"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.