earrings

A quick post to show you the bottle cap earrings we are making.  We're still in the process of putting the hooks on but we're well on our way.

  

Other tidbits of news...  I was assigned to a fourth school, a one room school house for first through sixth grade (ages 7-13).  I also just realized that two of my schools don't have access to water so it will be a little difficult starting a garden.  The kids will grow some muscles carrying buckets from the river.  Also, my parents are beginning to collect used backpacks to donate to my students when they come to visit after the NJ school year.  If you come across a backpack you won't be using anymore, please drop it off at my house and they'll be happy to bring it with them to Nicaragua.  Oh, and Alison and Jeanine are coming on March 30.. yay!

cow country

It's Sunday night at 9:00 and I just finished cleaning a mountain of dishes after making enchiladas with a few neighbors.  We started cooking at 6:00 and just finished... Don't get me wrong, the food was absolutely delicious but I don't know if the amount of prepping and cleaning is worth the effort.  Next time I just might walk 6 blocks and buy an enchilada for 10 cordobas.  

It's unbelievable that we're already in the middle of January.  The youth groups have started back up so I've surprisingly been busy.  I also started making earrings out of glass bottle caps with a few 18 and 19 year olds and they look pretty great.   The younger kids in the neighborhood learned how to make string bracelets today at my house.  One boy actually just stopped by a few minutes ago to show me his finished project and to tell me how much fun he had today.  Those comments make all the mayhem (bouncing basketballs in my house, nailpolish paint spilled on my table/"meghan" said about 2,000 times) during the day 110% worth it.  We're planning to have a fair in February or March to sell all of our crafts and with the money made, we're going to buy more materials, throw a party, and hopefully start planning the second fair.

English class is up and running.  I decided to have it in my house (still not sure if that's a good idea).  I'm borrowing a white board from a neighbor and one of my walls is covered in English phrases and dialogues.  On Thursdays, the younger kids who don't know any English come and on Mondays and Fridays, the older kids (well, and my host nephew) who learned English in high school come.  It's a first-come-first-serve when it comes to seats because I only have 4.  I didn't have chairs for the first couple weeks so here's a picture of some neighbor's eating rice krispie treats we made, sitting on the floor.  It's pretty clean but I do still need to buy a mop.

So, the first day of school was supposed to be on February 1 but because this is Nicaragua, it won't be starting until February 15.  No surprise there.  I had dinner the other night with a teacher I would love to work with but don't know if I'll be able to.  She still doesn't know what grade she will be teaching and won't find out until next week.  What's a few more days of vacation (that I've now had since June)?

For the silly stories.. One: there's a frog living in my toilet.  It's about the size of a quarter and every time I flush, I actually feel bad as it battles its way toward the top of the bowl.  Two: on Friday with two of my host sisters, I went to a community of Teustepe.  We took a 10 minute bus ride then walked 25 minutes to get to the community that has about 75 houses.  We went to visit the principal of the high school who was in a terrible accident in December.  He was riding home from the school at midnight on his motorcycle on a dark, dirt road and crashed into a cow.  Of course the fact that he had an accident is no laughing matter, but a cow?  Really?  Three: I ate peliguey meat today (animals that's a sheep & goat hybrid) and it was yummy.  Four: I'm helping a neighbor make a tree nursery and spent 4 hours of last Monday filling recycled plastic water bags (water can be bought by the bag) with dried cow poop.  I even went as far to ask if I could take some with me to start a fertilizer in my backyard.

I hope those anecdotes will make you laugh while your sitting under a bundle of blankets and keeping warm with all the snow!  

holiday festivities

I wish I could say I’ve been bogged down with things to do which is why I haven’t written in a while but that would be a gigantic lie.  A week and a half ago the library closed until after the new year so I haven’t had youth group meetings.  But, the last meeting of 2010 was a huge success.  We read the Spanish version of “A Bear for Maddie” and the kids drew pictures of Santa and pasted cotton on his beard, hat, and coat.  They loved it. 

My one-on-one English lessons have been pretty consistent, meeting twice a week.  I’ll admit it’s pretty exhausting teaching English so I’m glad I’ve started out with just one student.  I’m going to try to arrange to borrow a classroom in the elementary school to hold bi-weekly night class starting in a couple weeks.  There’s definitely a lot of interest so I’m sure I won’t be lacking students.

Spending Christmas in Nicaragua was really nice, but I did miss acting out the 12 Days of Christmas at home.  Santa came to Nicaragua at midnight and brought two gifts (well 3, thanks to mom and dad) to each of the two little boys in the family.  The basketball sent from NJ to the 6 year old was a big hit as well as the PJs sent to the 1 year old.  He’s worn them every night since and has even adopted the new name of “Raya McQueen” due to the Cars theme on one set.  Neighbors came by to set off lots of mini fireworks and play the makeshift band out of tin cans, plastic containers, and a hose (serving the function of a tuba).  Let me tell you, creativity is at its max here.  Oh, and you might be jealous, but the 6 year old got a “Fun Station”… similar to Nintendo but I’d argue better because it has old-school Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on the same disk, along with 44 other games.  My host brother and I were in charge of installing it because the gringa knows all about technology apparently.  I gained some serious credibility after explaining all the ins and outs of Mario… the mushroom makes you big, the shiny mushroom gives you powers, the tunnels lead you to cool places… all the good stuff.  I also think I impressed them a little with my Duck Hunt skills.  Thanks, Al, for the practice.

Slightly off topic, but well worth mentioning--  I was on the bus going to visit a friend in Santa Lucia.  The 20 km ride from the city of Boaco takes about 1 hour due to the unpaved, hilly roads.  After two attempts to get up a hill, people started unloading to get rid of some weight.  Another try, more people got off.  One more try, more people off.  Finally, on the sixth attempt, we made it up the hill.  I didn’t get off because, quite frankly, I had no idea if I’d get picked up again.  The woman in front of me, however, had another reason for staying on the bus.  The rest of her family (who was standing) unloaded but she didn’t because she had a garbage bag full of baby chicks.  Later on during the ride, some escaped so her 5 or 6 year old son went fishing around the bus driver’s ankles to recollect them all.  I think they all made it safely back into the bag and we made it safely to Santa Lucia.

On the subject of chickens, my host brother rode up to the house the other day on his bike with a bag which I assumed had groceries or food.  But nope.  He pulled out a rooster he just picked up from the man who lives close to the highway.  Supposedly he’ll be a fighter in the ring. 

I won’t bore you anymore with the bird talk but I just might warn my host family that they shouldn’t be surprised if their parrots get sick.  I don’t think I can take too much more of the squalling at 4:00 in the morning.  No need to worry, though.  I’ll be moving to my own place as soon as we ring in 2011!  I’m really excited about it and now need to scrounge some furniture for the living room/kitchen.  

Happy New Year!!

activities and terms of endearment

I’m writing this blog in the internet café, waiting for the internet to come back.  In the past two weeks, I had a few youth group meetings and we collected hundreds of chip bags off the street, cleaned them, then started making change purses and folders.  The kids, ages 9-14, absolutely love working with the trash, especially the boys.  I think a hidden incentive for them, though, is that they know I’ll play basketball with them after our meetings.  The first day, we played a game similar to knockout called sacarin and the next day they wanted to play a game.  I quickly realized it’s tough to teach 16 kids how to play organized basketball without knowing how to say “foul”, “guard your man”, and “you can’t punch another kid in the face when he’s shooting or dribbling” in Spanish.  Phrases to look up and memorize tomorrow… 

I went to the last graduation this week for the sixth graders in Aguas Calientes (the school about 5 km away).  I walked there with the vice principal and we arrived at about 10:00.  The mass started at 10:45 and because there were only 9 students graduating, everything was over at 12:00.  Of course we were fed afterwards so at about 12:30, I thought we’d be heading home but no, I didn’t get home until 5:30.  With the vice principal and one of the sixth grade teachers, we stopped at 5 houses on the way which meant a 30 minute pit stop at each.  Remember how I talked about Nicas being hospitable?  Well, at 3 of the 5 houses, we were each given a huge plate of food, sitting on plastic chairs or wooden benches in houses with dirt floors and tin walls.  They may not have much but they sure know how to warmly welcome guests.

This past week was the celebration of the Virgin Mary, called the Purisima.  It’s best described as trick-o-treating and Christmas caroling during summer.  Different houses put altars of the Virgin Mary in front of or in their house and after either a mass or a few songs, the house hands out candies, fruit, tupperware, etc.  Just like Halloween, there are the good houses and the not so good houses.  The good houses get swarms of people… pushing, shoving, flailing hands… while the not so good houses get civilized groups of people singing church songs then calmly walking to the front door to get their small gift.  In all seriousness, it’s a wonderful tradition because the kids from the small communities receive food they normally wouldn’t get in their homes.  As my neighbor so beautifully put it… Nicaragua es pobre pero bonito. 

A few days ago, I brought a touch of home to Teustepe when my two gringo friends came to visit and we made oatmeal raisin cookies.  Despite the burnt bottom (due to cooking them on a wood fire with help from my host sister), they were delicious and are requested for Christmas.  The highlight of these 2 weeks, though, was when my host nephew called me Meghancita.  There’s a good chance I’ll be mistaken for a true Nica after these two years.