November in Nicaragua
November 15th – Tijs from Belgium has joined us in Martirio house. He has so far been called Tix, Tess, Thace, Theece, we´re still not quite sure how to say it. It was only when he moved in and was disgusted by the rat problem that we realised it really isn´t normal to co-habit so comfortably with a family of rats! So we set about trying to murder the little buggers. Four so far! I no longer own a medicine bag – they´ve eaten everything! Malaria tablets, pain killers, bandages they love it all. My most precious possession now is my tupperware set. They haven´t figured out how to infiltrate that yet. Came home the other night to find a rat chilling out on my bed. Weird how fast I’ve gotten used to having them around; I just shoo-ed him off like it was a cat or something. I must have frightened him or some-such-thing because he made a deposit on my sheets before running off.
Summer is well and truly here. Thirty-something degree heat everyday. My friends over at the Casita (the other volunteer house) introduced me to the local pool. Best find ever! It’s like one of those holiday resorts in Spain. Beautiful pool with sun loungers and cheesy music.
Since I’ve been travelling to work with Tijs the constant remarks from the men-folk around here have lessened somewhat. They now whisper things instead of shouting them so he doesn’t hear.
Nov 15th
It’s exam season here in Nicaragua. My little group are prepared and ready to go. I really hope one guy, Juan, passes. He’s a very smart guy but doesn’t get to go too school very often because he has to work for his uncle. While I bribe the other kids to work by telling them of the great games we will play after, Juan gets more excited by reading than kids games.
Reynaldo could have invented the phrase, “Too cool for school”. He’s made my days here all the more fun with his ‘kind of working but really playing’ ways. He probably will pass. I think if a kid’s done the 1st grade enough times eventually they are given a pass. One girl is on attempt number 3. I think all but 2 of my class should pass. Here’s to hoping!
Nov 19th. Got new shoes – Karla approves. She started her day by running up to me to tell me how ugly my old shoes were and how much she likes my new ones. Now she says I should wear more revealing clothes like the other women around here. Hmm….
Nov 21stLast day of school.
After 5 weeks it was time to say goodbye to my little recruits at La Epifanía school. Although in typical Nicaraguan style only 3 of my 1st graders, Nelson, Juan and Reynaldo came to the end of year party. Even the teacher I worked with didn’t come to say goodbye. But we struggled on and ate all the sweets without them!
The La Epifanía crew of Christian, Jaime, Tijs, myself and the psychologist Jili put on this party. First we had some entertainment from Jili’s boyfriend Marcel who’s one of those guys who can swing fire around and make it do ‘looks’. To make it child-friendly, he did the swinging of the ropes without the fire and it was every bit as impressive.
Then the crew put on a theatrical performance of ‘The City, the Stars and the Angry Purple Cloud’. I played a star, who was stolen from the city by the cloud. The students had to figure out how the city should handle the situation. “Kill the cloud” was the most popular suggestion. But we all worked out our problems in the end and danced around like idiots. I think it’s on you tube somewhere….
After great food, some pinata smashing and a waterfight, it was time to bid farewell to everyone. With the low turn out, it didn’t take that long. We have to start having pinatas at Irish parties. Ther’re amazing!
November 25th
So school is over and it’s time for people to move on. I went out to dinner with Sarah, the Brit who thinks we live in the same country, her friend Matt, Ylva the Swede (not to be confused with the vegetable – she doesn’t like that) and Jaime. Before dinner I had planned to go to El Salvador for the week we have off before Summer School starts. Jaime was supposed to be going to Ometepe, the island in the middle of the Lake of Nicaragua, where she was going to learn Spanish in peace, away from us evil English speakers. Ylva was planning to go to some remote part of Panama to study the distance university course she’s taking. After a bottle of wine all plans were forgotten as we decided we could not live without each other. I guess we’d gotten quite used to have our countries insulted daily. Sarah and Matt had already booked a trip to the Corn Islands and the remaining three at the table made a new plan to go find a paradise beach in Costa Rica.
Also at that dinner I discovered Sarah thinks Dublin is in Northern Ireland. Whoa! Must remind myself to give her a wedgie for that one.
Tags: 6 - Nicaragua, nicaragua, Travel
cybersusst
Whoa!!! Rats eh?
Blog sounds fantastic, finally got around to reading a substantial amount of it. Would love to meet spiderman!
JILI
November in Nicaragua » TravelBlog Archive » Claire takes on the world….
GODBET789
November in Nicaragua » TravelBlog Archive » Claire takes on the world….