10/5/13- La Ceiba!

10/5/13- Site assignment!

I got my site yesterday, and I’m going to La Ceiba! I wanted to know but sort of didn’t want to know because if I wasn’t happy with it, it would be a rough last couple weeks of training. But I am happy! It’s a very rural site with one 2 kilometer road that they’re “starting” to pave and about 1,700 people. I’m pretty sure I’ll have some sort of running water, but I don’t know about electricity or toilet yet. There were some sites that Peace Corps has never been before, so the community has never had a volunteer, and mine is one of them. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I’m ok with it. Not only will I be the only white person out of everyone, I’ll be the first one! Wahooo, setting first impressions for America! *Written in on 10/19- Hillary (PCV) went to visit my site today to make sure I had a door (I do, now) and she said that my new family told her to tell me that I'm already family to them. Awh, shucks.

 

I’m especially excited about being placed near my friends, I’ll have a good 4 or 5 people I’m close with here near me, about an hour or two bus ride away. La Ceiba is in/near the Monte Plata region, and really close to the airport and Santo Domingo, so trips to civilization will be easy. I also have a PCV who has been leading our training living in the town over from mine, and she’s awesome so I’m really really happy about that. It feels good to have some information about my future, makes me excited about the next 2 years. I was told they’re super happy to receive me and that they will be really patient with my Spanish.

Sometimes (right now) I feel overwhelmed that I’ll be all by myself in the middle of nowhere where I struggle with the language, will stick out 24/7, won’t see my loved ones, and won’t have access to much for a long, long period of time. But then I think about life in America and how unchallenging and normal it is, and that’s no fun. Every single day here is a learning experience and I am challenged in some sort of way, whether it be trying to understand what’s going on around me or killing an insect I’ve never seen before in my life. Not many people have the privilege of waking up everyday and have something new and different happen to them. Part of life in America I hated was the monotony of a routine and the lack of difficulty everyday. Even though this is hard, I need to remember that I’m not missing anything new back at home and that it’ll be there for me when I’m done here. Takin it day by day!