Friday morning, we all arrived at the training center in our Sunday’s best. All the male trainees had either suits, or slacks with a collard shirts and tie. Most of the gals were wearing dresses/skirts with heals and had taken the extra time to do hair and makeup. It was the first time the training staff got to see this side of us, and yes, we all clean up pretty nicely. Our counterparts trickled in behind us, and as they arrived and picked up their name tag, they were escorted to the soon-to-be-volunteer they were going to be partnered with for the next two years. My counterpart was one of the first to arrive. Dr. Helmuth - my APCD - called me over to meet her, and I’m not going to lie, when he called my name and I saw him standing next to a Honduran woman that I didn’t know, I was terrified. It was finally time. After 78 days of training and thinking about this moment throughout all of it, I almost couldn’t even move. Luckily I was able to take the few steps over to where they were standing, and Dr. Helmuth introduced me. He Is pretty good at introductions - doing it just how you are supposed to. “Sonia, this is Coral from Alaska. She is part of the health project and will be working with you for the next two years. She is full of love and positive energy and I know you guys will work well together.” - or something along those lines anyways. So, I spent the next hour talking with Sonia. Because, like I said before, she is my host mom and my counterpart, we talked mostly about living logistics. She asked me if I was going to want to cook for myself or eat with the family, to which I responded that I like to cook and would love to have access to the kitchen. She seemed relieved when I told her that and, I’m pretty sure she said that if I didn’t want to cook for myself they would have found an empleada to cook for me. My Spanish is still coming along, so I could have miss-heard what she said. But, I assured her that I love to cook and that it was completely unnecessary to hire someone.
At 9 a.m. we were all shuffled to one of the salons where we were greeted with speeches from the training director, the country director, and the assistant country director (I don’t remember his specific title). Everyone talked about how the past 11 weeks have been full of great experiences and how we are all now ready to become volunteers and begin our life with our new counterparts. The training director gave a brief speech about work relationships and how as our counterparts, they have agreed to help their volunteer, or volunteers, get to know the community, and support us in everyway they can. He also talked a little bit about proper “work relationships” and how sexual harassment is not tolerated in the Peace Corps, which brought on a little bit of talk about the cultural differences between the US and Honduras, which boiled down to simply not having anything but a “work” relationship.
From there, we were shuffled to three separate salons - one for each project. We then had to go around the room and introduce our counterpart to everyone, and our counterpart had to introduce us. The counterparts were then given a brief introduction to our health project, and to each of our initiatives we will be able to use in their communities. Some of the counterparts have seen used or have been part of the usage of a couple of the initiatives, so they were asked to share a few words. Then, we were split into groups of trainees and counterparts to make two lists. The trainees had to make one with the expectations we have of our counterparts and one of what we will bring to the table as volunteers - and for the counterparts one list of what they bring to the table, and one with expectations they have of us volunteers.
Once finished sharing our respective lists, it was time for lunch, which was provided for us by Cuerpo de Paz. During lunch, we all had an assignment. With our counterpart, we had to plan out three goals for the first week at site and three goals for the second week. Mine consisted of meeting my other counterpart, touring the school and the centro de salud, meeting the police and the mayor, learning my way around the town, going over the calendar of the centro de salud with the employees to plan possible activities, as well as possibly going out to surrounding villages with the nurses from the centro de salud to get to know more people and to see what the nurses do when they make their rounds.
When lunch was over, it was time to load onto the buses to make our way to the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa. It had been sprinkling on and off all morning, but I had hoped that when we arrived in Tegus we would be met with a nice sunny day. This was not the case. We had to stand outside the Embassy while they let five people in at a time to go through the security. The sky was dangerously gray, and after about 10 minutes of standing outside, it began to sprinkle. This, we could handle, but then of course, it began to full-out rain. We all huddled together under the one overhang right in front of the doors to the security area and under the few umbrellas people had been smart enough to bring even though we were told not to take anything with us to the embassy. After all the counterparts were in the embassy and a couple small groups of trainees had made it through, it began to rain even harder. At this point, the doors to security opened and they let us all walk through without presenting our Ids or putting our shoes and cameras through the scanner. The security was just like at an airport, but for the remaining trainees who were getting drenched, the rules simply didn’t apply. I’m not complaining. I was happy to get out of the rain, but it was just a little bit shocking to see the embassy ignore the rules so blatantly. I’m happy to know they didn’t see us as any sort of threat, but had anyone tried to sneak in disguised as a trainee of Cuerpo de Paz, they would have just been swept through security with the rest of us. I would like to think that if anyone of us had seen someone we didn’t recognize joining our group we would have sounded the alarm, but you really just never know.
Everyone was through security by about 2 p.m. and the ceremony was not set to start until 3 p.m., so we had an hour to kill. Our chairs had been covered by white tents, so we were able to stay relatively dry, but who wants to just sit there for an hour? The first thing we saw in the embassy after going through security, besides the white tents, was an Espresso Americano. This business, which is basically the Starbucks of Honduras, had quickly become one of our favorite places in Honduras since arrival. They have their version of a frappe, which is pretty darn good - even for me, someone who doesn’t like coffee. So, when we rounded the corner of the embassy and were immediately greeted by an Espresso Americano, we were all surprisingly shocked, but then bummed at the same time. I couldn’t believe that in the middle of the embassy was a coffee shop, but then I thought about the United States and how there is probably a Starbucks inside all the important buildings in Washington DC, and the shock wore off, but then a lot of us realized we didn’t bring any money in with us. We had been given strict orders to only have our Ids and a camera, and I had of course followed the instructions along with many others, so I didn’t have any money with me to get a treat. Thankfully a few people had brought their wallets in and were kind enough to help out those of us who didn’t. So, we passed the hour of spare time we had by drinking cold coffee drinks in the rain - what more could you ask for?
When the Ambassador arrived, at 3 p.m. on the dot, we all stood until he took his seat. We then sang the Honduran National Anthem followed by the United States National Anthem. Luis, or training director for the last 11 weeks, was the master of ceremonies. He began again with how great of trainees we were, and how 53 of us arrived in Honduras and 53 of us were at the embassy to be sworn in - a rare occurrence. He then announced that we would all be saying our name, where we are from and where our site is going to be, into the microphone being passed around. I was second. I botched it royally. Of course we had to say this in Spanish, so I’m pretty sure I said: I am Coral, I’m from Alaska, is from health, and we are going to live in ____ Lempira. I felt like an idiot the second I handed the mic to the next person. If only we would have been given a little warning that we were going to have to stand up and say something - I was just taken too off guard and was nervous. And apparently, my Spanish is terrible when I am taken off guard. Ok, to be honest, my Spanish is terrible in general, but being nervous and taken off guard sure doesn’t help my already struggling Spanish skills. After all 53 of us had introduced ourselves, Luis introduced the Country Director Emily, who gave us words of encouragement and talked about how excited she is for us to be her first batch of new volunteers - she is the new country director here in Honduras. Luis then introduced the Ambassador. Everything to this point had been in Spanish, and I had actually understood the majority of it - surprise surprise. But, the Ambassador started in English. I was a little shocked at this considering we are in a Spanish-speaking country. It made me wonder if he even knew Spanish, which then made me wonder why the heck he is the Ambassador here in Honduras if he doesn’t even care enough to learn Spanish. However, as this information was running through my head instead of listening to his speech, I realized he had switched to Spanish. Apparently he was giving part of the speech in English, then saying it all again in Spanish, then English, Spanish, English, then Spanish. This was actually very refreshing. Most of the things he was saying, I wouldn’t not have understood in Spanish because they were words I simply didn’t know and would not have been able to guess based on the context, which is how I pull myself through many situations where I don’t know a lot of what is being said. I couldn’t place his accent from the States, though, and his Spanish was pretty darn good, but who knows if that is only because he practiced his speech a lot or if he actually knows Spanish. I’m going to hope that it is the latter.
When the ceremony was over, and we were official volunteers, we had time to have some refreshments and take a bunch of pictures. Every project wanted group photos with everyone dressed up, then there were pictures of just the men of each group and just the women of each group, then we all wanted pictures with the Ambassador and with our training staff and language staff. By the end of it all my jaw hurt from all the fake smiling. As things were wrapping up, I went over and talked to my counterpart about the plan for the following day. We were going to take the bus that Peace Corps was providing at 4:30 the next morning, but to my great relief, Slater’s counterparts were going to be driving through my site. But, even though my counterpart and I could not fit in their car, my two large suitcases could. So, luckily Sonia and I were not going to have to lug 200 pounds around from bus to bus the next day.
The Los Planes crew!!This was it, we were actually volunteers. And as such, or first thing was to go out for a night on the town in Tegus. Craig and I had talked it over with the training staff and got it approved to have the bus pick us up at 8 p.m. in Tegus instead of 4:30, so we would have time to go out to a nice diner and run any errands that we might have. I wanted to buy a wireless internet modem, but when I went to the Tigo store in the shopping center, they told me I would have to go down the street to the central office. I wasn’t sure how far “down the street” was, and we have been advised many times not to walk around in Tegus, especially by our selves. So, I wasn’t able to get my modem because I couldn’t find anyone to go with me to the Tigo store. Instead I went to the grocery store with Lacey, who bought an insane amount of stuff, but apparently her counterpart was going to be picking her up in the morning in a car, so she didn’t have to worry about any bus travel!
Then it was time for dinner. There was a small group at the restaurant El Patio, and then there was a very large group of people at the Intercontinental Hotel. By this time it was getting dark, so I wasn’t about to go and do anything by myself - even get a taxi - and Lacy wanted to go to meet up with the people at El Patio, so even though I wanted to go to Intercontinental and meet up with everyone there, I followed Lacy. I of course still had a great time, and had some delicious food. Unfortunately it was 7:30 p.m. way too fast, and we all had to make our way back to the bus. Considering we were supposed to leave Tegus at 8 p.m., and we were actually on the bus and going by 8:15 p.m. with everyone accounted for, I was very happy. It is about 30 minutes from Tegus to Los Planes, where I was living, and it went by entirely too quickly. I was sitting in the back of the bus, so when it stopped for the Los Planes crew, I had to make my way by everyone before getting off. This was great because I got hugs and kind words from everyone, but it was also hard because I was trying really hard to keep it together and not cry. I held it together until I made it to the front of the bus and saw Damarise, who was crying. This of course made me instantly start crying as we hugged and parted ways. Damarise and I will be about 5 or 6 hours from each other, which in reality isn’t that far, but it seems like a lifetime away.
When I got home, I went straight to my room to finish packing, so I could take my too large bags over to Slater’s house. I was going to be leaving at 4:30 a.m., so I doubted that he or his host family would want my banging no the door that early to drop off my bags. When I was done packing, I called Slater to come help me because I was too tired to try and get the bags to his house by myself. I could have done it, but calling him was way easier. However, my host mom had already shut down the house for the night and locked the gate, so I had to get her to let me out. I felt kind of bad, but I had told her about my plan, so I don’t know why she locked me in.
The next morning, I was up at 4:15 and ready to go at 4:30 a.m. Melissa’s host mom drove us to the bottom of our hill, which made things 100 times easier. The bus, that left Cerro Grande at 4:20, of course didn’t arrive in Los Planes until 5:10 a.m., so we had to sit and wait for it for nearly 40 minutes. We could have slept for that amount of time, but Melissa and I are both the type of people who prefer to always be early, se even though we knew the bus was going to be late, we had to get there on time. There were 16 volunteers who had to take that early morning bus, and our counterparts were in the bus right in front of us. When I got off my bus and grabbed my bags, Sonia rushed over and grabbed me to go because she had a cab for us. So, I wasn’t able to say anymore goodbyes to the volunteers on the bus with me. We got to the bus station at about 5:45 a.m. and left at 6, so we were just in time. Our first leg of the journey to my new home was four hours. I did OK for the first three, but the last hour was hard to get through. It was winedy and the bus drivers here like to drive ridiculously fast no matter what the road conditions are, so I was starting to feel a little car sick. Thankfully, I held it together and we arrived without any problems.
We had about 35 minutes before our next bus would be leaving, so Sonia stayed on the bus to hold our seats while I went to the bathroom and got something to eat. Four other volunteers were actually on that same bus that I had been on leaving Tegus, so it was nice to be able to see them one more time before they all got on their separate buses and headed to their new homes. I went back to my bus to let Sonia have an opportunity to go the bathroom and grab some food too, and then it was time to get on the road again. This leg of the trip was about two and half hours. We drove through some very beautiful parts of the country and through two of the sites that would be the homes of other volunteers. At times, looking at the scenery, I thought to myself that if I took a picture and showed it to people in the States, they would just think it was Arizona or Utah. We were driving through a cooler area as we drove into the mountains, so there were some scattered pines, and the cut outs on the side of the road had the whites, reds, browns and grays that you see so much driving on I-10.
As we started getting closer and closer to my site, it started getting hotter and hotter. I realized, about 30 minutes away from my site that my left arm, which was hanging out the window, was getting sun burned. I closed the window, but soon felt like I was going to have a heat stroke, so I put sun screen on my arm and opened the window back up. We pulled over to pick up more people, and right then, Slater and his counterparts drove passed us. They beet us to my house by 10 minutes, so when we arrived, my suitcases were waiting for me in my new bedroom. We got off the bus in my new home, and walked the short two blocks to my new house. It is way bigger than the two houses I have lived in here in Honduras as of yet. My room is fairly large, and I have a queen size bed. I am definitely not living a hard life at the moment. My host family even has a washing machine. I don’t know yet if I am allowed to use it, but I think I am because their pila never has very much water in it. They also have a filter attached to their water system, so they say I should be fine drinking that water rather than having to buy the 5 gallon jugs. At first I was thinking I would buy the water anyway, but I got really thirsty last night, so I gave in and drank the filtered water. So far so good - but I’ll have to wait a few days to see if anything is now growing in my stomach!
I was so exhausted yesterday that I didn’t go out and look at the town at all after my arrival. It was all I could do to unpack my stuff and eat dinner before I got I went in my room and curled up on my bed. However, I had started to read The Hunger Games on the bus that morning, and couldn’t put it down. So, even though I was exhausted and couldn’t physically do anything, I stayed up until 11pm reading. Finally my eyes just couldn’t stay open anymore and I passed out. I slept hard last night. I didn’t wake up during the night, and when I woke up in the morning it was 5:40 a.m. I usually get up at 5:15, or 5:30 a.m., so my internal alarm clock is still, for the most part, working.
I got up my first day in my new town and went for a run, and then walked around little bit. I found the central park, centro de salud, the police station, and city hall. After I got home, showered, and ate, my host mom took me around a little more. She pointed out those I had already spotted, plus the centro de social (which I think is just an area where they can have city events) a couple good pulparias and she showed me the road with the high school. Afterward, we walked to her friends house that has a garden just as beautiful as hers. I think she took me there just to see the garden, but then we also ended up buy some mangos from them because they had some ripe ones they had just collected from their tree. Walking home from their, she walked me past the swimming pool, which is made out of a natural hot spring I guess! So I may have to check that out one day, but I can’t imagine a day where I would ever want to get into hot water here. I’m already melting on a daily basis! Besides the heat, the town is very small and quain with its cobble-stone-esc streets and central park with a Catholic church in the center of town. I’m excited to start meeting people tomorrow, but I’m really nervous for it at the same time. I just don’t even know where to begin with anything, and the fact that my Spanish is limit leaves me worried.
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