6 Months to Go

My official “COS” (Close of Service) date is May 1st, 2009, which means that as of November 1st I have just 6 months left of service. I think I will be ready to leave when the time comes but I still have lots to do here and will probably be very busy until the end. I am now starting to think about my projects in terms of finishing before I leave and who will replace me. In January we will have a meeting with all the Peace Corps volunteers that came at the same time as me to start the COS process, which I am sure will create mixed feelings of excitement to go home, anticipation for what will come next and desire to wrap up projects and tie up loose ends.

Things are going well in Santa Barbara. It finally cooled off and rained almost non-stop for two weeks. Santa Barbara did not suffer that much but other areas of Honduras, especially the north coast, suffered severe flooding not seen since hurricane Mitch.

As was the US, Honduras is preoccupied with elections, which were supposed to take place in the middle of the month but have been postponed until November 30th. It makes it difficult to get work done because everybody is busy campaigning. I saw a very interesting campaign commercial that involved four girls in mini skirts and crop tops singing and dancing the Macarena in support or a political candidate. Hmm…

The Christmas season is upon Honduras, since they don’t have Halloween or Thanksgiving to delay the festivities the fake Christmas trees and plastic Santa Clause went up at the end of October. I think I will wait until December to put up my little fake Christmas tree.