Site Assignment and Aguizotes

On Friday we found out about our site assignments and the cities we will be living in for the next two years. After talking to some people I don’t think that I am allowed to say the exact name of the town for safety reasons, but I am allowed to say the region. I am actually going to be in the same department that I am in now (Masaya), but just in another town. A department here is what we would call a state. So for example I am staying in my “state” but just moving to another city in the state. I think the town is bigger than the one I am in now which is cool. I know there is a bank so it can’t be too small haha.

I am going to be closer to the city of Masaya which is really big and has everything I would need. There two other girls from my group who are also staying in Masaya so I am excited to work with them and hang out with them. I hear it’s a little cooler in my new city. But I also heard it’s hotter so who knows haha. I am still going to be close to the capital city and the Peace Corps office, which is also nice. Jessica and Megan the other girls from my training town are going to be living north of me for the next two years. I am excited to go visit them! It’s up in the mountains. We are all going on a site visit this coming Tuesday and we will be there for a whole week. I am excited to see what my new town is like. It’s weird to think that I will be starting this process all over again with a new host family. My new family is a lot smaller than my family now. There are only two kids and the parents. It will be like culture shock all over again.


Well I have been in Nicaragua for two months now and this past weekend was the first time I went out for a night on the town. In the states we have Halloween. Here in Nicaragua some people celebrate Halloween but there is also a similar celebration called Aguizotes. The people basically dress up in costumes, but they are usually witches and goblins ect. They dress up in scary masks and stuff like that. It was very interesting. Megan and I went to a parade on Friday night to watch all the people in costumes. We went with our counterpart teacher's cousin and one of Megans host family friends. We felt a lot safer because we were going out at night with two Nicaraguan guys who know the area a lot better than we do. It was fun to watch everyone dancing all around. There was a lot of fire involved in the parade and tubas and drums. In the capital there was a protest against Halloween because it’s an American holiday but they basically have the same holiday here, so it’s kind of funny. After the parade we went to a club that had kareoke and dancing and pool. It was really fun. We wanted to sing kareoke but they only have three songs in English and they could only remember the names of two of them(dust in the wind was one). So after that we went to the dance floor. It was very intimadating because I am a horrible Salsa, Merengue ect. dancer. I was dancing with our counterpart's cousin Mario who is an awesome dancer. He taught me the steps and we had so much fun! I like how people here aren't afarid to just get out there and dance. You can kind of do your own thing and no one cares! I had a lot of fun that night and it's cool to have some Nicaragua friends now!

Well next week I am off to my sight visit. I will let everyone know how that goes.

Later friends!

Pictures
1. Me on top of some mountain I don't know the name of haha
2 and 3. All of us after site assignemts being silly and serious

Practicum Week

Wow,
I am not even sure where to start! This week has been one of the hardest and and also one of the best learning experiences I could have had. This training has been really intense and really hard for me, but I have learned a lot.

This past week we have all been up in the Northern part of Nicaragua doing a practicum week. Half of the group was in one city and the other half was in a different city. I was in a city called Jinotega. It's a really beautiful mountainous city. It's so much cooler in Jinotega. I found my self going the whole day without sweating and scratching mosquito bites!I even went to a coffee shop and drinking a hot drink didn't make me want to pass out! I wouldn't mind living in this area for the next two years!

So for practicum week we were each assigned a school and we had to teach a minimum of three hours of class in three days. We had to teach 90 minute classes and 45 minute classes. We all had a partner to observe us and give us feedback about the class. We were thrown into this crazy situation and we didn’t know what to expect. At times I felt like I was in the library for finals week, trying to cram in last minute studying. Instead I was trying to come up with a creative lesson plans for a class that I knew nothing about. It was very hard and challenging. It was also very exciting when the lesson succeeded and you knew that you did a good job. It was also really awesome to have all of the other trainees help in the process. We all supported each other.

For the most part all of my classes went well. I worked at a private school and the students were a lot different from what I was use to. I had one really really tough class, the 11th graders. They are in their last year of school and they were just over it! I tried to start the class off really friendly and excited, but it was dead silent. No one participated, everyone just stared at me and I think some students laughed. The normal teacher for that class was in the back talking to another student and totally oblivious to what was going on. It was one of the most awkward moments of my life. The class was 90 minutes and it went on like that for 90 minutes!
But I survived it and I lived to tell the tale.

The practicum week was a really great learning experience for me. Now I know what I am good at and what I need to work on. Also we got to hang out with people in our group that we don’t normally hang out with. It was fun to get to know different people. This coming Friday we will find out what city we will be in for the next two years. I am really excited and really nervous about where they are going to place me. I am sure I will like it but I am very anxious about it! Well I will report back when I find out my permanent site.

Pictures:
1. A picture of the mountains on the way to Jinotega
2. The mist over the mountains in the morning in Jinotega
3. The kids outside playing while the school is being fumigated
4. Me getting my teach on
5. The whole Jinotega group at the thank you dinner for the teachers

A Day in the Big City

So on Sunday Megan and I went to Masaya which compared to San Juan de Oriente it is a big bustling city. My other friend in my town Jessica, is really sick so we were really missing her while we were in Masaya. The teacher that we have been working with in our town invited us to her house to eat lunch and watch some of the parades and dancing in Masaya. Her name is Leticia. She had her cousin, who is a taxi driver pick us up and take us to her house. We got to meet her family. She has a little 18 month old daughter who is adorable. She took us to the market is Masaya which is awesome. There is the old market which is really pretty but is for tourists. We went to the new market where all the Nicaraguans go. The new market is a lot cheaper. I bought some new Nicaragua sandals. They are so comfortable. Then Leticia bought us a bracelet. She said she wanted to buy us something! It was so nice!

Oh side note: before we left her house for the market we were talking about how much we like cake. So Leticia called her aunt and when she came back over to us she said that her aunt was making us a cake and it would be ready at 2 pm lol. Megan and I were happy that we were getting cake that day! After the market we went to lunch with Leticia and her husband and her daughter. It was a really nice meal at a really nice restaurant. We enjoyed ourselves and Leticia paid for everything. After lunch we went to Pali (owned by Wal-mart I believe) which is a "big supermarket". By big I mean they have frozen foods and milk and eggs and cereal and hand sanitizer. It's so exciting to go there because I feel like I can buy anything I want! After shopping we went back to Leticia's house to eat cake. On the way we encountered some kids dancing. They are dancing the traditional dance of Masaya, it is a throwback to the indigenous people of Masaya. They are so cute and they are really good!

It was a great day in the big city! This coming week we are preparing for what is called practicum week. We will be traveling to another part of the country to teach three classes by ourselves. For the next two years we will be co-teaching but for the practicum week we have to teach a class all alone! I a little nervous about that... Hopefully it will go well. It will be exciting to get out of my town for a week and see something different. Then after practicum week w will be finding out about our permanent sites. We are all really excited about that. Well I better get back to work. Peace Corps keeps us very busy!

Pictures
1. I tried to upload a video of the dancers but it didn't work booo
2. Leticia, Megan and I at lunch in Masaya
3. A picture of the outside of the old Market
4. The central park in Masaya
5. The dancers dancing in one of the houses and
6. Leticia's daughter Lucia Natalia

5 weeks In...

Hola Amigos

I am back again for a little blog action. Things have been pretty busy this week. We have been attending a lot of charlas or workshops and a lot of training sessions. I taught my second class last week. It went pretty well, even though sometimes the teacher I work with is a little apathetic at times. I am trying hard to make the classes that I am teaching fun and hopefully the kids will learn something. I am looking forward to having a consistent class to work with in the future.

We also got a packet with the different choices for sites. So basically we get a list of places around the country where we will be placed. Based on the information they gave use we pick our top three choices and we will more than likely get one of our top three choices. We only have the information about the places but not the names so we kind of have to make a decision based on what they gave us. We are all really excited to find out where we will be for the next two years. Most of the sites for the TEFL program are in larger cities, but there are a few rural sites. I would definitely prefer to be in a larger city. We are finding out where we are going October 29th, so that's something to look forward to!

Today we went to the Volcano in Masaya. We have a diversity session and then after that we drove to the top of the volcano to take pictures and have some snacks. It was pretty fun although it was a bummer that we couldn't climb all the way to the top. Recently one man committed suicide at the volcano and two people got struck by lightening. So now they don't let anyone hike to the top. It was still cool to look inside of the volcano. It didn't explode don't worry lol.

Side note... I haven't taken a hot shower in almost a month and a half. I also have only take a real shower about 4 times since I have been here. The rest of the time I have been taking bucket baths... so you basically have a bucket with cold water in it. When there is no running water which is most of the time, you dump the water on yourself, lather up and then dump the water on you to wash off the soap. It's pretty interesting... it's not as awful as it sounds... lol but it's definitely an experience. Since it's so hot the cold water isn't that unpleasant. I just thought I would point that out. OK that's all I have for now. Tomorrow I am going to Masaya (bigger city), to have lunch with the person I teach with and see her house and have lunch. This whole week the city of Masaya has had parties and celebrations for their patron saint. I am going to try and take some photos of that and then post them on my blog. I hope all is well in The USA. I am sad to be missing the fall season.

Pictures
1. A picture of my nails that my host sister did for me (she did my toes too)
2-5- Pictures of the volcano
The rest of my photos are on facebook

Life as usual

Hey All,
I don't have anything too exciting to say this week. I have officially been here for a full month which is pretty cool! Only two more months of training to go! Haha

I taught my first class on Monday afternoon. It went pretty well. I have many many things to improve on of course, but for my first class I felt pretty good. We were working on comparatives in class. We did a couple of fun activities to make it interesting. I tried to use as much English as possible and I got some blank stares but overall I think the kids understood what was going on. As part of the program initiative we are trying to make the classes more communicative and less copying on the board. For a lot of teachers this is a hard transition to make. I think it helps the students learn better and have fun at the same time. I am excited to get to my site in a few months and work with one class more consistently.

We were supposed to go visit a volunteer in different parts of Nicaragua this weekend, but the trip was canceled because of Hurricane Matthew (Mateo). I am pretty bummed that we can't go visit a volunteer. That would have been a good way to see what life is really like as a volunteer. I guess there is nothing I can do about it! I guess that leaves more time to hang out with my host family and practice my Spanish! I can also have time to hang out more with the trainees here. We have an awesome group of people. Jessica and Megan who live in my town and awesome and we are becoming really good friends. We see sides of each other that not many other people see lol. The rest of the group is great too, I am sure I will be making life long friends!

Well that's all I have for now. Life is becoming a little more routine here. I am sure I will have more stories and experiences in the coming days. I am sad that I am missing the fall season, because its my favorite one!

Pictures
1. The whole group that came to Nica with us (TEFL group and Environment Group
2. Just the TEFL group