Five months in service now and it feels as though time has slowed down. I’ve been traveling a lot this month and it has felt amazing. In the middle of June I went to city called siguatepeque for a meeting with the Abstinence team. That’s right, abstinence, and there is no better person for it. The trip itself took about 6 hours and I was there for 3 days. Basically, we worked on planning a workshop we are giving this Monday in Valle de Angeles, a tourist town about 20 minutes from my Santa Lucia host family. There were only five of us there, three new faces and Anna! a fellow Hondu 12er. It was awesome seeing her! After the meeting, I was back in Cholu for only a couple of weeks, before I had to go back to Siguat for an income generation workshop. For the workshop I brought two counterparts from the HIV clinic. The workshop was for people living with HIV/AIDS support groups, the hope is that we can take the information back to our sites and start working on some kind of income program with our groups. The information was wonderful, and the workshop itself was so much fun. It was a great four days. On the way up to siguat my counterparts and I were lucky enough to hitch a ride with my program director from Teguc. Peace Corps has recently purchased some 2009 Landcruisers, so we decided that the luxury of a landcruiser outweighs the authenticity of a chicken bus…it was a good decision. Over the months I have learned that chicken buses require preparation, especially if you are traveling through the mountains. On my first trip to siguat I did not have the pleasure of taking a landcruiser. I honestly thought I was going to die. The road wound endlessly around the mountains and cars sped by with complete disregard for anyone’s safety. The bus driver was of the same moral caliber as the other motorists. With a “highway” that barely fit two lanes; the driver was laying on the horn and passing cars around blind curves left and right. I couldn’t even see the road, and frankly I didn’t want to. All I could see was the shit eating grin on the drivers face and his Jack Nicholson sun glasses through the rear view mirror…he was the devil, I’m sure of it. After the workshop, I was lucky enough to get the same driver for the ride back! I made sure to place my luggage in front of me as a cushion in case we careened off the mountain side…as if it would help. Seriously though, you know you’re scared when you are actually considering the likelihood of surviving if you were to jump off a moving bus before it plunged to its doom. Alas, I soon realized that there was no way I could squeeze my reubenesque physique through the school bus window in time, so I settled for the cushiony luggage. Speaking of my physique, aparentally Ive lost a bunch of weight. Since I dont have a mirror at my disposal, I havent really been able to see how my body has changed since I got to site. It was all seriously brought to my attention as soon as I arrived to the workshop and all the volunteers from my training class that were there didnt recognize me. It was awesome. I honestly didnt want to stop looking at myself in my hotel bathroom mirror. I'm pretty sure that at one point I told everyone that I would be in my room checking myself out if anyone needs me. SOOOOO, with a new found confidence I have felt amazing. My total weight loss so far is 61 lbs. I currently weigh a pudgy 210. I only hope that I can continue losing. My goal weight is 185. So overall, the income generation workshop was amazing. I learned a bunch of great information and got to see some old friends. The best part of the workshop was the capstone party we had on the final night. In addition to celebrating the success of the workshop it happened to be the birthday of a volunteer, the final two weeks of another, and a farewell to our project specialist who is becoming the director of the business program. poems were read, a dance was choreographed for our project specialist, and candles were blown out. Following the farewells and congratulations, the party began. We arranged for a DJ/karaoke and bought beverages and snacks for everyone. By the end of the night I learned how to dance meringue well, and not just how to flail my elbows around and shake what my mama gave me. There were people from all over the country at the workshop and they all came to the party. The best were this group of Garifuna women, (garifuna are the people from the north coast of honduras who come from an african decendancy. They actually speak english, spanish, and garifuna.) They are so much fun and full of life! There is a traditional dance on the north coast called Punta, which basically consists of shaking your butt around in a circle (without moving your hips much) and shuffling your feet in a circle. These women were large, in charge, and making there butts move independantly from their bodies...it was almost scary. What was really terrifying was that they would grab the gringos from the crowd and pull them in to dance. Thank g-d I was already dancing, I wouldn't know what to do them. There was also this one guy who stole the show. Just so you get the whole picture, he was a transvestite who used to be a professional dancer and celebrity imitator in Mexico. During the party the man didn't stop dancing, it was incredible, and he was wearing heels the whole time!

Two things to note: (1) Since it gets hot whilst dancing, we set up fans in each corners of the room. Whenever our professional dancer friend would get hot he would dance his way over to a fan and dance in front of it for about twenty minutes before heading back out onto the dance floor. Everytime he did it he would go alone, and really push it to fourth gear. More than a few time he would throw himself to the floor and throw his head back, forwards and and every which way...definite youtube material. (2) About halfway through one of his fan dances, one of the volunteers sat down a little too close to the dance floor. As a result, fan dancer shuffled his way over to this volunteer who will remain nameless and gave her the most ridiculous lap dance ever. Seriously, mouths dropped and flashbulbs fired. Fan dancer was throwing his leg over her head, rubbing his hair in her face, and basically using her as an aluminum pole. Some how, 20 lempiras appeared and his dance ended. Later in the evening, after most of the workshop participants had returned to their rooms, another surprise lap dance was given. The situation was actually pretty awkward for all of us. The only ones left in the room were the DJs, the volunteers, and four workshop participants (one of which obviously fan dancer) . Essentially, we were waiting for the volunteers to goto bed and the DJs to leave at 1am. Out of no where, fan dancer starts giving another lap dance to a workshop participant. We were pretty shocked and kind of giggled at the repeat performance. But then, something happened that no one expected. About halfway through the dance a balloon appeared on the lap of the guy getting the dance. All of a sudden fan dancer managed to throw his entire body 360 degrees around the chair the guy was sitting on and catch himself before crashing onto the balloon. At that point he paused, screamed, and threw himself on the balloon popping it. At that point we made the joint decision to turn the music off and send everyone to bed. It was an awesome party and definitely filled with some interesting surprises. After the workshop I was happy to get back to Choluteca.

Right now I'm out of site again for the workshop in Valle de Angeles. Before I go, I just want to mention a strange thing that happened last Saturday. Saturday afternoon I decided to play some soccer with the the neighborhood kids and my site mate. About halfway through the game a small girl, followed by two younger kids (just wearing underwear mind you) ran up to me holding something. I couldnt make out what it was since it was just kind of dangling by the girls fingertips. I didnt expect it to be anything bad since she had a big smile on her face and was running towards me a pretty quick pace. When she got within a few feet I realized that she was actually holding a dead duckling...Trying to keep the puke in my mouth I started backpedaling. When she got close enough, she let it fly right for my face. I totally pulled out some matrix move and managed to dodge it. I wouldn't have been as annoyed if she hadn't picked it up a second time and thrown at me again. I'm still haunted by her carefree giggle.

Anyway! Thats about it. Sorry for the long delay. Hopefully my next post will come sooner.

I miss you and love you all so much.

J

P.S.Nick and Allison congratulations again and I hope you have an amazing honeymoon. I saw the pictures, you guys looked amazing.

It has been a while since my last entry, but that’s not say nothing has been going on in THE HONDURAS. The past few weeks have been full of exciting happenings.

For one, this week I am starting an English class at the library near the central park downtown. Apparently, and without my knowledge, the women that works there is another one of my counterparts, which makes her lucky number 4. Volunteers have offered English classes with her for the past five years, so she is very much familiar with the life of a volunteer. However, I was still told that she will push for class everyday of the week, and frankly that’s going to be impossible. Luckily, the water and sanitation volunteer down here has agreed to help out with the classes, so we will each teach the same class one day a week.

As for the other work I’m up to, a few weeks ago I got in touch with some British Christian missionaries who have been working down here for the past year and plan on being here for a total of five years. Unfortunately, I met with them the week of their return to England for a 3 month vacation. I was able to at least see their project, and it seems pretty amazing. Essentially, they are building a self-sustaining community for the poor and people living with HIV/AIDS, which more often than not are the same people. I was a little nervous about meeting with them because I wasn’t sure how religious they were and whether or not conversion tactics were going to be in play. Needless to say, Im now Christian.

In all seriousness they were really relaxed about the whole thing and didn’t pressure me at all. When they actually asked me if I was Christian my stomach dropped a little. After I answered no, it dropped a little more when they replied with, “Oh that’s alright, we’ll get yah soon enough.” Nervous laughter followed, as well as a quick scan of the nearest exits. But they were just messing around, and I appreciated their candor and sense of humor.

As for their project, there are definite Christian values interlaced, which are very important to a lot of people in this country. My only hope is that religious differences don’t marginalize high risks groups that need help. Fortunately, a couple of things made me feel better about this concern. Number 1, religious groups are the most active in HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention, and services. They have done a lot of great work, so there is no reason to doubt them yet. Number 2, I was worried about their response to condom use for HIV prevention, and was pleasantly surprised when there was talk of including it in there trainings because, ¨no matter how devout you are, people sin¨.

Needless to say, I am keeping a critical eye on the group, partly because I feel it’s necessary and partly because they asked me to. It was a great experience and I really liked the missionaries a lot. What I’m really interested in seeing is the politics of a Christian based aid program and HIV/AIDS programming. I am looking forward to working with them when they get back from the homeland. My only true fear of working with them is slipping into a British accent when talking to them and seriously offending one of them. In the short time I spent with them I realized that I was already over annunciating so as not to accidentally use the accent…they may now think that I have a speech impediment...

On a completely separate topic, I have started looking for an apartment and I couldn’t be happier about it. I have enjoyed my time with my host family, but I have to get out of that house. This family has been very nice and helpful, but they are very different from my previous families. The relationship is more like landlord/tenant. With that being said, I would much rather have my own place, with my own kitchen and living room, instead of feeling uncomfortable when spending time in their house. Keep in mind, my room has its own bathroom and is separated from the house, where they rent out another room. Sometimes I get the feeling that I am intruding and am expected to spend all my time in my room…and I just can’t have that.

So, the apartment I found is in the middle of downtown in a safe neighborhood above a paint store. The place is pretty big and has a nice roof deck where I can wash my clothes and what not. It has two bedrooms, kitchen, and living room. My favorite part is that it has hooks in the walls of the living room to hang a hammock. That’s right, a hammock! Hammocks are a way of life in Honduras, and not surprisingly, a volunteer’s best friend. In almost every Honduran living room you will find, a couch, chair, TV, coffee table, and huge hammock swinging over everything. Some of you might be thinking that it sounds ridiculous, maybe even tacky, but it truly adds a theatrical feel to the room that nothing short of a tightrope could provide. I’m pretty excited about it and will definitely post pictures once my fortress of solitude is complete.

Other than that, things are going well. Over the next few months, through Sept, I will be traveling quite a bit for Peace Corps related stuff. I’m basically trying to use the trips as time markers. Before I know it, it will be September and I will have spent 7 months in country. Crazy, I can’t believe its already mid-June.

Love you and miss you all so much.

J

Its been three weeks since entering site and for the most part it has flown by. The days themselves seem to creep by at times, but each Friday I can´t believe another week has ended. Ive started to grasp what exactly I´m supposed to be doing down here and it´s overwhelming at times. Needless to say, the work weeks are full of distractions. Its the evenings and weekends that need a little more activity.

So that some you have an idea of what Im doing here are some projects I´ve got going on. For pure water for the world, Im hoping to create a prceedural manual for them and revamp there community volunteer training materials. Everyone is so busy in the office that I feel as though sometimes no one sees the big picture of what they are doing and how its supposed to work. As for the training materials, we spent 7 hours last wednesday training a group of 10 volunteers on water filters, water contamination, and diarrheal disease. The facilitators are wonderful, but the material is a little unorganized. Next week we will have a meeting on narrowing down our subject matter to really drive our points home, and provide more hands on activities for everyone. A little side project im trying to put together for Pure Water is a student internship with a local technical college. We have so many statistics and information at the office, but our database is completely out-of-date. Since most of us are either in the field taking water samples, installing filters, deparaciting communities, meeting with health centers, or training volunteers and communities, there is little time to consistently input information in our database. Hopefully, with an intern we can really organize the office and get our files up-to-date. Who knows, maybe this kid will be able to design a better way of organizing our archives.

With the HIV clinic, work has become a little slow, frustrating, and mildly depressing. I started making houe visits to patients and its pretty incredible. The office itself seems very comfortable with the way they do things, and very difficult to change that. Therefore, most of my efforts have switched over to the support group. Presently, I am trying to design an income generation project for the group. We are also trying to find a source of funding and open up a bank account. I think Im going to throw in some of my own money to get it started. As a personal project Im hoping to organize a Regional Convention for the HIV/Support groups down here. Most of the groups here have recieved a bunch of training on hygiene, HIV, nutrition, human rights, etc. But what has been lacking is venue for everyone to meet comfortably. In order to work Im going to plan some unique activities for everyone, such as a hike, cooking classes, art classes, pretty much anything is on the table.

It sound like a lot of work and its actually kind of stressful writing it all out...(omg, in addition to all of this I still have to do my directed study for my Masters.) Ok, so it is alot, and youre probably thinking: ¨wow, he´s doing great and he´s so busy!¨

Well, I am doing great, but busy isnt really the right word. Most of these things are in the planning phase, and I have noticed that its really hard to move past the planning phase here. Patience is the key to success. Things take a really long time and it can be difficult to motivate people to get things done. Luckily, some (not all) of my counterparts are full of energy and really excited to get moving (well, cautiously excited, they know that foreigners don´t always keep their promises).

So, though I do have quite a few things going on, my evenings and weekends are kind of void of excitement. To stir things up, I joined a gym! Its like no other gym in the world! I even have a group of people I go to the gym with! Granted, they´re all forty year old women...but a group nonetheless! The girl that rents the room next to mine is the one who introduced me to this lovely group of cougars (not really though). Apparently, they are all physical therapists and work together. It´s kind of cool cause they all really look out for me and call me Joelito...or papi...which is still weird, but quite common here.

As for the gym itself, its two small rooms that have the unairconditioned feel of a Sauna and the visibility of a KFC at midday. There are about 4 bicycles that are stylishly masking taped together and some weight machines that have a tendancy to sway back and forth as you use them. (continued after anecdote)

For some strange and awkward reason, the pre-workout routine has been me helping the eldest of the ladies put on her workout corset thing. I dont really know what its called, but it velcros together and is supposed to keep things ¨in place¨ during aerobics. I really dont like putting it on, but she told me to suck it up and just do it. Apprentally it has to be on tight or it doesnt work. The whole process usually ends up with her screaming tighter and me panicing to velcro the stupid thing shut. By the end of the ordeal we´re usually laughing pretty hard. She also puts on a plastic bag to sweat more, which is very much illadvised. Ive told her several times that its dangerous and can cause kidney problems, but she continues.

At the gym there are three trainers. There is one guy that has so many muscles in his upper body that its kind of funny to look at, especially since his legs are the tinniest things I´ve ever seen. The second sits around most of the time staring at people quietly. Surpisingly, he´s the aerobics instructor, and when he gets going (which is often) the aerobics class is pretty much burntout after 15 minutes. The last guy...well he´s awesome. He checks on everyone, knows how to do everything, AND (here´s the kicker) he´s mute and deaf! Its amazing! He has been there so long that everyone pretty much knows what hes trying to say...I have no idea what hes saying, but everyone else does and thats what matters. Sometimes when hes trying to tell me something, he writes it out on his arm...not the best, but it gets the job done. Im pretty sure he can sign, but I dont think anyone else in the place can. Overall, pretty awesome place...to top it off they play 80´s music all day. Monthly I pay 200 lempiras, which is about $12. BEST DEAL EVER

weightloss to date: 41 lbs

Hair: still uncut

And thats it. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all a bunch and love you ll very much.

J

PS: These pictures are about a 3 weeks to a month old

For those of who asked, or were specifically told to send me stuff...here is my new address in the one and only Choluteca.

Joel Stanojevich

Apartado Postal 48

Choluteca, Choluteca Honduras

Central America

love you and miss you all

New post coming this weekend

J

...I really like the title, so I hope the blog entry is fitting.Training has finished and it´s now official; 44 of the amazing 46 Hondu-12 trainees have sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers. To be honest, I had no expectations of the ceremony or celebration while in training. My only interest was swearing in and getting to work. Little did I know that the 24 hours following my swear-in would solidify the amazing friendhships I have made over the last 3 months in Honduras. Over the past three months I have cried, laughed, made friends...had horrible diarrhea...and created a family of Hondurans and fellow volunteers that I feel will be there whenever i need help during my journey. During training we were given just enough time to feel comfortable with a place, and then we moved to a new place for training. The only constant has been our amazing staff and the trainees. Because of that we are stronger than ever. We have spent time together and gotten to know eachothers excentricities, and now as we each deploy to our sites all across the country the process starts all over again. We have said our goodbyes, some of us thinking it will be forever until we see eachother again. For most, it will be a short bus ride to another Hondu-12 volunteer. And if not a fellow hondu-12er, there are about 200 volunteers in Honduras each understanding this amazing and tough process of becoming a volunteer. As for me, I am one of the few. I have been sent to Choluteca, the capital of the south, with high hopes of pulling together the resources that are available. Fun Fact #1, its the hottest place in Honduras. My health program director and project specialist have put a lot of confidence in me, and are hoping that I can use my professional and personal skills to really organize the different organizations working in my site. To give you an idea, Choluteca is a major city with about 100,000 people. Several organizations work here. CARE, Plan International, Pure Water for the World, USAID, World Bank, and UNICEF are just a few that are in the city. For me, my primary counterparts are Pure Water for the world and the HIV/AIDS clinic. Fun Fact #2, the rainy season starts this month, which means flahflooding through November and thousands of mosquitos soaring through the air. Pure Water for the World, My first counterpart, is part of a network of offices throughout Honduras that manufacture and install potable water biofilters for surrounding communities. To date, the team in Choluteca has installed over 3000 filters in and around Choluteca. In addition to installing filters, the team trains community volunteers to monitor the use of the filter, trains communities on diarrheal disease prevention, and provides pre and post water sampling which includes ph level, turbudity, and biacterial contaminiation. Fun Fact #3, my host brother got robbed the day before i arrived, but Choluteca is the safest big city in Honduras...Im pumped. Actually, the day I arrived I stepped outside to integrate with my family on the front stoop. (Peace Corps has been drilling the importance of this since day one) As I introduced myself and took a seat to chat, some of my host brothers friends start yelling ¨here they come!, here they come!¨ Of course, innocent little Joel is thinking...who? who´s coming? are they nice? Well, lucky for me it happened to be the two guys that robbed my host brother at knife point the day before. Instantly sensing the familiar feeling of a bowel movement, I started to freak out a little and put on my tough face. It was too late to go inside, integration with the family had to be completed! As the two thugs (yes, they were dressed thugish) rode by on there bikes (yes, they were riding bikes), they made instant eye contact with me and didnt break the stare until they went around the corner. It was awesome. Great first day. Thus far I have worked primarily with this group. The staff is pretty great, but I have quickly realized that my time there will be less than what they are expecting. Since I have a second countepart, my time will be split between the two. Pure Water has some great things going, but what I would like to focus on primarilly with them is grant writing, monitoring, and the training phases. Fun Fact #4, did I mention Choluteca is freaking on FIRE, ITS SO HOT! Personally, its important for me to establish a professional relationship with my counterpart. Ín the few days that Ive been here Ive noticed that things can get pretty lax. Atleast initially, I really want to keep myself busy. My biggest concern at this point is becoming too dependant on my counterpart, since there are so many organizations in the city that are available to work with. I have already been given a work phone and it has been mentioned that they really want to get me license so I can get around to different sites on my own in their vehicles. Both perks are awesome. In fact, im not really sure why im complaining. However, I dont want to foster too much dependancy with the organization. I am super excited to get to work with them, but they need to understand that I am here for two years and working with several groups. So far though, they have been very understanding. Great stuff. Fun Fact #5, Im living with a host family for the first two months and my host mom happens to be the Peace Corps Business program Director´s Aunt.My second Counterpart is the HIV/AIDS clinic, about three blocks from my house. Yesterday was my first day working with them and they are amazing. The staff is full of energy and they have been dying to work with a Peace Corps volunteer for a couple years now. In addition to working with the center itself, there is a HIV support group that meets and coordinates through the center. The group is pretty huge, but are lacking some organization. Yesterday, they had their monthly reunion, so I was able to meet everyone. Since the group is very prvate and doesnt like the center interfering with their group, I made it very clear to them that I am not employee of the center and am here to help them in anything they are trying to put together. I explained that I am not trying to tell them what to do or how things should be done, but instead have an exchange of ideas so that we can all learn from eachother. They were really receptive to me and looked really excited about working. There is already talk of getting me to help them with an income generation project. They also invited me to a mothers day bash downtown at 5, I am totally there. Fun Fact #6, I was told to wash my clothes in the pila (for those of you who are not familiar with this word, a pila is a huge cement basin used to wash close in by hand) Though not exactly thrilled about this development, I came to terms with it quickly and was excited to sweat a little...as if there is anything else to do here. Having accepted the pila as my new best friend, I decided to do a little reading that evening with my door open. As I slipped away into the world of the unabridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo I heard an intermitant humming coming faintly from across the courtyard. (thats right, theres a courtyard, but lets not get too excited about it) More curious than I´ve ever been, I decided to investigate this familiar sound. As I approached the cast iron door with my mouth gaping in curisousity and aww, my host mom quickly squeezed through the door simultaneously shutting and locking the door. Unfortunately for her, her attempt to block the treasure inside failed. With the last sliver of light guiding my eyes as the door swung shut, I saw it (seriously, it was straight out of Indiana Jones...the one with the Nazis). The holy grail of Honduras. The single most incredible piece of technology (next to the air conditioner) that has ever simplified the lives of countless human beings was a mere 4 ft. away. A real life washing machine! Unfortunately, there was also a steel door between us, and of course my host mom was there too staring into my face as if to say, ¨washing machine? there´s no washing machine here. Just pilas, thousands of unused pilas.¨ Not sure what to say or how to react, I mentioned the weather...as if it ever changes:Joel: ¨Hot today isn´t it?¨Host mom: ¨Usually is...¨ (long pause)Joel: ¨Well then...gonna get back to my book¨Host mom: ¨Alright then...Joel: ¨great¨Host mom: ¨yup¨So It was awkward, and I suppose I can understand why. Water isn´t exactly as accesible as it is in the states, and I´m pretty much a stranger to them...the reaction was totally understandable...kind of. Unfortunately, the whole experience felt like an amazing taste of home followed by a swift kick to the nuts. But dont feel too bad for me, yesterday I asked how much it costs to have your laundry done for you, and my host mom replied with, ¨just use our laundry machine its cheaper.¨ I swear to g-d I heard angels. Not only will it now only take 30 minutes to wash my clothes, but the extreme and unbearable heat allows for a 30 min drying time as well. Sweet.Thats about it for this entry folks, I hope you enjoyed it. Make sure to be checkng over the next couple weeks, Ill be chatting about the new exotic foods my family has promised to give me. Including: raw sea turtle eggs (apparentally not protected all year round, lucky for me), raw curriles (raw mussles I think...served with pico and lemon juice), and the very famous BULL TESICLES!! (MAKES JOEL STRONGER)PS-sorry no pics, it took really long to uploadI love you and miss you all so much, J

Its been a couple of weeks since my last post, but the past few weeks have been incredibly busy. Ive realized that ive spoiled some people, mainly my mom, with posts every few days. In an attempt to keep the subject matter juicy and not feel guilty for not posting, my posts are going to be a little more spread out...but not by that much.

SITE ASSINGMENTS ON THE HORIZON

Today was our last day of field training and it felt like the begining of Summer break. The bell rang (not really, but imagined there was one) and we sprinted for the doors to celebrate the coming of our next phase of training. Sunday we head back to Santa Lucia and on Moday we find out our permanent site assignments. Though I have no idea where Im going, Ive been asked about going to the South, or possibly the North Coast to work with the Garifuna...(yeah north or south, pretty vague). In reality, i never thought i had a choice of where I would be sent, and in reality I still dont. But the trainers atleast want to know our preferences so that they can be taken into consideration. Very nice to know. Im hoping to get a medium to large site with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. If I get it ill have a lot of opportunities to work with several different target populations, since HIV/AIDS affects so many different groups of people in so many different ways. Im really excited and pretty nervous about the whole thing.

GOOD BYE YARUMELA

Its over, we are leaving. Despite the gossip of a small town, smell of burning trash, and roaming bands of drunks (only sometimes), I will deeply miss my Yarumela and my fellow Melans. Six weeks have flown by, but I am glad its is over. Training has been amazing, and working with mens health groups, HIV/AIDS classes, comercial sex workers, and midwives has been unforgetable. However, its time to move on and make this work my own in whatever city, town, or hut, i live in.

I love you and miss you all so much

J

I have started to settle into life as a volunteer in Honduras. Almost two months have past and each day I feel more comfortable with life here. The past few weeks of training have been fun. While the majority of our technical training consists of sitting through lectures and examples of the health projects that are ongoing in country, occasionally we get to field test what we’ve learned. This past week the health squad was split into four groups of four and each group gave a 4 hour lecture on HIV/AIDS to a class of high school juniors in La Paz. (a lot of 4’s) Initially we were all pretty nervous about stepping into a class room setting, but after a few minutes it all felt very natural. Everyone did an amazing job speaking and presenting the material. After several activities with the kids we gave a thirty minute lecture on global and country statistics, transmission dynamics, and tools for prevention. Our last activity was a condom demonstration/practice for all 26 of the students in the class. I was honestly a little nervous about the last activity, and after seeing that 22 of the 26 students were girls I was freaking out a little. But, everything was great and the kids were really attentive and interested. Naturally, the activity started with a few giggles. At the end of class, two girls came up to me and the other male volunteer in my group, and asked if she could take a picture with us. Apparently, the gringo boys are a bit of a hit with the Honduran Chicas…it was cute.

Disclaimer...PETA supporters do not read

You might be asking yourself what there is to do for fun when you live in a small town with nothing to do other than eat, sleep, and be hot. Well, the answer is chicken fights. This past weekend a few of us decided to head on down to the old fighting ring, which actually looks like the ultimate fighting champion octogon, but on a much smaller scale. It was the first time for most, so we weren´t really sure how it was going to go down. Unfortunately, the girls that came with us didnt make it past the second fight and got the hell out of there before they passed out. After they left it was just the boys. Now, I dont want to sound machista, but there are only 5 of us men in the health program out of 16. And since we are split into two group of 8, its only Matt and I in Yarumela with 6 lovely ladies. Essentially, there is a lot of estrogen flying around, and there was nothing manlier than watching two savage beasts, or chickens (whatever the case may be) fight to the death. Its actually really impressive that so much planning and training goes into this noble sport. Most trainers actually clip the short wing feathers of the roosters and insert the really long tail feathers in their place so that the roosters have better balance during the fight. Now, contrary to popular belief, and by popular belief I mean Seinfeld, the roosters do not wear miniature bloxing gloves during the fight. Instead, a two inch blade is strapped to the right leg of the rooster in place of its thumb nail. Surprisingly, it IS true that the roosters look more like dogs with gloves strapped to their heads...(they really are huge and there are even different weight classes). Before the fight begins a third rooster is brought into the ring to harrass the roosters waiting to fight. Its pretty crazy. Once the fight begins feathers instantly burst into the air and the men watching the fight start screaming and chanting while waving their bets in the air. Aside from the occasional drunk guy asking me to take him to america, it was pretty amazing. As far as betting, I made a small side bet with a friend of mine and of course I lost. Some of the older men at the fight said that they hadn´t seen a bird go down that bad in a long time...I still stick by my decision. Serioiusly though, the rooster went down in about five seconds with a huge gash across the length of its stomach...disgusting. On a side note, there was this guy there who looked like he was kind of a big deal. Apparently, he is known for breeding a lot of winning roosters, which doesnt mean much since they all are eventually killed (horrible I know). But just to paint you a picture this guy was about six foot, beer belly, white cowboy hat, white jeans, green and white plaid shirt tucked in, huge black-grey mustache, crystal blue eyes, with a huge pistol hanging from his belt. He seriously looked like a drug-lord...not to mention he was walking in circles carrying above his head the biggest white rooster I have ever seen

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a more serious note…without trying to sound preachy Everyday that goes by I become more aware of my responsibility towards those that are less fortunate than me. In the world I come from serious worries are few and far between. The future depends solely on an individual’s willingness to take advantage of the hundreds of opportunities that lie before them. In my world we complain about where to eat, and not if we’ll eat; we complain about tap water tasting funny, and not getting diarrheal disease if we drink it; we complain about non-energy saving light bulbs, and not whether or not our town will get electricity in the next 5 years. My words may make you feel guilty, but they are not meant to make you change the way you live your life. How can you compare the wealth of a developed superpower to that of a country unable to provide basic services to a population of 8 million? The world I come from and the world I now live in are not different worlds, but parallel universes. We live in the same time, but see through different eyes. As you sit deciding on what you want to eat, so do I. The only difference is options. As we move down the ladder of wealth, affluence diminishes and poverty flourishes. Developing countries are run by select elite that limit the options of their greatest allies, their people. Yet I sit in this universe and observe as an outsider. It’s a system that has flourished with devastating results, yet it is a system in which people bye into. And while we call it a simple life, it’s simply a life without options. Phew, needed to get that out. Ok, I want to give a shout out to my boys in B-town and the Atl crew.

On my last post I forgot to put some pictures of me and the group, so here they are.

In Honduras and pretty much all of Latin America, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter makeup the what is called Semana Santa, or the holy week. In addition to wed, thurs, and Fri being a national holiday, there are endless celebrations all week that often result in most people, incuding students and teachers, taking the entire week off. Generally, people spend the week in celebrating and praying or taking a family vacation to the North Coast, or any of the beautiful locations in Honduras. Regardless, there are millions of people traveling all over the country throughout the week.

One of the most famous traditions of the Holy week are the alfombras (rugs) that are made of sand. The rugs are prepared the night before good friday and ready for display by the time the morning procession begins. My fellow Yarumelans and I decided to take a ride to Comayagua (20 min away) to take a look at these rugs and hang out for the procession. The rugs were absolutely beautiful. It was amazing that so many intricate designs were made with just different colored sand. The procession itself was also impressive. Leading the way was JC himself wearing the crown of thorns and bearing the cross on his back. It was pretty amazing, but what really impressed me was that not only was there a grown man playing the role of Jesus, but several children, some as you as 4 years old carrying the cross down street ahead of the procession.

Another holy week tradition that not many people know about is amazingly similar to the running of the Jew scene in the movie BORAT. On Wed, Thurs, and Fri of the Holy week men in every town of Honduras dress in rags and put on scary masks and start chasing the people in the streets in an attempt to beg for money. If you resist, they pull on your clothes and won´t leave you alone. I honestly couldnt believe what I was seeing or hearing, it was amazing. Some actually yelled ¨The Jews are coming!¨followed by children running and screaming with terror through the streets. Some of you might think that this is offensice, but in reality it isn´t. Im pretty sure that most people arent aware where the tradition comes from, and have simply kept it going out of custom. None of it is meant to be offensive, and is pretty awesome to say the least. Some floating theories on its derivation are the spanish conquest and the Jewish-Roman conflict during the time of JC. Anyway, if anyone is interested in what a Jew looks like in Honduras, check out the pictures below. Ive also attached some pictures of the rugs in comayagua and the gang.

I dont want to spoil you all with additional posts, but I have one more topics to cover.

Weightloss

first of all let me start by saying that I have lost quite a bit of weight since arriving in Honduras and Im pretty sure its from the...unstable stomach lets say...i´ve had since my arrival. I never thought that the one thing I would miss the most would be a solid BM, but i guess nothing is perfect. As far as being el gordito, my family here in Yarumela has made it abudantly clear that im mildly overweight. A few nights ago my host father asked me straight up how much I weighed, which was followed by a ¨wow¨and Ï was concerned when my son weighed 215 and he´s 6´1¨. It was a great conversation and I feel as though we got a little closer that night. The next day there son Mario ,that lives on the border with El Salvador, came to visit. That evening I saw Mario talking to his father and they both kind of glanced at me and continued with their convo, naturally I thought nothing of it. When we sat down for dinner I gave the usual grace (thank you for this food...AND THEY´ER OFF!) that is often followed by a nice awkward silence as everyone inhales their food. As we were eating Mario decided to speak up. Basically and as random as it gets he says. ¨Yeah I´ve been losing weight slowly over the past 3 months, are you planning on losing weight here?¨ I was pretty shocked and surprised at the sudden interest in my weight, but then again Hondurans are known to be blunt with their decriptions of people. Unfortunately, it doesnt end there. Yesterday some volunteers and I went to nearby pool for some bonding time with family and friends. Since its so freakin hot here I decided to got for a dip. Please keep in mind that the pool is actually a 10x10x4 cement basin with about 8 kids screaming inside of it. Within 5 minutes of getting in the water a little kid jumped on my back and started screaming ¨llevame gordo!¨, which translates into ¨carry me around fatty!¨. Even though it hit a sore spot, it wasnt meant malicously so I laughed it off...and cried on the inside. You may be thinking wow I cant believe these people are so blunt. Well, it doesnt end there. This morning as I was on my way out the door for class Mario stopped me with a calculator in hand. As if in a rush he asked me how much I weighed, so I told him. Next, he asked me how tall I was, so I told him. At this point I was getting a little suspicious, so i asked him what the hell he was doing...to which he replied hold on, hold on. After waiting a couple of minutes he says to me, ¨JOEL! your body mass index is 35! have a great day.¨

I really didnt know how to respond so I said thanks and walked off. This experiences may piss of some people, but they are pretty funny and serving as great motivation.

Talk to you all soon.

J

Hi Everyone! the lack of internet access in the village im living in is making a little impossible to update the blog and check my email, but I´m trying my best to make into La Paz once a week for internet use.

One week of Field Based Training has passed and it really flew by. The health team has been split into two groups here. Half of us are in La Paz, and the other half are in a small village with 2500 people about 5km away...guess where I am.

The town is called Yarumela and its exactly what youre probably imagining. Small houses, some made of adobe, others from stone, painted with beautiful pastels. A grid of dirt roads weave between the houses with stray dogs, cows/bulls, and people walking to and from. Around noon its blaringly hot and stays that way until 5. In the evenings a cool breeze makes being outside a little easier.

As for me, the week has been filled with interesting events. For one my fellow volunteers living in Yarumela have nicknamed me Profe. (el profesor). For some reason all the people in Yarumela think I am Honduran professor that works with the Peace Corps. I wont lie, its pretty flattering, but for some reason they all now my name and I´m not sure how that happened. The other afternoon i was locked out of my house and the nanny (Sueyapa) that works at my house couldnt hear me calling from the gate. Out of nowhere this lady from the store across the street came running over and just started screaming for the nanny: ¨Sueyapa!!! open the door! Joel is locked out!¨ I was just like wow, thanks...and who the hell are you?

My family is pretty great. My host dad is the director of the school and my host mom is a teacher. They are kind of quiet, but apparentaly i was placed with them because I talk a lot. They also seem to be pretty religious, which is pretty standard for Honduran families. As a general rule, I have decided to avoid discussing my religion with people. Not because im afraid of discrimination, but because its easier to avoid it all together. As a result, i say grace before every meal...kind of backfired. I really dont have a lot of exp with grace, so I just give it the old thank you g-d for this meal, and they take off on their own prayers. I´ve started imagining the pullstart on a lawnmower as I do it...it calms the mind. However, last night the truth surfaced and the fam learned that I was Jewish The conversation went a little like this.

Fam: So both of your parents are catholic?

Joel: No, my mom isn´t

Fam: Ohhh, is she evalgelical (said with a ¨thats too bad¨ look on their faces)

Joel: No, not evangelical, she´s Jewish

Fam: Oh, but YOU go to a church right

Joel: No, a synagogue

Fam: Is that like a church?

Joel: Yes, similar

Fam: Oh, but your DAD goes to a church

Joel: No, he goes to synagogue with us and loves it. He knows the prayers better than I do.

Fam: Ohhhh...but you´ll have a catholic wedding.

Joel: No, my girlfriend and are Having a Jewish wedding.

Fam: Is that like a catholic wedding?

Joel: Similar, except the groom steps on a glass at the end.

Fam: (giggle) oh, ok...but you´ll raise your kids caothlic

Joel: No, they will be Jewish too...

At this point the commercials ended and their telenovela (soapa opera) came back on, and all questions ended. I have to say it really wasn´t bad and very chill to talk about, they just didnt know much about it and REALLY used the church as their only frame of reference. In actuality it was leaps and bounds better than telling my host family in Santa Lucia, where the response was: ¨Ahhhhhhh, I hear their good with money¨

Other than that things are going well. Im kind of running out of timew over here so, ill post more on my next trip into the city. Thanks for all of your comments and package ideas, anything you want to send would be aweosme, but no worries.

I love and miss you all.

Well, It´s been a few days since I´ve made a post. First, Let me address some questions I have received from the blog comments.

1. ¨What should we send you?¨

-I could easily write up an extensive list, but for everyone´s sake I´ll kep it brief. Girl Scout Cookies, Cheap/burned DVDS, and music would be awesome!

2. ¨How do we get in touch with you?¨

-Communication down here is really tough, so the best forms are email and blog postings. I do have a cell phone and can receive calls from the states for free, but anyone who calls me has to get some kind of calling card...I can also call the states for 10 cents a min. Skype is also pretty great for calling. Its free for anyone on Skype and 2 cents for me to call landlines using Skype. If you have a webcam, you can see how tan and slim im getting ;) But, the internet connection here is not that great, so webcamming is iffy.

So...

On Wednesday I got back from San Lorenzo, where I didn´t stop sweating for 3 days. It was a really great trip and I learned a lot from the volunteer that lives there. On Monday, Kyle (the volunter I visited) and I supervised 10 thirteen year-olds he trained, while they gave HIV/AIDS classes at a local highschool. He managed 2 classes and I managed the other 2. For anyone that doesn´t know, Honduran schools are very different from schools in thge US. For one, students pretty much do what they want if the teacher isnt paying attention. Literally, kids will run in and out of the class at will. It was really shocking, but very enjoyable. I was so impressed by the kids who taught the classes. They were intelligent, well spoken, and interested in informing their peers. Unfortunately, some of the students weren´t interested in listening. But hey, not everything is perfect, the day was still a huge success.

Kyle´s house in San Lorenzo was pretty huge, but it didn´t have any running water. Some of you may think that it must have been unbearable, well it was...no, actually it was fine. The only problem was that I couldn´t stop sweating, even at night while I slept. Also, I finally got some good old american food. Kyle made me some Tuna melts for lunch and for about 7 seconds I thought I was back in Atlanta. Wednesday morning I got up around 7 to catch the bus around 8:30. I was a bit worried because there was a bus strike on Tuesday, so I wasnt sure if I would be able to get back to Teguc wed moorning. Luckily, everything worked out and I made it.

Tomorrow we are heading for Field Based Training. My group, health, will be heading for La Paz. I´ve been told that its really hot their too. YAY...Six of us, including myself, will be living in an aldea right outside of the city called Yarumela. The other 10 will be in the city. I have also been told that Yarumela is hotter than La Paz. YAY, again...My host family in Yarumela was described as a disciplined family that locks the gate at 9pm, regardless of whether im home or not. Other than that I really don´t know what lies ahead. Its been really great reading everyone´s comments, so thank you and keep them coming.

I love you and miss you all

J

If anyone is curious what my mailing address until I'm sent out to the field on May 2ndis, I've listed it below.

Joel Stanojevich PCT

Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3158

Tegucigalpa, Hnoduras

America Central

This Sunday I´m heading over to San Lorenzo to visit another health volunteer for three nights. From what I´ve read, San Lorenzo is a progressive town with a bunch of tourist attractions, but I´m sure i´llbe seeing a very different side of the city. My host mom has told me that San Lorenzo is one of the hottest places in Honduras, which sounds great for me and my overactive sweat glands! The city itself is located on the pacific coast of Honduras, which is actually a very small gulf on the southwest corner of the country. Total travel time should be about 4 hours from Teguc, so not that bad. Im really excited about the trip. While training has been fun and all, it seems like a bunch of volunteers have been pretty anxious to get out there and see what we will actually be doing.

This past week we took our first visits into Tegucigalpa. I was expecting to see something similar to Lima (since its really my only frame of reference), but in actuality the city is much more underdevloped and dangerous. Im getting the impression that most volunteers avoid going into Teguc unless traveling or going to the PC office. As we took the bus downtown everyone seemed pretty nervous about what the city had to offer. From the bus station we split up into groups of three and hailed cabs for our next destination. The first stop we made was at the open air market for some family grocery shopping. Upon arrival we met up with our instructors and off we went. In all honesty, the market looked like a dimly lit farmers market with a lot more meat and chorizo hanging from random corners and kiosks. It was really interesting to see, except for the overabundance of flies, but thats expected.

From there we went to the bus terminals to figure out how to get to different parts of the country. Apparentally, the infomation we wrote down at the stations will be passed onto everyone for our volunteer site visits this sunday. I´m praying that people actually paid attention.

From the bus station we went to the peace corps HQ in Teguc for a short tour and relaxation session. The office seriously looked like a high security prison from the outside. There are no signs and a huge wall with barbed wire surrounding the office. But inside, there is AC!!!! and INTERNET WITH WIFI. On the way back we took peace corps vehicles which looked suspicously like the white ford explorers used in the movie Clear and Present Danger, where Harrison Ford and enterouge were corned in an alley by narco-trafficers with missle launchers. It was all very surreal.

For now thats all I got. Thanks again for all the comments, they are really fun to read.

Love

J

PS-(for Eva) The derivation of Beethoven´s name is not as cool as I had hoped it would be. Apparentally, he comes from a long line of Beethoven´s which loosely refers to that movie with the St. Bernard-Beethoven and Beethoven´s second...boo

Dinner for One

I´m not sure if Imentioned this in a previous post, but it seems that the Rottweiler at my home has a taste for bull carcas. Teddy, as she´s called, came home last week with the hoof of bull in it mouth. Normally, Teddy is a sweetheart, but with a delicious piece of beef in her mouth she turns into a wild animal. Instead of letting her enjoy her prize my host brother-in-law distracted her while one of the kids grabbed the hoof and buried it behind th house. Apparentally, the bull carcas attracts other animals and creates a bit a of a zoo ambiance on the front porch, sans the smell of elephant crap. Suprised and kind of grossed out, I thought that it was a rare occasion to see the dog with a hoof in its mouth, I was sorely mistaken. Last night, after I got off the phone with Leah, I made my way to the bathroom before going to bed. As I opened the door from my room to the porch, there was Teddy staring right at with a huge set of Bulls´s horns in her mouth. Needless to say, I was shocked at what I saw and decided that going to the bathroom quickly would be best. On my way back from outhouse Teddy was devouring the meat left on the base of the horns. As I passed her I couldn´t help but notice the look she gave me as if to say, you better get your ass back to bed. Latter that evening I snored peacefully to the sounds of other animals coming for a taste of Teddy´s treat.

Sounds of The Night

I´ve come to realize that most Americans, at least those I know, are under the impression that roosters actually caw at dawn. I am sorry my friends, but you are sorely mistaken. Im starting to believe that I live at the hub of the rooster population in Honduras. Most nights, the rooster caws at 1:30 am, 3:00 am, and 4:00 am, but recently they have taken a liking to the 9 and 10pm slots. There´s nothing like falling asleep to the deafening caw of ten roosters less than 30 feet from your bedroom...sweet dreams. If its not the roosters, its the dogs. Along with Teddy, there are 3 smaller muts that live at my house. (please keep in mind the concept of a pet dog is very different here. Generally, they are for protection and not cuddling). Wolfie, Betowen, and Betowen´s brother love to bark at anything that moves in the night. Most nights the three smaller dogs bark, and Teddy lies back eating bull carcas, but when Teddy gets into the mix its like sitting ïn front of a airhorn. The best part is that when Teddy barks, you know something big and scary is right outside, which means no going to bathroom! yay!

US Luxuries

Raise your hand if you have a washing machine...I´m not raising my hand. Next to the outhouse there is a huge concrete basin that is used as the primary water source for the house. We have running water, but the ¨Pila¨, as its called, is a necessary reservoir. On the left side of the pila there is ribbed surface used for washing clothes...and that is where I was my clothes by hand. It took me about ten minutes to wash a t-shirt. One t-shirt. My host mom was watching over me the whole time to make sure i was making the right washing motion, I felt like 3 yera old. After taking an hour to wash everything, I hung it out to dry. I did my first load four days ago and it took two days to dry. Washing is awesome.

Well, it happened. I thought I could avoid it, but it was not so. 48 hours ago I started my first of many battles with Montezuma and his vengeful hand. While running to the bathroom every 15 minutes wasn´t fun, the nurse at the training center asked me to give her a stool sample in a cup smaller than my hand. Honestly, I never realized how flexible I actually am. When I brought my ¨sample¨ back to the nurse I told her: ¨le traje un regalito!¨, which meansI brought you a little gift. We both laughed while clearly trying to hide a dry heave. Later that afternoon they gave me a 3 days worth of cipro, an antibiotic strong enough to kill anything in or around my body. I´m already feeling better!

The past few days have been very different from my fun in Valle de Angeles. The security specialist has started using scare tactics with his lectures, which is apprentally completely justified. Tegucigalpa is apparentally one of te most dangerous cities in the world, and approximaetly 2/3 of the volunteers here are expected to get assaulted in there first year. Keep in mind, assault includes getting pickpocketed. I won´t lie, I´m pretty scared. It´s pretty clear that there is no way I can just sit around at home while im here, so ill just have to be alert and watch my back. I addition to these lectures, our program directors have broke down what training will include over the next 10 weeks. I couldn´t beleive how many health projects there are, which does not include the several projects for language training. I´ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed and stressed over the last few days, and cant believe only 11 days have passed...it feels like months. Being sick hasn´t helped anything either.

Anyway, I hope everything back home is going well for everyone. I miss everyone so much.

J

First let me say how awesome it is to read the comments that everyone is leaving, its really helping me through this and keeping me in touch with the world back home. On that note, emailing is proving to be more expensive than I thought since I have so many things to check when I get to the internet cafe. (gmail, bellsouth, blogger, etc) I think my blog will be my primary form of computer communication, with exceptions of course.

This past weekend my ¨famly¨and I went to Valle de Angeles for a day trip to visit some of the extended family. The bus ride there took about 45 minutes and went straight through the mountains. Along the way we passed random homes on the side of the road, which seemed unbelievable to me since there were no towns that close by. Just when I thought I was in the middle of nowhere soaring through the mountains on a yellow school bus, Michael Jackson tore through the speakers and huge advertisements for dorritos littered the boulders on the side of the road. The sights and sounds defintely brought me back to reality. When we arrived to the main village North American tourists were everywhere! It was pretty unexpected, especially when they would look at me with a look as if to say, ¨I wonder if that guy speaks english?¨ From the village we took, what could have quite possibly been the smallest taxi I have ever seen. My host sister, two kids and I climbed into the back seat praying that we would make it all the up the moutain. As I couldn´t help but feel partially responsible for the slow ascent, I expected the ¨taxi¨ to slingshot up the mountain if I were to hop off. Once we got there I met my host mom´s entire family, including her seven simblings and mother. I quickly learned that the trip to the valle is a bit a right of passage within my host family, since my host mom has hosted several volunteers in the past...either that or because I have a digital camera and my host mom needed pictures of the newlyborn grandchildren to send to family in the states. I´m gonna pretend that its the latter. Around four we made our way back on a bus that stuffed to the brim. Instead of enjoying the picturesque views, I was more concerned with who was touching my thigh and why there were so many chickens on a bus. All in all the trip was a bunch of fun and very well needed. Getting out and about has really distracted me from missing home, as well as having to watch Dragonball Z with my host brother who is OBSESSED! I won´t lie...its fun to watch.

Today we were placed in our respective spanish classes according to speaking level. The levels go from novice to intermeidiate, then advanced, and finally superior. While I wanted superior I knew that there was no way I would get it. Within each level there are three classes, low, med, and high. Not to toot my own horn, but I was expecting to be in Advanced high with other native speaker, but alas I was placed in Advanced med. Everyone seemed pretty surprised with placement decisions overall, so we will see in the next few weeks if people get shifted around. Other than that the day pretty much flew by. After class some volunteers and I went to get some coffee, alfajores (known as el chileno here), and milojas pastry. It was fun and a great opportunity to get to know some of the 46 volunteers that are here.

On a completely separate note I need to say that my 4 year old host brother ends every meal with: ¨gracia a dios, ya comi. Amen!¨ Which translates into ¨thank g-d, I already ate. Amern.¨ Its awesome.

I love you and miss you all so much

Today we had a fiesta at the training center. All of our host families were invited and a presentation on the different ethnic groups of Honduras was given. Food from each group was served, including los islenos, mosquita, pech, tawahke, and garifuna. The food was amazing...i mauy have overdone it. After the party my host brother, Daniel, and I decided to go andplay a game of futbol with some orger volunteers. All together there weere about 15 of us. When we got there a bunch of locals were getting ready for a match. Without hesitatino they recruited el chino, an asian volunteer from montana, and a few others to sub. Eventually we each got a shot to play. It was so awesome.

When the halftime whistle blew the ref camy up to me and told me that I would ref the second half...and thats when I crapped my pants.

It really was cool calling the game, but one of teams got furious with me and really started complaining. Now, if you have ever seen a soccer game yuo know that the ref is the most hated person on the field and is often chased off. I doubted that there was any chance of that happening, but in the back of my mind I was planning an escape route. At 345 I called the game and obviously the Peace Corps team won...wink...

Im still pretty homesick, but each day it gets better. I cant wait until what tomorrow brings.

Dont really have much time to post, but I showered with a bucket of water this morning. It was awesome. Other than that everything is pretty intense here. Classes are from 7:30 to 5 and dinner starts at 6:30, so there isn´t a lot of time for emailing. I´m still pretty homesick and am hoping it passes soon. In about 3 weeks we are moving to field training for 6 weeks where things are expected to get rougher. Right now my house is prettyy great. Its one women with her 5 grandchildre, 2 of which live with her. The house is small but warm. My host mom has had several volunteers in the past and knows how things work. For that I am greatful. As for the restrooms...it really is outhouse next to a the showering shack. On the brightside, the bucket of water I bathed with was warm, yay. All in all Im doing ok I think. I found myself down in the dumps last night, but tonight is better. People are waiting for the computer so gotta go. I love you all

Well, its really happening, no more talking, no more messing around. The plane leaves at 7am with or without me. I really can't describe what I'm feeling right now. The past 24 hours have been nothing but orientation, exercises, and meeting new people. There are 48 of us going to Honduras. Overall, it has been pretty incredible meeting all these people. To my surprise, the oldest person in the group is 26. Despite the distraction of making friends and taking about the mission of the Peace Corps, reality is really starting to sink in. In about 12 hours I am leaving for two years and that spurs all kinds of emotions. I keep telling myself that this experience is just like a roller coaster, and right now I am waiting in line to get to the top. Thinking of my friends, girlfriend, family, and the ensuing bouts of uncontrollable diarrhea are taking their toll, but knowing that the most amazing two years of my life lies around the corner is driving me forward. I love and miss you all very much.