Closure

So, my community class has been a little sporadic lately and it's been driving me crazy because I wanted to finish it by the end of this month, but that ain't happening.  I just wanted to organize our schedule and finish since the attendance was so flaky and we're getting near the end of my service here anyway, but I wanted to have some closure.  I didn't want to just call all my students and say, sorry, we're done now.  So, finally, all my students showed up last night to class and we reviewed past topics and talked about the class finishing up.  We decided we would have about 2 more weeks with a final test on Oct. 8th and on the 11th of October we will have a little party & I will give them certificates.  Phew!  Glad we got that taken care of!

I can't believe we're in the last week of September and October is quickly approaching. We're going to have a big party for our group of PCVs (Nica 54--both mine & Frank's groups) here in Boaco this next month so I'm excited for that.  Then, we have our final presentation to Peace Corps about our projects at the end of October, then another party for PCVs (can't have too many parties of course).  And then I'll be doing a lot of goodbyes.  That will be interesting.  I don't wanna think too much about that yet ;)

Girls Night

Man, do I love my girls nights!  I do love Frank too of course, but I don't get many girls nights here so this was super fun!  Melissa, one of my friends in a smaller town outside of Boaco, was coming over to hang out yesterday and another one called to join in on the fun and of course we complied.  The more the better :)  So, we hung out, cruised around the town, bought some delicious goodies, and ate some pupusas for dinner on the way back to my place.  My friends don't get internet in their sites so all 3 computers were running and we were sharing things we found interesting and just lounging around my room.  We had to pull in an extra mattress and then my room became a great hang out. 

Later we poured some drinks and watched some TV shows online and laughed the night away.  Melissa & I stayed up chatting and talking about life and such, then found some online shopping excitement.  Needless to say, we were hooked and finding all sorts of neat stuff that we can only wish for for later haha  But, we did have a very good time and didn't turn the lights off til 3am, but still giggled at comments in the dark.  I love my girls nights.

Molasses

I don't like molasses and so it makes it even worse that my computer is acting just like molasses!  Ugh.  I really can't wait to get a new computer.  It's not that I need to catch up with the latest trend in technology.  This baby is old.  Several people here (Nicas & Gringos) have called my computer a dinosaur.  It's large, but definitely not in charge, and the electrical currents here really sucked the life out of it!  I didn't think it was too bad before, besides it being pretty heavy and awkward to lug around, but man is it slow now!  Also, the battery only lasts for 30 minutes tops (when not plugged in). Yuck!  This means that when the power goes out, I basically have to shut things down or it will turn off soon enough. 

I'm looking forward to getting something a little smaller, lighter, and faster.  Come to think of it, that'd be a nice upgrade for myself ;)

P.S. I also flooded the kitchen this morning trying to fill up buckets of water for a shower & to wash clothes, but I didn't feel too bad because my family has done that a million times before and they weren't home when it happened.  Hazzel just wandered into the kitchen and then started helping me clean up the mess :)

Bathtime

I kinda feel embarrassed writing this, but I'm gonna be honest with y'all.  Since the water went out Wednesday morning, I hadn't been able to take a shower this week and we finally got water today so I feel clean now as it was day 3 without water (aka no showers, no flushing toilets, nada.).  Bummer.  I really started feeling gross today and my hair was getting a little too shiny, so I sure was glad when I found out my host aunt was back in town and she had water to share.  It was a bucket bath, but it felt so refreshing.  Actually, it was freezing cold at first, but then I got over that and scrubbed every inch of my body with soap and used shampoo and conditioner.  Now we're talking.  It was funny later because I was thinking, well I guess I've gone without a shower longer like when I was camping, but then I realized that when you're camping, you usually don't go to work, teach classes, etc.  Sooooo, yeah.  I felt a little pena (shameful/embarrassed) about that.  Oh well.  At least I'm clean now :) 

I did use some baby wipe type things to "bathe" throughout the week and I also used hand sanitizer for bathroom trips.  Gosh, I never realized how often I wash my hands though and it was so frustrating not to be able to!

Getting things done

Well after a long night, I (well we...story to follow) finally booked our flight HOME :)  It feels so nice to have that taken care of!  After spending many hours with Frank finally getting our plans set and finding cheap flights, and then doing a short search on when the best time to purchase tickets is, I decided that last night was the night.  The did drop about $20 each from before so that's nice and since we changed where we're leaving from, it was also cheaper :)  Saving money already!  So, to that story...

I got everything set to book including the websites, schedules, and credit card information, but the stinkin' thing wouldn't work because I guess it thought I had stolen my mom's credit card since I was in Nicaragua purchasing a ticket for Peru, go figure.  Well, then I had to call up my mom and have her fill in all the information.  But she was working late, and had to call me after and between all of this I was calling Frank to check details, etc.  I had my hands-free set on my cell on for Frank and was using my Skype phone on the computer to call my mom.  I felt sorta like a travel agent, except not as glamorous as it may sound.  Around 11:30pm or so we finally got the tickets booked (because yes, it had to be last night to get the best deal and just to get it all taken care of) and I was exhausted.  I called Frank after to confirm and didn't get to bed until well after midnight :( 

This morning my body did not allow me to get out of bed before 9am.  Yikes!  I think it was all the stress...  Anyway, I did eventually get out of the house today.  I went to the preschool with Ruth & Dyland again and unfortunately, they said they were too full so Dyland couldn't enter :(  So sad because he gets so excited when we visit and he sees all the other kids.  He really should be in a school type atmosphere because he just cruises around the house all day, watches TV, and then today he took a pen around and decided to color all over the walls, his clothes, and his body.  Nice.  Needless to say, they don't pay attention to him as often as they should and he really needs to be around kids his own age.  Bummer about the preschool.  We did take him to the park after to play which was fun.  The play-set is a little too big for him, but we climbed up there and helped him on the slide.  He LOVES the slide :)

After we got back I was looking up more flight stuff for our flight from Panama to Peru (we're taking a bus from Nicaragua to Panama to check out the Canal & things for a few days there before heading to Peru) and Ruth delivered lunch to me.  She's such a sweetheart.  

It's sort of an omelet thing with tomatoes on top, rice, and some french fries. 

In the afternoon I went to the instituto again since I told the teacher I would be there.  I almost left because I was waiting for awhile and she wasn't there and she wasn't on the bus with me, but she eventually showed up.  Oh, speaking of the bus.  One of my Access students offered me a seat and he talked to me for about 20 minutes all in English.  I was so proud of him!  A lot of times the students are too nervous to speak to me in English, but he was telling me all about the class this morning (that I slept through...oops!) and other things.  It was a nice conversation & I noticed several students looking over at us because we were speaking only in English--I think they were surprised he could speak so much with me :)  So, back to the instituto.  When the teacher finally got there, we chatted and I asked her if she was teaching the same lesson from yesterday (it was a different group of students), and she said yes.  So, I told her that I was going to observe the lesson and she got a little nervous, but I told her to not worry and I would just watch.  We ended up moving outside because the school is under construction and they were painting so we were inhaling paint fumes.  Yuck!  The teacher found an extra dry-erase board and we headed outside, which is not uncommon, especially right now with the construction.  It's funny because everytime I got there I think, oh my gosh there's no way students or teachers would be allowed to walk through here or even be here period.  It's a construction site.  Things are hanging down, they're installing the roofing, painting, etc.  It's kinda crazy, but they can't just cancel class for 5 months, right?  Well, it seems like most of the students aren't there anyway.

Ok, ok.  So she taught, I slipped in for some extra help and we finished the lesson.  After I took a few minutes to talk to her about the things that I liked, and gave her some suggestions.  I encouraged her to use more English, which is very difficult for her.  She barely uses any and I think she is just very embarrassed to pronounce anything in front of me even though I told her it's okay and it doesn't have to be perfect.  She doesn't have very much confidence in her English abilities, but she's practicing so that's good.  Here we are:

Observing my counterpart teacher

Me teaching a bit

Explaining some things

After I got back from the instituto, there was another flight to book, and yet the same thing happened again and my mom even got a call about suspicious activity on her credit card.  It was actually a good thing she got the call though because last night's attempt actually charged her twice, and that was through Delta Airlines' website, not even a third-party page.  Weird.   Well, she got all that cleared up and I gave her instructions for the next flight (Panama-Peru).  Now, I'm happy to say that we have our flights booked: Panama-Peru, then Peru to Portland.  Wow, all P's haha  We just gotta figure out all the buses later but that will be a little easier (I might take that statement back later haha).  Right now I'm just glad we got all of that taken care of since we'll be leaving in less than 2 months.  Only 8 weeks...

Back to the grind

I like school and being in class and seeing the students and talking with teachers and giving lessons and all that stuff.  I bet you're thinking, well that's good since you're a teacher ;)  Well, yeah, I guess it is.  Today was a good day teaching-wise.  Well, for the most part.  I enjoyed being in Access class this morning because my attendance has been sporadic thanks to some minor medical issues and some major senioritis!  It was good seeing my students and hearing them use their English.  They still have a lot to work on, but they're doing really well and it's exciting to hear them speak.  Today we took a group picture and I took advantage of this opportunity to do my newspaper picture--taking a pic for my local newspaper back home.  Unfortunately though, I didn't have my camera, just my phone and apparently I didn't get the big group picture with me in it on my phone, but Edwin has it on his camera so hopefully I'll get that soon so I can send it in.  I told the students that they could be famous, so I don't wanna let them down ;)

This is the older group--been with them since the beginning.  They really do know how to take a picture ;)

Both groups :)

I even went to the instituto as much as I dread going, but it turned out to not be so bad.  I then rushed home because Ruth wanted me to go with her to take Dyland to the preschool again to see if she could enroll him,but they weren't ready when I got home (even though she told me to come home earlier than I was planning on coming home), then she was feeding Dyland, and then he fell asleep.  Well, another day I guess.  Anyway, I got to play with Dyland later when he woke up and later on that night when he was running around in his jammies.  He's just so stinkin' cute, and I can't resist playing with him when he's in his jammies :) 

Last but not least, I met with a teacher tonight to give him one of the manuals for teaching English from Peace Corps and he was super happy to receive it.  I also gave him an English Bible (thanks to my church back home for sending me those--I've given one to each of my teachers which have really appreciated them!).  He was really happy about that too, especially because Bibles can be expensive and it's really hard to find one in English here, well at least understandable English.  He said he saw one before and the way he described it it must have been old English or something so I'm glad this one will be better for him.  It's funny how religion is so intertwined in everything here.  It's completely acceptable to talk openly about religion here & give people Bibles without offending anyone or breaking any rules.  It's very different.  It has it's pros & cons like anywhere I guess, but today worked out for the better and I was glad to give him that gift.

P.S. That teacher made me write him a note and sign my name in each of those books.  Come to think of it, the last teacher I gave a manual to asked me for the same :)

What a weekend!

This was a long weekend which was super nice to have.  It was one of those weekends where you lose track of what day it is and what obligations you have the following day or week.  Loved it.  Especially because I got to spend it with my main man.  And main man, I mean my only man...don't worry!

We spent lots of time planning out post-PC travels, watching movies, cruising around town running errands, and of course making & eating delicious food!  I usually don't make anything extravagant, especially when I'm just cooking for myself.  Let's be honest, I've been known to just snack all day or eat a peanut butter & jelly sandwich or a bag of popcorn as a meal.  This is not just because I feel lazy, but sometimes I just can't think of what my body wants.  Hmm, weird.  Anyway, it's much easier when Frank's around.  Well, not a ton easier, because we both can be very indecisive and we tend to fall into the "well, do you want this? Well only if you do..." back and forth nonsense haha  Frank is pretty easygoing and I like to make sure everything is ok for the other person--people pleaser?  Well, sorta.  So, we sometimes take awhile to figure things out, but in the end it's usually a good thing :) 

We made some scrumptious fare I might say and even managed to bake cookies without my host family eating all of them!  That was mainly because we stood guard over our cookies the second they came out of the oven and only indulged in them when the others weren't around.  Is that mean?  Oh no, not at all.  These cookies are cherished and if my host family gets ahold of them, they're gone in 30 seconds.  I don't think they even take the time to thoroughly enjoy them.  Ok, maybe I'm talking to much about cookies, but really did make some yummy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with crunchy peanut butter.  Then, to add to the delight, we saved some for later, picked up vanilla ice cream, and made ice cream cookie sandwiches.  Oh yes.  They were amazing and we enjoyed every last bit of them while watching movies and eating popcorn :)  Man, if I could just watch movies, eat popcorn & ice cream all my life, I'd be a happy girl.  Glad I found someone who loves the same things!

To prove that it wasn't all just eating & playing, here's a picture of our post-laundry adventure:

I pretty much made Frank bring all of his dirty clothes and both sets of sheets over to wash in my washing machine and this was him after collecting all the clothes from the lines outside.  After all the laundry was folded, we got back to all the fun :)