sak pase

Just Kidding thats not spanish.

First off I AM SOOO SORRY STEVEN, I didn´t mean to not send you emails, I just don´t have your address. 
Second, Mom and Papa I tried calling you today, Friday, but there was no answer!

I just wanted to send out a a quick note to let everyone know that I am ok.  I will try and call tomorrow but a few of us from my project are going hiking in La Tigre National Park.  You can google it but I can´t cause the internet is slllooooow.  Its ok tho, they have it, right_  I don´t know whjere the question mark is.  A bunch of mi companeros are planning futbol down in the valley so I´m headed off to that.  After I get back from my hike I will try and write everyone back and write more in detail about the hike and the adventuire getting there, think yellow school buses with chickens and gringos!

 I love you all so much and miss everyone of you, please keep sending me emails, they make me sooooo happy!  Take care, and should I join my group_ Yo no se.

PC LOVE,
B

--
Bridget Kathleen French
954.650.5084

mas

23-Jun-06

Hola! Que tal? Bien?  Lo siento mi amores, I know I said I wouldn't speak in Spanish but now I am even having trouble remembering words in English and I have only been here 2 ½ days!  It's crazy right?  Some of my Spanish is coming back wonderfully, but not all of it.  I guess that will take some more time.

I'm not sure if the other email I typed out the other day made it or not, so if it didn't I will try and repost it today.  The internet place, AKA Hondutel, is very slow and we were having problems with almost every single computer in the place, a total of about 9.  There is another internet place called MayaVision, hopefully that is where I will be sending my emails from, but to call someone I go to the other place, because it is 1 limperia cheaper, even though that does not translate to a lot of dollars, I have to live off of 50 limperias a day, which is about $2.50.  Good luck right?  Well we have all our meals prepared for us, so there is very little that I can see right now that I have to pay for, besides snacks, internet and phone.  I have a feeling that we are going to be allowed to go to Teguc soon though, because yesterday I got lost when I left Hondutel to walk back to my house with another aspirante (that's what they call the trainees) and ended up at a PCVs house, Adam is actually one of our trainers right now, but there were a bunch of PCVs there and I kind of got the feeling that we will be allowed to go down there eventually.

Not much has happened since the last update I typed.  Today we got our first dose of vaccines, I got an MMR and a Polio booster, because apparently you need another of both once you are an adult.  Lo que, they paid for it, right?  Also we had a bunch of free time to fill out paper work and have our medical interviews, during our free time there was optional Spanish classes, so of course I went to those, but they were a lot of fun.  We played games and just got to ask questions in general.  This learning is nothing like being in a class at a university because this is survival Spanish, you know?  If you don't know how to say you don't want something or you can't eat it or you need to go somewhere, you're SOL. 

            Tomorrow I have my placement language interview, to graduate from training and become a volunteer you have to be at the intermediate level of language comprehension.  There are four levels and 4 groups in the first 3 levels.  Monday we will find out what level we are placed into and then we go from there.  The trainers have been really great about keeping us informed about what we going to happen and what we need to do, they constantly ask if we need any help and are very approachable, which makes the transition that much easier.

            OK, even though its only 9:30 here I am going to end now because I want to keep some of my computer battery life for later.  The host families asked that the trainees not charge their laptops at home, so we have to bring them to the school to charge.  Tomorrow we are also having a party later with all of our families after school around 5 with dancing (!) so that should be fun!!!  I also have to read some stuff for class tomorrow and in general in case I have any questions.  As always you can email me and I will get back to you personally: bridgetfrench@gmail.com.  Hope everyone is doing great, I am for the most part!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

   I'm at the internet place now, I meant to send this one out yesterday but it was raining and because of that the phones and the internet was down, I asked if it was a storm and I was told it wasn't so I could only imagine was a storm looks like here.  The party was fun the food was kind of potluck style and Heidi and I thought for sure we'd both be sick today but we're not.  Three people have gotten sick already and had to go down to the capital to go to a hospital, the good news is they are all ok, but one of them is going home already, he was in my project.  Triste.  But this isn't for everyone and I guess they are figureing it out slowly.  Tomorrow I found out what language level I am at, I had an interview on Saturday. Today I am going to the market in town and  to look at the flower ladies flowers, the other day we walked down to 2 futbol fields, they were amazing but my camera died so I'm going to try and take pictures today.  I'l try and send a few out.  Like always, comments, questions, and love email me and I will write you back personally.  Also if you know someone that wants to be added let me know and I will afix them to my list!

PC amor -

   Bridget

PS – if anyone has any suggestions for a better way to introduce myself let me know, everyone is having a hard time with Bridget.  

--
Bridget Kathleen French
954.650.5084

staging y mi primero dias

I tried sending this the other say but sometimes the internet is sketchy.

   I would like to say I don't know where to begin, so much has
happened in the past three days.  But I do know where to start!  Gaddy
Vasquez came and spoke to my group (Honduras 9) and Ecuador.  There
were about 100 of us.  His speech just made me want to get on the
plane and head down there even more!  He said being the head of the
Peace Corps is great but its the people under him that are making the
difference, the ones who are helping in the world.  Everything he had
to say was so positive.  I didn't know this before, but the Peace
Corps is one of few government bodies whose budgets have increased and
in the past three years the most amount of volunteers to ever serve in
the history of the corps.  Also he told us that of the 13,000 people
that apply only 1/3 are accepted!  I'm not sure if he does this all
the time or not, but it was definitely a great way to keep me
motivated and finish this hectic process of staging. (found out he
makes it to almost ALL stagings in DC)
   But now let me start from the beginning!  I got to DC on time (I
couldn't see the other one on my ticket!)  And while I was in
Charlotte I called and asked the hotel if they had a shuttle, so I
wouldn't have to flag down a taxis.  They did, so when I landed I
lugged my backpack down to the baggage claim and paid a guy to take my
bags out to the curb for me.  Yeah, what can I say I need a few more
luxuries before leaving the states.  So I got out to the curb and
there were two other chicas waiting for the same shuttle with a large
amount of luggage.  Both of them were volunteers but after everything
was said and done that day, it turned out one of them was going to
Ecuador, and there were actually two staging groups in D.C. those few
days.
   I checked into my hotel room with the other girl and it turned out
we were roommates as well.  Her name is Cathie and she's from NY, and
has TWO degrees in environmental sciences.  Anyway, we both had a lot
of the same concerns and what not so it was nice to get there
immediately and have someone to talk to.  We both went down stairs to
check-in and hand in our paperwork.  At 3 we started with our ice
breakers and PC policy talks and whatnot.  It was a lot to take in but
most of the information included a fun activity along with it, which
helped to get to know more people.  After we got done at 7 I called my
cousin Bill and we went out to dinner at a italian place in
Georgetown, which was really nice because I'd never been there and I
haven't seen my cousin in forever. After dinner we went and checked
out his place and then I had to ask him to take me home because I was
exhausted from the flight and long nights I had the past few days.
  The next day we got up and had to be downstairs at 7:30 to begin
our second day of training which ended up being very similar to the
first one.  I went and ate lunch in the underground Crystal City with
some more volunteers.  Toward the end of the day we had our final
information to get on the plane the next morning and head down to
Honduras!  After we finished for the day I called Robin, because she
was in DC for a job interview, we were supposed to go out and have
dinner but then my roommate came back up and told me that the director
of the Peace Corps was coming to speak to us at 8:30, so we had to go
to dinner early, which was ok.  Robin, Cathie and I went back to the
Crystal City underground for dinner and I had my last American beer.
After dinner we went back and listened to Mr. Vasquez speak and then
headed into bed.
  At 2:15AM we got up to get down for my groups check out time -
which was 3:15AM, the latest - and we were on the bus to the airport
by 4:30AM and we were on the plane taking off at 7:30.  There was a
completely different flight to Miami that left while we were all
sitting there too.  It was kind of painful.  Oh yeah and as we were
handed our passports and tickets I found out that one of the guys who
was helping out at staging is a UGA grad ('95).  So that was cool, too
bad I didn't know before.  And my luggage was overweight, but for
someone lucky reason I ended up not having to pay.  I had to move a
lot of stuff around for the weather in Teguz so I guess I messed up
the whole plan.  Ohh well its here, safe and sound!
  OK so we landed in Honduras at 12:45ish and went outside and loaded
all of our bags into a truck and then put our overnight bags on a
school bus (a yellow one!) and drove the 17 kl to Sant Lucia.  Around
3:30 we were introduced to our family (well the ladies of the
household) and then after socializing for a few minutes we were on our
way home!  My host family is really nice.  There are 4 people and me
living there and a 15 month old baby girl.  Maribol y Cristobal are
the parents and there son Tito (Cristobal Jr.) lives with his child's
mother, Maria.  Their baby's name is Andrea Daniella.  Everyone is
very nice, but I think they are very use to volunteers because they
aren't really around a whole lot.  The food was great.  For dinner I
had tortillas y queso and avocados and hard boiled eggs and broccoli
and cauli flower.  And for breakfast the next day I had pancakes,
watermelon, a banana, cafe and orange juice.  For lunch I had
something great too!  It was kind of like ramen noodles with
vegetables, peppers, carrots and something I'm not sure what it is.
Also she packed me cucumbers and tomatoes.  So I'm definitely not
eating bad at all, actually its hard to get it all down!  Right now
our host families are getting paid to feed us three meals a day, so I
get a packed lunch every day also.
  Apparently my family has hosted many volunteers, for almost 20
years.  I found this out because 2 Americans stopped by for dinner and
one of them was a RPCV.  She was hosted by the same family in 98.  It
was nice to have someone that knew English and Spanish after that
extremely long day.  She helped me out with a few things I needed and
couldn't remember how to say.  But i felt guilty speaking English.
She said that I was doing much better than she was when she got to
country.  That made me feel a lot better.  But it is still VERY
frustrating to not be able to express yourself.
  I went to bed by 10ish and had to be up to get to the training
center by 7:30AM.  So I woke up by some miracle because I forgot to
set the alarm.  My bad.  Anyway I will do that tonight for sure.  I'm
running out of time at the internet place - like I said before its not
really a "cafe" its computers in a sketchy room.  Tomorrow we start
getting our vaccines, I have to get quite a few because they said
you're supposed to have another round of all of your infant shots once
you're older.  Whatever.  We got paid today - 50 limpuras/day which is
about 3 dollars.  Its about a 1:20 exchange.  So by American standards
its not that much but hopefully it will be enough for right now.
  OK I'm running out of time and I need to go call my mom.  More
later.  I'm not sure how often I will be able to get over here and use
the internet and keep everyone updated.  I'm going to try very hard to
type things up at night and use a jump drive to easily send them.
Email me at bridgetfrench@gmail.com and I will write you back
individually but right now that seems kind of over whelming.

Ohh yeah for the ladies - almost all the guys are very attractive.
Its not bad duty.  My project is split 50/50.  I'll take more pictures
and hopefully get them up and whatnot very soon.  Its been raining but
there are A LOT of pretty views and cute houses.

Hasta lluego,
Bridget

--
Bridget Kathleen French
954.650.5084

staging y mi primero dias

   I would like to say I don't know where to begin, so much has
happened in the past three days.  But I do know where to start!  Gaddy
Vasquez came and spoke to my group (Honduras 9) and Ecuador.  There
were about 100 of us.  His speech just made me want to get on the
plane and head down there even more!  He said being the head of the
Peace Corps is great but its the people under him that are making the
difference, the ones who are helping in the world.  Everything he had
to say was so positive.  I didn't know this before, but the Peace
Corps is one of few government bodies whose budgets have increased and
in the past three years the most amount of volunteers to ever serve in
the history of the corps.  Also he told us that of the 13,000 people
that apply only 1/3 are accepted!  I'm not sure if he does this all
the time or not, but it was definitely a great way to keep me
motivated and finish this hectic process of staging. (found out he
makes it to almost ALL stagings in DC)
   But now let me start from the beginning!  I got to DC on time (I
couldn't see the other one on my ticket!)  And while I was in
Charlotte I called and asked the hotel if they had a shuttle, so I
wouldn't have to flag down a taxis.  They did, so when I landed I
lugged my backpack down to the baggage claim and paid a guy to take my
bags out to the curb for me.  Yeah, what can I say I need a few more
luxuries before leaving the states.  So I got out to the curb and
there were two other chicas waiting for the same shuttle with a large
amount of luggage.  Both of them were volunteers but after everything
was said and done that day, it turned out one of them was going to
Ecuador, and there were actually two staging groups in D.C. those few
days.
   I checked into my hotel room with the other girl and it turned out
we were roommates as well.  Her name is Cathie and she's from NY, and
has TWO degrees in environmental sciences.  Anyway, we both had a lot
of the same concerns and what not so it was nice to get there
immediately and have someone to talk to.  We both went down stairs to
check-in and hand in our paperwork.  At 3 we started with our ice
breakers and PC policy talks and whatnot.  It was a lot to take in but
most of the information included a fun activity along with it, which
helped to get to know more people.  After we got done at 7 I called my
cousin Bill and we went out to dinner at a italian place in
Georgetown, which was really nice because I'd never been there and I
haven't seen my cousin in forever. After dinner we went and checked
out his place and then I had to ask him to take me home because I was
exhausted from the flight and long nights I had the past few days.
  The next day we got up and had to be downstairs at 7:30 to begin
our second day of training which ended up being very similar to the
first one.  I went and ate lunch in the underground Crystal City with
some more volunteers.  Toward the end of the day we had our final
information to get on the plane the next morning and head down to
Honduras!  After we finished for the day I called Robin, because she
was in DC for a job interview, we were supposed to go out and have
dinner but then my roommate came back up and told me that the director
of the Peace Corps was coming to speak to us at 8:30, so we had to go
to dinner early, which was ok.  Robin, Cathie and I went back to the
Crystal City underground for dinner and I had my last American beer.
After dinner we went back and listened to Mr. Vasquez speak and then
headed into bed.
  At 2:15AM we got up to get down for my groups check out time -
which was 3:15AM, the latest - and we were on the bus to the airport
by 4:30AM and we were on the plane taking off at 7:30.  There was a
completely different flight to Miami that left while we were all
sitting there too.  It was kind of painful.  Oh yeah and as we were
handed our passports and tickets I found out that one of the guys who
was helping out at staging is a UGA grad ('95).  So that was cool, too
bad I didn't know before.  And my luggage was overweight, but for
someone lucky reason I ended up not having to pay.  I had to move a
lot of stuff around for the weather in Teguz so I guess I messed up
the whole plan.  Ohh well its here, safe and sound!
  OK so we landed in Honduras at 12:45ish and went outside and loaded
all of our bags into a truck and then put our overnight bags on a
school bus (a yellow one!) and drove the 17 kl to Sant Lucia.  Around
3:30 we were introduced to our family (well the ladies of the
household) and then after socializing for a few minutes we were on our
way home!  My host family is really nice.  There are 4 people and me
living there and a 15 month old baby girl.  Maribol y Cristobal are
the parents and there son Tito (Cristobal Jr.) lives with his child's
mother, Maria.  Their baby's name is Andrea Daniella.  Everyone is
very nice, but I think they are very use to volunteers because they
aren't really around a whole lot.  The food was great.  For dinner I
had tortillas y queso and avocados and hard boiled eggs and broccoli
and cauli flower.  And for breakfast the next day I had pancakes,
watermelon, a banana, cafe and orange juice.  For lunch I had
something great too!  It was kind of like ramen noodles with
vegetables, peppers, carrots and something I'm not sure what it is.
Also she packed me cucumbers and tomatoes.  So I'm definitely not
eating bad at all, actually its hard to get it all down!  Right now
our host families are getting paid to feed us three meals a day, so I
get a packed lunch every day also.
  Apparently my family has hosted many volunteers, for almost 20
years.  I found this out because 2 Americans stopped by for dinner and
one of them was a RPCV.  She was hosted by the same family in 98.  It
was nice to have someone that knew English and Spanish after that
extremely long day.  She helped me out with a few things I needed and
couldn't remember how to say.  But i felt guilty speaking English.
She said that I was doing much better than she was when she got to
country.  That made me feel a lot better.  But it is still VERY
frustrating to not be able to express yourself.
  I went to bed by 10ish and had to be up to get to the training
center by 7:30AM.  So I woke up by some miracle because I forgot to
set the alarm.  My bad.  Anyway I will do that tonight for sure.  I'm
running out of time at the internet place - like I said before its not
really a "cafe" its computers in a sketchy room.  Tomorrow we start
getting our vaccines, I have to get quite a few because they said
you're supposed to have another round of all of your infant shots once
you're older.  Whatever.  We got paid today - 50 limpuras/day which is
about 3 dollars.  Its about a 1:20 exchange.  So by American standards
its not that much but hopefully it will be enough for right now.
  OK I'm running out of time and I need to go call my mom.  More
later.  I'm not sure how often I will be able to get over here and use
the internet and keep everyone updated.  I'm going to try very hard to
type things up at night and use a jump drive to easily send them.
Email me at bridgetfrench@gmail.com and I will write you back
individually but right now that seems kind of over whelming.

Ohh yeah for the ladies - almost all the guys are very attractive.
Its not bad duty.  My project is split 50/50.  I'll take more pictures
and hopefully get them up and whatnot very soon.  Its been raining but
there are A LOT of pretty views and cute houses.

Hasta lluego,
Bridget

--
Bridget Kathleen French
954.650.5084

These are a few of my favorite things

I had a wonderful time this weekend at my going away party. The sad
part is now I have to go away! I know only a have few things I have
left to do before I depart, like pack. Haha, if only it were a little
easier. I still haven't heard anymore about specifically what I will
be doing while I am down there but as soon as I know I will be sure to
let everyone know!

Several people have been asking me what kinds of things I like so here
is a list!

Fruity candy - skittles, starbursts, mike n' ike,
Hot Tamales
Silly girly books
Non-mint flavor gums
Magazines - esp. news ones
Lip gloss
LETTERS!!
PICTURES of you having fun!
nail polish
travel games
CDs of new music
Friendship braclets (oh you know!)
Bullseyes (if they won't melt)
a play by play report of UGA football games
a detailed story line of The OC, 24, Law and Order SVU
Burned DVDs, if thats even possible
computer games
VISITORS! (I thought I'd just throw that in for good measure)

Thats all I ca think of right now. Thanks again for everything
everyone has done for me and your thoughtfulness! I greatly
appreciate it as I get ready to head off! More importantly thanks for
your continued support!

PC Love -
B
--
Bridget Kathleen French