Bienvenidos to my Blog!

Hello Family, Friends, and Curious Readers,

Thanks for stopping in to see what I am up to. This is my first blog, and I hope not to bore you too much with the details of my life. But rather hope to offer you some insights into development work, the highs, the lows, and well the boring.

But before I move away for 27 months, let me give you a little information about myself before I lose a steady internet connection.

So after graduating from Boston College in 2005, I decided I wanted to learn Spanish and "save the world" so I moved to Cusco, Peru. I began by volunteering for The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco by researching and writing a small business plan for the organization. I continued to work with the organization until February of 2008, when I returned to the US to prepare for my move to Madrid, Spain for 15 months to study an International MBA at IE Business School. And now, after a year of searching for the perfect development job, and taking odd jobs in the meantime, I have joined the Peace Corps and am volunteering again. So wish me luck, and PLEASE someone stop me from volunteering again!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

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!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. JulieMay 21, 2011 at 8:31 PM

    Glad to hear things are going better! You forgot to mention that the room you were locked into has NO windows and temperature was in the high 90's! Hope your home-stay mom is feeling better, I know she was sick when you first arrived.

    Hopefully, they will figure out the best malaria meds for you, those are some really powerful drugs. Really glad to hear that you've got some great site mates and the PC Staff has been taking good care of you. Making good choices and sending love your way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JohnMay 21, 2011 at 8:39 PM

    So if you build a community bank can I get a loan?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)