May you step aside for June

Can't believe it's already the last day of May!  Today we had a great day in Access class, talking about community service projects and the students split into groups to work on separate things.  I'm excited for them and they seem pretty interested in their new projects.  It should be pretty cool.  Also, today was their 1 year anniversary of the Access class.  They started last year on this very day.  So, of course they had to celebrate and they brought cake and soda.  Those are always delicious at 9:30 in the morning haha  Oh well.  It's crazy that things have gone by so quickly.  These kids are dear to my heart and I know it will be hard to say goodbye.  They frustrate me sometimes, but I know they're good kids.  I'm looking forward to the rest of my time here working with them.

Side note: I forgot to update you on my counterpart situation.  He was released from jail after his bail was paid on Monday--a whopping $1,200.  Yes, that's dollars.  And yes, that's A LOT of money.  I'm not sure about his job though and nobody is really talking about it--it's been pretty hush hush, which is strange because usually there's a lot of gossip, especially when something scandalous happens.  Hmmm.  Well, for now, I'll just continue working with the Access class and the one teacher at the instituto and we'll see what happens.

Here's a cute picture of Dyland for ya:

¡Feliz dia de la madre!

Happy Mother's Day (again) in Nicaragua!  Today is Mother's Day in Nicaragua and they really go all out here! They celebrated yesterday in the schools, inviting all the mothers and performing dances, songs, poems, and serving them treats.  The schools were decorated and the students practiced their routines for so long.

Private school where we have Access--Edwin decorates as his other job so everything here always looks super nice (and they have the money to do it)

Edwin and his decorations

Ok and now the public school...

Not too shabby, but just wait...

This decoration at the instituto cracked me up.  A fake flower (which is commonly used for decorations here since real ones are WAY too expensive) taped on a wall that's filled with graffiti and dirt, oh and there's a broken desk.

One of my Access students singing an English song

A dance to celebrate mothers I guess

This is one of the traditional dances--their outfits were so nice and new :)

Break dancing for moms

More dancers

Now today, the actual Mother's Day, there is no school.  I went to an event today at the "Casa Materna", a place where pregnant women who live far out of town come to stay and receive assistance before they give birth.  Some PCVs did some projects there and today was a presentation of all of that and a little bit of advertising to show the community what the Casa Materna is all about.  It was pretty neat.  Students from the surrounding schools volunteered to help make gardens and an area where the preggers can do yoga.  There was also a stove project to build an improved stove which produces less smoke and uses less wood.  There were a couple dance performances, a raffle, jewelry for sale (made by the mommas-to-be), snacks, and cake!  I invited my Access students to come to check it out to see if there might be some volunteer opportunities.  It was great because they practiced their English with some of the other "gringos" aka PCVs :) 

Some of my Access students

PCVs selling jewelry that the preggers made

50+ people came :)

Students from the local schools dancing

Jasser won a t-shirt in the raffle

They gave gift bags to the preggers

Yoga so those babies are ready to slide on out

After the event, we all went out to lunch and celebrated a PC staff guy's birthday and got to eat more cake!

PCVs and PC staff: (left to right) Rita (Maternal & Childhood Health), Greg (Environment with Frank), Danny (Past PCV, staff now), Kelli (Small Business), Liz (Maternal & Childhood Health), and me (English, duh!)

After all the events around town, Jasser and I decorated for our lovely mommas at home. 

Opening their gifts--chocolates (and a pic of Jasser for my host mom)

Chocolates...

Happy Mother's Day!

Help a sister out :)

Hey, so I'm working on my master's thesis project which involves some surveys.  If you are a K-12 public school teacher, or know a K-12 public school teacher, please take this survey and/or pass it on to others to help me out :)  THANK YOU oh so much!  Click here to take my survey

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na BATMAN!

Healthy lunch

Today I made some delicious wraps for lunch AND they were super healthy :)  I took some tortillas and cut up some fresh veggies including tomatos, onions, bell peppers, and avocado.  I bought 2 avocados on my way home today from class for less than a dollar total!  I only used a little less than half of one for my wraps so I still have a lot for late. YUM!

Not Sunday again...

I've really begun to dislike Sundays now... Sunday here means that I either have to go back to Boaco and leave Frank or Frank has to go back to Dario and leave me :(  Not so much fun.  Also, we both have to leave before the afternoon comes on Sunday in order to be able to get back to our sites because of the buses.  It just doesn't seem like long enough.  It isn't.  Well, you'd think I'd be use to it by now, but I'm not.  It still leaves me sad and looking forward to the next weekend.  Gosh that makes things difficult.  Well, I cleaned my room to keep my mind off things and that feels nice :) 

Onto other news... one of my host cousins just had a baby a month ago and today she visited with her little one who she apparently named Megan. Such a cute name! haha  We're not really close or anything, but they had hinted at me being the godmother for her too.  I'm not really sure why.  Maybe my host family told them that I paid for Dyland's baptism, which I certainly did not.  Hmmm.  I'm hoping to avoid all that so things don't have to be too awkward haha 

Well, I'm really looking forward to going back to the big, beautiful USA in a month.  Frank & I will get to take a nice little break & it will be great to see his family again.  I'm hoping that the trip will make up for not getting to see him for more than 2 days in a row lately...  Can't wait! 

This Wednesday is Mother's Day in Nicaragua so there are a few events planned and I'm sure school is canceled at least Tuesday and Wednesday, and maybe Thursday as well.  We'll see!

On the mend

So I'm feeling much better, but still have a few more pills left to swallow.  It wasn't very fun just sitting around my house, but I knew it would not be fun to be sick outside of my house.  I've been eating mainly bread, oatmeal, and bananas since I'm not allowed to eat dairy, greasy foods, and such.  I didn't have enough energy to venture out and buy veggies, so bread it was.  I did make some delicious biscuits in my oven which probably contained a little butter, but I survived.

Surprise for me: Frank came to visit :)  Didn't know he was coming until he called me that he was on his way--how sweet.  We actually went out and grabbed some food at a restaurant since I'm feeling better today.  I was so ravished so I ate a little too fast and had to take a break to slow myself down.  It was just so nice to eat different food and something with a little more flavor.  I'm looking forward to the weekend to finish off the pills and get rid of this sickness and spend some time with my main man.  Just wanted you all to know that I was okay!