Week's Highlights

October 1^st, 2011

            So I have been in my site for a full week now, I feel like I have adjusted to the new setting. I get along real well with my host family, my counterparts, and everyone who I have met here so far. The town is great, there are tons of beautiful sites to see and I am just trying to soak it all in. I have found that my Spanish is better than I expected and I can pretty much communicate with everyone who I encounter more or less. Of course, there have been miscommunications every now and then but they have been minor. I have already been accustomed to the food so that has not been a problem, although, here in Dulce Nombre, I have been given some of the best and freshest tasting fruit I have had in my life. That has been a real pleasure. The climate is pretty much the same as my first site; it is never too hot, never too cold. Really just the perfect temperature at all times, of course there is rain but that is usually towards the end of the day and towards the night. The upside to all that rain is that when thunderstorms roll in you get to see some pretty awesome light shows since we are up in the mountains. So pretty much, everything is going well here right now.

            Some highlights of my first week in Dulce Nombre, last Monday I was interviewed on the local television station. Pretty cool that my town has a television station, I did not think that many people watched it because it is a local television station, but so many people have told me that they saw my interview. So that was a good way to get my name and face out there for the town to see and know. Another highlight was the other day I spent the afternoon at the school. During one of their break times there were some kids playing basketball. I decided to go over and play with them. The game of 1 vs. 2 soon turned into 1 vs. 30. Now I am no Pat or Brigid Hanley but let me tell you, I was slicing through these 30 young Hondurans and slamming it home (9 ft. 6 in. rim…). I do not mean to brag but I think the final score was somewhere around 80-8, I obviously won. Playing with those kids was so much fun for me, and for them. Even though they were getting beat it did not bother them at all, in fact I think they liked it more. From this afternoon I will remember the huge smile that I wore on my face throughout the entire afternoon, it was simply pure joy and fun. It was a beautiful thing.

Last highlight of the week was yesterday the school had a talent show… at the local gas station, great venue choice I know. Anyways, it was supposed to start at 1 in the afternoon. So, being the American that I am and taught throughout my life that if you are not five minutes early you are late I showed up around 12:45. When I got there I saw a few other students and a crew of men putting the stage and tents up, needless to say they were not ready by 1. The show began around 3 o’clock, so only 2 hours late which is not bad for Honduran standards. During my 2 hours of waiting around (the entire crowd showed up around 1:30), I was asked to be a judge. I agreed of course. Now the talent show had two different categories, dance and fotomimica (which is basically impersonations). I tell you this because all but one entry in fotomimica was impersonations of Latin American performers meaning I really had no idea if what they were doing was anywhere close to what it should be. The only one that I knew was a performance of Michael Jackson that was actually very good (the group went on to win…). At the end of the program when we were tallying up the scores I noticed that I was much nicer in my scores than the other two judges which I found interesting. It was a good time and I again got the chance to get my face out there, and besides all that the kids had a good time so that is really what is important.   

So after a week here, it is amazing how fast time goes and how much I have already learned (I am learning lots of things besides Spanish). I have learned lessons so far about my service, about this culture, and most importantly about myself. First thing that I learned is about the culture, we had this drilled into our heads during training, but Hondurans are never on time. Now I do not say this as a jab but rather as an observation. To me the reason is simple and it is because they live their lives at a much slower pace. This is one of those things that is completely different from American culture, as previously stated, and I think this may be one of those things that will begin to bug me during my two years here. I have learned a lot about myself as well. I have always thought that if you stuck me in a room by myself for a long period of time with some assorted things to do I would be just fine without human interaction. Well since being here, I have learned that this is not the entire truth. While I can do just fine down here without my friends and family, during the times when I have something to do, when my mind is occupied. During the downtime (which there is plenty of…), I begin to feel homesick and miss my family, my friends, and my old way of life. This has really made me realize how great of friends, family, and life that I had, and still do have. Another thing that I learned is about my service here, many of the people who I have talked to know what the Peace Corps is, and they have known previous volunteers as well, however for some strange reason they think I am forced to be here. They are surprised when I tell them that I am a volunteer and I want to be here. Somehow the phrase Peace Corps Volunteer does not really translate over I guess. While it has been a bit tedious to continually answer this question it has also been good to answer this question. The simple answer that I continue to tell everyone is that I am here because I feel like it is God’s plan for me and I want to help people.

It is an answer that I have given to many questions that deal with large life choices such as what college to go to, what to major in, etc. Now to some it may seem like an easy answer but I guarantee you it is the exact opposite. If I look back on my life there are numerous events that stick out clearly in my mind that have influenced me and showed me the ways in which God was working in my life. I remember when my family took a trip to the Grand Canyon many years ago we went to the cafeteria to get some lunch. As we walked in I remember seeing a group of people who were intellectually disabled standing in the checkout line with their food. I don’t remember anything else but seeing this group of people but for some reason it is glued inside of my head along with the feeling that it gave me of wanting to help them. God was working in my life. When I was around ten we had a new neighbor move in, her name was Janel, and she has Down syndrome. I spent some of the best times of my life with her just simply playing and spending time together; I do not think it is a coincidence that I am working with children who have Down syndrome here in Honduras. God was working in my life. When it was time to time to leave high school and head off to college I only applied to one school, that school was Benedictine University. That same year, a man from Germany had taken the name Benedict and became our new Pope. God was working in my life. Now these might all seem like coincidences to some, but I assure you they are much more than that. They are the blueprints of God’s plan for me; everything up until this point in my life has been God laying my foundation. From this point on, we begin to build upon the foundation using all of my God given abilities. While I cannot see the rest of the plan, I have faith that the rest of the building is going to be just as good as the foundation. (P.S. I do not think I have articulated exactly what I wanted to say, I have been trying to explain this concept and idea for many years now however I do think the message is there and important.)