Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Weekend


I feel a little guilty that this post isn’t about the orphans, but I feel compelled to write about my weekend off because I wrapped it up with this wonderful feeling of being settled. So, I get every other weekend off, and as with most descanso weekends, I headed into Tegucigalpa with friends. I am getting really good at managing my own transport, from buses to colectivos to rapiditos to taxis. We had a very fun and productive time in the city. We went out dancing both nights, did our grocery shopping, ran errands (I finally bought an umbrella), ate baleadas in Dolores, stayed in the Hotel Granada, took a cab up to the big fancy mall and felt like we were back in the States, and hung out with our Honduran friends. There wasn’t anything particularly special about it except that I felt really confident. Not in a cocky I-couldn’t-possibly-get-robbed kind of way. I’m very much aware that Tegus is the most dangerous city in Central America, and I’m very careful. But I feel like I’m getting around much better. I remember thinking during our tour of the city that I’d never figure it out, but I feel more and more ubicada each time I’m there. It helps that my Spanish is getting better every day as well. I’m quite pleased with it if I do say so myself. I tend to take a backseat when someone is with me who speaks better Spanish than I do, but everyone has been so complimentary and encouraging, that I’m speaking up all the time. And every time I’m successful, it feeds that confidence and makes me want to practice more and more.

We came back from the city Sunday afternoon in plenty of time for our cena amistosa in the volunteer house. Every few weeks, we have a potluck dinner all together. People pair up and sign up for different dishes. Sometimes we have a theme, and this particular dinner was Italian, as dreamed up by Laura. I was really tired, so Leila let me take a nap while she prepared our pasta. When I woke up and headed out my room toward the kitchen/dining area, I felt like I was walking into Vince’s ready for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Lauren had taken the lace curtains out of her office to use as a tablecloth, Dean Martin was playing, and someone had taken empty wine bottles and put taper candles in them for ambience. We had bowls of chopped garlic with olive oil for dipping bread and Jessie made gnocchi from scratch. There was pizza, salad, bruschetta, and red wine. We topped it all off with chocolate cake and ice cream. It was so lovely to share an evening with this group of people. We have all meshed so well, and on nights like these I really feel like we’re a family.

I’m happy here. It’s not that I don’t miss home. I definitely do. But on a day-to-day basis, I’ve really come to cheerfully accept that this is my life. I love walking around the Ranch and hearing my name called or getting hugs from precious children, I love sharing the company of an awesome group of volunteers, and I think I love this country.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Olimpiadas

The only way I know to explain Olimpiadas is Field Day on steroids. About a month before the event (which occurred this weekend), we start meeting in our teams. There are 18, and everyone (from kids to teachers to tíos to volunteers) is on one. You end up with 6 adults as coordinators and about one kid from each hogar, so everyone has various ages of kids. Each group this year was assigned a place of interest in Honduras and a virtue. We had Pulapanzhak (a waterfall) and peace. We’ve been meeting twice a week for four weeks for two hours a pop. Each team has to do a presentation on Friday night and plays games all day Saturday. There are prizes for the top three teams in each. So we’ve been working non-stop creating our t-shirts, making props for the presentation, getting a remix for the dance, designing costumes, practicing our cheer, and making our mural and flag. My role has been in choreographing the dance for Friday night. Turns out you can take the girl out of dance team, but you can’t take dance team out of the girl. I full on put in a basket toss and a ripple line!

So this was the big weekend, and the reason I haven’t been online in ages. We left school early on Friday to meet with our teams and practice the dance incessantly. Then we all went down to the school at about 5:30, and I got ready and put on make-up with the girls who were dancing (we also managed to get 5 boys, including my godson). Our presentation went really well. I got lots of compliments on the choreography and was told that our team was really together. I knew we wouldn’t win, though, because we didn’t have very good props. One team created a huge cruise ship, and Copan recreated the ruins and did a mock Mayan sacrifice. It was pretty amazing.

On Saturday, we started out with a really nice mass that ended with the lighting of the torch. We then spent an exhausting day playing games. We did an obstacle course, answered trivia questions in one of the classrooms, crossed dangerous bridges with balls being thrown at us, ran down a slip and slide to throw balls in a basket, had a tug of war in the mud, and got soaking wet passing giant sponges filled with water over our heads. After lunch, we had relay races on the basketball courts. My favorite was the one where I had to dress up as a clown, and there was a relay race filling my costume with balloons. I got picked because there would be a lot of space for them. Yeah. The judges then proceeded to pop all the balloons on my person to make sure they were all there. I still have red marks. I don’t know if it is Honduran culture or Ranch culture, but cheating and accusations of cheating run rampant in Olimpiadas. It’s like no one even listened to the sermon about sportsmanship and brotherly love. Whatever. That night, we all headed down to the school. They announced the winners, and my team actually won second place in the games! We get to go to the city for pizza and cake. Second place last year in presentations and second place this year in games – pretty good! And then I danced the night away with one of my favorite pequeños.

Pictures and videos forthcoming on Facebook (next weekend when I go to the city).

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

El Dia de Padre Wasson

On August 12th, we at NPH celebrate Padre Wasson Day. It is the anniversary of the death in 2006 of the founder of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. William Wasson was an American and a Catholic priest in Mexico. One day, he caught a young orphan stealing from the church. When asked why, the boy explained that he was hungry. Instead of pressing charges, Father Wasson asked for custody of the boy. The judge agreed and sent him back with 7 more boys. That was the beginning of NPH. From there, Father Wasson opened more homes. The Ranch here in Honduras was second. We also have homes in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Peru. All our homes are based on Father Wasson’s tenets of unconditional love, hard work, and education.

Last week in school, the kids wrote poems and drew pictures in remembrance of Father Wasson. On the 12th, we had a special mass and breakfast altogether. Today, we had a special (2 hours – ugh) presentation including songs, skits, and the presentation of awards for the best poems and pictures. We spent the afternoon playing games, and I’m currently totally exhausted. WWPWD? Probably not complain. ;)

How to Make a Fresco Ranch-Style

1)Climb one of the trees in the courtyard of the school.
2)Jump up and down on the branches so that the ripe berries fall.
3)Have your friends gather up the fallen berries.
4)Find a used soda bottle in the trash.
5)Fill said bottle with berries.
6)Add water.
7)Agitate vigorously.
8)Pour in ridiculous amounts of sugar.
9)Enjoy.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Helium Hand


As is my wont, I have signed up for more activities than are really humanly possible. Here they are in no particular order:

1)Proyecto Familiar: Brothers and sisters here on the Ranch don’t get a lot of time together, so a volunteer a few years back organized Proyecto. A few times a year, all the families here get an opportunity to come to San Vicente (the volunteer house) to cook dinner and dessert and to eat and play with each other. Most of the volunteers take one or two families a month. I just had my first Proyecto on Thursday. We made spaghetti and white cake. It’s amazing how much fun you can have with a red balloon and a swing. Fernando (who is also in my first grade class) had me in stitches in his little hat and pretend cell phone – I had to share that picture!

2)Danza Moderna: After two practices, I got conned into performing last Friday at the culminating extra curricular activities presentation. I totally wasn’t ready, and when I showed up, Juan told me he forgot to teach me an entire song (the whole remix was already something like 10 minutes long). We managed to find a costume to fit me, and I ended up dancing in front of the whole Ranc. I was completely faking it, but most everybody was complimentary and impressed that I learned the routine so quickly. At the end of the night, I turned in my costume, and Juan had me mark it with my name for next time. I’m looking forward to the next session because I’ll be able to do the routine perfectly and also a bunch of girls told me they’re joining because of me!

3)Grupo de Apoyo: I also expressed interest in helping out with the support groups for our HIV positive kids here at the Ranch. I don’t know which group I’ll be with (they’re divided up into chiquitos, boys, girls, and teenagers/photography group), but I went to a whole group activity on Wednesday, and it was really fun. The kids learn about health, eating, taking their meds, and just have an opportunity to talk to people. I already know most of the kiddos, and I got some pretty good laughs by talking to a bug. The poor thing was dragging its dead friend around, so I gave it a “jalon” (hitchhiking) on a leaf. Pretty sure they think I’m crazy. Pretty sure they’re right.

So between all my activities, plus work, hogar, and Olimpiadas meetings, I am a busy girl. Just how I like it!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Mi Cuartito


Just a quick post to say that I finally got to move into my permanent room. I wanted to post a pic so you could get an idea of what my little space looks like. I am sharing a room with Marie. It’s kind of like living in the dorm, although we have our own bathroom and a little walk-in closet. I am just relieved to be settled and to have everything in its own place.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Despedida

So we went into the city this weekend for the going away party for the 3 outgoing volunteers. We started out with a yummy dinner at Pincho Loco. I was there for just a few seconds when I saw an adorable black kitten. I picked her up, and she immediately started purring. She played with me and then fell asleep in my lap. Leila and I begged to be allowed to take her home, but to no avail. :( From dinner, we went out to sing karaoke, which was highly amusing. We sang everything from "Don't Stop Believing" to "Baby One More Time" to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun." One of the locals decided to perform Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." Pete and I did an epic junior high school slow dance that morphed into a ridiculous waltz. I thought it would be a really good idea to try the lift from Dirty Dancing. It was pretty much a total fail but really, really funny. From there, we went out dancing at Castillo until 3:00 in the morning. So tired today, but excited for moving day!