Here I Go!

My departure date for the Peace Corps is 3 days from now! It's a little anticlimactic because my "big trip" is actually only a 90-minute flight to Washington DC for a day of "staging" before flying out to Managua, Nicaragua the following day. I will then be in Managua for 3 days of what I'm calling "pre-orientation orientation", after which we will be split into groups and sent to various communities an hour outside of the city for 11 weeks of orientation and training. There will be 28 of us, but I don't know how many groups we will be divided into.

My trip preparations are going remarkably well, apart from the fact that I can't locate the packing list I was sent a number of months ago. I suspect I may have recycled it. I have a lot of things packed already, and have assembled a full "business casual" wardrobe as mandated by the Peace Corps from various sources such as my closet, my sister's closet, one of my grandmother's clothing catalogs, and a local consignment store. I've seen all my family members and friends that I can in my limited time frame, including a visit to a family reunion that I hadn't attended in years. And I spent 3 weeks at my beloved China Lake, to which I had to bid a sad farewell. This time, when I say I'm not coming back next summer, I actually mean it. I've had to say a lot of farewells to people I love...two years has never seemed longer than when I use it to measure how long it will be before I see friends and family again. Everyone has an open invitation to visit me in Nicaragua! I searched on kayak.com and a round trip ticket to Managua showed up for $500, but I think special offers for way less can be found. And no jet lag! Come visit!

So for those I haven't had the change to brief on my assignment, I will be working as a "TEFL Teacher/Trainer". Past Peace Corps volunteers have warned me that post realities often differ from the descriptions, but here is the overview: I will be co-teaching a high school English class with one or more Nicaraguan teachers. The Nicaraguan education system, like China's, is based on a lot of memorization and rote learning, so the idea is that I help show the teacher new methods of teaching English that stress interaction and communication. I am also looking forward to experimenting with new strategies that I learned during my online "Building Strong Classroom Communities" course this past Spring. This will be the first time I have "control" (albeit shared) over a classroom, so the first year will most likely be more of a learning experience for me. I am grateful that I had the past year of experience in a Chinese public school dealing with classroom realities; I think that experience made me a lot more prepared for this new challenge.

Well, I guess that's all I have to report for now. Please keep in touch while I'm gone!