Well I told you all about my ear, right? I got water in it while swimming at the pool in Granada and it never came unclogged. The PC medical office prescribed some ear drops which I picked up in the next town at a pharmacy. The med office called me on Wednesday and asked me how it was going and it still hadn’t cleared up so they asked me if I wanted to come in to Managua. Well of course I decided to go because I had been trying to assimilate into a new culture with a plugged ear, making it difficult to hear/understand people, especially with them speaking in Spanish. Roger from PC came and picked me up and then we made the trip to Managua. Roger was very kind and chatted with me the way there and pointed out sights. It was a nice air conditioned ride, a luxury. We arrived to the PC office in Managua and it was a strange place…it was white and sterile, it had clean, private bathrooms with real flushing toilets. The office was air conditioned and I was sweating profusely and oddly felt comfortable. Was I not aware of the luxuries I was missing? It was strange, but nice to feel clean—I used real soap to wash my hands in a sink :)
After I settled in to this nice place, I had an appointment with one of the doctors and she took a look into my ears. She thought there might be bacteria in my ear so she prescribed a new medicine. Also, I told her that the day before I was feeling dehydrated, overheated, and weak. So, she decided to do some tests to see if I might have bacteria in my stomach…nice.
Well I’m currently taking drops in my ear for bacteria 3 times a day and in order to do so I have to lie on my side for about 10 minutes to let the medicine set and then insert a cotton ball…I look good ;) Also, I’m now taking pills for stomach bacteria as I received positive results today, and we all know in medicine that “positive” really means negative or not good :/
I had to wait until today to find out the results from yesterday’s tests, but fortunately I was going to Managua with the whole Nica 54 group for meetings. It was quite an adventure getting there though.
The two other trainees from my town and I were supposed to meet our language facilitator at the bus stop near the next town at 5:30am. Yes, you read that right, 5:30am!! We walked up the “highway” and there were several bus stops so we asked a man where the “empalme” was (where we were meeting our teacher) and he said “aqui” (here). So we stood and waited with several other people for about 10 minutes or so and didn’t see our teacher. We then decided to walk up the way a little and then found out we had been waiting in the wrong place and missed our “microbus” (smaller buses that are a little more secure and travel faster). The microbuses to Managua come through every half hour, so we waited a little and then decided to take the regular bus, which was already pretty full. We squeezed our way on where there was standing room only. These buses continue to pick up patrons until they are “full”, which I don’t think they know the definition of “full”. As we traveled, we continued to pick up people and the man collecting the fares yelled at everyone to keep moving back and to make two lines in the center aisle. Are you kidding me?!?! There were 3 people to a seat, two lines down the middle, and then the fare collector snaking through the sea of people to collect money. It was ridiculous. And when we finally thought we couldn’t possibly take on any more people, three or four squeezed on in. Then, even more came later. I thought they were going to start telling us to sit on top of the seat backs or lay across each other. I started feeling pretty queasy because I was standing for about an hour on an extremely crowded, uncomfortable, stuffy bus. Fortunately, one of the men opened another window so we got some fresh air :)
Finally, we made it to Managua, but our trip was not over. We walked around the bus terminal/market at Huembes and then caught a taxi to La Uca to meet up with the other trainees. It was so great to see our friends again! It had been a long week! We traveled to our destination in PC jeeps which are pretty cool and I trust the PC drivers much more than the bus drivers here. We had meetings all day, got rabies vaccinations, had snacks and lunch, and then I started feeling sick again :( I called the medical office and the doctor told me the results of my test and told me to get some medicine in Managua to start asap. Also, she told me to avoid dairy products and fried/spicy foods…well what I am going to eat in Nicaragua then?!? Hahaha Plain foods, which are good for me anyway because it will be better on my stomach, bacteria or not.
The bus ride home was less eventful and I was glad for that. Our PC driver solicited a bus which promised us 21 TEFL volunteers all seats so we wouldn’t have to stand on our long ride home. This was much better! I took my pill and we headed home. I had to tell my host mom all the foods I can’t eat, but the doctor suggested foods such as: vegetables, plain rice, bread, juice, and chicken without spices. I was actually looking forward to eating some plain food because lately I’ve had large portions of interesting flavors, not bad, just a lot. P.S. the cheese here is not good :( My host mom made me mashed potatoes (pure de papas), squash, and juice (de guayaba). It was a smaller meal which was perfect because I ate a lot today already and I feel bad wasting food. I’m not quite sure why, but my host mom always gives me such large portions and I always tell her it’s a little too much. I don’t want to offend her and she says it’s ok if I can’t eat it all. I hope she’ll make smaller meals from now on because they don’t really do “leftovers” here, which is unfortunate.
After this crazy day, I was glad to be home with my host family and finally relax after all the running around. The kids were pretty wild, but it becomes white noise to me. I’m really enjoying getting to know my host family more and we’ve been talking a lot more about all kinds of things. My host brother is probably my favorite because he cracks me up and is always asking me questions if I’ve heard of something or if I’ve tried gallo pinto (the favorite dish of Nicas), etc. But don’t worry, my friends, this man is married, so nothing will happen here hahaha I saw some of you seeing some potential, but nada At our orientation in Granada we completed a form for our “time capsule” and on there it asked “how likely are you to date (casually) a Nica, date (seriously), or marry a Nica”, to which I marked “no way” to all of the above. Sorry to disappoint you friends. But then again, you never know ;)
Anyway, I’m looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow…maybe 8am? That’s pretty good for me! I’ve always been a night person, but with my schedule here, I get sleepy around 8:30-9pm…yikes! I’m becoming an old person! Haha Until we meet again…
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
A Whole New World
No, this isn't Aladdin, but I will tell you about a whole new world...
I'm definitely enjoying my time here in Nicaragua, but there are some interesting things I have experienced so far and things that I realize I take for granted in the U.S. Here are a few: they only have "running" water on certain days here, so we usually take bucket baths and use small bowls to scoop water from the pila to pour over our hands to wash. I usually use hand sanitizer too because I never feel clean...something I will have to get used to. Next, going along with the no "running" water, in order to "flush" the toilet, after going to the bathroom, you have to pour water forcefully into the bowl and then it just goes down. I'm still learning how to do this, and I usually have to pour a couple times and my host mom says "con fuerte" (with force) hahaha Well, on the topic of water, we don't have "clean" or purified water, besides my jug in the kitchen, so I have to be a little careful with hand washing, showers, brushing teeth, etc. Ok, next on the list is electricity. My house does have electricity, but my room is very dark because I have a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and no windows :( Fortunately though, the living room is bright and has many windows. There are also a couple TVs in the house with cable--this surprises me considering the living conditions here, but it serves as good entertainment. However, there are a lot of tormentas (storms) during the rainy season with thunder, lightning, and lots and lots of rain so the power often goes out. This means no lights, no stoves, no TVs, no radios, etc. Fortunately, this hasn't happened that often since I've been here, but it's pretty crazy when it does. Privacy is a big thing here for all of us trainees and I've heard that it can be an issue, but now I understand why. The walls to our rooms do not extend to the roof, so you can hear everybody's business and they can hear you. This goes for the bathroom too, which is kind of in the kitchen...kinda awkward. We share toilet paper too, so I always have to ask where the toilet paper is when I need to use the bathroom. The "bathroom" is a combined area with a toilet and a shower with tiled floors. So, it's always damp and not very clean, and when I brush my teeth, I spit in the shower and rinse with my bottled water. I feel like I'm camping, but I love camping, right? :) Transportation is another thing I miss because I can't just hop in my car and go to the store or go to a friend's house. Even if I could get in a car to one of the stores here (which are little pulperias and they're really close) they don't have many items, so I'm waiting for a trip to the "big city" :) One thing my friend asked me about was AC...which does not exist here, nor did I think it would. It gets pretty dang hot here and I am constantly sweating!! I found out though if I take a shower at night it's better because sometimes it cools down to about 80 degrees so I can relax. It's hilarious when it drops below 90 though, because my host mom says "oh, it's cold" and I'm thinking "oh, it's perfect" or pleasantly warm haha Ok, last thing on the list for now is language. I live with a family that only speaks Spanish (my host brother knows some English words when I try to ask him about some things, but very few) and I have Spanish classes 8am-noon, then 1-3pm. Being forced to speak Spanish is great because I'm picking up more things, but it's hard because I can't always express my opinions. It's so nice to have this outlet here to explode the English that's been stored up. I talk to the other trainees after class in English (because we can't speak in English in class).
Ok, I hope that you understand a little more of what I'm experiencing. I have a funny story for you from today...as I have mentioned, we have class in one of the host family's houses and there is a lot of noise. Well, this morning some men were helping one of the ladies in the house put up a large mirror on the wall in the next room. They drilled into the wall for several minutes as our instructor rolled her eyes...it was hilarious! Then, a man pulled up on his motorcycle with a propane tank on the back to deliver to the house. He got off his motorcycle and approached the house, and then it happened...his motorcycle tipped over, spilling gasoline on the ground (this is about 15 feet outside our open door) and then propane tank came loose and rolled down the hill. Yikes! Well, he ran and picked it up, but left the gasoline on the ground and got his tank. I was so scared when he got back on to leave because I didn't want him to start it and catch fire. He rolled away and started it up down the hill and there wasn't a fire fortunately, but it was quite a scene.
Ok, well I must go now, but hope you're enjoying my adventures...
I'm definitely enjoying my time here in Nicaragua, but there are some interesting things I have experienced so far and things that I realize I take for granted in the U.S. Here are a few: they only have "running" water on certain days here, so we usually take bucket baths and use small bowls to scoop water from the pila to pour over our hands to wash. I usually use hand sanitizer too because I never feel clean...something I will have to get used to. Next, going along with the no "running" water, in order to "flush" the toilet, after going to the bathroom, you have to pour water forcefully into the bowl and then it just goes down. I'm still learning how to do this, and I usually have to pour a couple times and my host mom says "con fuerte" (with force) hahaha Well, on the topic of water, we don't have "clean" or purified water, besides my jug in the kitchen, so I have to be a little careful with hand washing, showers, brushing teeth, etc. Ok, next on the list is electricity. My house does have electricity, but my room is very dark because I have a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling and no windows :( Fortunately though, the living room is bright and has many windows. There are also a couple TVs in the house with cable--this surprises me considering the living conditions here, but it serves as good entertainment. However, there are a lot of tormentas (storms) during the rainy season with thunder, lightning, and lots and lots of rain so the power often goes out. This means no lights, no stoves, no TVs, no radios, etc. Fortunately, this hasn't happened that often since I've been here, but it's pretty crazy when it does. Privacy is a big thing here for all of us trainees and I've heard that it can be an issue, but now I understand why. The walls to our rooms do not extend to the roof, so you can hear everybody's business and they can hear you. This goes for the bathroom too, which is kind of in the kitchen...kinda awkward. We share toilet paper too, so I always have to ask where the toilet paper is when I need to use the bathroom. The "bathroom" is a combined area with a toilet and a shower with tiled floors. So, it's always damp and not very clean, and when I brush my teeth, I spit in the shower and rinse with my bottled water. I feel like I'm camping, but I love camping, right? :) Transportation is another thing I miss because I can't just hop in my car and go to the store or go to a friend's house. Even if I could get in a car to one of the stores here (which are little pulperias and they're really close) they don't have many items, so I'm waiting for a trip to the "big city" :) One thing my friend asked me about was AC...which does not exist here, nor did I think it would. It gets pretty dang hot here and I am constantly sweating!! I found out though if I take a shower at night it's better because sometimes it cools down to about 80 degrees so I can relax. It's hilarious when it drops below 90 though, because my host mom says "oh, it's cold" and I'm thinking "oh, it's perfect" or pleasantly warm haha Ok, last thing on the list for now is language. I live with a family that only speaks Spanish (my host brother knows some English words when I try to ask him about some things, but very few) and I have Spanish classes 8am-noon, then 1-3pm. Being forced to speak Spanish is great because I'm picking up more things, but it's hard because I can't always express my opinions. It's so nice to have this outlet here to explode the English that's been stored up. I talk to the other trainees after class in English (because we can't speak in English in class).
Ok, I hope that you understand a little more of what I'm experiencing. I have a funny story for you from today...as I have mentioned, we have class in one of the host family's houses and there is a lot of noise. Well, this morning some men were helping one of the ladies in the house put up a large mirror on the wall in the next room. They drilled into the wall for several minutes as our instructor rolled her eyes...it was hilarious! Then, a man pulled up on his motorcycle with a propane tank on the back to deliver to the house. He got off his motorcycle and approached the house, and then it happened...his motorcycle tipped over, spilling gasoline on the ground (this is about 15 feet outside our open door) and then propane tank came loose and rolled down the hill. Yikes! Well, he ran and picked it up, but left the gasoline on the ground and got his tank. I was so scared when he got back on to leave because I didn't want him to start it and catch fire. He rolled away and started it up down the hill and there wasn't a fire fortunately, but it was quite a scene.
Ok, well I must go now, but hope you're enjoying my adventures...
Monday, September 6, 2010
Feeling Generous???
I know some of you have mentioned that you would like to send care packages to me. I found out that packages can get through the mail system, just keep them smaller and light.
Here are some things you can send if you need ideas (letters of encouragement are great too!):
-Non-scented hand sanitizer
-Tissues (travel packs)
-Baby wipes/wet wipes (good for a "shower" in these hot days)
-Small candles (for power outages)
-Coloring books & crayons for the kiddos in mi casa & in the neighborhood
-notebook/computer paper or spirals
*No chocolate as it would melt :(
Today we had our first long day of language class (regular schedule): 8am-noon, lunch at home, 1-3pm. In the morning we have "formal" Spanish where we discuss phrases, verbs, etc. and practice with each other. In the afternoon, we have "applied" Spanish, which is where we go out in the town and practice using Spanish in our community. It's so funny with our classes because we have class at one of the volunteer's houses and switch every couple weeks. Right now we are in Kellie's house and there are a lot of kids that make noise during class, watch tv, etc. There are lots of noises outside, including a parade that passed by today. It was all of the school children. My language teacher thinks they were practicing for some presentation.
Disruptions like these are completely normal and usually we just talk louder and lean forward to hear each other haha
This afternoon, we walked around the town to map out our community. This was really neat because I didn't really know what all was around town. We walked around and drew maps and wrote down important things, such as el instituto (the high school) that we will be working with later on, and the internet cafes ;) We also met the police and talked to them briefly. They wrote down our names and where we live, just for safety purposes. They have volunteers in town all the time. Also, we stopped and talked to some jovenes (high school age kids) because we have to form a youth group during out training period. We set up a time to meet with them to introduce ourselves and get things started. I'm a little nervous of course, but fortunately Jessica, Kellie, & I get to work together on this and we will be teaching them English, among other things.
Now I'm in the internet cafe with the two other aspirantes (trainees) and it looks like it might rain soon, but I don't live far from here. One thing that is funny about the rain here is that when it rains, people wait inside until it passes so they can go home or wherever else. I just think about in Oregon how we just zip up our coats & run :) I saw another interesting thing today: on the street in front of lots of houses there were piles of wood. Apparently, on hot days people put their wood out on the streets to dry out so they can use it later to burn. I thought maybe it was for sale, but they just throw it out in the street and then pick it up later.
Anyway, I'm signing off now, but hopefully there will be more pictures to come. We're supposed to hide our cameras for the most part to protect ourselves from being targets. !Adios!
Here are some things you can send if you need ideas (letters of encouragement are great too!):
-Non-scented hand sanitizer
-Tissues (travel packs)
-Baby wipes/wet wipes (good for a "shower" in these hot days)
-Small candles (for power outages)
-Coloring books & crayons for the kiddos in mi casa & in the neighborhood
-notebook/computer paper or spirals
*No chocolate as it would melt :(
Today we had our first long day of language class (regular schedule): 8am-noon, lunch at home, 1-3pm. In the morning we have "formal" Spanish where we discuss phrases, verbs, etc. and practice with each other. In the afternoon, we have "applied" Spanish, which is where we go out in the town and practice using Spanish in our community. It's so funny with our classes because we have class at one of the volunteer's houses and switch every couple weeks. Right now we are in Kellie's house and there are a lot of kids that make noise during class, watch tv, etc. There are lots of noises outside, including a parade that passed by today. It was all of the school children. My language teacher thinks they were practicing for some presentation.
This afternoon, we walked around the town to map out our community. This was really neat because I didn't really know what all was around town. We walked around and drew maps and wrote down important things, such as el instituto (the high school) that we will be working with later on, and the internet cafes ;) We also met the police and talked to them briefly. They wrote down our names and where we live, just for safety purposes. They have volunteers in town all the time. Also, we stopped and talked to some jovenes (high school age kids) because we have to form a youth group during out training period. We set up a time to meet with them to introduce ourselves and get things started. I'm a little nervous of course, but fortunately Jessica, Kellie, & I get to work together on this and we will be teaching them English, among other things.
Now I'm in the internet cafe with the two other aspirantes (trainees) and it looks like it might rain soon, but I don't live far from here. One thing that is funny about the rain here is that when it rains, people wait inside until it passes so they can go home or wherever else. I just think about in Oregon how we just zip up our coats & run :) I saw another interesting thing today: on the street in front of lots of houses there were piles of wood. Apparently, on hot days people put their wood out on the streets to dry out so they can use it later to burn. I thought maybe it was for sale, but they just throw it out in the street and then pick it up later.
Anyway, I'm signing off now, but hopefully there will be more pictures to come. We're supposed to hide our cameras for the most part to protect ourselves from being targets. !Adios!
Sunday, September 5, 2010
San Juan del Oriente
Im in San Juan del Oriente now with my host family. Sorry for any lack of punctuation or misspellings--this keyboard is hard to navigate! Im having a great time here besides not being able to hear out of my left ear still...I got water stuck in it from swimming at the hotel the other day. Im taking ear drops so hopefully make it better. Its not very fun not being able to hear out of one ear :(
I had a quick language class yesterday with the other girls in my town and our language teacher to practice some survival Spanish. It started raining during class and we had to shut the doors because I was getting wet. It was really hard to hear too because it was raining so hard!
Here are some pictures of my house (mainly my room because I felt weird trying to take pictures of the house with everybody there haha).
Here is my "closet" and my bookshelf/toiletry cabinet
Well, I have to go now, but just wanted to let everyone know I was ok :) Miss everybody & Oregon! Until next time!
I had a quick language class yesterday with the other girls in my town and our language teacher to practice some survival Spanish. It started raining during class and we had to shut the doors because I was getting wet. It was really hard to hear too because it was raining so hard!
Here are some pictures of my house (mainly my room because I felt weird trying to take pictures of the house with everybody there haha).
Here is my "closet" and my bookshelf/toiletry cabinet
This shows how the walls are open to the whole house at the top so you can hear everybody all the time... Then my door opens to the kitchen nook.
This my light, which went out last night because of the thunder & lightning storm so I used a flashlight and for dinner my host mom lit a candle and said it was a romantic dinner haha Shes pretty cute :)
Here is the calendar my brother made me of pictures when we were young--so sweet :)
Here is our patio (backyard) with lots of fruit trees which my host mom uses to make fresh juice for me :)
Here is where I keep my shoes because I dont want any bugs to get inside of them haha
Here is my host brothers daughter--she calls me "gringa" (white girl) haha My family tells her to stop and call me Megan, so she says "gringa Megan". I think its hilarious--shes just 3 :)
I was able to watch the OSU game last night so that was awesome, but unfortunately they lost :(
This is my bed with the mosquito net over it...I still have bug bites on my legs...I think it's from the daytime though. My language teacher says I have sweet blood haha
This was my lunch today--rice, chicken, ensalada (salad), and platanos fritos (fried plantains) which are my favorite :)
Well, I have to go now, but just wanted to let everyone know I was ok :) Miss everybody & Oregon! Until next time!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Training Site
I found out my training site and host family today!! I'll be in San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. My host family consists of the senora who is 50 years old, her two daughters who are 25 & 27, her son (31) and his wife (24), and their two kids (3yr old girl & 5 yr old boy). I'm really excited to meet them tomorrow and it seems like I'll have a lot of fun and be able to practice my Spanish with them a lot :) We were given a picture of our family and a description so it's getting exciting! It will be nice to finally unpack everything and settle in.
For training, we will be living with our host families for 11 weeks and taking Spanish classes during the week (Monday through Thursday) 6 hours each day. We will be organizing a youth group to work with in our community in order to teach them some English and also some life skills. This should be pretty interesting and I'm sure kind of difficult at first, but hopefully I'll find some willing students to hang out with me and study English during their off time.
Things have been so good here in Granada and it has been a blessing being with such a great group of people so I'm a little sad to leave this place and of course this nice hotel ;) I do look forward to living with a family and practicing my Spanish more and immersing myself into the culture and language. I'm here to learn and share my experience so I'm on the right track...
Tonight our Peace Corps training directors organized a little surprise for us. We took a lake cruise on small motor boats around Lake Nicaragua, which is a huge lake, so we stayed on one side where the nearest volcano had exploded years before, creating islands near the shore where many wealthy people live or locals have restaurants. During this boat ride, we found spider monkeys in the trees and as the boats approached the shore, a monkey jumped onto one of the boats and was walking around with everybody. It was hilarious! The monkey wanted to come on our boat, but our driver didn't want him to because he said they're too hard to get off the boat once they're on. I took some pictures of the monkeys because it was too funny so I'll add those onto Facebook. You should be able to click on the link from my last entry about Nicaragua.
I'm heading out early tomorrow morning for my training site to meet my host family so I'll post soon to update. I'll have to explore and find out where there is an internet cafe. I heard that in this city the people make beautiful pottery so that will be fun to check out :) Don't forget to look at my pictures on Facebook!
For training, we will be living with our host families for 11 weeks and taking Spanish classes during the week (Monday through Thursday) 6 hours each day. We will be organizing a youth group to work with in our community in order to teach them some English and also some life skills. This should be pretty interesting and I'm sure kind of difficult at first, but hopefully I'll find some willing students to hang out with me and study English during their off time.
Things have been so good here in Granada and it has been a blessing being with such a great group of people so I'm a little sad to leave this place and of course this nice hotel ;) I do look forward to living with a family and practicing my Spanish more and immersing myself into the culture and language. I'm here to learn and share my experience so I'm on the right track...
Tonight our Peace Corps training directors organized a little surprise for us. We took a lake cruise on small motor boats around Lake Nicaragua, which is a huge lake, so we stayed on one side where the nearest volcano had exploded years before, creating islands near the shore where many wealthy people live or locals have restaurants. During this boat ride, we found spider monkeys in the trees and as the boats approached the shore, a monkey jumped onto one of the boats and was walking around with everybody. It was hilarious! The monkey wanted to come on our boat, but our driver didn't want him to because he said they're too hard to get off the boat once they're on. I took some pictures of the monkeys because it was too funny so I'll add those onto Facebook. You should be able to click on the link from my last entry about Nicaragua.
I'm heading out early tomorrow morning for my training site to meet my host family so I'll post soon to update. I'll have to explore and find out where there is an internet cafe. I heard that in this city the people make beautiful pottery so that will be fun to check out :) Don't forget to look at my pictures on Facebook!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Good News!
Hey everyone! So I'm in Granada staying at the hotel still and we have had the opportunity to speak with some current Peace Corps volunteers. I found out from one of them that packages so arrive to the Peace Corps office. She said that only one package was lost, but she wasn't sure if her friend put the right address or not. SO, I know that some of you were saying that you wanted to send care packages and I was hesitant because of past things that I have heard. If you feel so inclined to send something, please send it via regular mail (USPS), not FedEx, DHL, UPS, or anything else of that sort. Also, try to keep them small, and I've heard that there are flat rate boxes for international packages so check that out. Anyway, letters are great to receive too and much appreciated :)
Today was a long day and filled with a lot of information! We had meetings, language interview (thought I did fairly well and it wasn't too nerve-wracking), medical interview (go through forms, asked questions about any medical issues, etc.), and got our medical kits & mosquito nets! We finally got to start our malaria pills, which I was really happy to do because I got a bug bite the first day here :( I haven't gotten sick or anything yet, so hopefully no malaria! Anyway, we also got to cruise around the town to check things out and get some ice cream.
After dinner we danced to some music the hotel was playing--we were outdoors in an undercover area so it was warm and so fun! I learned how the bachata which was fairly easy after practicing a little. My friend Josue (ho-sway) taught me and we practiced. Of course when you're dancing with a guy leading you who knows what he's doing, it's fun and becomes easy.
After being sweaty from the day and dancing, I came back to the room to cool off (shower & AC). I organized all of my stuff because it was really bugging me how crazy messy things were getting and it reminded me how much I hate living out of a bag!! I got everything together and picked out my clothes for the next two days so I don't have to rummage through my bags early in the morning. I feel much better about my area of the room and I can sleep peacefully now :)
We find out about our host families tomorrow! I know I'll be in the state of Masaya, but I don't know which town yet. Can't wait! You can still send things to my address posted on my blog. !Hasta luego!
Today was a long day and filled with a lot of information! We had meetings, language interview (thought I did fairly well and it wasn't too nerve-wracking), medical interview (go through forms, asked questions about any medical issues, etc.), and got our medical kits & mosquito nets! We finally got to start our malaria pills, which I was really happy to do because I got a bug bite the first day here :( I haven't gotten sick or anything yet, so hopefully no malaria! Anyway, we also got to cruise around the town to check things out and get some ice cream.
After dinner we danced to some music the hotel was playing--we were outdoors in an undercover area so it was warm and so fun! I learned how the bachata which was fairly easy after practicing a little. My friend Josue (ho-sway) taught me and we practiced. Of course when you're dancing with a guy leading you who knows what he's doing, it's fun and becomes easy.
After being sweaty from the day and dancing, I came back to the room to cool off (shower & AC). I organized all of my stuff because it was really bugging me how crazy messy things were getting and it reminded me how much I hate living out of a bag!! I got everything together and picked out my clothes for the next two days so I don't have to rummage through my bags early in the morning. I feel much better about my area of the room and I can sleep peacefully now :)
We find out about our host families tomorrow! I know I'll be in the state of Masaya, but I don't know which town yet. Can't wait! You can still send things to my address posted on my blog. !Hasta luego!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
!Estoy en Nicaragua!
Hola familia y amigos! Estoy en Nicaragua :) I am safe and sound in Nicaragua. We arrived late in the morning after our VERY early departure from DC, and now we are at a hotel for the first few days of training. We are very fortunate to be in a hotel with AC, free wi-fi, pool, tv, and nice rooms. Of course, we are absolutely exhausted! I can't wait to sleep tonight because I did not get any sleep last night, and had some interrupted sleep on the plane.
Tonight is fairly relaxed, as our Peace Corps trainers know we are tired. We will have dinner soon and then maybe a meeting, and hopefully bedtime soon after :) I'm so excited/nervous/anxious for the approaching days! I'm most nervous for our language interview because I haven't been using my Spanish in awhile, but I know that whatever I can do is what I can do, and I'll just improve from there. I need to stay positive about it and not stress out ;) Anyway, I am really excited and anxious to meet my host family and find out where I'll be living for the next few months of training. It's crazy that I'm already here in Nicaragua, but it's also crazy thinking that I started this process 2 years ago!! I hope that I can embrace every moment and look for the good in everything, not dwelling on disappointments. Speaking of that...funny thing when we checked into the hotel. Peace Corps had talked to us about losing luxuries, etc. and we know that Nicaragua is certainly not like the U.S. in forms of accessibility to electricity, clean water, internet, etc. but we experienced our first loss of luxury as we went to take our bags to our rooms and realized that our rooms were upstairs and there were no elevators. This was pretty funny because it's something that we really take for granted, but in actuality, in many places, people have to walk up and down flights of stairs to get to their homes or apartments. We weren't mad about this, it was just inconvenient lugging our huge suitcases up the stairs in an open-air hotel in the tropics :) We managed to survive and the sweat has dried.
Pictures from DC are on my Facebook page at:
Pictures from my first day in Nicaragua are here:
More pictures to come later...
Tonight is fairly relaxed, as our Peace Corps trainers know we are tired. We will have dinner soon and then maybe a meeting, and hopefully bedtime soon after :) I'm so excited/nervous/anxious for the approaching days! I'm most nervous for our language interview because I haven't been using my Spanish in awhile, but I know that whatever I can do is what I can do, and I'll just improve from there. I need to stay positive about it and not stress out ;) Anyway, I am really excited and anxious to meet my host family and find out where I'll be living for the next few months of training. It's crazy that I'm already here in Nicaragua, but it's also crazy thinking that I started this process 2 years ago!! I hope that I can embrace every moment and look for the good in everything, not dwelling on disappointments. Speaking of that...funny thing when we checked into the hotel. Peace Corps had talked to us about losing luxuries, etc. and we know that Nicaragua is certainly not like the U.S. in forms of accessibility to electricity, clean water, internet, etc. but we experienced our first loss of luxury as we went to take our bags to our rooms and realized that our rooms were upstairs and there were no elevators. This was pretty funny because it's something that we really take for granted, but in actuality, in many places, people have to walk up and down flights of stairs to get to their homes or apartments. We weren't mad about this, it was just inconvenient lugging our huge suitcases up the stairs in an open-air hotel in the tropics :) We managed to survive and the sweat has dried.
Pictures from DC are on my Facebook page at:
Pictures from my first day in Nicaragua are here:
More pictures to come later...
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