NPH anniversary pictures

The day started with mass in the church.

Everyone was there, the kids from Casa Asis, the kids from Managua, and the workers from San Jorge. Here's a little boy from Casa Santiago (the island home) with his two younger siblings who live at Casa Asis. They don't get to see eachother very often, and they're obviously excited to be together and he's excited to play big brother and show them around.

Three legged race. For some reason, in Nicaragua the hop in the three legged race. They hold up the foot tied together and hop on the other ones.

Stilts race!

Here's everyone lined up for lunch with the teams. The games paused at lunch.

kids and Anne's goodbye

A family- Valentina, Carmen, Cristian Three girls I really like hanging out with.

Anne's goodbye party

Kids reading before book donation

Reading up-side down

Sharing a book, 'cause they didn't have many. (They still don't have THAT many, but they have a lot more than they did!!)

NPH anniversary and a trip home

Sorry it's been SO long, but I went home for vacation (as most of you know) and then when I got back our internet was broken. It is now fixed, but still quite sporatic. On a good day, it'll work for a half hour to an hour, then flip out and connect/disconnect for 5 minutes. On a bad day, it'll work for 5 minutes, then die for a half hour or so, the come back for another 5 mins, etc.

First I want to say a big thank you to everyone who donated money for the book/ copier fundraiser. We raised at least $1378 for the books, which bought 143 books. We also have up to $2000 for the copier. So once the copier is bought, we'll know how much extra money we have to buy more books. The kids are really excited about the books, and the volunteers are really excited about the copier. So THANK YOU all very much.

Now for news Way back on May 10, before I even went home, we celebrated NPH Nicaragua's 14th anniversary. It was a big celebration, and all the Managua kids, all the Casa Asis kids, and all the San Jorge workers came. The day started out with a mass, and then after that there were games for most of the rest of the day. The volunteers organized the games, and some of the workers helped us to run them all. The kids and workers were all divided into 14 teams, and they competed in the games to see who would win. The games were really varied and fun. I did human knot (where you stand in a circle, and take hands of two different people across the circle from you, and then have to untangle your knot, to make a circle again.) There were also races on stilts, relay races, sack races, tug-of-war, pictionary, watermelon eating contest, and more. In the middle of the games we had a lunch break, and then after lunch they finished the games. At about 5PM was the finals for the reina (sorta like a beauty pagent, for the reina (queen) of NPH). And then after that was cake and a dance. We also had the first big rain of the rainy season right after the reina ended, which caused some excitement, because it was blowing into the ranchon, so we had to quick move all the sound system equipment. It also lasted quite a while, so the cake and everything was a bit delayed. But it was a really fun day.

The next week was a short week for me, because I left Wednesday to go home. So Monday and Tuesday were filled with packing, planning, and trying to figure out how and when I would get from NPH to the airport because of the strike. Luckily everything worked out fine. I left Wednesday morning with the first ferry and went to the office. Then they took me to Managua, to a hotel right across the street from the airport. I had wanted to stay for free in the girls' house in Managua, but with no taxis because of the strike, that didn't seem like a good idea. Luckily all we saw of the strike was busses and taxis parked along the side of the road. At various times during the almost two weeks of the strike, the drivers had tried to block the road so no one could get through, and then the police would make them stop, and there would be some violence. If we'd run into any of that, we would have had to turn around and go back. So luckily we didn't see any of that.

Thursday morning I woke up at four to BANG, BANG. My first half-asleep thought was that branches or coconuts were falling on the roof, because with tin roofs that makes a lot of noise. But it was too consistent for that, so then I worried that the strike had gotten more violent, so I called the front desk, but the guy there didn't know what the noise was, so I figured whatever it was, it wasn't between me and the airport. I had planned to get up about at 4:30 anyway, so I just stayed up and got to the airport even earlier. The guy who carried my luggage into the airport told me the BANGs were fireworks or firecrackers from some university. Why they were shooting fireworks at 4 in the morning, I'm not sure, but at least that's all it was.

So I had a very uneventful trip back. The most eventful thing was that they had to open one of my bags at the Managua airport 'cause it looked weird in their scanner. It was probably because it was filled with books, which I was bringing back for Shirley, the nun at the monastery here. Her community in the US had a big fire and lost their library, so she wanted to send some of the books she had here back to them. So they opened it, saw the books, and said everything was fine. Everything else went very smoothly. Nothing was delayed, immigration and customs in Houston only took about a half hour (instead of the two hours it can take). So I arrived safely in Omaha and easily found my cousin Phil, who drove me to Sioux City, where we met up with my parents and Aunt Chan, and then I got home. It was really really great to be home and to see everyone.

It was a VERY busy five days at home. Friday I got a few errands done and we moved my grandma from the hospital to a rehab center (she had had lung surgery because she had an infection). Saturday was my sister's open house, which was very nice, and then Saturday afternoon we got ready for the book sale on Sunday. Also Saturday night my grandma arrived from Des Moines with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Sunday morning was church, so I spoke at both services about NPH, and then we sold books before first service and between services. The offering was also for the NPH copier. We handed the book sale off to another church member after 2nd service started so that we could go to brunch and get to Emily's 1PM graduation. The graduation was as nice as graduations ever are. Not the most interesting thing in the world, but nice. And they really are quite efficient, so it doesn't take too long. And the student speakers did a nice job. Then Sunday afternoon we collected the books from church and relaxed. Sunday night Mom, Dad, and Emily went to the all night party at the high school. (Em to celebrate, and Mom and Dad to help out).

Monday they were all sleeping late, since they got home at 5am. I went to Canton to vote in the SD presidential primary and request an absentee ballot for November. That afternoon I ran some other errands and made a cake because Monday night we celebrated my birthday three months late and my mom's birthday a few days early. Tuesday I went to the dentist and to get my bridesmaid's dress fitted for Jessie's October wedding. Tuesday night Emily had her last DAPA concert, so we went to that. They sounded really nice, especially considering it was only about a month since their last concert. I also got to see some friends at the concert, so that was nice. Wednesday my mom and Emily left really early to go on a church mission trip, and my dad and I left a bit later to take my grandma back to Des Moines. While we were there we had lunch with Kirsten (a friend from college) and Phil (my cousin) and also stopped to see my cousin Ryan and his two kids and their new house (Rachel was at work, so we didn't get to see her). Then it was back to Omaha to spend the night with Aunt Theo and Uncle Don and then I left Thursday morning to go back to Nicaragua. It was sad to leave, but not too hard, because my family will come visit in mid-July, so that's not very far away.

The strike had ended on the Friday I was home, so it was quite easy to get back to the island. I was picked up at the airport by NPH because I was bringing two heavy suitcases of books to donate. Then I stayed the night in the office in San Jorge and went back to the island on Friday. It was weird coming back because the rainy season had started and so EVERYTHING was very green. This past week I settled back into life here. I worked with as many students as I could. They have exams this week, so I tried to help them get ready. I also got the books into the school library, so they should be available to be checked out now. I usually carry about four books around with me for the kids to read, so I had already been bringing some around and they were all very excited. It will be really good for them to have something new to read. Wednesday and Thursday we had a bit of excitement because we got some of the effects of tropical storm Alma. So it was VERY rainy. Not too windy, at least not here, but Thursday they stopped the ferries and lanchas because the waves were too big. Birgit (my roommate) was on a lancha Thursday morning with some special needs kids going to Managua for special treatment and she said it was REALLY scary because the waves were bigger than the boat. It's also at least partly thanks to Alma that our internet is still broken, because the tech guy from San Jorge was going to come on Thursday, but then he couldn't because they stopped the boats.

This past weekend was my descanso. I had originally thought to go to Las Salinas and visit my host family, but then there was a tropical storm and so we didn't think we could go anywhere because there were no boats, and I figured going to the coast during a tropical storm would be a bad idea anyway. But Friday we woke up and it was beautiful sunny weather, so Michelle and I decided to go to Casa Asis to visit Siri, a volunteer there who came with us in January and is now done. So that was a nice short break. It was good to see Siri, but it was weird to talk about her leaving because she had started at the same time we did, but now she's done and we're not even half done. So we watched a bunch of movies, and read, and hung out with the kids, and talked with Siri. Then we left Sunday morning to come back because Michelle had to give her English test today. Also, the taxi driver who took us to Casa Asis on Friday said that they're going to strike again today because gas prices went up so much that they're back to the same problem that they can't make enough money. (The amount that buses and taxis can charge is regulated by the government). They didn't strike, but they're still threatening to, and saying it'll be worse than last time. Hopefully they can work something out. It's not good for the country when nothing and no one can go anywhere.

On Sunday a new volunteer arrived. She's a 22- year- old nurse from Austria. So that's really great to have a trained medical person here. She's been here for a few weeks in San Juan del Sur at language school. So it's exciting to have someone new here! Monday was back to work for me, but I wasn't able to do much, because the kids are all testing. Next week should be better!

I'll get pictures up once the internet is more reliable. It doesn't work to upload something when the internet goes on and off, 'cause that cuts off the upload. Hopefully this weekend!

So last weekend we all went to San Juan for a volunteer weekend. Since we have two descanso groups on alternating weekends, the two halves of the group aren't together all that often. So this weekend was a chance for us to all hang out together. It was my normal descanso weekend, so a bunch of the people from my descanso group went on Friday, but I stayed here to save money. I figured in San Juan I would just be reading and hanging out, and I could do that here, plus there's free internet and free food and free lodging here. There is a beach at San Juan, but it's been too hot lately to sit on the beach. Even if you put your towel down, it's too hot to sit. It's ridiculous. So there was nothing really I would do at San Juan that I couldn't do here for cheaper.

So Saturday I left with the other volunteers that were still here and we got to San Juan in time to get a late breakfast/ early lunch with the people already there. That was really nice because we had planned to eat dinner together Saturday night, but we figured it wouldn't be possible to get so many people together to eat other meals together. We talked during breakfast about why we all came to NPH and what we wanted to get out of the year. Then we had our own time until 3, when we met on the beach to play some games. We were going to play volleyball, but the sand was too hot and the net wasn't up, so we ended up throwing the ball around in the shallow water. Then we sat around together, and some people tried to do some yoga, but it was too hard for me. They were doing splits and standing on their heads and crazy stuff like that. Saturday night we met to go out to dinner, and we talked some more at dinner. After dinner we went out to a bar. First we went to a nice quiet bar where we could actually talk, but then some people wanted to go somewhere else and it was too loud to talk (loud music) so I went back with some other people who were tired.

Sunday we slept in and then all went to breakfast together again. We were all surprised that we ate so many meals together. With 11 people, it was neat that we managed to get together at the same time. Then we hung out for a while, and I headed back with the group that went that afternoon, for the same reason that I stayed here on Friday.

Our group dynamics have been changing slightly since two volunteers just left. Now we're 2 from the US, one from Lebanon, one from the Netherlands, and 7 from Germany, so we're a little heavy on the Germans (the two that left were from the Netherlands and Norway, so not Germans). I like all the Germans just fine, they're really nice people, but they tend to speak German a lot (which is very understandable. I also speak English a lot). But it gets a little frustrating when they speak German when there are people around who don't speak English. If you ask, they'll usually switch to English or Spanish, but I feel rude asking them all the time. Sometimes at the volunteer house they'll be sitting around chatting in German, and I'll want to join them, but I don't want to ask them to switch languages, 'cause maybe one of them really had a bad day and so just wants to speak what's easiest. So it sometimes makes it hard to hang out with the. Anyway, so this weekend in San Juan, the Germans started charging the other Germans 5 cordoba (about 25 cents) whenever the spoke German. It was kinda nice, because they spoke a lot more English and Spanish, but I understood why some of them said it wasn't fair because we 4 who didn't speak German never had to pay. I stayed out of it, because I wasn't going to charge someone for speaking their language when I could speak mine. We offered to speak just Spanish, so that no one could speak their native language, but English is easier for some of the Germans, so they prefer English. I don't think they're going to continue the paying thing now that we're back at the house, but hopefully it made them a little more aware. It's just nice when they speak a language that we all understand when we're all together.

Monday I had a nice relaxing day here, and when the others got back, I was especially glad that I had come back because a big transportation strike started here in NIcaragua on Monday. So right now there are no public busses going, very few taxis, and I think some other transportation services (that transport stuff) aren't going either. Gas here is about $1.25 a liter, which transfers to about $5 a gallon, so it's super expensive. The drivers are claiming they can't make a living at current rates (and I believe them, with a full taxi, they make $6-$7 going from Rivas to San Juan, and they've got to use more than a gallon of gas). From the news I've found on the internet (which isn't a lot, you can search transportation strike in Nicaragua, or if you read Spanish, huelga de transporte en Nicaragua) they want the government to subsidize gas so they have to pay $2 a gallon. That seems a little extreme, but maybe they're leaving themselves som bargaining room. I don't know if the government has any money to pay for that kind of thing, but it said that they're talking, so we'll see. Right now it's not affecting us too much, 'cause we don't go anywhere normally, but on Sunday Birgit needs to get to Managua 'cause she has a friend coming. On Wednesday next week I need to get to Managua 'cause I fly out on Thursday. And on Friday next week Sana and Ann need to get to Managua, Sana to fly to the States for a graduation and Ann to get her parents. So it would be helpful if there was transportation. If not, NPH will probably give us transport, but right now that wouln't do us a whole lot of good because the strikers are blocking highways and city streets. So no one can go anywhere. It doesn't seem like they can do that for too long though, because if no one can go anywhere for days or weeks, it'd be a problem. So we'll see. Hopefully the situation clears up and no one has any problems getting where they need to go.

a week of hellos and goodbyes

Last week was fairly normal, except that I was sick (sinus-infectiony something), so I was resting a lot. I started working with some new kids in aula de recurso. They all seem like they'll be pretty fun to work with. I've got one more new one to start this coming week. I'm still enjoying my work there, but I've managed to give myself a lot more prep work. I had all my kids read a beginners chapter book, and then when some of them were finishing, I decided to let them pick what book they want to read next. I have a few chapter books that I'm letting them choose from and then if they don't see any of those that looks interesting, I'm letting them chooise a story book. As expected, they're all choosing different books, which is great, 'cause hopefully it means they will really like what they're reading. But it means I now have to write comprehension questions for a lot more books, rather than just copying ones I already wrote. So I'll be doing a lot of that soon!

Last Thursday (a week ago) we had our hello event. Manh Hung, our volunteer coordinator who went back to Germany for emergency surgery came back, along with the NPH dance group who had been on a trip to the States to raise money. (They raised a lot!!) The kids were really excited to see their siblings and friends return, and they were also really excited to see Manh Hung. It's nice for us as well to have Manh Hung back. Birgit (our interim volunteer coordinator) did a great job, but she was working as an occupational therapist at the same time, so she had a lot less time to spare than Manh Hung. It's especially nice for Birgit, since she can now go back to being a therapist, which is what she really wants to do.

Then Friday was our first goodbye. Anne, an art therapist from the Netherlands, left to go home. She arrived a year ago January, so she stayed longer than the normal one year. She wanted to help Lislot (the new art therapist, also from the Netherlands) get started. She did that, and then spent some time just being with the kids, and not having to work, which I know was really nice for her. So Friday she had a party with a dj that she paid for. She wanted to make sure her goodbye was upbeat, and not sad. So the kids all came to the ranchon and danced. I left early because loud music and dancing isn't my favorite thing and I was still really tired from being sick. But I stayed up because we had a cake and a present for her after the party.

Last weekend was really quiet. I rested a lot, and also got caught up on some work that I hadn't done because I was sick. We (the volunteers) did an activity Saturday morning. It was kinda random, but the kids liked it. Six volunteers painted their face a different color (with watercolors) and then had a watercolor set with them. We spread out around the field. The kids had to run to each of us and we would give them an excersice (jumping jacks, run to the edge of the field and back, whatever). When they did it, they would get a dot of our color on their face. While they were doing this, some of the other volunteers plus some tios were being the "ghosts" which meant they were running around with wet cloths or toilet paper and wiping the dots off the kids' faces so they had to come back and do the excersices again. When a kid got all 6 dots, he or she had to find three other kids with all 6 dots, and together they could "capture" the ghosts and then they couldn't erase dots for two minutes or something. There was no real end to the game. We just ended when the kids got tired and all disappeared to drink water. But they seemed to like it, and the tios had fun too, so it was nice.

This week I was working at the school as normal. Nothing very different or exciting to report! Yesterday was our 2nd day of goodbyes. Yesterday (Wednesday) was the last day for Kristin (our phsycologist) and Tio Paco and Tia Rosa. Tio Paco was the director of the house, and Tia Rosa is his wife and was helping with the girls' house. They will be going back to Mexico (where they're from. Tio Paco grew up in NPH Mexico, and I'm not sure if Tia Rosa did too, but I don't think so). Kristin is going back to Norway. So to say goodbye to them we had a big lunch on the beach and then games and music all afternoon. It was a really nice day, esp since there was a really nice breeze on the beach, so that helped with the heat. Then that night we surprised Kristin with a bonfire on the beach. She was up saying goodbye to the kids, and three volunteers went to get the fire started. When Kristin came back, we blindfolded her and led her to the beach. She was very surprised and happy. We roasted marshmallows and cooked bread on sticks(that's a German thing I think). And we also sang songs. So it was very nice.

Then today there is no school, because May 1 is labor day here so all the workers get the day off. So Sana, the volunteer in charge of the family program, took all the kids without siblings at NPH to the beach, because they were sad because they never get to do fun events. And the rest of us are here working and helping out with things here.

This weekend we're going to San Juan del Sur for a volunteer vacation. Everyone is coming, not just the people who have descanso. So that's will be fun I think.

So it was a bit of a sad week, saying goodbye to two volunteers. I didn't know either one really super well, because it's hard to get to know someone really well in less than 4 months, but I really enjoyed spending time with both of them. But soon new volunteers will come. A nurse is coming at the beginning of June, and a phsycologist is coming later in June. And we're still inviting some other volunteers, so we'll see if they accept.

That's about all the news from here. I'll probably write Monday about the San Juan trip because I'm just going with the group that doesn't have descanso (even though I have descanso) because San Juan isn't my favorite place, so I don't feel like spending money to be somewhere I don't like that much anyway. It'll be nice for two days with the group, but I'll spend Friday and Monday here just relaxing and maybe getting some work done. It's cheaper too!

pictures from the monastery

So here are some pictures from the end of my weekend in the monastery.

This is the porch of the part where the guest rooms are.

This is the view from the porch. The blue at the bottom through the trees is the lake. You can also see the brown grass. On the right side the tress are either platanos (plantains) or bananas, I can'te tell them apart.

And this is how pineapples grow, in case you didn't know. I don't think I did! It's kinda weird.

Nicaragua in the dry season part 2

These are from the drive to Managua:

Here's an irrigated field. Nice and green.

And here's what's much more normal.

Here's some cows. I don't know what they eat. Doesn't look tasty to me.

More pictures later from the monastery.

the dry season in Nicaragua part 1

So these are coming in sections because the power keeps going out, and when the power goes out, the internet goes out, and when the internet goes out my upload fails. So if I do less at a time, the power has to stay on for less time for me to get a successful upload. So bit by bit...

Anyway, lest you all think I'm living in paradise from all the beach pictures, here's what most of Nicaragua looks like during the dry season:

This is looking from the school back toward the rest of NPH.

Here we have irrigation, hence the green, and very close to it, the brown where there is no irrigation.

pictures from school

me with Anna Rafaela, one of my students

my classroom

One worksheet- comprehension questions for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

the 4th grade class

the school courtyard

boxing pictures

the ring
a close up picture that one of the boys took. I don't know how he got them to let him so close.

Anne (the Dutch volunteer who boxes (but she doesn't box people)), a boxer who came to NPH, the female boxer who came to NPH, and a pequeno.

A pequenos, the world champ boxer (who came to NPH) and Anne

a pequeno, Michelle, and me (to prove I was there) :-)