Guess where I'll be staying?

After a traditional dinner of nacatamales with Mateo's family, the volunteers got a special surprise twist on how our host agency + family selection would be revealed to us!

If you are not familiar with how the Amigos gap year works, basically volunteers don't know what they'll be doing or where they'll be staying until a week after in-country training, which in our case, took place at Mateo's home. This way, the staff can get to know the volunteers more personally and figure out the best placement for us.

So after dinner, Vanessa took us outside to look at the lengthy mural painted on the wall of a school. This mural spans an entire block, depicting the history of Sutiaba, the region of León which used to be inhabited by native people. The history is actually incredibly fascinating, especially when told through the beautifully painted mural. However, we didn't get to hear the entire story because while we were outside, Mateo had been setting up a surprise and was ready for us to come back in!

When we walked in, we found that four of Mateo's family members were holding balloons in their hand. Each of us had to partner up with one of them and pop the balloon using our two bodies, but without using our hands.

Inside the balloon was a strip of paper with a clue on it. "Se escucha la mar con esto", mine read. I walked around, looking for the object as my partner told me "frio" or "caliente".

The object was a conch, and underneath was another clue:

"10 lb comida de perro". Dog food?!

Inside the bag of dog chow was an envelope with my name written on it. I raced back to the kitchen, pouring the contents of the envelope onto the counter. A puzzle!

After "riding the struggle bus" for about 10 minutes, my partner and I finally put together the puzzle, which spelled out my host agency and city:

"Mpowering People" in León!

I am really happy to be staying in León! It's the second largest city in Nicaragua, which means it's filled with good food and plenty of things to do. I'm looking forward to visiting all the museums, learning more about the mural, and discovering great places to eat.

After finishing the puzzle, Mateo gave us folders with detailed info on our city, host family, and work. It felt pretty cool to FINALLY know about the host family I'll be staying with for the next few months! Leaving it as a surprise definitely made it more special.

Me and the other volunteers, with our finished puzzles

Nacatamales! It's not the prettiest looking food, but it's darn tasty. Made out of masa and wrapped in a banana leaf, it's essentially a soft tamale filled with olives, potatoes, raisins, and other vegetables.

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Sayonara Arigato

We went out to a restaurant for lunch today, a little eatery called.... something that's located.... somewhere (At this point, I have absolutely no idea where things are located in León or the names of the restaurants we've eaten at. Typically we just hop into Mateo's truck and go wherever he decides to take us.) The restaurant is pretty busy - lunch is the biggest meal of the day, so the place is filled with hungry customers. Inside, there is a wood fire stove in the center of the restaurant, filling the room with a thick, smokey scent. Upon entering the restaurant, I passed by an older Nicaraguan man, whose face lit up when he saw me. "Ohhh!" he exclaimed. "Sayonara Arigato!!" I laughed. It was something that caught me completely off guard, and the incongruity of it struck me humorous, since the man obviously thought I was Japanese. If this same incident had happened back in the States, I would have felt insulted, but there was something about how t...

Meet my host family!

This morning, we met our host families and host agency representatives for the first time! After a few hours of introductions, autograph bingo, a presentation about our Community Based Initiative (or as Sam liked to call it, "mini proyecto"), and a game of Pictionary, we finally parted ways and left Mateo's house with our host families. My host family is very kind! They are also about the same height as me (we're all cute and short!) so I think it's a perfect match. Paulino, me, and Doña Chilo They have two daughters, a dog named Bebe, a rabbit named Joka (ho-ca), and they live with their grandmother. Doña Venega and Joka el Conejo JOKA!!! I also had a mini-adventure on my first day with Mpowering People. Ingrid, my jefe/mentor, and Gabriela, a post-graduate volunteer, arrived at my host family's home on a motorcycle to pick me...

I'm in León!

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