SEÑORA!

TGIF or GADEV, depending on your language. I can{t believe another week is over, but I am definitely glad that it is Friday. I am having a little difficulty concentrating right now as Beyonce is testifying at the computer next to mine, but I{ll do my best. Anyway, my work here has been going pretty good this week. Our youth group has been really fun and the kids are really enthusiastic. They actually asked if we could meet another time during the week in addition to the two meetings we already have so I guess that means they are enjoying it right? My Spanish is coming along slowly. Honestly the language thing, the one thing I was so not worried about, is the biggest stressor right now. I feel like my vocabulary is expanding and I am starting to apply the grammar rules in speech, but it is so frustrating not to be able to joke or talk about anything abstract or understand people in general. It doesn{t help that we have alot of technical trainings that at times are WAY TOO LONG. I feel alot of the time during the trainings that I should be studying Spanish instead of learning how to treat a cut or scrape, but I guess it{s all important on some level. My new strategy is to try to learn through the music. There is a song that is really popular, at least in my house, called Señora de los cuatro decadas about a mans infatuation with an older woman. The chorus is like SEÑORA! blah blah blah... And I totally had it in my head all week, ofcourse all I could say ws SEÑORA! so my family decided to write down the words. It turns out that the song is really funny. There is a part where he talks about her fat stomach that aerobics can{t get rid of, but ofcourse he means it complimentary like, I love you anyway. I think it will be a really good motivator for me as I love music and singing and all things cheesy! Well, gotta run now as my site mate is outside in the rain waiting. If anyone feels like sending me stuff my first encounter with homesickness has brought up a few ideas such as: original jolly ranchers, stash peppermint tea, sunflower seeds and dried apricots. Hope that doesn{t sound too rude, like send me stuff, already!! Just a few ideas for those of you who just LOVE going to the post office and spending money on me...

This is The Day That The Lord Has Made.

Well, it has been a super busy week. We started working with our youth group and observing in the schools, which was exciting, frustrating and hilarious all at the same time. I{m not really at liberty to say too much about the school experience here, but I do have to share one story because it is just too good to pass on. Our first observation was in the afternoon and the kids were crazy. I felt bad for the teacher because they were super out of control and us being there did not help. Our presence was really distracting, which was illustrated when the students continually called the teacher over to whisper in her ear. The teacher then shared with us that "You are a beautiful woman," and other revelations. At one point a student told the teacher that she wanted us to sing a song in English. The teacher then asked us if we knew the words to "This is the day that the Lord has made." Thanks to my Godless upbringing I was able to give an emphatic "NO!!" but the poor girl who I was there with was not so lucky. Her years of vacation bible school betrayed her and before we knew what was happening she was standing in front of the class singing Evangelical hymns. (Thats what they are called, right?) It was pretty funny... Anyway, I have been so busy with training tasks that I feel like my Spanish studies have taken a real backseat. I{ve been feeling a little frustrated because I feel like I am at a standstill with my learning. I have to remember though that it is normal to hit walls in language learning and that I will break through any day now, but it is just a little scary when I realize that swearing in (hopefully) is only two months away. Well, that{s all for now, I need to get cracking on those verb tenses! Oh yeah, one more thing- the past two nights it has rained. It was awesome!! It is insane though because the house I live in (and most others in my town) has a tin roof and it is so loud that you can{t hold a conversation. After bitching so much about the weather in Portland, I was surprised by the sheer elation I felt when I heard the first raindrops. I guess it{s true what they say "You can take the girl out of Portland, but you can{t take the Portland out of the girl."

My host mom walking up to the home of my host grangfather.

Me and my sisters ready for the fiesta.

Zu ha, my fellow PCT and friend, me, My mom Dona Yadira, Grandfather, Don Santos my dad, and Lydia my youngest sister at the Finca.

This is me drinking Coconut milk at the Finca.

A MONKEY!!!!

I saw monkies!!!

Hello Everyone. I have decided to start this blog after the amazing day I had yesterday. I have been in my training town for one week as of yesterday and I am really liking it. It is a very small town with no internet access or phone booths that have international capabilities but yesterday I was able to purchase a cell phone in the nearest city,which is about a half hour bus ride from my town. Today in Nicaragua is the day of Fatima and I am going to join my family at Mass and a celebration. I have not visited the church yet and am pretty excited. Apparently my host sister thought Peace Corps was an evangelical organization so they didn{t think I would be interested in going to church with them. HOnestly I have been so busy I wouldn{t have had the time but today is a special occasion and I reallly want to check it out. Yesterday was a truly amazing day. In the morning I visited Jinotepe, the nearest city, for the first time. It was my first taste of freedom,as the Peace corps and my host family have been very protective my first week here. My host family are great. I have three sisters ages 21, 16 and 9. They are all super nice and fun. All of them are very involved in traditional dance and I think they are pretty popular in the town because both of the older girls were crowned Queen in the Fiestas Patronales in the past years, which is a pretty big deal. I think there is some sort of pageant and they have to showcase their talents. They are both very good dancers in the folklore tradition, and I think this was what gave them the edge. Anyway, my parents are also great. The dad is a carpenter and the mom is a teacher i the elementary school. They both work very hard. I am the first Aspirante, as PC trainees are called,to live with them and I hope to make the best impression. They are incredibly hospitable. Yesterday, after I went to Jinotepe, my friend stopped by the house to ask if we were going to visit the Finca. My host dad{s father owns property outside of the town, sort of like a farm but in the jungle. The word Finca, I think means like farm or grove. Anyway, the family had invited us earlier in the week and we all decided to go. We walked down our street about 4 blocks where the town ends and the road turns to dirt. We walked down a trail where we were surrounded by grapefruit, mango and coconut trees. After a few minutes we came to a cottage where there lives an artist. He has a workshop and very beautiful land. It was the most tranquil, peaceful place I have seen so far. There were tons of flowers and it was actually green. He made pottery and there were potted plants everywhere in the pots,which were beautiful. After that we walked on and they pointed out some monkies. I thought they were messing with us at first. I could not believe they were actually monkies so they took us off the trail to the trees, where we saw trees filled with about 15 monkies, called Congos. They are small and black and they were eating mangoes. I cannot even describe how awesome it was. It was so cool I almost cried. I never thought in my life that I would be out somewhere looking at monkies in their natural habitat. I felt like something out of National Geographic. My friend and I took about a million pictures and a couple of them are actually good. I am going to try to post them if I can figure it out. After the monkies we walked on to a hut in the middle of the jungle where my host dad{s father lives. He is about 80 years old and he prefers the jungle to the town. Saying that the town is too loud. I have to agree. He has two horses and a few dogs and of course chickens. He was very nice and smiley. We hung out there for a while and my host dad fashioned a tool out of a long branch and a machete. He used it to get us coconuts, which he peeled and opened so we could drink the milk. It was surreal. Sitting in a hut drinking fresh coconut milk. My Spaanish is still very minimal but I tried to express how much the experience meant to me. Fortunately my friend speaks fluently so she was able to tell my family how amazing the experience was. After we returned to town, we visited the home of my host dad{s aunt to build an altar to Fatima. There I met his grandmother who is 106 YEARS OLD!!! Later we went to a fiesta,which was a fundraiser for the church. My host sisters tried to get me to dance which was pretty bad. We only stayed for a while because after the day I was super tired. Well, that{s all for now. I am going to post this and then try to post photos. Wish me luck. As many of you know I am not technologically inclned and it does not help that the directions are in Spanish.