Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá

Hello from Jesús de Otoro, Intibucá! I apologize for the lack of updates, I have now been living in my assigned site for about 6 weeks and have been incredibly busy! To start this update, we have to go back to when our training group, H-18, was officially sworn in and 53 volunteers came into service with Peace Corps Honduras on May 13^th, 2011 at the U.S. Embassy. We had a beautiful ceremony with inspirational speeches by our country director, the US Ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Lorens, and fellow volunteers. I was reminded of the perseverance and determination of getting to this point…the countless months of revising application essays, hours of volunteering, and finally waiting for my Peace Corps assignment. We were also encouraged to take the patience, adaptive skills, Spanish, and technical training we´d learned in the last 3 months to do our best to make a difference in our communities.

After a teary goodbye to my host family and especially my 6-year-old host sister, Andrea, I began my travels to my new site with my counterpart, Pablo, who is the director of the high school in my town. Jesús de Otoro is located in the central part of Honduras in the department of Intibucá, one of the poorest departments in all of Honduras. You can imagine my surprise as we turned off the main highway and drove the 30 kilometers to my new home through beautiful, lush greenery, rolling mountains, peaceful-looking fincas (agricultural plots) with equally peaceful animals roaming about. Intibucá is known for its cooler climate and also La Ruta Lenca which is a touristic route celebrating the traditional Lencan people and their artisanship and culture and way of life. It is common to see families on the sides of the road selling hand-crafted pots, hand-woven hammocks, freshly-harvested honey in bottles and the ever popular fruit stands with locally grown produce. Ironically, my new town also happens to be the rice capital of Honduras. I guess it´s a good thing rice has always been a large part of my diet.

I have since learned that while most of Intibucá enjoys un clima más fresco (cooler weather), Otoro, situated in a valley between mountain ranges, is actually quite hot. This makes for a great excuse to take a dip in one of the 3 balnearios (swimming pools) located in town, or to enjoy a charamusca or palita (popsicles) from the many vendors and pulperias (family-run markets). My site of 15,000-30,000 people (there´s no official census) is a medium-large site that boasts 8 schools, 2 of which are bilingual, 3 parks, 2 hotels and a Chinese restaurant. While I don´t live in the typical small village as one might envision of a ¨Peace Corps site¨, my town is a sleepy pueblo with dirt roads, the evermore familiar sight of oxen carts mingling amongst 4x4 trucks, and most of all, a humble and welcoming population that have taught me to slow down my days and take the time to tomar una taza de café (have a cup of coffee) and spend time visiting with family and neighbors. (This is my pitch for you to come visit me, Spirit Airlines has cheap flights in and out of Honduras and the South…)

My host parents are in their 60´s and are well respected in the community. My host mom, Doña Berta, a former Spanish professor, calls her husband, Don Jose, to meals every day by the endearing nickname ¨viejo¨, or ¨old man¨. Their love for each other after over 40 years of marriage is still incredibly strong and I already feel like part of their clan. I have developed a great relationship with them and my 5 new siblings and 19 cousins. My family´s house is the hub and home nest of the Rojas Reyes family and, at any given time, there´s bound to be someone eating, chatting, playing, sleeping, or simply hanging out at my house. We are required to live with host families for the first two months in site and then will get the chance to move out if we choose so. I am so happy here that I would love to stay with my family for my entire service. Thus, it was incredibly satisfying to find out recently that my host family actually has 2 apartments on their property, right next door to our house, that they are willing to rent out to myself and my site mate who is a Peace Corps Business volunteer. Not only will we have the benefit of living next door to this wonderful family, but we will also be able to enjoy our own living space and aprovechar (take advantage of) the coconut and mango trees in the backyard, the small plot to plant a future garden, and the well-constructed house complete with running shower and without the typical leaky clay-tile roof that is so common here. I am already excited thinking about painting my new apartment and finding items to decorate my house for the next 2 years. This will be the first time that I won´t be living out of a suitcase in over a year!

I have included some pictures so you can get a glimpse into my new life here in Otoro. Next post I´ll give you more details on what all I´ve been so busy with!

Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony at the American Embassy. From left: My counterpart at the colegio, Pablo Osorio, Ambassador Hugo Llorens, myself

My new host family—spanning 4 generations—celebrating the 67^th birthday of my host mom. I was able to borrow a violin for a few weeks from the music school at the University in Tegucigalpa for a concert, hence the requisite Happy Birthday violin rendition. (More on this saga later)

My office in the colegio, where you´ll often find me making charla (lesson) plans and preparing materials.
This is the view that greets me every day when I leave my office in the colegio (high school). I am frequently overwhelmed by the beauty of these majestic mountains and have ventured on several hikes…I´ll hopefully be doing one of the 5-hr hikes to the peak soon.

A moto-taxi arriving at one of the Catholic churches in Otoro. These motos will take you anywhere in town for L.10 (about 50 cents) and are always honking at me to give me rides. I once tried to explain to my counterpart that for every journey that I make by foot, I could save myself at least L.20 per day, which would easily fund a vacation to the Bay Islands in a year (and help me exercise off the abundance of grasa (fat) in my diet). She has now taken on this mentality and is walking her way toward a future vacation as well. (Sorry local economy, I will support you in other ways.)
My future back yard, with mango tree in center. You can see the trunk of the coconut tree at the very left edge of the photo. We have decided that the trees are spaced a perfect distance apart to hang a hamáca (hammock) between them in the dry season. Our pila is to the right; this is where my site mate Andrea and I will be able to wash clothes by hand, simultaneously if we want, and keep a reservoir of water for when the indoor plumbing runs dry, which is almost every night after about 8pm. I know it doesn´t look like much yet, but can´t you see the potential? Space for a BBQ grill, herb garden, tiki torches lighting up our sanctuary at night…can´t wait to move in!

A MasterCard List...

Well it’s been 2 months in country, and I’ve managed to have more excitement in these past two months than perhaps in my whole life.

A short recap:

3 visits to the hospital (PC health system is phenomenal, I feel grateful to have this wonderful of coverage while I’m down here)
1 car accident (drunk drivers are never a good thing, thank goodness all my family escaped without a scratch—luck was definitely on our side)
1 crazy taxi driver that grazed me while fighting his way through traffic in the market
2 times I’ve been on TV, once in a news segment on Peace Corps volunteers in our town, once in a music video for a live band
16 the number of people my family was able to fit into a pickup truck to go to the bañario (pool)
2 clowns (yes, full dress and makeup) that asked for money on the bus
5 times I’ve cooked (or been allowed to cook) and help make food
4 cows that I’ve milked
6 charlas (lessons) that I’ve given in Spanish to Hondurans aged 6 to 30
15 hours (estimate) that I’ve spent hand-washing my clothes
52 mosquito bites that I currently have, and counting (if anyone has any remedies or suggestions, I’m all ears. I will rub garlic all over myself if that would help repel them!)
20+ the number of children in my town that regularly greet me as “profe”, short for “professor” or know my name and ask how I am/say “hello” in English
$3 a day, my current salary, soon to bump up to $7/day once I am finished with training. Think of me every time y’all get your chai or coffee for the day!
10 letters and cards I’ve received, keep ‘em coming!
Countless: number of times I’ve felt so grateful for the privileges I’ve had in my life and for this opportunity to mejorar (better) the lives of those here in Honduras

Great books I’ve finished/am reading

The Alchemist (fantastic book and wisdom on finding your path in life)
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters J.D. Salinger (great prose, lots of interesting connections to Asian literary influences and theater/arts)
Catch-22 (just started)

Awesome music I’ve been introduced to

Come Se Mata un Gusano – Grupo Santa Fe; one of the top songs from the past few years in Honduras, got to watch this band live and dance punta!
We No Speak Americano – the Spanish remixed rendition. Youtube it! It’s all the rage here :)
Amos Lee – awesome singer/songwriter
Digable Planets and Buena Vista Social Club – thanks to the awesome media sharing between PC volunteers, I’ve been introduced to lots of great new music. Suggestions are always appreciated! Or mixed CDs should you have time to make and send one ☺

As always, I’d love to hear about your lives and see pictures. Congrats on the many happy things coming up for people: graduation, college acceptances, engagements, new jobs…so proud of all my friends and family!

Hasta pronto,

Tricia

7 weeks in Honduras!

My first time milking a cow, I drank some unpasteurized milk as well, so frothy and delicious! I have so much more appreciation for farmers (campesinos) and their livelihood, I definitely have a lot to learn here.

Washing clothes by hand in the pila (a concrete well/reservoir where we store water. We have no running water and the pila water needs to be rationed throughout the day). I've never encountered a better arm workout.

This is our health group! H-18 Salud has 17 people from all over the U.S., we range in age from 22-29 and have diverse work backgrounds. Here we are receiving the key to the town of Villa de San Antonio from the mayor. We have been doing field-based training in this town the last few weeks. We will spend 6 weeks here helping the community with various health projects and improving our Spanish and health knowledge.

One of the charlas (lessons) I gave about puberty and anatomical changes. The kids (boys aged 9-11) were so cute and bashful and we had fun making the drawing of "Mario" change as he hit puberty.

Peace Corps Training...Zarabanda, Honduras

I have been in the beautiful country of Honduras for almost a month now, and am just now making it to an internet cafe! Life here is relaxing, and I am definitely learning more about myself and how I adapt and react to challenges. A typical day for me is to wake up at 5:45am, make my bed, shower and get ready for the day, then have breakfast with my amazing host family around 6:15am. Breakfast often consists of beans, tortillas and cheese, or toast and beans, or fresh fruit, and I have even recently been allowed to use the kitchen to make eggs. There is also the infamous ¨mantequilla¨which is this white sauce similar to a mayonnaise/sour cream mix and it is put on EVERYTHING for EVERY MEAL. I´ve even seen people here put mantequilla on fruit...it is definitely an acquired taste. After breakfast, I meet up with 4 other volunteers that live close to my house and we make the 10 minute walk to school, passing by people on horses, donkeys, children playing soccer, mothers cooking in outdoor ovens, dogs and cats and roosters every few steps. It is certainly rustic as we walk along paths and skirt around piles of horse dung and critters, meanwhile saying ¨Buenos Dias¨to every passerby.

Spanish classes begin at 7:30am, and I am in an intermediate level class, so we have been doing lots of practice talking and using the correct verb conjugations as well as learning tons of new vocabulary. I feel that every day, I learn 200 new words and probably retain about 10, so at this rate, I hope to be able to speak less broken Spanish in 2 years. :) We have lunch with all the other volunteers and it is always a fun hour, discovering what was packed for you by your host family. My lunches are always fantastic, usually including rice, some kind of meat and fruit as well as juice. Others aren´t as lucky and this has spawned a ¨Lunch finishers Club¨of hungry volunteers (usually guys that don´t get enough food) who will eat leftovers/unwanted food of other volunteers so that none of us throw any food away.

After lunch, we have project training which consists of learning about the health issues in Honduras and the various projects and initiatives Peace Corps has to address these health issues. We have just finished the Family Health unit where we learned how to lead charlas (lessons) in nutrition, common illnesses including diarrhea and pneumonia which are the leading causes of death in children under 5. We also planted a garden, helped build an improved stove, and learned to teach a healthy cooking class and also visited a local health center. Next week, we will move on to HIV/AIDS topics and move to a different site where we will be doing more hands on training.

I walk home after class around 5 and play with my 3 host sisters and 1 host brother...they are all under the age of 8, so you can imagine the fun we have with balls, games, frisbee, you name it. They are all in a bilingual private school so we also practice language and I ask them how to say words in Spanish and vice versa. We then have dinner around 6pm, do homework after, and go to bed around 8:30pm. It is nice to have a consistent schedule every week and not have to worry about bills or transportation or making meals. It is also frustrating to not have the freedom to go watch movies with new friends or choose what I eat for each meal. I am really loving my time so far though and have nothing to complain about, I am certainly excited for all the new possibilities of my life here.

As for some other interesting things that have happened here...I have gone to Catholic church every Sunday with my family, although I haven´t taken communion yet. My family also took me to La Tigra national park where I got to ride a horse and eat the famous ¨Mondongo¨soup which is a soup of vegetables and tripe, muy delicioso! I have attended 2 birthday parties, gone to a karoake night with all the other volunteers, and also taken the chicken bus to the capital and haggled for better prices for avocados and guavas (I could eat these two things every meal). I have already made some incredible relationships here and learned a lot about this country and I can´t wait to share more with you as time goes on. Please update me on your lives as you get a chance and keep in touch!

I will post pictures next time, hope you all have a wonderful rest of the month and Happy Spring Break!

Peace Corps Staging - Atlanta

I made it safe to the hotel in Atlanta and have since been busy with orientation and getting to know the 52 other volunteers. It's so great to be around other worldly people who all have similar aspirations and goals in life. No one here questions "why" we're here, but rather "how" we can improve ourselves and share with our counterparts once in country, it's very refreshing! We come from all walks of life, many of us recent graduates from college, some of us putting family and/or careers on hold, there are four married couples--one of whom are in their 60's and have already served two previous stints in the Peace Corps. There is even another Oregon Duck here that I knew in college and was neighbors with Sophomore year; imagine my surprise when I saw a familiar face at the hotel! Most of us have traveled extensively to other countries, and many have lived in other countries for a long period of time. Though we are not a racially diverse group, many of us speak another language fluently. I am definitely excited to get to know this wonderful group of people as training proceeds in the next three months and build some lasting friendships.

I feel that I have found a group that will become like family down in Honduras and help with bouts of homesickness and loneliness. Though I am thinking of you all and missing you already, I truly feel that I am making the right choice by taking this step into the unknown. Please keep me posted on your lives and how things go for you these next few years and I will keep you updated on things here whenever I get a chance.

Mom and Dad, thank you for the beautiful card...it speaks to me perfectly, my roommate here even shed a tear over it. I will share it with our group and hopefully it will be an uplifting reminder of why I'm here on low days.

Well, We wake up in 3 hours to fly out, I suppose I should try to get some sleep. Let's hope for a safe flight to Tegucigalpa, home of the Toncontin International airport, aka sketchiest runway in the world. I'd advise NOT looking at youtube videos of plane landings. :) Enjoy the snow in Eugene

Taiwan, my homeland!

It's been over 5 years since I last visited Taiwan where I grew up as a child. So many fond memories came flooding back as soon as we stepped into the airport, and after Europe, I certainly had a bit of culture shock. I also found myself viewing my childhood homeland from different, adult lenses. What a great experience it was and I certainly hope to live here again someday and spend more time with my family.

This little tyke came to meet us at the airport. It was my first time meeting my two baby cousins! Here he is getting a piggy-back from my Grandma.

Our first breakfast in Taiwan 台灣, we of course went to get hot soy milk 豆槳 and some breaded goods 包子, 饅頭, and 油條

A traditional meat market, they also have cages of live chickens...you pick out the chicken that fancies you, and "chop", the vendor takes off its head and defeathers it so you have a fresh chicken to cook for your meal... I did not document this with photographs for good reason :)

One of the many temples in Taipei, I used to go with my great-grandmother when I was young to pray and burn incense in honor of our ancestors.

Hot pot or 火鍋 that my family prepared. Everyone sits together, and puts into the pot whichever side they want, be it meat, vegetables, eggs, noodles, etc. The food then cooks in the broth on the hot plate and everyone enjoys the different flavors and foods with a dipping sauce.

Chicken feet!! Yes, these are the feet of chicken. Simmered in a spicy soy sauce, one eats these by gnawing on the skin and cartilage, a lovely delicacy that is one of my mom's favorites!

Tea-leaf eggs or 茶葉蛋, these are eggs that simmer in a black tea leaf and soy broth and taste absolutely delicious. You crack open the shell to reveal a boiled egg that has been browned and flavored by the broth. These are sold all over the place in convenience stores, 7-11s, etc.

Mom and I went to visit the Taipei International Flora Exposition, Taiwan's first international expo that cost millions of dollars for the 6-month exhibit. It was absolutely phenomenal and I don't think I've ever seen/smelled so many wonderful flowers, what a breath of fresh air to have in the middle of bustling Taipei city

The expo was in the middle of several parks, one of which included traditional Chinese houses and architecture

Can't forget the public toilets! One squats down to use these, and hopes that it is clean and has a functional flush. An almost spotless one here!

Four generations of family! From left: me, my mom, my grandma, and my great-grandma. I am so lucky to have such strong women in my life.

More from Deutschland

A large part of Euro-trip was to have an educational and historical journey to learn more about our world and history and how things came to be. This of course included a sobering visit to a concentration camp, in Dachau. Dachau was actually classified as a work camp and, initially, prisoners who were "rehabilitated" were eligible for possible release. However, as the war ran longer, Dachau became a concentration and death camp.

The gate at the entrance to the camp bears the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" which translates to "Work brings freedom"

This memorial had a life-size poster timeline with informational details and pictures of the progression of the war and of Dachau from an intial work camp to an eventual extermination center. This photograph was particularly disturbing, showing malnourished prisoners

The ovens that the Nazis used to incinerate prisoners

We were in a very somber mood after our Dachau visit, and headed to Stuttgart next by train to visit a music friend from PYP that I hadn't seen in about 6 years. It was wonderful to catch up with her and her new husband and to see the sights of Stuttgart.

Fabian and Laurel. Such gracious hosts and wonderful company and conversation. Thank you!

Stuttgart is a famed industrial city known for producing Mercedes-Benz and Porsche cars. We of course visited the Mercedes museum. The whole time we were there, I was wishing for Grandpa to be there as I'm sure he would have been fascinated by the progression of cars and been able to explain all the mechanical aspects of what we were seeing.

Me breaking the rules and touching an older-model Mercedes

We discovered the good, rich food of Germany at Oktoberfest, and went on to find a new favorite dish: maultaschen. This is a traditional Swabian (Southern region of Germany) dish that is kind of like a dumpling filled with minced meat, spinach and herbs. Absolutely fantastic! Can't wait to try to make this at home, or better yet, find a restaurant that makes it. :)

Another favorite dish, spätzle, a type of noodle dish akin to a very cheesy and rich mac and cheese

Austria and Germany

Had a wonderful day trip to Salzburg, Austria where we got to tour Mozart's house and see his instruments, manuscripts, letters, and other artifacts from his lifetime. Definitely helped me to understand and appreciate his music a little more, hope to catch a concert at some point in Europe!

Salzach river with the Alps in the background. Salzburg is where "The Sound Of Music" movie was filmed...can't you just picture yourself roaming through these hills, singing "The hills are alive..."?

Our next stop was Munich, Germany for the 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Basically, imagine a larger than life carnival filled with ginormous tents, packed with picnic benches and many drunk people squeezed together from Germany and all over the world, wearing lederhosen and dirndyl outfits, chanting and singing and drinking and having an absolute blast.

Yes, our waiter carried 11 steins (large beer mugs) at once, no small feat. That's about 60 pounds of glass and beer (a liter in each stein); they do this all day and deliver steins every 5-10 minutes. Imagine the workout there!

Reunited with Kappa sisters at Oktoberfest.

We had an eventful 3 days with high school buddies as well and a nice mingling of groups. This was also about where Europe started to disregard my high metabolism.

Must eat high-caloric food while you're drinking. Some delicious Southern German food...imagine hearty holiday comfort food and this is about what we had for every meal

Inside of the Augustiner tent, one of the more famous breweries. Note the folk dressed in lederhosen (guy trouser outfits) and durndyls (female maiden outfits). Of course, you can see the band and singers at the front of the hall, and people standing up on benches to sing, sway, and clap to popular songs, many of which were older American hits

After all that food and beer and physical exertion from dancing, it seems like a great idea to go on one of the many carnival rides! You can only imagine how people felt when they got out of these rides ;P

Switzerland

My first impression of Switzerland was from the fabulous trains...an upgrade from what we were used to in Italy and Greece. The trains were more high-tech, roomier, had many more amenities like electrical outlets and were just so darn sleek! They also are very timely and we arrived into Interlaken right when we expected and found that the whole city (and country) was similar to their train system--clean, efficient, and beautiful.

Our train!

Having some Swiss Toblerone chocolates while on the train. Food (and everything else) was extremely expensive in Switzerland, so we opted to get groceries instead of eating out. Switzerland, not being in the European Union, has their own food regulation laws, thus the exceptional quality of their food. We had some of the best milk and cheese and fruits I've ever tasted.

My first time bungy-jumping! The Goldeneye bungee jump is on the Verzasca dam in Switzerland. Made famous by the Goldeneye James Bond movie, this jump is roughly 750 ft. and the second tallest in the world, and the tallest jump without a guide rope. I was under the weight limit by about 3 kilos, but went ahead and rounded up my weight so that I could do the jump. What a rush!!

View of the Verzasca dam that we jumped off of.

Scott flying!

We also went canyoning which required us to dress in wetsuits, and follow a guide as we trekked through the rocks and pools carved out by rivers flowing down the Alps. Never have I zoomed down natural rock slides head first nor jumped into 4-ft deep pools in sideways cannon balls. What an exhilarating 2 hours!

Switzerland is truly like something out of a picture book. Beautiful alps, grazing animals, charming cottages with red flower boxes under windows...

Here I am with my pack on, the Alps in the background, and a beautiful day for traveling!

Italia

Hello! Just a brief little update with some pictures from Italy. I am currently in Spain and there is supposedly a country-wide strike tomorrow, so nothing will be open. This should give me plenty of time to do some major updates! Hope all is well back home, we are loving the 70+ degree sunny weather. :)

Scott checking out the petrified wood from Ercolano...sister city to Pompeii that was preserved by volcanic mud and ash in 79 AD

Roman bed still standing in original form after thousands of years

Touching the walls of Ercolano...even paintings and sculptures were preserved in unbelievable condition!

Some appetizers, grilled vegetables, bruschetta with various pates including olive and liver

Corfu

Corfu island in Greece turned out to be absolutely amazing and relaxing. We awoke to the aroma of something deliciously smokey and found the hostel's open air rotisserie with chickens lined up, being barbequed for our (free) dinner. We decided to walk around the beach in the meantime to sink our toes in the velvety sand and dip our feet in the warm, salty waters of the Ionian Sea. We also climbed up some rocks for great views of the Western Corfu coast. Some interesting bit of history was the Greek myth that Poseidon apparently fell in love with a beautiful nymph, abducted her (as was custom in Greek mythology) and brought her to the island and, in marriage, allowed her to name the island Korkyra. Their child was named Phaiax and, thus, the residents of Corfu were called Phaiakes which translated in Latin to Phaecians. Though there is lots of history and old fortresses in Corfu, we didn't have many days to check out all the historical sights. I'd definitely love to come back though!

Our amazing BBQ chicken at our hostel

After this, we came back to the hostel to our delicious home-cooked meal. We found out that our hostel owners had been running the Sun Rock hostel for 25+ years, and had 4 children ranging in age from 11 months to 23 years. They also owned some land on Corfu and most of the food we ate came directly from their land...fresh chicken eggs, home-made feta cheese, vegetables and fruits from their plants, wine harvested from their grapes, olives and oil from their trees, etc. They really seemed to live the life. We also discovered that there were actually 12 or 13 kittens running around the hostel, so it was a joy to watch them play and to cuddle them. My favorite was the one named Princess. Scott was particularly keen on the skinny runt named Matt Damon. :)

Kitty Princess

Greek pancakes...they are an airy kind of fried dough, topped with cinnamon and honey. So yummy!

The view from our hostel terrace. The water is so clear you can wade out waist-deep and see your toes through the water, as well as little fish that live in the sea

Picking fresh figs off of the tree after a swim in the ocean. Yum!