Random Post Friday

October 28^th, 2011

            Welcome to what I hope will be a weekly blog post which I have entitled “Random Post Friday.” I know that it is not the most creative title ever but I figured that was better than “Jim’s Random thoughts” or “Jim shares his mind.” Anyways, my hope is that I can post this every Friday for my two years here in Honduras and it will simply just be random thoughts that I have. Most likely the thoughts will have nothing to do with my work here in Honduras and may not make much sense. I hope that it can be a little bit of a treat for everyone every Friday because I know that there is nothing else you guys would rather look forward to than a blog post from me. So consider it my present to you guys, my loyal readers and hopefully you guys enjoy it. Possibly, my random thoughts can strike up conversations and lead to follow up posts, guest blogs, or even a Bill Simmons type mailbag (I think that is stretching it though as I have tried it once and got exactly zero questions). Anyways, let’s begin!

            My first random thought that I would like to share is concerning clocks, it is something that I have always been curious about and have never been able to come up with a good enough answer to please me curiosity. The question is simple, how do clocks (computers, cell phones, watches) keep the time even when they are shut off? Now watches and cell phones I have come up with answers to, with a watch it always has a battery and so even if it goes into a power save mode or something similar it is still keeping the time. Cell phones as well work because they can always dial up to the network and get the correct time so when the cell phone is turned on it collects the signal from the network and you have the time. However, what happens when you do not have service and you turn on your phone? I believe when I was in the states it still always somehow had the right time and even here I almost always have the right time, even when I do not have service. How does it do that? But here is the real head scratcher in my mind, computers. I get that computers are always updating their clocks to have the correct time by using the internet but what happens when you do not have entertain. I guess the logical response is that it just runs like a normal clock and counts the time. Now that is all fine and dandy, but what happens when I have no internet and I turn off  my computer or the battery dies, when I turn my computer back on (and I still do not have internet) the computer still has the correct time (and date). How in the world does it do that? The only possible explanation that I can think of is that the computer has some sort of internal clock that continues working even when the computer is turned off so that whenever it is turned on it knows the correct time. Now this means that the computer nerds have figured out either A. how to run a clock not using any energy or B. how to connect to the internet and update a clock even when there is no internet connection. That is as far as my logic leads me and if that is true that I think both of those are amazing technologies and they should be expanded, think about it free internet worldwide or free energy worldwide.

            Now I am sure that somewhere in that paragraph above I used some sort of faulty logic, whether it was slippery slope theory or something else (Sorry Mrs. Bond (10^th grade math teacher) I forgot the other types of faulty logic…). However it seems fairly sound to me at this point in my life. I would love to hear from anyone who can provide me with more insight into this conundrum and possibly even share their own ideas; maybe someone can even provide me with the right answer to this question. Please leave any feedback that you would like and in the comments section and I hope you enjoyed this week’s installment of “Random Post Friday” and make sure to turn in next Friday for the second edition!    

New pictures:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150402897067359.414180.593887358&type=1&l=3aad4e7395

The Catholic Church

October 26^th, 2011

            So I have realized that one of the really nice things about the Catholic Church is that it is pretty much the same no matter where you go. That consistency is something that I have found really nice and reminds me a lot of home. Now of course there are a few differences between the mass here and the mass in the states, the biggest difference is obviously the language. Surprise, Surprise the masses down here are said in Spanish so when I first got down here it was really hard to follow along and know what to say and when to say it but now I actually feel like I can follow along with the mass and I have almost got down everything I need to say at the correct times etc. In fact, last week was the first time that I felt that I understood and followed along with the whole mass including the sermon, so that was really cool. The church that I go to is literally kiddy corner to my house so it is not a far walk by any means, it is called Iglesia San Antonio (St. Anthony’s). The priest is a large guy who is young and speaks rather slow (for Honduran standards) which is really good for me. Some other differences that I have noticed are the lack of holy water in the churches (I have been to three different ones, including a Cathedral and none of them have it), I questioned Fr. Art about this wanting to know if there was a liturgical reason for this and with our guest blogger of the week response here is Fr. Art:

You offer a good question, and after asking around to people who are smarter than I am----I believe that your note also contained the best answer.....there really is no liturgical reason. Perhaps just neglect....maybe you could volunteer to be the "water boy."

So, I am not too sure for the reason at this point but stick with me because I am going to try to figure it out, hopefully I can find an answer or start a new trend.

            Some other differences that I have noticed are that the mass never starts on time, I guess I should not be surprised by this because that is simply the culture however the mass is supposed to start at 8 a.m. which means that the priest usually shows up right at 8 a.m. and the mass usually starts around 8:10 or 8:15. Another difference is that while the church is usually packed full of people I would guess that only about a third of them go up for communion, I guess it is good that the rest of the people still go to church but at the same time sad that they do not continue with their education to receive their first communion. Communion is also different down here, this may be due to the churches that I have gone to in my life, but I have always been handed the Eucharist in my hand and there was always the option to receive it on your tongue. However down here the priest dips the Eucharist in the wine and then places it on your tongue, only option. I think this may be more liturgically correct however I am not sure, Fr. Art/Fr. Tom care to enlighten us? Last difference that I can think of is that during the time when everyone gives the sign of peace it is not like in the states where you shake the hands of those in your pew and the pew in front and back of you. Here, you basically shake the hands of almost everyone in the church, everyone is walking around shaking hands, giving hugs, greeting each other, all of the kids run up to the priest and he greets every one of them before then moving on to say hello to almost the entire congregation. It is rather different and I have to say much more of a community atmosphere, I like it.

            Honduras, according to CIA stats, is a country that is 97% Catholic. After being here for 4 months I do agree that this country is very catholic however there is no way that it is 97%, it is much closer to 50/50 Catholics/Evangelicals if you ask me. The reason for this, from what I have been told, is that after Hurricane Mitch destroyed much of Honduras many Evangelical churches came here to help out and that converted many of the people. So maybe it is more appropriate to say that Honduras is a really Christian country. The people here are always saying “Si Dios quiere” (God willing) or “Gracias a Dios” (Thanks to God) and many other assorted saying that show that God is a part of their everyday lives. You see signs saying “Dios nos bendiga” (God blesses us) and many other saying pretty much everywhere and you see cars and buses with huge stickers of Jesus and crosses everywhere you go. There is absolutely no separation of church and state and it is not uncommon at all for God to be taught in the public school system. However at the same time it is a bit ironic because the culture in some ways is so anti-Christian; womanizing is practically a sport amongst men here, girls get pregnant around the age of 15, and parents are not afraid to hit their children. I have seen trucks that have pictures of Jesus on the front and then pictures of scantily clad women on the back. It is for sure a culture clash between two very different cultures. While I do not think this is a struggle that is very new to the world or to Honduras it is a new culture for me, in the states it seems to me that people are usually what they say they are meaning if they usually do not try to be someone who they are not and it is culturally acceptable to just not be religious. Down here in Honduras it is not as culturally acceptable so I think some people put up an act and say these things when really they do not believe in God thus creating this irony. Needless to say, it is very interesting to observe and be a part of it.

Schools

October 25^th, 2011

            I want to take some time to discuss the differences in the educational system here in Honduras and the educational system in the United States. So basically, the kids here begin going to Kinder (kindergarten) at the age of 3 until 5. After Kinder they will go to the local school for 1^st through 6^th grade, in my town there are no private schools however in the nearby town of Santa Rosa there are private schools that teach English and a fair amount of students from my town go to school there. These private schools that teach English are much more expensive and follow the education schedule of the states (the rest of Honduras takes their vacation during December and January because it coincides with the coffee picking season, just for your information Honduras is the number 3 producer of coffee worldwide). Anyways, after 6^th grade the students go to what is called colegio (basically middle school/high school). During colegio there are different tracks that the students can take for certain types of careers that they choose to persue. After colegio they can continue on into a sort of certificate program and if they finish that they can then go onto to university. With all of that being said, I would say that the average student in a large city or a large town such as mine most likely finishes colegio, however in the rural areas of Honduras I would guess that the average grade level that a student reaches is around 6^th grade and that is probably being generous.

            Most schools are set up so that there is a morning session and an afternoon session in which different grades and different students meet. For example, in my town the 1^st through 3^rd graders go to school in the morning from 8 to 12:15. The 3^rd through 6^th graders go to school in the afternoon then from 1 to 5:30ish. Now during this 4 hours the students get two recesses and there is also a time designated to cleaning the classrooms and the playground, basically at the end of the day I would say that the students are probably learning for around 2 hours a day. The teaching style of choice here in Honduras is rote learning in which the student copy things down and memorize them. There is absolutely no system of education in place for students with special education needs here in Honduras; however there is a push for more providing services for these students with a new centers called R.B.C. (which is one of the places that I am working), it stands for Rehabilitation Based in the Community.

            So, the Honduran education system has some problems that it is trying to work to fix and hopefully during my two years here I can help to improve the school system in working with students with special needs (with those who are allowed in the school system). One of the scary things is that Honduras has a HUGE population that is under the age of 18 so that means that the youth, who are receiving so little education, are going to be running the country someday. While this is a scary thought, knowing that the education system here is actually in a much better spot than it was even just a few years ago does seem encouraging.

            Time for some random thoughts from my life, the first thing I want to address is that I have been rereading Harry Potter (in Spanish) down here and I have thought of a few questions. First question is, why/how did Dumbledore hire someone (Quirrell) who literally had Voldemort living inside of him? Does that seem odd to anyone else? Dumbledore is supposed to be a great wizard and all but yet he could not sense that the dark lord was underneath a turban and inside his school for an entire year? I don’t buy it. Another question I have about the first book is during the first book Snape is always protecting Harry from Quirrell and always keeping an eye on Quirrell etc. Now is Quirrell knows that Snape is against him then VOldemort know this as well, how/why does Voldemort eventually trust Snape? Again, I just do not get it. If someone who has a better memory of better understanding of these books could explain that to me I would appreciate it.

            So on Sunday nights down here it has become tradition for me to watch an American Idol type show with my family, the show is called La Academia and it is a Mexican show. The premise is just like American Idol and they even have the mean Simon judge, this judge the other week told a 14 year old kid that he was pathetic after he had to perform a song in English (All the contestants of course speak Spanish). This past week, as I was watching some of the contestants were really bad and it was actually rather entertaining. This got me thinking that someone should produce a show in which you find 15-20 of the absolute worst singers that you can find (I am talking William Hung style) and through the course of the show you give them the best possible coaching etc. and by the end of the show I think you could probably turn out a singer who was halfway decent. Not only would that show be enjoyable at the beginning because of how spectacularly bad everyone was but I believe it would get everyone hooked midway through because the contestants would be improving. Everyone loves an underdog story right? I guess it is a little bit like dancing with the stars in that sense that they take people with no dancing talent and teach them how to dance. I am not sure about a name yet at this point but I am open to suggestions.

            Last random thought and it is not really a random thought more of a comment. Down here in Honduras and I assume Central America it is completely socially acceptable to say Adios in passing. This would be like me walking down the street in the states and just saying Goodbye to everyone, it is a little odd at first but really cool at the same time. It is my go to greeting for sure. Another thing I have noticed about things that are socially acceptable (but I am not completely sure about this one) is that I think it is acceptable to pick your nose. I say this because I have seen multiple adults digging in their noses, in public places. Like I said I am not completely sure about this being acceptable, I am going to continue to do research on it and I will get back to you guys.

Videos

One of the other PCV's uploaded these videos to youtube, they are from the swearing in ceremony. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVNPEa0qy2o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6accaQG2QQY

One month

October 23^rd, 2011

            Well today marks my one month anniversary in site, meaning one down and 23 to go. Almost there! In reality though, the one month did go by very quickly and that was with me doing next to nothing for most of the days, so I can only imagine how fast it is all going to go by when I am really doing some work. With my one month anniversary, I tried to sit down and reflect on my time here so far. While it is still hard for me to really understand it all at this point and I assume that it will be similar throughout my entire time here in Honduras. It is just really hard to understand the significance and everything that is happening to me here while I am here in the thick of it all. I think after my 2 years here I will really have a much better hold on my time here, and that is exactly the problem. I think it is human nature but people never seem to realize how important and cool the things happening in their lives are while they are actually happening to them. I think it has to do with our society being so future oriented, we are always thinking about the next week, the next month, and the next year. I for one have definitely been living in the future and have been thinking about the next two years and then what I want to do after the next two years. Part of me wants these next two years to be over so I can be back in the States with my family and friends while another part of course realizes that I have been given an amazing opportunity here and that I really need to enjoy and appreciate the time that I have here because before I know it, it will be over.

            With that being said, the other day, I started to realize just how cool my life is. I mean really, I am living in Honduras with a host family, I am getting the opportunity to learn Spanish and another culture altogether, I am getting to work with a population of people that I love (special needs population) and in a place that definitely needs the help, I have my own room and own bathroom with a shower (though the shower is cold 90% of the time, but hey I am not complaining), I have access to internet on a daily basis and access to t.v. (in Spanish and English), I do not have to do any cooking or cleaning and I have a washer in my house. If you ask me, that is a pretty cool life right there and I think it is very easy to forget that. As a PCV, there are many challenges in your life and most of them are small basic challenges like homesickness, diet changes (I had bean soup the other day and let me tell you, I had so much gas, I was surprised I did not float away like the Good Year blimp), and lack of communication. When all of these things build up it is very easy to dwell on the bad and forget about all the good in our lives. I feel as though I have already written a blog very similar to this post and if I have, I apologize for repeating myself however I do feel that it deserves repeating.

            Side notes (too short for a separate blog/paragraph): It has been around 60 degrees here these past couple of days, actually most of the week, and it probably goes down to around 55 during the night time. So naturally the people here are treating it like it is the dead of winter, I am talking hats, gloves, scarfs, coats, you name it they are wearing it. Now I understand that being from Chicago I am a little bit more used to this “cold” weather stuff than they are but wow haha.

            My host parents went to the doctor the other day and they found out that they are going to have a new baby girl soon. They told me within the next week which I definitely believe because my host mom is really pregnant, like super pregnant

            Other big news, my host dad told me that he wants to get Sophia a Wii for Christmas which basically also means I am getting a Wii! So that should be pretty sweet, it should really give us something else to do besides watch Nickeloden all day every day. Now I am not saying I have anything against Big Time Rush, Victoria Justice, iCarly, or Bob Esponja (in reality they help me with my Spanish) but there is only so much of them you can watch every week.

            Also I just want to say that being in the Peace Corps and being a PCV I have noticed that no topic is taboo amongst other PCV’s, especially not bodily functions. For that reason, I no longer have a filter on when talking bodily functions and I apologize if the bean soup comment caught you by surprise, grossed you out, or maybe just maybe inspired you to have some bean soup because you are going to regret it.