a weekend in the country

Living here on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa has made me very much a city girl. It was not until I took a weekend trip to visit the western part of Honduras that I realized just how very 'urban' my Honduran experience is, compared to the very 'rural' experience of my friend Alison.

5 of us left Teguc on Friday morning to roadtrip to La Campa. Here's a little map to show you...we went from Teguc to a village about 15 km beyond Gracias. It took about 6 hours.

I was struck again and again by how beautiful Honduras is, and what a mix of contrasting regions it contains. I said to someone once that you could be dropped in one part of Honduras for a day, thinking all of Honduras is like that, and have no idea what else you're missing. There are mountainous regions like Tegucigalpa, very dry, deserty regions like Choluteca; very agricultural areas like Gracias and Olancho, beautiful lakes, and of course the tropical northern coast with sandy beaches. (to set up your personalized visit, contact Honduras Tours: charissazehr (at) gmail (dot) com :) But I digress...

We met up with Alison, our fellow MCCer, as she was translating for a medical team from the U.S. We are all so proud of her, as she really didn't speak much Spanish at all before coming 6 months ago--and now she's a certifiable translator! She rocks. From that little town, we drove to her house in La Campa and had a walking tour of town. The town has one main paved boulevard, one catholic church, 2 little hotels, and an awesome setting in a little valley. Alison works for CASM which provides a lot of food security training and agricultural development to the surrounding area of La Campa.

We had a fun time together, being a group of gringos and attracting a lot of attention (yes, way more than in Teguc!)...eating good food and thick, yellow tortillas (very different from our city-fied tortillas)...exploring some small towns, visiting microenterprises, buying some local-made souveniers like hand-made paper and red pottery...visiting a Lenca history museum, checking out the hot springs tourist stop, and generally enjoying the quiet, rural village.

volunteer

Volunteer. I use this word a lot but more and more am becoming unsure if I like the definition of this word, or what images it communicates within the community where I work.

There are several things that have been stirring all these thoughts within my brain...enough that I'm not really sure if this will even be a post that makes sense or if it is just a personal way to try and organize the shuffle of thoughts that I can't seem to articulate. First there was the Mennonite youth retreat and some awkward encounters about being a volunteer...there have been some more personal experiences of my own, here in Nueva Suyapa, and the experiences of other MCCers in Honduras...and I've recently been doing a lot of reading about the good/bad/ugly of volunteerism, thanks to some fellow SALTers in other parts of the world.

So I guess the first thing is thinking about why I'm a volunteer and what that means to me.
Then looking at reasons why I try and detach myself from preconceptions of "volunteers" and what that communicates to those in my community
And in the end, why ultimately I feel criticized by all these outside voices for being a volunteer...and from my experience why I think its really not the way they think it is...or something like that.

1) My definition of being a volunteer is easily summed up by "I work and I don't get paid." But, most days, that is not sufficient. There are many layers to this definition...I am an un-paid worker in an organization, but I have also made that decision out of a desire to work with others in a way of serving...this is not just serving the community (though on good days, I hope to do that) but also about exploring the tangible ways I live a life of serving Jesus, the one who should be the foundation and inspiration for all of this.

mennonite family

It's the first day of February! Less than 5 weeks til one of my favorite friends, Paula, comes to visit...less than 3 months til Easter week (which is a big holiday here) and about 6 more months left on my SALT term.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a retreat for young adults in the Mennonite church of Honduras. Lucky for me, it was just outside of Teguc, so I didn't have far to travel :) A few other MCC friends went along too, which was really fun. I wasn't sure how the whole thing would go, being that I only knew 6 other people attending the retreat...but in true Mennonite fashion, we were warmly welcomed and offered plenty of hospitality as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Friday night's worship service started around 7pm and lasted til about 11:30pm. We were instructed that devotions on Saturday morning would be before breakfast, at 6am. When this announcement was received with a round of groans, we were asked "Did we come here to sleep? Or have we come here to worship the Lord together?" ...in the rather quiet auditorium, the leader then said "Can I get an amen?!" ;) Apparently youth the world over hate getting up early. Who knew?!

So Saturday started early, which had us fighting sleep the entire day. There were devotions, breakfast, worship time and then 2 workshops. For the 2nd workshop, we (the MCCers) got to share with the country-wide leadership committee of the youth about our volunteer experience with MCC. We shared a bit about what MCC does, what service programs are available, and why we serve. It seemed like many of them were not familiar with what we shared, so it was great to be able to help connect MCC with the church in that way. Especially with the rising leaders of the Mennonite church.

lists

As you might note from some of my blog posts, I really enjoy lists. Sometimes it is just easier to collect your thoughts in a bullet-pointed kind of way...and in other ways, it's just something I do rather compulsively.

I have made lists of all sorts of things since I've been here, like my 'Funny T-shirts in English' list, my 'Cosas Catrachas' (Honduran-isms) list, a list of books I've read, quotes from the books I've read, and a personal favorite, my list of 'Fun times with Allison,' as we have had many random, ridiculous happenings since the beginning of our friendship in September.

So I thought maybe it would be fun to share some favorites from my lists...

Honduranisms
1. Dinamicas- this might have been mentioned in a previous post regarding birthdays, but Hondurans LOVE dinamicas. they are like, little party games or ice breaker type activities that are a requirement for any office gathering here at MCM...and often occur at church gatherings and even family events. They can be quite stressful for the foreigner and often are embarrassing.
2. Que barbaridad- this is a frequently used and very popular saying among Hondurans. It literally translates to mean 'what a barbarity' but communicates a rather large variety of sentiments. In fact, my fellow SALTer, Alison, wrote a whole post on this phrase! It is used when something dramatic happens in life--like your brother won't get off the couch to get you a glass of Coke (que barbaridad)...something costs way more than it should (like a taxi ride for a gringa...que barbaridad)...someone you know got robbed (¡que barbaridad!)...all the way up to very serious offenses in life, like someone betraying your trust or hurting your family (¡¡que barbaridad!!) I learned this phrase very quickly, and use it very often, as it is a good comeback for sarcastic quips, or can communicate genuine sympathy for something crappy in life.

motivation

I like to be balanced in my posting and give an accurate depiction of my experience here. The good and the not so good, if you will. But it is always more fun to post while the going is good.

And things are going well right now. Last week involved some stunning gastronomic pyrotechnics…but thankfully I am back on track with my standard Honduran diet. I found that being cooped up for several days in my house gave me (too much) time to think and made me pretty down about my experience here. It was a combination of sickness, homesickness, and feeling useless. But I think God has used this down-time in my life here to give me time to reflect on things and get some much needed rest.

With a lot of prayer and some good encouragement and support from family and friends, this new week has gotten off to a fresh start…and for that I am so grateful.

Monday found me in a meeting with my coworkers, taking the lead and presenting the project I have been laboring over the past 3 months. Since I have 1 course of curriculum done for the business school and am wrapping up the 2^nd course, my boss and I decided it would be good to do a test-run and see how it goes.

Starting tomorrow, they will teach 1 lesson each week for 7 weeks, with all of my coworkers (the loan officers) taking a shot at teaching. We will have all the community banks from Thursday meet together at 2pm for the class, and then pay their loans after. The goal is to have everyone who works in the bank program present to learn from each other, practice giving training sessions, and so I can get feedback as I work on more and more curriculum.

nuevo año

I realize I'm a little late in my 'Happy New Year' post...but things have been a little crazy for me the last few weeks...so, let's hit the highlights:

December 25: Christmas dinner with fellow foreigners. Delicious food and a fun time together.

December 27: My mom, dad, and little sister came to visit me in Tegucigalpa!
It was so great to have them here and be able to share my Honduran life with them. We spent some time with my host family (where I got to translate everything)...ate lots of typical Honduran food (baleadas, pupusas, tortillas, tacos, etc.)...saw the sights in and around Teguc...visited Lake Yojoa for a fun boat ride and fried fish...and spent time with my fellow MCCers, the Troyers. It was great to have them here, but hard to say goodbye.

December 31: Año viejo. The Honduran tradition to ring in the New Year is to burn the "old year" or "año viejo." Old year is basically a scarecrow-looking man, that sits in the street for the week leading up to the 31st. Children and teens hang out in the street, collecting money from any passer-by for the "año viejo." Their intention is to buy firecrackers with the money to stuff the man and light him on fire...I am skeptical the money is only used for fireworks, but alas, I did contribute :)
So, on the 31st, all over the neighborhood there were groups of children lighting the scarecrows on fire and watching them burn to nothing. The one outside our door first got a dousing of gasoline, plus the firecrackers...so it didn't take too long to get rid of the old man. My parents and sister also got to witness this exciting event, so don't be alarmed if you've seen my dad's pictures on facebook. They really aren't burning an actual person, it just looks like it.

January 1: my family left for the states. I was pretty tired, but when I got home to relax and rest with my host family, I found out they were going to Picacho (a park up the mountain) to spend the afternoon, so of course I went along. Turns out most Hondurans enjoy spending New Years Day at the park, so we sat around eating tajaditas and tamales and enjoying the outdoors with 60% of Tegucigalpans.

January 3: Grandma's birthday (more cake, more festivities, more hilarity with the Honduran extended family).

January 5-9: MCC Honduras retreat at the farm. It was really fun to get together with the whole Honduras team for a time of planning, fellowship, and fun. We spent lots of time catching up on each others lives, planning for the year ahead, worshiping together, eating, playing games, and even doing a little swimming. I am continually blessed by the people who make up this team and am grateful for their friendship and partnership here in Honduras. It's never easy to leave reatreat and get back into routine, but its good to be at home too.

So...that brings me to today. Back to work...hoping to find some time to catch up on sleep, but per usual the schedule is filling already :)
Today is my fellow SALTer's bday (happy bday Elise!) so we will be celebrating later this week.
Another SALT friend from Nicaragua is stopping in to visit, so I am excited to see her.
I think there is another family birthday party on the horizon...
...and who knows what else.

Thanks for your continued prayers and support. As I come up to my 5 month anniversary in Honduras, there is more and more pressure to figure out what my next steps are after SALT. Your prayers for wisdom and open doors would be appreciated too.