Hanging in there

Hmmm, well this weekend was nice because I was able to get a lot done with my research project, mainly lots of emails and such.  I also attended a community service project on Saturday with the Access kids.  Some of them were giving a charla (talk) to pregnant women at the casa materna (house for pregnant women).  The did a good job and I took pictures of course :)  They're working with Liz, the health PCV in town.  We're trying to get them started on their projects, but so far this is the only group really going.  Well, I do have 2 students that come to our community class in the evenings to hang out and help too so I guess that counts.  It's hard to get the kids motivated to do community service though.  My group leaders had pretty good ideas, but they're having a hard time organizing things.  They do have a lot on their plates though, with Access class for 2 hours in the morning, then regular school 5 hours in the afternoon and then homework for both, then try to fit in community service somewhere in their schedules along with extracurricular activities, family & friends time...I don't want to stretch them too thin, but this is part of their program.

Anyway, news about the instituto (public school) where I work: the principal was removed from his position as well as my counterpart so that's interesting.  Apparently it's for the same reasons.  They were looking for another English teacher and the vice principal took over for the principal, but I heard that he may teach at the school.  Hmmm, not sure if that's right, but whatever.  I usually try to avoid all of that stuff over there and do my other work.  I still meet with the lady English teacher, but things are slow with her.  It's hard, but she enjoys having me work with her so that's good :)

This week I'm giving a charla to the new trainees about "coping with stress".  I've given this charla to 2 other groups now so I'm pretty good at it haha  I like this one and it will be fun to meet some newbies.  I will be with the trainees from the small business group.  I actually met one of them because she is visiting Boaco on a volunteer visit with Kelli.  We didn't get to do that in training because of flash flooding during the hurricane, but I think it's a great opportunity to see how a PCV lives and works after training.

Also, one of the PCVs in Frank's group is leaving this month so we're having a little despedida (going away party) for her in Matagalpa so I'll get to say goodbye.  Bummer that she's ETing (Early Termination--leaving early), but she wants to get a job before the school year begins, since our schedule is weird and we don't finish til November.  It kinda makes it difficult for teachers...Oh well.  She's been here for about 2 years and has gotten a lot of good experience, so I'm sure it was all worth it and hopefully she'll get a job!

I think that's about it for now.  THANKS to everyone who has been passing my survey around to teachers!  This really helps me out :)  Just in case you need it again, here it is:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/globaleducationpcmi
And that's for U.S. K-12 public school teachers.