tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84404366795824696232024-03-08T05:13:03.828-08:00The Journey of a Simple Girl with a Restless SoulWandering but not Lost~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-58204265522938845482009-09-26T22:21:00.000-07:002009-09-26T22:38:14.218-07:00I'm a Mother!Ok, OK, calm down. Its just a puppy. His name is The Dude and if any of you are lucky enough to meet him you will know why. He is black and white and only 5 weeks old. How did this little man find his way into my life you ask? Well actually, last Friday I went to the corner store to buy, of all things, toilet paper and just as I go to pay this puppy runs out. So, of course, I pick it up and make a big deal because dogs that are actually cared-for are hard to come by in this country. Seeing me making a fuss over him, the women who owns the store told me "Well if you like it, take it with you." I was shocked and thought she was kidding but, she wasn't. The puppy I was holding was a girl and to be honest I don't need to be sharing my house with another female so I asked her to bring out the other two boy puppies. Thats when I first saw The Dude. And I knew he was destined to chew my shoes and be a lovable pain in my ass for the next two years. He was covered in fleas and ticks but with Donald's help (you all know how I feel about ticks) the issue was solved and he is now 99% bug free! Probably as clean as me haha. It is my hope that he will grow to a decent size and will walk out to the villages with me as my personal body guard. Heres hoping hes not too stupid, all evidence thus far to the contrary. (I may be a mother now but I will be able to admit if my kid is dumber than a rock. Love isn't that blind and denial isn't that strong.) <br /><br />So, I went out for toilet paper and came back with a puppy. It was a wonderful surprise. And yet, I can't help wondering what I will come home with the next time I need toilet paper...~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-65390432491095407582009-09-26T22:08:00.000-07:002009-09-26T22:14:50.547-07:00Taking it to the Face(And no, sorry people this does not involve chugging PBR)<br /><br />Some days just don’t go your way. Case in point, Tuesday September 8th. After scheduling to teach an internet course to graduating high school students and arranging to borrow my counterpart’s modem I was looking forward to a smooth yet fulfilling week. Unfortunately, this would not be the case. On Monday morning my counterpart informs me that she loaned her modem to someone else and I would have to teach my first class sans internet. Ok, fine, awkward but doable. But, I made sure to tell her that I MUST have the modem for the following day. Come Tuesday morning however, my counterpart never comes into work and takes none of my calls. After a few hour quest to find another internet source, I have had enough and I decide I will make the 1+ hour trip to Choluteca (the largest city near my town) and just buy my own modem. After a crammed and smelly bus ride, I walk 15 blocks, sweating like a pig, to the only store that sells modems only to be informed that they are closed for the day because someone tried to rob the store earlier that morning. But, a helpful employee does inform me that, if I am willing, I can make the half hour trip to San Lorenzo and buy it there. So, I quickly hop another bus and find my way to the other store. After an hour of haggling with the sales lady (she was unaware of my amazing negotiating skills), I persuade her to forgo the background check and waiting period and allow me to take the modem with me the following morning in time to teach my class. Happy with myself I buy a licuado (like a milkshake) and make my way to the bus stop. <br /><br />Before I detail the following event it is important to note that San Lorenzo does in fact have a reputation as being “not very gringo friendly.” However, I have been to this to town before and my friend who is much taller, blonder and has large blue Precious Moments eyes frequents this town every weekend alone to do her grocery shopping so, I had no second thoughts about going there alone. <br /><br />Now let me set the scene, it is 4pm, broad daylight and there I am at the bus stop enjoying one of San Lo’s famous licuados, minding my own business while standing among other Hondurans and trying to blend in. As I look down at my straw in awe of the delicious goodness flowing into my mouth, my cell phone in the same hand and my other hand on my large bag that was currently holding every important electronic device I have here in Honduras, I look back up at a passing bus and suddenly become aware that out of nowhere a drugged-out man is now standing in front of me. Before I can move away from him he slurs “Regalame un beso” (Give me a kiss) right in my face. Tempted as I was, I mean he had some teeth, I said “No” and just as I took a step back to get away from him, he reached out and slapped me in the mouth knocking my licuado all over the girl next to me and my cell phone to the ground. Shocked, I thought to myself “Oh hell No!” and yelled “No me toca!” (Don’t touch me), quickly taking two steps back as he attempted to hit me again muttering obscenities about “gringas” that won’t give him sex or money. Despite the fact that it was early in the afternoon, no police were around and no one at the bus stop, including the several men witnessing the event (one of which being the 20 something boyfriend of the girl I knocked my licuado all over), tried to intervene. As I attempted to move away from him further while he swung at me again, Glenda, indeed the good witch and the hero of this story, standing behind me with her child starts shoeing him away like a dog and effectively attracting even more attention which up to this point I did not think was possible. Upon hearing her, the loco crossed to the other side of the street and stood directly across from me staring and yelling obscenities. Quickly, I picked up my phone and started to thank the woman for standing up for me when I see her eyes suddenly get huge and whirl around to see the same man charging back across the street headed directly for me. Thinking faster than I, Glenda pulls me over to an old man selling ice cream from a cart and starts scolding him for not saying anything to the loco the first time and telling him that he needs to protect me now. Luckily, once this guy saw me speaking to another male he walked to the other end of the bus stop where he paced back and forth staring at me. After what seemed like an eternity but, in all actuality was only a few minutes, a bus came and I got the hell out of there. The oh so kind Glenda boarded the bus with me and confirmed what I already knew, that the man singled me out because I was an American woman standing alone. Greattttt. <br /><br />Afterwards I reported the incident to Peace Corps and with the police in San Lorenzo the following morning. Let’s just say the police are not exactly scouring the earth for this man. However, while I can speak for no one else’s experience with Peace Corps’ incident reporting, Peace Corps responded quickly and professionally in my case. Our safety and security officer followed up with me and the police in San Lorenzo several times and I got phone calls from the Country Director and both my business bosses, Jorge and Jesus, to make sure I was doing alright which made me feel good. <br /><br />So yes my dear friends, hell has frozen over because Katie Ann got pimp slapped, lost a milkshake (and let’s be honest, some dignity) and did not hit the asshole back. Shocking I know. Unfortunately, there was no way I could have avoided this incident. It was even more upsetting than one might imagine because it came directly after two other minor but equally infuriating incidents, one being when a co-worker yelled at me about how he hated America and how our government only uses Honduras to our own advantage and we do not care about the people (this due to our government’s position in the current political issues) as we were leaving a potable water ceremony funded by U.S. NGOs and the other when a bolo (drunk) grabbed me and asked for a kiss at 6pm only two blocks from my house. Stupid, frustrating and deeming, but, thanks to American media and Girls Gone Wild this is the image Americans and especially women have in other countries and they types of things we have to deal with. And yet I can’t be too mad because up until this point I’ve been welcomed with open arms and have had nothing but wonderful experiences here in Honduras. So in the end, it just goes to show that not even a pimp slap can make me bitter about being here. It’s just another chapter for the book after all!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-50216339614351540042009-09-05T10:50:00.000-07:002009-09-05T10:54:03.213-07:00Cultural Exchanges(None of the content below is meant offensively. I am only sharing it to give you all an idea of the types of conversations I have and amazing t-shirts I see) <br /><br />Top Ten Questions I am asked during every first conversation (in this exact order):<br />1) What are you doing here?<br />2) Is this required for your job/ school?<br />3) How much do you get paid? <br />4) Where do you live/ Who do you live with?<br />5) Which do you like better the U.S. or Honduras?<br />6) How many children do you have? <br />7) How old are you?<br />8) Do you have a boyfriend? <br />9) Did you leave one crying in the states?<br />10) Do you like Honduran Men?<br /><br /> Advice<br />- You should date a married man and a single man because the married man has more money and is responsible and the single man will pay more attention to you. <br />- If you are on a diet you should drink Pepsi instead of Coca Cola because it is better for you<br />- On a hot day you should drink and eat hot foods like coffee and soup to get rid of the heat. Cold food and drinks only make it worse. <br />- If you are sick you should not bathe, especially if you have a headache.<br /><br /><br /> Funny T -Shirts in Honduras <br /><br />-World’s Greatest Aunt (worn by a twenty something male bus driver)<br />-I <3 Booze (worn by a 14yr old girl)<br />-Cleveland Cavs jersey!<br />-Everyone loves an Asian Girl (she was def not Asian) <br />-Careful, I had a bowl of bitchy for breakfast (worn at the mayor’s office by an employee)<br />-Just be glad I’m not a twin (worn by a greasy middle aged Honduran bus driver, I was glad he isn’t a twin)<br />- I love my Sugar Daddy<br />- I am your knight in shining armor (worn by a man selling cheese in the town square)<br />- Will buy drinks for SEX <br />- My eyes are up here (on a high school girl with small boobs)<br />- Weed is a friend indeed (worn in the mayor’s office) <br />- Kiss me, I’m not Irish<br />- Some Call me the Gangsta of Love (worn at the Mayor’s office)<br />- I <3 My Penis~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-42262293575379662322009-09-05T10:47:00.000-07:002009-09-05T10:48:49.279-07:00Mi Casa No Es Su CasaAfter more than a few setbacks, I am finally in my own house! I can’t even describe how wonderful it is to live alone and be able to finally unpack everything for the last time and feel like I am really at home here. This is especially exciting after I was concerned about having nowhere to live after my host family rented out my room and gave me 24 hours notice to vacate…nice. Pero asi es la vida (But so is life).But gracias a dios my army of friends came to my rescue and in 24 hours found me 4 houses to look at, one of which was perfect, convinced the landlord to loan me some furniture, found me a truck, drove all my newly purchased furniture back from Choluteca (the city over an hour away), helped move me out of my host family’s house and into my own even putting the books on the bookshelf! They are amazing! <br /><br />I have now been in my new house for almost two months and it is great! My house is really cute and exactly what I hoped for when I was sitting in my parents’ home in the U.S. It is a traditional Honduran home, or as traditional as Peace Corps safety and security standards will allow, located two blocks from the mayor’s office where I work and also from the local market. The house is my favorite color, green, inside and out with a large fenced in back yard. My backyard has a large coconut tree, some baby banana trees, corn, and various other crops which makes for a pretty atmosphere when I am reading in my hammock. There is one large living room area and two bedrooms, one of which I converted into a kitchen. Outside there is a covered patio where my pila (where I wash my clothes and dishes) and my bathroom are located. So far electricity has been very steady which I am extremely grateful for and water comes about 3 to 4 times a week which means I can take an actual shower during these days instead of a bucket bath. As far as furniture goes I bought a queen sized bed (which I love), a mini fridge, hotplate, plastic patio table with 4 chairs, water cooler, and 2 hammocks. My landlord was nice enough to prestame (loan me) a large table, an armoire, and an entertainment center which I am using as a bookshelf since I don’t exactly have a television haha. I am still buying pots and dishes as I discover that I need them. It’s been an adventure in learning to say the least, especially when it comes to cooking. As far as cooking goes I have been living consistently off of granola, omelets, peanut butter and jelly, tuna salad, chicken patties, and of course super cheap and amazing fruits and veggies. Also, I am lucky to have a lot of friends that like to cook for me and people who want to teach me to cook so it doesn’t look like I’ll be starving here. <br /><br />But one thing that everyone will certainly find surprising is how clean I am here. I actually keep my house very clean. Everything has its place and I like it that way. I keep up on my laundry which I am still hand washing and wash my dishes directly after every meal. I also make sure to dust, sweep and mop my entire house once a week. Also while cleaning I have battled my fair share of horrible bugs which range from large furry spiders, to millions of stinging ants, to gross banana worms and even a scorpion. Luckily my neighbors are not close enough to hear and do not understand English during these “brave” moments. hah<br /><br />Overall, even though living in my own home is all the hard work my parents always promised me it would be and then some because living in your first home in a developing country certainly has its own unique challenges, I absolutely love it. The control and privacy is something I won’t soon be able or willing to give up. And more than anything it is so nice to have a place to escape to when I need it. So in conclusion, I am super happy with my new place and I want to thank everyone who helped me purchase furniture or sent me house warming presents! I really appreciate them! Hasta la proxima! 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class="MsoNormal">After months of my internet silence, sorry to my loyal readers out there, I am back and ready to discuss the “elephant in the room” controlling my life here for the past few months, the Honduran Glope de Estado (Military Coup d’état).<span style=""> </span>As many of you probably know, on <span style="color: red;">June 28th </span>President Zelaya, known as Mel, was arrested in his home by Honduran Military officials and removed from the country. The Military, Supreme Court and Congress’s joint decision to take such an action came from Mel’s decision to continue with illegal elections known as the Cuarta Urna which would modify the constitution, thus allowing him to “run” for another term in office. Congress, following the procedures set forth in their constitution, voted this election illegal as well as denounced Mel’s campaign which involved tactics such as giving money to promote votes. Therefore, on the morning of the election the military arrested Mel, removing him from office, and swore-in the Present of Congress, Micheletti, as the new Honduran President. As during most exciting moments in history I was doing what I usually am, sleeping. I received word about the political situation from a text message from the Peace Corps at 8:26am stating “Standfast and Shelter-in-Place, there has been a Glope de Estado and all PCVs must remain in their sites as a precautionary measure. All PCVs should remain in their residences Sunday June 28<sup>th</sup>. No violence has been reported.” Of course at this point in time I did the only logical thing there was to do, I went back to sleep. In truth, everyone had been talking about a Coup for some time before this day and I received word on June 23<sup>rd</sup> that I would be required to be on Standfast, which means I was not permitted to leave my town, from noon Saturday June 27<sup>th</sup> to Monday June 29<sup>th</sup> so I wasn’t surprised. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Since that time, Mel has traveled extensively through several Latin American countries as well as the U.S. discussing his situation and attempting to find allies to help reinstate him as the official Honduran President. Mel has threatened to return to reclaim his presidency and even attempted once for publicity purposes when he walked across the border into El Paraiso on<span style="color: red;"> July 25<sup>th</sup> </span>for a few minutes despite military presence and the promise that he would be arrested. <span style=""> </span>Mel’s campaign has fueled marches and protests on both sides of the issue since the day of Coup. The demonstrations continue to happen almost daily in the capital city and sporadically throughout the country with numbers ranging from hundreds of thousands to only a few hundred. Unfortunately, as this issue continues, these events have gotten more destructive and even violent. Now graffiti covers most of the capital and several deaths have been reported. Graffiti that, of course, makes me sad is the graffiti on the Peace Corps office which says some not so nice things. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As many of you may know, the U.S. has chosen to support the restoration of Mel as president. This, while a popular decision amongst other foreign governments, is not a popular one here in small town Honduras. It has taken all of my strength not to discuss our government’s decision with my community members who are curious as to why the U.S. would support a president who is buddy-buddy with Chavez, was caught rigging his illegal election, whose top officials were caught stealing millions of Lempiras the day before the Glope de Estado as well as countless other crimes which they have no peña bringing to my attention. To them I only say “Peace Corps is not a political organization, so I don’t know.” A Safe but not a satisfying answer to say the least.<span style=""> </span>At this point in time the U.S. as well as many other countries have withdraw the majority of their aid, with some countries going as far to impose tariffs on Honduran products and refuse trade all together. On <span style="">August 26 the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa suspended processing non-immigrant visa requests. Non-immigrant visas are for any type of temporary stay in the U.S. There are 26 different kinds of non-immigrant visas including for temporary work, academic study, cultural exchanges, business and tourism. This obviously has had an effect on many Hondurans’ opinions of the U.S. and our government as a whole.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">How does all of this affect my life you ask? Well since the Coup I have had to obey various “toques de queda” (nationwide curfews) imposed by the Honduran government as well as obey new travel restriction policies set forth by the Peace Corps. These have involved everything from not leaving my house to simply staying out of the capital city and advising our whereabouts system when I do travel. Travel in any manner has been even more frustratingly slow due to roadblocks and security checks from Honduran Military and National Police. The security checks involve the military and/or national police stopping the bus and inspecting it in their full battle gear. They usually just ask to see every passenger’s papers/identification. Sometimes all the men must get off the bus to be searched further (as if they were being arrested, we are talking the full pat down here) and during especially tense moments, everyone is required to get off the bus. Despite the slowdown in travel, I have had no problems whatsoever. Overall, more military and police are seen on the streets and anyone out past c curfew is arrested/ ticketed. Since there is really nothing to do at night in my town, I have had no issues with this. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Luckily, my town is very tranquillo so I haven’t had to deal with as many obstacles as other volunteers. The mayor’s office where I work has shut down a few times to participate in pro-democracy marches in the nearby city but, these have been few and far between. My work with the hammock ladies has remained uninterrupted since, as one of the women so eloquently put it “What the government does has no affect on us here in the campo. We continue working because what else can we do?” For these people living without potable water, latrines, or electricity, its as if nothing has happened. The only effect that they will likely see is the immense decrease in international monetary support which funds their community projects such as electrification. It will definitely be much harder for us to find funding to improve their micro business but we will just have to deal with that as it comes. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately the schools have seen the most disruption due to the fact that high school teachers belong to a national union. Therefore, not surprisingly, the majority of the country’s teachers are Pro-Mel and as a result have stopped receiving their salary. This has caused nationwide strikes. In my town there have not been consistent classes since the Coup. There is a lot of tension in the high school itself because the teachers are divided between those in favor of the new government and those that support Mel. So when the school isn’t completely shut down, some, but not all, the teachers show up to give classes. This leaves the students guessing everyday whether they will have classes or not. It is extremely sad to see these kids travel from far away villages in their uniforms everyday on the chance that they <i style="">might</i> have school. Recently, the students have taken matters into their own hands and gone on strike themselves when they were told that it is very likely that they will lose their credit for this year due to an insufficient number of days in class. For the moment classes have resumed and I am hoping things stay that way, at least until the elections. </p> <p class="MsoNormal">As for me it has been an exciting ride to say the least. While it has been hard, especially for new volunteers to get started and feel confident about our work when the country is in such a transitional period, siguemos adelante (we continue onward). Everyone is just hopeful at this point that come the end of November the elections will <span style=""> </span>pass peacefully and the world will recognize the new government. Heres hoping! I must say though that having a 7.1 earthquake (which I also slept through), H1N1 outbreak, and a Coup d’état during my first 2 months of service will definitely make for some interesting dinner conversation one day! It’s funny cause when I think back to my college Spanish classes when I learned the phrase Glope de Estado, I thought to myself “When am I ever going to need to know that word?!?” Haha and look how it came in handy! Keeping things interesting, just like I like it. Hasta la proxima! </p> ~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-67773192662902096612009-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:002009-06-20T09:15:40.960-07:00“Today was a Peace Corps Day!”(written 06-14-09)<br /><br />This is my new phrase for every time I do something so utterly Peace Corps, like catch a ride in the back of a pickup truck 25 mins out to the middle of the mountains and then hike over rock walls and across rivers (somewhat successfully) for another 25 mins, asking passersby “Do you know where Don/Doña so and so lives?” until I finally arrive, sweating like a beast, to a house to talk to someone who is interested in working with the new volunteer. And so far so great! This past week I spent 4 days going to surrounding aldeas (villages) to learn a little more about my community and to investigate future projects with community members. It was so great to be able to go out and meet more of the people I will be working with and to see the beautiful countryside surrounding Orocuina. <br /><br />Community integration is going really well. I get a lot of compliments on my Spanish, my friendliness and how nicely I dress everyday which I guess means I am doing some things right. Now when I am walking through the streets people are beginning to recognize me and wave or stop to chat which makes me feel more at home. In fact, I already have a small group of friends from work and just from being seen around town who invite me on trips and over to their house for dinner (my favorite haha). My site mate, another Peace Corps volunteer named Miguel, returned from his vacation in the states so I was finally able to meet him. He works in the Youth Development Project and is super nice. Even though I didn’t initially want a site mate, I feel like it is going to be really nice to live here with Miguel. He is well integrated in the community, especially with the kids, and has a lot of great projects going. He has already made me feel so at home and helped me out a lot so I am really grateful to have him here. Aside from Miguel there are also two Mormon volunteers living here who are pretty friendly and don’t preach to me so it’s nice to talk with them as well. <br /><br />As far as projects go, I have had meetings with the water board in a nearby aldea called Los Sanchez and with the president of Sueños Sueños, the women’s group that makes hammocks, to discuss future projects and begin to make plans. I have also found a place to start my English for International Business classes with students from the local high school which I hope to start next week. I also have heard about two more groups, one women’s group that make spices and a group that make jelly who also are interested in working with me so I am hoping to meet with them soon as well. More than anything its really nice to have so much interest from the community and to feel like I have some concrete projects to begin working on.<br />And what do I do for fun you ask? Well right now I spend a lot of time hiking around, talking for hours in hammocks, READING (I am on my sixth book since getting to Orocuina haha), taking trips to the nearby city when I can and swimming in the river. It may not sound like a lot based on how crazy my life always was at home but believe me I am loving life’s slower pace here. <br /><br />More than anything, every day I am here I learn something new about my site and love it more and more. Sure my days are far from anything I’ve ever experienced before which means I usually run through a wide variety of emotions in any given day but more than anything I am happy to be here and excited to wake up each day and start again. I know you are probably thinking, “Who is the positive person writing in Katie’s blog?” but it’s true. Right now I am on the hunt for furniture for my new home and I am so excited to make lists of what I need! (I’m a nerd I know) Hopefully I can find some good stuff for cheap!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-61041432029135075932009-05-29T12:41:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:43:46.325-07:00Orocuina(Written 05/27/09)<br /><br />Buenas, que onda! Well I am finally here, in my new home for the next two years! After spending over a year waiting and imagining what my site would be like it was truly a surreal experience to finally get here. I arrived here on Saturday afternoon, the 16th, after a blissfully uneventful 3 hour trip from the capital in my counterpart’s car! I will admit that at first when I got here I was a little nervous due to the extreme heat (it’s really intense, I have literally not stopped sweating once since getting here) and also because of the extreme poverty of the people living on the outskirts of my town. However, after 2 weeks, I am feeling much better, though still sweating, and excited to be working in the type of atmosphere that I imagined while back at home in the states. In fact I am feeling luckier everyday because Orocuina is actually very pretty. It sits in a valley, surrounded by mountains on almost all sides and now that rainy season has started the entire countryside is colored beautiful shades of green. There is also a river that runs alongside my town which I am told I can swim in so I am really looking forward to that! There are also some tourist attractions here which I had no idea about before coming such as a waterfall, caves, a lookout, and indigenous hieroglyphics painted on mountain walls. So I am definitely looking forward to exploring those.<br /><br />My new host family is a very nice older couple named Don Balbino (yes like the nickname for Babe Ruth which is how I always remember his name) and Dona Rosaura. They have 4 girls who are all grown and out of the house so it is just us 3 living here. However, less than a month ago one of their daughters, Sulema, had her first baby and my new nephew José Julian so they have been staying here at the house with us so that grandma can help out. In addition I have 2 dogs, a cat, and a loud bird that talks more than most humans do. The house is big and pretty, built in a hacienda style with an open court yard in the center of the house where there are lime trees and a hammock to hang out in. I have a nice large room in the back of the house, close both to the bathroom and the kitchen (just how I like it haha) with its own door to the street so I don’t have to tramp through the house when I want to leave which is really nice. I also have full access to the kitchen and have been shopping and cooking for myself since moving in. Adventures in the unknown for sure because everyone who knows me knows that I can’t exactly cook, but poco a poco (little by little) I am learning and I am definitely not going hungry due to my survival cooking skills of cereal, salad, and eggs as well as the generosity of my new friends who give me free delicious meals.<br /><br />As for work, right now my community counterparts include two women’s’ groups, one that makes Hammocks and another that makes spices, the project manager at the municipality (Mayra), the local high school, water board and radio. However, I am sure this will change as projects get added and completed throughout my service. I’ve sent the last 2 weeks just contacted them and having a few meet and greets so I learn a little more about what they do and in what areas there are opportunities for me to work with them. So little by little I hope to start gaining the confidence of my new community and beginning some projects with them. One thing is for certain, my counterpart Mayra and I are like two peas in a pod so it is really nice being able to not only get to work with her but also have her as a friend to hang out with.<br /><br />Right now though I am just happy to be here and ready to start feeling like this is my new home. Everyone has been so welcoming which really helps a lot. So now I am just trying to adjust to my new life and the pace of things here. So hopefully I will continue making friends and be able to get some people behind some projects soon! Poco a Poco, little by little....~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-83617676576394505462009-05-29T12:39:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:41:19.144-07:00Congrats, Now You May Officially Work for Free!(Writen 5/15/09) - Happy B-day momma yesterday and Carly today!<br /><br />Well today I join the ranks of thousands who came before me to work as a Peace Corps volunteer!! Although I already felt like a volunteer, today it is official.<br />This week passed so quickly and was such a complete rollercoaster ride that I can hardly believe that by tomorrow night I will be in my new home for the next two years! During this past week all the H14ers were reunited for one final week in Zarabanda to do some general housecleaning before we are sent off on our own. This of course means we had to pack everything up and move back to our old host families for one week to sit through long meetings about banking, safety and security, and working with our counterparts when all we actually wanted to do was move to our sites. But it was nice to see everyone again before we are shipped all throughout the country. On Thursday we had yet another infamous Despedida (going away party) which is nice in theory but ends up being a lot of work for a really awkward social gathering with our host family and a bunch of other families that no one else knows. However unlike the last one, the Peace Corps staff took care of all the food and decorations so all we had to do was serve the food and entertain our guests which made the whole event much nicer. Both Gloria and Reynita (my 1st host mom and little sister) came and all in all I believe they liked it, especially the photo slideshow with all their photos.<br /><br />Which brings us to the main event, swearing in. Today I woke up bright and early to get all dolled up and head out by 6:30am to go to the Peace Corps office in Teguz to meet my counterpart. All of us volunteers rode the big yellow school bus to Teguz which made the whole trip feel much more like going to prom than to be sworn-in at the US Embassy haha. And while all the other soon-to-be volunteers where pretty nervous about meeting their counterparts, I was cool as a cucumber because as everyone knows I am an excellent bull shitter and have no trouble talking to strangers J but I was pretty nervous about the logistics of getting to my site. Apparently a few of the counterparts have cars but for those who don’t, its public transportation a-ho with all your possessions no matter how long the trip. Especially after all of our safety and security meetings, we are all more than a little nervous about being an American with an insane amount of luggage of public transportation that goes through major cities like the capital. But once we got there everyone was paired up with their counterparts and let me just tell you at this moment the bells of fate rang as I looked across the room and saw the most impressively dressed woman waiting for me. My counterpart is Mayra who works as the Project Manager at the Municipality in Orocuina. She is 24yrs old, has a degree in International Business and is currently working on getting her Masters in Project Administration while she works at the municipality. She was dressed to the 9’s putting on her makeup while laughing at someone on her Blackberry and holding her pink razor in the other hand. We spent the next hour talking which went by super fast as we chatted about our families, favorite pastimes, boys, and a little bit about work haha. But I mean hey, we have the next 2 yrs to talk about work right? Then she uttered the words I had been praying I would hear: “I hope you don’t mind but I brought my car so we are going to ride back in that instead of the bus!” AHHH HALLEHUJA! I can’t even explain how worried I had been up until today about the logistics of getting to site with my 4 large bags on less than favorable public transportation. I mean, nothing says rob me more than a gringa riding on a bus with 4 bags she can barely lift for hours at a time. I literally felt a wash of calm come over me afterwards and was truly excited for the rest of the day.<br /><br />After the meeting we rode over to the US. Embassy to be sworn in. The whole affair was pretty quick, lasting only about an hour. There were 5 speakers which included our training manager Luis, our country director Trudy, 2 Honduran guest speakers, the Ambassador, and our very own Jose to represent the volunteers. And I must admit that out of all the speeches, Jose’s was by far the best and made me way more emotional than any graduation or wedding speech I’ve heard to date. We also sang both the Honduran and American national anthems, recited our swear-in oath and of course ate cake and took a million photos. While I was waiting with my counterpart to have my picture taken with the Ambassador a camera crew approached me and asked if I would like to be on tv to which I quickly replied NO! However, apparently no one was convinced that anyone, especially an American, would not want to appear on tv so before I knew I was thrust in front of a camera and attempting to sound articulate in Spanish about my experience so far in Honduras. Lord only knows what I said but hey, theres a memory right? After the ceremony and cake we were hustled back into the school buses and shipped back to the training center in Zarabanda to eat lunch and then WORK!! Now in past years all the other volunteers enjoyed a pretty nice party at the Ambassador’s house for the rest of the afternoon but as luck would have it my cycle was the first to “try something new” which means budget cuts and making us work instead of enjoy our last day with the other volunteers and training staff. Although after the way the afternoon went, I am pretty sure that they won’t be doing it that way again because everyone was over it before it even started, including my counterpart ha. The whole thing ended at 6:30 and then we had to scramble to say our goodbyes before we were sent back home which also sucked because it leaves you crying like an idiot in front of everyone, including your counterpart. Unfortunately, I couldn’t go straight home because I had to go get money from an ATM to last me through my first few days in site and buy saldo for my phone so I could talk to my counterpart in the morning so I went to a nearby town with some other volunteers to get money before heading back home. I didn’t end up getting home until around 8pm and had to rush to eat dinner and then spent the rest of my night trying to bond with my host family, saying goodbye to other volunteers in my neighborhood and packing which wasn’t exactly how I pictured my last night but oh well. Luckily since I have a ride tomorrow to my site and don’t have to take the bus I don’t have to be at the bus stop at 4am like my neighbors do!<br />Now as I sit in my bed I am overcome with a million different emotions. Although I so happy to finally be a volunteer and I am beyond excited to get to my site and start working, I am also a little nervous to actually be on my own. It’s so funny to think that when I signed up for Peace Corps I was so ready to go off and work alone, in an unknown country for 2+ years and now I am nervous to leave all the other volunteers. I really never imagined I would make such good friendships in such a short period of time. Now I am left wondering how will I ever get anywhere without Jp and Jose to walk with me? What will I do when I walk out my front door and don’t see Matt across the street waiting to talk to me. And I can’t even begin to imagine not being able to see Erika every day? Starting tomorrow I will be meeting new people all over again and trying to form new friendships to make my experience throughout the next two years something meaningful. Heres hoping the Peace Corps was right about my “advanced” level of Spanish and that I have enough energy to be super friendly everyday for the next several months! So heres to jumping in headfirst all alone!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-86630474565570447482009-05-29T12:37:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:39:13.876-07:00Deje un Pedazo de mi Corazon en Ojojona (I Left a Piece of My Heart in Ojojona)(Written 5/9/09)<br /><br />I’ve always hated the various touristy t-shirts and mugs that proudly flaunted that saying… too bad now I feel like its true. It’s weird how sad I am to leave Ojojona. I had been so excited and so ready to get to my site since before I even left the U.S. that I never even gave a second thought to the experiences I would have or the friends I would make during training. But the truth of the matter is, I was just starting to really feel at home here. Although I loved my host family the instant I met them, I was just now starting to feel like I had my own place in the family. More than that I have friends here in Ojojona, something I never thought would happen. Last week I noticed that when I walk through the streets of Ojojona, I know people. Neighbors or people I met at some family gathering, kids from school projects we’ve done or that I’ve played with in the neighborhood stop to chat and mototaxi drivers offer me free rides because they just happen to be passing by my house. And it’s nice. I feel safe and happy in my friendly and pretty little mining town.<br />I suppose I didn’t realize how sad I would be to leave until we had our Despedida (Goodbye party) on Thursday night. I had told all the volunteers that we would have more than enough food because I was certain that only my host mom would come from my family, just like on cultural day, because corny non-dancing parties aren’t my family’s thing. Then much to my surprise, all of them showed up! Even my shy host brother who rarely leaves the house for anything came and I was overwhelmed. Then all day yesterday, my last official day there, everyone was saying how sad they were to see me go and asking when I would come back to visit. Later that night my host family, along with Tony’s even threw a going away party for us, “because Katie needs to dance before she leaves!” All of this, and not to mention the going away gifts from my host fam, neighbors, and friends, all were setting me up for a very emotional goodbye this morning. I woke up extra early this morning so that I could say goodbye to my host dad and brother before they left for work and since the bus was 3 hrs late to pick us up, as usual, I got a little extra time with my host nephews who sang a goodbye song for me as well as with my host mom who came with me to the bus stop. Although I kept from crying, my eyes definitely watered up when my host mom cried a little and told me she loved me before I got on the bus.<br />And all of this is only describing my experience with the Hondurans in Ojojona and how it feels to leave them. I can’t even imagine what it will be like in another week when I leave all the volunteers from H14. I feel like the business project really became a group in Ojojona and it will be weird to be without all of them. Ojojona definitely was the perfect site for us. <br /><br />All in all I can’t imagine having a better experience during training and a part of me definitely wishes Ojojona was my site for the next two years. But heres to the fun family parties, the beach trip, playing soccer and karate with my nephews, late night (9pm) talks with my neighbors, licuados, watching soap operas with the whole fam, Karaoke, Dinners with Richard, dance party mototaxi rides, videojuegos, the cabin picnic, and the millions of other fun memories that Ojojona has left me with. I’ll miss you but I’ll be back soon!!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-5138957562390836822009-05-29T12:35:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:37:01.774-07:00Hombres de Amor(written 5/8/09)<br /><br />Today was the last day of our Business Simulation and it went so wonderfully! For those who may not know, a business simulation is a weeklong activity where groups of three to four volunteers teach basic business principals to a group of people (usually high school students) for two days and then the group creates its own business. Everything from selecting a product to produce, receiving a loan (from the Peace Corps) to selling their product with their own business name and marketing plan. With our training group there were 5 groups all doing a simulation and picking a product to produce and sell on the same day which adds an element of competition to the process which Hondurans really love. Due to our slight setback with the teacher strike, Jesus and the school director helped round up some students who still wanted to learn on their days off (weird I know) and then made a deal with the local Escuela Taller to do the simulation with them. My group was all boys ranging from 14-24 from the Escuela Taller which is a program that basically functions like a JVS for disadvantaged youth who really have no other access to job training. I worked in a group with JP and Taylor and since we lost a day to the strike everyone had to adjust their plans to finish the full simulation in 4 days. The first day consisted of charlas about basic business concepts, picking our product to produce, our company name, and buying the raw materials. Since Mother’s day was that upcoming Sunday my boys chose to make heart shaped boxes out of thick red carton, decorate them and fill them with candy to sell. Going along with their theme and the fact that they were all one of the few groups of all men, they aptly named their company “Hombres de Amor” (basically The Men of Love) and used the slogan “Para Endulzarse su Corazon” (To Sweeten your Heart ). The second day was production day and all the guys worked really hard to not only make their product but to also make signs for them to wear on sale day as a form of advertisement. The third day was sales day which proved to be an impressive day. Out of all 12 boys, 5 were amazing salesmen and ending up selling almost all the products themselves. In the end, they sold everything and made enough money not only to pay back the loan of 350 lemps but also earned a 300 lemp profit which I was very proud of. Although you would think sales day would be the most difficult for the boys, the final day which was presentation day proved to be the biggest challenge. On Friday every group had to make a presentation in front of everyone about the formation of their business, successes and challenges, and what they learned/ liked about the process. Needless to say my “Hombres de Amor” did NOT want to get up and talk in front of everyone alone but nevertheless they worked hard on their presentation and then 6 brave men got up and presented. <br /><br />The presentation went great and although we didn’t win, we came in third out of five, I have never been more proud in my entire life! At the beginning of the week I was more than hesitant to do this project for several reasons, most of them involving my lack of experience or desire to work with youth and the fact that this project was the type of thing I absolutely hated in high school. However, much to my surprise it turned out to be my favorite activity during training. The guys were all really into the activity and you could tell that they actually wanted to learn what we were teaching them. Some of my boys walked an 1 ½ hrs from their towns to the bus stop to ride for at least another 30 mins to 1 hr just to come to our simulation. It was so amazing to see some of the guys really understanding the material too. This was the first time almost all of them had heard of any of these business concepts which will be so important for them because they are all learning a trade and could each have their own business within the next two years. On sales day and then on presentation day I felt like a proud mother watching her child take his first steps which is ridiculous I know but it was so outrageously rewarding to have taught these boys something and then see them apply it in their own successful and unique way. If this is what being a teacher could be like I think I would like it a lot (scary I know, but don’t hold your breath just yet). I will admit though that I had an advantage by having a pretty captive audience. I was voted most popular volunteer by my peers because all of the high school and Escuela Taller boys were supposedly in love with me according to the other volunteers and the outrageous number of photos I had to pose for with these boys. Apparently boys’ ages 14-18 is my target market haha. Either way it was not only a great experience for everyone involved but it was also a great way to get to know some of the youth in the community. Too bad I will be leaving tomorrow and I am so not ready!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-74989111291384022732009-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:002009-05-29T12:35:40.420-07:00If You Can't Handle the Heat...(written 5/5/09)<br /><br />Don’t come visit me in Orocuina! As many of you may already know, yesterday I found out I will be serving my next 2 years in Orocuina, Choluteca. Choluteca is the southernmost department of Honduras that borders Nicaragua. My site, Orocuina, is a relatively small town with about 6000 people living in Orocuina proper and over 8,000 living in surrounding aldeas (kinda like villages). The city is only an hour outside the department’s capital and the third largest city in Honduras, Choluteca, and about 3 ½ hours from Teguz which should make future travel easier than a lot of other sites. Most people make their living through small scale farming of beans, corn, sugar cane, watermelons, cantaloupes, and peppers. My principle work counterparts will include two women’s’ groups, one which makes hammocks and another that makes spices, as well as the local municipality and schools. I am really excited because this is the type of work I have the most interest in and exactly the type of projects I pictured myself working with when I first started applying for the Peace Corps.<br /><br />After my last technical interview I was pretty sure I was going to Orocuina based on my work interests and site size preferences but I kept myself from doing any research or getting my hopes up so that it would still be a surprise. And even though I knew where I was going, the site announcement process was pretty torturous because Jesus and Jorge (the Business PTS) enjoyed dragging it out and watching us all suffer while they described all 17 sites and pointing them out on the map before telling us which site was ours. As part of the process we made a tape outline of Honduras on the floor with all the sites marked out so once Jesus and Jorge were finally ready to announce our sites they called us each down one by one to receive our packet of info and stand on our site. Once all the sites were announced, I looked around and was a little sad to see that all my friends have been placed really far from me. In fact only 4 volunteers out of all 44 are being sent to sites in the south. However, I am trying to look on the bright side that I will be forced to integrate that much quicker with the locals and I will also have a ton of beautiful places to visit. Now all we can talk about is what our sites are supposed to be like and how we are going to get there (we are all praying our counterparts have a car because if not we will have to ride a public bus with ALL our luggage, basically saying please rob us!) More than anything I can’t wait to be sworn in and get to my new home for the next 2 years!<br /><br />As far as training goes, today we were supposed to start our Business simulation with the local high school but as luck would have it today was the first day of a nationwide teacher strike so there was no school. I really hope we are still able to work something out though because the simulation is our final big project of training and supposed to be the most fun out of all the activities. But vamos a ver!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-55408294207102826742009-05-29T12:29:00.001-07:002009-05-29T12:29:40.318-07:00~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-55105781668881073652009-05-10T14:22:00.000-07:002009-05-10T14:25:15.773-07:00Lets Talk About Sex(written 4/24/09)<br /><br />Thats right… what I am about to describe to you will most definitely sound like an awkward movie scene but it is all in the name of educating the youth of Honduras. On Thursday 3 volunteers came to Ojojona to do a TOT (Training of Trainers) on HIV and AIDS which sounds really intense but actually involved doing a lot of fun activities to learn about HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted so we could teach them to students at a local High School the following day. These activities included learning a game about white blood cells, doing a picture game of how HIV is transmitted, and then doing the ever popular condom on a banana demo. After we finished the charlas (lectures) and dinamicas (activities) we were split up into groups of 4 to begin working on our presentations for the following day. Now I was a little nervous because as you all know I am not typically the best with kids, ok let’s be honest I had no patience for them at all at home, and I have never taught anything to anyone so this was definitely going to be a day of firsts. However, I have already come so far in terms of patience and actually interacting with children of all ages that I would certainly surprise all of you. Therefore, once we were in our groups I figured why not jump in head first and offered to do the condom on a banana demo. Unsurprisingly my group members were happy to let me do it so, like a good student I went home and studied my condom vocabulary for the next day.<br /><br />The following day I wore my best “teacher” dress and arrived with condoms and bananas in tow to get down to business. I had practiced all my vocabulary and prepared myself for a fair amount of jokes from the kids. What I was not expecting was to actually know three of the students. The weekend before I had gone on a beautiful beach trip with my host mom, sister, and her two boys to a private beach called Los Delgaditos with the local church. Of course, I was the only gringa on the entire beach and consequently caused quite a stir with my two piece bathing suit and tattoos (don’t worry I ran the whole outfit and tattoo thing by my mom before hand and she gave me the green light). Everyone was super nice and wanted to know where I got my cool tattoo as well as wanted to learn how to swim since apparently very very few Hondurans know how. Well in this group were some high schoolers who spent the majority of the day watching me until a few got up the nerve to talk to me. Lucky for me these same boys who were talking to me on the beach were in my class for the HIV/AIDS charla and felt like they were pretty cool because they knew one of the teachers, specifically the one holding the condoms. So I got a few more personal jokes from them than expected. Nevertheless, I forged ahead and with the help of my lovely assistant Kyle, who held the banana and did the appropriate thrusting actions when necessary, and successfully showed 21 Hondurans between the ages of 14-18 how to use a condom. I hope you all can picture me standing in front of a class putting a condom on a banana and being smi-serious about the whole thing because if that isn’t movie material, I don’t know what is! The entire charla lasted a little over 3 hours which was definitely long enough for everyone. It was a good thing also that we left the condom demo for the end of the class because there was no getting anyone to calm down after they were able to talk about sex and play with condoms for hours. However, it was obviously so important for them to learn this because so many of them had no idea how to use one and/or believed alot of the popular myths about condom use here.<br /><br />One thing I did learn, apart from Spanish condom vocab, is that I am surprisingly comfortable teaching a class and that I actually even enjoy it. I am sure it had a lot to do with the age I was working with but I really was able to relate to the students very well and give my lesson without worrying about the language barrier. I think my personality and my ability to hear some pretty outrageous comments without "batting an eye" works a lot to my advantage too. Who knows after this maybe I have a future in teaching… or a career in condom demos, vamos a ver (we’ll see)!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-52626886442451145552009-05-10T14:21:00.000-07:002009-05-10T14:22:31.022-07:00Amapala(written 4/17/09)<br /><br />Buenas! This week was probably the best week of training so far! On Monday afternoon we packed up our batallas (the large white Jurassic park looking vehicles that we cruse around in) and headed 2 hours south to go camping on the beach. This excursion was a working trip to learn about sustainable tourism in Honduras by doing some interviews with a few restaurants and then writing business plans based on our interviews. But to be honest no one was concerned with the amount of work involved as long as we got a chance to get out of the classroom and onto the beach! After stopping for our first interview at a zoo/restaurant we continued south until we reached Guayaba Dorada, a private beach that Peace Corps rented for us. All of us were divided up into groups to get all the prep work done, like a cooking team, campfire team, tent team, and games team. However, for some outlandish reason I ended up on the loading and unloading the truck team with one other boy… haha must have been all my muscles. Either way we all worked well together and helped each other out (good thing or more than one bag would have fallen off the top of the truck if it were left up to my rope wrangling skills). After setting everything up we spent the rest of the night swimming, eating REAL campfire food like hotdogs and marshmallows and playing games/ playing the guitar. It was so much fun! The only down side was the overwhelming heat! I literally sweated the entire time I was there. And while it was wonderful to wake up and look out the tent and be only a few feet from the ocean, it was less fun spending the night sweating in the tent.<br /><br />The next morning we woke up bright and early to tear down the tents and have breakfast at the little restaurant on the beach. It was so gorgeous being only a few feet from the water and being the only ones on the beach! Not to mention this was all part of “work!” After wards we loaded up the batallas and drove about an hour south where we took a little speedboat to an island called Amapala. We took our little speed boat past some beautiful houses to a private beach owned by two families that looked like a long lost beach out of a movie. It was super clean with no houses or people in sight and no amenities at all. It was really perfect. And as a bonus, there was all this volcanic mud because Amapala used to be an active volcano so we collected the mud from the bottom of the ocean floor and rubbed it on ourselves to have the best mud bath ever. Our skin was so soft afterwards and all we could keep thinking was how much something like that would cost in the states. We stayed and swam around for about 2 ½ hrs and afterwards we took our little boat to another part of the island to visit the island’s tourism office to speak with the woman who runs it. Afterwards we went to the municipality where we looked at really old photos of the island and heard a bit about its history. Then we all loaded up on the boat again and went to Playa Burro to do another interview and then have the most fabulous lunch to date here in Honduras! Again the restaurant was only a few feet from the ocean but this time we had a buffet of seafood including cheviche, paella with shrimp and lobster as well as grilled fish and shrimp. We spent a lot of time stuffing our faces and relaxing at the restaurant before getting back on the boat and loading back up in the batallas to head back to Ojojona. Although the trip back was pretty hot with all of us stuffed into two vehicles (about 24 of us) we did get to stop for ice cream as well as stop to visit the Wat/Saners in Prespire which was really nice. We ended up getting back around dinner time, totally exhausted and glad to be back in our much cooler site.<br /><br />Overall the trip was so amazing! It was so nice to go to the beach and “relax” a little because we have been working so hard in FBT (Field Based Training). Plus it was a great way for all of us to spend time together outside of training and become more of a team. In addition Amapala is a future site so someone will be doing their service there which has more than a few people excited. It won’t be long now (May 4th)!!!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-46889438201458424962009-05-10T14:18:00.000-07:002009-05-10T14:20:32.106-07:00Holy Jesús Cristo y Semana Santa(written 4/12/09)<br /><br />Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone is having a great day! The celebrations here have been great but I must admit it doesn’t feel like Easter without a Cadbury egg or at least a peep L This week was Semana Santa which is the biggest holiday here in Honduras. The majority of Hondurans have the entire week off and those who are not participating in the dozens of masses and processions are spending their time at the beach, so its definitely the time of the year that everyone looks forward to. It was a good week for us aspirantes (trainees) too because it meant we only had two days of training. The week’s activities started off on Sunday morning at 3am when selected members of the Catholic Church begin making their sawdust carpets for the morning’s procession. The carpets represent those laid out for Jesus on Palm Sunday and are made from dyed sawdust laid in large paper stencils. My family made a carpet and the whole process actually takes quite awhile (even though I did not go down to the plaza with them at 3am). The carpets were made down the center of the entire road that connects the two catholic churches in town and they were really beautiful. It was so surprising that some of them were only made of sawdust. Then at 9am a large procession began in the Catholic Church at the top of the hill. Everyone was holding palms and singing when the priest came out of the church with a donkey that was decorated and carrying a statue of Jesus. After some prayers the priest led the donkey down the carpet path to the church at the other end of town with everyone following behind singing. The procession completely destroys the carpets so I was really glad I got there early to see them because so much work went into something that was only used for less than 20 minutes. Once the procession reached the church everyone went inside for a 2+ hour mass. The whole church was so packed with people that there wasn’t even room to stand inside that many people just stood outside the church in the blazing sun for the entire thing. The whole morning was really beautiful and interesting and I am so glad that I was able to experience it in a small town that still practices old traditions like this.<br /><br />Later in the week on Wednesday Peace Corps hosted a cultural day where everyone made a traditional Honduran dish/ drink with their host family and brought it to share. Someone must have warned everyone that I am no chef because my mom and I only had to bring Posol which is a traditional beverage made from cornmeal, sugar, milk, ice and cinnamon. But it was still good despite my previous disastrous kitchen experiences and we didn’t have any leftover so I guess it was a success. In fact all the food was really amazing so I hope I will be able to make some of these dishes when I am in my site. Aside from the food every Spanish class had to do an activity so my class did a skit. It was actually pretty funny because I was the mom and my teacher Victor was the dad and the three other boys were the aspirantes who couldn’t speak Spanish and just kept repeating phrases like “Tengo un gato en mis pantelones “ ( I have a cat in my pants) or “Donde esta la biblioteca” (Where is the library) for every conversational situation. Some of the other activities included a country line dance, a map game where all our families had to put our names on our home state without asking us direct questions, a song by the business boys and of course a piñata for the children. Afterwards a group of children did a traditional Honduran dance for us and then pulled people up on stage to dance with them. Of course I got chosen and had to try and replicate the dance in front of everyone haha. It really was a lot of fun and it was nice to do something for our families.<br /><br />On Thursday I went to Teguz with my family to buy supplies for the big Easter dinner. My host brother drove my mom, nephews and I and then we met up with my host dad who got off work early form the airport (unfortunately he has one of the few jobs that don’t get the holy week off). We spent the entire afternoon there and by the time we got home I was exhausted so I went to bed directly after dinner. Unfortunately, I woke up at 1am really sick with the flu. For those of you who heard the details it was pretty intense for a few hours and now I am pretty much dreading being alone and sick in my site. So, I spent all of Friday in bed but phone calls from home and visits from my friends here definitely helped make me feel better. On Saturday I tried to lay low for a lot of the day and get myself back in business for the night’s activities because Saturday night is when Easter is actually celebrated here. Everyone spends the entire day cooking and decorating the house and then at 10pm they go to mass. I had originally agreed to go to mass with my mom because I wanted to see the differences in the celebration but when my host sister informed me that mass starts at 10:30pm and goes until 2am and that no one else in the family was going with my mom, I quickly reconsidered my decision. In the end I am glad I did because I was able to go to movie night with the other aspirantes and then get in a quick nap before everyone came back from church and the party started. Around 3am my host mom and about 12 family members/ friends came home to have Easter dinner which was really good. Afterwards there was a toast followed by some dancing and desert. Even though it was late, everyone was in a great mood and spent the night talking about who fell asleep during mass and how I only got up to eat and dance lol. I even got some meringue lessons courtesy of my host cousin because my mom tells anyone who will listen how much I love to dance and makes everyone dance with me! It was all so much fun that I didn’t end up getting to bed until 5:30am. Since everyone celebrates late on Saturday night, today is saved for relaxation and I am definitely enjoying it!<br /><br />Tomorrow we are going camping on the beach as part of our tourism training and I can’t wait!!!!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-86350725712057513702009-03-28T10:04:00.004-07:002009-03-28T10:13:50.361-07:00New Places, New FacesHola from Ojojona! Last Sunday, the 22nd the business project moved to Ojojona to do Field Based Training for 7 weeks. Ojojona is a cute little mining town that was founded in 1584 and looks exactly like what you think Latin America should look like. There is a central plaza where people of all ages sit and talk for hours in the shadows of the surrounding churches. All along the streets are little tiendas where people sell everything from leather goods to painted pottery to mangos. The two most obviously Honduran details of this town are that a thin layer of dust covers everything and no one is in a hurry to get anywhere. Yes it is Perfect. It’s a good thing that the town is so cute too because getting here was definitely interesting. First of all everyone had to bring their luggage to their training bus stops themselves so thank god for Theresa’s host dad who used his large farming pickup truck to haul us and our luggage to the bus stop or it is very possible that I would still be trying to walk the 15 min trail with my 200 + lbs of luggage. Then, due to what we believe to be some budget cuts, Peace Corps had the Business and Wat/ San projects travel south together on the same chicken bus with ALL our luggage. Now, this means that 33 people with at least 3 bags each all have to ride on a yellow school bus for 2 hours. For those of you who saw my luggage, imagine that 33 time over plus needing space for us to sit down. Needless to say luggage was stacked everywhere and people were forced to sit in the aisle and on top of bus seats/ luggage. However, being the flexible group we are, we got out a laptop and my speakers to play some music and make the best of it.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the whole Business project is not allowed to live in the same town so half of the people were dropped off first in a small town called Santa Ana, about 15 mins outside of Ojojona. Once we arrived in Ojojona we were dropped off with all our luggage close to the central plaza with some directions to our new homes. After asking a few passersby, Jp, Jose, and I made our way up a hill to our new homes. I would be lying to say that I wasn’t already excited about my new family after reading my little information sheet but as soon as I met them I was so happy! I live my host parents Dona Ana and Don Luis and their children Ronal (28), Alejandra (26), and David (21) as well as Alejandra’s two boys Luis David (8) and Issac (7). Dona Ana is a teacher at the local high school and Don Luis works at the airport in Teguz. All their kids are studying at Universities in Teguz: Ronal is studying law and working at the Human Rights Office, Alejandra is studying to be a teacher, and David is working in the Customs dept of an importer/exporter in Teguz as well as studying to be a teacher. Although I truly loved my last host family, I can’t express how beneficial for my Spanish as well as just enjoyable it is to talk to educated adults here outside of the classroom. Not only do I already feel so at home but I also feel like I am learning so many new things about Honduras from them every day! The stories are just great and make me realize how easy it is to have a slower paced culture that is so relationship oriented because story telling/ talking is an art form and popular pastime here. Its also nice to have so many more people around, especially the boys with the ages they are because it reminds me of being home. I play with the little boys whenever possible, this includes schooling them in soccer haha (no really I won twice now) or playing card games. So now they are calling me “Tia” (Aunt) and making sure to split their chips or pop evenly 3 ways for all of us which is just too adorable and makes me feel like a mini Ms. Gates! The parents also introduce me as their daughter so that makes me feel good too! The only thing that is going to take some getting used to it the fact that we have a muchacha (a maid) named Carolina so I am not quite sure how to act and what I should or shouldn´t be helping with. Carolina is pretty quiet but she has 3 adorable kids that I also spend alot of time with which is nice.<br /><br />As far as training is concerned, it is getting more intense but I am really enjoying it. Its really nice to start having more time to work on exclusively business related topics as a group. So far I have given a lecture with 3 other group members to the town water board as well as visited the farm of Don Berto (87 yrs) to hear about the town’s history and learn about the traditional farming methods here. I am also in a new Spanish class where I am the only girl but I like my teacher’s, Victor´s, teaching style much better so 4 hours a day isn’t quite so bad now. It has also been nice to get to know the other business volunteers better. Ojojona is really small and tranquilo so its been easy to plan afterclass activities where we can hang out together. However, the people who live in Santa Ana are at a disadvantage because they have to be driven to and from their town so its much harder to include them in things which is affecting the whole group. Hopefully we will be able to work out something soon so we can all do some fun things together. Tonight for instance is my host brother, Ronal’s, birthday and all the volunteers as well as a ton of family are invited so it should be fun! I guess last year´s was a blast so we shall see! Also the volunteer who is serving in Ojojona invited us to a barbeque tomorrow! So it should be a great weekend! Hasta la proxima!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-60550573961236640692009-03-28T09:35:00.026-07:002009-03-28T09:58:28.106-07:00Volunteer Visit in Yuscaran(written 3/19/09)<br /><br />I just got back from my volunteer visit and had the best time! On Sunday, the 15th I left Santa Rita and the comfort of my host family to spend a few days with a current volunteer to learn about how life really is for volunteers here in Honduras. Luckily I was able to go with Erika, another business volunteer, which made the whole thing a lot more fun. First I took a bus, the yellow buses like those used for Public Schools, from Santa Rita to Teguz with Jose, Harrison and Erika to meet the guys’ volunteer at the Mall. After a glorious value meal from McDonalds..mmm…. Erika and I took another bus to Yuscaran. It was a pretty short ride, only about 2 hours, but random men taking our photos with their cell phones and crowded buses made the trip much more interesting. <br /><br />However, as soon as the bus climbed the last hill and rolled into town I knew I was in for a nice trip. Yuscaran is a small pueblo with a population of only about 4,00. It was originally built as a mining town so it still carries the same colonial feel in its central plaza and white washed buildings. When Erika and I got there our volunteer, Ana, still hadn’t returned from her trip yet so we went to the only hotel in town to sit outside and drink some lemonade. About an hour later Ana arrived with another volunteer named Nathan who is serving in a nearby city named Danli and we all went to her house for dinner. Both Ana and Nathan are H13 Municipal Development volunteers which means they have only been in site for 6 months. Luckily the Municipal Development Project is a cousin project to the Business project and they both have some interesting projects underway already. The rest of the night was spent eating Ana’s amazing chicken soup, talking, and getting down to the business of trying the local Guaro. <br /><br />The next morning Erika and I got to “sleep in” till 7am!! Then we spent our morning relaxing around the house while Ana and Nathan finished up their 6 month reports which have to be sent to Washington to keep track of project process. It was so nice to sit around and read magazines for the first time since we’ve been here. Ana’s house is also super nice. She has two bathrooms and 3 rooms plus a kitchen and two patios all to herself! Her back patio is great because she has a beautiful view of all the mountains surrounding Yuscaran including a view of those in Guatemala as well as a Guaro factory close by so the intoxicating smell stays in your nostrils all day! In the afternoon we went out for taquitos at a local comedor and then walked around to meet her local counterparts. We were able to go to the Yuscaran National Reserve where Ana takes photos to help promote the park and also the Reckin Library where she does children’s programs. We met both the women that she works with and they were really nice which definitely gives me hope about my future counterparts.<br /><br />Afterward Ana asked if we wanted to go for a walk, which I quickly agreed to. Little did I know that this would turn into an extreme hike / death march up a mountain. It all started out innocent enough because she wanted to show us what is rumored to be an amazing view of Yuscaran and she even invited the kids that live next store to come with us. Now let me just state two things up front 1) Yuscaran is a colonial town in the mountains so its hilly and the roads consist of what seems to be disorganized cobblestone, so just walking around the town in the sun is not a leasurely stroll and 2) Ana is in excellent shape. Now as soon as we start out it became apparent to Ana and the kids, our leaders, that it was already pretty late and we would need to keep up a good pace if we want to get there and back before nightfall. At this point we were still on somewhat of a road so I was not thinking anything of it. However, this all took a turn for the worse when Ana left the road and started hopping down a hill to walk on stones down a stream. As I scrambled after her, the young kids started making comments about how Ana likes to run this trail so she will probably leave us in her dust. What followed was a two hour hike up and down stones and hills while I unsuccessfully tried to keep Ana in my view and not kill myself in the process. So of the more exciting moments included crossing a makeshift drawbridge made of wood and rusting fence wire which the kids were shaking on purpose so obviously I cut myself… good thing I had that mandatory tetanus shot!, as well as catching myself fall off of about a million step rock inclines. In the end, I had to stop 15 mins short of our final destination because I just didn’t have it in me to go any higher, especially when I didn’t even have my camera to catch the moment anyway. However, I did make it ¾ of the way and got a great view out of it anyway. Either way Erika absolved me of my lack of outdoor skills by explaining that it wasn’t my fault because I am from Ohio! (Them both being from out west) hah. Going back was also uphill and exhausting but at least I had the end in mind. We spent the rest of the night eating and just relaxing which I felt was much deserved! <br /><br />Tuesday morning (St. Patty’s Day!!!) we were up bright and early to catch the 7am bus to Danli. The ride over was also really crowded but surprisingly cheap. We ended up getting there around 9am and spent the morning walking around Danli, eating baleadas and helping both our volunteers prepare for their community presentation that afternoon. After some amazing lasagna in an authentic Italian restaurant we all went to a woman named Jeanie’s house. She is currently a missionary here but was a PCV in Columbia back in the day so she is really sympathetic to the volunteer lifestyle and has become good friends with Ana and Nathan. She was really nice and really relaxed about the whole religion thing with us which was great. After some homemade chocolate chip cookies, Jeanie made sure to let us know that missionary work pays much better then volunteer work hah, we all hopped in her car and drove 30 minutes outside of Danli to a village called San Lorenzo. Jeanie and a local priest had heard about how poverty stricken this community was on television and took it upon themselves to start developing projects to help improve the people’s lives there. The village is located far off the main road and I would have never even known it was there if it wasn’t for this trip. Even buses only drive halfway there so the community members have very few travel options to help them find jobs outside their village. As soon as we road into town the poverty was very apparent. The village consists of 180 people who live in huts constructed of found materials and earth and who all live without latrines or regular access to clean water. Most of the people have small farms and cattle to survive off of but since this is the dry season the crops, cattle, and people are forced to share the same limited water supply and nearly all the community members have major health issues. In truth it was my first experience with poverty of this level in my life. However, I was also immediately struck by the passion these community members have. As soon as we arrived everyone was already waiting for us in the one room school house, keep in mind that being prompt is not something Hondurans typically concern themselves with, ready to take notes and participate in the meeting. First the priest spoke about the health community projects that they wanted to do like build pilas to store potable water, construct latrines, and improve roofs. Then the community members were able to give their input and vote on which projects should be started first and how they were going to manage the funds and labor. Afterwards Ana and Nathan gave their presentation of the idea of contrasting a community center and playground for the children. It was very interesting because we all took for granted the fact that nearly no one in the community had ever been able to use a community center or playground so they had no real idea about what they wanted. Although it was only the very beginning stages f the project so issues such as budget haven´t been discussed yet, I was very impressed with both Ana and Nathan´s presentation. It really focused on community input and sustainability which are two of the key issues we have been discussing in training. The entire meeting lasted about hours but was by far the most exciting experience since I´ve been here. The community was so welcoming and genuinely enthusiastic so you could really feel everyone´s true desire to come together and work on improving the community. It was the kind of meeting that I think everyone pictured when they decided to join the Peace Corps so it was very motivating to be able to be there and be a part of it. Although I know deep down that this type of meeting was an exception to what I will probably experience the majority of the time, I am still so excited to get to my site and to start to work on projects like this. <br /><br />After the meeting we spent some time measuring the schoolhouse to get an idea for the community center and talking to the people. Then we all piled in the car and headed back to Danli. After saying our goodbyes to Jeanie we all went back to Nathan´s to order some pizza and drink some beers which felt surprisingly American after the traditional Peace Corps day we had. A little later we went out to a restaurant called Le Café in honor of St Patty´s day. Yes, we were 4 of maybe 8 people there and the only gringos for certain but it was the thought that counted. <br /><br />We turned in pretty early and we up and on the bus by 8am the next morning to head back to Zarabanda to meet up with the training staff o talk about our trip. Although Erika and I had a great time and felt really lucky to be able to see 3 different size sites, some of the other trainees weren´t as lucky and ended up visiting some volunteers who don´t have too many projects going on. This just reinforces the fact that this experience is absolutely what you make of it so its important to stay motivated. Overall, I had a great time and feel so much better about the idea of moving around the country alone. Now I am just even more excited to get to my community and get to work! <br /><br />Vaya Pues, Well I hope everyone had a fun St. Patty´s Day! Miss you all! Hasta la proxima!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-47176117589954115482009-03-21T15:50:00.000-07:002009-03-21T16:00:53.562-07:00Primer Cumpleaños en Honduras!(Written March 14th) <br /><br />Buenas! Well yesterday was my first birthday in Honduras and it was so wonderful! The day started as any other, bright and early at 5am to take my bucket bath and walk to catch the bus at 6:30am. But right away everyone went out of their way to make my day special! The other volunteers bought me presents like cup cakes and candy and a charge card for my cell phone as well as made me cards!! Then later at lunch they brought out a cake all lit with candles that had my name on it and sang to me! I was really not expecting anything because another volunteer named Katie had her 23rd b-day on the 12th and we had an ice cream cake for her so I really thought there would be no way we would have cake two days in a row but I am glad we did! For the rest of the day all the Peace Corps directors and trainers kept hugging me and wishing me Feliz Cumpleaños! THEN… my little community threw me a surprise party!!! I was so shocked that I almost cried! Apparently they had been planning it all week and I had no idea! They tricked me by telling me that we were all getting together to practice Spanish so I just went along with the plan and followed Matt first to his house and then to Theresa’s. Although there were a million clues, like my missing little sister, Maune hanging out in our neighborhood, no dinner, two volunteers “studying” at theresa’s, and Sonia’s dark house but, I was clueless as usual! When I walked into the house, the whole place was dark and everyone yelled surprise and started snapping pictures of my shocked expression. The entire room was decorated with balloons and streamers and a huge sign (they even made sure that they were my favorite colors!) It was so cute! Plus we had tons of yummy food like pizza, chips and guac and salsa, spiked punch, and a cake compliments of Gloria, Sonia, and the volunteers! As it turns out, two cakes in one day make me a very happy girl! I really felt so loved! It was so wonderful to celebrate with new friends and to feel like I am making a place for myself here. And although I missed celebrating with everyone at home, all the phone calls, cards hidden in my bags and messages made me feel so loved and a lot less homesick! So heres to many more amazing birthday’s in Honduras!<br /><br />Hopefully some of my photos have made it one here for you to enjoy!!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-28972266783628310822009-03-21T15:35:00.000-07:002009-03-21T15:50:12.054-07:00Breaking Hearts and Speed Limits(written 3/10/09) Happy B-day Gumpy!!<br /><br />Well two weeks down and it feels like a lifetime has passed me by in only a few moments! Time passes so differently here because they days are long but filled with a million new experiences. This past weekend was so much fun! On Saturday we had our half day of class which was a cultural day. The entire morning was spent moving between 8 stations to hear a presentation about each of the major indigenous groups of Honduras and then try their traditional food! The food was amazing and there was even little children dressed up in traditional clothes and presentations on how to dance La Punta, the national hip shaking dance. Everyone had a great time and since I am such a nerd for those kinds of cultural activities I had a blast! Afterwards the cellphone man came and I bought a phone! It is free for me if you want to call, though definitely not free for you, so if you want to buy a phone card and call me just email me or ask my mom for the number! Later on when I got back from class and a quick trip to Valle to do some homework, I met my host dad, Isidrio, for the first time! He is like a breath of fresh air! Unlike Gloria, who is super nice but very shy, he talks a lot and knows so much! I liked him immediately and spent hours talking to him. Turns out he has a degree in biology and spent 6 months doing his practicum in the U.S. on bees. He also lived with the Moskitia Indians, which I learned about earlier that day, for a little over a year and worked in their hospital in 1990! Now he works in San Pedro Sula for a clothing importer and apparently he is in charge of the majority of the paperwork and general processing to bring the clothes in from China and resell them to other countries. You can really tell how much Gloria and Reyna miss him too. Later at 7pm Gloria, Reyna, and I went to a block party! It was in a neighbor’s front yard and you could definitely hear the party before you could see it! The whole yard was decorated with streamers and lights and children were running everywhere. Once everyone arrived one of the host mothers gave a really nice speech welcoming all of us to Honduras and saying how happy they are that we are here. It was so nice! Then played musical chairs, yes I did knock a small boy to the ground in order to win, and then we ate some delicious chicken, rice, and tortillas and Brent played the guitar. Afterwards we got down to the serious business of dancing! One of the host mothers moved all the furniture out of away in her living room to transform it into a dance floor and blasted the meringue and reggeton for hours. Everyone was dancing, the kids, host moms, and all the volunteers! I really forgot how much fun it can be when people don’t take themselves too seriously! We all danced with the little kids and my little Reynita was a dance machine! I even got some of the old boys to dance with me, Jose who is about 12 and Samuel, Matt’s host brother, who is 14 but lied to me and told me he was 15. However, this may have been a mistake because after that the boys would b-line it for Theresa and I to make sure they took turns dancing with both of us for every dance! Samuel even made it a point to let me know he currently is single even though he is usually too shy to look my in the eyes hah. It was so cute though because he was clearly dressed up in his pink and white stripped polo. Matt and I also spent a good amount of the time displaying our sweet dance moves such as the fisherman, shooting the guns, and various hand dances. Apparently we went to the same middle school dances. Overall the party was so much fun and a really great way to let loose with our host families! It is important to note though that since the party Samuel (14) has been lingering outside my house waiting for me to say hi to him and playing various English songs loudly such as evanescence on his cell which I am told is an attempt to impress me haha. I guess Matt and his host mom have been making fun of him relentlessly, poor boy. How was he to know I am such a heart breaker (just kidding). <br /><br />On Sunday I woke up at 7am to clean before our trip to Teguz (the capital). Now I know everyone is shocked to hear ME say clean, but its true. On Sundays I wash my clothes by hand on a concrete type of washboard and hang them on the line to dry as well as sweep and mop my room. I was finished by 9:30am and them took a quick bucket bath before we were off! Our official mission was to go to the grocery store since Gloria only goes once a month when her husband is home to go with her, but I was especially excited because the whole family as well as my neighbors Sonia and Theresa, my fellow business volunteer were going with us for Theresa’s and my first trip to Teguz. Now I had known we were going but it had not occurred to me what type of transportation we would be taking. To my surprise we were taking Isidrio’s work van which is basically a white plumber’s or carpenter’s van with nothing in the back apart from some tools. So lucky Theresa and I, because we got to ride in the back sitting on a really thin mattress the whole way! It was so funny because there were 3of us in the back and it felt like we were in a movie and we were gonna roll up to someplace and all pile out like we were about to rob the place haha. Unfortunately, the road to Teguz has a lot of twists and turns which made the whole trip feel like we were riding a roller coaster! Plus everyone here drives super fast so we were barreling around corners and totally disregarding speed limits which made the whole experience feel so much more like a movie. Once we got to Teguz, about 30 mins later, we went to two supermercados which are grocery stores that are very similar to Sam´s club in the U.S. to buy a months worth of groceries. It was nice because Isidrio kept asking what I like to eat and then buying it for me! Afterwards, we went to Pizza Hut which was amazing! I was able to enjoy stuffed crust ham and pinbnable pizza with some awesome jamaica (fruit punch). Once we finished we all piled back into the van for the outrageous ride back to Santa Rita! All in all it was a great visit, especially since I didn´t get robbed which apparently happens to everyone at least once while they are serving in Honduras. <br /><br />Once we got back I spent the rest of the afternoon talking with Isidrio before he had to head back to San Pedro Sula the next day :( I am really going to miss him and all of his stories! In fact he gave me the cutest speech before bed, at 8:00pm haha, about how happy he is that I am living there and how he hopes I will love Honduras and visit often. It just goes to show how important having a dad in the house can be to making it feel like a home! <br /><br />Overall this weekend was great and now I am looking forward to my birthday and my volunteer visit!! Hasta Luego amigos!!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-93712780813629242009-03-01T13:45:00.000-08:002009-03-01T13:59:31.569-08:00Hola de Honduras!<meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CINTERN%7E1%5CCONFIG%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CINTERN%7E1%5CCONFIG%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CINTERN%7E1%5CCONFIG%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:hyphenationzone>21</w:HyphenationZone> <w:punctuationkerning/> 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gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Hola a todos! I am alive and well in Honduras! As many of you know I left for training early Tuesday morning and arrived in DC at 10:00am. Right after I collected my mountain of luggage I spotted another girl with a similar backpack and knew she must be on her way to Peace Corps staging also. As luck would have it she was on her way to staging in the same hotel with the group of trainees that were going to Ecuador so we were able to share a shuttle and later when we arrived at the hotel and left our luggage in the bell hop’s room we were able to walk to a whole foods store with a café and have a nice lunch together. It was so nice to have someone to pass the time with until check-in and discuss what lies ahead. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Staging itself began at 1:30 with registration which lasted until 3:00pm when we began our introduction to Peace Corps and to each other.<span style=""> </span>We did some activities to get to know one another, talked about Peace Corps expectations and how we were going to arrive at post in Honduras. Staging lasted until 7pm so afterwards a group of us went out to a nice sushi dinner for one last splurge. Since checkout time was at 2:30am, none of us stayed out late so we would have at least some energy for the following day. However, I think I got a whole 3 hours of sleep before I was up and on my way to Honduras! I will say right now that I was immediately regretting how successfully I was able to pack EVERYTHING into my bags because they were so heavy! To make matters worse none of my luggage has wheels because I was only thinking of the Honduran terrain and not the airports so I had to physically carry all of my luggage myself which would prove more and more difficult as the day went on. We flew out of DC at about 6:40am to Miami and then onto Tegucigalpa (the capital of Honduras) where we arrived at noon local time (1pm eastern). The airport was really hectic with everyone trying to get all of their luggage and get through customs but we all made it out fine. The Peace Corps representatives were really organized and met us at the airport exit with tags for our luggage to be delivered to our host family’s house as well as snacks. A bus then arrived and took us to our training center located about a half an hour outside Teguz when we met the Peace Corps staff and our host family was waiting to pick us up.<span style=""> </span>I am living with a host mom named Gloria and her 4 yr old daughter Reyna Maria. They live in what I believe to be an average Honduran home that has two bedrooms, an indoor bathe, and one large central area for the kitchen, dining area and living room. They have electricity but as I found out the first morning, when it rains the electricity goes out so we use candles and flashlights. The water for all the household activities arrives on Thursdays and Sundays so on these days we can use the sink and flush the toilets. But, when the water runs out, usually within 24 hours, you must get water from a large bucket, similar to a rain barrel, to flush the toilet and wash with. The water we drink is purified water that the family buys in large containers like those found in offices in the U.S.<span style=""> </span>I have my own room, which is the daughter’s, with a lock and key as the Peace Corps requires and screens on my windows. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">My first night both my host mom and sister were very quiet and didn’t speak much at all which I was really nervous about. However, since then they have opened up much more and now Reyna Maria is running to hug me when I come home from training and sitting in my lap so I am feeling much better.<span style=""> </span>As for my host father, he works in another region of the country which I am told is very far away so he is only able to visit the family one time per month.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Training is really good so far. I have training Monday through Friday from 7:30 until 4:30 with lunch, packed by our host families, at the training center from 11:30 to 12:30. We also have a half day of training on Saturdays from 8:30 to noon. A Peace Corps bus picks me up at about 6:45 during the week and I live about 15 mins from the bus stop so I wake up a little after 5am to make sure I don’t miss the bus. There are 9 other volunteers that live around me, with one in the house next to mine so we are all able to walk together which is really nice.<span style=""> </span>There are also some really great views along the way! Overall the training directors seem really well prepared and very nice which helps make the whole adjusting process much easier.
<br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">So far things are great. I need to practice my grammar because things are coming back slower than I would like but I am trying hard not to beat myself up about it. I have already done some pretty traditional Honduran things like take a bucket bath by candle light, wash my clothes by hand using a pila and play soccer with the local boys and other volunteers (I know what you’re thinking but this really is Katie writing haha)
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Anyways, I have so much more to say but I just wanted to touch base and let everyone know I am here and doing well. I hope to get some pictures up soon! Hasta la proxima!
<br /></span></p> ~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-7562270707912739852009-02-10T07:27:00.000-08:002009-02-10T08:54:33.679-08:00Meeting Ambassadors in Jeans and a SweatshirtWhen my brother first emailed me about a talk at Hiram on how to pursue a career as a state diplomat or as a foreign service officer given by Former Ambassador to Chile, Executive Assistant to Colin Powell and current Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Craig Kelly, I had no idea that it would be the most exciting day of my life as a full-fledged nerd!<br /><br />Yesterday I arrived 10 mins early to an almost empty Alumni Heritage room dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, and my green and white sneakers carrying a notepad and hopeful that I might be able to ask the speaker a question. As it turns out, I would be getting much more personal with all the Ambassadors than I had ever imagined. Since I was early, I sat next to the only other woman in the room and began chatting her up a bit. Once we swapped our stories, her professor came over who she promptly introduced me to because the professor's daughter had served in the Peace Corps. One thing leads to another and another professor is flagged down to come speak to me because she herself had served in the Peace Corps during the 90's. The next thing I know, the room is full of students and I am sitting holding all the pamphlets that they have now run out of for the actual students and being told by the professors that I should come to a panel discussion and dinner reception given later that night where more diplomats and Ambassadors would be in attendance. Although tickets were sold out, everyone was in agreement that I couldn't miss the opportunity to listen to the current Ambassador from Honduras to the USA, Ambassador Flores Bermudez. As I sat there, still reeling from the invitation and my stoke of good luck, two men dressed to the nines were ushered over to me with the statement "Oh this is the girl I was telling you about who is going to the Peace Corps." Stunned, I realized that these two men are Former Ambassador to Chile and featured speaker Craig Kelly, as well as Former Ambassador to Honduras, James Creagan. Red faced, I quickly stood to shake their hands and introduce myself. I am certain I came off as anything but eloquent as both men questioned me about my assignment and reminisced about their time spent in Central America and specifically in Honduras. Soon it was time to begin the discussion so I returned to my seat to notice more than a few curious faces who were, very rightly so, wondering who I was and why I was the only one in attendance being personally introduced to the speakers. The talk was wonderful and really got me thinking about a future in the foreign service. I even got to ask my question and continued to blush every time one of the speakers would use me as a example or reference the Peace Corps and gesture in my direction. Afterwards, both men were rushed out to prepare for their panel discussion and I realized that I would be the only student to meet them during this meeting.<br /><br />For the 45 min break between the two discussions, I met up with my cousin to recount the afternoon. In no time, it was time for the panel discussion and reception. As I walked up the stairs with my cousin, she and I quickly noted that not only was everyone in attendance dressed in their Sunday best but, they were also wearing name tags. Regretting my clothing decision that morning, I decided that I could not be deterred and quickly found a seat in the third row among the nearly 100 ticket-holding attendees. As the speakers walked on stage, I was excited to discover that not only were the two Ambassadors from earlier in the afternoon going to be speaking but also Dr. Jorge Castaneda, the Foreign Minister of Mexico and a presidential candidate in 2006, as well as Ambassador Roberto Flores Bermudez, the current Ambassador of Honduras to the USA since 2006. Mouth open, as usual, and trying to take in the thrilling scene unfolding, what happens but Ambassador Craig Kelly waves to me from the stage! <strong>To me</strong>! A hundred other people who have tickets are sitting all around me, dressed considerably more appropriate than I am and he waves to me! For one of the few times in my life I actually knew he was waving to me and not someone else so, I sheepishly gave a little wave back and tried not to notice the eyes of everyone around me. For the next two hours I sat listening to each man take turns discussing the future of Latin American political integration and feeling like I should kiss my brother for setting this day into motion for me. Once the speakers had finished and after a short Q & A, everyone headed into the reception hall for wine and cheese. After finding the professors and thanking them for inviting me, I was on a mission to speak to Ambassador Flores Bermudez from Honduras. I found him standing in line for wine and speaking to another far more appropriately dressed student so I gave her an additional 10 mins out of courtesy before I side-stepped my way into their little group and introduced myself. He was excited to hear that I was moving to his country in only two weeks and since he knew very little about the Peace Corps we spent the next 20 mins talking about the Honduran business atmosphere, women in business, and poverty. He ended the conversation by telling me how warm and welcoming the Honduran people will be and how much he and they will appreciate everything I do there. "When you are homesick," he said, "just remember that Honduras is closer to D.C. than Seattle." Grinning like an idiot I thanked him and figured 20 mins was enough time to steal away from everyone with tickets and so I said goodbye and bowed out of the reception hoping my sneakers wouldn't squeak and give me away.<br /><br />Today, I am just as excited as I was yesterday to have had the opportunity to meet such distinguished men and listen to them speak about important U.S. and Latin American issues. Now I am more excited than ever to embark on my newest adventure and contribute to the growing relationship between the U.S. and Central America. Hopefully if and when we meet again I won't be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt although knowing me, I probably will be!~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8440436679582469623.post-31627393318053059652009-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:002009-02-06T08:34:38.063-08:00Bienvenidos!Saludos todos and welcome to my Peace Corps blog! As many of you know, last February I began the application process to become a volunteer in the Peace Corps. After a lot of forms and some ups and downs, I received my invitation on August 14th to serve as a Business Advisor in Honduras. And I have been dreaming of my new adventure ever since. I guess my Nana was right when she told me that good things come to those who wait because I really feel like Honduras and the business program are going to be the best fit for me. More than anything I was afraid that I would be assigned to a program about which I knew very little, like beekeeping perhaps :) , and that I would let a community down. Now, not only will I be able to actually use those degrees I paid all that money for but, I will be able to live and work within a culture that has fascinated me for so long. I am especially excited about going to Honduras because I know so little about it. In fact, for as long as I have studied Latin American culture, very little has ever been mentioned about Honduras despite its history with the U.S. Luckily, the Peace Corps has been in Honduras since 1962 and is currently one of the largest programs in the world so I will be able to work in an established program which makes my mom feel a little bit better.<br /><br />So what will I actually be doing during my service? Well, my role will evolve the longer I am in my community but my primary goal will be to develop sustainable business projects that will increase economic opportunities for Hondurans by improving their business skills and helping strengthen organizations that serve their communities. Some examples of projects that other volunteers in my program have done include develop business plans for micro-enterprises, train community members in basic accounting, inventory and quality control techniques, teach computer skills, etc. In addition, all volunteers are encouraged to work on secondary projects outside of their respective programs that help improve the community. These projects include things like HIV/AIDS awareness sessions, youth groups or teaching English classes. More than anything I am excited to work as a project manager and get things going! I just hope I am as busy as this all sounds.<br /><br />So finally, after all that waiting, my departure is coming up quick! I leave for orientation in D.C. on February 24th and then leave for Honduras early on February 25th. Then, I will begin my 11 week pre-service training on February 25th until May 15th when I will be officially sworn-in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (assuming everything goes as it should!). After that, I will begin my actual service on May 16th 2009 until May 13th 2011! As you can imagine, a lot goes into preparing to move out of the country for 27 months and after almost 6 months of waiting, I am feeling overwhelmed! Just a few of things I need to do over the next couple weeks are finish filling out all my forms, defer my loans, brush up on my Spanish, shop and pack!, oh and visit with everyone I love!<br /><br />In an effort to stay in contact with loved ones and keep everyone updated on all my adventures in Honduras, I've decided to create this blog. It is my intention to use this as a means of discussing the culture and work atmosphere as I experience it, instead of as a public diary. But don't worry, with me crazy stories are always abundant and I am sure this will end up being far from boring to read! So stay tuned and thanks for cyber stalking me! haha<br /><br />~Katie Ann~~ Katie Ann ~http://www.blogger.com/profile/16317521458703632925noreply@blogger.com0