So it's been a while since I've blogged. Let's just say I was in no mood to blog these past two weeks. The amount of stress/self doubt/sadness that can be brought on by “host house issues” is unbelievable, especially when on top of those issues, bike tires want to go flat, and immune systems want to stop working for weeks at a time. Buttttt I refuse to dwell on, let alone write about, what happened. Now that all such things have passed, it's time to reflect on the good!
This past week, I had an extra Spanish workshop provided by Peace Corps for those of us (all but two) who do not have an advanced level of Spanish. For the majority of my training group, this meant that they got to hang with their training families all week long. I on the other hand was sent to Diriamba – a city just outside of where my training town is located. Even though I was sad (and initially really mad) to not get to spend the week with my training family, I learned so much during the workshop! It was really intense and tiring, but now I have tons of material I can study and I plan to continue improving. =) Of course I'm at the point now where I've been communicating without a problem for months, but I want to move towards communicating correctly. I want to be able to say things like, “It's possible that I would've been better off if I had lessons in my host town, but if that were the case, I would have had less time to study since I'd have been distracted by my friends and family” in Spanish without stuttering and deciding to quit halfway through because of too many verbs in the subjunctive mixed with the complex conditional. (It's harder than you'd think.)
Perhaps my most exciting realization during the week, came during my second night in my third Nicaraguan host house. (Yes, I got to live with a third host family for my workshop.) I realized that I'm now at the point where you can pretty much drop me anywhere and I'll be able to make myself right at home. I am comfortable enough with my Spanish to strike up a conversation with whoever I'm in a room with, and there was a time not so long ago when I had trouble doing that in English. I get more and more self confident everyday here, so much so that I was able to completely bounce back after realizing that one person's nasty opinion of me is not enough to tarnish the reputation I'm building for myself here in my site – even if they happen to be trying to spread it like wildfire. Oops, I said I wasn't going to touch on the issues from the past two weeks right? Well luckily, my third host family was amazingly chill and awesome. I might even stop by and visit them sometime. Most amazing part of their house? Check out these sheets!!
Rugrats and Aladdin?! Hello childhood, fancy meeting you here!
Oh...but what did I not pack for my week there? My mosquito net...ahhh!!
Final note: A MILLION thanks to those of you who have been hoping, praying, petitioning the universe, sending good karma my way as far as my housing situation! I finally got clearance from Peace Corps and was able to pay the owner of the house on Friday. This means that work on putting in the floor, the doorknob, and fixing the roof is scheduled to start tomorrow and hopefully I'll be moving in ASAP!! Keep the prayers coming please!!
Oh and today's Monday which means IN 48 HOURS OMI, STEVEN, AND AMANDA WILL BE HERE!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Soooooooo unbelievably excited to see you guys!!
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