Site Assignment

I didn’t have time earlier to write a blog about how we found out our sites, so I wanted to give a little more details.  So, one of our trainers and Roger (the awesome driver) picked us up Friday morning around 7:15am and then we drove to this museum of a battle of independence, I believe.  It was pretty boring, unfortunately, and it was really hot and stuffy in there so I wanted to throw up.  Luckily, there was a nice breeze and I stood in the doorway with a couple other trainees.  The funny thing about the museum though, was that there was a huge painting that the lady was describing and it had white, pasty men with red hair attacking the Nicaraguans with guns and knives.  She described these men as “North Americans” and said “but, they were from different countries…”  It was a little awkward, probably for both parties because she didn’t want to tell us directly that our ancestors attacked Nicaraguans.  Anyway, after the museum tour, Andrew, Sam, and I had been eyeing a cool tree outside so we decided to go on a climb.

We then joined the rest of the group on a hike up a near mountain (or large hill).  It was a pretty exhausting hike because the hill was very steep, meaning we increased altitude very quickly and lost our breath a lot.  It was exhilarating though and the view from the top was definitely worth every ounce (or bucket) or sweat.  

After we were all back from the hike and drenched in sweat, it was time to load back into the microbus and head over to Managua.  Our trainers dropped us off at one of the malls in Managua and I felt like I entered into a completely different world.  It was so clean and really nice.  The people were all dressed nicely and the bathrooms had toilet paper, running water, and soap!  This was a strange feeling to me.  This mall was cleaner than several malls that I have been to in the States.  Well, while we were at the mall we all got lunch and had a few minutes to cruise around and check things out.  Then we went to the PC office for our site assignment reveal.

When we got to the office, we went into a conference room and there was a cake to celebrate some birthdays and then there was a board with balloons attached…our sites were inside those balloons.  Julia Elena (Julie, my partner teacher in Matagalpa) had been sick in Managua, so she found out her assignment and then got to start the reveal.  She threw a dart at the balloon board and popped a balloon which had a trainee’s name and site assignment.  That trainee then went up and tacked their strip of paper on a map of Nicaragua where there site is located.  They then threw another dart to reveal the next person.  This was pretty fun, and I’m glad I was only the 3^rd or 4^th person because there were plenty of balloons to catch my dart—I missed the first 2 throws.  We then all found out our assignments; some were disappointed, and others were overly-excited, but I think we will all learn to love our sites, our new families, our counterparts, and our community.  When my site was revealed I was a little disappointed because it wasn’t what I was expecting, but I’m being optimistic and I believe that it is exactly where God wants me to be.  I know that wherever I go, my job remains the same and I’m looking forward to meeting new people and starting projects. 

My site: Boaco, Boaco, Nicaragua

The department (or state) of Boaco is directly in the middle of Nicaragua, sometimes known as the heart of Nicaragua.  Apparently, the town of Boaco is a little cooler than some places in Nicaragua and cools down in the evenings, which I’m looking forward to.  Boaco is known as the city of two floors because half of the city is on a large hill and the other half is below in the valley.  It’s a pretty large city (60,000 people) and it has a bank, post office, restaurants, hospital, several schools, cybers, and more.  I don’t know that much more about the place yet, but I’m going on a site visit this week so I will add more details when I find out.  I’m really looking forward to this :)  I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to get online because I don’t know my schedule for the visit.  I’ll be leaving Tuesday morning for Managua because we have site visit preparation and we’ll all be staying overnight there (except for those who are going to the RAAS, which is the far southeast department of Nicaragua and they take an overnight bus to get there).  Then, we all set out this next morning to find our sites.  I’m a little nervous about the trip because initially, they told us that we would be meeting our counterparts in Managua and they would be riding the bus with us to our sites.  Well, apparently that was changed so we will be riding the buses on our own.  I’m taking two bags with me so I can leave things at my site so I don’t have to take everything at once later.  Please pray for safe and easy travels :)