A Few Musings About Nothing

Nov7, 2015

June 10, 1979

     I was recently hired by the American Nicaraguan Language Institute and today I taught my first class. I had 17 students aged 12 - 15 who were really bright. (I think I was cut out to be a teacher. To bad I made so many dumbass decisions during those formative years). I am on a 6 week contract to finish the school year however there was general talk about me working in the new year.  To quote the Director who monitored and "spied on me"  "I spoke with some of the students on break and they were very happy with you as their new teacher." Nice way to start the day. This is a very reputable language school which make it all the better. Time to up my game.

  Here's the thing. I am now working as a Teacher in Nicaragua. In July I said that's what I wanted to do and, well now I am doing it. To that point in the new year I will be living sustain-ably.  What does that mean? I will be paying my rent, buying my food and doing whatever I want on money I earn being a teacher in Nicaragua. NO, I will not be contributing to my retirement fund for those who are certainly going to ask. I am living and working in a country where I needed to learn and continue to learn the language. I had to apply myself with intense training on how to teach English as a Foreign Language. I also had and continue to have to learn grammar. Lots and lots of grammar. Who know that there were so many verb tenses? That a gerund is not the present perfect and that my go to for any new grammar lessons are old School House Rock Videos on YouTube. (I know you just googled what a gerund is). Toss in nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, modals, verb order, phrasal verbs, connecting  phrases, conjunction, prepositions, article, determiner....DARN (interjections!) that's all I've got for now. There is so much more. No wonder why English and grammar teachers were so grumpy.

TEFL Nicaragua

Trust me when I say, if I can do this you my friends can do anything. I am no Jimmy Einstein. So please drop your excuses and face those nasty fears. Take that first step in that new direction you want to take.  You will be astonished at what can happen. Where you daydream is where you should be or what you should be doing. If you day dream about being with your kids AWESOME, then do that. If flowers are your thing, DO IT. Helping others, well get out there and HELP. Picking up trash. Well GO pick up trash. Not everything is about losing weight, eating right and drinking 8 jugs of water a day.That's a lifestyle, to which I know nothing about. Be honest with yourself. Sure you are going to piss people off because you are trying to make changes. That freaks people the fuck out. Do not ruin you life, compliment it. For me, its not about the gold watch because I would sell it to buy a plane ticket somewhere.

A few observations from the past couple of weeks.

1. The fire ants are still gnawing at my ankles, toes and feet at every turn. They drink my bug spray like it was 25 year old scotch and tell their friends.."OY, party right here lads" See that ankle, its delicious.

2. We are nearing the end of the rainy season. The nights are getting clear and cool plus the skies are an amazing blue.  Mother nature still reminds us who is in charge though. Last night a storm creeped up on us in about 20 minutes. It had he most spectacular thunder and lightning show and I actually jumped at one thunder clap as I was Thunder Struck (roll ACDC). We lost power as we do but it did not matter. The show was brilliant plus the sound of the rains are always welcome relief.

3. I can not escape the call of the Gekko. God love these slimy little buggers but pleases shut the fu** up at 3am, you will wake the roosters.

4. Did Germany shut down? Well zee Germans are everywhere.

5. One of my simple pleasures now is to go down to the backpackers street and watching all the new young travelers getting off their overprices microbuses wide eyed and scared to death. One hand on their backpacks and the other on Mom and Dads credit card. You can see it in their faces. " The guide book never said anything like this". They get dropped off in front of Via Via or Big Foot on a street that might as well be any backpackers street anywhere in the world. I do not think they realize that to get to the mountains, the beach or the volcanoes you need to organize that and leave the city. They are not right outside your doorstep.

6 . I met a couple from Estonia. Just an odd statement

7. Cheleo Lavandaria. Clean clothes in 4 hours. Considering I go through 2 t shirts a day at a minimum this is important news.

8 Via Via, it has become my afternoon beer parlor of choice. Paz y Pan is my afternoon coffee house of choice. Which one I choose depends on the time of day.

9. I added something to my to do list. Volunteering with Manatees and Monkeys in Belize with Wild Tracks Belize. You pay $600 whichi includes your food and lodging for the month. The food is suppose to be pretty damn good.  You spend time learning to rehabilitate these amazing creatures back into the wild. I spoke with someone who did it and in all my travels I have never met someone so excited to have been a part of something like this.

10. Did I mention the fucking fire ants!!