She's Baaaaccckkk!

I believe that the last blog post I wrote was over six weeks ago when I first arrived in El Nispero. In the hopes that I haven’t lost my entire readership, I am going to attempt to describe what I have been up to lately.

My first couple of weeks in El Nispero I attempted to adjust to my new schedule and daily routine. Coming from training which was so controlled and scheduled it was a chock to suddenly have some semblance of self-directed activity during the day. In those first couple of weeks I would wake up early get to the Municipality around eight and then sit and try to get the other employees to explain to me what they were working on or why they were filling out those papers or when they would be traveling next to an aldea that I could bum a ride to. My counterpart (the mayor or Alcalde) would ask me if I was making friends and if I was happy. I am not really sure I answered truthfully to either of those two questions. It was frustrating to not have anything really to do. I finally have caught on to many of the office rules and procedures though. The Alcalde is rarely in the office outside of Monday and Friday. The first time I wanted to talk to him I waited around for hours because as he is rarely in the office, when he is there is aline of people waiting to lodge a complaint or get married or share a taco with the Mayor. I have since learned not to wait in line but just to barge right in asking for a few minutes when he is free or just sitting down in his office waiting for his current meeting to finish. I have also learned not to sit around the office waiting for someone to ask for my help. I stop by the office almost daily and make meeting times with the employees to work on projects. If I arrive to work on something and they are not there, I call them and then leave if they are not working that day.

Right now we are creating a PowerPoint presentation of the pictures of the over 200 families that have received supplies to better there homes in the last six months, things like concrete for flooring or tin for roofing. It really is a project that could be completed without me but I think I was asked to help because of my typing skills. One of the best things about the project is that we are including everyone’s names. This has been the most entertaining situation. Whomever I am working with tell me the name of the person and then I attempt to type it. In the U.S. the most Hispanic names are also names in Honduras, for example Juan, Migual, Hector, Maria. However, there seem to be a whole host of names here in which I can’t figure out there origin. Names like Maximilian and Belky and Hiedi (spelled Geydi). I seem to have the hardest time with names that sound completely different in Spanish but are a name I would easily recognize in English. And then it becomes one of those awful situations where they end up yelling the name at me and I just sit there and laugh. They think the volume in which they say it will help me understand. I try to explain that it is easier if I just copy it from he list but we have continued on in this reading the name aloud and I attempting to spell it correctly from the sound. Also, I am attempting to organize the office and encourage the staff to start backing up ay important documents onto cds. This hasn’t gone especially well as it is election season and all time seems to be devoted to this activity (more on elections later)

My other main counterpart is Yoni (like Johnny) Ponce who is the President of the Board of Directors of the Reicken Library and works as an administrator at one of the High Schools (evidently he is my Mayor’s running mate and will be the new Vice Alcalde if the Mayor wins reelection next November, in which it seems my two counterparts will become one…..I am not thrilled at this prospect). The first month or so I spent most of my afternoons at the library, checking my email and hanging out with all the kids who came by to do their homework. I often helped with homework or just bothered the kids by trying to help when they would have preferred to just copy the answers from the one person who did the work. I have also been participating with and helping to lead the Zona X group on Saturdays. It’s a group of young adults between 13 and 19 years old that was developed by the Reicken Foundation to instill some characteristics and activities that are being left out in their formal education. Things like, creativity, critical thinking, group work, and community service. Right not we are preparing and studying how to do a debate. It has definitely been interesting. Last week, I had them right arguments for made up debate topics and trying to teach the form of an argument, critical thinking, listening skills, and clarity of voice stretched my Spanish skills to the limit. This week we read poetry out loud as a prep for speaking in front of a group and speaking clearly with some emotion. They really got into it and I had a great time listening to them read Spanish poetry. Also, we are working on developing a community service project. I am not really sure how big to let them go this first step. It was suggested that we could do a small multi-sport court as the Aldea of Santa Cruz doesn’t have one. I am just not sure where I would receive funding and I don’t want them to become discouraged on there first project. The library has really been one of the greatest tools I have to meet new people and feel like a part of the community, I always leave feeling like I had talked to people and found out some new information about the community.

With school ending this week (the school year runs February to November/December) and elections and in my community November and December are coffee cutting season so many of the older kids and most of the community is out on the fincas, it has been really slow. I can’t seem to really start any new projects or find anyone with really any time to do so. I do have many ideas for the coming year and am beginning to see the needs of the community. Speaking of, If anyone has any ideas on how to start some kind of special education program or a basic support system or training for teachers in a community with few resources let me know. I am starting to do some research and there is a definite need but I am not quiet sure where to start.

Well, I think that is enough for now. Although elections will be covered further as I have some amazing pictures and stories from attending rallies. I hope everyone is well and that you have a safe, and fun Thanksgiving! Watch the Macy’s Parade and think of me (maybe I will be able to catch some of it on Univision, you never know)!

Much love.