Thank the Lord for Peace Corps computers! I'm in Tegucigalpa now in the PC Office and the computers here are SO much better than in many of the internet cafes!! So, therefore, I was able to send you guys some photos...hope you enjoy!


This is the turkey we have in the backyard...he's always mad! He's always making noises and showing his feathers...I'm not sure if that's normal, but it is for him. By the way, I'm pretty sure we're going to eat him for Christmas-I'm SO excited! I feel a little bad for him though, cause everytime I look at him I think about how delicious he's going to be...oh well. :)


This is a street in my town...just to give you a better idea of what it looks like!


This is one of the on-going projects taht I'm helping with in the school to raise awareness about the environment. These signs are creative ways that the Lord showed me (I say it is the Lord, because I'm not really that creative, so it had to have been Him) to make signs about trash. You would be amazed how people just throw trash around on the ground when there's a trash can right near by!!


This is the beautiful view of my room in my host family's house...doesn't it look majestic! lol. I enjoy opening the door and relaxing, putting my feet up on the stole, looking at the view from my door, feeling the breeze, and reading a good book (when I have time).


This is a picture of Merari and I in Santa Maria...a town nearby my site. This is one of our many excursions over there (including the one with the dead cow). It was cold, which is why I'm wearing a jacket and you will also notice that my foot is sprained in this photo from playing with the little children.


This is a picture during the swearing in ceremony in the U.S. Embassy in Honduras...
The earrings I'm wearing are from the lady in my community who picked me up and took my to my site for the first day! They're hand-made!



This is the library in the high school that I work in a lot...after we get through working on it...it's going to look different! We finally organized all the books by catalog number *with the help of some students and now we're working on basic organization. :)

Write soon and hope every enjoys Thanksgiving!
Love,
Victoria

Things I´ve Found!

Hello!

It´s been exactly 2 months in my site today! I can´t believe it! AND, everyday I continue to learn new things and experience new things. It´s very interesting how initally I had a vision of how my service would be-I would walk around and people would greet me with happy faces and invite me into their homes and we would talk and enjoy a little snack together. I don´t know, something like that. BUT, it´s definitely not so much like that at all. I haven´t gotten invited to many homes and definitely not by strangers, which could actually be a good thing! lol. Also, Honduras is definitely much more American and developed than I expected. For example, I just visited a house this past week that had a computer and a huge scanner-copier-printer in the living room! I was amazed! AND, most the people here know how to use the computer and the people in the cities have Blackberry´s and IPOD´s and stuff...it´s definitely not what I expected. BUT, on the other hand, some people live in houses made of dirt and mud and don´t have electricity. It´s a really interesting contrast. But, despite these surprises, I´m just trying to find a way to make myself useful during these 2 years.

For instance, I have found, from an informant, that most all of the youth here do drugs and the parents don´t know about it or don´t care. SO, I´ll definitely start talking about that to the youth and I hope to start meeting with parents to discuss how to better the situation (know where your kids are and care more about them). I pray for support from God on this...cause I´m just 22 years old informing these old people on how to raise their children. LOL!

Furthermore, I would like to share some random, but I think important things with you-
Cultural differences:
*A female can´t be called a woman until she is married. I got laughed at for calling a 26 year old a woman. Clearly, to me, she is a woman, NOT a girl. But, here she´s still a girl until she is married.
*When it´s your birthday, you will have eggs thrown at you.
*There is always prayer before each meeting.


Funny Stories:
*So, one day I was walking down this dirt and pebble mixture path to the high school and it´s surrounded on one side with lots of trees (it seems like a forest) and on the other side with backyards and houses with cows and dogs. All of a sudden on the forest side, I hear a bird noise that sounds unique and interesting. So, naturally, I think to myself that I´m going to see (for the first time here in Honduras) an exotic bird. So, I curiously look up into the tree from where the sound is coming....and what do I see? ...a CHICKEN! I was quite dissapointed and confused. WHY is a chicken in the tree?


*One day I was walking and it was an especially hot day. As my arms swayed, I noticed that I was shiny and glowing! I thought to myself, ¨Self, you look awfully nice...looking healthy!¨ Then, after awhile, I realized it was my insect repellant...
*I officially introduced my family to roasted marshmallows (besitos-little kisses, I like the name in Spanish) about a month ago and since then we´ve had roasted marshmallows like at least 5-7 times! It´s a lot of fun, but after awhile it´s like WOW more marshmallows…but, for a week now we haven´t had any, so that´s been a nice break.

Well, hope you enjoy the information that I´ve found!
Talk to you later,
Victoria