It isn't always easy...

Hello everyone,

How are ya? I am doing okay. Received some not so great news this week. A great friend of the family passed away this week. Nick Isom was a stand up guy who battled cancer for a very long time. His family is very close to ours so much that his brother married my cousin Jenny. Rob, you and your family are in my thoughts. I am very sorry I can’t be there for you man. For those of you who didn’t know Nick you would have liked him…just a great guy. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

And then the earthquake hit too. I am just fine and the next day it was as if not much had happened. People were asking a lot if I was okay and I am. Thanks for your concern.

Honestly the days have been tough here in Santa Rosa. I was overwhelmed by the city and now have some pretty serious work to get done. I work at an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) named ADELSAR that provides services to stimulate development in Santa Rosa and the outlying small villages. My job is to help with the promotion and spreading the word about the organization. The problem is people don’t really understand that my Spanish is less than stellar, that my role as a Peace Corps volunteer is to be a resource for the whole community and not just ADELSAR, and that all this is very new to me. Needless to say it’s been a tough transition. It’s been a rocky week and a half. I have trouble sleeping and my motivation rocks back and forth. I miss my family and friends greatly.

But hey, this is what its all about. I didn’t expect things to be easy here. The hardest part really isn’t the work, its adapting to the culture and way of life which is a big challenge. It will only get better with time and I have some other great volunteers here in town helping me out too.

On to other things…

I also arranged my room here in beautiful Santa Rosa de Copan. Its amazing what 20 bricks and 3 sheets of plywood will do to a room. Add a chair and some other organizational tactics and I have a standard Peace Corps room. Accessories will be added later. My fan is blowing because I am sweating in here like that pilot from Airplane. Haven’t seen the movie Airplane? Do yourself a favor and check it out. Leslie Neilson is at his finest and there are classic others. But I digress…

Santa Rosa doesn’t get too hot (for Honduras, not too hot is 80-85 degrees). However it’s rainy season and that means it gets pretty humid. Everyday around 5:00pm the strong clouds roll in, a thunderstorm hits, and the rain starts coming down. I sweat everyday, which is probably the reason I have lost 12 pounds...and I don’t need to lose weight.

So now I will end this blog with a quintessential Peace Corps story. The night I write this blog I went to hop in the shower. Before I step into my haven of cleanliness, I remember I need to do push ups. Why? I have no clue. So I return to my room and realize there are many what I call ant flies (I think they are termites) near my window. The window is broken (it had been for a while) and they are entering rapidly. I kill them and my host brother runs into tape a plastic bag to the window to close it off. I continue to kill the damn bugs. After a sweaty drawn out process the situation is under control. I walk out of the house to check out the other side of the window and its fine. I walk back in and there is a gecko right where the bugs were. It takes me 10 minutes to catch and another 5 for my host brother to stop laughing at me. I do my push ups and get into the shower. Sometimes its just the little things that get to me.

Its been a weird week. There are obstacles here and there and the standard difficulties that come with being in a new country with a new way of living. But such is the journey and such is life. It’s only making me stronger and more aware of my purpose here.

I want to end by again saying please keep the Isom family in your thoughts. And prayers. Rest In Peace Nick Isom…you will be missed.

Until next time…