Epilogue

Well, I've been back in the states for almost six months now.  It shouldn't be a surprise that I didn't feel like posting during the evacuation, but that doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of Honduras since my return.  After much procrastination and a computer failure, I finally put my last batch of photos on Picasa (let me know if you want the link), and I wanted to give my blog a little bit more closure.

I was lucky enough to have a nice last few weeks in Otoro with my host family and friends, and also to have both of my training host families visit during our closing conference in Tegus.  I am so glad to have had such wonderful families and to have been able to say goodbye to everyone, and now the pictures are finally up (oops!).

Not much else to say, except I hope this won't be the end to the blog... hopefully at some point I will be able to visit Honduras, or go on another Peace Corps journey, or both!

my wonderful Otoro host family (minus Profe Justo) -- Mariela, Profe Nelly, Carlos, and David

Tricia's host family (who were also our landlords) -- Profe Bertha, Tricia, Danita, Jose Carlos, Don Jose, Selvin

Los Planes host family (minus Nelson and Don Paco) -- Andrea Pequena, Yolanda, a cousin, and Melissa

my Yuscaran host family - Damaris, Claudia (Merii), Riccie, Sandra, and Jose

Do not pass go, do not collect $200

I'm not gonna lie, the past few weeks have been very difficult.  We are restricted in what we can do and have been getting limited information about the next steps.  We are being asked to leave this country that we now call home, without warning or closure.

In a lot of ways I feel like I just lost a game -- I picked the "go to jail" card in Monopoly, hit the snake in chutes and ladders, or drew Plumpy in Candy Land.  I've worked hard to get where I am in terms of work projects, furnishing my apartment, and building personal relationships, and now I am sliding backwards without reaching the finish, and unable to do anything about it.

Even within the context of this Peace Corps pullout, I got unlucky.  Many volunteers were permitted to take their pre-approved vacations, but since my visitor was a friend (not family) and we were traveling within Honduras (not to a safer country), we were forced to cancel our plans.  I also had to cancel a much-anticipated training with the staff of Plan, on a small business curriculum, since it was in La Esperanza and would require me to leave my site.  It was tough not being able to visit my office to say goodbye to my counterparts there.

The plus side to all of this is that I really do like my town, and aside from the above frustrations (which were plenty), I did not mind spending three weeks here.  We even made the best of Amy's vacation -- helped with a service event at Georgetown, played soccer with family, went to the President's birthday party, made tamales on Christmas Eve, picked coffee with one of the colegio teachers, and spent a VERY festive New Years with my host mom's extended family.  It was nice being in my site for the holiday season.

But overall it has been a whirlwind -- one minute I am running around town, the next I am infuriated, the next I am too sad to get out of bed.  Random things make me want to cry, and things that used to annoy me are suddenly endearing (except Rooster still annoys me).  Three weeks was a really awkward amount of time to say goodbye (a fellow volunteer described it as doing a slow waltz out of a burning building).  I stayed in denial for as long as possible, but it's finally time to leave.

We leave on Thursday for a closing conference in Tegucigalpa with PC Washington staff, and supposedly everyone flies back to the states on Monday the 16th.  I'll close with a photo journey of the past few weeks.

Esperanza puts on an annual event at her house where the Georgetown families donate clothes and toys to poor kids in the neighborhood.

Pepe Lobo came to town for his birthday, and we got to meet him again.

The high school had its graduation, and I went with my host parents to a student's grad party.

My host family took me and Amy to their milpa, or corn field.

They also taught us how to make tamales.

The family on Christmas Eve.

My host family also took us to the new water treatment plant, which boasts a great view of town.

Back to the states

I am so sad to write this.  This week Peace Corps decided to suspend its operations in Honduras due to increasing safety & security concerns.  http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.media.press.view&news_id=1932

I can't say we were surprised.  Crime and violence have been increasing since we got here, and we knew that it was a possibility.  But that doesn't make it any easier.  I love my community, and I had every expectation to spend a full 2 years here.  For sure I was concerned for my safety -- there has been a wave of crime recently, but now that the news is official I am devastated to leave my community and the friends that I have made here.  I had a lot of work projects planned for January and February and was hitting my stride with Spanish.  I will also miss my town's feria.  Seven months in site was definitely not long enough.

Officially, the country is being put on ¨Administrative Hold,¨ which means that all volunteers are returning to the states for a minimum of 30 days while PC reviews the security situation here and decides if the program can resume.  If they decide to continue operations here, it will likely be with fewer volunteers in a smaller geographic region, so the liklihood of me being able to return to my site is slim.  I would  return if I had the option, and there may also be the option of transferring to other countries.  But for now we are waiting for the official word.

In the meantime, we are all on what is called Standfast, which means we cannot leave our sites until January when we leave the country.  I have a friend in town, so I feel awful that we will be stuck in my site instead of being able to travel as planned.  However, I am going to do my best to enjoy my last few weeks in Honduras, spend quality time with host families and friends, and wrap up my projects.  More details to follow...

A Thanksgiving photo journey

Happy Thanksgiving from Honduras!  I have certainly fallen off the blog wagon, and as such will give this update in the form of a "photo journey" through October and November.

My town had the annual Festival de Arroz at the end of October, and Tricia and I had a group of about 12 volunteers over.  We checked out the festival booths and parade and made a fire pit in our backyard to hang out.

I am finally settled into my apartment and recovering from "flea infestation 2011," as it will now be called.  I even went running for the first time in over 3 months, and it was marvelous!  Since I don't have a picture of me running, here are the mototaxis driving in the festival parade (as viewed from outside the apartments).

The president of Honduras, Pepe Lobo, came to town for a project called Bono 10 Mil that gives financial assistance to single mothers, and we got to meet him!

I made a gigantic pizza!

  

Tricia's shower broke, and they had to shut off the water in our apartments for a week.  It was not pleasant, especially having to take the dishes outside to be washed in the pila (needless to say they piled up).

I had my 25th birthday in Honduras.  I had to sit in some pretty intense meetings all day, but my counterparts at the muni surprised me with a cake and Tropical Banana (which I no longer think is repulsive, although it's still not great, but it's the thought that counts).  I ended up having 4 cakes over 2 days, with lots of good company.  Not a bad way to spend a birthday!

My town is getting a Despensa Familiar grocery store, grand opening next week.  They have been building it the past 2 months in one of the fastest construction jobs I've ever seen.  You know you've got a good PC site when your town has a Despensa.

Finally, today was my first Thanksgiving in Honduras!  I had to work during the day, but luckily I was able to eat dinner with the staff, students, and parents at Georgetown School.  The kids put on a short program and the parents brought the food, which was Thanksgiving classics with a Honduran twist -- chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and ayote (which is a squash similar to pumpkin).

Overall , I'd say things are going well.  I've had to make several trips to Tegus recently, for a VAC meeting, business conference, and medical appointments, so that has shaken things up a bit, and things are only going to get more eventful as the year wraps up.  I did get to spend a few days visiting my original host family, which was wonderful!  As for Thanksgiving, right now I'm most thankful to be free of amoebas, fleas, and various infections, and very thankful to have water again.  Among other things.

You know you're turning into a Catracha when...

You use an umbrella for shade.

You drink Tropical Banana and/or Uva and decide it doesn't taste half bad.

You use the phrase "Gracias a Dios" at least twice a day.

You voluntarily put refried beans on a fried plantain.

You voluntarily put mantequilla on anything.

You hear a reggaeton beat in the background at all times.

You wear sunglasses indoors and/or at night to divert stares from creepy men.

You plan to show up to meetings an hour late.

You aren't phased by women breastfeeding in public.

You aren't phased by gunshots and/or kids shooting off fireworks in the street.

You aren't phased by roosters crowing every hour of the night.

You get upset if a meeting doesn't provide a merienda (snack).

You drink coffee any hour of the day, with at least 3 teaspoons of sugar.

You start carrying hard candies in your purse (under the age of 70).

You sing along to the Black Eyed Peas.

Paranoia

It's always something, right?  I managed to finally rid myself of amoebas, and within a few days found myself fighting an even greater foe... fleas.

Let me explain.  A while back, I was chatting with a former PCV that lives in my site and found out that his cat was about to have kittens.  I miss my cat back in the states, and decided to take one.  So the night I moved into my apartment, I stopped by and brought over the cat.  It was only after I had it settled into my apartment that I noticed it was covered in fleas.

What's sad is that I should've known better... as Kelly and I fought this battle 2 years ago in Oakland.  I'm now going through the laborious process of washing all my clothes (a much more difficult process in Honduras when you don't have hot water or dryers) and organizing a series of fumigations.  In the meantime, I'm getting bit, completely paranoid, and trying to avoid staying in my apartment.  I decided not to keep the cat - probably not a good idea to get attached to a pet I'll abandon in 2 years.   Hopefully the problem will be over soon (fumigation 2 is this week) and I can return to a normal, sane life.

Toro and I spent a total of 2 nights together. :(

Although I've been on the brink of insanity for nearly a month, everything else in my life is going great!  I've been taking lots of little breaks (partly to escape the fleas, of course).  I went to Marcala with some USAID counterparts for a small business expo and met up with some of the volunteers that live there.  It was their town fair, so we got to spend a day eating fried food and candy apples, and even rode the ferris wheel.  It was a well needed break.

Last week I spent the entire week working with Plan (i.e. Plan International), on their new socioeconomic development study.  We went out into villages and met with residents to identify the poorest families in each community.  This was a super interesting experience for me - it is amazing how different "research" looks here in Honduras.  In the US, everyone seeks quantifiable information (surveys, interviews, etc), but here, the accepted method for conducting research is just talking with people.  They hold open meetings with community members in each village, have the groups list all of the heads of household, and then ask them who is richest and who is poorest, and why.  After compiling the "poor" list, they will go back out to collect more information about those specific families.  It will be interesting to see how things progress.

Yesterday morning I went with the aforementioned former PCV to.... a bee yard!  He was a beekeeping volunteer about 20 years ago and still works with bees part-time, and offered to take me and the two bilingual school teachers on a trip to move a couple hives.  We all fully suited up, and it was a pretty intense experience.  I ended up being the only one who didn't get stung, although one got into my veil at the end, which was an adventure.  Check that off my life to-do list!

 

Finally, I got a wonderful surprise in the mail this week - a box of 24 ProMark sticks for the bands that I am working with!  They had been using basically anything made of wood/metal, including pens, and drumsticks are really expensive here.  Humongous thanks to Matt Savage and ProMark for this wonderful donation!!  They will be put to use immediately.

After today, the rest of my October will be very busy.  I'll continue working on the socioeconomic study with Plan, and planning the savings curriculum.  Our town's festival de arroz (rice) is at the end of the month, so I'm planning a couple activities with the students at the colegio, as well as an expo at the feria with some of the groups that I work with.  I also have the next VAC (Volunteer Advisory Council) meeting in Tegucigalpa, where we'll be discussing some recent policy changes.  The meeting is on a Friday, so I'm hoping to visit my old host family that weekend for Andrea Pequeña's 5th birthday.  She was already planning it back in March, so it should be quite the event!  I'm sure the month will be over before I know it.

Día de Independencia, Caos, y Cambio

Oh, the updates!  The past 2 weeks have included Reconnect, a hospital visit, Independence Day, and moving into my new apartment.  So sit back...

Last week we had a volunteer conference called Reconnect, where we got our whole training group plus last year's group together for technical and policy sessions.  Overall I found the whole week exhausting, and a little frustrating because it set my work back - I missed some important meetings and also a week of marching band practice right before the parade.  But it was fun to see some of the people that I hadn't seen since swear-in.

By the 3rd day, I was already beat, but I then had a relapse of my stomach pain and had to make my first trip to Honduran hospital.  I had every test in the book, including urine and stool samples into little solo cups (yes, these samples are done in the little clear plastic cups you might find by a water cooler).  I then got an IV of fluid and pain medication for my stomach cramps, and went back to training feeling like a loopy million bucks.  I'm happy to say that I'm feeling better now, and have hopefully bid these amoebas freaking adieu.

Being sick and having 90 pent-up volunteers in one place for 5 days was a little too much for me, but there was one highlight of the week - our fantasy football draft!  We set up a league with 12 volunteers and had the draft offline in a conference room one evening.  It was my first in-person draft, and it was a ton of fun.  It will also be a fun way for us to keep in touch over the next few months.  Sitting by a computer and trash talking with other volunteers every Sunday will be a nice stress relief, no?

This week I got back to work and helped schools prepare for the parade.  Honduran Independence Day was Thursday (the 15th), and I had an absolute blast!  The town held a preschool-only parade on the 14th (SO cute), and then a huge parade on the 15th.  It was a ton of fun.  I had been helping with the band at Georgetown School, a bilingual school here where we are close friends with the director and teachers.  I spent most of the morning with them and was so proud to watch the girls rock the national anthem in 3 part harmony!

I posted a ton of pictures on Picasa and am happy to send the link to anyone who needs it, just let me know!  There are pictures from practice, the preschool parade, and the main event.

As if a 4 hour parade in the sun wasn't exhausting enough, I also moved into my apartment that day... sort of.  Volunteers in Honduras live with host families for 2 months and then are allowed to find independent housing.  Tricia's host family has a place nextdoor with 2 small apartments (and it's only a block from my host family), so we jumped at the opportunity.  We committed a few months ago but had to wait for the previous occupants to move out, and then for them to finish renovations.  Then between getting sick and going to reconnect, I kept delaying moving in.  I even moved some stuff, set up my kitchen, and bought a bed and a stove, but I couldn't bring myself to officially move.

Of course, the secret behind this delay was that I didn't want to leave my host family.  I love them so much and am really going to miss living with them (as evidenced by the fact that I spent a full 4 months living with them while most volunteers move out after 2).  As I was packing, my host mom surprised me by making me pizza for my despedida.  I was already emotional, but then I looked up at the ¨Bienvenida Andrea¨ banner that had been waiting on the wall for me when I first arrived, and started tearing up.  I couldn’t even remember why I wanted to move out in the first place.

After the final family dinner, they helped me move my things over to the apartment.  I had a really sweet & emotional conversation with my host mom, and I kept saying, ¨it feels like I’m moving back to the US, but I’m only going a block away!¨  She ended up convincing me to stay another night.  My sitemate is out of town for the weekend, and it’s uncommon here for someone to be home alone.  I didn’t want them to worry about me staying alone in the apartments, so I packed a little bag and spent the night in my ¨old¨ empty room.  It felt like a sleepover.

The past two nights I stayed with Esperanza, the bilingual school director, and her family, and we looked at pictures and videos from the parade.  Now, here I am getting settled into my new apartment without having spent a night there.  Only in Honduras...  (Pictures of the apartment to follow eventually.)

Speaking of parade videos, here are more of them!  Might be overkill, but I had so much fun and am so darn proud of the kids...

Georgetown School

 

John F. Kennedy, a public elementary school.

And finally, a private colegio (observe that they're a little more advanced than the elementary kids).