You said keep you posted!

So it's been a while since I've updated anyone on what my daily life is like down here in Nicaragua.   It's just that I've become so completely engulfed in and accustomed to my life here that I forget when things might be interesting to share with everyone back home. Everything here just seems so normal now. I guess I could try to do one of those “day in the life” blogs? Well not really...because I have a different schedule every day of the week here. I'll go ahead and start with Monday and we'll see where we go from there...

Monday:

5am Wake up and shower

5:20 Rush out of the house to meet up with Gisselle the multi-grade teacher I work with.

5:30 Walk 5km together to my small mountain school – a walk which consists of climbing two mini-mountains, crossing a river, and almost always listening to howler monkeys as we approach the school.

7:15 Eat breakfast with Gisselle's awesome family who lives close to the school in the mountain (gallo pinto, cheese, tortilla, oatmeal fresco).

7:30 Work in the school garden/give science class to 1^st through 5^th graders all in the same classroom.

10am Hitch a ride back to town on either horseback, ox-cart, two-wheeled form of transport I'm not allowed to mention, or plantain truck.

11:30 Sweat through my second shower of the day wishing the water temperature didn't always match that of the air (cold in the morning, warm in the afternoon).

12:15 Cook some form of fast easy lunch (aka heat up rice and beans from the day before and maybe throw in some plantains or an avocado)

1pm Give science class to my 6^th graders in the big school on my block.

3pm Work in the school garden with 4^th -6^th graders weeding, making organic pesticides, fixing the barbed wire that the horses keep damaging, HARVESTING VEGGIES!

5:30 Walk a block home and finally shower for the last time, this time actually trying to get the dirt out from under my nails.

6:00 Hang out with the door open while I attempt to plan, but almost always get happily interrupted by friends or students who come in every time they see that I'm home.

7:30 Realize that I'm starving and too lazy to wash the dishes that would allow me to cook for myself; therefore opt for walking around the block to buy tajadas (crispy fried plantain strips with grilled pork and ensalada all served in a plastic baggie) for 20 cords, basically a dollar.

7:45 Share my tajadas on someone's front porch – accompanied by whatever awesome fresco they want to give me, or if I'm lucky with gallo pinto that they have left over from dinner!

8:30 Head home and maybe straighten up (maybe not), then plan for the following day's science lessons.

10pm Tuck into my mosquito net for the night!

Ok, so I've decided giving a daily schedule for everyday would definitely deter all of you from ever reading my blog again, so I'll hold back. Basically all my days are just as full as Mondays, but they include other things like English classes, projects with my Environmental Brigade Youth Group, leading/participating in teacher trainings, hand washing my clothes, playing cards/dominoes with my friends, and visiting all my neighbors that get very insulted if I go too many days without some quality porch sitting time.

Anyways...I guess I'll just throw in a few quick updates and let you all on your way =)

* Two of my four gardens are finally producing tons of veggies - one of which is amazing. In my biggest school, we have 10 tomato plants, 9 cucumber plants, 10 pepper plants, 6 squash plants, 6 spinach plants, 6 squash/pumpkin type plants, and two rows of yucca. It's my pride and joy. We even fenced it all in with barbed wire to protect it from the horses and cows that like to get in and eat our cucumbers. Now if I could only control all those gusanos (ugly caterpillars) that keep eating my cucumber leaves!

* I just had my second official Peace Corps site visit (aka supervision) and it went pretty well. First of all, my program director used the word PERFECT to describe my Spanish! I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I can finally say that I feel like 95% of the time I can say exactly what I want to say without searching for elementary ways to say it! This is all thanks to my friends in site who constantly correct and help me – one in particular. Without them, I would still be stuttering through every conversation I have. My supervisor was also really impressed by my level of comfort with my students and fellow teachers. She told me it was a relief to finally observe a class where the volunteer wasn't super nervous to teach in front of her. Haha, what can I say, I'm a natural. (Luckily she didn't observe me when I was still completely unable to think in Spanish and was therefore stumbling through every class I gave.) She wrote on my report that I seem to be extremely well-integrated into my community, which made me really happy because I can remember my first few weeks here when I was sure I would never feel at home. Aside from all of Peace Corps' official goals, mine has always been to really become a part of my community and to form meaningful relationships with the people I live near/work with/teach. I feel like without such connections, my work here is meaningless. Now that I'm feeling more settled, I'm going to begin looking for community projects outside of my schools. I'll keep you posted on that as things unfold.

* I guess my last update shall be that the heat and humidity here has reached an all new level of suffocating this month - I'd call it unbelievable if it weren't for the beads of sweat literally running down my face, chest, arms and legs right now. Now that it rains at least once a day, we basically live in a stifling world of steam during the hours following the downpour. When the sun comes out, it's stronger than ever and heats the thick wet air to a point that makes it uncomfortable to sit, let alone walk, bike, teach, or work outside in gardens all day. There is no breeze and sitting directly in front of a fan brings no relief because the weight of the air sticks to everything and seems to slow even the rotation of blades. Thank God it's finally cooling down at night now. The nighttime rain echoing on all the zinc roofs drowns out the barking dogs and crowing chickens and makes for a beautiful night's sleep.