Copán Ruinas

Today was my second day of Spanish classes at the Spanish school Guacamaya in Copán Ruinas, Honduras. I´m here for 2 weeks and then I eventually end up in Tegucigalpa for the MCC Honduras team meeting. Copán is a small touristy town that is very safe, in the mountains and next to some famous Mayan ruins. In the summer of 2005, my family and I were here in Copán for four weeks at this same school to learn Spanish. It is really cool to be back and be somewhere familiar, I believe it´s a feeling not many SALTers experience.

Keila and I were dropped off at the bus station Sunday (8-21-11) afternoon, bought our tickets and found the correct bus ourselves. It´s a small accomplishment in the grand scheme but it felt good to be able to do that. I slept for a good chunk of the 3 hour bus ride from San Pedro to Copán. I was starting to feel ill but with sleep and lots of fluids I´ve seemed to get over it before it got bad. Enrique picked us up from the bus stop and took us to our host families. Keila is staying in the house where my family and I stayed when we were here. I´m staying with a host family a few houses down the road. The family is very nice and welcoming and patient with my attempt At Spanish. Also Sara (the mother) is an excellent cook.

The Spanish classes have been one-on-one for 6 hours a day, 4 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. After class my brain is fried and I have to go for a walk or something before even thinking about attempting my homework. I haven´t done any of the touristy things like visit the ruins. I hope to find some locals to play soccer with. My teacher knows I like to play soccer and might help me connect with some guys. That would be awesome.

Beginning

First of all I am very grateful for all the donations that were given to help support me. I recieved over the minimum amount of money that MCC requires. The minimum contribution is $4,600 and I recieved $5,550 in donations to support me. The minimum contribution amount actually is only a half or even a third of the total cost for MCC to support a SALTer for a year. The additional money donated still goes to keep me fed and watered for the year. So thank you for your generosity.

The SALTers and IVEPers all met in Akron for orientation this past week. The week flew and was a lot of fun making friends from all over the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, India, and many more. The week helped inform us and prepare us to meet and interact in new cultures and some of the possible difficulties. We played soccer, volleyball, ultimate frisbee (in the rain), and even some basketball. It is amazing how in a short week people from all over the globe can become such close friends. I lucked out with an awesome roommate from Brazil. I also was able to find people to help me work on my limited Spanish, which still is far from fluent. I had lots of awesome conversations over the week, and looking forward to sharing stories with SALTers and wish we would reunite with the IVEP group.

Keila and I got into San Pedro Sula last evening around 7:00 pm. It was warm and humid when we stepped off the plane even though it was dark out (sun sets around 6:30). Today we got lots of logistic information about our next year. Looks like we'll be experts at finances because we have to document every purchase we make. We got cell phones and are learning about how they work and when to load minutes to get bonus minutes. We walked around downtown San Pedro today, met MAMA workers, and spent some time at the MCC office. We are here for a few more days and then we go to language school on Sunday for two weeks before we start at our assignments. 

The food so far has been delicious but it looks like it will be easy to overload on fried food.

I'm excited