WOW! FINALMENTE!

So, I've been a little lazy in keeping up with this blog. I can't believe I haven't written in it since last July! It's been over a year since my last entry. I am seriously bad at this.... But, I've turned over a new leaf and I'm going start keeping up with this blog because I want something to go back to and read after my adventure in Nicaragua ends. I guess I kind of have to back track a bit because a whole year has passed since my last entry, which was Jurementacion or swearing-in.

I´m so surprised that a year and a half has already gone by. I mean I thought we would never get to this point because two years really did seem like a long time once I got here. After swearing-in, I moved to the beautiful, colonial city of Granada. It's an extremely touristy site, probably the most touristy in Nicaragua. Like with any site, my site definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, it´s been very hard to differentiate myself from the tourists and backpackers that come here on vacation. The men on my street and the street surrounding my neighborhood, streets I walk through every single day continue to harass me and they still have no idea what I´m doing here. I try to tell them, but it seems like with most things here, the information comes in one ear and out the other.

For the next four months after my arriving in Granada, I lived with a host family. They were awesome! In comparison to the awful host family I had during training, my host family in Granada was nice and generous. I really liked living with my host family, but I never quite felt comfortable living with them because I always felt like I was walking on egg shells. I didn´t feel like their home was my own, and I don´t think that would´ve changed if I had decided to stay for the whole two years. One of the many disadvantages to living in Granada has been the cost of living. Rent is impossible to pay if you´re trying to live alone, and living with a host family can be just as expensive. After four months of living with my host family, I decided to move out and move into a house with my site mate, Liz. She and I found a great place about a 20 minute walk from the central park. The house was in a sketch neighborhood, but the rent was affordable and the owner had been a former PCV in Africa and she understood our financial situation. I moved in before Thanksgiving and it´s been awesome since that day I found independence again.

According to Peace Corps policy in Nicaragua, PCVs cannot live together, but after some fighting and reasoning with the staff and our country director we were granted permission to live together. Liz and I were happy and relieved to be able to live together because rent is ridiculous in Granada. We could not find anything affordable that was located in a safe part of the city. Our neighborhood may be sketchy at night and there are a lot of men who like hang out and drink and play street baseball everyday, but our house is pretty swanky. We have our own rooms and bathrooms, and the kitchen is outside along with our spacious patio. Our kitties, Tuna and Sparky love the house too! There is nothing like being able to cook for yourself again and have the freedom to eat and do whatever you want. If I want to walk around my house naked, I can that! It´s awesome. I never quite appreciated my independence before because it was something I always had at home, but coming here and living with a host family for the first seven months in Nicaragua has taught me to appreciate my freedom a lot more.

I'm an English teacher in Granada. I work work three counterpart English teachers at a school near a local grocery store. I used to work there five days a week, but I cut my hours and now I work there Mondays to Wednesdays. The past four months has been soo busy. I have two community classes during the week, one at the Casa de La Mujer, a government funded NGO that works with women in both rural and urban areas in Granada, providing them with technical classes, and I work with Xichen Centro de Mujeres twice a week teaching English classes. I'm going to be starting self-defense classes with my women´s group next week. I have also been teaching English classes with Futbol Sin Fronteras on Thursdays to a group of girls. Like I said, it´s been super busy here! A few months ago, I didn´t think I would ever be this busy! I´m also in the process of trying to start a garden project, but I think it´s going to fail. No one seems to give a shit about the project because we´ve had to cancel so many classes due to the actos that plague our schools. I shouldn´t call it a plague!... I mean I´m used to them by now. I remember how angry I was when I first got here and my classes kept getting cancelled because my students had to prepare for some stupid school event to raise money for the director´s birthday or practice for the band competition.

I have about 10 more months here....wow, that´s not a lot of time! Time does fly! I´ve been thinking hard about going to Korea and med school. I keep thinking that I have enough time to figure things out, but I really don´t have that much time. I thought I had enough time to really figure out what I wanted to do with my life in college, but time flew by and I graduated and now I´m here in Nicaragua with the same dilemma. I was thinking about taking some art classes and photography classes when I come home next year, and I was thinking of applying to a post-bac program to go to med school.... These are all thoughts... I'm a little freaked out about the future.

So, I have some other things to include in this blog before signing off.

- Peter and I are completely over. He´s engaged to some Russian chick he met at Peabody, and the last time we spoke he said they might be married next summer. Isn´t that ridiculous? I still can´t believe he´s getting married. I thought that he would take some time before moving on so fast, but I guess he found his rebound chick.

- I was robbed this past Saturday after going to a concert with some friends in Managua. We were stupid and didn´t think about taking a cab and some guy stole my purse. I learned a valuable lesson... Never walk around at night, especially in a city that is known to be dangerous.

- Liz and David are married!!! Yeah! June 20th! I had so much fun at the wedding... It was unforgettable.

I think that's about it for now... I'm surprised I even wrote all this! I miss home a lot, but I know that I'll be home soon and I should use the time I have here to figure out my life.