Thursday, October 28, 2010

teaching haikus

Well it's been a while since I've updated. I spent last week in Jinotega, teaching English classes in their huge public high school. I taught 8th, 9th, and 10th graders, with an average class size of about 55 students. It was exhausting, but very rewarding. It was especially hard because I was still getting over the last of my dengue fever, so I was really weak and tired, which made it difficult to plan creative and innovative lessons. However, I did it, and I felt very empowered as a result.
We came back to our training towns on Friday and we've been back to work with Spanish classes, technical sessions, our grupo de jóvenes, and co-teaching.
Today I co-taught my first class in my training town. It was a lesson on reading and writing to a class of 10th graders, and I taught them how to write haikus in English. The current topic is Natural Disasters, so I gave them descriptive vocabulary and had them write poems that describe one of the disasters (hurricane, tornado, volcanic eruption, tsunami, Earthquake, etc...) It was a tough class, as I knew it would be because teaching reading and writing is challenging in any language.
My grupo de jóvenes has been especially challenging too. Last night we had a meeting scheduled at 6:00 pm, as usual, and no one showed up. It seems like our chavalos like to show up for our meetings to play games and do dinámicas with us, but when it comes to actually working on their community project, they lose interest. The community project is to create a manual of useful English phrases for the local artisans and shop owners who sell to gringo tourists. When we give them simple homework assignments, they blow them off. Last night, Kellie and Megan and I waited until 6:30 and we went home. I don't know whether the project will get done or not, but we only have a couple of weeks left in this town, so I guess we'll see.
On a more exciting note, site assignment is tomorrow! Peace Corps is finally going to tell us where we'll be living for the next two years, so I'll email you all this weekend to tell you the exciting news. Next week is our site visit, so I will be spending five days in my site, getting to know my counterparts and my (potential) new host family. After that, swearing-in is only two weeks away...
Oh yeah, and I feel a lot better. The dengue effects are pretty much gone. I am able to walk again in the mornings and do my yoga workouts. Today I went and ran some steps (like bleachers) and did a good 45 minutes of yoga before my bucket bath and Spanish class.
And my Spanish has increased by two levels, putting me at Intermediate-Mid-Strong. But I'm going to keep learning. In two years, I'll talk like a Nica!
Ok, well I love you all. Thanks for the stickers, Joy! And thanks for the letters, Dad.

Monday, October 18, 2010

crazy fused mutant banano

I'm alive!

I got that Jackson Browne song playing in my head: "I'm alive!"
Okay, laugh at me if you want to, but there were a few days, mid-dengue, when I really didn't know if I was going to make it. Call me dramatic, but I was crying and terrified for a while there. I knew that the brief stint of depression was only because I was sick and I knew I'd feel better mentally once my physical status improved. I was right, too. Because even though I'm still very weak and tired, I feel my strength coming back and I feel happy again.
It's 6 am here in Managua and I'm getting ready to get on a Peace Corps bus for a long trip up to the Jinotega region, up north and in the mountains. I will be there until Friday, shadowing a Nicaraguan teacher and teaching a few classes. This is week 7 of training, aka "Practicum Week." At the end of week 8, we will have "site assignment," which means I'll finally find out where I'll be living for the next 2 years.
So training will finally be over before I know it, gracias a Dios!
Love you all so much, and so thankful for your support!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

good news

Even though my platelet count is far from normal, it has come up 1,000 since yesterday! (It has decreased about 38,000 in the last 5 days). So at least it's not decreasing anymore! I have to stay tonight in Managua as well, but hope to get back to my site tomorrow after doing a few more tests.
My palms are itchy and I have some rashes on my arms, but my doc said it's okay and it's part of the dengue. My body is still achy and tired, but less than yesterday. My headache comes and goes, but its frequency has decreased. Now I'm in the "recovery" phase, and according to Wikipedia, the "recovery may be associated with prolonged fatigue and depression." My doc says that I might feel this way for a up the three weeks, but I'm hoping for a quicker recovery.
Take that dengue! I'm gonna kick your butt! I'm going to live!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

dang dengue

I'm in a hotel in Managua because the Peace Corps doctors have to monitor my platelets and vital signs in this stage of dengue fever. This is definitely the worst sickness I've ever experienced-- worse than malaria and worse than amoebas!
It started with a headache last week on Wednesday. On Thursday, I had a headache and felt fatigued. I thought maybe I was just dehydrated, so I just drank lots of water. By Thursday night, my body started aching and when I went to bed, I got a bad case of chills and a high fever. I took some Tylenol and tried to sleep. On Friday morning, I called the PC docs to tell them about my fever and symptoms. They told me to go to the nearest lab and get some bloodwork. I didn't attend my training sessions. I stayed in bed all day, feeling awful and crying under my mosquito net! On Saturday, I still had the fever and I missed out on the trip to the volcano. By Sunday, my fever had passed, but I still felt achy and weak. On Monday I got more bloodwork, which indicated that my platelets were continuing to decrease, so the docs asked me to come to Managua for further testing. I came to Managua this morning and I still feel awful. My bones feel achy and I have an intense headache that comes and goes. I had some more bloodwork done, but haven't heard the results yet.
For now I'm in a hotel room watching Friends (in English!) and trying to relax. On the plus side, there is hot running water here so I'll get my first real shower in about a month and a half!
I know this post is a little sad, but this has been hard for me both physically and emotionally. However, I know that once my health improves, I'll feel happier and get back to my training with enthusiasm and joy!
Send me some good vibes...

Monday, October 4, 2010

oh yeah

On an unrelated note from the last blog, I went to this supermarket in a nearby city today. It's called Pali and I found out that it's owned by Wal-Mart. Wow. Wal-Mart is taking over the world!

Also, a word about transport in Nicaragua: one of the primary forms of transport is by busses. The busses here are recycled US school busses-- the yellow ones! They paint the busses with bright colors and build racks above the seats and "personalize" them with quotes from the Bible or stickers with Pokemons, Jesus, the saints or cartoon characters. They fill the busses above capacity and people stand in the aisles on the way to wherever they're going.
On the upside, it's cheap. And it's slightly more pleasant than west African bush taxis... I'll have to post pics soon.

Peace out :) I'm going to go eat bean soup.

starting a wish list for Christmas

So I'm doing a lot of lesson planning and for Christmas, I'm requesting teaching supplies this year.
Here's the list so far, and I'll update it as I think of other stuff:

construction paper
white paper
stickers (like those little stars)
lots of crayons
a lot of packing tape (I use it to "laminate" reusable materials)

I'll probably make a separate wish list for people who want to send me fun stuff, like hot sauce or chocolate or other luxuries!

Love you all...

Sunday, October 3, 2010

nada mucho

Hello, world. I am in the internet spot downloading the first episode of Season 2 of Glee on my iTunes. (Sometimes, on the rainy days, or on the sick days, it's good to watch an American sitcom on my computer under my mosquito net.) The internet is so slow here, iTunes estimates that it will take 7 hours to download this 45 minute episode. So in the meantime, I thought I'd write a blog.
Everything is fine here. I've been busy in training, working with my group of teens and learning Spanish. There have been some unexpected bumps in the road which have prevented me from co-teaching at the local high school, but if all goes well, I'll be co-teaching this Thursday.
It's been fun working with the local teens. They seem to have a lot of fun in our meetings. Last week, we gave our first "charla" in Spanglish. (We were supposed to do it in English, but our kids don't understand it at all, so we helped them out by mixing it up.) Anyway, we gave a charla about responsibility and dreams of their futures. It was a good talk and we felt like we were actually communicating with the kids about something important.
In other news, the tropical storm Mateo has passed and the sun is finally shining. This is great news because I can actually get up and run or walk again in the mornings. I've been faithful with my yoga, though. It keeps me sane and balanced! And since the storm is gone, Peace Corps is no longer on "standfast," which is good news.
I don't really have much else to say. Everything is fine. I still love my host family and I think it's beautiful here. I'm grateful for this opportunity and incredibly thankful to all those who have been writing letters. Whenever I get letters, it makes my day!
Just know that I'm happy and healthy and that I'm exactly where I need to be. I love you all.