Beginning

It's a 4 day countdown until i embark on my voyage to Nicaragua. For those who dont know what I'm doing, I will be teaching 1st grade at a k-12 international school called The Pierre and Marie Curie school. Unlike most private institutions attended by the Nicaraguan elite, this school extends itself more towards the small middle/upper-middle class that exists creating a slightly more diverse group of students. Furthermore, an aspect that I am extremely excited by, is that the school promotes an integrative and experimental approach to education, sort of montessori-esque. With that said, I have absolutely no experience teaching but decided when i was there earlier this summer that i wanted to find a way to go back and stay for an extended period of time. Like many recent college graduates, i figured teaching english would be the most convenient way to make this happen. Walking out of a barely 5 min interview with the school's director my last day (during which she did not seem to be worried about my lack of pedagogical skills but rather ecstatically pleased by the simple fact that I was a young, nice, and energetic native speaker who had just graduated college) I somehow spotted a full-time job. As I have found out since then, I am not teaching english exactly, but various subjects for 1st graders..in english.
Along with this, I will be working part-time with a non-profit that I was working with earlier this summer called APROQUEN (Association for Burn Children in Nicaragua). As of now all I know is that I will be one of the members on the Junior Board, which will consist of a small group of 20 and 30-year-olds working to plan social outreach through events...at least this is the understanding i have. This is all to be clarified once I get there. I will also hopefully be helping out with their annual fundraiser that I got to attend this June that is a large dance/theatrical production in the Teatro Municipal in the capital. This year they performed Peter Pan. Since I was only there two weeks before the show went up, there wasn't too much work I could do.. but this year I will have a more hands-on involvement with the choice of show, the choreography, etc.
Lastly, the woman who originally invited me down this summer, Vivian Pellas, who is the founder and president of APROQUEN, also began a dance studio where I spent all my afternoons. During last couple of days some of the instructors of this "Ritmo Latino" dance class they offer, let me teach some portions... and my last day I got a whole hour to myself. I did a mix of Brazilian dance--some samba, pagode, axe, afro-brazilian--and had a great response from everyone so I am looking forward to the possibility of giving regular class (... especially since no one has idea previous experience so I can pretty much do whatever I want and they will never know!)

As of now, I will be staying for the month of August in a room that I will be renting from a family that my father's friend got me in contact with. Not only is it a bargain find but i will also be a few blocks from the school which will make transportation really an issue.. I may eventually, however, want to find a place with little more room so i dont feel i'm impeding on their family dynamic.

So these are the basic details, just setting the ground work for what i'm going to get myself into..... more stories/updates soon to come!