Thanksgiving all over again

 Ohhhh looky here....I thought I lost this post into cyberspace, but the draft was sitting here all along...just waiting for me to press 'publish'.  More thanksgiving is in order for me then. :)

It's Thanksgiving and I am in Canada giving thanks for an abundant lack of beans and tortillas,  fall colours, the sensation of feeling chilled, and many, many warm and welcoming friends and family.  After 8 months out of country, I was spurred by a bought of homesickness and a window of opportunity that presented itself after the successful completion of the Sources-Fuentes project  , to come for a visit before the snow flew in earnest.

Dog shit and other thresholds

Today I relocated to an internet cafe because the internet at work was distracting me and I just wanted to go home.  Thought this might press my "procrastination reset button".  As you can see, it's working out splendidly.

Somedays (like today) I just reach a cultural, linguistic threshold and want nothing more than to crawl under the covers with a good English novel, and isolate.  This is classic culture shock behaviour.  Overall, my adjustment to life here has been really smooth, and really enjoyable.  I could not have hoped for a more beautiful new city to live in, supportive workmates, a helpful roommate, inclusive neighbours and interesting work projects. I've got a fun, adventurous, supportive circle of friends too.  But somedays I reach a point, where concentrating fiercely on everything that is said, and everything that I want to say, gets a little taxing.  Then there's some of the less than enjoyable cultural nuances...*

So, "Yay for me!" I was invited to and gleefully attended a party with a bunch of English speaking foreigners  last weekend.  The Peace Corps (American volunteer development organization) has a pretty significant presence in Honduras.  At any given time, my organization CUSO-VSO has about 5 to 10 volunteers in country.  The Peace Corps has about 150.   Anyway, they were having a big "Welcome/Going Away" bash on Saturday, and I got to attend.  Wheeeeee!!! We danced, in a big group, free-style...ohhhh bliss!  Hondurans tend to always dance in a couple, and I have endured endless merengues with few spins, no corner turns and dreadfully boring lack of dancing challenge, to the extent that I was considering going Mennonite and stopping to dance altogether.  This dancing was so FREEING, and so familiar.  Another thing I revelled in was the enormous veggy salad served with dinner. Raw vegetables in quantity!!

Finally, the surprisingly refreshing thing at that party was the casual cursing interlaced throughout the ENGLISH conversations.  Hondurans tend not to swear.  Even when there's a subtitled movie on TV, and somebody says "shit" they bleep it out, and the subtitles never say, "mierda".  It's not even their own language and they protect themselves from the contaminating influences of bad words!  So, joy, bliss, I heard the F-word a few times Saturday night, and it was like snuggling up on the couch in flannel PJs infront of a fire, with a tub of chocolate Haagan Daaz, a blanket and hitting play on a romantic comedy.  In other words, all the comforts of home.

Going to some nearby hotsprings tonight, then out to a farm tomorrow, then to a party of some other foreigner friends. Happy Friday! 


 * My taxi driver hit on me disrespectfully today.  Super annoying and happens about 30% of the time on the ride to work.  Just get me to the god-damned destination without enquiring  as to my marital status, my desiring of a Honduran, and whether or not I would like to "Fall with you"...I take it that's code for F%^@.  I'd actually like to poke your eyes out with a big stick contaminated with fresh dog shit, but thanks for asking.  That's one for the margins of my Lonely Planet phrase book!



 

Where's the library?

Nearly four months into this journey, and now the more subtle differences between ¨home¨ (Canada) and here (Honduras) are becoming a little more obvious to me.

At first it´s all the not-so-subtle differences that hit you like a 2x4.  Noise at all hours, armed guards at the grocery stores, rough dirt roads in the middle of town that will require kicking it into 4-high if it rains, litter everywhere, greeting EVERYONE  you meet at the office with a kiss on the cheek upon arrival Monday morning, weekly staff meetings that are actually prayer and devotional sessions...the list goes on.  I´m finding all these things and more, are normalizing for me now.  I hardly notice all the razor wire surrounding the residences and  I kiss everyone´s cheeks like an old pro, uttering pleasantries as I do so (the trick is actually just to brush.your cheek against their cheek and make a kissy noisy simultaneously.  I´ve found that only men who are hitting on me actually full-on kiss my cheek, and usually utter something about the beautiful gringita.< I inwardly grin or groan, depending on who it is>).

Condoms: for or against doctor?

We received a very thorough health briefing from a very Catholic doctor yesterday (screen saver...Mother Mary).

 

Summary: don't eat, don't drink, don't breathe, don't F-(werd)
                                                                            

 I was with him all the way, until he told us that actually, condoms don't protect against HIV/AIDS because they promote promiscuity.  I kept my mouth shut, but I was a little aggitated at him for being so irresponsible with his religious propaganda. Uhh, dude, ever heard of your duty to public health?  Probably best not to argue with the guy who might later be treating me for multitudinous tropical illnesses, from parasites to viral infections to food poisoning and beyond and who actually speaks English fluently due to his studying medicine in Canada at McGill. 

Preparing for Change

Ecuador, November 2010.  Three weeks of immersion in Latin American culture and Spanish language and close friendship.  There could have been no better way to transition from Canadian civil-servant in northern BC, to Canadian volunteer in Central America. 

My return to Canada included 5 days of "Skills Working in Development" training with CUSO-VSO in Ottawa.  A great group and skillful facilitation lead us through topics we may or may not have considered such as: power and privilege, gender equity, cultural competency, change fatigue (aka culture shock), and we met with an ex-pat from our placement countries for a briefing on specifics we might like to know about, such as "A good icebreaker  would be to ask about soccer, but don't say you have a favourite team!".  In our medical briefing from Dr. Wise about rabies we were warned, "Don't play with dogs, cats, or monkeys, and by the way, puppies--are just small dogs."  I may seek a pet goat I guess.

Now I am reviewing all the Spanish language, international development and tropical agriculture materials I can find in my little mountanous hometown in southern BC.  And yes, watching "The Motorcycle Diaries" counts as good research.

Honduras, me voy pronto.