A Year Told Through Snippets from my Personal Journal:
1/11/2011- At the hotel in Arlington! Peace Corps is actually happening!
-I dedicate this adventure to my sisters. I promise to take advantage of every opportunity that comes up…
1/14/2011- 3:50 am- Finally on our way to Nica…exhausted, but excited.
1/17/2011- Estoy en Masatepe. So far I’ve been to the cheese store, the tortilla store and the egg store. My family is pretty awesome.
1/20/2011- Lunch- still trying to figure out what it was that I ate…
1/22/2011- I’m pretty sure I took one of the illegal modes of transportation last night…
2/2/2011- I have acquired a new soccer nickname-Chinelita-literally means little flip flop-awesome-I played soccer in flip flops ONCE and became Chinela, then Nico brought it up to the guys who have now taken the name on as well.
2/8/2011- Had first health charla today-it went fairly well-need to talk louder and keep walking through the crowd. The theme was HIV and I was extremely nervous.
2/23-2/26- Summary of HIV practicum week in Chinandega- health center charlas, police officer HIV charla, beach, sunset, mud exfoliating, condom demos, hanging with amigos, good talk with Stephanie about life and white water….started hanging out which is when the countdown to my birthday started… such a nice way to begin a birthday with birthday hugs and warm fuzzy things. My group is so great…Birthday party with Dora the Explorer piñata-thanks to Gabe and Ricky!
3/4/2011- titled “The Day I Found out I have an Amoeba”. That was in fact the day that I found baby amoebas and parasites in my body.
3/12/2011- Finalmente CORINTO!! I love that everyone rides bikes here! My first day and I’ve already played soccer, ridden a bike, been to the beach, sat in on a club de jovenes and seen fish being cut up to sell. Yesterday there was an 8.9 earthquake in Japan which meant Corinto was on tsunami watch.
3/20/2011- I am happy.
4/17/2011- It’s been a long time since I’ve written in here-since the last time I wrote, we have sworn in, hung out in Managua, been to the Embassy, said goodbye to each other and to our training sites, said hello to our new sites, new families and new friends.
Semana Santa- I came in 2nd place in a dance concert out at a club- that’s right-even gringas can dance! I love bucket showers! And I do not miss hot water.
Fish Weekend!! Spent Friday night with fish-shelled shrimp, de-boned fish. Did you know that each fish has about 3.9 million tiny tiny bones? (this fact may or may not have been exaggerated due to my frustration with the fact that we had to remove each miniscule spiny bone)
5/10/2011-6 little ants marching across my bedroom wall-let me restate that last part-marching across the wall that my bed touches, meaning they are almost marching on my bed. Where are you going and why are you so close to my bed?
5/11/2011- This week has not been the best I’ve had, but the rain came. I have a ¾ length sleeve shirt on and I’m not sweating! It’s a miracle! I love the smell of rain and here it’s no different from home.
6/1/2011-How strange life can be-moving between 2 cultures, seeing 2 different lives I have and am leading-2 families, languages…explaining to each family how the other is, but it’s never truly possible for the other to fully understand without being here and there. Walking off the plane at Logan. I’m not sure how I felt…it was strange…great, but strange. I love meeting new people, but spending a week with my family and play group friends whom I have known my entire life, high school and college and after college friends…it was just great.
June- Esteli for Alyssa’s birthday- I smiled a lot, laughed a lot, danced a ton, had great food, met lots of new people, saw tons of old friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
6/7/2011- it is officially rainy season!
Haiku:
All of these sights pass
On the streets of Corinto
Two years this is home
9/11/2011- A few years ago or as recently as a year ago, I would have had trouble speaking in public. I could always do it, but my hands would shake, my heart would race and I would sweat…visibly. During IST though, I gave a great charla are pre and post HIV test counseling with Xiomara for an hour and a half in Spanish, in front of 80 people. It went so well!
-Old man with a very curly almost mullet-hopping on one foot, banging his boot on the sidewalk-in the middle of this very funny scene, he stops hopping in order to yell out to me, “Hola mi bonita chelita” (Hello my pretty little white girl) How did he know that he is my exact type and that I am looking for a boot stomping boyfriend?! You are so smart, yes you are.
10/09/2011- As I close my eyes, I think of my family. I had no idea how much I would miss them.
10/11/2011- Today it rained for 12 hours.
11/04/2011- …FINALLY watching the new Harry Potter over scrambled eggs with broccoli, tomato, onion, pepper and if I hit the lottery-cheese! (How funny that a splurge here is cheese…)
Thanksgiving- The day Lindsey and I made a fantastic turkey; we all got killed in a massive water balloon fight, drank wine and watched football.
Christmas- How happy it was…lo pasé con family, host family, friends and received a couple nice phone calls from home. At the end of the night I could not help but smile.
Bring it on 2012. I’m ready for you.
-I dedicate this adventure to my sisters. I promise to take advantage of every opportunity that comes up…
1/14/2011- 3:50 am- Finally on our way to Nica…exhausted, but excited.
1/17/2011- Estoy en Masatepe. So far I’ve been to the cheese store, the tortilla store and the egg store. My family is pretty awesome.
1/20/2011- Lunch- still trying to figure out what it was that I ate…
1/22/2011- I’m pretty sure I took one of the illegal modes of transportation last night…
2/2/2011- I have acquired a new soccer nickname-Chinelita-literally means little flip flop-awesome-I played soccer in flip flops ONCE and became Chinela, then Nico brought it up to the guys who have now taken the name on as well.
2/8/2011- Had first health charla today-it went fairly well-need to talk louder and keep walking through the crowd. The theme was HIV and I was extremely nervous.
2/23-2/26- Summary of HIV practicum week in Chinandega- health center charlas, police officer HIV charla, beach, sunset, mud exfoliating, condom demos, hanging with amigos, good talk with Stephanie about life and white water….started hanging out which is when the countdown to my birthday started… such a nice way to begin a birthday with birthday hugs and warm fuzzy things. My group is so great…Birthday party with Dora the Explorer piñata-thanks to Gabe and Ricky!
3/4/2011- titled “The Day I Found out I have an Amoeba”. That was in fact the day that I found baby amoebas and parasites in my body.
3/12/2011- Finalmente CORINTO!! I love that everyone rides bikes here! My first day and I’ve already played soccer, ridden a bike, been to the beach, sat in on a club de jovenes and seen fish being cut up to sell. Yesterday there was an 8.9 earthquake in Japan which meant Corinto was on tsunami watch.
3/20/2011- I am happy.
4/17/2011- It’s been a long time since I’ve written in here-since the last time I wrote, we have sworn in, hung out in Managua, been to the Embassy, said goodbye to each other and to our training sites, said hello to our new sites, new families and new friends.
Semana Santa- I came in 2nd place in a dance concert out at a club- that’s right-even gringas can dance! I love bucket showers! And I do not miss hot water.
Fish Weekend!! Spent Friday night with fish-shelled shrimp, de-boned fish. Did you know that each fish has about 3.9 million tiny tiny bones? (this fact may or may not have been exaggerated due to my frustration with the fact that we had to remove each miniscule spiny bone)
5/10/2011-6 little ants marching across my bedroom wall-let me restate that last part-marching across the wall that my bed touches, meaning they are almost marching on my bed. Where are you going and why are you so close to my bed?
5/11/2011- This week has not been the best I’ve had, but the rain came. I have a ¾ length sleeve shirt on and I’m not sweating! It’s a miracle! I love the smell of rain and here it’s no different from home.
6/1/2011-How strange life can be-moving between 2 cultures, seeing 2 different lives I have and am leading-2 families, languages…explaining to each family how the other is, but it’s never truly possible for the other to fully understand without being here and there. Walking off the plane at Logan. I’m not sure how I felt…it was strange…great, but strange. I love meeting new people, but spending a week with my family and play group friends whom I have known my entire life, high school and college and after college friends…it was just great.
June- Esteli for Alyssa’s birthday- I smiled a lot, laughed a lot, danced a ton, had great food, met lots of new people, saw tons of old friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself.
6/7/2011- it is officially rainy season!
Haiku:
All of these sights pass
On the streets of Corinto
Two years this is home
9/11/2011- A few years ago or as recently as a year ago, I would have had trouble speaking in public. I could always do it, but my hands would shake, my heart would race and I would sweat…visibly. During IST though, I gave a great charla are pre and post HIV test counseling with Xiomara for an hour and a half in Spanish, in front of 80 people. It went so well!
-Old man with a very curly almost mullet-hopping on one foot, banging his boot on the sidewalk-in the middle of this very funny scene, he stops hopping in order to yell out to me, “Hola mi bonita chelita” (Hello my pretty little white girl) How did he know that he is my exact type and that I am looking for a boot stomping boyfriend?! You are so smart, yes you are.
10/09/2011- As I close my eyes, I think of my family. I had no idea how much I would miss them.
10/11/2011- Today it rained for 12 hours.
11/04/2011- …FINALLY watching the new Harry Potter over scrambled eggs with broccoli, tomato, onion, pepper and if I hit the lottery-cheese! (How funny that a splurge here is cheese…)
Thanksgiving- The day Lindsey and I made a fantastic turkey; we all got killed in a massive water balloon fight, drank wine and watched football.
Christmas- How happy it was…lo pasé con family, host family, friends and received a couple nice phone calls from home. At the end of the night I could not help but smile.
Bring it on 2012. I’m ready for you.
I like this entry. Can't wait to see what 2012 brings. I know its already started off with a bang ;)
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