day 22: volcanoes and flags
While the girls had a soccer game this morning, the boys of the house kicked back and did stuff needing to be done- I made a sweet breakfast of coffee and toast while doing laundry and making a flyer for our kickball tournament on Friday.
Instead of class, we had our last class—and the last class of the month— by taking our students to a volcano about 45 minutes south of Managua called Volcan Masaya. None of our students and the majority of our group had never been there before. We got all 15 or so students and the 10 volunteers in our two cars (thereinlies the magic of a microbus) and drove to Masaya.
The volcano was far less smoky than in march, and you could see a lot further down. Looking more like a mouth of a cave- with smoke coming out. The kids loved seeing how far they could throw rocks… As did I. We walked to the top to see the cross that just a few hundred years ago as used for real crucifixions. Creepy for sure. After the top of the volcano, we drove down to the museum to see the science behind the magic and also see stuffed animals that are in the wild around Nicaragua. We came back to El Farito for ice cream and a debrief.
After the field trip, beginners English worked more on questions. I had an all star table and for some reason my Spanish was spot on tonight. I gave the entire lesson in spanish to my table— which was ridiculously cool. I then taught them a bit about America and our flag, and in return they taught me about the Nica flag.
We had community dinner at one of our student’s houses- laura, age 29, in the microfinance program. It was awesome: gallo pinto and chicken and fried plantains with carrot juice.
We came back to the house, made frappiccinos, and watched harry potter 5.
I have been thinking a lot about how hard it would be to stay here for a year. I have so much respect for the PD’s for giving up a year of American comfort and style to live down here. While Manna is definitely awesome through and through, I can’t imagine doing what they do. True, our program for summer volunteers is designed so we have maximum contact with every aspect of MPI, so we’re busier than if we were here for a full year. But a year down here requires a very special type of person. Nevertheless, MPI is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done while not feeling like I’m sacrificing everything, including comfort. Yes, manna requires sacrifice and determination but also we follow the motto serving in style. From our awesome micro to our pool and house mom, this month has been extremely demanding but equally relaxing while being surrounded by 20 incredible people. i think today is the typical example: you wake up and from the get go are greeted by insanely awesome people but you also have to be proactive with your schedule for the day. then comes class and interacting with the community until dinner time (or on tues/thurs, after), and then finally you can relax and hang out—if you don’t have any logistics meetings (at least once a week) or lessons to plan for. molly, for example, just got done with her lesson plan for tomorrow. emily, up until the movie tonight, was learning more spanish for her talk tomorrow night to women about sexuality and being safe- mentally, physically, emotionally, etc. more to come on that subject later.
today marked our last full day of “class” for the monday/wednesday set. no more math, literacy, or english lessons. tomorrow wraps up comedor, homework help, creative arts, women’s exercise, and advanced english. yikes. this month has blown by. i can’t believe that this weekend is our last weekend, and even moreso, i can’t believe i’m leaving this ridiculously awesome place called nicaragua on monday.
nica fun fact: the flag has a band of blue, then white, and blue- for the oceans on either side of nica and the land in the middle. there are 5 triangles representing the volcanoes of nicaragua. i still don’t understand what the meaning of the sun and rainbow are. any ideas?
