Mind's a spinning

These past couple of days have been super stressful, but I've busted
over that hump. I am now exactly halfway done with training which has
meant a couple of things. The first being that we have (and have had)
a bunch of interviews and evaluations about everything and anything.
The most stressful things being a language evaluation, and site
placement interview. As much as I've tried, I just haven't been able
to stop thinking about the sites, because after all it's where I'll be
living the next two years. It doesn't count for much from what I hear,
but I get to express my top three choices, and I've been flip flopping
on them the past five days ago. But I finally went with Carmen El
Villa, Moyogalpa, and Jinotega, three very diverse sights.
Some quick info on each site, Jinotega is a department capital up in
the mountains in the north. Although it's a larger city, its somewhat
difficult to access, and is literally located in a small valley in the
mountains. I didn't think I would like a big city as much, but for
whatever reason the site jumped out at me. There is a lot of
opportunities to get involved in AgroBusiness, which really interests
me, and plenty of Agriculture volunteers in the surrounding area,
which I look forward to hopefully working with. I think we have a lot
to learn from each other, and want to get my hands dirty and work with
them out in the fields. The peace corps has also worked with a
vocational school in the area as well, which means I could also
potentially have an opportunity to teach other skills such as
carpentry or computer skills. I got dem skillz that killz, and want to offer everything I can. It also means its a bit cooler in temperature since it's up in the mountains.
Site number two Moyogalpa, a smaller village located on the island of
Olmetepe, in the Middle of Lake Nicaragua. It's a really beautiful
spot, and as a result its a big tourist destination, and as a result, there is a lot of opportunity to work with up and coming businesses focusing on tourism. I'm use to Island life from the Vineyard, so I think it could be a really good spot, and the emphasis is more on small business than teaching.
Site three, and the site I want most is Villa El Carmen, and I'm
really dying for this spot. It's a smaller community, which is what I
think I want. I want to be able to walk around town and know most
people. To just be able to walk into a local store or down the road
and just start a conversation with anyone I run into. It also means a
lot of free meals which is always a plus. Some other big pluses of the
site are the advising opportunites available. There's one start up
company there that is a direct product of the enprendedurismo class
that I'll be teaching. And there's a healthy balance of teaching as
well. Although I struggled with it at first, I think I'm really going
to enjoy it, and will thrive as a teacher. I have my second class
tomorrow, we'll see how it goes. But the biggest kicker is that it's
only about 8 km from the beach, so a short bike ride, and its got some
great waves there. On a stressful day, there's nothing better to take you mind off of everything. I would like nothing more than to live there for
the next two years, with a good break in practically my back yard.

I was really like San Carlos and El Sauce as well. I mean how can you not like a village called the The Sauce. It's too good. Where are you from? Oh, I'm from the The Sauce. You really gotta emphasize the"au" in Sauce for the full effect. You know what I'm talking about?

So I guess life hasn't been too stressful, if that's all I really have
to worry about. I'm still constantly humbled by the language, and
rarely a day goes by when I'm not frustrated. After 5 weeks I expected
more progess. It just goes to show that its not a fast process. I've
been managing to have some fun as well though. I've been playing in a
basketball league here, and on the weekend have been hiking around the
surrounding area as much as possible. The hike to the Lagoon is an
awesome trail, full of monkeys and natural beauty, and of course there
is the beautiful clear blue lagoon waiting for you at the bottom. It was when I was swimming in the lake again yesterday that it struck me again where I was,
actually in Nicaragua. You'd be hard pressed to find a place like this
back in the states, and there I was about 30 yards out, just floating
looking up at the crater around me. Absolutley breathtaking.