Looking back

         Time really flies by.  I know that’s such a cliché thing to say, but it’s true.  At the beginning of my time here I hated it when volunteers would say this because that’s all I wanted it to do.  Instead it just stood still.  During my first few months in site I found myself thinking how I wouldn’t be disappointed if something came up that made me have to head home.  In fact, I kind of wanted it.  It was getting sick all of the time, wasn’t able to communicate with people in my town or the outside world due to poor Spanish skills and low/no phone signal and internet, as well as a handful of other issues that just left me feeling as if I were climbing a steep and endless mountain that I’d never completely summit.  That being said, I knew I would never be able to live with myself if I quit, so I kept on going trying to concentrate on the positives and just look 

forward.  Luckily, those positives are what kept me going through the hardest times.

 

            I now find myself with only 8 months left of service and looking back on all of those hard times.  Thinking back on the times I posted about all the great things I was doing on this blog to try and put on a positive front when I was actually struggling.  The times I’d joke around with other volunteers about the number of bacterial infections, parasites, and skin reactions I had had.  On all of the times I’ve stressed out over any number of different issues.  I’ve figured out so much about myself over the past year and a half, and it’s been quite the roller coaster ride of emotions.  But as I’m looking back on all of this, I don’t know when I started thinking of doing what I had once thought crazy: stay in Nicaragua longer than I need to.  I think it honestly just think it snuck up on me.   I haven’t been getting sick every other week, I feel competent enough in Spanish to hold a decent conversation, I’ve more or less learned to work with my cell phone/internet situation, and I have finally been making more Nicaraguan friends my age.

            Now that I’m looking towards the future and am starting the dreaded initial job searching and networking phase, I am figuring out I don’t want to leave just yet.  Nicaragua has becoming my reality.  I would love to extend a third year in the Peace Corps, but financial issues are making that look like less and less of a reality.  I guess we’ll see what happens.  Because while things still come up that tick me off and stress me out, I feel like I’m finally learning how to deal with it. 

            The past week and a half or so is a perfect example.  I learned that I under budgeted for my stove/oven project due to an “AND/OR” in our stove guide that should really just say “AND.”  A teacher forgot that I had co-planned with her and taught without me.  On two different occasions teachers accused me of not telling them something about a class that I had talked to them about days before.  I had finally figured out all of the details of, and planned out a field trip for next week that I was super excited about only to find out that the Ministry of Education just banned field trips.  And in general, my plans have just changed so many times that I can barely read my planner through all of the cross outs.  The difference is that this time I legitimately have let most of it roll off me within an hour or two.  Things that usually stress me out beyond belief haven’t been getting to me as much.   It is much easier to concentrate on the positives when I don’t have to consciously do it to try and forget the negatives.  With all that said, I’ve had a pretty cool week!!

5 things that stand out from this week:

1) Made another oven

2) Was able to help someone from the States on his PhD. thesis by introducing him to people in my communities for his interviews.

3) Got to listen to a new teacher I’m working with go off on a 10 minute rant about equality and respect regardless of sexual orientation when a student used the Nicaraguan equivalent of the word “fag” in class.  It was great!!

4) Went on a few really good runs!  The view is so great in the afternoon!

5) The library in one of my schools that was built 2 years ago finally get a truck load of donated books!  It felt like Christmas! 

It's that time of year again!

            Well, it’s that time of year again.  While August usually marks the beginning of the school year in the States, the beginning of February is that dreaded time where school vacations are over, thus beginning 10 months of classes.  But rather than talking about classes, I’d rather talk about how celebrated the last month of school-less freedom.  As a Peace Corps Volunteer, we’re supposed to be prepared to be “on” 24/7, meaning that we are always technically working, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good time doing it!

I helped lead a summer camp in the beginning of January with some Peace Corps friends.

Re-learned how to make tortillas thanks to my friend Jen (from the Chicago ‘burbs as well) visiting and asking my host mom to teach her how.

I made this sign!! (It’s for my host niece)

Had a lot of money (the equivalent of about $650) only to spend it about 15 seconds after I took this picture on buying materials and transport for my oven and stove project.

I’ve been baking with community members and friends a lot! In this picture we baked the bread for the soy burgers we made from scratch.

I was missing home and blizzards/snow when I saw this picture of my dad shoveling.  But then I thought about it, and…. 

And……. I ran (and walked) a crazy race.  I signed up for a 25k up a volcano on La Isla de Ometepe, which changed several times before the race date.  It finally turned into a 33k by race date that only climbed a total of about 1,400ft, with several options to make it longer thanks to some poorly placed markers.  The 21-miler in 90-degree heat and humidity that started at 10am was tough, but the view was absolutely amazing and I’m really glad I did it.  I even got 11^th place!  I may have been miserable a good 40% of the race and couldn’t walk normally for a few days afterwards, but I’m already starting to plan my next race.  I’m thinking either the 21k (half marathon) in March that I ran last year, and/or possibly even a 25k in May in the same national park in Costa Rica that I’ve visited twice.  That is if I can track down the Costa Rican who told me about it near this finish line (putting my creepiness/facebook stalking skills to the test).  Only time will tell!  The picture is my PC friend Kelsey and I with our participant “medals.”

And finally, pictures of Volcán Concepción and Volcán Maderas, the two volcanoes that make up La Isla de Ometepe in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  Volcán Concepción is the ominous, larger, active one.  They are both such beautiful volcanoes, but I did feel a bit like I was staying a few nights in Pompeii.  I’ve been a bit obsessed with volcanoes since I was little, so being able to see 6 volcanoes in one day was pretty darn cool (the day I traveled back to my site).