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!

1 year in La Pavana...

wow so i've officially been in my site for a year...pretty amazing. so a few interesting things have been happening...

so i just found out that a few months ago the gossip going around was that i was pregnant but got an abortion...really? was i getting that fat? interesting...also the principal of my school may or may not have told the parents not to invite me to their kids' graduation parties...very sad....and supossedly i'm dating a kind of married guy. this is what happens in small towns where there is nothing else to do. and the fact that we are once again without power (it's been a month encounting...) doesn't help...it gets pretty boring.

the school year is over!!! yea!!! so the kids had their end of the year parties. at one of my schools the 6th graders had to wash the floor...but instead they decided to throw bags of water on each other. so i got to class and asked why are so many of you wet?? so they explained and then said, "profe, you won't get mad if we get you wet will you?" why of course not! so i joined in the water fight. we had a blast...it turned into trowing huge 5 gallon buckets of water on each other. i was soaked. none of the other teachers got in on the action...lame...but i had a blast. so i dripped my way back to la pavana...somehow the ride didn't seem nearly as hot...

this saturday is 6th grade graduation...i'm so excited! dec. 4th is preschool graduation at my other school and dec 10 is 6th graduation at my other school. it's going to be great...lots of food and lots of dances. i'm pumped.

my school's out schedule is as follows...
exercise group - monday, wednesday, friday
girls jewelry making group - monday
elementary english class - tuesday
high school/college english class - wednesday
story time/literacy lesson - thursday
it's going to be great! and somewhere in there i'll be working on HIV prevention, gardens and building a communal house...

so in my other town, they built a basketball/soccer/volleyball court...it's so sweet. so the other day i watched some guys play basketball...oh my it was the best thing i've ever seen. double dribbling, traveling half the court, apparently bball is now a contact sport, reaching in...doesn't exist. and shooting...well i think most 5 year olds shoot more correctly. so that is perfect because i have no problem playing with them. and hopefully they will let me teach them how to play...

well i guess that's it for now...i'll be home soon!!! love from nica

is it really november

hello!!! i cannot believe it is already november. this is craziness! so i just spent the past 3 days in matagalpa at the black forest....modeled after the one in germany...for a workshop on hiv/aids. it was a great workshop but it was freezing and by freezing i mean the thermometer read 65. we all died. actually we made fires in the fireplace every night and were shaking during the day. for real i may turn into and ice cube while im home in december.

ok so updates...
a woman in my town and i put on a 3 part workshop on project design and management for about 25 people in my community. it was painful...im really glad we did it and im really glad its over. hopefully we will be putting together a committee to work on a community project. right now it looks like they want to do a community house but we'll see. i really hope we can accomplish it. fingers crossed!

school is winding down. the 27th is technically the last day of school but i doubt they will have school at all that last week. the graduation for one of my schools in teh 28th and the other school isnt until dec 10th. im going to miss my little 6th graders. ive been on them a lot lately about where they are going to study next year. so far it looks as though most of them are going to continue studying. at least they all tell me they are in fear of what i'll do if they tell me they arent going to high school...they may know me better than i think! haha. last week i read the magic school bus in the time of the dinosaurs. they liked it and actually were quiet the whole time (amazing) and they actually learned some stuff. i was impressed.

i still have some students who come over all the time to read and borrow books. it makes me super happy. although they get mad at me frequently because im gone so much...even if im just visiting a friend down the road. but they are super awesome.

my 5/6th grade english class is going alright. it got kinda small but they are super interested and would be at my house for hours learning english if i had the time. so i guess thats what matters. they absolutely love playing red light green light...even though none of them have probably ever seen a stop light in real life. hmmmm.

my other english class is going quite well... they just learned how to sing if i were a boy by byonce. they are cute. they also all have to sing songs as their english exam so we have been singing a lot lately.

another volunteer and i are planning a track and field day for youth and inbetween each even we are going to give a brief presentation about hiv/aids. we are both really really excited. we aren't actually doing it until jan 10 but it takes a long time to do all the paperwork necessary to get funds and all this other stuff. but we are getting really really excited.

halloween!!!! although most people in my town think that its devil worship and evil and whatever...i still celebrated and tried to convince everyone that it has nothing to do with worshiping the devil. a little kid dressed up like a demon isnt saying that he is in fact a demon any more than a little girl dressed up like a princess is actually a princess. speaking of princesses...another volunteer came up and went out with us and the 4 of us all dressed up like princesses. fancy dresses, really high skinny heels and tiaras. it was a blast. unfortunately there were no pumkins to carve...maybe next year. there was also no candy....huge bummer but i guess we got over it.

oh i got kicked by a cow the other day. yeah it was taking shelter under my roof overhang during some rain...i walked out to the latrine and as i walked out my door the stupid cow kicked me. jerk

so apparently there is a hurricane?? yeah it hit the atlantic coast...and yet here i am in managua and its not even raining. maybe the rain will still come...ill let you know but so far it has only affected the atlantic coast.

ill be home dec 15-29!!! ill be the puffy marshmellow person in 800 layers of clothes, scarves, mittens, hats, etc. please hug me

what else is going on in my life..oh i bought a used bike a few weeks ago. its the love of my life. i ride it all the time and this is what i hear all the time... "aren't you scared to ride to somotillo by yourself??" "what are you doing in the rain! you're going to die!" "so are you never going to ride the bus?" "fachenta! which is kinda like fancy/rich/snobby or something" (um yes you all have a bike too so shush it) "let me borrow your bike" i love my bike. its orange. and it gets me places so fast! instead of a 50 min walk, i have a 12 min bike. and i can get to somotillo in 17-20 mins and not have to worry about bus schedules! i can go whenever i feel like it! its great

hmmmmmmmm well i cant think of much else at this point. hope you are all doing well and ill see you soon!!! love from warm sunny nicaragua!

sorry

hey there...so i attempted to put up pictures but technology is not my friend today...so someday...who knows when...i will put up lots and lots of pictures!

1 year in country!

WOW it's hard to believe that I have been gone for over a year now! the new group is here and i just gave my first training session to them...very exciting. so after 1 year i'm feeling rather odd. there are days when i think...wow i've been in my site for 9 months and what have i accomplished?? not a whole lot. and other days i think...well i am making progress...maybe not in my primary job focus (which is depressing) but in other ways. my spanish unfortunately is not where i want it to be. i'm sounding more like the people in my town..which is not necessarily a good thing. i'm noticing more and more how many tenses i'm not using that i should. but i'm trying to read more and analyze the grammar so hopefully that will help. but it's hard not to speak as i am being spoken to on a daily basis.

disappointments...i came back after a week workshop on project design and management (which was amazing) to find that my principal had the 5/6th graders pull out all the plants in the garden...there were over 200 plants...all gone. why this happened i have no idea and will never understand. but i was very upset. so much hard work on the part of so many and now it doesn't exist. also, my teachers are not very willing to co-plan and co-teach with me. we are working at it but it's very slow and painful. class getting cancelled all the time! the 15th is independence so we really havent had school at all in sept because they are practicing their marching skills. and then we have an entire week off for independence day. also i was going to give a training on bloom's taxonomy for the teachers one day...until that happened to be pay day so the kids got out early and the teachers went to go get paid...even though the entire next day we didn't have school so that they could go get paid...so the session never happened...maybe in 2 weeks.

successes! my girls jewelry group has a special place in my heart. those girls are so much fun. i had a business volunteer come and talk to them about how to start a business and run it...they are so excited and so am i. they have chosen a name, slogan and image to represent themselves and are working on pricing materials to figure out how much to sell their work for in order to cover their costs and make a small profit. the jewelry that they have made so far is so beautiful...i'm so proud of them. my english class is also moving along...they have been surprising me lately with their progress and attendence. i started running again and one day at the end of class i told them i was going to go run if anyone wanted to join me they could. (i was expecting 'no way' to be the general answer). to my surprise every one of them sat up in their chair and said yes, can we really go with you? let's go! seeing as though it was 'late' (5:45pm) i had to go ask some parents for permission so that their daughters could go with me but in the end there were 8 girls out running with me...i'm pretty sure that was a sight never before seen in my town. it was great. and as i was dropping all of them off at their respective houses, they all asked when are we going running again??? so i think i have found some new running partners. very very exciting. girls exercising! now that is an accomplishment! my students at school lately have been awesome...very respectful and participatory. it's incredible...and they have finally learned that yes i will give them the soccer ball to play with at recess as long as they give it back as soon and recess is over. this past week they were playing and as soon as the 'bell' rang the boys immediately stopped playing and said 'here profe...take the ball...thanks for letting us play'. it was the most adorable thing ever...those little 6th grade boys know exactly how to melt my heart. and watching the girls play always puts a smile on my face. i love my students.

oh still no electricity...it's been over a month. maybe someday i'll have a fridge again...i mean the storage unit is great but i would rather have cold water. and my fan has now become decoration. also...i normally have a cow or 2 in my back porch to get around when i go pump water at night. one night i went out there to find 2 giant pigs sleeping out there. a nice change. i petted a cow the other day...surprisingly soft..you should all try it sometime. the town still talks...i believe that i am now (supossedly) with guy #3 from my town who has a wife and child. very annoying however i have decided that there is nothing i can do to stop the talking so as long as it doesnt affect my work and as long as the people in my town still want to work with me...then i really don't care. so yeah...

i guess that's all i can think of right now... ohhhh one more thing...i was in the hotel in managua last night and it was so perfect...pizza and the nfl...not to mention a real bed, ac, and a hot shower. it doesn't get better than that. and i completely forgot that i was in nicaragua. i'm not sure what the steeler's problem was last night but it was great to watch the game. i wish i could watch all the college games tomorrow. GO HAWKS!!!

love from nicaragua!

opps it´s been a while

wow! is it really august already! it can´t be. well, i haven´t been doing a very good job of writing recently...and so much has been going on. so here goes in my totally normal, completely random way...

Lynn came to visit! and it was amazing. it was so great to have someone come see what my life is really like. and it was refreshing to have someone who really knows and understands me around for a while. we hung out at my house for quite a few days, went to school and all that...everyone in my town loves her...obviously...and the students had a blast with her. it was super amazing. then we decided to take a trip to the island of ometepe which was beautiful! nice black sand and 2 volcanoes. we rented bikes and went swimming and then decided it would be a blast to hike a volcano. now...we were informed that the hike up concepción is hard...but we are 2 tough girls so no big deal. what we were not told was that hard really means you may not come back alive...i mean you could...or you could be like those little rocks that go flying and bouncing all the way back down the volcano...in which case you would be a little dead at the bottom. well, luckily we somehow made it down the volcano in 1 piece and with only a little lost blood. i think some of my favorite comments were... wow i mean i know you told me there are a lot of animals but i never imagined having to step over the pig, simón, while walking past your parent´s house, and those chickens really never stop making noise. yes, it´s true, they have no idea what time it is. also...i apparently am way too used to throwing whatever on the floor since it´s made of cement...apparently you can´t do that in the states...but one day in the hostal i dumped my contact solution on the floor and she just laughed and said it´s going to be hard when you go back and can´t throw stuff on the floor. yes, possibly so. anyways...the trip was amazing...i can´t wait for her to come back...and for everyone else to come. what a trooper she is...a dizzy spell at site and a trip to the hospital and she still loves nicaragua...awesome.

site news...i have 2 new groups started - my english class started over and there are now around 15 students...they are really fun...all girls ages 13-23. also, i started an art/craft group...also all girls. they love it...i love it. they are making some really cool stuff and are planning to sell it so that they can continue to buy more materials...although we are also making things out of recycled trash...and they want to buy a whiteboard for classes and studying purposes. they are so cute. also, i love watching them get so excited to have an excuse to leave the house and see other people. that honestly makes me the most happy. the other day we decided to play volleyball and i can´t even describe how happy that made me. finally the girls getting out and playing sports! amazing! i was in heaven.

speaking of sports...i told the boys at school that the girls were using the field that day...boy were they unhappy with me! haha. so the 5th grade girls played the 6th grade girls in soccer one day. i was in heaven yet again. they had so much fun it was priceless. all these girls running around in their uniforms smiling and laughing. i told the boys that if they wanted to use the new soccer ball the following day, they would not touch the ball or interfere with the game. and if they ever didn´t give the ball or the field to the girls when it was their day, the ball was going to be strictly for the girls. unfortunately i´m not at school each day to inforce this and the principal and teachers and not very helpful...they probably don´t want the girls to be playing at all. well too bad...girls can play too. and they will

gardens at school are going well. of course some of the fruits disappear but what can you do. we have so many tomatoes - the kids love it. of course they are starting to slack on the watering now that it has stopped raining for a bit but im trying to convince them that if you don´t water there will be no more tomatoes. let´s hope they believe me.

speaking of school...so the first grade teacher has been gone for months...she had an operation and is now recovering. well the ministry of education paid for a sub for a month but that was it. so the first graders haven´t had a teacher for months. so the fifth grade teacher is teaching both classes because 5th is the smallest class. so that means that part of the time the 5th graders are alone and part of the time the 1st graders are alone. now...is there anyone...anyone at all who thinks leaving a group of 30 first graders alone in a classroom is a good idea. yeah didn´t think so. so while the principal sits in her office doing whatever, there are lots of little bodies alone. REDICULOUS

my 5/6th grade english class is also going really well. they love singing head shoulders knees and toes. it´s adorable. this week they were really mad we couldn´t have class because it is the fiestas patronales in somotillo which means all the little towns that make up the municipality don´t have school until wednesday and our english classes are mondays and tuesdays. so sad.

so one day i was in a very odd mood...and i decided to clean the walls of my house...inside and out. now for whatever reason...i dont really mind living in a spiderweb house...i mean when else will i ever have that chance. so anyway i finally decided i would sweep the walls. well, my host dad saw this and said... well finally it looks like a woman lives in that house. i died laughing

madrina! yeah i´m the godmother of one of the soccer teams in my town. on presentation day i had to walk out in front of the team holding their soccer ball..very entertaining...got a special shout out to the gringa as they announced our team...only a little embarassing. some of the guys think they are pretty cool because the gringa is their madrina. oh yes so cool. so i go to all their games...i take my job very seriously. at least it gives me something to do on sundays.

11 months. i have been in nicaragua for over 11 months! that´s incredible. i can´t believe have fast the time goes. i still have so much stuff to do. i´m really enjoying most things. the gossip of living in a small town could be toned down and i wouldn´t mind at all...but besides that i´m really liking it. and i just recently got a new burst of motivation to do more projects so that´s good. a friend of mine told me that they have a saying here...the smaller the town the bigger the hell...made in reference to me being annoyed but all the gossip. it´s wierd...some days it really bothers me and other days i could care less. all part of life in nicaragua i guess.

fiestas patronales...awesome. so much fun. i´m glad i have cool friends in somotillo. and i´ve definately been taking advantage of all the fun since i live with 300 people and 800 cows. i think i deserve it. and i love dancing so it´s great. right now my friend and i are off the watch people ride bulls. luckily, unlike in spain, they don´t hurt the bulls. should be interesting.

well i guess that is it for now. lots of love from nicaragua!!!!!!!