Happy February!

I can hardly believe that I have been in Nicaragua for a month now. Where does the time go? Before I know it graduation will have come and gone and I will be preparing for my new teaching job. Speaking of teaching job, I found out more interesting information this past week.

On Tuesday I got an email from ICS saying that they had asked someone else to take the position I applied for. However, they asked me if I would consider the 4th grade position. So, i have been thinking about things in a whole new way this past week. Not only am I thinking about two different schools, I am thinking about two different age levels. I have never thought about teaching anything under 5th grade, so this definitely makes me think. My plan right now is to receive my contract from Indonesia and look into things more there and to hear back from Thailand about how soon I need to decide whether or not I would like to be considered for the 4th grade position. And of course...prayer. Thanks to everyone for your encouraging words and support in prayer, it is truly uplifting!

I should end this post with something fun, so I will tell you a fun story about my week at school, and then about my adventure today.

This week Friday, the students did living history presentations in social studies. They came to class prepared to act out the interesting facts of a celebrity from the 1920's or 30's. One of the students came to class as the boxer Jack Dempsky. He was prepared with an interesting costume. To make himself look buff, he had taken two white t-shirts (one for him, and the other for his friend-assistant) and drawn six-pack abs and pecks on the front of the shirts. What was even funnier is that his shirt was too big for him so part of his six-pack was below his waist! Haha, Kate and I had a good laugh over that one.

Now for today. I went on a day trip to the volcano Cerro Negro (black hill) with Aimee,Deborah (Aimee lives with her and her family) and two of Aimee's church friends, Billy and Roberto. This volcano is the youngest volcano in Nicaragua and has been fairly active in its short lifetime (I didn't know this until after I did the hike). It is famous for its black ash and unveggitated slopes. People come to this volcano to do what is called Ash-boarding (sledding down an ash hill). My plan was to do the ash boarding, but when I saw the steep hill and heard about the recommended body suits and goggles, I thought twice about it. I was wearing shorts and the thought of wiping out on volcanic rock didn't particularly appeal to me. So, we just did the hike instead.

The hike started on the side of the hill and lead us over lava rocks and up the back of the hill. We followed the edge of the crater until we were at the front of the hill. At the top, we could look into the distance and see a range of volcanoes, some of which were steaming. It was also cool to look down into the crater from the top and to see and smell some of the leaking gases/steam. As nice as that was, I was ready for the fun part of the hike-going down. We basically ran/side stepped/ slid down the front of the volcano. I soon discovered that the hot rocks/ash on my ankles and in my shoes was not the nicest feeling, but I powered through because it was just too much fun. (Aimee got a few videos of us coming down.) After stopping for a few pics, I decided to just run down the rest of the slop. Running was actually more fun than plodding/jumping down because I got fewer rocks in my shoes. When I reached the bottom, I cleaned out my shoes and looked back at my accomplishment. I had just climbed up and ran down a volcano. Awesome!!(Don't worry mom, no crazy eruptions happened while we were there.)

At the bottom of the volcano, we stopped to have a lunch break at the information center. We also got to see some snakes and lizards. I was happy to see them in cages.

On the way back to Managua there were periods of dozing and car-dancing to songs from the 90's and possibly 80's. However, after a long day, we were more than happy to arrive back at the house and find a wonderful nica meal waiting for us. Yolanda truly is a gifted woman.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is going to be an unevetfull day, so this will be my last post for a while. If this coming week is anything like last week, I will be super busy with planning, especially because it is finally my week of full-time teaching. Here I Go!