End of week 2 of Training

Wow what a week! It was busy and I loved it. First off, we have the best youth group ever. So we had 17 show up to the first meeting, and then 14 came to the second. They have proposed (on their own) a bank to start saving money for the project and will elect a board (also their idea). Our whole group is excited to get the ball moving. Also, since the teacher we were supposed to be working with was out sick because of an operation, and then it had some infection and she will not be back for another 4 weeks, the advanced group (my group) will be teaching solo this week and for the forseeable future. Also, we went to a birthday party at one of the homestay houses. It was a lot of fun, and similar to parties in Peru. lots of family and food! Doña Olga is a tremendous cook. We have also had a few more technical sessions this week. We talked about the most common illnesses volunteers face, what to do about it, the economic climate of Nicaragua, etc. I was lucky and didn´t have to get a shot this week! Always exciting when you get to avoid shots!

Last night, some of us trainees went to a concert sponsored by the US Embassy here in Masatepe. They brought the wind quintet Liberty Winds, and they played a free concert. They played classical music and a bit of Gershwin. At the end, as a surprise they played a very famous song here in Nicaragua, and the majority of people began to sing and tear up. It was a great thing to experience and a connection between our two countries that I appreciated greatly. Afterwards, I went with some of my fellow trainees and their homestay sister to have a drink (orange Fanta) at a local cafe. We talked and joked for about an hour then I realized it was 9:30 and that I needed to get home. My family gets up really early so they go to bed early too. I felt bad I had forgotten the time, but some of them were still up. I can´t believe this week was only 7 days, it felt longer since I feel like we got a lot accomplished. Next week should be even busier, I´ll update you next weekend on all that craziness. Love you all, and make good choices.

You would think that with 60% of the country´s population under 20 years of age this would be easier...

One would think that with 60% of the country´s population under 20 years of age, it would be easy to find 5 or 10 youth who would be interested in participating in a youth group and a business plan competition. WRONG! We looked last week and today really started our offensive to find you to teach. We have gone to classrooms to present our project and were answered with blank stares, cat calls (directed at me thank you very much haha) and some enthusiasm. But we shall see tomorrow if our hard work has paid off. If people actually show up to our meeting, we might be a go, but the real test is when people show up to the second here in Nicaragua. So we shall see what happens. And if our classroom solicitations didn´t work then tomorro we will go house by house looking for kids to participate. What training this is! Hope its not as difficult in my actual site. Only time will tell. Love you all! and make good choices!

Week 1 in my Training Town of Masatepe complete!

I realized today that I have been here for a full week now in Masatepe. Let´s recap shall we?

So I arrived at my homestay excited to be living with a Nicaraguan family. Then the first morning I got locked into my room by my homestay sister because I have to go through her room to get to the rest of the house. I also then knocked over the bucket of water they had saved for the family showers that day while I was trying to bathe. Luckily the water was still on and I could refill it. Then I realized that I was experiencing side effects by the malaria meds we are taking, so I woke up depressed every morning. Talk about amplifying any homesickness I felt by 100. Bu tluckily, I have some amazing site mates here in training, and the Peace Corps staff have been wonderful in listening, and also the host country nationals have been very supportive. I am impressed by the kindness and generosity of the Nicaraguan people. I am getting more and more excited to know them better. Yesterday we all (I mean all the trainees all 45 of us) went to Managua for training on community banks. I am very excited to see how many I can make! I think they are an excellent idea and much better than traditional microfinance options. Today we covered more of our Small Business Development expectations and it is much more of a formal job than I think most of the group expected. But the great news is that I will be getting a lot of the experiences I was hoping for in terms of professional development. Well almost out of time here at the internet cafe. Let me know if there is anything in particular you want to know! Miss you all, and keep making good choices!

First week of training...

Holy Cow, this week has been quite the emotional rollercoaster. Talk about some culture shock, mixed with a lot of homesickness, heat, mosquitos, and a new living situation, and that is what the first week of training with the Peace Corps is like. They did say it is the toughest job you will ever love.

I am not going to lie to anyone, it has been very tough. But when I think about it, my behaviors before I left for Nicaragua set me up for it. I knew I wasn´t going to have hot showers, so I took one every day. I knew I wasn´t going to have fresh salads so I ate them everyday. I knew I wasn´t going to see my family, friends, dog, favorite places, or TV shows so I saw them everyday as well. One problem with all of this favorite things overload. You get here and its cold turkey. and that stinks. And now a lot of us trainees are thinking what the heck did we sign up for. I know all of these raging emotions will calm down, just hope they do soon.

We have been visiting schools and trying to create a youth group so we can get our business plan project rolling. I am in the advanced group of Spanish so our days are not that full. I am joining a local gym to meet some more local people, and am going to see if one of the schools has any side projects they need help with. I can´t sit around thinking about all the things I´m missing, if I do I would drive myself crazy.

But everyone should know that I love them and miss them, and thank them for their support. It truly means the world to me. Keep making good choices, I know I am going to try to!

It's Friday, Friday!

Today the first rain of the rainy season happened, and that is a big deal here in Nicaragua. It marks the beginning of a new season filled with thunderstorms and puddles, but it also marks the end of our orientation here in Managua. (They just happened to coincide)

Tomorrow we will be moving into our home stays for training. I will be in Masatepe in the region of Masaya. This area is known for its artesan crafts. I'm excited, and will let you know more when I get there!


Cheers and make good choices!

Day Two of PST One Day Late...

So I wrote this post yesterday, but couldn't post it because the blogger website was down. so here it is, just a little late...

Well it was a long and hot full first day here in Nicaragua. We successfully ate rice at all three meals, and beans at two of them. The coffee (even if it is Nescafe) is pretty good, and the air conditioning in our meeting room is a nice break from the heat outside. Tonight we are hearing some thunder so hopefully it will rain and we will get a little relief from the heat. So day two of Pre-Service Training (or PST in Peace Corps speak) was full of briefings on health, safety issues, project overviews, a tour of Managua, and various chores including the first round of vaccines and language interviews. I think the language interview went well, we ran over the 30 minutes allotted so that is a positive sign I think. I will know more tomorrow when we get our results and our home stay assignments.

The best part of the day was getting all of our Medical Kit goodies including our Malaria prevention pills (gonna have trippy dreams tonight), a Mosquito net, and a box full of medications, bandages, etc. (It even has Dramamine Mom, more for nausea, but hey it will work for motion sickness too!) We also got an overview of the work we will be doing at our sites, and it made me very excited to be here. We will be teaching, but it appears we are teaching more the teachers and aiding them in the classroom. Also there is a business plan competition at the end of the year, and I am excited to see what the students will come up with. I will know more as we get more technical training, but since that was one of the most popular questions, I thought it couldn’t hurt to include it.OHHHH also, biggest news of the day, we will apparently be in our homestays at our permanent site for 6 months instead of 6 weeks! So that changes things a bit. They are doing so as a safety precaution so we can have more time to integrate into the community before we live on our own. I don't think I actually mind it, just wish I had known so I would not have brought some things down and would have had family bring them down in January. Oh well.

Since I am still tired from the past two days it will be another early night for me! Make good choices!

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua

Well folks we made it, all of our flights were on time, and we were greeted at the airport by current volunteers with a big sign saying "BIENVENIDOS" which means Welcome. We then boarded the yellow school bus (not a magical one but hey Nicaragua is not Disney World) in the 90 degree heat, and came to the retreat center where we will be staying the next few days. No AC but there is a small fan in our room so that is good. And happily enough, we HAVE WIFI! so at least for three days I can keep you in the loop. I know you are all dying to know what vaccinations I will have to get. HA HA.

We had a wonderful lunch today of fried chicken, refried beans, rice and a single lettuce leaf and cucumber slice. Talk about a drastic reduction in my lettuce intake! I will try to post some pictures of our trip so far tomorrow if I can get it to work. I'm so tired right now that I can't even see straight let alone work technology.

So Hasta Pronto Folks, and remember to make good choices.

2:00am Waking up in the Morning...

So here I am, in the Reagan National Airport, about to start a 27 month adventure in the Peace Corps. Hotel Check-out at 2am for a 6am flight? Is this for real? Well after waiting for the check-in counter to open up and then waiting over an hour in line while the airline checked us all in, I now understand the reason for the insanely early checkout. So day 1, lesson 1 I guess. It’s 5:20am , so needless to say I am a little tired and this will probably not be the most poetic of posts, but hey at least I am getting it started. So when we arrive in Managua today we will get on another bus and head to Granada for the first 3 days of Orientation, Language Exams, Vaccinations, etc. Then we will be separated (by language abilities) into groups of 3 or 4 and sent to our homestay communities to begin real training on Monday (hopefully at a decent hour). Well they are calling us to board, so I should go. I will try to post as frequently as possible, but since I have no idea how much access I will have to internet, we will see how frequent that is.

Make good choices!