Saturday, July 28, 2012
A visitor for me
This weekend my friend Monica, who I went to Ometepe Island with, is here visiting me in Boaco. She's never been so it's fun having her here and doing the touristy things in Boaco. There's not many touristy things, but we've been eating lots of yummy food so I guess that's part of it too. Today we explored the park and up top area of Boaco and Jasser, Ruth, & Dyland came with us. So far it's been a fun weekend :)
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Feel like a woman
I took a shower yesterday and it made me feel like a woman again. We're still technically "without water" since there is not water flowing through our pipes, but the spigot in the kitchen ran for a couple hours yesterday so I was able to take a bucket bath. I filled a bucket to the brim so I could make myself feel fresh after sitting in my filth for the last few days haha ok, I wasn't that gross.
I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner, shaved my legs, scrubbed with soap, and poured water over myself until the bucket ran dry. It was wonderful. And now, I feel like a woman again. Well, at least I did yesterday. Today it doesn't look like I'll get another shower, so it might not be until Saturday that I get a real one again. Don't be jealous.
I washed my hair with shampoo and conditioner, shaved my legs, scrubbed with soap, and poured water over myself until the bucket ran dry. It was wonderful. And now, I feel like a woman again. Well, at least I did yesterday. Today it doesn't look like I'll get another shower, so it might not be until Saturday that I get a real one again. Don't be jealous.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
I'm a Barbie girl
Ok, not really, but I did just purchase something from her line.
Here's my new PINK fan! I broke down and finally bought one because the overhead fan in my room didn't really do much and I could only use the dim light in my room otherwise it felt like I was in a disco and the "strobe" light kinda gave me a headache. Plus, a big thing about having a fan is the noise. I like the hum, especially at night, and I wasn't getting that from the overhead fan.
I'm feeling much cooler with this fan, and I'm glad I just bought one. I was trying to hold out since I only have a couple months left, but what was I thinking? It's pretty hard to live in Nicaragua without a fan.
Ok, so the reason for the color? My host sister was with me and convinced me to get this one and I really didn't care about the color. As long as it worked, I wanted it :)
I'm feeling much cooler with this fan, and I'm glad I just bought one. I was trying to hold out since I only have a couple months left, but what was I thinking? It's pretty hard to live in Nicaragua without a fan.
Ok, so the reason for the color? My host sister was with me and convinced me to get this one and I really didn't care about the color. As long as it worked, I wanted it :)
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Hanging around
Yesterday we celebrated Jasser's 24th birthday and today has been a lazy day. Since I went to bed late last night, I slept in this morning and I really didn't have anything on the agenda, so I got to just hang out and do "me" stuff.
We are still without water here which is a major bummer. The water came in through the spigot in the kitchen last night so we could fill up the big barrels of water, but then it was off again when I checked this morning. It's supposed to be on all day Tuesdays, but apparently it decided otherwise. The guys were still working on the water tank today but that doesn't really make a difference because we shouldn't be getting water until Saturday again anyway. Ugh :( Not fun! I need to take a shower! haha I hope this gets resolved soon, or I'm gonna be pretty stinky... Baby wipes to the rescue! Those things always come in handy for a quick "bath" when no water is available. Maybe I can ask a friend to take a shower at their place :)
We are still without water here which is a major bummer. The water came in through the spigot in the kitchen last night so we could fill up the big barrels of water, but then it was off again when I checked this morning. It's supposed to be on all day Tuesdays, but apparently it decided otherwise. The guys were still working on the water tank today but that doesn't really make a difference because we shouldn't be getting water until Saturday again anyway. Ugh :( Not fun! I need to take a shower! haha I hope this gets resolved soon, or I'm gonna be pretty stinky... Baby wipes to the rescue! Those things always come in handy for a quick "bath" when no water is available. Maybe I can ask a friend to take a shower at their place :)
Monday, July 23, 2012
Back to normal, sorta.
I'm feeling much better now that I've been getting back into the swing of things. There aren't any classes at the public school right now until the beginning of August, but I've still had my community class and one of the Access groups.
This past week I had a neat opportunity to go visit some English teachers on Ometepe Island. My friend Monica and I were working at an Embassy camp for English teachers in January and met some cool teachers there, and some invited us to visit them. We took advantage of that and finally now in July, we made it to Ometepe and we had a blast!
It was quite a stressful morning the day we left because of some taxi issues and people bombarding me at the bus terminal trying to get me on their bus, but after we were together, everything went smooth and we got to our friend Sara's house. We were greeted with a welcome sign and balloons. It was really sweet :) Sara had already made dinner for us and we all ate together. Dimas, another English teacher, met us at the bus stop and walked with us to Sara's house. It was a nice welcome and we were glad to finally be there, since it took us just about 10 hours in travel time from our houses to her's, which included a few buses, a taxi trip, and a ferry across the lake.
We relaxed a little, but then it was time to party. There happened to be a free concert that night so they took us out and we danced the night away. I felt bad because her two kids (7 and 11) were there too, just hanging out on the side and they were clearly exhausted as we approached 11:30pm. Thankfully, we hit a good stopping point and I rounded everybody up to head home.
The next day we went to a local swimming hole/touristy natural springs water area. It was neat and they had a rope swing from a tree which I almost killed myself with, but thankfully I just missed the concrete and slipped into the shallow water. Needless to say, Monica did not follow me on the tree swing. I'm glad I went first, and I'm glad I didn't kill myself or get a serious concussion. After we were done soaking up the natural waters, we headed over to a nearby beach and played in the waves with the kids. It was actually a pretty clean beach and the water was calm and stayed shallow for quite a ways out there, which was nice for the kids.
Our next adventure was hiking to a waterfall on the other side of the island. We were supposed to leave early, but our transportation failed, so we ended up waiting around a couple hours before heading out. However, we took advantage of this "extra" time to walk around the park and take some pictures of the neat little town. Getting to the waterfall park entrance was an adventure in itself since the roads are horrible. And when I say horrible, I mean it. The road was so rocky that only one or two buses make that trip per day and we didn't many cars, only a couple of motorcycles and a few sad tourists on bicycles. Well, we got there and got in the park which had its fair share of poor roads and lots of steep hills just to get to the hiking part. The waterfall greeted us about an hour later, as sweat poured down our bodies. It was much cooler up there in the trees and the water spraying off the rock wall. The water wasn't too bad stepping in, but posing for a group picture right under the waterfall was numbing. We had our "photographer" take a few quick pics and then we all ran out of the small pool as quickly as we could. We enjoyed a nice little lunch of sandwiches that Monice & I had made, along with chips and cookies. Yum :)
Our last full day included another late start and transportation issues. A friend brought over a couple extra bikes so Dimas, Monica, and I rode the bikes over to a nearby beach and hung out there for awhile. The water wasn't too clean, but we stayed awhile and played in the sand. Later that afternoon, we found some transportation and went to a beach area and rented a few kayaks to take out as the sun was setting and then we just hung out on the beach and laughed the night away. It was a nice end to our last full day.
Getting off the island wasn't as rough as the morning we had getting to the island, thankfully. We said our goodbyes, hopped on a bus, and then waited for the ferry. We actually saw another PCV with her friend and chatted with them on the ferry ride. Our plan for getting off the ferry, going to the bathroom, and then finding a bus was shortened as the bus was parked right off the ferry and many people were running to get on, so there was no time for a trip to the bathroom. Oh well. The bus left quickly and got us on our way.
I got off in Masaya and that's where Monica and I parted ways as she continued to Managua. I wanted to take the shorter route and avoid Managua altogether since I had so much difficulty with taxis and I just hate dealing with them in general. So, I waited for my short cut bus and one passed by a little later and it was getting pretty full. It wasn't too bad besides the fact that I had my big hiking pack on. It wasn't stuffed to the brim, but it's basically like having another person strapped to your back when you're in a bus because it doesn't make passing by other people very easy. I eventually got a seat and my backpack sat on my lap.
The next stop, I decided to take a bathroom break because I figured I had a little time before my Boaco bus would come. I paid the price, received my wad of toilet paper, started heading to the latrines, and then glanced back as I saw a bus pull up. I checked to see where it was going and of course it said Boaco. Ugh. That never happens when I don't have to go to the bathroom! Well, I skipped the bathroom and ran to the back of the bus, along with about 20 other people. The bus was extremely packed and this lady was trying to carry a giant suitcase on with her instead of putting it on top. Yeah right. The guy took that from her immediately. I was holding on to the back ladder as people pushed in the back, and the bus started rolling forward so I jumped off and started walking away because I was not going to be riding on the back with a backpack on. The bus guy came over and asked me why I was leaving, as if the bus wasn't obviously overflowing with people. He ensured me that there was indeed space for me and pushed me in the back and closed the door behind me. Well, at least I was on I guess. The guy sitting near me asked to take my bag and put it behind him, which was nice, and lucky for me, a lady in the seat right next to where I was standing, got off the bus about 10 minutes later and gave me her seat :)
The bus never really cleared out until we got into Boaco. I even held a lady's bag on my lap so she wouldn't have to hold it while standing. She really appreciated that. I love being able to do that for people whenever I can because I've seen people do that for others and some have even done it for me. It's just a nice thing to do and I hope that if I do it more, other people will see and do it too. The funny thing about this though is that people do this with their babies too. Yep, people will hand off their babies to strangers to hold their little ones so they don't have to juggle a baby, a bag, and grab the bar to balance. I've been handed a baby of two before and I was just surprised in their trust, but also happy to help.
Ok, so I got back to Boaco finally and was so excited to take a shower and get my laundry ready for when Frank came to wash all our clothes, but wait. There was a giant tank in our living room, the kind they use to store water on the roof and some kind of rubble in front of the house. Apparently they took out our pila (the thing that holds the water) and were going to replace it with a tank, but couldn't do that all in one day, so NO WATER.... Ugh :( Frank was already on his way with a bag full of clothes and I was sweaty and tired from traveling. Not cool. Well, we tried to figure out some way to get water, besides buying those jugs of purified water which would be super expensive, but gave up for the evening and just got dinner and hung out.
The next morning, my awesome counterpart Edwin, came by the house in a taxi and asked for all our buckets and went and got them filled with water to bring back to the house! Wow! What an awesome guy! So, Frank & I set to getting our clothes washed, but unfortunately our washing machine is a little funky and as it was set to "fill", it drained the entire first bucket of water we poured in. Seriously?! Good thing we had more water and my host mom told us how to change it to let the water stay in and then turn in it on when it was already full. Ugh again. Well, we eventually got it going and then had to reload some water for the rinse cycle. I think between pushing all the buttons and turning it on and off a few times, it didn't quite so the full cycle because it "washed" too quickly. I don't think everything got washed as much as it should, but the clothes sat in soapy water for a good 10 minutes so that was enough to get most of the dirt out :)
After the stressful washing experience, I decided to take a "shower", which actually means dumping water over myself with a bowl from a bucket of water. Some people have to do this everyday, so I'm glad I haven't had to do it too often.
Frank and I then set out to do some shopping. We were going to make chili so we needed some cooked beans since cooking beans takes so long here, but we couldn't find anywhere that had any, maybe because it was Sunday? Edwin to the rescue. After we got home from picking up everything else from the store, Edwin secretly dropped off a bowl of cooked beans at my house. I could not believe it. I definitely owe him one!
We ended up making a delicious chili and some yummy cornbread. Also, Frank was super excited to see that our grocery store had butternut squash (very rare for these parts), so we took some home and cooked that up too. I invited Edwin over, but he didn't have his phone on him and didn't get my messages until later. Bummer. We shared out delicious creation with my family though and they appreciated that.
Today Frank had to head back to his site and it makes me feel like today is Sunday, because our schedules are all out of whack and he usually goes home on Sundays... Anyway, it was so nice having here since it's been awhile since he's been able to come to Boaco. He's been working super hard on his "summer" camp for his project, but now that's over.
Today is Jasser's birthday and I made a cake for him, which he is pretty excited about. We're going to celebrate tonight, but not exactly sure what we're doing yet. I'm supposed to have my community class this afternoon, but we can't find a school that's open since all the vacation stuff, so we might have to postpone it... That's not too out of the ordinary though.
Other news: we only have about 15 weeks left here, which is 3 1/2 months, but I'm using my chain week system :) I really can't believe it! I'm super excited, but that means I gotta a lot of things to do in a little bit of time. Let's get things going! I wanna get over to Frank's and help him with his world maps so he doesn't stress out too much about getting those finished. It would be a fun project to help out with and I've never been to his schools before.
Well, that's all for now I guess. Enjoy a few pictures from my trip:
This past week I had a neat opportunity to go visit some English teachers on Ometepe Island. My friend Monica and I were working at an Embassy camp for English teachers in January and met some cool teachers there, and some invited us to visit them. We took advantage of that and finally now in July, we made it to Ometepe and we had a blast!
It was quite a stressful morning the day we left because of some taxi issues and people bombarding me at the bus terminal trying to get me on their bus, but after we were together, everything went smooth and we got to our friend Sara's house. We were greeted with a welcome sign and balloons. It was really sweet :) Sara had already made dinner for us and we all ate together. Dimas, another English teacher, met us at the bus stop and walked with us to Sara's house. It was a nice welcome and we were glad to finally be there, since it took us just about 10 hours in travel time from our houses to her's, which included a few buses, a taxi trip, and a ferry across the lake.
We relaxed a little, but then it was time to party. There happened to be a free concert that night so they took us out and we danced the night away. I felt bad because her two kids (7 and 11) were there too, just hanging out on the side and they were clearly exhausted as we approached 11:30pm. Thankfully, we hit a good stopping point and I rounded everybody up to head home.
The next day we went to a local swimming hole/touristy natural springs water area. It was neat and they had a rope swing from a tree which I almost killed myself with, but thankfully I just missed the concrete and slipped into the shallow water. Needless to say, Monica did not follow me on the tree swing. I'm glad I went first, and I'm glad I didn't kill myself or get a serious concussion. After we were done soaking up the natural waters, we headed over to a nearby beach and played in the waves with the kids. It was actually a pretty clean beach and the water was calm and stayed shallow for quite a ways out there, which was nice for the kids.
Our next adventure was hiking to a waterfall on the other side of the island. We were supposed to leave early, but our transportation failed, so we ended up waiting around a couple hours before heading out. However, we took advantage of this "extra" time to walk around the park and take some pictures of the neat little town. Getting to the waterfall park entrance was an adventure in itself since the roads are horrible. And when I say horrible, I mean it. The road was so rocky that only one or two buses make that trip per day and we didn't many cars, only a couple of motorcycles and a few sad tourists on bicycles. Well, we got there and got in the park which had its fair share of poor roads and lots of steep hills just to get to the hiking part. The waterfall greeted us about an hour later, as sweat poured down our bodies. It was much cooler up there in the trees and the water spraying off the rock wall. The water wasn't too bad stepping in, but posing for a group picture right under the waterfall was numbing. We had our "photographer" take a few quick pics and then we all ran out of the small pool as quickly as we could. We enjoyed a nice little lunch of sandwiches that Monice & I had made, along with chips and cookies. Yum :)
Our last full day included another late start and transportation issues. A friend brought over a couple extra bikes so Dimas, Monica, and I rode the bikes over to a nearby beach and hung out there for awhile. The water wasn't too clean, but we stayed awhile and played in the sand. Later that afternoon, we found some transportation and went to a beach area and rented a few kayaks to take out as the sun was setting and then we just hung out on the beach and laughed the night away. It was a nice end to our last full day.
Getting off the island wasn't as rough as the morning we had getting to the island, thankfully. We said our goodbyes, hopped on a bus, and then waited for the ferry. We actually saw another PCV with her friend and chatted with them on the ferry ride. Our plan for getting off the ferry, going to the bathroom, and then finding a bus was shortened as the bus was parked right off the ferry and many people were running to get on, so there was no time for a trip to the bathroom. Oh well. The bus left quickly and got us on our way.
I got off in Masaya and that's where Monica and I parted ways as she continued to Managua. I wanted to take the shorter route and avoid Managua altogether since I had so much difficulty with taxis and I just hate dealing with them in general. So, I waited for my short cut bus and one passed by a little later and it was getting pretty full. It wasn't too bad besides the fact that I had my big hiking pack on. It wasn't stuffed to the brim, but it's basically like having another person strapped to your back when you're in a bus because it doesn't make passing by other people very easy. I eventually got a seat and my backpack sat on my lap.
The next stop, I decided to take a bathroom break because I figured I had a little time before my Boaco bus would come. I paid the price, received my wad of toilet paper, started heading to the latrines, and then glanced back as I saw a bus pull up. I checked to see where it was going and of course it said Boaco. Ugh. That never happens when I don't have to go to the bathroom! Well, I skipped the bathroom and ran to the back of the bus, along with about 20 other people. The bus was extremely packed and this lady was trying to carry a giant suitcase on with her instead of putting it on top. Yeah right. The guy took that from her immediately. I was holding on to the back ladder as people pushed in the back, and the bus started rolling forward so I jumped off and started walking away because I was not going to be riding on the back with a backpack on. The bus guy came over and asked me why I was leaving, as if the bus wasn't obviously overflowing with people. He ensured me that there was indeed space for me and pushed me in the back and closed the door behind me. Well, at least I was on I guess. The guy sitting near me asked to take my bag and put it behind him, which was nice, and lucky for me, a lady in the seat right next to where I was standing, got off the bus about 10 minutes later and gave me her seat :)
The bus never really cleared out until we got into Boaco. I even held a lady's bag on my lap so she wouldn't have to hold it while standing. She really appreciated that. I love being able to do that for people whenever I can because I've seen people do that for others and some have even done it for me. It's just a nice thing to do and I hope that if I do it more, other people will see and do it too. The funny thing about this though is that people do this with their babies too. Yep, people will hand off their babies to strangers to hold their little ones so they don't have to juggle a baby, a bag, and grab the bar to balance. I've been handed a baby of two before and I was just surprised in their trust, but also happy to help.
Ok, so I got back to Boaco finally and was so excited to take a shower and get my laundry ready for when Frank came to wash all our clothes, but wait. There was a giant tank in our living room, the kind they use to store water on the roof and some kind of rubble in front of the house. Apparently they took out our pila (the thing that holds the water) and were going to replace it with a tank, but couldn't do that all in one day, so NO WATER.... Ugh :( Frank was already on his way with a bag full of clothes and I was sweaty and tired from traveling. Not cool. Well, we tried to figure out some way to get water, besides buying those jugs of purified water which would be super expensive, but gave up for the evening and just got dinner and hung out.
The next morning, my awesome counterpart Edwin, came by the house in a taxi and asked for all our buckets and went and got them filled with water to bring back to the house! Wow! What an awesome guy! So, Frank & I set to getting our clothes washed, but unfortunately our washing machine is a little funky and as it was set to "fill", it drained the entire first bucket of water we poured in. Seriously?! Good thing we had more water and my host mom told us how to change it to let the water stay in and then turn in it on when it was already full. Ugh again. Well, we eventually got it going and then had to reload some water for the rinse cycle. I think between pushing all the buttons and turning it on and off a few times, it didn't quite so the full cycle because it "washed" too quickly. I don't think everything got washed as much as it should, but the clothes sat in soapy water for a good 10 minutes so that was enough to get most of the dirt out :)
After the stressful washing experience, I decided to take a "shower", which actually means dumping water over myself with a bowl from a bucket of water. Some people have to do this everyday, so I'm glad I haven't had to do it too often.
Frank and I then set out to do some shopping. We were going to make chili so we needed some cooked beans since cooking beans takes so long here, but we couldn't find anywhere that had any, maybe because it was Sunday? Edwin to the rescue. After we got home from picking up everything else from the store, Edwin secretly dropped off a bowl of cooked beans at my house. I could not believe it. I definitely owe him one!
We ended up making a delicious chili and some yummy cornbread. Also, Frank was super excited to see that our grocery store had butternut squash (very rare for these parts), so we took some home and cooked that up too. I invited Edwin over, but he didn't have his phone on him and didn't get my messages until later. Bummer. We shared out delicious creation with my family though and they appreciated that.
Today Frank had to head back to his site and it makes me feel like today is Sunday, because our schedules are all out of whack and he usually goes home on Sundays... Anyway, it was so nice having here since it's been awhile since he's been able to come to Boaco. He's been working super hard on his "summer" camp for his project, but now that's over.
Today is Jasser's birthday and I made a cake for him, which he is pretty excited about. We're going to celebrate tonight, but not exactly sure what we're doing yet. I'm supposed to have my community class this afternoon, but we can't find a school that's open since all the vacation stuff, so we might have to postpone it... That's not too out of the ordinary though.
Other news: we only have about 15 weeks left here, which is 3 1/2 months, but I'm using my chain week system :) I really can't believe it! I'm super excited, but that means I gotta a lot of things to do in a little bit of time. Let's get things going! I wanna get over to Frank's and help him with his world maps so he doesn't stress out too much about getting those finished. It would be a fun project to help out with and I've never been to his schools before.
Well, that's all for now I guess. Enjoy a few pictures from my trip:
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| Ferry to the island |
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| Monica on the ferry |
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| Island--can you see the two volcanoes? |
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| Welcome to the island! |
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| Our welcome sign at Sara's house :) |
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| Dinner! |
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| Swimming area with natural springs water |
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| Our group :) |
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| Sara's sons |
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| Tree swing |
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| Towel skirts on the beach |
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| Walking around town |
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| Volcano statue in central park |
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| Monica trying out the slide |
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| Boat benches around the water and volcanoes area |
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| Dimas, our "tour guide"--he got in free by saying he was our guide haha |
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| Finally got to the waterfall! |
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| Freezing! |
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| Beach time after |
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| I love sunsets! |
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| Bike ride to the beach |
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| Hanging out in a tree |
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| Beach! |
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| Volcano |
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| Another beautiful sunset |
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| Monica, Sara, me, Dimas |
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Anxiety
I've been feeling pretty anxious lately, and things start to make me feel pretty overwhelmed quickly. Today I had to focus my mind and take some deep breaths. My host sister even told me I looked very serious today and asked if I was sick. I've just been stressed and trying to figure out how to do too many things at once.
So, I have my classes to consider. I've been helping A LOT with the Access program and it's super difficult trying to divide my time between the two groups which unfortunately have class at the same time, so I feel like I'm letting them down :(
Then, I have my teacher at the public school that I barely get to see because she only has morning classes 2 days a week and I've missed some with trips to Managua and vacation. The public school is just a big stress for me. I really don't like being there because there are WAY too many kids there just running around not doing what they're supposed to and there are no consequences to their actions. Then, since I barely get to see this teacher, I don't really know what she's doing in class and she can't really speak English so that makes things interesting. Now there's a new teacher who replaced my old counterpart and she's asking me to help her with all of her classes, but I had just decided to stop working with my old counterpart before all the controversy happened...ugh! I've been kinda avoiding this new girl, who by the way is only 19 years old and teaching high school. Yikes! I feel bad for avoiding her, but I think it's part of my anxiety lately.
Ok, also I'm right in the middle of my research and survey madness, spending hours and days and weeks on my computer searching for contacts to send out my surveys and trying to respond to emails from school districts and complete specific research proposals. I went to Managua to meet with the Country Director about my project and ask for her support with volunteer surveys and that meeting went really well and the email got sent out right away. That helped!
Oh and I have a boyfriend. When I feel totally overwhelmed he can usually calm me down, but he's busy too with all of his projects, so when I can't vent, that's frustrating. I'm so thankful I got to be with him this weekend though, even for a short visit. Stress relief: we cooked together, played games together, watched a movie together, went out to dinner together, and just talked about life. I love my man.
Another thing...my teaching license renewal process has been driving me crazy since I didn't receive my renewal packet, but I found the forms online. Unfortunately though, I still have to print them all out and send them in. I hope the mail system here doesn't fail me on this one!
One more thing, Gonzaga. So my program has not been the best about communicating with me and just plain "checking in". That's been a disaster. I gave up awhile back, but then I really needed some help with transcript issues and about a month and a half later, they're finally taking care of it. Not cool.
Oh yeah, my Nicaragua. Just being back with all the quirks of my Nica family and Nica culture has been driving me crazy. I got a little upset with a bus guy today, and that's when I did my deep breaths.
Ok, this one is the last I promise. Everyone asking me what I'm doing when I get done and where I'm going to be. This is something I should be excited about, but it creates anxiety too because things are coming up quickly which means I gotta make some decisions, finish up my service, wrap up my research, and figure out my life. Yuck. Haha
Well, there ya go. I dumped it all out on my screen for you. I have had anxiety attacks in the past, but now that I'm aware of what it is when I feel that way, I'm a little better about focusing and calming down. Part of me just wants to be done here because all I wanna do is go HOME and curl up on my couch and be with all things familiar and comfortable. I know that's not possible right now and I really don't want to just check out and not finish things. It's a struggle right now, but my fellow PCVs whom I've talked to are pretty much in the same boat, and the PCV manual says these feelings right now are completely normal. I'm not sure if that's as comforting as it's supposed to be, but I'll take it.
Right now I'll be positive and take things one step at a time.
So, I have my classes to consider. I've been helping A LOT with the Access program and it's super difficult trying to divide my time between the two groups which unfortunately have class at the same time, so I feel like I'm letting them down :(
Then, I have my teacher at the public school that I barely get to see because she only has morning classes 2 days a week and I've missed some with trips to Managua and vacation. The public school is just a big stress for me. I really don't like being there because there are WAY too many kids there just running around not doing what they're supposed to and there are no consequences to their actions. Then, since I barely get to see this teacher, I don't really know what she's doing in class and she can't really speak English so that makes things interesting. Now there's a new teacher who replaced my old counterpart and she's asking me to help her with all of her classes, but I had just decided to stop working with my old counterpart before all the controversy happened...ugh! I've been kinda avoiding this new girl, who by the way is only 19 years old and teaching high school. Yikes! I feel bad for avoiding her, but I think it's part of my anxiety lately.
Ok, also I'm right in the middle of my research and survey madness, spending hours and days and weeks on my computer searching for contacts to send out my surveys and trying to respond to emails from school districts and complete specific research proposals. I went to Managua to meet with the Country Director about my project and ask for her support with volunteer surveys and that meeting went really well and the email got sent out right away. That helped!
Oh and I have a boyfriend. When I feel totally overwhelmed he can usually calm me down, but he's busy too with all of his projects, so when I can't vent, that's frustrating. I'm so thankful I got to be with him this weekend though, even for a short visit. Stress relief: we cooked together, played games together, watched a movie together, went out to dinner together, and just talked about life. I love my man.
Another thing...my teaching license renewal process has been driving me crazy since I didn't receive my renewal packet, but I found the forms online. Unfortunately though, I still have to print them all out and send them in. I hope the mail system here doesn't fail me on this one!
One more thing, Gonzaga. So my program has not been the best about communicating with me and just plain "checking in". That's been a disaster. I gave up awhile back, but then I really needed some help with transcript issues and about a month and a half later, they're finally taking care of it. Not cool.
Oh yeah, my Nicaragua. Just being back with all the quirks of my Nica family and Nica culture has been driving me crazy. I got a little upset with a bus guy today, and that's when I did my deep breaths.
Ok, this one is the last I promise. Everyone asking me what I'm doing when I get done and where I'm going to be. This is something I should be excited about, but it creates anxiety too because things are coming up quickly which means I gotta make some decisions, finish up my service, wrap up my research, and figure out my life. Yuck. Haha
Well, there ya go. I dumped it all out on my screen for you. I have had anxiety attacks in the past, but now that I'm aware of what it is when I feel that way, I'm a little better about focusing and calming down. Part of me just wants to be done here because all I wanna do is go HOME and curl up on my couch and be with all things familiar and comfortable. I know that's not possible right now and I really don't want to just check out and not finish things. It's a struggle right now, but my fellow PCVs whom I've talked to are pretty much in the same boat, and the PCV manual says these feelings right now are completely normal. I'm not sure if that's as comforting as it's supposed to be, but I'll take it.
Right now I'll be positive and take things one step at a time.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
A new way to recycle
Ok, so it might cost you a little more, but instead of throwing all those magazines and newspapers in the recycling bin, why not send them down to Nicaragua (make a tax-deductible donation)?
A big THANK YOU to all who have already contributed to our "Library". My students were so happy today when I showed up with a box full of newspapers, magazines, and books (all in English). One student picked up a newspaper page and pointed to the date and said "Look it's from now!" (noting that it was June, 2012). That was pretty cute :)
I know these things are kinda heavy, but these kids (and teachers) really need English resources. It is very difficult to find English reading material and any sort of reading material is usually fairly expensive. I created a small "library" to keep in class so students can borrow a material and bring it back the next day (newspaper & magazines) or the next week (books). If you'd like to send some books, really any level would be great. We have quite a range of English levels, but probably the majority would be middle/high school level books.
Thanks so much for considering helping out some students and teachers here to improve their English skills and give them hope for a better job in the future.
A big THANK YOU to all who have already contributed to our "Library". My students were so happy today when I showed up with a box full of newspapers, magazines, and books (all in English). One student picked up a newspaper page and pointed to the date and said "Look it's from now!" (noting that it was June, 2012). That was pretty cute :)
I know these things are kinda heavy, but these kids (and teachers) really need English resources. It is very difficult to find English reading material and any sort of reading material is usually fairly expensive. I created a small "library" to keep in class so students can borrow a material and bring it back the next day (newspaper & magazines) or the next week (books). If you'd like to send some books, really any level would be great. We have quite a range of English levels, but probably the majority would be middle/high school level books.
Thanks so much for considering helping out some students and teachers here to improve their English skills and give them hope for a better job in the future.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Catching up
Well, I'm back in Nicaragua and it certainly felt weird when I first got here, but now things are slowly starting to feel like normal. Honestly, I wanted to stay in the States a little longer, extend that vacay, but that just wasn't possible. So, here I am in Boaco trying to get things organized for the rest of my time here and some things for back home. Suddenly I feel so overwhelmed with a load of things I have to do. My research stuff has been going fairly well and I have a meeting about it actually with the PC Country Director. I just wanna get all that done and over with, but I know that I'll be working on that til next spring when I go back to Gonzaga. Ugh. I gotta renew my teaching license as well and I've been waiting to hear back from them, but apparently I can fill out things online, which makes it a little easier. They still haven't contacted me or sent me the info though which is annoying. I'm waiting to hear back from Gonzaga too about a transcript issue which I have to wait for in order to submit my teaching license renewal. Seriously!? I hate when so many things are out of my control and I'm just waiting for someone to get back to me. Blah.
Being back here has been pretty good so far. Loved being greeted by my host family and seeing Frank's too. I got to see my Access students today and gave them all little American flags. I'm taking books and newspapers tomorrow. I have my community class tonight and I can't go to the instituto tomorrow because I have meetings in Managua.
I'm just feeling anxious to move on. That might sound bad, but I've been here for a long time now and I just feel ready to get going on the next chapter of my life. I know I need to enjoy the rest of my time here and finish strong, but I'm just feeling a little blah. I was having so much fun on vacation and soaking up all the comforts I miss from the USA, but now it's back to "reality", or my reality for the next 4 months. Ok, I think I can handle that. Just 4 months left. Frank and I have been talking about when we want to leave and we need to submit a request soon, so that's kinda cool to think about. I just feel there's too many things smashed into right now that I gotta get done. I think the next few months might continue to feel that way though...
My countdown chain is shortening which is fun to see. Now it's too short for Dyland to reach--he almost broke it once. I'm sure it looks like a pretty fun toy to him. Well, actually anything does these days. He grabs anything and everything.
I love being here with my host family, but I really miss my home and my family and my friends. I miss Frank's family & home too. And, believe it or not, I miss Frank! It was hard saying goodbye to him Saturday after spending almost 2 whole weeks with him. It was so nice being able to see him everyday and now it's back to weekends. I think that's a big part of why I want to be done here, but I know other PCVs that are ready to be done too.
Well, I got all my pictures from the trip posted on Facebook, which took forever. I wanted to do that before I came back, but just didn't have time, so I had to do it all on my slower internet and my internet browsers are giving me heck so that wasn't too fun. But, they're on there so it's all done now. Just going through some videos to post later.
Ok, well back to work since I have to many things to think about right now.
Being back here has been pretty good so far. Loved being greeted by my host family and seeing Frank's too. I got to see my Access students today and gave them all little American flags. I'm taking books and newspapers tomorrow. I have my community class tonight and I can't go to the instituto tomorrow because I have meetings in Managua.
I'm just feeling anxious to move on. That might sound bad, but I've been here for a long time now and I just feel ready to get going on the next chapter of my life. I know I need to enjoy the rest of my time here and finish strong, but I'm just feeling a little blah. I was having so much fun on vacation and soaking up all the comforts I miss from the USA, but now it's back to "reality", or my reality for the next 4 months. Ok, I think I can handle that. Just 4 months left. Frank and I have been talking about when we want to leave and we need to submit a request soon, so that's kinda cool to think about. I just feel there's too many things smashed into right now that I gotta get done. I think the next few months might continue to feel that way though...
My countdown chain is shortening which is fun to see. Now it's too short for Dyland to reach--he almost broke it once. I'm sure it looks like a pretty fun toy to him. Well, actually anything does these days. He grabs anything and everything.
I love being here with my host family, but I really miss my home and my family and my friends. I miss Frank's family & home too. And, believe it or not, I miss Frank! It was hard saying goodbye to him Saturday after spending almost 2 whole weeks with him. It was so nice being able to see him everyday and now it's back to weekends. I think that's a big part of why I want to be done here, but I know other PCVs that are ready to be done too.
Well, I got all my pictures from the trip posted on Facebook, which took forever. I wanted to do that before I came back, but just didn't have time, so I had to do it all on my slower internet and my internet browsers are giving me heck so that wasn't too fun. But, they're on there so it's all done now. Just going through some videos to post later.
Ok, well back to work since I have to many things to think about right now.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Status Update
So I'm here in Maryland, enjoying the lake life. Sorry for not keeping up with my blog. I've been super busy, but good busy. The first couple of days I drug Frank around to stores such as Target to pick up some things I can't get in Nicaragua, which he wasn't entirely chipper about, but he did get some new shoes so that made him happy.
We went out for Mexican food and I got my fill on chips and salsa which kept a smile on my face all night. Frank and I went to Baltimore too and walked around the inner harbor and over to Fort McHenry--that's a long story! It was 100+ degrees out and Frank decided we should just walk to the Fort because it didn't look too far away on the map. It was more than 5 miles. Not fun. I got a cold from the airplane ride so my sinuses were all crazy so I was exhausted and definitely whiny. After we got to the Fort,we realized that there are free buses that go around town that we could have taken. Ugh. Needless to say, we took the bus back and it was so nice since it had AC too :)
Frank and I got to spend some time with his family before his dad and brothers headed out for their scout trip in New Mexico. It was nice to hang out at the house again. We're at the lake now and have been since Sunday. It's been wonderful. Frank and I have been sailing, out boating and tubing with the others, eaten lots of delicious American food, and even cooked Nica food for "our" night to make dinner. Everybody loved it too.
This is a short blog just to update you all on things I've been doing. I'll post pictures later. I just don't wanna spend too much time on here while I have such a short time left in Maryland. It's been great so far and I don't wanna have to say goodbye to the family, but hopefully I'll be seeing them again soon...
We went out for Mexican food and I got my fill on chips and salsa which kept a smile on my face all night. Frank and I went to Baltimore too and walked around the inner harbor and over to Fort McHenry--that's a long story! It was 100+ degrees out and Frank decided we should just walk to the Fort because it didn't look too far away on the map. It was more than 5 miles. Not fun. I got a cold from the airplane ride so my sinuses were all crazy so I was exhausted and definitely whiny. After we got to the Fort,we realized that there are free buses that go around town that we could have taken. Ugh. Needless to say, we took the bus back and it was so nice since it had AC too :)
Frank and I got to spend some time with his family before his dad and brothers headed out for their scout trip in New Mexico. It was nice to hang out at the house again. We're at the lake now and have been since Sunday. It's been wonderful. Frank and I have been sailing, out boating and tubing with the others, eaten lots of delicious American food, and even cooked Nica food for "our" night to make dinner. Everybody loved it too.
This is a short blog just to update you all on things I've been doing. I'll post pictures later. I just don't wanna spend too much time on here while I have such a short time left in Maryland. It's been great so far and I don't wanna have to say goodbye to the family, but hopefully I'll be seeing them again soon...
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