jingle bells, my laundry smells, all the kitties died

the little kitties have all passed on to the great beyond, which was sad for about a day, but now i have my life back. the best part was that the day the second-to-last kitty died, i had to borrow the el farito key from carolina, jasmina, and doña juana's next door. i said hello to their little kitty "missyfoo" as i always do, and carolina told me that her mom wanted me to have her because i love her so much and they are getting a new kitty soon and can't take care of two. i got pretty excited and called my mom to ask if i could get her some shots and fly her home with me for christmas (ridiculous, i know, but i was emotionally raw on the subject of kitties). she reminded me that our cat mr. lucky does not do well with company and that it would just be a disaster. plus i'm allergic. oh well.

marcela has photoshopped a killer christmas card for us to hand out to our friends in the community before we leave. see below:


this week, we are drilling our little creative arts students on the songs they have learned and the countries we have studied in preparation for our holiday performance this thursday evening. after that we'll clean out some closets and do a little traveling before heading home for the holidays.

i tried to make cookies here once, but it turned out more like a giant sheet of oatmeal cookie. today, i am attempting sugar cookies rolled in walnuts. wish i had some holiday cutters. maybe i'll exacto-knife some candy canes and snowmen into existence.

in other news, my laundry still sort of smells like mildew. all i want for christmas is a dryer.

meow

what a week.

vanderbilt had all of thanksgiving week off, so 9 good-hearted college students decided to miss out on turkey day and football in the good ol' US of A and came to visit us here in managua. it was a whirlwind of trips to the grocery store, good conversations with new faces, tours of managua and our programs at el farito. the group kindly brought us a suitcase of requested canned and packaged thanksgiving ingredients, and we cooked for two days and had a killer turkey day party (erin's parents and kathy august handled the two turkeys for us). 40 gringos and nicas arrived and sat out in our pool house and ate themselves silly- my mom's stuffing recipe, hand-mashed potaoes, green bean casserole, candied yams, home-made mac and cheese, and tessa's four perfect pumpkin pies. all of our hammocks and couches were occupied for all hours of the afternoon with victims of the food coma. it was beautiful.

meanwhile, my life has been commandeered by four furry little noise-makers that we found outside of our room in the laundry area two saturdays ago. a momma cat birthed her babies on top of a suitcase and got scared away by all of our noise. enter julie. my mother can never let an abandoned animal go lonely and hungry, no matter how many times she's told us we can't have another cat or get a dog. it must be in my blood to go out of my way to be inconvenienced by saving the lives of sick, helpless animals. so in the past week, i've been to the vet three times, with questions and sick kitties (once with "solo gas"). we've all been trading off getting up in the middle of the night and dropping what we're doing during the day to give a syringe-full of infant formula to the kittens. it is extremely annoying and incredibly cute. today the vet told us we need to be feeding them a lot more often, which worries me because even every two hours is too often for us with our classes to teach and meetings to hold and groceries to buy.

needed: cat nanny. no qualifications necessary. just clean hands and talent with a syringe. also tolerance of incessant mewing. will pay in pineapples.

we're almost done with el farito classes. next week, rehearsals for our creative arts holiday performance.

i'm at an internet cafe, looking at a heart-breaking central american sunset. life is beautiful and full of cute kitties and sweet children and good friends.

cloudy days and rainy walks

The furious downpours have taken some mercy on us. They are only in the afternoons now. Yesterday, there was a river gushing over the road at the dip in the entrance to our neighborhood. Tessa had to load abuncha Nica moms and kids into the micro to weigh it down before she could drive through so as not to get swept away. She said there were tree stumps and buckets and a telephone pole being swept by as she drove, with all of the moms and kids cheering her on. Meanwhile, I was at the house making lesson plans and taking pictures of the dogs. I was jealous of her adventure, so I offered to drop her off at the community an hour later, hoping to see some action. But we just got stuck for about 30 seconds in the mud, and the river wasn't nearly as dangerous-looking. I decided to turn around and go home because my hunger for adventure was getting risky. Tessa started to walk to music class, but then the buckets started, and Dane said there were no kids there, so we canceled. Excercise class was graced by a period of no rain, and we had a great time kicking and jumping to Shakira and yoga-ingto Ravi Shankar.

In other news, I acquired yet another electronic commitment that I will not be able to keep, but it should be really great until the buzz wears off. It's a daily photo journal, and the idea is to post one photo a day, taken that day. Having a camera with me makes me look at everything differently, and I like it. (Note: if you click the left side of the picture, it will take you to the previous day's entry, and right side goes to next day.)

i'ma whine for a sec, k?

it has been raining for three days straight. three days. sometimes there is an hour of respite, and then the sky starts spitting again, opens up and dumps buckets of water on us, spits, stops, buckets, spits, buckets... 72 hours. everything is muddy. the laundry won't dry. every paper is like cloth, limp and wimpy. we have found at least 3 leaks in our roof, but we can't have them repaired until this silliness stops. we've heard the entire month of october is one giant shower. there go the buckets again...

all i want is a hot bath!

Clowns, Scorpions, and Jesus

I am a terrible blogger lately! Apologies, especially for those of you who count on these entries to procrastinate at school and work. :) Here is a little taste of what's been going on...

Last week, we went to a fiesta that was held for no reason we could determine. Our Nica friend who works in the preschool in the municipal dump admitted that the purpose of the costumes and balloons and music and piñata was "para destraerlos" (to distract them). Little kids in costumes are always good for a laugh, and considering that the participants of the costume fun live below the extreme poverty line in a trash dump, creativity and resourcefulness combined to make some really cute and funny pictures.
See more here: http://flickr.com/photos/juliamariemills/sets/72157602220297723/

On Saturday night, we had a murder mystery party at the Manna house for our advanced English class and a few other Nica friends. Marcela was still on her visit home in the States, so the story was that we were on a cruise ship, and Marcela had been pushed overboard. Our students were charged with solving the mystery of her untimely death by questioning the characters present, which included:
The Merman in the cruise ship pool (Matt)
The Italian Supermodel (Tessa)
The Captain with a lisp (Dane)
The Lounge Singer (Erin)
The Castaway (our photographer-from-New-York visitor, Brian)
The International Beach Volleyball Champion (Geoff), and
The Narcoleptic Pirate (me)

We had a great time and after the mystery was solved and lots of great new vocabulary was learned (lounge singer, alibi, narcoleptic, etc.), we spent hours chatting in Spanglish over snacks and dancing to all kinds of world tunes, and by around 11 pm, nearly everyone ended up in the pool in their clothes. Even though lots of these people are in their twenties and in college, they still know how to act like kids and have a great time. Alan, one of our students, showed me and Geoff his scorpion tattoo and told us a Spanglish story about the time he almost died twice. One day, when he put on a pair of shorts, he felt a sharp pain followed by loss of feeling in his tongue and leg, which prompted his grandmother to ask if he had a scorpion in his shorts, to which he replied, "No, Granmother, I do not have one scorpion en mai charts." So she patted his leg to feel for foreign objects, and when she did, the scorpion stung him a second time. When he was finally taken to the hospital, his whole nervous system a mess, he was given an injection to which he had a severe allergic reaction. Obviously, he lived, but it was during this fiasco, Alan told us, through desperation and prayer, that he came to believe in Jesus sincerely, rather than superficially as he had before. To mark the significance of this event in his spiritual life, he got a tattoo on his left thigh where the scorpion stung him. He also got a tattoo on his right thigh of a heart with two pistols "because I like" and one on his ankle of an Aztec sun, Alan shrugs, smiles, and concedes "because I am crasy!" and jumps back into the pool, playfully taking an innocent bystander with him.

endless summer

Yesterday was lovely. We woke up at dawn, loaded three surfboards in the microbus, picked up our Nica friend Exequiel, and swerved around potholes and ox carts until we reached the beach. Geoff, Tessa, Dane, Exequiel and I passed the morning pushing our boards out through the waves and riding them back towards a deserted shore.

In the afternoon, Dane and I spent a couple of hours at El Farito with siblings Erick (7) and Maqueline (12). They didn't have school, so we took a break from our usual Tuesday afternoon homework and tutoring time to do jigsaw puzzles and play musical instruments. Erick and Maqueline showed me what Dane and Tessa had taught them earlier that afternoon in music class. They played quarter and half-note rhythms so proudly on their little hand drums and maracas. Erick said we should start a band and call it "Los Roqueros."

Every day, Erick and Maqueline ask if today is the day we get to work. And they always call it "work" so excitedly. (I forget sometimes that a child's work is play.) Maqueline is 12, and she can't read yet. Every day is a struggle for her. And for me to teach her. Patience with her and with my own language dificulties is a task. Sometimes when we're working on recognizing syllables, she gets really frustrated and embarrassed and throws her head back and forces a laugh. It amazes me that she forces the laugh so well instead of crying. Because I would probably cry. But yesterday was so relaxed and easy. Spanish flowed from my mouth like thoughts in my head, and the four of us sat on our carpets and laughed and played and read to each other in a way that was so unlabored.

In the evening, Tessa and I taught the women's exercise class in what I think was the MOST HUMID weather we've had since we arrived. In the states, we pay big bucks for rooms that are heated so we can do yoga while purging our bodies of toxins. Here, sweat is free and plentiful.

Dane and I frequent a coffee shop here when we have a free half hour. It is owned by a Nica/American couple, and they pretty much just copied Starbucks. It's the most American thing around here. And sometimes we feel guilty for sipping overpriced coffee drinks while we're supposed to be assimilating to Central American life (which I LOVE, by the way). But sometimes a latte on a big leather chair in warm lighting with A/C and wireless internet is all you need when you miss the comforts of home. Yesterday I was looking at a poster ad for an iced green tea drink that was recently posted on the wall. It was a sort of blurry picture of a family splashing with their feet while sitting by the pool- totally summer. And I realized that that poster probably won't come down in October. Here, it's always summer. So come visit.


Paz y amor,
Julie

Here we go....

Last Friday, we had a party at El Farito for the community to officially say goodbye to the old guys and welcome the new kids on the block, and it was so lovely. (See right for my moment of glory officially introducing myself to the community.) Goodbye and hello hugs flow together like something so bittersweet. The people of Cedro Galan have hearts the size of... I don't know- something really big. So, it's official. The old Program Directors have packed their bags and given their hugs and cried their tears and boarded their planes back to the good ol' US of A, and this Tuesday we seven newbies suddenly found ourselves riding that bike with no one holding onto the back. Chaos ensues... Just kidding. Sort of.

Here is a rough recap of my week:

Literacy:
We had over 30 students register for our Spanish literacy class this month, and we had to turn some away! We have four levels of literacy, and the kids break up into their groups to read and discuss and write together. The main method of teaching in schools here seems to be "copy page 82." So we try to bring some creative thought to the table and encourage the older kids to challenge themselves with new books and to really understand what they're reading. The youngest kids (my group) are still working on recognizing letters and syllables and sounds. We spend a lot of time clapping out syllables and talking about the difference between "G duro y G suave" (hard and soft G). And we also spend a lot of time saying "No pega. Espera por tu turno. Puedes esperar hasta despues de clase?" (Don't hit. Wait for your turn. Can you hold it?)

Last week, we made some school visits and observed the grades from which most of the students in our respective groups come. It was great to see the kids with whom we spend every afternoon sitting in their desks with their uniforms and turning around to smile and wave every chance they got. I missed out on snack time because apparently you have to bring your own dishes from home to have rice and beans and pineapple juice from the buckets that get delivered to each classroom mid-morning. Next time I'll be ready.

Microfinance:
Big news! We gave out our first loans yesterday! "Tiendita Melba," "Reposteria Johanna," and "Boutique Happy Baby" are three brand-new or seriously improved businesses run by three women in Cedro Galan. Yesterday, Melba, Johanna, and Laura (with her daughter Laurita by her side) took comprehension tests to make sure they understood the rules and process of the program, and after they passed with flying colors and signed their payment plans, I handed them a total of about $480 USD (C$8900). Johanna will be fixing her industrial Kitchen Aid mixer so that she can start making her community-famous cakes again. She is also buying more professional packaging and establishing relationships with local businesses who will sell her cakes and treats. Melba will be selling underwear and shoes from her house. Laura will be buying more supplies to make quilts and children's clothing. These three have a great relationship with one another, and we will continue meeting every week to discuss concepts like publicity and how not to spend more money than you make (a concept I have yet to embrace).

Creative Arts:
Weeellll, that was interesting. Our first creative arts class had potential to be fantastically creative and artsy, but instead, we found ourselves huddled in the middle of El Farito for the better part of an hour and a half with 30 screaming Nica children because of the torrential rain and thunder. Before chaos ensued, however, we had a lovely discussion about the puppet show we took a group to see last Sunday in the city.

There was so much more, but let me sum it up by saying this: This week, we seven twenty-somethings suddenly found ourselves acting as English teachers, Spanish teachers, math teachers, baseball coaches, art directors, microbusiness consultants, bus drivers, public health specialists, exercise instructors, loan officers, and about a thousand other things that we've never been before. In Spanish. Needless to say, overwhelming! But here I am on Friday afternoon. I lived to tell about it! And I think we even had some fun! We have a lot of work to do in the weeks and months to come. I have so much more Spanish to learn and so much more about classroom discipline and what the holes are in these children's education and how to fill them and how to make this microfinance program work. Here we all go, into the unknown, but we've got feet in our shoes and brains in our heads and lots of good friends, large and small.


Besos.
Julie