They weren't candy either...

After I left the cyber cafe yesterday, I went to a small store to buy a water. Some little kid ran up to the counter, gave the man some money and muttered something in Spanish. I figured he was getting some chocolate or candy. It turns out the kid, who was no more than 4 years old, was buying a cigarettes. He ran off with about a dozen single cigarettes. I just thought I'd share =)

The Penultimate

Tomorrow is the last day of teaching and the last day of the "Club de Ninos". These 4 weeks have gone by so fast, and it seems as if we were just having orientation and meeting our host families for the first time. As I've said before, I teach 5th and 6th grade and I though it would be a good idea to reflect on what I've done, how I feel about the teaching, ect. To be honest, I'm not sure how effective our teaching has been. I don't know how much English the kids aquired and how much of it they will be able to use in the future. I don't know if I mentioned it in a previous blog, but the students normally only have English classes for the few weeks that we are here in May and in August. I know that the kids must pick up on some of the information we teach them, because some of the kids will already know a few English words that we haven't taught them. However, we teach the same material (more or less) that last year's group taught. If we are just teaching the same stuff year after year, is it really worth it? Is it worth the time and cost of the students and the teachers? There is also another volunteer here who teaches English a few times a week, so perhaps he is staying longer and can actually teach the kids a solild basis of English. Another problem that makes the classes difficult to teach is the attitude of some of the kids. For example, the 5th grade class as about 30 students in it. Of those thirty, there are about 4 kids who cause trouble every single day. They fight, punch other kids, yell, ect. They get the rest of the class riled up so even the students who are really dedicated to studying and want to learn get distracted and stop paying attention. It's the same in the States, but the teacher has zero control over these kids and gets no respect. Today, a group of 3 or 4 boys were wrestling in the middle of her class (concrete floors) and she just watched and then went on with what she was doing. Also, she apparently told Steven (a guy in my group) that one of the kids was bored, which meant he was acting up so we should do something about it. Somehow, we are expected to entertain and teach while having no disipline power and little respect. I'm honestly not sure how to go about that and the class is really stressing me out. Another part of the situation that confuses me is the fact that this school isn't free; the parents are paying $30 a year in tuition. Although thirty dollars doesn't seem like much, it is a lot for this community. Paying tuition is a financial burdon for the families, and it is suprising that the kids who misbehave would choose to act out and not pay attention. I know if my mom was paying a ton of money for me to go to school, I would study and try to get the most out of it. It seems disrespectful not to.
At the same time, there are other kids in the 5th grade class who are fantastic! Today lunch was served in the middle of class and most of the kids just stopped doing work because they were eating (and even the ones who weren't eating stopped paying attention). One girl, however, Areilly, kept copying the words down in her notebook and had her food on the floor. I was really shocked to see it, because I'm sure she was hungry and I was happy that she was so dedicated to her work that she waited to eat until she was finished.

6th grade is about half the size of 5th grade and is, for the most part, more well behaved. I think part of the reason is that 6th grade is the last grade at the school, so this is the last year of school for many of them. They are bright, interested in what we are teaching, pick up on things fast and seem to enjoy the class. I was really pleased today when we were reviewing the concept of "apostrophe s". We haven't seen the kids since last Friday and we were worried that they would forget all the information we taught them. We wrote a sentence like "Casa de Maria" on the board and asked them to translate it. This girl that I was working with last week 100% remembered how to do it and help me explain it to some of the others. I was so proud that she knew how to do it! Most of the girls in the class seem to think that they aren't as smart as the boys, so it was awesome to see her understand and to see how proud she was that she understood! 

Although I'm not sure how much English the kids will retain, we made a lot of personal connections and friendships with the kids that I hope they will remember. I hope that we have affected their lives and made them brighter for a month. I am one of a (small) handfull of volunteers who managed to stick with the "Club de Ninos" (Kids' Club) for the three weeks (and I was also called a Saint) (there was a lot of parenthesis in that sentence!). Kids' Club is tiring for us, and a lot of fun for the kids. We basically come up with a craft (mainly coloring) to entertain the kids with and then let them play football and/or jumprope for an hour. A few crafts that went over well were the masks, cootie catchers and a weaving project. We are also making books tomorrow for the Dia de Mama (Mothers' Day). It is basically a time for "kids to be kids". I'm really going to miss Kids' Club because it's a time to "hang out" with the kids from class. It makes everyone (the volunteers and students) see the human side of each other.

Photos!

I just realized that my cyber cafe has a USB plug, so enjoy some of the photos!

Some of the girls in Kids' Club decided to decorate my hair the way traditional dancers do. You cannot tell by the photo, but there was a MASSIVE amount of flowers in my hair!

This was the volcano at Ometepe that we hiked up. My group only got about 1/3 of the way up before we came down. It was really strange though because most of the time we were hiking, there was NO path...we were just hiking our way over trees, dangerous plants and thorns. Our hike took about 4 hours.






We were tired when we were done.

This is me on a really awesome beach in front of the volcano that we just hiked up. Two other people and I rented bikes for a few hours and just biked around island until we found some place.

And this photo is by far my favorite. I think I'm going to blow it up when I get home and frame it. I also took it at the beach that we found. I have more photos to upload, so I hope I'll have a chance to do that soon!

In other exciting news,I will be home in two weeks =)

Tiffany

Camilo Ortega

Whew! I'm finally done with my first week of teaching school and I'm exhausted! I work at a school in a neighborhood called Camilo Ortega, which is a section of Managua. According to our group leaders, this neighborhood is one of the poorest parts of the city and up until 6 years ago when the school was founded, the neighborhood didn't even have a school. Instead of going to a school, most of the kids had jobs selling things on the streets, were apart of gangs, worked as housekeepers, ect. When ATRAVES wanted to set up a school, they actually had a lot of resistance from the community members who felt that the kids would benifit more and be a bigger help to the community if they brought in an income. After some time of negotiation, the school was set up where the neighborhood dump used to be and about 225 kids go to school there. Still, most kids in the community don't go to school. The education here is a lot different because it seems as if some families see it as a nuisance since their kids could be more helpful if they financially supported their family. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. Coming from a place where education seems so obvious, I should be outraged by the fact that people don't want their kids learning. At the same time, if the family cannot even afford to feed itself and the child, who normally makes a decent contribution to the income, goes to school to learn geography and algebra, I can understand how that would be frustrating for the family. I'm not sure if that type of education would really help the kids in a long run. I'm not arguing for zero education, because that leads to ignorance and oppression, but I'm not convinced that they need a US model of education. I don't have any experience in education or development, so I probably don't have any idea what I'm talking about, but those are just some of my observations.

I teach 5th grade and 6th grade and help with an afterschool club, which allows about 50 kids to come and play/learn (more emphasis on the playing part) after school so they don't have to go to work. Basically, it's set up so kids can be kids. For most of the week, I played outside with some of the girls and taught them jumping rope games, clapping games, the Macarana and the limbo. The Macarana was a hit, and they are apparently going up to other volunteers at the school and force them to dance with them. They are also in love with Miss Mary Mack. I will seriously have a line of 5 kids lined up waiting to do that game. Unfortunatly, none of them no the words past the two lines, so I end up singing the words for about 25 games. I've also played that game so much that I actually popped blood vessels on my legs =O

I had a really exciting weekend and I wish I had time to type more about it, so I'll write about that on my next blog! And, tomorrow is my half-way point of this trip. I cannot believe how quickly it has flown by!

Tiffany

Across the Agua to Managua Nicaragua

Greetings from Managua, Nicaragua! This blog is going to be pretty disjointed, so let me just tell you my first few impressions of Nicaragua and the project I'm doing...First off, it's HOT here and I don't think I could possibly exaggerate this point enough! It hit 100 degrees yesterday and before I left today for the internet cafe at 11 AM, it was already 97 degrees out. It is so hot that I actually sweat while I am taking a cold shower!! Speaking of showers, I realized that the water in the shower shuts off around 8 AM and doesn't turn on again until the night. Since I normally wake up around 6, I can normally get in an actual shower before I leave for school, but I "slept in" yesterday and today until about 8:30, so there was no water in the bathroom. Instead, I took a bucket shower =)  To take a bucket shower, you fill up a large baison with water from the spigot outside, carry it into the shower and then use a bowl to scoop up the water and pour it on you. It's actually really refreshing  and, I'm not going to lie, I get a little excited when I realize that we have to use the bucket.

The water in the toilet also doesn't work during the day. Instead, you have to manually pour water into the toilet to get it to flush. You basically take about a gallon or two and forcibly dump it into the bowl. If you want to try it, the key is to aim for the water already in the bowl...otherwise you'll just make a mess. I also think I should point out that I am a GREAT toilet bowl flusher. I'll add that to my resume.

I'm also living with a host family =) I live with a host mom named Marla, two brothers (ages 21 and 14) named Dennis and Issac and another girl who is part of ATRAVES named Sandra.Our room is actually quite large, but there is just two beds and a bedstand, so there was really nowhere we can put anything. It is nice and clean though, and our host mom said that our dog, Quicha, likes to eat any mice that get into the house, which is GREAT because I am scared to death of mice...I've also noticed that Quicha likes to chase down cats, so I'm also safe in the gato department. However, he's not very good at catching the cockroaches and we have had several close calls with them all ready. I also now have la coucaracha song stuck in my head =/

The whole lack-of-Spanish is a bit difficult, but I think I am trudging along well enough. I really try to speak with them and I am starting to really regret not knowing Spanish. For example, it took Sandra and I about 10 minutes to excuse ourselves from the kitchen to explain that we wanted to unpack our bags...and that was with the help of two dictionaries. I guess I feel stupid about not knowing any Spanish, especially when Sandra is at least able to communicate with the family, but I think I'm actually doing pretty well considering I didn't know a word of the language a week ago!

On a more serious note, I think I am once again having a mid-college crisis. Similar to how I felt when I went to Senegal, I feel like what I am going into will not make any real difference in the world and just seems so insignificant. Most other people in my group are pre-med, study international buisness/econ or study development, and I feel like they are going to be the type of people who will make a difference in the lives of people in the world. Although I love linguistics (honestly, I LOVE it!), does it really matter? We went to the place where we are going to be doing the classes and health clinic the other day, and the place really needs improvements. The place where they wanted us to hold an after school club was basically 4 brick walls with no roof on a 'road' that was covered with broken glass. The clinic is being held in the school that is extreamly hot, dirty and cramped. I realized that almost everyone else in my group were planning on doing things that would improve lives, but what am I going to do with linguistics? I love it, but am I actually going to improves lives of people who really need it? Probably not.

Also, I am starting to think pretty seriously about joining the Peace Corps after college. I think I'll have to seriously think about this during my summer.

I also just realized that my spell check was in Spanish. Great.

The other day, we took a trip to the Masaya Volcano. We were so high up that our ears were actually popping while we were climbing. The volcano wasn't really the typical volcano that you normally think of when you think of a volcano. It was actually covered in green and had plants growing. It was smoking, so that was a plus =) The scenery was great, but I'm not sure if any of my photos could do it justice!

As promised, that was a very disjointed blog post and I don't think I talked about everything I wanted to talk about either. We are planning a trip next weekend to go hiking on another volcano, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to type up another blog post on Thursday or Friday about my first week of class.

Last but not least, HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!!

Love, Tiffany

It's the final countdown!

I'm not going to lie; I'm pretty apprehensive about writing this blog. I have read quite a few travel blogs lately, and they all seem incredibly witty, insightful and full of adventure. Either way, I have to write it, I'm looking forward to writing it and I hope that you all enjoy it =)

First things first (as first things normally are). I'm writing this blog for MIISP, or Michigan International Internships and Service Projects. It's a group @ UM that helps students with all aspects of internships abroad. As a way of promoting the group, all the members are keeping blogs of their time abroad. I'm not sure how it works exactly, but this blog should be connected with about 10 other blogs, so those might be interesting to read, too! I wrote this blog post three weeks before I am going because I haven't put too much thought into this trip yet (although the length of this post says otherwise), so these thoughts are really my initial thoughts. I may do another one a day or two before I leave with final concerns/fears/joys/ect.

As you probably know (especially if you read the 'about me' section of the blog), I'm going to Managua, Nicaragua (say THAT 10 times fast!) in three weeks for a month with a UM group called ATRAVES. We are going to run health clinics and teach English. Although we have the opportunity to participate in both the health component and the education component, I think I am going to stick with teaching English for three reasons. One/Uno: Most of the kids in ATRAVES are pre-med. Two/Dos: I hate, hate, HATE blood and anything, shall we say, 'icky'. They probably don't want me passing out when I'm doing examinations, so I think it is best for all involved that I stay as far way from the health clinic as possible. Three/Tres: Although I don't plan on teaching ESL for the rest of my life, if I don't get into grad school next year, I would like to go abroad for a year or two and teach English. I've 'taught' French in Senegal and tutored English at Jewish Family Services, so this experience should sit well with Fulbright/Peace Corps/MSU, or whatever I plan on doing. 

And now, boys and girls, we come to the part of the blog where I explain how SCARED I am to go =( . Simply put, I'm nervous. I think the main reason why I'm so scared is because I don't know the language. I've brought this concern up with a number of people, and people keep telling me that I can "get by" in the country without knowing Spanish and that my French abilities will really help me out. Okay. Here's the deal. I don't WANT to just "get by" in Nicaragua. I don't want a month being totally confused, unable to ask people for help, not being able to talk about my real family with my host family and trying to translate everything I see into French. I don't think that is a good way to experience the Nicaraguan culture. Basically, I guess I'm worried that I'm wasting my time because I don't know the language and that I won't get much out of the experience. That being said, I know that Spanish is not going to magically pop into my brain one day, so I've been trying to be proactive and I bought a Spanish for Dummies Book, haha! I'm trying =)

One thing that I'm really excited about is living with a host family again! Despite the small amount of free time I'll have, I'm hoping to spend that time with my family and get to know them (another reason why I'm worried about my Spanish skills, or lack thereof). I went abroad last year to Dakar, Senegal for 5 months and I feel like I didn't really connect with my host family. I've thought about this a lot and I came to the conclusion that I was spending too much time with my American friends (Shout-out to the toubabs! I *heart* you all!!!!). I was there for a long time and I didn't want to be a total outcast with the people I was going to school with and taking trips with, so I made an effort to be with them. Although I'm glad I did that and I have met some of the greatest people on that trip, I feel like my effort to make American friends hurt my relationship with my host family. So, this time around, I'm hoping to change that. To be honest, I don't really care if I make a lot of American friends on this trip. I think it is going to be most important to me to spend time with my family and in the city. In other words, if I have the chance to go away for a weekend with a few Americans or have a relaxing weekend with my family in Managua, I want to stay home. I think that I will get the most of this trip, culturally speaking, if I do that. 

I'm also a bit worried about the lack of free-time that I'll have. I expected the internship to be structured and I appreciate that I'll be working during most of the day, but I'm a bit bummed that we have this thing called 'reflection'. Here's the rundown of what my day will look like: leave for work @ 8 (oh dear God!), leave for home @ 4, spend time with family, meet up for 'reflection' @ 7. It just seems that I have a very limited amount of time with my family. However, I guess this means that I will be able to put a lot of energy into lesson plans and teaching, so I will be well liked by the kids!

Now for the things that I'm really excited about:

1) I get another stamp on my passport! I just got my passport last year (well, I guess two years ago because it was in 2008) and it already has a visa and several pages of stamps =) ...however, I was quite sad when I realized that Nicaragua was NOT in South America and I wouldn't be able to cross off another continent on my "things to do before I die" list.

2) I'll be able to speak (or semi-speak) Spanish when I get back! Not only will I be able to speak Spanish, but it will be with a Nicaraguan accent. I already speak French with a Senegalese "spin", so why not add to my non-European accent repertoire?

3) I'll have a tan when I get back =) Enough said.

4) This may be a bit dorky, but I'm really excited for my layovers. I have two eight hour layovers (one going there and one coming back) and I'm JACKED! I really like airports and watching airplanes =). I also have window seats on all four flights !

5) I'M GOING TO SEE A VOLCANO!! And I'm going to climb it!! Mwahaha!

6) I'm going to buy Nicaraguan jewelery!

7) It's only a month, so if I get homesick, I'll be home in less than 4 weeks =) Always a good thing!

8) I want to get some really cute photos with some cute little kids! Honestly, nothing is cuter. Not even a sleeping puppy cuddling with an Elmo stuffed animal.

9)  Until I open my mouth and reveal my Anglophone-ness, I think I'm going to fit in in Nicaragua (especially when I tan up a bit)

10) Last but not least, Managua is near the Pacific Ocean. Two 'goals' on my list of "things to do before I die" (YES, I do have such a list) are to 'play in all four oceans' and 'see a sunset over an ocean'. I hope to kill two birds with one stone and go swimming at sunset =)

Finally, I was perusing my old blog the other day, so I'm going to close this post with a quote from my (slightly) younger self.

"We also stopped in the local fish market. It was interesting and as much as it smelled of rotting fish, I tried to enjoy it because I figured that it was the last time in my entire life that I would be in that particular fish market, so I might as well enjoy it.

By the way, that’s the new attitude I’m trying to adopt here: I’ll never do this again in my life, so even if I don’t like it, I’m going to be positive about it." 03/19/2009

Much love,

Tiffany