One week of school has past. Most of my teacher are really good and don't seem to need my help. I still have to pick which three i want to work with. I love my second school. The kids are really good and seem to want me there. They taught me some children games and have been begging me to play with them every break. The teacher is also really nice and she could use some help as well. Imagine teaching 1-6 alone it is pretty busy in that one room class.
I find that i am feeling as though i am pleasing everyone else but me. I am doing alot of things in the school but my passion is not teaching. I want to do more environmental things I have to find a way to fit more of that in. The problem is that i don't know what the problems are. I have asked my host mother and she gave me a list of some things. I think i will use this and do a survey to give to the town. Then I can contact Peace Corps for more help on how to improve this. I want to plant trees on the road side. I just don't have to skills right now to implement things. It is frustrating and I'm not really loving it like i should. I find that Africa was a better fit for me skill wise. It's not that i don't' like it per-say but it's not was i was expecting. I know i have to make my service the way i want to and i will just have to put the effort in to do what i want to do. I knew that things will change i just wish it would change faster.
Love you all miss you and even thought this blog is negative i do like it here and do have fun. I don't want anyone to worry. All my love.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
1st day of school
Wow two posts in one month I never thought i would be abe to do that. So lets see I got a kitty. His name is Miles. He is just over a month old or so i think I´m not positive since the other volunteer wasn´t sure how old he was. He is a gray cat with black stripes. He is very mischivous and a bit necio or doesn´t behave. He eats a lot not sure of that is normal or not oh well if he is hungary i will let him eat. He is very adourable and I love him dearly even if he can drive my crazy at times. He is also cuddlely when he wants to be. He will climb up my leg which isn´t all that comfortable and then eather say there for a few seconds and jump off to do it again 5 min later. Or mead his claws into me as i pet him. He will then roal over and begging to bat at my hand playing. Sometimes he even sleeps on me!
Today was the first day of school which was nothing like the USA. We had a party with 6 pinatas music dancing and fun. Then the kids went back to class to copy down their scedule for the year. I will be working with four teachers in this school 3-4th grades. I will be going to my second school two days of the week and working in a school that is 1-6th grade this should be intresting. I´m a bit nervious since i have little to no teaching experiance but the teacher is great and will help me as much as she can. I am not very excited to start real classes which hopefully will be tomorrow unless it´s another party. One of my teachers won´t be there which is fine with me sinve I have her class friday.
TEPCI was horrable so very boring they only talked about what to teach the next two months and had this discussion that I didn´t understand. Pat another volunteer and I left early to do errens. I found out that the woman at the Ciaro story or the store where I bought my modem gave me the wrong one. So I had to return again with all fo my information to get the right one. I am trying to do that now but it is closed i will have to try again tomorrow.
Today was the first day of school which was nothing like the USA. We had a party with 6 pinatas music dancing and fun. Then the kids went back to class to copy down their scedule for the year. I will be working with four teachers in this school 3-4th grades. I will be going to my second school two days of the week and working in a school that is 1-6th grade this should be intresting. I´m a bit nervious since i have little to no teaching experiance but the teacher is great and will help me as much as she can. I am not very excited to start real classes which hopefully will be tomorrow unless it´s another party. One of my teachers won´t be there which is fine with me sinve I have her class friday.
TEPCI was horrable so very boring they only talked about what to teach the next two months and had this discussion that I didn´t understand. Pat another volunteer and I left early to do errens. I found out that the woman at the Ciaro story or the store where I bought my modem gave me the wrong one. So I had to return again with all fo my information to get the right one. I am trying to do that now but it is closed i will have to try again tomorrow.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Hi
Well it's been a while by internet isn't working I have to get it checked out. Alot has happened since the last time I wrote. Lets see my youth group is over with we had a desperation or a going out party. It was a blast I made a spider wed for them which they loved. We had food and they played twister and did a singing competition. The summer tutoring is OVER!!!! I am so happy about that it was horrible. I hope that real classes aren't so bad.
Now we are starting the teachers weeks they went over the rules and doing enrollment for the up coming year. They will be doing this for two weeks hopefully people will sign up. There hasn't been a big turn our so far. I also finally visited the second school it's a 6k walk. I will need to buy a bike to get there. All of my classes are in the morning which will be nice I get to do activities in the after noon. The town is very poor and the house are just boards put together. The people are nice though and the teacher is great. I think i will really enjoy my time there.
My uncle, friend, neighbor died this week. It has been a sad hectic week. The house was full of people from all over the world. It was a bit overwhelming but a unique experience. I didn't get to go to the funeral because no one told me. They took my camera so at least i have photos to see even if i wasn't there. I did get to see the wake and viewing though. It was a sad but amazing cultural experience. Very similar to a USA viewing.
Now we are starting the teachers weeks they went over the rules and doing enrollment for the up coming year. They will be doing this for two weeks hopefully people will sign up. There hasn't been a big turn our so far. I also finally visited the second school it's a 6k walk. I will need to buy a bike to get there. All of my classes are in the morning which will be nice I get to do activities in the after noon. The town is very poor and the house are just boards put together. The people are nice though and the teacher is great. I think i will really enjoy my time there.
My uncle, friend, neighbor died this week. It has been a sad hectic week. The house was full of people from all over the world. It was a bit overwhelming but a unique experience. I didn't get to go to the funeral because no one told me. They took my camera so at least i have photos to see even if i wasn't there. I did get to see the wake and viewing though. It was a sad but amazing cultural experience. Very similar to a USA viewing.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Two months in 22 more to go
SO much has happened since i last wrote which would make sense since it has been a month! Wow it had been a two months already. It doesn't feel like that. At times the days drag on and the months fly by. Sort of like college. I guess i will start off with my new year.
Almost all of my group went to the beach for a long weekend. I left that Friday for Leon and stayed overnight at one of the hostels with three other volunteers it was so much fun. We cooked a dinner of spinach stuffed shells and salad and brownies. We dyed others hair and hung out talking for the whole night. It was perfect. We then left for the beach the next day. I liked in a bungalow like cabin with two other girls there was a pool and a bar restaurant area. The beach was right outside the door. The first day we swam in the pool and beach. That afternoon and evening we did a tour of the mangrove forest which was amazing. Well worth the money. We learned about the animals and nature that was in the area. We got to climb the mangroves and act like monkeys. Then there was a beach cove that we could swim in and look for shells. When we were about to leave a turtle came to shore to lay her eggs an amazing experience to watch. There was also a turtle snatcher that went by. We offered to my his eggs but i didn't have any yet.
That night was New Years night we got back had dinner and did a white elephant gift exchange in favor of Christmas. The hung out and talked until New Years where we did a Hindu tradition since one of the volunteers in Hindu of what i could grasp is washing your problems way and your wants for the new year something like that. It was very interesting to do. Then we went skinydipping in the ocean star gazing.
The next day we all just lounged around and I read a book and just hung out that night we had a bonfire and roasted somors. We did some new years resolutions mine is to become confident and to become fluent in Spanish. Both of which i think i will be able to do. I am reading books about over coming shyness and I feel like it is really helping.
In site i feel like i am making process in getting more comfortable with the people. My youth group is going well and are beginning to finish their bags. My adult English class is surprisingly fun and I fell like they are learning. There will be a test next time so we will see what they can do. I am now working in the summer school class with the students that are struggling. It's hard and not as fun as the adult class. I still can't say that teaching is my calling but it is still soon. School starts in two weeks the rumors are that it will be Feb 13th but i have not heard the official date yet. I also want to get in tough with the town leader to start the trash collection program.
That's about it just hanging out and passing the time. Talk to you all later. XOXOXO
Almost all of my group went to the beach for a long weekend. I left that Friday for Leon and stayed overnight at one of the hostels with three other volunteers it was so much fun. We cooked a dinner of spinach stuffed shells and salad and brownies. We dyed others hair and hung out talking for the whole night. It was perfect. We then left for the beach the next day. I liked in a bungalow like cabin with two other girls there was a pool and a bar restaurant area. The beach was right outside the door. The first day we swam in the pool and beach. That afternoon and evening we did a tour of the mangrove forest which was amazing. Well worth the money. We learned about the animals and nature that was in the area. We got to climb the mangroves and act like monkeys. Then there was a beach cove that we could swim in and look for shells. When we were about to leave a turtle came to shore to lay her eggs an amazing experience to watch. There was also a turtle snatcher that went by. We offered to my his eggs but i didn't have any yet.
That night was New Years night we got back had dinner and did a white elephant gift exchange in favor of Christmas. The hung out and talked until New Years where we did a Hindu tradition since one of the volunteers in Hindu of what i could grasp is washing your problems way and your wants for the new year something like that. It was very interesting to do. Then we went skinydipping in the ocean star gazing.
The next day we all just lounged around and I read a book and just hung out that night we had a bonfire and roasted somors. We did some new years resolutions mine is to become confident and to become fluent in Spanish. Both of which i think i will be able to do. I am reading books about over coming shyness and I feel like it is really helping.
In site i feel like i am making process in getting more comfortable with the people. My youth group is going well and are beginning to finish their bags. My adult English class is surprisingly fun and I fell like they are learning. There will be a test next time so we will see what they can do. I am now working in the summer school class with the students that are struggling. It's hard and not as fun as the adult class. I still can't say that teaching is my calling but it is still soon. School starts in two weeks the rumors are that it will be Feb 13th but i have not heard the official date yet. I also want to get in tough with the town leader to start the trash collection program.
That's about it just hanging out and passing the time. Talk to you all later. XOXOXO
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
One month
Wow it's hard for me to imagine that it has been one month in site already. I still feel at times that I am not doing anything but i know that i am. It is just a very slow process. Lets see alot had happened in these last few weeks and yet very little. Life here in my village moves slower then in the US or my training site. Things happen when they happen and people do things when they want to. A different way to look at life. It is peaceful and frustrating at the same time. You have something scheduled and it falls through on that day and time. Then a week later someone says we are doing to meet tomorrow at 4. So you change a few things in your schedule and life goes on. When this happens you grumble under your breath and stomp your foot in privet. On the flip side to that you are never really late for anything except maybe work. Something starts at 4 and you either leave the house then or begin to get ready then. I enjoy this because there is no pressure to get somewhere on time.
A good example of this happening would be the No Violence event that was to take place a week ago. I was in charge of helping with the pinata and doing the games. I had my part done and when it came time to do the pinata only two people came. The date was rescheduled for the following week when no one showed. The following day was to be the meeting to put the finishing touches on the plans for the event and once again no one comes. The day of the event comes and goes and nothing happens. So i ask around and am informed that it has been moved to Jan. date and time unknown. I sigh and nod at least it is not canceled it will still happen.
I have started my group of youth we are doing arts and crafts today would be the third day. Things are going well there is only 8 people as of now but i have faith that it will grow. They all seem enthusiastic to continue and enjoy bracelet making the most so far. I am now looking for more designs to teach them. I find it hard to explain the instructions at times with my limited Spanish but i find that they eventually understand and can do the work correctly. I can only get better and teach them more things. I am using this as a way to show them that trash can be used as a product. Later on I want to teach them a small business class and encourage entrepreneurship. Hopefully this will give them some ideas on what they could do.
I am also in the process of planning an adult basic English lesson and a baking class. Both of which were requests from the community. It will also give me something more to do. The problem is that both have to be at night because that is when adults will be free. I am now currently looking for something to fill my mornings since my nights are busy.
I thinking i could do the garden and i am but there are many barriers that i am running into. The ground here is very hard almost imposable to break through. I have been soaking it with water to form a mud like mixture then breaking to soil that way. Long and hard work and very impractical. I contacted Peace Corps for an idea and got the response to get a tone of cow poop and form a mound over the garden and use that. Now I have the joy of finding and scooping cow poop. Isn't my life grand here? Once i have all of my poop I am going to recruit little ones to help me with the planting and shifting etc.
On the social end of things. It is hard to break the circle and get people to open up. It is always the same conversation when i try to talk to people. Where are you from, what is your name, what did you study, how long have you been here, do you like Nicaragua and my village etc. I wan to break out of this to get to what they like to do and have a real conversation. There is only one person in town that i really talk to. I mean like a real conversation. It is amazing and releasing to have someone like that. It has taken time to find her now i just have to find others like her. In time I'm sure all of this will work out fine and my site will become home. Now don't get me wrong i love it here and i feel happen here. Just adjustment is difficult.
My family is Jehovah Witness and I am currently going to their services which is an interesting experience. Not my kind of religion but i am learning Spanish this was and I am meeting people so kill two birds with one stone. They don't really celebrate holidays so my Christmas this year will be very different than usual. I am thinking of seeing if i can join in on my counterparts celebrations but i don't want to intrude. This will be a very delicate line that i am walking on.
I have started my Spanish lessons and it is going surprisingly well. I have them almost everyday and we are going over basic sentence structure and pronunciation. My tutor is my mom who is also the Spanish teacher at the high school. I hope that i start to improve faster now. It is tiresome not be able to say what i want to people. I also have to break out of my shell and get out more to talk to more people. Easier said then done.
Ah one last things or so i think. I have made a shaky friendship with one of the kids that lives next door. He invited me to his farm the other day. He is also the one who is going top help me with the poop. He has a bunch of cows and i got to see milking being done. Very fascinating in it's own way. As well as help herd cow to the pasture. If only i got to help with the milking didn't ask didn't want to so anything wrong and ruin things. They had a great system going.
Until next time, love you all and miss you. XOXOXO
A good example of this happening would be the No Violence event that was to take place a week ago. I was in charge of helping with the pinata and doing the games. I had my part done and when it came time to do the pinata only two people came. The date was rescheduled for the following week when no one showed. The following day was to be the meeting to put the finishing touches on the plans for the event and once again no one comes. The day of the event comes and goes and nothing happens. So i ask around and am informed that it has been moved to Jan. date and time unknown. I sigh and nod at least it is not canceled it will still happen.
I have started my group of youth we are doing arts and crafts today would be the third day. Things are going well there is only 8 people as of now but i have faith that it will grow. They all seem enthusiastic to continue and enjoy bracelet making the most so far. I am now looking for more designs to teach them. I find it hard to explain the instructions at times with my limited Spanish but i find that they eventually understand and can do the work correctly. I can only get better and teach them more things. I am using this as a way to show them that trash can be used as a product. Later on I want to teach them a small business class and encourage entrepreneurship. Hopefully this will give them some ideas on what they could do.
I am also in the process of planning an adult basic English lesson and a baking class. Both of which were requests from the community. It will also give me something more to do. The problem is that both have to be at night because that is when adults will be free. I am now currently looking for something to fill my mornings since my nights are busy.
I thinking i could do the garden and i am but there are many barriers that i am running into. The ground here is very hard almost imposable to break through. I have been soaking it with water to form a mud like mixture then breaking to soil that way. Long and hard work and very impractical. I contacted Peace Corps for an idea and got the response to get a tone of cow poop and form a mound over the garden and use that. Now I have the joy of finding and scooping cow poop. Isn't my life grand here? Once i have all of my poop I am going to recruit little ones to help me with the planting and shifting etc.
On the social end of things. It is hard to break the circle and get people to open up. It is always the same conversation when i try to talk to people. Where are you from, what is your name, what did you study, how long have you been here, do you like Nicaragua and my village etc. I wan to break out of this to get to what they like to do and have a real conversation. There is only one person in town that i really talk to. I mean like a real conversation. It is amazing and releasing to have someone like that. It has taken time to find her now i just have to find others like her. In time I'm sure all of this will work out fine and my site will become home. Now don't get me wrong i love it here and i feel happen here. Just adjustment is difficult.
My family is Jehovah Witness and I am currently going to their services which is an interesting experience. Not my kind of religion but i am learning Spanish this was and I am meeting people so kill two birds with one stone. They don't really celebrate holidays so my Christmas this year will be very different than usual. I am thinking of seeing if i can join in on my counterparts celebrations but i don't want to intrude. This will be a very delicate line that i am walking on.
I have started my Spanish lessons and it is going surprisingly well. I have them almost everyday and we are going over basic sentence structure and pronunciation. My tutor is my mom who is also the Spanish teacher at the high school. I hope that i start to improve faster now. It is tiresome not be able to say what i want to people. I also have to break out of my shell and get out more to talk to more people. Easier said then done.
Ah one last things or so i think. I have made a shaky friendship with one of the kids that lives next door. He invited me to his farm the other day. He is also the one who is going top help me with the poop. He has a bunch of cows and i got to see milking being done. Very fascinating in it's own way. As well as help herd cow to the pasture. If only i got to help with the milking didn't ask didn't want to so anything wrong and ruin things. They had a great system going.
Until next time, love you all and miss you. XOXOXO
Saturday, December 10, 2011
1st two weeks in site
So alot has happened i have been in site for two plus weeks now. It has been a busy two weeks yet at the same time it doesn't feel like it. I feel like I am not getting anything done and very lonely. Yet i have to remind myself that it has only been two weeks. It is hard just starting off and i knew it would be but it is not what I was expecting. I'm not necessarily sad more like just am not happy not sad, not angry not excited just am. Very strange feeling.
So I got to my site the night of Thanksgiving at about 4:00. I unpacked and ate dinner and went to bed. It takes up to 3 1/2-4 hours to get to my site and I was tired. The 1st few days was me greeting my professor and getting to know the village some. I started a community map and mama brought me around to meet some of her friends which helped break the ice.
The next week I had two days of classes where I observed classes and talked with professors. I even co-taught one English class. It went surprisingly well and i really like that teacher. I hope he is back next year. I spent this week talking with people and planning my youth group which is making arts and crafts. It will start on the 19th or December and go for 5 weeks. I still have to hand out the flyers to the youth here. I will do that tomorrow I hope that some of them show up. I went to Leon the region capital and bought some things for my room like a dresser and fan. That Friday I went to a woman's group it was very organized and had about 30 woman in it. They all did topics ranging from youth to environment and politics. There were a few woman per section. Right now they are working on a No Violence day which i am helping out in. I will be planing the carnival games and helping with the pinata. It should all be really fun and it will be my first community event. It is taking place next Saturday.
I have participated in graduation which is a bit different and yet the same here. The students are escorted to the stage by their parent either a mom or dad. They are given an certificate and some of them a ring of excellence or hard work etc. Some give presents to their teachers. It took place in the community rec center. A big area with a stage. Then the teachers (an me) are called up to sit. The first time they did that I was so confused as to why i was going up. I haven't taught classes yet and in my eyes have to position being up there but i went anyways. Afterwards the pass out food the the teachers and there is more pictures taking. Then later on is a dance! Which is loads of fun. I am being taught different dances!
This week I have the cold which is dragging my down and I have not been very productive but I have got some planning done. Next week it's back to work or so i hope this cold is gone by then. I am also helping one of the teachers daughters with her English homework. Rather hard in my eyes it's is about drugs and alcohol with alot of technical words in it. I will do the best I can to explain things with my limited Spanish.
Talking about Spanish my mom is going to tutor me in Spanish! I can tell that i am getting better just being here but i still have along ways to go. I can't wait to be fluent. That is all for now catch you up again later. Love and Miss you all.
So I got to my site the night of Thanksgiving at about 4:00. I unpacked and ate dinner and went to bed. It takes up to 3 1/2-4 hours to get to my site and I was tired. The 1st few days was me greeting my professor and getting to know the village some. I started a community map and mama brought me around to meet some of her friends which helped break the ice.
The next week I had two days of classes where I observed classes and talked with professors. I even co-taught one English class. It went surprisingly well and i really like that teacher. I hope he is back next year. I spent this week talking with people and planning my youth group which is making arts and crafts. It will start on the 19th or December and go for 5 weeks. I still have to hand out the flyers to the youth here. I will do that tomorrow I hope that some of them show up. I went to Leon the region capital and bought some things for my room like a dresser and fan. That Friday I went to a woman's group it was very organized and had about 30 woman in it. They all did topics ranging from youth to environment and politics. There were a few woman per section. Right now they are working on a No Violence day which i am helping out in. I will be planing the carnival games and helping with the pinata. It should all be really fun and it will be my first community event. It is taking place next Saturday.
I have participated in graduation which is a bit different and yet the same here. The students are escorted to the stage by their parent either a mom or dad. They are given an certificate and some of them a ring of excellence or hard work etc. Some give presents to their teachers. It took place in the community rec center. A big area with a stage. Then the teachers (an me) are called up to sit. The first time they did that I was so confused as to why i was going up. I haven't taught classes yet and in my eyes have to position being up there but i went anyways. Afterwards the pass out food the the teachers and there is more pictures taking. Then later on is a dance! Which is loads of fun. I am being taught different dances!
This week I have the cold which is dragging my down and I have not been very productive but I have got some planning done. Next week it's back to work or so i hope this cold is gone by then. I am also helping one of the teachers daughters with her English homework. Rather hard in my eyes it's is about drugs and alcohol with alot of technical words in it. I will do the best I can to explain things with my limited Spanish.
Talking about Spanish my mom is going to tutor me in Spanish! I can tell that i am getting better just being here but i still have along ways to go. I can't wait to be fluent. That is all for now catch you up again later. Love and Miss you all.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Second training site
Hola todos,
I am currently in my next trainning site which I am at for three days. I am almost done and will be going to my site on Thursday! I can´t wait. It is really hard to use a Spanish keyboard! Miss my computer but it is packed away. I really like my family here but time seems to be going really slowly and i just want to get started.
I have some great ideas for my site. I want to start a recycling program and trash collection. I want to build a park for the children to play maybe in the school. I want to plant more trees at the school and surrounding areas. There is a serious lack of trees and shade. I also want to get some other volunteers to start a small buisness compotition where youth from there towns come up with an idea for a product and how they could sell this product. Then they will come together and compete for the best product the winners get some money to start up their busness. I don´t know how this will turn out but I hope that I get to try it. I want to start a youth group the first few months there doing manualidades or crafts using trash. Like baselets, bags, earing ect. We have to do a youth group anyways so I might as well do soemthing like that. Let see what else. I want to learn more about the womans group in town and what they are doing maybe i can help out.
Classes I guess and going well but i don´t feel like I am going to get much out of it that i couldn´t get from the village. Maybe some pronounciation stuff that thats is about it. But that will be very useful so it is a good thing in the long run.
I am currently in my next trainning site which I am at for three days. I am almost done and will be going to my site on Thursday! I can´t wait. It is really hard to use a Spanish keyboard! Miss my computer but it is packed away. I really like my family here but time seems to be going really slowly and i just want to get started.
I have some great ideas for my site. I want to start a recycling program and trash collection. I want to build a park for the children to play maybe in the school. I want to plant more trees at the school and surrounding areas. There is a serious lack of trees and shade. I also want to get some other volunteers to start a small buisness compotition where youth from there towns come up with an idea for a product and how they could sell this product. Then they will come together and compete for the best product the winners get some money to start up their busness. I don´t know how this will turn out but I hope that I get to try it. I want to start a youth group the first few months there doing manualidades or crafts using trash. Like baselets, bags, earing ect. We have to do a youth group anyways so I might as well do soemthing like that. Let see what else. I want to learn more about the womans group in town and what they are doing maybe i can help out.
Classes I guess and going well but i don´t feel like I am going to get much out of it that i couldn´t get from the village. Maybe some pronounciation stuff that thats is about it. But that will be very useful so it is a good thing in the long run.
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