Long-awaited update

Hellllooooo! I´m so sorry I haven´t written in such a long time. There´s definitely new things to report/reflect on. Where do I start?

New house - As of last night, I´ve moved into my new house - woohooo! Now I can finally cook my own food and live on my own schedule...really excited for that. I´ve been so busy I haven´t had time to breathe, let alone buy everything I need for the house. So it´s still missing a bit but it´s cozy and VERY bright (the owner painted the living room orange and my room pink haha...at least it´s not gray!). I´ve been one of the luckier enviro ed volunteers who´s gone, until now, without having to regularly use a latrine (basically an outhouse). I´m still trying to adapt to life without a toilet, especially at night when I don´t want to go outside in the dark. Some interesting adaptations haha, is all I´m going to say. Feel free to inquire for details ;)

Work in the schools - Classes started today and I went and observed the teachers at one of my schools in the outskirts of town (just a short bus ride away). It should be interesting trying to teach the multigrades because one of the classes is 1st and 3rd grade, and the other 2nd, 4th, and 5th (because of enrollment numbers). Being that I am only supposed to be teaching 3rd-6th grade, I´m going to have to figure out how to address the other 2 grades. But, at this point, Peace Corps has thrown me in so many different directions with so much that is new and unfamiliar, I´m almost unphased and feeling confident that it shouldn´t be too much of a problem. I´m excited for this new part of my job to begin so I can finally feel like I´m doing something productive.

Random cultural experiences - Here are some random things that I may or may not have commented on in my blog over time, but thought you´d find interesting. I´m going to try to focus on something different every post, so you get a nice well-rounded description of some of the ridiculousness, YET amazingness, that has been my life for the past 5 months...

The Top 10 Things You Are Most Likely to Encounter on Nicaraguan Buses


1. Evangelical Christians preaching to bus riders
2. Riders packed like sardines in the seats and aisles. Just when you think you can´t possibly fit another person on the bus, you are proven wrong, my friend
3. Chickens pecking at your feet
4. People bombarding the buses at every major stop to sell everything from water in a bag, to tortillas and cheese, to flashlights and watches and corn on the cob
5. Seats designed for 3 school-age children (they are old American school buses) packed with 3, usually very large, overweight males...all deciding that they have the right to sit spread-eagle, only to leave you half of a butt cheek of space
6. Bus workers climbing all over the roof while the bus is moving at full-speed to pack freight (including sacks of grain and chickens, just to name a couple) on top. I swear, Superman must have been Latino.
7. People throwing all of their trash out the window
8. Stops every 30 minutes to check under the hood of the bus, just to make sure we don´t blow up or anything.
9. When traveling to Matagalpa, or any region where the road isn´t paved (very common), you often find yourself covered in a thick layer of dust upon your arrival.
10. Random stops so drivers and/or regular riders can urinate on the side of the road.

Hope you enjoyed this week´s Top 10 List! Feel free to comment, or add to the list if you´ve experienced something similar in Latin America. Stay tuned for next week´s Top 10!

If you´d like to read more about the overall Peace Corps experience, I think you should check out the following blog. My good friend Barbara is a Small Business Volunteer in Guatemala, is only 3 weeks ahead of me in her service, and is basically experiencing very similar things as me. I highly recommend you check out her post, ¨Enjoying It,¨posted on January 23. Her blog site is: http://beveres.blogspot.com/