"Grammar is deep, man."

English grammar is HARD.
Sabjha is the best student anyone could ask for.
Tomorrow most of us trainees are going to this big monthly teacher meeting called TEPCE. That´ll be intimidating.
Today I had the most vegetables I´ve eaten since I´ve been in Niquinohomo and it was amazing.

Today I observed two of my peers coteach classes and also cotaught my own while they observed me. It was a pretty awesome day. The class was only 45 minutes, and some of the classes are 90 minutes and I now know that those are going to be exhausting.
The counterpart Nicaraguan teacher, Juan, is absolutely amazing and really nice and open to our ideas.
There has been puring rain and wind for the past week, and it has been cold. There is this tropical storm thats hangin out in Nicaragua on the Atlantic coast. I didnt take a shower yesterday and I´m not sure if I will today because its too cold. hehe
Shoutout to Darlene for downloading all of these popular spanish songs onto my computer the night before I left so that now my family can think I´m cool because I recognize the songs (and like them).

"Antes que te vayas dame un beso"

I really don´t have enough willpower to be detailed in these posts, but I´m getting rather attached to the kids in my youth group, particularly the 5 that are truly regulars, and if they get lost in the crowd when we get more kids from the instituto the three of us trainees have agreed to hold separate meetings especially for them. Gladly.

I never wrote about this, I think, but on the way home from Managua a couple weeks ago I met a girl in the bus who overheard me talking english to another aspirante (I love throwing in spanish words) and we got to talking (in english) and she told me she was an architect who was going back to school to learn english so she could find a better job. And she needed someone to practice english with. Well this was rather perfect, and we asked her to speak at our youth group meeting about why learning english would be important and applicable to them. That day we only had 9 people, but anyway she is the sweetest. We are going to buy her a present.

The other day we observed another trainees first teaching experience, he did amazingly, but it made me realize that its going to take me a lot of practice to get that role right.

I went to mass on thursday, and it was pretty long and boring, and the priest was rather critical, but one thing i love about catholic mass is the "saludo de paz" where everyone has to go around and hug or shake hands and say "peace be with you" or something similar. That should happen all the time.

Being Indian and trying to represent the US is kind of a struggle all the time. When I try to explain that Im american and then people eventually just want to know that Im indian and forget that im american and then just think i came from india.

I have spent far too much time on the internet. Peace.

"Conmigo, nadie se queda con hambre!"

Yesterday I went to the Laguna de Apoyo with some other trainees and some of their siblings. Laguna de Apoyo is this little lake in the middle of Masaya, which is a volcanic crater. We hiked into a volcano and went swimming in it! Anyway, it was amazing. I got home at 2pm, starving, and no one was home except Papa Luis (mi abuelo)...so I try to be casual when I say "hay comida?" and he´s like "no, yo tampoco he comido" and everyone was gone to hang out in Masatepe at my aunt´s house and no one had left him anything. I, on the other hand, had indeed said I wouldnt be home for lunch but food ended up not happening. So I was like, "oh okay, esta bien" thinking maybe I would try to cook us something as I walk to put my stuff in my room, and when I come back out he´s like "Quiere comer frijole y queso y huevito frito?" and I was like "Usted va a cocinar?" and he´s like yeah! So my grandpa and I cooked lunch together. That night he also cooked me dinner. And proceeded to compliment his food profusely. That was the best lunch I´ve had in Niquinohomo.

We finally went to the instituto today to meet the english teachers and hopefully get some more publicity for our youth group, and we are going to observe a class tomorrow HOPEFULLY.

I have been kind of a slacker in terms of reading and studying for the past week but that is going to change.

Julie and Sam kept raving about chocobananas and I finally tried one yesterday and I think what makes it taste good is that it only costs 1 cordoba.
Oh and the POPS equivalent here is Eskimo (Pops was an ice cream place in costa rica)

Every day I become more aware of how capable I am of doing this and how hard it´s going to be.

Here is my mailing address
Neha Shinde, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

If you want to be safe you can throw in the address of the Peace Corps office
Reparto San Juan
Hotel Brandt´s 1 1/2 c. al sur
(thats one and a half)

I just wanted to say that my favorite person in my host family is my grandma.

Ï´m in Miami BITCH!¨

I forgot to mention this refresco that is basically oatmeal mixed with water and sugar. It´s aite. Today I had this really good ginger drink. Last night I went out with my mom and my aunt and some of their other adult friends including a gay guy and it was WILD and hilarioussss. I feel I shouldn´t post details here. I also have this disclaimer that I have to post which I will soon about how this blog does not reflect the opinion of the Peace Corps or the US government. Yesterday, I dressed one of my sisters up in a sari and she proceeded to find a sticker to put on her forehead and put on bangles and run around the house having her other sister take pictures of her in various ¨Indian¨ poses. Then we had raas-garba lessons that evening. Friday we went to Managua for a vaccination and a technical training session and we were fed non'Nicaraguan food so we stuffed our faces with things that did not include plantains and rice and beans and cheese. I´d say the first youth group meeting was a success, but the real test is seeing if they come back for the next one.
My internet time is running out, so I will have to post more laterrr.
Take care everyone.