Dream come true...I´m a PCV!

9.11.10

I have arrived in my new home…Comayagua, Comayagua! We had a beautiful swearing in ceremony. Thanks again Jessica and Patricio for excellent speeches. It was a great feeling to have the Peace Corps Honduras familia together in one place, including Howard and his always pleasant, warm speeches. As we took oath, a surreal feeling came over me. One of my biggest dreams has come true. I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). Yay!

I met my counterpart, el Profesor David, from the Escuela Normal, a primary school teacher college. He is the English methodology professor. I will be helping serve 1,300 students between the ages of 14 - 17 years old. Additionally, he would like to see me teach a group of current teachers from the community. We have a lot of work ahead. He is very eager to improve his class, teaching, and understanding of the English language. He seems like a very hardworking, positive, and healthy individual. I think we will get along great. He took excellent care of me as we made our way out to site. To start, he got us a ride to Teguz which meant no lugging my luggage down a dirt road to then load it onto a “chicken bus”. Not to mention he didn’t let me help with my HEAVY bags…..no really, two large suitcases that easily weigh over 50 lbs., one carry one that weighs about 40 lbs., plus a backpack full of books…another 30 lbs.

Comayagua is beautiful…just as described. The park with filled with vendors selling traditional food, crafts, and souvenirs. They had several dance groups performing ballet folklorico. El profe gave me a quick tour of the central park. I’m about four blocks away. Plus, I’m just around the corner from Café Princesita, the best café in town with free internet and huge baleadas (flour taco filled with refried beans, fresh cream, eggs plus you can add avocado and pico de gallo which they call chismol….yummylicious).

My new host family seems really nice. They are an elderly couple and totally adorable. They are very active in church (Evangelical). Their daughter is my other counterpart, the director of a NGO that provides at-risk youth extra-curricular activities/snacks/tutoring/counseling. We visited their casa hogar (home) for abused girls. They currently host 7 girls between the ages of 12 - 15. They collaborate with other organizations and have a lot going for the kids. During our visit the girls were working on purses/belts/bracelets hand-made from the snaps off soda cans. I’m also very excited for my work with this project.

I will really miss my compañer@s. I’m hoping everyone made it safely…especially after our little get together last night. We finally had a dance party! I’m kinda lucky in that I am situated in a central location. I can easily travel north to Santa Barbara, east to Olancho, south to Teguz or Choluteca, and sorta easily get to Ocotepeque. Just another advantage of living in the countries first capital.