Busy and Exciting Times

I was looking ahead to the end of the month and December. That's all I could do at the time. It was rather difficult still seeing Nahun around. We pretty much tortured each other for existing at that point. Even though some things weren't working out, I had some things to look toward. One of these was the Thanksgiving Conference with all the Peace Corps Volunteers. As I have said, it was always helpful to be surrounded by coworkers, and people who shared my culture and language. In December, my mother was coming to visit, and we were planning a trip to Costa Rica. I also wanted her to meet Osmar and Dilcy, and we had made sure that they were available to come to Teguc to meet her.

Around this time, I found out that my long lost friend Carmen had delivered her baby. I wanted to go and visit her, and bring something for the baby. Dilcy said that I should bring him some cloth diapers, so I bought some in La Esperanza. When I went to see her, the infant seemed so small, that I was surprised. She told me about how she had delivered in her house with only her mother there. While she was in labor, her mother was yelling at her and calling the baby a bastard. The whole thing sounded really horrible. I felt incredibly sorry for her. It all just didn't seem fair, especially since the father was in Siguatepeque with his other family. We continued to see each other, as I wanted to watch out for her. When it came time for me to deliver, I thought of her sad story. I thought, if she could live through that horrible situation, then I could definitely have natural child birth. This happened.

Cora's graduation announcement

At the beginning of November, I was invited to two graduations, and I thought they were on the same day. This wouldn't have worked, because one of them was for Gloria's sister, Cora, who was graduating from the Normal School in La Esperanza. One day, I went over to Vilma's house with Osmar, and we figured out that they were on different days, and I could go to both. That was a relief, because I really wanted to attend the sixth grade graduation in Concepcion, also. I had to get a gift for Cora, as she was a good friend of mine. Dilcy gave me some ideas, about what to get for her. I was able to attend both graduations in the middle of November.

With TV came movies and soap operas. The Del Cids owned a shed and an apartment next to their house, where they showed VCR movies on the wall. Many of these were movies like Rocky and Superman, which were in english. They always invited me, and didn't understand why I didn't like being the only one who understood what was going on. Since they were action movies, it wasn't that important, but I felt weird about it anyway. Also, we had two spanish channels, Canal de Las Estrellas and Univision. There were Saturday night shows that were fun to watch, and of course everyone's favorite soap opera called Dos Mujeres Un Camino. Roughly translated, this was about one man who had a wife and a girlfriend. Every day, I would get home in time to watch this soap opera at one or another of my friend's house. It had a beginning and an end where he got what he deserved, unlike the ones in the US. The main male character was played by the American, Eric Estrada. One day, he was interviewed on Univision, and everyone said he couldn't speak spanish very well. I wondered if I was better than him or not, but I never saw the interview just heard their critical commentary.

It was time to go to the Agricultural Extension sector meeting. I was looking forward to finally seeing Robert, the new volunteer in Magdalena west of Concepcion. Unfortunately, he had left the country, deactivating very early. I was sorry, but I couldn't really understand, since I loved the area and the people. By this time, six of the volunteers from our year and Robert had deactivated early. During the sector meeting, we had a self-defence class, which I said would have come in handy a little bit earlier. At least, I was able to fend off all these dangerous people. In the evenings and afternoons of the trainings, we played endless games of Spades, which was definitely a fun way to pass the time.

After this, it was time for the Thanksgiving Conference with all the Honduras Peace Corps Volunteers. They had different workshops planned for us, and a celebration for Thanksgiving. It is strange being in another country for a Thanksgiving, so it was nice to celebrate together and vent some frustration.. The only really important thing that I remember was a reunion of sorts for Whitman College graduates. There were Shilpa and me(1991), Brent(1992), and Karen(1991) who came to visit Shilpa. It was a fun time, and we took a picture to commemorate it. When the conference was over, I was actually ready to get back to Concepcion.

Karen, Myself, Brent, and Shilpa All Fro

The first thing that happened, when I returned was the national election. This was a very exciting and busy event. There was a 90% turnout at the poles! Unfortunately, one person voted twice, but otherwise everything was safe and legal. The ballot was a piece of paper with names and boxes on it. There were two main parties, but there were also two other smaller parties. They were voting for a mayoral candidate, as well. Many people who lived elsewhere came back home to vote. There was an influx of people and family members from all over the country. As you may remember, Edwin lived in San Pedro Sula, but his poling location was Concepcion. That afternoon, I was just starting to talk to my little friend Odalma and her friends, when I spotted Edwin coming over to the inside entrance of my room. I closed the door on them, and I let him come in without thinking. After all, I was a single woman again! He was just as wild and crazy as I thought, but thank goodness he responded to the word "no". It was a little more than I bargained for, though. We didn't see each other for quite a few months after that.

On December 7th, the town of Concepcion had it's yearly "feria" or fair. This day and other special days, always made me feel nervous, because of all the people that came to town, and the worry that I would be completely alone and lonely. I could feel myself getting anxious about the situation. It didn't make much sense, since many of my friends had invited me to meet them out in the square. When the day came, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I found my friend Doro, who had lived in the US for three years. We hung out together, and he gave me a tape of some American music that he had made. He also invited me to take a horseback trip out to his three acres of private property. This was fun and exciting, but I told Vilma about it and she informed me that he was married. After this, I didn't see him again, until I got a ride from La Esperanza in the back of his truck. He introduced everyone to his wife and pretended he didn't know me. I just wanted to say that I already knew about her, but I let it go.