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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Spanish overload!

The time has come for another Blog post. This last week has flown by incredibly fast, I actually didn´t believe my host mom last night when she told me that today was going to be thursday....turned out she was right! This week we got situated in our language classes, I´m pretty happy with my placement, although it requires alot of independent researching and homework. Our class has to present on a topic to the other classes; just the thought of this is stressing me out. If only I could give a discussion about Diabetes in spanish, that I remember how to do. Sometimes I feel like I know what I´m doing, and lots of times I want to hide under the table...but all the time I am learning!

Life in general is pretty busy and sticks to a schedule... 6:20am wake up, shower (speedily!), get dressed, eat breakfast (usually some corn flakes and fresh melon, with a nice cup of strong coffee). I leave home around 7:15 to walk up some hills to get to our training center. The hills are steep, but I can´t complain as some of the trainees have a good 30 minute up-hill walk. The mornings are filled with either language classes or technical training. Today was language, lots of talking...stopping...being corrected and starting over again. My host mom brings me my lunch in a thermos at 11:30 every day, it usual includes some rice, tortillas, chicken and some fruit. We all eat together, and have even taken to playing some volleyball during our break (hooray!). Afternoons are more training, sometimes about terrifying diseases we might get, or how likely it is that we will be robbed...today we talked about what the next few weeks will involve as Health volunteers. We get out of training everyday around 4:30 and I wander home, sometimes stopping to get a cup of coffee at El Pueblo Cafe that overlooks the mountains in the distance...or sometimes I go home and collapse on my bed for awhile. Homework time ensues...and bedtime comes around 9:30... sometimes I stretch it to 10 if I´m feeling ambitious.

As you might notice, I have a well established schedule revolving around sleeping, eating and training. The people in our families, at the training center and in Santa Lucia in general have all been wonderful and I know they have put alot of time into making sure our life here flows as well as possible. It´s pretty amazing what kind of effort has gone into helping us feel at home and welcome.

I hope this post has given you all at home a glimpse of my life right now, it´s busy, and I love it.
I am also a little sunburned, which makes me incredibly happy when I think about the cold in chicago and the snow in michigan.

thanks to everyone for the emails...keep them coming!!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Santa Lucia

Hola a todos! Well, this is my first official post as a Peace Corps trainee in Santa Lucia, Honduras. We have been here for about a day and a half, and are slowing learning what life will be like during out pre-service training. Everything went well in DC and on the journey here, no bags were lost (for too long) and only 2 of my 4 total flights were delayed. hehe. But we made it, and everyone in the group seems to be doing well.

In Santa Lucia, I live in a house with my host mother and father, two host brothers and host sisters. My siblings are between the ages of 17 and 21, so this makes for a very tranquil house (in comparison to SST with my two, loveable, and loud, host brothers). We also have a cute little dog named Oliver and a parrot named Polly. As for the food, my host family is trying to make sure I adjust well to any dietary changes, so dinner last night was spaghetti. Lunch today was a more traditional, rice, chicken and tortillas; which were all great!
The area is beautiful, many flowers and green trees. The weather is equally perfect, being warm and sunny all day, and cool and windy at night (be jealous midwesterners!). Standing infront of a school across from the internet cafe, you can look down the mountain and see the sparkling lights of Tegucigalpa surrounded by mountains. Beautiful.

As for out training, today we broke down into our specific programs, and I am very excited to begin learning more about Health in Honduras. Tomorrow we have our one-on-one interviews to determine our spanish placement. There are 12 possible levels...ranging from novice low to superior. I´m shooting for somewhere in the middle. I´ll let you know how that goes!

I feel that I may be spending too much money on the internet right now, so I must be going. But, keep any emails coming! I live about 1\2 block from the internet cafe... and will be checking with some regularity! Also, the following is the postal address that I can use for the remainder of pre-service training. Cards and letters are always welcome.



Tegucigalpa, Honduras
America Central


Thats all for now, I hope everyone is doing well in the states (and in all the other fabulous places that friends live). I miss you all!
take care
Anna

Sunday, February 10, 2008


The day has arrived! It's 12:30am on the day when I will finally be flying off to Cincinnati, Washington DC...and eventually...Honduras. I am excited, apprehensive, thrilled and overwhelmed. Thank you everyone for all the support over the last few days, weeks and months. I most certainly would not feel equipped to head out into the world without so much love and support from all my friends and family.

Also, a special thanks to Maureen and Sara W who planned a great going away party for me in Chicago. It was a great chance to spend time with friends from all different parts of my life...I will miss you all so much!

I am *almost* completely packed...and am just finishing up some music downloading, but I don't know if I will be able to sleep at all tonight. My dad is on the couch fighting off sleep, and I think my mom is finally resigning herself to bed. We will be leaving for the airport in t-minus 4 hours, so a little sleep is probably going to be all we get...

I will update this blog as often as I can, emails and letters will always be welcomed, and cherished!

Thank you again everyone,

Here's to a new adventure!
love,
me