Copan

Last week we found out our final site placements… the location we would be spending the next two years of our lives. I’m going to Copan! Peace Corps doesn’t recommend we share with the whole world exactly where we are going, but I’ll be in a small city in Copan. Copan is in the west of Honduras, on the boarder with Guatemala. The Copan ruins are there as well. I’ll be going to Copan with one other business volunteer (she will be south of where I am), along with a Water & Sanitation volunteer in another site north west of me and a Health volunteer about south west of me. Those are only the volunteers from this group; there are other volunteers from previous groups there already. What is also nice is that I’m a bus ride away from San Pedro Sula, the major transportation center of the north. There are lots of factories there owned by Koreans, so I should have no problem finding Korean food as well as Korean groceries. When we go to our sites, we will have to live with our new host family for at least 2 months. Also, we will not be able to leave our site for those 2 months. We aren’t allowed to take vacation days until 3 months in; until then we are allowed “walk abouts” which means we are allowed to travel somewhere overnight in case we want to visit other volunteers, need to run errands at other locations, etc. I am definitely looking forward to my new site even though I am told that I have big shoes to fill. I am replacing another volunteer, what everyone calls a ‘super volunteer’ because he did so much for his community. Lots of the other volunteers specifically said that they didn’t want to go to replace him because of the expectations to live up to. Somehow I ended up with this site, but I’m ok with it. I plan on going in with no expectations of what I want to do; I’ll just go in and see what there is that I can do to improve and help my community.
Other big news – I passed the language proficiency exam! We had to get at least a level of intermediate medium to swear in as volunteers. I started out as a novice, but today I had my interview and I was cleared as an INT-M. That also means that I’m eligible to receive a tutor for the next three months – something that is only available to those at the INT-M level. So it turned out great. If I had not been able to pass I would have been required to stay at the training site for another week to study and then take another exam. If that wasn’t enough I would have had another week again. But I’m glad to start my life in my new site, where the real world is waiting for me.
Our last week in Ojojona we held a business simulation at a high school in a nearby community. We each had a classroom of students and we taught them basic marketing, production and accounting. The students then had to form their own businesses, create a product and then sell – all in four days. My group made bracelets to sell. I definitely felt more comfortable speaking Spanish in front of a crowd after the HIV/AIDS charla and I feel I did a lot better this time. Also during this week was when we found out about our site announcements – they drew a map of Honduras on the ground, explained where the sites were and then told us who was going to which site. That was followed by pizza and cake – good times!
Also, I went on an excursion to see some caves near Ojojona, which was fun. We managed to get a jalon (hitchhike) to the location of the caves and back. Nothing like sitting on the back of a pickup truck… I also went on a grueling hike to La Tigre National Park. We couldn’t get to the waterfalls because we had to get back early to catch a bus, but we had some nice views when we went.
In other news, I am back at the first training site with my first host family. We are here for this last week of training; on Thursday we meet our counterparts, and on Friday we have our swearing in ceremony as volunteers. We will meet the ambassador and all the other good stuff – it should be fun. We then leave for our sites early Saturday morning, so this is the last time a lot of us will see each other until 3 months. That is when we will all get back together to learn about grant writing and all that other good stuff. I left my family in Ojojona last Saturday, which is why I wasn’t able to post anything. I’ll be leaving this coming Saturday so I don’t know when the next time will be to update everything – I was told that there isn’t good wireless internet access where I am going. I may have to look into getting a landline when I move out on my own, or may have to use the local internet café if there is one. Lastly, I adjusted the blog so that anyone can post comments without having to sign up, so please let me know if you have any questions or what not. Until next time… new pics posted as well....

Tourism week / HIV

Last week we went to the southern coast of Honduras for classes on tourism. We divided into three groups to work with three different businesses and develop business plans for them. My group was a restaurant that also doubled as a private zoo. Apparently there is only one public zoo in Honduras, with a lot more private collections. The restaurant we went to exhibits the animals for free – but he only has about 17 different species. Eventually he hopes to charge, but in doing so, he will really need to spruce the place up. After touring the restaurant, we went to the beach and camped out there one night. We had hot dogs and tuna fish sandwiches – glorious American food!! – played volleyball, and in general just relaxed (with the exception of the one group that interviewed the owner of the campgrounds). The next day we went to another beach for a group building activity and played an improvised version of waterpolo/ultimate Frisbee with a half full Coke bottle. We then went to another restaurant for seafood and the third group interviewed the restaurant owner. After that we went home and had to work on a business plan (in Spanish this time!) to present to the group by the end of the week. Work hard, play hard – it was real fun. On Saturday we played soccer against a group called Christos Jovenes (Christ’s Kids) and we got smashed 7-3. 1 was a self goal, and we missed 2 penalty kicks, so it could have been 6-5, but it was 7-3. Most importantly we had fun, so good times.
This past week we went over micro finances and we had guest speakers (volunteers from previous groups) to give lectures on HIV/AIDS (in Spanish). We were then split up into groups to give the same presentation to a local high school – in Spanish. The work was intense, but I think we did a good job. The volunteers told us that giving a VIH/SIDA charla (that’s how they say it in Spanish) is a good way to integrate into your site when you first get there as lots of Hondurans are interested in these lectures. One of the volunteers was Korean, and he told me that there are Korean super markets in Honduras, especially in San Pedro Sula (the municipal with the highest homicide rates) as lots of machillas are owned by Koreans. Machillas are factories that receive half way processed goods from over seas, are worked on (value is added) the shipped back out again. But the danger in San Pedro Sula is primarily between gang members as lots of them are there. The only danger for tourists and other non-drug dealers is to be mugged, but as long as you split up your cash you should be fine. I definitely think the risk is worth it – I miss me some Korean food…

Next week we find out about where we will be placed. Should make for an exciting day Wednsday.... new pictures are up as well.