Dancing, Graduation, and Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Well, dear readers, this will be my last post for the next two weeks, at the very least. On Monday morning, bright and early, we leave for Nicaragua for about 12 days. We’ll be gone until the next Friday.

What will we do there? Well, we’ll start off in Managua with some orientation as well as some “conferencias” (chats) with some locals concerning Nicaragua. Then we’ll spend 6 nights with host families. After that, we’ll reconvene in Granada for some debrief and more conferencias, then we’ll ride a bus back to San José. Rumor has it that, depending on customs, the bus ride will be 8-10 hours long!

So, I’m pretty excited to be going. A lot of the students on the program are worried about the food or about the living conditions and things similar to that, but I’m just excited for something new, something different, something educational, and something enriching. I’m not too worried about the food and conditions (although when I told some girls they might have to take ‘bucket showers’ if they don’t have running out, their eyes about doubled in size!).

Yesterday marked our last day of language school. We ended with a graduation ceremony, graduation certificates, and some amazing cake! I can hardly believe we're done with language school - that means that I've been here for over a month, which is incomprehensible to me, but also really exciting.

This morning I went with 5 other girls to dance class! It turns out that I'll be going to a wedding with my host family in October, and there will be dancing. I was worried at first, because I dance like an awkward white girl! But, this morning I went to a 2-hour dance class with some of the girls and we had an amazing time! I'm not an expert, but I definitely feel more comfortable and more excited to be dancing! Watch out, I'll be a dancing fool by the time I get home!

So, life here has been good since I last posted. A lot of my extra activities have been focused on finding some of the basic things I need before I leave for Nicaragua, ranging in anything from medicine to a longer skirt to a Spanish Bible with 4 translations (the 4 translations was my decision…)

I hope you’re all doing well. I’ll post again when I get back from Nicaragua – if you’re lucky, you’ll get pictures!