On Friday, September 4, all of the suitcases finally arrived from Haiti or wherever they had been shipped to. The truck was in the parking lot at 3:00 PM, but they wouldn't release the bags until an official from American Airlines arrived who could approve everything. Finally around 4:30, we were able to start loading all of our bags onto buses and minvans that would take all of us trainees to our new Nicaraguan families. As we left Managua, night started to fall (the sun starts to set around 5:30 every day all year long). Our families had been told to expect us around 4, so when we finally rolled in around 7:00 in the middle of a big thunderstorm, they were very glad to see us.

My town for the next three months is Jinotepe, a city of around 6000 people in the province of Carazo. My family couldn't have been nicer. Carlos and Dulce are the parents (around 34 years old) with a 5 year old and a 3 year old, both boys. I have never seen such well-behaved kids. The parents are so good with them. If one starts to cry or get upset they talk with him quietly or give him a hug. The food has also been extraordinary. Both parents are cooks by profession and they fix me wonderful vegetarian meals. Lots of the local fruits and vegetables, as well as the obligatory rice and beans, called Gallo Pinto. Every meal is accompanied by a delicious fruit drink that Dulce has made in the blender with local fruits that she has bought at the market. Once I had a blend of carrot and orange juice – very delicious!

It is unbelievably hot here, although we occasionally get some nice breezes. There is only cold water in the shower, but I don't miss the hot water at all. Every other day or so we get a big thunderstorm, which usually causes the water to go out and sometimes the electricity. In fact, the water is turned off practically every night. Carlos told me that the water company does that because they have to share the water with other communities - when our water goes out, another community's water comes on. He said it was like that with the electricity four years ago, but now the electric power is fairly stable (except after a big thunderstorm).

Nicaraguan Independence Day 2009 in Jinotepe

Click above to see lots of pictures of the parade.

This is a big weekend down here. Monday and Tuesday are independence days. Schools are closed for the entire week. Monday, September 14 is to celebrate the defeat of William Walker, a “filibuster”who came down here from America during the Gold Rush. He sided with the liberal faction in León and declared himself president. He was thrown out after two years or so. He came back a few years later and was killed. His death is what is celebrated the first day. The next day, September 15 celebrates independence from Spain in all of Central America. Yesterday, there was a big parade through the center of Jinotepe, with marching bands from all of the public and private schools. It was an event that everyone in the town turned out for. Since it took place in the middle of the day, the spectators and participants were really suffering from the heat. Peddlers were selling little plastic bags of water, candy, nuts, hats and balloons. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the hat salesman – he looked like he could have been out of the book, “Caps for Sale”. He had about 6 hats on his head with the rest in his hand as he moved through the crowd. A hat and water, as well as sunscreen, were the things people needed most yesterday.

Since schools are closed this week, we can't begin our practice teaching until next week. We are planning to meet with our co-teachers this week (even though they are on vacation). We are also going to plan our youth group meetings that should start up next week. We plan to do some English teaching activities with them as well as some discussions of things that concern them.

Lots of things going on constantly. Current volunteers have warned us that these three months of training are the hardest part. Their advice was to do as much as possible, especially practice teaching, because we will really appreciate it when we have our own sites. Tomorrow we each get our first interview with the Peace Corps person in charge of assigning us to different sites. It's hard to know at this point if a city or small little town would be the best, but I'm leaning towards a smaller place since the class sizes are usually smaller there. Here in Jinotepe class sizes can be 55 or so.

The whole adventure is like a roller coaster. Some days it seems like the most amazing thing in the world and other times it seems overwhelming and frustrating. I think it's that way for all of us trainees. I'll keep you informed as things progress during the next few weeks.