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!
1 comment:
I love reading about your adventure. It is truly amazing. Keep away from those mosquitos!!
Post a Comment