Have I explained exactly what it is I´m doing here? If you´re still unsure, here´s a summary: My main job is to work with highschool English teachers in my community to co-plan and co-teach their classes, promoting the use of communicative activities (in which students are genuinely communicating with each other to complete the assignment or task, not just memorizing words and dialogues and filling in blanks etc, although that stuff does also have it`s place in learning), and reducing the amount of time the teacher talks and increasing the amount of time the students talk. Part of my specific assignment in Dolores was also to work with a group of teachers from a rural part of Diriamba, and help them with whatever their needs or wants were in terms of help with teaching English. In addition, I`m supposed to have community English classes, work with youth talking about life skills and health and sex and AIDS and stuff, and complete some kind of community project THAT MOSTLY COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE IN CHARGE OF that doesn´t necessarily have to do with English. So here is my schedule at the moment: weekday mornings, 3-4 periods a day I teach English with Tania to all of the 9th graders, 10th graders, and 11th graders, and with Mercedes to one classroom of 7th graders. Monday and Tuesday afternoons I plan with Tania and Mercedes. Tuesday and Thursday evening from 5:30-7 I have a community English class for people 13 and up, which is increasing in size so I may divide it by age and therefore will have this class every day Monday through Thursday. I`ve also mentioned that they can stay till 7:30 if they want extra help. Thursday and Friday afternoons I meet with the rural teachers (2 on Thursday, 2 on Friday), Thursday in Diriamba, and Friday all the way in the rural village (called San Gregorio). I had to split them up because their schedules are all over the place and they literally all couldn´t meet at the same time. Saturdays from 2-3:30 I have a class for kids from 8-12 years of age, which I had started a while ago, but stupidly began re-publicizing recently, so now there is a bunch of new students, and I`ve decided that the new people can come an hour early, at 1, for a few weeks, to catch up with the rest. I should really sit down one day and think about how I´m gonna make all of these things sustainable, maybe some older students could start teaching the kids` class? But who´s gonna do it for free? Maybe for cheap? Anyways, that basically only leaves Wednesday afternoons free, so Luis usually comes to visit then, and I go to Niquinohomo for the day on Sundays.
One day, about a month ago, my host sister secretly asked me to lend her 200 cordobas. To put that in perspective, it`s about 10 bucks. A little less. So I talked to her about it, and she said she needed it for her daughters` school supplies. I said "sure, when are you going to pay me back?" And she said, " this weekend" and I was like, okay, cool, and I gave her the money. Please don´t scold me for lending money. It`s my Peace Corps money and it was less than 10 bucks and it was for Karelia and Karelis. Even if she never pays me back I will see it as a Christmas present to them. Anyways, the weekend comes, and she´s liked "Neha, I can´t pay you back yet" and started talking about how some guy owes her money and what not. At this point I`m getting a little annoyed and suspicious, but whatevs. A few weeks later, she gets super sick, something with her kidneys, goes to the hospital has to have all these expensive tests and medicine and stuff, so SHE comes to ME, and brings up the subject on her own. (What I´m trying to emphasize here is that she isn´t trying to avoid me in order to never pay be back) and she´s like "please don´t think I´ve forgotten about your money". And she explained the situation, and I was just like "it`s okay, you can pay me back whenever you can". A few days ago, she brought it up again, and was like "I`m going to pay you back soon. I know Peace Corps doesn`t give you guys a lot of money" but then proceeded to tell me about how she had to sell some of her rings to pay for lunch today. Oh I forgot to mention about how she is considering moving to Costa Rica to work as a maid for one of her friends who married a Costa Rican and is super rich and that is the best way to save money because there is no work available in Nicaragua. Really. And she would just send money back for her kids every once in a while, maybe see them once a month. So she still hasn´t paid me back, but I´m not worried because I know she will pay me back (and I also know that some of you are thinking she probably won´t pay me back). But really, she had to sell her rings to pay for lunch today. I know my parents and my aunts and my uncles and grandparents are probably all thinking "I could tell you tons of stories like this about people in India, why didn´t you ever care to know about them?" Well, sorry. Anyways, here is more.
Luis hasn´t enrolled in school this quarter (which began in February) because he couldn´t pay. So his friend lent him a bunch of money, to pay for it, and a little extra to start a small business. His grandma sells food from her house, so he was going to start selling beer from the same place. Everyone convinced him it was a good idea, that it would go well because there are lots of drunkards in Niquinohomo and whatnot, and I`ll admit I thought it would go well too. Well anyway, his friend lent him the money, (which he needed because his dad lives in Managua with his second wife and 2 other kids and couldnt pay for Luis` school because he`s taking care of his other family) but then his mom said she really needed to pay for something so he gave some to her. So he didn´t enroll in Feb. But he started trying to start up the business and is STILL waiting for the police to come check out the location and give him a licence. Anyway, in March, he hears that most of the people in his major were unable to pay in Feb, so the school decided to start their quarter later, in March, so Luis was excited, because it was understood that his mom would be getting paid in Feb for the months of Feb and Jan, so he would (should) have been able to pay then. But NOW, his mom is paying for his little sister`s education (his little sister who has a kid) and he`s not going to ask her to pay for his instead. He has been trying to sell his violin but no one wants to buy it.
There are still Tania and my host mom`s stories to tell, but I gotta do that later.
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