went to a great restaurant in Teguz called Pollo Tropical where we had Yuca fries! OMG, you should try these, they're really good. I also had platanos and platanos verde fried. It was all very good. And, they gave us like a half a chicken! It was SO much to eat. But, along with this eating, I walk around and up hills a lot so I should still be pretty healthy. AND, I eat many fruits here...anways...I love food too much.

Furthermore (because I want to use a different word than also), today we learned about teaching styles, classroom management, how to keep the class interested, we learned about the importance of reflection after teaching something, etc. I will talk more about this next week because I feel like I'm hogging the computer. BUT, in 1&1/2 weeks or so, I leave for FBT where I might not have a computer as easily accessible. So, I'm trying to use the computer while I have it. :)

Also, today we went to the market in groups of around 9. The market was in Tegucigalpa and it was pretty nice. It was a little dirty and smelled bad in the meat section, but I mean, it was ok. I didn't take any pictures because they advised us not to bring ANYTHING except ourselves and money hidden in various pockets. We couldn't have our bookbags, necklaces, fancy looking glasses, and we couldn't wear fancy looking clothes that would draw attention to us because it's a little dangerous in the major city.

Also, I have pictures from various places that I've been meaning to put up. I have more, but it takes so long to put them up, that I will wait because I don't want to tie up the computer any longer.

This is food from the Bay Islands...cocoa bread and garlic/cinnamon bread. This is from last Sat. during our "Day of Cultures".


This is the presenter of the Bay Islands (the islands off of Honduras).


This is a picture of an internet cafe in a nearby city. I don't need it know becuase I have a computer in my home, but anyways, I wanted to take a picture.


This is a picture of the soccer game between the U.S. and Ghana, I think. This is when we went to the restaurant to watch the game in a nearby city.


This is one of the Training Manager of PC Honduras, Luis Estrada. He was a "Peche" that day. LOL. He's really nice.

Enjoy!
Love,
Victoria

Muchos Ciudades (Many Cities)

Since the last time we spoke, I have traveled a lot! Today, we went to three cities in one day. By we I mean my mom (Dona Nora), dad (Don Erasmo), my mom's sister (Dona Luz), her husband (Don Ramiro), and another volunteer that is with my mom's sister (Kristin). First, we went to Tegucigalpa to get cellphones. It's very complicated, like in the U.S. There are three major cell phone companies here-Tigo, Claro and Digicel. I got Claro because it's cheaper and it has pretty good service. Tigo is very expensive and it's more expensive to call to the U.S. So, Claro is good. After that, we went to Valle de Angeles to eat. The food was SO good! We had like an apple pie thing (half moon shapes fried tortilla) with potatoes and meat inside and cheese and cabbage on top. That's very common here...cheese and cabbage on many things! After that, we went to Santa Lucia, which is beautiful! It has a little lake in the city and cobble stone streets. There, we had coffee, tea, and pan dulce (sweet bread). We have coffee, tea and sweet bread SO much! Everytime you go to someone's house and during the day in my house, we just have bread and coffee and tea and talk. It's a good time to brush up on the Spanish! However, I think I like the bread demasiado (too much) and I drink so many sweet things here. We always have juice, sodas (rarely), tea, and coffee. Of course, I don't drink coffee, but I drink tea a lot here. It's good, but it's not so good for my teeth or my sugar intake especially since I drank only water in the U.S. But, I will try to limit my amounts and I brush and floss well. :)

Also, today we have a "Day of Cultures" in the PC (Peace Corps) where we learned about different cultures in Honduras (Mayans, Lincas, Mestizos, Peche, Garifunas, Bay Islanders, etc.). We went around to different "stations" and learned about the culture, tried the food, and sometimes did the culural dances. It was fun!

Also, I must mention that two days ago when I went to Santa Lucia I had the best "ice cream" (they have a different name for it) ever! It was coconut ice cream with coconut chunks inside and it was only 6 lempiras, which is pretty good! :) Anyways, I should stop eating so many sweets.

So, about my project. I'm in Youth Development and it's very important in Honduras because there are SO many youth (1/2 the population) and Honduras doesn't do much with them. There aren't many places for them to play so they end up playing in the streets...which is of course dangerous. AND, there are many gangs and street children, so they def. need our support. That's all the information I have for now...more to come.

P.S. I do have a cell phone number, but I won't put it on the internet because of crazies. However, I will solicit it upon request via e-mail or Facebook message. Also, please dial 011504 and then the number to call internationally from the U.S. :)

Talk with you soon (Hasta Luego),
Victoria

It's Tuesday!

Hello,

So, I'm learning much Spanish...and I found today that I'm at the Novice High level,which is three from the bottom! :) So, I will get tutoring after school for an extra hour because I'm novice. BUT, my language level is only two/three levels away from were I have to be at the end of the three months and at this rate, I'm sure I'll be there, because I learn SO MUCH every day. Also, my family is very encouraging and I watch movies/shows in Spanish every night before doing my homework and then going to bed. :)

So, yeah, all is well. Today I had yet another interview about why I wanted to come to the Peace Corps, etc. We also learned techniques to deal with the harrassment, which is not avoidable. AND, we learned what is a good house to have when I leave my host families' home. So, I'm learning many technical as well as language skills.

I will take more pictures in the future... LOL.

I'm really excited about my project, which is Youth Development because the PC focuses on the new way of thinking which is geared more towards the youth's capacities, not their lacks. So, instead of focusing on what they can't do, we focus and improve on what they can. I told them I like to sing and I was in a choir...and they said thay many communities have been asking for a choir and none of the volunteers so far have had the desire or "skill" to create one. So, it's possible that I will lead a choir! LOL. It will be interesting and fun for sure. Also, there is def. a demand for trumpets here, so that could come up in the future too.

Anyways, I'm going to watch the Discovery Channel.
Have a good night all,
Victoria

Valle de Angeles

So, it's Saturday and we still had to come in to the Peace Corps training center! LOL.

But, we were only there for 2 hours and it was very fun! We played team work games like fitting us in a small square on the floor...we had one guy hanging from the rafters because there were 15 of us and it was very difficult to get us all in the square. Then, we had to create bridges out of wood boards to get across an "acid river"/the grass. LOL. It was a lot of fun and I met new people, if that's possible!

Then, after a bunch of us went to Valle de Angeles (a nearby city) to eat and watch the soccer game between the U.S. and Ghana...people here LOVE soccer. The restuarnt was very nice. There were 7 of us that went and one girl is fluent in Spanish (Monica) so it was nice to have her around to help us with transportation, etc. But, it was def. very safe. At one point, there were like 15 of us in the internet cafe. LOL. The Hondurans saw many Americans today. But, yeah, no one travels alone, especially after our safety and security session that discussed how Honduras has a very high crime rate. But, anyways, I'm not caring a lot of money with me at one time even though I surprisingly have a lot of money because some was left over from the States.

Anyways, the soccer game...we LOST!! We were all so sad. It was the first time I watched a soccer game, so I had no idea what was really going on, but I knew where our goal was and the fact that we could never seem to get the ball over there!! Es muy triste (sad). I'm learning much Spanish, even though it's difficult. But, others are struggling right along with me.

Tomorrow, I go to church from 8a.m.-11:30a.m. (forever) with my family in Tegucigalpa.

All in all, today was a great day and now I'm back home for the night. I def. had my exercise. AND, I bought some Lay's chips for snacks because our training days during the week are crazy long!!


We have a Church's Chicken in Teguz (Tegucigalpa)...the major city in Honduras. LOL.


This is ofcourse my bathroom.


My bedroom..it's nice, right?!


More Teguz on the way to the training center the first day.


Teguz...


More Teguz...


The view in the backyard.



My dog.


A view of the side of the house.


This is the view from my window...the house outside is for my grandfather who is 93 years old! He still works hard in the garden though. LOL


This is the shower and the showerhead...

That's all the photos for now...I hope you enjoy! :)
Love,
Victoria

Pictures!

Yeah, so....this was an error and I don't know how to erase it. LOL

Mi Dos Dias en Honduras (My Second Day in Honduras)

So...today is Thursday, my second day in Honduras. Honduras is a great place so far. I've seen Tegucigapla, the major city in Honduras and yesterday I went with my host family (Dona Nora y Don Freso) to church in the city on my very first night! Church was good even though I had NO idea what they were talking about...but it was an evangelical church and my host mom and dad are leaders in the church. It seems legit, but if it's not it's ok because I'm here only 3 weeks and then I leave for another host family for 6 weeks and then I come back here for 1 week in Zarabanda (the town I'm in currenly).

OMG...I wanted to say that SO many times. Mi espanol is not that great right now and I'm around Spanish EVERYWHERE! The street signs, the television, the ads, my family, my instructors, the church...OMG! It has def. been harder than I expected.

HOWEVER, my living situation is awesome! I'm very lucky (bueno suerto) because I have good water from the jug so it's purified. The food is good...some people complain about there food because it's not as good or nutritional, but they feed me well. For lunch today I had a ham and cheese sandwich with mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard (too many condiments, but it was still pretty good). AND, I had an apple. Some people don't get many fruits or vegetables, but my family has there own garden with MANY fruits...mangos, watermelons, oranges. ALL in the backyard. It's very cool. Also, I don't have to take bucket baths, it's the same as a shower back home except colder. LOL. But, after two minutes, I was ok. ALSO, my bed is pretty comfortable, I don't have many mosquitos. They have screens on the windows and they're very neat and clean people. :) ALSO, I have internet WITH Skype! I have the ultimate set-up here. I'm not roughing it at all! Thank you Jesus! :)

The house is also very big...my family is well off. They have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a big living room and a big kitchen. There site is also very pretty with a huge yard, up on the mountain. I also have a little dog and a little cat.

Speaking of that mountain...I have to walk to the training site every morning (7a.m.) and every afternoon (5p.m.), which is about 30 minutes away. The climb to the house is the worse part of the trip and the other hills along the way. I'm def. getting my exercise. At 7p.m. I meet with another volunteer named Kristin and we walk together and we usually find two other volunteers along the way. I'm NEVER alone. When we walk back home in the afternoon, there are around 8 of us.

The training center is beautiful. I'll have to get you some pictures. The Spanish is difficulty, but there are a good many of us who don't really know Spanish, so I don't feel alone and this one girl ("D") has already told me I could talk to here if I needed to vent about being frustrated with my Spanish...she's really nice. I think she's from CO. Anyways, I've found a good many people who are nice and we joke around and I just try to talk with everyone. :)

All is well for now...even though I have all this $ in American currency that I can't use, but oh well. Tomorrow we'll get a visit from a cell phone company so perhaps I'll call you soon! LOL

Also, my host mother said "Hola" a mi mama (to my mother)...I showed her your picture mother.

So, these pictures take awhile to upload...es muy sad. I'll have to do that later.

Talk with you later!
Love you,
Victoria

STAGING in Honduras

So...the flight was nice from ATL to Houston, TX. I rode beside a child and her mother so I had room to move around! I watched Fresh Prince of Belaire on the plane.. LOL.

But, staging has been great and tiring! I've met a lot of good peoples and we're already hooking up to walk together in groups. :)

Also, I got monies!! The PC gave us $120 for reimbursement, food, etc.
I'm excited...I'll let you know more soon (but, not really cause I might not have internet access at Zarabanda where training is for the first 11 weeks.

Love,
Victoria