Back up to Coll (Training!)

Training: One week to train for one year - June 2015

On the 23th of June I had my 2nd voyage to Coll. Even though I had already made the journey once in training it was still very daunting- each week there is only one ferry which goes up to Coll and if you miss that...you miss the whole training week. So it's quite important to make sure you catch it! Not that I didn't trust my train catching skills (which admittedly aren't the best!) I decided to catch the earliest train possible and to say in Oban over night. The ferry was scheduled at 5:30 in the morning so I would definitely of needed a rest and a good nights sleep after a whole day tackling the trains. - What I did get in fact was a goods night sleep as we got an email in the evening saying that due to the ferry strikes it didn't leave till 9:30- So there were lie-ins for all!! :D Although not for the people who didn't check their emails- arriving at the ferry station at 5:30...they were not very happy at all!

The Honduras Gang

Arriving at Coll we were straight into the training. Us Hondurans were sharing our week with the group from Zambia and Guyana (However previously these volunteers were meant to be going to Nepal but due to problems created by the earthquake they were unable to go). The first couple of hours were all very exciting- as we got to find our out who our partners were!! It seemed unreal how in a matter of 10 seconds we were all going to meet the person who we'd be spending a whole year with!  

After we had al met our partners we stated with some paper work from the One Award Booklet (documentation which when completed would provide us with a certificated demonstrating our skills learnt abroad). Even though after finishing college the thought of writing in booklets seemed a bit painstaking it was actually quite a good way to organise our thoughts and plan out our year abroad. The staff really looked after us because as soon as we had a long writing session we would immediately get a coffee and cake break. On the last day it was Sam's 18th Birthday (one of the volunteers going to Honduras) so including desert, two coffee breaks and a birthday cake we ended up having 4 pieces of cake in one day! 

Swimming in the Coll sea

One of the sessions which many volunteers were dreading was the teaching sessions. We had to plan one lesson of a 10 minute duration and one of a 20 minute duration. This was incredibly daunting as few of us had ever given a lesson before- plus we had to make it fun and amusing because the people we were going to be teaching weren't going to be the same age as us but a whole decade younger. To make the lessons more fun we were advised to use lots of stickers, games and songs. I gave my lesson on parts of the body as when in my teaching project I'll be teaching English and Science as my main subjects (although with music and art as extra-curricular). It seemed a little strange standing in front of a group of 18 year-olds and making them sing "heads, shoulders, knees and toes" but it was highly amusing!- Especially as many people hadn't sung a song like that since primary school...The use of stickers, songs and games just made I want to go back! 

We also had to cover more serious aspects of our time abroad such a health problems, staying safe and a few other administrative aspects such as passports and paperwork. The health lecture was definitively the most daunting! There were lots of gruesome photos being shown to us- One thing all of the volunteers had drilled into them was the fact that wearing shoes is of paramount importance!! There are so many dangers in not doing this; cuts (which can then lead to some rather gruesome infections) and most importantly the threat of worms; which lay gets on your feet and grow in the skin beside them.- Never ever am I going outside in the streets of Honduras with bare feet after seeing that!

More fantastic scenery!

With all the gruesome photos and stories behind there were any aspects of the week where we could relax and take time to meet our partners. On the Wednesday many of the volunteers went swimming (although I didn't as it was far too cold for my liking), me and my partner spent most of our time taking pictures of the landscape of Coll- which we thought was a far more enjoyable activity that swimming in the ice cold waters of Coll- Think we'll wait for the sea in Honduras before we go swimming! On the last day we also had a Ceilidh- which was quite amusing considering there was a power cut on the same day. However all went to plan as we managed to borrow a generator from the Island- as there weren't enough sockets to fit the speakers for all the instruments some of the Project Trust staff decided to play the drums- a technique which many of them had learnt on their travels abroad. It was a really fun evening and put everyone in the right spirits to embark on their year abroad. - We all left the next day feeling very tired from all the dancing...although equally excited and nervous considering that the next time we would ever see each other would be in the airport for our year abroad!