¿Y Entonces...?

My trip to the US was awesome and just the rejuvenation I needed to get me thru this last chunk of my service. I got to see 2 university campuses that I'm applying to, hang out in (and fall in love with) Chicago and Grand Rapids, eat GREAT food and meet incredible new friends.






Pípe also just got spayed! Not only am I too young to be an abuelita, but for her health and population control, it was necessary. Dogs don't get spayed or neutered down here at all, and the fact that I got the surgery done (which is super routine, even though I was nervous the whole time she was there), people question me as to why I did it. I explain the population control, and in the end, after weird looks, they "kind of" get it. Ideally, I'd like to think I inspired people to do it to their pets, but I think that kind of progressive thinking, unfortunately, is still a long ways off. I had a Nicaraguan vet do the operation, which cost a little less than $40 dollars, and the little trooper is still recovering strong! We haven't gotten back to our normal morning walk routine, but in a couple weeks, we should be back to it!



It's official! As I sent my sitemate off upon coming back from the states, Nica 57, the group of Environment and English volunteers, finished their service. Essentially, this means that my group, Nica 58, is now in the beginning stages of finishing OUR service! It's so surreal.

The "COS" (close of service) process usually starts about 3 months out from the final date of service, which is projected to be March 28, 2014; for us, the process starts next week.

On Monday, we have a "LPI" (language proficiency interview) with a language facilitator from the training office. This LPI will determine our level of Spanish. I've known volunteers who pass at the level of "Superior", aka fluent, and others who are still in the "Intermediate" range. I know my Spanish is not perfect, but I'm aiming to get at least "Advanced-Intermediate" with my interview. (Side note: with each level, they have 3 rankings: Low, Intermediate and Advanced. Advanced Intermediate would be the middle of the road Advanced; nothing to scoff at!)

After our LPI, our group will be together for the rest of the week at our COS conference. There, we will talk about highlights of our service, readjusting to the US and future plans/goals we all have. This conference is several days long and will be held at Vistamar, the same venue that I assisted at the HIV conference at the beginning of October. BYOBS (bring your own bathing suit!)

From there, we will learn the next steps of finishing our last 3 months (seriously, typing that I'm almost done with my service is so odd for me). Finishing tasks include a 3-day medical checkup to be done in February, a staff presentation to the entire PC Nicaragua staff and the US Ambassador, Phyllis Powers, about the Health project and what we all have individually done as PCVs in our sites, a despedida (going away party) for our group, and finally, ringing the bell.

This is nuts. I've also heard that 6 people, of the remaining 15 in my group, are applying to extend their services. Some for a few months, others for an entire year. If you asked me if I saw anyone extending a year ago, I maybe would have said 1 or 2, but 6?! I'm excited for them and I wish them the best of luck, too.

So, alongside all of those exciting things, what am I up to the rest of my time here? I previously mentioned in my last post a couple of events. I just finished with the mobile population survey training and will be executing surveys at five coffee farms: 3 in Jalapa, 1 in Estelí and 1 in Madriz. We will be visiting the Jalapa farms in December and my counterpart and I will be assisting two other PCVs in Estelí and Madriz in January.

Hey there, blog. It's been a while.

I haven't been up to much too exciting, recently, hence no new and exciting posts. Let's do a quick recap of the past 2 months:

August:

• I worked a lot in the high schools (yes, we now have two. Our main high school, INAJAL, has over 2,500 students, and MINED (Ministry of Education) decided to transform a primary school to a high school in the afternoon, which now hosts about 500 students) with the topics of Nutrition and Dengue.
• The annual Small Business Gala was held and my friend and I got custom-made dresses by a local Jalapeña. They turned out beautifully and everything was less than $20 each!
  
  
  

  

  Myself and my friend in the middle showing off our unique, Jalapeña made dresses.