Back to Class

School started last week. Here’s how it went:

Tuesday: first official day of class. I went to the instituto, got presented during the first day of school “acto” (which is still a word I can’t figure out the best English translation to. Lyceum maybe?) but the class schedule wasn’t ready and all the students went off with their sort of homeroom teacher so I left.

Wednesday: I went to my country school, they didn’t have the schedule ready yet so I caught up with my counterpart and other teachers, hung out with my students, and left on the 2:00 bus.

(You may be wondering, how the class schedule was not ready before classes!? Well, first of all students enrolled for class two weeks before the start of classes so they didn’t have all summer to prepare , then it’s the case at most schools that they are figuring out the schedule by hand. It does help that the students all stay together and receive the same classes, but it’s still complicated. It is not unheard of that making the schedule can take a week or more out of classes, and even then problems occur and changes have to be made. They’ve already changed the schedule once at my country school.)

Thursday: Final site visit! My boss came down and we went to both of my schools so she could talk to my counterparts and the principals. Everyone was positive & sad to hear of my imminent departure in July. I got a general idea of schedules from my counterparts and told them both I would see them this week because a) I’ve decided not to work Fridays this year because I think I missed every Friday class for like two months at the end of last year and b) we hadn’t planned anything anyway.

This week it’s been back to planning with my counterparts, back to class, back to routine.

On Sunday I knew that it was an anniversary of having arrived in Nicaragua, but I literally had lost track of the months! I had to count on my fingers and realized that it was my 21 month anniversary. I’ve lived in Nicaragua longer than I lived in DC (just over a year and a half). And much like my final months in DC, I’m kinda starting to check out mentally. I’ve been spending a lot more time at home, putzing around the house and reading instead of kicking my lazy butt out the door to talk to people and integrate. I do still hang out with my usual friends, and all that but I keep catching my mind wandering towards the mythical end of my service. What I’ll do, where I’ll go, and most of all, what I’ll eat :) I’ve lost a bunch of weight here but I’m pretty sure the junk food binge I’ll go on when I get home (mmmm, onion rings…) will put me right back where I was when I left.

I swear I’ll have a more exciting post next week, I’m celebrating my birthday early with my PCV friends this weekend during some festival in Granada so that’s sure to produce something blog-worthy.