One month in site!!!

Today is officially the last day of August, and therefore the end of my first month in site. It has been a good month I must admit. I had my site visit on Monday (site visits are when the Project directors come visit and see how things are going with you, your counterparts/teachers, and the Ministry of Education). It went very well and ironically, we had a better time getting in touch with people than I have had for a month. We had a great meeting with the department head for the Ministry of Education (She is the equivalent to a state's director, I guess?) and I am now going to be giving an entrepreneurship workshop to teachers from all over the department at the end of September. It's a huge challenge and very much an honor. If I can make sure I have a great first workshop, I am hoping it can open doors to doing more in the future!

So in preparation for my site visit, I was trying to think of what I have accomplished in my first month. And although by my normal standards, I would be worried I have not done enough yet, I have swallowed a HUGE chill pill and think I am right on track. So what have I done?
1. Fully settled into my home stay, bought necessary furniture,etc.
2. Joined a gym and have successfully gone to that gym at least 4 times a week since joining (all 2 and a half weeks so far!)
3. Due to my new love for soy meat (it's cheaper and much healthier) and my gym routine, I have lost 2.5 pounds without being sick.
4. I have survived my first sickness.
5. I have created a good relationship with my counterparts, and have started teaching classes.
6. I have gotten to know the routes of 3 buses!
7. I have joined a women's group, and attend once a week to reflect upon my life and the blessings I have in it.
8. Oh and most importantly, for me since I am so bad at communicating, I have successfully transitioned to Volunteer life and am still blogging! WOO HOO!

Classes seem to be going well, especially with my fourth year classes. (High school here is 5 years). You might ask, what exactly are you doing in these classes? Well that's a great question and for this post, I will focus on my role with my 4th year classes (I also work with 5th year, but we will save that one for another day!) At the moment I am only working with 1 school's 4th year Entrepreneurship class, but they are great, and have been very creative so far. Ok but not to get ahead of myself. So my purpose, with any grade, is to teach the teachers about business and the Entrepreneurship curriculum. This is a brand new class here in Nicaragua and the majority of the teachers who teach it do not have the formal training in the subject like the math or science teachers. So I work with the teachers in planning their lessons, making sure they understand the material, reviewing if necessary, and then helping in the classroom as needed.

Today our class went great. The teacher I am working with is really understanding the material, is enthusiastic, and overall is a great teacher. Our topic was "My life in 10 years," and we had them put on skits depicting their lives in 10 years. One group showed two different routes a person could take, a drunk, and a doctor. I hope most of my students decide to take the doctor route. Previously, in the same class, we covered the topic of what it means to be an entrepreneur and I made a puzzle with the characteristics on each piece (the puzzle formed a person) and put each piece in a balloon. Then a student came up and popped the balloon and read the characteristic out loud to the rest of the class. That activity was a joint creation between myself and my co-teacher. It went well I think. I am looking forward to see what we come up with next.

This past weekend was the corn festival here in Matagalpa. Corn is an incredibly important part of the Nicaraguan diet, as are rice and beans, and it was neat to see the different dishes prepared with corn. I was a little weary if it would make me sick or not, so instead of corn products I bought earrings and some sugar coated coconut that was delicious! It was a fun little fair, and I am glad I made good choices since some of my friends who did eat at the fair got a little sick. (My money is on their hands were dirty).

Overall, it has been a great first month and it went by very fast. Much faster than training. Speaking of training, today the newest group of trainees arrive in Nicaragua, so welcome Nica 57 - TEFL and Environment! I hope one of you becomes my new site mate! Well, I love you all, make good choices! Look for another update next week!