My host mom just killed a chicken to eat for lunch. I didn`t see it, but I could hear the chicken running around.
Also, I`ve been spending far too much money lately, going places and doing things, so that needs to stop. Sorry Luis, we`ll just have to settle for wandering the streets of Dolores.
I got a big fat package in the mail from my aunt containing tons and tons of Christmasy goodies from Trader Joes and I`m a little overwhelmed but loving it all.
Going to Niquinohomo to (hopefully) party hard for New Year`s, but we`ll see what happens.
I have spent the last week being depressed and homesick and antisocial, but that`s changing today.
I still need to do that gender post, I`ve been taking notes, my host mom has some crazy stories about her life (and other peoples...)

Homesick, but fine. Missing food that is not Nicaraguan, and my Covina living room.

"That`s a tick, I`m gonna set it on fire..."

I always find ways to stress myself out with work when I am supposed to have nothing to do.
This week, I helped out kind of part-time at this summer camp in Masatepe (a municipality of Masaya, a good 45 minute, 8 cordoba bus ride) and ended up helping teach one of the "basic 2" groups and it was fun! One afternoon I went to Niquinohomo to hang out for a couple hours, another I went to Diriamba (the biggest municipality of Carazo, right next to Dolores) to meet with the other Carazo TEFL volunteers to work on some funding proposal for the distribution of this TEFL manual....it`s a long story, anyway, I also found myself a running partner! It`s kind of running/walking, but it`s better than what I have been doing in terms of exercise, which is nothing. I`ve definitely gotten a little pudgier since I`ve been here...oh well. My community English classes here in Dolores are up and running, although I`m having a hard time figuring out how to divide it because people are at different levels. So then I`m gonna have two of those classes, but everyone wants it twice a week, AND my host sister and my counterpart are on my back about starting a KIDS class too, so that will have to happen eventually. ALSO, the volunteer in Diriamba has been giving free summer classes to university students at UNAN in Jinotepe (the department capital of Carazo, also right next to Dolores), and she`s gonna be too busy to do it the three saturdays in January, so I`ve observed two of her classes (it would have been three but I fell on my head one of the Saturdays) and I`m gonna take them over starting January 8th. This means that I need to study my English grammar HARDCORE before then, and I don`t have convenient university libraries to run away to for silence and a place to cram. We`ll see how that goes. I`m pretty sure my whole first year of service is going to be like this, signing myself up for things that I`m not quite sure I know how to do. I`m also going to have to start saying no to people, especially when school starts.
My sister got a puppy, her kids named it Doky. It`s cute, it doesnt have a tail.
I totally got into Soy tu Dueña like, the final week of its final season, but its cool. Valentina and Jose Miguel live happily ever after, obviously.

"¿Que te pasa, mae?!"

I wasn`t going to post about this, because I wasn`t going to tell my parents about it, but I did, so here it is.
I bet you were waiting to here about when I would need stitches in Nicaragua (for those of you that know what happened in Costa Rica). I didn NOT get stitches, but I would say this injury has just as exciting a story.
On Saturday, December 5, at 1:40 pm, I was walking to a university in Jinotepe (which is the capital of Carazo) to observe a class, and as I was stepping of the curb, while at the same time texting, while at the same time looking both ways for cars, I didn`t see the giant hole in the ground that my foot was going into. So in Nicaragua, there are all these holes in the ground, like manholes, but people steal the lids because they`re made of iron and I guess they can make money off of them somehow. Anyway I fell, and scratched my thigh pretty bad, hit my elbow, and my head. Luckily it wasn`t my actual HEAD, more like my cheekbone and right part of my brow bone, but I was dizzy and my vision was a little wack for a good 15 minutes. I may have lost consciousness for an instant on impact, but I guess we will never know. About 6 strangers surrounded me and helped me sit up on the curb and started bombarding me with questions about if there was someone I could call and stuff, and I didn`t have any cell phone minutes to call a non Peace Corps phone (because we have special chips so we can talk to each other unlimitedly), so I couldn`t call my host mom, but I called the Peace Corps doctor...then some guy said he could help me into a cab and take me to the nearby hospital, and I`m hesitating about getting into a car with a strange man but I knew that I had no idea what else to do, so I went, and by the time we got there I felt fine. I was still in shock and scared for a while, slightly sobbing while talking to the doctor/nurse, and they wanted to give me a painkiller injection but the PC doc said no, so I said no, and just got some IBU profin. And basically I was just told that if I started feeling nauseous or vomiting, lost consciousness or got dizzy or confused or had really bad headaches, I would need to come back. None of that happened, but I ended up going to the PC doc on Monday just to be sure. Im still just bruised everywhere, my cheekbone still hurts, but I`m fine.
1) While I was sitting outside of the hospital in Jinotepe, waiting to be seen, and was scared, the first person I wanted to talk to was a friend from Niquinohomo, who I texted and asked to call me because I didn`t have any minutes, and who did, and then asked if they should come visit and I said no but they showed up at my front door anyways.
2) Later that night I went to hang out with my counterpart and told her and her family the story and went with her to her nephew`s graduation party where she may have starting making confessions about her more wild teenage days.
3) I came home and changed for bed and was about to hit the sack when my neices came over and my mom pulled out the Christmas decorations and I started to help put up Christmas decorations and Mayerli insisted that a Santa Claus go on my bedroom door.
4) Yesterday, there was a Catholic celebration called la Purisima, which basically celebrates the Virgin Mary, and there are a bunch of fireworks at 6 pm, then people go to houses where people have altars set up, and sing songs, and get something (like trick-or-treating) and my 13 year old neighbor offered to take me with her to check it out because I had been talking about how I`d never seen it before.

Lots of things have happened, but here is my new MAILING address:

Neha Shinde
Apartado Postal 83
Jinotepe, Carazo
Nicaragua
Central America

All of a sudden I am very busy. Again. Oh dear. Nice.

You can go for SO long being SO sure you`re doing something right... Period.

Frustrated. (I just happened to be frustrated at the moment i was tryingto think of a title)

Scratch that internet schedule...my schedule isn`t consistent enough for me to make those kinds of promises. Today I ate some spinach for the first time in Nicaragua. I met the ministry of education delegate for my municipality, and also met this awesome volunteer who lives in the municipality next to mine. She`s gonna let me follow her around for a while, and maybe take over some stuff when she leaves!! Today I`m going to observe (and maybe lead some activities in) one of my counterparts classes at a nearby university, which is pretty intimidating but I can`t let on that I`m intimidated. I`m trying to email some pictures to someone but this computer is so slow that its realllyyy frustating and my lack of cell phone signal AT THE SAME TIME is extremely frustrating right now as well. Also the fact that I have to pay for my internet time and its really not much but its stressing me out all the same I dont know how much extra money I have after I pay for food and rent and stuff. blegh.

Day 5: Falling for Dolores...among other things...(cheezy, I know, but you might have to get used to it...)

This is what I have been doing for the past 5 days: going for long walks, reading, studying spanish, coloring, reviewing the things I have to get done my first 2-3 months here and trying to make a schedule or routine, texting, learning how to cook, kind of learning how to sew clothes, although I may not be as interested in that as I thought I would be, trying to build up the courage to start introducing myself to one or two families a day, starting with my brother´s who I don´t know as well as I should. This might sound lazy, but school´s out, and I´m supposed to be spending summer vacation getting to know my community and its people and its needs. Today I´m going to a Nicaraguan baby shower!! We´ll see how that goes.
Yesterday afternoon, a cute, chubby little girl with brown pigtails and beautiful eyes walked straight through my house, into my backyard, where I was sitting in a rocking chair studying Spanish, and proceeded to start a conversation with me. No one was around, and when my mom finally showed up she didn´t recognize her or know where she came from either. Then the little girl ran off. OMG she was so cute. That probably made my day yesterday.
There are really beautiful roads on the outskirts of Dolores but I guess it´s risky for me to walk around them by myself.

Ummm...I´m making myself a schedule for when i´m gonna be online, which is 7-8pm (Nica time which is 2 hours ahead of cali time) on tuesday and thursday, and 10-1130 am saturday mornings. In case you ever wanna skype or whatnot.

There is a more serious post about Nicaraguan culture, specifically regarding gender, coming soon...

Yesterday was my first day in my site as an official volunteer. I lugged my big fat suitcase HOME and spent a couple hours trying to unpack and arrange everything in my tiny room. It`s going to be hard but it`s going to be good, there are already people who have actually approached me asking for english classes. I think my first goal for my emotional wellbeing is to get more exercise. Also, I`m really learning how to cook now, instead of just thinking I was going to learn how to cook. Although to be honest Nicaraguan cooking seems extremely simple. I don`t know where this post is going, sorry, I`m gonna go home and write in my journal instead.

Me with my first meal in Niquinohomo. There is a salad, rice, guizo de papas, and some boiled platano on the way...



This is the angel that is my abuelita. She was watching my purse while I danced. On this night, she stole a knife from the restaurant and hid it in MY purse. It was hilarious....

Me and Sam working hard with the light of our headlamps....

Me and Julie in a chair-hammock at Sam´s house...

Me and host mom before a Halloween party....yeah she went pretty scandalous...and I went with bubbles...

Por fin! Unas fotos....

I know it´s late and maybe a little dumb to post pictures of my Niquinohomo house and family the day before I leave, but, here is my room.
In the first one you can see the Jonas Brothers, and in the second you can see Eclipse.


This is the kitchen and dining area, and that dog is Pupi.


This is the rest of the house kind of minus the living room...and the central patio thingy.



I don´t know...there were stuffed animals up for drying...I thought it was funny...it looks kind of bad. Also, the door that sayd "Gaby" is my room.



This is tio Bismarck and Gaby sitting in front of the TV, behind them is the living room...

Host mom on the computer in the living room....Pupi on the floor on the bottom left corner...

oh ps i got my first french manicure of my life in nicaragua

"I figure I´m a walking blog, you just need to plug your headphones in" and "Every other eggplant I buy has a worm"

A lot of things have happened in the past week and a half. I can´t really write about all of it, but it´s been crazy and swearing in is in 3 days.

Ummm...I´m really gonna miss everyone that has been a part of training. I have so much organizing to do of stuff and thoughts and PLANS.

I´m kind of excited about all of the free time im gonna have to post a bunch of pictures and study up on TEFL and things I can do and settle in to my house and community. Very eager to make friends, and still happy with the ones from Niquinohomo ;).

Basically that´s all: my head is scrambled eggs but right now I´m gonna go out with some aspirantes and some Nicas and go a little wild (hopefully) probably for the first and last time.

"Chunchitos"

This family and this town are suppperrrr religious. This is going to be difficult. Maybe it´s just my family, and I just need to meet other people, but even my 19 year old nephew is always just...singing religious music, and stuff. I don`t think I have a problem with it itll just take some getting used to. And I`m tired all the time again but I think that`s just what happens to me when I have to start over.
I think I`m just gonna pull an all nighter one of these nights to write this portfolio, because now I just want to spend my remaining time in Niquinohomo hanging out with Niquinohomo people and the other trainees. And be myself while I´m in a more...liberal and open minded town.

BUT, just like I had mama Conchita when I was sad in Niquinohomo, I have these adorable twins here in Dolores. And Myerli, their 5 year old lil sister, who is teaching me a lot of vocab.

Escoba y Kosquillo(sp?)

Yesterday I arrived in Dolores for my site visit. Basically it`s just a 6-day period where you have a chance to meet and hang out with your new host family, meet your counterparts, get to know the community and start getting comfortable. I decided to take my medium-sized suitcase, my saco (the big Nica market bag full of textbooks that PC gave us), and my backpack. Stuff I`m gonna leave here so I can bring the rest of my stuff after swearing in. I hopped on a bus from Niquinohomo to Dolores, took about 45 minutes, which means I am about a 2 hour bus ride from Managua.
I was incredibly spoiled by my Niquinohomo house. I knew it from the start but I let myself get comfortable anyway. This host family and this new house fits more the image I had before I got here. This time, my host mom is the abuelita, and she`s got a bunch of little grandkids running around the house, so I have a 5 year old girl that is attached to me always named Mayerli, and twins that are ridiculously sweet, who are 10 years old, named Karelie and Karelia. There is a baby of about 3 months named Naomi. These people don´t live in my house, they live next door, but they are around. It`s a lot more tranquilo than my other house, but they are friendly and experienced with volunteers because Dolores has been a training town for a while.
Anyway, I got off the bus, called my counterpart Tania who I had called the night before, and she walked over from the instituto to pick me up. The instituto is basically at the bus stop. She is awesome. She works in the morning teaching at this school and then in the evening teaches at a private university (I think) called Ave Maria. She introduced me to one of the other english teachers who is new, and then proceeded to take me to every single classroom to introduce me to the students, one of which, in each class, she had asked to prepare like a little welcome speech for me, which was cute and a little overwhelming. I hung out with her and the directora for a while, met some other teachers, then she helped me take my stuff to my host family`s house, and I ate lunch, and went for a walk, and this is where the title of the post comes in.
So I went for a walk with my mom, Mayerli, one of the twins, and we picked up my mom`s mom (abuela laura) on the way. We walked down a reparto and it was really pretty and fresca and green and there was this plant everywhere called escoba. It`s just a plant with leaves, but my mom was all excited and like man someone get me a machete so I can cut some of this escoba, and we finally found a machete, and man does she know how to use a machete. I tried and failed miserably. I was also a little scared. Then we made these little bundles of them, because I guess they use it to sweep. Anyway she`s going crazy over this escoba, and then she realizes that we left abuela laura far behind and she starts freakin out and then we hurry and each gather our bundle of escoba and head back home.

The rest of the day I was kind of just tired and bored, but then we had dinner and talked about India and watched part of a telenovela (Soy tu Dueña) and went to mass in Diriamba which was nice but a little long. Came home and crashed HARD but realized my cell phone reception isn`t too hot in Dolores =/.

Also I got serenaded on Sunday afternoon.

Today I observed a class of the new English teacher, and now I`m sitting in the computer lab (yes, my instituto has a computer lab) and my counterpart, who teaches all morning, sent a student with a pack of crackers for me to eat. I love her already.

Everything is good, it`s just scary all over again.

=)

I will be spending the next two years in Dolores, in Carazo, which is the department just south of Masaya.

Emo warning...still "El arroz esta llorando porque no lo comiste!" LOL and "Are you approaching Zen?"

Yesterday I walked into a room with a bunch of confidence and walked out feeling like shit. It was my first really bad day (apart from my sick ones). Basically I made a fool of myself in front of my boss. TOtally unacceptable. If I had written this post last night it would have been much uglier, but I´m over it, for now.

TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY IT´S GONNA BE CRAZY.

I guess I´ll post the big news tomorrow.
Also, Halloween is this weekend, and there is some celebration called aguizote...anyway my family wants me to dress up in my sari. We´ll see about that. Also the volunteer that last lived with my family is coming tomorrow to party. That should be funn.

"...y eso nejita bonita que puedo hacer para que no estes asi? ;-)"

Um, I´ve been a slacker here, sorry, but my head is in desperate need of emptying.
My mom has been making angry requests for photos and all I can say right now is that they are coming soon.
Two weeks ago I was sicker than I´ve ever been (I think) but now I´m a lot better con un poquito de tos. Last week we had this intense training week of teaching in Matagalpa, Matagalpa, and we got to stay in this AWESOME hostel que se llama La Buena Onda and it was actually opened by a PVC who went back after his service and stays 3 months at a time to run it as well as a bar in the same city. It´s pretty sweet. If you´re ever in Nicaragua you should definitely go to Matagalpa and you should definitely stay at La Buena Onda.
There is a lot of work to do tonight and this whole week in general. I have to plan a workshop session (with Sam and Julie) for Nicaraguan english teachers about interactive speaking activities, I have to plan a lecture for my youth group on tolerancia, I have to plan another youth group meeting I think Peace Corps wants us to teach reading but we want to do prepositions, that´s not important, what I was about to do was whine about Peace Corps training, but I am deciding not to, because it´s not necessary and I think I´m just a little homesick today.
Umm...we also have to revise our resumes and translate them into spanish this week. AND, to top it all off, I´ve been promised that I´m going to teach at least one class at the instituto this week, which is what I´ve been needing and wanting, but it´s just a busy week.

Um, I went to my sisters 19th bday celebration last night at a club in Managua, and it was pretty fun.

Everyone hold me to this: I will be serenaded before I leave Niquinohomo.

We find out our sites on Friday!!!! Eeekkk!!! I think I might cry or have some kind of similar physical reaction. Or not.

I feel like laughing really hard so as soon as you finish reading this please post a video on my facebook wall.

My Spanish has not improved as much as it should have and I´m not quite sure what I´m doing wrong.


I should go sort out my brain right now.

All of a sudden I'm an English teacher and it is the most difficult thing I've ever done.

Last Friday, we were given packets that had descriptions of sites listed as A through Q, and we were told that we should think about our top three by today, Monday, for the "site fair", where volunteers that are currently serving in the departments where we could potentially go come and talk about them. I went in there with preferences but after hearing about all of the places I don´t really care. It would be crazy to live on Omotepe, the island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua right next to two volcanoes. Or in the uncharted territory of R.A.A.S. (yes, raas, Region Autonomo Atlantico del Sur) where there has never been a TEFL volunteer and where they speak Creole English. Or, in Nueva Segovia or Jinotega, right on the border of Honduras, where only last year the first TEFL volunteers were sent.
But I would also be fine here, in Masaya, or even neighboring Carazo, just not Niquinohomo because I want to start fresh somewhere.
Yeah you probably have to look at a map of Nicaragua to understand some of that.
But anyways, we went to a volcano on saturday, and Ive never been that close to one before so that was cool. there was smoke coming out of it.
saturday night we celebrated a trainees bday at someones house, that was fun.
Training is stressfull. I have classes to teach and a youth group to practice lots of things on and a workshop to make up and a cough to get rid of and journals and portfolios to write and skills to develop and learning to do about TEFL.
Speaking of which, I have to go plan when to meet to plan for tomorrows youth group,
Peace. =)

Mi Niña Bonita

So there are some frustrations I should note:
There are 5 trainees sharing one counterpart, so its very hard to be able to teach a class, and we have to teach 4 by the end of training and write portfolios on them and stuff.
Actually thats the biggest one.

Youth group is back on track with our regulars at our old location because the instituto failed. (not the students though, never) and let me just tell you about Carlos and Dinora and Cindy and Jose Alberto and Andrea and Sabjha and Ana and Ines: I dont know what to say but I love them. Even when they walk out of youth group to text their boyfriends and show up half an hour late.

Um, Julie has a really hot nephew who is 20 or 21. That´s pretty much all I have to say about that. Oh and hes in a band. I drool.

And I miss garba season a lot. So, I might start something here. Well see.

Also, you get to click on a link and read updates about my life, so I expect emails or something from yall. Please.

I missed college for a good 10 minutes today.

"Grammar is deep, man."

English grammar is HARD.
Sabjha is the best student anyone could ask for.
Tomorrow most of us trainees are going to this big monthly teacher meeting called TEPCE. That´ll be intimidating.
Today I had the most vegetables I´ve eaten since I´ve been in Niquinohomo and it was amazing.

Today I observed two of my peers coteach classes and also cotaught my own while they observed me. It was a pretty awesome day. The class was only 45 minutes, and some of the classes are 90 minutes and I now know that those are going to be exhausting.
The counterpart Nicaraguan teacher, Juan, is absolutely amazing and really nice and open to our ideas.
There has been puring rain and wind for the past week, and it has been cold. There is this tropical storm thats hangin out in Nicaragua on the Atlantic coast. I didnt take a shower yesterday and I´m not sure if I will today because its too cold. hehe
Shoutout to Darlene for downloading all of these popular spanish songs onto my computer the night before I left so that now my family can think I´m cool because I recognize the songs (and like them).

"Antes que te vayas dame un beso"

I really don´t have enough willpower to be detailed in these posts, but I´m getting rather attached to the kids in my youth group, particularly the 5 that are truly regulars, and if they get lost in the crowd when we get more kids from the instituto the three of us trainees have agreed to hold separate meetings especially for them. Gladly.

I never wrote about this, I think, but on the way home from Managua a couple weeks ago I met a girl in the bus who overheard me talking english to another aspirante (I love throwing in spanish words) and we got to talking (in english) and she told me she was an architect who was going back to school to learn english so she could find a better job. And she needed someone to practice english with. Well this was rather perfect, and we asked her to speak at our youth group meeting about why learning english would be important and applicable to them. That day we only had 9 people, but anyway she is the sweetest. We are going to buy her a present.

The other day we observed another trainees first teaching experience, he did amazingly, but it made me realize that its going to take me a lot of practice to get that role right.

I went to mass on thursday, and it was pretty long and boring, and the priest was rather critical, but one thing i love about catholic mass is the "saludo de paz" where everyone has to go around and hug or shake hands and say "peace be with you" or something similar. That should happen all the time.

Being Indian and trying to represent the US is kind of a struggle all the time. When I try to explain that Im american and then people eventually just want to know that Im indian and forget that im american and then just think i came from india.

I have spent far too much time on the internet. Peace.

"Conmigo, nadie se queda con hambre!"

Yesterday I went to the Laguna de Apoyo with some other trainees and some of their siblings. Laguna de Apoyo is this little lake in the middle of Masaya, which is a volcanic crater. We hiked into a volcano and went swimming in it! Anyway, it was amazing. I got home at 2pm, starving, and no one was home except Papa Luis (mi abuelo)...so I try to be casual when I say "hay comida?" and he´s like "no, yo tampoco he comido" and everyone was gone to hang out in Masatepe at my aunt´s house and no one had left him anything. I, on the other hand, had indeed said I wouldnt be home for lunch but food ended up not happening. So I was like, "oh okay, esta bien" thinking maybe I would try to cook us something as I walk to put my stuff in my room, and when I come back out he´s like "Quiere comer frijole y queso y huevito frito?" and I was like "Usted va a cocinar?" and he´s like yeah! So my grandpa and I cooked lunch together. That night he also cooked me dinner. And proceeded to compliment his food profusely. That was the best lunch I´ve had in Niquinohomo.

We finally went to the instituto today to meet the english teachers and hopefully get some more publicity for our youth group, and we are going to observe a class tomorrow HOPEFULLY.

I have been kind of a slacker in terms of reading and studying for the past week but that is going to change.

Julie and Sam kept raving about chocobananas and I finally tried one yesterday and I think what makes it taste good is that it only costs 1 cordoba.
Oh and the POPS equivalent here is Eskimo (Pops was an ice cream place in costa rica)

Every day I become more aware of how capable I am of doing this and how hard it´s going to be.

Here is my mailing address
Neha Shinde, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

If you want to be safe you can throw in the address of the Peace Corps office
Reparto San Juan
Hotel Brandt´s 1 1/2 c. al sur
(thats one and a half)

I just wanted to say that my favorite person in my host family is my grandma.

Ï´m in Miami BITCH!¨

I forgot to mention this refresco that is basically oatmeal mixed with water and sugar. It´s aite. Today I had this really good ginger drink. Last night I went out with my mom and my aunt and some of their other adult friends including a gay guy and it was WILD and hilarioussss. I feel I shouldn´t post details here. I also have this disclaimer that I have to post which I will soon about how this blog does not reflect the opinion of the Peace Corps or the US government. Yesterday, I dressed one of my sisters up in a sari and she proceeded to find a sticker to put on her forehead and put on bangles and run around the house having her other sister take pictures of her in various ¨Indian¨ poses. Then we had raas-garba lessons that evening. Friday we went to Managua for a vaccination and a technical training session and we were fed non'Nicaraguan food so we stuffed our faces with things that did not include plantains and rice and beans and cheese. I´d say the first youth group meeting was a success, but the real test is seeing if they come back for the next one.
My internet time is running out, so I will have to post more laterrr.
Take care everyone.

"Mama! Vienen los gringos!"

Let me tell you, I eat platanos and beans and rice and cheese every day. It´s okay. Today I ate some meat. I´ll get to that. All my showers are cold, and my dog, Pupi, likes to hump everyone. I saw the biggest pig I have ever seen in my life on the street in my pueblo, and the group of trainees that are living in Niquinohomo had our first conversation about poop. See, I consider conversations about poo and pooing schedules a real milestone when I am becoming friends with someone. I was so happy. I am in love with Julie´s nephew who is about seven years old and whose name is Pablito. I wasn´t sure if I wanted a mother-daughter relationship with my host mom or a more equal kind of relationship since I´m trying to seem legit and adultlike but there was an incident and she has managed to give me a middle ground somehow. I´m a little overwhelmed with things I have to do. My days are full of spanish and only spanish except for a small hour or two when the trainees hang out or have work to do together. Tomorrow is our first meeting with our youth group. We´re playing some camp games and talking about english. Or at least thats the plan. Also I think Kati, the parrot, hates me. Whenever I go near her jaula (yes I am making you look words up) she backs away slowly while looking at me suspiciously. But I think she has a crush on Sam. Today I played basketball with some volunteers and kids and that was fun.
I have a ton of reading to do, I feel like I´m in college again, but it´s okay.
My family is awesome, my grandpa likes to talk, and I took a video of my sisters and cousin singing California Girls while looking at the lyrics online. I think I might go out dancing with my mom and her sister in law on saturday night and then do a little sightseeing in Leon on Sunday.
I will post a phone number and address where you can send stuff DURING TRAINING ONLY hopefully next time.

K I gotta go I hope I didn´t forget anything. My mom cooked something mixed with eggs that she didnt think was meat but it was but I felt like I should eat it so she wouldnt feel bad so I did. Some kind of mixture of pork and chicken. Just a little bit. There will probably be more.

K, time for homework.

I have absolutely amazing luck with host families.
I spent my first night in Niquinohomo at a gay beauty pageant in Masatepe (a nearby city).
I live in a house with this courtyard thing in the middle, with a parrot that can bark like a dog, named Kati (Katie?) , and two dogs, one named China and the other Pupi (Puppy?).
I have internet access in my house, when there is electricity, but I am gonna try not to get carried away.
There isnt running water a lot of the time so I think the majority of my showers, or all, are gonna be cold.
I am still tired all the time.
My sisters like Twilight and Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber. Which is perfect.
My room is adorable.
My mom is separated from her husband.
My abuela is pretty much deaf but shes gonna teach me how to cook.

Niquinohomo. Brujos.

Today was a very exciting day. I'm probably not gonna be able to blog for a while after this, so I'll try to be as detailed as possible...maybe.

We did a short overview of the language training program we're gonna be going through for the next 11 weeks. Then we got thrown into a classroom of 7-8 people that had placed into our Spanish level range, in order to be assessed more and split up one more time, so that we could be placed into training towns and go through training with people in our same level.

For the next 11 weeks I will be living in a town near Masaya called Niquinohomo. I know. I love that name. I feel like Pocahontas. And I will be training with Julie and Sam. My host family includes a mom and a dad and two sisters, 17 and 18, and abuelitos (grandparents) which I am really excited about.

Then we had this "surprise activity" and they had gotten us tour boats and we went around Lake Nicaragua, which is the biggest lake in Central America, which has freshwater bull sharks, and there are tiny islands everywhere and there were monkeys that climbed into our boat and ate lollipops and their names were Lucy and Pedro and Cappuccino.

Our tour guide was blasting Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.

Then we had dinner and we threw this little party after because we all really like each other and are sad to be parting, and we learned some salsa and merengue and I had a couple margaritas.

Then I showed them some raas (not just because of the margaritas okay) and Julie wants to teach it to our youth group.

I forgot to mention, we have TWO young married couples in our group. I think that's really cool. They are really cool.

Okay, life is going to get really different now, and scary, every day is going to be intimidating, but this is what I'm here for.

Good night.

"I'm not here to bite at people. If I was here to bite at people, I wouldn't have danced."

Today I woke up at 5:45 in the morning to go for a walk by the lake (Lake Nicaragua) which is famous for having freshwater sharks that no one that I've spoken to has seen yet. Then breakfast and some more orientation-esque information that was difficult to sit through because I'm tired all the time, and then getting interviewed to see how good I am at Spanish, and getting my first cordobas (money) and more info, and wandering through the streets and becoming friends with people I will be parting with soon =( (Note to self, don't ever forget, someone talking to you about why they are doing peace corps, and saying they like to collect experiences, like pokemon cards, and that peace corps is like the "holographic charizard" LOL, even right now).

The fun begins after dinner. When bachata started playing, and one of our girls is a dance teacher, and one of the guys knows how to dance and they started dancing and then teaching us how to dance and then everyone was dancing! It was amazing and adorable.

And I think...things are falling into place.

"I thought I was gonna be sleeping on hay..."

Soooo....let me talk about yesterday. Yesterday was official registration as a Peace Corps Trainee. There was a lot of "Hello, Neha. Welcome to Peace Corps." And then we had fun icebreakers and skits and games like at camp, and instructions about the transport to Nica, and people showing their cute personalities and stuff. There are quite a few people from Wisconsin. All I'm going to say about cute boys is that there are a few. This blog is very public, that's quite risky.
I had a situation with my laptop, the charger stopped working so I cabbed to best buy after 7 and had to buy a universal charger for lots of money, but my I think my computer is about to become useless pretty soon anyways, we'll see.
Then my last American meal was eaten at Whole Foods and it was kind of perfect.
We had to wake up at 2am, check out at 2:30, leave at 3, and our flight was at 7:20. I could not fall asleep without a window seat, so the (almost) entire day has been spent being (almost) miserably tired, but whatevs. There was a nice Nicaraguan man sitting near us on the second flight from Miami to Managua.
The plane hits the ground and I have a huge smile on my face.
We are welcomed by posters and 2 current volunteers.
Again I go outside and it reminds me of India and therefore Costa Rica.
And then I'm sitting at lunch and the girls I'm sitting with are marveling at the beauty of the place and in a wave of doubt and pessimism I'm thinking I should have picked the place that was newer and exciting (Eastern Europe) and then there are clouds and crazy lightning and deafening thunder and pouring rain and i look around and realize again that I do appreciate it even though it's not completely new and no matter what or where THIS is MINE. This is mine. Do you know what I'm trying to say? I'm so ready.

Then there is this orientation that is torture because I'm exhausted and I cannot keep my eyes open and luckily its short and I collapse into a two hour nap and wake up in time for dinner and walk out of the hotel room to the sunset and try to take a picture of it but you can't capture that stuff (I learned that on my last trip to India).

Dinner is good. I'm so glad so many of us are fresh graduates from college. I'm sad that half of us are in environmental education and I won't be seeing those people much after 3 days.

Peace.

"I learned that in Nicaragua you get chased down the street with machetes."

I don't have time to be doing this, because I have to be up in three hours, but I'm going to anyway.

I wanted to do this whole intro post with basic info about the peace corps and the whole process I went through to get to yesterday, but there wasn't time for that either. Now I just have to write before I forget things.

There was a slight increase in my heart rate while saying bye to my parents after being shoved through security yesterday morning, and that was probably it. And I was thinking then that after I get on that airplane to Nicaragua I will be the ONLY person in control of my life. Not that my family is controlling, but the influence is there when I'm only 40 miles away and my parents are paying for my rent.

Anyways, on the plane ride to Chicago I read some of this big fat book that peace corps wanted us to read about teaching techniques which I hadn't had time to do either. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying. And slept and read a card from my parents. And wondered why I wasn't in panic mode yet. Also my carry on luggage didn't fit in the overhead compartment. I'm not gonna tell that story.
Then on the ride to DC, the woman sitting behind me on the plane overheard me talking to my mom on the phone and we discovered that we had the same fate and so we shuttled over to the hotel together.
DC is sooo beautiful and clean and shiny!!! Promise myself to come back some time.
Get to the hotel around 7:30pm, met some people on the shuttle over, meeting my roommate for the next two nights, and talking and snacking and worrying together. Then making phone calls to mom and dad and sister.

Then Rikin is in the lobby!! How exciting!! My last familiar face before I leave for a long time. I was just expecting a quick bite and maybe a short walk, but thennn "This is your first time in DC?!?!?! REALLY?!?! .....hold on....." and then being whisked away to the Lincoln memorial and washington monument and places whose names I can't really remember (sorry) and the WHITE HOUSE. And at night time! It was all very nice and pretty and I learned a lot and I would have never thought to go at night if I was on my own. It was ridiculously sweet and generous of him especially for being in the middle of doctor school. I feel very lucky.

And then showering and collapsing into a really comfortable bed for the last full night of sleep in the states.

I was going to write about today too, but this is all I got in me. Good night. The next time you hear from me I will be in Granada, Nicaragua, and hopefully awake enough to be witty. <3