The embarrassing:
Every Monday and Wednesday morning I work at a school named La Reforma. It is my second largest school which consists of 2 counterparts and 6 sections of students with about 60 kids in every section. The larger schools tend to have rowdier kids (or the size of the school brings out their rowdiness) and more discipline problems...
Well last Wednesday, September the 19th, I had the pleasure of teaching mercadotecnia (marketing) for the first time. I must say I was pretty excited to be doing marketing after a longggg few weeks of teaching the O-so-not-Exciting section of accounting. In order to capture the kids interest off the bat I decided to use the world-wide known brand Nike as my marketing example. I in no way, shape, or form chose Nike solely due to the fact that it is super easy to draw their symbol and I am artistically challenged...... But anywho, I asked the kids if there was a slogan for Nike in Spanish and they told me there was not. So I translated "Just Do It" to "Hagalo." This is the command form of "to do" in Spanish. I decided to go deeper than just translating it for them... I decided to explain the significance of the slogan: I told the kids I wanted to jump off of a waterfall (which I pronounced completely wrong) and followed up by asking which of the kids wanted to go with me? A few brave souls raised their hands but the majority did not. I asked if it was because they were scared and they said, "Yes, we could hit rocks, or blah blah blah random tragedy blah." I followed up with, "It is bad to be scared! You all need to listen to Nike, and everybody needs to Do It with me!" En Espanol: "Es malo para tener miedo! Todos necesitan escuchar a Nike, y todos necesitan Hagalo conmigo!" All that followed after this comment was laughter... It took me a few seconds to understand why everyone was laughing... I couldn't remember making an awesome joke that would require this kind of reaction... then I thought back to what I said and realized that I just told an entire class that they all needed to do it with me...
Epic. Fail.
Telling them they needed to do it with me was bad enough but I COMMANDED them to do it which was even worse! At this point all I could do was say, "No no no no no! You all need to jump off of a waterfall with me! No no no no no no!." Then inevitably my typically rosy cheeks turned bright red which the called me out for as they continued to laugh for another few minutes.
I hope, but am not confident, that this will be the last time I accidentally sexually harass an entire class of 15-18 year old. However, I will chalk that lesson up to demonstrating to the kids that discrimination is wrong which is why I collectively harassed everyone! JUST KIDDING!
The adventurous:
I have been lucky to find a kindred spirit in our love for dogs. Madeline, a fellow PC volunteer from the English sector, lives in a neighboring community named the Laguna de Apoyo. We are teaching at a common school and her host mother is my counterpart. This is how we came to be friends and partners in our efforts to reduce animal cruelty and increase education on the proper care for domesticated animals.
There are a few barriers that have kept me from spending my entire life savings on the street dogs here in Masaya:
1. I don't have my own house to keep these dogs while they are being treated medically
2. I don't have my own car or any means to transport these animals
3. Most street dogs will not come when called and run away when approached
4. Many street dogs are aggressive as a result of the unkind interaction they have had with humans thus far in their lives.
5. There aren't many facilities capable of treating these animals when they have severe health issues
Sometimes it is pretty discouraging that I can't help these dogs on a greater scale. I give the very skinny dogs food when I encounter them and most of the time they cower at the gesture of me reaching down to put the food on the ground assuming that I am reaching down to offer nothing but a blow. Sometimes they are so frightened that they run away from me then continue to search from little scraps of food along the street. It is painful to even imagine what these poor dogs/animals have been through in their lives. So when an opportunity to actually help comes along I get beyond excited.
Friday afternoon I met up with Madeline to work on our Animal Awareness Education Fair plans. On our way to the internet cafe we saw a medium-sized white dog lying in front of Lafise Bank. As we walked by she gave us the stare down. I assumed it was an, "don't get in my space Missy" sort of stare down so I told Madeline not to stare too much. Then my curiosity made me inspect the dog from afar to try to see if there was anything wrong with her. As I was looking her ears perked up in a friendly way. Then we called the dog in a baby voice and she ran over to us with her little limp and her tail just a-waggin! During our playtime with the dog it was wonderful to see that a very nice employee of Lafise came out to feed the dog and give her water! It always warms my heart to see people show kindness to these animals.
Now the question was how could we help? Madeline already has a dog and she lives a ways away. I live with a family and I can't just bring in a street-dog to their home. So our original plan was to take her to the vet to get her vaccinated and spayed so she would be safer living on the streets for a while. Then when I moved into my own house, which would happen sometime in the next few months, I would bring her home with me.
The next day I took my housekeepers daughter to Madelines art class. Madeline told me she'd been pondering an idea... Being the dog-lover she is, Madeline decided that her dog could use a playmate and that we should try to catch the dog and bring her to her house that day (Saturday). So we set out on a mission to give this dog a home! First we go by the bank and she isn't there. The very nice bank guard tells us that she is in the park searching for food but should be back a few hours later. We decide to eat lunch and then head back. She still wasn't in her "spot" upon our return. We start searching for a bench to steak out on until she returns but then I spot Luzi (the name we gave her) terrorizing another dog in the park. We walk over and call her name in a baby voice and she perks up and runs straight to us. The "what in the heck are those crazy white girls doing calling over a street dog?" stares we received from the onlooking Nicas were priceless.
Luckily we were able to put the collar and leash, that Madeline brought, on Luzi with relative ease.... Now her ability to walk properly on it was a different story lol. She kept running around us in circles and trying to eat the leash. I think she was under the impression that it was a toy or a predator... I'm not quite sure which one =). The poor baby had to walk on her hurt paw for a good distance until we made it to the vet. There they gave her parasite pills, tick and flea medicine, anti-inflammatory medicine for her hurt paw and vitamins. She was not a big fan of having pills shoved down her throat but we made it through and she wasn't aggressive to the vet at all! Great news!
Next it was off to the taxis. We asked to pay for 3 seats instead of 2 so that we could take up the whole backseat. The taxi driver obliged and then we tried to get Luzi to hop in. She was not feeling this idea so I had to pick her up and place her down on the floor. This wouldn't of been so bad if she didn't reek of "I just rolled around in a dead animal" stench. This led me to have a terrible odor for the rest of the day... Typically I try to avoid being associated with the dirty American stereotype that they have here in Nicaragua, but in this case I didn't mind! She did well during the ride but once again was dumbfounded when we tried to get her to get out of the car. I picked her up again and we were on our way. Because her paw was hurt and she was limping more the longer we walked I decided to carry her to the house. When we arrived it was time to introduce the two pups. This was not the fairy-tale we had hoped for because Nikkita, Madeline's first dog, decided to bark in Luzi's face the whole time. This was her was of trying to play but Luzi felt intimidated and did not react well. With time it got better and our hope is that one day these two will be best friends!
By the time I left to get home, Luzi was very happy and adjusted to her new home! It was a joy to see and I hope that we have more success stories in the future!
Every Monday and Wednesday morning I work at a school named La Reforma. It is my second largest school which consists of 2 counterparts and 6 sections of students with about 60 kids in every section. The larger schools tend to have rowdier kids (or the size of the school brings out their rowdiness) and more discipline problems...
Well last Wednesday, September the 19th, I had the pleasure of teaching mercadotecnia (marketing) for the first time. I must say I was pretty excited to be doing marketing after a longggg few weeks of teaching the O-so-not-Exciting section of accounting. In order to capture the kids interest off the bat I decided to use the world-wide known brand Nike as my marketing example. I in no way, shape, or form chose Nike solely due to the fact that it is super easy to draw their symbol and I am artistically challenged...... But anywho, I asked the kids if there was a slogan for Nike in Spanish and they told me there was not. So I translated "Just Do It" to "Hagalo." This is the command form of "to do" in Spanish. I decided to go deeper than just translating it for them... I decided to explain the significance of the slogan: I told the kids I wanted to jump off of a waterfall (which I pronounced completely wrong) and followed up by asking which of the kids wanted to go with me? A few brave souls raised their hands but the majority did not. I asked if it was because they were scared and they said, "Yes, we could hit rocks, or blah blah blah random tragedy blah." I followed up with, "It is bad to be scared! You all need to listen to Nike, and everybody needs to Do It with me!" En Espanol: "Es malo para tener miedo! Todos necesitan escuchar a Nike, y todos necesitan Hagalo conmigo!" All that followed after this comment was laughter... It took me a few seconds to understand why everyone was laughing... I couldn't remember making an awesome joke that would require this kind of reaction... then I thought back to what I said and realized that I just told an entire class that they all needed to do it with me...
Epic. Fail.
Telling them they needed to do it with me was bad enough but I COMMANDED them to do it which was even worse! At this point all I could do was say, "No no no no no! You all need to jump off of a waterfall with me! No no no no no no!." Then inevitably my typically rosy cheeks turned bright red which the called me out for as they continued to laugh for another few minutes.
I hope, but am not confident, that this will be the last time I accidentally sexually harass an entire class of 15-18 year old. However, I will chalk that lesson up to demonstrating to the kids that discrimination is wrong which is why I collectively harassed everyone! JUST KIDDING!
The adventurous:
I have been lucky to find a kindred spirit in our love for dogs. Madeline, a fellow PC volunteer from the English sector, lives in a neighboring community named the Laguna de Apoyo. We are teaching at a common school and her host mother is my counterpart. This is how we came to be friends and partners in our efforts to reduce animal cruelty and increase education on the proper care for domesticated animals.
There are a few barriers that have kept me from spending my entire life savings on the street dogs here in Masaya:
1. I don't have my own house to keep these dogs while they are being treated medically
2. I don't have my own car or any means to transport these animals
3. Most street dogs will not come when called and run away when approached
4. Many street dogs are aggressive as a result of the unkind interaction they have had with humans thus far in their lives.
5. There aren't many facilities capable of treating these animals when they have severe health issues
Sometimes it is pretty discouraging that I can't help these dogs on a greater scale. I give the very skinny dogs food when I encounter them and most of the time they cower at the gesture of me reaching down to put the food on the ground assuming that I am reaching down to offer nothing but a blow. Sometimes they are so frightened that they run away from me then continue to search from little scraps of food along the street. It is painful to even imagine what these poor dogs/animals have been through in their lives. So when an opportunity to actually help comes along I get beyond excited.
Friday afternoon I met up with Madeline to work on our Animal Awareness Education Fair plans. On our way to the internet cafe we saw a medium-sized white dog lying in front of Lafise Bank. As we walked by she gave us the stare down. I assumed it was an, "don't get in my space Missy" sort of stare down so I told Madeline not to stare too much. Then my curiosity made me inspect the dog from afar to try to see if there was anything wrong with her. As I was looking her ears perked up in a friendly way. Then we called the dog in a baby voice and she ran over to us with her little limp and her tail just a-waggin! During our playtime with the dog it was wonderful to see that a very nice employee of Lafise came out to feed the dog and give her water! It always warms my heart to see people show kindness to these animals.
Now the question was how could we help? Madeline already has a dog and she lives a ways away. I live with a family and I can't just bring in a street-dog to their home. So our original plan was to take her to the vet to get her vaccinated and spayed so she would be safer living on the streets for a while. Then when I moved into my own house, which would happen sometime in the next few months, I would bring her home with me.
The next day I took my housekeepers daughter to Madelines art class. Madeline told me she'd been pondering an idea... Being the dog-lover she is, Madeline decided that her dog could use a playmate and that we should try to catch the dog and bring her to her house that day (Saturday). So we set out on a mission to give this dog a home! First we go by the bank and she isn't there. The very nice bank guard tells us that she is in the park searching for food but should be back a few hours later. We decide to eat lunch and then head back. She still wasn't in her "spot" upon our return. We start searching for a bench to steak out on until she returns but then I spot Luzi (the name we gave her) terrorizing another dog in the park. We walk over and call her name in a baby voice and she perks up and runs straight to us. The "what in the heck are those crazy white girls doing calling over a street dog?" stares we received from the onlooking Nicas were priceless.
Luckily we were able to put the collar and leash, that Madeline brought, on Luzi with relative ease.... Now her ability to walk properly on it was a different story lol. She kept running around us in circles and trying to eat the leash. I think she was under the impression that it was a toy or a predator... I'm not quite sure which one =). The poor baby had to walk on her hurt paw for a good distance until we made it to the vet. There they gave her parasite pills, tick and flea medicine, anti-inflammatory medicine for her hurt paw and vitamins. She was not a big fan of having pills shoved down her throat but we made it through and she wasn't aggressive to the vet at all! Great news!
Next it was off to the taxis. We asked to pay for 3 seats instead of 2 so that we could take up the whole backseat. The taxi driver obliged and then we tried to get Luzi to hop in. She was not feeling this idea so I had to pick her up and place her down on the floor. This wouldn't of been so bad if she didn't reek of "I just rolled around in a dead animal" stench. This led me to have a terrible odor for the rest of the day... Typically I try to avoid being associated with the dirty American stereotype that they have here in Nicaragua, but in this case I didn't mind! She did well during the ride but once again was dumbfounded when we tried to get her to get out of the car. I picked her up again and we were on our way. Because her paw was hurt and she was limping more the longer we walked I decided to carry her to the house. When we arrived it was time to introduce the two pups. This was not the fairy-tale we had hoped for because Nikkita, Madeline's first dog, decided to bark in Luzi's face the whole time. This was her was of trying to play but Luzi felt intimidated and did not react well. With time it got better and our hope is that one day these two will be best friends!
By the time I left to get home, Luzi was very happy and adjusted to her new home! It was a joy to see and I hope that we have more success stories in the future!
