uneventful days

27 de Abril

Well, earlier this week Brian and Tui left and Sharon moved out to live with a family and today we got a new guy, Jason. It's kind of weird to think that Kris and Asya are the only two people that are still living in the house that were there when I first arrived. People are constantly changing here!

Oh! Side Note- Yesterday Sharon went to Managua (the only place you can get American groceries) and she saw some peanut butter and thought of me so now I actually have three jars of peanut butter and every time I get a new jar I upgrade! I am seriously so lucky!!!

28 de Abril

Well today the kids were crazier than usual. There were more than usual (meaning the majority of the class showed up), so maybe there was a mob mentality thing happening or something. . . i don't know. It would be so nice if they were calm for a day. I do think some it has to do with the teaching itself though. The class has a range of ages so the teacher mostly addresses the 4 and 5 year olds and lets the two 3 years olds mostly do what they want because their ability level is lower than the other kids. What I have been trying to to lately is get them more involved in class. It can be hard sometimes because both of them aren't very verbal and don't like to communicate much so it's hard to ask them about colors or parts of the body. I just wish I could do my job better because I don't want to be too mean and make them not want to go to school (because then they might choose not to come to school at all) but I want them to learn too and I am afraid they aren't getting the things they could.

29 de Abril

Right now I am really excited because tomorrow I am going to the Corn Islands for four days. There is no school for the rest of the week so a bunch of volunteers decided to go. The Corn Islands are two islands off the Carribean coast and they are just supposed to be incredibly beautiful and just a lot of fun. Kris and Asya went during Semana Santa and loved it. I am really excited. Yay!

leg issues

April 18

First of all, I would like to say, that my night wasn't as gross as thought it was going to be. Yesterday some guy came over to look at our toilet problems and he turned all the water off overnight because today the came back to flush out our whole septic system or something like that. Anyway, that meant that there was no water running in the house. This isn't actually that unusual so there is a big water tank in the garden/yard for showering when there isn't water. However, I am guessing that made some people quite uncomfortable.

Anyway, I was one of the only volunteers to go to school because I think Elba Zamora was the only school to have class today and there wasn't normal classes, there was only preschool. So, because none of the kids would want to go to school when their siblings aren't going, exactly 2 kids showed up. The teacher then decided that there wasn't much she could do school-wise so I basically babysat them the whole time. It was really fun to just hang out with the kids instead of having to worry about keeping them on track. We just played. The day went so fast.

One bummer. . . I learned that the preschool teacher doesn't know what a clarinet is!

April 19

Today I went to the beautiful Luguna de Apoyo. It is this volcanic crater that has been filled up with water. I got to swim, relax, and even kayak a little! The water felt so good! In the afternoon I didn't feel like swimming again (I got a bit burned) and so I just relaxed in a hammock and read my book of the moment, To Kill a Mockingbird. I decided to reread it when I saw it in a used bookstore here because I remembered that I really liked it when I read it freshman year, but I forgot a lot about it. I am now remembering all the things I loved about it. It is such a great book- and it makes you think. Yesterday I saw Mulholand Drive at this restaurant that shows movies a few times a week and I hated it. Well, hate is a strong word, I came out of the restaurant feeling bewildered and like the movie had no real worth. Apparently (someone told me) that the movie is supposedly making some statement about how a few people run Hollywood or something. Now, this is just my opinion, but when reading To Kill a Mockingbird, I am drawn in, I like the characters, and I get at least some of the point the author is trying to make. Isn't that a better way to make a point? In Mulholand Drive, I am completely sidetracked by the fact that the movie actually makes no sense, and I don't get any possible message. Oh, well that´s just my opinion of the moment.


April 20

Well, That sunburn I mentioned is a bit painful. I don't think I reapplied sun screen soon enough and the sun is really strong in the Luguna so I am basically a red version of that Guy in Big Fat Liar (this guy swam in a pool with blue dye in it). My legs hurt the most because the skin moves the most there and had gotten much less sun compared to my arms and face. I also think my left shin must of gotten the most sun because I have this pain in my shin but it only hurts a lot if I am off my feet for a bit and then stand up. If I continue to walk, it doesn't hurt that much.

April 21

Well, quite a few of volunteers have gotten sick recently and have gotten to see this doctor. He is one crazy guy. First of all, he is quite the talker. if someone went to visit him, they shouldn't expect to leave for at least 5 hours and they shouldn't expect him to restrain himself from laughing at you. One of the volunteers he found to be hilarious and he laughed at her quite a bit. Also, in addition to being a doctor, Dr. Sicily (that is what I will call him because he is from Sicily) is also a lawyer and a bit of a arms dealer (he sells guns I guess). Apparently, if he is looking for something in one of his drawers of this big elaborate desk he owns, he will casually pull out a gun and lay it on his desk. He also is fond of giving shots. . . in the butt. All the people I have heard about going there have gotten 3 or 4 shots in the behind. Crazy guy. I am definitely going to hold off if possible to going to visit Dr. Sicily. Although it would make for a good story. . .

April 22

Well I can just say that my left leg is pretty attractive. One might think my right leg is gorgeous, I mean, it does have the slowly fading splotchy sunburn that looks a little like a unfortunate birthmark, but my left leg actually outshines my right one. My left leg, somehow got a much more severe sunburn so in addition so the beautiful scarlet overtones, it has this kind of weird texture. it is kind of strangely smooth. Then, because my burn hurts a lot, I occasionally have this limp that is really worthy of NY fashion week or something. Plus, my left ankle has randomly decided to swell up. It doesn't hurt or itch or anything but I has a cankle effect that really would make any beauty queen jealous. Plus, because of my burns, I haven't really wanted to shave my legs so I now have man-legs. Seriously, if I was a contestant on America's Next Top Model, I would totally win. In fact, my left leg is so amazingly Helen of Troy-esque that on the first episode the would just name me ANTM right away. Beauty just comes easily to me. . .


April 23

Wow. . time as flown! As of today, I only have one more month left in Central America. It's weird to think about all the normal stuff from home that I haven't seen for two and a half months and all the things that are normal for me here that I won't see when I am back in the states. Some of it is obvious stuff like I haven't had graters or Chinese food or gone to a movie theater but I don't really miss it. It's like I have two different lives sort of. Like I am a different person here. My personality isn't that different (except for the fact that I haven't been the weird crazy person like am with my family- I don´t want to scare people) but the way I do things is different. When I want a treat at home, graters is the place to go. Here, I go across the street to the pulperia and get oreos and fast food isn't wendy's or Mc Donalds, it's grabbing a bag of mango slices or these cheesy tortillas from a lady in the park. Life is just sort of different here. It will be strange when I go home but I am looking forward to it. I am not really homesick but I am looking forward to being around people that I have known for longer than a couple months. To be in a place that I am totally familiar and comfortable with. Not that I am uncomfortable here, but it's not home (literally or culturally).

April 24

Well I haven't been doing much lately, just hanging around the house. My leg has been bothering me and I don't want to irritate my ankle by being to active (I want to discourage the cankleism) so I have been watching tv, reading, talking, etc. I did go out once to run a couple errands and I stopped by this used bookstore. I have this place because they have a fairly good selection for a store its size (tiny). You can buy books and then sell it back to them for half price. That's where I got To Kill a Mockingbird and this other book that I got which was stupid and so I sold it back for Persuasion. I haven't read many Jane Austen books but I love P&P but I had seen the movie before so I was familiar with the dialogue and plot which helped a lot. I am really excited to read it. YAY!!


I am really happy to report that I got my hands on some proper peanut butter! Becky picked some up for me at this stand that is on the way to the school she works at. It is so great! Seriously, peanut butter is like cigarrettes in prison here or something. It´s like that one thing that all the americans go crazy for. . . and I got some!

April 25

Because of my leg (that is now oozing junk) I have been watching a lot more tv lately, including the news. Specifically I have been watching CNN world. All week they have been focusing on what they are calling the global food crisis. It's scary stuff. I guess food prices are growing at a really high rate because of a lot of factors including alternative fuels. It doesn't look like it going to be getting better either and now people in haiti are eating mud with a little food mixed in and people in Egypt can only buy 7 eggs when not to long ago they could have bought 12 with the same amount of money. It is really scary. Sometimes the news can totally get me down. I mean between the food crisis and global warming and AIDS and poverty and corruption, sometimes it feels like we are in quite the slump. Maybe it also has to do with the poverty I see here. I am a little freaked out. but people were freaked out 100 years ago about things changing so hopefully it's just me being paranoid. right?

April 26

One thing that someone commented about the other day that has kind of stuck with me is that it must bother some of the poorer Nicaraguans to see all the rich gringos around here. In granada, there are a lot of gringos from europe and the states. Not only is this area popular for tourism, but it is a place where a lot of people have settled down. There are several buisnesses that specifically cater to gringos and there are a lot of touristy stands set up in the park. I wonder if it bothers people to be struggling for money when there are lots of people running around with lots of money in their pockets.


On a brighter note, I am really excited about the new facebook chat! I have been able to have conversations with my friends! I am very happy!

new people and smells

April 11

Today Tuija left and Andrew is going to leave in a few days interesting things about La Esperanza is that most people volunteer for about 2 months and people are always coming and going so most of the volunteers that were here when I started won't be here when I leave. However, it will such having to say goodbye all the time. Also, Tuija is a pretty good roommate. my next roommate could be pretty gross or mean or something. Or, maybe she will be a really loud snorer or there will be a mix up and I will get assigned a guy roommate who has really bad BO. This could go bad so easily. . .

April 12

I watched this thing on CBS today (yes, we don't have hot water but we do have cable tv) called The Lord's Boot Camp. I only caught about ten minutes at the end but it really made me think. All that I figured out was that there were some people that went to Africa and did some volunteering with children with HIV/AIDS or something like that and it reminded me of Montaña de Luz, the place I volunteered at in Honduras. That week was really intense, actually that week kind of started off a period of about a month that was crazy, but that place was so amazing and I was learning about things that I heard about but had never really met people that had gone through living with HIV/AIDS, parents deaths, abandonment, abuse, etc. Montaña, made me want to go back to central america. Anyway, when I was watching this, it also reminded me of how much I want to go to Africa. I want to see so much of the world and it makes me sad because I also have a lot of places and people I want to visit again. To many choices!

Anyway, back to the Lord's Boot Camp, at the end they showed one of the girls when she was back home and she was doing some evangelical work in the street. She want up to this girl and her mother and asked the girl if she believed in the bible and the girl said that she did and that she was a morman. The evangelical girl (I will call her girl #1 because I don't remember her name) didn't really know much about mormanism so she asked the other girl (girl #2) what it was like. Well, I guess girl #2 was not giving very good answers because girl #1 became very conserned about the salvation of girl #2 and told her so. Well, the mother of girl #2 became a bit adjitated so girl #1 got someone to talk to the mom while she attemped to convert girl #2 to a more godly form of christianity. This kind of bothered me. I don't know that that is the best way to convert people. First of all, I would find it offencive if someone came up to me and did that and I would find it even more offencive if I was the mother. I think evangelizing is a very tricky thing and go tell someone you have known for about 5 seconds that they are going to hell is probably not the best way to start off any conversation, nevermind one where you want someone to understand your point of view. I used to be wary of any type of evangelicalism. I am of the opinion that god is bigger than all of us and that I think we should probably let him worry about deciding who is going to hell or not. In fact, I don't really want to know because there is a very good chance it would break my heart. If I discoved that everyone goes to heaven, I would be upswt that all the people that have committed attricities get to go to heaven. However, if I found out that there is some rule that if you don't do something, or if you do a certain bad thing, then you have to go to hell, I would be devestated by the lack of hope for those people. Anyway, When I was is Costa Rica, I came across a form of evengelism that I like. It's called servant evangelism. Basiclly, how it works is you do something nice for someone like a free car washing or a free coke and tell them that you are doing it to show the love of Jesus in a practical way. If they want to talk more, they can, or if they feel their time has been wasted, at least the coke or there washed car will make up for it.

April 13

Well my fears subsided when I met my new roommate, Becky. She doesn´t look dangerous (although, I have been told not to judge a book by it's cover, even if she seems nice so far she could easily snore really loudly or be really gross- just kidding she is cool). Another girl moved in the house today as well. The three of got pizza together and we got to know each other. Becky is from Florida and is taking a quick break before she goes after her PhD in geology in the fall. I asked her if there is like a special geeky geology thing that gets her really excited but she didn't really come up with anything but she did confirm that in her opinion, volcanoes are pretty sweet. She is pretty quiet and I think we will get along OK. Sharon is the other new girl and she is from California and she used to work in marketing and she liked it but she didn't find it fulfilling because what she was doing was helping the rich get richer. So, she quit her job and is going to business school to learn about business that helps people (she had a term for it but I forget what it was) Anyway, she has spent a month or two in southeast asia and now is here. Sharon also seems pretty cool and she is really outgoing and friendly. They will be cool to have around the house.

April 14

One thing I miss when I use Spanish are being able to use words that aren't proper grammar. When I use english, I like to say things like "hard core" and "that's sweet" and adding "-ish" on the ends of words. I think that the way we use words expresses a part of our personality, and it is hard when I don't have the vocabulary to do that.

April 15

Well, one not so cool thing about nicaragua at this time of this year is the heat. IT IS SO HOT! Since I probably walk at least an hour in this heat every day, I think that is what has been bothering me. Since, I have gotten here. I feel really tired all the time. The sun just takes my energy from me. It is becoming the problem of the hour. But I just don't know if I am not doing something I should to protect myself. I will work through it, I just have to figure out my best survival methods. I am kind of looking forward to the rainy season but that probably won't make things cool just more humid. I am hoping though that is will create more wind and there will be a few more clouds so at least it might make me feel a little cooler.

April 16

School was interesting today. A lot of what the day usually consists of is a lot of coloring and naming the colors (well, they actually only know red, yellow, blue, orange and brown so they mostly just go over those). However, today, they traced their names today. I am lovin' the variety. Also, some kind of doctor volunteers or something came to the school to give the kids shots. Some of the kids flipped out. They were so scared. There was one kid that when they even mentioned he was going to get a shot he would start sobbing. I felt so bad for them. They all got through it OK, although they did have to hold a couple of the kids down. That was the worst. I felt really bad for them but I was happy to see that they were getting vaccinated for something and that they have at least some form of ongoing healthcare in place.

April 17

Well, right now our house is going through tough times. There seems to be a disease of some kind that is spreading at an alarming rate and nearly everyone in our house has gotten it. I will spare you the details but I will say that is an affliction of the digestive system and that it is good to have a toilet near. That leads me to the second issue troubling those in the Santa Lucía house- all the toilets are broken except for one. That toilet just happens to be located in my bedroom. Oh yeah it's perfect. But that not all, the bathroom isn't like a totally separate room. There are walls but they don't go all the way to the ceiling and there isn't a proper door, just a curtain (that I supplied, by the way, it didn't come with the house). Any sounds or smells coming from the bathroom can and probably will be smelled from in the bedroom and probably from my bed. Tonight could get pretty disgusting. Maybe I should sleep on the couch!

my sweet gringaraguarican accent

April 4

I had a low key day today. the preschool class I am assigned to didn't meet today so I had the day off. I checked my e-mail, went to bookstore, did some grocery shopping, came back home and read, took a nap. . .it was just easy. It's nice to have a day like that because I have been so busy. Anyway, because not much happened today I am going to fill you in on the people in the Santa Lucía house (the house I am living in)

Tuija (formerly spelled Tooey, which is how her nickname is pronounced, her full name is pronounce too-ya)- is my roommate and is from Finland, she is always really nice and has shared her coffee with me and is always really friendly. She is interested in learning about different cultural differences so so we have had a couple cool conversations about the differences between Finland, the US, and Nicaragua.

Asya and Kris- They are a couple from the US. Kris is from NYC and Asya is from Jersey. Asya always states what she thinks including her opinion that New Jersey is the best state is the US. However, I personally find her reasoning a little faulty because her reasons are like "Jersey has syringes on the beach". I don't quite follow how that makes New Jersey a great state.

Andrew- Andrew is from the US and while originally from Boston, now lives in Cleveland. He is eighteen and going to college nex year so we have a lot in common. I don't really see that much of him but he seems fairly cool.

Tui and Brian- Tui (also formerly spelled Tooey) is also from Finland and Brian is from the states. They are easy to get along with. I see more of Brian than I do Tui and I am happy to report that he is is on the pale side of things as well. April 5The day was pretty low key but the night was eventful because there was a party at the Santa Lucía house. There was definitely drinking, but it was a lot easier than I thought to not drink any alcohol. Maybe it was because it was my house no one tried to serve me alcohol, I don't know but it wasn't really an issue. Whew! That makes me feel way more confident about my living situation. I know it will be OK.
Anyway, at the party I ended up talking to this guy for a while and I was so proud of myself because our conversation was not in English but in Spanish (actually at the end we spoke some English because he wanted to practice his English). It wasn't a short conversation either, it was like an hour!! It makes me so happy because there is no way I could have done that when I first arrived in Costa Rica. Yay!April 6Today was nice because a bunch of the volunteers (me included) went to an island that is in a lake that Granada is on the side of. We just hung out the whole time playing Spanish scrabble and jungle speed, talking, and swimming. There was also a nice breeze and we were in the shade so I felt the coolest I have been outside in about a week.Yesterday and today we got a couple new additions to the Santa Lucía house. Yesterday Jay, an American arrived. He studied peace and conflict studies at Berkley and has spent the past three weeks surfing in Costa Rica. I talked with him a bit on the way home and it's kind of interesting to think that we have both spent time in Costa Rica and our experiences were completely different. He was camping out and he spent hardly any time in the city and I spent most of my time in the city and hardly any time at the beach. Today, after we got home, the other new guy showed up and his name is Christian and he is from Italy. Right now, that is basically all I know about him because he arrived right about the same time that I was getting ready to go to bed.April 7Today was my first day solo at the school. Every day prior to today Ellen, another volunteer, was with me in the classroom. Ellen has since left to go home to the states, so I am the only volunteer in the class. Most of what I do in the class is just help the teacher any way I can, mostly by trying to keep the kids in track with what they are supposed to be doing. It can be really frustrating because there isn´t much discipline in the class and so sometimes a stubborn kid is just left to do what ever he wants during class. Sometimes kids don´t just don´t show up. Today, only about half the class showed up so there were only 8 kids there. I am still adjusting but I think I got the basics down which is a relief.


When I was probably 12 or 13 I watched the Disney channel and every month a new Disney Channel Original Movie came out. Now, there was one that I was particularly interested in because it came out in July (my favorite month) and it was called Gotta Kick It Up and it was about a bunch of cheerleader who can't dance who do get along with the teacher who ends up coaching their team and leading them to victory in the cheerleading championships or something like that (by the way, I do get how cheesy that is now, but back then I was totally drinking the disney channel kool-aid). Anyway, the school was mostly Hispanic and I remember that their cheer was ¡Si se puede! which means yes you can! in spanish. Well today, in class there was this little boy that said that he couldn't do something and so I of course, remembered that movie and said ¡Si se puede! That seemed to stick with the kid and throughout the rest of the the day I would hear him say that. It totally made my day.Another personal victory- I bought a soda, a sliced mango, and a taco, for about a dollar and ten cents!

April 8

Well, I made a decision about college. For the past couple months I have been going back and forth between my top two colleges, Hiram and Eastern Mennonite University. I have gone back and forth between the two, discussed to death, and made a pro-con list. After what seemed like forever, I have finally picked. . . . EMU. I knew that I want to be a nursing major but I also really wanted to be at least a Spanish minor and when I talked to a EMU Spanish professor about it, she was really encouraging and actually wants me to try to be a double major with Nursing and Spanish which I know would be really hard and maybe unrealistic but I want to at least try. Also, I would be able to have a whole semester abroad. I also like the idea of living in a area outside of Ohio and even though I originally liked the idea of going to a college where I didn´t know anyone, now I am happy to be going to a school where I know a few people. Right now, I am really relieved that I have made my choice and am looking forward to college.


April 9

Well I think it is time I talked a bit about Spanish. I am struggling a bit. I have gotten better at conversations where I am introducing myself but I am a lot worse at having casual conversations with people I already know and talking about my day. I am also having issues talking with some of the volunteers from Europe that don't know English. Christian the new housemate from Italy, actually lives in the south of Spain. Now, I am getting better at understanding central American Spanish, but Spanish Spanish spoken with a thick Italian accent? Way harder. I am also realizing that my Spanish at the end of this walkabout is going to be a little weird because I will have picked up weird Costa Rica and Nicaraguan things and mixed it with a strange gringa accent. For example, in Nicaragua, a lot of people drop the s at the end of words so "adios" becomes "adio" and "gracias" becomes "gracia". I have definitely started to do this and I have heard that this is something other central Americans make fun of Nicaragua for. uh oh. like I need another issue with my Spanish. great. Actually, it's ok though. I with just learn to speak really great Spanish here with a really cool sounding gringaraguarican accent. I always wanted an accent. . .

April 10

I had a really sad conversation with Lady (my Spanish instructor) today. We talked about all the natural disasters that Nicaragua has to deal with. They have hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, and sometimes floods. We talked a while about Hurricane Mitch and how devistating it was to Nicaragua. It killed so many people and then in the aftermath, the president stole money from the aid that was supposed to help people recover. Lady said that they don't know how much money he took, but it was probably close to 8 million dollars. In addition to this, a lot of people were suffering from different diseases like dengue fever, malaria, and cholera. All this information just makes me so sad. I knew most of what she said, but to hear it from her and realize that she was alive when this happened. Hurricane Mitch is a part of her life. It really made it seem more real than when I read about it in a book.

bad spanish and hyper children and blisters, oh my!

March 2

Today I just tried really hard to wake up fresh and ready to totally keep an open mind and do my best. I had had a few issues- I realized my Spanish is so limited that I can't understand what the teacher is telling the kids to do so I sort of have to guess but I am just going to work on it everyday until it gets better. I can do it!

Anyway, one interesting thing about Nicaragua is that there big sport is not soccer, it's baseball. I know, strange but true. I went with a few of the other volunteers last night to a game. It was really cool. It was kid of a weird mix of American and Nicaraguan stuff. For example, they played that song that you yell "charge!" after but no one ever said it. Also, there was (really bad) pizza, but they had mangoes and these little green fruits that I don't like instead of hot dogs. The thing that totally made the night though was this little boy who was somehow associated with the team we were rooting for would go out on the field with his dad(?) and start dancing. He was so cute! Everyone was cheering for him while he was dancing. So I had a good time and the team we were going for (I think it was the Granada team) won, so it was all good.

Oh, and basically a miracle happened today. the bed I was sleeping on is supported by four pegs and before I came, one broke. It was kind of shoved back into place and so I always had to be careful to not move around too much because the peg could give out. Anyway, I got a new bed to replace the broken one! A brand new bed! Seriously, it is sooo nice! I have lowered my living expectations so much while I have been in Central America so a nice new bed is like having, I don't know, a butler waking you up each morning with chocolate or something. I don't even have hot water ( I don't really mind that though because it has been in the 90s every day I have been here so far). I feel so lucky!

March 3

Well, school was ok today. The kids don't listen very well despite the fact that they are only in school for 4 hours a day (including lunch and recess) but today they didn't do as much because it was another volunteer's last day so she brought a pinata and they got to break it open and eat all the candy that was inside (which is one thing that you probably don't want to do with kids that are already hyper and have bad attentions spans, but maybe that's just me).

One thing I am having some problems with is all the walking. We have to walk everywhere here. And while my house is probably the nicest volunteer house, it is the farthest away from everything. This has resulted in four large blisters on my feet (Actually that is really my fault because I made a really bad judgment call on whether or not to wear flip flops). I will be fine in like a week when I adjust(and my blisters heal), but right now I'm just walking weirdly.

Oh, I had my first Spanish lesson today. It was so great! My teacher is name is Lady and she was really nice. A lot of what she was saying was review for me but it was a good review not a boring one. Plus, I was speaking Spanish the whole time so it was really fun- she is really easy to understand.

Another good thing about today is I had a really good conversation with Tooey (I still don't know how to spell her name). We were talking about how I am a christian and how I don't drink and she seemed to understand completely. It makes me feel so much better that even though she goes out a lot she knows that I when I say I don't want to, it's not because I don't want to hang out with them. I feel like a weight has lifted off of me.

Today was good!

March 31

Well, I had orientation today and I got to meet the other volunteers that are just starting out. There is a guy from the states, and guy from England, a woman from Germany and a guy from the Netherlands! Yay! It's really cool to meet dutch people. Anyway, as part of orientation we visited three of the schools that La Esperanza Granada works in (the other two only have school on the afternoon) and they were all so small. It was kind of fun to picture myself at each school and to think about where i might be placed. After I talked to Pauline (my mentor) we decided that I would go to Alba Zamora and help with the preschoolers/kindergardeners because of my lack of Spanish skills. Also, we talked about maybe me going with kids when they go to the dentist. I would sit with them and play games with them while they are waiting. Also, I will sign up for Spanish lessons in the afternoon. I will be busy!

Today was my last day with my mom. When we said goodbye, I was ready to get started working but I know that it will be hard to be without her and all my family and friends.

April 1

Today was a little hard. I am having trouble adjusting- again. It was just hard to say goodbye to my mom and I feel alone. Its weird, but I feel like I have less in common with the people here than I did with the Pura Vida Missions people. I am starting all over and when I went to the school, I realized that after this week, I will be the only one that speaks English in the classroom I am working in. Uh oh. that is going to be interesting.