This past week, all the trainees went to visit different TEFL volunteers currently in their service. I went to Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The lake is so big that it forms waves and takes about an hour by boat to get to the island. (You
can take a look at the map on my first blog entry if you are curious) So I left Saturday, Oct. 3 around 10am. After taking a taxi, microbus, another taxi, boat, and a bus I arrived at my volunteer’s house around 4pm. Her name was Joanna, she had 3 counterparts, and was about an hour from the closest volunteer. Her secondary project was teaching basic English skills at “the project”, a house that helps adolescent boys who committed crimes in Managua to get integrated back into society. During their stay at the house, they learn life skills and a technical skill and in return they have to behave and stay legit. 
I was able to see how she co-plans and co-teaches with the Nica counterparts during the week. She works 25 hours in the classroom, which is a bit more than the 16 hour minimum because she doesn’t work with “the project” that much. I also saw how she interacts with the people in her community and how she lives her daily life. Hers is unique because she is isolated on the island and still lives with a host family. Both of these characteristics are much different than the majority of volunteers. Because of this, I’m thinking of asking to visit some other volunteers so that I can see a different view of PCV life.
While I was on the island we did lots of fun stuff. The first night we painted toe nails (mine are purple with little hand painted white flowers with a rhinestone center). One night we rode bicycles through really rough terrain to the dock and watched the gorgeous sunset behind the volcano. I would love to show you, but I forgot my camera of course. One day our counterpart didn’t show up (meaning we couldn’t teach) so we had the afternoon off. Luckily one of Joanna’s friends from the island was going to the beach with two visitors from the states, so we tagged along. I went swimming for the first time in Nicaragua and then we hiked a bit in the National Reserve. It wasn’t grueling, but rather a nice walk with a beautiful finish!
