Nick's Visit and Selva Negra Adventure!!!!

After two weeks of worrying that I would not be able to make it to Managua to pick up my friend Nick for his visit here in Nicaragua (there was a roadblock because of a political protest, which happily went into negotiations and stopped two days before his visit started), I headed down last Saturday to Managua to pick him up at the airport. I took an express bus from Matagalpa, got to the airport, met Nick without a problem, then hopped back on an express bus at the airport. But it was full, so we had to stand, all two hours back to Matagalpa. The really fun part was when we were only about 45 minutes into the journey when our bus got a flat tire! So we stopped for an additional 45 minutes so the driver and a few other guys could change the tire (which looked surprisingly easy on such a large vehicle!) and finally got to Matagalpa later than planned. Go figure!

This week I am trying to give him the Peace Corps in a week experience, so far he has been to the gym with me, the NGO where I work, and tomorrow he will participate in a class planning session and a small business advising session. Today, we headed up to Selva Negra which is a coffee plantation/eco-lodge outside of the city. It was a great time and much cooler than the city these days. We packed a lunch, went hiking, got attacked by the most vicious geese in Nicaragua (well not really attacked but they surrounded us and were eyeing the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches we had packed so they looked fierce), and took the most amazing senior pictures ever. So with no further ado....

Gotta love it!

Keep making good choices! Love you all!!

Creativity Classes are fun!

The most important component of any business is a GREAT idea.

At least that is what we have been working on conveying to my students throughout this week's classes.We have been working on creativity and how you can use it to create a new product out of an old one, or by adding or taking something away you can turn a not so special something into a million Cordoba idea!

My counterpart was out sick but since we had the class planned, I was there, and the students were prepared with their materials, I gave the class anyway. So to explain, the students were told to bring plastic bottles, straws, paper, scissors, tape, glue, whatever they could find, and were told to great a new product or item out of the materials. They had a great time working in their groups and using their imaginations to come up with something new. I was truly impressed with some of the groups. Here are some pictures from the day!

Planning phase

These guys came up with 5 products!

These girls even brought a glue gun!

Team work! Gotta love it!

My students working hard

A puppet!

We had a puppet, a sailboat, a piggy bank, a pencil holder, a cup, and a flower vase with flowers!

I hope to get some more pictures of a different class next week! Stay tuned and make good choices!

Not so anonymous in Matagalpa

When I was given the booklet that described my site placement back in July, it stated that Matagalpa is a great city for someone who does not mind being anonymous in their site (given the large size of the city!) Well I am here to tell you that it is not the case. Here is why...

I walked into the gym on Tuesday morning and got on the stairmaster (yes I know a stairmaster in the peace corps, come on we all need our little luxuries haha), and one of my trainers came over to say hello.  Here is how the conversation went"
Trainer: hey I saw you at a bar on Saturday night.
Me: really, I didn't see you, why didn't you say hello?
Trainer: Well you were far away, and I didn't want to bother you
Me: oh thats ok then
Trainer: but you were with a friend, and she was drinking a beer
Me: I thought you said you were far away, but you could see our drinks? Next time just come say hello...

He laughed, said ok and walked away... then the other trainer came up to me...
Trainer 2: Hey I saw you dancing on Sunday night!
Me: What? How? I was at a birthday party at a friend's house, were you there? why didn't you say hello?
Trainer 2: I came to buy something at her store (she has a store in her house), but you were dancing and I didn't want to interrupt.
Me: well I hope you don't judge my dance ability by my moves there...
Trainer 2: No of course not
And he walked away laughing....

So fast forward to today, I was in a minivan originally made for 12 and stuffed full with 30 people... I was standing of course, holding on for dear life, and as we got closer to my stop I was able to snag a seat. Well the minivan was full of teenage girls going home from school, and one of them turns around and says really loudly, "Oh my gosh, this lady has BEAUTIFUL eyes!" So everyone in the minivan turns around to look at my eyes. I could only sit there and smile...

So needless to say, I am not as annonymous as I thought I might be, but that's ok because I like being able to walk around a big city and bump into people I know, or don't know but will soon get to know. It's one of the things I really love about Nicaragua. I will really miss it when I leave.

So what else happened this week? As mentioned I went to a birthday party on Sunday night for one of the vice principals of one of my schools. We had a great time dancing and playing games. I will be sure to post some pictures of the fun below.  Classes are going well, we are working on creativity in business this week, so I will be sure to post some pictures from this week's classes, one class tomorrow will be using trash to create an innovative product. Another class this week had to take an everyday product and change it to be an even better product. It's no surprise that the class's favorite was the desk that you could fly in. It's common in Nicaraguan classrooms that there are more students than desks and the desks are normally not well taken care of. So this group's solution was transportation, desk, and toy in one. Take your desk with you everywhere! It was a hit. And I loved how crazy and fun it was.
I also was able to recreate one of my favorite salads from the US (with some canned mandarin oranges my mom brought me in January-although we do have fresh ones here in abundance!) I will also put a picture of that for your enjoyment!

Well that's it for my update today. Life is great and I hope all of you are doing as well as I am. Peace Corps was a REALLY GOOD DECISION for me, hope you are making good ones for yourselves. Love and miss you all! Enjoy the pictures!

Helena helping me get ready for the party... she's brushing my hair with a toy hair brush

Best Salad EVER

I just got done singing happy birthday to her (I got "has to sing a song" in the game)

Nicaragua hot potato with a broom and spinning around (Go Profe Sandra!)

Me with Jocylen (the daughter of one of my coworkers)

The finished product of the stuff-as-many-balloons-in-the-clown-suit-as-you-can game!

My Friend Sandra with her cake and presents!