little John, pilas, haircuts

I just got a puppy! It may sound like a terrible idea, but I've found a family that will take it when I'm gone (if I don't bring it with me). It's two months old and little and super cute. It cries at night still but follows me around all day long. I think I'll call it little John because it will be a big dog and Robin Hood is one of the themes recently (because of reading that book outloud to Kevin's family).

Days have been passing quickly for me, even though my life is almost like one long vacation. I think I have gotten used to it. I just need to have a better writing schedule, and then I will feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.

The other day I hiked out to las higueras with Aleyda and Candido to haul a sack of corn home on my back. I can't beleive he plants all the way out there! He has to haul his water uphill when he fertilizes and bring everything out and back on his shoulders...no wonder he's so skinny and eats so much. Imagine having to sacrifice so much to eat!

I went to Agua Azul (by the lake) with Kevin this week to visit his sister, pick up the dog and some boxes his dad had sent from the states. The last night we were there, Kevin and his sister went through the boxes. I was rather appalled and felt kind of sick...it looked as if he had picked up boxes of left over garage sale junk and sent it to his family, regardless of the usefulness of it. I think he sends stuff so that he can be closer to his family (and not just sending money) and so that the kids have new and novel toys. But I felt sad and sick about it, because I could just see him exporting the worst of American culture to Honduras. And the stuff will not last--it will get broken within a few weeks and thrown where? --in the yard. Arg. I talked with Kevin about it and realized that the good things that money gives are opportunities: for education, for travel, for living the lifestyle that one wants. Kevin's dad is not making enough money to be able to provide those opportunities. So he gives what he can (sort of a rip off/shadow of the "American dream"). It makes me very sad...Kevin keeps telling me: "listen, you've said it before, you didn't chose where to be born, the world is this way, and you have to accept it because if you don't you'll make yourself sick." (ha. I can't even believe I dramatize to him about it--he's the one who lives with it, not me.) And he's right, but I have trouble letting it all go. I want to know what else I can do. I want to change the way the world works (I know that sounds super-adolescent. I don't have an exaggerated opinion of my power and importance, I promise). I just think there has got to be a way to do this differently. Someday I will find a way to do something.

I'm still working on the Pila project and teaching in the school. My pila project committee is fun to work with--they bring lots of ideas to the table and work hard. The president is someone I had never met before and I've come to really like him. He arrives five minutes early to every meeting and makes jokes with Aleyda whenever he's around us.

It's still fun to be in the school, but I'm having a little trouble teaching the 3rd and 4th graders. If you can think of any activities appropriate for that age group and good for learning vocabulary, let me know.

Alonzo has been sharing some good stories. I think I should write them all down as tall tales from Honduras. He's such a ham, and I've never heard him tell the same story twice (which is pretty amazing).

Last week I went to an in-service training of the health and water sanitation voluteers. I taught two sessions:one on latrine projects and one on family gardens. It was fun to share what I have learned. In the evening, the volunteers all partied pretty hard. Strange. I am so not into that scene (I wasn't that into it in college, and college is over). I set up a barber's chair and cut hair in the corner all night. That was much nicer, because then I could have short and personal conversations. And don't worry, I don't advertise myself as a hairdresser--it just has come out that I've cut other volunteers' hair, and everyone is in need of a haircut, so I'm happy to help.

I visited some other volunteers two weeks ago (my friends Jennifer, Gabe and Savanna) because Jennifer left Honduras this week (she quit, so to speak). It was great to see them and talk about volunteer stuff. It made me very sad, though, because we started talking about Haves and Have Nots and Honduran culture. I think volunteers get pretty cynical about Hondurans and their tendency to cheat and steal and take advantage. I don't want to do that. When I think harshly about people (or the human race) I don't really feel like being in the world. So better to be taken advantage of (by being trusting) than to take advantage. But Gabe's site is very beatiful and it was fun to hike and be around those three.

Well. That's my book for today. I hope you all are well.

Peace
(that's what I've got to have inside before I can find it in the world, right?)
so I wish that for you...

Jennifer