Feliz Navidad!

Hi friends and loved ones!

It´s sort of lame of me to post a group holiday greeting like this, but I figure I haven´t updated a majority of you on my happenings and wanderings in some time... (aka since I moved to Nicaragua last January) and also wanted to wish all of you a very happy holidays! I hope this note finds you well, blessed, and at peace.

Things are wonderful here, I wake up every single day feeling blessed and in complete awe of where I live, work, play, and love. Cusmapa (the little pueblo I live in) has grown to be a second home for me, everywhere I walk I am followed by children shouting ´Adios Profé Callie! ´ and my Spanish has (bit by bit, with much confusion and many headaches and also laughter) improved to the point where I can ACTUALLY communicate with people! It makes all the difference in the world to be able to talk to someone in their native language, and I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to really learn to speak and listen in another language. I am still teaching the music program, we just had our last concert of the year yesterday, and a wicked dance party to close out the school year. We´re singing Bob Marley and Simon and Garfunkel, and I am that wierd teacher that dances around and giggles all the time! Bet you can´t even imagine that! Ha.

I have about a month of vacation (finally!) and my mom and sister, Cece, are here visiting for the next two weeks! We´ll go to learn how to make tortillas tonight, fresh cheese tomorrow, and are quietly enjoying Christmas with eachother and one of the families I spend a lot of time with here.

I´ve decided to stay here for at least another year. I feel that one year has barely been enough to tap the surface of things here, that I am just gaining the trust of all the kiddos and their parents, and starting to build real friendships and relationships. My roomate, Lauren, and I have so many ideas for projects we would like to start next year! One of the main things I have noticed in my year here is the lack of critical thinking capabilities, the kids don´t have books at school and learn basically by memorization and repitition rather by truly thinking and challenging what they are told about the world. You all know me, and know that this type of knowledge doesn´t fly in my book! The church here seems to be a good social force, but I feel that a lot of the times people are told what to believe and take it at face value rather than thinking for themselves. So, Lauren and I will be teaching a class to high schoolers here at the Fabretto center, with hopes of igniting some sparks of interest in their learning more about themselves and about the world. We are also going to start a knitting group with about 10 of the women who work at the school with us, one night a week in our house... knitting and cookies. Lauren being responsible for the knitting, me baking the cookies. There´s really not a lot of places for women to socialize here so we think it would be a great way to get to know more of the women in town, in a postive environment, and would be fun for them to learn a new skill as well. I am also starting a university choir (most kids study in other towns on Saturdays, and are free during the week, so they have time), we want to teach yoga classes, start a paper making program, some lithography (lauren´s an incredible artist), and scarily enough I will be giving more piano lessons!

SO to cut this ramble short, I am BUSY and finding lots of things to spark my passions. Life is good... slow and quiet days mixed with the breeze in the orange trees in our garden, neighbor children playing and laughing in the streets, snorkling pigs, cackling hens, the sweet tones of reggaeton music floating in from neighboring houses, rain on my tin roof, my horrific (yet improving) guitar picking, students jamming on bongoes and tambourines and anything else they can get their hands on.

I will be back to visit the states in July for Jason´s wedding (!!!!) and my little bro´s 21st birthday, and am hoping to see many of you then! (As my plans after next December still aren´t certain, Lauren and I may stay on longer with Fabretto or we may ramble through Mexico and the rest of Central America for 4 or 6 months...). I would love to hear from any of you, updates on life and how you´ve been the past year. I wish all of you many blessings, and for those of you who´ve been with me as a real part of this journey I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. You fuel the flame that keeps me waking up every day here with a beaming smile.

I miss you, love you, and wish you joyous, joyous blessings.
Cuidate mucho! (Take Care!)
Peace, Callie