Well, last week I didn't go to school for a couple reasons. Monday there were no classes because Tuesday was Labor Day and then there weren't any classes Tuesday either. Of course. Then Wednesday I left for Leon to visit Monica and attend the Peace Corps security meeting there because I won't be able to attend the one near my department this week. I went the day before the meeting because it was starting at 9:30am and it takes approximately 4 hours to get there...So, I got to have some time to hang out with Monica and celebrate her birthday, which was Tuesday. I got to see some other PCVs and I got to participate in "Ladies Night" at the movie theater; yes, Leon has a movie theater--totally NOT fair! Anyway, Ladies Night just means that girls get in free. Wahoo! Apparently they've been doing this for a couple months now--every Wednesday is Ladies Night so all we paid for is popcorn :) After the movie, we went out with some friends and met up with my host cousin Benito, who lives in Leon, at a bar to listen to live music. There was a cover, but they also had a special for a free drink. Man, I love Leon! haha
Thursday was the meeting and it was dreadfully long, but we got cookies, coffee, coffeecake, and a lunch :) They try to keep us happy at those things! After my sugar high, we hung out with some other PCVs at a new-er bar type place and just had a couple drinks (I stuck with water since the coffee and coca cola was way more than I needed that morning/afternoon). We hung around town and I got a smoothie later. Really, was that necessary? I never get smoothies so it was special :) We met up with some girls later that night for pizza. I felt so American.
Friday morning I left Leon, which actually was nice because it is so incredibly HOT there! I had been sweating so much so that trip to the movie theater in the AC for 2 hours was absolutely wonderful! I was supposed to go back to Boaco for the English Talent Show that Edwin was planning, but he had to reschedule it so I planned on going to Frank's Friday instead of Saturday morning. BUT, I didn't have the things I needed for the birthday party and my clothes were all super sweaty, so I had to go back to Boaco anyway before Dario. Since I didn't want to get up super early Saturday morning to get there before the birthday lunch, I decided to make a long trip out of the day. I left Leon at 8am, got into Managua around 9:30am, waited for a taxi, got to the other bus terminal, took a bus at 10:30am and arrived in Boaco around 12:15pm. I took a taxi home and cleaned up, repacked, and grabbed a quick cab back up to the bus terminal to leave on the 1pm bus. Am I crazy? You bet! I headed out and arrived in Dario just before 4pm, completely exhausted. Then, Frank asks me if I want to go watch him play ping pong. Well, actually I would like to just sleep here and you can go play...but, I went anyway so he could show off his mad ping pong skills to his girlfriend. It was pretty entertaining, but I didn't last long. He did buy me a frozen chocolate covered banana though :)
That night I was pleasantly surprised that Frank had already gone grocery shopping...he's picking up on some things :) I love that guy! We had a nice dinner at home and couldn't stay awake to watch a movie (our usual tradition).
Saturday was the fiesta filled day. We stayed at the house for the first party, which was for little Maia, the girl who lives in the house where Frank lives. She turned 2 on Saturday and she was so precious! It was a neat little party and not too many people since it was mostly family. It was really hot that day though so we were sweating throughout the day, but managed to squeeze in a few trips to Frank's room to stand in front of the fan.
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| This one's gonna get a frame :) |
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| How cute is she?! AND, check out that Dora the Explorer cake :) |
We met up with some other PCVs that afternoon who were in town for one of Frank's site-mates' birthday. Then we headed over to that party later. He cooked chicken and tortillas for everyone (with the help of the senora in his house) and we had some drinks and danced--my favorite! I'll take credit for keeping the dance party going the whole night. I like love to dance so this was great! Frank even danced with me some :)
I had to leave my boy Sunday, which I hate to do. For some reason this time I felt it
more. Ugh. Hate those moments. At least we don’t live too far away from each
other I guess…
I had time to meet with my counterpart teacher that night
which was good so we could plan for the week.
It was nice catching up with my host aunt too :)
Today was again full of craziness. I went to the Colegio where I teach the
Access class and the new teacher was there—I actually met him at an Embassy
camp for Nica English teachers. He’s
teaching the next level of Access and Edwin will teach the new group of
students. I really like Edwin and so do
the students, but I think it will be a good experience for the students to work
with a different teacher, at least for one level. Anyway, I saw Edwin and German (the new
teacher) and we chatted for awhile. I
found out that the director of the Access program was coming to Boaco to do
interviews with the students for the new group, so I decided to stay after
class to meet with him since I haven’t been there the other times he came to
the school—I was always at the instituto.
So, I met with him and his colleagues and I told him I would help him if
he needed. I got myself into way more
than I bargained for, but I enjoyed it.
I ended up staying there until 2pm, when I only intended to be there
7:30-9:30am. I got to meet the students
who were preselected for the new group and chat with them a little about why
they want to learn English so that was neat.
Then, the director and his colleagues took me out to lunch which was
very nice. However, I didn’t get home
until 3pm and I still had to make some materials for a class I had to be at by
4:30pm. Yikes! I got things together pretty quickly, but unfortunately I didn't have time to take a shower and that was bad because it was really hot today! Oh well.
I grabbed a cab to head out to the other school because it's pretty far away. I met with the teacher and we got a ride out to the seminary where I was going to give a class. It was kind of weird because the teacher had asked me to come and practice pronunciation and such, but the teacher just hung out outside the classroom the whole time. He would have benefited from the lesson and could have helped me with things, but oh well. I finished the lesson at 6pm, like planned and the teacher told me that someone was coming to pick me up to take me back to the first school since we were so far out of town and it was dark. I waited and when it got to 6:45pm and the teacher couldn't get ahold of the other guy, I called my cousin who has a taxi to come pick me up. He got there a few minutes after the other guy finally showed up but I took the taxi because I felt bad having him come all the way out there. So, he took me to class, which I arrived late to, so I didn't have any time for dinner... blah! Class went well and thanks to Edwin, it started on time and it was a fun class. Lucky for me, Edwin usually doesn't have time for dinner before class either so we went out and grabbed some delicious food after. He's a really fun person to hang out with.
I finally got home at 9:30pm. Yuck! I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the instituto which I'm not super excited about since I'm totally exhausted, but oh well. I can take a nap tomorrow I guess.
Peace.
super good to hear from you...
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