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.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Catching up some more, and my trip to the states

Hi all!

Well to continue...so lately in my town I have been very busy, which is a nice change. Time has been passing super fast, so much so that I still hadn't sent out my stove proposal when I left for the states because I was waiting for a response from someone, and by the time I realized it, two more months had passed before I knew it. When I get back I will send it out though, with or without the data I requested. I also have become involved with the youth group again, with a new leader from PLAN Honduras, who is an improvement from the one from last year. We have been focusing on getting the members (about 30 kids) and getting straight what everyone wants to do as a group and giving them some skills so that they can work as a group. Also I have been busy with the library. We finally opened the "provisional library"...the municipality agreed to pay rent and the librarian's salary so that we fixed up the room in front of the Profe's house and could put to use the many many books that the University of Maine donated. At the end of opening day we had over 1500 books - a kid's corner full of books and games and flashcards and puzzles, flutes, keyboard....and several shelves of school subjects like science, mathematics, social studies, and then several shelves of literature, in Spanish and English. I've already gotten my library card (was the first cardholder actually) and took out Memoirs of a Geisha in Spanish. With the 2000$ the University donated we used part of it to buy a new computer also, so that we can start making a little bit of money to do library activities by selling copies and printing. Every day there are kids there reading and looking up homework topics. The library committee has many ideas of things we want to do, like workshops and ways to motivate reading. So until October, when we hope Reicken will start constructing the new library building, our library is going pretty well.

Well the 17th I came to the states (and am still here til Friday). It's been a great trip. I flew into DC and Chris picked me up about 9:30 at night. It was kind of sad leaving Honduras, flying over San Pedro Sula. I really love that country a lot by now. But arriving in Houston was kinda crazy...I got a bit emotional at seeing the American flag when I got off the plane, corny I know, but it had been almost a year and a half since setting foot in the U.S. And being in the airport was weird...what struck me most were the amount of overweight people, the amount of people talking on their cell phones, and of course the English. It was odd. I felt out of place...I just wanted to find someone who spoke Spanish...funny huh? But as soon as I got to DC and Richmond and everything else, I almost felt like I had never left, everything felt so normal. I had a great time eating sushi again, seeing Chris's mom and going out to lunch, seeing my house again in Midlothian, going to the gym and the pool, going shopping (although major price shock...everything seems like such a scam here!) and seeing and renting lots of movies. Over memorial weekend I finally saw our new lake house on Lake Anna that my grandparents constructed last year. It is an amazing house and I had a great time seeing my huge extended family...fishing, swimming, playing games, badminton, and eating way too much. We celebrated my birthday there and had a really fun time catching up. So until Friday I'll be in the DC area tying up loose ends and seeing some more friends. All in all it's been a great time in the states. I am sad to leave...it seems so much cleaner and organized here, I love the water fountains and hot showers and air conditioning...but I also miss Honduras, mostly my friends there. I know that once I'm there I won't miss all the amenities that are here...it's just hard to leave them :) Well, more later....

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