Sunday, January 11, 2009
Once again, I woke up without an alarm clock and preceded to take my nice cold shower. Afterward, Sarah and I went to breakfast, which again I declined to eat. On our way to breakfast, we walked into Chris's and Kelvin's host house. Chris explained how there were a lot of people at the house at night. Furthermore, he described that he had difficulty changing into his pajama because the Hondurans continue to watch him. Kelvin was the smart who went to bed early and wrapped himself with the mosquito net. However, he did not escape the children, who stared at his sleeping face and touched his net as if he was an erotic animal.
After breakfast, the AguaClara group worked together to setup for the Feria de Salud (Health Fair). I helped hang posters on trees. It was very fun because I got to hang and climb high trees. When all the posters were hung, Henry, Nadia, WenQi, and I worked on making the other side of the banner for Planta AguaClara. Then we had to hand the banner high above the ground. I could climb up the tree. However, I feared that I would not be able to climb down the straight tree. At the end, Jeff climbed up the tree like a bear.
When people started to come, I was in charge with the candy bag for the children area. Then I joined the AguaClara soccer team to play against the local soccer team. I went in when Amelia went out. Due to my lack of practice and water, I was out of shape. I had a chance to score but I missed. This shows that I really need to work out. At the end, AguaClara lost 1 to 2. This was ecpected since the local team trains practically every day.
Afterward, I helped Tamar to play a game with the children to promote the concept that littering is bad. To promote this concept, Tamar had the children race to pick up the most trash from the ground. Basically, the children broke into groups of seven. At end of the game, the children will win toys. However, the time that the children waited for the toys was too long. During the waiting time, I think that the children forgot the concept of not littering and they concentrated on their potential toy. In addition, Tamar wanted to teach the children how to wash their hands. Once again, the preparation for this activity was poorly prepared.
Furthermore, I don't believe the children truly understand the importance to pick up trash and to wash their hands. For example, after the children washed their hands, we gave them candies and one girl threw her wrapper into the grass below her. This may me wonder if she actually understand the significance of not littering. Also, one toy for each group of children seems insignificant. For my group, Nadia brought all six children ice cream for 5 lempira each. I even brought ice cream for myself, it was delicious and cheap.
Around 4pm, we cleaned up the area and went back to our host families to change for the pool. Around 5pm, we headed to the pool. It was a pretty cool night. When we reached the pool, the temperature seems to got chiller. While many AguaClara members danced to the Hondurans' music, other went to get their dinner in the Four Communities pool (Contact: Ivan 9998-1030). During the night, I learn to play spade. At first, Heather Reed and I lost to one point. Then we won to 73 points and won again to 154 points. Rustom and Coby got 130 something points. Aside from spade, Nadia tried to teach me how to dance. Since I had no dancing talents, I failed dancing class. Basically, I have to face it that I have no dancing talent.
Later in the night, Sarah and I walked back to Rio Frio with Sarah's flashlight. Moreover, tonight, Kelvin and Chris have to switch into a different house because their current host mother found out at the Health Fair that she has a contiguous illness. As a result, Kelvin and Chris were upgraded to a better house that has enough mattresses for each of them.
For this night, I woke up for an emergency toilet usage. Since I did not want anyone to go into house as I used the toilet, I accidently locked myself outside. After I finished using the toilet, I sat outside and stared at the navy blue sky. I was hoping for morning to come. However, my host mother broke my peaceful time alone. As I though how lucky I am and why people are still happy with their poverty, my host mother opened the door for me. My nature instinct made me ducked my head in embarrassment. I don't really know why I was embarrassed. Probably, I felt like an idiot because I locked myself outside.