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<div class=Section1><pre style='text-align:right;line-height:150%'><font
size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;
font-family:Arial'>Letter 11.5<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>Dear All, <o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Today has been busy -- in my class weīve been going through Frostīs STOPPING BY WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING, which they have translated into Spanish. But itīs in the area of English sounds and practice speaking where I can help them. What an ESL amateur I am!<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Earlier Mario and I went to my 6th school: Instituto Martin Koenning (not sure of the spelling). The school gets its German name from having been supported some years ago by an organization, or maybe city, in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>. In fact, the principal before the present one was German.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Itīs another out-of-the-way school that you get to by either of two highways in between which is the school. A couple of miles of dirt roads, again no buses here, just bikes and feet. The school has 690 students all told.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> They also have good solid wooden chairs with desk tops. And Irlanda, the principal, and Elvis (a fairly common name here), the English teacher, say that the studentsī parents take care of the chairs, accounting for their good condition. Overall the school looks better maintained than most -- a little more loving care going into it, perhaps.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> They donīt get help from Germany any more, only a little from <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Plan Internacional</span></i> which helps in small ways like buying <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>mochilas</span></i> [backpacks], not just for this school but generally. (One of the political parties here is pushing a program to buy SHOES for the poorest rural students, but so far the program hasnīt been approved.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> I got some clear specifics regarding needs. The bathrooms are in bad shape; there is an old <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>aula </span></i>[classroom] that needs fixing. This school is the only one Iīve seen with a <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>BEISBOL</span></i> [baseball] field, and the school team won the VEC baseball championship last year. They would love help in sports, balls and uniforms. Elvis introduced me so a couple of boys who wanted that help, and of course all I could say was that the various schools have various needs and I am trying to find out what those are.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Elvis asked me if MSCA is a foundation, and I said no, just a local organization trying to help a sister city. These folks must have an inflated idea of the resources available. No surprise. The secondary students were quite shy except for one class, but the primary students more outgoing or brave. Perhaps the key was when a student asked me about what snow is like, and I realized that in my <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>mochila</span></i> I am carrying my <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Moscow</st1:City></st1:place> photos, which include a lot of snow. So I showed them some, and that broke the ice very nicely. I was asked the normal range of questions, including one about whether flying is scary, and another about whether I go to church.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> But the highlight of my day, I say shamelessly, was in a secondary class when one boy pointed to a girl indicating she had a question. The girl hid her head under her <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>cuaderno </span></i>[notebook], so I tapped her on the shoulder, for prodding, which didnīt help, so the boy proceeded to claim (in English) that she had said 'Beautiful eyes, he has.' Giggles all around. What could I say, but <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>'Y usted tambien</span></i>' [And you also], which was true.<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Nicaragua</st1:country-region></st1:place> is SUCH a friendly place!<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre><pre
style='line-height:150%'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Dave<o:p></o:p></span></font></pre>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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