Our Honduran friends...

Ok it is Ash Wednesday at the moment, the evening of, although I do not know what mr. blog is going to put as the date stamp. But here it is at the moment. Today was the third day of classes with the PC gang. We are currently in Santa Lucia, Honduras, a remarkably picturesque town northeast of Tegucigalpa, the capital. From 0730 to 1630 (military time is easier, no?) everyday we are in class, half of which so far is “Survival Spanish” as they say, and the other having to do with medical and safety and housekeeping issues.

Basic stuff: we arrived in two groups from DC this past weekend because that East coast town somehow does not know how to handle snow—two inches kept us from leaving as a group last Wednesday. There are around fifty of us total, from all over as you might imagine. Each of us is currently living with a host family and in most cases all is well. My host mother is also a grandmother but does more than most people I know, of any age. She is apparently the town’s mother as well because on our way to church on Sunday every one on the street, both young and old, stopped and talked with her. She volunteers her time and her house to teach children in the town that were not accepted or could not pay for school here, she volunteers with readings and prayer sessions at the church and is almost always gone doing something. This is in addition to cooking me three meals a day and laughing at my attempts to communicate.

On that note I will say briefly that I am no stranger to Spanish, as most of you know, but have been disappointed to this point by how vocab and verb tenses and other things have not been coming back to me like I had hoped. Our group is fairly diverse and accomplished—only one of the fifty plus had never been outside the USA—and there are any number of very accomplished speakers. Solid group so far, impressed with the Spanish, but clearly I am still getting to know them…and then we’ll be reassigned to different posts and hardly have any contact for two years! It goes without saying, of course, that every last one of them is far cooler than any one of the friends I have made from previous experiences in my life. Just kidding.

I write all this as a brief and uninteresting introduction to what has been going on. Here were today’s events, in a nutshell, because today was the kind of day that makes a person feel lucky to be alive. Got up at 0530 to go running; left the house at 0545 (yes, my Hondurena mother was already up as well). Did I mention that Santa Lucia is nothing if not massive hills and spectacular views? Anyway, the hills destroyed me but a morning run is like a slice of pizza—even when it’s bad its really pretty good. Returned home, showered, ate breakfast, chatted a bit with mi madre, got to class on time. Left class around 5 (sorry, 1700), returned home to see the group of students in the kitchen listening attentively to mi madre’s direction, changed and met some fellow trainees on a nearby soccer field—it is on the side of one of these massive hills and overlooks Tegucigalpa…ridiculous. Played for over an hour with fellow trainees and a couple of local guys—extremely tiresome but obviously very fun. Ran home, jumped in the shower quickly, changed into nice clothes, devoured the delicious plate of food mi madre had prepared and then the two of us walked to the church for Ash Wednesday services. Quite a town event and, of course, mi madre was the first one to speak during the services…I had no idea! Bueno, that’s enough rambling for one entry. Alive and well here in the lovely Santa Lucia.

I should also point out that its the cool thing to do now to write your entries and emails at home on mr. laptop and then save on a flash drive and cut and paste to save time. As such, I have just now read some of the ¨comments¨from my previous entries...good job, everyone. Very impressed and I will respond in kind. Until next time.
Joe

A loose seal

I had hoped to write in here a little more before the big day, but that day has arrived and I have nothing to show for it, entry-wise. Packing progress is stepping up but to say that I have actually packed would be incorrect. So in the first entry I seemed to have overcome my fears of a self-involved and incredibly boring blog by believing this narrative would be helpful and informative to my friends and family. But no, this is going to be narcissistic and boring. Extremely, and on both counts. No worries, I'll try to make it somewhat humorous along the way, too.
Ok, I am in NM at the moment and it is my second-to-last night here before leaving for D.C. to meet the rest of the Peace Corps gang. By the way, here´s a picture of the family together on one of the last nights...how cute.On Wednesday of next week we will be spending our first night in Honduras, each of us with our own host family. For those of you who I have not been able to speak to recently, here's a very brief breakdown of how things will go (as I understand them): we arrive in the capital, Tegucigalpa, on Wednesday but leave immediately for a small town by the name of Santa Lucia. That is where we will all be for the next three months, on and off, for training given by the Peace Corps. Only after training is complete sometime in May will each of us be told where in the country we will be living for the next two years. So, before I forget, here is the address we can receive snail mail at for the next three months:
Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado 3158
Tegucigalpa, Honduras C.A.

You'll notice, of course, that the address says Tegucigalpa. In no way does that invalidate what I described as our living situation above. Hows that, you ask?! I don't know, I just don't know.
Please don't ask me follow up questions.

Finally, I will miss all you guys and gals very much. And really, it's because of the adventurous and talented friends that I have made over the years that I am going on this trip in the first place. Please feel free to mock this blog at every available opportunity, write snail mail, and yes--visit me. As cool as each of you punks thinks you are, I know very few of you that have actually been to Honduras yet. Don't think of it as a trip to see me but as an adventure to Central America...for yourself.
So I go now to wrestle with my suitcases and see just how hard this is gonna be. Much love, we'll talk soon.
Joe