Masaya Masaya Masaya!

Hello all! Lots of updates. Today is my second day with my host family. Im living with a host family about an hour south of Managua, the capital. There are 3 other trainees in my training town. My host brothers and sisters are all in their 20s so theyre fun to hang out with. Last night one of my host sisters and her boyfriend took me out to dinner at a restaurant nearby, which was fun. Tomorrow I start official training, which is 3 days of Spanish classes in the mornings and afternoons, and 2-3 days of technical and health and safety talks. It seems like Ill be super busy with classes, reading up, and practicing mi español! Its amazing how tiring it is spending an entire day trying to speak and understand another language, especially when youre not in class and have to try to decipher the different accents, etc. Hopefully Ill get more comfortable with my Spanish!

The situation with my host family - much better than I had anticipated! Im living with what appears to be an upper-middle class family. We have electricity, running water, a toilet inside (which is really exciting), tv, dvd player. My vegan diet isnt a problem which is SUCH a relief (the family had hosted a vegetarian before so this wasnt much different). I dont even know how many people are living in the house haha because yesterday I met my host mom, 3 sisters, 2 brothers, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, husband of my sister, 2 dogs, cat (named Meow hehe)...the list goes on. But I have my own room, at least.

Some amusing/strange things Ive encountered so far (which I think youll also enjoy):

The addresses - For example, my address is something like "where the train station used to be, 2 and a half blocks north, on the left". There are no street names (some have hypothesized that Nicaragua was the inspiration for one of the band U2s hit songs, however I think they were trying to be a little deeper than that).

Running water - Last night around 8 pm when I went to brush my teeth, I discovered that no water was coming out of the sink. I inquired with my host family about what had happened and, after laughing, had told me that between 7 pm and 4 am the water is turned off (most likely to conserve what little water the country has), and so I have to use the water from a bucket.

Oil, oil, and more oil - pretty much everything here is fried in oil. Rice and beans, plantains, french fries, vegetables. Dont expect me to be a reasonable weight upon my return.

Im sure therell be many more things Ill come across in the future and Ill be sure to fill you all in.

Overall, Ive learned a lot more about the Peace Corps and feel that its really a great program. Not only do they really try to make the community projects sustainable, but they take good care of us. Through 3 months of Spanish classes, plenty of technical training, health care, and a huge support network, I feel much more confident about my decision and coming months.