We started dipping into the holiday spirit this weekend.  We own exactly one box of Christmas decorations.  Most aren’t quite up yet, but at least the box is now open!

We visited the DC version of Madame Tussaud’s this past weekend and I’m afraid to say that we were rather underwhelmed.  I’ve visited the original in London, which was much more enjoyable.  DC’s installation is in the basement of a building and feels as such.  The exhibits are small and crowded and it took all of 45 minutes to walk through.  Thankfully we had discount tickets so we weren’t disappointed.

However, the lack of ambiance doesn’t take away from the sheer intricacy/creepiness of the figures.  If you haven’t been to a wax museum before, it’s definitely worth the trip.  And of course the fun comes from striking a pose.

This one’s for Bec Bec:

Hangin’ out with Mr. Dylan:

routine, n.

• A regular course of procedure; a more or less mechanical or unvarying performance of certain acts or duties.*
• Something that my life has been lacking…but which may fall into place soon.

* Oxford English Dictionary

I find it humorous that this particular word of the day landed in my inbox this evening.  Having had a few weeks to settle into the new job I’m really looking forward to starting new routines in the coming weeks.

Nicaragua – the land of lakes and volcanoes.  Our first tourist outing was to visit Volcan Masaya the weekend before we settled in to work.  The volcano was a beautiful sight.

This one was definitely alive, spewing out some very noxious gasses.

It shoots out boulders from time to time, and tourists are warned to back-in park in case you need to make a run for it!

Public transport doesn’t reach the volcano, so we hired a taxi for the day.  Our private tourmobile!

The FCAT is over, and what a whirlwind of an experience it was.  I’m staying on in Nicaragua for the next week to enjoy a little tourism and should have some time to reflect on this great adventure.

Saludos desde Nicaragua!

I have felt the rumbling for a post, so here are a few photos of my first few days in Nicaragua. I flew into the capital, Managua. It’s a pretty depressing town, having been devastated by an earthquake a few decades back.  “Ramshackle” describes it pretty well.

Tuesday I was an intern. Wednesday I was unemployed.  Today I’m headed off today to start a month long adventure as a Research Fellow in Nicaragua.  While there are chords of this trip that strike the same as the Great SAA, I think traveling for a month on business versus living two years abroad can be pretty much summed up in the packing.

SAA - Canoa, Ecuador

Off to Nicaragua!

Natalie Portman with members of a FINCA Uganda Village Banking group in Jinga, Uganda, in July 2007. 

Natalie Portman, FINCA’s Ambassador of Hope, gave a great interview to MSNBC this week about the importance of microfinance.  You can read the full interview here.

I have to admit, I get a little red faced when people talk about the iPhone. It gets all the cool new apps first. Poor lil Blackberry seems to always be playing catch-up, or just gets ignored. Imagine my surprise then to find out today that there’s a beta WordPress app for Blackberry. Woo hoo! Let the random postings about mundane moments in my life begin! Just in time to leave the country too, wouldn’t ya know?

Breaking news, hot off the press: I will be working in Nicaragua for the next month! I’m headed off on August 20 to do four weeks of field research, interviewing FINCA Nicaragua’s incredible clients.  If you couldn’t tell from the bold font and spunky punctuation, I couldn’t be more excited!