Happiness Is Not Having Burger King in Your Town
So yeah, Max and I were the lucky ones. We’re the ones that got to live in Honduras’ third largest city. We have a Mall in our town, two universities, all kinds of fast food restaurants, and all other amenities. Almost every day we hear one of our Peace Corps friends day… Dude, you guys are so lucky, you have Burger King in your town. And so, there is a general thought among Peace Corps volunteers that people in bigger cities like La Ceiba have it easy. In many ways they are right. We do have running water in our house. We do have steady electric power. We do not need to travel a day to the nearest phone to call our families. There is also a lot we do not have.
We joined the Peace Corps with the idea of learning to live a different life. We wanted to live with less. We won’t really get to do that. We were looking forward to knowing everybody in town and to the kids running to greet us with hugs and kisses after we returned from a trip. That will not happen in La Ceiba. We wanted our next door neighbor to be like our mother, looking out for us, maybe even inviting us to dinner every now and then. That we won’t get to experience. We wanted to live, eat, dress, breath like most Hondurans, but here life, food, clothing looks more like it was back home. Our assignment is more like a job oversees than life in the Peace Corps.
Peace Corps training prepared us for the “worst”. After training we expected to go on a really difficult assignment, in a small town with very little amenities. Peace Corps training did not prepare us for life in a big city. We were never warned of the risk of being so comfortable at home that you might not feel motivated to leave for work. We never discussed that you could be completely anonymous in your town during service. Only in our wildest dreams did we think we would be able to buy peanut butter, wine, or French bread. We never thought we wouldn’t have to eat like Hondurans every day.
Living in La Ceiba (and a lot other cities in the world, I am sure) is a very different kind of Peace Corps experience. It is not harder than other experiences, but it is definitely not easier. It is just different. After all, who ever said that happiness was having Burger King in your town?
posted by Lynnette @ 4:15 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Even the fact that you were thinking about the fact that you weren't getting enough of the Peace Corps experience shows how sacrificing and hardworking you both are. I have every belief that you will get the experience that you are looking for. If you don't believe me, maybe you should check out your previous posts. Your work has already changed lives, and its only been a few months. Please take care of yourselves, you are in our thoughts here at home.
Love,
Karla
hello Max and Lynnette
I wanted you to know that I have followed your travels through your blog and enjoy stopping by and getting updates.
You are certainly having some interesting times and I admire your willingness to give of yourselves and applaud your desire to help others.
It sounds like you landed in a nice place in La Ceiba and I hope it brings you the experiences you hoped for.
Take good care of each other and continue the blog entries. I look forward to seeing you next time you're in WH.
Love,
Rick
Olanchito's a little more typical Honduran than Ceiba, but I know what you mean. Doing Peace Corps in the city is not the crazy adventure in the jungle that everyone hears about back home. But that doesn't mean that we'll never make Honduran friends or eat Honduran food. It just means we have to try harder to get the cultural experience we came for.
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