Time to break out of my routine

My life has often been a fight between my comfort with routine and my love for new things. Recently I have noticed what a negative effect routine can have on a Peace Corps volunteer. I have two basic schedules I follow without question or thought. The first, which gets followed three or four days a week involves me waking up early to an alarm at about 6 or 7 to race off to some obligation, like civic education classes, a training or a session with the new group of trainees. Then I either come home for lunch, or if I have more afternoon activities I grab a bite in the street and head to my afternoon activity. Then it is home for dinner and time to watch old TV shows on my computer (this month is season 1 and 2 of Seinfeld). The other daily routine I enjoy on the days when I am free in the morning involves waking up to a wet nose (the dog's, not the wife's) at 8ish, making breakfast then listening to three-day old pod casts that downloaded during a recent trip to the office. After a couple pod casts when my attention span is starting to run out, I find myself making lunch and proceeding with the afternoon as I would with the other routine.

The majority of my days here are quite productive, but I've found that since I usually have work, I've stopped doing new things. I live here like I would live anywhere else. What a wasted opportunity.

So yesterday I woke up following schedule B (pod casts, coffee, and toast with peanut butter), and decided that something was missing. The three previous days I had spent all my time working on various projects and here I was with a free day and I was going to waste it sitting in my house listening to pod casts I could easily put on my iPod and listen to anywhere. I remembered that one of the trainees had asked my a few weeks before if it were true there is a waterfall near where I live, and that reminded me nearly a year before I had gone with the previous volunteer on a hike to a waterfall nearby. The hike had taken us mostly on back roads built by the mining company that operated here some years ago (80ish years I think, but it is hard to say, since the forest here reclaims the old buildings so fast), but at some point we found ourselves following a trail about 50 meters from a waterfall. We were still too far away to see it, but the water had been too high to continue on the path, and we weren't in the mood that day for a swim. Alice and I turned around and vowed to ourselves to try again soon.

Nearly a year later my thirst for adventure finally returned.

Alice: You should shower before you come to the office.
Drew: I think I am going to take the morning off.
Alice: whatever, but you should still shower
Drew: no
Alice: what? you stink, you need to shower
Drew: I think I am going for a hike
Alice: Really? where to?
Drew: The waterfall. I think I am going to take the dog too. She was locked up all day yesterday and she could use the exercise.
Alice: Okay then, don't shower.
Drew: Wanna come?
Alice: No, I just finished taking a shower. I am feeling rather clean.
Drew: Alright, well, we're going.
Alice: Okay, well call me or whatever when you know when you'll back so we can eat lunch.
Drew: See you then.

(The shower was a big deal, since the day before we left before the water came on and we got home after it is was already off. I probably stuck like the farm we visted)

So me and my dog were going on a hike. I had been in the area before, so I knew it was fairly safe, and off I went. When we had gone there a year before and I din't remember the trail being particularly dangerous, since about 75% was old road. The road was washed out and mostly impassable in a car, but on foot it was still fairly easy, just muddy.

Locating which road exactly was another chore. I remember that I had made mental notes every time we turned, but since we had made some wrong turns the first time, my fuzzy year old mental notes didn't always take me on the right path. So to get up in the mountain took some time, but I managed to recognize wrong turns fairly quickly most of the time. The first time I messed up I had thought I had gone the wrong way, turned around, walked the other way for 10 minutes and realized the first way was correct. I was in no hurry, but the dog and I were both annoyed we had to walk back up a rather steep incline due to a fuzzy memory.

The second time I took the wrong road I encountered old mining ruins I had remembered and kept going. Turns out a lot of mining ruins look similar. I came to a ditch in the path that dropped about 5 feet and was about 5 feet across. There was a single log still crossing the gap, but the rest of the logs had fallen in the ditch and the ditch was home to a fair amount of flowing water. I looked at the dog and she looked at me. We were stuck. I could jump the gap, but not with the dog, and if I feel off the log with her in my arms I would definitely break something or her. She just gave me a look that said we had gone too far to turn around and I agreed, so I had no choice to think of something. I looked around for boards to lay across, and found some, but they were rotten and couldn't support my weight. After another minute or two of thinking I finally thought of the obvious. Since the ditch was only 5 feet across and 5 feet down, I climbed down onto the old broken bridge. Picked the dog up and set her down on the other side, then climbed up. (I should have brought a camera, and next time I will to improve this explanation). We walked a grand 30 feet before I realized I had gone to the wrong place. We had indeed gone to this place once before, but we had needed to turn around that time too. I had to repeat the whole process in reverse, but this time I managed to get myself covered in mud. So much so, it seemed silly to even try to rinse it off.

So I retraced my steps and finally found the right trail. The puppy and I were on our way we got to the same point we had to turn around the year before. It was at this point I realized bringing the dog with had been a mistake. The path along the stream to get to the waterfall was narrow and heavily inclined to the side, making falling off very easy. My fat basset baby was never going to make it. I didn't know what to do again. I was having problems following the narrow trail, which occasionally, didn't even resemble a trail, but rather a couple of places I could put my feet with nothing but a gap in between. I only have 2 legs, but they are long and offer me the ability to make large steps. This is how I learned I had the world’s only mountain basset. The dog was following with more grace than I could possibly have shown. I carefully stumbled across the gaps, while she gracefully galloped between them. Only once did she slip off into the water, and when she did, she offered me an annoyed look that said "look, if you would go a little faster I could have made it up that, now I am all wet and it is entirely your fault". So despite my myriad of attempts at self sabotage, me and my dog finally made it to the waterfall. I don't know if it was as awesome as I had expected, but I didn't care. I had made it and gotten out of my routine. The way there had taken about an hour and 45. I called Alice and told her I had made it and I would be back for lunch in about an hour and a fifteen. I remembered at this point I had brought my iPod and I gleefully walked home listening to my music. The way down the mountain only took 45 minutes, since I knew the way home much better than the way there.

So, today with a new outlook on what I should be doing with my free time I woke up, made some breakfast and started listening to a pod cast. I hate you routine, but You knew I couldn't stay away for long. I think even though I found myself stuck back where I was I still learned I need to enjoy the things around me more. In ten years I doubt I will be proud that I stayed so well informed about current events during my service, but rather I will be angry I didn't get out and do more. I need to do this everywhere. Even in the states I would sit at home or go to the same bar with the same people. I should have gone to the park or the movies or volunteering. I like being informed, but thanks to technology I can have it both ways. So, starting today, I am going to be better about doing things just because I always do them.

Maestra Alicia

I am teaching elementary school in our most illiterate community. Most of you know I started with a basic literacy class that I developed myself and then adapted with some Peace Corps materials. However, as a couple months went by, I found that I have no training as a teacher and had problems developing efficient lessons. My lessons weren’t bad and I was teaching some important concepts, but it felt incomplete. I discovered a “class by CD” alternative education program called Educatodos that teaches 1-6th grade, as well as high school classes. Each grade has 4 CDs worth of lessons, and a book that follows along with each lesson. The materials provided include reading, writing, comprehension, history and math, and is very complete as far as learning. I started this program after three months of my own classes, which has now officially turned into a fourth grade class, first grade, and one nice young man who I teach individually 2nd grade. They listen to the tapes and I facilitate and check their assignments. My fourth grade class is GREAT, the five ladies (two around 13 years old, the other three in their early twenties) show up every week, do the assignments, and seem to have lots of fun. They are thrilled that I am doing this program for them and want to complete thru the 6th grade while I am here as a volunteer.

My first grade class was larger at first but has dwindled down to a mother in her 40’s and a man in his late 20’s. They show up almost every week and are very eager to learn. The lady always comes with her pre-teen daughter that supports and helps her through the lessons. She is smart and is learning quickly and can already look at words, divide them by sounds and then read them aloud. The young man has a much harder time and can barely recognize the letters of the alphabet but he has made progress and can write his own name now without help. He can also write the alphabet on his own and is much better with numbers than letters. He can recognize any number 1-100 and tell you what it is. This is much better than a few months ago, and as long as he continues to come, I will work with him till he can read and write basic words on his own.

Each week a few random kids come, belonging to one adult or another, and they are fun to play with and are seeing their family member in a learning environment. Hopefully they will get the opportunity to go to school and help make their parent’s economical situations better. Also, I teach a nice young man 2nd grade twice a week at my home. This community is about 30 minutes up the mountain by car (an hour or two walking), but luckily he works as a lawn man for the clinic about a block from my house in town and so we do the class twice a week after he gets off work. He was too advanced for one class and couldn’t keep up with the other, but it is fun to work one on one with someone.

This is the most humbling thing I have done here. While in some ways I wish I had more students in a community I know has a dire need, it is amazing to see the same students show up week after week to learn the basics of elementary school. Especially my fourth grade girls. They are young, fun, energetic, and could be doing a lot of other things on a Sunday morning but they really want to learn and have touched my heart. I started this after Christmas and will probably work in this community till I leave Honduras. I have one volunteer (the lady standing in the next photo) and she helps teach the classes with me. Also, she is facilitating a 6th grade class for her husband and a few other men in town in the evenings. Together, we are making a small difference in the educational level of the town, where more than 80% of the adults are illiterate.

We as Americans are so lucky with our educational system. For one, we have classes all day, where here it is just about 4-5 hours in the morning or afternoons. Also, the teachers here strike a lot, and sometimes for valid reasons, but the people that lose are the students. Literally last month the schools all over Honduras were on strike twice and resulted in a loss of about a week of classes, which makes a huge difference in the quality of education. I teach this alternative education program in a community church which has opened our doors to us to teach the class each week. We sit in the little blue church benches but it is so great to have a free place to use with electricity and the students feel comfortable going here more than the small elementary school in town they never actually attended the first time around. I found this project because, despite the blatant poverty in the community, there are several people who are really motivated to make their area’s situation better. They asked for my help when I attended their community meetings, and I saw it as something I could actually learn to do. So this is why, for me, this is what a Peace Corps project should be….you see a change you have helped make, the community shows up and wants the change, and you have a person or two who are willing to continue it after you leave.