So nice they named it twice

My new home beginning on November 20, 2011 until November 20, 2013 will be......drumroll....... Muy Muy, Matagalpa. Muy Muy literally translates to Very Very, for those of you non-Spanish speakers. I'm pretty stoked about the placement because it's in the mountains so while some other volunteers will have the pleasure of sweating their balls off day and night, I'll get to sleep peacefully in my cool mountain climate!
So I've really lucked out. I don't have a latrine (score!), I have a shower (no bucket baths for me!) and the town is pretty decently sized so I have cell service, internet cafes, and pulperias (little corner stores). Other sites aren't quite as lucky, most have latrines and some don't even have cell service; I'm sorry for all of you. But, the one downside for me is I'm 99% positive that I'm sharing my bedroom and kitchen with my arch nemesis: rats!
So I spent a week visiting my site and my new host family and getting the DL from the volunteer that I'm replacing. It was a pretty good experience overall, I'm super excited to actually start living and working there; but there were some minor problems with my visit.
1) I technically have to live with a host family for my 2 years of service and even though my assigned host family is very nice I just won't be able to survive living with them for the full 2 years for a couple of reasons:
a) My bedroom is the size of a closet and is really just a temporary wall that partitions me off from the rest of the kitchen.
b) There are rats in the house! Many of you know about my history with rats, so I believe I should not have to endure this. I didn't sleep for the whole week because I heard them scurrying around the kitchen wreaking havoc throughout the night and even if I was able to doze off and "ignore" them, I was startled awake by the rat that is living in my closet!! Yes that's right another closet rat. The worst part is it's right by the head of my bed and "slept" with one eye open and by headlamp on the whole night. I will be investing in some poison, traps and possibly some cats.
Luckily I only have to live with this family for 2 months and then I can find a different family to live with. I'm hoping that I can move into the casita of the other volunteer because it technically fits the rule of living with a host family because I will be sharing a back porch with them and to my knowledge it is rat free! Everyone keep your fingers crossed that it works out and I'll be able to survive 2 months with my rat and then be rat free for the next 22 months.
2) I fell victim to the inevitable stomach problems. Each night I didn't sleep due to the rats and to the terrible cramps in my stomach. I was a bit scared to get out of my bed in the middle of the night to make my journey to the outside bathroom, but luckily I didn't spot any of the rodents on my many trips during the week. I'm feeling better now, I'm not sure what the culprit was but I didn't like it and hope that I don't suffer from it continually in site.

Even though there were some minor set backs, I am really excited to move on from training and start my service. Everyone in the town seems very nice and excited for me to start working with them. Also, if you haven't noticed I changed my address in the top of my blog. So don't send anymore letters, packages to the old address because it will just take even longer for me to receive it from Peace Corps.

P.S. Some of you have mentioned difficulties commenting on my blog, I changed some of the privacy settings, so you may have success now if you would like to try.

Thank you to everyone reading my blog, you have no idea how happy I am when I hear that people are reading it and actually enjoying it. Love you and miss you all!