Well first off, I am sorry that it has been so long since I updated. This will probably be a long one b/c alot has happened in 2 weeks. So it might not all be in order but I will do my best.
Last week we all went to the Police Academy in La Paz and gave charlas on HIV/AIDS and safe sex. We broke up into 4 groups and prepared the lectures, each one of us had our own part to present. I was in charge of lengua de los hombres ( guys language), basically I had to start of with teaching them a dynamic to loosen them up and then had them pass around papers with different words such as penis, vagina, homosexual, etc and have them write words that mean the same thing but in slang. After that I had them explain why some words are funny and why others are not. And then we tried to have a brief discussion about the words. My session was about 20 mins. In all we were there for 4 hours. In the time we did condom demonstrations with bannanas and talked about the transmission of AIDs, and so much more. Oh yeah did I mention that it was all in spanish!
The same day we had a Honduran man come and talk to the group about his life living with AIDs, it was really hard to understand but what I did catch made me want to cry.
Another day we went to a near by village and participated in a charla about diarreah and washing hands. We went to the health center and talked with mothers. It was a good experience.
We have had volunteers visit us that are near the end of there service. The other day a married couple came and shared a bit of their experience as health volunteers in Honduras. Deb has spent 2 years working with midwives and had an enormous about of knowledge to share with us. More than that I truly enjoyed the projects her husband Jon has worked with his during his 2 years. He has dedicated his time to the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. By incorporating art into his work he has been able to have the community help him with his efforts. He created a story with the art that helps explain how the disease is not about statistics but real people. It was truly touching and inspiring all he had to share.
My spanish class went 2 days ago to a local elementary school and taught the kids some games and than gave a message associated with the point of the game at the end. I was so pumped at the end of it because the kids understood everything I was saying!! That was a huge thing.
Spanish is a continual struggle here, but it is something that I have no choice but to work at. This past week a few people from the main office came to visit, and one was the spanish facilitator. I pretty much had my first break down since being in country. I think the stress that goes along with training had finally caught up with me and it all came out on him. I cried, and complained about training, spanish, life and pretty much anything I could think of. He was so awesome and listened to everything and than gave me the encouragement that I needed. Things really are good here, but I was stressed and made things seem alot worse. Training is definately intense and there is a continual push to learn and perfect the language. At times it seems to much to handle, but at the same I want to be here and love the work, so I plan to try and focus on the positive things that I am experiencing.
I am getting to know the country better and the people that live here. There are some things that I don't think I will ever get used to such as the machismo, but there are other things like the weather that have become a part of my life. La Paz is extremely HOTTTT basically all the time. I just sweat. Since La Paz is not in the mountains I do not experience the luxuries of a nice breeze all day.
To answer your question Jess I get free time at night and most weekends. During this time I try to spend with my family here b/c it helps alot with my spanish, I do homework for language class and if anyone in the health group decides to do anything I try to spend time with them. I go to bed the majority of the nights at 8pm or close to that, but I get up at almost 4:30am because the roosters do not permit much more sleeping than that. Life is at alot slower pace here. I am still getting used to not always doing something, but the heat definately helps slow me down.
I hope everyone is well and look forward to hearing from you all. Love and miss you.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
La Paz, La Paz
Hola Hola!!
I hope that everyone is well. I am wonderful! I am now in La Paz, La Paz, and everything is going great. I can already tell that it is going to be alot more intense than the training that I have become accustomed to. We have spanish in the morning from 7:30-11:30, lunch, than 1pm-5pm we have tech training. So far this week we have not done a whole whole lot, but I still really tired. Yesterday we had 2 guys come and talk about there program. They lead youth in different projects. The one the emphasized was a radio station that the youth produce and talk about what ever topics they feel to be relavant, such as sex, love, violence etc. It was interesting but really hard to understand. The whole thing was in spanish and they both talked really fast so I understood the jist of what they were talking about but am sure I missed alot of the details.
Today, a volunteer whos site is actually here in La Paz came and talked with the group about what she has been doing here and helped explained a projected named "Encargado de mi vida" (In charge of my life). Former volunteers created this program and it is used to go into schools and teach sex ed and promote abstinence to 5th and 6th graders. That might seem young, but it is customary(or not uncommon) for boys to have there first sexual experience at 13 here and girls by 15.
Tomorrow we are having a guest speaker come in and talked about domestic violence and than another come and talk about commericial sex workers (CSW) and a former csw will be talking with the group also as I understand it. On thursday and Friday we are doing training for mens health and traveling to the police academy in town and giving charlas (lectures) to the men about mens help. Everyone needs to be thinking about me on friday because it has to be in spanish and I am basically petrified right now.
I think that is about it for right now. My family in La Paz is really nice and I have an amazing house. I will try and take a picture so I can post it and show everyone. I am sure that I am forgetting something, but right now I feel out of things to talk about. Please continue to email and call me. I love hearing what is going on, because I am definately pretty disconnected from everything in the states. Take care.
I hope that everyone is well. I am wonderful! I am now in La Paz, La Paz, and everything is going great. I can already tell that it is going to be alot more intense than the training that I have become accustomed to. We have spanish in the morning from 7:30-11:30, lunch, than 1pm-5pm we have tech training. So far this week we have not done a whole whole lot, but I still really tired. Yesterday we had 2 guys come and talk about there program. They lead youth in different projects. The one the emphasized was a radio station that the youth produce and talk about what ever topics they feel to be relavant, such as sex, love, violence etc. It was interesting but really hard to understand. The whole thing was in spanish and they both talked really fast so I understood the jist of what they were talking about but am sure I missed alot of the details.
Today, a volunteer whos site is actually here in La Paz came and talked with the group about what she has been doing here and helped explained a projected named "Encargado de mi vida" (In charge of my life). Former volunteers created this program and it is used to go into schools and teach sex ed and promote abstinence to 5th and 6th graders. That might seem young, but it is customary(or not uncommon) for boys to have there first sexual experience at 13 here and girls by 15.
Tomorrow we are having a guest speaker come in and talked about domestic violence and than another come and talk about commericial sex workers (CSW) and a former csw will be talking with the group also as I understand it. On thursday and Friday we are doing training for mens health and traveling to the police academy in town and giving charlas (lectures) to the men about mens help. Everyone needs to be thinking about me on friday because it has to be in spanish and I am basically petrified right now.
I think that is about it for right now. My family in La Paz is really nice and I have an amazing house. I will try and take a picture so I can post it and show everyone. I am sure that I am forgetting something, but right now I feel out of things to talk about. Please continue to email and call me. I love hearing what is going on, because I am definately pretty disconnected from everything in the states. Take care.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Moving On !!!
Hey everyone,
So the other day I posted a blog about the hospital visits. I was not trying to freak anyone out. That actually happened 2 weeks ago, but do to my lack of computer knowledge, I thought that I posted the blog correctly, but I was obviously wrong. So anyone I figured it out yesterday and did the copy and past bit!
So life is great. Last weekened I went to Orocunia, Choluteca, which is in the southern part of Honduras. I went to visit a volunteer that has been there for about 6 months. It was good to be able to see what it is like to be a volunteer (right now I am still and aspirante). On Friday I was able to basically follow her around. She is in Youth Dev. and is currently working with a group that helps educate children with after school programs, on Friday the kids we doing a 2 part lecture with a man from unicef where they were able to learn more about public speaking, interviews, and they had and HIV/AIDS lecture. I had a lot of fun. The kids even did a live broadcast from the local radio station. That night we went into the town of Choluteca and got a few hotel rooms. We met up with other volunteers in the area and aspirantes. It was a lot of fun, I even learned a few new dance moves (at least I tried)... I can´t spell them.. they are some sort of latin dances!!!
The rest of my time the last few weeks has been training, training, training, and did I say more training. Everyday I have spanish, followed my some other form of training such as technical. I am learning so much it is crazy. It is non stop around here. I can´t say anything but good things about my experience thus far. It has been so wonderful. Every day I am exhausted after training but at the same time wouldn´t change a thing. I love all of the other trainees and enjoy getting to know everyone a bit better.
Tomorrow we are all parting ways, well atleast we are dividing by projects. The health group will be traveling to La Paz, La Paz for 5 weeks. This part of training is considered field base training (FBT). This is considered the time when we really get serious about our projects and get more hands on experience. I am looking forward to this opportunity but at the same times have a few reservations. First off, my spanish needs alot more work, the group of 51 will soon be 20 (that how many will be with me), I am going to have to start giving presentations for people in spanish, and I have to leave Santa Lucia which I have grown to really like. In saying all of that, I am excited and know that it is going to be a great time.
I have posted a like on the side to web photos, this is the only way I have figured out to post pictures. I hope you enjoy them all.
Love you and miss you all..
Adios from Honduras
So the other day I posted a blog about the hospital visits. I was not trying to freak anyone out. That actually happened 2 weeks ago, but do to my lack of computer knowledge, I thought that I posted the blog correctly, but I was obviously wrong. So anyone I figured it out yesterday and did the copy and past bit!
So life is great. Last weekened I went to Orocunia, Choluteca, which is in the southern part of Honduras. I went to visit a volunteer that has been there for about 6 months. It was good to be able to see what it is like to be a volunteer (right now I am still and aspirante). On Friday I was able to basically follow her around. She is in Youth Dev. and is currently working with a group that helps educate children with after school programs, on Friday the kids we doing a 2 part lecture with a man from unicef where they were able to learn more about public speaking, interviews, and they had and HIV/AIDS lecture. I had a lot of fun. The kids even did a live broadcast from the local radio station. That night we went into the town of Choluteca and got a few hotel rooms. We met up with other volunteers in the area and aspirantes. It was a lot of fun, I even learned a few new dance moves (at least I tried)... I can´t spell them.. they are some sort of latin dances!!!
The rest of my time the last few weeks has been training, training, training, and did I say more training. Everyday I have spanish, followed my some other form of training such as technical. I am learning so much it is crazy. It is non stop around here. I can´t say anything but good things about my experience thus far. It has been so wonderful. Every day I am exhausted after training but at the same time wouldn´t change a thing. I love all of the other trainees and enjoy getting to know everyone a bit better.
Tomorrow we are all parting ways, well atleast we are dividing by projects. The health group will be traveling to La Paz, La Paz for 5 weeks. This part of training is considered field base training (FBT). This is considered the time when we really get serious about our projects and get more hands on experience. I am looking forward to this opportunity but at the same times have a few reservations. First off, my spanish needs alot more work, the group of 51 will soon be 20 (that how many will be with me), I am going to have to start giving presentations for people in spanish, and I have to leave Santa Lucia which I have grown to really like. In saying all of that, I am excited and know that it is going to be a great time.
I have posted a like on the side to web photos, this is the only way I have figured out to post pictures. I hope you enjoy them all.
Love you and miss you all..
Adios from Honduras
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Hospitals and More Hospitals
I am sorry that it has been so long since I last updated. Alot has been going on. Everyday I am at the training center from 7:30 am to at least 4:30 pm. Usually in the morning I have language training for up to 6 hours and than project training. It makes for along day.
I am not really sure what to tell everyone, because everything happens so quickly. So if anyone has any specific question, feel free to ask me.
Yesterday has been probably the most eventful day for me yet. The health project had a field trip into the capital, Tegucigalpa. We went to the oldest hospital in the Country. We met we the director and she gave a lecture explaining the health programs in the country. It was very interesting. After the lecture we were given a tour of the hospital and than taken to the maternity ward. It is so different than in the U.S. I can not even begin to explain. A small group of us were actually privelaged enough to be able to watch a live birth. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! I was ten feet from the woman. I felt very bad that I was there, but did not want to miss the oppurtunity. It is not like in the States. Nothing is private. The labor part is basically a lonely process. The nurses are only at their side if necessary and during delivery. When the woman is ready to deliver they take her into an open room and it all happens within 2 mins. The woman here are not given the oppurtinity to have an epideral. It is all natural. So everyone be thankful that you have options. No one is allowed in during the delivery ( the husband, or family members). All in all it is a very lonely process. After birth the woman must remain there a minimum of 12 hours and no more than 24 hours. There are 20-25 women per room, so you can seen how not private the whole thing is.
After we returned from the hospital I began feeling pretty bad. My whole body started tingling and I had a really bad stomach ache. I was sweating pretty bad and expecting to get sick. They called the doctor for me and ended up driving me back to Teguc to a different hospital. It sucked. I was there all alone, and having language difficulties desctibing my problems. They put me on an IV and I had an ultra sound and x-rays of the abdomen. The doctor was trying to rule out apendicitis (spell check). My test came back normal and the way I understand it, there was probably a reaction to one of the vacines I have received along with the basic stomach problems that go along with being in a foreign country. They wanted me to stay the night but I begged to go back home, and in the end I won!! I got back home around 7:30- 8 pm. Everything is ok now. I am feeling so much better and don´t want anyone to worry. They took very good care of me.
I am going to try and post some pictures from here, if I can figure it out, so I hope it works. One is of me and Molly ( my kentucky buddy) at the airport on the first attempt to come here, some are of people in my group at lunch when they did not know, and the other 2 are of the view from my house. Everyone enjoy.
Miss you bunches. And yes Andrea, to answer your question one of the sons is a hottie!!
I am not really sure what to tell everyone, because everything happens so quickly. So if anyone has any specific question, feel free to ask me.
Yesterday has been probably the most eventful day for me yet. The health project had a field trip into the capital, Tegucigalpa. We went to the oldest hospital in the Country. We met we the director and she gave a lecture explaining the health programs in the country. It was very interesting. After the lecture we were given a tour of the hospital and than taken to the maternity ward. It is so different than in the U.S. I can not even begin to explain. A small group of us were actually privelaged enough to be able to watch a live birth. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life! I was ten feet from the woman. I felt very bad that I was there, but did not want to miss the oppurtunity. It is not like in the States. Nothing is private. The labor part is basically a lonely process. The nurses are only at their side if necessary and during delivery. When the woman is ready to deliver they take her into an open room and it all happens within 2 mins. The woman here are not given the oppurtinity to have an epideral. It is all natural. So everyone be thankful that you have options. No one is allowed in during the delivery ( the husband, or family members). All in all it is a very lonely process. After birth the woman must remain there a minimum of 12 hours and no more than 24 hours. There are 20-25 women per room, so you can seen how not private the whole thing is.
After we returned from the hospital I began feeling pretty bad. My whole body started tingling and I had a really bad stomach ache. I was sweating pretty bad and expecting to get sick. They called the doctor for me and ended up driving me back to Teguc to a different hospital. It sucked. I was there all alone, and having language difficulties desctibing my problems. They put me on an IV and I had an ultra sound and x-rays of the abdomen. The doctor was trying to rule out apendicitis (spell check). My test came back normal and the way I understand it, there was probably a reaction to one of the vacines I have received along with the basic stomach problems that go along with being in a foreign country. They wanted me to stay the night but I begged to go back home, and in the end I won!! I got back home around 7:30- 8 pm. Everything is ok now. I am feeling so much better and don´t want anyone to worry. They took very good care of me.
I am going to try and post some pictures from here, if I can figure it out, so I hope it works. One is of me and Molly ( my kentucky buddy) at the airport on the first attempt to come here, some are of people in my group at lunch when they did not know, and the other 2 are of the view from my house. Everyone enjoy.
Miss you bunches. And yes Andrea, to answer your question one of the sons is a hottie!!
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