Rain Drops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

These are a few of my favorite things about living in Nicaragua:

1) receiving mail

2) vanilla ice cream popsicles that cost 4 cordobas (= about 20 cents)

3) swimming in an ice cold river on a hot day (which is any day)

4) rain storms

5) the feeling I get when the last of my dirty laundry is washed

6) smelling laundry soap

7) gallo pinto

8) traveling

9) learning about a new culture

10) avacados that cost less than 25 cents (guacamole for dinner tonight!)

11) receiving a suitcase full of goodies from my parents (a kind woman from a nearby parish is coming down here on Friday and offered to bring me a suitcase full of things my parents collect. I`m super excited!)

One thing that was really upsetting me was the amount of these guys in my house. I killed 12 of them before I finally submitted my house to the chemical bomb that is fumigation. It happened yesterday afternoon and afterwards there were about 9 dead bodies strewn throughout my house. While they are small and not deadly here, they are still scary and painful. I still haven`t been stung (which apparently occurs repeatedly until you kill the grotesque beast), but one of my volunteer friends was stung on the buttcheek. That`s right, despite shaking out her pants before putting them on, there was still a clinger. Her tongue and lips were numb for a few days (a common side effect of their venom) and her butt hurt. No gracias.

My community classes are going well. Students are still showing up. I have a little more than five months left until the end of my service. Dad is coming in less than a month. Life is pretty great now that my house is (hopefully) scorpion free!