Managua!

I can honestly tell you I never thought this day would arrive.  After waiting for approximately 147 years, I finally arrived in Nicaragua Thursday afternoon.  Ladies and gentlemen, round of applause.  The first day was basically a big blur.  Today was a lot better.   We got to meet a bunch of the support staff, all of whom were really awesome.  Nicaragua is considered a high performing post, and after meeting some of the people running the show I can totally understand why.  There are 21 people in my training group, all of whom are health volunteers, six males and 15 females.  Quite a change from my usual 72% male at Georgia Tech. 

 We took our language assessment exam, which will determine what language training group we are in.  We will be split up into five training groups, all in different cities, but all are within close proximity of each other.  Can’t say my language exam went well as I basically couldn’t remember how to conjugate verbs in anything besides present and past tenses.  So glad I pushed back graduation to take those additional Spanish classes.  Oh well. 

We also got to take a tour of Managua, the capital where we’ve been staying, which was awesome.  It ‘s definitely not what most people would describe as devastatingly beautiful, but the natural landscape is absolutely stunning with lakes and mountains.  It was also just really cool to see in person all of these places that hold such a historical significance that I had previously only learned about in a book.  We also got mosquito nets today, so now I can totally pimp out my crib.  I had the lovely experience of my first chloroquine pills for malaria prevention.  I had heard so much about how awful they tasted, but they really weren’t that bad.  We’ll see how I feel after weekly doses for two years.

Tomorrow is a really big day.  We find out what training city we will be placed in, as well as the other trainees who will be living there with us.  I also move in with my host family tomorrow, and I am really hoping I like them.  I’ll live with my host family for three months, and they have the potential to make or break training, so everyone say a prayer for me tonight.  Tomorrow also marks the end of free wireless.  So sad, but I gotta cut the cord sometime.  That’s all for now, wish me luck in my training site.