Aww the Storms!

Yep, that is right, we are in rainy season and thus the storms have begun. Usually, everyday around 5ish in the afternoon the rain starts. Sometimes it is just a light rain, sometimes it is just thunder and lightening, or like today, we have the works: torrential downpours, thunder and lightening. The storms are actually pretty incredible. It rains so hard that you can hardly see and if you get caught outside in one, well you have had your bath for the day-two seconds and you are drenched to the bone. The streets turn to rivers and lakes and the rivers start to rise (not always a good thing). The good thing is it is not cold; the bad thing is they do tend to cause a lot of problems and flooding here in Honduras. We also tend to lose power and our water turns a fun reddish-brown and contains more dirt than water (that is if they do not turn the water off). All in all it is pretty amazing. I never knew it could rain so hard for so long. Sometimes the showers last 5mins, sometimes hours. It is definitely an experience and I love storms so it makes me happy.

Well I am going to get going, before my computer battery dies and before we lose power (yes, we are having one of the bigger storms right now so I wont be surprised if we don’t lose power later). Hope all is well with everyone and I will update this again later. Take care and I miss you all!

m

Life Is Good

Life In Honduras…Continues….

Well, life here continues. Things are settling down after a month of non-stop travel and having my sister visit (which was amazing). I start work again this week which is exciting. I have my normal 6-10hrs of English this week but the more exciting thing is I am going to the aldeas to start the parenting school that I have been trying to start for the past 6months so that is very exciting. I will be training teachers and a few parents from 20 aldea communities to run this incredible parenting program that teaches parents about values, nutrition, the importance of school, self-esteem, etc. It is so incredible and has such a positive impact in the communities that are doing this. It also just gives the communities a designated time to get together and form stronger bonds and talk about things that normally just go by the wayside because they have never had this structured time to talk about these topics. It also provides information on how to talk to their kids about sensitive topics like HIV/AIDs, relationships, etc. that normally are not talked about. I am super excited. We shall see what comes of it. I remember when I was in training this was the one project that I did not really want to do, and now it is my main project and I cannot wait to see how it turns out. Not only that, but I will be training the new volunteers that arrive this week on this topic and in January, I will be, along with one other volunteer (a good friend of mine) presenting this program to the Ministry of Education of Honduras to see if they will take it on as a national project to better the lives of the people in their country!!!! How amazing is that???

On top of that, I finally had a meeting with ALL of my counterparts (first time since I have gotten to site) and we have work plans with all of the--Including a seminar and training with the emergency committee this weekend. My library continues to need help but that is nothing new and I am going to work really hard to try and get the youth group back on track. I am going to start training baseball again and I think that I am going to form two leagues (8-12 years and 13-20) so that everyone who wants to play can play. We are also supposedly starting a regional league in Comayagua in the coming year so that is pretty exciting and it is such a good thing for the kids. So, if it is not apparent, I am once again rejuvenated and really excited to be working and have so many ideas to start putting into action. I have had my rough spots, but maybe things will begin to turn around now. If nothing else, I know that I am in the right place doing the right thing and this experience has taught, continues to teach, and will teach me so much about myself and everything else. It is definitely changing who I am for the better. I love it so much and I am so glad to be here.

The feria de La Libertad starts on the 25^th is supposed to be a lot of fun. It is kind of like our county fair, only on a smaller scale (fewer people) and the whole town goes out everynight and there will be live music and dancing the whole week. It should be entertaining that is for sure. I missed it last year because I was still in training, but it is all good. I will be here this year and it will be fun. I will let you know how it goes.

I miss you all and hope that life is treating you well! Take care and when you get a chance drop me an email or letter to let me know how life is going for you!

Besos y abrazos por la distancia!

M

life in honduras continues

Hey everyone!


I know it has been WAY too long since I have updated this. No excuses. Anyway, things here are really goood. I just got back from a two week vacation in the states-it was so nice to see my family and some of my friends (sorry I did not get to see all of you!). And, my sister just left. She and a friend were down here visiting me for two weeks and it was absolutely amazing. It was so incredible to have the opportunity to share my life here in Honduras with her and to take her to Tela and spend my birthday in the Copan Mayan Ruins. My work is gradually improving and I am super excited to help out with training of the new volunteers that are getting to country on the 11th of this month. I start work in the aldeas, training teachers how to manage and run parenting schools for the families of those aldeas next week (if everything goes as planned). I am very excited that my work is actually starting to work again because it was pretty non-exisitant for so long. I am still teaching my 85 sixth graders english two days a week and I still have my english class for adults two nights a week. I am going to start up the baseball thing again so that we can have games with San Jeronimo soon. It has definitely been a crazy month and I am kind of looking forward to settling into things here again and getting back into the honduran life.

Other than that, things here are very tranquilo and I am throughly enjoying the experience. If nothing else, peace corps is an absolutely incredible learning experience on all levels. I appreciate this opportunity so much!

I promise I will update this more frequently and I miss you all bunches! Take care and send me emails whenever you get a chance. Besos y abrazos por la distancia!!!!!

-m