Responses

Carol,

That would be great to set up a time to do Skype.  Usually, the afternoons work best because I have classes in the morning, so around 3:15pm, so 2:15pm Oregon time.  What time does the school day end?  I might be able to be a little more flexible depending on my schedule coming up.  When I move to my permanent site, my schedule will change.  We can do a test Skype session maybe on the weekend because my schedule is usually less hectic then.  Thanks for your interest!

Megan

Jeremiah,

We have water on a schedule, so the water runs on certain days, at specific times during the day and we fill big barrels to use during the week.  If we do not have running water when someone wants to take a shower, they take a bucket bath.  This means they need to fill a big bucket of water and take it into the shower with them.  Then they use a small bowl to fill with water from the bucket and pour on them to wash.  It’s usually very cold water so I don’t like doing this.  Even when we can take a regular shower using the showerhead, it’s still cold, but I get used to it :)

Cassandra,

I went to see the volcano last weekend and it was a really cool experience.  I’m glad you got to see my pictures and read about it.  We only went there one time, but I have climbed a volcano in Mexico before.

David,

I actually didn’t walk up this volcano because our trainers drove us there, so that was nice because it was really hot that day!  I did see some monkeys near my town too.

Ash,

I love teaching!  My students do understand most of what I teach, but they are still learning English, so it takes time.  They do not have many ways to practice English outside of school, so it’s difficult to improve.  I can understand most of what they say, but I’m still learning Spanish too.  Sometimes it’s hard because we can’t understand each other, but we try to use different words and explain what we want in a different way.  It’s fun to figure things out this way.  I do really like it here and I’m getting use to life here in Nicaragua.  It will probably change a little when I move to my permanent site in November, because I will be in a different town with a different family, but I am really enjoying getting to know Nicaragua and the people here.

Bianca,

The weather is pretty hot here.  I’m in Matagalpa for the week and it is much cooler here, which is a nice break from the hot weather in Masaya.  I have eaten a lot of beans, rice, tortillas, chicken, and cheese.  My favorite is platanos fritos, which are fried plantain bananas (they are bigger than the regular bananas in Oregon).  My least favorite is the cheese which they serve with a lot of meals.  The cheese is very salty and I miss Tillamook cheddar cheese!

Lisette,

Living down here really had made me appreciate what I have back home in Oregon.  Things are very different here, but the people have learned to use what they have.  We have a stove that is connected to a propane gas tank, so we are able to cook things on the stove.  We have a large, outdoor oven that uses firewood to cook our bread and one time we made pizza :)  We have water on certain days, but it is difficult to get water to all of the homes, and it can be expensive.  We do have electricity, but if there is bad weather, it might go out and stay off until the next day.  We use candles if this happens.  Oh, and the people here are called Nicaraguans.

Evan,

Yes, it is very hot!  It is the winter season right now, but really they just have a dry season and a wet season.  The temperature in Nicaragua is about the same throughout the whole year because it is so close to the equator.  We are in the end of the rainy season, which is usually hot, rainy, and humid.  The dry season begins in December, which is summer.  It’s usually really hot and dry then.  I would love for Frosty the snowman to come visit me to cool off this hot weather!

To the student who posted after Evan,

Even though it’s hot here, we do have some cold and rainy days.  Our cold days are not really that cold, just in the 70’s, but this does make it hard for clothes to dry.  It’s been pretty hot lately, and I am wishing for rain to cool off. 

Trytan,

My favorite thing to do here is to walk around the town with my friends.  I love looking at all of the different things here and seeing new people.  Even though I have lived in my town for 6 weeks now, there are always new things to experience.  We like to go to the next town over, Catarina, to visit other friends too.  A special place that I have found is in Matagalpa.  We are staying at a hostel and it is so cool to meet people from all over the world.  I am having so much fun in Nicaragua, but I am also very busy with my Spanish classes and teaching.

Matthew,

The food is really good here.  There are a lot of things that we have in the U.S., like rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, chicken, beef, soup, tortillas, potatoes, and more.  However, the meals are sometimes made a little differently and we usually do not eat foods from cans or boxes.  Everything is made fresh.  We do have ice cream here, which is very good because I love ice cream!  The big ice cream brand here is called Eskimo and it is delicious!  My favorite flavor is coconut because it has real pieces of coconut in it :)

Kyleigh,

I love living in Nicaragua even though it is very different from Oregon!  I told some others about the water, but it usually takes a whole day for my clothes to dry if it is sunny outside.  If it is not, it takes much longer.  Sometimes I hang up my clothes on the strings in my room that hold my mosquito net.  It’s like having three clothes lines across my room, so it’s pretty funny.  We usually go to bed before 10pm here, because we have to get up early for classes and work.  I get up at 6:45am and leave at 7:45am for class.

Jake,

I have gone out on a sunny day and then was surprised by pouring rain.  Usually, I can stay inside and wait until the rain stops, but sometimes the rain will continue for hours, so I have to walk in it.  It hasn’t been very rainy lately though.

Carol A,

I wasn’t scared to go to the volcano because I had climbed a volcano in Mexico before.  It was pretty cool though.  I really love Nicaragua and I will be here for another 2 years teaching English.  I will write a little more about this in my next blog.

Cody,

It was pretty hot by the volcano but I wasn’t scared.  I climbed a volcano in Mexico before, so I knew what the experience was like.  The food here is really good.  Sometimes there are meals that I don’t really like, but that’s just because they are different from what I am used to eating in the U.S.

To the student who posted after Cody,

I have only worn a sweatshirt one or two days when we had the stormy weather from the hurricane.  Besides that, it has been very hot here, so I never need to wear a jacket.  The food is good here and I’m enjoying trying new things.  I’m not sure exactly how many people I have worked with, but I have a class in San Juan and a teacher I am working with, and then in Matagalpa I worked with a teacher and two of her classes.

Shelby Marie,

I have been to Granada, where I spent my first 3 days in Nicaragua for an orientation.  I live in San Juan de Oriente and I have visited Managua, Masaya, Masatepe, Niquinohomo, Catarina, Nidiri, Diriamba, and Matagalpa.  My room in San Juan is pretty small, but it is the perfect size for what I have.  I don’t spend too much time in there because it gets really hot, so I usually study in the living room.  There are 21 people in my group of English teachers, but 3 of us live in San Juan de Oriente (Jessica, Kellie, and me).  I’m glad you like my pictures—I don’t know which one is my favorite, but I love taking lots of pictures!

Joe,

We always have food here, it’s just different.  We have a lot of similar foods too, such as rice, beans, tortillas, chicken, beef, vegetables, and fruits.  I really like fried plantain bananas, but I do not like the cheese here because it is very salty!

Tyler,

I use a lot of English is my classes so my students hear new words and get to listen to me speak my first language.  This helps them to practice pronunciation and understand things they know in Spanish, but are learning in English.  Sometimes I use Spanish when my students do not understand what I am asking them to do in class, but I try to use English most of the time.