Still on the house hunt. Unfortunately, the house I really like and want to repair isn’t coming along quite as quickly as I would like. The owner has gone quiet, but in good Nica fashion, my host family and I are calling constantly. We shall see. There are a few more options around the neighborhood, but nothing that I like quite as much. The houses in second and third place both have occupants at the moment who may or may not continue their contracts into 2012, so that would be a problem. Otherwise they are good finds.
As far as actually doing my job here in the community, I have started giving English classes!! After much pestering, I got the kids in my youth group to figure out a time that worked best, get a good group formed and get on over to my house. First class went really well. We (I) gave them all English names, which they had a lot of fun with, and taught them basic greetings (how are you, what’s up, hello). We also got started learning numbers. Like most of us in the US, the kids here received English all throughout school, but not much sticks in middle school English class, and even though they know the numbers, pronunciation is really difficult in English. So although many of the words were not new, we spent a lot of time going over pronunciation. Good stuff.
I also went to my first dance class with the “jovenes” (youth) of my town. I was, admittedly, really nervous to go to this. Not only because I assummed they can all dance, due to the fact that Latinos can naturally dance (yes, I’m being stereotypical here), but because I cannot dance (white man’s overbite and such). I mean in a crowded club when no one cares is one thing, but in a class where everyone is watching I definitely get nervous (maybe I’m just a little paranoid with the whole gringo thing). Anyway, class ended up being A LOT of fun. Even though the teacher never actually showed, the youth group leader was there and about 40 jovenes (jovenes = teens ages 14-25). They started by doing a routine to the Grease mix that they had learned in a previous class. Awesome! I definitely was the only one who knew the words, but it was a lot of fun to watch and got me excited to dance. Since there was no teacher, we didn’t do any routines (thank god), but we practiced the bachata and the salsa. They assigned me the best dancer to teach me, assumming off the bat I would probably be awful (good assumption), so it didn’t take too long to pick it up. I stepped on the poor guy’s feet a couple of times, but I think by the end I wasn’t a horrible partner...although anyone who has ever tried turns with me knows that that is just not a good idea...since we were speaking Spanish it was hard to warn him about my inability to be spun and such. Ohhh well. I plan on going back, but I think tonight’s class is reggatone, so I may just be watching this one...
Looking forward to going back to my original host family’s home for Christmas. They have a tree, lights, and have been raising a pig to roast (yum). Also just looking forward to being with my friends from training, both Peace Corps and Nica. After having been with me for three months, they always understand my broken version of Spanish and I understand them. Still working that out here in my new site.
Anyway, that’s all for now. English class and dance tonight! Think graceful thoughts for me!! Much love!
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