JUNE!

JUNE!!!
Ok, so everyone says time flies by in the Peace Corps, despite the slower pace of life in most PC countries. For me, this hasn’t been true until recently. I think it is a good sign. I cannot believe it is already a week into June! We now have a little less than a year and a half left of service…and in September we will have been in Nicaragua for one whole year!
So what’s going on? Well first, I’d like to give a shout out to my little brother Jake who just turned 8 years old!!! And also to my older brother John, who’s age I shall protect, though he isn’t old! And happy Father’s Day to my Papa Bear. ANNNND good luck MAV’s! We are trying desperately to keep up with the NBA Finals here….oddly enough someone can change the channel on the TV’s here while you are watching, so we got the first 5 minutes of the game last night, then the channels magically started changing….finally settling on a friendly soccer match that no one cared about! I don’t have to tell you guys how this made Matt feel…..oh well, I mean I guess it is pretty amazing that we have internet and phone service up here in the mountains!
2 weeks ago, our friends from our TEFL group of volunteers came to visit us in Quilali! It was sooo amazing that 3 people made it to our site! (have I mentioned that we sort of live in the middle of nowhere???) Unfortunately, it rained almost the whole wknd., but it didn’t matter---we talked A LOT, shared classroom battle stories, cooked food, shared some drinks, toured the town a little bit, and got to make dinner by flashlight the last night and make shadow puppets for hours because the power was out most of the night (something we are noticing happens a lot more during rainy season)…..
We recently went back to our training town for a wknd. Because Matt’s host dad passed away not too long ago. Sadly, his host mom lost her mom 3 weeks before her husband died, so she was pretty depressed---it was pretty heartbreaking to see one of the sweetest people in the whole world so upset….but like all Nicas, she has TONS of family around allllll the time…granddaughters, and sons, kids, sisters and brothers…..it really is amazing the emphasis placed on family here and how tight they are in every situation. We watched the funeral on DVD as is the custom and there were lots of hugs and coffee and chatting. It was sort of a sad trip, but REALLY good to see them. And to be out of town for just a bit (we don’t get out a lot and find it makes a HUGE difference in our general attitudes).
Work is going alright….Matt and are planning on presenting at our monthly teacher’s conference this month, so that is exciting. Usually there is not much planned or organized for the English teachers….and we have sort of been waiting to offer a training session until we had a bit more credibility with the teachers…..trust me, it really is a delicate process. I don’t know how to explain it, but this is hard in a way I never imagined…..and like I said, I don’t have the words to explain it quite yet…..maybe someday….
In July we have our second In Service Training---all the volunteers in our group and one of our counterparts get together for about a week and work work work! Somewhat unfortunately, it is planned for the one week we have vacation from school…..a vacation we could really use! But ni modo, or oh well…..then before you know it, it will be August….September marks our one year anniversary of being in country=our mid service doctor check up…and also the big Independence Day celebrations=lots of missed class because of parades and band practice, then October, and then November and the elections….a lot of people are saying that school will end in October instead of December this year because of the elections (I guess they use the schools for casting votes). But this could all be just talk, it is a given, however, that we will miss at least a week or two in November….I won’t comment too much on the elections, but they are pretty controversial this year---I encourage you to read up on it if you have any interest.
Ok, that’s pretty much it for now. Hangin in there and watching the months on the calendar start to fly by, hoping we are making an impact and trying to stay dry in the beautiful rainy season!