Posoltega

Hi! It has been so long since I´ve had the chance to write...can´t believe my last entry was when I was sick...ah!

So, the long and short of it is that I am now in Posoltega, Chinandega!!!! I have not officially moved to my new site, but I am here visiting for one week to get a handle on where I will be living for the next two years. In case anyone was confused, I only get to live with my current family in Guisquiliapa for three months (which is now three weeks) until I am officially signed in as a volunteer. My training period is almost up. I have now been officially assigned to Posoltega, Chinandega, a decently sized city in the southern part of the department of Chinandega. I am in the HOTTEST part of Nicaragua by far, but it is insanely beatiful and the heart of food production. This was basically the last place I wanted to be sent (I really wanted to be up in the mountains), but now that I am here I am realizing how beautiful it is and how in need, so I am definitely changing my mind.

Chinandega was also seriously wiped out by Hurricane Mitch back in 1998 (the destruction is still everywhere), so I have my work cut out for me. This also means that tons of NGOs are still hanging around and looking for eager Peace Corps volunteers to give money to...perfect!!

I will be working with three schools in and around my area. The one right in my town (three doors down from my new host family) has 22 teachers and over 400 students. Holy crap. They all want help and all want to start new projects right away. Their enthusiasm is incredible, but I am definitely going to need to explain that I can only work directly with 2 of them (or I will actually go crazy). I also visited my second school, which only has three teachers, and something like 20 kids per class. It is multigrade, meaning more than one grade per room and per teacher (duh), but it is in an incredible small town about two kilometers away where I get to ride my bike and all kinds of fun stuff. The teachers (who are all under the age of 26) walked me around to every house and cancelled school today to introduce me to the community...I think that´s a good thing? I am definitely excited about everyone´s enthusiasm, but I am going to have my work cut out for me (they also think I know a wholleeee lot more about gardens that I do...at least I know more than I did at the beginning of my three months).

So yesterday when I first arrived in my new site I had to try very hard not to cry. For one, Nicas like to ask you over and over again if your sad and would rather be at home. I wasn´t sad until they kept asking me if I was sad....Strangely (sorry real parents) I´m not sad for the US, but for my training family. I have gotten to know them, call their home my own, and finally feel like I fit in just right with them. It is really difficult to be pulled from my training town when I am just getting into my groove (garden is actually growing, people can understand my version of spanish, etc)...Suddenly I am in a new town where no one knows me, once again my Spanish sucks, and I have to learn the habits of a new family...

To make matters a bit worse, I arrived to house that had no door on the latrine (yea, that is outdoor latrine...walls only up to my waist), no lock on my door (that goes outside), and no mattress on my bed...There is now a lock on my door and piece of zinc roofing has been turned into a makeshift door, but I don´t think I´m getting a mattress...

I´m OK with this, and definitely happier than I was yesterday, but I am still missing my "family" a lot...although I don´t want to offend the people I am living with now, I am on the hunt for a house of my own...I am looking forward to cooking for myself and having a mattress (and possibly an indoor bathroom).

So, that´s all for now...send me lots of emails (even if I don`t respond in a timely manner)!!
Lots of love : )