Swearing In Ceremony!

It's official! We've made it through training... its our swearing in ceremony tomorrow. I can't believe that these past few months have flown by so fast.

Just finished watching Aladdin! And, it was awesome.

Granada, Granada, Nicaragua

I found out my site! I´ll be in Granada, Granada for the next two years!

El Rosario, Nicaragua

Wow, I´ve really been lazy in keeping up with my blog. I´m sooo sorry for that! I remember when I first started this blog I wanted to be consistent in my journals and blog posts, but I´ve clearly failed in doing that... But, I am going to try to catch everyone up to what I´ve been up to these past seven weeks in El Rosario.

El Rosario is a little pueblo in the department of Carazo. Nicaragua is divided into departments- I think there are 16 total, but I´m not sure... I´ll try to post a map of Nicaragua in my next blog entry. This has been my training town for the past seven weeks.. and I have about four more weeks to go. Its been an amazing experience so far. I´m enjoying every minute of it. I live with a host family here, and they´ve been so nice and helpful. The first two weeks were a little hard, and I can´t lie... I did cry a little... no, wait... I cried a lot. I really started to miss home after we got to our training towns. It wasn´t after the end of the second and beginning of the third week that I started to feel better. I´ve really tried to establish some sort of a routine here.. por ejemplo:

I wake up around 6:30 am just about every morning... maybe with the exception of sunday- my day off! I have Spanish and culture classes from 8 to 12, and then from 1-3/4 pm. I come home and hang out with my family or somtimes I go into Jinotepe, a city outside of my little pueblo to use the internet, call peeps, or do some mandados ¨errands.¨

I haven´t really talked much about what I miss about the states:

- i miss pizza hut pan pizza... yummy.
- breakfast burritos
- nutella... with peanut butter. its so expensive here.
- of course, my mom and sister, but that´s a given!
- yes, my friends too... like you guys reading my blog.. sorry again for the delay.
- my extended family.. even if I only see some of them once or twice a year.
- my couch at home
- take-out chinese, italian, whatever
- KOREAN FOOD! MAN, I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING FOR SOME KIMCHEE.
- krav maga.. i miss this soo much. you wouldn´t believe how much i miss punching/kicking..
- my bed/pillow... my room... yes, i miss my house.
- my weekly dinners with michelle and amanda
- robek smoothies with lisa after krav or even before krav
- making my own quesadillas with salsa
- croissant sandwiches with avocado and swiss cheese
- yes, i´ll miss boot season. darn...
- pigging out... i´ve been doing a lot of that here but its not the same because i pig out on galletas ¨cookies¨too much. my sweet tooth has definitely gotten worse since i´ve been here.
- CHOCOLATE.. chocolate covered pretzels would be awesome.
- whole foods... the salmon terriyaki bowls there. ooo....

man... I need to stop! I am totally going overboard with this... but you guys get the idea.

I´m going to be finding out my site tomorrow, which I´m totally nervous about. I want to know, but at the same time I don´t want to find out because that means that the two years are just around the corner. It´s a very scary thought. I´ll be sure to update my blog this weekend.

I hope everyone knows how much I miss them! I hope you guys are doing well! Let me know how things are going. I´d love to still feel like I´m in the loop.. even though, I´m a few hundred miles away. FYI: Nicaragua is only a two hour plane ride from Miami. Plan your trips now!

El Rosario, Nicaragua

Hello everyone!

I can´t write much right now, but I will tomorrow.... Have to get started on some awesome homework. Today was the first day of classes. I am in a little town called El Rosario with a population of about 5,000 people.

I miss everyone!!

I'm leaving tomorrow!!!!

This might sound repetitive but I still can't believe that I'm leaving soo soon. I'm leaving tomorrow and I still have a lot to do. Packing for this trip has definitely been difficult. Imagine trying to fit two years worth of stuff in two bags! And, the bags have to be under 80 lbs. I've done a good job of packing so far. I went to Gold's Gym this morning to weigh them. Yeah! Under 80 lbs.. they were 67 lbs total!.. so, that means that I have about 13 more lbs of shit I can take. That's awesome. But, I'm really going to try and limit it to 75 lbs.

So, last night was tripy man!... (need to finish up some packing...)

I found out what my address will be in Nicaragua for training:

Dianne Kim, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

Man, I had no idea.. until I went through my Welcome book again. Guess I should have done that sooner. Hope everyone is able to write me.

One more week to go...

The title says it all. I can't believe it. I haven't even started packing. I have soooo much stuff to do before I leave! 

So here's the 411 on the Peace Corps and what I'll be doing for the next 2+ years:

Country: Nicaragua

Program: Teaching English as a Foreign Language

Job Title: TEFL Teacher Trainer

Dates of Service: July 18, 2008- July 16, 2010

Pre-Service Training: in/near Masaya, Nicaragua May 7- July 18, 2008

write more later... need to do some errands!

The countdown to May 5th begins... Three more weeks to go.

I realized that I only have three weeks left until I leave for Nicaragua. I'm sorry to everyone who has or will have read my blog in the next few weeks.. The posts are all about leaving and blah blah blah I'm sad blah blah... Sorry! I'm trying to make them more interesting, but it's a struggle because not one thing has come up that has been as huge as my inevitable departure in three weeks. I'll try to keep these posts somewhat FUN!... and I'll posts some pictures up as well. 

Here's a list of what I've been up to the past few days: (I also listed some stuff I should be doing as a reminder to myself!)

- figuring out what to pack and what to buy. I've been looking into buying some "sporty" sandals, but lets face it, the Chacos sandals that are a "must-have" among Peace Corps volunteers are in a sense, not the most attractive sandals around. I know that I shouldn't been too choosy, but I've decided that Chacos are not for me. However, I have been looking into buying some awesome Keen sandals I found at REI. I'm going to do some more research to see if I can get them cheaper on Zappos.

- I've made a decision not to buy luggage. The one I have at home is large enough and I'll just take my pack and carry-on bag. I can't take a lot anyways, so what's the point of buying luggage. I need to be more thrifty.

- need to pay my taxes! AND.. let me just say that I am not happy... but at least I'll be getting some money back.

- trying to make plans to visit people. gosh! three weeks are going to fly by, aren't they?.. I mean it feels like just yesterday that I received my invite to Nicaragua.

- going to Krav! I went to Krav tonight and I got a great work out! Yeah, I have a bruise on my leg.. I think it's from when I kept trying to "knee" my partner, Chaz in the ribs and kept getting his elbows! He was a good sport! I guess I still need to practice a bit more before I leave. 

- working on some art projects, one in particular which I have been working on for the past couple of weeks... but damn it, I'm not even half done. I can't seem to get motivated to finish it, but I need to. That reminds me: I need to restock on art supplies. Need to go to Pearl. 

- spending time with mom and jeanette should be a priority, but with j at college I can't really see her all that much. Man, I am going to miss her and mom. The reality of leaving them hasn't sinked in yet.

- spend time with peter. no more fighting. He's so right about not fighting before I leave. I want to make some great memories with him before I leave. I'm going to miss him soo much. 

- call my grandparents. aunts. uncles. family. (NEED to do this ASAP!)

- can't remember... will post more...

For those of you who have been lucky enough to read my blogs, I will miss you soooooo much! I've been feeling some anxiety about leaving lately, and it has really made me think about the people who are most important in my life.

One month exactly

Wow.... i have one more month until i leave for orientation and then nicaragua. i've been feeling more and more anxious as my departure date approaches. time sure does fly.

i have one more week of work left and then i'm completely done with being a server. i can't believe it! i've been working at that darn restaurant for so long, its going to be strange not working there... but honestly, i just can't wait until my last day. it's going to be awesome. i'm going to just hang out with friends and enjoy my last few weeks here before i leave in may.

One Month Left!

I really can't believe that I'll be leaving in a month. It's so unreal. Time really does fly.. and it doesn't always happen when you're having fun. The reality of my eventual departure hasn't set in yet, and it probably won't until the week before I leave. I've never been very good with keeping up with journals, but hopefully I'll be able to write in this blog once or twice a week. I'll be sure to let everyone know my address and other important info before I leave. I'm just going to have to enjoy every second... minute... moment of this month!