Would You Like a Rosquilla With That?

Friday, July 9, 2010

Mail Day! I got mail today! How sweet it is to know that someone loves you in the USA (or anywhere else) and they sent you something! It was awesome to receive a letter, that I didn’t even send to myself, and I hung it up on my wall. The rest of the day was spent in “independent study,” which meant that about half the people played frisbee and the other half actually studied. I studied, b/c I want to get the hell out of novice high as fast as possible. After stuffing my brain with as much Spanish as possible with Ashley, Lissette, and Kendra for an hour and rehashing our market experience, we went outside for a break, where Kendra then challenged me to eating a mango in less than ten minutes. Challenge accepted. Challenge completed.

Delicious and savory, I tackled the mango and devoured it.

It really had no chance. If only I could take out Spanish that way.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Peace Corps has many support groups for volunteers to reach out to while serving abroad. Today we heard from volunteers who are part of groups such as COLORS (a group for volunteers of different ethnicities, who might not be perceived as “American Gringos” in their communities), GLOBE (an LGBT or anyone else who would like to join), REF (religious organization), and a married PCV support group). It was really interesting to open up the groups and ask the PCV’s anything that we would like to and see the type of meetings/events they offer to volunteers. We have two married couples in our group and I think it would be cool to go through this experience with my husband. In the afternoon, the current volunteers had us form a big circle and then we stepped forward if the statement pertained to us; for example “I have been arrested” or “I have a tattoo.” We had about 50 questions and learned a whole lot about each other. It was a really fun group activity! There are only three of us who are over 30 in my group, which makes me feel so old at times. I haven’t felt this old since I don’t know when, but most of my group serving is fresh out of college. I constantly hear things like “The hours are so long” or “What happens if my counterpart won’t work with me” and all I can think is “Peace Corps is a JOB, it is not a vacation.” It is called the toughest JOB you’ll ever love, so suck it up and keep going, because if you were in the States working you would be the low man on the totem pole. After our group activity, we also received our allowance to go visit our PCV’s tomorrow. I will be visiting a volunteer in Sarabagrande, it is about an hour south of Teguz and is the rosquetta capital of Honduras. Rosquetta’s are these circular shaped bread things that Hondurans like to eat with coffee, they dip them in, let them get soggy, then chow down. I have only had them with my host family so far, and they are quite nasty. They are made up of corn, cheese, and sugar, but I am told there are great ones in Sarabagrande…we will see.

In the afternoon another volunteer, Ashley, and I, walked into Santa Lucia. It’s a quaint little town about 2K from Los Planes. We thought this would be a good workout; little did we know it was all uphill there and Ashley asked me “Como se dice OUT OF SHAPE in Espanol?” Yeah, I don’t know, but I definitely deserved the coconut chocolate ice cream my host mom shared with me this afternoon while watching the world cup game between Uruguay and Germany. It was delicious! In Santa Lucia Ashley and I stumbled upon a Ropa Americana store, which was nothing more than a lady selling clothes out of the back of her pick up truck. The further we delved in, we discovered shirts and pants with Goodwill tags still on them from the states! Piles of clothing was just stacked up and little tags (like a garage sale) were stapled on asking anywhere from L20-L50 ($1-2.50). What happens is these people go into Teguz and buy a big box labeled Ropa Americana for like L5,000. Then, they bring it back to these little pueblos and divvy it up between households and sell it off. Most of the clothing is stuff from the States that couldn’t be sold there. I don’t need anything now, but you’ll probably see it showing up in my photos in about 8 months. After spending about an hour in Santa Lucia I bought a huge piece of chocolate cake and baguette from the baker and we headed back down the hill, where it promptly started to rain. It is definitely the rainy season here and I haven’t been able to do laundry for two weeks. Each day it has been pouring, pouring, pouring. So when we finally clamored back down the road, I kept my soggy butt on the couch and watched Zorro in Spanish with my host mom for the rest of the night. (Sorry, no pics from Santa Lucia, will bring my camera next time).

Sunday July 11-Wednesday, July 14, 2010

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! Hope you have a good one and I love ya’!

This week brought my first volunteer visit! Sunday morning I hopped out of bed and after a round of yoga, I had breakfast with my host mom then caught the bus to Teguz with another PCT, Morgaine. The two of us headed to Sarabagrande to stay with Becky, a Water and Sanitation PCV and learn a little more about what the real volunteer life is like. After connecting in Teguz, we caught a cab to Plaza Loarque and then a L15 bus to Sarabagrande. Becky had given us very detailed instructions, but somehow once we arrived in town, the ayudante (bus helper) let Morgaine off at the first stop and me at the second, so immediately we were separated. Thank goodness I had decided to bring my phone. There are only two pulperias in town and we somehow managed to be standing at both of them. After Becky rescued us five minutes later, she showed us to her place (a very nice apartment, decorated with tons of origami she made during cous moments) and then

walked us around town. There was a beautiful church and really cool basketball court. Her neighbors were very welcoming and she told us all about the projects that were going on there. She led us to the BEST rosquilla café in town, where I had a pollo tamale and bag of water. I love that in Honduras you can buy bags of water for ten cents. As the afternoon progressed, we joined her neighbor to watch Spain win the world cup and then make some American French toast as we planned for tomorrow. One of her current projects is to present the Colgate program to a small rural school, so Morgaine and I drew and cut out teethy looking nametags and prepared a skit (similar to red light green light, but using good foods/bad foods) to promote good dental hygiene.

On Monday morning, we stopped by the local ferreteria (hardware store) for some paint. Becky’s other project up at the school is through World Vision and she is helping to paint the kindergarten and eventually paint a map of the world on the side. When we went to get the white paint, she realized that the paint she had purchased earlier was the wrong type…which meant that we would have to paint all over the old blue stuff and start over. It also meant Becky had to pay more out of her pocket and hope World Vision reimbursed her. Life of a PCV in real action. After we had our buckets of paint, we hauled it up about 4K, an hour uphill, through the mountains of Honduras…and past the cows….to a rural school. Along the way we passed the small well that serves the residents (another project she is working on b/c she is water and sanitation) and saw where they do their laundry (on the two rocks) and where they take a shower (on the sticks, just hang up a sheet). The three of us passed a small child who’s dark hair had orange specks and Becky said it was from malnutrition. Once at the school, the small room housed 50 students, but today only 22 of them were there because of the rain. (Real life in Honduras…school attendance is such a large problem). And 22 were already at capacity. The teacher teaches K-6 all together, but is trying to work with other NGO’s like World Vision and Peace Corps to get the kindergarten up and running. Morgaine and I began our charla (presentation), and they really liked it when I demonstrated how to brush your teeth. The kids were really excited to get their new toothbrushes and overall seemed to know which foods were good and bad for them. It’s just a matter of them having access to fruits and vegetables, when coke and cookies are so much cheaper here. On the way down the hill, we stopped at another café in town and had liquicados, a great smoothie type thing here in Honduras. But, only after another rain storm came through and knocked out the electricity, causing us to wait 30 minutes for it to come back on so the blender could be used. I love Honduras.

In the evening, we joined up again with Becky’s neighbors to teach her how to make American spaghetti. I have told you before that Hondurans make it with beans. Becky had some great spices sent to her from family/friends in the state (please take note) such as basil, oregano, etc, etc. We mixed them up with real ground beef, green peppers, onions, garlic, and made real garlic bread. The little boys were slightly unsure, but seemed convinced after the first few bites. Which almost didn’t happen because of the reliable Honduran electricity that went out three times during the preparation of dinner. First, as we were cutting up all the ingredients, second, when we were in the middle of making the sauce, and third, just as we were boiling the water and getting ready to put the bread in the oven. We were about ten minutes away from eating raw bread and hot sauce. You might want to call it chili. But, we made it!

Before heading home, I finally grabbed one of these famous rosqilla things that Hondurans are crazy about.  In Sabanagrande they make them with cinnamon, so I got one that tasted sweet and like a teddy graham.  They also have some that contain so much cheese they are like cheez-it's.  I grabbed a bag for my host family, although after the long bus ride they were smushed and in dire need of some 911.  On the way home today many volunteers began to talk about what they would like in their site, now that they have seen firsthand what it might be like. Some want that rural feel and some like the urban city. I hope to be in a medium size site, where I can still get to know all the people in the municipality and form strong bonds, but not something so small that they rely on me for everything and are constantly knocking on my door. At some point I know that a PCV has to have privacy. (note: I do think that if I end up having a really great host family I might like to extend my stay with them to help with my Spanish…just for one or two months…if possible). On the flipside, I prefer not to be somewhere so big that I can’t build up those relationships in two years and it takes an hour to get across town and I have to use a taxi every time I leave a restaurant or meeting. Sustainability is what I hope to leave in two years and you can see it throughout the history of great PCV. That is what I hope to be.