Sappy Sentiments and a Spider Update!

Well, this has been a really long week and it is only Tuesday (make that Friday as I still haven’t finished this blog). So figure that one out!

Let’s get the news and gushy stuff done right off the bat so we can get down to the humor that is Honduras…. Maybe I should start calling it “Humoras.” But I think that’s like a bone, or something so I guess that wouldn’t work. Although the spelling is different… hmmm….

So, I have officially found out that my site for the next two years is Sabanagrande, which I had suspected since my last technical interview, and which a little parrot told me was indeed my site a few days early so I could go and visit (this site is within our current allowable travel area). So Sabanagrande is about 45 minutes south of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and about an hour north of Pespire, where I currently live. The really nice thing about that is it will be easy to visit my current host family, who are nice people. It also means that I am living only 45 minutes away from Gina, and from where all of the PC vol’s have to come to do their medical stuff, visit the office, etc. So I will be seeing all of my friends at least now and then over the next two years. The sad part is that all of my closest friends have been spread out around Honduras. My closest friend who I am “close” to (did you follow that?) in my training group will be about 5 hours away by bus.

Anyway, so Sabanagrande is a city of about 7,000 people. There are about 23,000 people if you include all of the populations of the surrounding villages. It is 1000 meters above sea level thus the weather is hot during the day but cool at night. I also hear that during December and January it is outright cold. This particular part of Honduras is considered subtropical. I have no idea what it will be like to live in the subtropics (cough cough). Like I said, I visited last weekend and my initial thoughts are positive. It is a very busy little town in that there are constantly people in the park (just about every town in Honduras has a central park) playing soccer, talking, selling things, etc. So that will make integration a bit easier because I will be able to just go sit in the park and (supposedly) people will come up to me to talk since I am the new, and only, gringa in town. They also have 2 regular soccer fields (of dirt, but with nets!) that are constantly in use. I am hoping that I will be able to scam at least one of them to start a baseball team. Baseball teams are a big PC thing. There are 3 schools in the town including an elementary, high school, and a technical school.

I will probably be a vegetarian again because I saw the two meat stores and kind of freaked out a bit. I mean seriously… ewe.

My host family seems pretty interesting and they have several older children between the ages of 17-25, and one 13 year old. I’m not sure if they all live in the house, but they are all on the paper that I got describing the family. I have heard that they are really a lovely family. I should have mentioned that Sabanagrande was the site for FBT (Field Based Training – what I have been surviving in Pespire) for three years, I think. So, a volunteer from the last water/sanitation group lived with this host family and I have heard positive things about his time with them. So that is nice too.

I will have two counterparts in Sabanagrande. One is with a Christian NGO with whom I will be helping with environmental education projects, and the other is the local government, with whom I will be doing water and sanitation work such as topographical surveys, water system designs, etc. I also will be creating a new Junta de Agua (Water Board) training manual, and I am supposed to be supporting all of the wat/san volunteers who want help with training and educational activities. I am also hoping to start a baseball team and possibly some music groups in the elementary school and maybe the high school too. And knowing how things work with PC, I will probably end up teaching some English too. I also really want to do the Colgate hygiene program and the PC World Map project too. So hopefully, I will be busy (eventually… it takes time). Of course, for the first three months I’m going to be integrating and learning more Spanish and generally looking dazed and confused.

So yeah, that’s about it about Sabanagrande for now. I will have to tell you all more about it once I actually arrive in site in less than 2 weeks!

So we are swearing in as official volunteers in one week from today (Friday). I must say, the application process to get into PC was grueling and frustrating. The training is most assuredly a tough thing to get through. Even with an awesome recruiter like Amy, who is very honest about PC, you just have no idea what to expect until you are in it. And now that I look back on the past 10 weeks, it is hard to believe that I made it through all of that. I remember the first time they handed out our calendars and I had to pick up my eyes off the floor, dust them off, and pop them back in my head. I can’t believe how much I have learned in such a short time. I literally remember looking at the COTE (calendar) and thinking “WTF is a Theodolite?!?! WTF is an ArcView?!?! TRIGONOMETRY??? They are never going to let me be a volunteer.”

I also can’t believe how amazing the people I have met here are. I mean, I have been lucky in the states to have some really amazing friends who have really been there for me (and I miss you all very very much). Here in Peace Corps, I feel like I have been surrounded by people who are so much like me, and with everything we have gone through the past 10 weeks it has just made us all really bond. It is an intense period of time that really makes you or breaks you, which is evidenced by the 5 people that we have already lost in our group. I am really glad to have made such amazing friends here, who I will be able to lean on when things get tough. It kind of sucks that I have to travel all day to see them, but at least they are there. And we are lucky enough in Posh Corps Honduras to have cell phones. I am really sad about leaving these people. They mean the world to me and I feel like we will be lifelong friends. And to add to that, having these great friends has really made me miss the awesome friends I have in the states so much more. I hope some of you can come and visit me.

So the last thing that I just want to mention is how incredibly amazing it is to finally be sitting here and writing a blog about being sworn in. For me, this has been a long and winding road. The short version: I first heard about PC when my mom took me to a manatee festival when I was around 10-12 years old (I can’t remember exactly). Which, incidentally, also put me on the road to vegetarian. Anyway, I picked up every pamphlet I could lay my little hippie hands on, and I remember that was the first I had heard of PC. And since then I wanted to join. And when I graduated from Stetson I actually contacted a recruiter in Atlanta and had them send me information. I think I even started filling out the application. But then, life intervened and I chose to stay. Clearly, I wasn’t ready. But PC just kept coming up in my life over and over again. And finally, I chose to listen to what life was trying to tell me and started working towards Peace Corps two years ago. And now, here I am, almost 30 years old (wha?!?!) and finally here, doing what I want to do with my life – not because I feel like I have to, or like it is expected of me, or because that is what I am supposed to do, but because I am finally a strong enough person to do what I know is right for me. And though it’s hard to be away from my friends and loved ones, I have never been happier.

Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly scared to death here, and constantly bewildered. My friend Banana and I were saying the other day “It would be nice if one day would pass without me being totally uncomfortable and awkward. I will call you when that happens, but it will probably be because I didn’t leave my house that day. Which would also make me really uncomfortable and awkward… Hmmmm.” But anyway, I just feel like I have finally put myself on the right path. I think too many of us live the lives that others want for us, or aren’t sure what we want so we stay with what we know, and it is incredibly difficult and rewarding to choose a different path. I just hope that I can continue in this direction. Part of me wishes I could just freeze this moment in time, because I really feel like I have been (and am) a part of something really special.

Sorry for being so verklempt. You can probably expect it in next week’s blog after we swear in and leave for our sites, too.

So several people were concerned about my spider incident. I never have seen this spider again (thank god) but apparently it has either reincarnated or there is something else living in my room. The other day I started packing my bags to go back to Sarabande, and something really large jumped from one side of my closet to the other. I swear, I saw something jump. And all that went through my head was “TARANTULAS LIKE DARK SPACES AND THEY CAN JUMP!!!!” So I screamed and said something in English, I think, and ran outside to find the broom. So then I came back inside with the broom and stood on the opposite side of the bed and leeeeeeaned over with the broom and started nudging stuff with the broom handle. And then my host sister-in-law knocks on my door because she has one of my t-shirts that I left on the line, and I open the door and start babbling in Spanish “Something it is in there! (Because I can’t remember the word for closet all of the sudden) I seen it jump! It be in the closet, something! I have mountain fear of spider! I be scared it be spider!” And she started laughing at me and starts taking everything out of my closet one by one while saying “Look Rebecca, nothing is there!” And I’m saying “No, no really! It jumped!” “Look Rebecca, nothing!” as we are both laughing hysterically. It was pretty damn funny, but there was nothing in my closet. So now I am convinced that something is lurking in my room ready to pounce and my sister-in-law is convinced I’m crazy.

Speaking of things lurking in my room, is it really necessary for every insect in Honduras to crawl on me at night? I mean, really.

Today I actually almost enjoyed my refried bean toast. And the other day I found myself enjoying the hotdogs in my Honduran fried rice. This place changes people in ways they never expected…

I don’t have much exciting to tell you about training this week. We watched a bunch of lecture and then gave some lectures that were not very exciting. I did have my final language interview yesterday in which I pretty much got nervous and maybe am now an Intermediate Medium Plus Plus.

Somehow I have acquired a bunch of books from PC training and from volunteers who have left and donated books to us. I was pretty excited about these books as I was acquiring them. I even got some really good ones like “Life of Pi,” “All the Kings Men,” “1000 Splendid Suns” and more. But…. Then I realize that I have to drag these damn books all over Honduras next week until I get to my site. DOH!

Anyway, sorry this blog is rather dull this time, but I have to post this while I still have an internet connection. We are going back to Valle de Angeles (Las Cañadas) tomorrow and I won’t have internet access anymore unless I go into town to get it (until I get to my site). So I will regale you with more stories when I get to Sabanagrande!

I hope you are all doing well and I will talk to you soon!

PS. Will somebody PLEASE send me some face wash?? It’s really expensivWell, this has been a really long week and it is only Tuesday (make that Friday as I still haven’t finished this blog). So figure that one out!

Let’s get the news and gushy stuff done right off the bat so we can get down to the humor that is Honduras…. Maybe I should start calling it “Humoras.” But I think that’s like a bone, or something so I guess that wouldn’t work. Although the spelling is different… hmmm….

So, I have officially found out that my site for the next two years is Sabanagrande, which I had suspected since my last technical interview, and which a little parrot told me was indeed my site a few days early so I could go and visit (this site is within our current allowable travel area). So Sabanagrande is about 45 minutes south of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and about an hour north of Pespire, where I currently live. The really nice thing about that is it will be easy to visit my current host family, who are nice people. It also means that I am living only 45 minutes away from Gina, and from where all of the PC vol’s have to come to do their medical stuff, visit the office, etc. So I will be seeing all of my friends at least now and then over the next two years. The sad part is that all of my closest friends have been spread out around Honduras. My closest friend who I am “close” to (did you follow that?) in my training group will be about 5 hours away by bus.

Anyway, so Sabanagrande is a city of about 7,000 people. There are about 23,000 people if you include all of the populations of the surrounding villages. It is 1000 meters above sea level thus the weather is hot during the day but cool at night. I also hear that during December and January it is outright cold. This particular part of Honduras is considered subtropical. I have no idea what it will be like to live in the subtropics (cough cough). Like I said, I visited last weekend and my initial thoughts are positive. It is a very busy little town in that there are constantly people in the park (just about every town in Honduras has a central park) playing soccer, talking, selling things, etc. So that will make integration a bit easier because I will be able to just go sit in the park and (supposedly) people will come up to me to talk since I am the new, and only, gringa in town. They also have 2 regular soccer fields (of dirt, but with nets!) that are constantly in use. I am hoping that I will be able to scam at least one of them to start a baseball team. Baseball teams are a big PC thing. There are 3 schools in the town including an elementary, high school, and a technical school.

I will probably be a vegetarian again because I saw the two meat stores and kind of freaked out a bit. I mean seriously… ewe.

My host family seems pretty interesting and they have several older children between the ages of 17-25, and one 13 year old. I’m not sure if they all live in the house, but they are all on the paper that I got describing the family. I have heard that they are really a lovely family. I should have mentioned that Sabanagrande was the site for FBT (Field Based Training – what I have been surviving in Pespire) for three years, I think. So, a volunteer from the last water/sanitation group lived with this host family and I have heard positive things about his time with them. So that is nice too.

I will have two counterparts in Sabanagrande. One is with a Christian NGO with whom I will be helping with environmental education projects, and the other is the local government, with whom I will be doing water and sanitation work such as topographical surveys, water system designs, etc. I also will be creating a new Junta de Agua (Water Board) training manual, and I am supposed to be supporting all of the wat/san volunteers who want help with training and educational activities. I am also hoping to start a baseball team and possibly some music groups in the elementary school and maybe the high school too. And knowing how things work with PC, I will probably end up teaching some English too. I also really want to do the Colgate hygiene program and the PC World Map project too. So hopefully, I will be busy (eventually… it takes time). Of course, for the first three months I’m going to be integrating and learning more Spanish and generally looking dazed and confused.

So yeah, that’s about it about Sabanagrande for now. I will have to tell you all more about it once I actually arrive in site in less than 2 weeks!

So we are swearing in as official volunteers in one week from today (Friday). I must say, the application process to get into PC was grueling and frustrating. The training is most assuredly a tough thing to get through. Even with an awesome recruiter like Amy, who is very honest about PC, you just have no idea what to expect until you are in it. And now that I look back on the past 10 weeks, it is hard to believe that I made it through all of that. I remember the first time they handed out our calendars and I had to pick up my eyes off the floor, dust them off, and pop them back in my head. I can’t believe how much I have learned in such a short time. I literally remember looking at the COTE (calendar) and thinking “WTF is a Theodolite?!?! WTF is an ArcView?!?! TRIGONOMETRY??? They are never going to let me be a volunteer.”

I also can’t believe how amazing the people I have met here are. I mean, I have been lucky in the states to have some really amazing friends who have really been there for me (and I miss you all very very much). Here in Peace Corps, I feel like I have been surrounded by people who are so much like me, and with everything we have gone through the past 10 weeks it has just made us all really bond. It is an intense period of time that really makes you or breaks you, which is evidenced by the 5 people that we have already lost in our group. I am really glad to have made such amazing friends here, who I will be able to lean on when things get tough. It kind of sucks that I have to travel all day to see them, but at least they are there. And we are lucky enough in Posh Corps Honduras to have cell phones. I am really sad about leaving these people. They mean the world to me and I feel like we will be lifelong friends. And to add to that, having these great friends has really made me miss the awesome friends I have in the states so much more. I hope some of you can come and visit me.

So the last thing that I just want to mention is how incredibly amazing it is to finally be sitting here and writing a blog about being sworn in. For me, this has been a long and winding road. The short version: I first heard about PC when my mom took me to a manatee festival when I was around 10-12 years old (I can’t remember exactly). Which, incidentally, also put me on the road to vegetarian. Anyway, I picked up every pamphlet I could lay my little hippie hands on, and I remember that was the first I had heard of PC. And since then I wanted to join. And when I graduated from Stetson I actually contacted a recruiter in Atlanta and had them send me information. I think I even started filling out the application. But then, life intervened and I chose to stay. Clearly, I wasn’t ready. But PC just kept coming up in my life over and over again. And finally, I chose to listen to what life was trying to tell me and started working towards Peace Corps two years ago. And now, here I am, almost 30 years old (wha?!?!) and finally here, doing what I want to do with my life – not because I feel like I have to, or like it is expected of me, or because that is what I am supposed to do, but because I am finally a strong enough person to do what I know is right for me. And though it’s hard to be away from my friends and loved ones, I have never been happier.

Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly scared to death here, and constantly bewildered. My friend Banana and I were saying the other day “It would be nice if one day would pass without me being totally uncomfortable and awkward. I will call you when that happens, but it will probably be because I didn’t leave my house that day. Which would also make me really uncomfortable and awkward… Hmmmm.” But anyway, I just feel like I have finally put myself on the right path. I think too many of us live the lives that others want for us, or aren’t sure what we want so we stay with what we know, and it is incredibly difficult and rewarding to choose a different path. I just hope that I can continue in this direction. Part of me wishes I could just freeze this moment in time, because I really feel like I have been (and am) a part of something really special.

Sorry for being so verklempt. You can probably expect it in next week’s blog after we swear in and leave for our sites, too.

So several people were concerned about my spider incident. I never have seen this spider again (thank god) but apparently it has either reincarnated or there is something else living in my room. The other day I started packing my bags to go back to Sarabande, and something really large jumped from one side of my closet to the other. I swear, I saw something jump. And all that went through my head was “TARANTULAS LIKE DARK SPACES AND THEY CAN JUMP!!!!” So I screamed and said something in English, I think, and ran outside to find the broom. So then I came back inside with the broom and stood on the opposite side of the bed and leeeeeeaned over with the broom and started nudging stuff with the broom handle. And then my host sister-in-law knocks on my door because she has one of my t-shirts that I left on the line, and I open the door and start babbling in Spanish “Something it is in there! (Because I can’t remember the word for closet all of the sudden) I seen it jump! It be in the closet, something! I have mountain fear of spider! I be scared it be spider!” And she started laughing at me and starts taking everything out of my closet one by one while saying “Look Rebecca, nothing is there!” And I’m saying “No, no really! It jumped!” “Look Rebecca, nothing!” as we are both laughing hysterically. It was pretty damn funny, but there was nothing in my closet. So now I am convinced that something is lurking in my room ready to pounce and my sister-in-law is convinced I’m crazy.

Speaking of things lurking in my room, is it really necessary for every insect in Honduras to crawl on me at night? I mean, really.

Today I actually almost enjoyed my refried bean toast. And the other day I found myself enjoying the hotdogs in my Honduran fried rice. This place changes people in ways they never expected…

I don’t have much exciting to tell you about training this week. We watched a bunch of lecture and then gave some lectures that were not very exciting. I did have my final language interview yesterday in which I pretty much got nervous and maybe am now an Intermediate Medium Plus Plus.

Somehow I have acquired a bunch of books from PC training and from volunteers who have left and donated books to us. I was pretty excited about these books as I was acquiring them. I even got some really good ones like “Life of Pi,” “All the Kings Men,” “1000 Splendid Suns” and more. But…. Then I realize that I have to drag these damn books all over Honduras next week until I get to my site. DOH!

Anyway, sorry this blog is rather dull this time, but I have to post this while I still have an internet connection. We are going back to Valle de Angeles (Las Cañadas) tomorrow and I won’t have internet access anymore unless I go into town to get it (until I get to my site). So I will regale you with more stories when I get to Sabanagrande!

I hope you are all doing well and I will talk to you soon!

PS. Will somebody PLEASE send me some face wash?? It’s really expensive here! And while you are at it, I really really miss my converse. It’s like I’m missing a part of my identity. So can somebody send me some low-top converse too? I am pretty sure I wear a 9… Maybe 8 ½… Err on the side of 9.

e here! And while you are at it, I really really miss my converse. It’s like I’m missing a part of my identity. So can somebody send me some low-top converse too? I am pretty sure I wear a 9… Maybe 8 ½… Err on the side of 9.