Settling into Morrito

I finally arrived to my home for the next 2 years, Morrito, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, last Thursday at midnight. I enjoyed a nice breezy, if not a little rocky, boat ride from the lovely town of Granada. Highlights from the Granada trip include the 60 cent hotdogs, staying out til 3:30 am (a huge change from my self-inflicted 9 pm curfew), and a teenager playing My Heart Will Go On on his recorder to our table outside an Irish pub, owned by a legit Irishman named William.
My first day on site was very slow. It was a Friday and nobody at the Health Center was too gung ho about working since the director wasn´t around. So I took the opportunity to unpack my stuff and organize my small room. I set up my mosquito net, swept and mopped and decided which items I should hang on the numerous nails in the wall and which would be find just on the bench, the only storage space in my room. I´d like to say I had a spectacular first Friday night, but I went to bed early in order to be somewhat coherent for my 4 am wake up call.
The early wakeup call was in preparation to go to what I understood was going to be a cow slaughtering with my counterpart, Silvio. It turned out that I didn´t even realize when they killed the cow, around 5:30 in the morning. I thought they were just brushing it down around it´s throat until I noticed the blood spilling out of its throat. Thank goodness I fell asleep in a hammock while the majority of the butchering took place. The cow slaughtering actually turned out to be a very nice community event. The owners of the farm gathered a bunch of people from the community to help vaccinate their cows for the day in return for food for the day. The men did about 4 rounds of vaccinations which seemed pretty strenuous, while the women prepped breakfast (cow liver and rice), lunch (soup) and an early dinner (carne asada, which is very like beef jerky). The kids ran around enjoying themselves and running errands, like fetching water, and I sat around trying to find a way to help, without success. Although I felt useless throughout the day, it was a heartwarming experience to see the relaxed way the community came together to help each other out.
Sunday was chuck full with an early morning of errands, spending all day at a baseball tournament and making my debut as the new server at the pseudo restaurant by the ball field. After a full day of baseball and food, I came back to my house to find a mini carnival set up in the park, which is right next to my house. Children and adults alike were very excited about the diversion. They have Nicaraguan version of a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round, both of which are hand operated and the giant swings, which is run by a car engine. I got to eat some cotton candy that a drunken friend insisted on buying me and had a good time sitting around and talking to some new young people I met. So far I am really happy here, and aside from a few moments of loneliness and boredom, I think I am being accepted by my new Nicaraguan neighbors.