"Heat, ma'am!"

"Heat, ma'am! it was so dreadful here, that I found there was nothing left for it but to take off my flesh and sit in my bones." ~Sydney Smith, Lady Holland's Memoir

Last week I left the mountainous La Campa for the valley region near San Pedro Sula. A difference in altitude of 1km makes a significant difference in temperature (about 6C). So instead of high temperatures of 30C, we have high temperatures of 35C PLUS the humidity, making it feel over 40C every day. Instead of sleeping with a blanket every night, I kick the sheet off, and wake up sweating. My sweat droplets coalesce into raindrops with unprecedented frequency.

I am spending about 2 weeks in the valley region, helping out at a farm/retreat centre that is being supported by MCC. The property was donated to one of MCC's partner organizations, but they lacked the resources to run it. An MCC family is getting it running and profitable before turning it back over to the management of the partner organization.

I am spending the mornings exercising my landscaping skills, getting muddy and eaten by ants, and loving it. I no longer have to wonder where my insect bites are coming from: they all come from ants. In the afternoons I am helping out at a tutoring program for kids who are struggling at school. Two of the more challenging kids are two siblings, age 8 and 12, who are both still in grade 1.

After spending months living and interacting in a culture that is not my own, it is very relaxing to be living with a North American family, where I know what to expect, and where my actions are expected. Where I can jump in and help with dinner, because it is something I know how to cook. Where I can eat and make comfort food from my home culture. Where I can fully articulate what I want to say, because I can say it in English. Where I can curl up on a couch (what a novelty!) with a book, and not have it be a surprising event. All these are things that it is so easy to take for granted, until you get placed in another culture. Where different foods are cooked by different people on a stove I don't know how to work properly. Where I have to speak another language. Where couches are rarities, and reading for pleasure is practically unknown. So despite working physically harder here than I have yet to do in La Campa, it is easier mentally and culturally.

Be Bored Gracefully

I have just skimmed over most of the blog posts I have made over the past several months. I nodded and smiled at them, but recognized that I have missed out on an important aspect of my time here in La Campa. I have not talked at all about being bored!

Boredom has been a large problem. Similar to other volunteers who have worked with CASM in La Campa, it was very challenging to find work for me to do. I have had the soil analysis project, which was suggested by my supervisor, but which was not really wanted among the communities. And I have been teaching English a few hours a week since March, but at a day to day level, I frequently have come to the office wondering, "what shall I do today?" And often the answer has been, "very little." This has been challenging me for nearly the entire time that I have been here in La Campa. How can I find ways to share my skills with my coworkers who do not seem to want them?

A few weeks ago I came across a quote I wrote down during orientation last year: "be bored gracefully." This is a good lesson to learn, and I have been trying to learn it daily for months. I don't know how well I have succeeded, but it is a life lesson not to forget.

In the weeks since April the amount of work available has decreased significantly since several of CASM's projects ended, and they are now into the second month of searching for new sources of funding. I have been looking at my last seven weeks in La Campa wondering how I can occupy myself with no work!

So, through discussions with MCC supervisors, I now have a plan of work for the next weeks that will keep me from stagnating from boredom! I will spend 2-3 weeks at a farm and retreat centre that is being run by an MCC family, helping them out. I will spend a week in La Campa saying goodbye, wrapping things up, giving a final English exam, and celebrating the abuelita's 96th birthday. And then I will spend the final two weeks with the connecting peoples coordinator, visiting different regions and organizations and promoting MCC's one-year programs for young adults.

I am excited about these opportunities to help out and learn more about other regions of the country, and most of all that I will be able to wake up and say: "This is what I will do today!"