So, for those who don’t know, back in October/November, we had a SLIGHT mouse problem. We ended up borrowing Chepe’s cat, Perrita (Spanish for “little dog”. clever, right?) for a few months, and although she did get rid of the mice, she ended up giving us a gift (or 4) bigger than a mice-free house: KITTENS!

I unfortunately can’t find a picture of all 4 at the moment, but there were 2 grey-with-dark-stripes, one named Manny (named after the Modern Family character) and the other named Mia (short for “Mi Amor”), and 2 black cats (although 1 had some white hairs sprinkled around), Osito (Little Bear) and Viejito (Little… Old Person). We’ve ended up keeping Mia at the house, while Chepe keeps both Perrita and Manny, and Osito and Viejito have gone to homes of friends. But, here’s some pictures I’ve taken:

the kittens really enjoyed cuddling in the bag that held our garbage bags

Manny! he was my favorite until THE GIRLS made us give him away... and now his eyes are brown!

yeah, they love me.

i came into my room last night, and found Mia here...

nappin' on the laundry basket

it's like a mirror image!

what a look of amazement!

Manny in his bed/food bowl

Along with all the awesome that comes with kittens, work is pretty good, too. At the beginning of the year, I opened up English classes for kids, but after a few weeks of doing English for 6 hours a day (and ending with kids who had just finished school and want to do ANYTHING but sit still for another hour), I decided it was too much. Luckily, the new Jesuit volunteer, Chelsea, decided to put her Childhood Education degree and English-teaching experience to use, and now I only teach in the mornings to adults. Speaking of which, here are a couple shots from a class a couple weeks ago:

my intermediate adult class! from left to right: Keling, Ernesto (we call him Don Ernesto out of respect for his age) and Danny

An exchange that Danni asked me to translate from Spanish: "Pensé que no fuiste al inodoro"; "Yo fui porque tengo diarrea."
Just another day in English class, haha

In addition to that, a project that I think I’ve mentioned before, Jóvenes Comunicadores, has begun! We just finished up our first workshop on editing video, where the participants made their own short videos about the creation of a “culture of peace” in their neighborhoods. At the end of this month we’ll be entering an audio editing workshop. Should be fun!

One last story: my good friend (and Jesuit volunteer) Heather works at a library, and every year they have a little festival to promote reading and the library to the community, especially the kids. One night, she had a dream that at this festival, I was on a stage, rapping about reading. So the next day she called and asked if I wanted to do that. My answer was HELL YES! So, next Friday, April 13, I will be rapping about reading to 100+ Nicaraguan kids! Here’s hoping I can be to them what Lavar Burton was to me. I THINK there’ll be video, and if there is, it will definitely be posted here.