The other day another PCT and I were chatting about how fast time has flown by...and how much our perspectives of time have changed since we got here. In the scope of two years, the last 6 weeks are hardly a dent... but so much as happened and changed in the span of this last month. Its amazing.
Everything is going very well. We have been assigned our projects for the Avanzada spanish class, and, it turns out that myself and another trainee will be spending about 4 days a week of the next three works working in a Casa Materna associated with the hospital in La Paz. We went and introduced ourselves last week and this Tuesday went to a meeting with the committee in charge of the house and it´s finances. The Casa is a place for pregnant women to come live for the weeks before they give birth. Its similar to the place I visited a few weeks ago on my volunteer visit. Anyway, Sarah and I are both VERY excited about working there. On monday we are going back to give a chat about Family Planning. It´s going to be great :) On that note, if anyone has some health education material in electronic form (hint hint PCC friends!) I would be forever grateful for any emailed info...or packages! Also, Sarah and I are going to be attending the finance meetings regularly and hopefully helping out with their fundraising. This is important as the Casa gets no money from the hospital itself, it is all from private donations and fundraising. Sarah and I have both been really vocal about our desire to work with Maternal and Child health aspect of our program, so it is really exciting to have this mini-project where we actually get to be involved with and speaking to preganant women.
All is well in Yarumela, we are bonding and having fun...and I think my spanish is even improving.
Oh also, an update on Harry the spider from my room...yesterday I was trying to find a receipt that fell off my nightstand so I pulled out a drawer and out popped Harry. Apparently that is where he lives now. EW. I put the drawer back in and ran away....maybe I´ll deal with it later.
:)
That´s all for now,
Write me letters, send me emails...
I miss everyone
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Finally Some Photos!
Well, I don´t have much time to write, because it took me a loong time to upload these pictures. BUT I figure that I should include some brief discriptions! Pictures 1 and 2 are from a hike we took while in Santa Lucia, a group of us climbed up a nearby mountain, and had an amazing view of the valley from the top!
Pictures 3 and 4 and from our trip yesterday into Comayagua. The eight of us who live in Yarumela took a bus (owned by one of the trainees families) into the city to see their Semana Santa (holy week) celebrations. They have a very famous tradition of making carpets on the roads out of colored saw dust. They are incredibly elaborate and very beautiful (see pic 4). After they are done, a procession comes through and marches over them recreating all the stations of the cross. Its really interesting and pretty.
Next, picture 5 is of one of our daily trips in a Peace Corps vehicle to/from Yarumela...not sure when, but I thought it was cute. Picture 6 is from Comayagua again, after the procession went through. Picture 7 is from the top of some pre-mayan ruins where we went a few days ago. And the last picture is of me really really happy eating Pizza Hut yesterday after the procession. It was an awesome day. I dont have time to write more, but if you want to read more about the events for Semana Santa just google Comayagua Alfombras and you should find all kinds of info and pictures.
Hope people are holding up in the snow! Last week, it hit 97 here..... :)
Monday, March 17, 2008
Yarumela
Again, I am sorry for being a neglectful blog poster...but the negligence has not been entirely my fault. I live in a little area outside La Paz called Yarumela, there is no internet there..so this is the first chance I have had since the move to tell everyone how I have been.
The move went fine, my host family in Santa Lucia let me leave one of my big suitcases there with all my sweaters and extra stuff in it, so I didnt have to haul as much here to La Paz. We arrived last Sunday night and I met my new host family. They are wonderful and take very good care of me. Yesterday, they even took me on a family picnic to a pool. It was great.
I technically live with my host mother, father, sister and cousin. But, my host mom has like 6 daughters, so things can get busy at our house! My host ¨siblings¨are all much older than me, as my host mom is about 75. Occansionally, when the whole big group is together, I just sit and smile because the sisters´interactions remind me very much of my aunts in the states! Some things are just true across all cultures :) The picnic on Sunday with them was great, they are very fun and were feeding me as much as possible. They keep telling me that when I leave my stomach ¨won´t be so nice and flat.... I tell them that this is ok, because all the food is so good! My tortilla intake has increased exponentially in the last month. ha.
Over the weekend, I also went into a nearby city called Comayagua. My host sister (aunt) took me on saturday and we went to a supermarket (that had all kinds of exciting things) and ate in the main Plaza. After lunch, on our way out of town, we (coincidentally) ran into some other PC people and ended up spending the rest of the day in the city with them. We walked around all afternoon and went shopping. (for Sara L and Jessy P; I bought a bootleg version of Enchanted! Ill let you know when I watch it. hehehe). It was a very nice, very hot, day.
Training also continues to go well. We have gotten a number of presentations from current Volunteers, which is really nice. It is fun to hear from people who are actually applying the things we are trying to learn. Language is also going well, today we had our second interview to see if we are improving at all. He told me that I definitely won´t go down a level. Phew. :)
Also, I have pigs at my house. My mom takes care of three giant swine things in our backyard. In addition, I have a giant pet spider in my room. Actually, its not a pet, because if I find it, I will be squishing it as fast as possible with a nearby shoe. Although, when I say big, I mean about the size of the palm of my hand....so maybe I need a large boot to really get the job done.
I called my (real) dad the other night in a traumatized fit because I had discovered the nasty little sucker, but he scampered away when I tried to kill him.... He is still MIA...and I occasionally wake up at night with a jerk, thinking he is crawling on the bed preparing to attack me. (I think the malaria meds are doing a number of my imagination/dreams).
Anyway, aside from my hairy little friend, everthing is going just great. If anyone wants to write me a letter (hint hint) my address is still the same as in the previous posts. Letters get delivered to us from the capital every week or so.
Hope everyone is having a great Saint Patty´s Day! I am sad to be missing the magic of the green Chicago River... :( Love to everyone!
Happy (belated) birthday mom!!!
The move went fine, my host family in Santa Lucia let me leave one of my big suitcases there with all my sweaters and extra stuff in it, so I didnt have to haul as much here to La Paz. We arrived last Sunday night and I met my new host family. They are wonderful and take very good care of me. Yesterday, they even took me on a family picnic to a pool. It was great.
I technically live with my host mother, father, sister and cousin. But, my host mom has like 6 daughters, so things can get busy at our house! My host ¨siblings¨are all much older than me, as my host mom is about 75. Occansionally, when the whole big group is together, I just sit and smile because the sisters´interactions remind me very much of my aunts in the states! Some things are just true across all cultures :) The picnic on Sunday with them was great, they are very fun and were feeding me as much as possible. They keep telling me that when I leave my stomach ¨won´t be so nice and flat.... I tell them that this is ok, because all the food is so good! My tortilla intake has increased exponentially in the last month. ha.
Over the weekend, I also went into a nearby city called Comayagua. My host sister (aunt) took me on saturday and we went to a supermarket (that had all kinds of exciting things) and ate in the main Plaza. After lunch, on our way out of town, we (coincidentally) ran into some other PC people and ended up spending the rest of the day in the city with them. We walked around all afternoon and went shopping. (for Sara L and Jessy P; I bought a bootleg version of Enchanted! Ill let you know when I watch it. hehehe). It was a very nice, very hot, day.
Training also continues to go well. We have gotten a number of presentations from current Volunteers, which is really nice. It is fun to hear from people who are actually applying the things we are trying to learn. Language is also going well, today we had our second interview to see if we are improving at all. He told me that I definitely won´t go down a level. Phew. :)
Also, I have pigs at my house. My mom takes care of three giant swine things in our backyard. In addition, I have a giant pet spider in my room. Actually, its not a pet, because if I find it, I will be squishing it as fast as possible with a nearby shoe. Although, when I say big, I mean about the size of the palm of my hand....so maybe I need a large boot to really get the job done.
I called my (real) dad the other night in a traumatized fit because I had discovered the nasty little sucker, but he scampered away when I tried to kill him.... He is still MIA...and I occasionally wake up at night with a jerk, thinking he is crawling on the bed preparing to attack me. (I think the malaria meds are doing a number of my imagination/dreams).
Anyway, aside from my hairy little friend, everthing is going just great. If anyone wants to write me a letter (hint hint) my address is still the same as in the previous posts. Letters get delivered to us from the capital every week or so.
Hope everyone is having a great Saint Patty´s Day! I am sad to be missing the magic of the green Chicago River... :( Love to everyone!
Happy (belated) birthday mom!!!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Phase 2
Yesterday, I talked to my (real) mom on the phone and she told me to stop neglecting my blog. Sorry mom! The days seem to be flying by here and I find it surprisingly difficult to write emails, letters and blog posts. But, I will try and do a little catching up today. I have lots of things I could talk about...so here is some of the top news from my life right now...
1. Tomorrow we begin the next phase of our training, called Field Based Training. Our group will get split up by project, and each smaller group will be heading to a different city to spend 6 weeks getting more technical training. My group, health, is headed to La Paz. From what I have heard, it´s a nice city...but very warm...so I will be leaving all my sweatshirts here in Santa Lucia!
2. Last weekend all the trainees got sent to visit actual volunteers who are in the field, working. I was in a city called La Esperanza, it was really fun to get to meet other volunteers and see what life is like when you are finally out in the communities, and have more control over your own life! During the visit I got to help translate for a medical brigaide who came down to the area. It was interesting, albeit a little odd... but definitely a great chance to practice my medical spanish. The volunteer I was visiting also took me with her to a kind of shelter/bunker thingy attached to the local hospital where pregnant mommies come for the last few weeks or days before the give birth. She chatted about breast feeding, nutrition and family planning...and it was great to be there with her. I love pregnant ladies, and the more I think about it, the more I hope this is the area where I will be able to work about focus during my service.
3. Doing laundry is hard. I learned how to wash it by hand at my host family´s house. My host mom likes to watch me do it and laugh at my poor technique. There was also a similar situation the other night when she taught me how to make corn tortillas. She kept laughing because mine just didnt seem to be forming into nice little appetizing circles...but Im getting the hang of it! My host mom is very nice and patient with teaching me how to do things that come very easily to her. My whole family is very nice and try to make me feel at home...
host family #1 has set the bar pretty high... so we´ll see how it goes for the next six weeks with a new family... :)
4. I got a cell phone!!! The number (calling from the US) is 011-504-9660-9194. Calls and texts are always welcome!
I think that is a pretty good summary of the last week or so. I have still managed to avoid getting sick...knock on wood... which makes life much happier and easier! haha
I will try and be a better blogger when we are on FBT. Wish me luck with the move, and the new host family!
Much love
PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1. Tomorrow we begin the next phase of our training, called Field Based Training. Our group will get split up by project, and each smaller group will be heading to a different city to spend 6 weeks getting more technical training. My group, health, is headed to La Paz. From what I have heard, it´s a nice city...but very warm...so I will be leaving all my sweatshirts here in Santa Lucia!
2. Last weekend all the trainees got sent to visit actual volunteers who are in the field, working. I was in a city called La Esperanza, it was really fun to get to meet other volunteers and see what life is like when you are finally out in the communities, and have more control over your own life! During the visit I got to help translate for a medical brigaide who came down to the area. It was interesting, albeit a little odd... but definitely a great chance to practice my medical spanish. The volunteer I was visiting also took me with her to a kind of shelter/bunker thingy attached to the local hospital where pregnant mommies come for the last few weeks or days before the give birth. She chatted about breast feeding, nutrition and family planning...and it was great to be there with her. I love pregnant ladies, and the more I think about it, the more I hope this is the area where I will be able to work about focus during my service.
3. Doing laundry is hard. I learned how to wash it by hand at my host family´s house. My host mom likes to watch me do it and laugh at my poor technique. There was also a similar situation the other night when she taught me how to make corn tortillas. She kept laughing because mine just didnt seem to be forming into nice little appetizing circles...but Im getting the hang of it! My host mom is very nice and patient with teaching me how to do things that come very easily to her. My whole family is very nice and try to make me feel at home...
host family #1 has set the bar pretty high... so we´ll see how it goes for the next six weeks with a new family... :)
4. I got a cell phone!!! The number (calling from the US) is 011-504-9660-9194. Calls and texts are always welcome!
I think that is a pretty good summary of the last week or so. I have still managed to avoid getting sick...knock on wood... which makes life much happier and easier! haha
I will try and be a better blogger when we are on FBT. Wish me luck with the move, and the new host family!
Much love
PS. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Spanish overload!
The time has come for another Blog post. This last week has flown by incredibly fast, I actually didn´t believe my host mom last night when she told me that today was going to be thursday....turned out she was right! This week we got situated in our language classes, I´m pretty happy with my placement, although it requires alot of independent researching and homework. Our class has to present on a topic to the other classes; just the thought of this is stressing me out. If only I could give a discussion about Diabetes in spanish, that I remember how to do. Sometimes I feel like I know what I´m doing, and lots of times I want to hide under the table...but all the time I am learning!
Life in general is pretty busy and sticks to a schedule... 6:20am wake up, shower (speedily!), get dressed, eat breakfast (usually some corn flakes and fresh melon, with a nice cup of strong coffee). I leave home around 7:15 to walk up some hills to get to our training center. The hills are steep, but I can´t complain as some of the trainees have a good 30 minute up-hill walk. The mornings are filled with either language classes or technical training. Today was language, lots of talking...stopping...being corrected and starting over again. My host mom brings me my lunch in a thermos at 11:30 every day, it usual includes some rice, tortillas, chicken and some fruit. We all eat together, and have even taken to playing some volleyball during our break (hooray!). Afternoons are more training, sometimes about terrifying diseases we might get, or how likely it is that we will be robbed...today we talked about what the next few weeks will involve as Health volunteers. We get out of training everyday around 4:30 and I wander home, sometimes stopping to get a cup of coffee at El Pueblo Cafe that overlooks the mountains in the distance...or sometimes I go home and collapse on my bed for awhile. Homework time ensues...and bedtime comes around 9:30... sometimes I stretch it to 10 if I´m feeling ambitious.
As you might notice, I have a well established schedule revolving around sleeping, eating and training. The people in our families, at the training center and in Santa Lucia in general have all been wonderful and I know they have put alot of time into making sure our life here flows as well as possible. It´s pretty amazing what kind of effort has gone into helping us feel at home and welcome.
I hope this post has given you all at home a glimpse of my life right now, it´s busy, and I love it.
I am also a little sunburned, which makes me incredibly happy when I think about the cold in chicago and the snow in michigan.
thanks to everyone for the emails...keep them coming!!
Life in general is pretty busy and sticks to a schedule... 6:20am wake up, shower (speedily!), get dressed, eat breakfast (usually some corn flakes and fresh melon, with a nice cup of strong coffee). I leave home around 7:15 to walk up some hills to get to our training center. The hills are steep, but I can´t complain as some of the trainees have a good 30 minute up-hill walk. The mornings are filled with either language classes or technical training. Today was language, lots of talking...stopping...being corrected and starting over again. My host mom brings me my lunch in a thermos at 11:30 every day, it usual includes some rice, tortillas, chicken and some fruit. We all eat together, and have even taken to playing some volleyball during our break (hooray!). Afternoons are more training, sometimes about terrifying diseases we might get, or how likely it is that we will be robbed...today we talked about what the next few weeks will involve as Health volunteers. We get out of training everyday around 4:30 and I wander home, sometimes stopping to get a cup of coffee at El Pueblo Cafe that overlooks the mountains in the distance...or sometimes I go home and collapse on my bed for awhile. Homework time ensues...and bedtime comes around 9:30... sometimes I stretch it to 10 if I´m feeling ambitious.
As you might notice, I have a well established schedule revolving around sleeping, eating and training. The people in our families, at the training center and in Santa Lucia in general have all been wonderful and I know they have put alot of time into making sure our life here flows as well as possible. It´s pretty amazing what kind of effort has gone into helping us feel at home and welcome.
I hope this post has given you all at home a glimpse of my life right now, it´s busy, and I love it.
I am also a little sunburned, which makes me incredibly happy when I think about the cold in chicago and the snow in michigan.
thanks to everyone for the emails...keep them coming!!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Santa Lucia
Hola a todos! Well, this is my first official post as a Peace Corps trainee in Santa Lucia, Honduras. We have been here for about a day and a half, and are slowing learning what life will be like during out pre-service training. Everything went well in DC and on the journey here, no bags were lost (for too long) and only 2 of my 4 total flights were delayed. hehe. But we made it, and everyone in the group seems to be doing well.
In Santa Lucia, I live in a house with my host mother and father, two host brothers and host sisters. My siblings are between the ages of 17 and 21, so this makes for a very tranquil house (in comparison to SST with my two, loveable, and loud, host brothers). We also have a cute little dog named Oliver and a parrot named Polly. As for the food, my host family is trying to make sure I adjust well to any dietary changes, so dinner last night was spaghetti. Lunch today was a more traditional, rice, chicken and tortillas; which were all great!
The area is beautiful, many flowers and green trees. The weather is equally perfect, being warm and sunny all day, and cool and windy at night (be jealous midwesterners!). Standing infront of a school across from the internet cafe, you can look down the mountain and see the sparkling lights of Tegucigalpa surrounded by mountains. Beautiful.
As for out training, today we broke down into our specific programs, and I am very excited to begin learning more about Health in Honduras. Tomorrow we have our one-on-one interviews to determine our spanish placement. There are 12 possible levels...ranging from novice low to superior. I´m shooting for somewhere in the middle. I´ll let you know how that goes!
I feel that I may be spending too much money on the internet right now, so I must be going. But, keep any emails coming! I live about 1\2 block from the internet cafe... and will be checking with some regularity! Also, the following is the postal address that I can use for the remainder of pre-service training. Cards and letters are always welcome.
Thats all for now, I hope everyone is doing well in the states (and in all the other fabulous places that friends live). I miss you all!
take care
Anna
In Santa Lucia, I live in a house with my host mother and father, two host brothers and host sisters. My siblings are between the ages of 17 and 21, so this makes for a very tranquil house (in comparison to SST with my two, loveable, and loud, host brothers). We also have a cute little dog named Oliver and a parrot named Polly. As for the food, my host family is trying to make sure I adjust well to any dietary changes, so dinner last night was spaghetti. Lunch today was a more traditional, rice, chicken and tortillas; which were all great!
The area is beautiful, many flowers and green trees. The weather is equally perfect, being warm and sunny all day, and cool and windy at night (be jealous midwesterners!). Standing infront of a school across from the internet cafe, you can look down the mountain and see the sparkling lights of Tegucigalpa surrounded by mountains. Beautiful.
As for out training, today we broke down into our specific programs, and I am very excited to begin learning more about Health in Honduras. Tomorrow we have our one-on-one interviews to determine our spanish placement. There are 12 possible levels...ranging from novice low to superior. I´m shooting for somewhere in the middle. I´ll let you know how that goes!
I feel that I may be spending too much money on the internet right now, so I must be going. But, keep any emails coming! I live about 1\2 block from the internet cafe... and will be checking with some regularity! Also, the following is the postal address that I can use for the remainder of pre-service training. Cards and letters are always welcome.
Thats all for now, I hope everyone is doing well in the states (and in all the other fabulous places that friends live). I miss you all!
take care
Anna
Sunday, February 10, 2008
The day has arrived! It's 12:30am on the day when I will finally be flying off to Cincinnati, Washington DC...and eventually...Honduras. I am excited, apprehensive, thrilled and overwhelmed. Thank you everyone for all the support over the last few days, weeks and months. I most certainly would not feel equipped to head out into the world without so much love and support from all my friends and family. Also, a special thanks to Maureen and Sara W who planned a great going away party for me in Chicago. It was a great chance to spend time with friends from all different parts of my life...I will miss you all so much!
I am *almost* completely packed...and am just finishing up some music downloading, but I don't know if I will be able to sleep at all tonight. My dad is on the couch fighting off sleep, and I think my mom is finally resigning herself to bed. We will be leaving for the airport in t-minus 4 hours, so a little sleep is probably going to be all we get...
I will update this blog as often as I can, emails and letters will always be welcomed, and cherished!
Thank you again everyone,
Here's to a new adventure!
love,
me
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