May: We had a training about how to make improved stoves. It was fun and I learned a lot, but chances are I won't get to do much with it here in my community. My friend Amanda, who lives not too far away, is planning on doing some, so hopefully I'll get a chance to help out there and put my skills to good use. Also, school. Lots of classes, with varying levels of success. The kids are always excited when I come to teach. I like making pictures and diagrams for my classes, which they seem to like. And I've introduced a few different teaching tools, like KWL charts and Venn diagrams and such. I also made some behavior charts and name sticks for more equal participation from all the students.
June: School. I planted most of my school gardens, from which we are starting to get results. We've picked a handful of tomatoes and cucumbers, and there's plenty more on the way. Continued teaching science classes, and was very very thankful when all the sex ed units were completed.
July: Site visit #2 from my program director, where she observed me teaching a class. She didn't have anything bad to say about what I've been doing, so hopefully that means I'm not a complete failure (just a partial failure). My parents came to visit for two weeks, and I took my first vacation days. We went to Ometepe over my school semester break, which was lovely. My mom wants to buy a house there. We went to see the archaeology museum at El Ceibo, which was amazing. I was extremely impressed. I would love to learn more about the archaeology of Nicaragua. Maybe I'll go get my doctorate in that instead of Chinese archaeology, or do a combination? We'll see. After Ometepe my dad got sick, then I got sick, so we didn't do much for the rest of the week of vacation. My mom and I went to the artisan market in Masaya. We enjoyed that a lot, and lament the fact that we couldn't spend a lot more money there. When everyone was finally no longer sick, we went to my schools to meet my classes, met all my friends and neighbors in town, visited my training family, and went to Granada and San Juan del Sur. They had a nice trip, and with any luck they'll be coming back to visit again next summer.
August: Has been busy and stressful. Lots of paperwork has been filled out. We had our annual living allowance survey, our 4-monthly reporting forms for both the US government and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, and my paperwork for my new house. That's right, on top of the rest of the stress, I'm moving at the end of the month. My current family's daughter is moving back from Rome in a couple months, in whose room I live. That means I had to find a new place to live. Fortunately, my host dad helped me find a very nice place. It's only a block or so from where I live now, and it's basically its own little apartment. I'll have two whole rooms and a bathroom completely separated from the rest of the family, with my own entrance to the street through the backyard, and they've told me I can use their washing machine. Yes, a REAL washing machine! It's worth the extra $30 or so a month I'll be spending on rent just for that, in my opinion. Now, before you get all "Oh, $30 is nothing", keep in mind I earn the equivalent of about $165 a month. This means that $70 for rent is a lot of money. But I'll manage. And I'm really excited about this new place. I'll really miss living with this family, but I'm so looking forward to having more space. Yay!
The rest of the month will be stressful, finalizing preparations for moving, and then the first weekend in September is *dun da da DUN* my one year anniversary of my arrival in Nicaragua! I cannot believe I've already been here nearly a year. My groupmates and I are planning a trip to Leon for the weekend, a colonial city north of Managua. I've never been there before, so I'm looking forward to seeing a new part of the country. Then in the second week of September is my mid-term medical evaluation, only further pushing home that I'm nearly halfway through my time here. It's hard to believe but it won't be that long now before I'm going home (this Christmas or so) and then it's only a year until I go home for good. Better start considering a third year extension eh?
One more thing: Welcome to Nicaragua, Nica62! The new group of Environment and TEFL trainees arrived last week. I hope I'll get the opportunity to meet them all :)
Hasta la próxima
