Dog Days of Summer

Congratulations to last week’s trivia winner: Erica Dahl. She will be receiving a complimentary toothbrush and floss.

The highlight of last week was a party on Saturday night that our host mothers put on for us. There was food, games, and dancing. I volunteered to play musical chairs. I lost. When I lost I was told that I had to do something- sing, dance, whatever. So I grabbed the mic like Barry White and seranaded Emily with a beautiful Spanish love song. I figured if I had to be embarrassed she might as well join me!

We´ve been here 15 days but it feels like an eternity. Already people are craving items from the states- chocolate, cheese nips, candy- it´s kind of like being in detox. Spanish classes are moving along. I had to give two 10-15 minute presentations in Spanish, wish I had them on tape, they’d be real entertaining someday when I can actually speak.

I’ve done a lot of athletic things and I’ve been in pretty good shape but I’ve never walked this much in my life. And it really is uphill both ways. Our walk to school through the woods is so steep that we can’t come home that way- we slide down the hill and can’t get footing. I go to the “campo” to play soccer a few times a week. Usually it is a mix of a few volunteers and more locals. I’m used to being really good at sports, so soccer is a bit difficult; I mean yeah, I’m still fast and I can kick it a bit, but I’m no Ronaldihno. Soccer is really fun though, except that the field is a mile or so below the town, so the walk home after the game is really hard.

This last weekend four other volunteers and I went to La Tigra National Park, which is about an hour away. The adventure was mostly just getting there, because we had no knowledge of the bus schedule. The park is a really pretty cloud forest with waterfalls and great views. It was nice to get out of our little town for the day.

Next week we will go in small groups to the markets in the capital to practice our Spanish and buy local fruits and vegetables. A few groups went today, and they returned with Dunkin Donuts and stories of triple decker Baskin Robin’s ice cream cones. They were quickly beaten up by their tortilla eating comrades.

A few of the guys and I have taken to going to the pool hall sometimes after school. It is a nice getaway and girls aren’t allowed (women in pool halls are generally considered prostitutes) so we get to go there and gossip.

In a couple weeks we’ll be splitting up into our respective groups (Youth Development, Municipal Development, and Protected Areas Management) and heading to different cities for Field Based Training. We’ve had many experts come to speak with us about the problems concerning youth in Honduras and I think we have a better grasp of what we’ll be doing. Basically, during the first few months, we’ll be trying to integrate into the community, observe the local culture/customs, and try to do a needs assessment with the local youth. We will be assigned local leaders to work with and we’ll try to implement projects that will benefit the community. The other groups will immediately be able to see tangible results: new water systems, trees planted, etc. That is our challenge, working with youth you don’t immediately (if ever) see the fruits of your labor. More on that boring work stuff some other day.

Our training class has had four people leave now. They left for various reasons, but this whole experience entails a lot of change and generally people don’t like change. There are the obvious things like a different country, different language, different food, having parents again (be home by 9pm!), missing family, and a new job. There are also smaller things like not being able to just “get” the food you want (small town stores don’t have much and no fast food), having to wait days to finish your laundry- clothes won’t dry because it’s been raining for a week, jogging with rocks in your hand so you have something to throw at the dogs, and tons of little cultural things- especially gender stereotypes for women. Really, everyone knew this when they signed up but it can be difficult to deal with nonetheless.

As far as female stereotypes, the Honduran guys weren’t too happy when they saw girls coming to play with us, but when we started to play and they saw the girls could more than hold their own and never hesitated to pass them the ball. It was funny to hear them when one of the girls blasted a perfect cross. That’s us, knockin’ down barriers one at a time!

I almost forgot this week´s trivia, whatever would you do? What are the main exports of Honduras (besides illegal immigrants)?