Problems in Nica

Hello from Nicaragua. Life is hard right now. Spanish has been kicking my butt. I fear i am not learning enough fast enough. I know it's one step at a time poco s poco but i can't help be get dicuraged. It is not what i expected it to be. Even though i don't know what i expected it is not this. The people are great and i'm having fun to some extent but I'm not falling in love with it like in Niger. Don't get me wrong i'm not close to thinking about quiting. I just don't feel as prepared to be successful here as i did in Africa. They say that Nicaragua's training is the best i have not found that to be the case. I can't quite tell what is wrong with it though. I just don't feel prepared technically to teach. I'm sure a lot of my droughts has to do with language though. I have little to no confidence in my Spanish abilities at this moment which is really hurting me.

I now have a class alone for Spanish to help me improve. It is working but i still have along way to go. I can't tell if I'm getting better or not which is frustrating. My new teacher is good and very patient with me. I have a lot of assignments of going and talking with people in the village to gain my confidence. It's scary but very effective. I hope to make a few new friends doing this. I'm also talking more with my family :) I will get there soon i know.

Our youth group is going well we had less kids this time around but that is to be expected since some of the kids were skipping class to go to the last one. We had to change our project a little bit. We are going to make a mural instead of a playhouse out of bottles. It takes a lot of work to make this happen and we only have a month to get it all done it. The kids seem excited none the less.

I taught my first class last monday. It went better than expected i taught it on recylcing and did a game with clay which the students loved. It would have been better with most language background. I'm beginning to see the true importance that language has on my work. The kids got it eventually. I do my next on in two weeks on the carbon/oxygen cycle. Fun which i find is hard to do in english so this should be interesting. I just need to prepare more at least i have more time to do so.

I want to take the time to write about some problems i have noticed in Nicaragua. I would love comments on how i might be able to fix them or help. Also just comments in general on what you think.

Environment
1. Deforestation: The farmers are cutting down trees for farming and making a living for their family. The land that they are using is not fertile and this is the only way they know how to make a living. They use slash and burn. There is also areas that are suppose to be blocked off for conservation that is slowly being sold.

• Possible solutions: Teach farmers other farming techniques, replant trees

2. Trash in streets: Before plastic banana leaves were used as plates and were thrown on the ground this is fine then since it just decomposed. Now they use plastic and still throw it in the streets. There is little to no garbage cans present and the children think it is funny to do so. They have a trash pick up but i don't' know how much it is effecting the trash. Not all villages have a pick up.

• Solutions: Create more trash cans, teach about recycling, do projects using recycled products

3. Polluted water: There is a lot of sun off from erosion and waste. The factories dump waste into the water. The villages dump waste in the garbage. The rivers and lakes are all contaminated and some are incapable of handling life. There are some areas that drinking water is not possible because of chemicals or lack of freshwater. Salt water and fresh water are mixing.

• Solutions: Teach about waste control, teach about the importance of clean water

Social

Teen pregnancy: There are many 15-18 year old having baby with older men or boys in their schools. Parent are afraid to let their kids go out and many girls an locked in the house. They use of contraceptive is frowned upon. Parent will not buy contraceptives for their child yet they also don't want to be grandparents. Sex edu is taught in school with a focus of abstinence but i am unsure how much is taught in homes.

• Solution: Teach parents how to talk to their children

Drowning: Many children drown because they can't swim even though there is alot of water in and around Nica. There are not many body of waters in villages and children/adults alike can't swim

• Teach swimming lessons if water is available, teach about water safety

Obesity: It is considered healthy to be overweight. mother worry when their child begin to loose weight and many of the foods are fattening. This is part of the culture of Nica. Their is little to no exercise done by Nica's.

• Teach cooking classes, teach about exercise and the importance, healthy living

Any other ideas? I'm all ears. Love and miss everyone.