day 7: classes and rain
since monday morning is the time when the PD’s do a lot of planning, and we hadn’t been assigned stuff to plan yet, we all slept in. another glorious nican morning, it was cloudy and cool. we met up at 11am to duke it out over who went what- i victoriously got groups in math, literacy, creative arts, and a few other classes. so tight. michael put me to work immediately planning math for group a (three of the youngest kids, about kindergarten age). after grabbing lunch, making flash cards, and finding a connect the dots that they could do, we booked it to el farito for class!
literacy, math, and beginner’s english were all tight. some kids no showed for lit so me and some of the other vols were off the hook. i played around with arjell and some other kids. math really humbled me- it was the first time i’ve had to speak in spanish and have some kids depend on my ability to convey an idea. emily l helped me out a bit, which i am so grateful for, but i’m proud of myslef nonetheless for surviving the first lesson i planned and taught. english was the craziest time of the day because we had a typical nican rain storm— and we’re in a tin roof building. it was loud and hectic, and i made a ton of mistakes, but my group (hopefully) effectively learned how to give directions (take a right, turn left, go straight)… incredible.
when it rains, it pours in nicaragua. the PD’s gave rides to all the students, and on the third trip, the volunteers got in the car, only to see that a river had formed across the main road we were on. feeling more like a river raft ride than a car ride on a bumpy road, michael awesomely drove us home. after we got across the river, we encouraged some nicans to not go down the same path. emily l wisely told them “es en rio, en serio!” and josh e pulled the best quote of the night— “i bet they think we’re stupid gringos… no es un rio falso— es un rio, en serio!”
hungry and tired, but satisfied and whole, we returned home and had dinners and meetings to talk about the rest of the week. tomorrow- me, robert, and talley are helping the kiddos make a puppet show. holler.
paz,
**freakin-nican-fact of the day: they point with their mouths, not their fingers (thanks, andrew)**
