!Hola! from Honduras. After a day and a half airport filled journey, of course having more trouble getting into the States for my transit than actually into Honduras, I have arrived safe and sound. Sandra and Hermilio picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at my Hotel to get lunch, unpack and shower. They picked me up, half an hour late due to the torrential rainstorm that hit as I was eating lunch at a nearby restaurant down the street. During this 'storm' several trees became uprooted, and part of the futbol stadium wall had come down crushing several cars, and at least one person. Sandra explained that because there are no laws regulating building standards, the poor opt for the cheapest option, which unfortunately don't always stand up to this weather....it's something to think about in my upcoming months in Honduras. I got to meet all the LWF staff in the Tegucigalpa office, and then Hermilio dropped me back off at the hotel. I watched a bit of Spanish television to try and get some practice in, but I was so exhausted (apparently the Houston airport floor did not leave me well rested) and I fell asleep just after 6:30.
Today was my first day at work...in my very own office! Hermilio and Sandra gave me several documents to look over, on the LWF, on their work in Honduras, and MAO (the NGO that I will be working closely with in Olancho when I head out of Tegucigalpa). I spent all day trying to translate the documents I could and work on my Spanish, which I am realizing, is no where near good enough. Everyone talks too fast for my poor little brain to comprehend. My Spanish is already better than yesterday, so here's to hoping tomorrow I will be better than I was today.
I will stay in Tegucigalpa until Thursday when I will travel to a conference with someone from LWF, on Environmental issues (which I am told will be my area of focus). This is a little bit new to me, but I am pretty adaptable and am sure I can learn quickly...I am very nervous about my Spanish though, and leaving the capital, where Sandra speaks English and has been helping me out tremendously. I also will probably not be staying in Juticalpa, but rather a smaller community 2 hours from Juticalpa where most of the MAO staff, and the LWF staff lives. Sandra said it is very small, but also that it has apartments, restaurants, and a hotel, so I am not sure what very small means to her...we will see. I dont have any problems with living in a smaller community, especially if it means not having a 4 hour round trip commute and actually being close to the people I will be working with.
I have always been a sink or swim kind of person, and I'm hoping this will be no different. Im trying my best to learn Spanish with the help of Sandra, but I know my time here is very limited, and soon I will be in a community where no one knows any English, and it will be my time to...sink...or swim. I think it's kind of funny how scared I was before coming here. In Houston I almost turned around (well not really...but I was very nervous), but once I arrived I felt calm, and I finally felt like I was supposed to come here. I'm not saying I think it will be a walk in the park or even easy, in fact I realize it is going to be very very hard, but I am hoping I can meet these challenges with determination, courage, and strength. Anyways, I think I will walk down the street to get something to eat (Pupusas maybe!) before I try to translate some more things, and then give my brain a much needed rest!
Con Esperanza y Amor
Delaney C.
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