Wavin goodbye to Copan

9 weeks, you've really come already? As much as I am looking forward to a couple of weeks at home to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with friends and family, it is hard to believe this may be the last significant time I will spend in this little town. No more Red Frog and uterus shots, no more $1.25 beers and $4 loaded nachos. No more hours spent at the cafe getting angry with the internet, and no more trying to figure out how many international phone minutes I actually get on doble day. No more kids at San Rafael. There will be another school and kids in Guatemala, but these guys were my first. At the very beginning when my Spanish was total garbage (now its only mostly garbage) I struggled through it with them. During the first week I repeatedly told my class of mostly third grade boys "search me" when I wanted to say "show me." Couldn't figure out what was so funny.

Plans have already changed for after Christmas. When I get back on January 6, I'll be staying in Guatemala for the next four months instead of heading to Nicaragua. I'm dissappointed, but understand the reasoning... a volunteer in Nicaragua has decided to stay on as an intern, and they need more help in the first two months of the year in Guatemala, as unplanned travel has come up for the director. Hopefully I'll get to visit Nicaragua, and I know there is traveling I want to do from Antigua.

I'll be getting into Michigan late Thrusday night. Hopefully during the following 2 and a half weeks I'll see many of you in Ohio and Michigan. Goodbye from and to Honduras...

Change is in the air

When I arrived as an intern for GVI 7 weeks ago, Honduras was my first assignment. I had 3 brand new volunteers with me to start in Honduras, and three that had been in Honduras for several weeks already. Two of the three veterans left early on, so it has been the same group of 5 of us for a while. A few days ago 3 of the vols left and the intern who will be replacing me arrived. Ben, the last of my original group, leaves Saturday. Two new volunteers arrive Sunday, and I leave about a week later to spend a couple of days in Antigua before heading to Ohio for Christmas. It is fun meeting new people, and part of life saying goodbye, probably forever, to people you meet along the way. Hopefully I'll see many of you who will be in Ohio around Christmas. After the new year, I'm headed to Nicaragua and then Guatemala until May.