Transitions are always strange times. I feel like Peace Corps life can often be as big of a transition as Middle School. I´m losing my sitemate and getting a new one. Sometimes there are two volunteers in a single site and I have been lucky enough to be one of those. But just as my sitemate and I are starting to understand each other and work together really well, her service has ended. She´ll be going back to Portland, Oregon after an extrodinarily successful service as I put together makeshift vacations for Semana Santa. There will be a new volunteer moving into my town within the month. She seems really nice and I´m excited for a change, though still nervous that we won´t get along. It´s not like there are a lot of options if you don´t like your sitemate, though I have become more confident in my ability to deal with all sorts of characters successfully.

This week, I´ve been pretty busy planning my exams for the institute, saying goodbye to my current sitemate, planning Semana Santa, and planning for the rest of my month being packed with Peace Corps training sessions. I´m also realizing that I´ve been here for a little while. Having been in Nicaragua for almost a year and watching my sitemate leave I can´t help but think about what I´ll do when I leave. My time to ¨Plan the Rest of My Life¨ is waning.

None of this has anything to do with the reason for today´s commentary. I just felt my first honest to goodness earthquake in Nicaragua. I have to admit that the sensation was slightly numbed by feeling an earthquake in Chicago at four in the morning just before I left last year--minor geologic miracle. This one was still cool, though. I was sitting down to type in my buddy´s cyber when all the monitors and roofing started to shake. It was cool but when we went outside, we thought we were both crazy because it didn´t look like anyone else had even noticed. Turns out we weren´t crazy. In the last twenty minutes half a dozen people have come in to confirm this small quake. Keep in mind Nicaragua does have an extraordinary reputation for destructive quakes.