T-Minus Two Weeks

Not too much to report this week, although it is the last week of Field Based Training, and I am incredibly excited to be returning to our original site where we have a shower that doesn't involve a bucket :) Priorities people.

Most of the Health group made it to Comayagua for Semana Santa (Holy Week). Comayagua is famous for their Easter alfombras (rugs) made from dyed sawdust. The artists work from 8pm Thursday evening until 8am Friday morning to construct the rugs, some up to 40 feet long, and then a procession with the stations of the cross led by the Priest from the Cathedral walks over the rugs about an hour later. Unfortunately, we couldn't see this particular part (public transportation grinds to a halt during this time) but we were able to see a few rugs that didn't receive the procession. This picture doesn't do them justice (and the ones that receive the procession are incredible):

On another note, I keep seeing these in town, horse or bull driven carts with tractor/vehicle wheels... It makes total sense and is rather clever, I just never thought about it as an option. The guy probably has better shock absorption, that's for sure, lol (And, it makes it's own gas, zing!):

So, we find our our site assignment next Thursday, the 5th, and move to our site about a week later. Jacob and I are hoping to be working with one of the indigenous populations, the Lenca, who live primarily in the departments of Intibuca and La Paz. Once we find out, we'll be sure to update.

Hasta Luego!

Another Month Flew By

(I promise I will be a better writer and friend when we have our own place (in July) and internet. Until then, you will have to endure sporadic posts, sorry.)

We've been in Field Based Training for a about 4 weeks, and quite a bit has happened... so I'll just try and give some highlights.

First is the deer that lives on the roof of my host aunt's house... yep. Because where else would you put your pet deer?

In Spanish related events, I accidentally told my host father’s sister in law that her husband was flirting with me, when I meant to tell her that he told me a funny joke. Oops.

I also spent an hour or so trying to translate the lyrics to Eminem and Nelly songs for my host mom. I didn't want to break her heart and tell her they were all about sex, murder and drugs, so I made some of it up... and the fact that I couldn't translate "smack that", etc... probably helped too.

In other news, several of us went to Comayagua a few weekends ago, a huge city in comparison to our location. We went to the Cathedral and clock tower, and then on to the Archeological Museum.They had several old printing presses, so I got to give my shpeel on how they worked to all the unfortunate trainees who came with. Poor souls.

On to the clock tower (the view from)…

We were able to stay at the top of the tower until they rang the noon bells… pretty cool. The tower also houses the oldest clock in Central America and one of the oldest in the world still in use.

On the way home from Comayagua, a fellow trainee sat down in front of me on the bus. An older gentleman in full cowboy get up came and sat down next to her. He proceeded to stare at her so my seatmate and I tried to keep conversation going to avert the awkwardness. Anyway, towards the end of his ride, he asked her if she wanted to buy his machete… the whole bus looked on as to what her response would be. We couldn’t decide if he was joking or not, but she ended up laughing and responded back in Spanish that in fact, no, she did not want to buy his machete, but thanks for the offer. At this half the bus erupted in laughter and the guy smiled… tension averted. He then proceeded to dance his way off the bus. The machete was actually pretty nice, full leather sheath complete with what looked like a bike reflector glued on… because you can’t glue a reflector on your horse, I guess.

Anyway, we miss you all!