So, I should probably change the name of this blog, given that I am no longer in Nicaragua, but I figure it is easier to just leave it as it is. Plus, I like to think that I will always be at least a little bit Nicashannon, no matter where I am. I have been here in Belize for almost four weeks now. In my site for three. My first impressions are that it is very different than Nicaragua. The town where I live is called San Lazaro and it is in the north. The border of Mexico is very close and many people cross the border on a regular basis to do shopping in cheaper Mexico, (although, this is illegal and I am not saying I would ever do such a thing...) The people in San Lazaro speak Spanish but nearly all of them speak English as well. The language at school is English so I speak a lot of it and I can't say I like that part too much. I feel like my Spanish is suffering a lot for this. Another factor is the Spanglish. It is not uncommon to hear expressions like "Es muy nice." Which makes it easy for me to, when I don't know a word in Spanish, just say it in English. I am really going to have to work to keep progressing, I know. San Lazaro is beautiful. It is like a little country town where all the people speak Spanish. The houses are large, wooden and have huge yards with lawns. This is, of course, nothing like Nicaragua. Oddly, I feel that Belize, or at least where I live, is more similar to living in the U.S than it is like living in Nicaragua. This is good and bad for me. I do find that I miss Nicaragua a lot. When I listen to the radio I sometimes hear songs that were popular there and I am reminded of the life I left behind and it makes me feel a little sad. Also, I sort of liked the roughing it that I did there, even though I may have complained. It was a good challenge. But it is nice here, and I am sure in time I will grow into life here. I really can't complain. At school, the kids swarm me with hugs and the amount of pictures and stickers and candy that they have given me could fill a small garbage bag. They are very, very sweet. Fortunately, I think I have broken most of them from calling me Mr. Shanny, which was my name up until last week. As I said many speak English, but the little ones are still partial to Spanish. I work in two different schools, one Catholic and one Methodist. Prayer is a big part of the day in both schools. Yesterday I was doing a grammar exercise in the Catholic school about "was" and "were". I asked for an example of "were" and a student said "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" I had to chuckle to myself at the irony of it. Who would have ever imagined me working in a Catholic school? My address here is:

Shannon Tanner

San Lazaro Village, Orange Walk

Belize, CA

In case anyone wants to send me any mail. Letters are great! I wil post pics as soon as I get my cable from my mom.

Time is flying by. I have been so busy the past few days and grateful for it. I think that if I had more free time I would be going crazy waiting for the 21st. But fortunately I have had a full schedule. Friday was Purisima, a Nicaraguan Catholic holiday celebrating the conception of Mary. I had been planning on observing since it sounded a little like Halloween, my favorite American holiday. My friend loaned me a Virgin (remember its not a statue) and we made an altar out of flowers, Christmas lights and balloons. Of course I had to Shannonize it with some Nag Champa. I had initially bought three big bags of candy to give out (hence the halloween reference). To my dismay, I was told that this was not going to get me through the first half hour. Lucky for me, my friend had my back. His mom showed up in a Taxi with a huge sack of oranges, a crate of bananas, a tray of cookies, and a bushel? of sugar cane. The cane was in three foot long sticks and we had some borrachos over to chop it into four inch long pieces with machetes. Usually my friend has a big celebration at his house with his Grandma, who is extremely Catholic, but she was in Costa Rica visiting her daughter so we did it at my house. It was so much fun!! Groups came and sang songs about Mary, one group even brought along a Casio, plugged it in and started jamming on my porch. Instead of "Trick Or Treat" They say "Quien Causa Tanta Allegria? La Concepcion de Maria!" (Who is the cause of such happiness? The Conception of Mary!") We gave them treats in exchange for the singing, as per the tradition. It was a great time. I ended the night by going to some friends´ house and singing Silent Night to their altar. Not exactly a Mary tribute, but the closest thing I could think of at the moment. The next day was the first communion of Regina, my little buddy who I lived with for the first six weeks in La Conquista. She was all dressed up in her bride outfit and adorable. I got a great picture of her playing Monopolio in this get up. Priceless. The next day I went to Leon with my host family from La Paz. We visited this famous Cathedral where Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario is buried. I also saw a naked man run through the town plaza while the cops ate snow cones and laughed. It has been very eventful. Now I am just trying to relax and search out a VCR to tape my novela while I am in the states. This has been the cause of much worry. This probably sounds ridiculous to anybody reading this but hello, ya´ll have TIVO, right? And seriously, I have watched this show since I got to La Conquista and it has been integral in my spanish progress. I look forward to it every night and I just can't miss it. Especially since it is about to end. Well, enough about my Zorro addiction. As usual, I am hungry so I am going to go eat now.

If you don't understand the title, ask Sarah or Manda...

So this will be quick. I just put up a ton of new pics from the past couple months. It's the "final countdown!!!!" I wil be home in less than three weeks!! Whoo! Unfortunately I won't be here to enjoy a full month of 24 hour electricity. The government has announced that they will not be cutting the electricity for the entire month of December which means I have been eating meat again!! Just gearing up fpr Christmas... Anyway I'll post another soon. Feliz navidad!

I finally got my hammock!

Feliz Navidad!

Graduation Dinner at my adopted family's house.

The biggest f'ing bug I have ever seen. It is not a cockroach, I have been assured. I found it in my kitchen. It is as big as my cell phone.

At the AVC our boss wanted us to "standout" so we had to wear hats that we made out of paper bags. Who knew that Peace Corps had a "special" department.

Working hard or hardly working?

The only good part about being separated from my sisters is that I can rock this white eyeshadow and there is no one here to tell me I am tacky. HA!

Katie and Deena, two of my closest girlfriends, in our hotel at the AVC.

Another of my ladies, Lori, decorating our booth at the conference. Check out that hat!! She doesn't have the repuation for being the most stylish Peace Corps member for nothing!

Nadeska and Eynard getting married!

Another wedding photo. Tia Francie.... Something Blue?

The wedding reception. That is my host sister Nelly and host dad in the big glasses. These people know how to have a good time!

More at the wedding.

Thanksgiving!! Check out those palm trees and the hammock in the background.

Katie and Lori on Thanksgiving.

More AVC hat madness.

It has been forever since I have written. Been super busy with the end of the school year, but at last I am free. I have a feeling this freedom will soon give way to boredom so I am trying to stay busy giving classes in the community and such. The week of Thanksgiving was the annual All Volunteer Conference and it was SOOOO fun. There were different information sessions that we could choose from and also a dance party and talent show. Each sector did a skit as part of an intersectoral competition. Our group did a "sociodrama" about what it is TEFL volunteers do. I won't go into a full explanation but let me just say that I did not envision my Peace Corps experience would include dancing in a bikini to that song that goes "My neck, my back..." (The UNEDITED version). Needless to say we won that part of the competition. For Thanksgiving I went to one of my bosses houses with a bunch of other TEFL people. The food was awesome and it was a great time. The juxtaposition between pumpkin pie and palm trees was a little surreal though. After a week of hot showers, breakfast, lunch and dinner and cable TV I returned to La Conqui where there had been no power for two days. No power meant no water, hot or other wise and so I found myself bathing in the river. Yes bathing, complete with shaving cream and razor. I wish I had had a camera. I felt very Peace Corps. That same day we had the graduation ceremony for the seniors. I have to say that even though I was only here for a few months out of the school year I was so proud of all the graduates. It was really cool to see them all dressed up and getting their degrees. Afterwards was a party and I surprised a few of my students with my ability to dance Reggaeton. Bachata, Salsa, Merengue not quite there yet, but bumping and grinding to a hip hop beat I can totally do.

In October, my host sister from La Paz married her long time boyfriend and they had a wedding at the house. I was honored to be invited not only to the ceremony but also to come over early and help with preparations. I truly felt a part of the family while I was blowing up balloons and making sandwiches. A great time was had by all. Right now I am getting more and more excited everyday for December 21st when I will be boarding a plane for the U.S of A. I can not wait!!! Really it is all about the the three F's. Family, Friends and Food!!! I think I will probably cry when I see my family. Just thinking about it makes me well up. And the food!!! Sushi, Lattees, Cheesburgers, Oh my!! I finally found marshmallows here and introduced my friend to S'mores. A little cultural exchange. He agreed that they are "Riquisimo!!" Speaking of food I am starving right now so I am gonna go eat some pizza. I will put up some pictures this week I swear, maybe even today after the pizza, I just don't have the patience right now to deal with the technology on an empty stomach.

So this will be very short. Just had to say that I went to a cock fight. I was very conflicted about the whole thing and still am. I saw three roosters die. I also saw a transvestite dancing with a man with no legs. It was an interesting evening to be sure. I did not pay to get into the cockfight so at least there is that. I also did not bet or anything. I feel like I am confessing something terrible here. I need feedback. Am I a terrible person?

This is one of the cool statues in the church.

This is my friend trying to put the antennae for the TV together. The TV saga was a nightmare. It broke the first day I had it, (It fell on the ground) but it is finally fixed as of today.

This is my friend. He hates this picture so I had to put it up.

This is the park in La Conquista.

The church and the bus.

Some townspeople in the park.

Here is the park again. It is pretty green right now due to the rainfall.

Here is a pig in the park. I had to put this one up because it reminds me of a book that Ezra likes. This one could be called "If You Take A Pig To The Park..."

This is a street next to the park. I live like two blocks away.

Here is a mural near the Centro de Salud. Apparently it was made by "gringos".

Everday is a day for Vaccination!

The Centro de Salud.

Here is one of the main streets. (There are two).

This is where I teach in La Conquista.

Another picture of the school.

This was the Independence Day Parade. As you can see theydon't mess around with this business.

Here is a pic from the Quinceaños. It was a good time.

I had to put this one up. I don't know hwo this little girl is but I totally busted her stealing frosting.

Me and Regina a day or so before I moved out. She is smiling in this one because in the first one I told her she looked like a victim of kidnapping. See below.

I swear this looks like a ransom photo. She looks like she is trying to say "Please rescue me from this crazy gringa!"

Hanging out in my house with the neighborhood vagos.

This is Joel mopping my floor. He noticed the camera here and tried to run.

After they helped me move I made them spaghetti. They thought it was good but decided it needed cuajada so they went to the store and bought some. Cuajada is Nicaraguan cheese that tastes like feet to me.

The living room.

The kitchen.

Kitchen again.

My super messy room. It is gi-normous.

Here it is from the outside. So cute!!

So I will try to make this quick because I am starving. I really want to post some pics of the new place but I fear that this connection is too slow today and I gotta get out of here before I hit the red zone. The new place is great. I love cooking my own food and having privacy. Actually the privacy has been in short supply. People are constantly dropping in for no reason. Which is fine I guess. I do worry a bit about what my neighbors think with all the traffic, but whatever. They will be nosy and gossipy no matter what I do so I try not to worry about it too much. I have decided against getting a dog after I realized how much mopping is required in a Nicaraguan home. The first time I mopped, the floor looked worse than before. I had to have my friends show me how to do it right. I actually got a man to mop for me!! He did the kitchen to teach me and then I tried to play dumb and tell him that I needed more examples and could he please do the porch but he wasn't having it. Apparently mopping the kitchen where nobody could see him was one thing but mopping out in the open was completely out of the question.

I still think I might have to get a cat. I woke up the other night to go to the bathroom and there was a huge toad in the shower. It crawled in through the drain pipe. This was fine with me but the thought that it could have just as easily been a rat has been nagging at me ever since. I do not know what I would do if this happened. I would probably have to call a neighbor. Cat or rat? Definitely cat.

I´m sittiing in Jinotepe and it has just begun to rain so this will proabably be a long one. It has been a great week. Independence Day is on Saturday, which has pretty much meant a week of vacation. I have had a few afternoon classes but the morning classes were all canceled so the kids could practice marching through the streets for tomorrow's parade. Until just now it has been dry all week. I probably should have taken advantage of this and done some laundry but I have been too busy reading. I am sucked into The Time Traveler's Wife and I do not want it to end. I highly reccomend it. The big news of the week, and my life in general is that I found a house!! Actually, I found THE house. As in the house of my dreams. It not only has a yard, a real toilet (INSIDE!!), and an extra bedroom but also a porch! The porch is definitely the best part. It is enclosed by bars so I will be able to sit out there in my hammock all hours of the night and still be totally safe. My boss came and approved it the same day that I called her, and now all I have to do is move in. As soon as I am in I will take all kinds of photos and put them up here so everyone can see it. It is truly the best house that I have seen. Last week was rough. I had pretty much given up on ever finding my own house after Maria and I walked around knocking on doors and trying to convince people to rent me the house that their cousin's sister's kids stay in when they come home from Costa Rica in December and was told ´no´one after the other. Several people offered to rent me a room, including one in a house that was not even fully built. Finally on Tuesday, when we were out making our nightly rounds one of my students came up and asked me if I had found a house. I told him that I had not and that I was, at that very moment, on the hunt. He told me that his cousin would rent me his house and we arranged to look at it the next day. I met him at his construction job, (which explains why he has not been in my class for two weeks), and we walked to the house. Initially I thought I was coming to look at the project house that sits on the same lot as the actual house. Project houses are small box houses that were built by some NGO last year. They are not supposed to be rented but I was desperate and thinking that if he wanted to rent it to me I would not complain. Then he started showing me the main house. And I realized that the super nice orange house was the one he wanted to rent. I was so excited that I did not even blink when he told me the rent would be 60 dollars a month. That is outrageously expensive for the region but well worth it in my opinion. I will still be able to survive on my stipend but the 13 dollar splurges on peanut butter will have to stop. Oh well, it is practically impossible to find here anyway. In other news, I killed my first scorpion on Monday. It was liberating. I think that was what needed to happen before the universe would let me find a house- I needed to prove my bugslaying abilities. Now that I have crossed that bridge there is a whole new world of possibility. But I will still probably have to get a cat to take care of the other more hirsute pests. This does not make me happy at all. I do not like cats. Yes, I have Sylvia at home, but I am still amazed that she did not run away or commit cat suicide under my care. But here a cat is sort of a necessity. I also saw a place in Teresa that sells boxer puppies. I am seriously considering buying one. Of course I will have to send in one of my Nica friends to ask how much before I go look at them but that is just par for the course. I do not know much about boxers except that they are super cute like a pug, only more menacing. I should probably just adopt a dog. God knows there are enough unwanted ones roaming the streets in this country, but I want one that is healthy and mentally stable without emotional baggage. I should at least be able to have that in a dog, right? As for work, I taught the kids ¨head, shoulders, knees and toes¨ and it was great. I think it is the first time I really knew that they learned something. I am now convinced that everything needs to be taught in a song. If anyone knows any good color, month or days of the week songs please let me know! Lastly, On Saturday I am goiong to my first Quinceaños, or Quinciñera as they are called in Mexico. I am super excited. I will take lots of pictures!!

I really cannot believe that it is September. Time has gone by so fast. I will be home to visit in less time than I have already been here now. Weird. Things are going well here. The house I was going to rent fell through and now I am looking at some other options. I bought a stove and a propane tank and a TV. Now I just need a fridge and a bed and I will be living large. Honestly, the last month has been trying in many ways but I know that the hard part is behind me and I am feeling better than I have in months. I feel that I can really focus on being here now and not worrying about what is going on back home. It is a great feeling. Like a weight has been lifted. Now if I can just get my own place I will really be able to move forward. I am really looking forward to getting some community classes started because that will mean that I am teaching people who are there voluntarily and have an interest in learning English as opposed to many of my students in the schools. Once I have my own place I will be able to start planning more of these types of classes and English clubs for some of my advanced students. I want to focus my energy on people who are motivated and not have to scream at people to put down the makeup and pay attention. I am also really trying to think of ways to motivate the students. I think magazines in English, especially fashion and beauty mags for the girls, (is that politically incorrect?) would be really handy, so if anyone has any old ones laying around please send them my way. I have a new address too but I probably shouldn't post it here so if you want it email me. I finally got all my mail on Friday and I am now convinced that the delay is more on the end of PC and not the mail because I had a package from my friend in California that arrived in five days!! I think they just don't want to pick it up or something because there were other things from July. Hopefully my new PO Box will speed things up. And thanks to all ya'll who sent me stuff. Zuha, the magazine on secret societies was especially entertaining especially the section on cults which featured an article on Oregon's own Rajneeshi scandal of the eighties. Memories!

Here I am at my school with some of the primary kids on field day.

Here I am in my bedroom with my "I love Nicaragua" cup. I am sitting on my bed and the green thing behind me is my mosquito net.

Here I am doing laundry in the yard. Check out the chicken in the background. That is one of about twentyfive that live in the house. It started raining as soon as I hung up the last piece of laundry. See the next picture.

It pours a lot these days.

This is one of the rivers in La Conquista. ¡Que bonita!

These are some of the crazy girls I love. This was when we were in Managua for swearing in and we all went out dancing. Good times.

I think I may have found a house here. It is really big with a huge yard where I can totally envision my hammock. I talked with the owner who comes in every weekend from Costa Rica last night and we are going to talk again on Sunday when his son comes in. The only problems are that there are no bars on the doors or windows and also that he would be coming to stay in the house on the weekends but in a separate part with its own entrance. Also I fear I may be charged a gringo price, which I cannot afford. But at least it is something. If it doesn't work out there are still two other less appealing options available that I know will be affordable but not nearly as nice. Who knows. I am just excited at the prospect. Last week I learned that bad days exist here, too. Particularly when I have to teach first year at my main school. There are 53 students and 0 discipline. It is so loud that sometimes I just cover my ears. I am seriously considering asking if I can not teach this class as I am over my hours already and I feel like it would really help my sanity and mood if I just avoided this class all together. I feel like it is a total waste of time and that all that I accomplish here is giving myslef a headache and a shitty disposition. Sometimes I just want to walk out. I don't know, it is a challenge. There are only three more months of the school year here, and supposedly the next group of first year is much smaller, so that is a plus. I am going to try to stick it out with this class but if my presence doesn't seem to be making any difference after exams I am going to ask to opt out.

Yesterday I went to Managua to pick up my mail and got there and found out that it was a holiday there so there was nobody in the office to get my mail from. I did pick up some books though so the trip was well worth it. I finished The History of Love the first week I was in my site and have been scavenging through old issues of Newsweek and The Oprah magazine I bought at the airport in DC for unread material. By yesterday I was down to advertisements for hormone replacement therapies and start your own online business, so I was extremely pleased to pick up some books from the PC library along with some new issues of Newsweek and the PC magazine Worldview. I am already 100 pages into Divine Secrets of The Ya'Ya Sisterhood, which is really making me miss all the wonderful women in my life back home. I would kill for a latte at Stumptown or even at Starbucks with my ladies. It doesn't help knowing that my whole family is at the beach right now for the annual family trip, and as much as my mom thinks I hate going, I really wish I could be teleported just for the day. Oh well, Christmas is only a few months away!!!

Life in La Conquista is good. I really like the town and the people in it. Whenever I leave the house at least five people say hello to me. Actually they say goodbye, but that's how it is done here. I have been able to teach a few classes and I love it. I missed a day because I was sick after being in Managua and I am starting to think that maybe there is something to the Nicaraguan creencia that extreme changes in temperature will make you sick. I say this because the whole time I was in Managua I was back and forth between the extreme heat and the air conditioning and I am still fighting a nasty cold. Other than that, I am really happy. I love being a full-fledged volunteer and not having to have my every moment scheduled. The work is great for the most part but I have had a little trouble in one of the schools with participation. Some of the kids are just SOOOO shy and they won't do anything. I guess that will be one of my challenges. I have been really lucky with everything else. Namely my counterparts. They are both great to work with. Last night I sat in the park until dark playing the Nicaraguan version of MASH with an eight year old girl named Angelica. I think we will be great friends. Also, I found a house that I may be able to rent. It is super cute and big and I think it may even have a toilet inside. Hopefully the owner wants to rent it. I have seen a couple of other vacant houses but the owners don't want to rent them because they come back from Costa Rica from time to time and want their houses. I can't wait to live on my own. So exciting. I have been enjoying the increase in independence that I have been experiencing with my new host family. I make my own breakfast in the morning, including coffee. The other day I drank milk straight from the cow because my milk in the fridge had gone bad after a power outage. The milk had been boiled so I should be okay. I bought three pineapples, a watermelon and four mangoes for about 1.75 the other day. I was so happy because nobody sells fruit in La Conquista and I have to come to Jinotepe to get it, but some guys came with a truck load. I told them to come find me whenever they are in town. I have also been washing my own clothes, which is not nearly as fun as it looks, but it should be a good work out for my arms. I also met the staff at the health center and they said I could go with them to the outlying communities when they do their rounds so that I can meet more people. I would not mind working with the health center maybe on some community health initiatives. I would start with a campaign about keeping your fridge plugged in since people here have this idea that once the food is cold, it is important to unplug the fridge to conserve electricity. That probably did not help my milk.

Greetings from Managua, where it is effing HOT. This is my first entry as an official Peace Corps Volunteer. Pretty exciting. The ceremony today was interesting. It felt very official. The US ambassador was there and we sang the national anthem of the US and also the Nicaraguan anthem. We had to solemnly swear to uphold and defend the US constitution, so help us God. As I said it was interesting. All of the families came in from Carazo and Masaya and we got to spend a little time with them and there was an official thank you ceremony. When one of the volunteers got up to say a little gratitude speech even my Nicaraguan dad got teary. They told me again that their door is always open and I plan on making good use of it. Speaking of doors, my host family in La Conquista was informed that they would need to put a door on my room if I were to stay there and they said that they would not be able to do that so I have to live with someone else. I am a little bummed about it just because I don't want it to be awkward with them and also because now I have no idea who I will be living with but in a way maybe it is for the best because I realized after my stay that I offered them way more money than I meant to and I was going to have to renegotiate and that would have been awkward too so at least now that won't be an issue. Being in Managua these last few days has been strange. It feels like we are back in the US eating at TGIFridays and going to the mall. Today I had Burger King and last night, I was ecstatic when while flipping through the channels on the hotel's cable television I found Big Brother 8!!! Of course I did not know what was going on but it was still super fun to watch. In a way being here seems like it is going tomake going to our sites a little harder but the vacation is nice all the same. Well, I am gonna head back to my air conditioned room now as I am melting here in the lobby.

Today was our big youth group presentation in Diriamba. I am very proud of our group. They did a great job even though they were really nervous. We had a nice powerpoint that Holly put together and a poster that I made in case the electricity went out, which it did but only for a few minutes. It was fun to see everyone else´s projects. I think everyone worked really hard. Tonight is my last night with me host family. Tomorrow we are off to Managua for four days for the swearing in ceremony. Tonight Holly is going to come over and we are going to play Salon de Belleza with my host sister, who is going to give us one last manicure/pedicure for the big day. I am fighting the urge to dye my hair right now. I know it´s not a good idea, and that one of the reasons I wanted to come here was to simplify my life, but after looking at pictures of my self all morning I am feeling a little scrappy-doo in the hair department. Oh well. I guess that´s all part of the process.

I never did write anything about my visit to La Conquista. In case anyone is curious, I really liked it. It is a beautiful place with tons of trees and greenery. In that way it reminds me of Oregon. My backyard is pretty much a forest. There are several little boys who are the grandchildren of my host mom. They range in ages 18 months to 4 years old. There is also an 8 year old girl and a 12 year old boy. They are all really nice but I really cannot wait to get my own place. They could be the nicest people in the world, letting me live rent free and feeding me gourmet meals every night and I would still be counting the days until I am allowed to live alone (that would be 47.) As for my counterparts, they are both really cool. I was really nervous about working with someone a lot older than me who already had their whole teaching routine down and would probably be resistant to change, but it turns out that I am older than both of my counterparts! Neither of them are married or have kids so I think we will have a lot of time to plan classes and develop materials. One of my counterparts is a twenty five year old woman with the very progressive and modern ideas. She is having her own house built just for her. This may not sound very progressive but trust me it really is. I have never heard of aNica woman living alone here. She is really cool and we have a lot in common. I will be working with her in a comarca of La Conquista. The night before I met her my director told me that she rides her bike to school and asked me if I knew how to ride a bike. Everyone was surprised when I said that I did. So the next day they found me a bike and she picked me up at my house and we proceeded to ride to Santa Elena. Well, the first few hundred meters were fine. Then the sidewalk ended. Then we came to a very steep down hill dirt "road". After about 10 meters of this I had to ditch the bike. It was seriously frigtening. I felt like I was a participant in an extreme BMX tournament or something. Needless to say I am going to have to figure something else out. I think I will be getting a dog to accompany me on the 3 km hike.

This is a picture of the sign we made with our youth group, along with the ugly old sign that it is replacing.

This is a blurry picture of me in my room in La Paz.

This is a more clear picture of me in my room.

These are a few of the other trainees in my group crammed into a micro. There were actually 21 people in all ion this bus. By bus I mean minivan.

Some of my friends the day we went to the beach.

This is the house I have been living ina nd will continue to live in for two more days.

Cows passing my house.

Our awesome youth group.

Me doing what I do best. Supervising. Note my boss and my Spanish teacher behind me working.

One of the awesome motifs I have sported here in Nicaragua.

The church in Jinotepe.

The church again.

Me in Rancho Grande. Midway through a five hour hike up a mountain. My shoe broke shortly after this was taken and we had to wander through the mountains until we found a house where therew was a woman with my size feet.

Another picture of my nails. I think this was the first manicure.

The dolphins.

Me and GW and Cheney and some other scary looking guy at the PC office.

Dick and me.

This is at Volcan Masaya.

Me and my girl Zuha.

So I am really happy right now because I ended up gettting placed in the site that I wanted. I am very excited to be so close to the end of training. Only two more weeks!! I really can´t wait. The town I am going to is called La Conquista and it´s about 15 kilometers from the town I live in now. It has several rivers and waterfalls. I hear the people are super nice too, but that could probably be said for anywhere in Nicaragua. One thing that I am really happy about is that I don´t have to get to know a whole new city because the city that I come to for all my shopping, internet, phone needs will be the same one that I come to now. I have already begun pricing household items here. Another great thing about my site is that I will be able to purchase all of my furniture needs from my host that I live with now because he is a carpenter. He is going to make me a bed ¨matrimonio size¨ for about 60 dollars. If I were placed far away I would have to buy my furniture in the mercado for more money and less quality. Anyway, aside from all of that business I had a pretty busy weekend. My family threw a party for their nephew on Saturday that went from 4 in the afternoon till about one in the morning. Even I was dancing. Needless to say, I will not be watching that video. It was a really great time and much needed. Nicaraguans really know how to have a good time and when they throw a party they throw a party. Of course there was a piñata and party favors for everyone including me. I was very touched when I received my bowl of candy and a jewelry set. Everyone´s bowl had their name on it and since it was a gift from the aunt and uncle who live in Leon who don´t know me very well mine just said ¨Gringa¨. As I said I was touched. Everyone in the family, (and it is huge) is so nice and hospitable. I feel like no matter what happens with my next host family I will always think of this family as my true Nicaraguan family.

Nothing too exciting to report now, except that I have two packages waiting for me at the post office, one of which may contain a USB cable, which means I will soon be posting more photos. I am excited to share with you a piece that I like to call "Nails in Nicaragua" which showcases all of the awesome manicures and pedicures I have been given by my very talented host sister. Not sure if I have already mentioned it here but this week I am sporting dolphins on my fingers and a very valentine-y motif on the toes. I am feeling good these days. As I mentioned in the last blog entry the stress about site placement has subsided for the most part. I am no longer super concerned about where I go. I would be lying, though, if I said I was not at all nervous about being on my own. This last week I have been investigating about how to live here. I know that probably sounds weird considering that I have been here for almost seven weeks but really I have not been taking care of myself at all. I have my wonderful host family, who cooks all my meals, washes my clothes, collects water when we have none in the pipes, (which is 75% of the time), buys the groceries and pays all the bills. I have no idea how to make gallo pinto or tortillas or anything else that is, in my opinion, necessary to live here. I know a lot of people don{t think it is necessary to learn these things because you can buy cooked frijoles on the street but I kind of like the idea of doing as the Nicaraguans do and spending a Sunday cooking beans that I will eat all week. Routine and domesticity are very important to me, (much to the horror of my 23 year old self I am sure.) And I want to have a nice home life. Maybe I will feel differently later when I am super busy with all of my awesome community projects, but for now I am going to try to learn all I can about how the house runs. This Sunday my "Mom" (sorry Mom) is going to teach me how to cook frijoles and how to maintain them throughout the week. I am pretty excited. There is so much that goes into the process. It really gives me a whole perspective on things like convenience. This is probably extremely boring to anyone reading this but for some reason I find it really interesting. I guess because I have never really thought about these things. Like for example, you can{t cook the beans on the gas stove because it uses too much gas so you have to cook them outside on the outside stove or on a campfire. And that is just one part of the process. Who knew that making lunch could be so complicated? Well, that{s all for now. I will cease boring you all with tales of bean boiling.

So yesterday I was sitting in my livingroom studying and I heard one of my neighbors blasting "Piano Man" in Spanish. It was awesome. Some other notable songs in Spanish "Total Eclipse of The Heart," "Careless Whisper," and Beyonce's "Irreplacable." Today I was having lunch and I heard the classic Swayzee hit "She's Like The Wind." I know I've said it before and I am sure I will say it again but I love Nicaraguans' taste in music. I am also currently loving the Super Mario Brothers/Tetris tournaments that are taking place in my house. My little sister plays so much that I have dubbed her Super Maria. It is pretty crazy playing those old games the Mario music really brings up all kinds of memories. It is amazing how much of a part of my childhood that game was. Its funny too, I never imagined that Super Mario brothers would be a part of my daily life as a Peace Corps Trainee.

Speaking of training, it is moving right along. The last few sessions have actually been really helpful and focused on working with counterpart (my biggest fear) and lesson planning. The lesson planning stuff is always fun because you get to hear new ideas for lesson plans and activities. I am not really worried about that stuff because I am pretty creative when it comes to planning lessons and making up games but it is always good to learn more. The counterpart thing is what I thinkI am most worried about. I know I am a good teacher on my own, but group work and sharing responsibility has never been my strong point, although I think I have improved alot. With my partner in the youth group it has been great. I think we really compliment each other and I like working with her. But the whole working with someone I don't know who may have totally different ideas about teaching than I do is a little daunting. But que sera sera I guess. That is my new phiolosphy on things here. I was really stressed out about the whole site assignment thing for a few days but now I realize that it is a waste of my precious energy to even speculate about it. I believe that everything will work out how it is meant to work out and that I will love my site no matter what. But ask me again in two weeks.

Well, I haven't posted anything for a while because I was out of my training town for a few days last week vistiting another TEFL volunteer in his site. It was nice to have a break from training, but I was definitely happy to get back "home". The town I went to was very rural and about a nine hour journey by bus. It was four hours from the city of Matagalpa and that portion of the trip was hellatious (Is that a real word or just something my dad says?) It was super bumpy and I could actually feel my internal organs being jostled around. Not fun. On the up side, I can now say with certainty that I do not want to live out in the campo. Fortunately there are a few people who really want to live out in the boonies, so I am hoping that it will all work out. I had not really given much thought to where I want to be. I have been afraid to really research because I don't want to get my heart set on anything and then be disappointed, but after seeing this place I realized that it is going to be important for me to express my needs. For example, I need to live somewhere that I can purchase fruits and vegetables. I am starting to think I would prefer a city but I don't know. There are drawbacks to living in the city I think in terms of the job. Bigger schools mean bigger classes. Also it may be harder to connect to the community in a big city. I don't know. I just know that I don't want to be in the middle of nowhere. I am trying not to think about it too much because it is really out of my hands in a lot of ways. We have a general info session coming up this next weekend and then we will get more site specific in the next couple weeks. From what I hear, we get to give our top choices and also the places we definitely would not want to go. I have only heard one case of a person being placed in one of her bottom three, so I think they really try to work with us. Other than that, there hasn't been anything too exciting going on. We got to go to a volcano today and see the trainees in small business for the first time in six weeks and that was pretty cool. I really want to go to a beach. The two swimsuits I brought still have the tags on them. It is sad. I am missing Portland right now. It's Rose Festival and as much as I complain about it, I still like to go down to the waterfront every year and eat elephant ears. A snow cone sounds really good right now too. Anybody? But seriously, Portland is definitely best in the summer. I never actually realized how much state pride I have until I got here. I love my city. I was thumbing through the latest issue of Newsweek that Peace Corps gives us and there was a big picture of Elliot Smith and an article about posthumous record releases. For a minute I was back home reading the Mercury.

But Nicaragua is pretty rad too.

Well, I would love to post some more pictures but I left my USB cable at the internet cafe and I don't know where to buy one here so I think one is in the mail. More pictures soon I promise!

TGIF or GADEV, depending on your language. I can{t believe another week is over, but I am definitely glad that it is Friday. I am having a little difficulty concentrating right now as Beyonce is testifying at the computer next to mine, but I{ll do my best. Anyway, my work here has been going pretty good this week. Our youth group has been really fun and the kids are really enthusiastic. They actually asked if we could meet another time during the week in addition to the two meetings we already have so I guess that means they are enjoying it right? My Spanish is coming along slowly. Honestly the language thing, the one thing I was so not worried about, is the biggest stressor right now. I feel like my vocabulary is expanding and I am starting to apply the grammar rules in speech, but it is so frustrating not to be able to joke or talk about anything abstract or understand people in general. It doesn{t help that we have alot of technical trainings that at times are WAY TOO LONG. I feel alot of the time during the trainings that I should be studying Spanish instead of learning how to treat a cut or scrape, but I guess it{s all important on some level. My new strategy is to try to learn through the music. There is a song that is really popular, at least in my house, called Señora de los cuatro decadas about a mans infatuation with an older woman. The chorus is like SEÑORA! blah blah blah... And I totally had it in my head all week, ofcourse all I could say ws SEÑORA! so my family decided to write down the words. It turns out that the song is really funny. There is a part where he talks about her fat stomach that aerobics can{t get rid of, but ofcourse he means it complimentary like, I love you anyway. I think it will be a really good motivator for me as I love music and singing and all things cheesy! Well, gotta run now as my site mate is outside in the rain waiting. If anyone feels like sending me stuff my first encounter with homesickness has brought up a few ideas such as: original jolly ranchers, stash peppermint tea, sunflower seeds and dried apricots. Hope that doesn{t sound too rude, like send me stuff, already!! Just a few ideas for those of you who just LOVE going to the post office and spending money on me...

Well, it has been a super busy week. We started working with our youth group and observing in the schools, which was exciting, frustrating and hilarious all at the same time. I{m not really at liberty to say too much about the school experience here, but I do have to share one story because it is just too good to pass on. Our first observation was in the afternoon and the kids were crazy. I felt bad for the teacher because they were super out of control and us being there did not help. Our presence was really distracting, which was illustrated when the students continually called the teacher over to whisper in her ear. The teacher then shared with us that "You are a beautiful woman," and other revelations. At one point a student told the teacher that she wanted us to sing a song in English. The teacher then asked us if we knew the words to "This is the day that the Lord has made." Thanks to my Godless upbringing I was able to give an emphatic "NO!!" but the poor girl who I was there with was not so lucky. Her years of vacation bible school betrayed her and before we knew what was happening she was standing in front of the class singing Evangelical hymns. (Thats what they are called, right?) It was pretty funny... Anyway, I have been so busy with training tasks that I feel like my Spanish studies have taken a real backseat. I{ve been feeling a little frustrated because I feel like I am at a standstill with my learning. I have to remember though that it is normal to hit walls in language learning and that I will break through any day now, but it is just a little scary when I realize that swearing in (hopefully) is only two months away. Well, that{s all for now, I need to get cracking on those verb tenses! Oh yeah, one more thing- the past two nights it has rained. It was awesome!! It is insane though because the house I live in (and most others in my town) has a tin roof and it is so loud that you can{t hold a conversation. After bitching so much about the weather in Portland, I was surprised by the sheer elation I felt when I heard the first raindrops. I guess it{s true what they say "You can take the girl out of Portland, but you can{t take the Portland out of the girl."