I have officially finished my first week in site, and man am I exhausted! The week basically consisted of me being dragged tons of places and meeting tons of people. I've also had 2 sick days... one with a head cold, and today with food posioning, but we won't get into that.
Monday the colegio (high school) had a welcome event for us with the music class. They sang both the Honduran and US national anthems, as well as ¨that's what friends are for.¨ My sitemate and I both had to give speeches, and it ended up getting out that we were both musicians. By the end of the morning, we had joined the staff chorus, agreed to perform a duet for the Dia de Estudiante celebration, and played piano on the spot while a teacher videotaped.
The municipality informed me that my first day of work would be out in the aldeas (i.e. the middle of nowhere) administering wat/san evaluations. So I got up early on Tuesday morning and rode up to the top of a mountain. I was developing a head cold, so we stopped for ¨special tea¨ before splitting up into pairs. I trudged through the mountains with a campesino, visiting each house and filling out a questionnaire about the sanitation system and latrines. Hence, my day as a wat/san volunteer.
I was supposed to go back out Wednesday, but my cold was worse and I wasn't up for trudging through the campo for 10 hours. I slept most of the day, and just when I was getting comfortable, my sitemate and I were whisked off to the local TV station for a 30 minute live interview. One thing I've learned in Honduras is that people love to plan things for you, but they never tell you until the last minute.
This interview was quite possibly the most awkwardly entertaining and embarrassing 30 minutes of my life. The show was... modestly produced, and included us sitting at a desk in front of a camcorder, with a monitor down below. I found myself looking at the monitor a lot, which meant that on the actual camera I pretty much looked like an idiot. They interviewed us and played the video from our welcome ceremony, and then closed with the video of each of us playing the piano. Que desastre...
At first, I thought, ¨what's the harm... I bet no one saw it,¨ but just about everyone I've met since has brought it up.
Thursday, we had the health fair at the colegio, where I worked the ¨brushing your teeth¨ charla, passing out toothpaste and toothbrushes to the kids, most of whom had seen me on TV the night before and wanted to talk about it. It ended up being a lot of fun. We met a few guys from the NGO World Vision, who invited us to a training on Friday at the balneario. We got to relax and observe the training, and also swam with the kids and played games in the pouring rain. Not a bad way to end the week!
This weekend was great, pre-food-poisoning. I spent some time with the bilingual school director here and some of the American teachers. Saturday morning I walked all around town, stopped by the market, and took a bunch of pictures. Then, my sitemate and I went to Siguatepeque with her counterpart and got to see the supermercado that we'll be shopping at for the next 2 years. I was supposed to go to the lake yesterday with a group of teachers and volunteers, but alas, my stomach would not allow it. Sad.
Overall, I'd say I'm still getting settled in and trying to get a feel for what my work will be. My first project will probably be making a website for the town, which several different people have asked me about. I am also looking to start a girls soccer team at the colegio, because the girls are really interested and there's currently nothing available. We are also starting an exercise group for women... tonight! Hopefully I will feel well enough to go.
I'm also very excited to get more involved with my NGO, Plan International. They are about to start a brand new socioeconomic development project in Intibuca, so I will get to see the entire project from start to finish. Hoepfully I can spend the next month learning more about the project so I'll be ready when it kicks off in July.
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