- Virginian In Honduras -: Guess Hoo's a Peace Corps Volunteer?

Any sort of graduation ceremony is special, for the shared reasons of accomplishment, achievement, and the newly-presented opportunity to put into practice what one spent so much time learning. I've had the good fortune of attending a number of such ceremonies throughout my many years of schooling. All were special in their own way (anyone who attended UVA can attest to the feeling one gets walking down the Lawn...) but this graduation meant more than all of those before it. I had just wrapped up 11 weeks of near-total discomfort. From having to live with two different host families for the duration (both of whose hospitality I am truly grateful for) to being herded around like cats to trying to learn Spanish in classes where only Spanish was spoken (try making sense of a language when you can't understand what's being discussed in the first place...), I had done it. Nope, we all had done it.

All 53 of us that started back in late February had endured. I don't mean to embellish too much, clearly there were a lot of good times had as well (read previous so many blog posts), but I'm not lying when I say it was a struggle at times. Frustrations mounted (why does it feel like my Spanish is getting worse, not better?), doubts crept in (did I really give up my cushy life and job for this?), and it seemed like days here lasted 72 hours, not 24. Time dragged on. But every bit of the effort put forth and awkwardness endured was worth it when we were all standing as a group on the lawn of the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa, right hands raised, reciting our oath to uphold the good faith that the US and Honduras governments had placed in us. It was a proud moment for me to look around and see the faces that I'd gotten to know and appreciate had all made it as well. While our next two years of experiences will likely be considerably different, I'm glad that we could share the previous three months.

A massive thank you to all of the Peace Corps staff that were involved in our day to day activities during training. From the country director, Emily, who was experiencing these things for the first time just like us, to Brian, who was keeping our brains active by making us really think about why we are here, to Luis, who ran the whole operation flawlessy, to Juan Carlos, who had the thankless job of shedding light on the safety and security situation in the country, thank you all for the thought and effort you put into getting the most out of all of us. And to the entire business crew, Jorge for all your work in site development, Jesus for staying positive and upbeat while teaching 18 people an array of subjects, to the Spanish instructors, primarily Felissa and Angelica, for doing the seemingly impossible in a graceful and positive manner. All of you are true professionals and I thank you for everything you did for me.

Here is a link to an article in one of the dailies regarding our swearing-in ceremony and detailing the PC presence in Honduras to date. Also, below are a few photos of the ceremony as well as some from our celebrations after; a group of us went to the Intercontinental and dined on steaks and sushi, one last delicacy before slipping off into our respective parts of the land of seemingly never-ending beans, rice, and tortillas.