Okay, so today I gave my first Charla...lecture,talk,show and tell....with Rachel, one of the other aspirantes that live in my town, to the Central de Salud. It went well. Our theme was Dengue. It wasn't very long but we had a good time and the people seemed to enjoy it. They were interactive and participated in our true/questions at the end. I only have about 6 more to do before I become a volunteer. The first picture was taken by Megan, another aspirante in my same training town, who took the picture unbeknownst to me after out teacher informed us of our upcoming charla schedule. I was a little bit overwhelmed to say the least. The next 5 I will have to do by myself. The longest one will be in the school. It should be about 45 minutes long. This will be a little difficult because the children in the school can be a little hard to control...I should know, I went and observed a class today. One teacher to 44 students. She did a good job but there was a lot of talking, getting up out of chairs, talking out of turn, candy and numerous other things that may be difficult for me to deal with. The director of the school is very nice and helpful and seems to want us to come in and speak with the kids. Some of my time will be doing Dinamicas. Dinamicas are great. They are games to reinforce the theme of the charla. We have been learning a lot of Dinamicas and they can be fun. At any rate, the kids will love them and I plan to use a few. My theme will be personal hygiene and the importance of brushing your teeth/not eating a lot of sugar. Kids get a lot of sugar here and sometimes toothbrushes and toothpaste are low on the least of priorties.
The picture on the bottom is of my host brother Jordy. He started school this week and was looking sharp so I decided to take a picture of him. He goes to school Mon-Fri., from 7 am ...yes, he has to be at school at 7 am...until 12. He is a normal 11 year old and likes to play in the street a lot with his friends and is pretty good at futbol.
The next big news is that we are all going on visits to other volunteers. We are all so excited. We found out where we are going yesterday and I'm going to the farthest site possible. Yes, the farthest. I'm going to the Rio San Juan area; a place the Health Director told me some volunteers never get to see. It's on the lower right part of Nicaragua...close to Costa Rica. The bust ride will be 16 hours long. Also, I had a note inside my folder which explained where I was going and the volunteer I will be visiting that read....Bring Dramamine! The roads the first 3 hours are paved and decent but after that it's unpaved with potholes. This is why the trip is so long...the buses have to go slowly. I'm traveling with 2 other aspirantes and one volunteer. Each aspirante will be going to visit a different volunteer. All but us three will be leaving Saturday afternoon. Because we have so far to travel we are leaving Friday for Managua. The Peace Corps is going to put us up in a hotel Friday night as we have to catch the bus very, very earlier Sat. morning. We should arrive very late Sat. night to our sites. The four of us, 3 aspirantes and one volunteer, will be able to travel about 12 hours together. This is reassuring. I'll post some pics and let you know how it goes. I'm really excited about getting out and seeing the rest of the country and feeling a little freedom. The bus ride I'm not so excited about but that's life. You have to take the good with the bad.
Taylor get better, Katie thanks for the card, Jack I wish I could listen to what you thought about Disneyworld, Erin keep up the good work, Dad...brush up on your Spanish as mine is still questionable, Janna pinch Caralou on the back of her thigh when you get a chance, and Kristi my family loves stories about Hayley anda por los aguacates. Love and miss you all. I'm doing well and feel this is where I should be right now.
Shaun