assignments, reading, and normal BM's

Hello all!

The first good news of my first update in Nicaragua is that everything appears to be running smoothly (BM-wise and additionally).

The first night in D.C. I stayed with Dad and Ira which was really nice! Things were pretty rushed after that- being the social butterfly I am, I of course tried to get to know everyone. It was a long day of information overload and trying to connect with "these people" who I would be working and living with for the next two years.
I never ended up going to sleep because we had to check out of the hotel at 2am and I had to re-pack another 4 times (after seeing what some of the guys had brought I was ashamed into taking some stuff to Dad's house and leaving it there!) Anyway, after about a 32 hour day I was able to sleep on both the plane rides which were each 2 1/2 hours (see how close I am, you can totally come visit!!!)

We got here and started training and doing social 'ice breakers right' away! I really like everyone so far. We all are so like minded and everyone seems to be really supportive.

I am going to keep this short because at this point there honestly isn't much to tell! I don't really know much about what to expect yet. Today we got assigned both our language groups and our host families for the next 11 months. I will be living with a big family of 6 people. We have our own rooms with locks on our doors but the idea is to "integrate" get to know Nica culture and people by learning from our host families. Everything I have heard is that training is hard and exhausting! We have 6 hours of language training a day. Then we also have technical training which includes gardening and composting, youth development, cultural integration, and community banking project. That is pretty much all I know right now! I will give more detail when I have some kind of clue!

But I am safe and happy and healthy and miss all of you already, but am trying not to because I know that the challenges are going to get bigger and will be missing you!

Now there are three other people who want to use my computer so gotta go! Sorry about the broken message ( hopefully- better than nothing)

p.s These pictures are from my friend Ryan Hubbard