As we enter into June—our last full month here—we have a few classes wrapping up and we are starting to think about good-byes. It really feels crazy how fast this two years went. And I know we won’t even know the extent of our learning and changes for months and years, but I feel like we have learned so much about ourselves, individually and as a couple. We have just learned SO SO MUCH about ourselves, about community, about being flexible, about work-life balance, about solidarity, about a new culture, about so many things…. That could be 10 more blog posts….maybe someday.
My English class just wrapped up last week and certificates of completion have been handed out. The classes went a lot better this semester and I felt a lot better overall in curriculum, lesson planning and classroom management (Shout out to Brittany Hershberger and P.C. Costa Rica!) I had a really fun group of kids this semester and it will be sad to say good-bye to them. I will miss them and their incessant yelling “GOOD MORNING!!”…even when it’s the afternoon :)
Kyle has been working hard at the high school, as a glorified secretary/english teacher. He has done so much to help the teachers get organized with their gradebooks and consolidating to get cumulative grades easily calculated. He plans to train one of the teachers who will be cutting back on some of her classroom hours to manage the excel system for grades, as well as organize the computer folders and files for accessibility. He also have been a key part of all the daily English classes taught by the English teacher, Vilma. The students enjoy hearing Kyle’s pronunciation and Kyle enjoys telling them that every assignment is an exam worth 100 points :D He is always joking around and having fun with the students and I keep telling him… “I don’t think they like you at all!” The administration and the teachers will miss Kyle’s presence, as well! We aren’t allowed to talk about a despedida (good-bye party) until 2 days before we leave. Ha!
My 2x/week walks to Quebrada de Agua elementary school continue to go well. I am helping with Math and Spanish classes. I also teach a gym class once a week. I’ve had to get creative as we don’t have a ball…or a gym. But we still have fun and move our bodies. I am also playing in a women’s soccer league. And I am trying to keep up but, 1.) I am old and 2.) these ladies play HARD and I am pretty shy on the soccer field. I do my best, though and 3.) I prefer to play sports where I can use my hands ;)
We celebrated Nicaragua mother’s day last week (on May 30), we made cake for some of our favorite mom’s in town! Now we are gearing up to help host a student group that is coming for an immersion experience with their fearless leader, Billy Byrnes (1st volunteer in San Nicolas!) We are looking forward to meeting the high school students, but we are definitely excited for the chance to see Billy and Kristin again before our time wraps up here!
At this time, we are planning to leave San Nicolas on (or around) July 10th. So those are the big things going on right now. A big thing on our minds are the good-byes that are ahead. We know it will be difficult to say good-bye, but even more difficult to put into words what this experience (THESE PEOPLE!) have meant to us. But we will try!
Love.
