JULY!!

Its July!!! how did that happen?? I hope everyone has a very fun 4th. I'm not sure what we are going to do here but we are going to try and celebrate...maybe a trip to the pool and some pizza...that sounds like an american thing to do. and yes we actually have a pizza place in somotillo....just opened about 2 months ago...not the same but its still really good...and they actually give you parmesean (spellling?).

so here are the regular updates...

GARDENS!!!
the school gardens are beautiful! at one school we have around 170 tomato plants, 70 green pepper plants and about 10 squash plants. we still need to plant cucumbers but we are on vacation now until the 12 so it will have to wait. I also worked with a girl who is studying agriculture to put on a small workshop on family patio gardens. We made invitations and invited all the women in town....which is close to 50. we had 16 come to the meeting which I was pleased about. that was 2 weeks ago and later today we are going to walk around to all their houses checking up on them. hopefully that goes well.

CHICAS PAVANICAS!!!
the girls are still working hard on their jewelry!! they have made a lot of money and are starting to thing about where they want to go on their excursion. they may have to wait until after the rainy season because no one wants to go in the rain! a few of the girls seem to have lost interest which i don't really understand since they are doing so well so i need to figure out whats really going on....i have a feeling they dont have permission anymore. but i'm going to figure out some ways to reinterest them.

RAIN!!!!
it's rather rainy here! and a tropical storm just went by which means it was really really rainy. there is this really wierd thing that should happen in 2 weeks where it stops raining. supossedly it shouldnt rain from july 15 – aug 15. we'll see if that actually happens!! it would be a nice break! and i wouldnt have to worry about my clothes drying.

FRIEND VISIT!!!
I had a friend here visiting and it was great! fortunately or unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy most of the time she was here...which was nice because it wasnt nearly as hot as it normally is but not nice because sun is so much prettier than rain. but we still had a good time. we went to this really awesome art museum and found this place with an amazing breakfast. she had frozen chocolate milk (fantastic) and the biggest pinneapple pancakes i've ever seen. i have to go back to try the chocolate banana pancakes. i'll let you know how they are...

SCHOOL CRAZINESS!!!
ok so i realize it's the world cup and that's really important here...but seriously...i was at the teacher's monthly meeting and someone had a radio on the whole time listening to the game. in another classroom the guy that was leading the planning for 5th grade had headphones in and was listening to the game while writing on the board. crazy! also, this past tuesday was national teacher day so we all went to somotillo for the acto. after lunch we had a special guest...gustavo leyton...he's a famous singer whose music vidoes consist of him singing on a beach or near a pool with a bunch of girls dancing in bikinis. so not only did he come and sing but he brought his dancers. now like in the states, the majority of teachers here are female. watching girls in thongs shake the butt is not exactly how i would like to celebrate being a teacher.

MEDICAL STUFF!!!
disclaimer...if you get grossed out easily you may not want to read this part.... so this isnt the bad part yet. i'm generally a very healthy person. i never have to go to managua to see the doctors and i don't really ever have problems...until recently! a friend of mine noticed white spots on my face...finally i got the chinandega fungus! on my face! it's some sort of skin fungus that is really prevelant in leon and chinandega because it has something to do with the sun. so thats cool. so i have some cream i have to put on it every night. then one day someone asked what was wrong with my eye...no idea i cant see my eye. well when i found a mirror...yikes! my eye was totally red...looked a little creepy! next morning i woke up fine...in the afternoon it turned to the devil eye again. then it was in both eyes. so i had to call the docs and i got some medicine that cleared that right up. and lastly...this is the semi disgusting part. so last week i got sick...stomach pain and diarrhea and what not. so after 2 days i started taking meds and then i was with my friends and went to the bathroom...in a real toliet not a letrine...and i found a little surprise! a worm. i finally had a parasite. so that was pretty cool. and after almost 2 years here...i finally have to get my first stool test.

i guess that's about all i have. love from nicaragua!!

Welcome to the rain!!!!

Well May is over i.e one month of rainy season almost over...5 more to go! We've had a variety of rain. Reallyhard earshattering rain, storms, light rain, sprinkles. It rained for 3 days straight...literally nonstop. the next 3 days it rained most of the time. and today finally after a 6 day hiatus, the sun has reappeared. so beautiful!!! Finally my clothes are going to dry!! I was getting worried that I wasn't going to have dry underware tomorrow. If we had electricity I would use a fan but we still don't so... I'm so glad that I have boots because between the highway and my house is mud and approx 100 cows that go to the bathroom a lot. so walking to my house is great! I looked pretty sweet going to our mother's day celebration at school...cute pastel green dress, did my hair and makeyp...which doesn't happen often...with my giant umbrella and boots carrying my heels with me...as if I'm walking through mud mid shin in anything but my rain boots! Unfortunately only about 10 moms showed up due to the rain so that was sad. The next day we didn't have class either because of the rain.

Garden news...
my garden is going ok. I just planted but i'm afriad the seeds got washed away in all the rain. my trees are very pretty however and i've transplanted a few and gave away the rest. the school gardens are growing. hopefully we will have very successful gardens again this year and win the best school garden of all somotillo!

English class...
My 6th graders are still loving class and complain that we should have english everyday. tey are so adorable. they just learned to play duck duck goose and the hokey pokey. so funny. i also have highschoolers come searching for me all the time for help on their homework. i don't understand why teachers think it's a good idea to assign pages and pages of translations and pronunciations. As if the students are actually capable of any of that. i get annoyed that i'm doing english homework all the time but i feel bad because there is no way they could ever do what they are being asked. very sad.

Jewelry!
My girls are still working hard. hopefully they can plan an excursion soon with the money they are making but it will be difficult with all the rain. they have run into a problem...the metal earring parts rust. so if anyone has any good antirust ideas please let me know!

Volcano Cosiguina...
A fellow volunteer, her bf, her friend from the states and I hiked volcan cosiguina last weekend. it was so beautiful. we had a heck of a time getting there however...missing the bus to the beach...twice...waiting for the bus after the beach for 1.5 hours, waiting in another town for over 2 hours and arriving at our destination at 9:15pm which is really late for Nicaragua. but we found a guide and the next morning set out. the hike was really nice, only 2.5 hours to get up and 2 to get down. The view was gorgeous. there's a laguna in the crater, you can see lots of other volcanos, El Salvador, Honduras, and the Gulf of Fonseca. So despite the travel issues it was a great trip!

Baby!
A friend of mine's sister had a baby last week and was all alone in the hospital so my friend and i hopped on our bikes and rode in the rain to see her. i think that's the first time i've ever seen a baby just hours after birth. so little!! it was wierd becaue the mom was in normal clothes with her baby next to her in the bed not hooked up to any machines. nothing. just the two of them laying in bed in a room with 2 other mothers. literally this was 2 hours after birth. crazy. the baby is so cute and they both are doing well. i've been over to see them almost every day...possible a bad idea considering they always make me hold him and tell me it's because i need to practice....yeah not for 5 years i don't! his name is julio gabriel. precious! and just in time for mothers day here which was the 30th.

Community house...
this friday is our presentation of our project of constructing a community house. wish us luck!! i really hope it gets approved!

Environment day...
is june 5th so we are having a little celebration at school. there is a competition between 3-6th grade for the best costume made completley out of trash...also competing will be their teachers! there is also a drawing competition and some poems, songs, skits and dances. i'm looking forward to seeing my students use their creativity!

Visitors...
yeah courtney is coming june 21!!! and then kelly aug 4th!! love it can't wait!!! i really really hope it's not so rainy!!!

well i guess thats all i have for right now. hope you are all doing well and enjoying the weather! as always visitors are always welcome!! love from nicaragua!

MARCH!!

Kelly is coming to visit me in august!!!!!!!! CANT WAIT!

One month of school done! Its nice to be back in school and have a Schedule again but also frustrating…i forgot that the first few weeks attendence in really low and class gets cancelled for various reasons…the teachers have to get paid, there´s a meeting, it´s the town fair, everyone is tired from the fair, etc. But it is nice to hear teacher, when are you going to teach our class over and over again. These kids are so cute. This year i´m trying really hard to work more witht the teachers in the planning process and co teaching the class. It´s a little hard because they would prefer if i just give class but i´m trying to get them to understand that isn´t the point of me being here. So far it is going pretty well. At the beginning of feb, I gave a workshop to all the teachers at one school on participatory techniques and have been very impressed as i have seen many of the teachers using the techniques in class. That make me very very happy. So i guess maybe i am getting something accomplished! School projects for march – planting tres and making compost.

My english class with my 6th graders is going fantastic. Im really proud of them. They are so interested in learning and work really hard and do their homework. And since it is a small group it is easier to focus on pronunciation and whatnot. We have a lot of fun together. I also forgot that now that school is in session, multiple times a day i hear Eliza help me with my english homework! So i spend a lot of time every day helping high schoolers with their english homework. And if im not at home, they come looking for me wherever im at to get help.

My girls group has finally started their business! They call themselves chicas pavanicas…so adorable. So far they have sold about 20 dollars worth of jewelry which im really happy about. They are really excited to continue working and selling. Its fun for me to watch them talk about what they need to do after their first selling experience…what sold and what didnt, what they should make more of, etc. They are learning a lot.

I had one of the best birthdays ever! My host sister and i coincidentally have the same birthday which is really fun. So our family woke us up at 4am with singing, bread and coffee. Unfortunately it was a Monday so everyone had to get ready for school right after. So myself and 3 other volunteers went to Chinandega for lunch – best lunch in Nicaragua ever. We went to a mexican place…absolutely amazing. I thought for a min we took an express jet to mexico. I felt like i was in Veracruz again. Absolutely amazing authentic tacos and the cheese…oh the cheese…heavenly! So after that perfection i went back to my town. I had already planned to have a girls only party because i knew that if the guys came it would turn into a dance party which normally would have been fine with me but if there is dancing the evangelical girls wouldnt be allowed to be there. So at the complaints of the boys, i had a girls only party. I made them chocolate chip cookies, we listened to music and joked around. One of the traditions here is to put powder all over the birthday person and crack eggs over their heads. Well, my sister and i definitely got powdered more than once but luckily they didnt crack eggs on our heads! Its so fun watching them together since they dont normally get to hang out. So i enjoyed watching them interact. They had a blast. Afterward i had to drop them all off at their houses so their parents knew they were still with me and not out getting in trouble or something. On the way back when it was just my sister and i (she turned 14) she told me that was the best birthday shes ever had and that normally she never gets to do anything but sit in the house. This was the first time she actually got to celebrate her birthday. That comment made my day. I was so happy. We walked arm in arm the rest of the way home. Best day ever, even if i never hear the end of, you had a party and didnt invite us from all the guys…whatever get over it.
4 days after my birthday was another volunteers bday so we had a joint pool party to celebrate. That was also a blast. We made food all day long and had over 50 people. It was also a blast. And shockingly we werent the only people swimming, a few nicas decided to brave getting sick from swimming at night and joined us in the pool. Everyone had a good time…2 successful bday parties in one week…check!
What else…oh we formed a committee that is working on writing a proposal to build a community house. We are at the very beginning stages but so far we are making progress. This will be amazing if it works out. I am a little nervous because the committee, especially my host mom, is sooooooooo thrilled thinking about it that i keep trying to remind them that just because we are writing the proposal doesnt mean it will definitely happen. It has to actually be approved first! But they are actually working with me and on their own to get everything we need for the proposal. So that is promising.

Well i guess thats about all i got right now. Hope you are all doing well and having better weather!!! Still really hot here! Love from Nicaragua. Oooo it randomly rained twice in feb…not a lot but a hard rain for 15 min or so…one day was the superbowl which shockingly i got to watch….minus the few minutes when the cable got knocked out by the rain. Hahaha. Ohhhh one other thing….so we have road signs now. And a speed bump. My favorite sign says… CAUTION- URBAN ZONE 40 KPH. Really??? Urban zone? There are 300 people here…not exactly my definition of urban….i guess definitions can change…but urban? Seriously now…

oh my

2010…that´s crazy! I hope everyone had a very good new year…

I was home over Christmas – 2 weeks of being super super cold! But it was great seeing my friends and family. And I got to enjoy electricity, football, amazing food, running water, showers, toliets, soft beds, etc. I spent New Year´s Eve with 2 other volunteers and our Nica friends. We had a very good time together as always.

A Little new year present when I got back to my town…electricity! It´s great. I now am back to enjoying cold water and keeping food. No more candlelight dinners for me!

Since we haven´t been in school, i´ve been keeping myself busy with the library, teaching English to my elementary students and to high school/college students, running with the girls and working with them on their jewelry which they are super closet o being ready to sell.

Just this past week 15 staff members came to visit myself and 3 other volunteers. We all live fairly close and we collaborate a lot on projects. They are looking into putting together a program for volunteers working together so we are the case study I guess. We had an afternoon of meetings and then a day at site and processing. It was a little intense with that many people but we had a good time. The 4 staff that came to my site were very impressed and I enjoyed showing them around and introducing them to people that I live and work with. Funny note…the head of PC Nicaragua called us the 4 mosquito nets….I think he was going for the 4 musketeers…haha

It´s almost time for school again…teachers start going to school on the 18th and school actually starts the beginning of feb. The break went by really fast!
What else is new…hmmm I took my first ride on an ox cart the other day. Pretty exciting, except that I felt back for the poor oxen pulling us as we went to drop off a bed that a fríend of mine made. My house is bat free for the most part and I haven´t seen the rat that supossedly inhabited my house while I was on vacation.

Well I guess that is it for now. Love from windy Nicaragua!