In Honduras...first Days

Hey Everyone,

Well we landed safely in Honduras. The flight in was great. The landing however into Tegucigalpa is pretty crazy. In front of the runway are mountains so the plane takes a steep left turn right before the runway. Basically we did a 180 degree turn and right after we straightened out we had landed on the runway. We got our bags, went through customs, and were in Honduras.

We will be in the town of Zarabonda training for 3 weeks. Then the big group we are in now will split in to 3 groups depending on our projects. I am in the business group. After the 3 weeks, the business group will go to a different town for field-based training. This process will be for 5-6 weeks…I am not sure. I will stay with a different host family over there.

Day one we went straight to our training center. We had a quick orientation and then were introduced to our host families. My host mom, Marcela, is great and very “amable” (kind). She, her husband Jose, and their children, Danny and Marcela, live in the town of Las Cañadas. It’s a mile or two away from Zarabanda where the Peace Corps training center is. I take a bus everyday to the center. At first it was a bit awkward because of the newness and the language barrier. As the day went on we became more comfortable. They cook 3 meals a day for me. The food is different but am filling up pretty good. Being with the family is great for my Spanish. My Spanish is doing all right and gets better with time.

My host family is very welcoming. Of course the culture and people here are a lot different, but I find the differences fascinating. There is a lot for me to learn but as the days go by I am becoming more comfortable with the new culture. My host father, Jose, is great too. One quick story about him…

So we were eating dinner and enjoying "platanos." This means bananas but really they are big bananas. He told me he has trees outside. We walked down and he picked up a machete. He told me to watch out then cut down a huge thing of bananas. He told me to hold the bananas and then whacked the crap out of the tree and it fell to the ground. i thought he had gone nutts but then he told me a banana tre only has one life so after the bananas are down the tree has to go down. He just rumbled through the yard doing this to a bunch of trees.

So training is from 7:30-4:30 M-F and 8:30-11:30 on Saturdays. Right now we are getting a lot of information sessions on top of language classes. We had the general introductions as well as culture introductions, administrative introductions, security information, health information, the whole nine yards. There is a lot going on.

For the core training (the basic job training) the trainers are great. They are sure to make everything fun so we have a good environment to learn in. All in all things are good. Again it is very different but experiencing this part of the world is facinating.

Thats all for now. I made another video but unfortunately I can´t get it to load. I will put it up the next time I get a chance. Adios.

Much Love
-B

Last Night in the States

Hey Everyone. I am about done with staging here in DC and tomorrow will be on my way to Honduras. Today I woke up early and a friend in town took me and fellow Peace Corps Trainee around DV to see the major sites. Check out pictures on my blog video.

Staging was an information session where we went over a lot of general hellos, polices, and logistics information. I met fellow Business Advisors in my Peace Corps Honduras group as well as members in 2 other groups; water/sanitation and HIV/AIDS/Health. There are about 60 of us all going together. All 60 of us will go down to Honduras. We fly into Tegucigalpa then will travel to Zarabonda, about 40 miles outside the Tegucigalpa. Each of us will be placed with a host family. We all train together for 3 weeks. After that we separate into our specific groups for our on-site training. Our business group will be apart from the others. For these 4 weeks of on-site training we will live with new host families. Then we go back to our original training site to figure out what our specific projects are.

I am sure I will get to blog before then but I was told when I get to Zarabonda I won't have internet or much communication for 3 weeks. Don't be alarmed, I will update as soon as I can. Thanks again for all the fun during the going away parties, the love, the gifts, and general good wishes. I miss everyone already but am ever so ready for the challenge and experiences ahead. Until then...

Much Love