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).

 

Perdida

It's hard to believe I've been in Honduras over 6 months!  Time has really been flying, especially recently.

I just got back to site after a longer-than-planned vacation out west.  I went for the weekend, but ended up getting another bout of amoebas and had to stay longer (trust me, you do NOT want to take a bus down a bumpy dirt road when you have a stomach parasite!).  I was in touch with my host family, but I didn't communicate at all with my work partners and missed a whole week of work.  I was surprised (and perhaps a little offended) that no one called me to check in, but when I got back to work on Monday I had the following conversation with nearly every one of my coworkers.

Counterpart: ANDREA!!!  YOU ARE HERE!  YOU ARE ALIVE!

Me: Yes, I am here!  Sorry I haven't been in touch, I got sick with amoebas again.

Counterpart: SICK!  We thought we had lost you!

Me: Lost?  That's ridiculous.  I'm right here.

Counterpart: What a relief!  I was sure you were gone.  I searched and searched for you, went all over Honduras, and asked the police.  And when I didn't find you I figured you had gone back to the states!

Me: Why didn't you call me to check in?

Counterpart: I was supposed to call you?

It's funny, I talked to several PC volunteers before I left and they all mentioned how hard it is to convey experiences to people back in the states.  And it's true.  This above conversation, while completely normal for volunteers, probably sounds ridiculous to someone outside of Peace Corps.  The reality is that whenever we leave town, people assume we've gone off to travel (pasear) and that we might not come back.  Yet no one calls us to check in, which would easily solve the confusion.

It's hard to describe some of my experiences on this blog because I have to include so much context, and I worry that it will be confusing for someone outside of Honduras to interpret.  For example, if I were to complain on here about how my counterparts never call me to tell me about meetings (or to check in when I don't show up to work for a week), you might think they are just bad counterparts or that they don't like me.  But that isn't the case.  I have amazing counterparts... the communication problems are just a cultural obstacle that all volunteers face.

Another example is that it's normal in Honduras to go to meetings an hour or more late.  If the meeting starts at 9, get there around 10 and you'll be on time.  One day I arrived at 8:45 for an 8:00 meeting and my counterpart said to me, ¨you need to get used to Honduran time, but I guess we can start early.¨  (For those of you that read that and think, ¨how perfect for Andrea, Queen of Lateness,¨ I assure you that even my normal tardiness pales in comparison to the cultural norm here.)  It's also common to cancel or reschedule meetings or events without notifying anyone.

What this more generally means is that we have to put in a lot of effort to integrate into our work environments, and while our work is appreciated, we often don't get the same level of communication and accountability from our Honduran counterparts.  There is a lot of initiative required to be a successful volunteer.  Volunteers that don't take that initiative tend to have less work, and may eventually become viewed by their communities as ¨Cuerpo de Paseo¨ (a pun on Cuerpo de Paz that basically equates us with tourists).

So if you disappear for a week like I did, your coworkers will assume you have lost interest or are off traveling until you take the initiative to get back in touch with them.  And when you do, they are surprised.  I am glad to report now that I am no longer ¨perdida¨ (lost), and that everyone in my community knows that I am alive. 

I'll close with a few new pictures.

My first complete homemade plato tipico: beans, egg, cheese, fried plantains, avocado, and tortillas.  Yum! 

Our first General Assembly meeting for CAMACO....



... I was seated at the mesa principal with the president (speaking) and mayor...

... and at the end received a diploma for my work (diplomas are big here).

Last night Tricia and I made penang curry with tofu and brown rice, and it was amazing!

La Banda

As most of you know, I am working with my municipality's band in hopeful preparation for our Independence Day parade on September 15.  This has been a process.  Here are my observations thus far.

Andrea's 10 Laws of Honduran Marching Bands:

1) The instrumentation of the band depends on the instruments available.  The number of students in the band also depends on the number of instruments available.

2) The instruments shall never be tuned.

3) If it is remotely long and slender and made of wood, metal, or plastic, it is an acceptable drumstick.

4) If you don't know how to play the instrument, just play random notes as loudly as possible.

5) Do not... I repeat, do NOT... give the big tall dopey-looking kid a low brass instrument (see law 4).

6) Don't play the trombone.  The slide will stick.  Hondurans fry everything in a vat of oil, but there's not a drop of slide oil to be found.

7) Any drum can be made into a marching drum by simply attaching a belt to it.

8) It is impossible to expain anything band-related in a 2nd language (for example, how to get a sound out of a clarinet).

9) Even if you can explain it in Spanish, don't bother trying to teach kids the clarinet.  If they manage to produce a sound, it will be inaudible in the cacophony (see law 5).

10) Have fun.  Wear earplugs.

Lo bueno

I've been informed that my last post seemed a little dark, so I want to assure everyone that things are great here, just wanted to switch things up a bit with some sarcasm.  It has been pouring here for about 3 days (welcome to rainy season in Honduras), so I'm a tad bored and eager to be able to go outside again without risk of a wipeout on the muddy road.

Plenty of exciting things have happened lately.  For example, my network of cajas (CAMACO) was just given a new office and computer, and my counterpart has been completely through the roof ever since.  He has been so giddy that he and some of the guys at the municipality are talking about taking me on a trip to see ¨all the nice parts of Honduras.¨  Not sure what that means.

Yesterday a couple of coworkers took me and Tricia to a town in Comayagua to pick up furniture from a departing volunteer.  We'll be moving into our apartments soon, so we're trying to get as much stuff as possible from other volunteers (table, chairs, pots/pans, appliances, etc).  We ended up taking back the volunteer's guitar, and had a singalong in the car on the way back - with the two songs that we had learned for the colegio chorus.  Too funny...

My town is building a new mall, and the two stores in front are the two major phone companies here, Tigo and Claro.  They've been in a marketing war for about a week now, blasting reggaeton, passing out promotional ads, and using large ballons and windsocks to attract people.  It's been entertaining.

The ex-president of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, also paraded through town a couple weekends ago, which caused quite a buzz.  Google him if you want the backstory.

I started working with an NGO called FIPAH last week - they are the ones that collaborate with the UNC/Nourish volunteers.  They took me to a small town to meet with a group of girls that just started a coffee cooperative.  I'm going to be giving them some business trainings, and we also played soccer for about an hour before it started to rain and I crapped out (everyone else kept playing).  Very authentic PC experience.

I'm also going to be collaborating with a new USAID project called ACCESO that is being implemented in the western part of Honduras.  Basically I'm going to be facilitating communication between all of the local governments and aid organizations that work with small businesses (mostly in agriculture), and help them enroll in this program.  I'll also probably help schedule and give trainings.  Have a look if you'd like!  http://www.usaid-acceso.org/

Saludos

Dear taxi drivers in Teguz,
I just got out of a taxi. I don't want another taxi.  If I did, I would not be getting out of this one.  Stop bombarding me.

Dear Rooster,
SHUT UP.  For the love of god.  It is 2am.

Dear host family,
French fries are not the same food group as sandwich bread.  When I have amoebic dysentery and ask for pan sandwich, please do not bring me papas fritas.

Dear dog shrouded in fleas,
I pity you, but get away from me.  You are probably covered in excrement.

Dear kid on bicycle,
Are you trying to swerve and kill me?  Because I'm trying to get out of your way.

Dear construction workers who piropo (cat call) me as I walk by,
You are lucky my Spanish isn't good enough to give you a piece of my mind.  Lucky.

Dear Hondurans,
You put a pound of sugar on all of your food, yet put salt on fruit?  It doesn't make sense.

Dear Rat,
You are dead to me for eating my chocolate.  I hope it kills you and you rot in rat hell.

Dear whoever drives down my street at 5am blasting reggaeton over a megaphone,
Seriously?  I mean, really.  SERIOUSLY?

Dear cows,
You are large and slow.  Get out from in front of our car.

Dear mutton-chopped, afroed, mustached campesino in oversized camo shirt, rain boots, sombrero, and tassled machete sheath,
You are awesome.  The world needs more of you.