times they are a changin' (and aren't they always)

Hello friends and family! Happy family, winter, and good smelling times (you know...cinnamon, apples, pumpkin...yummy things)
So, I am back from Nicaragua, and chilling (literally) in Lexington Kentucky until the 25th (Christmas day!), and then I head down to South Carolina to spend Christmas with my family. I am really enjoying friends and family so far and I am reminded that I like this time of year so much.
So, a little bit of business. I have had some changes in plans. I came to Lexington on the 16th of December and about two weeks before that, I quit my job at JHC in Nicaragua. Here's the long and short of it. So, basically, I butted heads with the organization almost immediately after arriving. At first, the issues were small, mostly my perceptions of awkward and unhealthy power dynamics among white American staff and the local people that they worked with. As the months went on, I struggled with my role there, and went back and forth between thinking I could really learn from them and have a "good experience," and thinking that I was compromising my values by staying there.
In the weeks before I came home, I had some very serious conversations with the JHC people about my issues with them and perceptions of unhealthy power-dynamics and what kinds of things I was not willing to compromise on. In those meetings, the incredibly dillusional, ethnocentric, unprofessional, and emotionally unbalanced nature of the JHC crew really became clear and I decided packing my bags might actually be the only option. Let me also mention, that there were 6 other amazing volunteers who were also struggling just as I was with what we were experiencing at JHC. In the end, we all left JHC and cut our volunteering time short. We all left because of individual reasons, but we all left feeling confident of our decision and very disappointed that there are organizations like JHC allover the world pushing their agendas on people.
So it's back to square one for me, I'm looking around for the next step which may include some variation of getting a real job, getting a fake job, travelling, vagabonding, reading, or any combination of the previous options. I'll keep you updated....maybe on this very blog.

So, for those of you that will see me or talk to me soon, I will very likely talk to you a lot about Nicaragua. I have a lot to share about a wonderful country and the incredible people I met there. JHC was such a small part of my overall time there. I learned so much in my 4 months in Nicaragua and I cant think of another place that has quite such a special place in my heart. I have thought about going back in January, but I'm not sure that is the best option for me. Something I came to peace with in my time there is that the world is full of beautiful cultures, but I can't be in all of them.

If you would like, someday I will tell you about the time that I ate the neck of the rooster during my going away party, or how I killed several scorpions, or how I got a pedicure of a snow-man on my toe, or how I celebrated the holiday of "Purisima" by carolling at the alters to Mary set up by people living in my neighborhood. I hope you will ask to hear these stories and more, and that you will then tell me all the stories that have taken place with you since we last talked.

Until soon hopefully, love you all,