I´ll take some gallo pinto with a fried parakeet on the side!

Wow! Its almost the end of AWESOME AUGUST. I still can´t believe how time flies here. Seriously, before I know it the month is over, my bank account is once again full (not for long!) and my service seems to be flying buy. No worries though, SUPER SEPTEMBER is bound to be just as super as AWESOME AUGUST was! Not only do the newbies (the next group of enviro trainees) arrive next week, but it also marks my group, Nica 51, 1 year in country! I absolutely can´t believe that one year ago I was still not packed for Peace Corps, was helping Moniquey move into her new apartment, and didn´t have any idea what I was in for (or speak any spanish for that matter too!) It seems so crazy to think about now, since life in Nicaragua is pretty much the norm now a days!

Lets see, so the past few weeks have been incredibely busy and filled with tons of Nica fun! A few weeks ago I was up visiting Geory in her super campo site on the side of a mountain and I was just amazed that I was still in Nicaragua. This country is so freakin diverse. I mean, me, I live truely live in the "Land of Lakes & Volcanos" and up north in Mataglapa..its like "land of the mountains". No volcanoes! Anyway, while I was in the "land of the mountains, I was staying with Geory´s host family and litterly the first night, while we are eating dinner, her host sister comes in to the kitchen hold something. She starts talking to both of us and telling us to look at the "thing" in her hand. I was totally confused because it looked like a bird, but it was all black, and definately NOT MOVING. So Geory, askes her what happened and her sister tells us that the bird flew into HOT OIL that morning while her mom was cooking. So litterly she was hold a fired parakeet!! Geory and I start laughing and so does her sister and then we turn to our food that we are eating and only one thought goes through both of our heads......Was any of this meal fried??? ;)

Also, this month I began co-planning with my teachers. This way rather than just me teaching overly exciting science classes, the teachers will also be learning fun games and activities to spice up thier teaching. I was extremely nervous at first, that my teachers wouldn´t understand the topics, or they wouldn´t want to co-plan. However, everything has actually been working out wonderfully and co-planning has been proclaimed a success for now! My teachers are very excited about working with me and I´ve found it actually makes thier lives easier! YAY! So hopefully, they will still enjoy it for the next few months! Along with co-planning, I´m finally getting some stuff done with the NGO in town (tree planting project..YAY!), the sister city (compost project!) and the alcaldia (begging them to do trash collection at one of my schools!) WOO!! It defintely has been an AWESOMELY busy august!! :)

So whats up for the next month. Well, definately, more teaching. And of course fiestas patronales! :) Oh, and of course the premire of Survivor: Nicaragua. Which by the way should give you a pretty good idea into to my life as a Peace Corps Volunteer here...yeah. just kidding. :)

Plant & Lizards..another AWESOME week!

Well...the first week of AWESOME AUGUST had been..well awesome! I definately can't complain and I'm looking forward to the rest of this awesome month! Its been so nice to be back in site, being able to get back into the swing of things, and of course visiting everyone around town!

So on the garden front, I successfully planted 4 (count um!) gardens this week, including one exciting planting of sandia (watermelon) inwhich we litterly ate the watermelon, removed the seeds and planted them into the ground. Who actually knows if the seeds will grow (specially since you are supposed to use a mature fruit), but it was an absolutely a blast to devoure the watermelon and then plant the seeds! But atleast I can hope! On the plant front, I finally have GROWING PLANTS!!!!!!! :) I was so pumped when I showed up to one of my schools this week and the sub-director was like..guess what there are plants growing in the garden! I RAN to the garden and was super excited to find 3 beautiful pipian plants (a type of squash) and a bunch of melon (cantalope) plants growing. YAY! I'm finally not a garden failure and this recent success have given me tons of motivation to keep the gardens going and GROWING! :)

Otherwise, life in the LPC is exciting as always. It was so great being back in town and visiting with everyone again..I've missed so many people. I spent a morning at my host families house catching up and while I was there my 6 year old host brother came home from school. Now, I absolutely LOVE this kid...his name is Diego and he always makes me smile! So he comes running into the house screaming ELYSE..and then proceeds to show me a very live baby lizard that him, his other brother and friend caught on thier way home from school! They wanted to keep it as a pet so we spent the next 15 minutes trying to create a home for this lizard. Pretty much we punched some holes in a plastic bottle, shoved some leaves in and then the lizard. Afterwards, my other host brother, Ricardo, took the bottle (and the lizard) outside and I was like don't put in the sun..and as I was leaving I hear my host mom yelling...DON'T PUT IT IN THE SUN!! You'll kill it! oh, so much fun!!

Yeah, so life is AWESOME!! And i can't wait for another great week or to enjoy this nutella crepe I just got served in this great cafe in Matagalpa. Can't seem to complain about life!!

It´s Awesome August!!!!

Well, its August 1st. And its also the month that we´ve dubbed AWESOME AUGUST! Why? Because July was not so awesome. Well the first part was, but the past 2 weeks have not been so awesome. I had a ruptured and bleeding cyst on my right ovary. And it was painful and in order to fully recover I was in Managua for over a week. Now, Manauga is great and all for a night or 2 or 3. But 8. Not so much. However, I´m feeling better now! (Yay) And now its AWESOME AUGUST!!!

So, you may be asking yourself what is the plan for AWESOME AUGUST! Well, first off I´m not going to be sick. No parasite, no infections, NOTHING! Secondly, I´m going to be an awesome volunteer. Since I won´t be sick, I´ll be able to really rock it out at my schools, start co-planning lessons with my teachers, and finish up those last few odds and ends with my gardens. Plus, I´m hoping to start working every week with one of the NGOs in my town, start a project in on of the barrio´s of LPC community centers, and get some sort of youth stuff organanzied. Oh, and maybe a HIV billiards tournement. Why not dream big? Anything can happen in AWESOME AUGUST!! And since its our 11th month in country, I´ve got to make it awesome! WOO!!

Alright, enough about how awesome this month is going to be..I´ve got to go out and do it!!