Sick days

My alarm went off this morning at 4:50AM. I jolted into a semi-state of consciousness as I groggily stumbled around looking for my watch. I turned off the alarm only to realize how incredibly terrible I felt. Now, honestly, waking up at this time typically makes me feel this way, but today was different. I felt sick. A sore throat, headache, and thorough exhaustion were enough to put me right back to sleep. Long story short I called in sick to work and have taken the the day to recoup and rest. I haven’t slept this much in quite awhile. It’s really a miracle teachers all over aren’t dropping like flies. Just yesterday I was sneezed on by countless preschoolers and first graders. At about this time all you mothers out there should be chiming in, saying, “Do you take your vitamins…are you sleeping enough…are you drinking enough water?” Yes. I’m doing the best I can. And for the record, my health is comparatively excellent.
What else can I tell you about my life here in Nicaragua? Ohh! Today marks three months since arriving. Part of me can’t believe it has flown by so quickly and part of me feels like it really has been three months. I was just thinking about how at this time last year I still didn’t know what I was doing to do and JVI was still a dream. It’s weird how life has changed so much in such a small amount of time. It’s amazing how much has changed in my life in the past three months and I can only imagine much has changed in the lives of those in the States and elsewhere.
Work update: Baseball is fun. There are around 10-20 young guys that come out to play. Soccer is intimidating and mildly overwhelming. There were about 60 boys and girls who showed up to play soccer. I have two balls. TWO. We had a couple games but mostly I walked around and got hassled because this group or that group wanted to play. I am now coordinating with one of the English teachers to make an intramural league at the school. Apparently they’ve done that before. I had no idea. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel. Sometimes I feel like it’s the blind leading the not-blind but the not-blind don’t want to bring up the blindness for risk of hurting my feelings. Ha. Did that make sense? Anyway, I want to say that playing shortstop on a tee-ball team and playing rugby are not the best prerequisites for coaching neither baseball nor soccer. That said, I´m having a ball.
Lately I’ve been reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I like it although at times it can be rather arduous and long. I think it will be worth it. I get most of my reading time on the bus to and from work. That’s all for now. Hasta Luego.



Check out our hanging garden of herbs, mostly basil.