Children: 1, My Patience: 0.

Before I got here, I considered myself a pretty patient person. I don't know if it's the situation or the kids or what, but I'm not so sure I am anymore. When these kids' behavior has me on the verge of snapping, then I know it's really bad. I almost snapped today in class. I was bending down to help one student and I had another kid incessantly tapping me on the back, another just as incessantly pulling on my shirt, and 3 others shoving their notebooks in my face all shouting "Professora!" in unison. This is daily. This is constant. Every person has a different breaking point right?? I understand lots of children are like that but I am attempting to show them that that is not how to behave in the classroom. I can yell "wait your turn"  until I'm blue in the face but it doesn't make a difference. I'm no teacher, and I will never claim to be, but if these kids are never disciplined how will they ever learn what correct, acceptable behavior is?

This is why I, and other volunteers here, find this job to be so exhausting. I am only there for 3-4 hours a day which is nothing but it is so mentally and emotionally draining to feel sometimes like you are failing. Failing to help these children succeed in learning and failing to make any sort of difference in the way they behave. A lot of what I do is to try and enforce good behavior and manners (say please and thank you, wait your turn, raise your hand etc), but without the power to hold these children accountable for their own actions, things are hard pressed to change. There is no such thing as "time out" or not being allowed to go out for recess so the children don't have as good a sense for their bad behavior.

The education system here needs so much work it's hard to even wrap your head around it. I know that in some small, minuscule way I am hopefully helping by being here the short time that I am but it's impossible for any one person to make a real difference. And that can be very frustrating for the volunteers here.
End rant.

In other news, I found an ice cream place where I can get a double scoop for under $1.
#seeifimnotthereeverysinglenight  

La Isla de Ometepe

Last weekend we had a three day weekend and a couple of other volunteers and I decided to take a trip to La Isla de Ometepe. It is known to be a very pretty and relaxing island and  host to two large volcanoes and great beaches. Unfortunately, Ometepe is also know for a serious lack of transportation (although this is true throughout Nicaragua) and I got a crash course on the insane bus "system". From Granada, our plan was to take a bus to Rivas, the closest port city. When we got on the bus, they pretty much said they would take us half way there and then we would have to take another bus the second half of the way. Little did we know this meant them pulling over on the side of the road only when they saw another bus stopped at the exact same time. So they just started yelling at us to get off and we scrambled off and out the back and ran right on into the other bus which was waiting for us. Once we got to Rivas, we took a quick 10 minute cab ride to San Jorge and boarded the ferry, El Che Guevara, there. The waters were rippin' that day and it was all I could do to keep my eyes on the horizon and not toss my cookies.

El Che Guevara

View from the ferry.

We arrived in Mayogalpa, the biggest port city on the island, around 5:00pm and spent the night there. We found a really nice hostel (and for my standards, very clean) for $10 a night which included a great, filling breakfast the next morning. That morning, we took a very scenic bus ride from Mayogalpa to Altogracia in a sort of large mini van on the worst "road" I've ever been on. Most of the hour ride was on unpaved roads full of huge rocks and divots. We made probably 30 stops along the way and had to wait for herds of cows to cross the road multiple times. From Altagracia, we took another 30ish minute bus ride to just past Santa Cruz to the entrance of the hostel we were planning on staying at, El Zopilote. (This hostel had been recommended to us by numerous volunteers as the place we HAD to stay at.) This place is virtually in the middle of a jungle, at least it feels like it. It's a 10-15 minute walk up to reception through lush vegetation. The hostel itself is on an organic farm and the food was really good as the majority of their ingredients came from right there on the farm. (They also had their own outdoor brick oven for pizzas which were mouthwateringly amazing .) Cut to the part where we find out we're sleeping in hammocks in the great outdoors. I suppose for $3 a night you can't really beat it but it was a minor adjustment to say the least. Luckily the bugs/mosquitoes weren't bad at all; although I did spray down both myself and my hammock thoroughly. I found them extremely hard to get comfortable in. After the first night I even found what I assume to be a "regular" that stays there give me a lesson on how to sleep and get comfortable in a hammock. I failed. The hostel also offered free yoga classes in the morning. I went to one while I was there and it was probably one of the best yoga experiences I've ever had. I mean you really can't beat a yoga class in the middle of a jungle; all nature and absolutely no distractions.

The hostel we stayed at the first night.

The walk into Zopilote.

Pizza oven.

More of Zopilote.

Best yoga session.

Most of our first day was spent walking around exploring and going to the beach. We decided to eat lunch at this authentic, local, small restaurant near the beach and I was unfortunately scarred by my lunch. I decided to go with something super local and ordered the fish but was a bit caught off guard when my lunch arrived with a face. The entire fish was plopped down on my plate with it's rough eyes and teeth and everything glaring at me. I guess I should have known better when I asked the guy what type of fish it was and all he said was "the fish of the lake.' I managed to eat a few bites but that was all I could do.

You can't really come back from that.

Saturday, we rented bikes for the day and biked to the El Ojo de Agua. It's this really pretty natural spring about 35 minutes away from our hostel. Very relaxing and refreshing as it was actually a little bit cooler than the lake but felt great since it was about 97 degrees.

Sunday was pretty much just a travel day as the transportation is even more sparse on Sunday's so we wanted to make sure we would be able to make it back that day. Lots of mismatched bus routes later, we were dropped off about 25 minutes outside of Granada. We walked a couple minutes down the road and ran into a group of 5 people from Spain (a group of other volunteers here to build houses) who were attempting to hitch a ride back into town. We eventually saw a pickup truck stop for them and we yelled to them if there was room for us and so the 8 of us somehow managed to all fit in the bed of the truck. Pretty tame first hitch hiking experience.

All in all I spent less than $100. The vast majority of it was on food and drinks because thankfully the bus system here is dirt cheap. I think I figured I spent about $7 on bus fares total. Pretty great for a fun, relaxing long weekend away!

At lookout point from Zopilote right before sunset.

Every Day is Different

If there is one thing I can count on to be consistent here, it is that every day is completely different at school. There is such a lack of structure in the classroom that sometimes my class gets out at 10:30, sometimes 11:30, or like today, right after recess, 9:45. And there is no official end to the day, kids just slowly start leaving the classroom and that's how I know class is over. Today I had no idea why my classroom was empty so I found one of my kids on the playground and asked her where the class went and she told me they all went home. These are extremely short days, particularly for a community of students who really need the extra learning time.

Our organization is fortunate in that, as a result of outside donations, we have a supply of about 30 computers for the children. We work in four different schools and there are two ayudantes (local Nicaraguan students attending college that receive scholarship money in return for helping us) in which their sole job is to bring the computers to and from the four schools through out he week and conduct computer class for the students. The computers are very small and basic but effective. They include both math and reading/comprehension programs on them so this way the children can play games which incorporate the things they are learning in class. For example, with my first graders, one math game consists of a figure (such as a fish or tree) drawn out with points and each point is numbered 1-10. The kids have to click and drag to connect each point to the next, therefore drawing out the figure and correctly putting the numbers in the right order. In my opinion, this is a great break for both the teachers and the students from the type of learning they do the rest of the time. It is naturally much more interactive and allows the kids to try and rely more on themselves for their learning and progression in the games.

One problem here that never ceases to horrify me is the condition of the children's teeth. I mean these kids have barely even gotten in all of their baby teeth and I swear there is not one mouth in my classroom that doesn't have at least one black tooth. Their teeth are covered with plaque and decay. It makes me so sad and frustrated to know that these kids are beginning their lives with such awful mouth hygiene. Twice a week, mostly every week, our organization provides us with a special kind of mouthwash, fluoride based I'm assuming, for the children. We line them up outside the classroom and they have to swish it around for three minutes and then we count them down and they all spit it out at the same time. (Even this is not mandated so if the children refuse to partake in the mouth wash we cannot force them.) Our organization also provides the students with transportation to and from the dentist every so often for random cleanings (or tooth extractions).



We have a three day weekend this weekend so a couple of other volunteers and I are heading to La Isla de Ometepe! This is the place I've most wanted to travel to so I am super excited! Stay tuned!

Laguna de Apoyo and Volcan Mombacho

Adventures from last weekend!

Laguna de Apoyo is a beautiful swimming laguna inside a crater. It is thermally heated and, from what I've heard, is the best and cleanest place to swim around Granada. It was pretty awesome. A very relaxing place where you can just lounge on the beach with locals and, when you're not sipping water, sip on an iced cold Tona (Ton-ya, with an accent over the n), the most popular Nicaraguan beer, for just over $1.

I also hiked Volcan Mombacho. Long, hot day but so glad I did it and got out of the house all day. I went with another volunteer and it took us a good 2.5 hours to hike up (taking many necessary breaks). At the top we chugged PowerAde and then did about an hour long loop around a very jungle-like, lush, green crater. It then took us another good two hours to climb back down. About halfway up, there was a coffee farm which gave out free samples. (They also filled up your water bottle for free which was extremely necessary.) Needless to say, we stopped both ways to fuel up.

Clemson shout out.

Another (active) volcano in the distance.

This dirty guy crossed our path on the way out.

I Have A New Admiration For Teachers

As the end to my second week in the schools approaches, I feel I find school to be exhausting, astonishing, and a huge test of my patience. (I also have a whole new appreciation for teachers.)

For starters, these classrooms have a complete lack of stimulation. The walls are bare and there are no games or supplies to help keep the children busy and engaged. There is a whiteboard, a desk for the teacher, and desks and tables for the kids. That's everything. Although just yesterday this big board of letters and numbers was delivered and put into each classroom. At least now the children have a model to reference. The teacher has a very small, limited set of crayons; though it is not nearly enough for the class so luckily some of the kids bring a few of their own. I really wish there was an extra supply of pencils in the classroom because most of these kids are writing with pencils that are right down to the nub. That can make it extra difficult for them to form the letters correctly and just as hard for me to show them.

I am becoming all too familiar with the stresses of many teachers, I would imagine, when it comes to actually trying to help children learn something. Keeping their attention is half the battle but I feel like I run out of ways to teach them. Today, I had one child read aloud the words he had just written (mama, mima, mapa, etc) syllable by syllable but he still kept putting the wrong sound with the syllable. I kept repeating them so he could hear me but he wasn't completely making the connection. Also, most of the time they just guess and you have to try and tell them to think before they guess. All day long I hear symphonies of "no puedo" (I can't) and "ayudame" (help me) from the children all before they even begin what they are working on. I see this as a result of a severe lack of confidence. So I always just say "yes you can!" and then after if they've really tried I will go back and help them. Overall, working one on one with the kids is much more effective and I try to do this as much as I can.

I find there is a lot of idle time in the classroom (for both the students and I) which I think further hinders their learning experience. The "lessons" are executed with space between them in which the children get all wound up again running around the classroom. (And a lot of the time outside of the classroom. Picture each classroom individual of the rest so there's no hallways or anything; just the door to the outside. There was actually a stray dog sitting in our doorway today.) There is this one boy, who is by far the worst behaved and continually tests my patience, who just runs outside and after a while the teacher will forget about him or gets busy with something else so he just stays out there. He certainly does not listen to me. I am consciously working on my disciplining skills but it is extremely hard when even the teacher does not discipline very well. The kids are sure not going to listen to me when they hardly listen to her.

I have been studying and taking Spanish lessons and hope that once my Spanish gets a little better I can be more efficient in the classroom. Our volunteer organization has a weekly meeting and it was mentioned earlier this week that our volunteer office has some resources and workbooks we can utilize. If there is a certain exercise or worksheet we think would be beneficial we can ask to have copies made and bring them to our class. I don't want to overstep my welcome, however, with my teacher so I need to first learn how to talk to her about this in Spanish...

And then there are the sweet, sweet moments. The other day at recess, this girl who is not in my class, probably about 6 or 7 years old, came up to me and wanted to be picked up. I picked her up and was surprised when she clutched on to me hard. Most kids are antsy and moving all around but this girl just nuzzled right into me and held on tight. I don't even know her name. I felt like I was doing something right.

Las Isletas

I'm a little behind on posting these but this last Sunday I went on my first excursion! I went on a tour to see Las Isletas. The Islands. The volcano here in Granada is Volcan Mombacho, which is now inactive. However when it was active and it erupted, it spilled into the nearby large lake, Lake Cocibolca. Thus creating Las Isletas. The volcanic ash and what not created over 300 islands in the lake. Most of them are uninhabited but a good bit of them have people living on them too. Sort of like their own private island. Some wealthier people even built some really nice homes on their "own" island.

The tour provided us with bikes which we rode down to the dock, about 20 minutes, and then we boarded the boat and took off. It sat 20 people and didn't go very fast so it was a pretty leisurely boat ride. The first island we stopped at is known as Fortress Island. Sadly I couldn't tell you much about the history of it. Next we stopped at another island which had a little restaurant there and they gave us each a plate of fresh fruit and a coco loco. Rum in a coconut. Rum is huge here; advertised everywhere and definitely the most popular liquor. These were the hugest coconuts I have ever seen.   Bigger than my head. There was a hole drilled in the top and they gave us a bottle of rum, Flor de Cana, and we all passed it around pouring it into our coconut. It wasn't too sweet because it was with pure coconut water. We then cruised by monkey island which was sadly uneventful but I was proud of the picture I captured with one monkey swinging from tree to tree. It was pretty hard to see them.

Here are some pictures from my day:

 

 

One of the mansions on the islands.



One of my roommates, Molly from London, and I atop Fortress Island.



My coco loco!

When I walk to school, I walk through the barrios which are the extremely poor and governmental housing neighborhoods. A vast majority of the houses look just like this (except on dirt roads).

 

 

Monkey in the middle! (Spider monkey)

 

 





My House

Pictures of my house. I am MUCH more happy and comfortable here.



My bed. Bonus points for the mosquito net that was already there. Although it's a little gross and weird, it's awesome.



My room with my bathroom just around the corner.







Better shower but virtually no water pressure.

Huge step up.

 

 

The open air part of the house.