ALMOST CHRISTMAS!

I hope the title didn´t make you think that I was going to talk a lot about Christmas, because I will save that until the next blog. HOWEVER, their have been a lot of cool things that have happened lately.

Thanksgiving Day-
We went to the orphange and cooked and ate and hung out with the children. I made sweet potatoe souflee and biscuits. It was SO much food! The kids were quite full at the end and I believe everyone was satisfied with the day. :)
Their´s only one nun working there and theres´s like 20 kids or something. So, I´m sure she enjoyed the help even if it was just for one day.



Also, since school ended, there were a ton of graduations and I personally attended 3. I missed some, but there were too many to go to! Anyways, I have some photos of the graduations for you guys. It was really interesting the way they do graduations because the God Father and God Mother are responsible for bringing a gift and escorting the student to get their diploma. I thought this was interesting because the parents don´t escort their own children.



Furthermore, the past weekend, the family and I went to Los Esposos, a village nearby with family. It was SO beautiful...LOTS of walking, but it was great weather and we had a lot of fun. We walked around almost the whole village...to see the one school building with 2 classrooms, the one convenience store and the one half-built church. lol. It was quite small...but very peaceful. We also ended up seeing a river baptism, which was pretty cool. They sang, had a word from the Bible, and then baptised the youth (I think there were 6 in all).




All in all, it has been going good...during these times of vacations I´m just teaching one English Class and helping start a newspaper. Also, since my town is very big in cafe, I´m going to help harvest cafe and stuff like that. But, there are SO many more exciting things coming up as it gets closer to Christmas. I can´t wait to pots my next blog about Christmas! It´s going to be beautiful!!

Talk to you soon and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Victoria

Thank the Lord for Peace Corps computers! I'm in Tegucigalpa now in the PC Office and the computers here are SO much better than in many of the internet cafes!! So, therefore, I was able to send you guys some photos...hope you enjoy!


This is the turkey we have in the backyard...he's always mad! He's always making noises and showing his feathers...I'm not sure if that's normal, but it is for him. By the way, I'm pretty sure we're going to eat him for Christmas-I'm SO excited! I feel a little bad for him though, cause everytime I look at him I think about how delicious he's going to be...oh well. :)


This is a street in my town...just to give you a better idea of what it looks like!


This is one of the on-going projects taht I'm helping with in the school to raise awareness about the environment. These signs are creative ways that the Lord showed me (I say it is the Lord, because I'm not really that creative, so it had to have been Him) to make signs about trash. You would be amazed how people just throw trash around on the ground when there's a trash can right near by!!


This is the beautiful view of my room in my host family's house...doesn't it look majestic! lol. I enjoy opening the door and relaxing, putting my feet up on the stole, looking at the view from my door, feeling the breeze, and reading a good book (when I have time).


This is a picture of Merari and I in Santa Maria...a town nearby my site. This is one of our many excursions over there (including the one with the dead cow). It was cold, which is why I'm wearing a jacket and you will also notice that my foot is sprained in this photo from playing with the little children.


This is a picture during the swearing in ceremony in the U.S. Embassy in Honduras...
The earrings I'm wearing are from the lady in my community who picked me up and took my to my site for the first day! They're hand-made!



This is the library in the high school that I work in a lot...after we get through working on it...it's going to look different! We finally organized all the books by catalog number *with the help of some students and now we're working on basic organization. :)

Write soon and hope every enjoys Thanksgiving!
Love,
Victoria

Things I´ve Found!

Hello!

It´s been exactly 2 months in my site today! I can´t believe it! AND, everyday I continue to learn new things and experience new things. It´s very interesting how initally I had a vision of how my service would be-I would walk around and people would greet me with happy faces and invite me into their homes and we would talk and enjoy a little snack together. I don´t know, something like that. BUT, it´s definitely not so much like that at all. I haven´t gotten invited to many homes and definitely not by strangers, which could actually be a good thing! lol. Also, Honduras is definitely much more American and developed than I expected. For example, I just visited a house this past week that had a computer and a huge scanner-copier-printer in the living room! I was amazed! AND, most the people here know how to use the computer and the people in the cities have Blackberry´s and IPOD´s and stuff...it´s definitely not what I expected. BUT, on the other hand, some people live in houses made of dirt and mud and don´t have electricity. It´s a really interesting contrast. But, despite these surprises, I´m just trying to find a way to make myself useful during these 2 years.

For instance, I have found, from an informant, that most all of the youth here do drugs and the parents don´t know about it or don´t care. SO, I´ll definitely start talking about that to the youth and I hope to start meeting with parents to discuss how to better the situation (know where your kids are and care more about them). I pray for support from God on this...cause I´m just 22 years old informing these old people on how to raise their children. LOL!

Furthermore, I would like to share some random, but I think important things with you-
Cultural differences:
*A female can´t be called a woman until she is married. I got laughed at for calling a 26 year old a woman. Clearly, to me, she is a woman, NOT a girl. But, here she´s still a girl until she is married.
*When it´s your birthday, you will have eggs thrown at you.
*There is always prayer before each meeting.


Funny Stories:
*So, one day I was walking down this dirt and pebble mixture path to the high school and it´s surrounded on one side with lots of trees (it seems like a forest) and on the other side with backyards and houses with cows and dogs. All of a sudden on the forest side, I hear a bird noise that sounds unique and interesting. So, naturally, I think to myself that I´m going to see (for the first time here in Honduras) an exotic bird. So, I curiously look up into the tree from where the sound is coming....and what do I see? ...a CHICKEN! I was quite dissapointed and confused. WHY is a chicken in the tree?


*One day I was walking and it was an especially hot day. As my arms swayed, I noticed that I was shiny and glowing! I thought to myself, ¨Self, you look awfully nice...looking healthy!¨ Then, after awhile, I realized it was my insect repellant...
*I officially introduced my family to roasted marshmallows (besitos-little kisses, I like the name in Spanish) about a month ago and since then we´ve had roasted marshmallows like at least 5-7 times! It´s a lot of fun, but after awhile it´s like WOW more marshmallows…but, for a week now we haven´t had any, so that´s been a nice break.

Well, hope you enjoy the information that I´ve found!
Talk to you later,
Victoria

Pictures At Last!

This is the Principal of the High School in my town-Prof. Vinda. I work with her to plan things with the High School.


This is my host dad-they´re own a trip.


These are three of the girls who live in the house-the girl with the checked hat Merari, the girl in the middle Jasinta and the one drinking, Elda.


This is one of the girls-Elda' in my house dancing with the two younger girls-Jarissa and Jarisel.


This is a street in my town.


This is the Biblioteca that was built a long time ago by another PC volunteer.


This is the view in the backyard from my pila where I wash my clothes and my hands. lol


This is a view of the backside of the house.


On the left is the bathroom, it´s actually really clean and nice. On the right is the shower.


This is our kitchen with our fogon. We also have a stove and fridge, though.


This is the store that´s attached to the house. It´s small, but very handy with spices, eggs, meats, flour, chips, cookies, sodas, etc.


This is our living room. We don´t have sofas, but the chairs are pretty comfortable and that´s where we watch the telenovelas or honduran soap operas. lol.


This is us in the restaurant. Our last day together. H17 Youth Development Girls.


This is a picture with a member of my community who picked me up to take me to San Jose for my first day and the Ambassador of the U.S. Embassy in Honduras.


This is the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. It´s pretty nice.

Ok, more fotos to come, but I need to leave the cafe before I spend too much money and it gets too hot here in La Paz, La Paz. I just left a get-together with all the volunteers in the department of La Paz. There were like 15 or more of us. It was fun. We ate guacamole, salsa, hummus, chips, cookies, pineapple, oranges, pizza, hung out and talked FOREVER!! I actually got to talk a good bit about my life as a Christian-they were So interested. It´s amazing how God comes up all the time. So, I thank the Lord for that ministering opp. AND, it was nice to talk in English for a whole DAY!! I´m excited and I´m also exicted to get back to my site where it´s cool. It´s too hot here.

Anyways, hope all is well and enjoy the photos.
Love,
Victoria

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