Monday, December 1, 2008

Happy Chicken Day!

I made it safely back to Nicaragua and promptly moved into my casita the same day- I promise to post pictures eventually but I figure it might be nice for there to be some furniture in this place first. I then left again to join some fellow volunteers for Thanksgiving celebrations and I couldn't have spent it any better.

After passing the initial challenge of fording a flooded road in a horse cart...



we were greeted by a brand new facility at this camp/retreat center place that a friend of another volunteer works at (connections connections) and this spectacular view of the Island of Ometepe and its two volcanoes:




We had 15 volunteers and the Assistant Country Director drove down with her husband to pass the day with us (and she brought pumpkin pie!) so we had quite a feast, though we had to substitute chicken for turkey. But we did have real homemade mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, salad, stuffing, cornbread, and cranberry sauce. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself:




I've said it before and I'll say it again, it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving if there are leaves on the trees and it's warm, but that dinner sure did make it pretty close.

A large majority of the group was made up of TEFL volunteers from the group before mine and it was interesting to get their take on things now that they only have about seven more months of service left. Almost all of them are applying to graduate programs to start right after returning next summer and they definitely emphasized how fast the time will go (which is easy to say when you have 7 months left as opposed to being 7 months in, but I do believe they're right). But mostly it was impressive to see how close they all have become and how much they mean to each other, I really felt like I was part of the Peace Corps family.

My list of things I'm thankful for is about a mile long right now, but in general I'm thankful to have a very supportive family at home, amazing friends who continue to send me encouragement in the form of emails, letters, packages, and general good karma, and the opportunity to serve in the Peace Corps- some days I think back to when I didn't think I would or could be doing this right now and I'm proud of how far I've come. Happy Thanksgiving!!

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