first week at site/happy thanksgiving!

me and all my stuff sucessfully made it to my site! my little brother really wanted to help me with my stuff but honestly my hiking pack is bigger thank he is. but a cousin did carry my very heavy suitcase so that was helpful. ive been a little sick since ive been here but im sure its due to the changes in food and what not...getting better. but everything is good. last week school was pretty much over. students came a few days to clean and receive their final grades. this past sat was the preschool and 6th grade graduation ceremony. so i went to that and sat at the table of honor at the front of the room with the principal, minestry of ed. delegate and the teachers handing out awards. each studnet walked in with their escort and was announced. after that each one came up individually to get their diploma. and then they came up again to get a flower. it was a few hour affair but very interesting to take part in. oh and during all of this they played the same song over and over again. after the ceremony started the food. i ate at the school with my principal and then again at home snce my brother graduatioed from 6th grade. all day eating and talking - good spanish practice and it gave me a chance to put more names and faces together. sunday was hs graduation...more food as one of my cousins graduated.

Thanksgiving!!! so a bunch of colunteers met at a beach in leon for thanksgiving. the beach is absolutely beautiful and the water was perfect. unfortunately it was a bit of a journey - left my town at 6am and got to the beach at 1pm but it was great. and luckily there are beaches way closer than that to me. the owners of the hostel we stayed at are american and they made us a thanksgiving dinner - not as good as grandmas but definitely good and unexpected. then we had a big fire and dance party on the beach. although it wasnt the same without my wonderful family and football- i cnat complain too much about a thanksgiving on the beach. i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving and are enjoying the leftovers!!

more about my town...im already used to my bucket bath in my public bathing stall. still a little odd that a guy is always there as well bathing next to the well (not in a stall thing) but at least i get serenaded while i bathe every morning. still havent seen any scorpians, terantulas or snakes. cockroaches, spiders, and other creepy crawles, yes, but nothing too discusting. ive already made friends with a girl in my town - shes been super helpful and im sure will continue to be throughout my service. im getting to know others at a slower pace but im working on it. ive started discussing project ideas with some people and in the next few weeks im going to finalize some plans for my youth groups and start working on forming them. i also am going to start my garden and compost pile in the next few weeks. those, working on spanish, and talking a lot with people to gain trust are my main goals until school starts. so thats whats going on with me. hoppe you are all doing well! miss you and love you!

cell service is pretty bad at my site but you can try!! and i have received mail so the new address works!