So to catch up from last week, I'm off to a slow but good start with my work with the library. I've been doing short interviews with students and teachers, strategizing with Karla about getting data, and have completed my research for the computer room grant that I'll be putting together. Tomorrow I'm going to the alcaldia, which is the local government, to see if I can get data on the town's population over the last 5 years. This will help me to measure the change in school enrollment which is an indicator of the library's impact. Hopefully I will have more progress to report soon!
On Friday I stayed in all day working on the grant research, and watched a movie with Blanca and my other neighbor Anielka. In the future, I have to remember that staying inside all day puts me in a weird mood. On Saturday Blanca and I went to the artisan market in Masaya and the Masaya Volcano. Both are very close by, and the volcano is an amazing active volcano crater that was spewing smoke. That night we went over to Blanca's co-worker's apartment for a party. It turned out that the party had gotten canceled, but we got to watch the baseball game (go Giants!) and I got to meet Blanca's boss who is originally from San Francisco and their LA based consultant. As I mentioned before, Blanca works for a rad organization called Puntos de Encuentro http://www.puntos.org.ni/english/ that (among other things) is producing a soap opera about social issues.
On Sunday, we had the first Mariposa Language School trip to El Nisperal, Sally's Farm/Nature Preserve. For the test run, we brought one student/volunteer (Tom), Paulette (the owner), Guillermina (Paulette's daughter), Ismael (Paulette's right hand man), Frankin (the caretaker of Paulette's horses) and a policeman (I'm not really sure of the reasoning behind this but I'm assuming it was for protection.) We rode horses from the Mariposa up to the library, and went on a hike (saw tons of monkeys) guided by Luis (the caretaker's son.) I've probably never been on such a long ride with so much cantoring and galloping, but despite some soreness it was fun. Hopefully this was the beginning of a beautiful collaboration!
Today after we came back from the library, I went to Karla's suprise birthday party with her family. They cracked an egg over her head when she walked in the door (surprise!) and also smeared cake on her face and just about everyone else's face later on.
Reasons why I feel grateful:
-I'm getting to know the local roads better, which helps with taking the microbuses to get around.
-it has been raining on and off (it is the rainy season) but overall the air is warm and there are trees with fruit on them. It's often sunny and very green.
-I get to stay in my aunt and uncle's beautiful house with 2 dog roommates.
-their neighbor Claudia who works for them helps me with household chores. What luxury!
-My neighbor Blanca is turning out to be a great friend and activity partner.
-Billy is coming to visit in late November!
-I dropped my computer tonight and the fan seems to be broken (very unlucky) but I can manage temporarily and I'm very grateful that it turns on and that nothing worse happened.
I've posted photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23110575@N05/5112943916/in/set-72157624964798165/
Bon Voyage to my sister Julia who is leaving tomorrow for Europe for 3 weeks! I hope everyone's week is off to a good start.
No comments:
Post a Comment