Update

Its sunday morning here and the weather has become noticeably cooler.  I just spent two days in Managua doing the mid service physical exam.   They do a pretty complete job of checking us out, especially those of us over "50."  It took a couple days and involved 4 sweaty bus rides but they put me up in a hotel wiht a/c, wifi and hot water.   HEAVEN !!!

 I have met a young woman who has graduated from college here with a degree in Environment Science but has discovered she's interested in working with people who are deaf.  She lives in Managua with her aunt but her parents live in Nueva Segovia ( mountain and coffee country) where she will return in December to help them "cut" coffee.  She also is learning English and wants opportunities to practice it.  So, we have worked out a deal; she has agreed to make a video tape with me of certain simple phrases in Nicaraguan sign language, e.g., My name is....what is your name, etc.  that I can use in the schools to teach the kids those phrases, and I'll talk English with her for a couple hours everytime I am in Managua.  Her goal is to learn English well enough to be able to work in a call center....imagine !!
She is really beautiful...looks more mid eastern than Spanish. I'll try to get a photo.

This was the first time I left Doris and Javier over night but all went well.  My neighbor, May, had my key and came in a couple times a day to feed them.  I left the back door open ( but the gate with the bars etc. was padlocked) so they could come and go and poop outside.  Its seems to have worked out very well.

My best current bus story involves a handsome older Spanish man who sat down next to me on the bus one hot day.  He had a big bucket with him, the kind that comes from Home Depot with 5 gallons of paint or something like that in it.  Anyhow, we smiled at each other a little, buenas dias, etc. and then he showed me a brochure he was carrying.  Turns out he was selling things made of fish: sticks, fillets, etc.  Well, by the time we got to Malpaisillo ( and he was going another 2 hours to San Isidro) it was real clear what he had in that bucket.  I guess he carries his wares around and sells them out of that bucket.

My classes continue with Helen and she is quickly becoming a reader.  Since I am teaching her to read in Spanish, I have my issues with pronunciation and whether the nouns are feminino or masculino.  She has corrected me a couple times...cute.  And she has a primo ( cousin) who wants to come to my classes too.  Actually, I think he just wants the cookies...but, if that's what it takes...that's what it takes.  I am sure Helen was hungry the other day when she showed up at 8 am asking if it was time for class, which we usually have after lunch.  So, she had her milk and oatmeal cookies while we did a little reading.

I made a BINGO game with the numbers from 1 to 100 and the letters: G,H,J,Q and U ( since those are the letters the kids have trouble pronouncing so this gives them lots of chances to hear and pronounce them). We use frijole beans to mark the homemade cards, etc.  Anyhow, they seem to have all heard of BINGO and they were thrilled to get the chance to play.  It was a big success and I am talking with one of the teachers at the Catholic school about doing BINGO for the town as a fundraiser.  There is a casino in Leon where they play BINGO but there does not seem to be any in the communities.  We are pondering that now.   And these people are good ponderers.....I'll be lucky if they are done pondering before I leave in a year.  I think it would be a lot of fun to do but they have to be the ones who want to go forward and I will just facilitate.

For Thanksgiving the Embassy families traditionally invite the PC vols to their houses for a traditional dinner.  I accepted the offer and I, along with three other vols. have been assigned to the home of the Charge d'Affairs, Robert Downes.   He is second in command down here and has been the front man for a while since the Ambassador retired  and the new Ambassador either has not been appointed, approved or sent.  I don't really know the status of that.  But, Mr. Downes was quoted in the paper the other day as saying the US relationship with Nicaragua will continue, despite some "lack of transparency" around the recent election.

I read Huff Post several times a day and am enjoying following the Herman Cain "performance art" as Rachel Maddow describes it and the Occupy news.   I have one more year here with Peace Corps then I am coming to the US and hope to occupy something somewhere.  I am so proud that we are finally showing some "civil disobedience."    We should have done this long before it got this bad.

I'll tag on a couple photos.

Peace Out,  ( remember that?)
Pat

Celebratory parade in Malpaisillo after the election of Ortega

same

Notice the Red and Black flag...that is the flag of the Sandinista party, Daniel Ortega's, and the same party ( altho changed a lot) that over threw Somosa in the late 70s. 

Nov. 2 is the Dia del Muertos.  They celebrate it more reverently down here ( unlike Mexico) ; the folks take lots of flowers and some take beer and food and spend the day in the cemetaries with their dear departeds.  I'm always very selfconscious taking pictures of times like this so they are not the best.

Just Photos

 This is a hand crafted custom made chandelier of Belgian crystal hanging in the French panaderia ( bakery) in Leon where I get the best whole wheat ( multicereal) bread, wonderful coffee and use their pristine bathrooms.  It was made for the owner of the property, a very rich Nico, who  leases the property to the Dutch couple who runs the bakery.  We have diversity.

I mentioned this circus in a previous post.  Next year I hope to take some photos inside but I'll need a flash camera which I don't have at present.  Its is such a throwback and the people just loved it !!!!  El Principe s means "The Prince."

This is a covert shot of a kid dressed for work somewhere as a clown.  I think he was on his way to Leon where they ride the local buses in pairs and make jokes, shouting back and forth to each other from one end of the bus to the other, and then go person to person asking for donations.  As always, the people love it and seem to support it generously.  The kids on this minibus were scared to death of him being so close.  He was a cute kid.