Fast Forward

We’re going to skip our travel day from Costa Rica to Nicaragua for now.  I’ll go back and catch y’all up on that later.  It was mostly uneventful but the border crossing into Nicaragua was uniquely different than the one entering Costa Rica.  More on that another time.

I’m also going to skip our weekend in Rivas, Nicaragua.  It was spent shopping, picking up supplies for teaching as well as some items for the house we would soon be renting.

This post is about our return ‘home’, to Merida.

Wait… what’s that?  You didn’t know we were returning to Merida, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua?!!?  Oh my.  Well, let me tell you a little about that.  Our stay here in the fall was long enough that we got a good feel for the people, the community and their desire to learn English.  People want to learn!  We were welcomed and accepted, and asked to stay!  But we had already made other plans - to spend Christmas in San Juan del Sur and then head south to Costa Rica.  Recall that our original plan was to move to Costa Rica and find work there.  All of the research leading to this whacky Central American adventure of ours had been focused in CR.

But, I’m telling ya, once you experience Merida and the island, there is something magical about it.  Isla de Ometepe has a certain mystery surrounding it.  When you see it from the mainland, you can’t help but be mesmerized.  Two volcanoes, one active.  Yes, there are two decent sized towns (pop. ~4,ooo) but mostly it’s small towns and villages.  On the Maderas end of the island, it’s all villages and it was this area we knew we wanted to be.  In fact, we shared later that we both wanted to return as soon as we left.  Yeah, we went to San Jose, explored, had a truly great time, really.  San Jose is a cool city and we enjoyed many of the amenities it offers.  But we never really looked for work because we knew in our hearts where we were meant to be – Merida.

So while we were in San Jose, we plotted and planned our return to the island.  We contacted our former students in Merida and asked them to start spreading the news that we were coming back.  We contacted Alvaro and Esther at the bilingual school to let them know, we fundraised (thank you, donors), and we arranged housing and finances to make it all work.  The school year in Nicaragua runs from February to December, so the timing was perfect.  We could be there from start to finish, providing continuity and stability to the community.

Yep.  You can describe it as ‘a calling’, divine intervention, luck, fate or just a series of singular events that made the decision simple and logical.  The fact is everything worked out easily and perfectly for us to return to Merida.  We know this year will be a huge undertaking for us; in fact, it has already been a ton of work!  But I am happy to report that we’ve been back on the island five weeks, and already have four weeks of classes in the books.  Go, us! 

Upon our return, we arrived at Hacienda Merida and were greeted by big hugs and hearty handshakes.  The friends we had left behind were very happy that we decided to come back!  People who knew we were returning had been checking with the hotel throughout the day to see if we had made it yet.  Maybe they were nervous we would change our minds at the last minute?  If they only knew – we had longed to come back from the moment we boarded the ferry!  

Bex! noted two things about our first trip to Ometepe, last fall:  When we took the lancha to the island in the first week of November, the water was like glass.  No wind, no waves other than those created by the wake of the boat.  The island was greeting us, welcoming us with her beauty and serenity.  When we left in mid-December, we took the larger ferry.  The waters were rough, with big waves splashing over the sides.  So much so that the crew directed everyone inside so no one went overboard.  Ometepe was angry that we were leaving.  Now we were back!

Arriving - the island calmly welcomed us.

Departing - it's not a good idea to make a volcanic island mad.

They were just putting the finishing touches on our room – i.e. moving a bed in – so we waited a bit and relaxed in the familiar surroundings.  Soon enough, we had our key and schlepped our umpteen suitcases, bags, backpacks, musical instruments, etc. into our room.  Oy.  We confirmed our commitment to each other that the first visitors we have from home are being sent back with a suitcase full of clothes we’ll never need here!  This will be in exchange for bringing a few things down for us, as well.  Courier services to be paid in Toña's!!  Just a heads up, people!!

 To say it’s been challenging would be an understatement…

Week one:
We immediately began working out our schedule, going through many iterations to find a balance that worked for the students in the community and us.  Fortunately, my wife is a whiz with spreadsheets and such, whereas I am more of the ‘back of the napkin, brainstorm over a few beers’ type.  As we talked with our returning students and recruited new ones, we soon realized that our days would be back loaded – lots of afternoon and evening classes.  Adults work their jobs, tend to chores at home or work in the fields during the cool, early hours of the day; high schoolers usually help out at home or on the farm in the mornings and attend classes from noon to 5 PM – so morning classes were out.  Drats.

Working out class schedules and lesson plans

Our primary objectives for teaching were threefold:
1]  We had agreed early on that we want to target adults and the secondary school kids – the people who can put the language to use right away.  We’ve seen it in action:  if a guide, hotel employee or restaurant server speaks English, they engage more intimately with the tourists, thus increasing the opportunity for them to make money and network with people from all over the world.  As I’ve said before, English is the global language, so people who speak even a little have a huge advantage over those who don’t.  We would hold classes for absolute beginners from throughout the entire community, not just the handful at the hotel.  We would also have classes for the high school kids in Levels 7-11  (HS here runs 'levels'  not 'grades' and they graduate at Level 11).  This group in secondary school gets a few hours of English each week in their regular school, but more is better.  And finally, we would hold separate classes for the handful of intermediate/advanced speakers who have been studying English for a while.  

2]  We also want to hold classes for the parents of the children enrolled at the Ometepe Bilingual School (OBS), the charter school located at Hacienda Merida in which we first taught for six weeks last fall.  If we can teach the parents the same things their kids were learning, they can reinforce it at home.  Education doesn’t stop when a child leaves school for the day, so the ability for families to interact in English is important.  Besides, we wanted to put Kenneth at ease.

Kenneth is a First grader at OBS this year and was my favorite little kindergartener last year.  Well, second favorite behind my grandson, Judah.  I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Kenneth, teaching the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, numbers, colors – in both Spanish and English.  His mother shared this wonderful story with us:  A couple of weeks before the new school year was to begin, Kenneth was like any kid anywhere in the world – nervous and excited for the first day.  He worriedly told his mother (in Spanish) “Mama, I can see a day when I only speak English and you only speak Spanish and when I ask for food, you won’t know what I’m saying.”  Food is very important to Kenneth, obviously.  Love this kid!!


3]  Our third goal for returning to Merida is to help coordinate the efforts and activities of the volunteers who come through OBS.  Our experience as volunteers last fall here was rewarding in so many ways – obviously, we came back - but it was a little chaotic and frustrating at times because of a lack of organization.  We felt the experience could be improved dramatically through better communication.  Our idea for this year is to give the volunteer a clear picture of what they will be doing, how things work and what their day will be like before they step foot on the island.  This way the volunteer can hit the ground running and can make an impact from Day One.  From what we experienced and have heard from others, a volunteer here usually spends 2-3 days figuring out what to do, where to be, who’s in charge, etc.  Volunteers are a valuable resource – one the school needs to be successful. 

Speaking of volunteers...