Dog Days of Summer

Helloooooo long-lost friends!

I relize I'm not the most consistent blogger in the world. My apologies. But for every minute I haven't spent in front of a computer, I have been immersed in the Nica life and gathering fodder to report back.

So December came and went. I gave English presentations at two regional English teacher conferenes, one in Rivas and one in Managua. Two other PCVs and I gave a mini lecture series on how to incorporate positive reinforcement in the classroom. To put it lightly, the typical classroom envirnoment in Nicaragua is not encouraging. Oftentimes in the hustle to cover huge volume of material assigned to them by the Ministry of Education the emphasis becomes not necessarily student achievement but completion of a unit. And in the midst of that, students get overwhelmed, teachers frustrated and the morale takes a nosedive. I was glad to impart an alternative perspective to English teachers via these conferences, and think they definitely saw the value in taking a humanstic approach to teaching.

Then it was time for summer camp! I went to the Mombacho Volcano for a week-long English enrichment camp with sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. Over 80 high schoolers from all over the country came, most from humble means and all extraordinary students. Albeit exhausting as a counselor/teacher/crowd controller/game moderator etc. etc., all of the PCVs who participated, myself included, found the camp to be gratifying to the utmost degree. In case you're wondering if your U.S. tax-payer dollars are well-spent or wasted, let me tell you- the $10,000 pumped into this camp were impeccably spent. To these kids, many of whom had never left their homes much less met anyone from other departments in Nicaragua, this camp was Disney World. Yes, the 17-18 hour-a-day schedule was grueling, but se lo juro they left the camp weeping (and are still little chatterboxes on Facebook about reminiscing camp days.) FYI the U.S. Embassy sponsors several English camps a year in Nicaragua tailored to English teachers, university English students, at-risk youth, emerging leaders, and so on. I had the pleasure of working with the English teacher camp last year.

Then camp two rolled around. For a girl who never really went to summer camp (unless you count Safety Patrol camp, and/or a posh tennis camp...doubtful) I sure have been campified in Nicaragua! This camp was a week-long English camp for high school students in Masatepe, a nearby city. I traveled daily, so it was nice to be home at night and less vaga for a change. This was my second year working at the camp, as it was started by a PCV two years ago. The objective of all PC projects is that they be sustainable. So this would be the inaugural year, sans-PCVs leadership for the camp to spearheaded by Nicas alone. Unfortunately, it wasn't. A group of zealous German volunteers pretty much ran the whole thing. They did a phenomenal job, and with their NGO siphoned bastante money into it much to the delight of kids and teachers alike, but it makes me wonder if...or when the camp will sustain itself. Vamos a ver.

After a whirlwind month of traveling, workshops and a couple Christmas parties thrown in for good measure, I headed back to the motherland for the first time in over a year.

It was SPLENDID. No need to elaborate much here- driving, eating delicious food, seeing and hugging my beloved friends and family- I relished it all. And de hecho, I think sharing my tales with people made me realize how much I really do like about Nicaragua. Not to mention it fulfills the third goal of PC..."to promote a better understand of developing countries on behalf of Americans." Check.

The school year's been pushed back a month, giving me the longest summer ever. No complaints here though. More time to prep for upcoming projects, travel a bit and train for the half-marathon I'm looking to run in March.

Oh and the PC sent us to a beach resort for a week-long training. Those tax dollars were well-spent too :)

Thank you for bearing with me and my irregular posts! Will report back sooner rather than later, promise.

Cheers,
Liz