OYE el Ritmo update

Every afternoon I arrive at the OYE office to help with homework, give English lessons, and just do whatever is needed. But Fridays are when the action really gets going with the weekly meetings of OYE el Ritmo, OYE´s youth radio program. I am the head of the project--teaching the art of radio to 15 scholarship students and helping them put together internet radio programs. So far we have a total of 5 pilot episodes and the students are starting to make visits to a local radio station to get aquainted with live radio and even join the DJ on the air.

Two weeks ago I planned an audio scavenger hunt for the class. The students split into two groups, each with an audio recorder and a list of 30 sounds to find, ranging from a dog barking, to a toilet flushing. On the OYE blog you can read (in Spanish) the students´ own accounts of the ¨busqueda de tesoros¨ plus see some of the pictures they took as well. In addition, on the right hand side of the blog, you can listen to streaming audio of our pilot episodes!

The OYE blog: oyehonduras.blogspot.com

Progress in Progreso

Some photos from recent happenings in Honduras.

The last day of school for one of my best friends in El Progreso, Alicia. She got me the job teaching at the Best American School and left for her hometown Chicago, and then Portugal. Her 10th graders now have me as their chemistry and physics teacher.

Because I am now teaching 10th grade science I am no longer the school´s P.E. teacher! I´m going to miss my kindergarten class but not so much the roudy 1st and 2nd graders...

Nima (in the black shirt) worked with OYE in 2007 and came back for a month this summer to help out with the transition process into 2009. Nima speaks 5 languages, is originally from Iran but his family lives in Sweden, and he was basically broke after traveling around Brazil for 4 months. So he decided to enter a baleada (Honduras´s official snack food) eating contest to vie for a prize of 500 Lempiras. He managed to eat 4 1/2 in 2 minutes but the big guy on the right ended up winning with a 3 round total of something like 23!

I was a bit politics obsessed (just ask my roommates) for the last months of this year´s election. Although we dont have cable in our house, my fellow volunteers andI used a projector and an internet connection to watch the live feeds of the presidential debates and of course the election night coverage!