Monday, April 27, 2009

HOLA

Hola mis amigos. Estoy en San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua.

I just had to put up a post to tell you all that I did arrive in Nica after a fun weekend at Relays (thanks all who I got to hang out with).

I´m not going to lie, I have had some major fiascos - aka - my camera was taken out of my backpack in some airport, somewhere during its 12+ hours in transit (but I do have an extra) and my ride was not at the airport when I arrived, but I figured it out. The best part is that those details have been out-weighed by the good here so far.

San Juan del Sur is beautiful and is going to be a blast. My teacher has been great so far. My family and the food that Lucilla has been making for me (though it includes rice every meal) is wonderful. The other people who are learning right now also seem to be really cool - which makes everything all the better. Needless to say, I am excited about the next month here.

More to come, with photos soon, but I need to study and then to get some sleep. Tomorrow we are headed on a boat trip to some remote beach where we will have our daily Spanish lession and enjoy la playa and the 90 degree weather (with the perfecto breeze).

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Voy a Nica!

I'm not sure how many of you I have talked to recently, but after about a week at home and much thought I decided that this is the right time to become more proficient in Spanish - this is something that I have always wanted to do and my interest was re-spurred by my time in South America. I have now been home for more than a month and I have been studying vocab and preparing for further studies.

I am headed to Nicaragua on Sunday (after Relays weekend in Des Moines) for a month to participate in a Spanish immersion program. I will be living in the town of San Juan del Sur with a host family and will be working one-on-one with a tutor 5 days a week for 4 hours. All of my meals will be at my home-stay and we will also be participating in various activities during the rest of the day. I think this is really a way to put "the pedal to the metal" as far as learning a language goes - it should be pretty interesting!

I will be updating my FettyFun blog while I am down there - it should be quite a bit easier than in South America, since I will be taking my computer and the school has WiFi. Hopefully pictures will be easier to upload (fingers crossed).

The program will end on May 23 and after that I will venture out on my own for a couple weeks in Central America (should be good practice). So far I am planning on visiting Routan, Copan, Antigua, Tikal and Belize. I will be returning to Denver on June 7.