Ok, well, I can't figure out how to put the pictures later, so here they are first:



San Juan during the day

San Juan at sunset

San Juan a little later at sunset.

And here's the post:

I thought it was about time to let you know what I've been up to. Last weekend was my descanso, and I went with Sana and Michelle to San Juan del Sur. I think I might've mentioned this in my last email, but I was a little worried that it would be too touristy for me. But it's a very famous location in Nicaragua, so I figured I should go at least once. It was a nice, relaxing weekend, but I was right- not quite my scene. The budget tourists were all there to surf or party. There wasn't much else to do, unless you had money to pay for tours and boat rides and things like that. So I'm not sure I'll go back, but it was nice to sit on the beach and swim a bit. It was also nice to eat non-Nicaraguan food like pizza and pancakes. The beaches were pretty, but I've seen nicer. (I like the Salinas beach better, and Gigante as well.) I still haven't found the perfect descanso beach in Nicaragua yet. In Costa Rica there was a beautiful beach on the Atlantic (Cahuita) that was right by a nature reserve and the town was small, and not too touristy. And then a 15 minute (or so) bus ride away was much more touristy Puerto Viejo, which was within biking distance of another nature park. So we'll see if there's something similar here. It seems like here you have to choose between super-touristy and underdeveloped. (Salinas is great, but not if I want a break from Nica food. Although the Nica food in Salinas is better than the Nica food here.) Anyway, so we relaxed all weekend and then headed back here on Monday after a stop in Rivas to open bank accounts (so our stipend can be direct-deposit) and get groceries. Then we headed back to the island and celebrated Michelle's birthday with pancakes. One of the volunteers who was here for the weekend was supposed to bake a cake, but she either forgot or didn't have time, so Sana and I made banana pancakes. Michelle didn't seem to mind that she had pancakes instead of cake, so that's good.

Then this week was the second week of school and was the week of schedule making. Tuesday I talked to the teachers to make sure all the kids actually needed aula de recurso and to see if there were any kids that needed to be added. Wednesday we finalized our class lists in the psychopedagogical team meeting. Thursday I talked to the teachers about what times of day were the best to pull each kid out of class and started my schedule. And today I ironed out the problems and handed the teachers a list of the schedule for their class. So Monday I get to start! My Tues-Thurs are completely full (7-12) because those are the days that I'm never on descanso. Mondays and Fridays are much more empty because those days are used for students who need more than once per week. So Monday and Friday when I'm here I'll use that time to do a lot of planning as well. I'm also going to be helping the older girls with their homework in the morning a few times a week, so I had to schedule that in. (They go to high school in San Jose in the afternoon. 12-5 or something like that). This week in the afternoons I was on my normal schedule- lunch with the kids, a bit of free time, helping with homework, hanging out with the kids during their free time, and dinner with the kids.

Yesterday we celebrated Valentine's Day with a big cake and a bonfire where we cooked bread (a German thing, kinda like broomstick pies, but with out the pie filling part. And garlic bread, not normal bread.) Tomorrow I think we're doing some activities with the kids and then we might be able to go out to dinner for my birthday. We have to see if there's transport. The cake is going to wait for Monday so that people are back from descanso. Then next week I start Aula de Recurso! So hopefully everything will go well! Then I have descanso next weekend. I think I'll probably go to Salinas again because it'll be the last weekend Ariel and Aminta are home before they go to university. And Michelle wants to go to Managua, but I want to wait until Ariel and Aminta are there. And Sana's going back to San Juan because she bought a surf board. And I think the Germans in our descanso (Kiki, Birgit and Julia) are going with Sana.

Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Manh Hung, our coordinator, had his surgery and everything went well. He has 10 days in the hospital and 6 weeks with a neck brace. He wants to come back at the end of February, but he has to get a doctor's permission first. But his 6 weeks should be up at the end of March, so he should be back then if not before.