Tuesday, March 24, 2009

COS Survey

Before leaving the country, COSing volunteers fill out a "COS Survey" which is published in Alli No Mas, the PC-Honduras volunteer e-zine. Here's my survey.

Name: Raphael Crawford-Marks
Site: Trujillo, Colón
Project: Health
Nicknames: Rafa, Justin Timberlake
Biggest Accomplishment: The Viviendo Positivamente Manual and TOT.
Biggest Disappointment: Failing to get the Trujillo support group to be as strong and organized as it could/should be.
Biggest Regret: Not doing enough, not always being fully engaged.
Defining PC Moment: Neighborhood kids calling out “Rafa!” when I walk down the street.
Things you will miss most: Warm nights, siestas, live punta shows at Nunu’s, drinking guifiti on the beach, doing yoga and dinámicas with the support group, having cipotes run errands for me, hiking to waterfalls, sunsets over the Caribbean, being special.
Things you will miss least: Burning trash, lack of initiative, corruption.
Biggest Irony: Most aid and development projects foster dependence and corruption, thus screwing things up even more.
Worst Illness: Rhabdomyolysis. It’s scary when your piss comes out dark brown.
Biggest Freak-out: Figuring out what to do after Peace Corps.
Biggest fear during PC: Having my corpse show up on the evening news.
Most useful things I brought: Yoga mat, laptop, and Spanish skills.
Least useful things I brought: Business casual clothing.
Favorite activity I did when bored: Cook, read, lie in my hammock.
Weirdest thing I did when bored: Fed mosquitoes to ants, then fed ants to spiders.
Favorite Hondureñismo: A la zumba marumba.
Greatest lie I told at my site: Peace Corps requires/doesn’t allow _________________________.
Favorite Honduran inquiry: ¿Que pedos?Best Honduran gesture: The finger wag.
Favorite CD/song during my service: Podcasts - This American Life, Fresh Air, RadioLab, Scientific American, Science Friday, The NewsHour.
Favorite books during service: How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Favorite Honduran fashion: Rocking out with the panza out.
Best jalón: Savá to Trujillo when there was a bus strike and it was after dark.
Worst jalón: Siguat to Ceiba in the paila of a truck. 5 hours of relentless sun. Despite slathering on sunscreen and wearing a hat, I was badly burned and dehydrated when we arrived.
Best bus ride: Teguz-Ceiba on the day I came down with bacterial dysentery. The bus driver stopped the bus immediately and a fat honduran dude let me use his (very clean) latrine. Crisis averted.
Worst bus ride: Trujillo-Juticalpa. Dust, heat, leg cramping, body odor...for 9 hours.
Favorite food: Baleada con huevo as prepared by my neighbor Sandra.
Worst thing I ate: Iguana egg.
Worst thing I smelled: Bloated dog carcass.
Stupidest thing I did in the past 2 years: Did so many bicep curls that I gave myself rhabdomyolysis.
Untrue fact told to you as an undeniable truth: God created the Earth and all its creatures 8000 years ago and evolutionists are going to Hell.
You know you’ve been in Honduras too long when: You regularly lie to avoid even small confrontations.
I never thought I would: Eat so much fried chicken.
If I had to do it all over again I: Would take more risks.
Favorite Aralen dream: There was an epic one that involved submarines, surfing and supermodels and was set to a rockin’ soundtrack.
Favorite Ropa Americana t-shirt: “Will drink beer for sex” worn by a bolo walking with his mujer.
Best habit acquired: Is it possible to acquire good habits here?
Worst habit acquired: All of them.
Things you missed most from the U.S.: Family and friends, San Francisco, good food, climbing and biking, baseball, good conversation, initiative, competence, relatively low levels of corruption in business and government.
Things you missed least from the U.S.: That uniquely American mix of ignorance and arrogance.
Things you wish you’d known when you signed up: Nothing, all the important stuff has to be figured out as you go along.
Best advice for new PCVs: The best and worst parts of service are things you don’t expect.
Contact email: raphael dot crawfordmarks at gmail dot com

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I can't believe you're almost finished with the Peace Corps.
I've loved reading your blog, it makes me feel like I'm stalking you ... but less creeping ... than peering thur your window. I can't wait to see you in a couple months and show you my spanish skills (or lack there of).

Raphael said...

Andrea, thanks for stalking me these last two years. It's nice to know someone cares... :) See you CA very soon!