September 2^nd marked one year in country for me and the 17 other volunteers that remain in my group. We had lost two people from our original 20, one in training and one during service. To celebrate completing a year, we decided to go to the Sunday brunch at the Intercontinental hotel in Managua, and let me just say – it was amazing. There were bottomless mimosas, meaning that the entire 4 hours of the event, the waiters carried around bottles of champagne and refilled our glasses every time they were below half full. The food was unbelievable too – there was a salad bar with a bunch of different cheeses, a sushi bar where you could order whatever kind of sushi you wanted, and a crêpe station where you could order crêpes made-to-order. There were also about 15 other dishes to choose from, and a plethora of desserts including chocolate mousse, cheesecake, and tiramisu. All in all, it was delicious and a perfect way to celebrate our one-year anniversary in country.

To celebrate my birthday, my neighbor and other people in my town have been talking about throwing me a party since I got to site. When the time finally got here, they weren’t able to do it on my actual birthday because I had to be in Managua for a meeting. So, on Wednesday night, they came to my house to ask me if I still wanted to do the party and to go over logistics. Nothing like some last-minute prep to really put me on edge! But in the end it worked out wonderfully. Apparently they had asked the mayor’s office in Chichigalpa to give them some money so that they could pay for the food, drinks and decorations.  They prepared all the food themselves (fried chicken, salad, rice, fried plantains) and came over on Thursday afternoon to clean my house and decorate it with white and purple balloons and streamers. They set up tables for the food and a stereo system for the music, we got our party on! After everyone got there, we ate and then we started dancing around 8pm and didn’t stop until midnight! It was a lot of fun, but more so it was a great opportunity for me to realize that there are people in my town that truly care about me. So much so, in fact, that they went to the mayor to ask for money for my party and did all the work themselves because they wanted to celebrate my birthday with me.  They also brought me a few little presents – from Chilo I got a bottle of sunscreen (haha) and from my English students I got a pair of earrings. I was really nervous about the party because I’m not the most social person in the world and I thought it might be awkward, but in the end it turned out really well.

The only other big thing that’s going on is that I was elected to the Volunteer Advisory Committee, or VAC. That means that I will represent all the volunteers in the department of Chinandega in the national VAC meetings where a representative from each department will meet. I’ll bring the concerns of the volunteers to the PC staff, and then bring news from the office back to the volunteers. It’s an important position because information is not always spread to everyone, and when people start to gossip, information gets convoluted. So I’m excited to represent Chinandega and be in the loop on what’s going on in the office and PC Washington.

I haven’t made much progress on any of the projects that I hope to complete before I finish my service. I did have a meeting with the mayor, and he is supposed to be getting me estimates on the water tower/tank so that I can make my formal presentation to my bosses. But so far I haven’t heard anything. I hope to stop by the mayor’s office this week and see if any progress has been made. PC recommends that you start your projects with at least a year left in service so that you will have time to finish them, so that’s what I hope to do. I hope to have the ball rolling on this project by mid-November. I’ll keep everyone updated on my progress!

I think that’s about all for now. Thank you to everyone who recognized my birthday…it was a good day and I was able to celebrate it with friends (and they even bought me a chocolate cake!). It’s hard to believe that one year is already down, but I’m looking forward to what the next year will bring. I really hope to push myself to do everything I can do before I leave. I want to leave a mark on my community so that 10 years from now they will still remember with pride that a gringa lived there for 2 years and made a difference. I also want to recognize and thank everyone who has supported me and helped me make it to this point, whether it be financially, emotionally, or in prayer. Each one of you is very important to me and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you. So that’s it – until next time, folks!