Overdue Update

Okay, so it’s been a while since I’ve written. Here is the update on my life for the past few months:

1. I spent August and September mostly on the island working at my schools. I work with 6 different teachers once a week. I work with two 3rd grade classes, two 5th grade classes, a multi-grade 3rd-4th grade class and a multi-grade 5th-6th grade class. The purpose of our work with the teachers here is to show them different participatory methods that they can use in the classroom. First we are supposed to observe them for a couple months, then we are suppose to model for them the different techniques, then we are supposed to co-teach with them and help them incorporate these methods, and then we are supposed to observe them again at the end and give them feedback. Right now I am still in the modeling stage with most of my teachers. I had started co-teaching with a couple of them but then I got sick and it sort of got sidetracked.

2. That’s right. I got sick. Again. I’m not sure if everyone who is reading this knows but back in June and July I had what we believe was malaria. I got treated for it and started feeling a whole lot better. Then, about 3 weeks ago I went into Managua for our annual medical exams that we are required to do by the Peace Corps. I decided to stay a second day in Managua and get some work done at the Peace Corps office. I started working, although I wasn’t feeling very well. By the afternoon I had a fever and so I went to the medical office and they said they thought I might have dengue. I thought to myself, “no way.” But I ended up in Managua all week with all the symptoms of dengue and the last day there we took another blood test that confirmed that’s what I had. I have to say it was a pretty unpleasant experience and I hope not to get it ever again, but there is currently a dengue outbreak in the country so everyone cross your fingers that I don’t catch a different strain because it is supposed to be much worse the second time around. Mosquitoes: 2 points

3. Just two days after getting back to the island after having been sick I headed out to Chontales, a different department or state, in Nicaragua. I went to visit with another volunteer to get help with classroom management techniques, since I have been having some trouble with this. She gave me some pointers and I got to see another part of the country. Chontales is quite beautiful (although not as beautiful as the island, of course) with green rolling hills and lots of cows (it is cowboy country). We worked on classroom management, ate some good food, went on some walks through the countryside, and played crazy 8’s with her boyfriend. Overall it was a nice, relaxing trip, and fun to get away from the island for a few days.

4. Following this week visiting another volunteer, I got a visitor. The new group of environmental volunteers to Nicaragua has arrived and it was their turn to visit a volunteer for a week. They sent one to me and we spent the week talking about Peace Corps and I tried to come up with whatever tips I could to help her out. She came along to all of my classes and helped out in one of them. We also managed to find time to hike to the waterfall in San Ramon and to kayak to Monkey Island where we saw monkeys (of course) and some beautiful birds (see pictures below).







So now I am heading off to Managua this week to give a talk to the new group of volunteers that is here and I am also working on a project to help bring more water into the community since many people here do not get water all day long and during the dry season some people don’t get any water at all. And this year is worse than normal since the rainy season hasn’t seen much rain at all.

I hope that everyone is well and enjoying the fall. I just got my plane ticket home for Christmas so if any of you are going to be in Montana at the end of December let me know!