¡Saludos!
Things are moving right along in Victoria-keeping busy and getting the ball rolling. The baseball tryout was great, we had more than 50 kids come. It was a little overwhelmed, but I am so excited that so many have the interest. Therefore, instead of picking 20 kids for one team, I decided to form 3 different teams. Anyone have any old baseball equipment they don´t need? :) I have what one would call a varsity team, JV, and C team. We have temporarily named them the Medias rojas (Red Sox), Yankees, and the Cubs. Joe (my sitemate) and I thought about naming the C team the Royals to commemorate my Kansas heritage, but I thought naming the C team that name would only reemphasize what the real Royals team is lacking. So, it´s the Cubs instead. I´ll probably be practicing 3 times a week soon so they will keep me busy.
I have just recently figured out that if I had some friends or family from Kansas come visit me they´d probably laugh at the sight of me walking around in my community. I have become good friends with my host family´s dog Lucky. He likes to follow me around to my office, to meetings, and has even gone running with me. I don´t mind of course, and I think it´s pretty cute. What I just figured out, however, is that he looks a lot like Dorothy´s dog Toto in the Wizard of Oz. Kinda weird, huh? A Toto wanna-be following the only Kansas girl in Honduras (or at least 1 of the very few). Maybe I´m just easily amused nowadays...
If anyone is interested, my reading club is in need of some books. Books in Spanish would be preferred, but books in English would also be great (I´ll be teaching them a bit of English). Also, any sort of school supplies would also be welcome-we´re going to be doing a variety of artistic/creativity projects that would require some crayons, glue, scissors, etc. I just had a parents informational meeting and everyone is very excited about this project. This makes me very happy because I know that I have the support of the parents.
Adiós y ¡que tenga buen día!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 14, 2008
The happenings in Victoria
Well, after a month and a week in site I have definitely had my share of interesting experiences-and I have had some questions about what I am actually doing right now so here is a little list of the projects I am currently working on.
Baseball team- probably will have 2
Rompiendo el Silencio (Breaking the Silence) : a Domestic Violence eduation group of women
Grupo de Adulto Mayores- Elderly person's group (we do arts and crafts, support group sorts of things)
Pregnant women's club- I am working with the local clinic and I am going to start giving "talks" or charlas to the women about health concerns and life skills (self-esteem, caring for children, nutrition, etc).
High School Counselor- I am working as a high school counselor for the graduating high school seniors helping them with scholarship information, resumes, career decisions, finding a job, etc.
Club de Lectura- or a Reading club- This is a brand new project but I hope to teach this 20 3rd graders how to help others to read and then we can go to the poorer parts of town during the school break and read to other children.
Life Skills talks- School is almost out so I won't be doing this for awhile but I was giving life skills charlas in the high school and elementary schools. I have been plans when the school year starts up again (Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Making good decisions, communication, how to be a leader charlas, etc)
Escuela para Padres- Teaching parents how to talk to their children about Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, how to disclipine, teaching your values, etc. I haven't started this project either because it is still in the planning stages, but it will be started soon I hope.
There are many other projects that are going to be starting at the beginning of the school year, and I know it's going to be crazy. But i'll keep everyone posted as to other projects I will be starting.
Also, I am planning on doing a bake sale to raise money for my baseball team to travel and play against other teams in Honduras. Does anyone have any good receipes or baking ideas they would like to share? Please email me and let me know!!
Baseball team- probably will have 2
Rompiendo el Silencio (Breaking the Silence) : a Domestic Violence eduation group of women
Grupo de Adulto Mayores- Elderly person's group (we do arts and crafts, support group sorts of things)
Pregnant women's club- I am working with the local clinic and I am going to start giving "talks" or charlas to the women about health concerns and life skills (self-esteem, caring for children, nutrition, etc).
High School Counselor- I am working as a high school counselor for the graduating high school seniors helping them with scholarship information, resumes, career decisions, finding a job, etc.
Club de Lectura- or a Reading club- This is a brand new project but I hope to teach this 20 3rd graders how to help others to read and then we can go to the poorer parts of town during the school break and read to other children.
Life Skills talks- School is almost out so I won't be doing this for awhile but I was giving life skills charlas in the high school and elementary schools. I have been plans when the school year starts up again (Drugs and Alcohol, Sexuality, Making good decisions, communication, how to be a leader charlas, etc)
Escuela para Padres- Teaching parents how to talk to their children about Sex, Drugs, Alcohol, how to disclipine, teaching your values, etc. I haven't started this project either because it is still in the planning stages, but it will be started soon I hope.
There are many other projects that are going to be starting at the beginning of the school year, and I know it's going to be crazy. But i'll keep everyone posted as to other projects I will be starting.
Also, I am planning on doing a bake sale to raise money for my baseball team to travel and play against other teams in Honduras. Does anyone have any good receipes or baking ideas they would like to share? Please email me and let me know!!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Kinda like in Romancing the Stone
So, everyone remembers the bus in the movie Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas....they were going through Colombia on a very interesting and somewhat scary bus. I have been asked a few times if the buses here are like that. I would say no-- typically the buses are the old yellow school buses from the states that have a sub system installed with all sorts of pretty grafitti on the inside and outside. Normally those buses don't break down like the one in Romancing the Stone.
Well for all of those who were half-way excited that I might be riding on buses like that down here I have to say that I rode on one that was border-line "Romancing the Stone like." This bus wasn't as nice as the other buses I was used to... the seats were falling apart (falling off the brace and had giant bites taken out of them) and I swear I kept feeling something crawl over my feet. Also, because of the massive rain fall we have been experiencing, everytime we came to a big mud-covered hill we had to all go towards the back of the bus and jump to try and give it more leverage. People were laughing at me because I guess my face showed that I was a little nervous the bus would get stuck or breakdown from the abuse it was taking (it was going to be dark in a few hours and it would be bad to be stuck out in the middle of no where). I didn't think this was too great because I was at the time experiencing a bit of motion sickness from the back and forth rowing motions... and, to top off the experience, there was livestock as well. Yes, I was sharing the bus with chickens. No pigs though. So all of you that were so excited about the possible magnitud of my experiences, I hope this one satisfies you for awhile.
Well for all of those who were half-way excited that I might be riding on buses like that down here I have to say that I rode on one that was border-line "Romancing the Stone like." This bus wasn't as nice as the other buses I was used to... the seats were falling apart (falling off the brace and had giant bites taken out of them) and I swear I kept feeling something crawl over my feet. Also, because of the massive rain fall we have been experiencing, everytime we came to a big mud-covered hill we had to all go towards the back of the bus and jump to try and give it more leverage. People were laughing at me because I guess my face showed that I was a little nervous the bus would get stuck or breakdown from the abuse it was taking (it was going to be dark in a few hours and it would be bad to be stuck out in the middle of no where). I didn't think this was too great because I was at the time experiencing a bit of motion sickness from the back and forth rowing motions... and, to top off the experience, there was livestock as well. Yes, I was sharing the bus with chickens. No pigs though. So all of you that were so excited about the possible magnitud of my experiences, I hope this one satisfies you for awhile.
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