working girl

It has been awhile since I've blogged, mostly because I haven't felt like there is much to tell. I have been struggling to find my way at work, don't have much of a social life to speak of, and generally have been up and down with being sick. Exciting stuff, right?

Also, I don't have any new pictures. I really want to show you the beauty of the countryside where I've been working and show you my town, but the camera has been collecting dust of late and I'm falling behind on the photo-documentation of life.

But for all the stuff that's been getting me down, there are some bright spots. So I guess it's better to focus on that.

This week at work was our week of community visits. About every 3 weeks we visit 4 different rural communities and lead a training on various topics for the women's groups that meet. It takes about an hour on the motorcycle to get to each town, though some are a bit further than others. I do not drive the moto yet, but Oscar would like to teach me!

Our topic this week was domestic violence and how the law protects women in Honduras. Overall the visits went really well. Up to this point, I had only been to 2 of the 4 communities, but now I have met each group. The women are always gracious and hospitable and it is fun to see the personality of each group.

On Friday my coworker Oscar and I did 2 visits in one day. About 5 minutes before the training, he asked me if I wanted to lead it. I felt there weren't too many options, so I took a deep breath and said "sure!"

I was pretty nervous, but overall it went well. In fact, Oscar was convinced the women participated much more with me than they ever do when he is leading the training. I've always had my doubts about being a teacher, but everyone in the group was very affirming of my ability to lead and teach the session. I only made a few blunders with my Spanish, but it seemed to hold their attention, so I decided to make it part of my routine :)

We were at the second town by 12:30 and were able to wait out the daily rain storm at someone's house (much better than being on the moto!). I led the session again, but with a bit less participation from the crowd this time. All in all, it was a good day and I'm glad to have a some practice leading the trainings.

Although I said at the beginning that I don't have much of a social life, the church youth group has become my main social outlet. There is hang-out night on Friday evenings, youth service on Saturday night at the church, regular church service on Sunday evening and we usually go out to eat after the service. So far, they have been gracious in accepting me and inviting me along. I'm trying to take advantage of their interest while I'm still novel and interesting...it's only a matter of time before they decide I'm not really that cool ;)

So, things are moving along. It's not always easy to be living on my own, but I am slowly making friends and learning my way around, figuring things out as I go. Thank you for your prayers as I continue to settle in.