Monthly (more than monthly) Update

Due to some ongoing maintenance and recurring issues within avirichman.com you will have noticed a lack of information recently flowing from these pages of milk and honey. All I can say is please disculparme and carryon with previously scheduled daily activities. I know that avirichman.com may be an adventurous escape from the daily boredom of your work activities but remember that it is only one of many escapes. If you need help finding more, talk to your wife/husband, child, partner, friend, a book, etc.

In the spirit of updating everyone of my recent activities and adventures, I am forced to once again rely upon my trusty, effective, yet not that creative friend, the list. So here where go again:

My trip home: Went home for a week to Jacksonville, FL and had an awesome time. Honestly could not have been better. And recently I just scheduled my next trip home for my cousin’s wedding in Orlando.

Insect problems: Phil experienced a lot of issues with insects during his time here. He managed the ants but could not handle the scorpions or large spiders. For me, it’s just an everyday part of life. I think the scorpion count is up to like ten now. About two a month in the new house.

Classroom troubles and solutions: First semester went better than second semester did last year but it still was not easy. Discipline is a major issue with these adolescents. They just want to talk to each other, touch each other, show up late for class, and not do their homework. Sounds similar to some adolescents I once knew. Anyway, I have been working with my partner teachers to work on this issue and thus have a more productive class. We made a syllabus for this second semester (started a week ago), established a more organized grading system, and will be assigning homework on a weekly basis. We are not going to tolerate continuous interruptions from the students and will just start taking points of their grades. I think it is a very positive step forward.

Fired from NGO: Big news! Opportunity International and I have terminated our working relationship and will from now on just be friends. It was best for both of us and we moved on amicably. I honestly learned a lot from this experience, realizing that just because I am a volunteer working for an established organization does not mean that I cannot take more initiative and get more deeply involved in their organization. I think I tried to just slowly work my way in, not stepping on any toes, and instead ending up not taking enough initiative. Also I believe, that they were clearly not as focused on building entrepreneurship strength as I was and it led to average results. Still I definitely was able to help improve a community library and will look fondly on my time with Opportunity International.

New fan: As part of Phil’s visit here, actually on the second day, we went a bought a new fan which has been amazing! It also doubled my electricity bill for the month but it was worth it.

BD party: Oh yeah, I am now 25. Thanks for all the bd wishes. If you forgot, there is still time to send money/gifts through the mail. I’m not going anywhere! For the 25^th bd party, I had a pretty fun time. We had a party at Dianne and Liz’s house and about 15 people showed up. We did some dancing, some drinking, some guitar playing, and then pizza eating. A group of us then packed into a cab and headed back to my house where I had to profusely thank the cab driver for driving us and putting up with us (why? Think about it). The night ended with my house flooding a bit, Phil trying to help me clean the flood with a broom, and me calling Michael (another best friend of mine living in NYC) at 4:30 in the morning to give a recap of the night’s antics. I give the birthday an 8 out of 10! And do I feel 25, absolutely not.

Moronga: Phil and I both tried moronga during his stay. Moronga is basically Nicaraguan’s version of blood sausage. A rice and beans mixture gets cooked in pig’s blood and then stuffed into a sausage and then deeply fried on a big grill. It tastes like fried. Yes, that’s right, just fried. I give it a 1 out of 10. Phil would not have even given it a zero.

Ometepe: Went to Ometepe again, this time with Phil in tow. And this time we went with expectations to climb Volcan Concepcion, the prettier and larger of the two volcanoes. The night before, while talking to a PCV who lives on the island and possible host for us, she let us know that it has been raining a lot, there was a mudslide in the main road that was not passable, and she was not sure if we could climb the volcano. Still we moved forward, and with my buddy Scott (who also lives on the island) we climbed that sucker. We were about 300m from the crater and in the part where it is pure rock and loose rock, when the clouds really came in and we could not see anything. The lack of vision coupled with the unsure footing freaked me out and we decided to not go any further. I then proceeded to go down a good 200m crab walk style (Phil and Scott did the same but for not as long as me). I will reach the active crater next time.

San Juan del Sur: Phil and I went to SJDS with Regi, the gf, and a friend of hers. Good times but turned out Regi’s friend was a big party pooper and thus did not provide Phil any chance to learn more about the local culture.

House Flooding: I have had a few house flooding problems but had not had the good fortune of being home while the house flooded to actually see what was going on…until a few weeks ago. So the whole back patio would flood, then the water level would be high enough to crawl over the little concrete wall I built next to the back door. It would enter the house and then move its way all the way to the front door, effectively flooding the entire house. Great times! And I have great pictures!

So obviously I had to solve this problem and I did with the help of a two helpers. The two guys and I spent an entire day trying to clean the drain to my house only to discover that it was completely stuck. We then tried to figure out where the drain actually led to, a process that involved digging up my house inside and out. Finally we discovered that some geniuses had build the end of the pipe from my drain below ground level in front of my house

Televisions: Why even buy the kind where you cannot see the picture on the channels while you flip them. You know how you are forced to wait like a full second to see the picture of each channel while you flip. They should outlaw those tvs. They are pointless.

Youth Basketball League: This is one of my new projects and one that I should have tried to start like a year ago…but you live and learn. I have been working with some guys from other basketball teams in my league to organize a basketball league for kids between the ages of 9-13 in Granada. This past Saturday we had an open court at the Red Cross (the same court we the older kids, meaning me, play) and had about 35 kids show up. So tonight, Wed, we will trying to organize the league, see how many teams we will have, and then start up the practice games on Saturday. Should be good, reeeeal good.

Miscellaneous: Still looking for more projects. Need to fix my house up a little bit because I had some branches cut down in front of my house a few weeks ago and they continue to just sit there in my front yard. Also there are a few families of frogs that live in the front yard/swamp that make A LOT of noise! Oh I have very little money left in my account right now. We are talking like 25 dollars and one week to go until we get paid again….I had to bring out the personal budget again and start keeping track of daily expenses. I had some Israeli couchsurfers stay with me a week or so ago and they were awesome, made shakshuka, hummus, Israeli salads, the works. Real good people. Also made a new friend who works for Teach for America on the border of Mexico and the US and her school sounds very similar to my schools…so I guess America has problems as well.