mountains and green thumbs

What a fabulous trip I had to Nueva Segovia! The mountains are gorgeous and the air is so fresh. I think the best part of my trip was the reinforcement that it brought for my desire to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. As I left for Dolores all I could think of was "wow, am I pumped to get started".

I was very lucky in that I was able to be placed with quite possibly the most motivated and amazing health volunteer in Nicaragua. He's been in service just one year and already he has done some major projects that are impacting the masses in Nueva Segovia. What's more, he served as a great example of how to integrate into one's community...everyone there loved him!

During my visit I spent a lot of time at SILAIS, the health administration center where he works. We talked a lot there about his job responsibilities and how he got started with his projects, the challenges he faced and how he dealt with them, and other tidbits about service that they can't teach in a classroom. We had meals with 2 families that he is close with...they were both very kind and great to spend time with. We also ran an activity with disabled children in the area in which we made Valentine's Day cards with them and shared some snacks, music, and fun. I really liked this because it showed that Volunteers can work on multiple projects that interest them and impact their communities in different ways.

We also played some football which was great because I got to show off my mad quarterback skills (thanks dad for the arm). He was totally impressed (as he should be) with my abilities, even though I had some difficulty catching as always :)

On Valentine's Day there was a dance being held at the local discotec by high school students. We decided to go since some of his Nica friends were going and we both love to dance. It was pretty fun even though 70% of the people there were under 18 and I was asked to dance by a number of young boys no older than 15 :) My favorite part of the night was when they played Vanilla Ice "Ice Ice Baby" and he and I went loco dancing and shouting the lyrics...I think all the nica's were staring and thinking "crazy gringos" hehe

I was very sad to leave the O.C. as he likes to call it, but I'm sure I'll visit again if not to serve then for vacation. We should be finding out in about 10 days where our permanent sites will be...very exciting!!!

Another experience I must mention was the garden practicum that we had today. This was a class on everything you need to know to have a healthy and successful garden. It was great because it was all outdoors and very much hands on. I learned how to make compost several ways; how to plant, transplant, and care for seedlings; how to fertilize and insecticize (yes I did just make up that word) crops, and how to get seeds from one's own garden.

Given my family history of green thumbs, I was as happy as a kid in a candy store. I am super psyched about starting my own garden once I get to my site and teaching others how to start one as well. It's even more neat because I will be able to grow fruits and vegetables that we don't have in the U.S. so I get to experiment with new species.

Tonight some of the trainees are getting together to go dancing with some Nica host siblings so it should be a blast. Time to once again get my dance on!

That's it for now...take care everyone!