Recargas

I think it’s safe to say that I have unofficially become a part of the family business—selling recargas.  Recarga means something like “re-charge”, and here it means putting more money on your cell phone.  There are 3 phone companies in Honduras—Tigo (which I have), Claro, and Digicel.   There are two possible ways of putting money on your phone: one is with a tarjeta (card), which gives you a code you can punch into your phone at any time to get more minutes.  The other is a recarga, where you give your phone number and give them money, and they somehow transfer that amount of money to your phone, giving you minutes.  Also, every phone has it’s “bono dia” (bonus day), where you get triple saldo for what you pay.  Saldo is the amound of money/minutes you have left on your phone.  For example, my bono day is Sunday, so I always try to get recargas on Sundays because I get more for my money.  So it’s super convenient that all I have to do is walk into the living room to add saldo to my phone, instead of finding a house or pulperia where it is sold.

Anyway, this is what happens about every 5 minutes at out house:  someone will come to the door (it’s more like a gate with bars, so people can see inside) and yell “Recarga!”  Then Marta or whoever is closest yells back, “ya voy!” (I’m coming).  She then asks “de cual?” (which do you have), they respond with Tigo/Claro/Digicel, she asks for and writes down their number and how much money they want to put on, they  slide the money through the door, she gives them change if necessary, and she uses her phone to transfer saldo to their phone.  Since this scenario happens every few minutes, I had the process figured out not long after becoming part of the family.  One time when Marta was nursing the baby and no one else was around, I offered to help with a recarga… since then, it’s become kind of expected that I will help out if I can.  I don’t mind, and it’s helped me get really good at Spanish numbers—writing down phone numbers is harder than you might think, especially when they are talking crazy fast. 

I know I haven’t uptdated my blog in quite awhile, so I’ll give a quick update on my life.  In mid-November I started vacation reading programs, as school is out from November until February.  I have two groups of kids; one group comes Mondays and Wednesdays, and the other comes Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It has been a struggle to get kids to come, especially for my older group on Tues. and Thurs, but numbers have slowly been increasing.  I now have about 6 kids in one group and 10 in the other, which I am happy with.  I spend a lot of time planning for these club meetings… I try to make it fun, but sneakily (sometimes not sneakily) we are learning about reading, math, social studies, or writing.  I also try to incorporate themes of respect, cooperation, teamwork, etc. because kids here don’t seem to learn these skills anywhere else.  Sometimes that is the hardest part of my job, but I think it’s important.  This has been a challenge as I am completely in charge of these programs, and I am not used to leading things in Spanish… I think it has helped me a lot, but it’s not easy.  I have also been working a lot on organization in the library… something I don’t think I’ll ever be done with.  With help from Kathy Troyer, another MCCer in Tegus, I have made a lot of progress on the teacher books and resources… I just hope the teachers will take advantage of them now.  At this point there are very few teachers who do, and I don’t really understand why. 

Last weekend I went with Mike, Christa (our awesome new SALTer from Bolivia!), and Megan to visit Charissa in Santa Rosa de Copan.  Last year Charissa worked and lived here in Nueva Suyapa; this year she has her own apartment and works in Santa Rosa.  I had a great time!  The town is small and safe and very tranquilo.  She took us to some awesome restaurants, we spontaneously went to a Christian rock concert on Saturday, and on Sunday we took a short trip to the aguas thermales (hot springs) in Gracias.  On Sunday night we went to her church, and ate chicken with her awesome youth group afterwards. It was nice to get away from Suyapa for a little while and experience another part of the country. 

Other than that, I’m just looking forward to spending Christmas Honduran style on the 24^th… I have no idea what to expect, but it is sure to be filled with lots of food and family time.  We assembled and decorated our Christmas tree a few days ago, which was a fun experience.  It reminded me a little of being home, except with more yelling and confusion and kids running around.  Oh, and there’s another thing I’m looking forward to—I finally get to see my wonderful boyfriend on the 27^th!  Yes, Sam has bought his plane tickets and is coming to visit me for a little over a week… I couldn’t be happier! 

For anyone who hasn’t given up on my blog, thanks for reading. J  I hope you are all doing well and listening to lots of Christmas music as you prepare for the holidays!