Friday, September 24, 2010

Rainy Day Activities

This has been the rainiest season Nicaragua has had for a very long time. Definitely the most rain I have seen in my six plus years here. Roads become rivers, potholes become small crater lakes, rays of sunshine become golden opportunities to dry your damp, musty clothes.

We've had our share of inside recess days at NCA. My class has done really well regardless of having to stay inside. The boys in my class are soccer fanatics. They go all out in the playground when they play soccer so they were starting to go through withdraw until they discovered they could make up their own soccer game.





Imagine it as a spin on fooseball! The boys love it and can entertain themselves for at least 20 minutes.


Meanwhile the girls play games, puzzles, color and chit chat.


Please pray for Nicaragua. Many homes are being flooded as the ground has reached its saturation point. Usually October is the rainiest month of the year. Join us in praying for safety for those whose homes are at risk of flooding, dry places for families to stay, safety in traveling on the wet and often flooded roads, protection for the crops. Some crops are at risk of being lost due to all the rain.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

WARNING! Not for weak stomachs!

Nicaragua is full of wild life! Due to the openness of building design in Nicaragua there is not a lot of wall, window or ceiling between you and the great outdoors.

During my six years in Nicaragua I've grown accustomed to spiders, geckos, ants and even an occasional bird making their way into my classroom during any given day. This week started out like any other until Wednesday. As I opened up my classroom on Wednesday morning there was a terrible smell. I could tell immediately that something had died in my classroom. The smell of rotting something was potent. I immediately opened up the windows and turned up the fans in order to try and air things out. The maintenance guys came to see if they could locate what had died and remove it for me. As they were pulling out ceiling tiles the smell got worse. Picture all of my students with their shirts up over their noses making all kinds of terrible sounds as they tried not to breathe in the wretched smell. Richard and Jose Angel decided that it had to be a dead rat but that it was in a part of the roof that they could not access to remove the dead rat. In true Nica fashion they stuffed the hole full of newspapers and then sealed it with silicone. We all could breathe a little easier after that.

On Friday my students were playing with some insects during our carpet time. When I investigated I discovered wormlike things crawling around on the floor. Having the slight feeling that they just might be maggots I sent my kids right back to their desks. We called in the maintenance and cleaning staff again. There were maggots all underneath our classroom carpet and rapidly making their way around the classroom.



We cleaned, sprayed and sanitized and yet I was still finding them alive and crawling around the classroom on Saturday. Rosita and I have not been able to figure out exactly where they are coming from. Our suspiscions seem to lead us to the ceiling where the rat died last week. I think we are both fearful of just what we will find up there.


This just goes to show you that you never know what things you may encounter while teaching in a classroom in Nicaragua.