SEND ME FREE TEXTS!

I recently discovered that you can send me text messages from ANYWHERE in the world for FREE online! Just follow these steps carefully because the website is in Spanish:

1. Go to http://www.claro.com.ni/
2. Click the imagine on the right that says "Chatea con todos tus amigos"
3. Where it says "Destino" put in this number: 88304681
4. Where it says "Origen" write your name.
5. Where it says "Mensaje" type your message.
6. Where it says "Codigo" type in the secret code.
7. Click "Enviar" or send. If the message was successfully sent, you'll see a message that says "Su mensaje ha sido enviado". Then click "Aceptar".

Thanks!! I hope to hear from you!!

Profesora Mariela

I'd like to take the time to write about a teacher who really makes me feel like my time here has been worthwhile. There are many days when I just feel completely frustrated with my work, when the students just aren't paying attention, and when it seems like none of my work with the teachers is getting through to them. For example, spending three months tending a tree nursery, finally transplanting the trees in the schools, and then having them fumigate the lawn just weeks after, killing almost every single one of the trees, is not something that motivates you to continue with your service, living in a foreign country, away from your family and friends, for over two years. And then there's Profesora Mariela, without whom I would feel completely deflated.

Just to give you a little bit of a background, Mariela is an independent 25 year old, has been teaching for 10 years (no this is not a typo), has a 7 year old son, is divorced, and is college educated. She is one of the few teachers with whom I work who tells me how appreciative she is for our work together and is really applying some of the techniques I've shared. In her school, the kids are already keeping and mantaining their own compost, and plan on continuing with the vegetable garden and reforestation campaigns year after year. They've stopped fumigating the lawn, and instead are adopting more environmentally friendly ways of maintaining the school (cutting the grass, by hand, with machetes...tedious but effective). She tells me, too, that her son takes my class so seriously. He goes up to people on the street who are burning their trash and tells them that they're polluting the environment haha. He carries his garbage with him in his backpack instead of tossing it out the bus window like oh so many Nicaraguans. And he started separating his organic and inorganic trash to start making a home compost. When you ask him questions about the class, he spits out the information like a dictionary, word for word, like it was presented in the class. It's really cute :).

So thank you Profe Mariela and her son, David. Because of you, my work here has been worthwhile.

Updates from the Field

Hello to all my followers. Nothing that new and exciting to report, but I know I have a few devout followers of my blog so just for you guys, here comes another entry.

At the beginning of September (Sept 3rd, to be exact), I hit my one-year mark of being in Nicaragua. It was pretty exciting to realize I've made it this far and am almost half-way through my service. The volunteers in my group and I celebrated the occasion at a nice hotel in Managua and treated ourselves to an all-you-can-eat brunch. So far, our entire group of environmental ed volunteers that came in since Day 1 is still in tact, which is quite the accomplishment since many people do not make it through their full 2 years of service. We're hoping to keep the momentum going strong until November of 2010!

I've been getting involved recently with some collaborative projects with the Mayor's Office and United Nations food security program by giving some talks in a rural community within my municipality (it sounds a lot more official than it really is). The goals of the food security program are pretty much in-line with the Peace Corps environmental education program, so so far we've given talks on how to make a compost and garden and are looking to possibly do more in the future about organic pesticides and fertilizers, fruit tree nurseries, and seed saving.

(My "how-to" compost poster)

(Making a compost with corn husks, manure, and leaves)

I've really been enjoying them so far because I feel like as opposed to working in the schools where sometimes the students don't express interest in being there or don't understand the relevance of what you're teaching, the adults in the rural areas who are without jobs or have nutritional issues really value the information we're bringing to them.

(Making a seed bed for tomatoes and peppers out of an old tire)

(My partner in crime demonstrating how to make an elevated seed bed to prevent animals from eating your harvest)

Besides the talks in the "campo", September hasn't been the most productive of months. The schools have been spending weeks preparing for the mid-September independence day activities (marches, bands, dancing), so I haven't been able to get much accomplished in terms of secondary activities. I've also been in and out of Managua giving talks about the Peace Corps approach to development to the new group of environmental ed trainees so it's been difficult right now trying to start up new and/or continue old projects. I'm hoping, though, that before the end of the year and vacations begin I can at least get one other solid project in, particularly related to HIV/AIDS since World AIDS Day is on December 1st.

This weekend I will be having a PCT, or Peace Corps Trainee, come visit me in my site for a few days and shadow me in my job. This is something I did a year ago during training and it was really helpful to get an idea about what the volunteer lifestyle is like. So I'm looking forward to providing some insight and helpful suggestions so that someone else can benefit from my experiences.

So, that's all, folks! Please continue to keep me updated with your own lives and new and exciting things going on in the US! Take care.