Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The rains came on Sunday....

and so did my brother!! He's my first official visitor and so far he hasn't died, gotten sick, or gotten into a machete fight so I think it's going pretty well. We haven't done much though either, this weekend we'll run around but for now I'm still working so we're just hanging around my site and I'm practicing my translator skills.

Here we are at the Plaza de la Revolucion in Managua:


And here's a photo he took yesterday of my laundry, you can see the dark, threatening skies in the background:


So the other news is that summer is now officially over and we have entered into winter since it's now started raining. And I'm happy to say that my roof is standing up to the test, it poured last night and no leaks!!! The start of winter is good because the rains provide a much-needed break from the incredible heat however it is badly timed with this whole Swine Flue Craziness that's going on because when it rains, the flies come out and the flies spread germs which means that we are also entering into flu season here. Nicaragua still hasn't had any confirmed cases and Peace Corps is taking necessary precautions such as restricting travel to Mexico and passing out masks and medication to use in case things take a turn for the worse, and emailing us like 10 times with the same information (wash your hands, etc etc).

This week marks my one year anniversary leaving home, joining the Peace Corps, and moving to Nicaragua. Today is the day I flew out of Minnesota last year and Thursday is my one year anniversary in-country. When I was struggling to get through training last year and staring down 26 months of service, I told myself that one day I would wake up and realize that I've been here for a year and wonder where the time went and that is exactly what's happening right now. Suddenly it's been a year, but it doesn't feel like a year's gone by, and my countdown is now at a more manageable 15 months which I don't doubt will go by very quickly.

So I guess I should thank all my family and friends for your support, love, packages, letters, emails, and everything over the past year. I've been overwhelmed and amazed at the amount of support I've received and am extremely grateful for it. I hope to see as many of you as possible when I finally come home for a visit in June to Minnesota and DC.

3 comments:

mwlviatge said...

Do machete fights happen often?

Anonymous said...

do monkeys have machete fights?

Jen said...

yes, machete fights happen with certain frequency and no, monkeys don't have machete fights. who are you & why are you so interested in monkeys anyway?