Hola, mi nombre es Jen; Yo soy Cuerpo de Paz

Thursday, September 16, 2010-Friday, September 17, 2010

Streets of Orocuina None are paved

I have spent the last few days walking around town and introducing myself to all the people of Orocuina. This is normally a job that involves your counterpart, but it became quite clear on the first day that the mayor is way too busy to take me around town and introduce me to everyone. So, I started walking around town on my own, into negocios (businesses), the police station, NGO’s in town, fruit stands, Mercado, escuelas (schools), and other different places just to shake peoples hands and introduce myself. I have also begun to work with another counterpart, a man named Moises, who also works at the alcadea and offered his help. On Thursday morning he took me around three different barrios (neighborhoods) and introduced me to a lot of different people he thought I should know.

People generally have the same reaction when they find out I am a Cuerpo de Paz voluntario here for two years:

1. People of my town: “Oh, you are here to replace Miguel. So, do you teach English?”

2. Me: “Yes, I am a volunteer like Miguel. I work in Desarollo Municipal (municipal development). I work on a lot of different projects with the corporacion municipal, but I am not trained to teach English.”

3. People of my town: “But, you speak English, so you can teach English.”

4. I have also started introducing myself as “Jen” to cut out them calling me “Jenny.” This has been very successful.

The police station on the left and the bus stop

The people of Orocuina have been very nice and receptive to me. They have already started yelling “Jen!” as I walk down the streets and wave to me everywhere I go. I have only received a few piropos from some guys selling oranges in the park, but once I walked that way with Moises and the police chief I haven’t gotten anymore. I have tried to go to all the places I think should know me right away…so I have been to the escuela and both colegios (including the one that is far, far away in the next municipality, but still my territory), the private health center and an NGO called Ayuda de Acion. Also, I visited all the venders in the market and the local costuera (b/c I need a few skirts fixed), along with some hardware stores. I have found some people who spent quite a long time living in the USA, including a guy who lived in North Carolina and went to community college in Charlotte! He just opened a restaurant here in town two months ago and is really nice; the previous volunteer also lived with a family who spent 12 years in Connecticut and they have already offered me rides in town!

The trashcans in town (part of the park)

My only fear is that the people here will want continuing English classes and I am in no way trained to be a teacher. The TEAM program is part of the Desarollo Jovenes (youth development) program, in which volunteers go into the schools and train teachers in English so that they can then teach English to their students. It’s a whole program they are trained on; I am not in any way trained on this. But, I am trained on other projects, like Project Citizen (civics, government, student government) and hope that these can be incorporated successfully. Two teenage girls started crying when I told them I was not a volunteer trained to teach English.

The park in Orocuina...needs some development work

On Thursday night my host mom and I were hanging out around the pila washing dishes when we started talking about different medicines. It turns out that she also takes Topimax for epilepsy! Can you believe that! What a strange, small world. Over the language of Spanish we talked about our struggles with convulsions, finding medicines that worked with our bodies and she told me how she, too, had lost a lot of weight after trying Topimax. She asked me all about the length of my seizures and how they were discovered and told me about how hers had started after having children; it was a great conversation, since many people here believe that a person with epilepsy is possessed. I also thought it was randomly crazy that she is on the same medicine as me. She is teaching me a great deal and later that night she taught me how to make balleadas, the yummy Honduran food that I enjoy so much. I think she did this for a couple reasons.

1. I love balleadas and told her that I could eat them everyday (I think she took this into a literal translation)

2. The first time I tried to cook on her stove it turned out awful and I don’t think she believes I really can cook. I tried to make brown rice in coconut milk with veggies, but I was getting used to the heat of her stove, so it didn’t turn out sweet, just like porridge. She said “hmm..carrots in milk. On Friday morning I helped her make banana pancakes and I think I redeemed myself because she said “Mmm…the bananos were delicioso.” This came out of us talking about our favorite foods and I was telling her that breakfast is my favorite and how we have a little thing called “brunch” in the USA, including various types of pancakes. She was really impressed, so maybe someone back home can send me a photo of brunch the next time you go.

Main Street (Alcadea is the taller bldg, Kinder is white)

On Friday afternoon I finally got my office lined up at the alcadea, so now I’ll be working near the oficina de mujeres and oficina de ninos. They seem happy to have me, but unhappy that they have to clean out a corner…so I’ll let you know Monday how that goes over. Friday afternoon my family had a death in it and everyone left; I’m not too sure where they went because I have gotten conflicting reports. I thought they went to Tegucigalpa b/c my mom said her brother had been sick, but on Saturday morning I was told that an 8-year-old host sobrina had passed away (I got this information from another Orocuina source). All I know is that everyone left in a big hurry and I am home alone with the geckos, chickens, and rat. It is very sad and now that I have been in Honduras for 13 weeks, I have experienced three deaths with my family; that is more than I have experienced in my own USA family in 10 years. It reminds me that I am very blessed and thankful for my health and loved ones every day.

Langostas in the mercado verde, Choluteca

Buying fresh fish in the mercado verde, Choluteca

Butcher shop in the mercado verde, Choluteca

That’s about it from here. Saturday morning I headed down to Choluteca to run errands, use the Internet, and visit the Mercado for various items (as well as visit with other PCV from the Southern area). At the market I went with some other Hondurans who live in Orocuina to buy supplies for a despedida (going away party) on Monday night for the current PCV that lives in Orocuina. I have put some pics up and hope you enjoy them!