http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/mbaade/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from mbaade en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:52:35 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:52:35 +0000 OMG I am so excited to get home It's Wednesday morning. I am in Esteli getting ready to buy last minute Christmas gifts and then to go stay with my first host family and Dona Moncha for the night get home tomorrow Thursday. Lenin and I pack and rearrange ThursdayFriday. He goes to work on Saturday gets home Sunday morning showers eats and we take off for Managua Stay in Managua http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/blog-460842.html hahahaha so after living here for more than a year this JUST came to my mind as an apt song...Beans beans the magical fruitThe more you eat the more you tootThe more you toot the better you feelSo lets eat beans at every mealHoooooooow had this slipped my mind Now I cant get it out of my head... http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-459353.html more photos in the life and times of a peace corps volunteer in central america http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-458822.html Okay so heres whats been up. Thanksgiving was awesome. Like full spread of EVVERYTHIIIIING and it was waaay too much to eat. And we woke up to homemade waffles and fresh strawberries and BACON frying.How you might ask was this possible Well we were hosted by a husband wife ex actually team of USAID workers. She is USAID Nica and he is USAID Iraq but had a week of vacay. USA http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-457213.html Yup more. Love wireless.So went around with the idea of photographing the women and their gardens... but kept getting sidetracked by all the kids who wanted photos taken. Then Lenin and i went to the town of Palacaguina to meet a bus coming from Wiwili where his father had sent 150 pounds of corn several platanos and some cuajada cheese and we had to pick it up and get it back to Somoto and http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-455695.html Photos of my last week of English classes at the Moropoto school. Preschool1st2nd multi grade4th grade3rd5th multi grade6th grade7th8th multi grade http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-455680.html Am in Managua on my laptop at the super nice Best Western hotel directly across from the airport. We are at the All Volunteer Conference which means all 200 or whatever volunteers in Peace Corps Nicaragua are together with nearly all of the staff. We've been in conferences all afternoon and will be all day tomorrow and then several of us have signed up for Thanksgiving dinner with US Embassy http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-455679.html 9 November 2009Monday 1016 amThe pictures in this blog are a motley bunch. First therersquos Coco one of two seamstresses in Moropoto. She took in four pairs of pants of mine as even the pants I bought here are too big. Now they fit again She charged me less than 0.50 for each pair. She also hemmed some fabric Lenin and I bought for a sheet and she made a pillowcase too. The gree http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Estel-/blog-452667.html Always have been a morning person. The day before yesterday I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or as they say in the Spanish I woke up on my left foot. I alternately hated everything. I hated that the two boys in the house never haul water and I hated waiting in line to haul water. I hated that Lenin got to drink coffee and eat breakfast while I drank coffee watching the damn pump http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Estel-/blog-452891.html 3 November 20094pm TuesdayI am listening to my feliz navidad mix. Yes I know itrsquos only November. I usually donrsquot start up the Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. However I am so damn excited about being home for Christmas this year that I canrsquot help myselfSo Lenin and I went to Managua Sunday late afternoon and arrived after dark. Monday morning we had the tourist http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-450717.html Yay In Managua with Lenin Went to the embassy this morning and his tourist visa was approved Next step get tickets and get home for Christmas EEE http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-450240.html Photos of the fair in San Lucas and the hipico or horse parade... of mamitas porch and of a visit to el espino. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Somoto/blog-447832.html Hey from the wilds of NicaraguaI donrsquot remember when I wrote the last mass email was. Been a long timeI have been here in the Nica for over a year having arrived in country last September. I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer just before Thanksgiving and was placed in the community of Moropoto Madriz. At the end of next month I will be half done with my service This year has been http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Somoto/blog-447829.html Got my new camera And Lenin and i have taken a lot of photos in the last few days... here is a selected photo essay....Thursday 15 October730amArgh. Okay so I came into Managua to have a catscan of my lungs. Fine. The ISSUE has nothing to do with medical stuff though. The issue is that Lenin and I went to the bank and paid the fees. HE paid the total of 131 and the 12 fee for the 1800 http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Moropoto/blog-444776.html Stuff that has happened...I turned 27.Lenin and I went to the bank yesterday and paid the nonrefundable fees to set up an interview at the American Embassy in Manangua Nicaragua so he can get a tourist visa and come to my country and meet my people for the Navidad.Annnnnd After having my camera stolen at the beginning of August and suffering through 2 12 months without one arriiiiiiived in t http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Somoto/blog-443808.html 4 October 2009Sunday 647 pmHavenrsquot written in a while. The week of medical crap in Managua and the excess of down time and internet searching and emailing and chattinghellip kind of wore me out. Decided I was thinking too much and it would be better just to get back here and move on with my life instead of all the ldquowhat ifsrdquo that were running through my mind.The upside of ha http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Somoto/blog-442351.html For those of you who are out of the loop which means everyone but family I have been reevaluating my service and wondering if its worth it to stay for the 2nd year.But then I thought well does it really matter if I go back to the States right now Not really. There arent any jobs. And no one said the Peace Corps was gonna be easy. And if I stay I will have one more year to speak the Sp http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Madriz/Somoto/blog-440502.html Because today is a list dayThings I lovefree medical care thank you taxpayers and the peace corpsthe hotdog lady who has set up shop outside the office since we are in a rich part of town and there is NOTHING to be eaten on a volunteer budget except her hotdogs.Things I don't lovecavitieschest exrays and things in my lungs being away from my home in the mopo and my fiance longer tha http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-438825.html Hmmm apparently my last post... didn't post.This weekend ran away to the beach in Leon. Met up with my volunteers who had medical stuff on Thursday and I have mine today... so a weekend at the beach was a good compromise.Now I'm back in Managua. Went to have a chest xray because of my bronchial coughing in the mornings when it's cold. Fun. Then to the dentist for a cleaning. Had a cavity. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-438595.html Im back... and so dont wanna be.Visiting the inlaws was a breath of fresh air. New people. New conversations. New things to do. No email. No cell phone. No internet. But now Im back in the real world. Back in the Mopo. And Im not gonna lie am a bit depressed. Came to Somoto for the morning. Had 64 emails in my inbox. 5 of which were worth reading. One from my mom about my gran http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/blog-437114.html