March 16-17

Chloe, Nia and Emma make-up artists.

Pre-K class at Ruben Dario, local public
school. Can you imagine teaching 47
4 year olds alone every day?

Drawing to be painted on the mural at Ruben Dario.

Jon Gilman, Caleb, Emma, Nia and Sophie
artists in residence.

Creating teaching materials for la Nicaraguita.

This little guy is everyone's friend. Called a
perrozompopo, it likes to snack on any and
all insects.

This is Jon Gonzalez writing today´s post. Nicaragua so far is really fun and really hot. Actually, Cheri just checked www.weather.com and it says it's currently 97 although it feels like 106. Oh, ya.....

After dinner last night, my host mother, Yamileth, picked me up and we went to the house. I got home and just wrote in my journal for a while. Then my host brother, Sergio, got home from work. We watched The Gladiator for a while and then he told me he was going to someone's house to drop off a computer he was helping repair. Her name is Marta and she owns a cybercafe and hosts Jon Gilman. We stayed at the house for about an hour and a half while Sergio tried to hook up the computer and solve some problems that it still had. Then we went home, talked and joked with Yamileth and Sergio, and then went to sleep around 10:30.

This morning I woke up around 5:20 to go out for a run at a park that has a track. Yamileth came with me to watch me. I got home after my run and got ready for the day. Yamileth cooked me breakfast which consisted of beans, bread, scrambled eggs, and chesse. Then I went to Rafaela´s house and arrived around 6:40. We´re supposed to get there at 7, but I get there really early because Yamileth is a teacher at a school and has to walk there after dropping me off.

After everyone else arrived and had breakfast we went to La Nicaraguita. At 9, Jonathan Gilman, Nia, Sophie, Chloe and Emma went to paint a mural at a public school while the rest of us stayed in our classes. Caleb and I teach the 5th grade and it was pretty exhausting and hot. There was a play that some of the kids in the 5th grade put on that the school watched. The actors painted their faces, danced, and the message of the play was about saving the rainforest. In the primary school, each class had one student recite a poem. Suddenly, Caleb recited Jabberwocky and Ryan recited his original poem in English. Surprise!! We are good at rolling with the punches. All of us have an "acto" (something to present to an audience) and before we leave Nicaragua, we all will have given our acto in some venue. At 12, school finished and everyone went to Rafaela´s house to eat lunch. And that´s it so far. Adios.