Site Visit

Last week was probably the hardest week I´ve had since I´ve been here. I went on my site visit and was pretty unhappy the entire time. My host ¨family¨ is an older woman who´s used to living alone. She pretty much spends the whole day in the house, working at her ¨venta¨ or little store. She doesn´t talk very much either. So this was quite a change to my current host family, who I love, which is constantly bustling with people and there´s always someone to talk to. My host family in my training site has also hosted 8 volunteers prior, whereas in our sites, the families don´t receive any training from PC and my host mom is new. Also, the room where I´ll be staying for my first 6 weeks and 5 days (not that I´m counting) is pretty much like a jail cell...it´s dark with grey, cinderblock walls and no furniture other than my bed and a very small table. So, please send me pictures and stuff I can hang up to bring some life to the place!!! I´m going to see if I can try to change my host family to one that´s maybe a little bit more exciting, because our first 2 months in site will be pretty tranquilo, since school is out for ¨summer¨ and we basically have to spend the time just getting to know the community. I will have A LOT of downtime and fear major boredom, so hopefully I can get something worked out (or possibly have the opportunity to move out and get my own place sooner). I know these first 3 months in site will be the hardest, not only because it´s a new place and we´re starting from scratch all over again, but because school will not be in session and I won´t have much to do. I am also separated from all my fellow trainees. I definitely have become too comfortable in my training site, and have come back with a new appreciation for my training town and family. I will miss it dearly, and plan on visiting as soon as I can take some vacation time or travel on weekends (in 3 months...sigh).

In other news, things have been pretty crazy here as municipal elections for mayor are taking place all over the country. There are basically two major parties here: the Sandanistas and the Liberals. There are huge clashes and fights between the two parties (to the point where people are dying), so we´ve basically been in lockdown, mandated to stay in our towns until the elections are over. Most of the people I´ve spoken to in the Liberal party here say they have Sandino values but the current Sandanista party has changed and is leaning more towards the beliefs of Daniel Ortega, the current President. So that´s the current situation! And my host brother has been working literally around the clock getting practically no sleep since he works for the electoral board (not sure of his exact job). What a crazy situation it has been! Hopefully things will cool down in a couple of weeks.

Overall, I´ve just been trying to enjoy the rest of my time in my training town while it lasts. I have basically just a week left here, and then some classes for a few days in Managua before we swear-in as volunteers on the 20th. I need to push through these next few months, so any mail, email, or phone calls during this time will be MORE than appreciated! Let me know if you need any of my contact info. My mailing address will be changing soon but in the meantime you can continue to send stuff to the PC office in Managua.