It is amazing to me what you can learn about yourself

When you open up to the turmoil inside your head,

When you realize that you really live but only once,

And own up to the realities that many let go unsaid.

You learn that your dreams are to be chased to extremes

For fear of your life coming to an end potentially unsatisfied.

Conversely you learn that life is filled with unexpected results

And that fulfillment may only come from those dreams being tried.

What is a dream then if not completely realized as imagined

And so seriously prepared and considerably sacrificed for?

Is it awareness, understanding, disappointment, acceptance,

Or simply the closing of one and opening of another door?

My experience has taught me that pursuing your dreams –

Regardless of the outcome, the impact, or the change made –

Is an act worthwhile, though probably difficult and frightening at first,

Whose lessons and understandings should never be allowed to fade.

Life is short. It is true and something that you already knew,

But have you ever drastically changed your situation

To leave behind what you find comfortable and real

To risk gaining a broader and more defined realization?

I have.

I realize that fulfillment comes in forms that may be unrecognizable

And in ways that both distress and pacify the head and heart.

It is how we value such fulfillment and its impact on our being

That allow us to adequately determine a future start.

I have risked my life, in various aspects of the term, in 2009

To become a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras.

I now realize and appreciate that it is my time to move on,

Finally admitting to myself that I have reached allí, no más.

My departing wish is that all will hear my plea sounding until I die:

Be true to yourself, and follow your heart wherever your dreams may lie.

You may say that it is “easier said than done” and be scared to try,

But there is no need to be afraid to fall when you have so much hope to fly.

As you can imagine, my emotions have been running amuck (Honestly is that really a word?…I guess it must be…I see no squiggly red line underneath it screaming at me to change it…Who decided those letters make sense together? Who is this Webster guy? Must have been Britannica…with a name like that… haha, just kidding, B-man…) since my grandfather passed, since I saw my parents after eight months of being separated, and since I returned to Gracias with luckily only one of my buses breaking down on the trip back...at dusk. (Those of you that saw my COWPRINT luggage before I left can imagine the pain in my chest as I stood next to the highway calling every PCV and Honduran I know in the West for a ride before it got dark.) Hello, Honduras…

The trip home to the states was (*thankfully*) uneventful from the bus ride out to San Pedro to the flight transfer in Miami. The culture shock hit me when I got into the airport in Miami. All signs and announcements turned into English, I could (successfully) flush my toilet paper down the toilet…and I spotted a sign for a Sam Adams brewery seconds after debarking from the plane. Now I know that may seem cheap to some, but it brought a huge smile to my face! Although I never actually found the brewery (trust me…I looked), my smile continued through the immigration line as the immigration officer flirted with me and I wasn’t offended, as I ran into countless Starbuck stands not minding the overabundance of coffee options, and as I sat and watched an American baseball game while consuming a grilled shrimp, mixed leaf, balsamic vinaigrette salad. (The PCVs get me on this.)

My time in LA was absolutely precious as I was able to be with immediate and extended family for my grandfather’s services as well as spend time at my grandparents’ house, visit several friends from college and from the city I adore, and spend quality time with the Broham frequenting the old spots together. The drive back and time in Roseville were also fabulous. I got to run some *very* looked forward to errands and spend quality time with the mom, hang out with the crew at one of my fav restaurant (BJ’s) and cause some old-school (no one got hurt) ruckus, and sleep in my tiny, twin bed that I have missed since the day I left it (with my blanky…not ashamed to admit it). After the home time came the soul time: a trip to Sea Ranch. Although short, the trip allowed me to visit my heaven/haven in 2009, spend quality time with the dad, run without ruthless shouts or dogs attacking me, and consume as much food and beverage that I possibly could in three days before heading back to Honduras. The trip, though less than two weeks, really brought to light some strong realizations and a big question that I don’t think that I have properly addressed yet. (This is about to get real.)

The first realization that I had while I was at home was how poorly I was unable to answer the question of “What are you doing in Honduras?” or “Do you like it?” Although better answers came with time, most of my responses seemed to always come to the conclusion that “I am trying” but don’t seem to be achieving my desired results in the midst of my struggle. I never had a “yes” or “no” answer to if I actually liked where I was at as a PCV but mostly responded with “It’s a lot harder than I thought/than it needs to be.”

I went into the Peace Corps, like most volunteers, assuming that the next two years of my life would be dedicated to living the daily life, adapting to the culture, and appreciating the value system of a country in need of the transfer of my intellectual capacities and professional skills. After three months of training, living with three Honduran host families, experiencing a 7.+ earthquake, and most notably living through a coup, I made the decision that I am here doing what I came here to do – engaging in sustainable development projects and participating in cross-cultural exchanges – to the best of my abilities for as long as warranted, two years or not. I have encountered many volunteers that want to “stick it out” (complete two full years of service) for fear of returning to a weakened U.S. economy without job opportunities or health insurance, of facing the potential disapproving or disappointed commentaries from family and friends, and/or of not knowing what their next career move would be if they left the PC. Others continue in their service because they enjoy the free time, the travel opportunities, and/or the friendships that they are developing with other volunteers. There are also others that are accomplishing both PC and personal goals by creating sustainable opportunities for their communities, making local and life-long friendships, and/or truly flourishing as an individual in a foreign land. I think I can fit into each one of those categories in some respect, thus exposing the reason for my discontentment.

In the first category, I exemplify she who has no idea what her next career move would be upon departure from Honduras and return to the states. I had hoped that my volunteer experience and cultural insights here would open my mind and heart to where my future is leading me. Well, I can’t honestly say that it has, but I can assuredly, without a doubt, say that my professional and personal goals continue to be service focused and volunteer driven. (I have always had the dream of working half the week in a “normal” job earning money to give my future children all the opportunities that my parents afforded me and volunteering the other half of the week for services ranging from environmental management to nutrition education to suicide prevention to tutoring. Anyone have any ideas how to combine all those?) In the second category, I am so very thankful for the friendships that I am continuing to develop with other volunteers both inside and outside of my training group. I have met individuals that possess the courage to live outside their national and personal borders with the dedication to improve the overall health of humanity. That may sound a bit extreme and/or far-fetched and probably does not apply to all volunteers, but it does to some. In the third category, I (again) would have to choose the last factor: I am doing my best to improve my personhood (with reading everything that I can get my hands on, practicing yoga regularly, and praying on the daily), my understanding and appreciation of diversity (by engaging in discussion with Honduran friends, coworkers, and strangers), and my clarity on where and in what capacity my skills would be best utilized (Honduras, PC, USA, NFP, etc.).

The second realization that I had came from an inquiry to my mother. (Like I said, this is the real deal.) I asked her if I had changed in some way since she last saw me. She hesitated before replying honestly (and I thank her for being honest) that I had become more cynical since the last time I saw her. (WHAT!? ¿¡CÓMO¡?) Ok, wait a tick. Last time I checked, I left the states the jolliest little lady from the Ville trying to bring a smile to any and all in my path with the intention to continue doing so in Honduras. (I did have a non-fan of my positive disposition and really tried to convert him…until I realized that you can’t mate a pessimist with an optimist. You only create indifference.) I don’t know what has caused my attitude to take a nose dive since I left. I mean, I have been through some trials and tribulations, but none that have left me grief stricken. (I scratched most of my skin off so the scabies would have no place to live. I fully enjoyed the earthquake dreaming that my bed was a boogie board riding the ocean waves. I could do no more than laugh as I received my five shots in the rear to completely shut down my E.Coli. I even thought for a moment that Honduras was so cool that it had to have two presidents instead of one!) Maybe it was caused by internal factors: my digestion isn’t always the best and my faith has been tested more than once. Maybe it was caused by external factors: there continues to be a lack of interest as focus here continues on survival and a return to normalcy can seem to only come, in my mind, from internal reform.

My third, final, and most important realization is probably something that I could have figured out before setting out on this journey, without the passing of Pops, and without a friend reminding me how short life really is: I am only at my best when I am surrounded in the company of my heroes. It’s true (and in no way corny). I feel that I am truly at my highest spirits, with a sharp wit and hungry mind, and striving to be the best daughter, sister, friend, and stranger when near those that I love. Maybe it’s my time away that is pulling me back home…Maybe it’s the recent passing and reality check on life’s certainty…Maybe it’s the simplest thing I never had to figure out: Home is where the heart is.

So these realizations beg the obvious question…I’m sure you have figured it out by now. I just don’t want to feel like I am a wasted resource here, not being taken advantage of to the fullest. I believe I have so much to give...I know the PC experience is generally comprised of a series of small project (or non-project) successes and unforgettable personal relationships…but I don’t know that I am realizing my full potential in either of those areas in Honduras. I don’t have an answer to the question of when I will be coming home, but it’s something that’s weighing on my mind a little more heavily than before, and I thought it was time to be honest about it.

Oh what a night! (Oh man, how I miss those Jersey Boys performances in the city with Pa…) Well, not a night exactly, but instead a series of weeks (three to be exact) since we have last “touched base” (Where did that phrase actually come from? Do you think it has something to do with the guy who stands at third base? I miss baseball games. Go A’s!) that has continued to test my resilience as a PCV in Honduras.

The first week was much like the many leading up to my vacation to Utila: uneventful at work, busy at home, and with little time spent out in the community out of a sheer lack of desire. (I am still frustrated to this day at how ambiguous my feelings are about my town. Sometimes I feel so happy to be here in a safe, relatively intimate community where I can run into someone I know and encounter what I need with ease. Sometimes I feel so sad to be here, in an unstable political environment that divides my city where I run into countless strangers, adults and children, who give me unwanted attention and where I can find no escape but in my own apartment. Maybe this is every PC’s trial. Maybe it’s just mine.) I did a lot of reading, fixing up my computer (oh ya, it’s on its seventh life or something…), practicing yoga, jumping rope, watching movies, and cooking. I was also very stressed out not being at home with my family while my grandfather’s health rapidly deteriorated and while the country proved yet again that there is no end in sight for the current political crisis. (10-day ultimatum? Not so much.)

The second week and third weeks contained more volunteer activities but unfortunately much disappointment. Two different women from previous visit from the coffee group came to the city seeking my assistance in selling their products, 50 bags of café puro, but without any of the client information that had been gathered with the previous group: contact information, quantity purchased, preferred flavor, etc. This experience was QUITE frustrating as we found ourselves returning to current clients who were already overstocked with bags of puro, returning to potential clients that had previously requested bags con pimiento, and finally forced with leaving all remaining product on consignment so that the women wouldn’t have to carry the bags back to their community. I know that the learning curve is different here, but it would help me, as a volunteer, to at least see some effort made at updating knowledge and skills when I continue to devote my time and efforts to this group for that purpose. Continuing with news on the PRAF groups, I recently accompanied the women who will be making cleaning products on a marketing survey. I brought small candies for them to hand out to those that participated and which they, once given, quickly shared among themselves for personal consumption. (You can imagine my face right now.) Upon recently analyzing the results of the survey, most of the recorded responses were incomplete, did not answer the question asked, or nonexistent. It appeared (and I saw it myself as I accompanied one of the groups on the survey) that the study was done in a slap shod manner with little interest and intent on caring about the results. Needless to say, this experience was also QUITE frustrating. In addition, the ETC trainings on business administration FINALLY (yes, finally…they were supposed to start when I arrived in May) began with a programmed schedule of Tuesday and Thursday night trainings. The turnout needs no explanation: 5 on Day 1 (introduction to the schedule), 3 on Day 2, 3 on Day 3, 1 on Day 4…The trainings will not begin again until mid-November, so we will have to wait and see what happens there.

The hardest part of this month (and definitely one of the hardest times here) occurred when I received news of my grandfather’s passing. I know he was “getting old” and it could have been “his time,” but that doesn’t make it any easier. It sucked to be here throughout the whole experience: not being able to visit him before, not being with my family when it happened, and being completely swallowed by the circular stress of being away from one another since. Pops was a dedicated soldier, brilliant accountant, adoring husband, loving father, and admirable grandfather, and I will miss him dearly.

On a better note (and I’m sorry my notes have been pretty melancholy until now…such is life), in the in between time these past couple weeks I assisted Jen (the girl I used to do yoga with) with a project that Plan Honduras is currently undertaking. I helped to evaluate potential surveyors that will be conducting a study of living standards of about 75 communities around the department of Lempira in the upcoming months. I also translated the survey from Spanish to English. I don’t know if I would say that type of work is appealing, but it was nice to practice. Tomorrow I have a day-long meeting with the leaders of CONEANFO (the organization that took over direction of ETC) to hopefully set up a training schedule for some microenterprises around the area. Thursday I have a workshop with Unidad Técnica to work on local economic development for the Mancomunidad. Then Friday through Sunday I will be traveling to Copan to celebrate Halloween with fellow Hondu PCVs. (I guarantee the number one costume worldwide this year will be Michael Jackson. I learned of his death from Hondurans MOMENTS after it happened! I have not gone a week since without hearing one of his songs.)

The following week will bring me back to where my heart remains: home. I will be traveling to Los Angeles to attend my grandfather’s services and then back home to Northern California to spend some time with the fam. When I first came to Honduras, I had no plans of coming home because I thought such a trip would be harder on my emotions than not. I basically thought it would ruin me rather than rejuvenate me. I stressed out a lot last week with this same thought when deciding to come home…I think I finally realized that it was time to come home when my mother told me so. I think she’s right...I miss home, and I need to be there. As such, this is my sign-off until my return to Hondu. Hopefully it can withstand until my return, and I think it will. (Elections aren’t until the end of November. No doubt something’s gonna happen.) Until then, be good to yourselves and each other (Jerry Springer...gotta love him.)

YAY for the 10-day ultimatum starting and ending when I left for and returned from vacation! What is that you may ask? Oh, just a little threat that the new president (Micheletti) gave the Brazilian Embassy when the old president (Zelaya) secretly returned to Hondu and set up shop there. The current government is demanding that the Brazilian Embassy “hand over” Zelaya to the authorities, but the Brazilian Embassy is contesting that he cannot be harmed as he is on diplomatic ground, a “safe haven” cannot be breached. The 10-day ultimatum was issued two Sundays ago, the day that I left for Utila, and ends…well…TODAY (if I counted right). That’s some irony for you. (All of the above information is based on local and international news articles.)

Before I go on with all the political b…happenings…I want to let you in on one of the BEST vacation spots that I have been yet: Utila, Bay Islands. What a little spot! (And I say that because it really is a little island, about eight or so miles long with about six thousand or so inhabitants.) We arrived on a Sunday to get settled and oriented, spent the following Monday through Wednesday attending classes and being tested on scuba diving knowledge and safety as well as underwater and surface skills tests, and finished out the week on Thursday and Friday diving around the island checking out the many fish, eels, rays, lobsters, turtles (although I personally didn’t get to see one, I still have my memories from Hawaii) and coral. The visibility was average because it was the end of the dive season but the experience was top notch. I am now a certified open water diver who fully plans on taking advantage of that fact in future vacation spots. (Roatan maybe, Dad?) Between all these scuba related activities, there was some definite fun had with the other twelve volunteers that accompanied me to the island. We feasted on amazing seafood (barracuda, king fish, amber jack, snapper, and tuna), hit the local night spots to dance on the docks and under the stars, and took walks and runs next to the gorgeous white sand beaches and light blue ocean water. The people on the island amplified the experience. Most are travelers (mostly divers coming through for months to a year at a time) from England, Australia, and the states. The rest are locals with a rich island accent (not Spanish) who have never been to the mainland and with a pleasant contentment with life. Utila, to me and many of the other volunteers, was not comparable to Honduras in the slightest. For example, I had no pena walking around the island in my bathing suit, and I actually got another favorite nickname from it: Roxy. (It has the brand name on the back of my suit.) The only downside about being on the island was the plague of sand flies that roam the beaches by day and the mosquitoes that roam the land by night. They were VICIOUS, and I am in no way exaggerating! I mean, they were incomparable to anywhere else I have ever been in the world.

Since I have been back to Gracias, I have been welcomed by the ever annoying piropos, further postponements of meetings and/or trainings, and never ending discussion about the political crisis of the country. Needless to say, I miss Utila already.

On a better note, I went back out to Santa Rosa this past Monday to catch the Monday Night Football game on ESPN. (How friggin RAD that they play the game at Zots!!) VIKINGS WON AGAINST THE PACKERS! How ironic that Favre stepped all over the green while reppin the purple?

As I mentioned previously, the 10-day ultimatum ends today. Micheletti attempted to ban constitutional rights last week and was quickly overruled by Congress. The states continue to call for the reinstatement of Zelaya before the November elections. Micheletti refuses to accept the San Jose Accord...(again, all based on news articles)...I wonder what this month is gonna be like…

What is the greatest lesson that I have learned to date? Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Hope…well…I have a lot of it. (I think it’s probably an intrinsic character trait of any PCV.) On a volunteer level, I hope that the ETC kids will be willing and able to participate in some basic business administration training as their program will terminate in December. For that reason, I spent several weeks at the beginning of the month preparing a lesson plan, charla papers (basically a flip chart), and activities

covering various requested topics as well as meeting with those in the Vivero to solicit their participation. I hope that the PRAF women’s groups will be successful in their microenterprises as funding for their program is currently frozen and may be cut indefinitely with a new government. For that reason, I walked two groups—organic paper and coffee—around Gracias and introduced them to business owners I know as well as prepared a marketing survey with the PRAF promoter for a group of women that are going to start to make cleaning products. I hope that the support group for those individuals living with HIV/AIDS will follow up on the business plan that they started to create at the workshop in Santa Rosa as this group is one in most need for income generation. For that reason, I sent several emails/text messages/calls and am prepared to continue to push for a meeting with the individuals that attended the workshop to ensure that the progress on the plan continues.

On a personal level, I hope that my computer will continue to survive and thrive as it encountered MASSIVE issues the past several weeks which required it be to returned to factory settings (thus losing all programs and updates) four times…that’s right. (It is amazing how dependent I am on this little guy. It’s an Acer, by the by, in case I forgot to mention it. I never knew a machine could control my emotions so much…and then I realized how dependent I really am on it for preparing lesson plans, writing blogs, saving pictures, playing music, doing podcast exercises, looking up recipes, watching movies, saving contact information, etc.) For that reason, I spent (and this is a fair guess) about fifty hours más o menos constantly adding and updating, adding and updating, adding and updating files and programs while all the while trying to combat the evil viruses that roam the networks in Gracias. I don’t know if I will ever win that battle and/or be fully protected, but I am sure going to try. (My dad is sending me a computer protection package. Cross your fingers! In the meantime, I am just going to cafes with a thumb drive.) I hope that I am able to go on my scuba diving certification trip that has been planned for months with about fifteen other PCVs as Zelaya returned to Hondu this week thereby inciting demonstrations, causing the closure of all international airports, and prompting day and night curfews in the entire country. For that reason, I…sigh…just pray.

So, as I said, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Be realistic but never afraid to dream. (A butterfly just flew up to my window. That’s pretty neat.)

Random thoughts: My butt hurts from sitting on it so much from trying to revive my computer and watching movies while being restricted to my house during curfew. I will never be able to get rid of the ants in my apartment nor the scabies in my bed and so we thus live in harmony together. How does it make any sense that my apartment floods when it’s ON THE SECOND FLOOR?! (Someone had too much guaro.) I’m so happy to have a futon where I can sit to read or offer as a bed to visitors. Whoever informed me about the temperature in Gracias lied: it is always hot and sticky a.k.a. I never go a day without profusely sweating. The women in the coffee group gave me the best nickname I have ever heard: Shanito. Write that down. It’s money.

AWESOME AUGUST!

SO MUCH happened this past month that has left me with radtastic PCV memories (/incriminating photos), a dent in the PCV account (/personal checking account), and the panza of a Honduran man (/nalgas of a Honduran woman).

To start off strong on the first weekend in August, I wanted ya’ll to know that, yes, I successfully baked my Nana’s famous caramel brownies (they should be illegal they’re so good) and that they were much enjoyed by host family, Hondu friends, and PCV homies per the comments that I received. (I would also like to note that no one suffered from E. Coli after their brownie experience.)

The first week of August days were spent in Santa Rosa attending an income generation workshop for persons living with HIV/AIDS with other PCVs, patients, and leaders from organizations that support such individuals. The taller went very well and covered the basic business concepts that we, as PCVs, learned in PST. At the end of the workshop, each PCV worked with his or her respective attendees to formulate a business plan for a microenterprise to hopefully launch once back in site. (Unfortunately, I have not been able to work with my group since the workshop but hope to meet with them next week to re-motivate the participants and develop their business plan further.) The first week of August nights were spent playing (or rather dominating) ping pong games on the roof of the hotel (holler to Walton Way tournaments!), sipping on Hoegaarden and Stella (Broham and Biggy would be so proud!), and rocking the mic at karaoke at a local Mexican restaurant/bar. (A fellow BZ PCV beat a Honduran in the final round! That’s right…we were all business that night.)

The weekend after the workshop (second weekend) I was finally able to move into my new apartment, and I could not be happier with it. It has green walls (instead of pink), a classier ceramic floor and bathroom décor (sometimes I am shocked at how American it seems…and then the water or electricity goes out and I remember where I am), WAY more sunlight (Sunshine Shannon! I doubt anyone reading knows this reference…Mom?), and a lack of my favorite neighbors (riiiiight). It’s hotter than heck most of the time up here, but I am so willing to pay the price!

The first half of the second week of August I traveled to a conference center on the border of La Tigra National Park (so beautiful) to get trained as a VOS member. The training went well and taught the same listening skills that I had learned from my training on the hotline in SF. It was relaxing to meet other PCVs with similar personalities and to spend some time in a gorgeous location.

The second half of the second week of August and third weekend (confused yet?) I traveled by bus from Santa Rosa to San Salvador to meet up with my brother and his girlfriend, Carrie. The reunion was AWESOME (minus the stress of being out of contact during the trip and an hour late arriving to the bus station)! After hugging it out for days (six months, dude!), we were taken by our driver (Right! When they arrived at the San Salvador airport the night before, Chris and Carrie met a personal driver that worked for the Marriott that offered to assist them throughout their time in El Salvador. This guy was the ish of a driver: he waited with them for an hour at the bus terminal, picked us up from the coast to drive to the capital on his day off, and picked them up from the hotel to take them to the airport at 4:45am!), to the chilliest little hotel in El Tunco complete with bamboo showers, infinity and waterfall pools, beachside hammocks, and one of the most impressive restaurants that I have ever been to both in quantity and in quality (complete with quail, rabbit, and iguana). That first day we enjoyed a fabulous lunner (Well, alright. I tried the iguana, and it sucked because it was overcooked, but Chris’ snapper stuffed with shrimp in a rich cream sauce was just absurdly fabulous.), a delightful dessert (crepes with Nutella, the richest chocolate ice cream I have ever tried, and a Mayan cocoa drink…not all mine, gez!), and good times playing cards in the room while the ocean roared and sky sparked during some redonk hurricane weather. The second day we rolled down the black sand beach to pick up some surf lessons (I stood up three times, YAYER!), delighted (I don’t know if Chris agrees with me here) in an indigenous sweat hut experience at the hotel, and hung out at the local cave bar (Trip, this reminded me of you!!). The third day we made our way back to the capital to stay in the Marriott (holy crap, this was the best culture shock I have had yet), feast on Benihana surf & turf (soooo yummmmy), and see a movie in a movie theater (it’s a big deal to me alright). We hit the local pub after (how sad that they were out of Guinness because it apparently unheard of in Hondu per our PST) and tried to stay up all night chatting over Spanish tele and local brews in the hotel. Chris and Carrie left before the sun came up the following morning while I snoozed all over (you heard me) my queen-size bed, hit the nearby malls to buy some cheap clothes (cheaper than Ross!? ¡Que barbaridad!), and fully took advantage of the free internet at the Marriott. All in all, the trip was so friggin fun and bien memorable but completely surreal. (I have yet to see the pictures, Carrie!) I never would have imagined that my brother and me would vacation to Central America together and then not return home to the same country…que raro.

After returning from San Salvador (we are now in the third week in August), I spent the night in Santa Rosa, made my way back to Gracias the following day, and then spent the rest of the week visiting five different PRAF microenterprises: condimentos (seasonings), asistines (disinfectants), café (coffee), encurtidos (pickled foods), and ropa interior (undergarments). There is an organization called PILARH in Santa Rosa that has partnered with PRAF to assist the coffee group. The women seem to be very motivated and understanding of what it takes to run a business. The two organizations and I are going to work together to reinforce the areas of production and commercialization to hopefully develop a profitable and sustainable business with the women. (The group gifted me a packet of coffee which I will taste in the very near future to see how/if we are rocking it.)

The fourth weekend (don’t judge the accountant who counts) was spent in Gracias attending a PCV REF (Religious Equality Forum) meeting with about 17 other people. This group is unique in that it is the only of its kind in the PCV community worldwide (from what I was told). The meeting is to serve as a round-table where PCVs can comfortably disclose their religious/spiritual beliefs and experiences or lack thereof with other volunteers while avoiding proselytizing. (The point is basically to create a safe place to share.) The first half of the event was spent sharing upbringings and family belief systems while the second half was spent in smaller groups with similar belief systems discussing similarities and differences. The event closed with a group discussion and Q&A session. I must say that I was very surprised at the diversity of belief systems represented – including Atheist, Buddhist, Catholic, Congregational, Jew, Mennonite, Quaker, and more – and at the high level of respect that was maintained throughout the event. (I would expect nothing less on that second point but had heard that the past event was lacking a bit in that area.)

The morning after the meeting ended and for a third of the fourth week, I traveled with a friend, Rebecca, to the town of Copan. (Holy shnikees, it was so adorable!!) We hit the town hard buying some of the cutest souvenirs I have ever seen in Hondu and thus spent more than our share of our monthly living allowance on presents for family and friends. We delighted our hunger on bagels, pita sandwiches, and filet mignon (which cost about $8 and was better than most that I have tried in the states) and disappointed our thirst on a sour mojito and half orange juice tainted sangria (both worse than anything I have ever tried in the states). We wrapped our quick trip with a stop at the Mayan Ruins (so dope and crazy to think how old they are) and then made our way to Santa Rosa to park for the night before Reconnect.

Now cometh the two thirdths of the fourth week (I am just humoring myself now. I’m sorry I’m being annoying). All of the BZ PCVs from H12 and H14 went to Siguatepeque for most of the week to share site experiences (Our group, namely my training group consisting of three projects, is called H14. Three projects form a training group that comes to Honduras every six months. Business, Health, and Water and Sanitation come at the same time and represent the even H numbers while Municipal Development, Youth Development, and Protected Areas Management come at the same time and thus represent the odd H numbers. The groups used to be labeled like randomly generated passwords are – 8675309KWOW – but then someone decided to KISS – keep it simple, silly – and change it to H whatever. Clever.), participated in some random training sessions, and played some stellar volleyball and ping pong matches. I ran in the mornings and kicked it with the homies in the nights thus closing out my week without much sleep. (Mi modo…just like the good ol’ days in SF.)

The last weekend and probably most overdone weekend in August was the last…the fifth (…like the element). On Friday night, about 70 (ya, that many) went to Santa Rosa to celebrate La Noche de los Fumadores. (There is a cigar factory in Santa Rosa that hosts this classy event every year during the city’s fería.) The night included music and dancing, appetizers and cheeses, wine and rum tasting, and cigar rolling demonstrations. The event didn’t meet my expectations with such a rad description, but I cannot say that I was disappointed hanging out with so many volunteers sippin on wine and smokin cigars. The celebration did not end at Noche but instead moved to the club that I mentioned in a past blog, Flamingo, where a massive amount of dancing was had with massive men. (You heard me right.) For some reason the Honduras national basketball team was at Flamingo that night and was all about shaking it. I even had some seven foot plus dude lift me off the ground with my arms over my head! (Random but notable: these gents were the most respectable Honduran men that I have yet encountered in Hondu. It was very refreshing to hang with them.) The next day brought laziness before continued movement. During the day we hit Zots for brunch, rolled to the central park for some coffee tasting, and then went back to the hotel to nap before round two. We hit Cuates for a despedida (goodbye party) for some departing PCVs and then made yet another appearance at Flamingo to shake our groove thang. (Oh no, the month isn’t over yet.) To close “Awesome August” out right, a huge group of PCVs came back to Gracias to enjoy the hot springs and bonfire sessions that are so commonly had in my site. We made s’mores and hot dogs as well as made sure to stay up until the sun came up (for the third night in a row!) enjoying Mountain Dews (I should have had licorice in hand, too), garlic popcorn (you should really try it), and watching The Best of Will Ferrell (More cowbell!).

(Catching my breath...)

So now here we are in September, and I think I have a whole new round of ish to work on that will be unrelated to PCV activities. Don’t get me wrong, I had a whole ton of fun this month with volunteers but really did miss my site and trying to develop activities in which I could support. Lucky for me, I came back to requests from five different sources (including the Escuela) asking that I assist in some regard. I am stoked to get these inquiries but a little nervous and stressed because each project is asking that the activities be wrapped by the end of this year. I am happy to help but a little worried that I am going to spread myself thin trying to help out everyone. I don’t want to say no to one and give all to another as I really am uncertain as to which, if any, will be available for my participation next year. On the other hand, I don’t want to get involved in so many projects that I can only give what a half-asser would.

I would like to end the blog by saying this: I’m tired but content, excited but nervous, and born a blonde but now a redhead. Funny what drinking the water here will do to you…

to the most amazing brother in the world who made this weekend absolutely unforgettable. I love you, Chris, and am so thankful that I got to spend time with you in El Salvador! Thanks for making this entire journey possible. Hermanos por vida.

Details of the fabulous trip to come! Miss you all. Be well.

My dream is dead…I should just face it…I can never be a wife in Honduras…It’s too risky…I would end up accidentally killing my husband!

Haha, so now that I’ve gotten the melodramatic intro out of the way, I will explain to you what I mean. Remember how my last blog started with me talking about sitting down to have a nice meal in my apartment? WELL, turns out Shanny ain’t the best cook (or may not have lost her Irish luck for the moment…I personally think this is the more the truth than the former) because she woke up at 2am on Monday morning sweating with: chills, a 102 degree fever, a pounding headache, unnecessary to mention bowl movements, and pain in every bone of her body. At first I thought, “OH SNAP, swine flu finally caught up to me!” Then I thought, “I am a fighter, bring on the badness!” Then I thought, “Silly girl, you couldn’t even battle those bed bugs.” Finally I realized, “It hurts to think. Shut up, and go back to bed.”

At this point I am going to insert a nicer tale of my weekend activities to lighten the mood a bit. Friday night, Anna and I went out to Santa Rosa to hang in the good company of some other PCVs. We chilled out and caught up on life, feasted on some American fare at a place called Zots (pretty much like a Hondu T.G.I. Friday’s), and then ended the night at a restaurant/bar where the DJ was in full effect upstairs. I have not danced like I did that night since the states! (Mind you, the PCVs were the only ones dancing while los demás sat and stared like creepy, old men do in the states…or pretty much anywhere in the world). Saturday we made banana pancakes (I think we could be Jack Johnson’s poster children) and homemade piña drinks, rolled around town for a bit in the afternoon, and then hit a concert that night. (That’s right!) We went to a legit club (with a cover and all! I am seriously amazed at how developed Honduras is in some places with such a high level of poverty in others) and saw a Hondu rock band. They were SO GOOD! I was seriously impressed and again enjoyed myself dancing the night away. Sunday, after Skyping with the fam from Bryan’s computer (ah thank ya sah), my girl Katherine (another PCV in Santa Rosa) made us some lunch while we watched Zoolander and shared a bit about our present sentiments of our life in Hondu. I shared some of my fears and struggles with her, and she was nothing but supportive and helped me to level my emotions a bit (thanks, lady!!). I made my way back home Sunday afternoon and tucked myself with a smile on my face unknowing of the danger that lurked in the dark that night…

This brings us back to where we left off: Monday funday! (I put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence because I took this whole experience in stride. It’s now just sort of comical because it is adding to my crazy experiences as a PCV.) I went to the doctor to explain my symptoms, get some tests done, and start on one of the most fun treatments I have had yet in my life…SHOTS IN THE ASS. (Hahaha. Sorry if that is vulgar for some. I just think it’s hilarious.) Over the week, the doctor and I became good friends (as you can imagine) as each morning I went to visit him to get my series of 5 shots over a 5 day period. (Thanks for rotating the shots, doc!) What would warrant such a treatment? Well! I feel lucky enough to say that I got a bacterial infection with a name because seriously, if I just said I had a bacterial infection it would not be as cool. I HAVE E.COLI. That’s right! (Haha, I probably didn’t even spell it correctly. Where is Google when I need it!?) I don’t really even know how or when I got it, but I got it! Luckily, it didn’t do too much damage to me after that first harsh night. With the shots and medications over the week, I was able to improve nicely and quickly. The only thing that has taken a bit longer to recover is my strength. I have not been able to run but have started doing short yoga sessions in the morning. I hope to be back in business by this coming Monday.

While I was suffering from the illness on Monday and Tuesday, the Escuela was continuing to suffer from the political crisis. I made it back into work on Wednesday to find out that because of the lack of payment from the municipalities in the Mancomunidad and frozen funds from La Cooperación Española, cuts were inescapable. Seven of the eleven employees—including the Director of the Escuela (who has really been my role model and saving grace these past few months) and the Director of the Vivero (my counterpart)—are being laid off. Pretty crappy, I know. The Directors will be there until the end of this month to try to wrap their work up. After that, two instructors, an administrator, and a social promoter will remain. What does this mean for me? Outstanding question. No idea. My counterpart mentioned that I still may be able to give training sessions to the Vivero kids, but I’m just worried that with the loss of leadership within the office that the kids will become discouraged or disinterested and decide to take their participation elsewhere. I talked to my PC Program Director about the whole sitch on Friday, and he told me that he was going to call the woman in charge of the Escuelas nationwide to figure out where the program is headed. (Unfortunately, I also heard that the Escuela in Ojojona is closing for good. That brings the count down to three that are still in existence.)

Thursday brought some promise to my future as I went out to two aldeas to visit two women’s groups—one who makes juguitos (basically Otter Pops) and the other who cultivates guayaba (which is like a mix of an apple and grapefruit) with the PRAF promoter (who is a really nice guy and seems to really want my help). The groups are struggling with some infighting but seem very motivated to make their businesses successful and were thus open to my participation in soliciting ideas to assist in the commercialization of their products. I did my best offering some suggestions and look forward o helping them and the other groups out in the days to come. (There are 15 groups in total.)

Friday started a bit sad having to say goodbye to some of m coworkers in the office but ended happier hanging out with some visiting PCVs and chatting by the bonfire.

The rest of this weekend should be relaxing. I plan to make (fine, try to make) my Nana’s ABSOLUTELY ADDICTING brownies today and Skype with the fam tomorrow.

What lies ahead? Good things! Monday I am pretty sure that I will change apartments. (Sorry that this probably makes no sense because it lacked a prelude. There is another available apartment in the complex that is upstairs, gets wicked sunlight, and lacks the ever so annoying blasting music of my upstairs neighbors that my landlord offered to me on Friday.) The rest of the week, I will be attending the workshop that I mentioned in my previous entry in Santa Rosa. I will get some good info and get to see some other Business PCVs that I haven’t seen since training. The following week, I will attend VOS training and see my brother! (WHOOHOO! My brother and I decided to change up the scenario and hit El Salvador instead of having him risk a trip into one of the capital cities of Hondu.) I will finish out the month regrouping with all the other Business PCVs and catching up on their past three months in site. Awesome August!

So ya, life has given me some lemons here. Some of them were rotten and made me sick. Some of them are not yet ripe, and I am therefore unsure how they taste. Some were sweet, and so I thus made lemonade. Let’s keep on rockin that lemon tree to see what type of lemon will fall next…(Clever, right?...No?...Maybe tomorrow.)

Here’s to you Hondu!

Well, here I am, sitting at my kitchen table (plastic), in my chair (also plastic), listening to my music (Ani DiFranco), eating a dinner cooked by…you got it…me (burnt grilled cheese with a chopped tomato and green beans). I gotta say that I’m pretty proud of myself for making it to this point without any major stumbles. It’s been quite trek these past three weeks. Seriously, it has been such a friggin month…in every sense of that word (I think it’s originally from Austin Powers if my memory serves me)…and we still have another week left…damn.

Unfortunately, the internal stability and mental well-being of Hondu and its citizens continue to be in flux. This has and continues to cause me much anxiety and frustration. There have definitely been moments where I thought about returning home because I was depressed at the fact that I couldn’t get rid of scabies because I couldn’t move out, stressed out and disappointed at work because the Escuela was forced to send their students home due to lack of funding and thus not focused on progression with the Vivero kids, and scared at the thought of being trapped in a civil war. Then there have been other moments where I think that I will be completely pissed off if I am forced to leave (like now) because I finally am settled into my own apartment, have started interviewing the kids in the Vivero which will then lead to training sessions on business administration, met with a promoter for PRAF (a group that trains and support women’s microenterprises) to start assisting some of the groups with commercialization, and am looking forward to a workshop focused on income generation for persons living with HIV/AIDS, a visit from my brother (HOPEFULLY!), and a training to become a VOS (Volunteer Offering Support) member for the Honduras Peace Corps community. (After the training, I will be available to offer peer support confidentially in any aspect to any volunteer in the country. As a member, I am the only other person that can visit someone in the hospital besides their spouse. That’s pretty dope!) So ya, as you can tell, I’m a bit uneasy at the moment, especially since these next two days are supposed to dictate the future of this country and my service here. (Ha, I think I said that in my last blog about three weeks ago. Can you believe this much time has passed without stability?)

Other activities that I have engaged in (this sounds like a business report) besides the aforementioned and since our last encounter include a trip to Santa Rosa with my host mother where I purchased the big items for the apartment to transport in her truck (including a double bed because it was actually cheaper than a single!), a trip to Teguc to see the dermo for several issues (including scabies, which I still apparently have, big surprise), and an absolutely fabulous visit from seven other PCVs to celebrate Independence Day (both for the US and for our training group) this past weekend. (Unfortunately, the feria was canceled this weekend, so I couldn’t show the crew the “best of” Gracias.) We played cards and chatted it up on Friday, made pancakes and mimosas Saturday morning, had a bonfire and roasted hot dogs Saturday night, and slept in (a rarity!) on Sunday. It was glorious!!

Where does that leave me? Well, on the downside, I’m close to broke after buying almost everything for the apartment, still itching away my skin on various parts of my body, exhausted after the weekend, and worried that I will not get to see my brother in August. (I really pray that I get to see you, Chris!) On the upside, I’m so happy to be in my apartment and without pressure to live on someone else’s clock, stoked that I have the ability to travel out of my site to visit my friends in other sites, comfortable with cooking my own Honduran food, and so thankful that I have such a supportive and loving family that is helping to make this journey possible. Although my situation is probably easier to live with than in other PCV sites around the world, it’s not necessarily easy for me. I miss my family terribly and sometimes worry about my safety as a foreigner here but am trying to continue on with the thought that this is what I chosen for myself, right now, to make myself a better person for others in the future. I hope (and pray) that it’s doing just that.

So…ya…a few things have changed since my last offic blog…I think that two most noteworthy would be the government and the President of Honduras, (ya, you heard me right!) although this should hopefully be old news to you by now. Forget bed bugs! Civil unrest seems to be a little more worrisome.

On that, I wanted to happily and thankfully report that the bites have died down. I changed my sheets again and am currently spending my nights bundled up in sweats, a hoodie, and socks on top of a blanket on top of my bed. (It seems to be doing the trick although it’s probably comical to watch me turn over and try to avoid touching the blanket with my skin like its lava or something.) The PC Medical Office responded to my case by offering to bring me to the PC dermatologist in Teguc to have me officially diagnosed so that they could then potentially accept my request to move early, but I decided that rather than risking a solo trip to the dangerous capital city and causing drama with the host fam, I would be patient and wait out the half month. (We aren’t even allowed to go to Teguc right now, anyway, so this is pretty much a moot point. Just wanted to catch you up.)

A quick recap of the rest of my activities since my last blog is as follows: I did not end up house sitting as the missionary family decided not to travel because of the controversial election that was supposed to take place on Sunday. (Good call on their part.) I was bummed but still able to have a fabulous Saturday. (Sunday was a different story.) I Skyped it with fam in the morning and spent the afternoon walking around town with Bert, Kalin, and another PCV from an outlying aldea, Courtney, searching for cheddar cheese and broccoli (both of which we found to be rarities here) while chatting about what the following day would bring. Although we struck out with the greens, we were able to find some cheddar cheese slices to do the trick for Kalin’s home-style mac and cheese that night. (You work with what you got.) Saturday night we prepped and feasted on some carne asada, chismole, baked m&c, and Ghirardelli brownies c/o Kalin’s mom (thank you, Kalin’s mom!) all the while enjoying the laughs of Mall Cop on Bert’s computer. Ah, the life and joys of a PCV in Hondu…

Sunday…ha…well I awoke to find the power out, the cable cut, and my mom rambling about the “Golpe de Estado” that had occurred earlier that morning. Needless to say, I spent the most of the day talking to family back home about the sitch and to get the news as well as staying in my room as much as possible so as to avoid any sort of trouble in town. This was pretty much the same story for Monday and Tuesday, as well. Instead of my standard morning runs, I stuck to jump roping and yoga at home, ran as few errands as possible, and packed up most of my belongings in case the situation escalates and evacuation becomes eminent. (This may be a totally premature move, but I really don’t mind as I am going to have to move all my ish mid-month anyway.) Yesterday, I came back into work for half the day to get some cuidadano insight from my coworkers and counterparts about everything, had lunch with a bunch of PCVs to get some PC insight, and spent the rest of the day doing an inventory of all my personal and PC ish. Today I am back at work listening to the many possibilities of what is to come on Saturday…

How do I feel about all this? Good question. I ask myself that about every 30 minutes, the same amount of time that my certainty level of staying in Honduras changes. Let’s just say I feel helpless, but not in a sad, pathetic sort of way. I feel helpless in the sense that these events are completely out of my control and that my two year stint as a PCV could be deemed obsolete in two days. I don’t know if that’s true…I don’t think it is. It’s weird thinking about that possibility. I def want to stay and finish out my work here. I have so many things coming up in the near future that excite me: a new apartment, a puppy, a visit from my brother, progress in ETC, potential volunteer opps in other sectors, workshops, a diving trip, Halloween, and maybe a feria. (So sad that it’s a maybe! The mayors from the Mancomunidad are meeting tomorrow afternoon in Gracias to discuss whether or not they are going to cancel it because of swine flu. Ah, I probably forgot to mention that in all the other the excitement. Gracias has reported cases of swine flu. Cool.) On the other hand, this country has some things that it needs to figure out (most of which the higher powers seem to want to accomplish through the use of firearms from what I have heard in the news) that I may be better off staying away from. At this point, I will say that I am thankful to be in Gracias (everyone keeps reassuring me of how lucky we are to be here because “Todo es tranquilo acá.”), have heard nothing more from the PC after being taken off Standfast (actually Phase 2, not 1), and am counting down the hours until Saturday when Zelaya is supposed to return with company. Other than that, I have nothing to say. It’s better that I don’t.

Hey, again. So nothing new to report here. My health and spirits are in good shape. We, as PCVs, have been on STANDFAST (Phase 2: Stay in site. Pack a bag. Prepare for consolidation.) since noon on Friday. It is supposed to end at noon today but could quickly change. We have also had two nights, Sunday night and Monday night, of country curfew (9PM until 6AM). Classes were canceled yesterday and today, and there are some roadblocks near the presidential palace. There were demonstrations yesterday in the capital city involving riots and police response. Although we currently have two presidents and cabinets in Hondu, Zelaya is supposed to return to the capital this week to regain his position as President. It seems that a majority of the world disagrees with his arrest and is asking for his reinstatement. A lot of the news stations in Honduras have been blocked, so most of the information received here is through commentaries on the radio and through the internet.

As for Gracias, there was a demonstration yesterday by local teachers who are in support of reinstating Mel because of the reforms that he has made in the past in their favor. Today there was supposed to be a meeting of all of the mayors of the department of Lempira in Gracias. I have no idea if it actually happened and, if so, what took place. I have not gone in to work for the past two days and have tried to stay indoors as much as possible. Although I feel safe and haven't experienced any ill sentiments personally, I am keeping a low profile.

Here is an excerpt from an email that our Country Director sent us that will hopefully give a bit more clarity on the encuesta on La Cuarta Urna that was supposed to take place this past Sunday:

"Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in November 2009. Honduras' constitution does not permit a President being elected for a second term.

President Zelaya proposed that there be a national encuesta (survey) to allow the Honduran people to decide whether or not they would like to be able to vote in the November elections for a cuarta urna (fourth urn) that would call for a constitutional assembly to be held at some future date. The purpose of a constitutional assembly would be to change the Honduran constitution, possibly including permitting presidents to be re-elected. This national encuesta and the cuarta urna in the November elections have been ruled as against the law by Honduras' top court."

That's about all I got for ya now. If you would like to get in touch with me, try sending a free text through the Tigo site (and I will respond to you directly if you keep the dialogue box open) or feel free to call my cell phone. I have limited access to the Internet so will send out another update as soon as I can.

Love to all.

Hey,team. Just wanted to let you know that I am safe in site as the rest of the country figures out its next best move. I understand that there are a lot of countries that are not fans of what happened to the Honduran President. I have no idea what will happen in the days to come but I just wanted to let you know that I am well and safe in my tranquil town. I will update you if anything changes. For now, be well. Safety never takes a day off.

Where to start…let’s rewind back to the day I wrote my last blog. Then, let’s fast forward to that night…SCABIES STRIKES AGAIN!! Oh ya, Friday night I woke up in the middle of the night to the same intensive itching that I was experiencing before. (WTF.) Luckily, Saturday afternoon I had an appointment with the doctor. On Saturday, right before I went to my appointment, I was playing with the muchacha’s baby and (wouldn’t you know it) noticed a series of red bumps on one of her arms. Now, I’m no doctor and can’t say that this rash was the effect of…oh, I don’t know…SCABIES (said like Dana Carvey as the Church Lady), but it definitely wasn’t normal. I went to the doctor that day, told him the itching had dissipated on my trip to Comayagua, showed him the damage done to my wrists and ankles the night before, and explained what I saw on the baby’s arms. His response…so deep, so profound, and so true…was, “You need to move out.” (YAY! Glory be to someone who understands!) He recommended telling my family that they should be treated as the bugs seem to live in the house until I recounted to him the last time I tried to explain the sickness to them and that they didn’t believe it was from something in the house but rather a bug that flew in through my window. He prescribed me some more meds (luckily not the burning type) and suggested that I speak to the PC about moving out of the house as soon as possible. So that’s what I did. I called the PC Medical Officer on duty, explained my situation, and inquired about moving into my apartment at the beginning instead of middle of July. My “case” is currently under review, and I should have an answer by Thursday. Another option would be to move me into another host family’s house, but I believe that such a move would severely burn bridges and start rumors in town. I will not have that. I would rather suffer through the discomfort than screw myself over for the next two years. Vamos a ver.

I digress. The rest of my news is jolly and promising for my future here. Saturday I ran with Alex, Jen, and my host mother. (I am proud and surprised by her. She has joined Alex and me to walk while we run in the mornings. So far so good for her.) Afterwards, I washed clothes on the pila (for the last time at the house as the washer is now connected, yes!), met one of the local missionary families in town that lived near Bert and Kalin (Allen and Faith, really nice people from Washington that have been here eight months), and made homemade pizza for Bert’s 28th birthday (we were surprisingly successful). The night was fun celebrating with Bert and Kalin’s host family and local friends.

Sunday was different than most days but good, none the less. I went to Allen and Faith’s house to join other missionary families in the area for church. (Well, it really wasn’t church. The activities consisted of the families singing psalms and reading a bit from the Bible.) Although I don’t necessarily following their specific practice of faith, It was nice to meet some pleasant people and definitely fabulous to indulge in an American potluck that followed. I even was lucky enough to use Faith and Allen’s wireless internet to Skype with the fam for Father’s Day. It was a good day!

This week has seriously been going well (for serious). I have been working in the Escuela during the mornings, walking around in the afternoons to meet other community leaders (i.e. director of the Gracias youth center, director of a local grade school, doctor at the health center, owner of a local hotel, teacher at a school in an outlying aldea who wants to teach business administration classes, and employee in the Tourism Office who needs help with a business plan), emailing organizations to offer my services as a PCV (i.e. PRAF, EDUCATODOS, etc.), and reading about as well as practicing yoga in my room. In my down time, I am reading the ten-year Strategic Plan of the Mancomunidad and trying to master Spider Solitaire.

This weekend should be AWESOME. Faith and Allen asked me to house sit for them! I will be able to watch movies with Bert and Kalin, cook my own food, make lattes (holy goodness I am so friggin excited for that), and use the internet at their house all weekend! Staying in town this weekend is a perfect idea seeing as we were just told that all Honduras PCVs are on STANDFAST from Friday until Monday. (This is Phase 1 of the PC Emergency Action Plan which basically means that we are to remain in site and prepare for CONSOLIDATION, if necessary. This is the result of the cuarta urna election this weekend.)

I feel like the time will speed up once July hits because there is so much to do/going on. I will be purchasing and moving housing items as well as partaking in the activities of the Feria de Lempira (a conquistador who the department is named after) throughout the month. I will be planning some trips to visit other PCVs, preparing for my brother and Carrie to visit, and hopefully finding my very own puppy (well, it will be both Anna’s and mine). I hope that you all enjoy your celebrations for the 4th! I will be missing the good times back in the day in Tahoe with my girls that day…

Heeeyyyooo! So instead of waiting until this weekend to recount the wonderful week away, I am going to stay in on a Friday night (gasps around the world) to recount the goodness. (To be quite honest, at this point in my life a Friday night is equivalent to a Tuesday night. There is no night life in Gracias, and I have to be home by 9pm. When I move into my own place, I won’t have a curfew…but that won’t change the fact that there is no night life in Gracias.) Whatev, let’s get to it.

My trip to Comayagua from Tuesday until today was fulfilling, both figuratively and literally, and enjoyable. Figuratively speaking, I was able to catch up with a friend and fellow Business volunteer, work with the staff of the Escuela Taller in Comayagua to refine the stages/topics/filters of the incubator, and spend the night out of site in my own hotel room. (Unfortunately, I did not have the luxury of a bug-free bed, as I am currently nursing the aftermath of an attack on my arm from a spider…thinking about it more, maybe it really was the mother scaby getting her revenge on me for killing her babies.) I reconnected and reinforced a friendship, progressed with defining my objectives in the Vivero, and accomplished some personal goals (I got all my PC pics up on Facebook and caught up on the news on Aljazeera). Literally speaking, my meals were fabulous and free! (Nothing in this world is free, it seems, as my jeans don’t seem to fit me as well as they did before I left.) Regardless, I am happy to say that my edible indulgences included: a salad bar (even if it was at Pizza Hut), pancakes (ya, Pa), a doughnut (stuck that right in my back pocket, literally), Coronas (I know eyebrows are raised right now, it was a treat alright), Baskin Robbins Gold Medal Ribbon (ya, Bro), Frosted Mini Wheats (NOT cornflakes!), a Fuji apple (ya, Ma), and French toast (“when in Rome”). (I realize that it could be sad that I am even spending time talking about this. I will say what I always say: I am just happy to have food, whatever that may be. There are many who can’t say the same.) What did I enjoy most? (1) The lack of piropos thrown at me in the city (as it is home to a American military base and thus quite accustomed to foreigners); (2) The countless Beatles songs blasted on the car ride out with the director of the Escuela; and last but not least (3) The decision to get a puppy with Anna (the Health PCV in Gracias; she will be moving into a house with a yard) when she gets back from the states at the end of June. Holler.

Bring on the weekend. Tomorrow I am running in the morning (needed as noted), checking back in with the doctor (pray for no more cream), and celebrating Bert’s birthday (the husband of the PCV couple in Wat/San from my training group) with pizza and cheesecake (so much for running). I have Sunday Skype dates with the fam, Pops, and Louise (Batman and Robin unite again!) as well as a tutor sesh.

Next week brings some new challenges. I am going to be working on defining the objectives and goals of the stages of the business curriculum, visiting OCH to figure out what happened to those grants I was supposed to review two weeks ago, seeking out the person in charge of the women’s office in the Mancomunidad to hopefully start working with a women’s group, and starting to get prepared to move (ya I know it's early, but I'm excited!). Next Sunday is the fun day…la cuarta urna!! I’ve mentioned that before, right? Ha. Stay tuned, folks. Life in Hondu is about to get real interesting…as if it wasn’t already.

What a week!! Let me be the first to tell you that scabies SUCKS. It is super annoying. Because of it, I did not sleep much during the nights and was thus forced to take some time off from work to nap during the days...ah well, I guess naps aren’t so bad. I also spent a solid eight to nine hours on the pila, rediscovered my love/need to practice yoga more frequently to combat internal and external frustrations, and came to appreciate the characteristic/virtue/skill of patience. (W O W. Ya. “And that’s all I have to say about that.” –Thank you, Mr. Gump.) The highlights of the week and weekend included watching the Honduras soccer game with friends while consuming a real cheeseburger, catching up on my Best of YouTube podcasts while the scabies lotion burned the creatures (and crap) out of me, and marking the date one month from now when I will be writing to you from MY VERY OWN apartment. (Thanks be to GOoDness for that last one!)

Wow, this is probably the shortest entry I will ever write. There should be some solid activity this week to make up for it. I will be going to Comayagua tomorrow until Friday afternoon to meet with the Escuela Taller (ET) and Vivero de Empresas staff there. We will be sharing the progress made in the Gracias incubator thus far in hopes of soliciting ideas, suggestions, and comments Comayagua incubator (which has supposedly been one of the most successful in the country thus far). Besides that, I will get to stay in a hotel (complete with a TV in-room and pool), not have to pay for anything (saving money is glorious in the life of a PCV), and (hopefully) get to check out the digs of the city c/o my PCV homie working for the Vivero there. Added bonuses: nights not in a bed of terror and another week closer to living in my own apartment. (Can you tell it’s time? Thank you SO MUCH to my family members who have dealt with/consoled/offered support to me throughout this week. It was so very much needed and appreciated!) Bring on the new week!

**A special shout out to Nick Clark for sending me a surprise package full of games and candy!! You rock my socks, man! I got it today. So solid! So appreciated! THANK YOU!**

Scabies: 1, Shannon: SOL. Yup, sounds fun, huh? Well, I would start out where I left off last week, but the most immediate thing on my mind seems to be the mites traversing all over my skin. (I seriously wish I could see them because I would kick the crap out of them!) So ya, I haven’t been sleeping that much and thought a lot of it had to do with the fresh air that I was not getting as there aren’t any screens on my windows and I thus don’t leave them open at night. (Ah yes, did I forget to mention that the information booklet was completely wrong about the temperature here? Probably. So the average temperature of Gracias is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is always humid. I am thus always sweating in my room and breathing recycled air. I will say that the booklet was right on with the skin infections, though. Well done.) Well, fijase that most of my sleepless nights are instead due to the ridiculous itchy sessions that I have endured for the past week or so. Because last night was the worst of it, I finally went to the doctor today. Fun times when I found out I had some little bed bugs living in my room with me. I came home after my appointment (trying so hard not to be pissed off and upset while trying to maintain my knowledge of Spanish), tried unsuccessfully to explain the infection to my mother (who totally does not believe me and instead blames my bed bugs on the open window during the day), and with the help of the muchacha (the poor woman, she is so petite) moved my bed (reminder: the biggest I have ever had) to one of the spare rooms and switched it out for a twin. (I knew that ish was too good to be true.) I threw the majority of my clothes in my suitcase (as I patiently wait for the washer/dryer to be reconnected) and after a shower applied some of the most uncomfortable lotion I have every come into contact with all over my body. (It burns.) Let’s hope the homies don’t like the scent and feel as much as I don’t and get the off my skin!

Back to last week. Tuesday went well with work at the Escuela and another apartment search. Wednesday was alright but did not end well when I got caught in the heaviest downpour that I have even been in (it was literally raining through my umbrella) and ruined my camera that was stored in my purse. (Why I didn’t wait out the storm to walk home…no idea. Apparently the rain here will take you and your electronics to town.) Thursday morning was a free day for me. I spent the morning at the hotel updating computer software, afternoon at the Termos de Rio (the nicest of the hot spring spots) relaxing with a bunch of PCVs and snacking on chips and salsa (um, can you say complete joy? Hannah, you know what I’m talking about), and night hanging at Dan’s to celebrate his departure (which I hope to live at one day, it’s the cutest house). Friday was uneventful except for a potential appearance of ninjas in my stomach from the Chinese food that I consumed the night before (Bo, I thought I left those guys in SF!).

The weekend was so darn chill; I was proud of myself that I was able to endure it. (Usually I can’t sit still for two minutes let alone two days.) I cracked open my first leisure read book (by Dan Hunt, I highly recommend him as he writes awesome murder mysteries set in SF!), completed a solid amount of Sudoku puzzles (with the never failing strategy taught to me by the man himself: Pops), and took some naps. (Looking back, what a shitty idea on that last one!) Saturday night I went to a local hotel to watch the soccer game on a big screen with a bunch of norteamericanos (¡ganadores!) while Sunday was spent searching out more places to live with Bert and Kalin (my sitemates).

Tonight, well, here we are. Like they say…sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite…that’s so messed up.

Wow…that last email…kind of a drag, huh? Well, that’s what you get when you try to put a two year perspective into less than a two week period. I will not lie; last week was pretty darn tough on me. I am a tough lady, but a lady none the less with all of the emotions and feelings included. There are no substitutions on my menu, only refinements.  ANYWAY, as I sit on my bed listening to Carla Bruni (awesome French artist) I am ready to fill you in with the latest and greatest goodness that has occupied my time since last week. It’s all good…right? Always.

As you can tell from my last posting, Monday was a sad day. The previous night seemed to suddenly uncover the realization that I am not going home for two years. (That seems like a long time now but really isn’t in the perspective of life. I try to keep that in mind often.) The emotions that I had built up from my first week in site seemed to linger through my workdays, morning jump rope workouts, time on the Internet, lunch of fried tilapia at Villa de Ada, yoga, and apartment searching through Wednesday night. I spoke to my mother that night and tried my best not to break down while expressing my disappointment with: not locating a solid Internet connection to use Skype, not securing a running partner, not finding clothes or shoes that fit a visitor twice the size of a normal citizen, and not discovering an apartment to live in as soon as allowed. (Yes, I know these are all complaints. I try not to express them often, but when I do, they are short lived. Attitude is everything.)

Wednesday night I went to bed with tears in my eyes wishing for a change – a change in my decision, a change in my placement, or best, a change in my attitude. Well, a change did come… with force…at about 2am the next day. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about…I hope you do.) I was fast asleep enjoying dreams of floating on the ocean when I awoke to the realization that I was not, in fact, on the ocean but instead in my bed in Honduras rolling with the movements of the earth. It was, without a doubt, a very weird feeling but one that did not really affect me until the following day as I was absolutely exhausted from the previous night’s emotions. The vibrations felt like they lasted about a solid 30 seconds (I believe it was a 40 second quake, right?) before stopping. When they did cease, I was stoked not for a loss of fear but for the sheer fact that I could go back to sleep. Well, wouldn’t you know it that Hondurans are not accustomed to earthquakes. I learned this quick when my mother began banging on my door telling me that we needed to get out of the house immediately. Still in my state of disarray, I reluctantly retreated to the street (with the rest of Gracias, Lempira) to talk about the craziness that just occurred. I tried to explain to my mother that earthquakes were common where I was from and was thus not scared. She explained to me that they were not common in Honduras and thus something to worry about. Needless to say, I was too tired to argue/care and was very appreciative when we were finally able to go back inside and back to sleep. (We apparently received another tremor at about 5am the same day, but I would not be the person to ask about that.)

I awoke Thursday morning actually kind of pissed off. I thought that corruption and crime would be the two greatest dangers that I would have to worry about while in Honduras, not earthquakes! (That was not included in our safety and security training!) After my anger came contentment. I went running for the first time with Jen (the yoga instructor), cleaned my room righteously, and studied some Spanish. (The power was out so I had some time to myself.) The power returned in the late morning, and I made my way back into the office for the rest of the day. I had an awesome meeting with my boss about the Vivero and learned what I had been preparing myself for: the kids in the Escuela Taller have not received much training on business administration and, in reality, may have little desire to start their own companies. My boss believes that a lot of kids are in the program because they know that they are almost guaranteed work. (I call this meeting awesome because I appreciate the honesty and respect that my boss is affording me.) In order to salvage what is left of this year (the Vivero was established at the end of last year and began with its first group of students this year; they are to finish at the end of the year), I told my boss that I thought it best to interview each student in the program (with their respective teacher present as I am sure they will have pena talking to the new gringa in town) to discover their motivations and aspirations for the remaining six months of their program. From there, we are hoping to develop a shortened version of the business training curriculum that we plan to fully and successfully implement in the coming year. (I have been working on the finance and accounting section thus far but will soon focus my efforts on the entire training curriculum.)

Friday I awoke with a better understanding of my work objectives, my personal goals, and my overall situation. (It felt good. I will elaborate more on these as they develop. For now, just take my word on it.) I went running again with Jen and discovered a weekly running partner (SO STOKED!! It is a gentleman that works in OCH. He runs Monday through Saturday mornings at 5:45am. Um, can you say PUUURFECT!?), had a solid workday refining the business curriculum, found a couple internet connections that will support Skype, discovered more vacant apartments, and felt solid knowing that I have clothes and shoes that fit and don’t cost a fortune being sent to me c/o Mom and Dad (thanks guys!). I finished the day picking Dan’s (the PCV who is leaving in 2 weeks) brain for contacts, potential programs, and the best spots of Gracias. It was SOLID. I learned a lot.

Saturday was simply beautiful. I went running with my new running partner, Alex (who will also serve as my daily tutor as he only speaks Spanish!), cleaned some clothes in the pila (waiting and looking forward to a week from now when the washer/dryer will be reconnected as it has been unplugged with the current construction on the expansion of the backyard), and headed out to Santa Rosa de Copan with Dan. We met up with the many other PCVs out there, grubbed on some good ol’ fashion pizza, and had some drinks rooftop while enjoying the view of the city. It was a very uneventful and totally enjoyable day. I made it back to Gracias Saturday evening to attend a Kindergarten beauty pageant. (My mom invited me and really wanted me to go. Ya…it was weird.) Basically the program consisted of three to five year olds walking back and forth on a catwalk dressed in gowns and/or suits as well as dressed up as turtles, seahorses, mermaids, butterflies, fishes, and sailors. (If you can’t tell, it was an ocean themed event.) There were seven young girls selected as the final contestants and one selected as the “queen” of the Kindergartens (there are two in town) for the year. Throughout the parading of small children completely lost and somewhat scared, I tried to figure out how they were to select the winner. Speaking to a friend about it, I soon learned that the winner is the child who receives the most votes before the actual event. Votes come in the form of money, so the child who can successfully solicit the most amount of funding wins. Now…I know I am treading on thin ice here…but does this resemble a somewhat skewed system?? All I can say is that I was completely surprised and shocked to learn about these activities occurring with Kindergarteners. (No further comment is necessary.)

Today was fab. I Skyped it up, lunched on some delish rollitos (probably equivalent to two small toasted burritos), and searched out some more apartments. There seems to be a lot opening up now as most of the bilingual school teachers are leaving. (I knew the Irish luck would kick in soon enough!) Tonight has been spent elaborating my week to you, so I hope you enjoy it. These blogs do take a lot of time to write, edit, and finalize. I try my best to make them to make them thoughtful, truthful, and most important of all, enjoyable. I appreciate you taking the time to read them and also leaving your comments or sending email. You are the reasons that they keep on coming, so thank you. They keep me sane while your love keeps me alive.

First week down…103ish or so to go…wow. I don’t want to seem like I’m counting the weeks because I’m not…right? I don’t even know what I would be counting down for…sleeping in my own bed (even though it is smaller, it’s mine)? having a home cooked meal with my family (a salad would be just fine, as long as I’m with them)? being a tour guide in San Francisco (I miss you, Louise, Hannah, Bo, and every stranger I have yet to meet)? I don’t know…it’s weird. I was talking to a PCV homie about it last night. We have similar sentiments about the whole thing: we want to live each day to the fullest and enjoy every minute BUT we also don’t want to forget to keep the big picture in mind and what this experience means for our futures. It is relieving to hear that I’m not the only one having these mixed feelings, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still tough to have…

Work...there’s a lot of it…and that’s good. I just want make sure that I manage myself well enough that I’m able to meet my counterparts’ goals as well as fulfilling my own. For the Vivero, my main and immediate task is to design a curriculum covering basic accounting concepts and administrative controls (i.e. sales register, cash flow statement, etc.) to teach the students from the Escuella Taller. For OCH, I am supposed to assist with the creation of several proposals so that the organization can continue with their plans of renovating the municipal market. The designs are done and the team is ready, but the money has yet to come. (Story of every dream, right?) My main involvement in this process will be designing and detailing a business curriculum to be included in the proposal that shows how the vendors will obtain the knowledge and skills necessary to form a cooperative. I think that most of my time right now will be dedicated to the Vivero since the students only have six months left before they are released into the business world to hopefully manage their own companies. (I really cannot tell how much the students have actually been taught to date about business administration and am thus preparing myself for the unknown.) The research and work that I’m preparing now for the Vivero will hopefully be applicable to my work in OCH. My “normal” work day thus far has been spent doing research in the Escuella office from 8am until 3:30pm with an hour break for lunch. I am hoping/sure that this will change/fluctuate as I become involved in other side projects. Right now, I (and other volunteers as I learned after several conversations last night) am so unsure as to how to do this right: taking care of others while taking care of myself. It’s quite a daunting task, and I don’t want to fail on either end.

Family…ya, I definitely got the hookup, and I was initially stoked about that…but then my feelings changed. I am living in probably one of the nicest houses in Gracias. It has unoccupied rooms, a huge backyard, a washer and dryer, electro-duchas in every bedroom, internet, and a live-in muchacha. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer; I don’t deserve to stay in a place like this. I am in no way put out by my lodgings. Shouldn’t I feel a bit like I need to suck it up? Isn’t that part of the learning process? On that note and for the fact that I am not given keys to the house and thus must live by someone else’s schedule, can’t make my own coffee in the morning but instead must wait until dinner (I’m sorry but this became a necessity during long days of FBT), and got scolded by my mom c/o the muchacha for taping pictures of family and friends on the wall, I am ready to live on my own. Three months was enough for me.

Health…could be better. I am eating well as the muchacha is a monster over the wood burning oven and with the blender. I am not able to counteract the food, however, with a plentiful amount of exercise. I do not have enough room in my room or any of the others to do my strength training exercises (dang my big bed! I knew it was too good to be true…) nor am I able to run on my own as the streets are cobblestone and clustered with construction. The only place to run is on the main highway out to La Esperanza, and it is probably not recommended to traverse alone. The one thing I did find a spot for was jumping rope on the side of the house. I got a workout routine from a friend during FBT and am hoping that I can start doing it every morning. I guess if I am able to combine that with yoga three times a week, I should feel better. I think that I am just going stir crazy because I can’t run. You all know how obsessed I am with it! I am in the process of trying to coerce the other female PCVs in town to go with me…

Spanish…sigh. Good and bad, like the rest of the story. I think I will always need to work on it. Siempre.

Highlights of the week…yoga, rain, milk and cookies, a cocktail, Skype, aguas termales, PCV chats…

Hopeful highlights of this week…jump rope, yoga, rain, Tilapia, a baby shower, aguas termales, pizza…

Overall, I’m very happy and very sad. Just thought I should write it down…

I fully agree with the statement that too much of a good thing is wonderful. Let’s see why…

As you already knew, we made it back safely to Zarabanda Saturday afternoon. (Minus the frustration of having to once again repack my life, I was very happy to move out of my house in Ojojona. I have tried not to express ill sentiments about my experience in past writings, but to tell you the truth, the last few weeks have not been the most enjoyable at home. I felt like my host mother was just plain over me. Now, I understand that she was probably preoccupied with her pregnancy and tending to the rest of the family, but unfortunately I did not have the option to leave. Additionally, since the beginning of FBT, my father has continued to mock my speech and ask me about money, specifically about how much PC is giving me and if I receive money from my father on a regular basis. As you can imagine, as FBT came to a close, I was ready to get out of dodge.) After unpacking as little as possible, I went on a walk with the old PCT neighbors, and chatted it up with the old fam until night fell and I crashed hard. Sunday I hit up Valle with the majority of the PCTs to Skype it up, grub on some pupusas, and revel in the completion of 10 weeks of training. That night, I received my first haircut from a mother of a neighboring PCT. Although her combination of more than fifteen years of experience and less than ten minutes of haircutting didn’t seem to add up to me, I came out of it with a smile and a style. Classy.

The majority of the week in Zarabanda went by extremely (and somewhat painfully) slow with bastante administrative sessions, Spanish projects, and final language interviews. Some good times were had in the in between time (and helped such pain subside) such as running in the campo with the ladies, reuniting after class to enjoy my host mother’s paletas (which I never knew that she made on the daily until last week!), and feasting on anafres (which I equate to Honduran fondue: fried tortillas accompanied by a steaming bowl of beans, cheese, and/or meat) at a nearby restaurant. Overall, Friday’s activities took the cake for the week. We met our counterparts for the first time in the morning at the PC office, swore-in mid-day at the Embassy (Did I forget to mention that? I AM OFFICIALLY A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER! HOLLER H14.), and spent the rest of the afternoon in Zarabanda with our counterparts sharing expectations, developing responsibilities, and creating a work plan for the upcoming month. The evening was spent saying goodbye to friends, host families, and to any fears that remained about living life as a PCV.

Saturday marked the first day of the rest of my life. (That may come off as a lame statement, but it probably holds more truth than lie.) Fortunately, my counterpart brought a truck out to Zarabanda, so I was able to take advantage of safely transporting my belongings, shortening my travel time, and avoiding paying hefty bus fares. Unfortunately, that meant leaving at 4AM to travel in a packed truck for six hours on mostly unpaved roads. Upon arrival into Gracias, I met my mom (who seems super nice), entered one of the nicest houses that I have ever encountered in Honduras (rivaling some in the states), and went straight for the outdoor hammock (ahhhh-mazing). After a quick power nap, I met the rest of and lunched with the fam, visited the oldest house in town (now a museum, Casa Galeano) and watched a video on the city’s history, and met the owner of a local shop that sells fruit wine (Hello, long lost friend. I know that you are laughing right now, Hannah.) I came back to the house early evening to unpack and enjoy my first movie sola (Super Bad) on the biggest bed that I have ever owned (a double!!). Needless to say, sweet dreams were had. (I have a cavity. Ja. Lame. )

Sunday was stellar as my bounce off the wall energy returned in full effect. I slept in until 9AM (which is unheard of here as most PCTs were considered ill by their host families if they slept anywhere past 8AM), finished up with unpacking, and went to the local Chinese restaurant to lunch with and meet the other PCVs in town and in the outlying aldeas. Not including the couple that came with me from Wat/San, there are three girls and one guy that all seem to be unique and solid people. I am especially stoked on one girl who played volleyball in college and is currently working on getting a team together at one of the local high schools. (How friggin fun would it be to coach a team IN SPANISH!) She is also down to run with me and may be moving into the house down the street from me. (Tig.) After snagging another paleta (they are addicting) we checked out the local markets, chatted about the life of a PCV, and meet some of the many internationals that are living here. (I am so amazed how many there are yet so friggin excited to meet them all. I think that the majority work in one of the two bilingual schools in Gracias.) As evening fell, I hit up the Hotel Guancasco (a PC fav) to take advantage of their free wireless internet, enjoy the second best view of town (next to atop Fort Saint Christopher), and take a yoga class put on by a yoga instructor from the states (who is working out here with another organization on a two year project). What a day.

Today was friggin awesome and gives me so much hope for my next two years here. I met up with my counterpart from the Escuella Taller COLOSUCA in the morning. She introduced me to the employees in the office, the teachers of the current groups of students (albañilería, soldadura, and carpintería), and the mayor of Gracias. We walked around various parts of the city to see what projects the students are currently working on and to show me where the major points of interest are (i.e. post office, police station, health center, telephone company, etc). Afterwards, I ran a few errands in town, returned home to lunch (I am trying out the host family’s grub for a week to see if I want to stick with it before trying out my cooking skills…ya…skills), and brushed up on some Spanish practice. This afternoon I met my other counterpart from the Oficina de Conjuntos Históricos (OCH). She has worked with a PCV before and thus seemed to have a better idea of the information I would initially be seeking as a newbie in town. She explained to me the redevelopment projects that are currently going on in town, what type of support her office provides, and what assistance the Mancomunidad (a collaboration of five of the six surrounding municipalities in Lempira) is hoping that I provide (as mentioned in my last blog). She also explained the link between the Escuella and the OCH: the office sometimes contracts the students to work on the redevelopment projects to promote the success and sustainability of Gracias and its citizens. We walked around town a bit more to check out the three historic churches, to hike up to Fuente San Cristobal, and to give me a little more insight about what this town is really about. We ended the afternoon at the outdoor restaurant at Hotel Guancasco sharing our stories and dreams over a Salva Vida while the sun disappeared behind the mountains. What another fabulous day.

From everything that I have learned thus far from host family members, counterparts, and acquaintances, Gracias is a seriously fabulous town. Crime is almost nonexistent. There is a strong mix of local, indigenous, and international cultures. Habitants are pleasant and friendly. There are hot springs to bathe in after a long two-day hike up the tallest mountain in Honduras. Malaria is not a problem here. There are plenty of shops, restaurants, cafes, markets, and internet centers to meet your everyday needs. Best of all, life is tranquil. I don’t think I’ve ever lived such a life. Maybe it will be a challenge for me. Maybe it will be a blessing. Maybe I should just stop worrying about it and just start living it.

FBT is officially over…weird. The time in Ojojona passed twice as fast as the time in Zarabanda. Those first three weeks felt like three months and these last seven weeks felt like seven days. (What’s up with that?) Our Country Director told us that our two years of service will go by in the same manner— in the blink of an eye. That seems completely impossible to fathom as the daunting and exciting task of moving and settling into a site is only a week away. Wow…

This last week of FBT has been inundated with work, play, and every emotion imaginable. After a solid last weekend with two nights of movies (Wedding Crashers and Anchorman) and meals (nachos and pasta) c/o Richard as well as another electricity free day in Ojo and Santa Ana, we prepared our charla and dinámica materials for a week-long Business Simulation activity in the local high school. The activity is actually quite interesting and informative for both the PCTs and the kids. The students receive lectures on Marketing, Production, and Accounting for two days (each day lasts about three to four hours), select and produce a product the third day (which includes creating marketing material), sell the product on the fourth day (which includes keeping solid accounting records), and prepare a presentation on what was learned to present to all groups on the fifth day (which must include the distribution of diplomas). At the same time, the PCTs learn how to teach high school students, to speak Spanish more fluidly, and how to manage a classroom and week-long activity.

Well, when Monday arrived, fijase que teachers nationwide went on strike. They have purported that the government has squandered their retirement funds on, among other things, la cuarta urna. (This inference is based off an article from El Heraldo, a local Honduran newspaper.) Let’s break this situation down. (The following insights are based on conversations with community members from Zarabanda and Ojojona.) First, you should know that teachers and doctors are the two groups that have the most bargaining power in Honduras. They strike frequently and with force. On Monday, the teachers blocked main streets and lit tires on fire in Teguc. Last year, these street blockages led to the spoilage of thousands of produce items that were in transit. Almost one hundred school days were lost last year from the strikes. It appears that the population is somewhat torn on this situation. On one hand, the teachers are not receiving funds that were promised to them, and they have every right to be compensated. On the other hand, students should not be left to suffer the consequences of these strikes while the country is in dire need of more education, nor should they be exposed to rebellious tactics that negatively impact the nation’s economy. This has and continues to be a very sensitive predicament for Hondurans.

Secondly (and what scares me the most about living in Honduras right now), la cuarta urna is going up for vote at the end of June. The cuarta urna is a proposal supported by the current administration that, if passed, would amend the constitution to allow the President to run for reelection. (Presently, politicians are limited to four-year terms without the possibility of reelection.) From my conversation with a mother of another PCT, it seems that much of the population is uneducated, especially in the political sector, and may thus allow this amendment to pass without understanding the consequences. (For example, my host mother had heard of the proposal, never understood what it was, and never followed up on it.) This situation is deeply precarious because the current administration (from everything that I have read and been taught until this point) is corrupt and not interested in the well-being of the nation or in eliminating the poverty spread throughout Honduras.

Back to Monday…because we were not able to start the simulation in the high school, we instead began earlier with site announcements. (YES. This specific day has taken F O R E V E R to come. Until this day, we exhausted ourselves with building up the suspense of the process, developing theories on potential matches, asking questions and responding to questions from our directors, initiating discussions with PCTs in the Business and other groups, and releasing heavy and mixed emotions.) We began the process by drawing a map of the border of the country and each of the departments within Honduras, continued by placing city names on the map and explaining the work within each of the sites, and finished the process with the distribution of site information books with a PCTs name on the front. (I will not lie; I think I lost blood flow in my hands during this process from squeezing them so hard in prayer. Come to find out, it was unnecessary.) HEY!!! I AM GOING TO GRACIAS!! WHOOHOO! What does that mean? Lots actually; it means lots and lots of fabulous things.

Here are the basics on the spot: Gracias is a medium-sized town in the department of Lempira with a population of about 8,100 citizens in Gracias proper and about 44,000 in total when combined with the inhabitants of the outlying aldeas. The weather is cool with an average temperature of about 59 degrees Fahrenheit, receives rain from May through October, and lacks humidity. The terrain is mountainous with tropical forests in some parts and pine trees in others. It sits at the base of mountain (Montaña Celaque) that has the highest peak in the country and is home to natural hot springs. (Do you want to come visit now?) The main work that I will be doing includes working with an Escuella Taller (vocational school) and its Vivero de Empresas (business incubator) as well as with the Oficina de Conjuntos Históricos (office working to preserve the history of the city). With the Escuella Taller, I will be assisting in the development and documentation of a business curriculum that will cover basic bookkeeping and accounting, price quoting, cost analysis and calculation, and marketing. With the Oficina, I will be helping with the restoration of the Mercado Municipal (municipal market) to accommodate 250 producers and artisans, promoting the creation of a cooperative, and assisting in the creation of a training curriculum for the members of the cooperative to increase productivity, process and commercialize crops, develop business plans, and understand basic accounting and marketing concepts. As site mates, I will have a couple from training from the Water and Sanitation group, a Youth Development male volunteer, and a Heath female volunteer. Crime is fairly low in the city with the most common incidents involving petty theft by children and young teens. Buses run daily to San Pedro Sula (my closest airport), La Esperanza (where I would need to transfer to get to Teguc), and Santa Rosa de Copan (where Bryan, my LMU homie, will be living). The most common illnesses are intestinal parasites and skin infections. (FYI…TMI?)

Here are the digs on my new fam: My mother is a kindergarten teacher at a local school and a recent widow of a well-respected politician. She has a seventeen year old daughter attending a university in Teguc who sometimes visits on weekends and a fourteen year old son attending high school who lives at home. She has a twenty-eight year old housekeeper that has a one year old daughter, both of whom are treated like family. I will have my own room, share the bathroom that has an electroducha (awesome!), and be able to either eat food prepared by the family or purchase and cook my own food (oh, how we have all waited so long for this opportunity to come!!).

(Wow, Monday was intense! My fingers are tired.) Classes began again on Tuesday and lasted through the end of the week. On Tuesday, we gave charlas on the different business functions and played our last game of volleyball in the training center (I pray that I can get a team together in Gracias. I would love to coach!) On Wednesday, our group of students produced for the simulation. (Their product was dope because it was simple to make and cheap to prepare. They gathered empty glass bottles from the community, covered them in different designs with masking tape, scrubbed them with shoe polish, and decorated them with ribbon and artificial flowers.) On Thursday, the students sold their products, and we had a quick despedida to thank our families for their hospitality. On Friday, we watched City of God in Spanish class, watched the students give their own charlas on the week’s activities, and danced the night away at PCT’s going away shindig.

Today has been another…long…day. I woke up early to finish packing and then spent most of the morning sitting in my living room waiting for the bus to arrive. After a retraso of about two hours, we packed it up in Santa Ana and Ojojona, said goodbye to our second fams, and cruised back to Zarabanda with the Perspire kids. We had a lovely lunch at McDonald’s in Teguc on the way (hey man, the Twix McFlurry was money) and made it back to our first fams mid-afternoon. Since then, I have unpacked as little as possible, took a walk with some neighboring PCTs, and chatted it up with the ladies of the house. I feel strangely nicer here than I did before. Maybe I am more accustomed to the land and/or the language; maybe I am relieved to shower indoors instead of facing the wrath of Ojo’s mosquitoes; maybe I just happy to get a good night’s sleep in a bed where I can sleep in the sheets, on real pillow, and in a room where the walls touch the ceiling and I can’t hear every movement in the house. Maybe it’s just nice that I don’t feel like a stranger anymore…

Happy hump day!! That’s right, it’s Wednesday! Almost time for another weekend of… (fill in the blank).

So ya, last Friday’s HIV/AIDS Training of Trainers (TOTs) went relatively well. All of the PCTs were split into groups of four to five people to deliver charlas to middle school classes of about twenty students. The morning’s presentation lasted about two and a half hours (and as a reminder was completely in Spanish) which is truly not enough time to 1) break the ice between the students and trainers, 2) build trust between the students and the trainers, 3) identify street words of the various body parts that are involved, 4) discuss myths and facts surrounding sexual relations and the transmission of HIV/AIDS, 5) explain the difference between HIV and AIDS, 6) have a merienda (we have been advised that this is a requirement of any charla as it tends to be the reason for most in attendance), and 7) (lucky number 7) teach each student how to put on a condom with the help of a plátano. (I definitely don’t remember learning this in sixth grade but do contest that this is essential for the youth of Honduras to learn as half – yes, half –of the population is under the age of 18.)

Three letters will help describe Saturday’s situation and sentiments: D-M-V. (I know we all just felt a chill run down our spines. My bad.) All of the PCTs from each of the three groups bussed it out to the Immigration Office in Teguc bright and early on Saturday morning to get our Honduran identification cards. Well, fijase que one of the two processing computers broke the day before so what was to last until about noon ended up lasting until 4pm. After waiting out the first three hours of processing, we had to call a lunch break. Lucky for us, we were in Teguc and had the opportunity to once again indulge in major grubbage…at Pizza Hut. (Who would have imagined the day when that would be a treat? I know all of the Friscans are shaking their heads in disdain. Sorry, Gaspares!) I actually was all over the salad bar and was stoked to fill my belly with the colors of the rainbow. (So yum.) After lunch we had the pleasure of learning about each aspirante’s life story for about another four hours before departure. (Patience really is a virtue.)

Sunday was an improvement (to say the least). My entire family went with their church to the beach and thus left the house to me. (Holy crap, it was awesome.) I busted out some hardcore Pilates in the room, blasted music while I took a shower, and watched CNN (in English yayer) as I ate breakfast and lunch. (Soooo nice.) The rest of the day was spent at the Internet getting ish done and at Richard’s relaxing. It was a good day.

I don’t have much to report on this week except for that we had our third and final technical interviews yesterday and today. Everyone’s seemed to go well and had a similar theme: verifying the information that we expressed in our questionnaires and describing three possible sites of placement. I am pretty much set to work in a Business Incubation program (Google it, kinda hard to explain) and have the potential to couple that with tourism, a marketing project for a NGO, and eco-tourism. I have no idea where any of these sites are located and thus am very much looking forward to Monday. We are all. It has been quite an emotionally charged past few weeks, and I think it has taken a lot out of us. Most of us have been getting sick with the cold or flu. (Great timing on the flu symptoms.)

On that note, I wanted to let you know that the PC is very aware of and taking necessary precautions to protect PCVs and staff against this new swine flu. From talking to my host sister this afternoon, I only know of one case reported in Honduras to date (although that number could be drastically different now). The PC recently released correspondence informing us that there have not been any reports of any PCVs affected. We are told that there is a plan of action in place if the situation escalates. I will keep you updated if anything changes, and please do the same for me as I don’t come by national news frequently. (The text message service works most of the time, so please let me know if there is something that I am majorly missing! Although, I did want to give a shot out to Manders as I didn’t get your text but did get your email. Miss you and love you! Also, holler to Fred as your text message was the first one that I received!! Hope that DT is still treating you well!)

I think I am out of updates so will instead leave you with some random thoughts (I miss Jack Handy):

It has been cooling down here and even raining on occasion. I woke up a couple nights ago to the rain beating on my tin roof, and it made me smile. This town doesn’t do so well in the rain, however, as there is a massive amount of dust on the roads which quickly turns into mud. There are plans to pave the roads, but they are a long way off. The rain is good for Teguc, however. Apparently there are a massive amount of locals getting seriously sick from the amount of pollution and contamination there. It is a very sad situation as many of the residents don’t have the financial ability to leave the city and are thus stuck in the smog.

The mangos here are money and are pretty much the only other fruit besides plátanos that are consumed daily. They are not like the mangos in the states as they are smaller and much easier to consume by hand. (They are also insanely cheap as compared to the states.) The mangos in Ojojona come from all around the area although the best are rumored to be from Perspire. I have tried a slice of a huge mango from Comayagua (c/o my rad neighbor and DC roommate) and thus beg to differ. (Insert Homer drooling here.) The mangos from Perspire, however, are delicious and do make the skin worth eating. The skins of the other mangos, mostly the rosados, are bitter and sometimes not worth eating as they tend to make the trips the toilet a little more frequent. (‘Tis the life of a PCV.)

I have never eaten so many baked goods than I have during my time in Honduras. Coffee is a necessity here and is normally accompanied by a sweet bread or cookie that really isn’t worth eating (/has no taste) without the coffee. Thus, each of my breakfasts and most of our breaks are accompanied by a different shape and the same taste of flour. (I now want to thank my parents for sending me a box filled with all types of candy and snacks from the states as they bring variation to my life and my digestion system. THANK YOU.)

Also, I have never had so many mosquito bites than I have on me now. When I first came to Ojojona I was seriously petrified of the large amount of bugs flying and crawling around my room as well as in the outside shower and bathroom. After these past seven weeks, however, I have become accustomed to scars on my legs, cockroaches in my walls, and fruit flies on my mangos. (I am finally a Honduran. I have my ID card to prove it.)

¡Gracias a Dios (que mañana) es viernes! That’s right, team. We (almost) made it. Bienvenidos.

I wanted to drop you a few lines about last weekend, last Saturday actually. The day’s events were completely unexpected but really reinforced what it takes to be a PCV. I spent almost all of the night on Friday night preparing emails, a blog, and for research that I needed to do on a couple class projects. I had planned to wake up early the next day and get a quick yoga practice in before going out to Santa Ana to use the internet for a few hours. Basically, I had plans to be super productive on Saturday. Well, things don’t always turn out as expected. (Life much?) I woke up early on Saturday to find out that both Ojojona and Santa Ana had been without power since about 2am that morning. Apparently a car had run into an electric pole in one of the outlying aldeas, and all surrounding areas were affected. Now, me being the optimist that I am, I proceeded to engage in my yoga sesh in my room while patiently waiting for the power to be restored. After I finished up and talked to my family over breakfast, I learned that my dream for the day would never become a reality as the towns were expected to be without power until the following Monday. (In a town like Ojojona, the loss of power is not normal but is not normally a problem either as most families have outdoor wood burning stoves to take care of the necessities.) What did become a reality was the awareness there are indeed 3,600 seconds in one hour…and most of my activities on Saturday can be quantified as such. Allow me to elaborate. I worked on translating my resume from English to Spanish in my room until my computer died (lasted about 900 seconds), took a bucket shower (lasted about 600 seconds), stared at second-hand clothes in the Ropa Americana store that I don’t have the cash or space in my luggage to buy (lasted about 300 seconds), sent meaningless text messages to my friends asking what they were doing with themselves on a day like this (lasted about180 seconds ), and then finally ended up on my bed wondering if this was a premonition of things to come (lasted about 60 seconds). The rest of the day was spent working in my Spanish Grammar Manual until my eyes were blurry. What did I learn? Things change quickly, so I better be able to do the same. Adaptation equals survival.

Fortunately, Saturday night’s events definitely trumped any ill sentiments of the day that any of us PCT-ers had. When the sun went down, we reunited at the house of Richard, the gentleman that I mentioned previously, to thoroughly enjoy a true American summer night. (I should preface this by informing you that in addition to much else Richard owns an upscale Italian restaurant in Teguc and had offered to throw us a pizza party during our time spent together the weekend before.) Right after the sun went down and darkness set in Ojo, we arrived at the house to find a patio aglow with candles, an enormous wood burning oven ablaze, ten pizza dough crusts accompanied by all of the fixings waiting for our creativity, and glasses of red Italian wine ready to be enjoyed. (I felt like I was back in SF for my last night of revelries!! Miss you, roomies!) For the next couple hours, every single one of us stuffed as much pizza as we could into our bellies in fear/realization that an event like this would not happen again for at least another two years. We relished the smoothness of the wine, the sweetness of the coffee ice cream and Rum Raisin cake desserts, and the company of one another. What did I learn? Things change quickly (we leave Ojojona in two weeks), so I better be able to do the same (I gotta find a pizza joint that delivers long distance). Adaptation (eating dessert regardless of how full I already am from five pieces of pizza) equals survival (no regrets!).

This week has been trucking along nicely but with a lot of work. In between the classes and workout sessions throughout the week, I translated my resume from English to Spanish (to the best of my ability), thoughtfully completed a site assignment questionnaire to be used in our third and final technical interview next week, gave a presentation on “The Soccer War” (total misnomer) between El Salvador and Honduras, and wrote a paper on the city of Gracias. Tomorrow I will finish out the week giving a charla about HIV/AIDS prevention to a class of students in the local high school. Solid.

I hope that all of you are doing well and have had wonderful weeks. I appreciate all of the feedback that I get on these postings, the short but sweet emails, the lovingly long letters, the texts from friends, and the calls from family. All of your love and support have brought me to this point, three weeks until becoming a PCV. I hope that we can continue on this journey together and make our experiences as successful as possible together…because when it comes down to it, we’re all on the same team.

Holy crap, it’s already mid-April!! “What happened? I blacked out…” (Will Ferrell, Old School…doy) That basically means that in less than one month (yes, one!) from now we will be sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers. Now, I know we have all been waiting for and looking forward to this day, but check it. We started off in Hondu with a group of about fifty people. That number dropped to about twenty people when we moved to Field Based Training. In a month, that number will significantly drop again (actually, it will be nonexistent). Basically, we will be ON OUR OWN in about thirty days. “Can you deal with that?!” (Ben Stiller, Meet the Parents…yayer) I don’t know about you, but that’s kind of a big deal. (You know this one.)

Enough of the serious. How did your Easter week finish out? (I swear I sometimes hear my computer responding to my nonsensical dialogue.) Mine was def interesante. I did, in fact, go to the talent show on Thursday night but was in no way prepared for the night (/am not yet accustomed to the Honduran lifestyle). After starting an hour late, listening to band play for an hour and a half, and eating dinner at 9:30pm, I was a little lost in translation as to when the night was actually going to begin. Well, as I soon learned, the night of talents does not actually begin until about 10pm and lasts until past midnight. Unfortunately, I could not hang and thus, with the permission of my family and with all due respect, turned in early. (I am still getting ish for my “gringa” ways that night from my extended family. I would like to make a point here that “grino/gringa” is a very common term for a North American here and, although it comes from Spanish wartime translation of “Green Go,” it normally does not hold harsh sentiment in daily practice. I would prefer that the nickname fade, but unfortunately, behavior change is challenging. Again, I recommend Google or Wiki for further clarification on the term.)

Thursday was another day of learning. (I think that could pretty much could be said about everyday here.) On Friday, several of us joined another PCT and his host family for a picnic. (That sounds harmless enough, right?) Well, after hiking for about half an hour in jeans in the hot sun carrying heavy food/drinks/condiments, we reached a barbed wire fence that was the entrance to our picnic spot (a.k.a. the slope of branch-filled and ant-infested hill with nowhere to comfortably sit) and a soccer field (a.k.a. barren land in the shape of a rectangle, pretty standard here). We remained in this spot (sweating, confused, and a bit perturbed as we clearly did not know what a picnic here entailed) until we were finally forced to hike to the other side of the field and climb through the barbed wire fence. Upon reaching our designated area and consuming a plethora of catrachas (fried corn tortillas with ground beans, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo or chísmol), we were then requested to play a game of soccer against some locals before coming back to eat the second half of lunch (¿cómo?): hotdogs. Needless to say, all of the men that attended were gentlemen and partook in the activities as well as second lunch. The rest of us ladies instead posted up sideline, talked only about how much we were looking forward to the cold bucket shower that awaited us at home (who saw that coming?), and politely consumed a single hotdog before saying our goodbyes. When I finally made it back home, I was down for the count as I felt the dog chase all those cats in my stomach for the rest of the night. (Kinda like the ninjas, right JoBo?)

Saturday was stellar (how can it not be, it’s Saturday!). I spent the first hour of the early morning running in circles (literally…I lapped the soccer field almost twenty times) because I didn’t have a partner to rock the run to Santa Ana with that early in the morning. (I know I’m still crazy for waking up with the sun.) The afternoon was spent rooftop at the house of a Honduran born/American educated gentleman who works for the Foundation of Ojojona and offers his home as a relaxing spot for PCTs in town. This experience was quite refreshing as we were able to have intelligent dialogues about the world, politics, religion, etc. which we have not yet had the time to do throughout the many hours spent in training and with families. After enjoying some enchiladas (which are tostadas in American terms) and tacos (which are taquitos in American terms) for dinner at a local comedor, we ended the night with a movie at the training center to celebrate another PCT’s birthday.

Sunday was probably the most relaxing/uneventful day that I have had in Ojojona thus far. I relaxed in house for most of the day and really only left once to attend culto (mass for Evangelicals) with my family to celebrate Easter. The event lasted about an hour and a half and was filled with singing and clapping, professions of faith from the pulpit and the crowd, and readings and reflections from the Bible by the pastor. Unfortunately, I did not get to see my host father in action as there was another pastor leading the ceremony, but I was welcomed as a guest and invited to come back anytime. I don’t think that I will be attending again but am thankful to have had shared the experience with my host family.

Monday was money! We had language classes during the morning and then hit the road for the beach (holler!) in the afternoon. On the way, we stopped at Restaurante Ocotal (the restaurant/zoo that we visited a couple weeks ago) and then at La Guayaba Dorada, located on the beach at our camping site, to interview the owners. Once the interviews were up, the tents were up, and the fire was blazing, we had the pleasure of consuming hot dogs and tuna sandwiches (I don’t know who picked that combination), roasting marshmallows (sadly we lacked all the ingredients of s’mores), and playing Mafia (oh the good old days of recess at St. Rose!) in the moonlight. We slept (/laid down and sweated) four to a tent that night but were ever so happy to be at the beach.

Tuesday was tubular! We ate plato típico at La Guayaba Dorada, packed up and headed to Amapala, and then hopped a boat to Isla Exposición. The island was absolutely beautiful, and the water was fabulous to bathe in. Most of the PCTs took mineral mud baths as the sand is some of best with such close proximity to a volcano. Afterwards we hit the third and final restaurant, Restaurante Veleros, to interview the business owner and lunch. We were treated to a variety of and the best local fare yet– including cheviche, pescado frito, pollo frito, camarones en ajo, and paella – while sitting beachside and drinking homemade lemonade. We made it back to Ojojona with bronzed skin, full bellies, and a greater appreciation of our director who made this whole trip possible. ¡Gracias a Jesús! (That is the name of our director. Classic.)

The rest of this week has been enjoyable and informative although I am still a bit worn out from the trip to the beach. We had the opportunity to interview some local artisans in Ojojona on Thursday and presented another business plan for each of the restaurants that we visited today. Tonight’s dinner was a treat – leftover Chinese food from Tegucigalpa (hey, I will take what I can get) – and tonight’s rest is sure to be one for the books. I hope your dreams are as sweet as your realities. Duerma bien.

**To clarify: After another review of my language interview, the language director determined that I did not reach Advanced Low proficiency but instead Intermediate High + proficiency. Regardless, I did change classes and as expected am kicking my butt daily to keep up with the others.

Happy Easter Week or Semana Santa! Because this is a holiday week, we get a few days off from training to hang with our fams and check out the local celebrations. The festivities actually began this past Sunday when the Catholic families of Ojojona showcased traditional rugs (más o menos) on the main street between the two Catholic churches in town. (As I understand the process leading up to presentation, the families first create a mold/outline of the religious images/sayings/symbols that are to be showcased inside of the rug. This process could take up to a couple days. Then the sawdust needs to be created and colored, although I am not sure on this specific process. Finally, at about 3am on the morning of the Sunday before Easter, the families go out to the street and lay down the colored sawdust in these molds/outlines to create a huge rug. This is a very labor-intensive process but worth it to create the beautiful rugs. I would Google it for further explanation if you are interested. It is a tradition celebrated by most of the big cities in Honduras during Easter week.) The celebration continued yesterday as we hosted a cultural day for our families. Before the event began, we learned how to and cooked a local dish with our families. The PCTs and families then reunited to share our food and recipes as well as showcase an activity from each language class. Our class set up a piñata for the kids. They dug it (and I know all the PCTs, including myself, were jealous that we couldn’t partake in the fun)! The PCTs were able to reunite, however, and have our own fun last night. We all got together to watch Office Space (you didn’t get the memo?), eat some fruity cake (obvi my type of cake), and play Uno (never goes out of style). The reunion was in celebration of my and another PCT’s birthday this week.

On that note, I wanted to thank all of you (the fam especially) for the heartfelt calls, cards, emails, and postings on my birthday. Although it was a bit different (and probably better than last year since I spent the majority of my day last year in a cubicle…oh how fitting was Office Space last night!), it was extremely touching to receive local love from PCTs in the BZ and Wat/San group as well as from abroad. You all rock and keep me going! Thank you!

The rest of this week should continue to be delightful. Today I am planning on going on a small hike with the homies and then attending a talent show put on by the Evangelical youth of the community. Tomorrow will hopefully hold some more volleyball and movie fun in the training center. There is talk from my family of hitting the mountains to go horseback riding on Saturday, but I really don’t know if it will come to fruition seeing as there has been a massive amount of traffic accidents this week in Honduras with the huge amount of people traveling. I will probably round out the weekend by trying out an Evangelical mass with my family on Sunday to celebrate Easter and preparing for our camping trip to Omapala on Monday. (THAT’S RIGHT! Bring on the beach!) I see sun (and sunblock), swimming, and s’mores in my future…¡Feliz día!

Alriiiiiiiiighty, then! (Solid JC quote; you know it.) Hello, greetings, sup to all. As you can probably tell, I AM WELL. Already two weeks have passed in this stellar little town, and I am diggin it. I think time seems to be moving a bit faster for most of us now that we are a little more accustomed to the country and culture as well as a little more refined in our language and lessons. (Well done!)

Let's get right to it. The first weekend here was delightful. I spent most of my Saturday morning waiting patiently for several web pages to load but luckily was able to get a few words out there. (Hope you enjoyed. A special shout out to the Hortons for their approval.) Afterwards I prepped a presentation for my Spanish class on José Francisco Morazán (who is kinda like the Franco of Spain) and played some volleyball with other PCTs. Saturday night I hit an ever-so-random birthday party of a brother of one of the trainees. The actual celebration did not start until after a few of us left at 10pm, which is actually a late check-out seeing as we customarily need to be in by 9pm. (I guess some Spain still remains in CenAm. Well played Hondu.) Sunday was just as lovely. A group of chilled at a vaca house of a friend of the current PCV in Ojojona. While there we def relished (like on a hotdog at an A's game) in some solid American pastimes...that's right...we had a barbeque, played bocce ball, and danced the night away to some Tom Petty. Good times.

This week has also definitely been fulfilling. We had our second round of language and technical interviews, and (I gotta say) my stokedness level jumped through the roof! My language interview went well, and it is rumored that it went well enough to push me up two levels, from Intermediate Mid to Advanced Low. (YAYER! Who ever thought that day would come?) I know this is a solid achievement on my part, but what it really means is that I'm gonna have to work my arse off keep up with the avanzados in my new class. (No pain, no gain, I guess.) The technical interview was also dope. My directors have a solid idea on where I will be going and the type of work that I will be doing. Lucky for me, the project fits me perfectly! It is also very refreshing because it guarantees an abundance of work and possibly a stellar counterpart. (To clarify, a counterpart is a resident of the PCVs site of service who is meant to act as the intermediary between the volunteer and his/her community. The quality, in all regards, of a counterpart is one of the key factors to the success of a PCV in his/her site of service. Experiences with counterparts range from outstanding to outrageous.) I would love to elaborate on the exact project that the PC Hondu has in mind for me, but alas, things change. I would prefer to keep my mind (and yours) open to all possibilities.

In addition to great news from the interviews comes great experiences from our technical training. We spent the majority of this week shadowing local businesses, learning how to write a business plan, and creating a business plan (which is actually a summary since the businesses are already in existence) for the owners. The activity allowed us to practice presenting ourselves to the community, learn about local business, and determine how we can best apply our skills and knowledge to assist local businesses. Needless to say, I have lost a good amount of sleep this week with all the emotion and activity.

This weekend is looking to continue the greatness. Tomorrow we are headed to Serabana Grande to meet up with some homies in the Water and Sanitation group. We are meeting up at a restaurant/zoo to hang for the majority of the day. (I really have no idea how to explain the place. I guess you will have to wait for the photos. Let's just hope a monkey doesn't steal my camera.) Sunday will most likely include homework and volleyball. (P.S. I have gotten back into not only volleyball but jumping rope and am loving it! I even considered creating a routine to show the other PCTs...in time ;) ) I hope that you all have just as fabulous a weekend. Lo merecen.

And now my shout out: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FIDDLE!!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Helloooo, Ojo! That's right. Welcome to Ojojona; a colonial town of about 6,000 people, many of whom specialize in the finer crafts such as pottery, ceramics, and the like; these persons are known as artesaneos. Since we arrived on Sunday afternoon, we have all fallen in love with this rustic little town and its humble big-hearted inhabitants.

I personally have been placed with a lovely host family that has two sons, or varones, and one daughter. The nine-year old boy and eleven-year old girl are pretty shy but very polite. The five-year old is a bit more talkative and as curious as can be. (For example, I just had a spectator for a session with my electric toothbrush. The boy was seriously enchanted and did not leave until I had finished spitting out my last drop of mouthwash. Next time I am gonna charge him for making me awkwardly stand by the pila while I cleansed my palette.) The mother is a total sweetheart (only four years older than me...I cannot imagine myself with four kids already...I think I should start working on the other half of the kid equation before I worry about young-ins if you get my drift) and quite a trooper taking care of the family with another baby due in June. The father also seems to be quite caring of each member of the family and spends almost all of his time giving mass in the Evangelical church, in the homes of those that cannot attend, and in the outlying aldeas of Ojojona. He also owns an artesaneo shop that has been in his family for years. I am the first aspirante that the family has ever had, but even without prior experience they are treating this girl (alright, woman) right. They continue to tell me that I am part of the family and that they want me to feel at home. They are completely accommodating to my morning and afternoon exercises, to my preference for a warm water shower, and to my desire to lessen the amount of sugar, azucar, and sour cream, mantequilla, in my meals. The meals (....well) are definitely proving to be plato tipico if nothing else. My breakfast and dinners have consisted of red beans (whole or mashed), white cheese (queso or quesillo, hard to explain but I'm sure Google can), chicken eggs (scrambled, fried, or sunny-side up), meat (chorizo, sausage links, or salami), and the infamous tortillas (of course, made with harina de maíz). The lunches are a nice change normally consisting of a type of meat, rice with peppers, and a vegetable of some sort. It seems I am on my own to get all of my fruit needs filled, however. (What’s a girl gotta do for an apple!)

Training here has also been going well. We are getting into the technical side of things (finally) and working intently on improving our Spanish. About half of each day is dedicated to each type of training. I am getting to know my Biz homies better and completely loving it. We have our own characters in the group but seem to be meshing well. Already we have had volleyball and indoor soccer games, enjoyed chocolate covered bananas together, and have a sweet barbeque planned for the weekend. On that note, I am off to (hopefully) dream about the good old days of summer in the city...oh how I miss SF.

**SLOW SERVICE IN OJO. PICTURES TO COME WAY LATER. SORRY!**

What up! Sorry for the delay in the updates. We have been preparing to jump ship tomorrow to our new Field-Based Training (FBT) sites. For business, we will be in Ojojona, a colonial, clean, and relatively clear of trouble town about 30 minutes south of Teguc. I digress....let's first talk about the volunteer visit (a.k.a. reality check).

Last Sunday, another business PCT and myself trekked it out (including 3 buses and 2 taxis) to Orocuina. It is a pretty simple town located about 15 kilometers outside of Choluteca. It is extremely toasty, as it is located in the south, and seriously off the beaten path. The road to get there is not paved and one of the bumpiest rides I have taken yet. When we arrived on Sunday in Choluteca, we had the pleasure of sampling local fare both there and once we made it into Orocuina (that's right, we hit a Wendy's and a Chinese restaurant). Monday was a bit more culturally fitting as we got to see what our PCV actually does. We hiked (kid you not walked forever) to two outlying communities, or aldeas, to talk to some locals about ongoing projects. The first aldea that we visited was currently working with the PCV and Engineers Without Borders to complete a water system project that would bring water up from the local river to the 33 homes located throughout the mountainside. This community has been trying to get a water system in place for the last 24 years (please take a moment to appreciate the reality of this), so the completion of this project is both a huge success for the PCV and an enormous increase in the quality of life for these families. We spent our visit to the second aldea observing our PCV meet with a group of women that were in the process of figuring out how to best market and sell their homemade hammocks. The hammocks that these women sell are friggin awesome; they are colorful, comfortable, and make for a great cama. (Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a hammock. They are sold just about everywhere hereand are affordable. I plan to buy one at some point in my service and would be happy to snag you one.) The rest of the visit was pretty low key spent in transit or in the apartment of the PCV. On Tuesday, we met up with several other PCTs and PCVs to relax in the sun (with sunscreen of course, Mom) and (somewhat) celebrate St. Patty’s Day together. Wednesday we made it back to Zarabanda to debrief, and, sadly, no crazy stories remain.

The rest of the week was chill and mainly spent packing, doing laundry, and finishing up with the general training. (I have def learned to appreciate the time and effort that is the pila. You should all go hug your washer and dryer now to let them know how much you love them.) The majority of today was spent on the internet trying to update and check all my ish as well as Skype it up with fam and a soon-to-be masters student. (Thanks, guys!!)

Other than the details, all is well. I continue to remain happy and healthy. My dreams continue to be completely vivid and out of control. (Ya, sorry I forgot to mention that earlier. After the first night of the malaria meds, there has not been one uneventful night in the dark.) We are all anxious for FBT to begin and to move in with our new host families. I will be living with a family that has a five and nine-year old boy as well as an eleven-year girl. The wife is pregnant and due in June, and the father is an Evangelical pastor. (I will let you insert your own comments here. I need say no more.) All my best to you and yours.

Jello. So the trip to Teguc was enjoyable (and luckily uneventful). We checked out one of the smaller markets in town, and it's pretty much like the auction (shout out to Denios!) back in the states. Because we had some extra time, we also made it to one of the local malls which, again, are much like those in the states. (Oh, and by the by, I found a Payless! Holler!! I wonder what size I am in Hondu...probablemente muy grande.) We also checked out the PC office...which happens to be in a shady part of town. (That's fun.) Before heading back to the training center, we made a stop off at Burger King (I personally would chosen Wendy's for a frosty and some fries. Oh how I miss those late nights at Mel's!). I have never seen such excited PCTs; everyone definitely had their share of some type of fried delight that day.

My Spanish class and instructor: Jen, Randy, Liz, Me, David

The biz group also made a trip out to Valle to interview some of the small business owners this week. My group interviewed an owner of an internet café and, including the information gleaned from the reports of the other groups, it seems that the critical functions missing from the businesses are accounting, marketing, and management control. The businesses are run in a very simple fashion, including making expenditures and collecting revenue without a register, and normally owned/operated by family members. There is little to no marketing because funds are not superfluous, and having internet access around here is a privilege. It was def rad to have this experience as it showed us where some of our experiences and skills can be put to use.

View of Teguc from Santa Lucia...far enough away

Friday the 13th...well I learned a few things about the gangs that day (such as that they like to take some people down on that day) that I thought would be interesting to pass along. Here is a quick run-down on the gang sitch here. There are two Mara Salvatrucha gangs that sport the numbers 13 and 18; these are thought to be the dates when the gangs were actually started. Anyway, I learned from my teacher that many of these gang members are Hondurans that went to the U.S. illegally to find work to support their families. When they are in the states, they join these same gangs as their forces in America seem to be comparable to those in Honduras (without the police intervention, of course, as that is not existent here). So when these Hondurans are deported, they join back with the gangs to continue to earn (/steal) money to support themselves and their families. The heads of these gangs are actually living in the U.S., and the regional leaders (kinda like the VPs) are running the show in Hondu. It was pretty interesting to learn about these peeps because they capture a great deal of attention both locally and abroad. (I actually just finished and gave a report on the crime sitch here. I will share it with you in a bit as it requires thoughtful explanation which I don't really have right now. You will find out why soon.)

Some of the Zarabanda crew: Moses, Rachel, Katherine, and Taylor

Today was both and upper and downer. We had a great day at training learning about the various support groups available to PCVs and also a bit about each other. Afterwards, a group of about 15 of us hit the soccer field to battle some locals. I guess I can't really call it a battle (as they definitely whopped our asses) but instead a friendly interaction that involved a round object and lasted about an hour and a half. The guys that we played were absolutely amazing and showed us (truly) how it is done. (I can finally say I played fútbol in one of the homelands.) After the game, I made it back to my house and finally had "one of those days." Yep, this was the first time that I found myself in my room with nothing pressing to do and tears in my eyes. I am not sad to be here but had a bit of homesickness overwhelm me for the evening. Luckily, I was able to talk to my dad and mom to sort out some of the feelings. They both knew how to make this girl feel loved. (Thanks, guys.) Now, I am taking a break from the emotional side of me and working on recovering my chi (pronounced "chee", hey LMU VB).

**ONE MORE PIC TO COME**

Tomorrow I will be heading to Orocuina with another PCT to visit a current business PCV. We are gonna check out her life as a PCV and apparently (word on the street) hit the beach with other PCVs and PCTs. I am stoked! Let the games (/real life)

Hey hey! Hope you enjoyed the postings! Like I said, many a sorry about the lack of pics. They really make the story. In time...LIKE NOW!

My homie, Becky, capturing the moment

Anyway, wanted to let ya'll know that the weekend was fab (like the four oh!). On Saturday we had a Cultural Day at the training site (just like the good old days at St. Rose) where all of the instructors dressed in garb, prepared local food and beverages, and presented the history on the eight major pueblos of Honduras. Many of the trainees (including myself) had such a solid time enjoying the variety of tastes that our stomachs were screaming at us by that night. Regardless, it was good times all round, and I got to learn a bit more about my country (now, my home). Afterwards, a bunch of PCTs hit Valle to use the net, and now here we are (full circle).

The cutest of the culture

Sunday was DOPE. The family across the street owns a panadaría, and they taught about ten of the aspirantes how to make pineapple cookies (which are basically empanadas with a pineapple jelly filling) and what I have termed “double dough” (kind of like a sweet bread within another bread). The way that these pastries were made was the coolest part: by hand. That’s right, all of it. I am talking about from measuring the ingredients to stirring the dough (including eggs, milk, sugar, flour, etc.) to shaping the cookies (with those oh so cute ridges). You have not truly baked until you have stirred an egg by hand. So rad. After the messy sesh, we walked to another town, Santa Lucia, to check out the digs and the view of Teguc. The town was quaint but did have some solid paddle boats that I wish we had the time to hit up. Sunday night was filled with mucha tarea.

Chef needs a tan!

Tomorrow we are headed to Teguc in groups to figure out the local way of life. We need to check out the digs of the town, try to barter for fruits and veggies, and research the prices and quality of the local fare. We are also hitting the PC office for a tour and most likely scoring a Frosty from Wendy’s. That may sound lame to you but it sounds money to me. Hope you are all enjoying your milkshake. (From what I hear it brings the boys to the yard.) Hasta mañana.

Well, hello there. It has been quite an intensive but enjoyable week thus far with activities ranging from intensive language training to a session on how to properly prepare food to an in-depth introduction to the Honduras Business Project. Check it.

(High five!) I found out that I have been ranked as an Intermediate Mid in my Spanish proficiency. That is the minimum level a PCT must attain to become a PCV! So basically, unless I do my best not to learn anything in the next 10 weeks while living/eating/breathing Spanish, I am golden. (That's a relief. Maybe I will be the next poster child, just like Michael Phelps...right?) The classes are actually quite fun and intimate. I am with three other trainees with a licensed instructor practicing everything from vocabulary to grammar to local phrases and contexts using dialogues, role plays, and presentations.

The food prep sesh was also fantastically rad. (You will understand why in a moment.) Hello, fruits and vegetables!! After learning how to properly prepare the food, all of the PCTs had a massive grub down as there seems to be a solid lack of fruits and vegetables in the daily Honduran diet. (Don't get me wrong. I normally get two bananas a day but still miss the sweet taste of strawberries daily. In addition, oranges here are a crap shoot, and apples are so ridiculously overpriced.) I wish I had pictures of this event, but it will instead have to remain a solid mental photo. (Just imagine how excited I used to get about my Raisin Bran in the morning.)

I just finished reading up on the Hondu Business Project and am a bit more informed of and encouraged with the potential for change. For the past several years, Honduras has been considered the third poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, behind Haiti and Nicaragua. Several issues have been the main causes of such impoverishment including Hurricane Mitch, civil society and social discontent over the political and economic status quo, and the recent global recession. The Business Program is currently working with community partners, local non-governmental organizations, host country agencies, etc. to address such issues by assisting in the development of the financial, information technology, and tourism sectors of the economy. Within these sectors and also participating in secondary projects are about twenty-five current PCVs. (The PC is planning to average about thirty to thirty-five PCVs over the next two years.) Although this situation seems dangerously dire with a limited level of response, I truly see that I have "my work cut out for me" here and am thus encouraged.

Besides the formal ish, I have continued to keep up with my runs three times a week and yoga twice a week following classes. I am happy, healthy, and living life the best I know how. Until next time, que le vaya bien.

Holler! or ¡Buenas!

Well, the last time we were together I was expectant of some crazy dreams. Unfortunately, I have nothing to report on that end, but I have been busy the past two days during my conscious hours. Allow me to elaborate.

My first Saturday here was fabulous. I spent the first part of the morning doing team building activities with a portion of my training group. I know that sounds corny on paper, but trust me, these activities are much needed as these are the people that we will be relying on for support (for oh, I don't know, maybe the next two years or so). After the good times, I went to Tegucigalpa (Teguc) with my host fam for the first time. (We are not allowed to go there without our fams as it is a dangerous place because of the violent gang activity. Basically, tattoos are bad news bears here.) The city was much like I expected: very overcrowded with traffic and jaywalkers, extremely dirty with people carelessly throwing trash out of their bus or car windows, and noticeably divided into class systems. Although I mention the negative aspects of the city, it is where all of the commerce is handled for the country and is thus vital to the survival of the country. While there, I enjoyed a coffee with my mother, my sister, and what I guess would be my cousin (mother's niece). We talked about the city and also got into deep discussion about some family members that seem to be battling with mental health issues. I mentioned my work on the crisis hotline and inquired if it would be a useful tool for Honduras. My host mother loved the idea, so hopefully I can follow up with my project managers on it once we start Field Based Training in a couple weeks. After the coffee, we hit what was probably the biggest supermarket in the city. It is exactly like those in the states which surprised me a lot. To end the evening fabulously, we retuned home and all the families in my specific training area threw the trainees a welcome party that included tradish American and Honduran food (pizza and tortillas), standard sodas, and a bit of Spanish dance. (Trust me, I am dying to practice my Latin dance moves I picked up from Spain as soon as possible!)

Sunday was another pleasant day and learning experience. I learned how to do my laundry a.k.a. to use the pila. It is a pretty simple process but does a number on your clothes and on your hands. (Basically, the process is as follows. You soak clothes in water with detergent, and then remove them piece by piece to wash them. To wash, you rub a bar of special soap onto the item, and then work the soap into the item by rubbing your hands on the item that is lying on a serrated cement block. You use a bucket and running water to repeat the process for the inner and outer parts of the item. After you have finished getting the soap out of the item with water, you hang to dry. I already scrubbed away part of my skin on my right hand.) This was useful to learn as I will need to do it on my own for the next two years. I was also able to start to try to gain some brownie points with the dog as he watched me talk to the family and work in the backyard. (We will be BFFs when all this is over. I just know it.) After that, I caught the bus to Valle de los Angeles, a standard tourist town, with some other trainees that live in my same city. (I am so hardcore about traveling in pairs here. I think I may have already annoyed some trainees with my overzealous insistence on traveling in groups, but OH WELL. Safety never takes a day off, right Roseville!) We hopped on the net for a bit, tasted some standard fare pupusas (SO YUM! Google 'em.), and hiked to a local park. We didn't actually go into the park as we were told by our families that the not-so-stellar folk from Teguc hang there during the weekends. That night I returned home for a fabulous night with my girls. We watched Toy Story in Spanish while my sister did my hair and my cousin gave me a manicure. These girls are so cute and hilarious. They keep telling me I look like Nicki Hilton. No thanks! Anyway, they want to do my makeup this coming weekend. I think we are just going to have a full-on fashion show. (I will say, though, I am enjoying the younger sister/cousin good times -- ahem, Christa! -- and not having a man in the house. No offense guys, but it is one less thing I need to think about while I am at home.)

Honorable mention: I will be getting a cell phone this coming Wednesday and am able to receive calls for no cost! If anyone has a phone card that they are just tired of carrying around, have a joke they are itchin to tell, or think calling collect is cool, you just let me know. ;)

**INTERNET CONNECTION IS EXTREMELY SLOW. PICTURES TO BE POSTED SOON.**

¡Bienvenido a mi primer escrito de Honduras! Les estoy escribiendo a Ustedes de mi cuarto en una casa donde vivo con una familia Hondureña. Sólo he estado en Honduras por dos dias pero ya me siento que yo he vivido aquí por mucho tiempo.

Welcome to my first writing from Honduras! I am writing to you from my room in a house where I live with my Honduran family. I have only been in Honduras for two days but already I feel like I have lived here for a long time.

Honduras...so ya, what a place. We arrived in the country on Wednesday afternoon completely jet lagged (from being woken up at 2AM after an hour of sleep and goodbyes for a 7AM flight that morning) and, after a quick welcome at the training site, were thrown into the arms of our host families (literally as they are very affectionate people), all of which I have heard from other Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) to be completely fabulous. (On that note, I should elaborate that everyone's family situation differs dramatically from one another. For example, some houses have plasma TVs, washer and dryers, and hot water while others have walls that do not connect to roofs, water delivered twice a week, and a family of six that is sharing a room to accommodate a trainee. Meals are modest, simple, and normally include white bread, bananas and coffee...so many and so much, tortillas, and rice.) I actually surprised myself the first night I was with my host family as I seemed to know more Spanish than I originally thought. (I think that I was delirious, but anyway, thanks, Rosetta Stone!) My mother here is fantastic (so welcoming, very independent, and completely accommodating) and lives within walking distance to our training site. She has one daughter and two nieces, all of which live with her and attend high school. Her daughter is currently (as we speak) practicing the flute. They have a parrot (almost an exact replica of Andy but a bit sweeter on the ears) as well as a dog that will attack anyone but the family and thus needs to be caged when I am home. (We have been told that most dogs in the area are vicious because they serve as guards instead of companions. They are taught to behave this way at a very young age.) My mother is very interested and asks questions frequently about my family in the states, what I plan to do in the Peace Corps (PC), and how to best live in Honduras. Normally, there is not much else going on the house except for my mom tending to her girls or the house and the girls doing their homework or watching television, so much of the time is spent conversing and explaining. My daily routine thus far has been waking up in comfortable room at 6AM to shower with a bucket of warm water (so lucky to have warm water!), walking to training with other PCTs (while trying not to get run over by speeding cars or phased by honks and comments), training on everything for eight to nine hours (which displeases the rear), and then returning home to read more about policies (so many) or go on a run with friends (which I did for the first time today yayer!). Sometimes...although I really have only been here two days...it is tough to come home from a long day of training and speak about my day, life, and dreams in Spanish. (Honestly, sometimes my brain just wants to fart.)

Training has been going well thus far. We are currently working on intensive language instruction and learning more about medical, safety, health, and other PC policies specific to Honduras. We have spent some time learning about local customs (visit your neighbors/family and don't drink the water), the host family experience (you are part of the family and accommodate always), the dangers of Honduras (theft, assault, rape, malaria, dengue, rabies, etc.), and what we can expect that our specific (for me, business) projects will entail. We had a medical interview today to determine which additional vaccines we need and received our health kits which, among other things, contained a mosquito net, bug spray, malaria pills, and supplements for dehydration. We also had a language interview that will be used to separate us into different levels for training purposes. We need to reach a certain language level in order to be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). Right now, we are only PCTs, or aspirantes. (Wish me luck!)

All the aspirantes seem to be pretty rad and with all types of backgrounds from straight out of college to years of experience in the field to spouses that have (reluctantly for some it seems) joined their significant other to share in their desire to make a change. They are from around the country and split pretty evenly between males and females. They range in age from early twenties to late fifties. There are forty nine of us in total and four couples.

Well team, that's all I have for you today! Sorry I can't elaborate more on some gnarly experience. Those have yet to be had, and I am positive that they will be. For now, I leave you with the wonderment on what tonight will bring me in my dreams. We took our first weekly supplement of malaria medicine, and it is supposed to cause some seriously freaky dreams, potentially night terrors. (Are you afraid of the dark? I will be by tomorrow...)

Buenas noches.

Hey, team! Just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely in Honduras on Wednesday afternoon. We are currently training about eight to nine hours per day on everything from culture to language to the Peace Corps program, living with a host family and learning about daily life, and beginning to safely explore the area. Unfortunately, I don't have my laptop with me, but I wanted to let you know that the stories will be coming shortly! It is a bit unsafe and unwise to travel around with our laptops, so I will have to post a ginormous blog (yes, it is a word!) once I get access in a safe area. Until then, I wish you all the best and cannot wait to speak or write to you again soon! All my love to ya'll!

Now that I am officially a trainee, I must let you know that the contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or the Peace Corps. That is all.

Hi, everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I will be leaving for Honduras on Wednesday, February 25th. I will be out of touch for a bit but will post pictures and stories as soon as I can. In the meantime, who has Skype?! I am SUCH a fan and would LOVE to video chat with you while I am away! Add me if you are interested.

Welcome to my blogspot for the Peace Corps! I will utilize this site to post updates, pictures, and various other items that you may find of interest. I hope that you have a pleasant visit!