Still Alive

Hola Tod@s!!!
Ok...where to begin....so much has happened in the past 2 weeks that I can hardly believe it has already been so long.
       Arriving in Managua was actually rather difficult for me--at least harder than I expected. I had grown acustom to my life at home in Texas, and becoming uprooted again threw me for a loop. Also, it was difficult to finally realize that I am going to be in Nicaragua and not the Dominican for the next two years. As much as I tried to prepare myself for this obvious fact, it hit me hard when we finally got here and I realized I was comparing everything to that country which I had already fallen in love with.
       I also realized soon upon arrival that our JVC experience is controlled much more by myself and the JVs here than the ¨higher-ups¨ in DC. Even though I am 22, I feel that I have hardly lived my life as an independent, self-thinking adult. Here, I suddenly realized that I am an adult...and while I have my community and the JVC program, in many ways, I am on my own. I´m not sure I am fully expressing my feelings about this right now...maybe it´s just something you have to experience to understand.

Anyway..I´ve learned and experienced a lot of other things since I´ve been here. And since I only have 15 minutes left on the computer, I´ll try to sum them up quickly...

-When we first arrived, Nicaraguans were celebrating ¨Purisima¨ which is the celebration of Mary´s Immaculate Conception. They have a 9 day festival that culminates with a night that is a mixture of Halloween and carolling. You go around to different houses and sing songs about Mary, and afterwards they give each of you something (food, tuperware, plates, brooms, drinks, candy, chips, sugar cane sticks...etc). People are also continuously setting off fireworks. haha

-The Nicaraguan bus system is absolutely crazy!!...but it only costs 2.50 cordobas to ride it around Managua.
-Nicaraguans have TONS of words that are very specific just to this country, so at times it feels like I´m learning a completely different language....
-I visited my work site twice in El Recreo. The bank and the women there seem really wonderful, and although I have a lot to learn and big shoes to fill, I think it will be a great placement for me.
-One day we went to a coffee bean farm and picked coffee beans. Then we hitchhiked back...my first time for both of those.
-I learned how to toast bread without a toaster.
-We have pretty consistent light, but are water gets shut off usually between like 9am and 6pm everyday.
-We swam in a crater lake the other day, and it was absolutely beautiful!
-Nicaraguans listen to a LOT of English music...mostly from like the 80s and before.
-Yesterday I ate a bowl of Sopa de Mondongo....which is Cow Stomach Soup...a favorite here in Nicaragua, but to me it tasted like the smell of cows....not my favorite.
-We went on a retreat for a few days with both Nicaraguan JV communities, and during the retreat, each person told their LifeGraph. Basically each person talked about him/herself for an hour mas o menos, and the rest of us listened. It was such a beautiful exercise in sharing yourself and listening to others. It´s too bad it doesn´t happen more often in life. I wonder if this stems from the fact that we are afraid to share who we are with people or if it is because we just assume that people don´t really care/won´t really take the time to listen.

ANyway...there is sooo much more but I´ve run out of time. I hope everyone else is well. PLease let me know what is going on in your lives as well!!!

Love,
Jana