One month down, 26 to go.

I've officially been in training for month.  It hasn’t gone by fast or slow… it felt like a month
 

Days when I love the food.

I’ve had days where I love Nicaraguan food and days where I absolutely crave my dad’s flavorful cooking.  Days where I love living in this little sleepy town where I go to bed at 9pm and days where I wish I could go out past dark and maybe even go somewhere at 10pm.  There have been days where I feel like I am coming a long way with my Spanish and there are days where I’ve completely hit a road block.    

Moments when I want to live in my Mosquito Net

There have been nights where I’ve slept like a baby and others where Nicaraguan musicians decide to serenade the community from 2-6 am.  There have been days where the heat and the mosquito’s get the best of me and days where the rain cools everything down and the air is crisp and clean. There are moments where my host mom is talking at me for 5 minutes straight and I just smile and nod because I have absolutely no clue what she is saying and then there are times where I actually understand enough to get the gist of her story.  

My host sister Daniela with the pet turkey and parrot

It’s the little things that make all the difference, like learning how wonderful a chocobanano is at 1pm when it is blistering hot or simply using a sentence and seeing that the other person actually understands what I am trying to say.  

My adorable front porch

I love evenings spent on the front porch with my host parents reading newspapers and snacking on bananas and mangoes or playing card games with my little sister after dinner.  I love the moments in the kitchen where 9 of my host family members are happily yammering away as I sit there watching them and taking it all in.  

Our Youth Group

My training group and I have made significant progress so far.  We formed a youth group of 11 high schoolers and taught them a life lesson ‘charla’ about the importance of planning for their futures.  

Getting the students to participate

They have also picked a product to create, market, and present at our small business competition at the end of training.  They have a blast laughing at our Spanish mess ups and kicking our butts in soccer.  

'Baking' cookies!

We’ve gotten to know the school director, the business teacher, and some local business owners.  We co-planned and co-taught our first class of 11^th graders.  We’ve learned how to make soy milk and soy meat using limited resources and we learned how to bake using only a stove top.

Overall things are going great.  I continue to learn so much about my community, Nicaraguan culture, and my project goals every single day. 

Mmmm Cookies!

This past weekend, 7 other trainees and I hiked down Laguna de Apoyo which is only a 15 minute walk away from my house.  It is a volcano crater that has warm, clean, beautiful water.

This Sunday we have our volunteer visits.  This is where every trainee will go visit a current volunteer for 4 days.  We get to stay with them and essentially shadow them to see what a volunteer’s life is like.  I am excited to mix things up, experience a new part of the country, and get a good gist of what exactly the next two years of my life will look like.

I know some of you are wondering what it is I do every day.  As a trainee my usual schedule looks something like this: 

6:30am wake up and eat
8:00am – 12pm Spanish class
12pm – 1pm home for lunch
1pm-3pm practical Spanish class
3-6pm varies

Monday afternoon we co-plan with the business teacher. 
Tuesday mornings we teach in the high school. 
Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon we have meetings with our youth groups. 
Friday from 8-4 and Saturdays from 8-3 we have technical training with all 14 business volunteers.
  

            

Somehow, I forgot to mention last post that my family welcomed my beautiful nephew Jack into the world on May 11th!  He is healthy and beautiful and we are extremely blessed.  

Congrats Rachel and Brandon :-)