The Rainy Season

This is a picture of the gift I bought my mother for El dia de las madres. It is typical Nicaraguan pottery.

This is my room

...and this is where I study

I am half way through my training and everything is still going well. I like my host family and the town I’m living in a lot. The food is still great…I get fresh avocado everyday from the tree in our backyard. This week was pretty busy, we received various lectures concerning education and how to keep the students interested in the topics we will be teaching. Overall, the business curriculum (which we will be teaching to high school students in the coming months) is very dynamic and different. It involves a lot of critical thinking and creativity. This coming week I am traveling to a different pueblo to visit a current Peace Corps volunteer. I am looking forward to seeing how they live their life and what their students think about the class structure. The weather here is starting to change as well. It has started to rain a lot and the streets become flooded. I wish I had brought an umbrella. However, the rain does cool everything off!!

The transportation situation here in Nicaragua is also very interesting. First rule of thumb is that there is always more room. Just when you think that no one else can fit on the bus another 20 people hop on! Just yesterday I was riding a large yellow school bus (which at one point was a U.S. school bus) and it was jam packed (luckily I had a seat). Then all of a sudden we are loading on around 35 people (and no one is getting off)…they were hanging out the side and grapping on tight!! Meanwhile the conductor of the bus has to work his way through the entire bus to collect the bus fare…how can this possibly be done…it is an amazing performance of acrobatics and agility.