Santa Teresa

Well, it's hard to know where to start. Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! I didn't get to read them all until today, but it was still really special. If you have talked to my family you know I have been having a difficult week, just feeling really unsure about if I really want to commit 2 years of my life and missing everyone alot, etc. But I got to talk to both my parents and Aubree and Roger on my birthday and that encouraged me alot. I still flip out a little in my head when I try to think about 2 years of being here-so I'm following the recommendations of my family and breaking it into smaller segments. Like in 3 months I will finish training, 3 months after that my family can come see me, about 3-4 months after that is Christmas and I can come home to visit and so on. This is helping me alot.

So...Santa Teresa is a small little pueblo of about 5000, I think, in the department of Carazo. This is where I will be for the next 11 weeks for training. I'm living with a really nice family- I have a mom, a sister(16) and a grandma. I dont have any pictures of them yet, but I will. My pictures are again backwards--and Jordan I read your instructions, but I'm gonna have to play with it some more and I don't have time. So I'll just explain them like last time.

1.This is my whole group of 21 in Diriamba yesterday where we went for a medical "charla" or lecture. We go every wed. to Diriamba and every Fri. to Managua while we are in training. Even though we've only known each other a week, it was so exciting to see everyone else. Peace Corps bought me a cake, which was delicious, but different. I think it was made with corn meal. And they sang Happy Birthday and played festive music, which in reality was all wedding songs for whatever reason.

2. Me with my cake. And yes, that's the shirt I've had since I was 12.

3. My host sister- Maria Isamar-was the queen of this celebration in town on Sun. Basically it was a horse parade. Horses are a big deal in this town.

4&5. These are of my room. I have a big bed and my own bathroom, which is really rare, so Im very lucky. And I have a sweet cheetah for decoration. I have yet to name it but I'm taking suggestions :)

Okay I'm running out of time, but thank you all again for the birthday wishes and comments. I hope you all are doing well and planning your trips to Nicaragua!

Pictures

Sorry, I still haven't quite figured this out. I don't know how to space the pictures out and
they posted backwards, so the first is the most recent.

#1- A fellow trainee named Ruth and this is for real the mosquito net tent that she plans to use for two years. We are provided mosqutio nets, but they're not sealed at the bottom and I guess she's super afraid of bugs.

#2-Me in my sweet room at orientation. The only thing it doesn't capture is the smell of burning trash wafting through the screenless windows.

#3-All of us at the airport in Miami waiting for the flight to Managua. Our flight was at 1pm and they made us get to the aiport at 8:30am. A lot of down time.

#4-Me and my first roommate Amanda at the hotel in Miami with all of our luggage. She had more stuff than me, if you can believe it.

We had our language interviews today, and I feel fine about mine except for one part where I completely forgot anything that I liked to do while I was in college. I couldn't come up with a single thing. We will find out tomorrow our language groups and which training town we will be in. We also went on a bus tour of Managua today, which was pretty cool. We went to one of the high points of the city and saw a lake that was formed in a volcanic crater and there was a good view of Lake Managua. It looked enormous, but apparently it is totally dwarfed by Lake Nicaragua, which I think we will go see during training. I forgot my camera during this outing so I'll have to get photos from someone.

I am feeling pretty good today, just tired. I got to talk to my parents and Aubree/Patrick and Roger on Skype so that has helped. Thanks to those that have emailed and commented. Have a good night!!

♥Danielle

Managua

I made it to Managua! Our flight was alright, although delayed an hour because of engine trouble. My first impression of the city is that its large and kind of unorganized, there's no city center or downtown; and it's smelly and dirty. Smelly because of exhaust on the roads and dirty because everyone throws their trash on the ground. But the place where we are staying until Sat. is nice, it's a little training center with cabins and meeting rooms and cafeterias. It's kind of like being at camp.

We are here until Sat. evening and then we meet and move to our training family's house. So all day tomorrow is meetings and our language interview, which I am of course nervous about. They have stressed that it is not a test, but that it is important because that's how they determine what training town we will be in. We're split up into groups of 4 or 5 and sent to different areas depending on our language level. There are some current health volunteers here to help train us and they say that usually health volunteers are in a place south of Managua and all pretty close to each other for training, which is unusual I think.

I will have wireless until Sat. so Im sure I'll write again, and then it will probably be pretty sporadic after that. I'm feeling alot better today, thanks for the support. I found out yesterday that I am like the third oldest person in our group which I find hilarious. I guess I really am getting old! haha
♥Danielle

It's Cold in Miami

I thought it was always warm. I made it safely to Miami and have made through the series of meetings called "staging". It actually was helpful for me though, just because I got to meet and spend some time with the people Im going with. There are 20 of us total, 14 girls and 6 guys. It helps to see that other people are struggling with making this commitment as much as I am. I still really want to do this, but it is really hard to leave. But everyone is really nice and I look foward to getting to know them better. We leave for Nica tomorrow and should arrive in Managua by 2:40pm. It's in Central time zone so there's no jet lag which is nice. Take care everyone.
♥Danielle

Excited and Overwhelmed

This picture demonstrates the overhwelmed portion of the post. I did eventually get this all into 2 suitcases and 1 backback thanks to the help of the whole family. I leave in the early morning for Miami with a short layover in Dallas. I'll be in Miami for about 24 hrs for Orientation or staging as Peace Corps calls it and I will meet the other health volunteers. Then it is off to Managua, where I will be for about 3 days. From what I understand, we attend alot of informational meetings and have a language interview which will determine what training site we are in. They split us up into groups of 3 or 4 depending on language ability and send us to different surrounding areas of Managua. I officially start the 3 months training on Mon. Jan 26 and finish sometime in April. Somewhere near the end I will find out where I will be living for the next 2 yrs. I do know my address; it will change after training, but it should be this for the next 3 months or so:

Danielle Lewis, PCT

Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3256

Managua, Nicaragua

Central America

Thank you all for the support and encouraging words as I have prepared for this adventure. I will have my cell phone until about 11am on Thurs., then I leave for Nica. Don't all call at once :)

♥Danielle