SITE ASSIGNMENT!!!

Today we learned where we´ll be living and working for the two years of our service. We´ll be going to the town of Nagarote in the Department of Leon. This town of about 35,000 is a short 45 minute trip from the capital of Managua, and is on the shores of Lake Managua and next to volcano Momotombo. It´s also close to the beach, which brings to mind Peace Corps Jamaica´s unofficial slogan, "You don´t have to suffer to serve". It is one of the most progressive town´s in the country, and has won Nicaragua´s Cleanest City award five years running.

We´ll be working in six schools that are all "multi-grade", meaning that multiple grades are in the same classroom together. This is challenging, but we actually wanted these types of schools because they tend to be smaller, more intimate, and the teachers and students are typically very receptive. There are also a wide array of projects that we´re interested in working with, as well as many community groups and NGOs that we´ll be able to collaborate with.

Friday we´ll be going to Managua to meet our "Counterparts". This is the person who requested volunteers for the site, has connections within the community, and will facilitate us with our integration and with our work throughout the two years. Then, Saturday we´ll be heading off to our site for a one week visit. We´ll be able to meet the people we´ll be living with for the first six weeks, the people we´ll be working with, and just get a feel for the place.

Overall a big day. We´re excited.

Busy, Busy!

This week is going to be a pretty tough week for us. We have youth group projects, a youth group charla (presentation) and another class in the schools. My group also has our survey presentation. This Saturday night we went to a dance club in Catarina with some other aspirantes to blow off some steam before our ¨hump¨week. Two of our friends had their wallets stolen. An important thing to keep in mind here is that is perfectly acceptable to keep money in as many places as you can, all over your body (ladies, this includes your bra so you can boost your bust). Next week we will find out our site so we will be sure to update everyone on our new permanant location. Next time... more pics!

The Beloved Care Package!!!

In response to some requests from family and friends, we have created a care package "wish list". For all of those that wish to send us a cardboard box full of love, here are a few things we're craving:

• Dark Chocolate!!!!! (Kaitlyn wishes to add exclamation marks to this one)
• Reeses
• Hard Candy
• U.S. Magazines (Time, The Economist, etc.)
• Pop Secret Homestyle Microwavable Popcorn or Plain Kernals
• Cooking Spices
• Good CDs
• Good Books
• Office Supplies (good thick permanent markers)
• Hand Sanitizer

Our new address in Leon is listed below. We've also heard that the best way to get things through is actually standard U.S. Postal Service, as other methods have a higher chance of getting tampered with at customs. Also, apparently they have some deal where you can send up to 20 pounds for a fixed rate. Now who loves us most?

Alex Fuller-Young / Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick

Apartado Postal 366
León, Nicaragua
America Central

Things That Make One Realize They're Not in the U.S. Anymore

As I promised awhile back, here are a few things that someone that is wideeyed and fresh to a new country has found a bit strange:

1. Electricity is rarely a dependable commodity, and in-fact the vast majority of towns and cities do not receive power during working hours.
2. The easiest way to trim the grass in the town's schoolyard is to perpetually move the place where the horse is tied to the fence.
3. Some believe that in order to ensure their family's safety, the entire family should sit on the same bed during a thunderstorm.
4. The concept of "passenger capacity" does not exist, or apply, when it comes to public transportation.
5. Men would never think of riding side by side in the very common "ciclotaxis" here (a bench on the front of a bike), but have no problem fitting up to five people on one, traditional bicycle.
6. The concept of "disturbing the peace" does not exist in the majority of Nicaragua, and it is in-fact highly offensive to ask a person to limit the amount of noise they are creating.
7. Some believe that drinking a cold beverage in the afternoon, or taking a shower after exercise, is a very common cause of fevers and other illnesses.
8. The strangest, most fascinating thing people have seen in a long while is you.

Volunteer Visits and pictures!

Here are a few more pictures. We hope that you enjoy!

Alex and me in my training town.

A typical meal in Nicaragua. See the

rice and beans.... I eat them EVERY day

for lunch..... and dinner.... and for a snack....

This is me and my host sister Amanda Sofia.

She is two and she LOVES to listen to my music.

Here is a picture of Alex and me during the

Independence Day parade. The building is a

Catholic church- the biggest and nicest building in the city.

Here is the parade. Boys carry drums

and girls get to twirl things.

We successfuly hade our first volunteer visits. Alex went to Chinandega and I went to Leon. Both places are VERY hot. However, the scenery was beautiful and the experience was really beneficial for us to see what other volunteers do. My first day we went to the beach which was really fun. However, it seems as though I got a bacterical infection (the first of many I am sure) and I had to pull the taxi over on the way to the beach and squat in a cow field..... I am sure that it will not be the first time. We both had really informative visits because we go to live with another volunteer and visit the schools with them. We are now VERY anxious and excited to get to our site. Alex and I hope for ALOT of visitors because there are SO many cool places that we can take people to visit. This Saturday we are going to Volcano Masaya. We will be sure to post some cool pictures. Hope you enjoy the ones above!

Some Pictures!

This is me and my training town buddies!
Kaitlyn, Denise, Misti, and Jenny.
We are standing outside Misit´s house on the
Calle Principal.

This is Laguna de Apoyo again. This is the view from the

top of our hike. The hike up was not so fun....

This is Alex and me in Catarina. Behind us

Laguna de Apoyo which is actually a volcano crater.

We went swimming there a few weeks ago and had

to make the KILLER hike up. It was SO beautiful though!

Me, Olena, Suzy, Emalee, and Analea at Catarina.
Kaitlyn and Alex at our vivero technical session.

One Month In Country

It has officially been one month in Nicaragua! Time has gone by quickly with how busy we´ve been, as well as the fun we´ve been having. Sorry we havent been posting a lot, but we´ve been way preoccupied. To make up, we´ll make this post nice and long.

Tomorrow we head out to our ¨volunteer visits¨, which means we´ll be staying with a current volunteer, asking many questions and tagging along to observe they´re daily activities. I´ll be visiting the area of Chinandega in the extreme northwest of the country and Kaitlyn will be going to the area of Leon, which is just south of Chinandega (Both very hot...but on the coast!). We´ve both been able to meet our hosts since they gave ¨charlas¨ (chats) to our training group. It should be a good time and a nice break from the training regiment.

The last few weeks have been high stress. The combination of langauge class, technical training, and work with the schools and kids is quite a lot to take on. Last weekend was our long awaited ¨vivero¨ project with our youth groups that we formed(a group of about 25 sixth graders), which is a fun, educational tree nursery project.

This week was intense as we had to give our own ¨charlas¨ (a word we´ll be refering to a lot in the months to come). My group´s first was done as a group to our youth group. However, due to some confusion on the teachers´part, we ended up with far more kids than expected (about 50!) crammed in a tiny classroom. In the end, we did manage to fight through the panic and chaos and give an effective presentation on self esteem. The next was a charla done as a duo in a classroom, which went beautifully. The kids were great and I made some stellar animal drawings for our food chain explanation.

We also had a scheduled soccer game with the kids, which was a major confianza (trust) builder with the kids. We can´t walk by the school now without getting swarmed by kids and shout outs. It was also encouraging that the girls were just as excited about playing as the boys were (girls are traditionaly discouraged from play sports here). It was also interesting that THEY demanded that the game be girls vs. boys.

The kids here are incredible to work with. They are extremely motivated, energetic, enthusiastic, and gracious. It amazes me how excited they get to do things like draw a map of their community, talk about environemtal projects, build a vivero, or just play some soccer.

Apart from all the work, we have had a little time to relax. A group of us took a hiking trip into a nearby extinct volcano a few weeks ago (Laguna de Apollo). The crater is now a very, very deep lake, which is very interesting because it has floating rocks (pumus) in it. We also got to see some howler monkeys on the hike down. After the hike we had lunch in a tourist town at the top of the volcano´s ridge, which has the most incredible view I´ve ever seen. From there you are above the lagoon, and beyond is an active volcano (Masaya) in the near distance on the right. To the left is the colonial city of Granada on the other side of the lagoon, and beyond that Lake Nicaragua, which you can see clear across to the to the mountains on the other side. From that one point you can see a huge piece of Nicaragua. We also got to grab some pizza and burgers there to indulge our cravings for American food.

On another note, my practices with the soccer team have now earned me a uniform! I´m just waiting for a weekend when my schedule doesn´t conflict and I can actually have time to play a game.

Adios for now and we promise we´ll try to post more frequently so that the posts wont be quite as exhausting as this one...