Staying Sane

It’s already mid-March, and things are only now in full swing in all of my schools…a month after the first day. Believe it or not, it took some of my schools up until the beginning of this week to arrange a fixed schedule. Something I find unusual and counterproductive is that students don’t need to register before the start of the school year…they have until the end of the first week of classes. Consequently, class sizes change, which affects the quantity of teachers needed at the school. So it’s not really until the third week when everything starts to fall into place, and routine is established.

The start of the school year brings along many welcoming things after two months of vacation, the top three being a fixed routine/schedule, weekly work-oriented goals, and the opportunity to practice speaking Spanish in front of large groups. I particularly like the last one. But like any other job, the learning opportunities and good are also accompanied by frustrations and stress. And there are some weeks, like this last one, where the frustrations just out number the joys of your job. So what do you do? You look for ways to burn off those frustrations and relax.

I was fortunate enough this week to have a handful of activities to take my mind off the frustrations of the school system. Last week, was the 7^th Annual San Rafael del Norte Media-Maraton, in memory Padre Orrinoco, a priest that is up for sainthood from the area. The race offers two distances, 10k and 21k (half marathon) through the very hilly and mountainous terrain of the north. Last year running the 10k, the hills definitely got to me, and I was huffing and puffing through the entire run. Me costó mucho. I may also have had stitches in my back at the time. So it was encouraging for me to not only complete the 21k, but do it faster than I had ever previously. Simply put, it’s pleasant to know hard work and training actually does pay off. What’s also been interesting to see, is that there is definitely a small running community within the Peace Corps, as I saw the same faces in Jinotega as I did on Ometepe. Usually, the only familiar faces you see are the others from your sector; small business mostly hangs out with other bizneros, for example. It’s been a good change of pace to count myself amongst a “cross –sectoral” group, see new friends, and learn a little bit more about other’s perspectives of life down here. 

                                          

But with no more races on the docket until June it is time to focus more on futbol and surfing. And both couldn’t have come at better times. Yesterday was the opening weekend of my municipality’s futbol league, now in its third season and with 14 teams. The number of teams has tripled since its birth almost a year ago, a good sign that it will be here to stay for an unforeseeable future. My team, Los Blancos, started off on the right foot, with a 4-3 win. What puts a fun twist on the games for me is that I often play against my students, or ex-students, who see a completely different side of me. Profe Samuel tends to be more soft-spoken, light hearted, and approachable in the classroom, while futbolista Samuel is a bit more ruthless, takes less shit, and knows how to both give and take a hit.

And even better news, the swell is back! Although I have only been able to surf sola una vez in the past month and change (¡Que barbaridad!), the word has been the waves just haven’t been there. So it was a relief to hit the beach on Friday, and find steep, shoulder high faces breaking left and right, fairly consistently. It always amazes me how that first wave of the day just changes everything. You forget the problems in the schools, the time conflicts of other projects, and you’re reduced to a state of pure happiness. I feel like this guy trying to describe the feeling. Truthfully though, there’s nothing better than overcoming that momentary uncertainty (holy shnikes that wave is big), dropping in, and just charging down the line. After jumping off the board, and emerging from the white water, I could barely contain my happiness. Scratch that I couldn’t contain my happiness. Even before I really had breath in my lungs I was shouting with excitement, yelling my war cry. It makes me smile just thinking about it, and I wait with anxiousness for my next session.

ya boi!

 The start of this school year also brings along the realization that this is my last semester in Nicaragua. That’s only 5 months. And if time passes as quickly as it has over the last two years, it’s going to fly by. It’s a funny thing time. I arrived here in May 2011 and knew that my post would last two years. But as time passed, and that 2 years became 1 ½ years, and then a year, I still kept up the mentality that I had 2 years left ahead. Then suddenly, it was 2013, and I had only 6 ½ months. Now it’s only 5. Where does the time go? But the bigger question is, what am I going to do next? Any suggestions?