Written on July 21, 2013
Well here it is… My first week in Honduras. I am going to
try to churn out a new blog each Sunday/Monday. Try is the operative word, though. That does not necessarily
mean that I will be able to post it every week on Sunday/ Monday because the
internet in Santa Lucia does not work very well. Anyway….
Without a doubt, the theme this week was learning. Moving to a new place certainly
requires one to be open-minded to learning. So I wanted to share with you all
some of the things I learned this week (brace yourself… there are many and this
is only just a good selection). Enjoy!
1. Remain calm. Things
will work out! My first task upon arriving in Tegucigalpa was to find the
brigade coordinator. Easier said than done. I had no real instructions just a name and an assurance that
he would be there. I suppose I was rightfully nervous about this because after
going through customs and immigration (o joy!), I walked into a sea of people
who all looked like they could be the guy I was looking for. And there was no one with a sign, like
I had been promised. After
wandering around for nearly ten minutes and having a small heart attack, I
attempted to call my contact in Honduras but of course, my phone had no service
like I had been promised by the Verizon guy that it would. After about ten more
excruciating minutes of me imagining numerous different scenarios about what I
would have to do if I couldn’t find him, Ever approached me and we were soon on
our way to Santa Lucia.
2. When you can eat
fruit or veggies, jump at the opportunity. When we stopped on the first
night to have dinner, many people got fruit with dinner. I didn’t. Bad choice!
While it has only been a week, I am already craving raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, asparagus. My
favorite meal this week was the soup because it had the most veggies. It was just the other day that I
dreamed about key lime yogurt with granola and blueberries (this is no
joke!). Despite the fact that I
was out late last night, I dragged myself out of bed this morning early so I
could go to Magdalena (the town over) for the mercado (market) to buy fruits
and veggies. I have already
consumed an apple, a banana, and some green beans today. While I do love me
some black beans and tortillas (although I have already broken into my supply
of peanut butter, Nutella, and honey for my tortillas), I really do miss the
abundance of fruits and veggies.
3. Mountains are
beautiful to look at but traveling through them sucks! Basically travelling
in Honduras sucks in general. “Roads” are not always existent, especially in
the mountains where there are many little hills. Often times while driving, it is very likely to drive up a
hill two or three times before actually being able to scale over it. While I do not know how to drive stick
shift, there is no doubt in my mind that I wouldn’t drive even if I did. The roads are made of dirt and rocks.
They are not often smooth and sometimes are not drivable when it is the rainy
season (aka now). And it’s even worse when riding in the back of a pick up
truck while trying to hold on to something or anything that you can find.
4. Anything expectation
that I had had must be thrown out of the window. This past Wednesday, we
went to a health fair in San Sebastian. When I heard the words health fair, I
could imagine a bunch of organizations gathering in a large auditorium giving
out samples or offering advice. There would be a nice printed schedule and it
would be very organized. Well the
health fair I attended this week was held at a school, the “auditorium” was
just a gathering of people outside of the classrooms. There were health screenings inside of classrooms. There
were kids running all over the place.
There was no schedule. Yet
it didn’t seem to bother many people.
They were receiving free health care. Despite the fact that it was not what I expected it to be,
because what I expected wasn’t realistic or even possible, it wasn’t even close
to the idea of my altered expectation.
Basically I am reduced to asking a lot of questions here because if I
don’t, I am often extremely surprised with how things operate. And there’s
nothing wrong with that, but it does take some getting used to.
5. Americans really do live a fast-paced life. I did expect to come to Honduras
expecting to live a much slower life but it is REALLY slow here. No one really
does things quickly here and everyone is almost always late. While I do appreciate the vacation
speed by which things occur at times, I think I am going to need to get out of
Santa Lucia pretty regularly.
6. Nearly anything can
be a form of entertainment if it deviates from the norm. I am not kidding that one of the
most memorable moments this week was the nearly the entirety of doctors that
live here at the clinic trying to kill a rat (as there is an infestation but
thankfully not in my room). Everyone was running around screaming as we chased
the rat from one hiding place to another trying to kill it. Another fun moment
was when we told ghost stories after the power came back on Thursday night (see
next post about electricity). I
sat with all the Honduran doctors, who are all just a little older than I am and
all girls, and heard about all of the local legends of witches and ghosts. Entertainment here consists of TV and a
lot of it. I have started asking
questions about what people like to do in their free time and some have even
answered cleaning (probably because they don’t have much else to do), which
boggles my mind. While I flew
through a book in the first three days here, I have not seen a single person
read much of anything. Another American (of which there are only two others)
told me that people pretty much stare out of the windows on three-hour bus
rides. It is refreshing when there
are things out of the norm. I’m really looking forward to the next birthday as
I have heard that people really make a big deal out of them.
7. When the
electricity is working; charge, charge, charge. Because our electricity is through a generator, it is
slightly unreliable. Only twice
this week the power has gone out for a short amount of time but I have heard
that it was out for three days at one point in recent months. Enough said!
8. My Spanish is both
better and worse than I expected. I have to say that I think this is the
hardest thing to adjust for me.
Over this past week there have been times where I have felt fantastic-
making conversation and laughing over jokes and times where I know I looked
like I was staring off into space.
Working on my Spanish has been both fun- learning all the Hondurenismos
like cheque (okay), paila (back of the pickup truck), and pinta (cool)- but
also extremely frustrating- like when someone tries to ask me a question four
times and I still don’t understand.
I have to say that I am excited to see how much I can learn but realize
that it isn’t always going to be easy.
9. No matter how much
we complain in the United States, our government, our lives are worlds better
than many around the world. My life is relatively cushy here in comparison
to many who live in Honduras. I
have clean, filtered water; a toilet and shower to use; even air
conditioning. I know that I am
guilty of complaining myself, but honestly, we have a government that makes
sure that we have roads that are function (sometimes probably spending millions
on new roads that we don’t even need), we have clean water to drink, we have an
ABUNDANCE of choices about food, we have constant electricity, we have fast
internet, we have a lot of opportunities for learning and growth
(documentaries, college, museums…). We have so much that we don’t even
realize. Only one 1% of people in
Honduras go to college. Could you imagine if only the 1% of the population went
to college in America? And I’m
sure that it comes as no surprise to many of you that I am saying some of these
things. We all know that people
around the world live very different (and much more difficult) lives than we do
but I challenge you to be conscious of all the things that you have in your
life that you are thankful for.
Many people in Honduras would kill for the opportunity to go (much less
live) in the United States. So this week, appreciate that you are lucky to have
been born in a country that at least has some stuff figured out and try to
grumble just a little less.
Have an awesome week! Miss you all a lot (already).
Becca
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