Thursday, August 31, 2006

And one more time today...

Hey all. I have a quiet space and a little bit more time to write now. So far Jeff and I have been going to training, training, and more training, shots and malaria pills (which taste sooooo gross)! We are having a really great time and we are certain that the time spent away from each other during our training months is a good idea and will be well spent. We can do weekend visits to our seperate host familias. And we will know that many more people in Nicaragua.

Today we took a trip into Managua to go to the PC office and we also got to drive around a bit. Managua is sort of like LA..real sprawled out with no real downtown. Except for LA has a downtown...and theres way more garbage hanging out..and more tin roofs...so maybe its not so much like LA. We also saw a totally totally dead dog on the median. It was amazing. It was super stiff and bloated. Thats never happaned to me before. Jeff was pretty excited. However, we will not be spending much time in Managua. We have heard about the wonderful training site that we will be going to which is near Masaya, we just don´t know the exact town...yet. That will be figured out by our Spanish language test that we took today in which I just stared at the interviewer and stumbled over some really bad phrases that probably sounded nothing like Spanish but instead some valley girl trying to speak something similiar too, but not quite Spanish. That has for sure been the worst part of the trip so far. Other than that, we are having a great time. Everyone is really cool and so excited to be here. Its very refreshing.

parents: I was going to call home tonight but the calling cards aren´t working or something so I will call when I am with my host family. There will be more to talk about then too. I will know where I will be for the next few months as well as be able to give a phone number to reach me at.

Well that is it for now. I will try to take some pictures soon and upload them for people to see how pretty Nicaragua is. This was totally the right choice for us and we couldn´t be more excited about the journey in front of us. I haven´t cried yet (except for a close call when reading Shaun and V´s email) which everyone knows is a really big thing for me. I even cried when eatting Arbys for the last time.
Please, write! We miss everyone tons.

Jenny
and Jeff!

We've made it!

Hey everyone! We only have a few minutes but we wanted to say hi and that we have made it to Managua safe and sound. So far we're having a great time as the peace corps is much like the early days of AmeriCorps..except for everyones really really exicted and its turned up about 10 notches. DC was great. We got to visit Andy and Wendy and had a great time. LOTS of safety training. I'm sure we'll be posting some pictures of us in bike helmets in no time soon.

We got to Managua yesterday after 2 hours of sleep on the plane. We are staying in an awesome resort with hot water and clean drinking water...and a casino where we will try not to lose all of our cordobas. Shots in the arm have been fun so far and we cant wait for the intra muscular ones today!! For all those going to Sam and Jil's wedding have fun, we will be moving into our new homes with separate host families on Sat. which will be pretty much just like going to a Jewish wedding in MN. Hope to hear from you soon, BJ quit sending me forwards, I only get to check my email once a week!! Have a good week, talk to you soon!

Jeff and Jenny