¡Cheque!

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Honduras!  There´s one in the next town over from where I am living, so I should be able to update and email from time to time.  The boys that are working here are playing a soccer game, and every minute or so my thought process is interrupted by ¨GOOOOAAAAAAL!!¨  Also, the keyboard here is a lot different than in the US, so it´s taking me a long time to type this.

My host family is great... it´s a young couple with a 4-year-old daughter, a puppy named Fiona, and 3 cats.  The daughter is really skeptical of me (or doesn´t understand my poor Spanish), but I´ve learned that she really likes Cartoon Network and doesn´t like milk.  We also have the same name, so she´s Andrea Pequeña.  Fiona isn´t house trained, so she likes to just walk around and poop on the floor, and my host mom cleans it up.  I use the word "mom" loosely since she is only 5 years older than I am.

It´s only day 3 here, but I´ve already had some eventful experiences.  I felt sick within a few hours of landing, which was odd since I hadn´t eaten anything, but I´ve since realized that it was probably altitude sickness (we´re in the mountains).  I didn´t pay it any mind until they were about to give us our immunizations yesterday, and I had a fever.  The nurses were alarmed, and I ended up getting ushered this morning to a clinic in Tegucigalpa to have bloodwork done.  I felt perfectly fine by then, and everything checked out fine, so it was more of a tour of Teguz than anything.  One of the staff drove me there and showed me the embassy and PC office, and the president´s house.  We also passed a 4-car crash where the car in the pack was a pick-up truck with a bed full of beer bottles.

Last night I went with my host family to a fiesta for my host mom´s friend´s birthday.  It was a surprise party complete with a piñata and tons of wild children.  We ate a lot, and danced, and I played tag and rock paper scissors with the kids.

That´s about all I can think of now, and my internet is about to expire!  But things are well, and I should be able to update a decent amount.  As they say here, ¡Cheque!

Staging

I'm officially done with staging and off to Honduras tomorrow morning!  Training is up in the mountains outside of Tegucigalpa, and we've been told that there's no internet access in that village.  It could be a few weeks, but I'll update as soon as I get a chance.

There are 53 of us in the training class, and all the volunteers are in business development, health / HIV, or water sanitation programs.  We did some icebreakers and overview training today, and it was fun to meet everyone, but we were all exhausted from our flights.  I'm sure I'll be getting to know everyone very well over the next 3 months!!  So excited to start the journey!

The time I almost missed my flight to Peace Corps

I am in Atlanta at staging!  Since this might be my last good internet for a long while, I am trying to use it as much as possible. 

This morning was a little harrowing.  My flight out of Detroit was at 6am, so we left for the airport a little after 4.  My aunt dropped me off, and I stood in the check-in line for a few minutes before realizing things were a little too light.  I'd left my backpack -- with laptop, electronics, and PC paperwork -- in the car.  This was terrible because (a) I didn't have my cell phone with me, and (b) the notebook where I'd written down everyone's phone numbers was in the bag.

I ran around the airport borrowing random people's phones and calling the only number I had memorized... my parents'.  After about 5 tries, they picked up, called my aunt, and she drove back with my bag.  By this point, it was about 45 minutes before my flight.

Because of the snowstorm in MI this weekend, the security line was out of control.  I waited mid-panic in the TSA line and WOULD have made it through about 15 minutes before my flight, but my bag went off.  They searched me, searched all my bags, took everything out, and then sent me back through screening (which took another 10 minutes).  Turns out, there was condensation on the inside of my water bottle.  When I went through TSA in Raleigh we were chatting and making jokes, but apparently Detroit means business.  Thank goodness they caught me and my condensation... who knows how many people I would have put in danger!

I'm pretty sure a couple things are missing from my bag, but I didn't have time to check as I ran to the gate just before they closed the door.

Now, here I am!  Sleep deprived, but glad to be here.

Cold Wind Blows

I invented a term this weekend:

Michigan Bag – The extra suitcase that you have to take when you decide to stop over in Michigan (in February) on your way to a warm climate.

The valuable lesson learned: Never go somewhere frigidly cold immediately before moving to a tropical country.  I packed up my 2 suitcases with things for Honduras, but then had to add on  a ton of crap for MI – coat, sweaters, scarf, boots, etc.  It takes up an entirely separate duffel.  It’s ridiculous that 4 days worth of winter clothes takes up almost as much space as 2+ years of summer clothes, but I won’t get into that.

The plus of this is that I am bringing less to Honduras, because I had to use up my carry on with my Michigan Bag… which I can then leave behind.  However, the real joke is on me, because it’s fricken freezing outside, and here I am.  We're about to get a wintry mix.  I’m driving around a rental Nissan Sentra, which isn’t exactly rugged but certainly better equipped than The Bomb (bless its heart), the 1990s Oldsmobile that I drove in the snow last time I was here.

You would think they’d be renting out Fords in Detroit, but whatever.

Also, one year ago today I was at the Olympics!!  Crazy how time works.

Raise Up!

I am back in North Carolina after an eventful cross-country drive.  I must say, I was very happy and proud to get back to NC after driving through the deep south.  Overall, the trip went very smoothly, and I am so grateful to everyone I visited along the way!

Here's a map of the route I took:

The one thing about driving by myself for most of the way was that there was no one else there when really strange things would happen.  I found myself wishing that I had a smart phone with Twitter so I could post snide comments when I passed stuff on the highway.  And if I had, they would have included:

- In California: "State Prison, do not pick up hitchhikers" followed immediately by "Rest Area"

- In New Mexico: "Mexico, next exit"

- The Cows & Wows Farm Museum

- In Arizona: "Live Cactus, Clean Restrooms"

- Giant billboard: "The Real Solution: JESUS"

- "Inmates work crew next 5 miles"

- In Texas: "Rattlesnake Stuff, next exit"

- My personal fav: "Mexico Imports, Dealers Needed"

- Having to pass a tractor on a 2-lane highway

- A car in Alabama with about 10 US Army stickers and a license plate that said "follow me to Hooters"

- A semi truck in Alabama with a Bible verse printed on the side

- In South Carolina: "Peaches & Cream / Pressed Peaches / Peach Butter"

Also, I got really excited when I passed a car with UNC stickers, until I remembered that I was in North Carolina, not California, and it's...you know... fairly common to see Carolina stuff here.

I put pictures from the trip up on Picasa and also added to my signs album.  It's all at picasaweb.google.com/andreasorce.  I'm now stuck with the task of unpacking my car and then packing for Honduras.  I fly to Detroit on Saturday and officially ship out next Thursday.  It is sneaking up!

Out with the old, in with the new?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about finding that balance between going to new places and going back to places that you’ve already been.  I’ve always thought that there’s so much of the world that I haven’t seen, that I need to be spending my time seeking new experiences and living in lots of different places (be it other countries or parts of the US).  But then with each place, you develop connections that make it sad to leave, so there is definitely something to be said for going back and revisiting.

I bring this up because in the past year I’ve gone back to two places that I’ve lived in the past – first to Bangkok last March, and now to New Orleans as part of my road trip.  I remember even just getting off the plane in Thailand and seeing the airport – the flags and pictures of the king – made me so happy.  I felt like I was home.  And everything I did in Thailand brought back the most amazing memories.

Now, I’m back in NOLA after over 3 and a half years (WOW!).  Even just driving in, I was so excited about every little thing. I’m sure Juliana (who is joining me from Austin for this part of the journey) can attest that I’ve been kind of ridiculous, getting excited about the stupidest stuff, or suddenly remembering things that I’d completely forgotten.  It doesn’t have to be triggered by some big majestic place.  It can be something as simple as seeing a sky train map in Bangkok or passing Langenstein’s grocery store.

We’re staying with the family that I lived with while I was here, and it is so wonderful to see them!  We spent most of yesterday slogging through the swampland of western Louisiana, but we did have time to drive over to Tipitina’s, which is a sort of iconic venue in this area (I’d been several times before to see brass bands), and saw a band called Papa Grows Funk (who I’d also seen before).  Today the plan is to take the streetcar downtown to the French Quarter and explore and find some jazz.  The streetcar wasn’t running last time I was here, so I’m very excited.  Sunday is the marathon, and even though we decided not to run it, it’s going right through the neighborhood so we will at least check it out.

I think the joy from going back to somewhere you love is something you can’t necessarily get from going somewhere new.   If for no other reason than the flood of memories.  Living in NOLA was such an intense combination of happiness and stress that it kind of took going back for me to remember all of that.  I know I’ll have the same feeling when I inevitably go back to California, and hopefully I’ll find a new connection with Honduras.  But how many “homes” can I have?  At what point will I lose those memories of the old places?  And should I make it more of a priority to go back, balancing it with that go-go-go attitude of seeing other parts of the country and world?

My 10 favorite things in the Bay Area

Sadly, today was my last day in the bay.  I'm so excited to start the journey, but as my friends here know, I've been more than a little sappy about leaving.  I find myself saying things like, "this is the last time I'm going to do xyz or see xyz!"  It got so bad that last night I thought, "this is the last time I'll do laundry in California!"  Even as I was thinking it, I knew it was ridiculous.

In honor of my last day, here are my 10 favorite things (that I can think of at the moment) about this lovely place I've called home for almost 2 years:

1) Redwood Regional Park -- I might go so far as to call this my favorite place in California.  It's sort of a secret gem in Oakland, off the tourist path, and one of my favorite places to run or hike.

2) Thai Buddhist Temple in Berkeley, Wat Mongkolratanaram -- They have a brunch every Sunday that is so amazing it makes me feel like I'm back in Thailand... except with a bunch of hipsters and Berkeley students.

3) Lake Merritt -- I lived near the lake for almost all of my time here and ran around it so many times.  This is another gorgeous gem of Oakland, full of interesting characters and sights (I'll especially miss frizzy-haired tai chi man...)

4) $2 A's tickets on Wednesdays -- The benefit of having a crappy team is getting into a baseball game for really cheap.

5) Flavors of India -- Kelly and I got take-out from this place so often that they knew us from our phone numbers.

6) Treasure Island -- I always passed this while driving across the Bay Bridge (it's halfway between Oakland and SF), and finally got curious enough one day that I got off at the exit.  Low and behold, it has the most amazing view of the city ever.  I love it.

7) Opera at the Ballpark -- Every fall, they broadcast a live feed of the SF Opera on the big screen at AT&T Park.  It's completely free, and if you get there early you can bring a blanket and picnic in the outfield.  I can actually say that I sat on the field the year the Giants won the World Series!

8) Berkeley Bowl -- This is possibly the greatest grocery store ever.  I almost passed out the first time I bought produce here and saw how cheap it was.

9) Tightwad Hill -- Right behind Cal Memorial Stadium, there is a hill that you can sit on and see the games for free.  It attracts really interesting people and is more fun than actually going to the game.

10) Arizmendi Bakery -- We affectionately called it "Communist Pizza."  It's a worker-owned cooperative that makes a different kind of pizza every day, including onion-free pizza every Tuesday.  I'm planning to make it my last stop before I leave Oakland tomorrow (gotta have pizza for the road).