6 lessons learned after 6 months in Honduras

August 24, 2011 marked 6 months in Honduras for me.  It also marked my half birthday, which makes me think its time to have my quarter-life crisis, as I will be 25 in only 6 months!  It is hard to believe that I have already been here that long.  It seems like just yesterday I was boarding the plane to Tegucigalpa with 52 strangers and wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into.  While I still have another 21 months of service left, I have learned a lot in the past six months.  In honor of this momentous occasion, I have decided to write a list of  6 lessons learned during my first 6 months of Peace Corps Service.  In no particular order, here I go:

1.  I don’t have to be a picky eater. Before coming to Honduras the list of things I didn’t eat may have been slightly longer than the list of things I did eat.  Now after 6 months having other people cook my food, I can proudly say that I have left my picky eating habits behind me.  I now eat eggs and beef without a second thought.  I drink coffee and beet juice like I’ve been doing it all my life.  Even the food items that I don’t like (such as tripe and liver) I have managed to choke down with minimal struggle. 

 

2.  Patience is a virtue.  Everything about my life as a volunteer requires more patience than I have ever needed in my life.  I need to be patient with myself as I struggle to speak Spanish every day.  I need to be patient with the people I am working with as things here move at a much slower pace than I am accustomed to.  I need to be patient every time I use, what in my opinion, is the world’s slowest internet connection.  Travel in this country requires massive amounts of patience.  My most frequent trips between my site and my nearest city can take more than two hours to only travel less than 20 miles.  Patience, Patience, Patience!

 

 

3. I am braver than I thought I was.  Before Peace Corps, I sort of considered myself a bit of a chicken.  Six months ago, I left my family and friends and everyone I knew to come to Honduras.  I am not going to lie, I was scared, very scared.  I am happy to say that I am doing great here!  I have made amazing new friends, I have integrated into my community (this is still a work in progress) and I have survived 6 months in a foreign land!  I also should mention that I killed a scorpion that I found in my bed with a tennis shoe. I didn’t even scream or cry! 

 

The Scorpion I killed! I am crossing my fingers that he does not have brothers/sisters/parents that are still lurking around my room!

 

4.  I took a lot of things for granted before Peace Corps.  The first things I realized I took for granted are of course the more ‘superficial’ things like hot water, high speed internet and pizza.  As I spent more time here, I realized all the opportunities I had and still have that people here lack.  Everything from the opportunity play organized sports as a kid and not having my school year interrupted by 2 months of teachers strikes.  Of course not being able to see my family and friends for 6 months has also been tough!

 

5.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Along with being patient, learning to not sweat the small stuff has been essential to me.   Life is very different here and it can definitely be hard sometimes.  The little things can easily build up to the point where they will drive you crazy.  I have learned to be flexible and appreciate each experience I have, because at the very least, it will give me a good story.  Living as a PC Volunteer in Honduras you will, without a doubt, prepare for a class or a meeting and then have everyone show up 2 hours late or not show up at all.  You will get sick of eating tortillas, beans and eggs for dinner for 180 nights in a row (this is not even an exaggeration).  Every time you get on a bus, someone is going to throw up and 3-7 women will be breastfeeding their 3 year olds (and then giving them soda and bags of chips). Also, the likelihood of having a strange man sit next to you and ask you about your marital status is also bound to happen.  There is also the possibility that he will ask you to visit him in his pueblo and/or for your phone number (I am know an expert of telling strangers that it's PC policy only use our phones for work related conversations, which, is totally not true, but most people seem to buy it).

 

6.  Roosters are my least favorite animals in the world.   I can say, without a doubt, that I have not had one un-interrupted night of sleep since coming to Honduras.  What is to blame for this?….Well 80% of the time, it’s the roosters.  Who ever said that roosters only crow at sunrise is a big fat liar.  They crow all the time, but they especially seem to prefer the hours between 2 and 5 am. 

 

At the end of the day, I can't really complain about waking up to this every day!