possibly the last post

Don´t have much time to write, but possibly the last time ill be able to post while in Nicaragua.. can´t believe it has already been 3 months... went by so quickly, and not quite sure i´m ready to go home. Continuing to have an amazing time. A large festival called Hipica took place this last weekend. Went with my family to a big parade on friday night, and then sunday my host sister and i decided to ride on some HIGHLY outdated carnaval rides. :D we went and watched a parade of horses and people drinking afterwards, and spent the night on the porch, eating momones and watching drunks "dancing" down the streets, as they swayed from one side of the street to the other. Quite entertaining! I have decided to go to Costa Rica Thursday- Sunday with my friend Tina. Should be a nice little ending to my time here. Seriously can´t believe im leaving in a week... thank you all for supporting me throughout this adventure. I will definitely write another entry after returning home... but i guess, this is my hasta luego from nicaragua. Nos vemos muy pronto

Muchas Actividades

Just a quick update.. been hanging out a lot with my friend Tina and her host family. Sunday was festival of the bulls. It´s somewhat like running of the bulls but less bulls at 1 time. Was at a friend of a friends house who lives on the street where it starts, and 1 by 1 they release 4 or 5 bulls on the main street and people run from them/to them. It was a crazy first time experience getting smooshed into the doorway as hundreds of people tried to run by/i was trying to make my way inside. For the rest of the day they had random bulls on random streets throughout granada. My "running with the bulls" experience was by accident. Tina and I got caught between a bull and the street we needed to get down on our walk home, so ended up running a couple blocks to be safe. I couldnt stick around too long, because in truth, it was really sad to watch the bulls and people taunting them. I believe 3 people died in all and 1 horse.
Monday after class, i then went with tina´s family to a nearby Laguna. Gorgeous water that we swam in for a few hours. This coming weekend is a huge party weekend for nicaragua, being the yearly celebration of Hipica.. origins i am still unsure of. Time is going by way to quickly and i cant believe i only have 2 weeks left... will try and write more later! love to ALL!

stressful week

So this week has had a lot of ups and downs. Not sure if i already wrote this, but gretch and i climbed up the Iglesia Merced and were able to see an absolutely breathtaking 360 degree view of granada! Gorgeous! Gretchen left wednesday morning which was quite sad. Going to miss having her here, but i think more than anything my sadness is for her not being able to be here and that her leaving means my time here is starting to wind down. i cant imagine not getting up every morning and being able to walk the streets or sit on the patio in the late afternoon with my host family laughing and joking around. Oh, how i wish that everyone could have a chance to meet my family down here to see just how amazing they are. We have so many inside jokes(including dirty jokes my mom would definitely appreciate), and are constantly teaching each other spanish and english. Last night was random phrases from the movie Titanic and somehow we also started in on the Stevie Nicks song "Total eclipse of the heart"·
Still frustrated that i dont understand a lot of what is said to me, but im definitely improving. My spanish seems to get crazier and crazier by the day. Not sure if it´s because im still kind of a beginner or if im just a goof. I think it´s a little of both. A couple examples: the phrase is Dejame en paz, but i keep saying Dejame en pez. The phrase means, "leave me in peace." I say "leave me in fish." Or the other day, after getting out of the pool i meant to say, "voy a empezar a secar."(i am going to start drying off) but accidently said "voy a empezar a pecar." (i am going to start sinning). Or when i ask where my freeway is instead of my wallet (carretera vs. cartera), or if i can have games instead of juice (juego vs. jugo). silly mistakes that i know immediately after i say them are wrong. Not too stressed about it, and my family thinks it is hilarious!
The other teacher still has not arrived, leaving me as the only teacher, and on top of all of this, all of the materials and toys were stolen last night. All of the projects i´d spent hours preparing, and the toys we play with at recess gone, leaving me quite stressed. We are left with a couple boxes of crayons and some white paper. And yes dad, that includes the stuff you sent in the mail. :( So, now im left to figure out what to do with the kids and hoping everything works out.
On a brighter note, im off to a hot springs with my friend tina from canada and her family! hope everyone is having a fabulous summer! love to all!

Last week

So last week came and went... completely different than how i thought it was going to be! Another girl from the states who happens to teach kindergarten for spanish kids in wisconsin, came to help out for a few days. Such a help! I've found that i am really good at coming up with all kinds of fun activities for the kids to do, but i struggle at finding group activities to do. She taught me a way to teach the kids the alphabet in a really fun way, along with some fun group activities to do outside that keep them working as a group. I also learned that the spanish teacher that was there, got married and just didnt tell anyone. A new lady is going to start this coming week, so that is a huge relief! Gretchens last few days here and we are definitely having a great time! Granada won the baseball championship recently and we went out with my host sisters to celebrate in the streets and in a club: lots of music and dancing! Will try to update soon... cant believe i only have 23 days left! love you all!