It’s been a long time! It’s difficult to summarize the highlights because they are all the little things that we experience along the way. This experience is nearly impossible to comprehend unless you are living or have lived it. The numerous horses and donkeys that just wonder around the streets, the funny/rude comments we get in English from people who generally have no idea what they are saying, going to teach a class and then realizing the students aren’t there because the teachers are on strike (again), realizing that you and your friends bought all the ice cream in town and are going to have to wait another week to get more, and every animal possible barking, meowing, hee hawing, naying, and cock a doodling all night long just for the fun of it.
We are counting the days until training is over, 25 I think. Training is hard work and long days. Our Spanish is coming along but now we realize that we were kidding ourselves thinking that we would leave training as fluent speakers, there is just too much to learn and too little time. The good news is that almost all of the volunteers we meet are at a very high level of Spanish, meaning a lot of learning happens when you are at your site.
We have been having a lot of fun with our family here, they took us to a corn festival in a large nearby city, we ate some corn and had a great time. The highlight of the trip was definitely the stop at a small supermarket (which we don’t have in our current town) where we bough peanut butter and jelly and became the envy of all other volunteers. Seriously, we have become easily amused and typically have very boring conversations. Watching the ants at work or talking about foods we miss from home. I think we are all in the first stage of craziness. There is kind of a theory that all volunteers more or less lose it after being in site for a year. So for those who thought we left weird, wait until we come back. Today we went with our family to a small place where the mother grew up. I won´t call it a village because it´s just a few houses. We felt honored that they took us there and our mother introduced us as her new children. We took the opportunity to stock up on some fruit and veggies that the extended family had growing in various trees. There were HUGE papayas, avacados, bananas, plantains, and other small sweet fruits that are yummy but I don´t know the names in English because we don´t have them in the states.
We have been working extremely hard recently. Typically what happens is some current volunteers come and train us in how to teach a certain concept or work with a certain group (small businesses, self-esteem, youth sports, libraries, HIV, arts and crafts) and then the next day we go and work with that group or concept (in groups of 3), putting into practice what we learned. It is really fun to get into the schools and actually work with the students and in some cases parents (we gave a couple classes to parents of the schools we work in- nutrition, family unity, discipline and stuff like that). The kids seem to love us (or maybe just the break from regular work) and we always get them involved.
This last week we gave our most difficult charla (class) yet. It was a four hour charla about HIV/AIDS to local high school students. We received the charla in the morning from our trainers, had 3 hours to plan, and then gave it the next day. If that doesn’t sound hard enough remember that we had to do the whole thing in Spanish. The kids actually had a good time and learned a lot, we did a pre and post test and “computerized” the results (sadly, I’m already losing my English vocabulary- limited as it was to begin with). The highlight of the charla was having the students put condoms on bananas. Now when they see us around town we won’t just be the gringos, we’ll be the “banana condom” gringos.
I set a record. Because of my mother I sometimes us a step-o-meter thing (pedometer?) to count my steps. I went with a couple friends to a national park and by the end of it all I had walked some 34,000 steps and 22 miles (so it said). I almost walked four more just so I could say I did a marathon. Let’s just say it was fun and all but I’ll never walk that far again (not to mention it was extremely uphill).
We met another volunteer who is about to finish his service. He is from Washington as well. He told us of a Washingtonian tradition, there is a book here with pictures from Washington and it has been passed down from one Washington volunteer to the next, so people could share it with their families and communities. It looks like it’s been here for awhile and it has some great notes in it. It is now in our hands (our goal is not to lose it).
So far the highlight of Cantaranas has to be our dog story. During training we heard a rumor that dogs could actual become stuck together during sex. We debated this topic for awhile and then it happened…we were startled by the noise, dogs aren’t supposed to sound like that, we ran outside to check it out, and there it was, two dogs, our dogs, were stuck together. The female would try to walk away and the male would yelp (understandably) in pain. Like any other smart person, we got the camera and made it a Kodak moment for all. Apparently our female dog was in heat and our male dog couldn’t keep his dirty hands off her. He wasn’t the only one, during that week, I’d look out the front door and there would be five or six dogs just standing there staring at our female. PLEASE, listen to Bob Barker and get your pets spayed or neutered!
p.s. a big shout to Ferndale and UW for taking care of business.
We are counting the days until training is over, 25 I think. Training is hard work and long days. Our Spanish is coming along but now we realize that we were kidding ourselves thinking that we would leave training as fluent speakers, there is just too much to learn and too little time. The good news is that almost all of the volunteers we meet are at a very high level of Spanish, meaning a lot of learning happens when you are at your site.
We have been having a lot of fun with our family here, they took us to a corn festival in a large nearby city, we ate some corn and had a great time. The highlight of the trip was definitely the stop at a small supermarket (which we don’t have in our current town) where we bough peanut butter and jelly and became the envy of all other volunteers. Seriously, we have become easily amused and typically have very boring conversations. Watching the ants at work or talking about foods we miss from home. I think we are all in the first stage of craziness. There is kind of a theory that all volunteers more or less lose it after being in site for a year. So for those who thought we left weird, wait until we come back. Today we went with our family to a small place where the mother grew up. I won´t call it a village because it´s just a few houses. We felt honored that they took us there and our mother introduced us as her new children. We took the opportunity to stock up on some fruit and veggies that the extended family had growing in various trees. There were HUGE papayas, avacados, bananas, plantains, and other small sweet fruits that are yummy but I don´t know the names in English because we don´t have them in the states.
We have been working extremely hard recently. Typically what happens is some current volunteers come and train us in how to teach a certain concept or work with a certain group (small businesses, self-esteem, youth sports, libraries, HIV, arts and crafts) and then the next day we go and work with that group or concept (in groups of 3), putting into practice what we learned. It is really fun to get into the schools and actually work with the students and in some cases parents (we gave a couple classes to parents of the schools we work in- nutrition, family unity, discipline and stuff like that). The kids seem to love us (or maybe just the break from regular work) and we always get them involved.
This last week we gave our most difficult charla (class) yet. It was a four hour charla about HIV/AIDS to local high school students. We received the charla in the morning from our trainers, had 3 hours to plan, and then gave it the next day. If that doesn’t sound hard enough remember that we had to do the whole thing in Spanish. The kids actually had a good time and learned a lot, we did a pre and post test and “computerized” the results (sadly, I’m already losing my English vocabulary- limited as it was to begin with). The highlight of the charla was having the students put condoms on bananas. Now when they see us around town we won’t just be the gringos, we’ll be the “banana condom” gringos.
I set a record. Because of my mother I sometimes us a step-o-meter thing (pedometer?) to count my steps. I went with a couple friends to a national park and by the end of it all I had walked some 34,000 steps and 22 miles (so it said). I almost walked four more just so I could say I did a marathon. Let’s just say it was fun and all but I’ll never walk that far again (not to mention it was extremely uphill).
We met another volunteer who is about to finish his service. He is from Washington as well. He told us of a Washingtonian tradition, there is a book here with pictures from Washington and it has been passed down from one Washington volunteer to the next, so people could share it with their families and communities. It looks like it’s been here for awhile and it has some great notes in it. It is now in our hands (our goal is not to lose it).
So far the highlight of Cantaranas has to be our dog story. During training we heard a rumor that dogs could actual become stuck together during sex. We debated this topic for awhile and then it happened…we were startled by the noise, dogs aren’t supposed to sound like that, we ran outside to check it out, and there it was, two dogs, our dogs, were stuck together. The female would try to walk away and the male would yelp (understandably) in pain. Like any other smart person, we got the camera and made it a Kodak moment for all. Apparently our female dog was in heat and our male dog couldn’t keep his dirty hands off her. He wasn’t the only one, during that week, I’d look out the front door and there would be five or six dogs just standing there staring at our female. PLEASE, listen to Bob Barker and get your pets spayed or neutered!
p.s. a big shout to Ferndale and UW for taking care of business.
5 comments:
Leave it to "Carlos" to get a picture of two dogs stuck together. I'm glad that you are picking up the cultural nuances of your country! What stories you will have to tell when you get back. I'll never look at a banana in quite the same way again. Have any of the hurricanes made a difference in your area of Honduras? We are doing well and school is about ready to start for Katie. Horizon will miss your smiling face, Kyler. :-) We love you both and miss you. Take care - - - K and J
Sounds like you guys are learning alot especially about the local dogs. How was the hurricanes?? Did you have lots of flooding. We miss you and love you both..Love Matt, Aimee, Baylor and Maya
Hey you two!!! We just got your blog contact from Matt and Aimee. They just left. We BBQ'd with Les and Tass. Hope things are going well. We are looking forward to checking in regularly on your exploits. Boys are in school and playing football and loving it. We miss you!!
Mike, Lisa, Kyler and Conner
Just read back and saw the trivia question. Any answers yet? How about Manuel Zelaya of the Liberal Party of Honduras!
The information here is great. I will invite my friends here.
Thanks
Post a Comment