The Adventure Continues

I realize I haven´t posted for awhile, I apoligize for that. I don´t have a lot of time right now but I will make a short post to update you on the basics. I am now living in a new town with a new host family. It is a big change because they are a huge family and their are always people coming and going. My host mom cooks food for about 10 guys every meal. There is also a 2-year-old named Maicol who is constantly running around. Yesterday we took a 3 hour bus ride to a beach called El Cedeño on the Pacific Ocean. I can write more about it later but right now my host cousin is waiting around for me to finish up so we can leave the internet cafe and I think he´s getting bored so I am going to wrap it up. I will post more details about everything soon though, I promise.

Chequeleque Panqueque

Hello friends!

I am writing you from a mall in Comayagua, one of the larger cities in Honduras and also its former capital. It´s been a good week and I´m excited for today because it is the first day of my Volunteer visit. Another trainee, Brian, and I will be visiting a current business volunteer at his site for a few days to get an idea of what he does. I´m really happy for the change of pace and a chance to see some other parts of Honduras.

This week was another long, eventful one. More Spanish and technical training. We´ve also been visited by a number of current Volunteers at the training site. It´s great to get advice from them and hear about their experiences so far. It also makes me impatient because I want to be out and starting things at my own site but we still have 9 weeks of Pre-Service Training to go.

I´m hoping to catch at least a bit of March Madness. My current host family has CBS so that should work out nicely for the first rounds. Unfortunately I´m moving out of there to go to Field Based Training next Sunday. My only hope is that my next host family is as great as my current one.

Last week I mentioned that I would list some books I would enjoy reading, here they are:
The Price of Everything
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway
The Bottom Billion
Capitalism and Freedom

I would love any books by Peter Tamas Bauer (Development Economist) and Greg Boyd (Theologian).

Also, I´d be interested in reading any other economics-related or business-related books. Finally, I´d love to read any good novels you have enjoyed as well!

I must be siging off to pay my 18 Lempiras but I will try and write again soon! Until then, adios!

2nd Weekend in Hondu

Well it hasn´t even been a week since I posted last but it seems like a lot longer than that. I´m sitting in the same internet cafe as last week and am trying to do as much as possible in my limited time here. I am typing this on the fly whereas last time I had typed everything up and put it on my USB the night before. Anyway, days have been very busy with Spanish classes in the morning. After our first language interview I was placed at the Intermediate-Mid level, which is the minimum level needed to be sworn in after the 3 months of training. Obviously, though, I am hoping to advance a few levels in that time. Afternoons have been filled with technical (business in my case) and cultural sessions led by various members of the training staff. Besides my project, which is Business, there is also a Health-HIV/AIDS team as well as Water and Sanitation. Our training days end at 4:30 after which I get a ride home and enjoy a meal prepared by my host mother (I am still enjoying the food by the way). French toast with honey was a recent standout for breakfast. I am also becoming a fan of advocatos. After dinner I try to spend a bit of time talking with my host family. After that I usually get in some reading and/or studying as well. Each day leaves me pretty tired and I tend to go to bed around 9.

There´s plenty more I could type but it´s not coming to mind. If you have any questions feel free to post them in the comments and I will try and answer them next time. Or you can send me an email at dabart85@yahoo.com.

I am going to link to a fellow trainee´s blog where she has a ton of great information about sending a package down here (I know you´ve been wanting to). Books would be a great thing to get because because I´ve been going through the ones I´ve bought pretty fast. I was going to post a list of stuff I want to read but forgot to put it on my USB so you will have to just send me something you´d think I´d like, or wait til my next post where I will try and list some. It´d be a great surprise to get anything though! Here is the link (obviously you would put my name in place of Theresa´s).

¡Hasta luego a todos!

¿Qué pasa, calabaza?

Hello to all with my first post from Honduras. Safe to say it’s been one of the most eventful weeks of my life. Tuesday I flew into D.C. for an afternoon staging event with about 50 other future volunteers headed for Honduras. We stayed at a motel but had to get on a bus at 3am Wednesday for a ride to the airport. We then flew to Miami where we had a short layover. The last flight landed us mid-day in Tegucigulpa, Honduras. Everyone was pretty exhausted by this point. We followed people with Peace Corps signs through customs and out to some vehicles where we packed our luggage. Then we took a bus to a smaller community where our 3 months of Pre-Service Training (PST) take place. A quick session was held to introduce our training leaders and prepare us a bit for life in a Honduran household. Next we were introduced to our host families. I had been quite nervous about how things would go with my new “madre” and “padre” was wondering if I would be able to understand anything at all. I was a bit confused when my host father said we would be taking the “Mercedes Benz” but then I realized he was joking as he pointed to an old white beater. They took me home where I was shown my room, which is almost the size of the one I had in the U.S. They also have a son who lives at home and is older than me. I am able to take hot showers too which I was not expecting. My fellow Peace Corps Trainees (PCT’s) and I spend full days at the training center but so far have mostly just been getting introduced to all the aspects of our PST. I could go on forever about my first 3 ½ days in Honduras but I will try to summarize the main things that come to mind so far:

• I like the food a lot more than I thought I would. Tortillas, beans, meat, rice, and many types of fruit have been the staples of my diet so far. I also love the coffee here.
  
• My host family is extremely nice. They have really made me feel like I am one of the family. “Mi casa es su casa”, my host father told me yesterday. It certainly helps that they have hosted many trainees, or “aspirantes”, in the past.
  
• My Spanish is better than I thought. From what I can tell I am somewhere in the middle as far as the trainees go. I was pretty rusty at first but even after just a few days here a bunch of words are coming back to me. The past couple evenings I have had some great long discussions with my host father and am excited to improve every day. I’m also confident about this happening as I hear the teachers here do great things in terms of helping to improve your Spanish during PST.
  
• The training staff is extremely-well equipped to prepare us for our jobs here. They have a lot of experience and really know how to make the transition a smooth one for us. They are also very personable.
  
• My fellow trainees are a great bunch of people as well. I still don’t know everyone’s names but have enjoyed getting to know many of them. People seem to have a good sense of humor too which really helps to lighten the mood a bit and allows for some joking around during down times.
  

I got cold feet pretty bad right before I left the U.S. However, so far I have no regrets about my decision to do this. I’ve been really happy here. I know it is super early and some major struggles probably lie ahead, but hopefully the good will continue to outweigh the bad. I’m very excited to see what’s in store.

Too all my family and friends back in the States: I’d really like to stay in touch with as many of you as possible. I love you and I miss you all!