For the past two days we have had Independence Day celebrations. It started yesterday with a parade of the 5 high school bands in Ocotal. They varied from courtesy clap ability to stand up and holler ability. Each of the bands was mostly made up of percussion, but some came with a bit of brass. In addition, there were scantily clad girls in high heels shaking their tooshies to the beat. The girls, of course, got the most attention- not only for their moves, but also their outfits. Each girl was decked out in knee high boots, a little dress-like thingy, a hat, and cane. On average, the costume set back each family a whopping $50-150. Thinking about how much the family had to sacrifice to scrape that together, kinda took some of the joy out of watching… oh well, we were the only ones that seemed to mind. Everyone was having a great time watching, dancing, whistling, and hoopin’ and hollerin’. All in all, it was quite the event.
Today we went to the stadium to watch a 20 minute performance of each band. Of course, being where I am, things weren’t that simple. First we had to sing the National Anthem of ALL the Latin American Countries. Then, EVERY band had to elaborately ask permission from the MC to perform. Weren’t they already invited to perform? New vocab word for the day: Permiso considido- permission granted. After all that, the real show began. Much like any good town, we have a rivalry!! It’s between the Instituto where I teach and the semi-private Colegio where Douglas went to school. They both brought their A game, but it was pretty clear that the Colegio snagged it this year. They probably won it with they brought out the big floats… or when they played YMCA! The Instituto did battle back with a great rendition of “This is Africa” by Shakira, and the band’s moves were far superior.
While we were at the stadium, a man fell/got pushed/tried to crowd surf. It got the crowd all riled up, and he left the scene amid many people still wondering “Who was that guy? What happened?” I was just wondering who he fell on. This place was packed, and I could just see him hitting a baby. It amazed me that mothers were bringing their newborns to this event. It was an industrial engineers worst nightmare- a stadium that could easily hold 7,000 people… with one entrance/exit. People were pushing and shoving, knocking each other down, babies were being held in the air so they wouldn’t get smushed… really? Why did you bring your baby here? If this country wants an inventive idea for a new business, here it is. DAYCARE PROGRAM!
I haven’t been to class in 3 weeks now. Classes were one by one cancelled the week of August 30-September 3, Last week, I did a Tech Exchange in Leon, and this ENTIRE week there are celebrations for Independence Day. By the first week my house was spotless, all the clothes were washed, dried, and ironed, and I had visited all my friends in town.
Thank goodness I had the Tech Exchange. Leon is a WONDERFUL city, definitely one of my favorites in Nicaragua. You name it and they have it: colonial architecture, lots of people, two fully stocked grocery stores, a movie theatre, sports bars, FREE INTERNET, ritzy restaurants, night clubs, beautiful parks and churches, great universities. While I was there I saw the Sorcerer’s Apprentice with Nic Cage. It wasn’t the best movie in the world, but the AC and popcorn improved it ten-fold. Did I also mention that I had apple pie in Leon? YUMMY!
I went there to start my curriculum project. The first step was to observe the methods of one of the best English programs in the nation, UNAN. Then I talked about my university (MLU) and its curriculum with another PCV that has done a lot of curriculum building work. Next, I will meet with the dean of MLU to see what changes we want to make. Once this happens, I can form a committee to do methods and curriculum research, make a book with our findings, train the students and staff on it, and create a student teaching program. I am definitely at the beginning stages, but I hope to finish the project before I leave in November. We shall see. Did I mention that I have to write a grant in Spanish to get the project funded? EEEEEEEEKKKKK!!!!
Another one of my projects is to standardize the local English Department, which spans throughout the 5 high schools in Ocotal. We are well on our way, with all the teachers meeting once a month to choose the standards that we should cover, create the vocabulary lists and plan the activities. With this group of teachers, I’m also doing mini trainings on what makes a good lesson plan, new activities to use in class, and different methods they can implement to teach grammar, speaking and listening. I’m so glad that I see success in at least one area of my work.
Well, it’s been raining quite a bit here. So much so that the crops are dying, the roads are flooding, and the bridges are washing away. A friend of mine traveling last week had to get off the bus, cross a river on foot, and then board another bus on the other side. There have been a few mudslides, but nothing too big from what I have seen. The buses just roll over the debris and continue. It seems like no one is very surprised by the rainy season and the mess it causes. A few weeks ago it rained pretty hard while we were out. Walking back to the house, the water was up almost to our knees. Everyone was acting normal except for the shrieking white people.
