Day 3 through 6

Starting today (Saturday) I plan to make shortish daily journal entries on my laptop and save them to my flash drive so when I go to the cyber café I can just post these little treasures on here. Yesterday started out with a little lecture from the head PC security guy about a bunch of super scary ways we might get robbed/attacked. Some of the current volunteers talked about how some of their group mates had been express kidnapped and such. They say it’s honestly really pleasant for a kidnapping. Later we split up into 8 person groups based on our Spanish levels for a 3 hour session. I’m in the beginner med/low group and it was sadistically pleasurable to see other trainees struggling as well. We also received our training town assignments and 4 person groups. I’m in San Juan de Oriente with Peter, Jordan, and Angela. Pretty excited about our group potential. The day was capped off by a surprise boat tour of these little islands around Granada with these amazing houses (I think the President of Clemson’s brother owns one. Katy, you need to get on that.) There was a bunch of wildlife including this diva monkey who just loved having his photo taken. Afterwards, we went out for one of the Nica 53’s (we’re the 53rd training class to come through Nicaragua) 21st b-day. He’s the youngest of our group.
Today began with the Business and Agriculture groups splitting up in two different buses to be taken to our training families. It was kind of sad to say goodbye to some of the agriculture people, cause we’ll really only see them a few times in the next 3 months. San Juan de Oriente was the first stop on the way and I was the third person off the bus, so it was kind of intimidating having 20 something people watch me meet my new family. I have a host mom and host sister. They have a store at the front of their house so there are always people coming in. The food has been delicious, though I’m not always sure of what it is. I do know that I’ve eaten a crap load of avocados. Communicating with my host mom is mostly a game of charades, but my host sister does speak a little English. I go by Andres here. They can’t really pronounce Bayless, instead they say Payless. My host sister goes oh, los zapatos! So there is a distinct possibility they think my family owns a large shoe company. The worst thing so far (besides feeling like a mentally impaired orphan at times around my new house) is this damn rooster. If you thought that roosters only started crowing at daybreak, you would be very wrong. The one that lives next to my room likes to warm-up around 1 in the morning. I’m already plotting ways to get rid of him. Poison? Knife? Breaking his neck? We’ll see. Though judging by his size, he could probably take me.
Today in class we walked around the city and found all the important sites. It was way too hot, but now I know where the police station, schools, and shops are. The next 11 weeks will be extremely busy. We have class Mon-Thurs for 7 hours a day, then on Friday and/or Saturday we go to other cities for different safety or technical activities. Even at night we have a good bit of homework. I did find Survivor in English on my host family’s tv last night and watched the whole finale! It made me feel so much better, though Parvati really should have won! The next one is check it, IN NICARAGUA! What are the f-ing odds! Until next time, mis amigos, I miss you all!