Believe it or not, only having 1.5 years left in Peace Corps is making me feel stressed out because it means I have to start looking at grad schools, taking the GRE and filling out applications. Applying to grad school is stressful in the US... now imagine doing it from a foreign country. Having gained perspective, I really sympathize with all the thousands of international students who study in the US.

One of the most stressful parts (after picking a program AND getting in) is figuring out how the hell you are going to pay for it. Ick. I`ve decided to pursue an articulated program. Which is a fancy way of saying I will (ideally) receive two degrees in three years. I hope to pursue my Masters of Public Health (MPH) and a Masters of Arts in Latin American Studies.

This type of planning always makes me think about life in general and all the millions of things I hope to accomplish. I actually have a "bucket list." The list is constantly growing, but this is what I have so far:

My Bucket List (A work in-progress)

1. Dip my toes in every ocean in the world.

2. Walk on a black sand beach.

3. Ride a horse on the beach at sunset. (August 2009)

4. Live in a foreign country. (May 2008-?)

5. Adopt a child.

6. Become a runner.

7. Experience Palo de Mayo (Bluefields, RAAS, Nicaragua)

8. Learn Portuguese.

9. Go to the Olympics.

10. Get scuba-certified.

11. Go to the World Cup.

12. Cage dive with a Great White Shark in South Africa.

13. Skydive. (September 2005)

14. Ride in a hot-air balloon

15. Learn to play a musical instrument.

16. Visit all 50 States.

17. Become a photographer.

18. Mardi Gras. (2005, 2006)

19. Learn to dance Salsa.

20. Get published.

21. Learn to surf.

22. Visit every Spanish-speaking country at least once.

23. Visit the pyramids.

24. Learn to horseback ride.

25. Visit Australia

26. Go to Carnaval in Brazil.

27. Pet a baby tiger.

28. Visit the Great Wall.

29. Drink a Mojito in Cuba.

30. The Petty Experience-Daytona.

31. Visit Greece, Thailand, Fiji, New Zealand, Russia, Ireland, Scotland, France, England, Mexico, Canada, India, Vietnam, South Korea, Turkey and Israel...among others

32. Drive from Florida to California.

33. Play in the snow.

34. Help make the world a better place.

35. Visit the Grand Canyon.

36. Ride in a helicopter.

37. See the running of the bulls in Spain.

38. Travel the Amazon River.

39. See Machu Picchu.

40. Go to a boxing match.

41. See a concert in Madison Square Garden.

42. Go on a cruise.

43. Learn to love flying.

As fate would have it, yesterday after I posted my thoughts on rural health care, I was notified that one of my best friends had crashed his motorcycle and was injured. My friend is the son of the woman who has become like a mother to me here in Somotillo. He is the brother of my ex-boyfriend and the brother-in-law of my best friend. All things considered, he's family.

Without more details, two friends and I headed to the hospital. Upon arrival, I saw William's mom and brother waiting outside the emergency room. They doctor was still working on him so they didn't know what kind of shape he was in. From what the police had been able to piece together about the accident, William had been headed straight down the highway when an elderly man crossed the road without looking, on his bicycle. Because of the narrowness of the highway and other traffic, William hit the man, sending him flying into the air. The man was in the same trauma room as William, being checked out by the doctors.

It was evident that William's mom was in shock. She is normally a very bossy, outspoken woman but in all the hours we spent at the hospital, I never heard her say more than a few sentences. I went to investigate. I planted myself in the hallway in front of the trauma room door. The first time it opened, what I saw nearly put me in shock as well. There was blood all over the floor. I saw a battered, bloody face I didn't recognize, coughing up even more blood. The door swung closed. During an instant of panic, I pondered if that man could have been William, swollen and unrecognizable. To my immense relief, the nurse returned, opening the door once more. This time I looked across the room and saw William, bloody but conscious. He shot me a half-hearted smile before the door swung closed once more.

When we were finally let in the room we were all relieved to see that William was going to be OK. He had a gash on his head that the nurse had stitched up, road rash in several spots and a broken finger.

The first man I had seen was the old man William had hit. Still unconscious and vomiting blood, it was clear he was in bad shape. To make matters worse, the man carried no identification and the hospital needed the consent of a family member in order to transfer him to a hospital better equipped for severe injuries.

William's brother went to the accident site to see if anyone had recognized the man and came back a short while later, having found the man's brother-in-law and notified other family members. The problem now became that the one ambulance the hospital has was already on its way to drop off patients at the regional hospital, two hours away. We would have to wait for it to return.

As we waited, two more motorcycle accident victims came into the hospital. The one guy escaped with a couple scrapes but the other was badly injured with an open fracture on his leg.

We sat in chairs near the trauma room to see if the old man's condition would improve. To my disbelief, we heard the nurse say that she was tired of suctioning the blood from the man's mouth and told the brother to take over.

When the ambulance finally returned the rush was on to transfer the patients. It was a logistical nightmare because five patients, five family members, the driver and a doctor somehow needed to fit inside the ambulance. All of the patients urgently needed to be transferred and couldn't wait four hours for a second trip. William's mom hired a taxi to take William and two other patients to the hospital, following behind the ambulance. What do you suppose would have happened if she wasn't in a financial position capable of hiring the taxi?

It's official! All my extension paperwork has been turned in. Unless I randomly develop an incurable condition between now and Easter, everything should be approved. I've put off the last step of getting approved as long as I can because it means I have to go to the dentist. I HATE THE DENTIST!! All the other types of checks don't really bother me although I've started to get a little nervous about the eye exam. I can't remember the last time I had an eye exam but I'm pretty sure it was in the sixth grade. Three of my friends who are getting ready to finish their service just had the eye exam and all three needed glasses. What worries me is that not one of the three realized that they couldn't see well.

Changing topics entirely...

One of the most special parts of Peace Corps is being aware that every moment you're living is a gift. I can't speak for everybody, but I know that while I lived in the States, I spent a lot of time waiting for something to happen. Always looking forward to the next big change or event... not really enjoying each day as it came. When I return to the States I'm going make every effort to change that about myself, continue to live in the moment there as I have here.

Nicaraguan's have a saying: “There is more time than life.” The lesson to be learned is that instead of trying to make the most of our time, we should make the most of our lives because our lives will run out before time does. I've mostly learned to appreciate this saying but sometimes it frustrates me. I cannot rid myself of the need to be as productive as possible everyday. For this reason, I still show up on-time to meetings, knowing that I will be the first to arrive as Nicaraguan custom dictates meetings start an hour after the time agreed upon.

When I have been able to practice and accept the saying, the outcome has always been positive. Recently, the daughter of a friend of mine became very sick and was hospitalized. The hospitals in the rural areas of Nicaragua do not resemble hospitals in the states in any way. There is no ACwhich means the windows remain open and allow entrance to flies and mosquitoes. There are not sheets on the cots that closely resemble chiropractor tables. There is no cafeteria. The family and friends of patients are the ones who supply food, water, sheets, pillows and fans. What I miss most about US hospitals is what I used to hate most about them, the smell. Hospitals here do not have the medicinal, sterile smell. I never realized before how comforting that smell could be.

My friend Karen's husband travels for work and couldn't be with her and their baby in the hospital. Another friend and I went to keep her company but since that friend is also a mother, she had to go home to take care of her own son. I spent the whole night awake in the hospital. There aren't cribs for the babies so someone must remain standing next to the cot to ensure they don't fall off. The antibiotics didn't seem to be working as the diarrhea hadn't stopped. Watching my friend hold her baby as she gently rocked her to sleep I have never felt more inept. I watched my friend as she tirelessly studied the part in her daughters hair and the edges of her fingernails all the while praying, that she wouldn't lose her to dehydration like so many other mothers in developing countries.

Just about the time baby Gioconda fell asleep, we heard moans coming from down the hall. Earlier in the night, a young mother had come in to the hospital in the early stages of labor. By this time, it was 2am.

The hospital in Somotillo is small, any given night there are two nurses, two doctors, an ambulance driver and one security guard on duty. On this particular night, ALL of these people who were supposedly working were asleep in the ambulance bay. My friend and I went to check on the young woman. Her mother was very worried and tried to wake the doctors. Without examining the woman, the doctors told her mother that it was definitely not time for her to begin pushing. About half an hour later, one of the doctors got up to use the bathroom. The mother of the young woman in labor was finally so desperate that she grabbed the doctor by the hand and pulled her into the room. When the girl opened her legs, the top of the baby's head was already visible. The doctor closed the door. I was waiting in our room with baby Gioconda two doors down from where the girl was in labor. In the time it took for my friend to reach our room and tell me what she had seen, we could already hear the newborn crying.

This is the type of health care available to most Nicaraguans. Peace Corps volunteers have their own doctors and access to the best private hospital in the country but the people in my community don't. It feels wrong.

Black hair is something I have always lusted after so I finally decided it was time. I absolutely love it and plan on sticking with it for awhile. Not too much time to write a giant update even though I have lots to say so I will just write a short recap of some exciting news.

1)Im going to be spending THREE instead of two years in Nicaragua. That`s right, I`m extending.

2) My daddy is coming to visit in December!!!

3) I`m planning a trip to the states for December 2010. Keep your calendars open!

Here are some new pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2810994&id=2052292&l=31a73162ac

I still have a ton more pictures to upload but I figured this would be a good start. Sorry about them all being out of order but only certain ones would load on this computer.

My host-brother.

The front of my house.

My very advanced security system.

My living room.

Veggies for sale in the market!

Sitting on the baby cow.

My best friend, selling bread.

Does the bus look familiar? This is what all Nicaraguan buses look like.

I love cows!!

Branding of the calf. :(

Good friends.

Cuuute baby cow.

Oh yes, I ride horses.

On a happy note....

10 things I love about Nicaragua:

1. FOOD

2. Bachata (a type of music/dance)

3. Swimming in waterfalls.

4. Hammocks

5. My host family

6. Dancing

7. Thunderstorms

8. Nicaraguan slang Spanish

9. Having time to read for fun

10. Spanish

This is by no means an exhaustive list but I wanted to give a little sampling of some of my fave things as incentive for potential visitors. I've been here for one year and still haven't had a visitor!! Come visit! Nicaragua really isn't that far away.

I have spent so much time in Managua lately! I had a dermatologist appointment last week (for the itchiness) and then spent the rest of the week giving presentations to the new group. The trainee that is living with my host family from training is really fun. I'm glad he is part of our "family" now.

After spending the whole week in Managua I was really anxious to get back to Somotillo but decided against it. If I had gone home I would have spent 6 hours on the bus to get there, been in Somotillo for one night and then would have come back to Managua the next day for more follow-up with the doctor, more meetings and even more doctors appointments.

Instead of going home I went to visit a friend who lives closer to Managua in a part of the country I had never been to before. Her part of the country is notorious for being green, hilly, cowboy country "where the rivers are made of milk and the rocks of cheese" because of all the cattle in the area. My friend's town is pituresque (the opposite of Somotillo) nestled between lush, green hills. Her boyfriend took the day off work to help play tour guide and we went to his friend's farm. The farm was fantastic! I had so much fun in the 4 hours we were there. I got to ride a horse, play with baby cows, watch bulls fight, have lunch and enjoy the scenery. I passed some tense moments watching the farm-hands tie up some of the cattle to brand them. I can't decide if the hardest part was hearing the branding iron sizzle on their skin or the lost, resigned expressions on their faces as they layed on the ground, unable to escape.

I have lots of great pictures from the weekend that I will be sure to upload as soon as I find the cable for my camera. My favorite is the pics of me just after I mounted the horse, looking amused but also terrified. I had explained to my friend's boyfriend that I while I have in the past sat on a horse, I do not really know how to ride one. His response was to tell me not to be a sissy and saddle up. Once I was astride the beast (which luckily was a tiny Nicaraguan horse that would be dwarfed by any horse in the States), he handed me the reins and said "Its just like driving a car, go ahead." I didn't fall of, but a baby could crawl faster than the pace at which the horse and I mulled about the farm. The horse (which didn't have a name, I asked) was more than 25 years old and wasn't in the mood to run either.

After a morning at the farm and an afternoon nap my friends and I got dressed up and went to a ranchera concert. Ranchera is of music that originated in Mexico but is extremely popular across pretty much all of Latin America. I personally love it because the crowds are always really enthusiastic and its fun to dance to.

I'm back in Managua now, at the Peace Corps office. Since my group has been in country for a year we have to have a bunch of medical exams to make sure, among other concerns, that our teeth aren't going to fall out. Managua is not my favorite place to be. Managua is enormous, dangerous and EXPENSIVE with respect to our salaries. I am always really happy to go home by the time my stay in Managua is over. What's good about Managua is that there is a movie theater and pizza.

Happy (more than) one year to me!! May 7 was my one-year anniversary in Nicaragua. The new group of business volunteers arrived the second week of May and have been in training ever since. It's a lot more fun being on the training-staff side of the coin. Now that I'm not one of the "newbies" I get to help with the training process, giving presentations and advice to the new group.

As far as work is concerned things have been going pretty well. I really like working with Agro-Businesses in and around Somotillo. Being in Peace Corps has made me realize that I would like to continue with development work as a career, not just a two year mission. I have been looking into some grad school programs but am leaning towards extending my Peace Corps service one more year. I think I would get a lot out of one more year in Nicaragua now that I really caught a rhythm with my work and am respected in the community.

Starting last February I was PLAGUED with a really itchy rash all over my body. I've never had skin problems in the past so I was really frustrated with the constant itchiness. Peace Corps sent me to the dermatologist a whopping six times and I received four different diagnoses.

Diagnosis 1: Allergy to my own sweat. I did not believe this diagnosis for a second because, as it turns out, I am from Florida and have spent my entire life sweating. I went along with the treatment they prescribed but I was not shocked when my rash only got worse.

Diagnosis 2: Rash caused by viral infection. My blood work showed no sign of a viral infection and I hadn't been sick but somehow it was determined that a viral infection was the REAL cause of my rash.

Diagnosis 3: Scabies. When my rash spread to every part of my body except my face the dermatologist told me I had scabies. I cried. Scabies is a really common parasite in Nicaragua but I still felt dirty and gross.

Diagnosis 4: Food allergy. The scabies medication caused my rash to burn really badly and itch even more than before. Once it was determined that I wasn't having and allergic reaction to the treatment the dermatologist prescribed a special diet prohibiting me from eating just about anything other than grilled chicken and some fruits. She asked me to keep a list of the foods I ate and note any subsequent skin reactions.

The next morning (while showering) I had an epiphany. I am allergic to jalapeños. I had noticed that my rash began in February (right after I moved to my new house, next to a restaurant where I began eating frequently). The lunch special/my favorite food at said restaurant is jalapeño chicken. My rash goes away when I leave Somotillo for days at a time. I did not eat jalapeños in the states. I stopped eating jalapeños and my rash has rapidly gone away. This is the first week I haven't been itchy in FOUR MONTHS!!!

Here are some more pictures I took during holy week. In other news... I just finished a really great book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius written by Dave Eggers. The book is his first published and is also a his memoir. When he was 21 both of his parents died (I won´t tell you how) leaving him to raise his seven year old brother. I loved how angry and honest the book was. Anyone who is interested in the history of Nicaragua with respect to the US and the Iran/Contra affair should read Blood of Brothers by Stephen Kinzer.

This little boy ran a 6k in flip flops faster than all but two (of the twenty) army guys also racing.

Because I like cows.

This week is what is referred to as Semana Santa (Holy week). The country pretty much shuts down the entire week and goes to the beach. Hard working Peace Corps volunteers that we are, we only get Thursday and Friday off. I definitely made the best of those two days (one night) and went to the beach. It was so relaxing and fun. We spent the day playing in the waves and relaxing in the shade of a tiki hut (called a rancho here). We had ice cold beer and delicious conch ceviche. It was exactly the type of day I needed to completely relax and enjoy Nicaragua. That night, we went to a big party on the beach. There were literally hundreds of people dancing in the sand. In all, it was a great time with some new, some old friends.

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I want to put more pictures but the internet keeps freezing... Until next time!

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow marks 11 months in Nicaragua and I can hardly believe it. I feel like time has been flying by which scares me a little because everyone says your second year goes even faster. Yesterday I received an email from the medical office stating I need to sign up for my "mid-service" medical appointment. How can it be that Im at the midpoint in my service??

The new business group is going in the second week of May and I´m so excited for them to get here! Another Gator will be joining our program which I think is sweet. I hope that I get to be one of the "greeters" (seasoned volunteers that go to meet the newbies at the airport). Every time a group comes in (which happens three times a year) all of Peace Corps is buzzing with questions about the new guys. There is a lot of "What are they like? Are there any cute guys/girls? Who do you think will ET?" Our excitement could be likened to seniors in high school waiting to see the new freshmen. And yes, I realize it all sounds a little ridiculous.

My foot is doing well. It still hurts when I spend a lot of time on my feet but at least I´m rid of that ugly walking cast. I´m consciously working on not falling in any more ditches.

The conference I spoke at went well. I got the opportunity to have lunch with a representative from the White House about my Peace Corps experience. Pretty exciting, I say. The woman I met with is the first appointment President Obama has made for Peace Corps and I think he made the right choice. I also really appreciated that the start of President Obama´s relationship with Peace Corps began with him sending a representative to really try and get to the know the program, not just read the reports handed to the administration.

Work is very busy right now. I feel like I´m going in a million directions at once but I´m still really enjoying it. This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) so the entire country is celebrating. Not much work is going to be done. Per Nicaraguan tradition, I plan on skipping off the to beach for a day or two.

Before I left, many of you (my loved ones) expressed interest in visiting during the two years. Start planning! There is only 13 months left!

Miss you all!

I´ve been putting off writing this blog for what seems like forever. Too much has happened to include all the details so I´m going to summarize the last two months. The second of January my uncle died. I think it goes without saying that it was a really difficult time for my whole family. Thanks to my wonderful family I was able to fly home and be with them for the week. I wish that my trip home could have come under better circumstances but I know I would have regretted not being there with them to say goodbye.

The day I got back to Nicaragua I fell in a concrete ditch and broke my foot. What fun times that was! I went to the hospital here in town and while they do have an X-ray machine (big improvement from Mali hospitals) they don´t have anyone who knows how to use it. Apparently the man that used to take X-rays retired. The people in charge decided there wasn´t enough money to replace him.

The physical exam of my foot consisted of the doctor (who is 1 year younger than I am!!!) poking my foot at the part where it was swollen and purple. She decided it was just a bruise. I called Peace Corps and put one of the Peace Corps´ doctors on the phone with the girl attending me. Peace Corps instructed them to give me a shot for the pain and splint my foot. After my foot was securely in the splint it was discovered that the hospital did not in fact have any crutches....which for me meant I would have to hop around on my one good foot. Luckily, my site-mate was there to help me and she was put in charge of making sure I didn´t fall down again. The next morning at 5 we took a taxi to Managua. Peace Corps sent me to an orthopedist who took Xrays and put me in a cast.

Now six weeks later my hard cast is off but I am still limping around in a "walking cast" which mostly looks like an orthopedic shoe. It still hurts so I will be going back to the doctor on March 10.

Other new things:

1) I moved into a new house...with a hammock. I´m technically a permanent house-sitter.

2) My birthday was this past Thursday. My friends here threw me a surprise dinner and hired a band to come to my house and serenade me.

3) The second week in March I have to go to a three-day conference in Managua and my bosses picked me to speak at the conference.

4) There is a chance another Gator could be coming down with the business group in May.

5) Electricity and Water rationing is in full affect for the hottest time of the year which means LOTS of sweating.

Send me mail! I really do want to become a better pen-pal.

This post must start with an ENORMOUS THANK YOU!!! to my daddy, Stacy°s mama, Karen, James, Marley and Kristin Gold. Christmas Eve the mailman came running to my house with not one but four Christmas cards. It was amazing. You guys made my day and you can°t imagine how thankful I am.

What have I been up to lately? About two weeks ago I went to a nearby, rural community for a meeting. It takes so long to get there that the person I was going with picked me up at my house a at 6am. Unfortunately for me, this guy is quite the chatterbox. As part of my job as a business educator I am expected to dress in a professional manner. Yes, even though this is the Peace Corps. For that reason, I went to this meeting dressed in pants, dress shoes and a polo shirt. Imagine my surprise when we arrive and I°m told I need to climb a mountain to reach the meeting. I was too late to turn back so up the mountain I went...then back down it..across two rivers...and up another mountain. At one point on this trek I had the distinct impression that my guide could murder me and hide my body without anyone being the wiser. Luckily, responsible volunteer that I am my "host mom" knew exactly where I was, who I was with and what time I would be back. When we finally reached the spot where the meeting was supposed to take placee (on the side of a hill) I was told it had been postponed. To compensate, I helped harvest beans. I climbed the hill which had about a 60° incline...pulled the beans stalks out of the ground and carted them down the hill in a giant sack. Once at the bottom of the hill we dumped the sack onto a large piece of cloth. The next step (Im not joking) is to beat the stalks with a stick until all the beans pop out. I should have taken a picture of the blisters. On our way back down the mountain, I tripped and fell. I didn°t seriously injure anything other than my pride but I still have giant purple bruises on both of my shins.

The week of Christmas was one of mixed emotions. I went to a wedding and a funeral amidst all the holiday parties. For New Year°s Eve Im planning to head to the beach with some girl friends.

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas!!!

So much happens here on a daily basis that to try and write about all of it seems a task almost as overwhelming as living it. That being sad, I´m going to try and organize the last two weeks into a logical summary.

A good friend of mine.

For those of you that don´t know, December 1 is internationally recognized as World AIDS Day. Somotillo is seriously affected by HIV/AIDS (as I have mentioned in previous posts). Good Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) that I am, I joined a commission here in Somotillo to fight HIV/AIDS. We put on a health fair for the whole day which included a 6k marathon, free HIV tests, informational booths, competitions and musical performances. It was a big success. A lot of my students came to get tested which made me UNBELIEVABLY proud of them. As a tribute to the people in Somotillo confirmed to have died from AIDS 56 red balloons were let fly. I think the tribute is a nice idea but I was not fond of the damage it caused/will cause to the environment.

One of the reasons HIV/AIDS is becoming epidemic in Nicaragua is that people don´t get tested until it is too late. For example, in Somotillo this year 7 men have individually sought treatment because they had become ill over the recent months. These seven men all tested positive for HIV but having waited so long to be tested, already 4 of them have died. People here (and in the States too) don´t understand THAT HIV DOES NOT HAVE SYMPTOMS!!!! A person only exhibits symptoms once the virus has progressed to AIDS. Usually by the time you know you are sick you are beyond help. GET THE TEST!

Now that I´ve subjected you to my rant...

Another friend of mine.

I´ve been going out dancing a lot with friends and I really feel like I´m improving. If nothing else, Im gaining more confidence and really having a great time. The other night while we were out a friend invited me to a drink. I had never heard the name before but agreed to try it. Turns out, it was raw turtle eggs, hot sauce, vinegar and ketchup. (Don´t worry, not endangered turtles. I confirmed it was normal lake turtles before hand). I was brave enough to try it and to my surprise it was DELICIOUS! I don´t plan on making it a habit (since raw food in Nicaragua is potentially lethal) but it was an interesting cultural exchange.

My sitemate and two friends of ours.

Last Wednesday I went to a year-end party with a youth group I work with. A group of about 25 teenagers took my site-mate (the other volunteer that lives in Somotillo) and I to a hidden waterfall about 45 minutes by bus from where I live. We had to get off the bus in the middle of nothing and hike for a good half hour through the woods. The next thing I know, we are in front of a GORGEOUS waterfall with three big pools to swim in. The water was deep enough so that we were all jumping off the waterfall into the water. We brought lunch and spent the whole day there. It was one of the nicest days I´ve spent in Nicaragua. The youth group is made up of really good kids and I always have a good time when I´m with them.

Here are some more photos:

My friend Hugo.

The going away party for the volunteer, Lucian. The girl holding the baby is also my hair stylist. The other girl is her sister. They are both good friends of mine.

My nephew!

The last couple of days have been pretty eventful. I spent Thursday at a meeting where we were given lunch and at least one of us (myself) was given food poisoning. Such a lovely way to pass the night/morning/next day. The brains didn´t even give me indigestion but chicken made me roll on the ground in agony. I didn´t get the courage to eat again until Saturday night but I seem to be doing OK since then.

A couple months ago I put the word out that I really wanted a pet bunny. I told EVERYONE I knew and they sent me all over the place following suspected leads. One man told me to give up the search because all of the bunnies in Nicaragua had been wiped out with hurricane Mitch in 1998. In recent weeks I had all but given up hope on my bunny quest. Knowing that, try to imagine my surprise when Wednesday night a girl I´m friends with called and asked me to come over because she had a surprise for me. I arrive and there are TWO rabbits waiting for me. This girl went out and bought me two rabbits. Keep in mind, the original message I conveyed to her is that I wanted one, baby rabbit. I could not have been more shocked than when she presented me with TWO, ADULT rabbits. Nevertheless, a gift is a gift and I accepted them both graciously.

(The following statement my call in to doubt how gracious I was...)

I gave one of the bunnies away the very next day.

Im convinced my friend will never find out because of two things: 1) she is terrified of rabbits and will never come over and ask to see them 2) I swore my other friend (the one now with bunny) to secrecy.I kept the male bunny. He is small and black with bluish-grey eyes. His name is Sandino. Pictures to come soon.

Today I went to visit a volunteer in a town about 1.5 hrs away. The distance is only 30k but a bus packed full of people, heading up-hill on a dirt road can only go so fast. On the way back the bus was crowded, hot and dusty. A woman with three children who had no where to sit asked me hold her child. I didn´t have any desire whatsoever to do this but she didn´t wait for a response. She without warning tossed the three-year-old over the head of the woman seated next to me where it landed with a thud on my lap. The complicated part of this scenario is that we are going through a construction zone and hit a bump at the exact same time she throws this child at me. We all go flying in the air and the little girl hits her head on the window but THANKFULLY didn´t even wake up.

The men sitting behind me start joking that I need to practice holding babies since I will be having a bunch of my own soon. My typical response is that Im not married and I don´t want children. Usually people gasp in both horror and fascination and try to convince me that marriage is the best thing in life. What does this guy do? He asks in an incredulous voice if I have read the Bible. He then cautions me to remember that I will not be let into heaven if I don´t marry and reproduce. I didn´t respond and to be honest I still can´t think of anything to say.

Hasta la proxima.

I think it´s better just to come out and say it: I ate cow brain for lunch. I didn´t know that was what I was eating at the time but I became very suspicious because of the texture. It didn´t really taste bad because it had been fried with peppers and onions. The texture on the other hand...is exactly how you would imagine brain to be. That´s really the only way to describe it.

You may be wondering how I found myself in this situation. I did not order blindly from a menu or anything of that nature. I was invited to lunch at a friend´s house. I eat there often and out of respect for her, I don´t ask what she is having before accepting the invitation. If there is one thing Nicas take seriously, its hospitality. Rejecting food or some sort of refreshment is just as hurtful as calling their child ugly. Having said that, I knew better than to ask her to explain the food after I had taken a bite. She would have been CRUSHED. So I ate brain to salvage my friend´s feelings...with ketchup I might add.

In other news, I will be spending tomorrow at a taller (day-long meeting) put on by the Nica equivalent of the Department of Agriculture. They want me to start working with them in the campo (countryside) doing informal business education.

Until next time!

P.S. I added another new entry before this one but for some reason it showed up below the entry titled "I don´t believe in love at first sight"

Twice now, I have sat down to write a blog entry and the power has gone out. As a result, I´m combining the last two would-be entries and adding to them.

I´m sitting in the internet cafe and a horse is grazing on the weeds outside the door. I LOVE THAT! Today has been really hot, but the rain just started coming down. Already steam is rising off the bricks. Friday got here just in time. This week was long, hot, frustrating. I don´t want to write a negative post, but some days you just can´t help but be in a grumpy mood.

Part of my grumpy mood is that I haven´t been sleeping well this week, the bats have been nosier than usual. Starting the day tired never works out well for me. Another reason this week was a little bumpy has to do with a cultural difference I am having a hard time adjusting to. In Nicaragua, there is a saying ¨en amor, no hay edad¨ which means that in love, age doesn´t matter. I have a hard time deciding how I feel about this quote. The part of me that was madly infatuated with my professor my last semester in college completely agrees. One of my male Nica friends dated a woman 25 years older than him for several years. He refers to her as ONE of his great loves. The part of me that takes issue with the idea that age doesn´t matter is the teacher side of my personality. I can´t helped but be shocked that three of the male teachers at my school are dating students. To be fair, at least one of the couples has the blessing of the girl´s parents. I´m not sure if the parent´s blessing makes me feel better or confuses me more. What do a 15 year old girl and a 36 year old man have in common??

Saturday night was the most fun I have had in I don't even know how long. It was concert in Nicaragua. I went to see Wisin and Yandel:

My site-mate and a friend of ours who also lives in Chinandega met up in Managua for the show. Por suerte, another friend of mine from Nica 47(my group)was able to come along too. We went and got Chinese food for dinner and then headed over. Winsin and Yandel were AMAZING live! We made friends with some people at the concert and ended up going to a casino/night club after. It was a late night, but SO MUCH FUN! **Don't worry Dad, we were completely safe the whole time.**

Call me a cynic, but I don´t believe in love at first sight. As far as Im concerned, ¨love at first sight¨ is a sugar-coated way of saying ¨I knew immediately I wanted to sleep with you.¨ Since I have moved to Somotillo this concept has come up NUMEROUS times. I shared my feelings about this with my host mom and couldn´t have been more shocked by her response. She told me I was dead wrong, it had happened to her when she was a teenager and that man is the father of her three kids.

Do YOU believe in love at first sight??

As it turns out, people do read this blog. Having recently discovered this, the posts will resume...hopefully with regularity.

So much time has passed I don´t know where to begin. It´s been long enough now where Somotillo feels like home. When I have to spend time in the capital (Managua) for medical stuff or meetings I´m always glad to walk in the door of my house. The family is always waiting for me, teasing that I must have gotten lost since I had been gone so long. Keep in mind, the longest I have spent outside Somotillo is three days. During my most recent trip people in town asked my site-mate if I had moved back to the states it had been so long since they had seen me. It feels good that I´m recognized in the community now and that people wonder where I could possibly be hiding instead of what I am doing here.

I have only been sick once since coming to Somotillo. It was a bacterial infection and it was MISERABLE. If you want to know the details, email me...its not exactly G-rated.

I heard ´Feliz Navidad´ on the radio for the first time Nov 10 at 9:25am. Nicaragua doesn´t celebrate Thanksgiving so there is nothing to anticipate but Christmas. Lights and trees are going up in houses all over the place.

The group I work with in Nicaragua (Nica-47 Business) is shrinking. Of the original 20 only 15 remain.

One of the funny things (for me) about Peace Corps is that I won´t be able to share it with majority of the people I love. My family, some for monetary, some for personal reasons will most likely never see the country I have fallen in love with. Some of my friends will come visit, and for that I thank you all in advance. In my mind, I´ve already begun the intinerary of what we would do: You would fly in on a Friday but we would have already missed the last bus back to Somotillo. We´d stay the night at a cute hostel called The Backpacker´s Inn and go out to one of Managua´s many bars/clubs/casinos. The next day we would head northwest to Somotillo. Four hours and two buses later we would arrive in Somotillo. After dropping off your bags we would go to Doña Cruz´ comedor to eat. I would insist you order the pollo asado because it´s too savory for words. You would meet my host family, the teachers I work with, all my friends and see my town. After two or three days in Somotillo we would spend the rest of our adventure traveling around. Perhaps Ometepe, San Juan del Sur or another fabulous beach. I will not take you to Granada. The week would be fantastic and you would get to see both the hard and the beautiful sides of Nicaragua. Maybe you will even come back.

Some of my days in Nicaragua defy explanation. Even as they are passing I am conscious of the fact that I won't be able to convey the magnitude of the event. I especially feel this way when the day is filled with subtle, seemingly insignificant occurences that at the end of the day leave me feeling so lucky to be here, thinking that there is no chance my day could have passed the same in the states. Tuesday was exactly such a day. I went to Instituto San Ignacio to give class. I've been teaching at this school a couple weeks now and am still amazed by the kids and how they are the opposite of everything I had heard about them. This high school is not funded by the government but survives on charity contributions from churches like Fe y Alegria. It's situated in the poorest neighborhood in Somotillo and attends a population of 350 students from kindergarten to 10th grade. The kids are considered at-risk because of the socio-economic status of their families and that most of them have jobs both before AND after school. A lot of the students are also parents. There is no age cut-off for students at San Ignacio so one of the boys in my 10th grade class will turn 21 this year. When I told people in town that I would be working at San Ignacio they all offered their sympathies warning me about how bad the kids are. My experience has been the opposite. The students in my class are there of their own accord. No one makes them get up and go to class, they want to learn. They actively participate in the discussions and there is rarely disobedience. I have fallen in love with the program at San Ignacio. After class Tuesday I was walking home (down the VERY muddy dirt path—I can't even called it a road) when I suddenly found myself face-down on the ground. A root had entered my shoe and pulled me to the ground. I bloodied both my palms, one of my knees, jammed the thumb on my right hand and the big toe on my left foot. I hit the ground with such force that the wind was knocked out of me. It hurt so bad I couldn't even be bothered with feeling embarrassed that four teenage boys witnessed my plummit to the ground. The fall can only be described as epic.

I didn't have time to waste as I now had to go home and change my muddy clothes before meeting up with one of the teachers I work with (we call them counterparts). Gilma (pronounced Hilma) had invited me to go to her mother's house for the day. Her mom was very sick with fever and Gilma was going to bring her medicine. When I accepted the offer, I didn't realize that her mom lives close to two hours away from Somotillo. We met in the market and jumped aboard the still moving bus to make sure we got a seat. As we waited for the bus to be filled with cargo (rice, beans, sugar), people and chickens we savored mamones—a delicious fruit I have discovered since moving to Nicaragua. An hour into the ride Gilma told me the highway (read: dusty unpaved road) was bad up ahead and we now had to get off the bus to get on another bus. The whole bus unloaded along side a river and the race was on. There are not enough seats on the buses for all the passengers to sit down so everyone who got off the bus immediately started running for the river. Even though it was raining, we ran full-speed down the muddy hill and hopped across the rocks in the middle of the water, praying for balance. On the other side, the hill was steeper but no one slowed down. Gilma and I were among the first 10 to make it to the bus. A man in front of us pulled open the back door and we all jumped up into the bus. I sincerely felt like I was illegally crossing the border. The whole time we were running Gilma and I were laughing hysterically. Another hour or so later we were getting off the bus at her family's farm. You have to walk on a dirt path about ¼ of a mile (and cross another small river on foot) to reach her mother's house. By now it was mid-day and the sun was suffocating. I rested in a hammock until lunch while Gilma attended to her mother.

I LOVED the farm. They grow corn, sorghum, tomatoes and beans. Best of all they had TONS of ducks. I absolutely love ducks. I especially love talking about them in Spanish because they are called patos... a name which sounds almost as cute as they look.

Gilma's three year-old nephew what a complete trip. He busts out this wooden toy guitar and starts singing me a song and playing the guitar. Don't worry, I have a video of it.

On the trip back, the bus which was supposed to carry us the second leg of the trip decided not to show up for two hours. Gilma and I sat under a tarp at a road-side stand while the rain poured down around us. The owner of the road-side stand was selling Coca Cola in glass bottles for less than $.50...and they were cold! The two hours passed relatively quickly and before long I was at home.

Before I explain this next story a little backround info is necessary. In Nicaragua, just about everything can be bought from the comfort of your home. Ladies (and sometimes men) come door to door offering everything from veggies, milk, shoes, perfume, cheese...Whatever it may be, you probably don't have to leave your house to get it. Buying from these vendors is a completely acceptable alternative to going to the market.

The day after my trip to the farm I got a package from my dad containing the two books that I had asked for, my new watch (because I lost my other one) and some almonds. I sat down in a rocking chair in the front room to read my book. I sat my soda down on the chair next to me. A half-hour later a woman selling cheese came to the door. I greeted her but told her that I did not want any cheese. She wouldn't take no for an answer, came in the house, stood in front of me opening the container and made me smell the cheese. Cheese does not smell good!!! Suddenly, she spotted my half-drank soda on the ground and reached down to snatch it up. She sniffed at the mouth of the bottle (basically putting her nose on it) and asked me if it was warm. When I told her that indeed it was, she told me she loved warm soda and started to drink it, turned and walked down the street. Even several days later the story seems incredulous to me.

These were just a couple of anecdotes from this week. Hope you all are well. :)

Hasta la proxima vez.

Last Friday I had an appointment with the doctor and a meeting scheduled in Managua. I left REALLY super early so I could go meet up with a friend for the morning before my appointment. I got up at 4am to make the 5am bus. Four hours later I arrived in Managua. We met up at the market, walked to the mall and got breakfast. It was raining so our plans of going to the park/hanging outside turned into sitting in the food court for two hours talking. Oh well.

In true Nica fashion, my afternoon plans got pushed back about an hour and a half which equated to me missing the last bus to Somotillo. I didn´t fret because I was actually kind of excited to go see my family. It had only been three weeks since I last saw them but after seeing them every single day for 11 weeks 3 weeks felt like a lot!!

I took a micro to Masaya and then the bus from the new market to Nandasmo. In Nicaragua you do not pay before getting on the bus. Every bus has what is called a cobrador. The cobrador comes around during the route and collects the fare. The cobradors in all the cities/towns in the Masaya-Managua area scream really loud the destinations of their buses so that people will know which one to take. NO ONE DOES THIS IN CHINANDEGA! I actually miss the funny way that the cobrador screams ¨Nandasmo, Nandasmo, Nandasmo, Niquinhomo, Nandasmo.¨ It was music to my ears in the Masaya market as I caught the last bus to Nandasmo for the day.

I got to Nandasmo just as the sun was going down and could see from down the street that some of my cousins were sitting in front of the house. It felt good to be home! (I like Somotillo but it isn´t home--yet.) I was welcomed with lots of hugs, delicious food and shouts that my hammock was waiting for me. Im infamous in my family for spending Saturday´s laying in the hammock reading. Afterwards, one of my cousins and I went for Eskimo and walked around town. Everyone was shocked to see me back so soon, but unlike how people might react in the states after three weeks... they greeted me like I was coming home from war. Families are so close in Nicaragua that a daughter moving two blocks down the street is a tearful affair. The fact that I came to visit my family after only three weeks made me the best gringo ever in their eyes. It also means they are convinced that I am going to marry one of my cousins 5 handsome male cousins all between the ages of 18 and 28.

My whole family (all 30 of them--not including distant relatives) calls me conejita which means ¨little bunny.¨ They all laughed when my dad declared that I had hopped really hard to make it all the way home.

The next day was my sisters birthday so we celebrated with a special meal and cake. Nicaraguan cake is NOT the same as US cake. It looks similar but there is waaay more icing and the consitency is different...as is the flavor. It´s hard to explain. The first time I tried it, I spit it out. Slowly, im becoming accustomed. The cake we had for Noelia´s birthday wasn´t too terrible. My family knows that I don´t like the icing so I eat the center of the cake and give the icing to my brother.

Saying goodbye was of course sad because I most likely won´t get to see them until Christmas. Nevertheless, one night with them was better than none!

Since I now go by "Profe" (the shortened nickname for profesores en espanol) I spent last night at the dance/fund-raiser put on by one of my high schools (here we call them institutos). It was a different experience for me as my high school did not throw dances on school-nights nor did they serve beer at said fund-raiser. Not to mention, I've never been a school chaperon before. The DJ played a lot of music from the states, mostly rap but also some Madonna. When "Walk it Out" came on I was excited to see everyone get into it. Unfortunately since the lyrics were not understood, during the chorus everyone took the opportunity to grind into one another. Absolutely no one walked it out. In the event that someone reading this does not know how to walk it out, please watch the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxjZM-d_ShI

In other news. Two days ago, a man come to our front door and asked my mom to "gift me" to him. When she refused he offered to pay. INSANE!

Yesterday when I was walking down the street two girls from the elementary school asked me to walk them home. They actually live really far outside of regular Somotillo so I agreed to walk them half way. The girls were ages 12 and 9. Each of them took me by the hand and skipped along as I walked. The older girl asked me if I had a legal visa to the US. I told her that I didn't need a visa since I was born there. Her next question startled me. She wanted to know if I could (for example, she says) take her to the states and give her to a rich gringo family. She also wanted to know if gringos give presents to their kids on occasions like birthdays and Christmas. I felt bad having to crush her dreams of being "gifted" to a gringo family but I told her I couldn't gift her to anyone, or bring her to the states. She looked crushed.

Tomorrow I head to Managua (the capital) for a check-up with the doctor and a meeting with the Agriculture APCD. I´m seeking his advice on a project I´ve been asked to design for Save The Children. He is supposed to be an expert on the topic so I´ve got high hopes for what we can get accomplished. I was hoping to meet up with a friend from Nandasmo while I was there but I don´t think it is going to work out.

This weekend is the patron saint festivals of my town (¡Viva San Lorenzo!). There are carnival rides, arts and crafts being sold, lots of beer. One of the girls will be elected queen of the fiesta. Sunday night there is a big concert in the park where the queen gets crowned. There have been parades every day all week, dance competitions and lots of dancing/drinking. I haven´t made it out to the parties because I have class early most mornings but I think I will go to the concert this weekend.

One funny thing I noticed about the pageant for queen of the carnival is that I am now too old to enter. Reality check! Time has not been passing me by. I´ve actually come to think about that a lot lately with so many of my friends getting married/engaged/divorced/pregnant. I´ve only been gone three months and already so much has changed. I can´t imagine the magnitude of change the next two years will bring to all of our lives.

I recommend the book ¨The Death of Ben Linder¨(I forget the authors name). It´s about the first US citizen killed by the Contras during the Nicaraguan revolution.

Surprisingly, I´m not homesick yet. Still hasn´t happened, maybe it never will.

This post has a stream-of-consciousnes flow to it. I hope it´s not too hard to follow.

Abrazos.

Thursday marks the start of my fourth month in Nicaragua! I can hardly believe it. Today is the start of week two in Somotillo, Chinandega and I'm already feeling right at home. At first I was incredibly disappointed that I won't have the option of living alone after our mandatory six-week homestay in site is up. Turns out though, I'm warming up to the idea. The woman I live with rents two other rooms in the house so she is used to having people go and come as they please but is also very warm and caring. It's a good combination. My house is right off the park (which is the center of town), in a well let area. My room is HUGE and even has a stove/oven and gas tank just for me. My new house also has a toliet instead of a latrine which is a huge bonus. The bucket baths are even more enjoyable here because it is so unbelievably hot here. The only down side to my new home is the bats. My room apparently has a bat colony living in the ceiling. Three have fallen to the floor, victims of the fumigation that took place last week. Yesterday morning I woke up to a bat hanging from the outside of my mosquito net. Only in the Peace Corps. :)

Initially I thought the move to Somotillo would be a bigger adjustment for me than moving to Nicaragua because of how close I have gotten with my family there. Somotillo is literally 10x the size of Nandasmo. My fears were calmed though when my very first night in town girls stopped me in the street and asked me for help with their homework. They already knew my name, knew that I would be their teacher and were very welcoming. The bienvenida offered by the girls was only the beginning because everyone I have met since then has been equally as friendly.

As part of my assignment as a business volunteer, I will be working with Save The Children and the Agro-business center they opened in Somotillo. The center is now independently running and I will be acting as a business consultant and also giving business workshops to the agriculture cooperatives in the area. Turns out, one of the guys I will be working with also rents a room in my house. This came as a huge shock to me but I have since recovered and don't think it will pose an issue. The three guys I will primarily be working with at the center are really excited to have me on their team. They already got me a desk and a big comfy chair, introduced me to everyone in the office and offered me a motorcycle. I OF COURSE turned them down, because as a good PCV I will not be riding any motorcycles. I explained that riding on a motorcycle is an automatic plane ticket back home, a cost too high for me to pay. Luckily, our office is less than a 1 block walk from my house. I think I can manage it on foot.

In other news, I MISS MY (Nicaraguan) FAMILY! I have already talked to my cousin three times, as well as my aunt, my other cousin, my two sisters, my little brother and my mom.

My cyber time is running out but I promise to update this more frequently! My conveinently located house is next door to a internet cafe. :)

This is gonna be a rapid recap of everything that has happened in the last 8 weeks because using dialup internet makes everything seem like a chore....

Every morning I wake up around 6am (except for Sundays when I get up around 8). I crawl out from under my mosquito net to go outside and take a bucket bath. The first splash I always have to hold my breath

so I dont scream. The water is FREEZING in the morning. After my bath I finish getting ready and have breakfast around 7. My Nica mom calls me when its ready. Usually, breakfast consists of coffee, a

piece of fresh bread and some pineapple.

Just before 8, I walk the two blocks to class. Everyday I wave to the old tailor sitting out on his porch drinking cofee and Anita, the woman that makes the best bread in town. My favorite kind has honey in the center. The three other volunteers in my town and I have class until 12 when we all walk home for lunch. At one, we head back to¨class¨but really we spend the afternoon walking around town, getting to know people in the community, talking to the mayor or the schooldirector and practicing our Spanish.Wednesday afternoons, the whole day Friday as well as Saturday mornings we have business conferences with the whole small business group. We also get lots of vaccines. So far, Im vaccinated against typhoid fever, the flu, hep a, hep b and rabies.

Every night at 6pm my family and I watch the telenovela Marina. If its Tuesday or Thursday, the youth group we started shows up at myhouse at 7pm to have our meeting and discuss plans to fix up the park.

Most of my free time I spend hanging out with my little brothers and my cousin. My one brother is 16 and is absolutely great.

Ah, one thing I think is really funny is that just about every time I come home I get a welcome parade from my two little sisters (they are 6 and 3). The youngest one cant say my name so she just runs towards

me screaming MANTHA!

The other volunteers and I were sitting in the park in our town when the mayor drove by. He got out of his car to introduce himself to us and tell us that he was at our complete disposal for whatever we needed. Its a really strange feeling. Very surreal. I feel like Im dreaming most of the time.

and now back to present day......

I FOUND OUT MY SITE TODAY! (Drum roll, please)... For the next two years I will be living in Somotillo, Chinandega. On the map, its in the department in the northwest corner of the country, a little bit inland, half an hour from Honduras. It´s a small town, less than 10,000 but there is electricity. We have running water, but it is rationed daily so mostly we only have it at night. The climate is ¨savannah¨ and its supposed to be REALLY, SUPER hot. We shall see how that goes.

I will be working in three schools (two of which are technically not in my town--I have to commute, hopefully by horse). I will be co-teaching a business class with the ultimate goal of teaching the professor how to teach it after I´m gone. I will also be working with small business projects coordinated through Save The Children and an NGO called Nitalpan. A lot of my work will also be focused on HIV/AIDS education/prevention because 60% of the adolescent population in my town is HIV+.

I will have lots more info next week because Tuesday I head up there for five days to meet my new family, my counterparts (i.e. the teachers I will be working with) and the people I will work with at the NGO.

I´m super, super happy with my site placement!!!!!

I have been in Nicaragua for three days! Staging went well and so has the orientation retreat in Managua. We were all expecting a really shitty hotel but it turned out to be SOOO NICE! We even have A/C! The last couple of days have been filled with lots of paperwork, a couple of vaccines, lots of seminars about what to expect and everyone generally trying to get to know each other.

Four current volunteers came down from their sites to talk to us about their experience (two from TEFL and two from Business). All four of them were really great. I spent a lot of time talking to one of them about the host family experience because that is the thing I have been the most nervous about. I'm one of the only people who hasn't lived with a host family before. The volunteer I was talking to currently lives in a big city (more than 100,000) but his host family had very modest accommodations. His host family had FIFTY chickens, a pig and over 10 people living in two rooms, the kitchen was outside and they have a latrine (imagine me squatting over a wooden box with a hole in the top) for a bathroom. No running water so he had to take bucket baths. Very rural. We found out our training sites today, guess where I will be living? That's right, with the chickens. The pig won't be there though because they slaughtered it as a send off meal when he moved out. I know the situation sounds crazy, but he describes the family as really kind and genuine and I can't wait to move in with them!!! Apparently, this town is too small even to have a bar. I'm pretty excited about this because I will feel really safe. It's the kind of place where everyone literally knows everyone. Addresses here are not described by number and street. The people literally write "One block south of the old church, two blocks left of the store" on the envelope. This is gonna be an ADVENTURE!!!

I don't know how often I will be able to update this for awhile. I won't be able to travel outside my town because there is currently a transportation strike in Nicaragua. None of the taxis or buses are running. Some people have been arrested but I am in NO DANGER AT ALL. Peace Corps does a really good job of protecting us and our families are well trained in the procedures as well. No one needs to worry. When I get the chance to post again I will try and put up some pictures of the first couple of days.

I have officially purchased everything I need for Nicaragua. I feel like my bags are going to be overweight even though I'm really not bringing all that much with me. I refuse to worry about it.

For so long it didn't seem that this day would ever come. Now that it has, I don't know where all the time went. I already miss a bunch of people but I'm SOOOO EXCITED about finally going to Nicaragua.

When I was applying, I spent a lot of time looking at Peace Corps blogs to find an unofficial time line of the process.....

late October '07: start application

mid November '07: finish/turn in app

First week of December: interview

Dec 7: Nomination

Jan 15ish: mail off medical forms

Dental Clearance the next week

Medical Clearance two weeks later

Invitation mailed three weeks later

I should mention, I made it through the process EXTREMELY quickly. Not everyone has such an easy/lucky time with the medical process. If you are left waiting for months on end, hang in there!

DC has been a fun, touristy time with good friends. I saw the monuments, Arlington (where my grandfather is buried) and a fair share of DC bars. If you ever make it to DC/Adams Morgan street make sure to stop by the falafel place just after last call---it was amazing!! Thanks are owed to Bailey and Brandon for putting up with me the whole weekend. :) You guys are awesome!

I checked off my last "to do" today by getting my haircut. It is about four inches shorter, I have side-bangs and it's no longer parted down the middle. Those are some big changes for me. This is the first time in my life my hair hasn't been parted down the middle. I didn't really plan the changes... my stylist and I had communication issues and this hair cut was the result. Either way, I think I like it.

Tomorrow is the first day of staging (orientation). We meet up at 1:30 in Georgetown. Tuesday is more of the same and then we fly out on Wednesday. My phone was supposed to have shut off last Thursday but hasn't yet. I need to call tomorrow and clear that up.

The next post will most likely be from Nicaragua!

I'm not a big fan of flying. My ears hurt just about the whole time and I generally just feel crappy afterwards. I'm excited to see Bailey in a couple of hours. It has been about a year since I have seen her. We have lots of fun stuff planned for the weekend. My flight for DC leaves in about an hour. I made it safely through security without being interrogated. Normally, I am one of the lucky ones selected to sit down in the cubicle and answer questions while my flip flops are inspected. I've determined that I am in the most ghetto terminal in MCO. The walls and ceiling are not even finished. On the whole, MCO is a really nice airport, which is why the disparity between this wing and the rest is so obvious.

I cannot believe that staging starts on Monday. It hasn't really sunk it that I'm leaving. The sadness began to hit me this morning when I woke up. Up until then, the goodbyes felt like I was going on vacation. Getting dropped off at the airport wasn't fun. It actually kinda sucked. It's weird that I can be so excited to get to Nicaragua but that it hurts so much to let go of other stuff. There isn't really a good way to describe all the stuff going on in my head right now.

Thank you to everyone who made these last two weeks so special!! I love you all dearly.

My flight is getting ready to board. Hasta luego

Saturday was the Bon Voyage party. It was pretty low-key. I finally made the mental connection and realized this person I have met (multiple) times is the same guy that my recruiter told me about months ago. This guy is a Mongolia RPCV (AKA returned volunteer) who lived in a tent for two years. He had to burn horse dung and tires to stay warm. I really cant imagine living through a -40 degree winter at all, let alone in a tent. I'm nervous about having to boil my water before drinking it... he had to MELT SNOW to have water. I hope being a PCV turns me into that much of a badass. I also hope he never reads this overly-enthusiastic-awe-inspired entry.

This weekend I kicked the packing into high-gear and actually started putting things in the duffel bag I'm bringing with me. I have to be ready to leave this weekend because of all the traveling I will be doing.

A week from tomorrow is Hank's last day in Gainesville. On my way to Stuart I am dropping him off at Rory's. That is going to be a sad day. I don't remember what its like to sleep without a dog snoring so loudly I have to have a pillow on my head. I guess that sound will soon be replaced with roosters or neighbors.

In closing, I'm worried I won't have room for my pillow in my bag. Sad day.

My staging kit arrived Monday afternoon. I had been out of town for five days so the packet was lovely to come home to. I called the next day and made my flight arrangements. The whole process went really smoothly. I almost didn't know what to say when an actual person answered an 800 number before I pressed 1 for English or 0 for the operator. Ah, but the point of this story is that my flight leaves Orlando the afternoon of May 2. My weekend with Bailey is officially scheduled!

Coming up soon:

UF Bon Voyage party for all the PC invitees.Lots of packingWrite three research papers.Joint going away party for my cousin and I.Move out of my apartment.

Going down south to say goodbye to the girls.

Finals.Orlando for a couple of days.Our staging kit includes a tentative schedule which unfortunately says we check out of the hotel at 4am on Wednesday the 7th. YUCK. It doesn't look as though I will be sleeping that night. Once we fly out of DC we have a connection in Miami. Our flight arrives in Miami at 10:55 and our connection departs at 12:45. This leads me to believe that whoever booked this flight has never flown out of Miami Intl. I just don't see how 40 of us are going to get all the way across the airport and on to that plane before it takes off. I REALLY hope our flight is not delayed even 10 minutes. Even if we make it, I'm skeptical our bags will. Hopefully, there wont be that many people (total) on our flight and they will hold the plane for the 40 of us.

25 days and counting!

Today I woke up from a nap and suddenly realized that if I subtract the number of days I will be out of town visiting friends, from the total number of days before staging... I HAVE 23 DAYS LEFT IN GAINESVILLE! That figure seriously crept up on me. One minute Nicaragua is three months away and now its 36 until we are IN COUNTRY.

Although we have not yet received our staging packets, I have heard that it will be in DC. YAY! I get to see Bailey and Brandon before I leave! I'm going to beg SATO travel to let me fly to DC two days early to spend time with them. I won't need hotel accommodations so as long as the price of the flight isn't significantly different than that of the routine day of departure, I should be fine. We have already made an unofficial itinerary which includes a night tour of the monuments, the Holocaust museum, the Library of Congress, a visit to Arlington National Cemetery (to say hi to my grandpa) and some bar hopping.

Some things are beginning to concern me. For one, I have no idea what type of shoes I'm supposed to wear to work because sneakers/chacos/tevas are not exactly business casual but we can't wear heels seeing how the roads will most likely not be paved. I have not purchased a single thing I listed in the last post as "to do." I still have to go and get the second dose of the chicken pox vaccine. (I'm not sure if I have mentioned the fact that I have never had the chicken pox and don't plan on getting it down in Nicaragua.) I haven't told Verizon I'm going to be suspending my service... or my cable company that I'm canceling.

I need to remind myself that now is NOT the time to procrastinate. Having said that, it will continue until at least next week because every day until Thursday is going to be consumed by a hellish amount of school work. Thursday night I'm heading to Savannah for the weekend. "Ghost tour pub crawl" here I come!

I got very little sleep last night so excuse the randomness that is sure to follow.

I met Isabella yesterday! She is so very adorable. I know people say that about all babies, but if you are really gonna be honest about it.... not all babies are cute. It's a fact of life. I was very glad to see the newest addition to our family is not heinous. Pictures will be posted soon to prove that my judgment was not clouded by bias. My new computer is fantastic and I'm very confident it was a good purchase. I am also in love with how small and light it is. School is really becoming tiresome. Can't wait to be done. Almost one month exactly until my last final of undergrad (which just so happens to be a 7:25am, BLAH).

On the Nica front, I'm starting to feel slightly behind. School has been keeping me so busy I haven't really had any time to work on checking things off the "to do" list for Nicaragua. Its about time to start a prospective packing list. Here goes:

backpack (check!)sleeping bag (check!)some knee length skirtsshirts to go with aforementioned skirts

headlampknifeveggie peeler (I've been told this is a must-have)khaki pantshiking shoesanother nalgene

card gamesmy pillow (I've heard the Nica ones are not so good)

bigger memory card for my cameracamera

GIANT flash driveearplugs (not a fan of roosters/people on airplanes)Ipod solar chargerThat's all I've got for now. I might add more to it when my eyes aren't drooping and my stomach isn't growling.

p.s. The lack of sleep was caused in part by my snoring dog but also by a horrific dream I had about white, bumpy mold devouring my body. It was intense, to say the least.

It's funny how people manifest anxiety. For example, I do not *yet* feel nervous but I am having trouble sleeping and have become completely addicted to sushi (more so than usual, anyway). Lately, I have been right in the middle of doing/saying/eating something and thought to myself "I sure am going to miss this." Some examples include: My family/friends/dog, my cousin's homemade Key Lime pie, sushi, drinking water out of the tap (or just running water in general--HOT SHOWERS!!!), reliable electricity, staying in bed and watching movies on rainy days, being able to call my dad 85 times a day (mas or menos), etc.

Things I will not miss: traffic/driving/the price of gas, phone bills, English, my downstairs neighbors, anxiety about being on time, walking my dog in the rain, love bugs...

MY NEW COUSIN WAS JUST BORN AS I'M TYPING THIS ENTRY!!! Welcome to the world Isabella Grayce Albright!!!!!

Below is my first attempt at adding a photo to the blog. This is my dog, Hank.

Have you ever watched a movie or TV show about something so totally horrific that all you want to do is throw up or turn it off? That is what I did today...only I could not turn it off. I just sat there, staring, unable to look away. The show was called "Eaten Alive" on Animal Planet. The first thing I hear when I turn it on is "So and so was a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa." Instantly, I'm hooked. Turns out, he had been back for three years when he figured out he had loiasis. A worm crawling across his eye (from the inside) is what tipped him off. It took ten years of antibiotics to get rid of it. DISGUSTING!! Then there was the guy with elephantitis and another one with the "worst" type of malaria. Basically, I tortured myself for a good hour. The moral of the story: Off! with deet is my new best friend and mosquitoes are the enemy.

I think I'm going to have to buy a new computer. This one is getting progressively slower, freezing, needs a new battery, a new charger, the screen is detaching from the keyboard and several of the keys have broken off. The warranty has already run out so the price to fix it/replace the parts is almost the price of a new computer. Not to mention, this computer weighs about twelve pounds. I can get one from Best Buy that weighs two pounds for $400.

List of things I need to do:

1) apply for a new social security card

2) arrange to have my phone service suspended

3) complete aspiration statement/mail it

4) create a living will, give my dad power of attorney

5)defer my loans

6) apply for an absentee ballot

7) try and sell my furniture

8) get the second dose of the chicken pox vaccine

9) buy a whole bunch of stuff

10) HAVE FUN!

The list could keep going but I'm not ready to come to terms with it yet.

The land of lakes and volcanoes? Sounds good to me! This is the description of Nicaragua on lonely planet:

"A land of poetry and revolution, lakes and volcanoes, war and peace.

To the new generation of travelers, Nicaragua represents booming beach breaks, volcano hiking, island paradises and laid-back colonial towns. It seems that the message - 'the civil war finished decades ago people!' - has finally gotten across to a world who had the country pegged as a trouble spot. Yet the iconic images of idealistic young people giving their lives for a dream of liberty endure, and Nicaragua remains a land where people, whatever their beliefs, tend to go beyond cheap chatter. A place of artists and poets, the country's people are an even greater asset than its natural splendor." http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/nicaragua

Staging: May 5-6 2008

Pre-service Training: May 7 - July 18 2008

So much to do before then!!

It's weird to think that by May 4 I will have graduated from college, given Hank to Rory and moved out of my apartment.

People are already making promises to come visit and I'm really excited to see who actually makes the trip.

Placement called me today to let me know my package had been returned to them. They had neglected to include my apartment number in the address. Turns out though, the whole packet would have been a big tease because I'm not going to that country anymore. That still undisclosed country is holding elections in May and PC has decided that it would not be safe for a training class to arrive during all the political upheaval.

My job has been changed back to business and I will be heading to Central America the same day as the other program was scheduled to leave.... a date that remains a mystery to me. My packet was being sent FedEx today and should be here by Saturday.

This is a perfect example of why flexibility is paramount for a PCV (or nominee/invitee/trainee).

My new projection for my assignment: Nicaragua, the land of lakes and volcanoes. I should know by Saturday...but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I'm looking forward to trying my day-pack out tomorrow at Busch Gardens!

I wrote out and attempted to post another entry yesterday but it has apparently been lost somewhere in cyberspace. Speaking of things being lost, my invitation has been officially declared lost in the mail. When I called the DC office they didn't seem too concerned about the whole thing. In theory, a new packet should be in route. The entire conversation lasted less than three minutes. That actually made me more nervous because I'm worried they will give my spot away (seeing that its been 2.5 weeks since the original one was mailed and we are supposed to respond within 10 days).

I read on the FB group for future volunteers that when the toolkit updates to notify you of your invite, it also tells you the country the invite is for. My toolkit has decided not to play that game. It has a void where the country name is supposed to be. This is a little discouraging.

In other news, I purchased a backpack, sleeping bag and a card game. The pack is Eagle Creek and kicks ass. The card game is called Rage (from the makers of Uno). I played it every summer at a lake house in Alabama growing up. For the longest time you couldn't buy this game in the states. Luckily the card gods have decided to release it on Amazon.com for $5.99. I can't wait to teach this game to my host family!

Until my packet arrives I am going to try and keep myself as busy as possible. Thursday, I'm heading to Busch Gardens for some roller coaster therapy. Hasta pronto.

Throughout the entire application process DC has sent me four or five letters/packages. Every single one of those correspondences arrived in five days (I checked the postmark). If my invitation arrives tomorrow (FINGERS CROSSED EVERYONE) it will have arrived in 11 days which equals 64.1 miles per day. The Mayan people, when they delivered mail in ancient times, delivered faster than that.

My bitterness over this whole process is in response to the mailman playing a trick on me. I told him what I was waiting for and he told me to go ahead and open my box. He waited around to see me open the box to find it totally empty. Then he laughed. FUNNY!

A list of happier things:

1)Spring Break is next week

2) My Aunt bought me two books (which I will get on Friday)

3) Hank will have a home after I leave.

4) I found a solar-powered ipod/phone/camera/AA and AAA battery charger so no matter where I am it will be documented with photos.

5) The mail will come three more times before next week. :)

I feel better already.

My invitation should arrive tomorrow and I just want to put it in writing that I think my country will be..... BOLIVIA. Nos vemos.