Estoy en Nicaragua!
My first post from Nicaragua!!! Estoy en Nicaragua! I still can’t believe it… we left for Washington DC on Tuesday, Aug 31st for a day full of basic information about Nicaragua, team building activities, and talks about how we felt prior to leaving / what we anticipate feeling once we’re there. Then on Wed, Sept. 1st we started our exhausting journey to Nicaragua. It all started at 2:30am… well 2:15am when my roommate and I woke up. Of course we intended to get up at 1:50am but good ol’ technology decided not to work and our alarm didn’t go off. We were freaking out thinking “we can’t be the ones who are late on the first day!” Seriously, who knows how I woke up! Phew! We left the hotel around 3:30 arriving at the airport around 4am. Then the airport process of checking in + going through security + waiting to board began… for all 42 of us! 6 hrs later we were in country.
Once in Nicaragua, we were greeted with posters, cheering, + applauding outside the airport doors! I felt like a superstar! Paparazzi style! Then we crammed into vans + drove to Granada weaving in and out of cars, dodging pedestrians, and driving some 90kph. So Central American!
Now we’re at a hotel in Granada. I feel so spoiled. It’s one of the nicest hotels in the region. We have anything + everything we need. The food is great, the people are super friendly, and the city is beautiful. Today we ate a typical Nicaraguan meal – tortillas, carne picon, chorizo, blood sausages, beans, platanos, and some toppings. It was incredible! I’ll be in for a drastic change come tomorrow when we move to our training sites…
What have I been doing? So far we’ve had a series of training sessions so about safety/security, the structure of the training program, the PC expectations, + example Spanish courses. On that note, I placed in the advanced level on the language placement tests which made me super happy. But after our first Spanish class my brain hurt + I was super exhausted. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. I am in a class with 3 native Spanish speakers (Guatemala, Spain, + Peru) + a girl who is a Spanish teacher back in the USA. Not going to lie, it is semi-intimidating! I’m kinda nervous about it but I know I’ll survive + learn a ton! The classes were super interactive + we were talking in Spanish the whole time 
)
After everything we were surprised by a free-paid for by the PC boat ride through the islands on Lake Nicaragua! It was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention, our tour guide called a spider monkey onto our boat + he proceeded to walk / swing among us! It was incredible… they’re so cute. I got practically mooned by one which decided to stick it’s butt right in my face! Good story I suppose, no so nice of a view. Haha.
We also found out where we’ll be living for the next 3 months, with whom (host families), and how training will be managed. I am going to be living in a village called Masatepe in the city of Masaya. My host family consists of a 61yr old woman, her 71yr old husband, their 2 children (27 and 33 yrs old), and their daughter-in-law. I hope my “abuelita” is cool + likes to talk! We’ll see tomorrow!
We’re out of here at 8:00am! Adios for now! Besitos…
