First few days

Flying to Honduras was not bad. The landing into Tegucigalpa can be scary if you are at all afraid of flying. Instead of a nice straight descent to the airport, the airplane is flying around mountains and foothills. My first thought when I saw Honduras (there were high and mid-altitude clouds so we were pretty close before we could actually see anything) was "Whoa!" It's so green and there are so many glorious mountains! Once we made it through staging there were Peace Corps staffers there to get us through the airport and onto the bus to our training center. Suffice it to say, but the training center is much better than a lot were expecting.

A few short hours after arriving in Honduras we were introduced to our host families and bussed to our new homes for the next few weeks. Although other trainees are temporarily living in the lap of luxury, I really like my family. My two host brothers live close by and one lived in the states for 4 years so he knows English. My host sister lives here as well and knows about as much English as I do Spanish, so we are helping each other become bi-lingual.

We start what I think will be our "normal" training days on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It's all "Survival Spanish" and introductions to staff, the Peace Corps, and Peace Corps policies. Not to mention pin-cushion time (vaccinations).

The bus ride every day (10 minutes) from my village to the training center is just amazing. The views are gorgeous (las vistas son preciosas). You need to look out the side and not at the road though because drivers here are what Americans see as reckless. You can pass anyone at anytime.

The other aspirentos (trainees) all seem very nice. I still have a few names to memorize, but there are 49 of us, so give me a break. Speaking of trainees, I brought my frisbee to training today and it was a big hit at lunch time!

Anything else I think you might want to know? Ah, yes, food. During the two hour break between traveling and living with host families, they stressed the importance of eating everything. So I have eaten a lot of new foods so far, including a lot of rice and beans. No wonder people often gain weight in the Peace Corps, you just keep getting offered a ton of food which we have to eat! My host Mom said I only have to eat what I like and that I can stop eating when I'm full (she's nice). I still eat everything put in front of me, I just need to learn to ask for less.