home run hitter

Happy March!  

On Monday, I gave my first official classes in second and sixth grade.  Both were very successful aside from a few Spanish slip ups but that's all part of the process.  Next week I'll be giving class in all four schools.  I'm a little anxious about planning for the 1st-5th grade class but I have high hopes.  Today I observed in that school and during recess, I played baseball with the kids behind the school.  I  thought I was going to trip over the gigantic roots and branches while running around the "bases" (big rocks) but luckily that didn't happen.  I even earned the name "home run hitter" by the 14 year old third grader.  The thing about baseball in Nicaragua is that all of the terminology is in English (said with a heavy accent) so it was a lot easier to participate than that day at the basketball court.

This past weekend I took a trip to Leon with 12 other volunteers from my group.  And I thought it was hot in Teustepe!  We did some sightseeing the first day at the biggest cathedral in Central America (where Ruben Dario is buried) and in the markets.  Day two was spent at the beach which was very relaxing.  The four hour trip cost $5 and the stay at the hostel for each night was another $5 adding up to a total of about a $30 weekend including food and drinks... not too bad.  

As for not so good news, at the end of February, there was a fire in the high school due to a short circuit and the entire computer lab (25 computers) and library burned down.  The town is completely devastated.  The high school teachers are writing letters to wealthy Nicaraguan families to ask for support.  I'm writing a letter to Microsoft so now you need to keep your fingers crossed to see if we can either raise money or donate computers to the high school.  Vamos a ver.

And here's a picture of me with some visitors..