Week 2

My second week in Honduras started off with a two day trip to Tela, a nearby beach town. Although El P is on the ocean and has some beautiful views, the beach itself is not the picturesque kind that you see on postcards. The water is not the clearest and the sand is littered with trash. If volunteers want to enjoy a weekend at the beach, they normally travel to the islands off the coast of Honduras, or to more touristy towns such as La Ceiba and Tela.
The beach at Tela was quite nice: populated, but not crowded, with blue water and a small strip of restaurants from which you could watch the sunset. However, the city itself didn't have much to do. After searching for an hour or so, we discovered that the one museum which we'd wanted to visit (and seemingly the only one in Tela) had closed a few years back. This was quite disappointing. We ended up spending most of our time in Tela lying on the beach and enjoying the water and the sun.

As nice as Tela was, I couldn't help but feel relieved when we arrived back in El P on Monday afternoon. Maybe it's that I'm not a city person, but driving through El P I felt safe and comfortable. As cheesy as it sounds, it seemed almost as though I were coming home and I've only been living here for two weeks.
This week Eve, HCA's director, was in town. There was also a lot of turnover among the volunteers with two vets leaving us and four new people joining our group. Instead of going to classes, we spent the week training and getting back to HCA's roots. Each day we would have a morning session and an afternoon session which would involve circle time (something we do each day with the kids), and some sort of educational activity or discussion. We covered everything from learning how to turn on the kindles and computers, to making healthy snacks. We also discussed areas in which we lacked confidence and how to appropriately discipline the children. It was a long and tiring week, but it was a great way to get to know the new volunteers and to review all of the rules, values, and expectations that we have here at HCA.
On Wednesday, all of the volunteers took a walk around town and Eve introduced us to one of the missionaries who lives nearby, as well as to the bomberos (firefighters). Both the missionaries and bomberos are great resources to have in case anything happens. In El P, the police are on a three month rotation so as to stop corruption. Though this may sound like a good idea, it means that they have no connections with the people of El P and, from what I gather, have no real motivation to keep the people here safe. The bomberos, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. One volunteer explained to me that in El P the bomberos are like gods. All of the children look up to them and they are stand-up guys who truly care about the people who live here.

The next morning, all of the volunteers woke up early in order to see the local school's Independence Day Parade which was supposed to begin at 7am. We should have known that 7am meant 7am Honduras time. The parade didn't start until about 8:30am, but it was worth the wait. The procession was led by the bomberos in their one fire truck. Behind them were elementary and middle school aged kids in all sorts of costumes, doing everything from baton twirling, to playing music in the marching band, to dancing, to marching with fake wooden guns on their shoulders. All of the kids were adorable and, even after being here for only a week, I recognized a few faces and some got waves and smiles from a few of my students. I even got a hug from and a photo with Jesus!

September 15th is Honduran Independence Day. El P celebrated with a parade similar to the one we'd seen on Thursday morning, except it wasn't nearly as cute. We followed the procession from one side of town to the other, enjoying the music, dancing, and lanterns. The whole affair took about two hours and we didn't even stay for the presentation at the end during which the band played a special set. Tons of people showed up to the parade, filling the streets and making it somewhat difficult to walk alongside the performers without feeling as though you were being sucked into the parade itself. One of my favorite parts about the whole thing were the songs that the band played, namely Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys and Locked Away by R. City ft. Adam Levine. I had to stop myself from singing along on multiple occasions
Many of my evenings this week have been filled with fun events such as cards games, Jungle Speed, Pass the Pigs, and movie watching with the other volunteers. Yesterday afternoon, a bunch of us played in a pick-up soccer game with Yamit's study buddy and his friends. It's nice to feel like the volunteers are clicking and that we're making friends with the locals.
Something else that I feel as though I should mention before I sign off is the intensity of male gaze here. It wasn't until I arrived that I realized how rare it is for men in the U.S. to whistle at you or catcall as you walk by. Here in Honduras this kind of thing happens all the time. It's meant in a friendly way but, because I wasn't used to it at first, it was kind of uncomfortable. By this point, I'm used to it and now, when someone shouts "hey baby" or "I love you" out of the window of their car, I'm able to just laugh it off. However, it was very striking when I first arrived. I think it's partly that most of the other volunteers and I look like we don't belong -- we're obviously gringos --, but I also think that it's partly just Honduran machismo culture. Here in Honduras, they have different values than we do in my community at home. Comparing this point of view to the liberal, feminist one that I'm used to, is fascinating. It makes me wonder whether there is a feminist movement in Honduras -- especially because more Honduran women go to college than Honduran men which you think would gives them an advantage. I'll have to ask about all of this next time I have study buddies.

Word of the week:
Bajona -- hungry
"Tengo bajona" -- "I am hungry"

Yamit quote of the week:
"There's so much sand in this bed!"