Tales from the gringita

So we are coming to an end to the school year (February until the end of November) as well as the rain season. However, the rain season sure wants to go out with a bang! Two weeks ago, there was a hurricane in Honduras which continued on - passing through the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. It caused a lot of flooding all over Nicaragua, displacing many people and taking-out many roads as well as bridges. All volunteers were told to stay in their sites until the danger of traveling passed. With such weather, school was the last thing on anyone’s mind. I spent the week hanging-out at my house and my host family’s house. I went a bit stir-crazy! The week before the heavy rains we had no water or electricity but luckily the week of the storms we still had both. SO my days were full of eating, watching movies, cleaning, playing with my dog, sleeping, and … eating. Then, I had to make my way to Managua to give a charla to the new trainees about Materials Development. It was a really fun charla to give since it was basically about recycled materials and how you can use them in the classroom or with youth development. Considering that the teachers here are underpaid and just getting by, it is important to show them how they can use their discarded trash to work with their students. For example, making faces on used cardboard as prizes, making beads out of magazines, using plastic bottles to plant, making white boards out of plastic and cardboard, etc. I know I have said this before, but it is seriously amazing the amount of things that can be created from used items. And they look great! My next project is to learn how to crochet. Following that, I can use plastic bags as yarn and knit a purse! Sounds weird I know, but the bags are beautiful and a great use of the plastic bags. In Nicaragua, about 75% or so of the trash is organic! It’s crazy what a small amount of inorganic items that they produce in comparison to the U.S. That’s why it’s great to teach the concept of compost pits so as to re-use that organic trash as well as fun things like (recycled - plastic)purses.

In the schools, we lost a lot of school days so now things are all jam-packed. Due to the rains, the majority of our gardens flooded and we lost a lot of our plants. However, we have already had great harvests. In one of our schools we have had about 70 cucumbers and a ton of green beans. In our garden in my host family’s backyard, we have spinach planted! I am really excited for that! Hopefully the chickens won’t get to them. My teaching has been going well. This week I started to co-teach with my teachers. SO much easier and I feel much more effective. As well, my site mate, Laurel, and I have been busy. She taught me how to make homemade jam, we made roasted corn salsa for my corn charla, and we also made homemade paper., to name a few things. But most importantly, we started a Mujercitas youth group. We have only had one meeting so far but it’s looking good. The girls decided on a cooking, arts and dance group…dance might be a challenge (for me) but the other two sound good. Laurel is into Yoga so I think we might incorporate that as well. I am also starting an English class with a few teachers and another with a few students. Should be interesting considering that I can’t spell and my grammar is horrible but haha oh well. There are a few other projects in the works but I will wait to see if they actually happen.
Moco is good. I may be a little too obsessed with him. I have been trying, but failing, at teaching him to fetch. He did bring it to me 5 times this week but I think it was because he got tired of me chasing him or because I got in his way. My site mate was talking to some teachers the other day that told her that my dog is like my boyfriend; that I love him a lot, and that I am going to bring him back to the states instead of a husband. I might have to agree with them. I am going to put a video up of him showing he acts every day when I get back from school. I think he is a little too attached. To call him, I use a kind of hissing noise that the locals use and he comes running, barking and jumping all over me. It is pretty funny until he bites holes in my clothes. He has successfully ruined about 4 shirts that way.

The rain has stopped for a while but the sun has gotten really strong! And it’s HOT! It is either lots of rain and mud or lots of dust and heat. I honestly don’t know which one I prefer. Yesterday, I went on a bike ride with Carlos and Laurel. We had two bikes, three people, and three dogs. We took turns carrying each other on one of the bikes. We stopped by the finca/ plantain farm of my host family. It is ¼ the size of our actual town’s size. It is huge. There was a ton of pigs, cows, hens, chickens, and turkeys. The turkey was breathtaking. But just as we were commenting on its beauty, Laurel’s dog, Dumbo, decided to take off after it with Laurel and me behind him. It was quite the scene. Then we headed on further, passed a hot stream and stopped for some cold Coca Colas in glass bottles. Moco felt the need to roll around in mud every two seconds as well. I really enjoyed the whole adventure. The views were beautiful. We were surrounded by green lush vegetation, crops, cows, volcanoes, etc. Later that night we went to a 6th grade fundraiser dance. It was interesting being at a dance with almost all my students but I think it just brought out- my awkward- just- go- with- it- dancing style.

Ok, well I am sure there is more to say but I think I have bored you all enough for one day.
This is the blog of my site mate. She is a much better writer than me and much more interesting. So check it out. http://llaidlaw.wordpress.com