One week part 3

The head Spanish teacher came today and challenged all of us to reach an  Intermediate High or Advanced level by speaking Spanish all the time, including to each other and limiting our english to only what is necessary. Worked no another project today. There are four big projects that each training group has to complete as examples of projects you might do individually on site. Make an improved oven, establish a community garden, start a youth group and create a product to sell with the youth at the end-of-training competition. My host mother is a represetative for the women of jardin botanico and she went to a meeting today in Masatepe to ask the directive to investigate working on the road to our house so it does not flood as much during rainy season. My training group invited all the youth we could find to the meeting on Wednesday. There were about 12 or 15 young people there. We introduced ourselves and gave a biref description of the projects and PC then decided on meeting times for in the future and called it a night. Every time I come home I get to play Slamwhich and color Disney princess pictures with Dianna and Melissa. It{s a great stress reliever and a great way to learn little kid Spanish sayings. People might say that bucket baths or army showers are really rural, but when its more than 80 degrees everyday with humidity you really appreciate that brief splash of refreshing water!! There are movies on late every night and on the weekends during the day that are dubbed from the states. Yesterday was the Flinstones and this weekend was Valentine}s Day. This coming weekend there is Collateral and My Best Friends Wedding. And then there are telenovellas. I dont quite watch one or two with frequency yet and my family tends to talk over them, but I hope to eventually get into them. Melissa usually asks me questions about how my eyes got so light and things like that. Its really helpful to have had a volunteer in the house before me so there is a base of information to use from prior experience with the projects and whatnot. Hope to catch up with everyone next week. This weekend it is back to Managua for more rabies shots and security and technical talks. Nos vemos!