Getting Accustom to Life in Nicaragua

I have been in Nicaragua for almost two weeks now. It’s hard to remember everything that has happened to me because everyday there is something new, or exciting or scary or bad that happens to me haha. Last week was my first full week as a trainee. We have Spanish class everyday in the morning and in the afternoon. It’s not like Spanish class in the states, it more fun and we learn practical words and phrases that we are going to need to use everyday or in the classroom. There are only two other girls in my group so it’s relaxed and I feel comfortable speaking and making mistakes. I am learning so many new words specific to Nicaragua that it’s really hard to remember them all. There is no English spoken in the class so often times I find myself acting things out until my teacher understands what I am saying lol. But I like not speaking English because it helps me to learn a lot faster and remember words that I use to know. At the end of the day I feel really tired and mentally exhausted from speaking so much Spanish. Sometimes I get together with the other two girls in my town and we just hang out and talk in English for a while. It’s a good stress reliever.
I am a lot more comfortable with my family now. I think the kids are getting use to me and they are starting to talk and play with me. Dora the Explorer aka Alejandra didn’t run away from me yesterday. Her mom painted her nails and then she came over to me to show them to me. That was a break through lol.

My host mom took me to a really beautiful place on Tuesday. We went to the “mirador” which is a like a place on the top of this hill or mountain where you can look out over the Laguna de Apoyo. I took a video of it but I am not really sure how to upload it. I really like my host mom, she is really nice. We sat and talked for a long time at the Laguna and had some bonding time.

This week we also had out first youth group meeting. The kids in our youth group are awesome and very organized. They were taking notes during our group meeting and I think they are really eager to learn from us. They also invited us to participate in their dance class and they tried to teach up some of the traditional dances from Nicaragua. It was really hard and I think that they enjoyed laughing at us! It was super hot in the building where we were dancing and I think I lost 5 pounds that night lol. Everyday I say oh my goodness I have never been this hot and then the next day it is even hotter lol. It’s pretty funny. I am trying to get use to it and just realize that I will be really hot for the next two years. I also went to a big market with my host mom in Masaya. The market was awesome. Anything you can think of you can find there. I was able to buy a few things that I haven’t been able to find in my small town. I want to go back to Masaya to get my cell phone. They cell phones are a little expensive by Nicaragua standards. They are about $20. I definitely want to get one though.

The public buses here in Nicaragua are old school buses. It’s pretty funny. They back as many people as they can into those buses I stood up for about 45 minutes on my way to Managua on Friday. It was really hot but I made it. It cost about 50 cents to go to the capitol city from my town. We went to Managua, which is very crazy, and lots of traffic. It’s not really a place I want to go back to that often. We had a meeting with the whole group about common illness (which freaked me out a little haha) and also the Peace Corps expectations for us a trainees and eventually volunteers. I am very nervous about teaching in the classroom. I am hoping that I will be prepared for everything at the end of the three months. I am glad that we will be co-teaching and co-planning with another teacher, which will hopefully help with the stress.

I think that’s all I have to report for right now. This coming week there are independence fiestas and I don’t think that the kids have school. So it should be fun to observe those fiestas. We are also going to have two more youth group meetings, which should be cool. Well I will be reporting back next week sometime.
Adios Amigos

The pictures are the laguna I was talking about, a few of the kids in my family, the tin ceiling of the house, the hailway upstairs, and the downstairs living room where we have class everyday.