An addition to the list...

I thought of a couple more things, especially after looking through the Cusmapa Volunteer spice cabinet.

Most of the spices I could find here, but the quality is horrible. So if you can just chuck on of these in a package, that would be awesome!

Spices I would love to have sent (written in the order that I use the most):
-Ground Cinnamon
-Chile flakes
-Ground Nutmeg
-Cumin
-Ground ginger
-Bay leaves
-Italian seasoning
-Ground all spice
-Mustard seed
-Fennel seed
-Spice packet to make Chili too!

Some other small things I thought of:
-Stickers (all kids love them!)
-Uni-ball pens, or nicer writing pens
-If anyone can find a light-weight wooden mortar & pestle, I would be forever grateful
-Cooking books
-Cranberry supplements (to keep the urinary tract nice and healthy)
-Vitamin C vitamins
-Tampons w/applicators (I know this sounds gross but it costs $5 for a pack of 10 tampons here! Please help!)

Thank you again to everyone who has asked me what I need!

On the subject of packages, I have a couple recommendations for decorations so maybe there might be a decreased chance for Nica customs to snoop through it.
-Make sure everything is listed on the packing slip
-Put religious Mother Mary, Jesus, Cross, etc. stickers or drawings all over the box
-Write phrases like "En Dios Creo" and "Jesus Te Ama", or any other religious phrases you can think of in spanish or english

Why am I suggesting this? Well, hopefully they will be more superstitious to steal anything out of the box if it seems like a fellow Christian has sent it. Not sure if it works, but it's worth trying right? It sucks that the Nica post office does that to people! My letters have even been sliced open and then they have had the nerve to put a stamp that says the letter came "broken". Right...like we believe all the letters my friends have sent have come broken...in the same spot too!!! There's too words to describe that sort of shadiness...B....S....

Once you mail a package from home let me know so I can approximate the 3 weeks or month it should take to get here. Thanks again to everyone! I miss you all so much!

The much anticipated "Wish List"

"A dream is a wish your heart makes!" (It's the only thing I could think of ok, give me a break)

Ok ok, I’m finally giving in and writing a wish list since I’ve had the chance to see what I can and cannot buy normally up here in Somoto. I hope no one thinks I’m a greedy, whiney person for making this list…I tried to be as specific as possible and I am definitely not expecting to get everything. I will love anything that anyone sends me! I will take anything because I am not picky and I am very thankful that you all asked what I wanted/needed.

Things I would really really like and cannot get here:
-Almonds (roasted and lightly or unsalted are the best, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods usually has good deals)
-Soy nuts (roasted and lightly or unsalted as well)
-Tapatío (or Cholula; Mexican hot sauces that have a little more flavor than Tabasco – someone please send me this, I’m dying without it! En serio!)
-Fiber bars (anything that has a good amount of dietary fiber, it’s really hard to get here)
-Cayenne pepper
-Kosher salt
-Pepper grinder (I used to find these at the dollar store in Davis, it’s a normal sized spice container but it has a grinding mechanism on the top, there is also a salt grinding one as well), if this can’t be found, would love some good whole round pepper balls
-Spice packets (Fajitas, Tacos, Brown Gravy Mix…McCormicks, Lawrys or whichever is fine!)
-Beef Jerky
-Dark Chocolate
-Licorice (red or black)
-Wheat flour
-Wheat tortillas
-Wheat pastas (notice a trend…anything wheat!)
-Sourdough bread (not sure how this could transport, anyone have an idea how I could make it?)
-Trader Joe’s crunchy peanut butter
-Asian-type noodles: glass noodles or rice noodles for cooking Thai food or Chow Mein, anything is better than the ones they have here
-Wasabi paste (can find easily at Nugget, Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods)
-Curry paste (I can’t remember the brand I used to use…Thai Kitchen maybe?)
-Ziploc Bags (sandwich and gallon size)
-New Pictures of you all! Old Pictures with me are awesome too!
-If you have any music you want to share, I love getting new tunes
-Postcards
-Books you think I would like or books that are definite “must reads” for any mortal soul

Things that are here but are really really hard to find, poor knock-off quality, or really expensive:
-Crest toothpaste (with Baking Soda if possible, this might sound silly but I swear Colgate has a monopoly in Nicaragua)
-Sharpies or other permanent markers
-Old kids books (that might be just laying around your house, attic, garage, closet, etc.)
-U.S. Map
-Incense, I have a burner, I just need more sticks of any flavor
-Redken hair product Ringlet 07 or Bed Head (TGI) Curls Rock
-Magazines: Cosmopolitan, The Economist, People
-Nutella (I know it’s a long shot for this one, but I’ve been having a major craving!)
-Rye crackers
-Graham crackers
-Cake frosting (the confetti one is definitely a favorite!)

Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me mail already and I can’t wait to get mail at my new home! Next time I go to Masaya I will definitely stock up on plenty of postcards and start mailing them out to all of you.

New Address

Yay now I can receive mail directly and not have to have the staff from Managua bring it to me, or go to Managua to get it!

Katie Payne
Oratorio Mamá Margarita
Apartado Postal 5
Somoto, Madriz
Nicaragua
Central America

Please remember to send it Air Mail, "Por Avión" or it might not get to me.

Also, some of you have asked me how to send text messages to me from your US phone. If you put a + sign in front of my number, you should be able to send me texts. For example type my cell phone # like this: +505-837-1113 and that should work!

Another cool thing is that you can send me text messages through this website:
http://plexinium.com.ni/?x=sms&pais=ni
It is free to send a text message from this website to my cell phone! I can't reply, but it's nice to get a message on my phone once in awhile. So if you are bored at work and you're on the net, please just say hi and tell me about your day, or whatever you would like. You don't need the 505 of the number when you enter it in the space, it's 837-1113 ... cool huh?

Also, Happy Birthday to Michele Rod today and Happy Birthday to Ali Sambu mañana! We're all getting old right?

I can't put any new pictures on because there is something wrong with my camera or card, so I will post some of Me and Michele, and Me and Ali!Michele and I at Machu Picchu December 2006

(Sorry Ali, since you've disabled your facebook pictures I couldn't find one of us, and all of my old pix are on my external HD right now...sorry!)

Swearing in...finally it came!

John (TEFL) and I in front of our PC Nica "crest" before Swearing In aka Judamentación

So Nica 47 finally made it through training and were sworn in as volunteers on Friday July 25th, 2008! Hard to believe 3 months went by so fast, even though during 8 hour charlas we thought Swearing In would never come.

I stayed in Managua from Wednesday till Saturday afternoon, I could have stayed Saturday night but I opted to leave ASAP which turned out to be a great idea (less money spent and got to go on a field trip on Sunday morning). Wednesday and Thursday we had more charlas all day long, but luckily one charla was getting to hear Ambassador Paul Trevilli speak and then have a Q&A session with him. He actually only has 2 weeks left here and then a new ambassador will be coming in. Diplomats are usually switched around every 3 years in hopes that they will always remember what country they are serving (the U.S.) and not cling on to the host country. Makes sense. There were alot of questions from the group about Foreign Direct Investment and what the U.S. mission is doing about the promotion of democracy. I asked him how he felt about constantly moving his kids and wive around the world, to which he replied that it made them a very tight knit family and feels his children have a very amplified view of the world.

On Friday morning all of us jumped out of our beds around 6:30am to start getting ready for the 9:00am ceremony and then we drove to the InterContinental hotel down the street. The 9:00am ceremony was a thank you to our host families and Avi and Scott did a great job with their thank you speeches. Each family received a certificate which we signed and then we took pictures up front with our mamas or whichever family member came to the ceremony. Afterwards we had really good refreshments and took some group pictures. Around 10:00am or so the Ambassador arrived and we were quickly coraled into the room by PC Staff (I guess he arrived early?). What most surprised me was the amount of press that came to the ceremony, but they mainly came to bug the Ambassador. Still though, they shoved plenty of cameras in our faces during the ceremony and one of us had an interview (approved by the PC Country Director) with one of the national news stations.

First we sang the Nicaraguan Natioanl Anthem and then the Star Spangled Banner, where I pulled out my fake broadway singing voice (AKPsi and Rosine knows what I'm talking about) and got a couple compliments afterwards actually. I'm naturally an Alto II, so when I sing the Soprano part I have to make it a little operaish to make it sound good. Then, we gave an oath of service (in spanish) to serve the Ministry of Education to the best of our ability...blah blah... Then the Ambassador went up to say a couple of words and give us the oath of service to the U.S. (same one the military gets, or any other public service, except you place "PC" in place of "Army" or whatever agency). After that we were officially volunteers, oh and each one of us had to stand up in front of everyone and say our name, where we were from and where we would be working for the next 2 years. Our Country Director said a few words after this and then we were finished! They had a big cake for everyone and the guests gobbled it up within a matter of 10 minutes or so. It was an amazing experience to say the least and I felt so relieved to have made it past the training and start the next 2 years of my life. I consider myself so lucky to be a part of PC and to have the chance to serve my country. Some do not get this opportunity due to pre-existing factors like spouses and kids and real life jobs. I can only hope this service will turn me into a more humble person and that I will continue to see a positive side in even the darkest of situations.

Elizabeth (TEFL) and I looking very sexy with our cruly hair! Mine wasn't quite dry yet...no blowdryer!

Song of the Day: "Reach out and touch somebody's hand" -- Not sure who sang it, but I remember it from our 3rd grade play in Grace Betts class.

Ode to the land of the free

This was drawn by a fellow Nica 47 in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language if you forgot the acronym), it shows some of Nica's finest attributes: lakes, volcanoes, coffee, fruit, etc.

I wanted to begin this post with a little game I call “Imagine if…” The purpose of the game is not for me to complain about my life here, but sort of as a self reflection of things that would have bugged me back in the U.S.

-Imagine if…every time you had to go to the bathroom you had to walk outside and would be greeted by the biggest cockroach you’ve ever seen in your life that’s stuck right on the wall by the toilet.
-Imagine if…that toilet didn’t flush 98% of the time because water only comes for 3 hours each day, so to flush you have to pour water down the toilet (and sometimes the water goes out for days at a time, aka this week no water for 4 days)
-Imagine if…your water had to be stored in old oil drums because sometimes you don’t know if the water will disappear for a couple of days without warning.
-Imagine if…large ants (like you would find in the forest) crawled all over the house and were especially fond of the kitchen table crumbs.
-Imagine if…your kitchen was fueled by 3 inch diameter sticks that had to be replaced at least 8 times a day.
-Imagine if…your only transportation was a crowded bus where you get pushed and shoved, or you have to jump off the back, or the dude next to you smells like major B.O. (and there’s a 2 hour ride ahead of you…yuck!)

These are just a few of the daily tribulations that face Nica PCVs (well more specifically me), but I’m sure there are PCVs who have it a million times harder in respect to water, weird bugs, fuel, etc. Please don’t get me wrong, PC Nica is pretty cushy in general and for us Business Volunteers it’s especially cushy compared to the Ag Volunteers who are really out in the boondocks.

Thinking about the things listed above makes me appreciate home so much and makes me appreciate an even cushier life in the U.S…or hell, the cushier life in Loomis right? I mean Loomis is like Pleasantville (and Del Oro was like “Highschool Disneyland” as Aunt Anne would say), it’s a bubble I grew up in where nothing bad ever happened and life was never hard. I knew no hunger, I knew no violence and I never doubted that my parents always loved my sister and me. Life was amazing growing up and it still is amazing for me. It kills me to see kids who have no shoes or who beg on the street or who receive a bare minimum education or…the list of sad things goes on. But, why am I here? I’m here as a representative of my country, to exchange ideas across cultures and help out where I am wanted by the people of Nicaragua. Yes development is a part of PC, but I believe the main focus of my service is showing Nicas that we are alike and different at the same time. I’m not here to tell them to change anything, I’m here to collaborate with Nicas to create innovative ideas to fit their education model, their cultural model, their business models, etc.

Let’s see if I can explain this in a concrete example…try to follow me here. For example, there is no right or wrong way to catch a fish. However, there are more efficient techniques to catch a trout which many men/women developed through trial and error or maybe through the study of trout behaviors. But then those techniques would probably not be the same for the native perch in Lake Nicaragua, where Nicaraguans have developed other types of techniques. Maybe what could make their techniques better is bringing in a professor of fishology (yes I know that’s not the correct name) from who knows where and then he/she could collaborate with college students and fisherman to conduct a research project. Maybe that project will provide inspiration for those students to study further on about migration patterns or threats from pollution that would effect the fish population.

So, that’s how I see PCVs…we are here to inspire others to think creatively about the problems surrounding them. We are not here to dictate CORRECT answers, there is no such thing. I am here as a role model for young adults: at 23 I have a college degree, no kids, no husband, and I always have future goals. I am here to teach themes like self-esteem, goal setting, and leadership to these young adults, just like I did when I was a camp counselor at Camp Menzies. Same lessons apply here as they did to my teenage girl scouts. Inspiring these kids to see they have the ability to not get knocked up, to not be machistas (aka have respect for women), that if they have innovative ideas there are resources to help develop their ideas further. For example, I’m sure most young girls have no clue that MINSA (Ministry of Health) gives out birth control and condoms for free, or students don’t know of the countless NGOs who give out scholarships or small business grants that many times go unused. I’m here to teach them about the resources that Nica already has and how to utilize those resources to the fullest extent.

Now, me being a realist I can see people asking me: “But how can they do these things if they are most preoccupied with feeding their families?” Well, I can tell you how surprised you might be if you saw how many kids used the 20 cents their parents gave them to buy unhealthy Dorito-type chips instead of saving it in a jar like my dad did when he was little. I feel like people aren’t starving here like in other countries, but the quality of life is far from perfect. I also understand that Nicas don’t like/don’t know how to save money because they are always afraid their money will be taken away from them, either by the Cordoba falling or the government taking it away. Of course they are afraid to save! It seems like the Nicas who are serious in saving their money do so in U.S. dollars because they have more confidence in the U.S. currency. I guess it makes sense since the dollar has more purchasing power than the Cordoba…I think that’s the correct economic term (ahhh, how I miss International Econ).

On a happier note, we swear in next Friday and then Saturday I’m off to my site! This next week is pretty busy for us! Monday we take an all day field trip to the north east in the department of Matalgalpa to visit an Ag volunteer’s project. Tuesday we say goodbye to our families and head to Managua for the rest of the week. Wednesday and Thursday we have charlas (seminars) that last all day. Friday we get to party a bit, that shall be a great ending to the first 3 months! Sorry if this post was hard to follow, it was sort of sparked by a couple of thoughts I was having on a very crappy bus ride home last week. Next post I want to talk a little about the Sandinistas in Nica.

Thank you to Jan and Mamow for more letters and to Mom and Dad for sending the packages on the way.

Getting closer to Somoto

Great news! I weighed myself at the med office and I’ve lost at least 14 lbs. since arriving to Nica (less than 3 months)! Pretty incredible considering carbs and fried food are shoved in front of me every single day, but it’s all about moderation and sweating a lot! I still have a daily routine of taking my plate back to my host mom and scraping off at least ½ of the food on my plate. She still thinks I can eat 3 pieces of chicken, plus 2 scoops of rice, plus 5 fried pieces of bananas, plus a salad, plus 2 tortillas, and finish it off with 2 glasses of juice. I don’t think so! Maybe I can eat 1 piece of chicken, ½ a scoop of rice, 2 fried pieces of banana, a salad, ½ a tortilla and 1 glass of juice. Thank goodness I do get enough fruits and veggies, but once I have true control over my diet I’ll be able to get a lot more healthy stuff in my body. I’m excited for the Soy Chorizo one of the stores sells in Somoto! Eggs in the morning with chorizo and some Tapatío on top…yummy!!!

Dietary fiber and iron are the hardest nutrients to get into my body at the moment. Everyone is probably saying, eat more beans then! Eat more gallo pinto! Oh yeah, have I mentioned that I hate hate hate gallo pinto!!?? Gallo pinto is the mixture of red beans and white rice, aka the main staple to the Nica diet. I can’t stand the sight of it, never have, never will. Watch, as soon as I get back to the U.S. that’s all I’ll ever want to eat! Haha, wouldn’t that be hilarious!

I could kill for a good bottle of wine right now. Over two months and no wine, that’s like a record for me after the age of 19. I’m partially surprised I haven’t had any withdrawals….haha, just kidding. Course my mother swears that wine slows down her metabolism, therefore it must slowdown mine. Hence, that must be the reason I have already dropped the weight so fast right? I’d say it’s the good 8 hours of sleep I get every day (when the stupid bombas don’t wake me up at 5am), the non-stop sweating, and the lack of snacking in between meals. I guess cutting out my weekly Grey Goose Martinis and Newcastle brews helped too, but I think cutting wine out of my diet would have a minimal effect. I’ve seen some OK Chilean wines in the grocery stores but they just don’t look like they are worth C$140 (over 7 bucks), which is ½ of our weekly allowance. Plus, I would have no glassware to enjoy my wine. I have seen a wine store in Managua that I have been meaning to hit up, maybe I will when we are there in 2 weeks. I’ve also heard that the supermarkets in Estelí have a decent selection, so it will only be a short time before I am reunited with my grape juice friend :) Woe is me right? So for all of you who are in California, please enjoy a glass of wine for me! Just make sure it’s not White Zinfandel (or any other pink wine, unless it’s a true Rosé), any wine out of a box, any wine sold in quantities greater than 750ml (unless it is a true Magnum size), any wine that is called “Charles Shaw”, or any “wine” that is called Boones Farm…that stuff is not wine!

I know a lot of you have been asking me what I want/need, but the truth is I haven’t reached that point of desperation quite yet. Once I’m in Somoto I’m sure I will start having some major cravings.

Training is sooooo close to being done!!! I’m sad to leave my family but happy to not wake up for class every day. Course, I’ll be waking up every day to teach class...I’m sure I’ll miss our language classes after a couple of weeks in site.

Sunday marked the beginning of Fiestas Patronales in my pueblo and I was not a happy camper to wake up to the celebration at 5am passing by my house! The procession was a very loud and off tune marching type band followed by at least 100 bombas (potent cherry bombs that burst in the sky) right above my house. I was sort of hating life at that moment. But, luckily I was able to fall back asleep till 7:30am when the band just HAD to pass by again! I had to get up this time but thank goodness my mamí was complaining very loudly about the “malditas bombas” as well. I understand that the people in my town want to show they are really really happy about the arrival of Santa Ana...but really, do they have to do it at 5am? Don’t they care about other people sleeping? The answer is a firm no. I would love to go into the “fatalism” topic I have yet to type up but I know my brain cannot finish certain opinions without me sounding like an ethnocentric maniac. In the next couple of weeks I will compose a commentary about the presence of religion in daily life in Nica, using more objective anthropological wording instead of blantent subjective opinions. Anyways, this celebration with the band and the bombas will continue until the 26th...meaning for the rest of the time we are in training. Good times right!?

Ok, enough for today, enjoy the pictures below. Miss you all! Hope the fires are better!

My bosses (from the left), Head Trainer Ashley, APCD Georgia (my direct boss), Project Specialist Erick (2nd boss), Trainer Ernie (former PCV)

Me and Matt (one of the TEFLs)


La Canchita (Little Pig) playing with a toad during the rain, she is so cute!

Our youth group, or whats left of them

The story of my site visit!

I apologize for not updating in over 10 days, yikes! I guess that shows that my reliance on daily technology is starting to fade, course I have to add that my computer screen has been acting up on me and sometimes when I turn it on I can’t see ¾ of my screen because the colors are all pixilated. Today it seems that it wants to be nice to me. I think maybe the humidity got to it the one day I forgot to put it in its big Ziploc bag!

So last week was spent in Somoto, Madriz (city, state) my new site! We started out with Counterpart Day last Tuesday in Managua where the majority of our counterparts came to meet us for the first time. I say majority because not all of the counterparts came, I was supposed to have 2 come but only one of them showed up. I preferred only having one counterpart at the all-day meeting because I got to know her on a one-on-one basis a little more easily. Ay, I don’t think I’ve explained what a counterpart actually is! So a counterpart is a Nica you will be collaborating with for the next 2 years in your site. Since teaching is the main part of my site, I will have 3 counterpart teachers at Padre Fabretto and 1 counterpart teacher at the Instituto. However, a lot of the people that came to Counterpart Day were principals (directors/directoras) or heads of departments at the NGOs we will be working at. The counterpart that met me last week was Sabrina who is head of secondary education at Padre Fabretto. I won’t be teaching with her in the classroom per se, but she will be my connection to the organization and if I ever have any problems she is the one I will go to. I don’t really consider her my boss, but more of a consul and a work associate. Thank goodness we get along great and she’s only 30 years old and she always has such a great level of positive energy. I know we will have a great 2 years working together. My counterpart from MINED (Ministerio de Educación) didn’t show up, but that’s ok!

On Wednesday I traveled at 5:30am with Sabrina to Somoto via old school bus (I’m waiting for the day when I see Placer Union School District or Loomis School District painted on the side, since the majority of buses are old school buses from the U.S. If I do see one, I will definitely take a picture) and around 10am we arrived at the intersection of Somoto/Ocotal. This intersection takes you west to Somoto and the Honduran border or north to Ocotal and the Honduran border. Anyways, for over a week there had been a strike of farmers right in the middle of the intersection so no vehicles could pass through. The farmers were protesting an unfair loan by a bank and by blocking this intersection they thought they were “sticking it to the man”. Well, in my opinion the only people they truly hurt were their own countrymen who couldn’t get their goods to Managua to sell or families who had to walk 5 km with babies to get to a cab on the other side of the strike. Another pointless strike and I’m certain it will not be the last. Continuing, we unloaded 1 km away from the strike and walked past the angry farmers to take a cab the rest of the way to Somoto.

Sabrina and I went directly to Oratorio Padre Fabretto in Somoto so I could see the school, meet most of the staff, and talk to the director. I was already pooped from the bus ride, so I really had to pull out that “I’m happy and excited to be here…hell no I’m not tired” look! It wasn’t very hard to put on a smile after I started meeting the 40+ employees at the Somoto Oratorio (there are over 120 employees in the 3 Fabretto schools I will work at) and after I saw how cute the kids were. In the afternoon I spent a good hour with Oliver (the departing SBD volunteer that I will be replacing) and we talked about the ins and outs of Somoto, the schools, PC service in general, and his travel plans after he closed his service on that Thursday. It was sad to watch him say goodbye to all of the staff at Fabretto and to the kids…some of them were crying! That to me shows that a volunteer has made a difference in some way, when the kids and staff are crying! I spent about 3 hours at the Somoto Oratorio then it was a long bumpy ride to the Quebrada Honda Oratorio, you know only 2 hours out in the boondocks!

I met the staff at Quebrada Honda and spent the rest of the afternoon observing classes, taking a tour of the school, and chatting it up with my new counterpart Hilda and the director. The director is originally from Managua and he was originally a student of Padre Fabretto (the actual dude), now he helps other children daily. I didn’t get his entire story due to the lack of time, but he did make me a nice warm cup of “atol” which is kinda like hot pudding. The atol helped get rid of the coldness running through my body, I was dumb and didn’t bring any of my closed-toed shoes to keep my feet warm…I had no idea how cold it was going to be in Quebrada Honda! So here I was in sandals, a skirt and my UCD sweatshirt freezing in 60 degree weather! Maybe it wasn’t 60, but the wind and the rain were sure cold! From QH, Sabrina and I took another bumpy ride to Cusmapa to spend the night…I was so pooped!

That night I was actually cold and I really wanted my flannel PJs that I left at home, thinking I would never need them ever in Nicaragua. Boy was I wrong! I had 3 blankets, my sweatshirt on, my jeans on, and my socks on to keep warm. Course, I guess I haven’t explained how all of the houses have at least a 2 inch space in between the roof and the walls. This means that cold wind can enter during a rain storm, this means that it’s not rare to get birds or bats in your room at 1am (oh yeah, I’ve had bats in my room!), and I guess the reason there is the space is to allow the heat to escape during the summer? It makes you appreciate a non-tin roof, air conditioning and central heating! Anyways, I was cold again but I got some sleep somehow! In the morning we headed to the Cusmapa Oratorio where I met another 40+ staff members, whose names I forgot the next second because there were so many of them! I took a tour of the school, worked with Brenda my counterpart on a lesson plan for when I come back on July 30th and got to use the net for a bit. I also got to talk to Chele (which translates to “white man”, people on the street call me “Chela” all the time, but it’s also used to describe Nicas who have white skin) who is in charge of the gardening/farming program in Cusmapa. They have 2 green houses, a fertilizer making station with earth worms, and an impressive collection of plants varying from apple trees to hothouse tomatoes. I also got to see the woodshop that has most of the same machinery as Del Oro H.S.’s classroom back at home. From what I got from the website, the machines were donated by a guy from the U.S. around 2001 and he frequently comes back to Nicaragua to teach woodshop. How they got these machines here, I’m sure it was quite a logistical equation. In the afternoon Sabrina, Brenda, myself and some of the kids trekked a couple minutes outside of the school boundaries to get to the nearby Laguna and then onto a lookout of the mountains between Madriz and Chinandega. It was that moment when I saw the mountains that I realized I was placed in one of the most beautiful parts of Nicaragua! I’m sorry I have no pictures to show, I decided against taking pictures (and I lacked the ambition as well) during my site visit because I knew I would be taking tons in the next 2 years.

After the long day at Cusmapa we took the Fabretto truck back to Somoto in the dark and the rain. I finally got to see the house where I would be hosted for the first 6 weeks in my site! I will be living with one of the teachers from Fabretto and her husband who is a pediatrician. The room isn’t bad, I prefer my room in my training town, but it is a nice secure house. They have 2 dogs named Bobby and Trimulon (no idea what the name means), a cat with no name, a parrot that likes its head scratched, and two doves. My new host mom said she’d be more than happy to help me find a place to rent and she said while I’m finishing training she would definitely make some phone calls to some friends. Supposedly there is a house for rent right around the corner, but I won’t hold my breath. I spent the next day at the Somoto Oratorio because no one was at the Instituto since the kids and staff were on vacation. So during my site visit I didn’t get to meet the director or my counterpart from the Instituto, which presents an interesting challenge for my first day of work on July 29th. On Saturday Sabrina took me on a tour of Somoto the city to show me key points and help me begin to develop a sense of bearings (is that correct English?). I saw the central market, the mayor’s office, the police station, the central park, the Catholic Church, some worthwhile eateries, and some cheap places to shop. It was a very productive day to say the least!

I’ll talk a little bit about what Padre Fabretto does and a little bit about the history, because it’s truly an amazing NGO. Also, there is a great website to check out: www.fabretto.org so please if you have time check it out! Padre Fabretto was an Italian priest who came to Nicaragua in the 1950s, bringing his passion for helping the poor and mentoring children. He went to Granada, Estelí, and finally settled down in Somoto where he saw a desperate need to reach out to the poverty which plagued the campos (campos are farms, but you can think of boondocks). He started the Oratorios in Somoto, Quebrada Honda, and Cusmapa with the dream that all of the children who sought education, clothing, food, and a loving home would be able to have free access whenever needed. Today, the Oratorios serve as an after school program where the teachers reinforce subjects taught in the MINED classrooms, offer technical classes like woodshop and computation, where the kids can get at least 1 good nutritional meal, and most importantly offer a hope to these children to rise above poverty through the skills acquired over the years. Fabretto also provides uniforms, shoes, backpacks, and all the other necessary school supplies. Programs start at Preschool and go all the way to the University level and most of the University students earn scholarships to study during the weekend and help out at Fabretto on the weekdays as teachers.

So what will I be doing at Fabretto? On Mondays I will work at the Somoto Oratorio with María Jose my counterpart and I will continue where Oliver left off with Empresa Creativa. At this moment in the school year all of the students at the Oratorios are getting their products ready for the local competition, so I will be helping them with their business plans and product ideas. (I’ll be sure to explain the competition in another blog) I will also be helping with the Critical Thinking (Pensamiento Critico) class, where the kids work on solutions to problems around the community, work on their career planning and just practice “thinking outside the box”. On Tuesday mornings I will teach at the Instituto and introduce the “Life Skills” part of the Empresa Creativa, themes such as: How to compose a resume, looking at one’s life in 10 years, a review of how to calculate percentages, and many more. This part of the LEC (the Empresa Creativa book) is supposed to prepare them for the actual class for the following school year. As soon as I’m finished with my classes in the morning I hop a 2 hour bus to Quebrada Honda Oratorio to co-teach with Hilda until 5pm, where then I hop on a bus to Cusmapa to spend the night. I wake up on Wednesdays in Cusmapa and head off to co-teach all day at the Cusmapa Oratorio with Brenda. Are you following me so far? Haha, I know it’s kind of confusing.

Oh, I’m sure you all are wondering where exactly I stay at when I’m in Cusmapa!? I stay in the volunteer house called “Casa de los Mangoes” where I will live 2 days out of the week with other Fabretto volunteers. Fabretto is a NGO registered in the U.S. and Spain, so there are American and Spanish volunteers who will be coming in and out during my 2 years of service. This is great for me because I can’t possibly go insane due to the lack of contact with “gringos”, and granted the Spaniards are usually pretty friendly as well. So, I live 2 days a week in Cusmapa and 5 days in Somoto…an experience apart from many of the other volunteer sites. I’m excited for this set-up because I will never be sitting on my butt!

So, this is the only killer of my schedule, but it can be changed next school year. I have to teach at the Instituto at 7:45am on Thursdays, which means I have to take the 5am bus from Cusmapa! Ugh…that part I’m not excited about! Well, at least I know how to have energy at that time of the morning, thanks to 8 years of early morning band practice in high school and college. Bless my days of band nerdiness right? After my one class on Thursday at the Instituto I head right over to the Somoto Oratorio where I will help with English classes and Empresa Creativa. The English classes were sort of thrown onto me, but they needed some spaces filled for some of the classes because a Fabretto volunteer just recently left for the states. Until they get another volunteer to take her place I will be filling in for 5 classes. I really don’t mind since it is temporary and I can consider it as a secondary project at the moment too. Fridays are made up of teaching at both the Instituto and the Somoto Oratorio all day. Let me put my schedule in a more readable format, for breath of knowledge for all:

Mondays: Somoto Oratorio, teaching Empresa Creativa
Tuesdays: Instituto in the mornings, take bus to Quebrada Honda around noon, teach at Oratorio Quebrada Honda during the afternoon, take bus at 5pm to Cusmapa, and spend night in Cusmapa
Wednesdays: Teach at Cusmapa Oratorio all day, sleep in Cusmapa again
Thursdays: Take bus back to Somoto at 5am, teach at Instituto at 7:45am, and teach Empresa Creativa and English at Somoto Oratorio for the rest of the day
Fridays: Work at both Somoto Oratorio and Instituto
Saturdays/Sundays: We technically work 7 days a week, so I’ll probably go to Ocotal or Estelí to go to the bank or just hang out in Somoto. I’m sure my weekends will also be used to travel around to surrounding communities, visit the Canyon of Somoto, and maybe have an occasional glass of wine…god do I miss wine right now.

Technically I work with both an NGO and the Ministry of Education, and I am really excited to see both sides of an educational system: a non-formal school system and the official school system. Oh, and another great perk of working at Fabretto is free access to internet! So I have no excuse to not update my blog every week, no excuse at all! And not only is it free access but it’s wireless, so it will be even easier to bring my laptop and write to everyone.


“Yellow brick Road” – Elton John
I’ve heard this song so many times on the bus in Spanish and lately it’s been stuck in my head!