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…