SITE!

Well, waiting for site placement in the Peace Corps is a lot like chinese water torture.  During training, you are told of all of the potential job sites for the next two years of your life, and you are constantly on edge waiting to find out where you will be placed. 

Last week, my APCD (Associate Peace Corps Director), who is WONDERFUL.. shout out to Ximena!... gave everyone in my group one-on-one interviews to determine what type of site would fit them best.  I spoke with her about my desires to work with youth groups, as well as domestic violence (shout out to ACCESS in Ames!), and I also wanted to be near some agriculture volunteers in order to collaborate on projects to assist with cultivating and providing nutrition from the ground up.. literally.  Oh, and I also told Ximena that I wouldnt mind being somewhere beautiful..

Well, my awesome APCD listened to my requests, and I will be living in El Jícaro for the next two years!  The pueblo is in the department of Nueva Segovia, and I am farther north than all of the other volunteers.  The department of Nueva Segovia is the poorest in all of Nicaragua, and there is a lot of opportunity to do some amazing work.  I am also really excited to be living in the mountainous region of the country where the mountains are filled with pine trees and coffee plantations.

My job will include working with pregnant women and forming groups of embarazadas to give charlas and health related talks.  I will also be working with a group of pregnant adolescents.. in fact, 32 percent of adolescent girls in this region are pregnant.  The numbers are quite high.  Along with assisting in maternal health, I will be working in the nearby schools to teach the subjects of interfamilial violence, sexual and reproductive health, hygiene, and suicide prevention.  I am so excited to be working in differing aspects of health.

Along with working in the health sector, I plan on doing some collaborative work with some current Peace Corps volunteers in the area.  I know I am going to have a site-mate, and although we won´t actually meet until I go to my site for a visit in a few days, I do know that he is a small business volunteer.  Having a site mate in a differing sector will be great for collaborative work, and I´m really excited to meet him.  It´s quite possible that we´ll be teaching in the same school since we´ll be living in the same town.

I also know that there are a lot of argiculture volunteers in the northern part of the country, and my APCD informed me that there will be many opportunities to work on gardening and farming to assist with nutritional education for the people in the area.

I really can´t believe how time is flying.  I feel like I just arrived here, and although it´s only been two months, the time feels much shorter.  My Spanish is improving MUY RAPIDO!  I had a language interview last week, and I found out today that my Spanish ability has jumped by three levels, which is great news.  Basically, it´s at the point where I can understand almost everything people are saying, and I can usually jump into conversations.  I still get my tenses mixed up, and I´ll ALWAYS be learning new vocabulary words, but it´s finally starting to click-- a great feeling.  My host family had some relatives from Mangua visit during the weekend, and they said to me, ´Que bueno que ud. habla mucho!!!´  Translation:  ´How great that you talk a lot!´ Haha that made me feel good.

I hope all of you back in the States are well and healthy!!  I miss everyone so very much, and I think about all of my friends and family all the time.  Sometimes I get weird looks from people because I´ll randomly start laughing at something that I remember from Ames.  For example.. foses.  Or when I think about my sister being locked in her closet.  Or Stage 5ers.  Or advice from J.  And G, I can´t wait to show you my dream journal.. haha there are so many entries!!  One of them involves saving a killer whale from Olsen Park by calling 911.  Ok I have to stop rambling...

Paul, thanks for the crossword puzzles.  I´ve been working on them diligently for the past couple nights (the ones from The Daily are muy deficil!!  Are they from Fridays?) 

LOVE ALL OF YOU!!  besitos.

PS I have some GREAT pictures to upload, including ones of Sandanista trees, but the cyber isn´t allowing me to upload them.  Soon!