home again

Well.

For those of you who don't already know, I have left Peace Corps Nicaragua for personal reasons and health reasons and I'm back in the states.

My emotions are mixed, but I feel that I've made the right decision for myself. Now I'm staying near the beach with my sister and trying to recoup and recover.

I hope someone out there enjoyed this blog... I've enjoyed writing it and I've learned a lot in my Peace Corps adventures, however brief they were.

I learned how to hand wash my clothes and to teach English and math; how to live without running water and electricity, and how to speak Spanish.

Now let's see if I can find a career that will utilize those skills!

Peace

Paix

Paz

random thoughts

It's 10:35, which is about 3 hours past my typical bedtime.

Here are somethings I look forward to at my site:

1. time to unwind and rest, finally
2. having my own routine to work and workout
3. choosing what and when to eat, and cooking for myself
4. finally unpacking
5. good coffee (café de palo)

Here are some things I really miss:

1. my family and friends
2. sushi
3. froyo
4. the gym
5. yoga classes
6. Trader Joe's
7. blending in
8. easy travel
9. Netflix
10. feeling pretty/feeling clean

Well. Good night.

I am a volunteer, again

I attended my second swearing-in ceremony this morning and swore in as a volunteer. I gave a speech in Spanish to thank the host families. My host mom came to support me. I was sad to say goodbye to her. She has been such a good mom and I will miss her. We sang the national anthem and Nicaragua's national hymn, and the US ambassador led the swear-in. We took a grip of pictures... well everyone else did. (My camera doesn't work so well lately.)

After the ceremony, I went with my girls Meg and Kellz and we treated ourselves to a celebratory McFlurry. For dinner, all of the new volunteers of NICA 54 went to our country director's home for an "early Thanksgiving dinner" celebration. She made us turkey, vegetables, yams, stuffing, pies and more. It was delicious and we were all very thankful for some familiar food.

Tomorrow I am making my way to my site. It will be a long trip with lots of bags and chaos on the buses, so wish me luck.

swearing in, in a week

Finally it's the last week of training. This last month has been one of the hardest of my life, which is why I haven't updated the blog in a while. I didn't want to spread negative energy out into the universe. But it turns out that I am going to make it after all. I remembered that I was made of nothing but love. Everything is love!
So once I make it through this week, my long and grueling training will be over and on Monday, the 22nd, I will swear in as a volunteer in Managua. I will give a speech in Spanish to thank the training host families. Pictures will be posted. It will be a joyous occasion.
Then on Tuesday the 23rd, I am moving to my site in the mountainous Jinotega region up north. My site is located in between two major cities: Jinotega City and Esteli City. It is a small site, but it has electricity and running water and an internet cafe. There is no sewage system, so most people use latrines, but I have lived in Guinea and I fear nothing!
I will spend Thanksgiving in Jinotega City with a bunch of other local volunteers at a potluck party. I will spend Christmas back in my training town in the Masaya region with my training family.
Send me gifts for Christmas if you want, to either address. Just let me know.
Send me love and I will always be sending love to everything and everyone. Everything is as it should be.

teaching haikus

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I spent last week in Jinotega, teaching English classes in their huge public high school. I taught 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, with an average class size of about 55 students. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. It was especially hard because I was still getting over the last of my dengue fever, so I was really weak and tired, which made it difficult to plan creative and innovative lessons. However, I did it, and I felt very empowered as a result.
We came back to our training towns on Friday and we've been back to work with Spanish classes, technical sessions, our grupo de jóvenes, and co-teaching.
Today I co-taught my first class in my training town. It was a lesson on reading and writing to a class of 10th graders, and I taught them how to write haikus in English. The current topic is Natural Disasters, so I gave them descriptive vocabulary and had them write poems that describe one of the disasters (hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, tsunami, Earthquake, etc...) It was a tough class, as I knew it would be because teaching reading and writing is challenging in any language.
My grupo de jóvenes has been especially challenging too. Last night we had a meeting scheduled at 6:00 pm, as usual, and no one showed up. It seems like our chavalos like to show up for our meetings to play games and do dinámicas with us, but when it comes to actually working on their community project, they lose interest. The community project is to create a manual of useful English phrases for the local artisans and shop owners who sell to gringo tourists. When we give them simple homework assignments, they blow them off. Last night, Kellie and Megan and I waited until 6:30 and we went home. I don't know whether the project will get done or not, but we only have a couple of weeks left in this town, so I guess we'll see.
On a more exciting note, site assignment is tomorrow! Peace Corps is finally going to tell us where we'll be living for the next two years, so I'll email you all this weekend to tell you the exciting news. Next week is our site visit, so I will be spending five days in my site, getting to know my counterparts and my (potential) new host family. After that, swearing-in is only two weeks away...
Oh yeah, and I feel a lot better. The dengue effects are pretty much gone. I am able to walk again in the mornings and do my yoga workouts. Today I went and ran some steps (like bleachers) and did a good 45 minutes of yoga before my bucket bath and Spanish class.
And my Spanish has increased by two levels, putting me at Intermediate-Mid-Strong. But I'm going to keep learning. In two years, I'll talk like a Nica!
Ok, well I love you all. Thanks for the stickers, Joy! And thanks for the letters, Dad.

crazy fused mutant banano

I'm alive!

I got that Jackson Browne song playing in my head: "I'm alive!"

Okay, laugh at me if you want to, but there were a few days, mid-dengue, when I really didn't know if I was going to make it. Call me dramatic, but I was crying and terrified for a while there. I knew that the brief stint of depression was only because I was sick and I knew I'd feel better mentally once my physical status improved. I was right, too. Because even though I'm still very weak and tired, I feel my strength coming back and I feel happy again.

It's 6 am here in Managua and I'm getting ready to get on a Peace Corps bus for a long trip up to the Jinotega region, up north and in the mountains. I will be there until Friday, shadowing a Nicaraguan teacher and teaching a few classes. This is week 7 of training, aka "Practicum Week." At the end of week 8, we will have "site assignment," which means I'll finally find out where I'll be living for the next 2 years.

So training will finally be over before I know it, gracias a Dios!

Love you all so much, and so thankful for your support!