Exhausted, but Accomplished

So this past week has been all-around pretty awesome. I taught my second out of three classes in the primary school and my training group presented our survey results successfully to all the other trainees this past Wednesday. (I realize this feat would be much less impressive in English, but presenting 30 minutes worth of information and analysis in Spanish made us feel very accomplished!). We also had two youth group meetings, as always, and are preparing to give our last charla (lesson) to the older ones this Sunday about STD and HIV prevention. So, overall, this week was extremely productive! (Which unfortunately means I had absolutely no free time, and am therefore wayyyy behind on responding to letters and facebook messages =( Sorry guys!)

We did have a little time for fun this past weekend though. Saturday was El Dia de Santa Teresa, the patron saint of a town near mine, so they had a huge party weekend. Katie and I went to the club there with some of the guys from our families and it was soooo much fun getting to finally relax and get out of our houses! We danced for hours and then got to cram 8 people into a taxi smaller than my Corola to get home. The guys were so much fun and really looked out for us all night. The club was packedddddd and the dj played almost all reggaeton, which = perfect dance music! Needless to say, we had an amazing night.

On Sunday, I went with my host family to visit their farmland. The property is a little more then 4.5 kilometers from my house, and the once compact dirt road to get there has been completely destroyed by the rains. I have no idea how my host father and brothers get the cows down there and back every single day. It was nice getting to walk there with my host sisters though. It was so peaceful and I got to see a completely new part of “town” even farther off the beaten track. At one point we had an amazing view of a volcano in the distance, framed by the palm and mango trees we were standing near. It was absolutely gorgeous.

To end our week, we had our interviews yesterday about what sites we'd like to get placed in! I said I'd love to be placed in a small site, relatively close to a bigger city. I'm trying very hard not to fall in love with any particular department, because I really only know what I was told about them in the site fair, but based on that information, I think I'd love to get placed in Rivas (beachy and close to my training town), Boaco, or Matagalpa, (both of which are mountainous and have slightly cooler climates); but I'm sure I'd be just as happy in Leon or Chinandega (the other two departments where Environmental volunteers are being sent). Really, what's more important to me is that I feel comfortable and at home in my site. I wish I could just stay here in my training town since I've completely fallen in love with the people here. The kids in our youth group impress me every single day, and the people in my family have been so much more than hospitable. They've really made me feel at home here and it's going to be hard leaving my comfort zone behind. By this time next week though, I'll know where I'm headed at the end of November! Our project directors now have all of the information about our aspirations, skills, and preferences, and all that's left to do is impatiently wait while they match us to the sites' needs!