Responses

Thank you for interest in my adventures.  Here are responses to your questions:

Ryan,

It was a cool trip and it was pretty hot up there by the volcano!  I’m sure sometime in your life you’ll get to visit a volcano :)

Morgan,

Matagalpa was really fun and we were in a hostel, which has different things than a hotel.  The major difference is that you usually share rooms with other people and you just pay for your bed.  We walked around the town a lot and saw the parks and shops.

Cole,

The volcano was cool, but the ground didn’t rumble.  It wasn’t erupting, but it is active and we saw the steam coming out of it.  I haven’t seen any animals that are different, but I’ve seen monkeys in the trees, which I’ve only seen in the zoo back home.

Morgan,

I am enjoying my 7^th grade class.  Right now we’re working on community places and directions on a map, so locating places and telling where places are on a map of their community.  My classroom is not that big, but there are about 28 students, which is a small class size for this country.  Usually classes have between 35-60 students.

Taylor Ann,

I wasn’t scared being that close to a volcano and I was only there for about an hour to look around and take pictures.  It was a pretty cool experience though.  Being an exchange student would be a great opportunity for you.  My service is a little more than 2 years long, but there are a lot of opportunities to travel abroad for shorter periods of time.  I hope you get to do an exchange!  The main things that I eat here are rice, beans, chicken, and vegetables.  Oh, and ice cream ;)  I usually get up around 6:45am for class and I go to bed around 9:30 or 10pm.  We have internet cafes here where there are a bunch of computer stations that you pay to use and it is about 60 cents an hour.  I do sometimes miss my family and want to go home, but I know that I am safe here and I’m helping a lot of people.

Jassy,

The weather is usually pretty hot.  I sweat every day!  I’m not sure the exact temperature, but it’s usually in the high 80’s to low 90’s.

Cam,

There are a lot of kids here!  Kids are always playing in the streets and I see them everywhere :)  I’m not teaching small kids, but working in a high school with 7^th grade students.  They know a lot, but we’re working on English and they’re learning a lot of that too.  This experience is really fun.  I don’t think I ever get bored because there is always something to do.

Zach,

I did not see any lava at the volcano, but I heard that you can take a tour in the evening and see the magma.  I might do that sometime to see that.  At the volcano it was pretty hot, but it’s usually hot here, so it wasn’t too much of a difference.  It doesn’t really get cold here. 

Cyria,

Things are going really well here and I love being here.  It is really hot, but I’m getting used to the weather.  My favorite food to eat here is fried plantain bananas.  You can try some at Los Dos Hermanos restaurant in Keizer—ask your parents :)

AJ,

It was pretty hot that day by the volcano and fortunately, we did not have to walk up there.  Our trainers drove us up the rode in a jeep.  I took some pictures and posted them on the blog, so you’ll have to ask your teacher for help.

Ethan,

The volcano was steaming so that was cool, but I couldn’t see any lava.  We have internet cafes here where there are a bunch of computers and you pay to use them.  We do have ice cream here, which I am so happy that we do because I love ice cream!  There are some rivers here, but I haven’t been to one yet, only to a lagoon and a lake.  I live in a pretty small town (about 6,000 people) and I’m kind of in the middle of it. 

Jazzy Marie,

I was staying in a hostel so we had internet there.  There is actually internet all over here.  Not many places don’t have internet here.  The schools are not as nice as most schools in the U.S. and most schools don’t have textbooks for their students.  I haven’t seen any snakes and I hope I don’t see any!  I’m scared of snakes and spiders!