Saturday, April 11, 2009

I've been in my site for a week now and so far so good! There is another Volunteer here from Peace Corps who is leaving in July or August. The first day she took me around and introduced me to the community - everyone was so nice and welcoming (got lots of free food and lots of "Welcome to our town, come to me if you ever need anything"). The Volunteer has been on vacation in Nicaragua this week, and her host family has been great - letting me hang out in their house all day, eat meals with them, taking me to Semana Santa processions and activities. I have a house down the street from her host family. Its small but perfect! I have four rooms, tiled floors, and a big shower! Well, everything is perfect except for the walls, which are all painted a bright lime green and have mix-matched wallpaper borders...but everything else is amazing!
Semana Santa (Holy Week) was this week a lot of my town is Catholic, so there have been special Masses and processions all week. Last night the town painted "alfombras" in the street of saints, bible scenes, etc... before the big procession of the night.
This week Engineers without Borders is coming to my town to bust up some boulders in the river, so hopefully I'll be working with the Volunteer here to help out.
In wildlife news, I killed a ton of big ass ants that had a colony or something in my windowsill, saw a tarantula and a snake (which was later stoned to death by the townsfolk) down by the river, and have seen a few cockroaches climbing out of crevasses in my house. Have yet to see a scorpion climbing down my wall to launch itself at my face while sleep, and have bought a gigantic can of anti scorpion/ant/cockroach to prevent this from ever happening in the future.

Semana Santa Procession in my town


View from the hilltop - on a less cloudy day you can see the ocean!



Swearing In!



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4 comments:

  1. Please do not get attacked my any scorpions. I was just catching up on all your adventures. Your life there sounds amazing and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly your role is there, how you fit into life, etc etc. But I miss you terribly and keep up the good work! Prob emailing you right after this. LOVE YA BOO!

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  2. 1. Please take note of the chick in the first place posing for your photo. Befriend her immediately, she belongs in that pic!

    2. Lime green walls? Snice!!!!

    3. Bugs. Ew.

    4. I miss you dearly! Glad you are enjoying yourself!

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  3. hey punk....the picture you recieving your cert, made me cry. i am sooo proud of you. it is every fathers dream that his children out shine him. you and elliot have not dissappointed me. to see you starting out on this adventure where you will be giving to so many people makes me bust at the seams. and now that it's offical, i look forward to what you will accomplish. you are in a position to affect so many lives, and represent our country for what it truly is a place that gives back to the rest of the world asking nothing in return......except undying allegence to our causes (just kidding). but , again, the pride i feel in you is overwhelming.
    i also take great pride in seeong how much you have matured. you handling of the ant situation just shows how much you have grown in such a short time. next scorpions, then snakes, then the world......i love you deeply...dad

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  4. your dad is so cute. i just pictured him tearing up!!!

    and did you just describe the ants as "big ass" in your blog. i have most certainly rubbed off on you!

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