So I think I forgot to mention a couple things in my last post that I wanted to highlight. First, the transportation strike ended a two weeks ago so we've already taken a couple buses here and there. They are very very tame compared to psycho Chilean buses!!! At least in my opionion. It's nice to not have to pay the driver right as you get on, instead there is a helper dude who walks down the aisles to collect money. Most rides cost about 5 Cordobas, which is about 25 cents U.S. and to get to Managua (the capital) is about 50 cents. The strike ended with the president lowering prices of gas by $1.30 for bus drivers and cab drivers. I'm not totally clear as to how it will help in the long run, but everyone seems to be happier.
Also, I wanted to mention that even though Nicaragua is the least dense population by land mass in Latin America, it is also the 2nd or 3rd poorest country after Haiti and/or Honduras (it depends where you acquire the statistics). About 2.3 million people of 45% of the population live on less than $2 per day. I have not seem this extreme poverty yet, as I live in a pretty moderate town, but I am certain I will be experiencing this poverty frequently after training. Another startling fact is that 70% of the Nica population is under 30! Hence why PC is focusing on the youth of today, to hopefully give young entrepernuers a small push to become small and medium business owners.
I'll write more later, oh and the rainy season has offically arrived! It rained for over 7 hours yesterday....ugh.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Job Description aka What the heck Katie is doing in Nicaragua!
First and foremost, I’d like to give a great big thanks (Muchas Gracias) to Mr. and Mrs. Brown and Mamow for sending me my first letters!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! It looks like mail actually only took a week to get here…not bad at all! I felt very special to be one of the first few to get mail and I can’t wait to write some postcards back. This weekend I’ll be heading into one of the cities so I’ll definitely grab some postcards then. It’s amazing how comforting it is to get mail, even just to hear about someone’s day in the states makes me happy.
I’d also like to apologize for my bad English grammar and punctuation. That’s what happens when you switch back and forth between one language and another. I’m sure Aunt Anne and Uncle Mike are pulling their hair out!
So I know I gave some of you a brief description about what exactly I would be doing in the Peace Corps, but I should give a more detailed insight as to what my service will look like for the next two years. Remember I am in the Small Business Development program and my official title is Business Educator and Advisor. The SBD program in Nicaragua is still pretty new, and I believe it was started around 2002. The main parts of the program are:
1) To teach the La Empresa Creativa (Creative Business) course to 4th year students in high school
2) To train teachers (counterparts) how to teach La Empresa Creativa
3) Work with youth and form a group that meets consistently
4) Advise and promote small businesses within the community
5) Encourage Nica citizens to save money and form community banks (aka the most basic form of microfinance)
As far as I know, from September to December of this year I will be taking over another SBD volunteer’s school(s), or I will be preparing the 3rd year students for the La Empresa Creativa course. The school year is from February to November, so the 3rd year students would be learning basic economic theories. The 4th years have an entrepreneurship competition towards the end of the academic year put on by Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), so if I get a school where the PCV left, I would be helping prepare them for competitions. The number of schools and classes I am assigned to depends on the wants/needs of the schools, my language proficiency at the end of training, and my site preferences.
La Empresa Creativa is a course developed by PC and Nicaragua’s Ministry of Education to get Nicaraguan youth to think about business ownerships and entrepreneurial skills. We all received the brand new teaching manual this week and I am very impressed with all of the contributions PCVs have made towards the development of the course. It’s nice to have the course all laid out for us and we are encouraged to bring our knowledge and creativity to expand on the course topics. I think most people at home would be shocked to find out that PC is showing tangible results such the La Empresa Creativa course. The SBD program and curriculum gives me more hope for the development of the youth and the country. All of the SBD volunteers will teach economic principles, resume writing, interviewing skills, brainstorming, marketing techniques, etc.; the most basic necessities for starting a business or entering the workforce. The most important part of the course is the completion of a Business Plan for the product the students will enter into the competition. The main obstacle of the course I foresee definitely has to be the lack of creativity in the Nica classroom. Kids in Nica aren’t encouraged to think outside the box or strive to achieve above and beyond the normal standards. I’m sure it’s hard for all of us Trainees to see this behavior because it is totally opposite of what all of us were taught…that’s why we made it to PC right, because we were the individuals who went above and beyond.
Last Saturday an Agriculture volunteer came to talk to us about Community Banks, which we were all pretty excited about since most of us have interests in microfinance. During our 2 year service, we are required to begin at least one community bank at our sites. At first I was pretty scared about how to start one or actually more scared about where to begin. The banks we are organizing consist of community groups such as teachers, women’s groups, business cooperatives, etc. and we are to stress the importance that it is THEIR bank and THEY make the rules. In addition, there are no international hands in their finances, no sketchy outsiders wanting to steal their money, no loan sharks. The purpose of the community bank is to help Nicas understand the importance of saving money and having instant access to funds should an emergency arrive (illness, transportation, etc). We are starting these banks at a basic level, but it is the small sustainable progress that PC is making that counts the most. The Ag volunteer was really great about explaining the process and I loved his enthusiasm for the project. He has started 5 community banks at his site already and inspired neighboring towns to do the same. My SBD group has even formed a community bank to practice the in’s and out’s! I will write more about this in later posts because I think a lot of you would like to hear about microfinance in development work.
One of my favorite things about traveling and languages are the different “sayings” that each culture or group of people have for certain instances. For example, last week I ate something bad in Managua (at a pretty nice restaurant) and my stomach was pretty upset for the majority of the weekend. My host mama told me, “Ay Katty, malo tiempo, buena cara” which translates to “Ay Katie, bad time, good face”. I think I like this saying a lot because it reminds me that no matter how bad I feel, keeping a happy face always makes everything better. I consider myself a happy person most of the time, but of course I’ll always have those bad days where even smiling can make it better. Another “dicho” I enjoy is “estamos jodiendo” which translates to “we’re just messing around.” Some things can’t be translated, which is a beauty of language.
I’m not sure I’ve talked much about what I’ve been eating, so next I will try to give a picture of what types of food keep my belly happy. The main staples of Nicaraguan food are a dietician’s worst nightmare! Fried bananas, fried plantains, fried potatoes, rice and beans (know as gallo pinto), and fried meat are some of the examples of Nica food. Thank goodness I have very good luck and was put with a great host family that cares about my health. My mama owns a cafetin (café) and is a great cook! Even though I will have previous said items on my plate, I always have fruit or veggies integrated into my meals or given on the side. My breakfast usually is fresh watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and bananas cut up and put into a bowl, some bread with butter (my mom didn’t realize that I liked butter until this week!), and a cup of coffee. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and I always have a protein like beef or chicken, rice or potatoes (fried or mashed), some beans, a salad with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and avocado, and fried plantains. My mama ALWAYS gives me way too much to eat and she always tells me to eat what I want. The portions are getting smaller every week and she knows now that I don’t eat as much as she thinks I do! I’m very lucky to have a varied diet, because other trainees have had a hard time asking their families to include fresh fruits and veggies. Since I’m the 17th trainee that my host family has had, they are pros at feeding me! Also, my mama always makes sure that a member of the family sits down to eat with me. I love it when my cousins (ages 19-26) eat with me because they always have funny questions to ask me such as: Are you looking for a husband in Nicaragua? (and then they laugh hard when I say no, probably because out of the 16 previous trainees about 4 were married to Nicas…a little scary for me to be told that!)
Every morning I wake up to the sounds of roosters, birds on my roof, “bombas” from the church, or loud music. It’s the bombas that drive me nuts because not only are they loud and go off right over my house, but they pollute the streets with the remnants after the burst. They look like huge bottle rockets, so after they explode the shell still remains and it can fall from the sky and bonk someone on the head really hard! My mama said a friend of hers was struck in the head and had to get stitches! I’m not quite understanding why these bombas need to be set off every single day to “show happiness” as my cousin explained to me. Supposedly after this week they won’t go off daily anymore (we’ll see how that goes).
The picture up top is one I took while riding on the bus of some little kids. I’m pretty proud of the artistic nature, you know…capturing the human spirit of Nicaragua or something of the sort. My sister got the artist gene, so I will be working a lot harder to capture the types of pictures that go into National Geographic or what not. Kids in Nica are adorable and I just want to hug them all! I read to my neighbors who are 4 and 7 about 3 times a week and I also help the 7 year old with her English homework. They love to dance and sing with me, which is great excercise to say the least. I actually think that through the sweating, walking, and playing with the neighborhood kids, I've probably already lost 5 lbs....and also because my body can't handle the gross amounts of fried food that the other trainees can consume!
I’d also like to apologize for my bad English grammar and punctuation. That’s what happens when you switch back and forth between one language and another. I’m sure Aunt Anne and Uncle Mike are pulling their hair out!
So I know I gave some of you a brief description about what exactly I would be doing in the Peace Corps, but I should give a more detailed insight as to what my service will look like for the next two years. Remember I am in the Small Business Development program and my official title is Business Educator and Advisor. The SBD program in Nicaragua is still pretty new, and I believe it was started around 2002. The main parts of the program are:
1) To teach the La Empresa Creativa (Creative Business) course to 4th year students in high school
2) To train teachers (counterparts) how to teach La Empresa Creativa
3) Work with youth and form a group that meets consistently
4) Advise and promote small businesses within the community
5) Encourage Nica citizens to save money and form community banks (aka the most basic form of microfinance)
As far as I know, from September to December of this year I will be taking over another SBD volunteer’s school(s), or I will be preparing the 3rd year students for the La Empresa Creativa course. The school year is from February to November, so the 3rd year students would be learning basic economic theories. The 4th years have an entrepreneurship competition towards the end of the academic year put on by Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), so if I get a school where the PCV left, I would be helping prepare them for competitions. The number of schools and classes I am assigned to depends on the wants/needs of the schools, my language proficiency at the end of training, and my site preferences.
La Empresa Creativa is a course developed by PC and Nicaragua’s Ministry of Education to get Nicaraguan youth to think about business ownerships and entrepreneurial skills. We all received the brand new teaching manual this week and I am very impressed with all of the contributions PCVs have made towards the development of the course. It’s nice to have the course all laid out for us and we are encouraged to bring our knowledge and creativity to expand on the course topics. I think most people at home would be shocked to find out that PC is showing tangible results such the La Empresa Creativa course. The SBD program and curriculum gives me more hope for the development of the youth and the country. All of the SBD volunteers will teach economic principles, resume writing, interviewing skills, brainstorming, marketing techniques, etc.; the most basic necessities for starting a business or entering the workforce. The most important part of the course is the completion of a Business Plan for the product the students will enter into the competition. The main obstacle of the course I foresee definitely has to be the lack of creativity in the Nica classroom. Kids in Nica aren’t encouraged to think outside the box or strive to achieve above and beyond the normal standards. I’m sure it’s hard for all of us Trainees to see this behavior because it is totally opposite of what all of us were taught…that’s why we made it to PC right, because we were the individuals who went above and beyond.
Last Saturday an Agriculture volunteer came to talk to us about Community Banks, which we were all pretty excited about since most of us have interests in microfinance. During our 2 year service, we are required to begin at least one community bank at our sites. At first I was pretty scared about how to start one or actually more scared about where to begin. The banks we are organizing consist of community groups such as teachers, women’s groups, business cooperatives, etc. and we are to stress the importance that it is THEIR bank and THEY make the rules. In addition, there are no international hands in their finances, no sketchy outsiders wanting to steal their money, no loan sharks. The purpose of the community bank is to help Nicas understand the importance of saving money and having instant access to funds should an emergency arrive (illness, transportation, etc). We are starting these banks at a basic level, but it is the small sustainable progress that PC is making that counts the most. The Ag volunteer was really great about explaining the process and I loved his enthusiasm for the project. He has started 5 community banks at his site already and inspired neighboring towns to do the same. My SBD group has even formed a community bank to practice the in’s and out’s! I will write more about this in later posts because I think a lot of you would like to hear about microfinance in development work.
One of my favorite things about traveling and languages are the different “sayings” that each culture or group of people have for certain instances. For example, last week I ate something bad in Managua (at a pretty nice restaurant) and my stomach was pretty upset for the majority of the weekend. My host mama told me, “Ay Katty, malo tiempo, buena cara” which translates to “Ay Katie, bad time, good face”. I think I like this saying a lot because it reminds me that no matter how bad I feel, keeping a happy face always makes everything better. I consider myself a happy person most of the time, but of course I’ll always have those bad days where even smiling can make it better. Another “dicho” I enjoy is “estamos jodiendo” which translates to “we’re just messing around.” Some things can’t be translated, which is a beauty of language.
I’m not sure I’ve talked much about what I’ve been eating, so next I will try to give a picture of what types of food keep my belly happy. The main staples of Nicaraguan food are a dietician’s worst nightmare! Fried bananas, fried plantains, fried potatoes, rice and beans (know as gallo pinto), and fried meat are some of the examples of Nica food. Thank goodness I have very good luck and was put with a great host family that cares about my health. My mama owns a cafetin (café) and is a great cook! Even though I will have previous said items on my plate, I always have fruit or veggies integrated into my meals or given on the side. My breakfast usually is fresh watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, and bananas cut up and put into a bowl, some bread with butter (my mom didn’t realize that I liked butter until this week!), and a cup of coffee. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and I always have a protein like beef or chicken, rice or potatoes (fried or mashed), some beans, a salad with tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and avocado, and fried plantains. My mama ALWAYS gives me way too much to eat and she always tells me to eat what I want. The portions are getting smaller every week and she knows now that I don’t eat as much as she thinks I do! I’m very lucky to have a varied diet, because other trainees have had a hard time asking their families to include fresh fruits and veggies. Since I’m the 17th trainee that my host family has had, they are pros at feeding me! Also, my mama always makes sure that a member of the family sits down to eat with me. I love it when my cousins (ages 19-26) eat with me because they always have funny questions to ask me such as: Are you looking for a husband in Nicaragua? (and then they laugh hard when I say no, probably because out of the 16 previous trainees about 4 were married to Nicas…a little scary for me to be told that!)
Every morning I wake up to the sounds of roosters, birds on my roof, “bombas” from the church, or loud music. It’s the bombas that drive me nuts because not only are they loud and go off right over my house, but they pollute the streets with the remnants after the burst. They look like huge bottle rockets, so after they explode the shell still remains and it can fall from the sky and bonk someone on the head really hard! My mama said a friend of hers was struck in the head and had to get stitches! I’m not quite understanding why these bombas need to be set off every single day to “show happiness” as my cousin explained to me. Supposedly after this week they won’t go off daily anymore (we’ll see how that goes).
The picture up top is one I took while riding on the bus of some little kids. I’m pretty proud of the artistic nature, you know…capturing the human spirit of Nicaragua or something of the sort. My sister got the artist gene, so I will be working a lot harder to capture the types of pictures that go into National Geographic or what not. Kids in Nica are adorable and I just want to hug them all! I read to my neighbors who are 4 and 7 about 3 times a week and I also help the 7 year old with her English homework. They love to dance and sing with me, which is great excercise to say the least. I actually think that through the sweating, walking, and playing with the neighborhood kids, I've probably already lost 5 lbs....and also because my body can't handle the gross amounts of fried food that the other trainees can consume!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Upside Down, Bouncing Off The Ceiling!
Warning, this post bounces around a little...sorry I was tired last night ya?
Sunday the 11th was a day filled with cultural activities and meeting more new people. I went to mass with Gema, my Mama’s goddaughter, around 9am and the church is located about 3 blocks away. They shoot off cherry bomb type rockets which make huge boom sounds that scare me half to death! They shot them off before the ceremony, during the ceremony and after the ceremony. Mass lasted about 2 hours and had a lot of the same songs and rituals as Mamow’s Catholic Church in Prairie City, except of course they were in Spanish. The pastor is really loud and expressive and he spoke for over an hour because it marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo), at least that’s what I understood. Needless to say I enjoyed the sermon, the singing, and just being around the people of my community. The church is over 400 years old! After church I visited Gema’s house to meet her family and see her month old puppies. They are so cute! I’ve been told I can take one with me when I leave in 3 months, but they are going to be big dogs like their mama so I probably will say no.
Oh, did I mention there are geckos everywhere!? On the walls of the house, near the lights, on the ceiling, etc. They are grayish, but they are very similar to the ones in Hawaii.
I also first experienced water shut off and the electricity not working for some time. I thought it would be unbearable, but it felt totally normal to have no running water and no electricity. In addition, I took my first ever bucket bath, and the only hard part was getting all of the shampoo out of my thick hair. Boys have it easy with the short hair…I wish I had the balls to just chop all of my hair off. A girl in my program shaved her head for cancer awareness this last year and she showed me a picture, now that girl has some huevos! The gigantic cockroaches actually don’t bother me too much in the shower (surprisingly, since I would freak out at the little ones in Davis) and they are just a part of my daily routine now. We do have a flushing toilet most of the time and when there is no running water we just pour a bucket of water down the toilet to make everything flush down.
It’s fun to have a big family in town because there is always someone to talk to or hang out with. My cousins (primos) might be taking me to the discoteca soon, and we might go to a lake to swim this weekend. Damn transportation strike is messing up plans! They are all so helpful and they are always asking me if I need anything or how I’m doing.
The 4 of us in our training group know our way around town pretty well and we especially know where to use the internet and make phone calls. I called Mom and Dad and Gina, talked for over 30 minutes, and it barely cost 2 bucks. How awesome is that? Internet costs about a dollar per hour to use, not bad at all. We also have a favorite ice cream shop that we meet at to rest and talk about our projects. I agree that training has been pretty stressful this last week and they have given us so much information about our program and our objectives. Training is supposed to be busy and stressful to prepare us for our 2 years in-site, where we do everything ALONE and not in a team. Every time we meet with our trainers or SBD project coordinators they pile more and more papers on us, in addition to the 10+ books. It’s overwhelming, but I know that I will pull through and do a good job during training and during service.
Our first project in town is to form a youth group and meet up with them at least 2 times a week. This is supposed to help us understand the youth of Nicaragua and help us practice forming youth cooperatives within the community. About 68% of the population of Nicaragua is under the age of 30, so our projects really focus clearly on the development of youth. We are meeting with a potential youth group tomorrow and we are going to brainstorm some ideas with them to see what they would like to do in the next 11 weeks! Also this week we are forming a community bank to learn about microfinance and how to start a community bank among women’s groups, the youth, businesses, etc.
I still am so impressed with the way the Nicaragua PC program is set up! It’s so organized and the staff is amazing! Also, I receive great medical care from the 4 doctors we have on staff. For example, I needed a prescription refill so I just gave a note to one of our logistics coordinators, who handed it to the medical officers. The next day I got 3 months worth of my meds, delivered to me directly!
The weather continues to be extremely hot and the humidity isnt too bad yet. It rained on Sunday and Monday, but hasnt since. Supposedly the heat will break a little once it really begins to rain alot, so rain, please come soon! Tonight my cousin is going to teach me some songs on the guitar and I am possibly going over to help a neighboring 4th grader with her english homework. She is adorable and the family is now mi "familia amiga", or friend family. I hope all is well at home...don't worry I'm not homesick yet! Too busy to be homesick I guess!
Sunday the 11th was a day filled with cultural activities and meeting more new people. I went to mass with Gema, my Mama’s goddaughter, around 9am and the church is located about 3 blocks away. They shoot off cherry bomb type rockets which make huge boom sounds that scare me half to death! They shot them off before the ceremony, during the ceremony and after the ceremony. Mass lasted about 2 hours and had a lot of the same songs and rituals as Mamow’s Catholic Church in Prairie City, except of course they were in Spanish. The pastor is really loud and expressive and he spoke for over an hour because it marked the arrival of the Holy Spirit (Espiritu Santo), at least that’s what I understood. Needless to say I enjoyed the sermon, the singing, and just being around the people of my community. The church is over 400 years old! After church I visited Gema’s house to meet her family and see her month old puppies. They are so cute! I’ve been told I can take one with me when I leave in 3 months, but they are going to be big dogs like their mama so I probably will say no.
Oh, did I mention there are geckos everywhere!? On the walls of the house, near the lights, on the ceiling, etc. They are grayish, but they are very similar to the ones in Hawaii.
I also first experienced water shut off and the electricity not working for some time. I thought it would be unbearable, but it felt totally normal to have no running water and no electricity. In addition, I took my first ever bucket bath, and the only hard part was getting all of the shampoo out of my thick hair. Boys have it easy with the short hair…I wish I had the balls to just chop all of my hair off. A girl in my program shaved her head for cancer awareness this last year and she showed me a picture, now that girl has some huevos! The gigantic cockroaches actually don’t bother me too much in the shower (surprisingly, since I would freak out at the little ones in Davis) and they are just a part of my daily routine now. We do have a flushing toilet most of the time and when there is no running water we just pour a bucket of water down the toilet to make everything flush down.
It’s fun to have a big family in town because there is always someone to talk to or hang out with. My cousins (primos) might be taking me to the discoteca soon, and we might go to a lake to swim this weekend. Damn transportation strike is messing up plans! They are all so helpful and they are always asking me if I need anything or how I’m doing.
The 4 of us in our training group know our way around town pretty well and we especially know where to use the internet and make phone calls. I called Mom and Dad and Gina, talked for over 30 minutes, and it barely cost 2 bucks. How awesome is that? Internet costs about a dollar per hour to use, not bad at all. We also have a favorite ice cream shop that we meet at to rest and talk about our projects. I agree that training has been pretty stressful this last week and they have given us so much information about our program and our objectives. Training is supposed to be busy and stressful to prepare us for our 2 years in-site, where we do everything ALONE and not in a team. Every time we meet with our trainers or SBD project coordinators they pile more and more papers on us, in addition to the 10+ books. It’s overwhelming, but I know that I will pull through and do a good job during training and during service.
Our first project in town is to form a youth group and meet up with them at least 2 times a week. This is supposed to help us understand the youth of Nicaragua and help us practice forming youth cooperatives within the community. About 68% of the population of Nicaragua is under the age of 30, so our projects really focus clearly on the development of youth. We are meeting with a potential youth group tomorrow and we are going to brainstorm some ideas with them to see what they would like to do in the next 11 weeks! Also this week we are forming a community bank to learn about microfinance and how to start a community bank among women’s groups, the youth, businesses, etc.
I still am so impressed with the way the Nicaragua PC program is set up! It’s so organized and the staff is amazing! Also, I receive great medical care from the 4 doctors we have on staff. For example, I needed a prescription refill so I just gave a note to one of our logistics coordinators, who handed it to the medical officers. The next day I got 3 months worth of my meds, delivered to me directly!
The weather continues to be extremely hot and the humidity isnt too bad yet. It rained on Sunday and Monday, but hasnt since. Supposedly the heat will break a little once it really begins to rain alot, so rain, please come soon! Tonight my cousin is going to teach me some songs on the guitar and I am possibly going over to help a neighboring 4th grader with her english homework. She is adorable and the family is now mi "familia amiga", or friend family. I hope all is well at home...don't worry I'm not homesick yet! Too busy to be homesick I guess!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Water? Light? Maybe I'll have them when I get home!
So I wrote a whole bunch about Sunday through Tuesday on my laptop, but failed to bring my zip drive, so I'll B.S. something since I'm here at the "Cyber" internet cafe. Nothing says Peace Corps experience than the water and electricity going out during various times of the day. We all live with modest families, but that doesnt mean that we have running water all the time or sometimes even "the light has gone away" (la luz se fue). But, I love that we sometimes don't have these amenities, and we need to get our water from a big oil drum type barrel! I'm sure Mom and Dad would be saying, omg, she's going to get sick! Nah, I'm fine! I'm also learning to love bucket bathes...I'm not sure I'll ever want to have a hot shower again. The cold water feels amazing when it's so hot and my body feels pretty gross after sweating up a storm and walking around in the dirt.
Another ritual I have grown fond of is my mosquito net fortress that I create every night. We were all given double size nets which are huge, so every night I tuck the excess net between the two mattresses so the mosquitos can't infect me with malaria!!! So that becomes my blockade against one of the bad things that could "get me". The choloroquine medicine hasn't bothered my system too much, no headaches or stomachaches like some of my group members, but I have to admit I can rememeber almost all of my dreams now. It's supposed to give one very "vibrant" dreams, some which I heard can be violent (please dont happen to me!).
Health Update: Thank goodness my Mama is an excellent cook! I get lots of different foods and she really tries hard to get me veggies and fruit during my meals. The diet in Nicaragua is based on gallo pinto (beans and rice), fried starches (potatoes, plantains, bananas), tortillas, and other fried items. I know of some trainees who are getting just startch and no fresh fruit or veggies!!! So I am so lucky to be living with a chef! Knock on wood, no diarrhea yet and I'm almost finished with my congestive cold. I'm sure all the sweating I've been doing has been doing wonders for my skin, never have to wear lotion, but I do put sunblock on religiously...especially on my face.
Funny thing that happened to me: We had a girl kitten that my family had bought shortly before I arrived. They even wanted me to pick a name for her She was very cute, but had a problem with going poop in the house and not outside. She also begged for food, so I named her "Chanchita", meaning "pig". So, she hadnt gotten better at not going poop in the house by 2 weeks, so my Mama decided to take her to La Finca (the farm) and drop her off for the bigger animals (dogs, wild animals, etc.) to devour her. To me...a little sad but I guess a normal practice. A day goes by and long and behold the cat shows up in the park and follows my twin sisters home, so she's officially back and my Mama said she'd give her another chance. She is pretty cute, so hopefully she'll learn how to behave. I'm sure this story isn't as funny as it was in person, but you get the gist.
We are having a transportation strike still so none of the buses or taxis are running in the city or to the rest of the country. Hopefully it will end soon! Hope all is well at home!
Another ritual I have grown fond of is my mosquito net fortress that I create every night. We were all given double size nets which are huge, so every night I tuck the excess net between the two mattresses so the mosquitos can't infect me with malaria!!! So that becomes my blockade against one of the bad things that could "get me". The choloroquine medicine hasn't bothered my system too much, no headaches or stomachaches like some of my group members, but I have to admit I can rememeber almost all of my dreams now. It's supposed to give one very "vibrant" dreams, some which I heard can be violent (please dont happen to me!).
Health Update: Thank goodness my Mama is an excellent cook! I get lots of different foods and she really tries hard to get me veggies and fruit during my meals. The diet in Nicaragua is based on gallo pinto (beans and rice), fried starches (potatoes, plantains, bananas), tortillas, and other fried items. I know of some trainees who are getting just startch and no fresh fruit or veggies!!! So I am so lucky to be living with a chef! Knock on wood, no diarrhea yet and I'm almost finished with my congestive cold. I'm sure all the sweating I've been doing has been doing wonders for my skin, never have to wear lotion, but I do put sunblock on religiously...especially on my face.
Funny thing that happened to me: We had a girl kitten that my family had bought shortly before I arrived. They even wanted me to pick a name for her She was very cute, but had a problem with going poop in the house and not outside. She also begged for food, so I named her "Chanchita", meaning "pig". So, she hadnt gotten better at not going poop in the house by 2 weeks, so my Mama decided to take her to La Finca (the farm) and drop her off for the bigger animals (dogs, wild animals, etc.) to devour her. To me...a little sad but I guess a normal practice. A day goes by and long and behold the cat shows up in the park and follows my twin sisters home, so she's officially back and my Mama said she'd give her another chance. She is pretty cute, so hopefully she'll learn how to behave. I'm sure this story isn't as funny as it was in person, but you get the gist.
We are having a transportation strike still so none of the buses or taxis are running in the city or to the rest of the country. Hopefully it will end soon! Hope all is well at home!
Monday, May 12, 2008
La primera post!
11 May 2008
First blog entry of La Gringa en Nica! Finalmente! I’m sure you all have been waiting for this to begin, so here it is. I have safely arrived in Nicaragua and I have been here since Wed May 7th.
Before arriving, I had “staging” for PC in Washington, DC, so on May 4th Mom and Dad dropped me off at the airport around 5am and I flew out at 6am…ugh. Mom cried a lot when I left and I was able to hold back the tears till I was on the plane. As I watched the buildings of Sacramento leave my sight I became extremely sad knowing the family and friends I was leaving behind. I cried for about an hour and I think I scared the lady sitting next to me so she moved over a couple of seats. I have never been sad to leave home and this was the first time I have ever felt this way. Perhaps I was second guessing my choice, perhaps I thought I was leaving behind the love of my life, perhaps I was leaving the “easy” life. Today, I’m clueless as to why I cried so much. I hate crying! The flights from Sac to Phoenix and Phoenix to DC went smoothly, except they don’t serve free food on the flights anymore…you have to pay extra. What crap!
After arriving I met up with a girl from my program named Andrea who was flying in from Kansas City and I walked all the way from Terminal C to Terminal A…note to self: never again do so with all of your luggage, unless you need to burn off excess calories. We met up and took a cab to the hotel in Georgetown and settled in. We met up with Jo and Liz, another two girls from the west coast, and we went to have dinner at a pizza place in Georgetown and then to a bar. The next day I met the 38 people that would be in my Nicaragua program! There are 19 in the Small Business Development (SBD) group and 20 in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and the majority of us are girls actually. On Monday and Tuesday we had our staging with some of the staff from the national office. It consisted of learning about the rules and regulations of PC, expectations of our program, trials and tribulations of service, and finally health and security. I was expecting the training to be painfully boring, but actually it was very interactive and we did a lot of drawing and acting in small groups. By the first day I knew everyone’s name and by the time we reached Managua I knew who was in SBD and TFEL. It’s scary how good I am with names!
I got the chance to see my good friend Melanie on Monday and Tuesday after training and I had such a good time catching up with her! We went to a nice dinner at La Tomate near Du Pont station in DC, and needless to say I can’t wait to move to DC after finishing PC (but first I need to finish…don’t jump ahead KT!). I was very sad to say goodbye to her L
We had to get up at 4am on Wed, and Sonia (my awesome roomie) and I stayed up till about 2:30 because we were excited and nervous and not very sleepy! All of us drug our tired selves and piles of luggage, and I can definitely say how happy I was to see people dragging body-bag size suitcases, compared to mine which weren’t nearly as big. I have to admit I did a pretty decent job of packing and I made under the weight limit by about 5lbs. Everything I brought I can wear, and thank god I brought spandex! They have been a life saver against nasty chafing…a lot of people didn’t think about this before they left. Haha, I win! Anyways, so we load onto the buses to the airport and we had some confusion about checking in. Who would have known you can check in too early?! We were about over 2 hours early for our flight to Miami and that was too early, but eventually it was figured out and all was well. Nothing exciting happened on the flights, which is fine with me.
We arrived to Managua to 95 degree weather and about 70 percent humidity, nice right? Humidity sucks, period. Guess I’ll have 27 months to get over it! I had my handkerchief very handy in my backpack and it has become my new best friend. If you want to send me something, please send me some soft hankys please. I was surprised no one else thought of this, but I’m sure everyone will be searching for them now. We had a welcoming committee of a couple of the TEFL and SBD volunteers, our program director George, and other members of the Nica PC staff. Supposedly we were very lucky to have our director meet us, I guess that isn’t normal for most directors to greet the newbies. Our hotel was right across the street, so took our first baby steps across the busy street towards the last paradise we will be encountering for awhile. The hotel had a pool, air conditioned rooms, and great food! We spent a lot of time enjoying that pool. I roomed with Sonia and Liz, and right next to us was Joanna P, Danica, and Nikki.
This training and orientation required much more patience because of all of the information that was thrown at us. The information was much more in depth and at times we were all so tired and accidentally spaced out on important things. We also received a huge bag of books (Spanish books galore!), a mosquito net, and a first aid kit with every medicine imaginable, even carmex and floss. We all got our first vaccinations; I only had to get a flu shot so far…the rabies shots (3 in total) start next week! The language assessment went fine and I was put with Joey, Jo, and Lindsay and I know all of us will do awesome! All of the information and training we have been given has been excellent and far surpassed my expectations. I am so surprised how every Nica staff member is so organized and prompt. In addition, I am dumbfounded how everyone in my training group was always on time and everyone had excellent attitudes. It also surprised me how well we all get along and by day 5 no strong cliques had formed. It wasn’t TEFL vs. SBD or other separate groups vs. each other…what a breath of fresh air for a group of 23-30 year olds! There are always cliques or egos, but we all felt comfortable sitting at new tables to eat or for training without problems at all! I still can’t get over how friendly and excited our group is, and it would be really neat if we all made it through the 27 months. It’s a very, very long stretch for this to happen, but hey why not? We had our last hoo-rah together during a quick trip to the PC office in Managua and seeing a couple other sights around the city. After 5 days together, we were sad to say goodbye to each other and head off to our host families.
On Saturday SBD loaded up one bus and TEFL another and we headed off to our training towns. PC Nicaragua is a Community-Based Training program, so for 3 months we are split into smaller groups of 4/5 people in towns surrounding a larger city. This helps us become familiar with the Nica people, a community, the culture, and especially gives us more chances to practice our projects and objectives of the SBD program. However, I can’t disclose what town I am in for security reasons. Just know it’s a cute town with the nicest people in the world! My family at home consists of my Mami, two twin sisters, and my grandpa who is 97! My grandpa does not look 97 and he seems to still be living strong! Course, those are not the only people in the house during the day for there are cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, goddaughters, the list goes on. It’s hard to understand at times who is related to whom, or who lives in other parts of the country. I do know that my Mami has sisters and a brother in the states; everyone has told me this fact about a gazillion times. It’s fun to have a big family around and to be asked lots of questions about my family, about my studies, etc. I have a huge room all to myself with a ton of space for laying out all of my things and I even have a big double bed! I couldn’t have gotten a better host family! My family has hosted 17 trainees (aspirantes) before me, so they are experts at the process of what I need to do and what I need to learn. Everyone is so helpful and they seem to be impressed with my Spanish speaking ability. I can’t wait to improve even more! I’ve lost a lot since Chile, but it is coming back pretty quickly. The heat makes me a little tired so I’ve been taking a siesta around 3pm every day, and sadly siestas aren’t a part of daily life like they are in Argentina and Spain, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take one :)
More to post later!
First blog entry of La Gringa en Nica! Finalmente! I’m sure you all have been waiting for this to begin, so here it is. I have safely arrived in Nicaragua and I have been here since Wed May 7th.
Before arriving, I had “staging” for PC in Washington, DC, so on May 4th Mom and Dad dropped me off at the airport around 5am and I flew out at 6am…ugh. Mom cried a lot when I left and I was able to hold back the tears till I was on the plane. As I watched the buildings of Sacramento leave my sight I became extremely sad knowing the family and friends I was leaving behind. I cried for about an hour and I think I scared the lady sitting next to me so she moved over a couple of seats. I have never been sad to leave home and this was the first time I have ever felt this way. Perhaps I was second guessing my choice, perhaps I thought I was leaving behind the love of my life, perhaps I was leaving the “easy” life. Today, I’m clueless as to why I cried so much. I hate crying! The flights from Sac to Phoenix and Phoenix to DC went smoothly, except they don’t serve free food on the flights anymore…you have to pay extra. What crap!
After arriving I met up with a girl from my program named Andrea who was flying in from Kansas City and I walked all the way from Terminal C to Terminal A…note to self: never again do so with all of your luggage, unless you need to burn off excess calories. We met up and took a cab to the hotel in Georgetown and settled in. We met up with Jo and Liz, another two girls from the west coast, and we went to have dinner at a pizza place in Georgetown and then to a bar. The next day I met the 38 people that would be in my Nicaragua program! There are 19 in the Small Business Development (SBD) group and 20 in the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), and the majority of us are girls actually. On Monday and Tuesday we had our staging with some of the staff from the national office. It consisted of learning about the rules and regulations of PC, expectations of our program, trials and tribulations of service, and finally health and security. I was expecting the training to be painfully boring, but actually it was very interactive and we did a lot of drawing and acting in small groups. By the first day I knew everyone’s name and by the time we reached Managua I knew who was in SBD and TFEL. It’s scary how good I am with names!
I got the chance to see my good friend Melanie on Monday and Tuesday after training and I had such a good time catching up with her! We went to a nice dinner at La Tomate near Du Pont station in DC, and needless to say I can’t wait to move to DC after finishing PC (but first I need to finish…don’t jump ahead KT!). I was very sad to say goodbye to her L
We had to get up at 4am on Wed, and Sonia (my awesome roomie) and I stayed up till about 2:30 because we were excited and nervous and not very sleepy! All of us drug our tired selves and piles of luggage, and I can definitely say how happy I was to see people dragging body-bag size suitcases, compared to mine which weren’t nearly as big. I have to admit I did a pretty decent job of packing and I made under the weight limit by about 5lbs. Everything I brought I can wear, and thank god I brought spandex! They have been a life saver against nasty chafing…a lot of people didn’t think about this before they left. Haha, I win! Anyways, so we load onto the buses to the airport and we had some confusion about checking in. Who would have known you can check in too early?! We were about over 2 hours early for our flight to Miami and that was too early, but eventually it was figured out and all was well. Nothing exciting happened on the flights, which is fine with me.
We arrived to Managua to 95 degree weather and about 70 percent humidity, nice right? Humidity sucks, period. Guess I’ll have 27 months to get over it! I had my handkerchief very handy in my backpack and it has become my new best friend. If you want to send me something, please send me some soft hankys please. I was surprised no one else thought of this, but I’m sure everyone will be searching for them now. We had a welcoming committee of a couple of the TEFL and SBD volunteers, our program director George, and other members of the Nica PC staff. Supposedly we were very lucky to have our director meet us, I guess that isn’t normal for most directors to greet the newbies. Our hotel was right across the street, so took our first baby steps across the busy street towards the last paradise we will be encountering for awhile. The hotel had a pool, air conditioned rooms, and great food! We spent a lot of time enjoying that pool. I roomed with Sonia and Liz, and right next to us was Joanna P, Danica, and Nikki.
This training and orientation required much more patience because of all of the information that was thrown at us. The information was much more in depth and at times we were all so tired and accidentally spaced out on important things. We also received a huge bag of books (Spanish books galore!), a mosquito net, and a first aid kit with every medicine imaginable, even carmex and floss. We all got our first vaccinations; I only had to get a flu shot so far…the rabies shots (3 in total) start next week! The language assessment went fine and I was put with Joey, Jo, and Lindsay and I know all of us will do awesome! All of the information and training we have been given has been excellent and far surpassed my expectations. I am so surprised how every Nica staff member is so organized and prompt. In addition, I am dumbfounded how everyone in my training group was always on time and everyone had excellent attitudes. It also surprised me how well we all get along and by day 5 no strong cliques had formed. It wasn’t TEFL vs. SBD or other separate groups vs. each other…what a breath of fresh air for a group of 23-30 year olds! There are always cliques or egos, but we all felt comfortable sitting at new tables to eat or for training without problems at all! I still can’t get over how friendly and excited our group is, and it would be really neat if we all made it through the 27 months. It’s a very, very long stretch for this to happen, but hey why not? We had our last hoo-rah together during a quick trip to the PC office in Managua and seeing a couple other sights around the city. After 5 days together, we were sad to say goodbye to each other and head off to our host families.
On Saturday SBD loaded up one bus and TEFL another and we headed off to our training towns. PC Nicaragua is a Community-Based Training program, so for 3 months we are split into smaller groups of 4/5 people in towns surrounding a larger city. This helps us become familiar with the Nica people, a community, the culture, and especially gives us more chances to practice our projects and objectives of the SBD program. However, I can’t disclose what town I am in for security reasons. Just know it’s a cute town with the nicest people in the world! My family at home consists of my Mami, two twin sisters, and my grandpa who is 97! My grandpa does not look 97 and he seems to still be living strong! Course, those are not the only people in the house during the day for there are cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, goddaughters, the list goes on. It’s hard to understand at times who is related to whom, or who lives in other parts of the country. I do know that my Mami has sisters and a brother in the states; everyone has told me this fact about a gazillion times. It’s fun to have a big family around and to be asked lots of questions about my family, about my studies, etc. I have a huge room all to myself with a ton of space for laying out all of my things and I even have a big double bed! I couldn’t have gotten a better host family! My family has hosted 17 trainees (aspirantes) before me, so they are experts at the process of what I need to do and what I need to learn. Everyone is so helpful and they seem to be impressed with my Spanish speaking ability. I can’t wait to improve even more! I’ve lost a lot since Chile, but it is coming back pretty quickly. The heat makes me a little tired so I’ve been taking a siesta around 3pm every day, and sadly siestas aren’t a part of daily life like they are in Argentina and Spain, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take one :)
More to post later!
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