Saturday June 7th, 2012
A
year ago today might have been the longest day of my life, we got up at 2:30 in
the morning to travel to the airport where we then waited for three or four
hours until our flight was set to leave. We got there early enough to be the
first and only people in the entire airport besides the janitors cleaning the
floor. After getting all of our luggage checked in and some nerve-racking last
minute repacking from others to get under the weight limit we were on our way
to Miami. Once in Miami we waited for our connecting flight to Tegucigalpa,
when we boarded it was still early in the morning and the day was starting to
catch up with us only most of us could not sleep due to the excitement. I was
able to manage a few rough minutes of sleep mostly due to just exhaustion as I had
not gotten much sleep the past couple of nights. I sat next to Peter and Ryan
on the plane and while Ryan slept for much of the flight I was able to talk to
Peter who was my roommate at the hotel the night before. As we were being
served our drinks on the plane I was given a cup with a large block of ice in
it which I promptly spilled all over myself and my custom forms due to the
large block of ice creating an unbalance of the cup, at least that is what I tell
myself. After getting cleaned up and filling out some new custom forms I was
prepared for one of the most exciting plane landings ever. Landing in the
capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, requires the plane to do a complete 180
degree turn as it gets very close to the ground and comes over some hills
before finally landing in what seems like just the nick of time. Seeing as how
I love flying and roller coasters this was like a combination of the two and
was a lovely beginning experience for me in my new home country.
Upon
landing and getting off the plane, I think most of began to realize just how
much we were going to have to rely on others to help us out as we were in a
totally new culture with a totally different language. The amount of trust that
PCVs have to have in humans is absolutely unbelievable. As we somehow made our
way through customs and got our passports stamped we were greeted by a welcome
site, Americans. Our country director, and some other staff members were
waiting on the other side of customs with smiling faces ready to welcome us to
Honduras. As we all made it through customs and made our way out to the
vehicles I was struck my two things. They first thing that struck me was the
two military soldiers standing right outside the doors to the airport holding
M-16s, they looked no older than 15. As my time in Honduras passed, I became
very accustomed to military and private security guards holding M-16s many of
them looking like they should still be in school. The second thing that struck
me was the amount of fast food restaurants right outside of the airport. I was
not really sure what to expect when I got there, but for some reason I was not
expecting fast food restaurants such as Wendys and TGIFridays. As my time in
Honduras passed, I learned that Honduras is a country of extremes. In the large
cities there can be wealthy areas in which all of our “first world amenities”
can be found while the more rural areas are much less developed.
As
we stepped outside into the heat, we made our way through the street of Tegus
to the Peace Corps Honduras headquarters where we were treated to some pizza
for a late lunch around 1 p.m. After going over some survival Spanish and some
basic culture 101 as well as a more formal welcome from the staff we were sent
out to meet our new host families at around 5 p.m. We made it to our training
site around 6 p.m. and were ready to meet the people who we would be living
with for the next 3 months. As a group of people who had gotten very little
sleep the night before and had been traveling all day long and been exposed to
a completely new language and culture I think it was safe to say that most of
us were more than a little nervous and we were more than a little bit culture
shocked. I do not remember a lot about meeting my host family for the first
time, but what I do remember is entering the house for the first time and being
shown my room by my new neighbor since my host family was not yet home. I
remember being unbelievably tired and overwhelmed I was really not sure if I was
supposed to now begin to try to speak Spanish (which I knew almost nothing of)
to these people that I just met. I decided to excuse myself in my best broken Spanish
and take a nap.
As
I woke up from my nap an hour or so later I found that my host family had
returned from wherever they were at and ventured out into the family room. I do
not remember any more of the night but I am sure that I tried my very best to
introduce myself and talk to my new host family for a little bit before
excusing myself to go to the bathroom and then to bed again. After almost 18
hours of nonstop changes the longest day of my life finally came to an end.
That day was a year ago today when I set foot in Honduras for the first time to
begin the greatest adventure of my young life. So much has changed in my life
in the past year and I am still adjusting to all that has happened but I do not
regret a moment of my time in Honduras. It was six months of pure excitement,
learning, and growing.
