Soooo, ummm, what exactly do you do in the PC?

Hola Hola! Como estan??

So, hey! How is life for everyone?? I am doing pretty good, I can’t believe I left over a month ago! Time felt like it was going very slowly the first week, but now its flying by… I think that is how I will feel by the end of my service... that time really flew by. Anyways, I thought I would talk a little about my actually work here, just so you guys have a better idea of what I am actually doing here, not just sitting in hammocks drinking frescos (yummy juices). Anyways, this might get a little long and boring, but hey, if your interested, keep reading!


So, we have technical training 2-3 times a week. At these, all 18 people from my group get together (we live in 5 different pueblos, my group is the only one in a city). Here we learn all kinds of stuff, from common illnesses to all the peace corps rules to classroom management and how to teach a lesson, and we do tons of “dinamicas” with are like dynamic little activities to get us motivated and to learn (we should do these in the classroom). The trainings are long, but I have learned so much. Also, its nice to see the other trainees and chat about our experiences in our home stays and towns.

Besides training, another girl and I have formed a youth group at a techincal school in Masaya. We meet up with the kids once or twice a week and we chat, play games, give them “life skills” charlas (talks), and we are also doing a project. My group is making a magazine for youth. I think it will work out well, but we are still in the beginning stages of the project. The kids are about 16-20 years old, and a little shy, but they are opening up a little. We plan a lot for the youth group, trying to make it fun and educational and productive, all in Spanish, but its all going well.

Also, I started giving charlas at the nearby high school. That was definitely an experience. The school conditions here are nothing like the States. There are no books, all the desks are falling apart, there is about 50-70 kids in the classroom, and even when I scream, you still can’t hear me over all the noise of the entire building. Needless to say, it is a challenge, but its also kinda fun, So far I have only given one class on goal planning. It went really well. The kids were behaved, I think because I was the new gringa in the class, so that will probably wear off, but I think I can handle it. I have to give 5 more classes before I become a volunteer, so I will have some practice before I get to my site, where I will teach a lot.

So when I am not in training and planning charlas, we have a couple other projects on business analysis and consulting. We write surveys and interview nearby businesses and we are also working with our host families on learning about their businesses and how they run. We have to observe, analyze, come up with suggestions. Its cool, something I have never done before, and its all in the sustainable development context. Its really interesting to learn about the whole business culture here and hopefully by the end of training I will have a better idea of what is going on.

So ya, that’s training! Its good, and I feel like I have learned more in the last 4 weeks then the past year times 100. Its nice to use my brain again.

Other then that, everything is good. My host family is great, my group of volunteers in Masaya is also awesome and its nice to have them around. Its officially rainy season (ya Patagonia jacket!) so it has cooled down a little (thank goodness).

This weekend I am going to visit another volunteer for a few days to see how life actually is at a site. I am going to Esteli, Esteli. It is totally different that training (now its all super structured). I am excited to go somewhere else in Nicaragua and get a new perspective. So I will have news on that soon.

And funny story- When it rains, my street becomes a chocolate river (no sewer system). Seriously, there is so much water rushing down the street, its crazy! And nice to see from inside. Unfortunately, the other day I got caught in a huge rainstorm, and I had to walk through the chocolate river! EWWWW! It was so gross. All these families were watching me from their doors. It was funny, after I scrubbed my feet of course.

Anyways! Happy summer! Its officially summer, right?

Irene