Tuesday, November 9, 2010

QUILALI!!!! Site visit week

Ok so there is WAY WAY too much to say so the following is something i banged out super quick, love you all and know it may be hard for anyone to visit our site, since it{s a long ways off, but its super quaint and safe and GORGEOUS!

QUILALI!
I do not know where to start! After 3.5 hrs bus to Ocotoal, about 2 hours at the bus terminal, and 4 bumpy windy hours later through the mts we arrived at our site around 6 pm at night. Thankfully, matt’s counterpart and his subdirector were there to meet us at the bus stop. We were ex-hausted!
We briefly met the pastor’s wife had some refrescos, and were then on our way to our new host family. Our house is precious—and really nice. We have our own room that use to be a closet but it has lovely tile floors and all the walls connect with the ceiling! They also painted it just for us—the only room that is painted in the house (the paint was actually still wet when we arrived).
Our host family is awesome—our host mom Esperanzita is tiny and cares for many little ones—we basically live in a day care. In fact, last night, we had a dance party with the little ones---I think I can really learn a lot from them! Our kitchen is gorgeous and they let us cook when we want---matt made chicken curry for everyone one night—delicious!
The people here have been nothing short of fabulous—it is a veeerrry small town (well not compared to some other volunteers)---sort of way off in the middle of tons and tons of beautiful mountains and rivers. On the way here we saw such an interesting mix—pine trees! With palm trees and mangos! It is like something out of a movie for sure. I left my camera behind this trip but look for pics to come on FB soon.
My sub-director has been our main point of contact—it’s been sort of nuts, as is the life here I suppose, running around meeting all the people at my school and matt’s and the police and the Education Department plus various neighbors and family members. Matt and I even sort of taught a class on the spot yesterday~ Our town is very religious and apparently there have been lots of non prof organizations already doing work in our little town (yes it already feels like our little town). Oh and get this, My subdirector lived in San Antonio, TX for a year and a half along with Matt’s counterpart, Johana.
Oh yeah, Matt has one female counterpart at the semi-privado school—which happens to be an Evangelical School WHICH on the weekends doubles as a University, and his male counterpart is off in the hills in a nearby community.
I don’t really know how to adequately describe anything right now---my mind is so full of names and faces, and my emotions are an insane rollercoaster of awe and happiness and shock of “whoa this is home for 2 years….Overall, so far, I really love quilali and the people here—they have been SOOOOO kind and welcoming and are genuinely excited to have us here. Will keep you guys posted and please send us some updates! In a few days it’s back to our training towns to finish training=Spanish interview, final portfolio/ESSAYS, Teacher Taller, Youth Group, aiyyy yaii yaiii…………..
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL