Finally in Honduras!!!

Hey everyone, I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update my website. It has been fairly hectic the last week. On Saturday I arrived in Honduras with 25 other volunteers, the remaining 25 flew in the following day. After the flight and going through customs we finally left the airport in San Pedro Sula for Santa Lucia; the bus ride took 4 hours. Around 8pm we finally arrived in our new home for atleast the next 4 weeks. Our host mothers were waiting outside in the rain for us. Up until that point I was completely fine and honestly no nervous or homesick at all, but all of a sudden it hit me what was happening. It felt as though I had just found out that I was adopted and now I was going to meet my birth mother for the first time 23 years later. It was an extremely scary thing for me, but I was strong and did not shed a tear!!

My host family is super nice. I live with an older couple and 3 of their childeren and 3 grandchildren. In the house is one daughter, Odina and she is 35 and works for in the local municipal building; and they have 2 sons. One name Hugo and he is 29 and is head of the total education department in Santa Lucia, and finally there is Felipe and he is 24 and attends law school in Tegucigalpa. Odina has 3 children and I can not begin to spell their names!! Two boys 15 and 14 and one daughter that is 12. Everyone has been very nice and helpful. I live in a small bedroom that is not attached to the rest of the house. I have a bed, desk and a few shelves. It is clean and that is the most important part. I use a bathroom that is also not attached, not so much an outhouse because it is made of concrete or cinder block. I have to take bucket showers because my family does not have running water. They only have a pilla which is a place to store water that comes every 8 days in the city. I use that water to bath and flush the toliet. Right now everything is working out well for me. On saturday I get to learn how to wash my clothes by hand, it will prolly take all day because I have alot of dirty clothes at this point.

Training has barely begun. Because we did not all arrive until Sunday, they are trying to catch us up on the days we were supposed to already have. Pretty much every other day we get vaccinations. I think in total there is a possibility of getting 13, that depends on what you had before you got here. I need at least 10 I believe, but not positive on that one. Sunday I recieved the polio shot, Tuesday I had the first rabies shot and typhoid and tomorrow I get the first for hep a and b. Spanish classes thus far are 5-6 hours every day of training, plus homework. The rest of our time thus far has been based on gettting to understand the culture, safety and security, and lectures about what to expect.

Everything is great and I do not think I could be much happier. Thanks for all of your emails. I truly do appreciate them. And mom, why did you not call yesterday, I gave dad the house number. If you get this it is best to call between 8-9 pm (ohio time). I can only talk for 30 minutes, that is a rule, and once a week. Love you all!!

Oh yeah, the family also has a pet squirrel named Julisa!!!!