Blue skies!

My role as good weather fairy continues as I bring sunshine to Nicaragua. I was informed on our way to the capital from the airport that Nicaragua had enjoyed record breaking rainfall every day in the previous week. I prepared myself for the worst. On the news my host mom and I watched the floods that affected communities across Nicaragua due to the rain. In spite of this, I have yet to see rain during the day. It rained a few times at about 4am, but that was it. It's been beautiful and sunny everyday! But I heard it was a little rainy in the capital, but I didn't see any when I went in last Monday. I've been told that the region I'm going to is suppose to be the hottest in the country, but we'll see. It can't be worse than Mali right? Come to think of it, everything here must be an improvement right? I observed a class today that another volunteer was co-teaching. Afterwards we talked about the challenges and he's experience so far in his town. “So you have teachers that care about teaching? And they don't hit the kids here? And all of the kids have notebooks and pen? And they don't have to pay for school?” Other than large class sizes, I don't see a problem here. They could improve their class management a little maybe... I guess my standards are a little low. We'll see how long that lasts too. I'm sure my optimism will be dampened, just like the weather can't stay beautiful forever, or maybe it can... I'll work on it.

Also I have a phone finally. Let me know if you want the number.

And even though I am really loving it here so far, I do still miss you guys! I think about you guys a lot.

The Mali of Latin America, 2nd poorest but just as Awesome

Wait you guys have paved streets here....?

So how different is Nicaragua from Mali? Well other than being on different continents, they already seem figuratively oceans apart. Let me give you a comparison as an example. My third night with my Malian host family during training consisted mostly of my host mom miming everything from “You want food?” to “Do you want to throw water on yourself out of a bucket?” I remember singing “Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur” to the kids because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I couldn’t wait to get back to the other PCVs and speak English. The night ended with me lying in my mud hut thinking, “What did I get myself into this time?” At the end of all that, I ended up loving my time there.

And then there’s Nicaragua. On my third night, in Nicaragua, my host mom took me to hang out with her friends. This is where my Spanish was really tested. I justified a beer with the fact that it would improve my Spanish, which it did of course. So instead of trying to act out shower in mime, my widowed host mom and I joked about her getting a “gringo” boyfriend, me trying to translate Kenny G and then trying to explain in Spanish why I wanted to do a third year in Nicaragua. When asked, I found that I had already forgetten how to say amigo in Bambara. As it is only my third night I think I’m off to a good start. I can already see myself staying longer…. Sorry mom.