where the deer and the buffalo roam...or in my case the cows, pigs, chickens, roosters, horses and dogs graze...hopefully you all know that song. so that´s going to be my life for 2 years. my town supposedly has 300 people...but i think that´s counting some of the livestock. it´s in northern chinandega right on the highway. everyone lives on one side or the other of the highway. there is one raod that goes away from the highway with about 7 houses, all brothers and sisters of the same family. my 6 week host family lives there and the house i will rent is also there so i´m surrounded by a big family. everyone i´ve met is super nice and helpful. my host mom is an amazing cook/baker and is really excited to teach me how to make things. some specifics...
- roads: none of the roads including the highway are paved. the highway is being worked on, thanks to lots of cat equipment. maybe before i leave the highway to my site will be paved.
-dust: lots of dust! there is no avoiding it. now that the rains are pretty much over...it is dry and dusty. especially because all the roads are dirt and anytime a car passes...a big dust cloud.
-animals: so i live between 2 big pens of cattle. lots of times some of the cows aren´t in their pens, they chill wherever. along with the pigs and chickens. my first night...i went out to the latrine - almost had a heart attack because sitting outside my latrine was a huge bull. also, one must always watch the ground to avoid stepping in animal dung. oh and i think my garden is going to be difficult to keep from the animals.
- creppy crawlies...so i didn´t see any on my visit but aparently there are lots of scorpians, especialy in the dry season. they are bigger but less poisoness here. so that´s a good thing? right? the volunteer i am replacing thoroughly freaked me out about them so i´m very careful whenever i pick something up. also a tailess whip scorpian lives in my future ouse - it´s huge and ugly but supposedly harmless..
- showers: my favorite part. so my town doesn´t have running water..we have wells. also no one has their own shower area. most of the women bathe in the river and the men bathe at one of the wells. at a different well, there are 2 stall type things...unfortunatley they are mazes to get into and don´t have doors. so that´s a potentially awkward situation. i may be building my own little shower onto my house.
- schools: i´ve only been to 1 of my schools. all the teachers seem really nice and hopefully we will be able to learn a lot from each other. my other schools are about 4k down the highway. i will be working with 3-6th graders on enviro stuff and 1-2nd on reading comprehension. i really can´t wait for feb. when school starts again!
ok i have more to write but no more time today...but soon i will write more about my site! miss you love you...way to go hawks beating penn state!!!!! yeah iowa!!
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