POST – Fried cheese taco for dinner . . . questionable

Seven hours ago I finally arrived to post, Nicaragua. I’m sure this seems completely obvious, but I just can not believe that I am finally here. It has been quite the journey.

Two days ago I flew to Washington D.C. to embark on what may be the biggest adventure of my life. There, I met up with 23 other Peace Corps hopefuls: five men, 19 women, (statistically a little under 60% of PCV’s are women though). We all arrived to Managua in one piece and are slowing getting to know one another. Wonderfully, we are on the same page. Isolation is our biggest fear, community and inclusion our biggest aspirations. And truthfully it is great to find myself surrounded by people who understand and feel everything I’m going through.

Tomorrow we will all take our Spanish Language Aptitude Test. I can not wait to find out what level I will fall into. It turns out we will be put into groups of four based on our ability. In a few days each group will move to a small community within 20 minutes of Managua and settle into a hefty immersion program. Like I said, I can not wait. On the flight over from Miami I sat next a fabulous Nicaraguan woman. She spoke no English. Turns out after not having taken a Spanish class for a year, I’m not that bad. I’m not great, but not bad. She was pretty great though. She lives for the majority of the year in northern Nicaragua and is a host parent for Habitat for Humanity volunteers. No wonder she was so easy to talk to. She is used to speaking to foreigners who mangle her language! But, because of this tiny interaction I have become incredibly pumped for my PCT (Peace Corps Trainee) future. I can do this.