fin de semana (weekend)

hi all,
i am at the cyber in limon right now, which is only about a ten minute walk from my house. this afternoon i am going to go to la clinica roberto clemente (where i will be working the next 2 months) for the first time. i am really looking forward to meeting the people at the clinic and starting my work there, although i know it will not be easy because my spanish skills are not quite up to snuff yet. (i am not using conjunctions because i cannot find the apostrophe key!)
anyway, i got a chance to hang out more with my host family this past weekend, which was really fun. on saturday, my host brother taught me a nicaraguan card game, desmoche (not sure how to spell it) and we played throughout the afternoon. I had time to do a lot of reading and writing, too, which is kind of a novelty. I should probably slow down because at this rate, I will be out of books to read in the near future. Saturday night was low key, we watched some TV and went to sleep early. Everyone was up early on Sunday though, for the Spain v South Africa soccer game. I watched that, starting at 6 30 with my host brother in law, and tried to pick up some sports phrases, without much success. After the game, I went to the beach, which is unbelievably beautiful. There are all these rocks that have been carved by the water into intricate shapes. After the beach I played soccer with the 4 year old and his cousin, dodging cakes of cow dung in the field next to the house. It was really fun, even though I was more than twice the size of my opponents. I am running out of time on the internet, so I will continue later! Adios.

El Limon

Yesterday I spent my first night with my host family in El Limon, a rural community about an hours bus ride from Tola, a pretty small city in south western Nicaragua. I had my head out the bus window the whole time, taking in the scenery- mountains, pastures, massive cows who meander along side the road and into the road at times (necesitating a lot of honking by the cars), pigs (large and small), beautiful fruit trees (mangos!) and dogs.
My host family is wonderful and I immediately got the chance to meet the extended family, because yesterday was Father's Day in Nic., and so we went to the grandparents' house for dinner. We only had to walk about 3 minutes along a dirt path away from the road to arrive at the grandparents' house. They have tons of animals, lots of them babies because its early summer, and I saw the tiniest chicks and cats I've ever seen. I also saw monkeys, tons of monkeys, scampering in the trees overhead, emitting these deep grunts that made me laugh. When the monkeys are extra noisy, it means it will rain. And it sure did- the most serious downpour I've ever experienced. And in a house with a tin roof, the sounds is deafening.
I'm in Tola right now, at the FSD office, and although I have a lot more to say, I should go. But here is the address to write me by snail mail:

Oficina de FSD, Jocelyn Wagman
del calvarrio una cuadra al oeste
Tola, Nicaragua.

More soon!

I'm here and it's wonderful. The below address won't work...no mail goes to Limon. I'll figure something else out soon. More later...

my address in Nic, I think...

Jocelyn Wagman
contiguo al cuadro de beisbol de Limon no. 1
Tola- Rivas, Nicaragua

Hopefully this gets the job done, and if not I'll revise it once I arrive.