Nossa Nossa...

This song is infectious...it's everywhere! I tried to resist...but it's too damn catchy

The Devon County Show...almost...

On Thursday, Oskar, Allie, Katrin, Viktoria and I went to an ICYE gathering at Ruby Tuesday (an American restaurant). During Happy Hour, it’s buy one get one free for appetisers. ICYE were paying, so we thought we would order 5, and end up with 10, as we had no idea how big they were. Rodolfo told us to choose 2; we all started discussing what main meals we would order as 4 clearly wouldn’t be enough for the 5 of us. In the end we ordered: cheesy fries, mega nachos, coconut shrimp and Buffalo wings. Within about 3 minutes of it arriving, we had demolished it all; including 2 extra ICYE plates...the ICYE staff had barely touched theirs. And yes, 4 plates were more than enough! Gluttonous Westerners!

It was really good and so, on Friday, Josh, Allie, Viktoria, Oskar, Katrin, Perla and I went to Ruby Tuesday again for Happy Hour. The boys ate; we just tried some of the £1.50 cocktails. We ended up in Habia Una Vez which is the nicest bar we’ve been to so far. It’s small, busy but not too full, they play good music and it’s not too expensive...it’s no Teachers though!

I got home on around 2.30am (all the bars shut at 2am). I was then woken up at 3am, 5am, and 7am and finally, 8.30am; Saturday morning lie-ins don’t register with small children! I was exhausted! I plan to sleep on the beach all weekend...although at the moment, thunder storms and rain are forecast!

Saturday picked up considerably with the discovery that Allie also loves Criminal Minds; cue hours of viewing, so far season 1, episodes 1,2 & 3. I love it! In the evening we went to see Contagion, with Matt Damon which is pretty good, and for £2, an absolute bargain! I actually like subtitled films, it’s good language practice, although the subtitles are invariably wrong! However, I’m going to avoid anything dubbed as the voices are always intensely irritating! Although I might make an exception for Tintin. We invited Oskar and Katrin, who both said no...we later met them in the food court...we’d unintentionally gatecrashed their date! We love ICYE love; genuine intercultural youth exchange!

On Sunday, Oskar, Allie, Katrin, Viktoria and I went to El Cristo del Picacho, the Christ which overlooks Tegus. It’s really beautiful, situated in the pine-forested Parques Naciones Unidas. You completely forget that you are in city; there’s no smog! The park area was full of families; birthday parties, BBQs and football games – very Honduran.  We also went to the zoo. It is a zoo of sorts, just not the kind I’m used to visiting. The cages and the animals are all pretty ropey. It’s sad to see animals like that. Louis is convinced that the crocodiles are dead, as they never ever move. It was really busy and the Honduran visitors were maddening; hissing at the animals, spitting water into the cages, shaking the fences...and not just the children! The ignorance is really frustrating. The zoo’s home to a strange collection of animals; a tiger, 2 leopards (one with 3 legs), goats, guinea pigs, monkeys, racoons, a coyote, a tapir, deer and birds. It’s an odd place, and more than a little depressing. The highlight was the keeper with 4 teeth! I'm not sure what language he was speaking; it definitely wasn't Spanish but he was really happy and chattered away to the funny pointy nosed animals (see previous blog).

On Monday, we went to AGAFAM, aka, an English County show of sorts; tractors, cows, horses, food stands etc. It was a little surreal; I felt like I’d just stepped into a rather run-down Devon County Show. It is part of the festival of the Virgin of Suyapa, Honduras’s patron saint. It spans 25^th January to 3^rd February, the feast day of the Virgin. In the evenings they have rodeo events and it gets really busy. It's meant to be good fun but pretty dangerous as everyone gets smashed!

I really want to go to Chiminike next week. It’s an interactive children’s museum, with large replicas of the human-body, the environment, the solar system, a grocery store and Honduran culture...it sounds amazing!

http://www.chiminike.com/

Today has been a good day; we now have limited internet at home, I’ve got a ton of new music from Allie, I learnt to stitch felt to make camera/phone etc. pouches...and we had pizza for supper! I didn't manage to book my diving but you win some, you lose some. I'm determined to conquer the bank and do it tomorrow!

Tomorrow we're going to make baleadas in our Spanish lesson. They are one of my favourite things; a tortilla filled with mashed fried frijoles, scrambled egg and cheese. They are delicious! My other favourites are pupusas; a thick tortilla filled with soft cheese, quesillo, and pork (effectively ground pork scratchings) and catrachas; fried tortillas topped with mashed fried frijoles and cheese. So basically, everything good in Honduras is fried and filled with cheese! This isn’t even special occasion food, it’s typical, every day food. Plus all the fast food restaurants and advertisements here are a nightmare! On the way home, I drive past 4 or 5 signs for Pizza Hut’s Cheesy Bites Pizza...I’m usually pretty hungry by this point...queue ridiculous cravings for pizza! Hence why I desperately need to join a gym!

 Baleada

 Pupusas

Catrachas

I've found a good gym and I'm going to join next week. It's a 10 minute walk from work which is great as I finish at 3 but can't get a lift home until 5.30; I may actually go as I will have nothing else to do! On Friday I was the only person in the whole place so I spent a good 50 minutes on the treadmill watching CSI New York; ideal! The only problem yet again is the lack of air con; January is probably the coldest month and it wasn't exactly cold! Oh well, who needs a sauna!

I think that's about all for now. Here's a picture of where I will be on Friday...

Tegucigalpa, El Picacho, the zoo, AGAFAM...

 Tegucigalpa

 El Picacho

 The airport and the stadium

 The zoo (a sad zoo)

 Not sure what it is...but they were funny

3-legged jaguar...with sad eyes :(

 AGAFAM - imagine a Honduran Devon County Show (see below)

A blog to follow...

Trifulca...

This weekend just gone was the first with my family, so I stayed at home to get an idea of what they get up to. The family orientated, quiet weekend was very different to a normal weekend in Maputo, but it was good fun and much more relaxing...I didn't feel I needed Monday to recover! On Saturday we went to the mall and had pizza in the evening. On Sunday morning, I went to church with the family. They go to an Evangelical church and both the girls go to a Christian school. I hadn't thought much of it until I helped Jannina revise for her Biology test...her text book doesn't mention evolution. The singing and clapping was fun and everyone was lovely but I won't go every Sunday. One of the women did offer to teach me how to quilt though, which would be great as I can then make something from all the capulanas I brought home from Mozambique. In the afternoon we went to a beautiful outdoor swimming pool. Jannina asked me, really seriously, if I knew what 'trifulca' meant. I said no and so she made me sit on the floor and called the whole family round to explain. As I sat down, they all proceeded to shout 'TRIFULCA' and jump on me....It means pile-on! It was great although, as per usual, I ended up covered in HUGE insect bites from the grass/mosquitoes which caused my feet to swell up attractively! If I take nothing else from this year abroad, at least I will have some delightful permanent scars! We had pupusas for supper...thick tortillas filled with cheese and chicharron (meat). They are delicious but probably contain a million calories.
I started Spanish lessons on Monday. I was put in the basic group...somewhat worrying. Apparently it's to help my confusion between Spanish and Portuguese...after 2 years of a Joint Honours degree, I really should have that under control by now! So far we have learnt; the alphabet, greetings, ser and estar and the present tense. I feel my degree may be being slightly underused but it's good practice I suppose...

I started work on Monday; I’m working in Hospital Escuela, one of Tegus’s main public and teaching hospitals, for the Fundación Hondureña para El Niño con Cáncer, a paediatric oncology ward for children of low income families. There are 10 children/young people, and their parents, on the main ward who range from very little to 16 and there are several children in the private rooms. Some children spend a short time on the ward and others spend several months. I spend my time here or in the play room, where there are toys and a computer, or downstairs, where the children receive their chemotherapy.

It seems hard to find a range of good activities as the majority of the children can’t leave their beds and so anything physical is out. Daniel, an American volunteer who arrived in August, taught himself to make bracelets and has taught nearly all the children...and me! He’s incredibly patient and some of his designs are incredibly intricate. It’s a great activity because they don’t have to move, it’s time consuming, they can progress from basic designs to really complicated ones and they have something to show for their time. It’s also something the parents can do; a lot of the mothers are really good! Daniel taught me the most basic design on Monday and so far I’ve made 8. We went to a huge supermarket called Yip yesterday to buy more thread and it was an arts and crafts heaven. I have no artistic flair and even I was inspired! Today he taught me a more complicated design and I taught my first student, a 15 year old girl called Cinthia...in Spanish! I’m going to teach some of the other volunteers and my sister, Jannina. It’s a great travelling hobby, perfect for when you need to kill time. I'd like to bring some of the bracelets that the children and I make home, so that I can sell them and send the money raised to the Foundation.

At my project in Mozambique, I couldn’t have conversations with any of my children and so I am getting used to chatting again. Children have no time for inane small talk and it can be quite intimidating! I think it’s a lot easier with small children than with teenagers; I’m not cool enough for teenagers but small children love me. One of the boys, Jonathan, is really chatty and friendly, but I can’t spend too much time in his room, in case I pass on any bugs, which is a shame as it’s nice to have someone to chat to. I think I’ll adopt the tactic of joining in with whatever they are doing, be it playing Super Mario Bros. or watching TV, and wait for them to chat to me, at least until they get to know me; it seemed to work today.

I’m looking forward to spending more time there and getting more involved. I’d also like to see what goes on in the administrative side of the Foundation. They are having an overnight camp for the children, parents and doctors in the summer so perhaps I can help organise an aspect of that.

No plans as of yet for the weekend but next Friday I’m going to Roatán, one of the Bay Islands, with some of the other August volunteers for a few days, which is exciting. I’m also going to book my diving course. I am slightly terrified, as even snorkelling makes me feel claustrophobic, but I can’t spend a year in 2 of the best dive spots in the world and not learn to dive!

The wheels on the bus go round and round...

With younger brothers and sisters, the morning soundtrack in the car differs somewhat to say, Radio 1.

We tend to listen to this:

And this:

The worrying thing is, I now find myself singing along, unconsciously! Some of them are really catchy, but by the end of the alphabet song, I do want to scream a little!

They children also play 'Punchy Bug'; when you see a VW Beetle, you shout 'Punchy Bug' and get to punch someone else. It's just like Chris and Nick playing 'Yellow Car'...although Chris and Nick are not under the age of 12!

Honduras...

 L.A has Hollywood, Tegus has Coca-Cola

 Cathedral

 The UN

 The Christ

 Art by the children at Piloto

 Museum of National Identity

Valle de Angeles

It's not better, it's not worse, it's just different...

I’ve now been in Honduras for just over a week. The story so far:

I already absolutely love my Honduran family, Jannina; Fernando; Jannina Michel, 11; Kristine, 4; Fernando, 2 and Duquesa, a huge husky. Jannina and Fernando are lovely and so welcoming, I already feel like part of the family. Jannina Michel speaks fantastic English which is helpful when I get stuck. Kristine and Fernando are unbelievably adorable. I share my room with Jannina Michel which is a little strange, as I haven’t shared a room for years, but she’s so lovely that it’s fine. The food is good, although yet more carb overloading is inevitable! We eat a lot of tortillas, tacos, beans and plantains. 

The other new volunteers are great, Allie, Boston; Oskar, Denmark; Josh, UK; Katrine, Austria; Viktoria, Austria and Louis, French-Switzerland. Only Allie and I are staying in Tegucigalpa, and we only live about 1 minute apart, which is great. Plus we have the old volunteers, Amanda, UK; Sarah, UK/Austria; Daniel, US; Theresa, Austria; Esther, Austria and Moa, Sweden, which is great as they can show us the ropes. I’ve also got a lovely mentor, Laura, who spent a year in the UK in 2005, in Bradford of all places. It’s great because she’s half Brazilian so I can practice both languages!

I finally got to Honduras on Thursday, met my family and then on Friday morning, left for Valle de Angeles, for my orientation camp. Valle de Angeles is about 40 minutes outside Tegucuigalpa, up in the hills. It’s really beautiful. The camp was good fun and a great way to meet everyone and I learnt a lot about Honduras…useful as I knew approximately nothing before I arrived!

It’s so nice to see blue skies and sun again! It’s hot but not too hot, so I can wear jeans and a vest top and not sweat horrifically. I feel very European; I would never have thought I would be able to wear jeans in 30^o heat. I must be adapting.

I’m settling into a routine which is good and as of Monday, it will look like this; 5.30am start, have breakfast/help make the packed lunches, drop Jannina Michel and Kristine at school, take Fernando to the park (exhaust myself on the climbing frame/slide), drop Fernando at daycare, walk to work (about 20 minutes), work from 8.30-4.30, head home, have supper, play Wii, crash out at around 10pm, absolutely exhausted!

Tegucigalpa is a huge, sprawling city (apparently it’s not actually that big, but it looks it to me). As you often hear, it is pretty dangerous; there are lots of robberies, which can be at gun/knife point. It was encouraging to hear that the Peace Corps pulled out all their volunteers in December! 

I live in Las Hadas, which is south of the airport. It’s quite far out and there isn’t any direct public transport. The nearest bus stops about 25 minutes away so realistically, I have to get a private taxi or a lift with Jannina. This is what I initially found terrifying, the lack of freedom as it’s such a stark contrast to Mozambique! I was worried that I could start to feel quite isolated and that the weekly routine of home-work-home would become quite stifling. The potential dangers are restrictive but I’m determined to just get on with it, safely obviously!

At times I genuinely feel like I’m in America! It’s surreal! Malls, Pizza Hut, KFC, Wendy's, Dunkin' Donuts, Subway, Popeye's, Walmart! All the places Nick and Eddie used to talk about! They are currently building another mall which will be the largest in Central America! I’m not sure what I expected but I almost miss not having access to a lot of things, as was the case in Mozambique. I definitely prefer Xipamanine market to the mall!

I'm trying hard not to make comparisons to Mozambique as it is a completely different country, but it can be hard at times as I had such a fantastic time there. But I’m sure that I will love Honduras equally with a little time. As they say, ‘It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different’.

The switch from Portuguese to Spanish has been hard! I can understand about 90% of what is said to me but when I go to reply, my brain is firmly set to Portuguese! I end up translating everything from Portuguese to English and then finally into Spanish, in my head.

I’m really happy as I’ve been asked to a group assessment for The Challenge, a charity working with young people in the UK, for the position of Senior Mentor in the summer, a role I would love! However…the last assessment is in May! I would love to go home for the assessment, but obviously, as a job is not guaranteed, this could be an expensive gamble! I'm trying to decide what to do next at the moment. At the moment, my return flight is 10^th July. But I can, if I choose to, leave Honduras in May/June, after 4 months and go back to Mozambique until September. Or I could stay for the full 6 months and then go back to Mozambique in July. Or I could stay for 6 months and work, for some much needed dollar, in the summer...DECISIONS!

I've been starting to do some reading/research for the dreaded compulsory dissertation. I don’t really have a clue but perhaps some aspect of the influence of cinema on pre-independence Lusophone Africa, Mozambique and Angola in particular. Exciting stuff!

This week we have been getting to know the city a little better: a guided tour of ‘el centro’; a visit to the Museo para la Identidad Nacional and the amazing reconstruction of the Copán Ruins; a visit to the Centro de la Cultura Garínagu en Honduras;  a visit to Programa Piloto 7-14, a fantastic social project which supports children aged 7-14 with music, drama, art and computer studies; a visit to the United Nations and a talk on their Millenium Development Goals; a talk from COPECO on what to do in the case of an earthquake or hurricane and finally, meeting our mentors. Busy busy! It’s such a change to Mozambique! ICYE Honduras is incredibly efficient and we are so lucky to have Rodolfo organising everything for us.

One thing I’ve learnt this week, children are exhausting and I have an even greater respect for mothers than I did before. Any future supermarket shop will seem a breeze without two young children in tow. What is it about supermarkets that turn children into little monsters? Jannina left me with Fernando and Kristine for about 5 minutes in which time, Fernando, having behaved perfectly up until this point, threw all his crisps on the floor and squeezed his juice box all over me and the shopping! Jannina returned to devastation. Meal times can be equally arduous; cutlery thrown, food refused, chair tantrums, etc. This morning, they both wiggled and kicked their way into my bed at 9am, pushing me firmly out. All of this aside, they are wonderful and I love them already. Fernando had never let anyone outside the family pick him up and he clings to me like a limpet and my hand is always the hand of choice to hold when crossing the road.

I start working on Monday along with Spanish lessons. Daniel works in the same project as me, and although he’s leaving in February, he’ll be able to show me the ropes this week. I’m really looking forward to starting, although kids are the harshest critics so I hope they like me!

These are the links to my project’s (Fundación Hondureña para El Niño con Cancer) Facebook pages:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fundaci%C3%B3n-Hondure%C3%B1a-para-el-Ni%C3%B1o-con-C%C3%A1ncer/305007886199026

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fundaci%C3%B3n-Hondure%C3%B1a-para-el-Ni%C3%B1o-con-C%C3%A1ncer/305007886199026#!/groups/333394998894/

I thought that my need to plan had been quashed in Mozambique...not true. We are already planning several trips for the next few months; Sandy Cay, a privately owned island, near Utila, can be rented for $130 a night and it sleeps up to 14 people! Our very own private island for 2 nights...I cannot wait.

http://www.utilacaysrentals.com/Home/Welcome.html

We are going to Utila, one of the Bay Islands, at the end of February, to get our Open Water diving certifications. I also want to visit the Copán ruins; Lake Yojoa (and a microbrewery) and La Moskitia, the largest remaining area of tropical jungle in Central America and if time, I want to make it to Nicaragua and Guatemala.

That’s more than enough for now. Sorry for yet another essay! Pictures to follow, when I get a chance. 

I'm in Miami b***h...

I am currently in a hotel in downtown Miami. I should be in Honduras but unfortunately, Hoxsie at Miami International Airport check-in had other ideas.

As a UK citizen, you can apply for your Honduran visa on arrival; I knew that, Josh knew that, Jenny at ICYE knew that, everyone in Honduras knew that...Hoxsie did not know that! We were therefore not allowed to check-in until this had been confirmed, as Hoxsie was worried that if this wasn’t the case, and instead of sending volunteers, ICYE’s aims were to sneak us into the country, we would be deported and American Airlines/the airport/America, would be fined!

Hoxsie did not seem to be concerned that our flight was fast approaching! After faffing around for about 2 hours, he finally agreed that, no, we did not need visas. Josh and I were worried we wouldn’t have time to get anything to eat...it turned out we didn’t have time to catch our flight! By the time Hoxsie was satisfied, it was 10 minutes past the 1 hour cut off point for luggage check-ins! He kindly offered to fly us to San Pedro Sula, 111 miles from Tegucigalpa, but eventually booked us onto tomorrow’s flight. We then waited for the shuttle bus to our hotel – we wait 40 minutes and the first bus ignores us and drives on. We wait 1 hour and 40 minutes and we finally get picked up.

I was remarkably calm and found the whole thing rather amusing in its ridiculousness!  Mozambique really was good for me. I much prefer the way things work in Mozambique; the buses have no schedule and therefore cannot be late and as things often don’t work, when they do, it’s a cause for celebration rather than the expectations one has in America; it should work and when it doesn’t, it can be bloody annoying!

The one thing that did annoy me was on the hotel voucher which he gave us, not for free but at a ‘discounted’ rate, it said – “American Airlines is not responsible for this delay”...yes they are, they most definitely, 100% are!

Miami Airport has very little going for it in my books, except, the very friendly woman at customs who, with no qualms about holding up the queue, asked for a detailed plot summary of the book I was carrying, The Slap. Thinking it could only be a good thing to have friends in US immigration, I then gave her my copy.

I hadn’t quite realised how Spanish Miami is, especially the downtown area our hotel is in. I still can’t get my head around the switch from Spanish to Portuguese. It all sounds so wrong and every time I try and think in Spanish, Portuguese creeps back in. I’m sure I will speak a horrible Portuñol at first, but it’ll come back at some point.

Fingers crossed, we should be in Honduras by tomorrow afternoon. Hoxsie has promised to fast track us through check-in....

Bienvenido a Miami!

Endings are all about beginnings...

I wrote my last blog on the 14^th September and in the 8 or so weeks since then, all this has happened (some is sure to be missing, my memory is terrible!:

• Nick’s despedida – such a great night! I think it did Nick's 10 months in Mozambique justice, well at least the final 4, when he met the majority of the people who contributed to his ruin.
• Travelling adventures with Matteus ‘Justin Bieber’ Pooley – Vilanculos, Bazaruto Archipelago, snorkelling, discovering Matteus’s fear of coral and sand dunes, Tofo, working in a juice bar and being offered the position of manager after 2 nights, breaking a camera, being given a 'second hand' camera in order to stop me moaning, 25p shots of Tequila, not making it to the other places we wanted to visit, Matt being cautioned for causing a public disturbance....
• My last week in Mozambique – Posh Nosh, the Hash’s Christmas party –being mistaken for Chris’s wife! My last days at work - saying goodbye to my children was heartbreaking, but I left them in the capable hands of Marianne, for 6 weeks at least, raiding the art markets and Xip Xip, saying goodbye to Vovo and all my wonderful friends, highly considering not going home - I must have gained enough credits over the years to make up some kind of degree! 
• My despedida – such a lovely evening with lots of friends, bar Forrest and Eddie who were under house arrest and Nick who left too soon, and lots of rum.
• Crashing back to cold English reality – in the space of 12 hours I went from 39 degrees to 10! But amazing to see Mum, Dad and Ele! 
• Trying desperately to get into the Christmas spirit! This was not helped by dodgy Christmas songs...'Santa Buddy', must try harder Michael!
• Making a spectacular return to Nottingham and spending all of 15 minutes in Ocean!
• Doing the rounds in London – thank you for hosting me, Katie, Em, Sara and Daisy!
• Finally seeing where my very grown up little sister works and witnessing James Middleton come in for a pre-holiday back wax.
• Christmas – one of the best so far, perhaps ever. Grandma stood us up, Dad dropped the turkey! The presents, the food and the TV were great, what more do you need?
• The lack of B-Day was a low point. It better not happen again next year!
• Dicky’s birthday and another spectacular return, this time to Timepiece.
• New Year’s Eve – a year 9 house party essentially, but with a grown up meal in an attempt to disguise it, resulting in a severe outbreak of ‘food poisoning’ that left Hannah “too hungover for Botox”.
• A week of preparations – my last minute attempts to get ready for Honduras!

And finally, off to Honduras....