Pictures, illness, birthdays, and philosophical thoughts

Hello, don't worry the time has come for y'all to sit back relax and enjoy my weekly update. I actually considered not writing one because I couldn't think of anything to say, but then I remembered this me and, as you probably know, I always have something to say. First topic of discussion (discuss:to consider or examine by argument, comment, etc.):

-I already shared the story behind the first picture, "The volcano of enlightenment." I think that seeing this picture will help redeem myself if you thought I was just a wimp, yes we were supposed to climb up that. And on a less bitter note I am standing with 2 of my roommates, Aimee(the blond one), and Rachel(the one in green), I'm wearing the red hat but if you couldn't figure that out stop reading this.

-This is a picture of two of the boys in my third grade class, Mauricio and Engels. They may look cute but later on Mauricio was in class trying to choke another student with that same balloon as the other teachers stood by and laughed and I tried to keep my hand between the balloon and neck. I haven't seen them in a few weeks but the promotion ceremonies are next Friday, I think.

-These are the girls that I tutor from across the street, Natasha is on the left and Sophie is on the right. Now focus on those lovely pieces of artwork, designed by yours truly. Today we read the book Thank You, Brother Bear, and although the title doesn't mention it, the moose plays a very important roll. Not that Natasha would know, she spends most of the time rolling on the floor and wiping her snotty nose on the throw pillows. Too much information? Sorry I had to witness it.

Now on to illness, I think without being graphic the phrase, "I lost my lunch," could be used if you times it by about eight. But that was all on Sunday night/Monday morning and today I am feeling much better.
Yesterday was my nephew Elijah's first birthday, I made a carrot cake, that I heard was nice (I still wasn't up to food), for the party and I'm sure he'll have fond memories for many years to come, similar to those I have of my first birthday party except he didn't wear a dress.
I am reading a book by George MacDonald right now and today I came across a quote today, "A man ought never to feel rich because of riches, nor poor because of poverty. The perfect man must always feel rich, because of God is rich." I think that is an important realization, if one is perfected in Christ all these worldly standards don't even matter. Even when we have nothing, we have everything. More and more I have to see that living here isn't about giving people material things, teaching them English, or doing whatever other humanitarian work that comes my way. But demonstrating the riches we have because of who our Father is. All of this is quite a load off if you really think about it, I'm poor and suck at teaching English.
Well, as I like to say, nos vemos.
Love, Joy

Hola, from your soon to be Socialist

Well here we are again, week 10 of me being down here according to my Hello Kitty planner. My life here has slowed down quite a bit, which is hard to imagine. But this free time has had some benefits, I actually watched the American news today for like 30 minutes(but do they really need to keep cutting into normal shows). So right now I am, by far, more informed about both Nicaraguan and US politics than I have ever been in my life. Our elections here were on Sunday and results came in yesterday. Daniel Ortega of the FSLN, Sandinista party won. Last time he was in power 50,000 people died and people had to wait in lines to get soap. Obviously he ran a different campaign this time, and these same problems are not supposed to occur. No one will actually know until January when he takes over.
This morning I went running, it was my first time running here by myself. There is a road right next to our complex that has a new housing complex at the end, the guards are nice so they open the gate. It's no "tree city USA" but it does the job. Then at ten the two girls from across the street came over to learn. Yeah, they only pay attention for like 30 seconds even though I've been coming up with some really entertaining activities. The longer I stay in this country the less likely I am to ever have children of my own. Today my afternoon time with was canceled but that is OK because yesterday our worksheet had questions with the words do, does, and did. But not the regular verb "to do" but the one used in questions like "do you like puppets?" The question "do" doesn't translate to Spanish, and that is just confusing.
Last week I made cookies, real ones just like home. But then on Sunday I decided to make Nica food, I made Gallo Pinto the national food, beans and rice. I had never even made beans before, let alone mix them with rice. The beans were a little on the hard side, but Leo said some time this week we can make it together. So people be ready for me coming back with my cooking repertoire expanded to contain Nicaraguan foods.
My brother came down this weekend, not actually to see me, but my mom sent me down some new Khakis with him. Hopefully I'll have better luck in these ones, but since I don't have school again until February we will all have to just wait in suspense. Actually if anyone remembers this incident next year I'll give you a dollar, or a memento from Nicaragua.
So what's going down on the home front?
Love, Joy Joy
"Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee." -Psalm 143:8

i love you, i love you not

Today was my last day of school. Or that is what I heard when I got there, so obviously I didn’t have any end of the year activities planned. Tomorrow is a national holiday for Day of the Dead and then we don’t have school Friday or Monday because of the elections on Sunday. Final exams start next Tuesday but I’m not giving exams because my students don’t know anything. I’m still here until the middle of December so I’ll have to figure out what to do with myself. Well, I’ll still have my other two jobs, I think. The communication here is definitely lacking, but that is what is to be expected in a country that has four to five hour power outages every day.
On national news, the presidential elections are Sunday. Monday schools are cancelled because of anticipated riots. The US embassy recommends that we avoid large crowds, which puts a little damper on my plans to protest.
Now back to the electricity issue, in honor of the elections, there is a rumor that we will have power for ten days straight. But these inconveniences don’t really matter, what would be the point of living in Nicaragua if everything was the same. Plus, when the electricity is out we are forced to take time out from all the amenities that no longer work and come back to the simpler times. Times without running water, lights, television, or internet. Last night we just sat at the dinner table for 2 hours because none of us had anything better to do.
Monday night I went to the movies. So Cristina was just going to buy both of our tickets because she had a 100 cord and the tickets are 50 cords each. But then the girl at the counter asked if we wanted the package deal. At first we said no, because you never really need the package deal. But you know what it was? 2 tickets, a soda, and either a hot dog or nachos, for 99 cords. Yup, it was 1 cord cheaper to get the special and it included a beverage. So there we have yet another positive aspect of Nicaraguan life.
Peace out, Joy
P.S. I have one pair of khaki pants and as of today I have worn them to school three times. And every time I have worn them my driver has forgotten to pick me up, coincidence? Or are my pants being persecuted? Or is there another option that I am overlooking?

So today I slept in to like eight and that was late for me, are my college days really gone?

Aloha, I’m kind of blanking on an introduction so we’ll get right down to business…
Job 1-Colegio Cristiano Presbiteriano
This week has been going well at school. I guess I’ve only been once but yesterday was great. Our new vocabulary is pats of the body and there are lots of activities to do with that. And once I think of something I basically do the same things with each grade and just go more into depth with the older kids, and that seems to work well, with minimal preparation. Last week I started a new detention policy with the 2nd and 3rd graders. At the beginning of class I write all their names on the board, every time they are disruptive they get a tic mark and for every mark they receive one minute of detention either during recess or after school. One boy, Mauricio, in 3rd grade had 20 minutes of detention yesterday. Another student, Heydi, only had it for 2 minutes but chose to stay after because she had nothing to do at home. Mauricio I don’t think really wants to go home either. He lost both of his parents and now lives with his 80 year-old grandmother and his alcoholic grandfather. I need continued wisdom to know how to discipline, not out of anger but really doing it because in the long run that will be what is best for them.
Another thing that has been a frustrating learning experience at this job is the manner in which North American support has been given. In other words foreign mission teams have been driving me crazy. When mission teams come down and offer their assistance Matthew readily accepts but little direction or thought is given to how they could actually best serve the students. Often they come unannounced and don’t realize that although giving gifts to the students is good it usually just creates chaos and takes away from the atmosphere of learning and order that the teachers are struggling to maintain. One week a group came at the end of recess and they had Beanie Babies and crayons for each student and they wanted to go into each classroom to pass them out. They came with no warning and no Spanish skills I was then the chosen translator to go in with them to each class and quickly tell the teachers what was going, after this generosity was bestowed they left and the school had to figure out how to get students to listen when they had new toys to play with. I need to learn to be patient and to figure out how to give direction to these groups without discouraging further involvement (although sometimes I start to think that maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing).
Job 2-More practice for my Spanish
My routine working with the older girls in English has been going well. They have a strong enough foundation that I am able to tell them to write sentences at home and then in class we can correct them and work on new verb tenses. The most difficult thing is that they get ahead of themselves and write more complicated sentences than they know how and I get distracted and start jumping ahead myself.
Job 3- Yup I got a new one, and this one pays
So yesterday when I was walking in to my apartment I waved to my neighbor and she asked me if I was a teacher. I told her I was and she asked if I did after school tutoring. She has a four year-old daughter and one that is younger and wanted them to have some sort of schooling (I think so she can have a break). So once I give her a schedule of when would be best for me, they are going to come over three times a week and do some sort of activity (in English). I don’t think they are Christians but I think we will just end up doing Sunday school lessons and crafts, because I really don’t know what else we would do.
Sala Evangelio
Well speaking of Sunday school, I have started to help out with that on Sunday mornings. I guess every other week I am going to be quizzing the kids on their memory verses and assigning them new ones and then keeping them in their seats while the other lady in charge teaches the lesson. I’ve also been helping with the singing at church too. I guess Cristina is kind of in charge but neither of us have very strong accompaniment skills (I guess my 5 weeks of guitar didn’t really pay off). So anyways the girl who used to do it recorded the accompaniment on the keyboard. So Cristina and I pick out the songs and then practice singing them a few times, mostly for pronunciation, and then we press play and hold the microphone as we sing along to the words on the overhead. Does this remind you of anything? Well it reminds me of karaoke, which is totally fine because you probably all know about my mad karaoke skills. Actually I have to try to not go into it with that mindset or I’ll just laugh the entire time.
Maybe a little background on the congregation would be beneficial. It is very small, maybe 40 people. There are seven North Americans, one lady from New Zealand (I think), and the rest are Nicaraguans. The lady Doña Helen, from New Zealand , is a widow in her late 60’s and mostly she works with prostitutes. So her ministry is to share with them Christ’s love and then to provide some sort of education for them so that they can find reputable work without having to fall back into their old lifestyle. Some of them went to beauty school and just started a little beauty shop and others make jewelry or sew. So many of these ladies go to Sala Evangelio, at least two families consist of these ladies and their ex-pimps who they are now married to and starting God-fearing families. It is amazing to hear of their pasts but see the amazing work God has done in their lives.
The missionaries who started this Sala Evangelio are Grant and Kandy Ferrer and they also have a correspondence Bible school. People sign up and start a series of workbooks that take them through the Bible, every lesson has a quiz and when each book is finished the student turns in the quiz and receives a new book. Once one finishes all the books they get a certificate of completion. I just started the series yesterday. It has been good because reading in Spanish slows me down enough so that I actually think about what I am reading, which is something that I often forget to do when I am reading in English.
And lastly…
This is a little embarrassing but I ate at TGI Fridays twice this weekend.
Love, Joy

Better late than never?

Hey, how’s it going? I realize I had a pattern going with e-mailing on Tuesdays but I really didn’t have much to say yesterday, I don’t have much more to say today but I don’t want you to feel neglected.
· We have cable; right now I’m watching Latin American Idol. Efráin isn’t very good but I think the ladies like the whole Enrique Iglesias look.
· The rainy season started this week. I think it is supposed to start in May, so it’s a little late. The rain is a nice break from the heat but it means all of our laundry is hanging from the banisters to dry. I need to find a towel.
· Last Thursday there was a festival at my school to celebrate all of the departments in Nicaragua . Each grade prepared a presentation and I got to be a judge. Then we had a bazaar, and sold clothes for very cheap to the neighborhood and all the money went to the school. I was in charge of the 10 cord table so sold things for the equivalent of 60 cents. I think we made $200, so that pays for 2 months salary for a teacher.
· On Saturday I went with my roommate and we got pedicures for something like $10.
· Sunday I talked on the phone with my sister.
· Monday I didn’t have time left on my phone and I think my driver had the day off. Long story short, I didn’t go to work.
· Tuesday I didn’t go to school either, but I wasn’t supposed to. But I did go to my job in the afternoon. I really like working with those girls because the actually want to learn. They do homework and today they were assigning themselves homework.
· Today my students were crazy. In second grade I sent four girls out of the class to stand in the hallway, the entire class got recess detention for 5 minutes and if they talked they had to stay longer. These 5 minutes, were about 5 minutes longer than I had ever seen them quite and still before. One problem with this new policy is that one of the boys who had to stay after the initial 5 minutes just started crying and he wouldn’t stop. In third grade 5 boys had to stay after school most for 5 minutes, one took a while longer to shut-up so he had to stay for 11. I can’t even begin to express how terrible first grade was. Then all the teachers give excuses for their students’ terrible behavior, but really that doesn’t change the fact that they learn nothing and take 1st grade three times.
· This afternoon I took a two hour nap.

"How" is "como", except when in cases like "how much", then it is "cuanto"

Well, today so far has been pretty productive. In the morning I taught kindergarten, then I ran errands, started another job, and did a pilates DVD. It is good that I’m doing more because the maid thinks I have too much free time, and she is probably right. I guess I’ll tell you about the job and if you have any questions about the rest feel free to ask away.
My New Job
So there is this girl from Wisconsin , Michelle, who used to work at NCA with my brother but now she works at this center for handicapped kids that come from poor families. And by poor I mean, one family is just a mom raising 3 kids on 300 cords a month ($17.50) and the rest make from 1000-3000 cords (so like $70-$210). The center does therapy, equestrian stuff, and has a little school area. There are morning and afternoon sessions and most kids come two times a week so in total about 50 kids. There are 5 full-time, Nicaraguan employees plus Michelle and some other lady, that I haven’t met, that is in charge. Well I guess all the employees have been wanting Michelle to teach them English but she really already has too much going on. So I am going to instead. Today I just went to look and they wanted me to start but I can already see a few challenges. I think all of them know a few words in English but some more than others, so somehow I need to figure out how to reach each level. One lady has been taking classes to get her GED and one of her classes is basic English. So because of this she has her view on how English should be taught. She had some pretty strong opinions on today’s lesson even though the other girl, who knows less English, was very engaged. I am excited that I will have fewer issues about classroom control than with my other classes. On the other hand with my younger classes I can get away with more vocabulary whereas these ladies have grammar questions, and English grammar is hard to explain. I’m planning on working at this place Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons, after I finish my other job, during their lunch breaks. Oh yeah and they wanted homework. In my other classes the homework is to draw a family tree, but I don’t think they would really appreciate that.
Hum…What Else?
-Yeah I didn’t quit my other job just now I have two.
-At school the teachers keep telling me I should buy a car, they think that just because I’m white I should be able to go out and buy a car no problem.
-I bought Nica food off the streets twice last week, including the vegetables, and didn’t get sick.
-Yesterday the power was out for an hour in the morning and then from 11am-5pm and then off again in the middle of the night.
-On Tuesdays the bread shop makes bagels. Today was cinnamon raisin which is exciting because the plain ones taste pretty much like those big pretzels from Costco.
-This afternoon we are supposed to be getting internet at our apartment, but actually last weekend one of our neighbors got wireless so we’ve been able to use that (as long as there is electricity).
-I am wearing jeans right now and it is way too hot.
-I miss being with all ya’ll but appreciate your attempts at keeping me connected.

It’s not all malls and frappachinos

Hola gente, So this e-mail is going to address some of the more serious aspects of my life here.
Primero: My Schedule
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings around 7:30 I take a 10 minute walk down to the school where my brother teaches(NCA). Seems uneventful yes? But my blondeness (although fading) still gets me plenty of attention. At NCA I get picked up by Oscar, he is Nicaraguan and probably 60. His wife died 4 years ago and he has 6 kids, the youngest is 16. I usually get to my school around 8:00 and sit in the office or the kindergarten classroom until 8:30 . At 8:30 I go into the second grade classroom and teach for 45 minutes until recess. After a 30 minute recess I go into the 3rd grade room for 50 minutes and then onto 1st grade to finish off the day at 11:30 . After classes I wait in the playground until my driver comes. In the afternoons Julio drives me. He also is Nicaraguan and is 27. He is married with three kids, the oldest is 7. His oldest he had with his first wife who died, and now the kid lives with his grandma in a different town. After school he drops me off either at NCA or at my apartment then I do whatever. I realize that 8-12 isn’t a very long schedule but it is comparable to most jobs I have, and it is in Spanish.
Tuesdays I have off.
Thursdays I am at the school. In the mornings I help out the Christian education teacher and after recess I teach English to the kindergarten classes.
New Topic: more into the lives
Sometimes it is hard to live with people. For example, my brother. We always go though rough patches mostly personality clashes but this is the most time we have spent together in a long time. Also it is difficult because it is such a small community I don’t have my same outlets as I had in Davis . Actually in general there is just a lot less freedom than I’m used to. I can’t really do anything on my own either because of safety or my lack of transportation.
Relating with Nicaraguans is difficult as well, I often feel that my Spanish is inadequate to really get to know people. You also pray that this will improve and I will be bold with what I do know.
The school I teach at is Christian sponserd; we have Bible education on Thursdays and Fridays and chapel on Fridays. These are good things but I am unsure about the kids (and teachers) having personal relationships with Jesus. It is hard because statistically their futures are not looking bright. They are all so hungry for love but only Christ will be able to give them that and not let them down ever. You can pray that I will know how to show them Christ’s love but not sacrifice classroom discipline. One 1st grade girl in particular stands out to me. Her name is Selena. I noticed in class that she seemed a little different like maybe had a learning disability. Then one day at recess she introduced me to her mother. Her mom is missing one hand and walks with a fairly substantial limp. Her mom brings her lunch to her every day and last week her mom came with her arm in a cast and her face was scraped up. I don’t know what happened but more than likely it was abuseI know that now everything is even more difficult with the mom. Monday in class Selena tugged on my shirt and whispered to me that she loves me.
Another thing that I am realizing is that the lives here are just so much more difficult than I’m used to. Most of the teachers teach at my school in the morning and another school in the afternoon. The 2nd grade teacher is at my school from 7-12 and then at 1 she goes to a different school to teach high school science. And she has a family. Another girl that works in the office is 29 and has an 8 month old baby. But during the weeks the baby is with the grandmother in another town and the mom only gets to see her on the weekends. I don’t know where the father is.
So that is a very limited idea of what I am involved with here and I’ll try to keep sending things to give you guys a bigger picture. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. Continue praying that I have wisdom in my relationships and that God shows me how I can be effective for His kingdom wherever I am (right now that’s in Nicaragua )
Much love to all, Joy