Adios Honduras?

Whiskey and I were out exploring the other day, when he fell into a pit.

A pit of despair.

And he's asking himself a question I find myself asking today:

What do I do now?


Let me explain...

Kicking Asses

Funny stuff about Donkey Polo...
a week too late

It was nice seeing my host family again and people remembering my name after 8 months. Some of the Hondurans even remembered my name too!

Donkey Polo: Gringos continue 18-year losing streak
Final Score: 41-2 Catrachos

Our asses got kicked...

Half of Life

Half of life is showing up. This couldn't have been made more obvious to me than it was the other night.

It's the end of the year and everyone is either harvesting coffee or finishing school. The high school held its graduation ceremony this past Friday and I was formally invited by one of the teachers. I arrived 15 minutes late to the main salón. I'm really trying to show up late to things, but it's hard. Fifteen minutes wasn't enough. I stood around awkwardly with the few other early birds for another 45 minutes. I don't know how it always happens, but la hora Hondureña is one hour later. And if you think like that, they're pretty much on time.

Finding Inspiration

Highest Highs, Lowest Lows
I enjoy reading the comments from friends and family about how proud they are of the work we do here with the Peace Corps. In fact, it's these notes that encourage me through the mundane and sometimes depressing times. However, there are several times when it feels completely undeserved. Yes, I am giving up two years of my life to live in Honduras and maybe that alone is worth acknowledging, but simply surviving rural Honduras doesn't accomplish what I, nor Peace Corps, set out to.

Giving Thanks

This week I'll be reuniting with several volunteers to celebrate Thanksgiving. A great American tradition that doesn't exist here in Honduras (they have a different feeling about the pilgrims). One short 6-hour bus ride away to La Paz where I will be giving thanks with several other volunteers at an orphanage (complete with orphans) marking this as my largest Thanksgiving gathering. We'll all be cooking and sharing some American tradition as well as some of the many things for which we are thankful.

You'd think when so many things are removed from your life that you might not spend very much time being thankful, but I like to think it highlights the things you're really thankful for in life.

Meanwhile...

I'm Sick  =(
So it's my first bout of sickness in Honduras. Seriously, I'm very fortunate to have warded off all the bugs, germs, parasites, viruses, and general nastiness for this long. But now's my time. It's only a cold, but it still takes a toll. I'm blaming it on the 5 dirty buses I took on my 10-hour return trip Sunday.

Training
The business group had a training this last week in Valle de Angeles (outside of Teguz) about Project Design Management. The basics are this: get a good idea, get a plan, make sure it's a good one with measurable outcomes, then execute. We were asked to bring a counterpart or someone with whom we work closely from our community. Despite multiple advance notices, I received a last minute confirmation that I would be accompanied by the Plan D person - the English teacher from the high school. Which is fine because we get a long and well, she speaks English. Together we outlined the vision, goals, and objectives of our recycling project.

Vision
To create a recycling center and waste management system to make Subirana a pretty and prosperous place.

Goals
1. To generate income that will improve the Institute
   > By the end of 2012, the students will gain 50% of the necessary funds to construct one new classroom
   > Establish collection areas in 5 of the aldeas by the end of 2015.

This is still a rough draft of the plan and we will soon be talking with the principal, other teachers, and the students to further refine this project as well as incorporate their ideas to personalize and internalize it.

What's your name again?

You know when you run into someone you recognize, but you can't recall where or how exactly you know them? You're making small talk with them about the weather or how unexpected it is to see them, but what you're really thinking is, "Where do I know this person from and what is their name?" Now imagine this happening with 75% of the people you talk to.

Welcome to my life.

It's not that I'm completely horrible with names. Though, I admit I'm not the greatest either. I've realized I'm a visual learner and if I see the person's name written out I have a better chance of remembering it. At least, that was in English. Names have always been important; they are how we define ourselves. And I would say they're even more important in the Latino culture. Let me explain. Usually when you ask someone for their name, you're expecting to hear one name, or two if it's more formal.


The name's Bond. James Bond.


Because so much of the identity in Honduran culture is tied to the family, last names are very important. Both of them. It says where your mother comes from and where your father comes from. And most of the time, the first son is named after the father and the first daughter, after the mother. That would be their second name, though followed by something more original (grandma's name maybe?).

Hola, mi nombre es Juan Ramón Castillo Martinez.


It's a little bit of auditory overload the first several times, until you start to expect it. Then you just try to pick out the second name to call them by, or Señor (lastname). However, here's the trick. Most of the time they don't use any of these names! Many people have either a nickname or a shortened version of their name. For example, Ramón is Moncho. This is a common shortened version of Ramón (even though it's not any shorter). Yeah, I don't get it either. Or, the other trick is maybe they just call him Chino, or Gordito, or Negrito depending on how he compares to the rest of the litter. Furthermore, depending on how well you know the person or how you know them, you might call them by a different name than someone else.

So as you might imagine, it's very difficult to keep track of everyone's names. Throw in the fact everyone is new, with Spanish names, and they don't like to pronounce them clearly. I have a hard enough time keeping up with all of my own names. I've been keeping a mental log of what people have called me so far:
Don, Loco, Profe, Amigo, Maestro, Hermano, Licensiado, Tío, Técnico, Papito, Entrenador, Amor, Gringo, Guapo, Chele, Voluntario, Ditemore, Compite, Adán...

Ode to Electroducha

God bless electroduchas and God bless Brazil for making them.

'Tis true, absence makes the heart grow fonder

I set my eyes on your exposed cable

As I stand here in the warmth and ponder

If the circuit and wire are stable

Suicide shower, short bursts of power

Dangerous you may be, I will not leave

Your heated copper, my only escape

From the cold and rainy nights that devour

You are my companion, my sole reprieve

My friend, my mate, I will never forsake

PC Handyman skills

You learn a lot of things in Peace Corps.

Some things you expected to learn, like Spanish; some things you didn't want to learn, like how to manually flush a toilet with a bucket of water; some things you want to learn but can't seem to, like how to work effectively with Honduran counterparts; and some things you didn't expect to learn, like how to hotwire an electric shower.

Maybe you can just chalk it up to living on your own. Or Living on Your Own: Honduras version. I've never had a shop class, plumbing or electrical workshops, or even home ec, but I've found I learned a thing or two along the way. Now this isn't a blog post about how uneducated or ignorant Hondurans are. Rather, it's just part of the culture differences that exist between the countries. We all have indoor plumbing in the U.S. and we've probably all had a plumber come over at some point, or we Googled 'DIY electrical outlet'. But those resources don't exist here. Internet is something pretty rare in my mountain town. And the people that do use it are checking facebook on their mobiles, not looking up thermodynamics on Wikipedia. The plumber is the guy who figured out how to get his own toilet to work once, and the electrician is the guy who didn't completely electrocute himself installing the breaker box.

I've read a few stories and blogs about people making good relationships with 'host nationals' (Hondurans in this case) because they needed something fixed or installed in their home, and I can say with confidence that I started out with this approach, specifically in regards to my electroducha (electric shower). Well, the first attempt involved me going to the next town and buying a simple extension cord (which I clearly said I was going to use for an electroducha), coming back and testing it out only to start an electrical fire in my house! After that I examined the situation with the local handyman and asked lots of questions. I went to the store, bought the appropriate parts he told me, and returned home to assemble it all. In the midst of assembly, the plan stopped making sense to me. Like I said, I never had any home mechanics class, but I did have high school physics so I know a thing or two about electricity (although calling dad to confirm everything never hurts). I scrapped the Honduran plan and dusted off the old American self-reliance. Several hours later, after multiple trips to the hardware store, tedious stripping and splicing cables, making effective use of electrical tape, and replacing a breaker, I am now the proud owner of a working hot shower! The rumors are true, however. The shower's nickname is the "suicide shower ". But to me, that's just a testament to how amazing they are! (WARNING: Lame joke) People are dying to take a hot shower! But seriously, people are taking their lives into their own hands just to get a warm shower and I, for one, can relate.

A Little Bit of Everything

I realize these posts are starting to lag.

Having too much fun, Adam?

Yes. No. I don’t know.

Puppy update:

I finally named him… Whiskey! He’s whiskey colored, it’s pronounceable in Spanish and English (along with meaning that delicious poison), and it happens to be the “say cheese” of Honduran photo shooting. But thanks for all the other name suggestions. They got the wheels turning, but in the end I went with simple.

I Got a Puppy!

So after all the waiting, I got a call on Wednesday evening from the Pastor asking me to come over to the house. We were waiting for the first 2 months (8 weeks) to pass so the puppies could be separated from their mother. When I arrived, there he was all tiny and helpless, because I'm sure he hasn't hit 2 months yet. Though I've been feeding him milk (not cheap), I haven't bottle fed him or anything and he's eating solid food. The first major problem was he had fleas... a lot of fleas. This meant he was definitely not staying the night in the house. I grabbed the box from my blender that was laying around, put a couple sheets of newspaper and a hand towel inside and put it on my fenced-in porch. Yesterday, I got some anti-flea anti-tick shampoo and gave him (another) bath. A handful of the fleas escaped to his head (both times) and I've been picking them out and killing them one by one. I think my dog is almost afraid to scratch now because he knows I'm going to grab him and comb through his hair where he was just scratching. I think there's maybe 2 or 3 left at this point, so it's not too big of a deal.

I thought I would be more excited when I got my puppy, and I am happy, but just realizing life is different now. Not entirely different, but I have to be more responsible, especially now while he's so small. Add that to the fact that I didn't get to choose the day I got the puppy and I wasn't exactly ready that day for him. But here he is. Fortunately, he's pretty easy-going. Putting him to bed outside on his own the first night was challenging with all the whining, but I made myself a little noise deterrent and he slept the entire night (until about 5:30am). I did wake up at 3:00am thinking I heard him whining so I got up and went to the door only to find him still fast asleep. Just a worried parent I guess! I did the same thing this morning at about 5:30am. but he slept until 6:00.

He still has no name and he's pretty timid, but I'm attributing that to the fact that he's still tiny. And I'm trying to figure out what all his whimpering means; "I have to go to the bathroom" "I'm hungry" "I want to play" "I want to sleep within 5 inches of you". The distance thing is cute, most of the time, especially when he follows me around town. But he tends to get lost or confused whenever another person or dog crosses our path. He ended up following some lady for about 20 yards before I could get him to stop and come back.


All that said, I have a dog. I'm very content. And though it's a sad reality, pets can and do die here due to whatever kinds of illnesses they might have. But I do hope this one survives. He has a lot of potential and I think he's kind of attached to me...








I would also like to mention that I had my first visitor, Nancy, visit me from El Negrito down the road. She came just in time to see my dog, too. She left alive and well-fed. Come one, come all.

Also, shout out to all those who participated in Pueblo Crawl in Olancho. Getting there is half the battle. Venga si quiere; Salga si puede. Viva Olancho! And just a little visual for those of you wondering about Honduran travel... you have to take the good with the bad:

Fútbol & Baleadas

Sunday I spent the day like many of you probably did - watching football. Fútbol that is; the Honduran national sport and pastime. The game took place in the next town over, Morazán (about a 40 minute drive in car). I was given a special invitation as the team 'trainer'. My job was to lead the team in some warm-ups and stretches before they soundly defeated the other team 3-0! I found a seat on an 8-ft high cement wall under a tree, which protected me from the light rain, but did nothing against the downpour during the second half. If you end up soaking wet and your team won, it's totally worth it. If your team lost, it's just miserable. Fortunately our team won and I got a nice tan (read: light sunburn) out of it (when it wasn't raining). I think everyone's getting used to me walking around rojito (red) by now. Or at least they stop asking me if I just got done playing fútbol.

The team is doing well. Or they're just lucky. I'm no soccer expert, but I've watched the World Cup and I've seen what a professional soccer game looks like: there's usually a lot of passing and not as much running (compared to these guys). These guys, late teens to early twenties, seem to play like little kids in the street - crowding the ball and making half-field solo attempts at the goal. Maybe I'll read a couple articles about soccer before giving my input, but I'd like to use this as a platform to subtly talk about individualism versus team mentality (something that pervades the culture here). Other advice that seems cliché like 'control the pace of the game' could be of major benefit to these guys that haven't seen your classic sports films. (Not saying I've seen them all, but I do remember Air Bud making a great QB and Point Guard). I'd like to be able to give a great half-time pep talk in Spanish one of these days. That's an outstanding goal of mine.

The other thing I did on Sunday that you probably all did was eat food. Maybe some of you even ate Mexican food, but I bet nobody (minus you other Honduras PCVs) ate Honduran food, let alone the Honduran national dish (that's what I call it at least): Baleadas. The best part is you can eat these for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Just switch up the toppings to give it a different feel. I'm not sure why I love this food so much, since it's one of the most basic foods you could possibly imagine (it should be on the 99¢ menu at Taco Bell). Although when you make the ingredients from scratch, it can get pretty involved. Here's how you can eat one:

Your favorite Mexican fast-food drive-thru:
Order a bean burrito (no cheese)
Add sour cream
Find yourself some queso seco (dry white cheese, probably not available at fast-food chains which is why you're in the drive-thru so you can complete the baleada with the cheese in your passenger seat you bought at the grocery store 5 minutes ago) and crumble it on
Packets of hot sauce to your liking

Home version:
1 packet flour tortillas, warmed
1 can refried beans, also warmed
1 package of mexican cream (crema de mesa in Guatemala, or mantequilla here; sour cream that isn't sour. Or use sour cream if you can't find any)
1 package queso seco
Chili sauce
Avocado, optional
Scrambled egg, optional
Favorite meat, optional

Authentic version:
Handmade flour tortillas, still hot (recipe to come when I learn how to make this. Right now I get them from friends or pay the laundry lady about 50 cents for a dozen)
Refried beans (see recipe below)
1 bag mantequilla
1/2lb queso seco
chili
avocado, optional
scrambled egg, optional
meat of choice, optional

Refried beans (not as easy as you thought):
First, mix beans back and forth several times between two buckets in front of a fan (best to do this outside) to blow away most of the dirt and grass.
Then go through by hand sorting out any rocks or bad beans (split, black, holes).
Next you can soak the beans with plenty of water for a few hours to make the cooking time shorter.
Boil beans with a few cloves of garlic (or add later w/ onion for stronger flavor) until done (40-60 mins), using water from soaking. You'll end up with a sort of bean soup. Don't dump this water, it has a lot of nutrients.
Remove garlic and let beans cool for about an hour (so they don't ruin your blender)
Blend beans in blender (in stages if you have a lot of beans), add water if necessary.
Finely dice some onion and fry with a little oil. Add blended beans and heat until simmering.

Voila! You just made refried beans from scratch! Now you can make those delicious baleadas!
Note: If you don't cook the beans again (i.e. refry them), they will ruin unless you stick them in the freezer to refry (or boil) at another time. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.

Enjoy!

Taking Inventory

Maybe it’s because I haven’t left my site this month. Or maybe it’s just that time; I’ve been here almost 5 months now and the newness is wearing off. I still have a daily plan of where to go at least. But I ask I’m starting to ask myself each morning what I expect to accomplish. And to be quite honest, it’s not very much. However, referring back to my Peace Corps application that kept telling me to have no expectations, I’m right on course.

So what am I doing?

I’m still showing up to the elementary school with the intention to teach a computer class or two. I think it’s been a month since that actually happened. They’re studying for an exam one week, taking it the next, have some kind of Independence holiday, then the air conditioning isn’t working, and there’s no way we’re gonna put 35 fresh-from-recess kids in a closed room with 15 running computers in the middle of Honduras. So there’s that.

I still go to the cooperative three times a week, sit around and use the internet, meet new people, sit in random meetings about fertilizer, etc. Some of the socios ask me my name again and ask what exactly I do here. That question was easy to answer when I first got here, because being new is a good excuse for not doing anything. But now, I talk about what we hope to accomplish in the future. I’m stuck in this in between phase. I’m not at the beginning, but I haven’t quite started. Poco a poco. Little by little, we’re implementing accounting procedures and making plans. We’ll see how things turn out when the cosecha (harvest) comes next month. The biggest dynamic I’m noticing is that I’ve more or less integrated myself into the community and the cooperative, but I still feel like an outsider when it comes to sensitive issues like money management and internal affairs. Part of that is simple office dynamics; there are only 3 employees, the técnico (consultant), and myself. There’s not really a need, most of the time, to hold office meetings, because information is just communicated directly (which, if this were the States, I would be a huge proponent of this), but I’m definitely out of the loop on a lot of the goings-on, which makes helping the cooperative challenging.

Some good news: my time hanging around the high school is starting to pay off. Starting tomorrow morning I’m going to start giving weekly charlas (lessons) on business plans. The 3^rd year students, as part of their final project, are required to complete a business plan. The agri-business students will be writing a business plan for a gallinero (chicken farm), which they will submit to the municipality for project funding. They have most of the structure already complete on the high school’s property, so the funding will go towards fencing off the structure and buying the actual chickens to start.

The other project I’m going to start at the high school is a recycling project/business. The 3^rd year students, aside from having to do business plans, are also required to do a social project – two actually, environmental and health. I think if we incorporate an educational health component into the recycling program, we can combine these two which makes the students just a little more excited to do this project. Also, they have a yearly project to better the school. This year, the students funded and constructed some bathrooms on the school property. Next year, the students will be constructing a 5^th classroom. (Note: The school year here is a calendar year. They start in February and go through November). The problem they have each year is raising the funds for the materials. If only there was a way they could create a business that could continually fund their projects…

Oh wait! Self, you know all those plastic Coca Cola bottles all over the street?

Yeah.

What if we could like sell those for cash or something?

Hey, that’s a brilliant idea!

I know.

And Hondurans sure won’t ever stop drinking Coke, so we’ll always have business.

*Applause*

OK, so maybe a bit dramatic. But there’s a lot of potential in this project and I’ve seen it work before, like when I went to Olancho to visit Erika. She’s gone now and they’re still making money. So we’re starting early with the 2^nd year students to build momentum into next year. We’ll hopefully be doing a lot of investigation this year, so that we can start implementing right away next year.

“The highest highs and the lowest lows.” That’s what they told me Peace Corps would be like. I would put this time in the ‘low’ category, but there is hope.

Hope. At least there’s that.

Can't I Just Be Single?

September 15 was Honduran Independence Day. The whole week was filled with activities, though the main activity was a 3-day beauty competition and then the celebratory dance to finish it all. Day 1 was the competition between the girls from 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. It feels a little creepy to be in a room full of people cheering for a 14-year-old girl dressed like Jessica Simpson in Dukes of Hazard. Then it went to a different level when people started booing... These girls already have a fragile self-esteem and to walk onto a runway and have people booing (because they're not in your grade) or worse, complete silence, is just... outrageous. That's not even to mention when the boys ask me which one I like more. (In Spanish, they have two words for like: cae bien which means they're amiable and gusta which means you like like them. They used the like like one).

Most of the time I think it's the culture that does this. The culture is obsessed with appearances, especially those of women. And the reality for most of the young girls, I would say, is that if you don't have a boyfriend/husband or kids, you really don't have any value. So many of the girls spend lots of time and money looking good so they can get one or the other (I'm not even sure if both is ideal here). The other interesting point is the girls don't even compete with each other. It's very normal to have multiple girlfriends, or a main one and several mistresses. Several married men even have other families.

The week culminated in a fiesta, or dance party, which I went to and surprised a lot of people. I even danced, which surprised more people. It's hard to get a dance when there's twice as many guys as girls and they're all pretty aggressive about asking the girls. They have a hard time saying no sometimes to the three or more insistent men who may or may not be intoxicated. I left early, though, when the beer consumption started to get out of hand (for them, not me) and made it back to my house just after midnight when I heard some gunshots. I was glad I was already home, turned off the lights and called it a night. (Fortunately no one was actually shot).

Here's a discussion from the party with some 9th grade boys:

Boy: Adam, which girl are you dating here?

Me: None.

Boy: Oh, because you have already have a wife in the States, right?

Me: No, I don't have a wife in the States.

Boy: But you can still date a Catracha, even if you have a girlfriend there.

Me: I don't have a girlfriend either.

Boy: But you already have kids, right?

Me: (What?!) Ehh... no. I definitely do not already have kids.

...

Boy: Adam, which girl did you like the most at the competition?

Me: Look, I don't like girls. I prefer women.

Boy: But they're already 15 or 16 years old.

Me: (Wow...) They need more than 20. (General rule I keep around for such occasions, and when I add in the 'no kids' part, that weeds out most of the population).

A couple days later I was invited to a quinceañera (a girl's 15th birthday party, similar to a sweet 16). Maybe you've seen some on TV, but these parties can get big. For my small town, this had to be one of the biggest parties they've seen. I mean, this birthday party outdid some of the weddings I've been to. The birthday girl arrived in a helicopter with her dad and was proceeded by 15 couples, like you'd see at a wedding with bridesmaid-type-dresses and everything. The family had killed a cow, a pig, and a lamb, plus a mountain of chickens to feed the 300+ guests that attended. Their food production got a little behind, though, and when one of the girls serving apologized about the tardiness of the food to our table, I volunteered to help out in the kitchen. That was a lot of fun, however chaotic it was. I have some experience working on an assembly line, and this was about as far from that as you could get. Plates were everywhere, there were anywhere between 3 to 5 starting points, and the meet came in waves off the barbecue. But a fun time was had, nonetheless.

And then of course, there was a girl. Two or three actually. People keep wanting to set me up with their nieces or cousins or whoever they are, and I'm supposed to meet them and hit it off instantaneously so we're dating by the time I'm finished eating. I really don't know what the people expect me to do. But they ask me what I think about them and if I want their number about 5 minutes after having met the girl! Slow down, people! I may be 24 and single with no kids, but that doesn't make me desperate to acquire a Honduran harem. And then they think maybe I have a problem with Catrachas (Honduran women), and I just like Gringas (American women) and I attempt to explain that it doesn't make a difference to me, but I don't want to feel obligated to date the only other over-20, single, childless lady in town just because she's the only option around. I try to explain that in the States, at least for me, we take things just a little bit slower. However, the unfortunate bit is that when I don't pull out a ring in the first 15 minutes, she feels like she doesn't have any value because apparently I'm the main determining factor in self-esteem (which should actually be called 'other-esteem'). Can't I just be single and be OK with that? Or better yet: Can't I just be single and you be OK with that? I feel fine about myself whether I'm in a relationship or not. I'm in no rush to complicate things and double my phone bill (although I could use the Spanish practice).

On Sunday I was chatting with some of the guys doing construction around my house. They always wanna know 'what the girls are saying', so I started explaining this situation to them. I asked what most of the people or the culture thinks about a single guy who's 30, for example, and doesn't have kids. Can you guess the machismo response? That guy must be a 'butterfly' (term used for homosexuals) then. Hmmm... figures.

Happy Independence Day!

Plato Típico + Rennovations

"What kind of food do you eat in America?," is one of the most challenging questions I've had. I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but what would you say is the 'plato típico', or typical plate, in the U.S.? Well, we eat Chinese, Japanses, Greek, Mediterranean, Italian, Mexican, Thai, French, German, Indian, Korean, and your general Middle-Eastern food. Now imagine hearing this answer as a 12-year-old that's eaten beans virtually every day of his or her life. I usually mention American food to include hot dogs, hamburgers, and my favorite, PB&J. This is part of Peace Corps' 2nd goal:
"To promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served."

So now that I have my own place, I'm making all of that amazing, delicious, American food I've craved for so long... like peanut butter and jelly! (Although it would probably be more American on white bread). I would also like to thank corporate giants Costco/Sam's Club (called PriceSmart) and Walmart (called Walmart) for helping me accomplish PC's 2nd goal: They have expanded operations to Honduras and have made it possible for me to share the joys of American culture: Planter's Crunchy Peanut Butter and Knott's Berry Farms Strawberry Preserves (and don't forget Capitalism).


Coffee Mountain Getaway is still getting up and running, but it should be fully operational soon. Currently trying to find a giant barrel to hold my water, since I only get running water in the evening when no one else is using it. It's just one of those things you find yourself adapting to, but I will admit the last 4 months or so of having running water all the time has spoiled me. In other good news, I'm batting 9/9 in the 'roach battle, so I'm on my way to getting the health certifications.

Still no guest mattress, but I'm open for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) to help in that purchase. Extra pillow (new) is available.

The kitchen staff is experimenting with new dishes, but the future looks bright. Last night, they came out with this tasty-looking Scramble with sauteed potatoes and onions, little drizzled with fancy ketchup. All dishes are made on our state-of-the-art dual-burner cook-top and miniature conventional oven. With yesterday's discovery of a local quesillo (i.e. basically mozzarella) supplier, we should be coming out with a separate pizza menu.

The pantry is gaining size and we should be producing a wider variety of dishes soon, of course everything is seasonal (except Cornflakes, which are never out of season).

Waste Management is looking into some more environmentally-friendly waste elimination processes. They have considered dumping it into the open housing foundation under construction next door, although this process will probably be reserved for more hazardous waste such as Styrofoam and incandescent light bulbs. (Seriously, what would you do with your garbage if there was no magical garbage man?).

Waste Management might be getting a lucky break soon. Work has started with the high school to implement a recycling program in Subirana, so we might have a shot at neutralizing the massive carbon footprint that comes from burning your garbage.

So book those plane tickets (or jump on a bus), because coffee season is upon us and we'll be offering great specials on coffee finca tours where you can pick your own coffee (for free!).


-Management

Coffee Mountain Getaway

The moment you've all been waiting for...

At least the moment I've been waiting for...

MY NEW HOUSE!

It's a fixer-upper, but it has a lot of character (i.e. crayon on the walls). I'm finally in my new place. First time in my life to be living alone and once I get the mosquitoes out, I will be walking around naked! And you're all welcome to visit! (Don't worry, I won't be walking around naked if I have visitors).

2 bedrooms, 1.5 (?) bathroom, huge kitchen and bar area, living room, and porch. And it's still really close to where I do all my work. The fence isn't the best, but that's not gonna stop me from getting a dog asap. I've got two offers: German shepherd/street dog currently weening and/or a Rottweiler puppy in 5-6 months. And the best part about this house: Rent is only $90/month.

As you can see, for example, the window screens could use a little re-installation. Nothing a screw driver and elbow grease can't handle. And I've already knocked the cockroach count down by 3 big ones while I'm smoking out the mosquitoes. I've also already talked to the landlord about letting me paint inside and taking it out of the rent, which sounds like a win.

So why is this so awesome?! I'll give you a reason for each room:

• Bedroom 1: I can do whatever I want!
• Bedroom 2: You can come visit me!
• Kitchen: I can cook whatever food I want and eat whenever I want!
• Bathroom: We're the last group in all of Peace Corps/Central America to have the option to live on our own. All groups in the future (sorry, new PC recruits) will have to stay with the host family for the duration of their service (but you guys can visit me, too). No walking around naked for you guys.
• Living room: You can come visit and we can use it (with clothes on)!
• Patio: I can get a dog!

If all goes well, I will be living in this house longer than any other place of residence since I graduated HS. Crazy to think about, and who knows, maybe I'll keep up the pattern and change houses at the end of one year. But for now, it's such a relief to unpack my things in my own house after several weeks of up-and-down house hunting. God is good!

P.S. I live 1 block from the bus stop, so come on over!

Hiking in Honduras

My weekend adventure in a thousand words...

Economics & Coffee

Remember way back to my first post, What is "El Ritmo de Cambio", where I mentioned this blog's title has two meanings, one pertaining to the rhythm of change, and the other to the rate of exchange? We have now come to my first post on the exchange rate and current state of the Honduran economy.

Why have I waited this long?


Well, the exchange rate for Honduras hasn't changed since 2005. That is, until now. The value of the Honduran Lempira (HNL) back in 2001 was 15.54 Lempiras to the Dollar (HNL/USD) and fell to 18.89 in 2005, where it has remained ever since in its ‘de facto’ fixed exchange rate regime (Historic exchange rates). Note: When the value of a currency falls in comparison to another, the quantity of lempiras required to purchase one dollar rises. This is why 15.54 to 18.89 HNL/USD is a decline in the value of the lempira. This past July, the Central Bank of Honduras decided to reactivate the exchange rate bands at +/- 7% with respect to the established base. Since reactivation, moneychangers have entered the market looking to make some money. There are some unspoken rules here that make things interesting. The Central Bank is accused of having a monopoly on foreign dollars (USD), meaning none of the other banks are allowed to hold on to the dollars they receive from remittances or tourists. They are required by law to sell these dollars at a fixed rate to the Central Bank, who can then take advantage of the variance in the exchange rate and sell those same dollars back at current rates to the banks and companies that demand them.

This change comes at an interesting time. It may very well be a direct consequence of the country’s revised credit rating in June. Standard & Poor's (S&P) country outlook for Honduras was revised from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ and their credit rating was promoted to a 'B', good news despite the remaining 5 levels before investment-grade status is achieved. This means that S&P is slightly more confident that Honduras will be able to repay its debts. This is due in part to the country’s Stand-by Agreement with the IMF and “continued progress in strengthening tax collections.”

Taxes on coffee exports have also strengthened the ability of Honduras to reduce its fiscal deficit in the coming years. When this tax was imposed, it originally led to an increase in the amount of coffee being smuggled into Guatemala. Guatemalan coffee is very well-known, due in large part to Starbucks featuring Antigua Guatemala coffee, for its quality. This means coffee in Guatemala has been able to fetch higher market prices – higher than Honduras. Since much of the country’s coffee is produced near the border already, why not drive it to a Honduran “storage facility” located in Guatemala and then sell it at above-Honduran-market prices? Well, the tax has funded an increase in the availability of technical assistance to producers to help boost production, leading to an increase in quality and market prices available to Honduras. Ultimately, the trafficking has decreased in recent years and Honduras has emerged as the largest coffee producer in Central America (where it has always been, though unofficially).

Ritmo de Cambio: 18.8693 HNL/USD

A Day in the Mountains

I had planned to put up an interesting post about Honduran economics and exchange rates; however, I had such an adventure yesterday I couldn’t resist sharing with you all.

7:15  Get up as usual, get ready, and eat breakfast – hot milk with stale cornflakes.

8:15  Arrive at the cooperative. I’m told there’s a meeting today at 9:00 with some of the organizations that support us and I’ll be the one giving the presentation.

10:00  Meeting starts: introductions, prayer, and presentation.

11:45  We jump into trucks to visit the beneficio (processing plant) where we’ll be installing the solar panels.

12:40  We arrive back at the cooperative and the visitors take off. We realize that our 12:00 meeting with the socios (cooperative’s members) in the mountains will be delayed (on time?). The president suggests we just go and grab some avocados for lunch on the way.

12:43  Truck pulls up to the cooperative. It’s some of our financiers for an unscheduled meeting and they want to visit the beneficio, too!

12:45  I sneak home to eat lunch

1:45  Jump into the back of a truck for our trip to visit the socios.

2:15  Arrive in Buena Vista (tiny town in the mountains). The president tells me there are only a few people at this meeting and I should head with the rest of the group to the next town, Bella Vista (different tiny town in the mountains). “¡Está cerquita!” “It’s close!” Never believe a campesino(farmer) when they tell you something is close. I think the definition is if they’ve been able to walk there in a day, it’s considered ‘close’. And nothing is close when you’re on a spine-wrenching uphill-downhill ride through the worst dirt roads imaginable in the back of a truck with no shocks.

3:00  Arrive in Bella Vista

3:01  Starts raining.

3:02  Full-on rainstorm, presumably washing away at least half of the road we came in on.

3:05  We start our meeting at near-yelling volume to overpower the sound of the rainstorm on the tin roof.  The meeting is to remind the socios of their responsibilities in maintaining our certifications and to obtain information about each of their fincas (farms). The rain lets up and starts again a few times during our meeting.

5:30  We finish the meeting and rush out to leave before the rain starts again.

5:35  Truck doesn’t start. I offer to give it a try. The main problem isn’t so much that the truck won’t start, but that the key won’t turn. I attempt to straighten the key slightly and give it another go, using increasingly more leverage.

5:36  Key breaks off in the ignition. Blank stares are exchanged.

5:38  Everyone climbs out of the truck and we start walking towards the entrance to the town to find a jalón (ride).

5:50  We hop into the back of another truck, which actually has some shocks, and head back to Subirana.

6:35  Arrive in Buena Vista to pick up the rest of our team. We, in good humor, recount the tale of me breaking the key in the ignition to explain why we’re in a different truck. The president then tells me the key I broke was for the gas tank, and we should have used the other key on the keyring! Whatever, I just want to go home!

7:05  We arrive in Subirana. Thank God it hadn’t rained since we left!

7:30  I get back to the house wet, sore, and tired.

8:00  Eat dinner and head to bed.

Plenty of jokes were made about me breaking the key. I just told them it was too boring otherwise and that I wanted a little more adventure, so I broke the key off in the ignition. My other workmate acknowledged this, and said that’s why he gave me the chance to break it. This all took place with 9 of us in the back of a truck, on a dirt road, in the dark. We were all kind of afraid we might have to stay the night in the mountains, so we were relieved to be returning to our beds. It’s amazing the things that don’t matter when you’re tired. As long as you know your bed is waiting, you can just relax and have fun!

And I still have the broken key to remember it all...

Charter City in Honduras = Development?

It started in 2007. The idea, that is.

Paul Romer, an economist and Stanford professor, began to reconceptualize the idea of economic development. Dr. Romer had considered our basic economic growth models which use inputs like labor, capital, wages, etc. and came to the conclusion that they lacked ‘ideas’ as an input. What if there was a way to create a city, like an embassy, that had a different set of rules by which it was governed so as to instigate development? In 2009, the idea had made its way to the TED stage in Oxford, England. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design and has become a premiere annual conference for presenting ground-breaking ideas such as this one. Here’s the idea in Dr. Romer’s own words:

When I was in Chicago, when I was a professor there before I went to Stanford, there was a woman who worked for my wife and me. My wife was in a residency program, so this woman helped cook and clean in our house. And she lived in the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago, which as many of you know is one of the most desperate failures in our public housing system. And the question that struck me, when I saw her and these two young children she was raising, is why she didn't have a chance to move to a city which could offer simple things like relatively low-cost housing and low crime. She simply didn't have that option in the United States. And I started to ask: why couldn't it be possible to create entirely new cities that could offer options like that for someone like her.

One of the models Romer frequently references is Hong Kong in the 1950s. The British entered into a sort of joint venture with China and took governing control of the island. They created a different set of rules, or ‘norms’ if you will, from China and allowed people to voluntarily move into this zone. The economic conditions of this area created opportunities that had not previously existed. Development of the island has been booming ever since. The charter city is similar, though it would operate more like a joint venture (a business concept) as opposed to a colony governed by a global power. Another similar sounding idea is a free trade zone, though the difference between these zones and the city is the scale. Free trade zones are designed around one idea: trade. However, a charter city would be designed around achieving complete self-sustainability in every regard: infrastructure, education, industry, healthcare, etc.
The idea continued to spread and was discovered by Xavier Arguello, Zelaya's presidential aide, and others in Honduras (WSJournal Article; full text). The idea then spread quickly to President Porfirio Lobo (pictured right), who met with Paul Romer in Washington D.C. to discuss the viability of a charter city in Honduras. This brings us to 2011, where Dr. Romer shared another TED talk in California, applying his charter city model to Honduras. In January, the Honduran Congress voted almost unanimously to change its constitution to allow for these types of developments within its borders. Allow me to reiterate a couple key points before continuing: This charter city utilizes unused land and residency is voluntary. Also, Honduras initiated contact in this interchange of ideas; it is not being thrust onto them by the US or any type of development organization. (Another WSJ article)

The charter city works like this.

First you have to determine who wants to play this game. Honduras has offered itself as the petri dish for this experiment. Discussions are underway with other governments like Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and other well-established, more or less neutral countries that would enter into this charter city like a joint venture. The responsibility of these countries would be to act as a guarantor in the venture – someone who would ensure fairness between the residents that live there and the companies that operate there.
Second, a zone or location for the city is established. The last article I read said they were proposing a site just outside of Trujillo on the north coast. The second step would be to establish the charter itself – the rules, a point which Romer strongly emphasizes. Rules make the difference between nations; between opportunity and hopelessness; between North Korea and South Korea. Setting up the right kinds of rules with the right incentives and consequences is the key.

Third, you open it up to foreign investment. The appeal of a charter city is its potential. The initial investments for infrastructure will be made in order to reap the benefits of water and electricity payments for decades to come. Other companies will move in to establish themselves under this new, favorable set of rules and take advantage of the semi-cheap labor that exists here. Let’s remember that any residents are relocating voluntarily, and as Romer mentions, the risks associated with moving to this zone are far less than the risks already being taken by those illegally crossing the border to work in the States. Also, remember the governments that have chartered this city are acting as guardians to ensure that no abuses take place on either side – the people or the companies (this goes back to the rules). The companies are driven by profit to operate within the zone and perform well, which means its employees also do well and opportunities are made available for them to prosper.

Romer mentions that roughly 3 billion people live in cities, and this century we will see another 3 billion migrate to cities before we reach some sort of world population equilibrium. This means that the opportunity to implement new ideas for cities, like charter cities, will only exist in this century. And it’s clear that people are looking for different types of solutions after seeing previous methods fail, as is the case in Honduras. There exists some pessimism about the idea, but that’s not unlike any other great idea of the century. Ultimately, there’s only one way to know if it will work.

Peace Corps Challenge: Honduras

As part of Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary celebrations, PC has created the Live Like a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) Challenge. Now there's more to being a Peace Corps Volunteer than just dealing with the living conditions, but you can be sure it's no easy task. Maybe we could add to the list that you can't offend anyone! Below I've included the rules for the Honduras challenge.

I don't necessarily live with the harshest conditions listed here, but I would say I live with 90% of them daily. So if you're up for the task, I would challenge you to live like a PCV (i.e. ME!) for a week. Even if you decide you can't hack the challenge, you can read the list to get an understanding of what rural Honduran life is like. If you are doing the challenge, please let me know and comment on this post to share your experience.

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For one week you are asked to give up some of the everyday conveniences we do without. The levels are arranged from more common to less common living conditions of PCVs in Honduras while also taking into account the difficulty of completing the challenge in the US. So while none of us have a car, it ranks quite high in the challenge as it is much more difficult to do without one in the states. Honduras is known as the Banana Republic, which is why we have named our levels from the smallest type of banana to the largest.

First decide which month you want to participate. The first week of the month you choose (the 1st-7th) will be when you need to give up your items.

Next, look through the list below and decide which one of the five levels of difficulty you want to take on, and which items you will give up (although youʼre items may come from multiple difficulty levels you are only trying to complete one level, the most difficult you think you can manage).

Finally, let us know that youʼve taken up the challenge by completing the Accept the Challenge section of the general Live Like a PCV document. (This document is to accompany another if you did not receive that other document which outlines the general nature of this Challenge please visit LiveLikeaPCV.org)

When asked to roll a dice that number represents hours, and should be rolled each day (a regular 6-sided die).

DÁTIL – Difficulty Level I:

Choose 2 of the following

•  You canʼt use running hot water, you may only use water you boiled (yes, this includes baths)
• You canʼt use any microwave
• No checks, no debit cards or credit cards, cash only all week.
• No washing machine or dish washers - plus you must wash all articles of clothing you wore during the week by hand.
• No flushing your toilet paper

MANZANO – Difficulty Level II:

Choose 2 of the following plus 1 from Dátil

• You cannot watch television, but may watch soap operas and soccer at a neighborʼs house.
• Must keep all valuables (cash, phone, ID) hidden. Some options include bra, socks, hats, etc. Get creative.
• No sitting on couches for the week.
• Internet only every other day and for only 1 hour each time.
• Men and women may not wear shorts in public (only choose this item if you live in a warm climate).

CHATA – Difficulty Level III:

Choose 2 of the following plus 1 item from Manzano or 2 items from Dátil

• You can use your toilet but you must manually fill the tank or do a bucket flush (turn off the water to the toilet).
• Power outage: Have someone else throw a dice every day for how many hours you will be without power (5am - 11pm). He/she cannot tell you how long it will be out for, and he/she must turn off your power breakers.
• You can only use one burner on your stove and no oven.
• Say hi to everyone (including strangers) and make a comment about the weather to people you know.
• No supermarkets.

GUINEO – Difficulty Level IV:

Choose 2 of the following plus 1 item from Chata or 2 items from Manzano or 3 items from Dátil

• Reduced living space. You may only use your living room, bathroom and kitchen.
• No driving. You can use public transportation, bike, or walk.
• Cannot leave your house after sunset or before sunrise.
• No running water from your house, you must go fetch it from somewhere else (a neighbor’s house is fine).

PLÁTANO – Difficulty Level V:

Choose 1 from each level

• No English for the entire week
• Lack of temperature control. No heater or air conditioner in your house or car.
• You can only use your cell phone for 10 minutes per day.
• Your diet for the week must include (bad) coffee twice a day with 4 tsps of sugar with each cup or drink soda twice a day. Also must eat tortillas, beans, and eggs daily (absolutely no butter).

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Let's remember how most of the world lives and be thankful for our luxuries. Good luck!

Crowdsourcing

It's an idea that has become increasingly popular in the developed world. However, I think the developing world stands to gain the most from its benefits. You’re probably familiar with the term ‘outsourcing’, where we export our work to India or China because it's cheaper. This idea is a little bit different and (hopefully) doesn't bring to mind sweatshops or layoffs. The idea is this: Imagine a large puzzle with thousands of tiny pieces. Most of the puzzles you and I know have all of these little pieces conveniently placed in a box, the work now is to put these little pieces together to make that winter cabin or giant puppy. So let's take this puzzle, but now the pieces are, instead of in a box, scattered around the country or around the world. And the puzzle isn't made of cardboard, it’s made of information. This information gets communicated through a variety of mediums and is pieced together by man and machine to get a better picture of the puzzle trying to be solved. There is no single expert, rather it utilizes the composite knowledge of the crowd.

This is crowdsourcing.

One example we're all familiar with is Wikipedia. This is an encyclopedia put together by various resources, and is continually edited and updated by people like you and me who may not be an expert on the entire subject, but aggregating bits and pieces of information that we each have stitches together the world's most extensive encyclopedia. Another example involving business is one called Amazon Mechanical Turk. This is a service created by Amazon to outsource little pieces of work to a whole lot of people. These jobs usually take less than a few minutes to complete and pay you a wage in cents. It’s not day-trading and wouldn’t make sense to quit your job and do this full-time, but it is a great way to supplement your income, especially if you run a store out of your home, have frequent downtime and a regular internet connection like my friend here in Subirana. The last example I’ll give, though unpopular, is Google. I mean when Google compiles your and my information and sells it to ad companies. It’s using little pieces of information from each one of us, turning them into trend charts or profiles and selling them. (I could have included them on this blog to turn a small profit from all of you… let me know if you don’t mind and I’ll add them).

Ease of access to the internet has caused this type of interactive collaboration to proliferate. Though, another popular method for aggregating data is the use of mobile phones. For use in the developing world this is key; SMS in particular. There is a group, a non-profit actually, called Ushahidi that developed an open-source software to aggregate and even map information from a variety of inputs including SMS, tweets, and email. Ushahidi is Swahili for testimony. The software was originally developed in Kenya to map incidents of violence and peace efforts after a controversial election in 2008. It has since been used to map the location of earthquake survivors in Haiti, crime reports in Atlanta, and distress messages during the infamous Snowmageddon. Ushahidi has also developed a compact web-based version of the software called Crowdmap where you can find a list of current projects or ‘deployments’. It turns out there’s a current project in Honduras to track and map healthcare resources, and has expanded to include disease outbreaks, incidents of violence, and demonstrations. This information helps people coordinating medical brigades or aid and relief efforts during a potential health crisis.

I’ve known about this type of technology for some time and I have been in the process of trying to figure out a business application for it. Specifically, what kind of information about coffee crops, exports, etc. would the cooperative benefit from tracking? Is there a larger organization with more manpower that would aggregate this information that would also benefit from this information? Who would the information come from and who would be able to or want to access it? I also just discovered that a microfinance organization called Funder and one of the mobile service providers Tigo are offering text message subscriptions to coffee, grain, and vegetable prices. Think of all the potential these kinds of resources have. Ideas welcome.

P.S. I got my stitches out this past Thursday, after a week. And I have spent every day since my last post in bed… a full week. I rediscovered the joy of solitaire and I’m on my way to becoming a computer chess master.

Tale of Two Stitches

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

I think those words describe the Peace Corps experience. Or at least I'm told. The highest highs and the lowest lows. I think those are just Dickens' words rephrased.

All kinds of things happen during Peace Corps, just like would happen during any given two years of your typical American life. They also include a few other experiences that typically don't happen in the States. Now, while many people receive stitches back home, I never did. Never a broken bone, never a stitch. You can't really say I'm not the adventurous type, I mean you are talking to a Peace Corps Volunteer... which leads me to recounting the glorious tale of my first two stitches. I'll spare you the graphic photos I had to send to the Medical Officer. But if you really want to see, I posted one on facebook a few days ago.

Honestly, I wish there was a really crazy story that involved machetes, wild rabid animals (don't worry, I'm vaccinated), and me rescuing several small children from a burning building. But it doesn't. The story starts at the high school here in town. It was "student day" which means no classes, games, food, and general tomfoolery. The teachers keep trying to get me to play the games, because they (and I) think if I play, all the girls will want to participate, too. I'm resisting for most of the games, enjoying just watching people do the three-legged race (which I think was a first for most of them).

Then comes the gunny-sack race.

There are six sacks, and they've managed to finagle 5 volunteers so far. They don't seem to be moving on, so I volunteer to take up the sixth, and smallest, gunny-sack to the applause of the students. The gunny sack reaches about mid-thigh, meaning I definitely have to be leaning forward to grab onto it. We line up on the raceway (read: gravel-dirt road). We race down to the end of the track, and prepare to turn around. Turn executed properly. I managed to kick a hole through my sack and was left with my foot hanging out. I spun the sack to get my both of my feet back in the bag. We take off back towards the start and a guy falls in front of me. I don't think I even tripped on him, I was just focused on tactically avoiding the obstacle and down I went. I got back up and finished the race, noting the obvious scratches on my hand. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or the fact that there aren't very many nerve endings in your knee, or that there were thirty-something high school girls watching me, but I didn't really notice my knee.

At first, anyway.

I noticed I tore a hole in my jeans, which I remember hurting more than the physical pain. We're in short supply of malls that sell Levi's down here. Then through the hole in my jeans I could see the blood. And the gaping hole where my knee usually is! Some lucky rock had managed to puncture my skin and whatever else was in the way, trying to get to me knee-cap. Probably that same lucky rock that ripped a hole in my jeans. We spent some time in the back of the school trying to clean up my bloody mess with cotton balls, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and tiny bandaids (that part was unsuccessful). A few people scoured the town to find some gauze pads only to return empty handed. They kept telling me to wait, they were still looking, etc. I finally told them I had a med kit with gauze pads and all kinds of other magical items back at the house if they would just let me leave. I stumble the two blocks back to the house, do a good cleanup job and tape on some gauze. At this point I just needed to lay down and take it easy.

I left.

I had made this commitment to the missionary group that was here to attempt some interpretation. I remember how difficult it is when people are saying all sorts of good things about you, thanking you, maybe crying and you have no idea. So I stumble back a few blocks to the church and head up to the front, now embarrassingly in shorts and flip-flops in an attempt not to irritate the wound. Interpreting is as hard or harder than it sounds, but luckily I had a friend there to help with the English-to-Spanish parts (i.e. most of it). One of the missionaries came up towards the end and mentioned to me that I might be bleeding. I look down my leg to find the evidence. They then discover my current situation and wounded status. Fortunately one of them tells me the cut looks deep enough to require stitches. They offered to help with the needles and thread they had (and no trained professionals). As sweet as that was, I resisted and got the number for the doctor in town since it was after-hours at the clinic. I explained it was sort of an emergency and she agreed to come to the clinic and help me out.

This is ugly.

She said it several times as I was staring at the ceiling trying to breathe as she poured rubbing alcohol over the open wound and dug around checking for bone shrapnel. All clear. I don't think I'll need an X-ray. She puts in the two stitches, patches it up with gauze and tells me to take it easy for a while. Minimal to no walking for a few days, some antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and after a week we'll take out the stitches. I headed over to my friend's house to get some movies for the long weekend in bed.

The whole ordeal wasn't even that bad, it's just not very fun not being able to walk and being stuck in bed all weekend. Seems to be healing well and I'm able to sleep again, so now we just wait. And for all those people that think "third-world" medicine is crazy and unsanitary and are surprised they didn't just amputate my leg... it's not that bad. And the best part, the trip to the clinic after-hours and the two stitches totals a whopping 50¢, which Peace Corps would even reimburse. I can only imagine how much this ordeal would cost in the States, all for a small aquarium, comfy stools, and unused needles (just kidding!).


Well, if you feel bad for me, feel free to take this opportunity and send me a package. I'm not picky, but I really like chocolate and it's impossible to find here. You can find my address at the right.


Meanwhile, I'm so glad I could finally get back to work today...


Location: In the Cooperative.
Status: Meeting with the supervisory board. Going on 6 (now 7) straight hours with a short lunch break.
Current topic of conversation: Why the associates don't come to meetings...