First Week or So...

Pues, So,
Where to begin!?? I feel like it has been about 3 months already even though it's been about 10 days....
So in D.C. we had a crazy day of orientation and got to meet the other 40+ volunteers going with us--they are all awesome--we checked out of our hotel at 230 am to go the airport to catch our 720am flight to Miami continuing to Managua, Nicaragua. The day was a smooth day of travel--there were Peace Corps staff and a few volunteers who have been here a year already waiting for us outside with welcome signs etc. We all piled into a couple micro buses--and they threw all our bags into a giant truck. We drove about an hour to Granada, to the Hotel Granada where we had a really intense 3 day orientation--days full of meetings, language interviews, spanish classes, medical interviews etc...it ended with a trip out on the lake to look at all these little private islands where all the rich folks have built some crazy houses---and at one point, I literally had a monkey on my back...actually we had a couple different monkeys hop onto our boat from one of the islands...it was a little loco and an incredible whirlwhind...
In the morning of our last day, the group split in half, the Education and The Environment folks were loaded onto different buses with all our bags tagged with the addresses of our host families...and we were off...matt got off first and i gave him a quick peck and then for some reason when he got off i started bawling--it was really embarrassing! also bc i got off to meet his incredibly sweet host family and couldnt stop ! his host grandma is ADORABLE about half his size and hugged him tight and told me not to worry--he is her Hijo, or son (-:
I soon learned I only live about 4 mns away from Matt , who lives in Catarina, by moto taxi, in a town called Niquinohomo.
I LOVE my town and my host family is INCREDIBLE. I have a host mom, a sister of about 40, and 2 twin sisters about 19 years old. Also a niece and her baby and soooo many family members coming and going and living so close.....the baby stays at our house and he is almost a month old---Diego, and he often sleeps in his hammock! I take bucket baths every day and my mom runs a cafetin out of her house so there are even more people coming and going, which is great! and her food is muy rica!!!
I could go on forever but I will try not to---i also played awhile with my 7 year old...primo? i think, and we ran all over town his house etc.... and watched a soccer game and a baseball game

My typical day is like this

wake up around 6ish, breakfast of bread, fruit and instant coffee, walk to my friend Neha's house (another volunteer) where we have about 6 hours of intense Spanish class with another volunteer named Sam (from Oregon). They are my anchors here and we spend ALOT of time together. After class, we have about an hour until dinner which is more speaking in espanol and with whomever happens to be around, then a couple hours of homework and i go to bed often times by 8!!!! Repeat.

We had a meeting in Managua on Friday to get more vaccines and learn more about diarrhea (sp?) and also specifics to our work projects. It was a long day which involved getting up around 4 30am to get there in time...but we had presentations from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education etc that were very interesting indeed. Soon we will start observing our local high school's classes and co planning and teaching with a teacher. We also had our first Youth Group meeting last Thursday and 12 kids came--we basically just played some games and introduced ourselves and our purpose and asked them what they want to do and gave a poll to find out more about their level of Spanish--the real question is, how many will return next week?? It was really interesting to facilitate something completely in Spanish, although Sam and Neha did a good amount of talking--thanks guys!!!

Some random things I learned from my family:

Some folks here think if you are sick you shouldn't eat fruit when you re sick bc it is cold. also cold water might make you sick. also when our baby has hiccups, they take lint and roll it into a little ball and stick it in his forehead center annnnd low and behold, it worked!!!

Ok, i really could go on but folks are waiting on me! My family is amazing and the twins are in Business School and my older sister works for City Hall and is studying to be a lawyer...their generosity has been AMAZING. ie. i have a giant room allll to myself and am not sure but at least 4 or 5 share another.....and i have 2 beds in my room!!! It's nuts. Life is full and good and busy. Matt and I miss each other during the week but honestly dont have much time to think on it---and he is spending the wknd w me right now! yay!

Ok,, time to try and post some pics! I love you guys sooooo much and miss you mucho!!! i have been reading a few cards at a time from the going away party--and I LOVE them!!!! will be trying to schedule some Skype times soon!!! (there is an internet cafe in my town)

Mucho Amor de Niquinohomo--Julia y Mateo!!!!

PS Sorry this was like a run on story! and for any errors--not going to preview!