Lauren's Peace Corps Experience in Honduras

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and experiences described in this travelogue are mine personally. Nothing written here should be interpreted as official or unofficial Peace Corps literature or as sanctioned by the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. I have chosen to write about my experience online in order to update family and friends; I am earning no money whatsoever from this endeavor. Please do not copy or forward any of these contents without my permission.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Back in the States...

Hi all! Well I don't know if anyone will be reading this now that I am back home, but I felt like I should go back and talk about my last few days there and about how it's been since I got home.

I hope I haven't forgotten too many of the details since I waited so long to write, but my last few days in Honduras were incredible. I felt so loved and appreciated. I had several goodbye get togethers. The first one was in late May, as I may have written about earlier. The women's group threw me a birthday/goodbye party all in one. They had games, gave me a small jewelry box, said a few words about how much they appreciated the projects I had helped do, and of course, there was much dancing and they made chow mein (which may seem odd to some of you, but the Hondurans love it). After that I spent about a week in Teguc for COS, a bunch of beaurocratic stuff, papers to get signed, bank accounts to close, interviews, description of service reports, etc. Luckily I was there the same time as Justin, another Hondu 5, and many Hondu 6s from the West that I knew. I stayed with Lauren Dickson in her apartment with her weiner dogs, and had a great time. We got sushi one night, another night we went to a mexican restaurant with great margaritas. I officially finished my Peace Corps service on June 15th...it was bizarre. It really really went super fast, although many may not believe me. I loved it and I already miss the laidback lifestyle, my Honduran friends and PCV friends, speaking Spanish...and many other things.

After Teguc I went back to Dulce Nombre for 3 or 4 days because I really missed Lester (it took Justin and I two days to get back because we missed the last bus out of San Pedro Sula). After that I met up with Lauren and Jenn (in from Austin) to go to Joe and Emily's wedding in Utila, one of the bay islands. There were both PCVs, Joe from Hondu 6 and Emily from Hondu 7. It was fun hanging out with many PCVs from the west that went out to the islands, and a couple RPCVs came back to celebrate. Utila was beautiful and very laidback. The wedding was small and intimate, and Lauren and I, not being officially invited, went to the party afterwards.

After Utila, I had about 10 more days to spend in Dulce Nombre. It was bittersweet...every day it seemed like I was doing something for the next to last time, then the last time, and it was sad. Lester and I took advantage of our last few days together...he came back to Dulce almost every day after class instead of staying in Santa Rosa. I spent a lot of time with Kito and her puppy also...it was hard leaving her because I know she was worried. Kito and I went out to Last Caleras at the school for my going away, and it was very moving. These women were very poor and made my small stove project seem like a very big deal. Each woman, 10 in all, stood up and spoke, and almost all of them broke down and cried in the middle of their speech. Many brought me a gift, a small cheap item, lovingly wrapped, and I know each gift came from their houses and meant a lot to them. There were two cakes there, and all the kids in the one-room-school classroom were very very excited about the cake...it was obvious the cake was a huge and rare treat for them. Cake was divided with care so that everyone got a piece, and you should have seen those cake boxes afterwards....every single speck of icing was hunted down by little fingers afterwards. The experience made me wish I had started work in Las Caleras earlier...I only spent my last few months out there with one small stove project, but the women had gotten very attached and I felt very cared for and loved. I hope Kito keeps working there.

Ok I am tired for now, but soon I will write about my two other goodbye events and final thoughts...g'night.

3 Comments:

  • At August 10, 2007 at 11:21 AM, Blogger Kathryn said…

    Hey Lauren! It sounds like you are having a good time in the U.S. You are missed in the West! I ran into Lester last week and he was wearing a PC Honduras shirt. It was too cute.

     
  • At September 3, 2007 at 11:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    For if it wasn't for him and his searchin' ways, and his awful power of language, http://startso11.info/laptopy+dell+wroc%C5%82aw.html I wouldn't hev got that four thousand dollars out o' that flirty fool Hotchkiss--enough to buy a farm, so as you and me could get married! That's what you owe to him.. The sheriff will clear the court, said the Judge, sternly; but alas, as the embarrassed and choking officials rushed hither and thither, a soft Kerree from the spectators at the window, outside the courthouse, was answered by a loud http://storyah44.info/biuro+matrymonialne.html chorus of Kerrows from the opposite windows, filled with onlookers.. An' Pink, let the understandin' be jes' betwix' us , for I've saw enough o' this world to find out that a man never makes nothin' by makin' http://startso11.info/www.xmaniekx.deviant.pl.html a blowin' horn o' his business.. Uncle Billy met him at the door, reflectively chewing a straw, and handed him an http://startso11.info/www.rozk%C5%82ady.pl.html envelope.. I shall therefore cite some examples of http://storyah44.info/podatek+od+w%C3%B3d+deszczowych.html dreams which I have gathered from children.. The dream process, therefore, takes the http://startso11.info/asiulek2311.html regressive course, which has just been opened by the peculiarity of the sleeping state, and thereby follows the attraction exerted on it by the memory groups, which themselves exist in part only as visual energy not yet translated into terms of the later systems.. After learning from the first analytical explanations that the dream conceals sense and psychic validity, http://startso11.info/budynki+budowle.html we could hardly expect so simple a determination of this sense.. With what delicacy he bruised the http://rebestal.info/samochody+z+niemiec+audi+a4.html mint; with what exquisite nicety he estimated the ingredients; with what solicitous care he capped the compound with the scarlet fruit glowing against the dark green fringe! And then the hospitality and grace with which he offered it, after the selected oat straws had been plunged into its tinkling depths! After about four months in Washington, Miss Lydia discovered one morning that they were almost without money.. Eventually he recognized them more readily than http://rebestal.info/roiwolrd.com.html I.. The driver replied that he had just come for two ladies and a http://startso11.info/ceny+budownictwo.html gentleman whom he had brought from the Astor House.. I suppose, said http://startso11.info/www.staszic.kylos.pl.html Mrs.. Where does she get the words which she puts into my mouth? Of course I http://startso11.info/www.obuwie.html have never told her anything like that, but one of her brothers, the very one who has the greatest influence over her, has been kind enough to make this remark about me.. Horner to http://startso11.info/WWW.IBRE.PL.html come to the point of asking papa brought Miss Bangle to a very awkward pass.. Without an analysis, and merely by means of an assumption, I took the liberty of interpreting a little occurrence in the case of a friend, who had been my colleague http://startso11.info/gres+szkliwiony.html through the eight classes of the Gymnasium.. It is very simple; and I am not at all sure that a great many other people have not a pair of http://startso11.info/bezp%C5%82atna+szko%C5%82a+Magii+Harego+Pottera.html the same kind.. The husbands took on the politely surly look required http://startso11.info/banialuka.html of them.. Other stories of his deserving of special mention are: A Corner in Farmers (February, 29, 1908, Saturday Evening Post ), A Fortune in Smoke (March 14, 1908, Saturday Evening Post ), Easy Money (November 14, 1908, Saturday Evening Post ), The Triple Cross (December 5, 1908, Saturday Evening Post ), Spoiling the Egyptians (December 26, 1908, Saturday Evening Post ), Whipsawed! (January 16, 1909, Saturday Evening Post ), The Bubble Bank (January 30 and February 6, 1909, Saturday Evening Post ), Straight Business (February 27, 1909, Saturday Evening Post ), Sam Turner: a Business http://startso11.info/www.shellsmart.com.html Man's Love Story (March 26, April 2 and 9, 1910, Saturday Evening Post ), Fundamental Justice (July 25, 1914, Saturday Evening Post ), A Scropper Patcher (October, 1916, Everybody's ), and Jolly Bachelors (February, 1918, Cosmopolitan ).. ' Well, I don't think she heard him say it once, Sister http://startso11.info/www%2Cinteligo.pl.html Spicer asserted with confidence.. I have gone to http://startso11.info/foto+album.html the bottom in a foundered road-wagon.. The view-points for my conception of the dream were reached through earlier investigations in the psychology of the neuroses, to which I am not supposed to refer here, but to which I am repeatedly forced to refer, whereas I should prefer to proceed in the opposite direction, and, starting from the dream, to establish a connection with http://startso11.info/big+box.html the psychology of the neuroses...

     
  • At October 26, 2007 at 6:11 PM, Blogger Kathleen March said…

    Hello from Maine, Lauren.

    You know we all think here's no Peace Corps Person like you and we all recognize how much you helped University of Maine people in Dulce Nombre. We're going back in the spring again and - maybe - again in May. This time we look to have some focus on the Dulce Vivir need for waste management, among other things. Also, we have been told the library was inaugurated on October 19 - I told the folks it was a birthday present for me (just off by 1 day).

    We'd love to hear (if you know) who is there in your place (not taking it, of course, just occupying it : )

    Hasta otro momento -

    Profe

     

Post a Comment

<< Home