Well I think I´ve started to talk about what a complete 180 this has been for me, but it´s starting to sink in fully. I´m enjoying myself here, but there are just things I miss. You have to watch your back at all times here, and one just can´t take a walk at night here if stressed out. There are just certain pleasures of American adulthood that I have had to shelf. I miss the night life, which was fun here during our Fiestas Patronales, but has since disappeared. I miss the ability to have a hot or cold shower then cuddle up in whatever temperature setting I want! I miss being an adult: doing my own laundry, cooking my own dinner, leaving whenever I want, talking to whoever I want, doing whateverI want, and going wherever I want. Most of the things I miss are small things. Although I love my host family, I miss all of you who are reading this, you who make me comfortable and at home: MY friends and MY family. Thank you for always being there in the past if I didn´t say that before I left, and I hope some of you will still be there for me when I get back. Sorry to sound possessive, but that´s how I feel today.

Here I have had fun and learned a lot of things, but cultural differences can be frustrating, just as much so as a Nica would have in the states. The fact that no one talks to there children about condoms and then get pissed of at their kids when they get pregnant. The occassional lack of individuality and the desperate need for family. At the same time, I imagine they think of us as monsters for kicking out our kids at the ripe old age of eighteen! Well the first quarter of the 11 week training is enjoying the novelty, and the second quarter is feeling the initial culture shock. That´s where I am. The rest of training is usually getting settled in. After training there is apparently further culture shock and further settling in. I´ll keep you all informed don´t worry... Oh and I promise at some point there will be photos, but i haev simply not had time yet, sorry!