Running water, a room with doors . . . overrated.

One week later and I do not even know where to begin.

I guess I will start with the basics. I have placed into Intermediate-Low Spanish. Out of 24 volunteers only six of us made it to Intermediate-Low and two have made it to Intermediate-High. Oh yeah! I have moved to Jinotepe, the capital of Carazo, a district of Nicaragua, with three of the Intermediate-Low volunteers. Let me tell you, this has been quite the adventure.

My host family, La Familia de Doña Maria Auxiliadora, is just really nice. I am their first volunteer and they are working hard to take care of me. In fact yesterday they put up doors on my room, and finally gave me keys to the house! I have a little sister named Rosalia (10), a teenage brother Pedro (19), and an older sister Amanda (24). Rosalia is learning English in school and the first to step in and help me with Spanish in hopes that I will return the favor. She is a vivacious little creature that likes to hold hands and stare at you. Haha, I can not wait to introduce her to my fellow trainee’s. Amanda is an English teacher at a local private high school. I’m hoping that her and I will become good friends. Really. Right now she likes to drag me around and introduce me to her friends. I love it! And Pedro, well I don’t see much of him. When I do I don’t really understand what he’s saying! Oh to be in a foreign country.

But, I know what you all are really interested in, do I have running water and electricity? I’m going to answer that with a yes-ish.. I do have water, but only from the hours of 4 am to 8 am. This is when I can flush the toilet and use the sink. Nicaragua is having a huge water shortage these days. Every household is limited in water consumption based on their income, social standing, and city location. Showers are an entirely different entity. I use a shower stall, but the showering consists of me pouring bowls of water over my head. While this isn’t a hard method, I have gone to class a few times and realized that my hair still feels a little soapy. Electricity does exist but only in the living room. There is only one outlet. It sustains the TV and cords that extend out to all rooms of the house with light bulbs on the end. In fact, I didn’t realize until this morning but the refrigerator in the kitchen isn’t plugged in to anything.

I have been pretty happy with the food so far. Nicaraguans love their rice and beans. I eat a variation of rice and beans for every meal. Rice and beans for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch and rice and beans for dinner. But, the two provide a complete set of proteins so I’m relatively satisfied. Even better, the other trainees and I found a smoothie joint a few days ago and they have vegetable smoothies! This and with my rice and beans and I’m good! Que bien.

I know this all sounds a little dry but to me this is what I think of as my first week in Nicaragua. What is all spells out is a seriously tough beginning with fabulous trainees, wonderful PC Staff, and a family that is working very hard to help their first Gringa. This is going to be quite the adventure.

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.