Rain!

It´s been raining like crazy here and everywhere but my site is seriously flooding. The country is actually on a sort of state of emergency because of it...though I´m not really sure what the entails. Until yesterday it had rained here in my site nonstop for an entire week. The Lake Nicaragua is overflowing and flooding all the communities that live along its edges. Other lakes and rivers are flooding everywhere too and people are being evacuated and put in shelters. The news is 100% about the floods and shows people´s houses floating away, up to the roof with water and people tearing their houses apart to be able to reuse the materials somewhere else. I think we´ve received a record amount of rain this rainy season and the rivers and lakes have reached levels higher than those during Hurricane Mitch in 1999 which was really destructive...and there´s still another month (at least) of rainy season left.

Other than the rain not much else is happening. We haven´t had much class because of the rain. The kids who live in the campo and have to walk really far on muddy roads don´t come when it rains like this so classes don´t really happen. Things should pick up again as normal next week.

The current PC Trainees were supposed to go on their volunteer visits this weekend but they were cancelled because of the rain. I was looking forward to giving a PCT the inside scoop about Peace Corps! Training is rough and they need the encouragement. I´ll see them this weekend for a charla on Cultural Adaptation though.

My dad will be here in 10 days to do hip replacements and attend the national orthopaedic meeting in Managua. I can´t wait to see him! I can´t believe September is already over.

One year in.

Sorry for not writing in a while...as usual. Everything has been going well here and not much new is going on to report. My one year anniversary in country has come and gone and next is the one year left in country (November). Time is flying.

My boyfriend came back to visit for a week which was a nice break. We went back to our favorite spot at the Laguna de Apoyo and went to San Juan del Sur to see the turtle tour like I did with my sister.

School has been about the same. We´ve been missing a lot of class in the high school because they´ve been preparing for this coming 14th and 15th which are the Independence Days of Central America and Nicaragua. The band only exists for this time of year and has been practicing for over a month. Band practice is in the afternoon so if a student who goes to school in the afternoon session wants to be in the band he/she misses a ton of class. The teachers ordered matching lime green polo shirts to wear for the big parade on the 14th where we´ll be walking through town (while the students march, literally, like an army) all day. On the sleeve it has our names, mine says Profe. Carla Pellegrini. It´s funny to think about sometimes how I´m a teacher here and would be nowhere near qualified to do it at home.

Rainy season is still going strong, but it´s not terrible. The worst is to come now that it´s hurricane season. It rains everyday in the afternoon, sometimes in the morning, too, which poses a problem for drying clothes, but mine have been drying pretty well in my room. Everyone here says clothes that dry indoors smell bad. Oh well.

Four new PC Environment Trainees got to town last weekend. I actually just met them all right now. They seem nice and are all overwhelmed and struggling with their Spanish, which is normal. I told them they just have to get through the 11 weeks of training and then it´s all downhill.

Yesterday I made pesto-filled tortellini that my sister had sent me via my boyfriend with a tomato and broccoli sauce. It was really nice to have some real italian food! My mom loved it, my sister was hesitant and my grandmother refuses to even try anything remotely out of the ordinary. I ate it yesterday for lunch and dinner and today for lunch, too.

The next few months before I come home for Christmas (I officially have my tickets! Dec. 20-Jan. 7) will be really busy. This week is all the Independence Day stuff. Then I have a mid-service medical evaluation, a PC Trainee coming to visit for a weekend, some charlas (sessions/talks) to give to the new trainees, my dad´s visit in October, the patron saint celebrations here in October and then it´ll be the end of the school year and Thanksgiving! Until next time...