Just Another Day

March 2, 2011

This is for my friend Dan, who tells me I don’t write enough. I told him there wasn’t anything exciting to write about.

It’s 6:25 PM and dusk is just starting to overtake the mountain.

Another day is almost over in Honduras. After experiencing more than 250 Honduran sunsets, they still haven’t gotten boring.

I just came in from helping my mom water down the dirt front yard. We water it down so it doesn’t get too dusty. I was joking around with my brother out front. He pretended to fight me with a stick and I defended myself with the broom. The fight ended with me throwing a flip flop at him. Each day his appearance reminds me more of my brother Erich when he was younger. It’s weird being older than him. It’s like I get to see my brother grow up all over again, this time as the big sister.

This morning I was woken up at 6:00 by the crowing roosters. I got up anyway since it was time to take my pills. I hate taking medicine but Honduras has been rough on my body. Since moving to Choluteca I’ve had a splotchy skin condition that the doctors tell me is related to the heat. I’ve also had problems with low iron levels since I’m not getting enough fresh green vegetables. I eat lots of veggies, just not the green kind. Plus, I had fleas from petting and washing our dog, Capuyo. They gave me medicine for that too. Gross, right?

I drank coffee and ate bread with my mom while the kids did their morning chores. We ate an early breakfast of fried quesadillas. Once the kids left for school my mom and I washed dishes and hauled bags of cement and old suitcases outside to our newly built storeroom. For the last few weeks my mom and I have been trying to do The Biggest Loser’s exercise video every day (to keep in shape and help my mom loose some extra pounds) but after hauling heavy bags all morning we had done enough. I finally got around to making up a box of flan that a fellow volunteer gave me as a gift. It was great! I ended up eating almost all of it myself since my family wasn’t crazy about it.

Around 10:00 I took a shower, got dressed, and headed down to the school to meet with the principal. On the way I chatted with a few ladies who asked me to come visit the after-school program now that summer vacation is over. I had walked down to the school yesterday too but the principal was out of town at a meeting. Luckily, he was there today. We talked about the English classes I’ll start giving to 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade students and we discussed the class I’ll be giving to the 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grade English teachers once a week. We also continued talking about the 9^th grade environmental projects we want to do. It’s comparable to community service requirement that American high school students must complete. Ideally, we’ll do a trash-pick up day, a recycling can project, and two environmentally themed murals.

Once we finished, I went and bought a little bag of baby mangos and a can of peach juice and chatted with some ladies. One of the ladies is a good friend and we made plans to hang out next week. Afterwards I found my sister and we walked home together. The entire 6^th grade class got released at 10:30 today for a parent’s meeting. I got home in time to eat lunch and watch a Spanish soap opera. We had rib and bean soup with tortillas.

After lunch I started working on the grant proposal the principal and I will submit to Peace Corps for funds. I am supposed to work on it as a team with my Honduran counterpart, but I had no luck getting him interested in writing it with me. There are some battles you win and some battles you lose. I spent about 2 hours writing the proposal in Spanish before taking a break to talk with a fellow volunteer on the phone about our plans Friday.

Later on I headed up to my grandma’s house to hang out. I bought a frozen milk and corn mush treat from my neighbor’s house, helped my cousin with her biology homework, tried unsuccessfully to climb the mango tree, and finally ended up eating baby mangos that my cousins picked.

Before long it was getting dark and time to head back to the house. Before the sun went down I ran a quick errand to my counterpart’s house to drop off some papers.

Soon we’ll eat dinner. It looks like my little sister is making hard boiled eggs mixed with avocado, fried beans, fried plantain and of course tortillas. I love that every ingredient in our dinner (except for the oil) comes from the mountain.

At around 8:00 our living room will fill up with family and neighbors coming over to watch the new favorite soap opera. I usually take the opportunity to hide out in my room and watch an episode or two of American TV since it can get pretty exhausting and boring watching Spanish soap operas. However, I finished season 1 of Freaks and Geeks last night so I’m not sure what I’ll do tonight. I’ve got Hot Fuzz and Role Models waiting.

Around 9:00 or 9:30 I’ll wash my face, brush my teeth, scrub my feet (they get filthy), put lotion on my split heel, turn on the fan, and go to bed.

So there you go, Dan. You can be the judge.