BUSY, BUSY, BUSY

I love it! I am BUSY! They say it takes most PCVs about a year to figure out their role in their community and to really get involved in any projects. I don’t think any of us truly believe or believe that we will pass the first year twiddling our thumbs looking for things that make us feel useful. From my experience, it is very true. A year seems like a long time and seems a little ridiculous to spend doing piddly little projects to fill the hours, days and months until we find something we A.) feel is worthwhile and B.) can get people in the community to actually do. Verbal support is over abundant, turning words into action is a true challenge.
The schools and other organizations would allow me to give charlas (talks, or lectures) on any and all subjects until my voice was gone and I could no longer stand. I however, am not a huge fan of independent charlas. Sure, you can give useful little talks to various groups and it can be useful, but it seems like a bit of a waste and I generally assume that a very low percentage of the information is actually learned. I like to call them “Hmm, interesting” talks because that is what I usually think. “Well, that was interesting. What is next on the agenda?” The thought process moves on as quickly as the recipients leave the room, maybe faster.
So yes, I have been busy (big cheers). I have learned that boredom is stressful. I don’t like it much. The last few weeks have been anything but boring, therefore, less stressful. Ok, maybe some days have been slightly stressful from trying to get everything accomplished while dealing with Honduran transportation and scheduling (these can involve a lot of waiting). For me, this is a more positive kind of stress, it’s great. Last week, I spent three mornings in an HIV/AIDS prevention workshop with Bachillarato II kids (about 11th grade) in the colegio. I am very thankful that one of the Passionist volunteers is also interested in HIV/AIDS prevention. She actually did a significant amount of research for it during college. It would have been a very rough week dealing with 40 16-18 year olds on my own but with two of us it was much more manageable. They even improved from their pre-test to post-test! The colegio director (aka principal) asked me to come back Friday to give a mini talk to the parents. Schools are supposed to work with parenting classes in different areas. Since attendance is such a struggle here, they tend to take advantage of a captive audience to give all kinds of information. The parents had to come to pick of their kids’ grades. I tried to keep the charla as short as possible with over 100 parents (not very responsive or dynamic as a group) but it was difficult since there is so much information that is so important. It is difficult to lecture adults on complicated information when the majority of them probably never received the basics. (Example: the high schoolers barely knew what the immune system was. The majority of the parents did not complete high school, many probably didn’t finish 6th grade.) How do you talk about a virus that attacks the immune system to people who may not know the basic function of the immune system? Now how do you keep from over explaining and talking for hours? Yeah, it’s a challenge.
So, 4 days of HIV, 2 teacher observations for my Teaching English and Methodology class and more host family/facility/organization searching for FBT. (I think I mentionedthat field based training for the next group of youthies will be in Talanga.)
In addition to FBT development and all the education stuff, we (Mateo y yo) are trying to start another baseball team. The current team is in an aldea, we are trying to start another, or others, in the casco urbano, the main part of town. After 2 days of a 3 day camp we had 85 kids interested, plus probably a few more whose information we didn’t get. Thanks again to my Passionist buddies. Matt and Tyler have been a huge help with Matt taking the lead with this camp. Unfortunately, they are at the end of their year of service. I can only hope to find some reliable, interested Hondurans to help, and maybe one or two of the next Passionist volunteer group.
HIV, Baseball, FBT, TEAM, and I still made it to Tegus to visit with Kyler and run a few errands.
Other recent events: I saw Ally and Jeni as they visited my part of the world. They got caught in a storm in Nicaragua and lost about two days so our visit was short but it was really good to see them. Melissa and Nerissa come next, hopefully we get to spend a little more time together. I can’t wait!
The computer is back (again)! It is old but was free so I will take it when it is functioning. I actually have a possessed mouse right now but sometimes it functions. I am just grateful for the chances I have to work and write from home. Therefore, if it keeps working, you should get more updates, if it fizzes out on me again, they will likely continue to be few and far between. I do what I can.
Answer to the popular question of the moment: It is crazy that I have been here for almost a year, yet I still have about a year and 3 months to go. The feeling is shifting from feeling like I just got here and will be here forever still to needed to get things started so I can finish them before my time runs out. Yes, I feel like my time is going to run out. Mostly, because I know things will finally start coming together so that I am rushing to finish projects before leaving. That isn’t even considering my tendency to procrastinate! (Uh Oh!) Don’t worry, I will be home before you know it. Just no more weddings, I feel like I am missing all of them and everyone will be married and having kids by the time I get there! Can’t a few of you wait? JK
PHOTOS: I will add soon, I don't have them with me at the moment.

Beisbol, beisbol beisbol

4 days spent with 8-12 year olds

2 days of baseball

3 games coached

1 game played

4 missing gloves

2 missing balls

0 missing children

That's right, I am just concluding the most exhausting weekend of the last 11 months. My kids started out a little nervous. The 12 year olds, who went to the tournament last year didn't want a repeat. Instead of losing the first (and only) two games, we won both! After almost 2 hours of rain delay, thanks to a tropical storm from the Pacific, the under-estimated team fromTalanga beat the highly anticipated Siguatepeque in a close 1-0 game. The first batter of the game made it home, the rest was defense. It was intense. I don't know if I can handle much more of this coaching stuff. It is so stressful! : ) We took Copan Ruinas 4-2 in a very wet and rainy afternoon game 2 for both teams. The two wins put us into the semi-final against Morolica on the following morning. They were huge, catcher throwing signs... we were trounced (about 15-2 but they may have had more runs than that, honestly, I don't pay much attention to the score).

The kids were bummed (I think they were dominated by Morolica last year as well,) but a trip to Chiminike, the children's museum, cheered them up quickly. As we waited for the final game to start, some of the coaches and tournament officials played our own game. A short fence was set up in the outfield for the kids so we hit slow-pitched softballs with kids' metal baseball bats and ran a full 90 feet to the bases. It was interesting and some much needed physical exercise after all the rain and coaching. I am very proud of my kids but a little relieved the tournament is over.

The next few days are full of FBT (field based training) planning and searching for host families. I have an HIV/AIDS prevention workshop scheduled but it looks like I will have to move it for another date in June. June 5th is dia de medio ambiente, environment day. One of those days that isn't really a holiday but some of the schools will mention it. I am hoping to at least start the process of building a compost at one of my schools. The hope is that by the end, they will at least learn the difference between organic, biodegradable trash and the rest. Maybe they will even be able to use the soil on the trees they planted on the school grounds next year or start thowing their garbage in the trash instead of on the ground. Hooray for business! Life is much easier when I have things to do.

For now, I await Ally and Jeni's arrival as they travel through Nicaragua. I can't wait!

(photos: the team; Richard el catcher; the team again; Tania, Carlitos y Eduardo; some of the boys; the "seniors" aka 12 year olds who will be too old to play in the tourney next year.)