Another day and a half of ups and downs

Yesterday was another typical PC-Hondu weekend day: full of relaxation, frustration, enjoyment of the weather, reflection, reading, writing, bucket bathing, running, questionable food, confused messages, happy phone calls with people in the states, and then ending on a final, evil frustration. It’s really hard to say if it was a good or bad day, as I’m trying to think about now. I guess I’ll just explain parts.

My family was great the day before and this morning, suggesting that I don’t have to go to church with them if I was tired. I happily obliged and stayed quietly in my bed until they left just before 9am. I had been gloriously able to wake up on my own terms, which of course meant an oh-so-late 6:30 wakeup. At least it was not to an alarm. But after some slow internetting and reading, I spent most of the morning with more slow internetting and reading. It was great. I also managed to run for a good thirty minutes in the late morning (a feat that would have been impossible in Talanga because of the weather), taking my time but really conquering the crazy Zarabanda hills. I was pretty proud of myself and my first warm bucket bath in seven weeks was the perfect reward.

After all this, I waited for my family to come home since we were supposed to go to my grandparent’s for lunch. Apparently though, this didn’t work out for reasons I couldn’t quite understand – from what my family told me, it seemed to have to do with my grandparents not being ready/having enough food and my dad forgetting his cell phone. When I talked to Brian (the aspirante staying with my grandparents), he understood that the family tried to blame their absence on me not being ready, which is an outright lie. I was reading on the porch with my bag packed when they pulled up and told me we weren’t going. Whatever, it doesn’t really matter. I had to wait awhile to eat lunch after all this, but it was worth it: pasta stuffed with cheese and meat, covered in marinara sauce and various vegetables and spices. Perfect. I was thrilled to have it the next day for lunch too.

So I got to spend the rest of the day with more reading and writing and internet frustration. I talked to a few people at home, took a very light nap, and organized my room just a bit more. Finally, as fantasy football draft time neared closer and closer, I tried to get the application to work with both of my computers (using my internet stick) and the family’s (using theirs). It simply would not load all the way, though I could do other things fine. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it was really upsetting. Just remembering how much fun the draft was last year and wanting to pick my own team, combined with the fact that I had expected to be able to get on for just this one thing, made me kind of depressed the rest of the night. My cousin Mikey was a real friend as usual, drafting for me and staying with me on the phone for half of it. I just wish he didn’t have to do the second draft for me in three years. I really am aware how silly I sound, I promise I am, but I can’t help the things that seem important to me. I just wanted that one thing and was really disappointed I didn’t get it.

Anyway, I was all set to have a depressing Monday back at training, but Honduras was insistent on cheering me up. I had a fantastic breakfast (French toast and toast with REAL peanut butter and jelly, plus coffee), a fantastic lunch (leftovers from the day before plus pineapple juice), and just generally a good day of training. It was great to see and talk to and catch up with everyone from the other groups, plus see the YDers in almost a new light, if that makes sense. It was good to hear from the other trainers too and we had a somewhat inspiring speaker right before lunch. I was also happy to have my language interview on Wednesday (not Tuesday) and was again reassured by our language person that we could not go down a level no matter how bad our interview went. Whew, so that’s out of the way.

In the afternoon, we separated first by region and did some activities talking about our work and skill sets. It was really interesting to hear about the work of the others in my area, especially since I’m the only YD in our group. Actually, there’s only one other YD person that’s staying longer than another month in my entire department. There’re only a few MDers too; the department is basically a combination of PAM, Water/Sanitation (WatSan), and Health. It will be really cool to learn from and work with all of them. After that activity, we did another one in different groups to learn even more about the work in the other areas. It was a good way to end the day early.

Afterwards, a bunch of us headed over to a nearby bar/pupuseria (place that sells pupusas, basically a stuffed, fried tortilla with vegetables on top) and had two buckets of beers. It was SO much fun and the perfect way to unwind and enjoy each other’s company and really catch up (i.e. gossip). A lot had happened in the other groups – I have to say YD is a bit boring in that sense, probably because we only have three guys. Not too much going on there to get excited about. But it was a great time; I left in an even better mood and feeling my lovely tipsiness after two beers (and spending about $1.75). For the rest of the night, after a disappointing dinner and a quick phone call with Grandma, I had another warm bucket bath (this time even washing my hair!) and spent the rest of the night working on the computer: reading, writing, transferring files to get my netbook ready for our next movie swap. I suppose I was being a bit antisocial with my family, but at this point it hardly matters. Maybe I’ll feel more inclined tomorrow, after a few hours of Spanish class and feeling the pressure to prepare for my interview the next day. We’ll see!

PS ~ A very special Happy Birthday to my very first PC friend Stacie, who celebrated the big 2-6 today!