What another crazy week here!! I am entering week three of training Monday...time is flying buy already. Yet it feels like i´ve been in Nicaragua for at least a month or 2!

Monday was a national holiday (Independence Day) and we didn´t have class! Instead I went with my host mom to watch my sister and cousin dance at the assembly and parade. After the parade, I went to Nandasmo (the bigger city closer to where I live) to watch there activities. Its very interesting because the parade is full of students marching..along with dancers, "cheerleaders" and marching bands...every school has a marching band..it was so cute to see the little kids carrying drums!!! Also, the assemblies are used to recognize the top student in the school as well as the best teacher. They both recieve a regalo, rather than plaque, which is something personal they could use. I thought it was really cool that so much thought is put into these awards. After the events in Nandasmo, I went with another aspirante and his family to "agua arie" which is bascially a super nice river to swim...it was awesome, beautiful, and an amazing treat from the heat of Nicaragua. The best part was on the hike back to the car we saw MONKEYS!!! OMG. I was so excited. I guess monkeys used to be very common but now a lot of their habitat has been destroyed. However we were near volcan mombacho where they are still pretty common!

The rest of the week was full of spanish class everyday, technical sessions, and building a huerto (garden) this morning. We have a youth group meeting tonight...haha..a nice test of my spanish abilities. Oh...Sunday I went to the national zoo..with my family and then to Tip-Top the national fast food chain!! Excellent.

And....I´ve seen a kid wearing a University of Cinncinati shirt...I thought it was really funny...my host family didn´t seem to understand!