Kids!

If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, head on over to a place where all of the kids want to learn English.

It has worked for me.

I seriously love the children here.  They are all very eager to learn, and they make me feel special.  I haven´t had much luck finding a lot of work in the health center here; the doctors, nurses, and staff are always really busy and don´t necessarily have a lot of time to try to understand my Spanish.  So rather than sit in my room and read a bunch of books (ok.. I have actually done a lot of that..) and wait for work to plop itself into my lap, I decided to visit the schools in my town to try to set up times to visit the classrooms.  One thing I have realized during my Peace Corps service--I am no longer shy or embarassed to do anything.  I´ve struggled with communicating in Spanish; I´ve said phrases completely wrong; I´ve gotten lost multiple times; I´ve basically made a fool out of myself on a number of occasions.  I am the number one source of entertainment for my host family because I have no shame.  I´ve learned to laugh at myself.  Nothing embarasses me anymore like it used to in the States, and although going to these schools by myself and wandering in to the principal´s office was a bit nerve-wracking, I still got the job done.

During my visits at the schools, I give short health charlas.  A charla is a short lesson on a specific topic and is generally emphasized with papelografos, or large sheets of paper with pictures and phrases.  I also like to use dinamicas with the kids, and these are short games that help to grasp their attention.  Classrooms here are a lot different than what I´ve been accustomed to in the States.  The teachers have a really hard time getting their students to listen, and the kids just kind of wander.

When I walked into the classroom today, the children were so excited to see a gringa, and they immediately gave me their attention, gracias a dios.  We played a game of memory (you know the game.. you have ten cards and need to flip two at a time to try to make a pair), and afterwards, I talked to them about the importance of washing your hands throughout the day.  They were so cute.

It´s true; I feel like a celebrity here.  At least with the kids.  Everyday while walking down the street, I hear the pitter-patter of small feet running up behind me.  Then I can see the shadow of a group of kids immediately stop before they reach me.  They follow me for thirty seconds, and then the brave one of the group says, ¨hello¨ in English.  That´s when I turn around and respond, ¨Hello, how are you?¨ They burst into laughter because they´re not used to hearing English and because they don´t understand what I´m saying.  Then I´ll proceed to talk to them in Spanish and ask them their names and ages.  They´re really penoso, or shy, at first, but once I get them laughing they come out of their shells.  They love giving hugs, too.

I´ve also learned that keeping your door open is an open invitation for everyone to enter your room.  The other night I was doing some reading and decided to open the door to my room to get some fresh air.  My room is separate from the home of my host family, and I would compare it to a garage.  My door faces the driveway, and there is another gate that faces the dirt road outside.  The kids can see in through the gate, and the other night they saw that my door was open.  Before I knew it, I was having a coloring party in my room with ten kids.  We drew rivers, ducks, houses, trees, and pigs.  The boys were adorable and drew me flowers and hearts... hahaha.  I took a picture of the drawings that they gave me and was going to post it, but this computer is not allowing me to do so.  Maybe next time. 

With regards to work, I´m having a bit of a difficult time.  Like I mentioned before, the centro de salud is really busy.  Also, the health sector of the Peace Corps is a little different than other sectors.  We are in a sense forced to find work on our own.  We aren´t given classroom time and teacher counterparts, therefore we don´t have a set schedule of six hours of class every day.  I know it´s going to take a while for me to settle in and get to know everyone, but I´m really looking forward to being busy.  I´m used to being busy.

I´ve also had the chance to talk to a couple Peace Corps friends of mine who have either finished their service or are more than half-way done with their service.  All of them have reminded me that as a Peace Corps volunteer, you have to realize that observing and learning is also working.  Non-formal education is very important as well.  I´ve been telling myself every day that these coloring lessons with the kids are opportunities to educate; talking with my little host cousin every morning and helping her with her homework is educating; teaching a girl how to swim in a swimming hole on a Saturday afternoon is progress; learning how to roast coffee, bake bread, and make cheese is observing and learning.  Even though a lot of my time is down time, I´m still speaking Spanish.  I´m still answering questions about the United States.  I´m still asking questions about Nicaragua.

I also have a great network of Peace Corps volunteers nearby.  My site-mate is a ten minute walk from me, and he is a small business volunteer.  I´ve only known him for a little over a week, but I can already tell he´s a great guy and always willing to help.  It feels really good to know that he´s close-by, and he´s promised to show me his running routes sometime next week.  yayyy.  There is also a TEFL volunteer who is a ten minute taxi ride from me, and she is really fun and super friendly.  Her house is adorable, and in the short time I´ve been here, she´s reached out and made me feel welcomed.  The other Peace Corps volunteer nearby lives in a rural area and works with agriculture.  He´s very knowledgeable on a wide range of topics, and he´s a mean guitar player.  He´s promised to teach me how to drive an ox cart, and the other day we spent the afternoon baking bread with a group of Nicaraguan women in the campo.  I really feel great knowing that these wonderful people are close to me and can relate to the experiences that I´m having.

Well, I feel like I´ve written a book, and I also feel like I have so much more to share.  This morning I had one of the moments where I woke up not knowing where I was.  It took me a few seconds to realize that I´m in Nicaragua.  I´m not even sure if I believe it now.

Miss all of you!  Especially you, Larry!