Field Based Training...and Finally an Update

Yes everyone, I am still alive, and well in fact. It has been a while since the last post; just over a month, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. I think that’s a good sign. So I guess a recap of the time elapsed since then is due. I have made some really great friends amongst the other trainees. My Spanish improves everyday little by little and my English worsens everyday at the same rate it seems. The days have been long and full. There have been Spanish lessons, cultural lessons, medical stuff, technical training (which has only now really just begun in full), and so much more. Included in all this has been our favorite scare tactic sessions where we are told how many bad things could and “are” going to happen to us. This is a very dangerous country indeed (sorry mom!!). We’re talking about the highest homicide rate in the world. What they don’t say is that the vast majority of these incidents are related to the drug trade. I got a good head on my shoulders though and am no longer “blindly trusting every person I meet” (that’s right to those of you with warnings of my character flaws).
Beyond all that this is truly turning out to be a wonderful time. I have done some traveling. I have been to the capital on multiple occasions and went to the very south of the country for a three-day volunteer visit that went great regardless of how amazingly hot it was. During breaks we practice soccer and occasionally I steal a guitar for a few. Some great friendships have been kindled in such a short amount of time and after the first three and a half weeks the three different projects that are represented here (health, business, and wat/san) have since been separated. This was not however before we all celebrated a fellow trainee’s and my birthdays just a little early before we all went our different ways.
Starting on Sunday the 21st of March, myself and 16 other Water and Sanitation trainees took off for my current location of El Paraiso. It is so unbelievably beautiful here. Mountains absolutely full of coffee farms and other fruits surround the city. My project is also, in my opinion, the best one amongst Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras. I often get to work outside with my hands on solutions to the ever-growing problem in this world that is water. However small my efforts may seem in the grand scheme of things, in many cases they will be concrete. If this feeling in any way matches the sense of pride I felt after finishing a construction project in full then I am in the right place. Being in El Paraiso also means that I’m in Field Based Training (FBT). I now just spend the majority of my days learning Spanish and learning the ins and outs of my future job first hand. Needless to say everyday is different. Everyday has different challenges. And little by little I inch closer to becoming a volunteer. No, I still have no idea where I will be living for the next two years, which is a little exciting, but not nearly as much as it is nerve racking. I will not know for another 5 weeks either. All I can do is relax, take in the process, and await a life of greater personal agency.
I want to thank everyone that managed to send me some type of birthday wish whether that was on Facebook or in e-mail. I was able to check all that, but I rarely get the Internet. Itss just not convenient and often costs money. No matter how large or small the message was I was smiling ear to ear after reading them all so thank you very much.
Too much to say, not enough detail, I get it. I will try to get better at this blogging thing. I have been taking plenty of pictures though don’t yall worry. I’ll try to throw a few on here as well. Take care everyone.

Peace,

Jesse

My Second Day In...5 days later

What a wonderful first few days this has turned out to be in Honduras. Life was feeling hectic and anxious in the weeks leading up to this trip. To all of you I was able to say goodbye to thank you all for the encouragement. When I arrived in Miami there were 54 other people greeting me who had similar feelings of wanting to finally begin this journey. Everyone had explained the same few things we barely knew time and time again and although I love you all so much it has been a great weight off of my shoulders in many ways to get here.

That’s not to say my first day was not a crazy one in so many ways. There are new surroundings, new friends, new job, new family, new culture, and a mostly unfamiliar language. But, as the Peace Corps promised I was with my new host family within 4 or so hours of arriving to the country. I must say I really like them. I am the first volunteer they have ever had, and in terms of Honduras they do fairly well, and work very hard for it. The nuclear family has a mother and father and two kids, one 15 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. The father is a security guard by night at a Catholic University in the city a half hour away and when he catches up on sleep he is a carpenter by day. He is currently building apartments next to the house to eventually rent out. My host mother is so very nice and patient with me. She slows down her Spanish for me and repeats herself without hesitation or frustration. The boy works on a farm most days and goes to school most nights. The daughter simply goes to school and smiles at me the rest of the time. I’m not sure if its my skin of my blundering Spanish; probably both.

This is by no means the end of the family around here. Connected to this house is where 6 cousins and their families live as well. Everyone is in and out every day. Two girl cousins of 22 and 18 have taking a liking to me and had a good time trying to see what I was into and quizzing me on objects in the room in Spanish. The food is simple and good in my opinion. Staples are beans, salty cheese, homemade tortillas, fruit sometimes, rice, various meats…you get the picture. Does me just great. Oh and my host mother made me a homemade tea from pineapple and cinnamon to ease my nerves the first night…so nice to have someone care for you in an otherwise nerve-racking situation.

My Room...

I know its only been two days and this may be preemptive, but I feel as though I know I’m doing something I was meant to. I’m loving getting to know a few people in my group, the teachers are great (all Spanish instruction is strictly in Spanish…YES!!), and the climate has been moderate as to ease into the heat. My first cold bucket shower this morning was quite the experience, but I must say better than coffee at 6 in the morning (I think MLA and Safire Canyon helped prepare me for that). So much more to come…its only day two here, and that soft glow of light at the end of the tunnel just got a lot brighter for me.

Peace,

Jesse

…or as they pronounce “Jyes”, or for those that can’t handle that…mi nombre medio…Raymond

Miami Vice

Hanging in a hotel near the Miami Airport. Awaiting the unknown, and chatting with a new rommate.