A little over two weeks ago, Nica65 arrived to Nicaragua which means that Nica64 are no longer the noobies!!! I have officially been in Nicaragua for 7 months and I feel like I still have no idea what I am doing with lots of my daily activities.
Full speed ahead with the new school year. I have been co-teaching with my four professors for two months now and it all seems to be going great. Nothing a packet of stickers can fix. But seriously, Nica strudents LOVE stickers. They will do anything to get one. Being in the schools five days can be pretty tiring and frustrating at times, but getting a hug from a student, or a bracelet is always worth it. I really enjoy getting recognized in my site as a professor.
Full speed ahead with the new school year. I have been co-teaching with my four professors for two months now and it all seems to be going great. Nothing a packet of stickers can fix. But seriously, Nica strudents LOVE stickers. They will do anything to get one. Being in the schools five days can be pretty tiring and frustrating at times, but getting a hug from a student, or a bracelet is always worth it. I really enjoy getting recognized in my site as a professor.
One of the most rewarding projects I am working on is my ecological brigade. Seeing those kids once a week to talk about the environment, and see their excitement for the projects we do is so awesome. They are my little army of hippies ;)
These past two months we have made organic compost and a tree nursery. It was so much fun making a mess at the school by digging a giant hole and throwing a bunch of stuff into it.
These past two months we have made organic compost and a tree nursery. It was so much fun making a mess at the school by digging a giant hole and throwing a bunch of stuff into it.
The awesome thing about Nicaragua is that I hardly ever have to buy things to make a project with my students. When I told them we were going to have to get good fertile soil and lots of manure to make our tree nurseries they all knew of farms that could give us some for free, so we took a day trip to the river to get some soil and a very friendly farm out in the boonies for a sac of poop (yes that kid has a bag of poop on his head). Of course we can never do anything without our trusty machete :)
This March I was very fortunate to help out another fellow PCV on his teacher training project that he had been planning since October. 12 PCVs from all of Nicaragua got together in a small town called Achuapa, Leon to train over 100 teachers in various topics such as better writing and reading techniques, recycled crafts, how to organize ecological projects, worked on a community mural, classroom management, better discipline techniques, positive reinforcement and more. It was a three day long effort that turned out to be one of the best learning experiences of my service so far. We were even interviewed for the national newspaper and our own country director came out to support us during the closing certificate ceremony. I cannot wait to do something like this in my own site!
And since travelling is so easy and cheapo in the country, I was able to enjoy some small travels these past two months. I got to visit Boaco for the first time and it reminded me a lot of Mexico, lots of layers. And of course I went back to my favorite city in Nicaragua for my third trip: GRANADA! It definitely will not be the last, I never get tired of that beautiful city, maybe because many parts remind me of home. But hey, pictures speak better than words.