fishbowl beach

I got back to country and site almost a month a go, on exactly the same date as when I first arrived for Peace Corps, exactly one year later. This means that I´v been in country for a year already! And the end of March will mark one year in site! I can´t say that time has flown, but thinking about the fact that I only have a year left in PC does make me want to take more advantage of the year.

This week will be crazy busy, going out to the communities with my youth health promoters to give charlas on HIV/AIDS. We´re finishing up the series of charlas in these communities, from Sexual and Repro Rights to Contraceptive Methods to HIV/AIDS.

I´ll be working all the way into the weekend, including Saturday, but with a reward at the end of the tunnel: I´m heading to the beach in León with my site mate, the volunteer in St. Tomas, and some youth and adults from St. T. It´s technically a youth club excursion, but my sitemate and I are treating it as a vacation since no youth from our site is going so we´re not responsible for Anything but enjoying ourselves. I plan to bring a good book or two, my ipod, big towel, and lots of sunscreen. 

Then Monday and  Tuesday are the Fiestas Patronales of Cinco Pinos. Being a Catholic country, each town has its patron saint and celebrate the saint once a year in multi-day bacchanales. There will be cotton candy, crafts and jewelry, live music with Dimensión Costeña (a great band from the Atlantic Coast), and people from all over the country, even Costa Rica and Honduras. This will be my first time seeing the Fiestas of Cinco Pinos so I´m excited. Megan and Liz (volunteers from sites close to mine) are gonna be here too!

After a few more weeks of studying, I´ll be taking the GRE on Feb 21, so everyone send me good luck vibes on that day! I´ll be in Managua on the 19th and 20th anyway to plan and give charlas on Adolescent Pregnancy Risks and Diversity to the new health volunteers (the newbies came in a coupla weeks ago!), which works out nicely. I´m looking forward to meeting the newbies, eating some good food, taking warm showers, fluffy beds, air conditioning, and finally taking the GRE!

THEN on the 22nd to 25th of Feb, one of the newbies will be visiting me for his/her volunteer visit! Remember when I went to Telpaneca, Madriz and picked coffee for my volunteer visit? Well, I´ll be the volunteer this time, hosting a trainee! If everything works out, he/she will go to one of the communities with me and my youth to give an HIV/AIDS charla and maybe participate in some salida at the health center.

So, a very busy month indeed. And somewhere buried in there is my birthday! I´m not quite sure what I want to do yet, but definitely something chill. Just as good meal with friends and maybe watching a video on my laptop will be enough, haha. Gone are my crazy party days and ways. I enjoy a good dance party every once in a while, but most of the time I prefer chillaxing. Is this a sign of old age? Hmm... How bout we think of it as a sign of maturity!

That´s what February looks like for me. Then we´ll be steamrolling it into March, full speed ahead! And boy are there goodies to look forward to in March! (plans for visiting Laguna de Apoyo, a lake in a volcano crater, and lobster-champaign brunch at the Intercontinental Hotel!)