Nicaragua update

Sorry, people.  I have been neglecting this blog for over a month, and much has been going on in the meantime.  Part of my job while in Nicaragua has been keeping the official Nicaragua SST blog up to date, which has been a higher priority than my personal blog.  And, I basically worked about a month straight without a day off.  SST leadership is hard work, and we have had our share of sickness, discipline problems, stress, and many, many details to plan and make happen.  But I have successfully survived the six weeks of the study portion of SST, and the 22 students are now all at their service locations throughout the country doing their (nearly) 6 weeks of service.

Since the students are no longer here is Jinotepe, my schedule has slowed down considerably, and I feel like I am finally catching my breath.  There are still things to do, but they can be done at a much slower pace, and without a schedule that needs to be followed.  This week and next week are basically unscheduled, so Keri and I are catching up on a variety of stuff that didn't totally get done in the last six weeks.  Yesterday we sat down with our country assistant and scheduled out our service visits - we will go and visit each of the students at their service location to see how they are doing and where they are working, read their journals, and give them more money to get through the last three weeks of service.  All these visits will take about 2 weeks to do.  Some will be day trips into Managua, but most of them will require more travel and an overnight in another city.  I am looking forward to the traveling, but especially to seeing the students again. I miss having them around, even though they created a lot of work! :)

Keri and I are also getting some visitors next month.  Keri's mom and aunt are coming down on July 4, and Tom, the director of the SST program is also coming down around that time to go on some service visits with us and check out the program. By the time we get back from service visits on July 10, it will be less than three weeks until I go home!!!  I am trying to enjoy the quietness of these two weeks, but I know it will get busy again soon. 

It rained most of the day here today, not the heavy, heavy rains that we usually have, but a gentle rain on and off most of the day.  It's the rainy season here so this isn't totally unexpected, but usually the rains pass through more as heavy rain for a shorter period of time.  I did read today that there is a tropical depression of the coast of Guatemala, which might be causing some of the rain.  It is much cooler today - only in the 70s, instead of the humid 90s that we usually have. 

If you want to see pictures of my Nicaraguan experience, check out my Facebook page.  If you aren't on FB, let me know and I can send you a link. 

Hasta luego!  (Until later)