P.S. 5 months til I come home!

13/July/2010

My 4th of July plans didn’t quite pan out. I ended up getting really sick a few days before and going to Managua to get some blood tests. At first it seemed like dengue, but my symptoms of fever, extreme body aches and nausea passed. The only thing my blood tests came back with was that I had low blood cell counts. I ended up recuperating in just a few days. Though it was a bit of a pity party…sleeping long hours and not feeling like moving.

A PCV was looking for a new home for her cat, because she was finishing her service and going home. I really don’t like cats, and I’m actually kind of afraid of them. So naturally I said I’d do it. I’ve been looking for a dog, and finally found a puppy awhile ago, but it died before I could get it. I figure cats take care of themselves, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. I still am not a fan, so luckily for me as soon as Jocelyn gets her own place in her site, she may be the 3rd generation owner of “Pegaloca” (crazy glue)

The following weekend I went back to Santa Teresa. Jocelyn came too, and it was so wonderful to have the 3 girls back together. We stayed at Carla’s house. It’s so nice to go back to a town where people know you. We went to our favorite ice cream shop, walked the town, I hung out with my family, and the 3 of us went out one night. It’s the kind of town that you can walk in the middle of the night and even the hobos are nice and harmless. One morning we went to the gym (which I apparently lived 1 ½ blocks from for 3 months and didn’t know it existed) and got personal training by 2 former Nicaraguan body builders, one of them deaf. We paid the equivalent of 50 cents for about an hour and a half of undivided attention and circuit training. They seemed really impressed by our American girl strength.
I hadn’t had a good conversation in English since the previous weekend, and apparently I got really rusty, making up words like using “fascinated” as a verb and rearranging words in all the wrong order when I spoke. It came back to me though, after 2 days. Since Carla had just gone home to visit, the 3 of us “fascinated” (see it should totally be a word) what we’re going to do when we go home for Christmas. I’m glad there’s other people as excited and obsessed about going home for the holidays as I am. There may or may not be a list of 100 things I’m going to do when I go home in the works. Don’t judge me.

Since this weekend is the anniversary of the Revolution, there’s no school Monday. Joc and I are talking about taking a trip to this place called Somoto Canyon. I’ve been meaning to do more exploring here. I really don’t get out much, and to think that there could be a hurricane anytime now, and we’d maybe have to leave really bothers me. So I’m going to try and take more advantage when there’s days off school to see new places and get to know this country better. I’ll make sure to take more pictures too!