Hello Everyone!!

I apologize for not writing for forever and a year, but things have been busy and I have not been thinking too much about the blog-I apologize. Things are moving right along this year as school has started, along with many projects that come with it.

As for an update on the political situation in Honduras, everything seems pretty "tranquilo" or calm. As many might know, there were protests when the new president Pepe Lobo was elected and sworn-in in January, but since then things have been better. Ex-president Zelaya is now hanging out in the DR-rumors say. One of the main things that has changed is the teacher strikes. Last year it was definitely an issue-not all teachers were getting paid, and caused many children to lose school days. I can happily say that there has not been one teacher strike so far this year, yay!! God only knows how much we need each and every day of school here in Honduras.

As for the work I am doing in the community this year, it is very similar to last year. Lots of teacher English classes and working in the elementary schools. I am focusing on literacy in the schools-there are many 3rd and 4th graders who can not read, and are not getting the special attention they need to be able to learn. I go to each school at least 2 times a week, trying to make a difference in the education of these children.

Also, after many requests from community members, I was finally able to set up a computer course for teachers with the help of a fellow volunteer. Those who know me well know that isn't my speciality, so the help from my work partner is very much appreciated.

I am still working on creating a Coaching Baseball in Honduras manual-so if anyone has any ideas or drills they think could be helpful, I'll be happy to take them!

Currently I am working towards starting up a sex-ed 4 week course for my high school students-teen or pre-teen pregnancy is an issue in my site. We are hoping to talk about the stigmas of bisexuality, being gay, and other community perceptions of getting pregnant while teaching the realities of STIs and protection.

I plan on starting up my leadership program with the high school as well, though the issue I run into is getting a community member to do this project with me. I feel that I did too many projects alone last year, and to make a project more worth while, I need to do it with someone who can continue it when I leave. This becomes an issue with many projects-and thus is one of my main goals this year.

As for what is specifically going on in Honduras, nothing super exciting-which is probably all for the best, considering we had enough of it last year. One issue Honduras is having though is the lack of water. Rainy season wasn't all that rainy-and thus citys like Tegucigalpa don't always have water (I also know of some volunteers who are taking showers with essentially bottled water because their town hasn't had water for 2 weeks). Hopefully, the dry season isn't extremely dry-maybe I should do a rain dance!

I still have to deal with piropos, or "cat calls," though they are less frequent now that I my boyfriend has moved to my site- At the moment my favorite one is "I love you gringita, give me you eyes!"

Best thing about my site at the moment: I have a beautiful river that goes along the outside of my town that I can go swimming in.

Worst thing about my site at the moment: It is super dusty due to no rain, so going running usually consists of an unhealthy intake of dust.

I just had a very memorable, crazy time in Tegucigalpa (the capital city) last night. I happened to be in the capital for our yearly physical exams the same time Honduras was playing against El Salvador in their final attempt to go to the World Cup. A group of around 10 friends and I went to a restaurant and watched the Honduras/El Salvador game as the Costa Rica/USA game was going on at the same time. In order for Honduras to qualify to go to the World Cup, the USA would have had to beat or tie Costa Rica (because Honduras lost against the US last Saturday 3-2), and Honduras had to win against El Salvador.

The tension was crazy in the restaurant as Honduras was winning 1-0 with 2 minutes left in the 45 minute half. It was hard to find someone who knew what was going on with the USA/Costa Rica game-the last time I had checked the US was down 2-1...then, as the Honduras game came to an end, the restaurant exploded with the sounds of screams, chants, noise makers, and people crying. Apparently, the US had scored off a corner kick in the over-time minutes to tie the game. Honduras had qualified and was going to go to the World Cup in South Africa 2010.

So as the restaurant exploded in chaos, storms of people rushed out of the resturant and other surrounding buildings into the street. Thousands of people were all of a sudden in their cars, on motocycles, and running/dancing in the middle of the streets--horns were honking, people were screaming into their cell phones, others were hugging anyone with open arms. Beds of trucks were over-filled with people waving flags, wearing their Honduras Selecion uniform shirts. Others were hanging out of windows of cars or jumping on the hood of cars as they made their way down the street through the swarms of people. Chants of HON-DUR-AS held as the heartbeat of the crowds of people that walked down the street in a sort of parade-type assembly. My friends and I became a source of attention as many of us looked very much like "gringos," and were given many "thanks yous" because the US won their game against Costa Rica. We gave a lot of high-fives (which was interesting because it's not very common in the Honduran culture) and some of the more friendly-feeling of us gave out a lot of hugs. The excitement was contagous as we walked down the street trying to avoid getting hit by cars and motocycles. We heard fireworks as our phones went off with congradulations and ecstatic messages from friends back in our communities and around Honduras. I passed the rest of the night dancing with my friends and taking in the amazing experience that I know I could never forget. I have to say that it was 10 times the experience I had on Lawrence's Mass Street with KU won the NCAA national tournament in 2008.

Viva Honduras y La Selecion!

For those who would be interested, Honduras has not been to a World Cup since 1982.

Hello everyone! Life in site is going well. Hot as always, but usually a storm in the afternoon to cool things down. Projects are going great, especially the library projects in the two elementary schools. Right now the teachers and students are rallying together to raise money for the transportation of books to Victoria from the United States. A number of friends and acquaintances have donated books to these schools. I´ve been able to get some back to Victoria already, but there´s another load to be taken. The kids and teachers are very excited about the help their school is receiving, and are very much willing to do whatever they can to help. We have received a good number of books so far, but I am hoping to get even more into the two schools-if anyone knows anyone that would be willing to help out and collaborate with this project, please let me know!!

Besides working, I was able to get away a couple weekends ago to Danhli and El Paraiso, El Paraiso (Paradise, Paradise—who wouldn´t want to go there?!?). I got to see a great PC friend down in El Paraiso and help out with her baseball team as well as make it to the infamous Corn Festival that´s held once a year in Danhli. That was an awesome experience. There were shops set up everywhere selling anything from bras and underwear to ice cream and corn on the cob. There were parades, shows put on by the Japonese volunteers, car races, and bull riding! I had the pleasure of going to see the bull riding with my friends, and it was great. Definitely different than in the states, it´s a little slower paced, the clown is a little more aggressive (it tackled a bull and made it smoke out of its nose), and instead of people walking around selling hotdogs and hamburgers, vendors were selling turtle eggs (expensive but heard they are good) and nail files. I have to say that I was really craving a fat, juicy hotdog, but the experience was priceless.

On the way there and the way back we had to push ourselves through the crowds, one of my friends almost getting pick-pocketed in the process. There were so many people there, but with good reason because it was the night of the carnival-when they block off about 6 streets and put a live band and/or Go-Go dancers at the end of each street. We had a blast dancing in the streets (even though I wimped out after a few hours and had to go back home to change out my heels). We all definitely had our share of corn that day as well. There were pupusas (corn tortillas filled with cheese and sausage), elote loco (crazy corn, or corn on the cob with mayonnaise, ketchup, and cheese), atol (a sweet corn drink), fritas (a fried corn pastry), tamales (a corn mix filled with vegetables, meat, and sometimes rice, then put in a corn husk and cooked), and many other foods that I can´t think of at the moment. Needless to say, we had our week´s worth of corn intake that day. I would definitely recommend it for anyone wanting a taste of the Honduran culture.

Some cultural insights to my site-since they are so normal to me now that I forget they might be intriguing to others:

-There are not many cars in my site, most people take the bus, bicycle or a motorcycle.

-If you´re seen talking and smiling to the same guy or girl twice, many people think you are novios (boyfriend/girlfriend).—maybe that happens in small-town America too, huh? (It´s happened to me here already)

-The electricity likes to go out every now and then. Sometimes for a few hours, other times for a couple days.

-When it rains a lot, the water contaminates the water in the pipes so if I try to brush my teeth or take a shower, it´s with brown water or no water at all.

-The Spanish in my site can be difficult to understand-in smaller towns words start to get clipped and squished together with other words.

-Music is a big part of the lives of many people-I would say more than I have experienced in the States. There is always music playing, and a lot of the time people are watching music videos on TV.

-The 15th of September (Independence Day) is coming up, and so recently school days have been committed to preparing for this (this year it could be marching in the parade or only preparing for a cultural event/night).

-People (mostly kids) walk around the streets of Victoria selling things that their families have prepared in the house whether that´s cheese (we make our own cheese here), bread, or perfumes.

-Many people are very proud of the beauty of the land in which they live, and love to have discussions on which towns or villages are the prettiest or the coolest (usually they are about 5-10 minutes drive away).

Let me know if you liked the cultural insights and I´ll keep doing it!

Paz y amor,

Sarita

Things have been very “tranquilo” or calm in Victoria the past month. I haven’t experienced any earthquakes (like the 7.3 a few months ago) nor have I experienced the aftermath of a shoot out lately-which is very comforting. Honduras only just kicked out their president, so besides some strong and not so strong opinions, nothing crazy has happened in my site. I do have to say though that for me the worst consequence of the political mess is how it affects the children here. The kids in my site were lucky with only missing about 2 ½ weeks of school due to teacher strikes (the teacher’s way of protesting the Zelaya/Michelletti swap), while others were out for longer and now only have school 3 days a week (half-days 7:30-12, common for schools in Honduras). I wish the teachers would find another way to protest-taking away the education of an already disadvantaged child could not hold a positive outcome. Some students in my high school STILL have not had certain classes due to the teacher’s refusal to have class. I am praying that everything settles quickly and is not drawn out another month. Si Dios quiere...

Well I apparently thought that I did not have enough work so I started three more projects this past week. Another TEAM or English (level 2) class, a project called Yo Merezco (“I deserve”-with a sexual education, self-esteem, morals/values building, etc emphasis for young girls (6th grade)), and a literacy/creativity/self-esteem/writing project (still looking for a worthy name) within the libraries of both of the elementary schools. This library project is connected with the one I am still working on-only now I am trying to get books donated to both elementary school libraries. I didn’t know that the other elementary school even had a library-there’s not much to it. However, I would like to say THANK YOU!!! to the wonderful people who have donated books already, the kids were so excited when I told them I had story books for them. With the help of my site-mate, I plan on using the books in the literacy/creativity/self-esteem/writing project throughout this school year and during the next as well. We could use a lot more books to fill up the shelves in the library if others are still interested!

I feel very comfortable in my site nowadays. Walking down the street I am always hearing “Adios Sarita!” and I get invites to visit people frequently. I was just talking to my site-mate today about how different it is for us (volunteers) that Hondurans spend so much time chatting with their family and friends. It’s hardly uncommon for people to chat for a few hours at a time drinking cafe. Not that people don’t visit and chat with friends and family in the States, but it’s definitely not nearly as common. Life is so much more relaxed, and it makes me question my go-go-go attitude I had in the States.

-Sarita-

I am really starting to feel integrated in my community-I have a great relationship with my host family, I have some great friends, people know where to find me (where I live and work), and I get occasional visits from the neighborhood kids and my baseball kids. Not to mention the 7 am house calls from high school kids that want help with their English homework. :)

Projects are up and running while more are getting ready to start. I just got back from a training in a town called Zamorano just south of Tegucigalpa. I learned about an awesome program called Yo Merezco, which is a sort of abstence/sex education program for 5th and 6th girls. I'll be starting that project along with another (Business Fundamentals) that teaches skills of saving and starting/running a business also with 6th graders in the elementary schools. I have two elementary schools, Jose Miguel Valdez and Florencio G. Molina in which I will be doing these projects. Joven a Joven is another project geared towards high schoolers that helps prepare them for life after they graduate-for example teaching them how to write a resume or aiding them with deciding what to study in college if they choose to go. My counterpart and I plan on starting that project within the next couple of months. Besides these hands-on projects I am also going to start working on a baseball manuel that incorporates life-skill trainings. This will eventually be taught in what Peace Corps calls a TOT or Training of Trainers in which I, with another volunteer, will hold a 4-5 day training on the manuel. This is part of a job that I am inhereting from volunteer that will be leaving soon. In September I will be the new Peace Corps Volunteer Coordinator of the baseball league that works with the Honduras Baseball Federation. I will be in charge of organizing/supporting/providing trainings to approximately 25 teams around Honduras that have a Peace Corps volunteer. I'm very excited to have this responsibility.

As for what I am currently doing, it is not far from what I thought I would be doing when I came to my site. I still travel to a surrounding villages to give trainings or talks about domestic violence to our women's group (which still consistes of women throughout our municipality and has started to include men as well). In addition to helping the Women's Office in the municipality with this project I am also supporting them with a project called La Red Departamental where we go to different places in the department of Yoro to give trainings to other coordinators of the Women's Office so that they have the skills to start the women's groups we have formed in Victoria. I have started giving English classes to elementary school teachers (TEAM 1 and 2 or Level 1 and 2) and will have that project until September. As a baseball team we are on break, but we just started a baseball team garden, so I will still be working with my players while we're breaking from baseball. Another interesting project that I've been working on is the Colgate Dental Program. I work with a dentist from Victoria and we travel to a far-away small village to give talks about dental hygiene and work on the teeth of the students (grades k-6 about 200 students). I of course can not do any dental work on the children but I did help floride some of the kids last time we went. BTW I didn't know this, but you shouldn't wet your brush before you use it to brush or teeth!

I am still popping my head in the high school about once a week to work with the seniors on a leadership program I conjured up- hopefully some of the classes will be helping me with projects around the community soon. Good news about scholarships! I have been working with 3 different "kids" or high school graduates applying for a scholarship to study in the United States (a very competitive scholarship) and one has been selected! We'll all very proud of her and excited for all the great things she has yet to experience.

Lastly, I have been working to try to build up the library in one of the elementary schools in my village. It hardly has any readible story books but plently of reference books- too bad the reference books do not really attract the children in the schools. I have therefore, after trying to have a Reading Club without many books, been trying to get story books into Victoria. I applied for a donation through one organization from the United States, and they gave me great books, but only 30 pounds worth (their agency's limit). I am now on a mission to get more. With the books to fill the library I know it will open the door for children to get interested in reading and expanding their worlds. I plan on having different Reading Clubs (with the help of my high school seniors), specific talks or clases on analizing stories and creativity, plus going into the poorest parts of my community and others near it to read to the children who can't afford to go to school, nonetheless have a book to read. For those who are unaware, Honduras has the lowest reading and language scores of all of Central America and the department of Yoro (where Victoria is) has the lowest scores of Honduras. There is a great need.

A better reading and language program in Victoria can only be possible if there are books to read, and the children cannot improve their scores and knowledge without a program that addresses the issue at hand. To try to improve the school, I have created a wish list on Amazon.com under the name "Victoria Children's Library." If you would like to help and donate a book or two, it would greatly appreciated. I am having the books sent to my house so that I may take them back with me (at a cheaper rate) when I return to Honduras after visiting the U.S.

Well, it's getting ready to rain here in Tegucigalpa so I should wrap this up. I'll be updating my blog soon, but meanwhile if anyone has any specific questions on what's going on in my community or my Peace Corps experience let me know.

Paz

Top-the street that I live off of and walk down everyday. Above-this is what I see when I walk out of my house-a horse and a cantina. Then the police office and my aunt's house.

Pictures of Victoria-the left is on a road going towards the municipalidad and the central park.

I took my first official vacation in February with my two friends Sara and Melissa. We decided to backpack across the border and go to León, Granada, and the island of Ometepe. With a general sense of where we wanted to go, we met so many awesome people and got to know the backpacking culture a little bit. We met people from England, Canada, Germany, the States, Beligum, other parts of Europe, and tons of people from Israel. We even got to know the PC volunteer on the island of Ometepe (man, did he luck out to get to live on an island). We met some wonderful people that for me have made an impression that will last a lifetime.

In León we did what I consider the best part of the trip. We went volcano boarding on the volcano Cierro Negro. The volcano had last erupted in 1992 and was still very much active. Historically it had erupted every 10 years, so it is definitely due for some action. Like the name says, it´s completely covered in black rock, lava rock-which makes it one of the most beautiful things in nature I have ever seen. It was also one of the hardest things I have ever climbed (which isn´t saying TOO much coming from a Kansas girl), but none the less it wasn´t easy trying to haul a wooden board up a volcano with small rocks that sank with each step. Of course it was gorgeous by the time we got to the top—we could see for miles and miles. However, my previous balsy decision to take a “fast board” was regretted when I saw where we were supposed to slide down. No one wanted to switch with me either. So, after watching one guy go down the volcano standing on his board, I decided that I´d just have to suck it up going down on my butt. After the explanation on how to sit on the board, where to put my hands, and how to break, I decided that I wanted to start out breaking. The guide looked at me funny, but it´s a good thing I did because I think I had the fastest of the fast boards. Before I knew it I was going so fast that my breaks weren´t working anymore! I had to really dig into the rock (throwing it in my eyes and mouth) to slow down so that I wouldn´t die (maybe not really die, but that´s what I was thinking). Turns out that I made it alive and was totally ready to do it again-maybe some day. Melissa made it alright, as well as our newly-made friends, and then we were all watching my friend Sara go down. She was going so fast that we were cheering like crazy for her—until she wiped out. Everything was going fine until her board went sideways and she went rolling down the volcano. Complete silence--I was sure that we were going to be going to the hospital--and then she stood up and started laughing. None of us could stop laughing after that, and I will never let her live that down.

Granada was a completely different atmosphere than León. There were a lot more tourists and a lot more opportunities to spend your money. We decided to spend our money on a hike on another volcano and a zip-lining tour. We got to see quite a bit of beautiful flowers (including the 2nd largest orchid in the world), some little critters, and even the gas holes in the side of the volcano. I´ve been zip-lining before in Costa Rica, so it wasn´t completely new, but I had never done the monkey or the superman while strapped to a cable hundreds of yards above the ground. It definitely was a rush and what better than to do with my friends. I got to try salsa dancing that night too-that´s one dance here in Honduras that I don´t have down yet (not many people in my town dance salsa). It was a great night, normally gringas don´t have a hard time finding a willing Latino to teach them how to dance, so I picked up some moves.

The island of Ometepe was a totally different experience as well. It was a lot more tranquil and relaxing. It is also where I think I got the 2nd to worst burn in my life. What joy that was-and I still think that I am recuperating from it. Don´t worry, I had SPF 45, I´m just very white and didn´t reapply it enough—not to mention that I forgot I was taking medication that makes my skin more sensitive to sunlight (also forgot I was so close to the equator…opps).

In all, the trip went very well. We made it back alright and in one piece. We even survived the guys that jump on you at the border (people love to try and take advantage of foreigners who don´t know exactly what they are doing). It was a great experience that I couldn´t ever forget.

This month was full of crazy experiences-it was the month of my town´s fair. I still haven´t quite decided whether it was a good idea, but in December I volunteered to be part of the fair committee. I went to multiple meetings during the weeks prior to the fair, and indured many cat fights and lively discussions. Even though it was tiring at times, it was totally worth it when the fair came. I got a cool shirt to wear around and a badge that got me in free to all major events (my sitemate Joe was a little bitter about not having one for himself—but when I offered to let him use mine for some reason he didn´t think people would buy it…weird). People from all around Victoria-people who lived hours away—came to Victoria. The main road was completely filled with stores and tiny restaurants, and people never started leaving until the wee hours of the night. There were banners strung everywhere and there was always music being played (usually “te aaaamo, te aaaaamo, te aaaaaammmmoooo”). We held children´s games (maybe not quite as cool as pig riding at the Johnson County fair—btw my sister Shelley won that once), soccer games, a cow competition, a horse parade, jaripeo (bull-riding), karaoke nights, a Miss. Victoria pageant, and tons of fiestas. The children´s games were one of my responsibilities, and they always turned out pretty well, it was just hard when 60 kids would want to play at the same time. The soccer games were pretty popular, not that anyone should be surprised since I am living in a Latin American country, but they were great because we had teams travel to play against our own team. Due to my extensive amount of dancing, I wasn´t able to get up in the morning to see the cow show and horse parade, but I heard they were pretty cool too. Jaripeo was definitely a little more mellow than what we are used to in the States, but nonetheless it was worth watching. I think my favorite part of this event was when one of the bulls, which they had been working so hard to piss off, broke out of the pen and ran at a big group of us. I´m not sure I´ve ever had an adrenaline rush like that—but I feel like I had a taste of what it might be like to run with the bulls in Spain. Well, maybe.

It was always a treat when it was karaoke night. The typical singer was a drunk guy that took a break from his card game-they usually had a hard time standing none the less trying to pronounce words in a comprehensive sentence. However once in a while our ears would get a break and a person with some talent took the microphone. The pageant was a lot of work. It took us all day to decorate for it, and the rest of the day to walk through the program with the girls. Totally worth it though. I was very happy about the results—my good friend Sindy won, and that was after my lessons on how to walk down a runway. Which, as I should give credit where credit is due, was not because of my extensive experience modeling, but the Victoria Secret modeling shows that I saw once or twice on TV. Worked though!

I have to say that I think my favorite part of the feria were the fiestas or dances that they had at night. There was a dance every night from Tuesday till Saturday 9-3am, and you bet that I went to every single one. Now, by the time I got to Friday I was switching between my heels and flats, and on Saturday I didn´t even try it. Even though my feet were completely dead by the end of the week, I don’t regret any of it. This is also how I gained my nickname, la bailadora, or the dancer. On Wednesday, which was the big dance of the fair, the committee had a band come in from San Pedro Sula and so we had live music all night. I had so much fun that night and was twirled around so much that I lost my two favorite rings and even my earrings! I was pretty sad about it the next day but it was totally worth it, hands up.

hey everyone,

I know I'm a horrible blogger because I haven't written in about 4 months, but I wanted to let you all know that I am going to be updating it very soon! I'll talk about Christmas, New Years, Victoria's feria, my Nicaragua trip, and the work I'm doing now. Thanks for your patience!

Things have been going pretty cheque in Victoria these past few weeks. I had my sitemate and a friend (Elizabeth) come over for Thanksgiving. We started cooking at 10am and didn't get to sit down to eat until around 9pm. Obviously, we were pretty busy-but well worth it. Almost just like at home except there was no turkey and I couldn't quite get the deviled eggs like Grandma's or the green bean casserole like Aunt T's. No worries though, I was in a totally different country so what can I expect?

It's strange to be in a tropical climate when it's almost Christmas time-kinda missing that bone chilling air at the moment. However, there is a lot of Christmas cheer in Victoria, just the other day people in the community started getting together at night to do Christmas carols. It's called the Posada, and they do it everynight until Christmas. It's very cool, and everyone has a fun time watching me trying to sing to songs that I don't know. We've also had quite a few fiestas or dances- those are usually a great time and I am completely exhausted at the end of the night, or morning...around 3 or 4 am. Since my normal bedtime is 9pm, I try to take a power nap before- sounds pretty pathetic to me. Oh well, asi es la vida.

I am going to be spending Christmas in Victoria as well. My host family will actually be in another part of Honduras visiting family, and my sitemate will be traveling, so I might just be solo- not truely though-I don't think the friends I have in Victoria would let me spend Christmas by myself. I've heard a great deal of awesome stories about Christmas in my site so I'm excited. I'll probably stay in Victoria for my birthday as well, then travel to Lake Yojoa to celebrate the new year with some Peace Corps friends. All plans but we'll see if Dios lo quiere.

¡Saludos!

Things are moving right along in Victoria-keeping busy and getting the ball rolling. The baseball tryout was great, we had more than 50 kids come. It was a little overwhelmed, but I am so excited that so many have the interest. Therefore, instead of picking 20 kids for one team, I decided to form 3 different teams. Anyone have any old baseball equipment they don´t need? :) I have what one would call a varsity team, JV, and C team. We have temporarily named them the Medias rojas (Red Sox), Yankees, and the Cubs. Joe (my sitemate) and I thought about naming the C team the Royals to commemorate my Kansas heritage, but I thought naming the C team that name would only reemphasize what the real Royals team is lacking. So, it´s the Cubs instead. I´ll probably be practicing 3 times a week soon so they will keep me busy.

I have just recently figured out that if I had some friends or family from Kansas come visit me they´d probably laugh at the sight of me walking around in my community. I have become good friends with my host family´s dog Lucky. He likes to follow me around to my office, to meetings, and has even gone running with me. I don´t mind of course, and I think it´s pretty cute. What I just figured out, however, is that he looks a lot like Dorothy´s dog Toto in the Wizard of Oz. Kinda weird, huh? A Toto wanna-be following the only Kansas girl in Honduras (or at least 1 of the very few). Maybe I´m just easily amused nowadays...

If anyone is interested, my reading club is in need of some books. Books in Spanish would be preferred, but books in English would also be great (I´ll be teaching them a bit of English). Also, any sort of school supplies would also be welcome-we´re going to be doing a variety of artistic/creativity projects that would require some crayons, glue, scissors, etc. I just had a parents informational meeting and everyone is very excited about this project. This makes me very happy because I know that I have the support of the parents.

Adiós y ¡que tenga buen día!

Well, after a month and a week in site I have definitely had my share of interesting experiences-and I have had some questions about what I am actually doing right now so here is a little list of the projects I am currently working on.

Baseball team- probably will have 2

Rompiendo el Silencio (Breaking the Silence) : a Domestic Violence eduation group of women

Grupo de Adulto Mayores- Elderly person's group (we do arts and crafts, support group sorts of things)

Pregnant women's club- I am working with the local clinic and I am going to start giving "talks" or charlas to the women about health concerns and life skills (self-esteem, caring for children, nutrition, etc).

High School Counselor- I am working as a high school counselor for the graduating high school seniors helping them with scholarship information, resumes, career decisions, finding a job, etc.

Club de Lectura- or a Reading club- This is a brand new project but I hope to teach this 20 3rd graders how to help others to read and then we can go to the poorer parts of town during the school break and read to other children.

Life Skills talks- School is almost out so I won't be doing this for awhile but I was giving life skills charlas in the high school and elementary schools. I have been plans when the school year starts up again (Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Making good decisions, communication, how to be a leader charlas, etc)

Escuela para Padres- Teaching parents how to talk to their children about Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, how to disclipine, teaching your values, etc. I haven't started this project either because it is still in the planning stages, but it will be started soon I hope.

There are many other projects that are going to be starting at the beginning of the school year, and I know it's going to be crazy. But i'll keep everyone posted as to other projects I will be starting.

Also, I am planning on doing a bake sale to raise money for my baseball team to travel and play against other teams in Honduras. Does anyone have any good receipes or baking ideas they would like to share? Please email me and let me know!!

So, everyone remembers the bus in the movie Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas....they were going through Colombia on a very interesting and somewhat scary bus. I have been asked a few times if the buses here are like that. I would say no-- typically the buses are the old yellow school buses from the states that have a sub system installed with all sorts of pretty grafitti on the inside and outside. Normally those buses don't break down like the one in Romancing the Stone.

Well for all of those who were half-way excited that I might be riding on buses like that down here I have to say that I rode on one that was border-line "Romancing the Stone like." This bus wasn't as nice as the other buses I was used to... the seats were falling apart (falling off the brace and had giant bites taken out of them) and I swear I kept feeling something crawl over my feet. Also, because of the massive rain fall we have been experiencing, everytime we came to a big mud-covered hill we had to all go towards the back of the bus and jump to try and give it more leverage. People were laughing at me because I guess my face showed that I was a little nervous the bus would get stuck or breakdown from the abuse it was taking (it was going to be dark in a few hours and it would be bad to be stuck out in the middle of no where). I didn't think this was too great because I was at the time experiencing a bit of motion sickness from the back and forth rowing motions... and, to top off the experience, there was livestock as well. Yes, I was sharing the bus with chickens. No pigs though. So all of you that were so excited about the possible magnitud of my experiences, I hope this one satisfies you for awhile.

Things are just now starting to get back to normal again. Massive amounts of rain have flooded the country and caused Honduras to be in a state of emergency. It's over with now, but a lot of communities, including mine, are still trying to get on their feet. Victoria had some serious damage to crops and had a few deaths. Some homes are falling apart, and we were out of water for over a week. Electricity was around most of the time, but it did shut off every now and then. Transportation was pretty non-exisitent, and people in the surrounding towns had to have helicopters bring food and portable water brought to them. But, even though the roads are pretty bad, things are getting better.

With the weather the way it has been, there hasn't been a lot going on in Victoria--I'm starting more projects though and I am starting to feel more comfortable with each day. Saturday night dancing has also been a fun distraction... and I am getting better at dancing to bachata and merengue...give me two years and I'll be a pro!! :) We will see.

It is official!! I am now a Peace Corps volunteer. It seemed like this day would never come! The ceremony was nice and relaxed-a perfect ceremony for the Peace Corps I would say. We definitely celebrated that night-and it was really hard to say goodbye to the people that you have spent the past 3 months with. Especially when you know that you most likely will not see them until the new year (we are not allowed to stay over-night anywhere for the first 3 months). Hopefully it will go fast!

Well I have been in Victoria for approximately 3 days now and I already know that I will never run out of work here… I am already set to have my first baseball practice this Saturday and I will be giving a Domestic Violence charla or a presentation (Rompiendo el Silencio) to different groups of women in the surrounding small towns on this Saturday as well. I have not even met my other 4 counterparts but that is an endeavor for tomorrow, and we will see what awesome projects they would like to do. No worries, I am going to try not to overfill my plate-just going to be a busy bee…

As for adjusting to my new home, I definitely feel like a newcomer, with an immense amount of people staring at me whereever I go. It is a little strange, but I know it will not always be that way, just another thing to adapt to. My host family here is great—they are always trying to make me feel comfortable—will write again when I have more time!

Well, it has been a long time since I have had the chance to give an update on my complicated, busy life as a Peace Corps aspirante. I made it through FBT training and I am back in Las Cañadas for the last few weeks of training. It is crazy to think that a week from today I will an oficial PC volunteer. It will definitely feel good to get through training. I had great experiences in Talanga- I could not have asked for a better family, and I learned a lot through training. There´s still so much that I don´t know though--hopefully I can pick that up soon.

So, the big question of where I am going to be spending the next two years of my life.... I will be in Victoria in the department of Yoro. It is a town in a valley surrounded by mountains. Yes, it is beautiful- there is an awesome river that is right outside of town and there are a number of creeks that run throughout the town. When I visited last week I was able to get a ride through the mountains, wow. I am really lucky in that aspect. The people are also very nice and excited for me to be there. I am also positive that I will never run out of work. Unlike most volunteers who only have about 3 counterparts, I oficially have 7 and 2 more unoficial (counterparts are just people or organizations that I will work with).

They are:

Two elementary schools

A high school

A dentist´s officeç

The women´s office in the municipality

The youth office in the municipality

Health center

Other possible:

Ayuda en Acción (Non-government organization)

A high school teacher

To give an idea of what I will be doing, the best I can do is give a list:

-Domestic Violence Education

-Leading a pregnant woman´s club

-Teaching computers and how to use the internet

-Coaching baseball ( I will have at least two teams)

-Coaching a women´s volleyball team

-Teaching multiple English classes

-Giving life skills talks to elementary schools

-Giving talks to high schoolers about drugs, alcohol, HIV, and life skills

-Leading a parenting class (yes I know i´m not a parent)

-Giving business management classes

-Environmental Education

-Trying to get a Reicken Library put in Victoria

-etc

Those are the things I was asked by my counterparts, and they don´t include some of the ideas that I have. We´ll see what will happen. Needless to say, I am going to be very busy and there will always be work to do. Once I am in Victoria I am not allowed to travel for 3 months, but after that I will be able to travel and take a little vacation if need be. Actually the first day that I am able to travel is my birthday, the 26th of December-how appropriate. :)

People have been asking me some of the things I might need, so, here is a little list:

-art supplies (crayons, paints, colored pencils, pastels, chalk, markers (for writing on posters),etc

-magazines that can let me know what´s going on in the States

-any letter that lets me know how are you doing

-pictures

-burned cd of some music i´m missing out on

I do want to say thank you to everyone who has emailed me, send me little letters of kindness, or called me... it has helped me very much. Thank you.

Right now I´m in Tegucigalpa at my host grandmother´s home, and she has quite graciously let me use her computer. This is incredibly nice and it has reminded me that I have yet to speak of my family in Talanga thus far. So, for those of you who are interested, I currently live with 11 other people in one house. It´s really not as crowded as one might think, and I actually quite like all the company that I have. My host parent´s names are Miguel and Marlen, and I have 5 host sisters, one brother, one brother in-law, and a niece. Iliana (21 and married with a baby girl Victoria), Christopher (21, brother in-law), Ilza (19), Michelle (16), Susan (15), Dany (13), Lizbeth (6), Victoria (2). I also have a live-in maid named Marixzá. This may sound pretty fancy and that my family has a lot of money, though in reality having help around the house is very common in this culture. In all, my family is extremely helpful when I´m trying to speak Spanish and they treat me very well. I am truly treated like I am part of the family. We have definitely had our share of laughs when I have tried to say some tongue twisters and instead said a few crude and bad words on accident. Lizbeth is always helping me with my Spanish while I help her with a little English homework. Lizbeth is actually here with me write now and she wanted me to say this to you all: (I had to translate this to English, I haven´t quite got her English this good yet).

Lizbeth Sarai Elbir Martín says: To all of Sara´s friends, I hope you have a wonderful day with your family-and if you think you would like Talanga, come visit us! I hope you all are well!

About some projects I am currently doing. I am still working at the Buena Vista school is the mornings and I am not working at Project Manuelito in the afternoons. This program works with street children from around Honduras. Some of you might know that this is right down my alley! I am very excited to be able to work with these children. So far I have only been able to visit the project twice, but it was a great experience working on self-esteem art projects. Currently there are 18 children who live on a property outside of Talanga. Each child has their own section in the family garden, and the project raises their own pigs, cows, chickens, corn, and beans. They truly work together to provide themselves with the food they need. I asked them about their funding, and I was told that the government is supposed to provide funds, however they receive none. Therefore, they rely strictly on donated funds. In all, it is spectacular program--I hope with time they can accept more children.

Hey everyone,

So i´m pretty positive that I am going to have a baseball team, and I have a lot of aspirations as to what I am going to do with that team. I want to include a lot of life skills training within certain drills, but I am a little concerned with running out of ideas for drills. Do any of my softball and baseball friends have any contacts or ideas?? I am welcome to any sort of help anyone can offer me. Just send me an email. Thanks a lot!!!

I appologize for not being able to post for awhile- pc officials usually find things to fill my time nowadays. Instead of being in Las Cañadas, I moved to Talanga about 2 weeks ago. They moved the three different projects (Municipal Developement, Youth Developement, and Protected Areas Management) to three different towns for FBT or Field Based Training.

Talanga is kinda like what some people thought Kansas was like when I was living in Virginia Beach. I would get questions like, “So, are there like cows and horses walking around in the streets?” Well, here in Talanga, yeah. There are horses, donkeys, cows, ox, chickens and other animals without ropes tied to them, and they are just walking around chillin on the side of the road, or if they feel like it, right in the middle taking a nap. It is quite comical at times and oddly enough, sometimes reminds me of my old farm. The town is fairly big, but is largely under developed despite the amount of commerce that goes through. It only gets pretty hot during the hours of 12-3, and other times it is fairly comfortable. It isn´t the prettiest place in Honduras, but the town is surrounded by mountains, so there is a nice view. Today I´m actually going to hike up one of the mountains to a big cross where I hear there is a cave. I have actually never seen a bat, so i´m pretty excited.

Since I have been here, we have had some rigorous training that lasts from 7:30 am to “5pm.” I usually have 4 hours of Spanish class, like before, and then the rest of the afternoon is training me how to do my job. So far I have learned SOME info on how to give talks about Domestic Violence, Life skills training, how to teach middle school teachers how to teach English, etc. Also, I was just assigned a school with 3 other aspirantes to work in for the next 3-4 weeks. It´s called Buena Vista, and is located about 2 miles outside of Talanga. It is very small, with about 70 students, but only 2 classrooms and 2 teachers. One teacher teaches first, third, and fourth grades, while the other teaches second, fifth and sixth grades. I am sure you could only imagine how effective that learning process would be. Yesterday was my first day there and I was pretty astounded with the situation both the students and the teachers are in. My role in this school will be to give some talks on things such as AIDs, teen pregnancy, drugs and alcohol, life skills (decision-making, relationships, self-esteem), and come up with art projects, reading activities, and fun, interactive games. FBT is going alright but because some of the training is vague, which makes the process a little frustrating and nerve-racking. Nonetheless, I am hoping that I will be more prepared by the time they send me off by my lonesome to my site.

About the poverty here in Honduras, the poverty level is very sad... about 60% of the population here is considered below the poverty line, and 40% are considered extremely poor which means they are sometimes not able to afford food, potable water, electricity (if it´s available), or adequate shelter. Many people do not have running water and electricity only works part of the time. Also, in many places people have latrines or out-houses as their only bathrooms. There are children working in the fields not going to school, and many times when children are able to go to school, the teachers are on strike and they can´t go. The average education level of the people here is 6th grade, and it´s rare for people to go to high school, let alone college. To make it short, there´s a reason PC is in Honduras.... it´s one of the poorest countries in central and south america. If I remember right, it´s the 3rd poorest country.

Now, that I am done with my depressing news on the state of Honduras, I have a little news for everyone,

Despite my rigorous efforts to explain to certain people my real reasons for going into the Peace Corps, some people still think I went into it to find myself a latino boyfriend or husband.... I would like to clarify that I have not yet found that husband, however, I have found a very handsome, playful, fun, comical, and sweet boy to spend some of my time. He´s always fun to be around and has given me quite a chase. His name is Isidro and he has made my Peace Corps stay a better experience. Even though he doesn´t have a job, or always wipe his face clean after he eats, i still appreciate the heart he has and how he makes me feel... We´ll see how our relationship progresses. Ohh, I forgot to say his age... he´s eight years old and is the brother of one of my fellow aspirantes..

Disclaimer: I want to apologize if some of my words or sentences might sound a little funny. There´s a joke that goes around in the PC that volunteers start to lose some of their English speaking and writing skills because we are doing everything in Spanish. I am going to try very hard to not let that happen to me, but I do catch myself using the wrong word or forgetting the name of something in English at times. Some day when i have time to read a book this might help this issue, but until then please bear with me.

Also, I was told that some people were having a hard time figuring out how to leave me messages on my blog. Look at the bottom right hand side of the page and it will say __ commentarios. This means, ___ comments. Click on that and it will take you to a page where you can see other´s comments and also a space where you can write something. You might have to sign up to be able to post something but it shouldn´t be too hard. Try going to www.freetranslation.com and type the words you need to know. I have tried multiple times to set up a blog in English, but for some reason it´s not wanting to work for me...soo...until I can figure something out I´ll have to stick with this one.

Wow, now that I have finally set up this blog I am unsure of what to write. So much has happened in the past 3 weeks that I really do not know where to start.

The last that most people heard from me it was the day before I left for Honduras with a group of 51 aspiring PC volunteers- (I say aspiring because in order to actually become a volunteer we have to pass a few tests and have made an effort to integrate into the Honduran community). The morning we left for Honduras we had to be in the hotel lobby by 2:00am with all our luggage. I, however had to be in the lobby earlier because the day before I thought it would be a good idea to elect myself to be a "group leader" for 1/4 of the group. It turns out that I was a lot more enthusiastic and energtic about the idea of being a group leader rather than actually being one. Let´s just say that at the end of 15ish hours of traveling I slept pretty damn well.

About the place I am staying right now- As it turns out, Zarabanda really is outside of Tegucigalpa and I wouldn´t have had internet access if I had not traveled to Valle de Angeles (about a 20-30 bus ride north). I thought I was going to be living in Zarabanda where the PC training office is but instead I am living in Las Cañadas (10-15 min bus ride). It is beautiful there and the people are wonderful. Weather wise, we are in the mountains so it can get cool but it´s usually a comfortable 70 degrees. My living arrangement is a little...actually quite a bit different from a lot of the "aspirantes" (what us wanna-be volunteers are called until we are swore in on September 26). I have a house that is nicer than the one I had in the United States- before I met my host family I was told on a piece of paper that "La casa es muy lujosa--pero este no es la realidad en Honduras." Basically, the house is very luxurious but I better not get used to it- it´s not the reality. My host parents actually just moved to Honduras from Miami two years ago. My host madre, Ana, is Honduran and had been living in Miami for 21 years-where she met my host padre, Tyrone. He is actually from Jamaica and had also immigrated to Miami. They are both very sweet people with kind hearts. I also live with two very beautiful and nice pitt bulls named Luna and Dante. ---I would love to keep talking about my Las Cañandas host family but time is precious for me at the moment.

A typical day for me consists of getting up at 5:30 am to take a shower, eat breakfast, and walk to the bus stop by 7 am. By 7:30 am other aspirantes and I have arrived at our training site and we go to Spanish class. Spanish class is between 4-5 hours long. In case certain people are curious, a volunteer has to have reached a mid-intermediate level of Spanish to pass the language requirement and become a volunteer. Luckily, I tested into the high-intermediate Spanish level so I do not have to worry about not having the Spanish skills. yay! Anyways, after spanish class we usually have some sort of safety, core, or specific project training that lasts until 4:30. Then by bus we are taken home- sometimes us aspirantes get to hang out, other times we are with our families speaking spanish and doing homework. There´s definitely a handfull of new experiences everyday.

Got to go for now, but another update will come soon!