Hey All,

So since my post Sunday things have gotten a bit better. Still friggin hot down here - pretty sure I have sweat out every inpurity that was ever in my body.

Monday I started taking Spanish dance classes which are so much fun. It´s an hour or so of aerobics/dancing and some ab work or leg work. Its fun, gets rid of pent up energy and teaches me some Spanish dancing. Edna, my host mom, said that pending I can speak Spanish by June, I can go dancing in a club and put what I´ve learned to use.

Tuesday was a nothing sort of day. Got very frustrated again when I was told that I would be picked up at 2pm to visit my placement. No one showed until 4pm and that was to pick up the other guy living in my house. So annoying. Thats one thing that I don´t think I´ll ever get used to. I HATE PEOPLE WHO ARE LATE!!! Biggest culture shock so far I´d say. That and the language. And heat.

Wednesday I visited my placement at FUNARTE. It looks like its really going to be a great place to work at. I´ll be working Tuesday to Friday, 8-12 and then 2-5pm. On Saturday mornings, I´ll be working from 8-12, helping 400 children...yes thats right 400...with their painting, in preparation for some festival being held in September. I heard 40 the first time and had just learned numbers bigger than 100 that morning so it took me a couple seconds to clue in. The other days I´m told will be spent working in the community. Not sure exactly what that means.

Today, Thursday, we visited la fabrica de puros (aka a cigar factory). Basically it was a sweat shop`, where the workers are paid by the pounds they make, not by hour. It was hot, very strong smell of tobacco and ammonia I think. We couldn´t stop coughing. But the process itself is very interesting. We saw dried leaves that were a year old and we saw people rolling them, packaging them, the whole works. It was neat, even if it was exploitation. That part none of us really liked but its unfortunately a reality.

We´re hoping to visit Masaya this weekend, which is supposed to have an amazing market place and a nice town. It also has a volcano. Should be fun. A nice day trip on Saturday. Let you know how that goes.

For now, like I said, things are better. Like a 7 out of 10. Still working through the obvious kinks like the language but I feel like I´m starting to integrate my self a bit more. I now have my friend Jess as a roomate because her host brother was being really creepy towards her and hitting on her and stuff. So clearly she couldn´t stay there anymore. So we are living together now and it should be good. We can do more stuff together now. Yay!

Like Mr. B said, have a rum which I think would be nice. The FLOR DE CAÑA is really good here. And my host mom is so nice which makes it easier for me to learn and live.

Adios amigos! Until next time.
Miss you all!!