Crazy & Fun

Much is going on here in San Jose and in life in general. On Sat. of the last week, while playing with the children in my house, I stepped on a large rock while jumping and so I sprained my foot and it hurt so bad! So, the next morning, my family got an old man in the village to come over and massage my foot. This occurred for two days! It was quite interesting and it worked to my surprise. I am now with a LOT less pain and I´m walking again just fine.

Travel
Also, I´ve been traveling a lot and I´ve seen much! Lol. One night (around 8p.m.) my host family and I went to a nearby village to get meat from a dead cow. The poor cow fell and so they killed it and all the nearby neighbors and villages came to partake in the cow meat. Lol. Also, during this trip, I got to ride in the back of the truck. It´s not a normal truck because it has large poles constructed in the back for people to hold on to. It was actually fun to ride back there and the view was beautiful!  Then, also, I traveled with the girl from the Mayor´s Office to two towns sort of nearby. They were really beautiful although we had to walk in mud and a bit of rain for like 3 hours. In the very end, we were walking down a huge mountain to get to the street below to catch a bus back to San Jose, and I know I almost slipped like 10 times. It was SO difficult because we were walking straight down and it was rocky and muddy cause it had just rained. I thought I was going to lose my life a couple of times. But, I prayed the whole way and made it safely to the bottom. It was very stressful, but also beautiful. We saw three waterfalls and the scenery was very peaceful amidst the stressful walk.

Work
Also, as far as work is concerned, they are definitely keeping me busy, which is good! In the high school, I´m helping with a mural to prevent trash in the high school and to raise awareness about environmental health. It´s going pretty well. Also, I´m going to start a computer class because (to my amazement) many of the students here do not know how to use a computer! I never thought I would need to teach people how to use a computer, but it seems that´s one thing they need. Also, another teacher really wants me to help her crafts class, so I will be teaching them how to knit and whatnot. Also, if anyone has any other ideas of crafts, please let me know!!! I never thought I´d be doing these things, but to this community they´re important. Also, the Tourism Group has a BIG plan to put on an event by the end of this year with crafts, performances, etc. so I will be helping with that as well. There is much to do and I´m excited to be able to help! Furthermore, if anyone has ideas about groups that can help with funds, please let me know!!

News from San Jose:
It´s cold here! It´s like 60 degrees. But, it´s beautiful!
No more storms, but it rains every day.

Random Information:
The food is good, I just had like a potatoe salad type thing with grilled chicken and a salad.
We officially have a huge turkey, which is for Christmas dinner...lol.
I´m going to Marcala, the bigger city, to find a church.
I will probably be living with my family for the 2 years because they have a pretty nice setup downstairs. It´s like an apt. with it´s own bath-shower-bathroom and a small kitchen )I think) and they´re going to put in an electronic shower for me so I can have warm water cause the water here is crazy cold...like more than normal.


Hope all is well...
Talk with you soon,
Victoria

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

Working Hard For the Money (Although it´s Volunteer)

This weekend has been very interesting.. We got hints about our site and we worked hard in the gardnen. However, I don't really have any pictures, but when I get into my site in 2 weeks I'm going to take a LOT of pictures to send you because I heard my site is really beautiful. SO, I'm really excited.

Information about my Site-I'll be working with 3 counterparts: A high school, the Municipal Department (Youth Dept.), and a new Tourism Center. The high school wants my to help with art (they want a mural), which is really amazing and at the same time a really big deal because a mural is a huge project where people draw on a large wall...so, I def. need someone with more art skills than I. They also want a basketball team . LOL. Furthermore, they want tutoring in Math and Physics-I really like Math (especially Algebra, so that's great) and they want a choir (SO excited because what they mean by a choir could possibly mean starting out with working on rythmn, which is really cool) and they want me to help with the band (which of course I'm excited about- they only thing is they don't really have trumpets in the band cause they're so expensive). BUT, I can ask for funding for some trumpets from the Municipality Office that I'll be working with.

Then, there's the Municipality Office, which has money right now and they want to start some Youth Groups in the town, which is great! Furthermore, the Tourism Center just started like 2 months ago because the town is SO pretty :) and they want tourists so they've asked me to come in and help them figure out what the town needs. Even though it's not related to youth, they put me there because I have experience in planning/organizing things and I like organizing things! So, I'm really excited. I´M SO EXCITED--2 more weeks before I get to my site. :)

So, about the farming this week...CRAZY! We literally worked hard like farmers making compost and planting all kinds of things-trees, vegetables, fruits, etc. We got so dirty...I took two showers and I got a blister cause we were using machetes, hoes, shovels, etc. and they weren't in the best condition so some of the handles that were wood were rough on the hands. But, it was very informative. We ended up planting avacado, tomatoes, squash, radish, oranges, yuca, etc.

Also, this week is the last week with the school that we´ve been working with in the town nearby. We´re going to have a party to celebrate. We´re inviting all the parents of the students and we´re going to make food and display the art we´ve been working on with the kids the past few weeks and the kids are going to sing Old McDonald and BINGO in English with tambourines that we made together and they´re going to wear their masks that we made together of the animals in the Old McDonald song... I should take a picture!

So, that´s all for now! I hope is well at home-Keep me updated!
Victoria

The Week of Teaching

So, this past week, we taught young children in an orpahange (family home) about dental hygiene and then we also taught high-schoolers about sexual education (we did the banana condom thing).

Anyways, so the orphange was called Bobby´s because the owner is named Bobby and he´s actually from the U.S. (AL). He has such a think country accent, it´s really funny to hear him speak Spanish! :) But, yeah, he´s been in Honduras for 10 years and he goes back to the states every once in a while to bring supplies back in a big school bus...he drives all the way to like Chicago and it takes days. It´s incredible! And, he calls his place a family home so that the children can say they came from a family instead of an orphanage when other little kids ask them. He has such a big heart and the children are precious. I held one of the little babies named Miguel and he was so sweet. Bobby told us about their stories and how some of them were like found in a trash can or one girl (9 years) was on the street selling food or something to support her two younger siblings. It was really sad. BUT, then we talked to them about dental hygiene and played educational games with them and gave them each two toothbrushes and toothpaste. It was great!

Also, the highschool...OMG. It was def. interesting showing high schoolers how to use condoms and talking to them about HIV and AIDS. But, all was well. We played games where some of them had to be white cells and diseases, etc. AND, of course we had the banana and the condom where we each (there were 4 of us in the group) had to show them how to use the condom correctly. It was new info. for me too. LOL.

Also, all is going well with my stomach and I haven´t had any diseases! I feel blessed cause we´ve had some Dengue and Malaria going around and of course your common diarrhea. BUT, praise the Lord that all is well with my health. Just trying to eat less sweets and less in general. :)
Also, I went to my first Honduran Birthday party last night and I got to dance and we had tamales...no cake, though. I was a little dissapointed. But, it´s prob. for the best. But, the lady was turning 75 and she´s in good shape!

Furthermore some news from Honduras:
Teachers still on strike...possibly it will last for a month.
Teguz (the Capital) is flooded...like people´s houses are destroyed and a main street washed away. AND it´s still raining a lot here.
But, all is still functioning some way or other. :)

2 more weeks here and then back to my original site for a week near Teguz and then on to my site that I´ll be in for 2 years!!

Love,
Victoria

PHOTOS!!!

This is the kitchen in my house now during FBT.


This is the pila where we wash the clothes and some people use it to wash dishes as well. Those are my jeans...


This is my host mom...my dad randomly took this photo...I´m going to get more official pics of my families later.


This is the living room...the house is actually a nice size.


This is me at the pila hard at work for two hours each Saturday washing my clothes. I don´t mind though cause I just put on my MP3 player and sing. :)


This is the cross at the top of the hill that we climbed to get to the cave!


This is me on the hill after we left the cave! :) A beautiful view.



This is the group that traveled to the cave! That´s not all of us...there are 57 of us in all and 19 in Youth Development (my project). There are three projects in all!

Hope you enjoy the photos!
Love,
Victoria

It´s August!

I´m in an Internet Cafe, so forgive the errors cause the keyboard doesn´t work great. LOL.

School--
So, these days are CRAZY busy because we´re working in schools giving talks and teaching classes. We have groups (there are four in all in my group) and we go to a school nearby that has two classrooms, 40 students, one bathroom (with no toilet paper or water), and one teacher! It´s amazing. But, speaking of schools...the Education Situation here in crazy. Right now, for about a week the teachers in all of Honduras have been on strike which means that the students haven´t had class in a week. This occurs often and it really sad for the students. But, it´s because the government doesn´t want to pay the teachers and they want to privatize the school system and make the families pay cause right now the government pays a lot of the schooling and they´re out of money! It´s really horrible. AND, the children only go to school for like 4 hours a day anyways when the do go to school, so the Education System def. needs to change. But, that´s one reason why we´re here because we don´t get paid anyways so we´ll always show up. lol.

This past week was filled with fun things as usual--
We learned some Honduras folk dances...mostly footwork.
The caves were awesome! Bats, views, random animals on the side of the hill, etc.
We all got together one time afterschool and watched Juno in Spanish and had lots of chips and cookies (as always). Speaking of chips, they have AWESOME fried plaintain chips here...they´re def. my fav... :) And, of course I LOVE the chocolate bananas and the homemade icecicle pops made of fruit juice and chunks of fruit (apples, bananas, watermelon). OMG and they´re all SO cheap. Only like 2-3 lempiras (1 lepmira is 20 US dollars). So, I´m very excited about that situation of course. :)

ALSO, we got to teach students some English, which went really well and then after we gave them some balloons in the shape of dogs that one of the Staff made. SO funny.

INSECTS--
So, I would also like to take some time to discuss the insects here. During movie night (a different one-we watched ¨What Women Want¨in English) all of a sudden one of the girls got up really fast and said there was a huge bug on the floor...now, usually I´m not scared of bugs...but this was no normal bug. I was bigger than a cockroach and it had longer legs that were raised in the front. IT WAS SO GROSS! So, naturally I climed on the chair... then, when I got home one day and was about to do some homework and I was minding my own business, all of sudden something quickly scurries away and I see that it was a cockroach. I SCREAM (cause it´s in my room)!! And then, I like freeze cause I can see it and I don´t know what to do. Then, it runs away and I´m upset cause I didn´t kill it. It´s still in my room. :(

Funny Story---
So, washing my panties here is interesting with a larger family that has two sons (one is 17 and the onther is 22). SO, naturally, I don´t hang my panties outside cause that´s awkard....I put them in my room. But, I haave to wash them. Why is it that everytime I´m washing my panties my younger bro comes over to the pila to get some water!!! SO awkward. I need him to find a better time...like when I´´m washing my shirts. Anways, also one time I was in the bathroom and I saw some panties that looked like mine on the floor of the bathroom and I was SO embarassed so I quickly picked them up and took them to my room. WELL, when I went to wash them I realized they actually weren´t mine!! I think they were my host mom´s. SO, I put them back in the bathroom.LOL

So, yeah...it has been interesing. AND, there is much more to tell...but till next time. :)

Love,
Victoria