Friday, May 29, 2009

Deje un Pedazo de mi Corazon en Ojojona (I Left a Piece of My Heart in Ojojona)

(Written 5/9/09)

I’ve always hated the various touristy t-shirts and mugs that proudly flaunted that saying… too bad now I feel like its true. It’s weird how sad I am to leave Ojojona. I had been so excited and so ready to get to my site since before I even left the U.S. that I never even gave a second thought to the experiences I would have or the friends I would make during training. But the truth of the matter is, I was just starting to really feel at home here. Although I loved my host family the instant I met them, I was just now starting to feel like I had my own place in the family. More than that I have friends here in Ojojona, something I never thought would happen. Last week I noticed that when I walk through the streets of Ojojona, I know people. Neighbors or people I met at some family gathering, kids from school projects we’ve done or that I’ve played with in the neighborhood stop to chat and mototaxi drivers offer me free rides because they just happen to be passing by my house. And it’s nice. I feel safe and happy in my friendly and pretty little mining town.
I suppose I didn’t realize how sad I would be to leave until we had our Despedida (Goodbye party) on Thursday night. I had told all the volunteers that we would have more than enough food because I was certain that only my host mom would come from my family, just like on cultural day, because corny non-dancing parties aren’t my family’s thing. Then much to my surprise, all of them showed up! Even my shy host brother who rarely leaves the house for anything came and I was overwhelmed. Then all day yesterday, my last official day there, everyone was saying how sad they were to see me go and asking when I would come back to visit. Later that night my host family, along with Tony’s even threw a going away party for us, “because Katie needs to dance before she leaves!” All of this, and not to mention the going away gifts from my host fam, neighbors, and friends, all were setting me up for a very emotional goodbye this morning. I woke up extra early this morning so that I could say goodbye to my host dad and brother before they left for work and since the bus was 3 hrs late to pick us up, as usual, I got a little extra time with my host nephews who sang a goodbye song for me as well as with my host mom who came with me to the bus stop. Although I kept from crying, my eyes definitely watered up when my host mom cried a little and told me she loved me before I got on the bus.
And all of this is only describing my experience with the Hondurans in Ojojona and how it feels to leave them. I can’t even imagine what it will be like in another week when I leave all the volunteers from H14. I feel like the business project really became a group in Ojojona and it will be weird to be without all of them. Ojojona definitely was the perfect site for us.

All in all I can’t imagine having a better experience during training and a part of me definitely wishes Ojojona was my site for the next two years. But heres to the fun family parties, the beach trip, playing soccer and karate with my nephews, late night (9pm) talks with my neighbors, licuados, watching soap operas with the whole fam, Karaoke, Dinners with Richard, dance party mototaxi rides, videojuegos, the cabin picnic, and the millions of other fun memories that Ojojona has left me with. I’ll miss you but I’ll be back soon!!

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