What a scary concept.

I will take this time and space today to reflect on my time here in Nicaragua and then to discuss some thoughts I have for the future.

First of all, I did not come to Nicaragua to enjoy myself, and I did not come to Nicaragua to go on a trip. I was reviewing the goals I wrote down at MCC orientation in Akron and I think my reasons for coming to Nicaragua were the following: I wanted to go somewhere where people speak Spanish and see what life was like. I wanted to use my skills somewhere doing something good. When I was at my interview in October or November 2006 I was so attracted to the description of the Cultural Centre, and I knew that that was where I wanted to go. The whole MCC process worked out so smoothly (well, smoothly in comparison to my life here...) that I felt it was God's will for me to come here.

I have learned many things in the past 10 months. It would take a book or two to write them all. Maybe some day I will do that. Largely, I have learned that people are people no matter where they are and that I can learn a lot from them. I feel that in my current job I have learned what I can, but from Nicaragua, maybe I have more to learn. I have learned the many ways people worship God, and that I often disagree with what I hear in church, but that God can be present there too. I have learned that I require more intellectual stimulation than what I receive from my job, and that I can find it in good discussion, good books and magazines ad academic journals. I find that I also like writing a lot and that it is the way I "process" things.

So this brings me to the future. Since I like learning, I am excited to study at the U of T next year. I am interested in literature, at least I liked in in my last round of schooling and so hopefully I still do. I think I would like to be able to take some kind of international studies, political science or history (about Latin America) class in conjunction with my Spanish courses.

After that, I would like a job where I can talk to people, learn about their life and drink tea or coffee (depending on the culture, you know, now I'm pro with cultural sensitivity). And then do something to accompany that, because they don't really pay people to exclusively drink coffee.