Welcome!

Hi!

Up to this point, PeasCorps (named for the "Visualize Whirled Peas" bumper sticker, not because we don't know how to spell) has been mostly for us to remember our application struggles and share our experiences with other Peace Corps applicants. Now that we're about to leave in just 5 days, the blog should become mildly interesting and will be the best way for us to keep in touch with all our family and friends, share lots of pictures, and let you all know that we're still alive and having a great time.

We'll spend 3 days in Washington, D.C. getting the very basic rules and and getting to know the other 33 people going to Nicaragua with us. We then fly to Nicaragua, spend a few days doing our language evaluations and things like that, then we'll move in with our training host families. Training is near Masaya, Nicaragua and we'll have language training (Spanish) and job training for 3 months. We have to live with separate host families; that will be tough, but it will force us to use Spanish with our host families, and we'll still get to see each other for teacher training and will probably get to spend weekends together. For the first three months of training, our mailing address is as follows:

Paul/Holly Ragan, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

Mail tips that we received from the Peace Corps include that it's best if packages don't exceed 2 pounds and that padded envelopes are better than boxes. Large boxes and items aren't as practical because we may have to pay customs fees on them. Mail is relatively reliable (albeit sometimes slow), but it's better not to send valuable (monetarily or sentimentally) items just in case.

Really, though, we'd just love to receive comments here on the blog or e-mails from all of you (holly.ragan [at] gmail.com and paul.ragan [at] gmail.com), even if just to say hello and let us know that you're still reading! We've heard that Internet cafes are prevalent and so that should be the best way to stay in touch.

We're really excited to be leaving for this great adventure, and we're also eager to share it with all of you!