Weekend Workshops

This past weekend was one I had been working a lot toward, planning, thinking about, and organizing...  Friday was the pronunciation workshop in Camoapa, Boaco.  I left on the 6:30am bus to make it there by 8am in time to run through the power point with Jason and get lunch before the taller.  Unfortunately, when I arrived in Camoapa, Jason informed me that there was a little "situation" that he was trying to fix.  That morning he had stopped by the school where we were going to have the taller, and found out that the principal who was organizing the event had to leave for Managua for something and hadn't actually gotten a projector for the taller.   Jason was waiting for a guy to call him back to see if he could get the projector, and then the dreaful call came... the guy said it would be better to have the taller another day since he couldn't get a projector and the directora (principal) hadn't talked to many of the English teachers in the area since only one person was confirmed to arrive that day.  Bummer!  Well, I hung out with Jason for a little while and we went through the power point so we were on the same page, and then we headed to Boaco.  He needed to do some shopping so he went back with me.  I was pretty disappointed getting up that early and traveling an hour and a half by bus to get there only to turn back around, but I know it wasn't Jason's fault and things like this (unfortunately) happen too often.  I'll just have to make another trip out to Camoapa some time, but I do like traveling and seeing new things :)  Plus, Jason said he'd make me his specialty sandwich and home fries.  Can't argue with that!

Andrea came over later that afternoon and we got our things together for our manual taller for Saturday.  We had a great time hanging out and even had some ice cream with the chocolate syrup my parents brought me :)  Andrea doesn't have a TV, so one thing that we also have to do when she visits is watch TV, or at least watch TV shows on my computer, so we did just that. 

The taller the next day went really well.  We arrived at the building at 7:30am to set up and make sure everything was in order.  We ran through the activities and such for a little practice while we waited.  Then, the first few people started showing up a few minutes after 8am.  Then, in true Nica fashion, we started 45 minutes late.  I hate starting things late, but when people arrive late, there's not much you can do about it.  Anyway, we went with it and we all had a great time.  The teachers were really excited about the new manuals and we got to do some practice lessons together to make sure they know how to use the manuals and can translate the information to their classroom. 

All in all, the taller stuff went well--it was good to have more time to talk about the pronunciation taller with Jason before actually giving it, and we had a good turn out at the manual taller.  Then, I had Sunday to relax a little and read.  I finished another book :)