Día del Maestro Nicaragüense.

With much mystery and anticipation I have arrived at the celebrations of the “Day of the Nicaraguan Teacher.” The last two days have been so much fun. Thursday of this week we had a school-wide celebration to celebrate all the teachers at school. It was put on by the administrators and student council. On arriving to school all the teachers met at the technical workshops across the street from the main school buildings. We were then personally escorted over to the main school by sharply dressed students. As we walked in we were met with a standing ovation of over 1400 students and parents. It was slightly overwhelming. But, I must say, much less so than when I first got here. There were cultural acts including: dances, poems, rapping, and singing. There were also games for the teachers to win prizes. I won an obnoxiously bright bag with sea creatures all over it. After the assembly the students dispersed to their classrooms where they had prepared parties for their teachers. Since a handful of us teachers don’t have our own classes we walked around, danced to bumping music, drank pop, and ate tons of food. Nicaraguans love to dance. Many of the classrooms had huge stereo systems set up with speakers loud enough to fill a gymnasium. Everyone danced till they were made to leave. It was so hot. Everyone was sweating. And no one cared.

Jamil, Dora, and me



Traditional dances and Palo de Mayo




On Friday all the teachers, administrators, and grounds grew (60+ staff) piled into a school bus and headed to the beach at Masachapa a little over an hour away. Fe y Alegría hosted all the teachers from their 20 plus schools from all over the country at a beautiful beach resort for a day of fun and recreation. We were each given fruit and pop and we ate huge fried fish for lunch. The ocean water was really warm and the crystal clear pool was refreshing and bright. It was really good to get out of Managua and to share something fun with my coworkers. I had a slow start getting to know them and making connections. However, yesterday was a really good indicator of how far I’ve come in settling in and making friends. I was able to chat with some, share a drink with others, and just splash and dance with others in the pool. At the peak of low tide my friend Jamil and I walked out on some rocks to where some local boys were fishing off a rock shelf. I saw one boy pull up an eight inch unidentifiable fish using only a small spool of line running through his calloused hands. It was pretty impressive.

Fish!


Jamil under water

A local kids fishs

Bus Ride!

Fiesta bajo el agua

It’s strange to think about July 4^th being next weekend. Changing seasons don’t connect with me here. I forget what people are doing back home. It’s strange to think that many of my friends just graduated from college last month and that a year ago at this time I was making my way across the country on an epic West Coast road trip. This blog is officially over a year old now. I’ve come a long way in just one year. Here’s to the next one! Cheers!

Short update

So, I haven´t prepared an extensive update although it is long overdue. However, I wanted to say that things at work are looking up. Today I started tutoring kids in English in the afternoon. They are mostly in their first year of English so it is slow going. I like being able to have my own class with no more than 10 or 12 kids at a time. A couple of kids started to get out of line and start a ruckus, but I layed down the law. I told a kid to leave and from then on they were angels. This whole teaching thing is feeling better and better, especially when they aren´t five years old.
In other news we just said good-bye to an ex-volunteer, Josh. He came to visit us for an extended weekend here in Managua. Let me just say that he is ALWAYS welcome back. It was nice to have another guy in the house. We shared great stories and luxuriated in delicious food provided by our guest. It was great. Thanks Josh!
Coming up this week: We will be meeting with a delegation from Cincinnati this Thursday night and translating for them on Saturday over an organized dinner party. I will write more about developments at school as well as a new book I´m reading. Ciao