Ya queremos pastel...

Well…I turned 23 in Honduras! After not thinking I would have much of a celebration this year, with only being in site for 2 weeks and not knowing anyone, it turned out to be quite the day! Hondurans love birthdays. I think it’s because they love cake (and any excuse to take a break from work). They found out it was my birthday at IHNFA, so this morning I was told to come in early for a meeting with my counterpart… there was no meeting. They wanted me to come in early, and had me do my English class with the older kids first thing (I was going to do it around 10), and then we had a party! Complete with a piñata (it wouldn’t have been a Honduran party without a piñata) and cake! The kids went nuts- it was adorable. Later in the afternoon, my counterpart at the youth center bought me a cake too.And then, my site mate Kalin made baked mac’n’cheese (my favorite meal from home) for dinner! And cupcakes. And when they sang happy birthday, Bert (other site mate) played his banjo. And later on, I got an uber snuggle from their dog Freckles (pecas). It was a good day! And thank you for all of the emails and facebook birthday wishes, I really appreciate knowing that even though I’m far away, no one’s forgotten me yet!

Oh, and after singing the happy birthday song in Spanish a few times, and going to a few birthday celebrations, I’d like to share with you what they sing at the end of the song, instead of ‘how old are you now, how old are you now…’….
Ya queremos pastel, ya queremos pastel (now we want cake)
Aunque sea un pedacito (even though its a small piece)
Ya queremos pastel (now we want cake)
Y coca-cola también (and coke-a-cola too)
Los viejitos, café (the old people, coffee!)

They like to joke about how i am a viejita because I love coffee so much, but then i remind them that EVERYONE in their country drinks copious amounts of coffee. All the time.

I can’t believe another year has gone by… I remember last year at this time I was just filling out my Peace Corps application! Essays, fingerprints, background checks…. I was just starting the whole process (that, mind you, dragged on until the middle of May). Next year at this time, I will be (hopefully) finishing up one year in site, and then two years from now I should be back in the states, frantically looking for a job. It’s crazy to think ahead like that! I won’t get ahead of myself just yet… we will take it one day, one project at a time.

Work finally seems to be falling into place (sort of). At least, at this point I feel like I have something to do. At IHNFA, all the kids know me and run to greet me when I arrive. They scream my name if they’re outside when I walk by the building. I don’t run into a lot of them just walking around Gracias because most of them come from neighborhoods on the outskirts of the town, but when I do, I feel like a celebrity. And the nanny told me yesterday that she has really seen a significant improvement in some of the kids since I started. The ones that wouldn’t talk nor smile before are full of life when I come. Whether that’s true or not, I’m not sure, but at the very least, it means I’m starting to gain confianza (trust) in the people I work with, which is an essential part of our jobs as volunteers.

My two big projects involving IHNFA (Colgate and TEAM) won’t start until the school year starts fresh (February), so for the time being, I have been working with the nanny doing recreational games during the afternoons. A lot of following directions, gross motor skills, working together kinds of things (sounds simple, but they need reinforcement with all of that). Oh, and when I say “nanny” I don’t mean to be disrespectful, she is more than a nanny, in fact if it weren’t for her (and me) the kids would do absolutely nothing all afternoon but wander around outside unsupervised, but her title is la niñera, which translates to nanny in English.

I am also doing simple English classes with the oldest of the preschool classes once a week. Peace Corps really emphasizes sustainability, and that is how TEAM (teaching English and methodology) was created, to teach teachers how to teach English. Me giving classes directly to the kids is not sustainable, but I agreed for two reasons: to build confidence with the teachers/get to know the kids, AND to show them what its like to teach English. They all want to be a part of the TEAM class but they’re so nervous about it! Having them observe me teaching English I hope will relax them and show them that they too can do it. After each class I sit with them all and give them a mini-lesson of what I just did with the kids (shockingly when I finish it’s time for a recess for all three classes so the teachers are available). I told them I could only do the class for the rest of this school year because after that it will be their turn to do it.

With the youth center, we are working on a campaign about preventing teen (and pre-teen) pregnancy… it’s something they had planned for earlier this year but with the month long strike, it hasn’t happened yet. I’m kind of just along for the ride, seeing how they are going about planning and organizing. I think the end result will be us (casa de la juventud) teaming up with the nursing school, world vision (an NGO), and the local clinic to give charlas (a Spanish word I have yet to find a direct translation for.. like… informative lectures? Speeches?) to high school aged students. I love the idea, and have some good materials to share (101 ways to make love without having sex), I just hope all the talking about planning turns into actually planning at some point in the near future! Oh! And I got my own desk! I wonder how long it will take before it’s all scuffed up with marker stains….


Next week I am scheduled to start giving an English class there as well. My counterpart wanted to get a class together for the people most involved at the center, so they can support others in learning English. A lot of English, I know… I didn’t realize everyone wanted to learn it! I am going to give this class over 2-3 months, until sometime in December. This will give me good practice, too, for when I start the class with the teachers. Although I’m using a different manual, I’ve never taught English before, so I could use a test run!

Cuando se va la luz…. When the light goes out…. People go about their business as normal… the other day, the light went out for the entire day (it was announced beforehand, they were working on something.. I never heard the announcement but people knew it was going to be out all day)… If there were a day like that in the states, I guarantee that schools would be closed, businesses would shut down, and people would run to the grocery store in a panic the night before. But here, everything was open and operating like any other day. I’m beginning to understand that the dependency on power is definitely constructed by society- in a country where many places still don’t have electricity, and those parts that do lose it 3-4 times a week, everyone is accustomed to living without it.

So…. Other than turning 23, eating my weight in cake, and starting to feel like I am actually working, things are pretty tranquilo (chill) here in Gracias. I’m still apartment searching (one more month of host family life). My family’s great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s time. Thanks for the birthday package Mom, Dad, Gina and the Ghost of Bailey!!! Note the cute new sweater!


No one has sent me any pictures of the leaves turning colors. Por favor! If you send them via snail mail, I will put them on my wall (when I move into my own place) and give you credit!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Lisa

First impressions of Gracias

*85% of men who appear over 40 years old wear sombreros/cowboy hats- it’s actually quite charming. They make me smile.

*I feel safe! (So far..) My site mates said they haven’t had any incidents here, and overall there it’s a pretty tranquilo place. People walk around with purses, openly use their cell phones, and there is a café in the middle of the park (with free wifi) that has wide-open windows around it where people nonchalantly use their laptops. Of course I won’t flash my electronics nor freely use my cell phone in public, but its nice to see that no one is gripping onto their backpack for dear life hoping it’s not snatched by the next passing ladron.

*The park. It’s adorable, and in the aforementioned café you can get probably the closest thing to iced coffee you’ll find unless you go to the Dunkins in Teguz- it’s a sort of frozen coffee slush. My heart danced when I bought one the other day. And you can sit on a bench without your heart pounding wondering whether or not that bolo is going to come over and do something weird to you (::cough:: Talanga::cough::). From what I’ve seen, the amount of sketch in Gracias in minimal. For this, I am graciosa.

*Piropos (cat calls and the like) exist here, as they do all over Honduras (or Central America), but I haven’t received any overly aggressive ones yet, and they seem to come from a few select areas in town (mainly by the bus terminal). And, it’s never the sombrero men giving them. Usually men working outside with no shirts, or the ones trying to put you on a bus to San Pedro (to which I always refrain from telling them that never, on my own terms, will I let you put me on a bus headed towards the second most dangerous city in the WORLD).

*Discrepancies. This is a much more developed area (well, not even area, just town I guess) of the country, and with that are more businesses, more people working in offices, and overall a more educated community. At the same time, there is still a strong campesino presence, with people walking with their horses and machetes to and from the campo to work, and women balancing baskets of tortillas, fruit, yucca, and who knows what else on their heads (this impresses me every time). You see more kids going back and forth to school than kids selling things in the street to make some money for their parents, but those kids still exist. A lot of the kids I will be working with at INFAH don't have shoes to wear, but my host siblings go to a private bilingual school.

*We are surrounded by beautiful, majestic mountains- the highest peak in Honduras, Mt. Celaque, overlooks the pueblo. I seem to be the only one taken aback by them when walking down the street, as for everyone else, they are just a part of the backdrop like they always have been. I will probably grow accustomed to them after 2 years, but for now, I’ll let them take my breath just a little bit. Oh, and slightly related to the mountains, the weather here is favorable- hondurenos say its fresco, but it’s really not, when the suns shining, it gets hot, but it’s a bearable hot, not an OMG I’M MELTING hot. For a New England gal, I lucked out climate-wise. My prayers are with my H17 northerners who were sent down south…

*Integration will be substantially harder here, given the size of the town. I am doing my best, saying hello to everyone, following my counterpart so she can introduce me to people, but it will take time. Poco a poco, I am meeting people involved with the Youth Center, but keeping track of their names is another story (I’m already bad with names in English, but in Spanish, I am absolutely AWFUL). Buuuut, it’s comforting to know I have site mates who will be here a while, and they’ve been really welcoming. There’s also a group of teachers from the states teaching at the bilingual school here, so I am hoping to meet some of them as well.

*Work will be tough in the beginning, especially given it’s towards the end of the school year (which affects Youth Development volunteers quite a bit). There are a few things I’d like to do that would be better off starting when the school year starts (English course for teachers, Colgate dental health program, and Yo Merezco, the selfesteem/sex ed class), not to mention I wont have the manuals for any of them until Sandra (YD project director) comes to do the first site check up in 3 months. BUT my counterpart (from the youth center) said after this week of getting to know the organization/people, we can start planning and brainstorming. Vamos a ver. As far as my other counterpart from the INFAH (instituto hondureno de la ninez y familia) center goes, we are in for an interesting experience. She never showed up for our first meeting, but I finally met with her the other day, and I think I am going to have to strongly emphasize that my role as a PCV isn’t to watch the kids in the afternoon when the teachers take off, but rather collaborate with the staff and implement projects with the overarching goal of sustainability. For now I know I am going there tomorrow to make name tags for next week when I get to know the kids. They don’t have much as far as materials go, but there’s a stack of white poster board… so the name tags are going to be snowmen.

I am also beginning my house/apartment hunt! I've never done this before (picking which college dorm I live in doesn't count), so wish me luck!
OH and I have my address, just let me know if you send something so I think to go to the post office and check. I'll post it on the side of my blog, and I sent an email out to some of you, but here it is:
Lisa Lavezzo
Voluntaria del Cuerpo de Paz
Gracias, Lempira
Honduras
America Central
Yup, that's right, no numbers or street names. Welcome to Honduras!
Miss and love you all, take lots of pictures as the leaves start to turn (and send them to me!).

Peace Corps Volunteer!!!

Well... the days of training are long gone... Friday, at about 3:45pm my time, I became an official Peace Corps Volunteer... After spending the day with our counterparts at the training center, we went to the US embassy in Teguz, had a lovely ceremony, and were sworn in as PCVs. From the 57 trainees in our H17 group, all 57 were sworn in! I am so proud of everyone!

It was an emotional day for sure... I am so grateful for all of the love and support from the PC training staff, and everyone in my training group. Ronaldo, our project training specialist (aka training director for youth development) is absolutely fantastic, and it is because of his energy and leadership that I made it this far. Our language facilitators, Jose Luis, Ana Maria, Angelica, and Jota Erre... super-equipo right there. And Youth Development as a whole, thank you so much for everything... even though I am pretty far away from most of you, I came out of training with a whole new support network and I am so glad I met every one of you. COMO ESTAN??????After the ceremony, we went to a restaurant to celebrate/say our goodbyes... Almost everyone was able to come, even Ashely whose appendix exploded the other day and was in the hospital! We got our Youth Development shirts (thanks to all Anna's hard work!!).
It was so nice to get to say hasta luego (not adios) to everyone... it was really hard since we've had each other to lean on for the past three months (and i am more than 8 hours away from some of my favorite people, 12 hours from two of them!), but rest assured, once the next 3 months are up and we're allowed to leave our sites, we will be reunited. It makes me feel better that there are several trainings that will start in January, so as much of a pain as it will be to get myself to Teguz once a month for 5 or 6 months, it's a chance to see some of my favorites and check in!

Yesterday began at 4am when I put the rest of my stuff together, got the bus to Teguz, and met my counterpart and her son (who had come along too) to begin our adventure getting all my stuff (and me) to Gracias, Lempira via public transportation. It was a long day, but we made it here by the afternoon! My counterpart (the one from the Youth Center) was wonderful- she took me on a tour when we got here, and to meet my other counterpart from the infant center, and then she let me stay at her house because my host family wasn't home yet. She made me dinner, and talked to me all day.

I finally made it to my host family's house, which is right down the street from my counterpart's house, and in the same neighborhood as both the youth center and the infant center. They seem nice and tranquilo... my room is set apart in the backyard, and has its own bathroom... there are two dogs, Oso and Blackie, and three kids. I have a 13 year old sister, 15 year old brother, and 23 year old brother whose in Washington DC until December.

I have four site mates! I met three of the four today- they were super nice and welcomed me with open arms, and showed me around a bit. Gracias is a quaint little colonial town (well, big for Honduran standards) with a central park, a mix of cobble stone and dirt roads, with a few mini-super markets, plenty of pulperias, some restaurants, hotels, churches, a castle, and they hot springs are set out of the center a bit, so i haven't seen them yet. Tomorrow I am going to work! Well... I am going to meet my new colleges at both organizations, get an idea of what it is that they do and what they want my support for, and get acquainted with everything. This week will be getting to know everybody and everything, and next week I think we will look ahead and figure out some short term goals for the first three months.

This is all so crazy... I can't believe i'm here! In my site! Where I am a Peace Corps Volunteer... whoa when did that happen??

Christmas Crafts, El Rosario Parade and Site Announcements!!!!!!

WOW what an exciting update this will be!!!!!! But first note that tomorrow is the last day of field based training, we will head out Saturday morning to the capital to get our residency cards and then return to our original host families. I am beyond excited to see Lordes and the fam again! One week of wrap up training and friday afternoon we become Peace Corps Volunteers. The next day, we ship out to site!

BUT FIRST. We had the chance to teach everyone else in training about something we're really good at, or something we like a lot. Naturally, I chose MANUALIDADES DE NAVIDAD! o, Christmas Crafts! I was very excited to celebrate a little bit of the festivities so soon. I made reindeer, penguins, candy canes, stockings, a Christmas tree, an ornament and a hand print wreath! To give you an idea of the other things people shared, I learned a bit of self defense, how to make soy milk, cloud story telling, and the differences between the Catholic and Evangelical churches.

I finished up my story hour with a book about a little elephant that gets lost, and is adopted by a pig couple, and he thinks he is a pig too because they are round like him. Then we colored elephant heads! One of the teachers at the kinder is absolutely lovely, and was so sad I had to leave. She was so sad that she wanted to keep the elephant head model that I had made to remember me by. I was touched to leave it with her.

PARADE! OUR PARADE IN EL ROSARIO! It was our last day of our self directed projects, and we went out with a BAM in El Rosario. The parade included masks, instruments, songs, chants, dance, and snacks! The kids hugged us about 20 times before we left (the teachers did too). They were such a wonderful group to work with!

And finally....... SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!!! Wednesday was the big day! We had an intense powerpoint presentation...... For each site, first we saw a quote from that persons aspiration statement that he/she wrote after accepting their invitation to serve in Honduras. At that point, we couldn't really guess because everyone had pretty much forgotten what they had written. Then what popped up was the site that person was going to. And THAT point, we had a good idea, as we had narrowed down most people to one or two possible sites. And THEN their picture popped up!

I will be spending the next 2 years in Gracias, the capital of the department of Lempira. I was worried about a bigger site, but I am beyond excited. With a pen, i've already added an S to my ankle tattoo to say, Una poca de Gracias (instead of just, una poca de gracia). Its supposedly a quaint little colonial town about an hour from the Mayan ruins in Copan. They say its beautiful, and has hot springs! The climate is more fresco than the rest of the country.. which is PERFECT! Growing up in New England hasn't quite prepared me for a subtropical country. And fresco in no way means frio. I read somewhere that average temps are in the 60s.

I will have a few site mates as well. And I am thrilled about my counterparts... I am assigned to work with an infant center (children under 6) and a youth center. It looks like i've got my work cut out for me, and I am not sure where to begin, but I can't wait! The organizations have asked for things such as parent workshops, recreational activities, collaborating in structured activities for the kids, teaching english to teachers, sex ed/leadership workshops with the older kids in the youth center, reading activities, etc.

Regarding safety and security, ever since I found out I was going to a bigger site (which by the way, in the heart of Gracias there are only about 8,000- the 32,000 constitutes the outlaying aldeas as well) I have been tweaking out a bit. I even made an offer to Juan Carlos, PC-Honduras's safety and security guru, to be my roomate for the next two years in my site. BUT. Gracias a Dios, I read in the site booklet they gave us that there are limited security issues in my area... of course they exist, but it's a fairly safe place. And my host dad said that you never hear of anything bad happening in the department of Lempira on the news. YAY!!!!

I can't believe training is ending so soon... it really went by fast! And I have to say, the H17 Youth Development group is fabulous. It's weird to think we will all be separating next week, but now I have 18 people I can go visit when I need to breathe!

Miss you all, take care!
love, lisa