I have a problem with saying No

School has finally started and I went from having way too much time on my hands to really not having any time on my hands. I´m working in two schools that have been assigned by Peace Corps, giving classes and working on the school gardens in the mornings. Then I´ve been asked to help with English classes in a Catholic school in town, my understanding of the word help differs from their understanding of the word. I was under the impression that I would be helping, assisting, aiding, supporting another teacher with classes; no....I´m the teacher. I keep trying to tell them that I really can´t be the teacher because Peace Corps is my first priority and I`m not a licensed Nicaraguan English teacher, but they still are having me teach secondary classes every afternoon. I could just stop showing up, I guess; but that won`t look very good. So I`m giving classes from 7 AM to 7 PM because I also am giving English classes to students at my house. And manualidades (arts and crafts) on Sundays. Dios Mio!

What else? I really haven´t got anything else to share because all of my time has been spent in classrooms. My best friend is a nine year old girl who comes over to my house every day to play cards with me. Old Maid is still a huge hit with all the neighborhood kids; and even though I try to explain that it`s really no fun between two people we still play anyways.

Luckily, I haven´t had any critters in my house, besides my host family`s two dogs which spend more time at my house than at their house. I`m still trying to figure out why because I don`t feed them or anything but their always there and sleep on my front porch at night. The other day I did kill a rather large beetle, which was kind of gross...but much better than any type of rodent.

This is a really lame post, sorry. Hopefully the next one will be more exciting.

Ups and downs

So everything has been going pretty well. I'm settled into my new house and I have visitors pretty much constantly. I broke out a deck of cards, which were new, and we've been playing with them for about 3 weeks and they now look like a deck of cards that is 10 years old. I've taught them how to play spoons, B.S. and old maid. They're all quite popular, but Old maid is my favorite because the kids are constantly cheating. They've memorized the flaws of the Old maid card, so they carefully analyze your cards before drawing one. Also since I only have a small table that fits 4 people, the rule is that if you lose the game, you lose your spot at the table; that way everyone gets a chance to play.
People are concerned about me being able to cook for myself and want to ensure that I'm eating, so I'm often invited over for dinner or sometimes food is brought to me. I keep trying to tell them that I know how to cook, but no one believes me and I'm not doing a good job of trying to prove them wrong since I haven't filled my gas tank yet. I tell them I'm taking a break from gallo pinto and have been enjoying cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the last couple of weeks; but that's just not acceptable for them. I guess I'm going to have to fill my gas tank and actually cook one of these days and I'm sure it will be with someone looking over my shoulder and criticizing everything that I'm doing because I'm not doing it Nica style.
I'm really enjoying living in my house, but I hate cleaning! I don't know how Nica women do it, honestly. Right now, I've got quite a bit of time on my hands and it's only me living in the house and I still find it bothersome and difficult to complete all my chores, so I don't understand how they do it while caring for children, husbands and actually cooking 3 meals a day.
School is starting up soon, which I'm excited about because I'm hoping it will keep me busy and hopefully I'll be able to stay out of the gossip mill, which I've unfortunately been thrown into recently. It's already hard enough sticking out and constantly drawing attention just because I'm different; but then to have people talking about me all the time makes it even more so. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the States where I'm able to blend in more and live in a city where people don't know what I do every hour of the day. As much as I'm enjoying my time here, there are definitely downs to every up.