Lauren's Peace Corps Experience in Honduras

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are mine personally. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor. Please do not copy or forward any of these contents without my permission.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Packages galor!

Hi all :)

Just wanted to share with you about the mountain of packages and letters I got today, thank you! I got Valentine's Day stuff from my mom (a ton I might add), a Valentine's Day card from Grandma Pat and Grandpa Al, a Valentine's Day card from Carol, Chris's mom, an awesome care package from friends Brittany and Kelly for Valentine's Day, and a letter from Chris. I think in total I got about 6 packages and 5 letters! Mom you sent me a mountain of facial products so I gave a lot of it to the young teenage girl who works in my host house cooking and cleaning, she loved it all. I still have a ton left so don't worry. And I shared some of the candy with the kids of course, and gave my 9 year old host brother the Highlights magazine after explaining the games, and the word search book, since he is learning English in school. Mom sent me cake mix and frosting and sprinkles, so I want to make the cake sometime in the next few days using the neighbor's oven. Anyway, it was very exciting, thank you! I had to pay 50 Lps. for it all, which is the equivalent of about $2.50. We'll see how I get it all back to Siguat!

Today was a scorcher. It had to be in the 90s or higher. I sweated all afternoon. When I finished at 4:30 I went home and took a nice cold shower - it was heaven.

Today we prepared for a charla we are giving tomorrow morning for, get this, about 150 fifth graders! And it's just the 5 of us in my Spanish class that are going to be controlling all of them. I don't see how it's possible but I am sure I will learn a lot from the experience! The theme of the charla is self-esteem and we will be doing the following activities with them: We start with Simon Says to get them moving, then we will go over what self-esteem is and what affects our self-esteem. Then we are going to have them trace their hand on a piece of paper and make a turkey (you know what I mean, we all did this in school) and have them write on each finger one thing they are good at, one thing they like about themselves, etc. Then we are going to play charades in smaller groups to get them used to doing things in front of a group (sometimes just having these kids introduce themselves in front of a group is something they have never done before and does wonders for their confidence). Then we are finishing up by having them write their dream, what they want to do when the grow up, on a leaf, and we have drawn a few big "Arbol de los suenos" or Tree of Dreams that they will put the leaves on and they can keep it in their classrooms. This, we hope, will take only about 2 hours. What do you think? With a group so big it's hard to do a lot, so hopefully we will be able to do what we've planned.

Tomorrow (Friday) afternoon the whole health group leaves for an overnight trip at a camp outside Santa Barbara, called ANEHD, or something. It is like a youth camp that educates about the environment, which is what we are going to learn about. So we will all go there for the night and return Saturday. It should be fun.

Well I'm sending lots of love to you all! Take care :)

2 Comments:

  • At March 4, 2005 at 12:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    HI LAUREN, RAB HERE FROM "BONNIE SCOTLAND". HELLO AND NICE TO READ YOUR LETTERS TO YOUR MOM. WELL WE ARE IN BLIZZARD CONDITIONS SO SEND SOME OF THAT HEATWAVE MY WAY:))), TAKE CARE AND LOOK AFTER YOURSELF.I AM SENDING A VID. OF SCOTLAND TO YOUR MOM SO I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT WHEN YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO SEE IT. LOVES>>>RAB

     
  • At March 4, 2005 at 10:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Wow, Louie!!! You working on that tan, or what?!?! Remeber the sunscreen... and the eye cream, too!!! LOL... We think of you everyday... so many little things remind us of you! You're very missed... and we love you so much! Keep on having a great time, and enjoy every moment! I love you! Your sis -- Wendi

     

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