Checking in...

For all the loyal blog checkers out there, I wanted to just quickly say that I'm alive. It's been another really busy week, so apologies for not writing more frequently. I think it's finally setting in for everyone that I only have a few weeks left (myself included), so the work is just getting piled on. Add that to the extreme heat here - probably well over 100 degrees daily - and I haven't been an extremely happy camper this week.

However, I do have LOTS to look forward to in the next week and a half. On Friday, we are supposed to have a party with some of the other volunteers and neighbors at our house. We've been talking about doing something like this for awhile, but it looks like we'll finally get it together this week. It should be good practice for my goodbye party, which is coming up soon as well!

This weekend is technically the start of the week of vacation for Semana Santa here, so I am heading off to Ometepe, which is an island in the Lake of Nicaragua with two volcanos on it. It's supposed to be really beautiful, and I'm staying in a place that is fairly remote, so I'm excited for some swimming, horseback riding, volcano climbing (maybe) and just relaxing in general. Still to be determined if a few friends from Managua will be joining or not - but hopefully that will work out for at least part of the visit.

I plan on getting back from Ometepe Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (bright and extremely early), I will be heading to the airport and then back to the States for Easter. I'll be stopping through Chicago Wednesday night (if you're around and want to grab a drink, let me know!). Then I'll be back home in the 'burg Thursday through early Monday. I'm really looking forward to being home for a bit, catching up with everyone, unloading one round of souvenirs to make room for more, and stocking up on some things to bring back to Nicaragua for the home stretch.

Because of all this excitement, I probably won't be posting much over the next week. Once I get home, I can put some pics from Ometepe up or, better yet, I can see many of you in person and share the stories!

Thanks, as always, for reading - looking forward to being back Stateside very soon.