Hangin' in Comayagua
Hey people!
Well it's Friday afternoon and I'm here in Comayagua, that big city I visited last week with my host family. I am visiting a current volunteer named Grace and she lives about 15 minutes outside of the city. I am having a great time! And guess what, she is from Richmond, VA! What are the chances! And even weirder, she goes to West End Assembly of God! What a small world :) Her parents live in Glen Allen, and she said when she goes home to visit May 20, she'd be happy to bring me back stuff from my family and Chris (since she also has a ton of friends in NoVa) . How convenient she'll be there right before my birthday!! ;) Her parents came to visit her August and had a great time with her, her mom stayed one week and her dad 2. She said they felt a lot more comfortable about her being in the Peace Corps there after they visited and saw it for themselves.
So far I like a lot of what I see about her life. It's really tranquillo and laid back . Her town's a bit dusty but it's surrounded by mountains in every direction around the flat Comayagua valley. She has her own house about the size of a large apartment, with a living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom in the back of the house. It backs up to a pulperia (which is a small sort of convenience store found on every corner) owned by her landlord, which sells most kinds of food, including veggies and fruit, meat, american cheese (yay!), toiletries and stuff like toilet paper, etc. Yesterday I took the bus from Sigua to here and walked to the health center to find Grace, using a hand drawn map the PC staff gave me. The trip wasn't hard at all, and I asked a lady on the bus to help me find my stop, and she gave me her phone number so I can spend some weekend with her in Comayagua! She even offered to buy me some food from the people selling it on the bus. The people here are very nice.
I hung out a bit at the health center with her until lunch time, then we went home and made chicken and broccoli in this coconut milk sauce with garlic and butter, over rice. Que delicioso! Then I went with her over to this private school across the street that is run by a nonprofit that takes in unwanted children or poor kids from across Honduras and boards them there and gives them a good education. Last night she gave them a charla (or "talk") about AIDS, and it was only for the boys, from ages 10- 17 it seemed like. They were all so cute and attentive and alert, it's an awesome thing that they are receiving good care and an education, I can see so much potential in some of them. Afterwards we hung out in her house and played with her kitty. It's made me pretty sure I want to get a kitten when I move into my own place - it's so fun to have a companion and have someone waiting for you when you get home! I think I am going to stay an extra day with Grace so that I can go to Tegucigalpa with her tomorrow. All I've seen of Teguc is the airport so it should be fun.
I am getting lots of good information from Grace during my stay. She´s told me all about having a cell phone here, which I am considering, traveling, what I can and should ask for in my site, her work and how she gained the trust in her community, how she bought the furniture for her place, what things cost, everything pretty much. Her work here is basically working with a youth group, a lot of whom I met in the streets and are so cute. She also gives charlas about health and AIDS, and helps out in the health center when staffing is short. Her counterpart is a nurse from the health center, who also lives 2 houses down from her and helped her find her place to live. It's funny because my Spanish is just about the same is Grace's, even though she's been here a year now. She's much better at listening than me though. She's trying to study more now though to get over the plateau she's reached. Even though her Spanish is limited, she can get her point across and is very comfortable chatting with people and people don't seem to mind at all. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
Well I hope to call Chris on Sunday from an internet phone in Sigua, but he might still be on a skit trip. I am also planning to hear from my parents on Sunday night b/c they are celebrating my dad's birthday :) I love and miss you all - Hugs and kisses!!
Well it's Friday afternoon and I'm here in Comayagua, that big city I visited last week with my host family. I am visiting a current volunteer named Grace and she lives about 15 minutes outside of the city. I am having a great time! And guess what, she is from Richmond, VA! What are the chances! And even weirder, she goes to West End Assembly of God! What a small world :) Her parents live in Glen Allen, and she said when she goes home to visit May 20, she'd be happy to bring me back stuff from my family and Chris (since she also has a ton of friends in NoVa) . How convenient she'll be there right before my birthday!! ;) Her parents came to visit her August and had a great time with her, her mom stayed one week and her dad 2. She said they felt a lot more comfortable about her being in the Peace Corps there after they visited and saw it for themselves.
So far I like a lot of what I see about her life. It's really tranquillo and laid back . Her town's a bit dusty but it's surrounded by mountains in every direction around the flat Comayagua valley. She has her own house about the size of a large apartment, with a living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, and a bathroom in the back of the house. It backs up to a pulperia (which is a small sort of convenience store found on every corner) owned by her landlord, which sells most kinds of food, including veggies and fruit, meat, american cheese (yay!), toiletries and stuff like toilet paper, etc. Yesterday I took the bus from Sigua to here and walked to the health center to find Grace, using a hand drawn map the PC staff gave me. The trip wasn't hard at all, and I asked a lady on the bus to help me find my stop, and she gave me her phone number so I can spend some weekend with her in Comayagua! She even offered to buy me some food from the people selling it on the bus. The people here are very nice.
I hung out a bit at the health center with her until lunch time, then we went home and made chicken and broccoli in this coconut milk sauce with garlic and butter, over rice. Que delicioso! Then I went with her over to this private school across the street that is run by a nonprofit that takes in unwanted children or poor kids from across Honduras and boards them there and gives them a good education. Last night she gave them a charla (or "talk") about AIDS, and it was only for the boys, from ages 10- 17 it seemed like. They were all so cute and attentive and alert, it's an awesome thing that they are receiving good care and an education, I can see so much potential in some of them. Afterwards we hung out in her house and played with her kitty. It's made me pretty sure I want to get a kitten when I move into my own place - it's so fun to have a companion and have someone waiting for you when you get home! I think I am going to stay an extra day with Grace so that I can go to Tegucigalpa with her tomorrow. All I've seen of Teguc is the airport so it should be fun.
I am getting lots of good information from Grace during my stay. She´s told me all about having a cell phone here, which I am considering, traveling, what I can and should ask for in my site, her work and how she gained the trust in her community, how she bought the furniture for her place, what things cost, everything pretty much. Her work here is basically working with a youth group, a lot of whom I met in the streets and are so cute. She also gives charlas about health and AIDS, and helps out in the health center when staffing is short. Her counterpart is a nurse from the health center, who also lives 2 houses down from her and helped her find her place to live. It's funny because my Spanish is just about the same is Grace's, even though she's been here a year now. She's much better at listening than me though. She's trying to study more now though to get over the plateau she's reached. Even though her Spanish is limited, she can get her point across and is very comfortable chatting with people and people don't seem to mind at all. It makes me feel a lot more comfortable.
Well I hope to call Chris on Sunday from an internet phone in Sigua, but he might still be on a skit trip. I am also planning to hear from my parents on Sunday night b/c they are celebrating my dad's birthday :) I love and miss you all - Hugs and kisses!!
posted by Lauren @ 16:05
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