Gracias

Yes, thats right, the name of my site is Gracias! I am very excited to be passing this news along, it was a long wait, but also very worthwhile. We were all incredibly anxious on Monday morning while waiting to find out our sites, and I got the distinct impression that our supervisors like to see us squirm, and therefore dragged it out even longer! :) But, we were each finally handed a manilla envelope with our name on it, and (on the count of three) all tore into them to find out what our lives had in store for us over the next two years. I was absolutely thrilled when I saw my site; it is in a region of the country that I really like, has lots of projects that I am really excited about, and is close to where a number of my friends were placed. Although, I do want to give a shout-out to those people who were placed farther away (they know who they are), because I will miss them very much...its sad to get split up after 2 months of being together everyday...but, it is for the purpose of finally starting our work in the communities, which is why we all came here :)
I am currently in Gracias, for a short site visit, learning my way around and meeting the counterparts with whom I will work. There are a number of projects I would like to get involved in, but we will see how things start out once I officially begin my service. Everyone here has been really nice and welcoming, and I can´t wait to move here and get started! However, there are some things that we need to take care of in Santa Lucia and Teguc. before our service can officially start. This week will be full of final training stuff, and our Swearing In ceremony in Tegucigalpa (hooray!). Then, next weekend, we all make our final and permanent move to our sites. I feel very ready to start my service, which is a testament to the training we have been giving. Its hard to imagine how you can make someone feel so prepared to start working in such a foreign situation, but somehow, they do it! :) Keep us all in your thoughts this week as we close our time together and take the big leap out into the unknown!

PS. Thanks to my parents for the packages and Sara, Troy and Rishi for the awesome card. Love you guys!

more pictures!

Thought I should post some more pictures for everyone! Hope you all enjoy, I plan on writing more next week when I find out my site.

The first two are just to give a glimpse of what life looks like for us here. The landscape shot is actually from Santa Lucia (where we will be returning tomorrow!)









The picture of food is my very first hand-made batch of tortillas! (yay me!) It's also a shot of a typical dinner here. Also thought I should include a picture from our very first Honduran rain storm. Joel and Kristina were nice enough to walk me home to shut my window...but we all got drenched in the process!

The last two pictures are of what happens when you make cookies here! haha Sarah, Kristina and I made a batch a few weeks ago, and they were eaten within 15 minutes. The last picture is from my cooking for our going away party. I had a whole herd of helpers for my chocolate chip cookie making, and again, they were a big hit! :)

Waiting Game

I feel like I have alot to catch everyone up on, so I will do my best to summarize what's been happening since my last post!
Last week, we had our final Tech Interviews with the Program coordinators who will determine our site placement. This monday, we will finally know where they are sending us to live out our two years of service. I am so excited to find out my new home, and counterpart agency with whom I will be working. Its almost time! :)

As much as I am looking forward to finding out my site, I also can't believe that we are almost done with FBT. Next weekend, we move back to Santa Lucia. It's going to be sad to leave Yarumela, my family is very sweet and the town has grown on me! The trainees who live in Yarumela have gotten really close, and its going to be odd to be all spread (geographically) out again in Santa Lucia, and then be split-up and dispersed throughout the country. Right now we all live within a block and a half radius of eachother, and spend many evenings sitting on the corner just chatting. The weekend before last, we went (with some of the rest of the group) to the river outside Yarumela. It was a great day of just hanging out on the banks, listening to music and eating mango sauce. The following work week was good, we had our training and practicum in Men's Health, which was interesting. I was actually really nervous before we had to do our practicum, which was a HIV/men's health presentation in a local agriculture school. I think I was nervous because I have never worked with large groups of men before. It's usually been kids, or women... But, the presentation went pretty well, and I actually enjoyed myself! These experiences are definitely teaching me not to make any assumptions about what I want to do, or will be good at doing, until I try it at least once.

Last weekend was a nice relaxing time. Saturday a group of us from Yarumela and La Paz spent the day at a pool in Comayagua. It was a beautiful pool and we had a great time spending the day in the water and sun. Sunday was a lazy day at home hanging out with the family...And then came Monday, which was the start of our last week of FBT! Amazing how time flew by. Yesterday, Sarah and I completed our Avanzada project at the Casa Materna of the hospital. We have given a total of three presentations to the women living there. We have discussed family planning, breastfeeding, and nutrition. Also, yesterday was our last meeting with the group from the hosipital who supports the Casa. They brought us food and thanked us for working with them. It was really cool because both Sarah and I really enjoyed spending time at the Casa, and I feel like it was a great opportunity for us to practice and learn about presentations and working with a population of pregnant moms. So, it was really cool to also hear the group say that they appreciated our help, it was definitely a situation that everyone seemed to get something out of! As for the rest of this week, we have our going away party with our families tomorrow, and so have been planning and cooking the last few days. I am making some dessert and fruit salad, hopefully everyone likes it!
I think that is about all I will write for today... I want to post more pictures soon, but for some reason things it's not working right now. As usual, Im thinking of everyone. I got my very first package in the mail yesterday, Thanks Mom! Miss you all, think of me as we go through the mixed emotions of saying goodbye and moving onto the final phase of training.
Much love to all.