Hola!
Matt has posted an update on the logistics of Peace Corps Training in Nicaragua - Spanish Class in the morning, practice in the afternoon, host families etc... So I´ll try to be brief.
Matt and I are living in separate towns right now about 5-10 minutes from each other by taxi in the department of Curacao. My town is very small, which I am enjoying quite a bit. My host mom owns a small pulperian (a small store with basics - almost like a convenience store) which is right next to our house. I spend most evenings in there with her, learning how to say things like ´flour´and ´corn´and ´shampoo´, and such. Its actually quite helpful.
My spanish is already progressing, but I find that it takes so much effort for me to think and speak and listen in spanish all day that by the end of the day, I am absolutely exhausted. There are three other aspirantes in my town, and we all meet together daily for spanish class. All of them have a better vocabulary than I do, so I am learning a lot from them. We´ve only been here for a few days, but it feels like months. And my professora assured me this morning that in the course of next ten weeks (the length of training), that I will progress quickly. We´ll see - it feels like I am learning so slowly right now. My poor host sister has repeat words ten times before I remember what they are.
In general, things are going well. My stomach has been a bit upset, but I haven´t had to visit el laboratorio yet, so thats a good thing. Its probably just the changes in diet - lots of beans and rice. And I am sure that I will get used to that.
Yesterday, we had our first technical training, where we began to learn abou the state of health in Nicaragua and current efforts to combat things like malaria, HIV-AIDS, infant malnutrition and the other multiple health problems here. These trainings are integrated throughout the week with our language training so that we have all of the knowledge that we need at the end of 10 weeks to go out to our sites and begin working!
Thats all for now. I don´t have any pictures yet, but I will take some of the fiesta this weekend and try to post next week!
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Two Peace Corps volunteers. Two years. One beautiful country. The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors. They do not neccesarily reflect the views of the Peace Corps or the United States Federal Government.
5 comments:
Good luck with the Spanish Jess, hope you pick it up ok. Being one of the only chele in the town has to be hard. Having this blog to keep in touch makes things nice. Take care of Matt the cipote and be safe. Love dad
I totally sympathize with your language exhaustion. The first time I went to France, I fell asleep every time we went somewhere in the car, LOL because I was so tired all the time from processing everything in two languages. But that experience is so enriching, so enjoy it, even with all its ups and downs. Miss you both! - Jolene
Jess: I couldn't agree more about being exhausted after trying to live all day with another language. When I traveled Central America I tried to use my Spanish, talk it, read it, hear it. By bedtime I was whipped. I was going to mention it before you left, but I thought yours and Matt's spanish might be so much better than mine that you wouldn't have the problem.
Glad you are having so much fun.
I very vividly remember how exhausted all the muscles in and around my mouth would get when I first started speaking Spanish regularly and at length. Not to mentional mental exhaustion. The empathy flows. Rest assured, though, it goes away with practice, and you'll be astonished how easily things start to come out after a little while!
Jess, I am so glad to hear how you are doing. It is a great deal of work but it also appears you are enjoying the atmosphere and culture. I can't wait until we all get there. Please post pictures soon. I have been saving them to my flashdrive and printing them at Target. It's the scrapbooker in me.
Miss you two so much.
Much love,
Cathy
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