I've been back in Nicaragua one week and now it seems like my two months in the States were a distant past. I am reminded of my absence when people say "welcome back" but it takes me a few seconds to remember what they are welcoming me back from.
So what has my schedule consisted of?
-Last Friday I started my responsibilities as a domestic-arts co-teacher. Friday Jessica started the cooking unit by making pico de gallo and I got to observe. It was good for me to see how to break things down, like how to cut tomatoes, I think I just automatically expect people to figure it out. On Monday I took over the class. We chopped vegetables to turn into stir-fry on Tuesday. Since the class is only 50 minutes it is going to take some adjusting and planning to be able to complete meals. Fortunately the teachers that have my students after me don't seem to care if they are late (especially if they get food). Today we made bread dough and tomorrow we are going to make pizzas on it. I don't know what we are going to do Friday, any ideas?
-Yesterday I started a tutoring job that I am going to test out until March 13th. It is just one first grader for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. His name is Gamal and is already older than everyone in his class and is on the path to failing. He seems really nice and not particularly unintelligent, just undisciplined. One advantage of this job is that it pays. As far as I know my other ones don't
-In theory, my main job is getting a lending library started. I have done essentially nothing for this since I've been back but am hoping to take some initial steps sometime soon. I was hoping to meet with a state-side organization that helps subsidize book costs in developing countries last week but it didn't work out. The man I was supposed to meet with was in Nicaragua for a week but I wasn't able to get ahold of him. I was rather discouraged but figured that God had some purpose, even in that, and we've been able to e-mail since he has been back and will still be able to work together.
-So really I only have an hour of set responsibility each day but somehow I've been keeping busy (without TV) and have felt pretty productive. I made dinner on Monday and am again tomorrow and have been getting to spend time with people and read a lot. Especially compared to my work schedule while I was home, I am living it up here.
Other things of note:
-Our refrigerator is broken. Our washing machine is broken. Our phone is broken. Seriously I leave for two months and everything falls apart. The part to fix the phone is coming down in a few weeks so that problem should be solved. I think the school is buying us a new washing machine as an investment but for now we have to do laundry (or have Leo do our laundry) at someone else's house. Our fridge is about one billion years old (amazing, huh?) but some repair people have been here a few times trying to fix it. Fortunately a friend just moved into a house with a fridge so we can use his for the time being. Unfortunately it is much smaller than we are used to (like four feet tall). But maybe we are learning about waste and over-consumption. I think soon we will have to buy a new fridge altogether but none of us are really ready to part with our money until it is absolutely necessary.
-The electricity doesn't go out anymore. It is extremely nice to not have to factor electricity into my schedule but really I don't think I've used it in the past two hours.
-February is the beginning of the dry season but as I have been reminded twice, "don't worry it will soon get a lot worse." Right now it is rather warm during the days but cools off substantially at night. And there is usually some sort of breeze that isn't too bad, dusty but cool.
-I was able to go to the grocery store today and they had bananas. So you can stop worrying about my potassium intake, it's all taken care of.
Talk to ya'll later.
Joy
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