A little update for the new year...

Once again I am way past due on updating my blog. I should have made it my New Year's resolution to keep it current, but no one ever keeps their resolutions anyways!!

Thanks to my wonderful parents I was able to come home for Christmas. I took full advantage of the hot showers, good food and being able to drive. I was only able to go for 10 days, but it was great to see everyone. I was actually ready to come back to Nicaragua though, because I couldn't deal with the cold! When I left Omaha it was 15ºF and when I landed in Managua it was 95ºF!!! Quite a difference in temperatures....

This is me, freezing.....
Leslie, Me and Tracy
Family Christmas

I spent New Year's here and then went "on vacation" to Quepos, Costa Rica. My friend Brandy and her generous parents invited me to join them on their trip. I had an amazing time there, its a beautiful country. I went on a zip-line canopy tour, went deep sea fishing and caught a 100 lb sail fish and got a nice tan relaxing on the beach and by the pool.

My sail fish

Beach at the National Park, Manuel Antonio

Costa Rican sunset

Ready for the canopy tour!!

Aside from my trips, not much new is going on. Classes started last week so things have started to pick up here. I have a feeling this school year is going to fly by!

happy thanksgiving...a little belated

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everyone had a good holiday. I was able to celebrate Thanksgiving here as well....I went to the house of an Embassy family with some other volunteers. The family was really nice and the food was great! Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, even pumpkin pie (which is a big deal because they don´t even sell pumpkin in Nicaragua so that had to be ordered from the states!)

Before Thanksgiving, I spent the week in Managua for our annual All Volunteer Conference...which along with some training sessions, basically involves staying in a nice hotel and eating a lot of really good food. It was really hard to come back to cold showers and a hard bed after being there for so long. I was also able to go to the Maná concert...now I realize most of you have no clue who Maná is, but they are a really popular Mexican rock group who has been around for a long time. We were really fortunate to be able to go because I guess when they play in the states, tickets sell out really fast and are much more expensive. Down here, my VIP ticket only set me back $30!

Other than that I´m just counting down the days until I come home and until my friend comes to visit next week! See you soon....

6 month update...

Well, after spending nearly a week consolidated in Managua because of the heavy rains and threat of flooding, I returned to my site. Unfortunately, I didn´t exactly "return" to teaching. In the last 4 weeks I have taught only 1 class...yes, thats one in 4 whole weeks. I´m supposed to be teaching 8 classes per week, but for the last month all of my classes have been cancelled for various reasons (meetings, holidays, rain) or I´ve had to miss to attend PC related events (consolidation, competitions). So, now there is only one week left (I just found out that final exams start next week) before school gets out for the year. The "summer" break here is from Dec-Jan and then classes start back up in Feb. These first three months at my site have flown by. In less than two months I´ll be back in Nebraska for Christmas!!



I´m finally settled into my house. The only thing I still need to buy is a matress, since the bed I have now basically consists of a 2" piece of foam on a wooden frame. Real comfy... I now have a t.v. with cable! I honestly never thought I would have cable in the Peace Corps but its just too cheap to turn down. This way I´m able to keep up with college football (even if NE is horrible!) and movies on HBO.



Last Thursday I went to Venecia, a little town about a hour away from Condega into the mountains, with all of the people I work with at the Mayor´s office. We brought food, played Twister (not my idea...), and visited a cute little "pond" nearby. While rowing around on the little rowboats with my friend, Johana, our friends decided that we needed to go swimming and proceeded to tip over our boat. So, in we went, clothes and all...I didn´t mind too much except that it was freezing! I will post pics as soon as the internet wants to cooperate...



Just as a little bit of explanation for when I refer to the "competitions"....The main idea of the business course that we teach is that the students learn to start & manage their own business. So, in order to get hands-on experience to put into practice what they are learning, they form groups of approximately 6 people and form their own business. They start by establishing the product or service that they will sell and work through all the aspects of running business, setting their price, marketing their product, accounting, etc. Towards the end of the school year competitions are held between the student groups at the local, regional and national level. This gives the students something to work towards and gives them the opportunity to present their business and sell some products.

Mi casa...

Alright, so here are a few long awaited pics of my new nica house. I've had it for about two weeks now, but haven't really had the opportunity to spend much time there yet due to being consolidated in Managua since Friday because of all the rain we are getting here. Its nothing special, but its cheap and its mine. And the best part is that it came furnished (bed, fridge, table/chairs).

View of the living room
The other side of the living room...great Enrique poster, eh!
This is my little kitchen...don't mind the mess.
And my bedroom, with my beloved mosquito net.

I promise I do more here than just travel!! I just don´t take pictures of the real work I do!! I do, however, try to take advantage of the weekends to get to see more of Nicaragua and visit my friends in their sites. Otherwise, I survived my first hurricane, administered the first exam to my students (who didn´t do as well as I had hoped), and continue to work at the Mayor´s office. I think (cross your fingers) I´ve finally found a house and hope to move in soon...just have to do a few repairs first.

At Las Peñitas beach in Leon with my friend Georgina.

Cara and I at Las Peñitas.

Playa El Gigante, Tola, Rivas

Another view of El Gigante in Tola.

Hurricane Felix

Just a quick note to let everyone know that all is well in Nicaragua! The hurricane didn't really affect my area too much, just some rain, but thats normal right now anyways as its rainy season. The most damage was done on the Northern Atlantic coast. They did cancel classes one afternoon and then it ended up not even raining! I'm still keeping busy with work and traveling some on the weekends...right now my main project is to find my own house.

"List"

A few people have been asking if I need anything, so here is my response: I wouldn't actually say I 'need' anything (i've adjusted quite quickly to the difference between need and want, its amazing what people get by on down here!). But of course there are always things I want! None of which are very important, just things that are hard to find or expensive....

-chocolate (or other candy/gum)
-drink mixes (like crystal light)
-hand sanitizer (there's always a need for more 'gringo juice' as we call it here)
-seasonings & spices
-magazines (anything but newsweek)
-crossword puzzles (i'm actually not that bored i just feel like my english is going downhill!)
-basic tanks/tees (they stretch out really easily on the 'ole washboard here)

Also, CD's with the 'new' music cause they pretty much just have one kind of music here - reggaeton and it gets old real fast :)

This is by no means a solicitation!! I only posted it because a few people have asked if I want or need anything and can't really remember who asked!!!