Back to Nicaragua

I got back safely and fairly easily to Nicaragua. I was dreading the 4 buses I had to take from the airport to my house with two big duffel bags but everyone was really helpful. Two of the four bus drivers drove me further than the last stop once everyone had gotten off to take me closer to where I needed to be, the last of which was in my town- the bus driver dropped me off at the gate to my house!

When I got home I unloaded all of my bags for the very eager neighborhood kids. The mother of two of the kids who my neighbor takes care of sent me a big package of toys to bring back for them. I felt a little bit like Santa unloading everything. After that I spent a solid two hours cleaning my place. It was covered in dirt and dust (December, January and February are really windy months here) since the houses here are not airtight and sealed up like they are in the US. The next day I spent 6 hours making the rounds and visiting all my friends and my host family...it's impossible to stop by for a quick hello. I had to sit down, and eat or drink something and catch up on all the local news with everyone.

On Tuesday I left again to go to a Peace Corps workshop at a resort on a beach, where I am currently. It's really nice here and I've been enjoying the beach in the mornings when I go for runs but the day is filled with lots of talks and activities. Our Nicaraguan counterparts were here for part of it (only Ana came, though Scarlett said she was going to) and seemed to really enjoy it. I'll get back to my site tomorrow.

Monday I am going to start up with my lower level community class. I'm going to teach them the few topics that they need in order to catch up with the more advanced class so we can combine them into one conversation group. With the two nights/week I'll now have free during the year, I'm going to start up another group from the beginning again because I've been receiving a lot of requests for a new course.

School doesn't officially start until February 15th. This year is an electoral year (elections in November) so we have been told to expect more affectations to our classes than last year...should be interesting based on how much school was missed last year.