Happy anniversary to me!

I have now been a part of the Peace Corps for one month! In this past month, I have:

1. Moved, for the first time, to a foreign country.
2. Surpassed the amount of time (continuous) I’ve spent outside of the United States by 13 days.
3. Said good bye to hot showers.
4. Said hello to cold showers and bucket baths.
5. Have gone without any form of telephone communication, and less access to internet than I’ve had since middle school.
6. Eaten a lot of great Nica food, and probably put on a few pounds.
7. Woken to the songs of roosters every morning around 5:00 or 5:30 AM. And sometimes at 2:00…3:00….4:00…
8. Spoken more Spanish than I’ve ever spoken in my life.
9. Watched Death Race and Rambo for the first time ever. And dubbed in Spanish, no less. Also watched Red Dragon and Slumdog Millionaire in Spanish.
10. Gotten to know 19 great new people that will be sharing this experience with me.
11. Met many wonderful Nicaraguans in and around my training community, including my fantastic host family.

I have learned:

1. Many fun and useful new Spanish (and sometimes, Nica-specific) words and phrases, which I will continue to share.
2. That you really can taste the difference if your meat source grows up outside, eating natural foods, exercising, and living a life sans hormones and antibiotics. (Related: started eating chicken again).
3. How to wash clothing by hand. Or, perhaps more accurately, started to learn.
4. That farting is funny in Nicaragua too.
5. That dried bull penises make formidable weapons.
6. That you can always fit one more in a bus. Or taxi. Or motorcycle.
7. That the rabies vaccine makes me sick. Good thing I’m now done with the 3 shot pre-exposure series. Keep your fingers crossed that none of the millions of stray dogs wandering the streets bite me. I’d hate to have to get the two post-exposure shots too.
8. That chloroquine really does give you some crazy dreams.
9. That bug bites on feet itch the most.
10. That I will probably need to start overcoming my fear of spiders. And scorpions.

Nica phrase of the week: “Hay más tiempo que vida” – There is more time than life. The Nican conception of time truly is different than that of the United States. I’m adjusting, but I think I have a few friends back home that would fit in here perfectly…