Independence Day

The cool breeze is unbelievably incredible this Sunday, much better than other afternoons on the porch of the apartments. Today marks a great day in my BECA experience, Independence Day. I have moved out of my homestay and forever more will be living in my permanent residence--the apartments. I really do feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. Moving out of that homestay has been the light at the end tunnel for the past two weeks.  Many of you have wondered about my homestay and I am not sure I have painted much of a picture of it.

All of us volunteers have been living with parents of San Jeronimo Bilingual School (SJBS) students. Needless to say, each of our experiences has been different in so many ways. One girl has the awesome homestay with flat screen, swimming pool, and movie nights in San Pedro. Others have the community chef who sells her "fixins" to the neighborhood around the dinner hour. The men on the teaching team have not been so lucky.

It is not that our hosts were not friendly, rather they were not great hosts. Dinner was, at best, an afterthought and usually the same most nights. During this final week, I have run into my host mother while with some other volunteers and she begins to brag that I have been given pizza hut and KFC for dinner, while others receive typical Honduran cuisine. While I appreciate her effort, I wish I would have gotten more typical Honduran cuisine.  It can be hard sometimes not being judgmental, but when you are being compensated for service and you have done it before, I expect a little more.

But that is all behind me now. I am now living in my apartment and could not be happier to not be living out of a suitcase, not have to rely of a fan the size of my face for air circulation, and not to have a bathroom that leaks a putrid smell, and water for that matter, into my living quarters. I will sleep easy tonight knowing my shower will be a slight improvement and my clothes are dry.

In other news, one of the BECA board members is here visiting this week. Anna (that is here name) was one of the people who interviewed during the process, and we did so in a Starbucks on Capitol Hill. That's right, she lives in DC and I plan on catching up quite a bit. I am going to try and take some more pictures this week of the general condition here in Cofradía. Have a Happy Independence Day everyone.