July update

A  random and disjointed list of what I have been doing this past month. Its been a busy one.

• Yesterday my sitemate Leticia and I received a visit from the Peace Corps Country Director and the Safety and Security officer. Surprise! This was Leticia and I when we got the call at 4 pm that she would be coming to meet with us at 11 am the next morning: “have we broken any rules lately? Are we in trouble? Do I need to hide anything in my house??”   I was especially nervous because the last time I got a surprise visit from JC, I had 9 days to pack up all my stuff and leave town.  But as it turns out, the Director and S&S guy were genuinely just stopping by on their way back from somewhere else to say hi, see how we are doing and by us lunch. It was a pleasant afternoon. But I’m still suspicious…
• I got invited to go on an “excursion” with Leticia’s host family to the town of Gracias, Lempira – and yes, the name of that town means thank you. As usual, I agreed to go before I knew any of the details about it. So as it turns out, the weekend trip was organized by a group of retired teachers who travel together a few times a year and go to a big retired teachers convention where 400 jubiliados (retirees) gather and eat. And boy can they eat. There were also other young people and families and whatnot, and stayed at a lodge in the mountains with natural hot springs – which were pretty awesome. And that same weekend, we had the pleasure of meeting up with several other PC volunteers in the small town of Lepaera to celebrate Leticia’s birthday and the town ferria. A great time was had by all. See pictures:The girl in the white tank might look Honduran but actually she’s from Texas.

• I finally broke down and bought a modem from a new internet provider. I now have semi-constant internet access on my computer at home and by some miracle of god, it works pretty fast here. I can kiss all those annoying internet cafes buh-bye! My life is complete now.
• Meetings, meetings, meetings. When I mentioned that the health community was organized here, I don’t think I was clear. What I should have said is that they really like organizing things into committees and meeting groups. I even went to a meeting about our future meetings and how we won’t overlaps meetings and duplicate efforts with other promoters from the health center meetings. It’s exhausting and hard to be sure what is actually getting accomplished.  One the plus side: getting introduced to lots of new people, trying hard to remember their names.
• I’ve been working with a Groupo de Diabeticos y Hipertensos last week. There are so many diabetics in Jardines that they have in come for check-ups in waves. For three days a month, the doctor only sees diabetic patients in town and they get their blood sugar tested (that’s right – only once a month for these people because they sure as hell cant afford expensive meters and testing strips). So I met with the groups of diabetics and did a few charlas (presentation) about sugar content in processed food. I recreated this as one of my props:
• Oh and then this was published about my little brother which cracks me up and totally made my day.

I can’t believe it’s almost August. Really I’m in denial (only nine months left of Peace Corps??).   I know lots of my friends and family out there are traveling during these last few summer weeks so do your civic duty and send me a postcard

-Sarita