First week in Site

So my first week in site has been pretty slow. I have had a lot of free time, a lot of free time! In my daily fight against boredom I have spent the majority of my day reading, listening to music and NPR podcasts and playing solitaire. I haven't been couped up in my room the whole week, today was actually the first day since I have been here that spent at all home. I have been hanging out a lot with my sitemate Alison, she is really cool and I am sure I would go stir crazy during these vacation months if I didn't have her company.

Monday she and I went to the City Hall and met the mayor, city manager and an environment official. They all seem really excited to work with us, which is great. Alison has already worked some with the environment official because she is an environmental education volunteer. Other than the people at City Hall I have had a bit of difficulty getting to know people around town. When I was here during my site visit I met this very nice lady who worked at the library she seems interested in working with me in the future. However when I went back she wasn't there, I have introduced myself to other couple people in the library which I think would be a good place to possibly do some community English classes but they seem kind of apathetic. I told another Peace Corps friend of mine who is on her second tour with Peace Corps, she told it more likely that they don't know much about Peace Corps or what to make me and not take it personal. I think this good advice which I am taking to heart. Right now I'm less concerned with get secondary projects started and more concerned about just meeting people and making friends. Once I make some friends I know won't be so bored.

On Tuesday I went to visit Alison at the school where she and my host dad work they had a little graduation for the students and then a secret Santa party where they give each gifts. I didn't get a gift because I wasn't part of the school but it was fun to watch. Later that night I went to a family gathering with my host family for some family member high school graduation. The power went out shortly after I arrived so the family chatted and ate dinner around a single candle, it was pretty interesting.

Wednesday Alison came up to visit me and we went back and talked with the city manager about renting a house here in town. He said he knew a few places he would check on and get back to me. It really nice to have his help since there is no real estate agent or even classifieds here it all by word of mouth and occasional signs on houses. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the internet cafe. I found another internet cafe which is much faster than the one in library. Its a little more expensive but totally worth it because I can Skype with my family and download podcasts much easier. My counterpart Luis came up from Matagalpa to visit with me and finish up a group essay the he and Alejandro are working on for their university class.

Today I haven't really done much I just hung out some with my host family and watched movies with the little kids. Nothing to exciting. Although this evening another English teacher Ishmael came by to talk about the community English class we talked about during my site visit. Ishmael is a really cool guy. His English is amazing he has almost a native accent which is even more impressive considering that he has never been to the US. He teaches English at the university in Matagalpa and with works with various NGOs around the department. What we are planning on doing is having a English teachers class where we focus more on advanced topics class discussion and other things the teachers want to work on. The second class would be for community members who are not English teachers. I am really looking forward to working together with him. He also might have an house I could rent which would be really nice as well. I won't be moving out until the first week of January so I have some to check out my options and get my final choice approved by the PC Safety and Security officer.

Tomorrow I'm going into Matagalpa to run some errands and meet up with fellow PCVs for lunch it will be a nice break. Sunday Alison and I have been invited to help cut coffee as a fundraiser for my host family church. Its going to be an interesting experience I am sure I'll be sure to report on how it goes.