Wow, I cannot even begin to express how absolutely amazing it was to see family last week!!!!! I sort of feel like I dreamt it all now that we are back to our regular lives…..We saw some amazing sites, swam in the ocean, went to a Mass, ate all kinds of yummy food, went zip lining and had some run ins with the law (-: All in all, it was awesome. Thank you family. Indeed, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye….lots of tears….that part, well, it just sucked.
So re-entry into life in our site has been a little rough, though I am sort of back into the swing of things now. One of my students committed suicide on Monday….I went to her burial on Tuesday….we had some things go missing from our house while we were out of town…..I am having some stressful issues with some folks I “work” with….all these things on top of just saying Good Bye to our families made the beginning of the week a little tough…..but I am feeling surprisingly more optimistic today.
It was awesome to give our host family and counterparts presents from our real families----they loved everything!!!! Our host family here, even though we don’t live with them anymore, really knows how to make us feel good (-: Their house is one of the places I go when I am feeling down, and I am sure to feel better after a visit.
Our adult community class is going well—every time we have to miss a Friday class, they insist we have a makeup class on Weds AND regular class on Friday=More work for us but it is SO AWESOME how motivated they are…..we gave them a list of the 300 most frequently used words in English, and over the holiday one student looked up every single word! We are thinking of adding some more Community Classes since they seem to be one of the things that make us happier (-:
We have a workshop coming up in a few weeks in a nearby (2.5 hour bus ride) town. Really Matt and I are just giving an hour and a half presentation with another volunteer about communicative activities. A volunteer who has been here a year longer than us is really leading the event. All of our counterparts plus all the other English professors from our municipality say they are going to attend. Supposedly, about 40 Nicaraguan teachers have signed up. It is super exciting because they will all be receiving a Teaching English Manual----complete with activity ideas etc. Right now, most English teachers here have no books….they are given a topic to teach, such as Human Rights etc….and they just have to decide what to teach! I also think it will be great for all the teachers to have the same book. They are paying a fraction of the price, thanks to US AID and PC. I am excited about this, even though it means lots more bus time )-:
Ok, sending the biggest hugs you guys can imagine….I really can’t wait to give them in person….please keep the updates, cards, phone calls, emails etc. coming!!!
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