Rainy season

This year´s rainy season has come in with a bang. It has rained every day for a month, and not your usually rainy season rain, but big long storms, filling the whole country with water. There´s not a road without puddles, lakes, streams in them. More interestingly, due to the massive amount of water this season, our mountain road seems to be falling apart. It started with nothing abnormal, such as mudslides into the road, rocks and dirt sliding down into the pavement. Inevitable and easy enough to fix within a day or two. However, two days ago, massive rains caused a stream to flood, which caused part of the road of one of the mountain curves to just fall off. There´s a hole in the side of the road, and they are worried about the whole road going down.

So, to take a bus to the capital, I have to get off about 50 feet from the spot, walk to the other side, and take another bus. They won´t let them pass until they figure out what to do.

I´d like to say this is the only place where the road wants to slide off the mountain, but on the other side of our site, the other exit, they have been working on a similar road problem for over a year....doesn´t build a lot of confidence, except, at least for now, the other side is still pasable by buses. It is interesting, because it is conditions like this, with the country saturated, that can cause a national disaster like the havoc reaked by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It put the country back at least a decade. My biggest prayer right now is that the rain lets up a little bit and no more tropical depressions or hurricanes dump on the country for a few weeks. Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.....

Project Citizen Update

I am standing in front of a roomful of people. I remind myself I did this to myself as I nervously watch my project manager finish her part of the speaking. I’m nervous because when she finishes, it’s my turn, then Alice. Alice has her part memorized because she hates being in front of people. I only practiced 3 or 4 times, but I was planning on just talking normally. I don’t know why I thought that I would be comfortable talking in Spanish in front of a group of 100 educators. I am half thankful that over half the invitees have skipped the second day of the meeting to participate in the teacher strikes that have shut down the public schools for the past 2 days. I speak Spanish like I’m 7. I’ve got a decent vocabulary and pronunciation, but I still haven’t had 8 years of grammar classes reminding me when to use preterit or imperfect.

The group of people I am standing in front of is the national congress on civic education. This is a congress from the old definition, the one where it was just a meeting of concerned parties, not national law makers. Of course, this doesn’t make it much easier to talk to them. We are still trying to get them to adopt project citizen as part of the national curriculum, which means they might as well be lawmakers. They are the top authority. With over 200 invitees, only 120 showed the first day. Today is the second day and I guess there is somewhere between 80 and 110. I’ve never had to estimate numbers of people this high. I’ve never been expected to talk to this many people either. Not even in college.

Along with my wife and boss, we also have eight of our students with us. They don’t know how good they’ve made us look. Even when they didn’t really have a clue what they were doing because we rushed them through 4 weeks of the program, they still made us look good by showing up at our whim. Instead of spending their afternoons and weekends relaxing or getting into trouble, they’ve spent 13 of the last 21 days in our office preparing for this presentation. I should mention it takes Alice and me at least 20 minutes to travel from their school to our office when we have direct transportation. It probably takes the students at least 35 minutes, but they show up consistently and don’t complain. The other 22 students in the class were only interested in doing work in class, which is more standard for students here. Anyways, I am watching them prepare in the last few moments before I say a few words and praying everything goes well for them when they present their work in a few minutes.

My boss is finished and shoots me a look probably meant to say good luck, but I barely see it. She worked hard to be a part of this congress and the last thing I want to hear later is that everything went well until Drew spoke. I’m walking to the microphone. I have to adjust it. In my entire time here, I’ve met 2 Hondurans as tall as me, but never anyone taller. I am a giant amongst men here, but right now I feel my confidence somewhere around my feet.

“Good morning” Yeah, I’m nervous, but at least I assigned the right gender to morning, should be all downhill from here.

“First, I’d like to introduce my wife and co-worker, Alice.” I am getting more nervous, despite the flawless execution of my greeting and first sentence. I silently bask in the pleasure of having assigned the appropriate gender to both wife and co-worker. If nothing else, at least this group of highly educated Hondurans will I know I’m aware that my wife is a female. I am awesome.

I continue on and tell people that we are Peace Corps volunteers in Valle de Angeles and we have a year left. Oddly enough, it is exactly one year to the day. I start into the meat of things and manage to execute a few decent sentences about how we started with project citizen in different school with another teacher, and now we are trying to expand it to 2 other schools.

I find myself temporarily distracted while I am talking and lose my place. I have what I am going to say written down, but I hate such restrictions when talking in front of groups. I usually do make note cards, but today I’ve just printed off a paper, since what I have planned to say is less than a half sheet of paper.

I look down at the paper and mumble “where am I?” The people laugh and I am immediately glad I screwed up. The students can now see it is not fatal to mess up and I am no longer hiding behind my rehearsed infallibility. I get through the second half of the paper much easier, even though I realize I left out a large chunk in the beginning. I pass the floor to Alice and I slink off the stage relieved. If I were a better husband I would have stood next to her for moral support, but the idea doesn’t occur to me until I’ve walked off.

I guess I had been more nervous than I thought, because it takes a minute for the details to start becoming clear in my mind again. Alice is already into her speech and I am sitting off to the side next to my boss hoping Alice does a good job. She gets so nervous in front of groups, I start to get nervous for her. She tells about the school we are working in and the students. We tactfully leave out that the teacher has been terrible and only shown up 3 times in 13 weeks.

Alice is talking about the students being nervous and she throws in that she is a bit nervous herself. This is a shock. Alice doesn’t add things in. Alice recites; it makes her more comfortable. The people reward her addition with a pleasant chuckle and she looks more at ease. She finishes up and passes the floor to the students. She did fantastically, and I remind myself I should mention that to her later, but I never do until she asks me about it later. My mind is already on my students.

The eight kids are split up into pairs to represent the four parts of the presentation. The first part is pretty easy. The two girls have to explain the social problem they chose to study, give some background, and explain why they wanted to choose that problem. They chose deforestation and forest fires, and if you see a before and after picture of their community, it is pretty obvious what the background is and why they chose it. At the current rate, the trees and topsoil with both be gone in 5 years, along with the water they all depend on. The two girls look confident and intelligent. They are speaking from memory, but the information doesn’t sounds mechanically memorized.

The second two girls have to explain the current public policy regarding the forest. They had to read 90 pages of the national forestry law to get the information they needed, and it took me and 2 other people at least 5 tries to explain the public policy concept. A law is public policy (most of the time), but a public policy is not always a law. Most groups have a public policy, and it may be the same as the law and it may not. The firemen are not policy makers, but they have a policy that pertains to the subject, so they need to be mentioned in an intelligent policy discussion, but you cannot propose a policy to them in hope they adopt it. Work in the community groups and their relation to public policy and the result was two baffled teen-aged girls. We finally got them where we needed them sometime two days before. The best part of all is you would never be able to tell the concept confused them even in the slightest. They make the second part flow as effortlessly as the first. The only complaint I have is that one of the girls seems to have spent too much time at a local evangelical church and is attempting to swallow the microphone between breaths, making her sounds a lot like she’s giving a sermon.

While the content of the second part was the scariest, the scariest performers were the third group. We did not pick the students who were going to participate, and we were willing to give all of the students an equal chance. The two boys had honestly never done any presentations in front of people, let alone in front of well educated strangers. They are very accustomed to memorizing and reciting, and they were amazing at that, but while they were talking during practices it was painfully obvious they were reciting things word for word. They were the only two to practice during the day off we gave the students to relax. They were still feeling mechanical, but the improvement was visible. One was still really nervous about talking in front of people, so he requested a local preacher open up the church for him on a Thursday, so he could practice his part with a microphone. The other student comes from the community where Alice does her literacy classes on Sundays where the illiteracy rate is sky high. When he graduates next year he will be amongst the most educated men in his community. By the time they got to the microphone, I was no longer scared they were going to mess anything up. I was just scared they would freeze up and all their hard work would end with them being disappointed. They were in charge of describing the public policy the students had come up with to deal with deforestation in their community. The policy was to basically follow the law, which seems silly, but really needs to be said to the powers that be in the municipality. They were perfect, and seemed like they were as comfortable as everybody else on stage. When they finished, I closed my eyes for a second in relief, knowing that I would never forget that experience.

The last pair of boys participated in community theatre during the fair, and we were not very concerned with their ability to talk in front of people. They hadn’t been either, and they probably had the most pauses because they hadn’t practiced as much as the other groups. The talked about their plan of action and it went smoothly. I was a little sad they had decided to talk from an outline, since this means every time they spoke it went a little different. Once, during practice they said the office for the municipal environmental office was smaller than the bathroom, and the person in it was not going to be taken seriously or be able to hold the meetings he needed in it. Honesty is not a valued in politics, and I think my boss mentioned he should change that part, but I would have loved to see him say that. I hope when the students do the presentations at the municipality he puts that back in. At the end we had told the students they needed a conclusion and we assumed that the last group was going to tack it on to the end, so when they announced the first girl was going to conclude, I was confused, and briefly, very worried.

            She did fine, and was probably the best person to do it. She was confident and well rehearsed, and she remembered to thank all the necessary people. The students were all relieved as they walked off stage, half exhausted, half proud. They sat down and for a few minutes they were chatty, asking how they did, feeling relived, but as soon as the net presentation began, they were immediately respectful and quiet.

Shortly after we have to usher them out so they can eat and Alice and I can get to our next activity. The new groups of volunteers were being sworn in, and we were invited. I am slightly disappointed I didn’t stay with the students to congratulate them over and over again, but Alice and I working on a plan to take them to the beach, where we will give them a free day to enjoy themselves. We’ll give them certificates and pictures of their performance, and hopefully, they will have half a clue how much we appreciate them.

            As for the other 22 students in that class, and the 30 students in the other high school, we are waiting out a teachers’ strike that currently has schools nationwide shut down and unused. We only need a little time to really organize the community level event, but the students in the other groups aren’t quite ready. As soon as we get them there, we’ll let everyone know.

La Feria Nacional-Independence Day

Ba-bababa-Ba-Ba-Boom!!

I woke up to the sounds of drums starting and the sounds of marching, sirens and people.

Drew, get up! We’re late, the parades are starting and we promised to be there…......we head into town and we show up to a town completely full of people. The streets where the parade will go is completely full on both sides, and the marching has started.

The cool thing about Independence Day here is that the kids are still in school. Each school participates, for the most part, with some kind of marching event. This is especially true for the elementary schools. This includes matching costumes, a flag guard, pom pom girls, people dressed in traditional costumes or representing different Honduran symbols, and much more. For the high schools, it is more of the same, but also including girls with batons and a marching band. Unlike the states, a marching band here includes drums, bass drum, cymbals and bell sets, there is not money for other types of instruments. But that does not stop the kids from pounding away great drum beats, swaying and dancing to the same beat as they march uniformly down the road. That’s the cool thing, they dance here as they march.

The conductor was dancing more than the band members........

So in most municipalities (counties) in the central town there are the parades all morning, with people cheering and out with their families. As we’ve gotten to know more people we know more cute kids that are involved, so of course we have to take pictures of them, here they are looking way too cool in their uniforms.

I gotta say......I have a weakness for cute kids in uniforms......

Dillan, our work partner’s kid, and Antonio, our neighbor who loves to play with Lizzie

In the afternoon, there was live music in the park, people out eating, chatting, and spending time with their families. I thought, okay, that is probably it. But no, there was another round of marching and music that night! Much shorter, just one high school marched, but they put 100% into it and it was pretty fun, with the park all lit up and the drums pounding.

Overall, I was impressed. It was a fun event, and I felt the sense of patriotism, good cheer, and cultural spirit in my town. It was very different than our Independence Day, no fireworks for sure, but they had us beat in their drum beats. So, feliz dia de independencia, 15 de Septiembre, Honduras!

A quick update to ease your nerves

Things have been busier than usual, and Alice and I have both recently sent out e-mails. Alice's email was rather important and if you missed it, I recomend you shoot her an email and let her know. Mine was just a story about a crazy day. Nothing important, but if you like stories and you didn't get it, let me know. 

In other news Alice and I have pretty much finished up our work with the new trainees. They find out thier sites today and Alice and I are going to tag along to find out who is going to be close. 

Our project citizen classes are both going well. One class has been selected to go to a national meeting of educators who are going to discuss the current situation concerning civic education where our students will present the information and answer question conerning the project. Our project manager is hoping we set a good example and encourage the country's educators as a whole to adopt it.

I've jumped head first into a tourism poject and I am working with the local chamber of commerce to help bring together a website project, a compost project, and research for tourism opportunities. Right now I am getting huge participation since I am offering to design a webpage, I just hope to sucker in a few people into the other projects at the same time.

Alice and I repeated the hike and today I will leave you with some pictures of the second adventure up the mountain. 

Mountain Basset seeing how easy the trail will be and preparing to bound up the hill.

The "bridge" over the ditch the dog wouldn't cross with me.

The dog openly mocking me by crossing the bridge quickly and easily with Alice.

What would have been a good picture if photography was a skill of mine.

The waterfall. The destination. The dog on the side of the hill showing off how she needs no trail.

Until the next time.

Drew

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.

July and other observations.

So, I don't really have any reason to post most of the time, but I do anyways, and this is no different. I would like the refer all of you to "the talanga update" especially the later half of her latest entry and to "liz the pammer". Both of those blogs located in the right-hand column under "Other people rocking Honduras" have recently posted fantastic updates that do a very good job of describing a couple of complex experiences and emotions a lot of volunteers go through.

As of late work is more confusing than difficult. Work is occasionally difficult to find, but right now I nearly have too much work. I would like to narrow down my focus and hit one thing more effectively, but every time I am trying to do this I am getting vibes like people are feeling ignored in another area. Planning is becoming more formal in my counter-part's office and I am not enthused about more reports. Mostly because my written Spanish makes me cringe. I would rather just talk about when I am doing once a week. Hopefully the practice will improve my skillz.

August marks a few wondrous occasions. The sixth is Alice and I´s third anniversary. This means we will have celebrated our marriage two times here, and only once in the States. When we go home next September of our 4 years being married, over half will have been spent here. An interesting twist on the traditional marriage. Alice's birthday is also coming up on the 19th and she is pretty excited. I will be grilling and causing trouble while she celebrates with who ever shows up this time. (I say this since no matter who we invite only half of them show up, but another 5 people show up unexpectedly. I don't know how this works, but it happens consistently. I actually met people for the first time at my own birthday party.) If you are considering sending her something I'd like to make a few recommendations:

1. Do not send more Kraft Mac and cheese. We brought some and 3 packages containing more showed up shortly after. This means we probably have at least 30 packages. We need some time to work down the supply. Also, we currently have a ton of beef jerky. Probably won't need more till Christmas. Cheddar cheese based snack crackers are welcome (gold fish crackers/cheese nips).

2. We could use some new movies. I really want to see Juno, Alice will watch anything but a horror flick.

3. Things that will entertain us are always welcome. Creativity is encouraged.

4. Completely apart from Alice, I would really like a Macintosh laptop with MS office and adobe creative suite 3. You know, if you have a spare grand or two with nothing to do. My laptop here is becoming a constant source of frustration/amusement. On second though, don't actually buy me this, but know I spend more time at apple.com salivating than is healthy. One day when I have a real job I will probably spend more money at apple than is healthy.

I don't know why as of late I have felt the need to express myself in the form of a list, but I do. Life goes on.

A few quick updates. Alice and I are teaching project citizen two days a week in high schools a ways a way. Monday we catch a taxi out to an aldea (village that is not the municipal seed) about 15 minutes away and we teach about 16 students. Why 16? Because only half the class of 32 shows up consistently on Mondays. The teacher we are supposedly working with is probably half the reason why. She has yet to show up on a Monday to actually work with us. The kids who do show up are awesome and I am excited about working with them. Since they never have a teacher, we are going to work in some leadership themes and extend the program. Not sustainable work, but I could care less. I like motivated students and I like working with this group. Tuesday we go a little further away. We catch a ride 25 minutes to the town of San Jauncito (technically a part of Teg, but generally ignored by their municipal government). After our ride we walk up a dirt road for another 15 minutes to get to one of the coolest high schools ever. We are working with about 32 students, all of which show up regularly and a teacher that seems to like the program. The high school also offers the best shop class ever. They don't learn to make birdhouses and boxes. They learn how to build bookshelves, desks and cabinets. The equivalent of home ec actually learns how to sow blankets and clothes. Then all the stuff the two classes make gets sold at fairs to raise money for the school. Alice and I plan on getting a few new furnishings from the shop class.

We are working rather extensively with the new training group and we have spent about 2 days a week help teach some different parts of municipal development to the new group of trainees. Doing this makes me realize how complicated my project really is. I only work in about 1/3 of the areas we are encouraged to work in. The municipality we live in only has about 1/4 the offices it is supposed to have. I also realized how much more I know than I thought. I can do a reasonable lecture on community organizations, municipal structure, NGOs, and all sorts of other things that never affected my life before I came.

My current brain child is to start a tourism committee but this is proving to be more work than I expected. I just don't know what functions they should have and what sort of activities I should encourage. As of now I have three goals for them (awesome another list):

1. Promote activities keeping tourists here for more time. Too many people come to my town for lunch in a quiet mountain town and leave. This means usually only 1 business benefits (the restaurant) Maybe 2 (a craft shop). If someone stays for an overnight visit, that turns into more like 4 (the people who do the activity, a hotel, 2 restaurants, plus the possible craft shops and the nearby national park).

2. Develop a website. American tourists come by Valle de Angeles all the time, especially missionaries. A website would be a good way to raise money and attention.

3. Use their collective pressure to ensure the municipality provides appropriate services to make expanded tourism possible (grading the roads more often, more dependable trash service in more areas, water in more areas ect.)

I am hoping to expand these goals to more like 10 before I push for a first meeting.

Alice is continuing her literacy classes, but has added the option to participate in an education program that ends with a high school degree if people stick with the program. She works with about 3 different grades with a total of about 9 regulars and 6 irregulars.

We're doing other work as well. I still work at times with caja rurales, but another organization here has gotten some funding to expand these organizations and they have requirements that I was not interested in teaching. ( I was teaching the groups that they needed to make rules for credit and guarantees they were comfortable with, and if the rules work, go with them. The current group wants them to use some very specific requirements I think exclude people, hence is at odds to the whole idea. Also, they also are trying to get people to spend 3 or 4 weekdays in a row in training, which I cannot participate in, since I no longer have 3 or 4 weekdays in a row free until October).