31 July 2007

Eek-E-Lee-Bree-O means Equilibrium in Spanish...


Howdy Folks!

So here’s a quick (oops, lets go with not so quick now that I’ve finished) journal entry to catch you guys up!

I just got back from my 11 day trip to the United States about 2 weeks ago (okay, it’s taken me a while to get this up on the web, more like a month ago now). Right off the bat I had to give my first class (in spanish) on ecosystems to a group of forestry and protected areas workers. It went pretty well, I was able to use a Powerpoint presentation, so it looked nice and profesional. I kept messing up the word “equilibrium” in spanish which is “equilibrio” (eek-ee-lee-bree-o). (Update: I just got an invite by another local NGO to give the same class at a different conference! Positive feedback, hooray!)

My time stateside was quick and is still kind of a whirlwind in my memory. My cousin Jamie’s wedding was a blast, we definitely “threw down” on the dance floor and had a good time! I caught the garder (spelling?), and was sure to explain that I was in no hurry to get married next. I was just happy to beat my 17 year old cousin Anthony’s streak of 4 garders in a row. Before that we also got down at the bowling alley. Bowling shoes and slick bowling floor make for great dancing and fun, we had a blast. It was really good to see a lot of my family from N. Carolina and California who I hadn’t seen in so long. Even after so much time apart we could still stinkin’ party! And party late!

I got to spend a lot of time with my brother and his beautiful family. We went swimming and just chilled out. Daniel and I also went for a good mountain bike ride. Went for a mountain bike ride with my friend Matt as well, who had just returned from an long tour of South America, it was neat to trade cultural experiences. Got to hang out with his cool family as well and see his girlfriend Katie who had been traveling with him as well in S. America. It was like ol’ times riding bikes w/ Stewie again, good for the soul.

I am so very proud of my little sister. I’ve been away for a year and when I came home and got to see her it was interesting to see how grown up she had become. She was talking about her “deductables” on her helath insurance and such! I thought to myself, “gee, she’s more grown up than I am!” I still feel like I’m on an extended college tour or something. Katie Bess is renting a really nice apartment and working a cool job as a dental assistant. I got to visit the office and see the cool (and not so cool haha) people she works with and got to probe and see what she does. She’s definitely matured substantially and it was so very encouraging to see her. My little sister is all grown up (sniffle)!

And of course it was great to see Mom and Dad. Laying around the house, running errands, road tripping to the wedding, it was all good quality time with them. And their new child, Elvis, the yorky who’s making sure the house isn’t an “empty nest.”

Culture shock? Sure, it was there. But I think I was ready for it. The culture shock wasn’t the whole cake. It was tough coming back to where I was a year ago and being somebody very different; Honduras has made me somebody very different from who I was a year ago. I couldn’t help but feel like I didn’t fit in completely where I was a year ago. That was the more strange thing, I think I’d call it “character regression shock.” Maybe that’s a sub-category of culture shock.

So now I’m back in Honduland. Back in Santa Elena. Things were pretty much the same when I got back. A few new bricks had been added to the houses that have been under construction here for the past year. Gringo was thrilled to see his “Dad” come home. He about tackled me over. I’d never seen him jump so high! White dog CAN jump.

I’ve been picking things back up with the pineapple farmer’s co-op and the science lab. We’re working on getting the science lab to actually function as a place where kids can do experiments. Right now it’s sort of just sitting there with very little materials inside. It might require some money and I started to look into finding funds today. The pineapple farmer’s co-op have their mini-super market up and running. They decided they’d start a mini-supermarket to pay back the money the government lended them to make a jelly factory instead of actually making jelly and paying back the loan in the proper manner. I told them it didn’t sound like a good idea. At a big meeting, they asked me for my insight, and I stood up and told them I thought they were making a mistake. But they went ahead with this project anyway, and I’m going to go along for the ride as well. I hope to help Isaias get the inventory off of paper and onto the computer he has in the store. He’s got a version of Microsoft Works that should be able to do it. We’ll see what we can do. He still has miles to go to learn how to work a computer properly. I’m also working with Isaias to make a powerpoint presentation that he wants to present on Wednesday. We got a data projector from a local NGO lended to us for that day.

Okay, I suppose that’s all for now. Please write me emails or if you feel even more motivated snail mail! I miss everyone already, and everyone I didn’t get a chance to visit (my Athens crew!) very much as well! I’ll write again soon.

Cuidense,
David

P.S. Here’s the email; egetter@gmail.com
And here’s the snail mail;
Davíd Egetter, Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Santa Elena, Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Cortés
HondurasAmerica Central