After having these past two weeks kind of kick me in the butt, I'm more than ready to bounce back. Sorry if that last post sounded like I was on the verge of quitting or something...some of you emailed me asked if everything was ok and to keep my chin up. Thank you for those notes and emails of encouragement!
Yesterday marked the end of these two hard weeks when I was surprised with not one, but two packages at the post office! A huge THANK YOU goes out to Jan and Rosine!!! Opening the boxes made me so happy and I am so lucky to have people at home who love me so much.
After getting the boxes I headed over to the Somoto Oratorio to talk to someone about me living at the volunteer house in Somoto, since I haven't found a place yet. I was again elated to receive good news that they would love for me to occupy one of the rooms and if they move houses I am more than welcome to move with them. I will be living with another Fabretto volunteer named Mike and a couple Nicas that come in and out during the week. It's great because my rent (if my boss reads this yes I am paying rent) will be soooooooo much less this way and I will never be alone, there will at least always be another gringo or Nica around. Another reason why I'm so happy is that Mike and I both love to cook, so I'm sure I won't be going out very often nor will I ever have to cook all by myself. Cooking is such a social event for me, it's just not the same without someone else there to eat with.
So with these two great events, today (Saturday) I felt so much better waking up and my body has almost gotten rid of this cold virus I have. That was the biggest downer of this last week, being sick and just feeling yucky all of the time! I hate being sick! Don't worry, Katie is all better and picked herself back up. We all need our down times right?
Other news, I'm working on getting invitations out for the competition which will be on September 30th and securing some sort of financial support from the community for helping buy prizes. It should be a great opportunity to meet some community leaders and try to get some community involvement. It'll be harder to get a ton of ppl to come because it will fall on a work day, but maybe we'll get a couple people to come. I'm more worried about getting donations for prizes since alot of the businesses here in Somoto aren't very big and most NGOs don't have alot of extra funds this year due to the economic slowdown. But with a positive attitude and an open mind anything is possible right!?
Tomorrow I start moving my stuff...yay for my own space! I think I will feel better with a room that I can actually settle down in and be a part of the house and not just a temporary guest! This next week I'm also going to be trained on the Community Bank session so I can train new Nica PC trainees. Should be fun and I get to hang out with Joey in Esteli!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
One of those weeks
Ok ok, this week wasn't THAT bad...but it still took a toll on me. It was just one of those weeks where I ask myself, "Am I really doing anything here?". I think (especially after my previous post) that I have moved into what they call Culture Shock Phase 2, so therefore I am at a low point on the "Culture Shock sine/cosine type wave". What happens is like a sine/cosine wave one goes up and down for certain time periods, so does our cultural adaptability. We hit high points where we love where we are or what we doing and then slowly we can dive down into "WTF" mode and wonder what our purpose is by living amongst others who are different from us. At the moment (according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock ) I have hit the "Negotiation Phase" where I am balancing the old and new ways of life.
Like I said before, this whole experience will make home seem that much sweeter in two years! I hope that little problems back at home will literally disappear because of the small significance they actually would have. For example, do I really need to get upset because I missed the Discovery Channel's Shark Week? No...oh wait, there's this lovely device called a DVR recorder :) Haha, yes I'm hilarious, but I think I kind of made my point. I hate the question that Nicas ask me here: "What are you going to do after 2 years here?". How the heck do I know what I'm doing after tomorrow? 2 years...come on people! I don't understand it! I'm here, right now, let's do something in this moment and not wait for some higher power to give it to you on a silver platter. Who knows if I will want to stay in this country? Who knows if I will want to go back and live in California? Quien sabe maje!? (Who knows dude?) For a people who can never seem to plan ahead, they sure are preoccupied with my future after 2 years.
This week will mark 4 whole months here in Nica! Only 23 more to go! Don't worry, I'm not counting...yet. Most volunteers would agree probably that the first 6 months are the hardest because it's about settling in and learning your site, finding out who you are as well I'm guessing. PC is nothing like study abroad in Chile because I was always on vacation every other weekend and going to places like Argentina and Easter Island. Here in Nica I could go places on the weekends, but I foresee that as a better idea for next year when I am better settled in and when everyone else has their own places so I can sleep somewhere for free. Up here in the north, we don't have as many things to do as say the Masaya area, but that gives me the opportunity to kick back and find another way of relaxing. Being by myself a good percent of the time gives room for reflection of the past, present and a little bit about the future. This is the first time in my life where my phone doesn't ring with 20 calls a day, maybe 2 a day now, and where I don't feel the need to be present at certain social scenes. My life before this was comprised of going here and going there...now I have time to take a look around at the true speed of life, well at least the Nica speed of life.
Yesterday we had our Madriz volunteer meeting, but we went to Esteli instead of Somoto because there are better cafes and restaurants, and I rode the bus with Matt & Jess who are my site mates in Somoto. We took the 10:00am bus, hoping to get into Esteli in less than two hours and then 10 min. into the ride the bus stops and they open the engine hood up to pour a couple gallon jugs of water into the coolant tank or whatever (sorry Dad, I couldnt tell). Matt, Jess and I knew what this could imply, either A) The trip would be augmented by 30 min. at least B) The engine would burn up rolling down the hills or C) We would have to get off and take another bus. We get going again and at the fork of the highway where one part goes North to Ocotal and the other goes west to Somoto (aka the Emplame) we of course pull over and the engine is still overheating. Great! Just great! We have about 1 hour and 40 min. to get to our 12pm meeting, it's not the meeting we were worried about...it was getting lunch that we worried about. Meetings never usually start on time anyways in Nica...good ol' Nica time (I hope I don't come back home thinking that a 10am meeting means 10:30am!). So the engine is busted and everyone starts getting off, of course we follow suit. What happened to us next is very common when it's gringos vs. Nicas. The guy was handing out 20 cordobas (about $1) to everyone because we paid 25 cordobas to go from Somoto to Esteli, and Jess & I were waiting to get reimbursed while Matt ran up the road to save us seats on the next bus (which turned out being way full). Well, this pinche (cheap) Nica gave us back 55 cordobas instead of 60 and told me that it cost 7 cordobas to get to the Empalme. When I asked him why we got charged the gringo price, he said it wasn't and that's what everyone was getting back, as I watched him give 20 cordobas to the guy next to me. I got pretty angry, yes it's 5 cordobas (aka 20 cents) but still that's messed up. I argued with him for a couple of minutes, but I just gave up because as PC would tell us (and common sense) in the end it's not worth it. So, I left with my words of "digraciado huevón" (unholy A-hole), "pinche Nica" (cheap Nica), and I was going to add a couple other words but I was too mad. I got over it in about 5 minutes as we waited for another bus, and we got onto an Expreso (these buses cut time in about half) to Esteli and all was good. We do get reimbursed for our bus trips to meetings, so at the end of the day the 5 cordobas didn't really matter that much. Luckily I shouldn't have to take that bus again if I don't want to.
We had our meeting at Café Luz, one of those places catering to the gringo population of Esteli and the wanna-be "posh" Nica college crowd. I finally had my first really good tasting cheeseburger in Nica and it was amazing! They even put paprika on the french fries! And there was dressing on the salad! ¡Gracias a dios! (Thank god!) Not bad for 5 bucks (not cordobas). Our meeting was to talk about new PC policies and to address any concerns we might want our Madriz representative to take to the national meeting that will take place in 2 weeks. Nothing too exciting to write about.
However, the stir up yesterday was that a member from my SBD 47 group was ETing (Early Terminating) his service and he was on his way to Managua this weekend. We all have our own reasons for doing PC and we all have our own reasons to keep going. Also, we take what we want out of our service and no one can say we are right or wrong for those movtivations. I see PC as a service to my country and a resume-building experience. I will find out if 3rd world development is the career path I'd like to pursue or if living abroad the good majority of my life would suit me well. Others see PC as a personal growing experience, a chance to see another part of the world, etc. None of us harbor the same ambitions! I am sad to see him go, he always provided a good laugh for me during training and I could always count on him to provide a realist insight on whatever was going on. I wish him the best of luck and I can't wait to see how many kids he ends up having in the future!
Another event that happened to me this week was the lack of communcation between the public school and myself. I had asked on Tuesday if there was anything going on this week that I needed to know about and I was told "no of course not, nothing special this week". Little did I know that the monthly teachers meeting was this past Friday and my counterpart sort of "forgot" to tell me! So I get all dressed and ready to give class at 7:45am...and no one was there! I had to ask one of my students why there was no class! Now I know no matter what, every last Friday of the month there is no school due to these meetings...live and learn. My day became productive after that as I went to the mail box to grab letters from Jan and Mamow (thank you!) and went to get a key copied for the Cusmapa Volunteer house. After that I went to work on Fabretto's Empresa Creativa Competition which we are going to have on September 30th.
The Competition will take place in Somoto in between the student business groups at the 3 Fabretto Oratorios. Right now I am looking for judges to evaluate the students' groups and choose the top 3 to go onto the Regional Competition, sending out invites to important community members, and sending out donation letters to get money for the prizes we would like to give the top 5 groups. During September, the competition will rule my life! I'm sure the volunteer before me had a little bit easier time because he didn't have to find funding and he was already 1 year at his site and knew more people. It will be a challenge, but it presents a great networking opportunity for me and I am excited to get to know the city leaders and NGOs better (Mom remember, NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organization...like Rotary!). At the competition the kids have to show the judges their business plan and product. In their plans they have points like a marketing strategy, know who their target market is, calculate a "break-even" point for costs and profits, etc. The judges will base their decisions on creativity, clarity of the business plan, quality of the product, as well as presentation skills. I believe at the moment we have 25 student groups who will be competing! The kids at the Cusmapa and Quebrada Honda Oratorios are really on top of things, while the kids at Somoto sometimes don't really seem to care. All in all I think we will have a great community turn out and the kids will have a great time.
After this week I don't have housing but I think there might be a big possibility for me to pay to live in the Fabretto Volunteer house in Somoto. I have to talk to someone this next week, but it's pretty empty right now and there shouldn't be too much of a problem. I found a place for $70 a month, with water, gas, and electricity included but I'm not sure how much I really like it. I want to keep looking at a couple more places around town before making a decision.
The weather hasn't been too bad here...yet. Of course there are thunder storms about 5 days a week, but they usually come after 4pm and don't last too long. The street next to the Cusmapa house is still unpaved, so I still have to tromp through mud on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Luckily I brought my rain boots up there to stay so the mud isn't as bad when I wear them. The only downside to the rain is when I have to walk 20 min. up the hills to Quebrada Honda and there is no other mode of transportation available! Knock on wood it hasn't poured on me yet, but I know it has to be coming soon. Course, if it's pouring, the kids don't come to school...so there would be no point to walking in the pouring rain...unless it's pouring when I'm walking back to the bus stop (aka the side of the road)...ugh.
I am 3 for 3 on getting packages ok (knock on wood) and the religious writing seems to be working! Thank you Mom, Dad and Gina for sending me those packages! I'm trying to ration the chocolate...but can't say that I was able to on the licorice, I forgot how much I love it.
I caught a little head cold this week, so I'm trying to rest and sleep it off the best I can. I should probably find some herbal teas so help out and keep the sugar level to a minimum. It's so hard to keep the glucose away with all the rice, corn tortillas, etc...I definately miss the healthy California life style. Granted I do the best I can, like make homemade spaghetti sauce and stir fry, but the quality of the fruits and veggies the majority of the time is not the same. Even the avocadoes, though cheaper, have less meat in them and the seed is bigger! They don't grow the Hass avocadoes that I love :( And finding Roma tomatoes is like finding a needle in a haystack. Hopefully I can find some seeds or have Mom and Dad bring some down in January.
Hope all is well at home and the heat is slowly fading away! I will definately miss the crispness of the Fall air rolling in...though we've got another month or so for that.
Like I said before, this whole experience will make home seem that much sweeter in two years! I hope that little problems back at home will literally disappear because of the small significance they actually would have. For example, do I really need to get upset because I missed the Discovery Channel's Shark Week? No...oh wait, there's this lovely device called a DVR recorder :) Haha, yes I'm hilarious, but I think I kind of made my point. I hate the question that Nicas ask me here: "What are you going to do after 2 years here?". How the heck do I know what I'm doing after tomorrow? 2 years...come on people! I don't understand it! I'm here, right now, let's do something in this moment and not wait for some higher power to give it to you on a silver platter. Who knows if I will want to stay in this country? Who knows if I will want to go back and live in California? Quien sabe maje!? (Who knows dude?) For a people who can never seem to plan ahead, they sure are preoccupied with my future after 2 years.
This week will mark 4 whole months here in Nica! Only 23 more to go! Don't worry, I'm not counting...yet. Most volunteers would agree probably that the first 6 months are the hardest because it's about settling in and learning your site, finding out who you are as well I'm guessing. PC is nothing like study abroad in Chile because I was always on vacation every other weekend and going to places like Argentina and Easter Island. Here in Nica I could go places on the weekends, but I foresee that as a better idea for next year when I am better settled in and when everyone else has their own places so I can sleep somewhere for free. Up here in the north, we don't have as many things to do as say the Masaya area, but that gives me the opportunity to kick back and find another way of relaxing. Being by myself a good percent of the time gives room for reflection of the past, present and a little bit about the future. This is the first time in my life where my phone doesn't ring with 20 calls a day, maybe 2 a day now, and where I don't feel the need to be present at certain social scenes. My life before this was comprised of going here and going there...now I have time to take a look around at the true speed of life, well at least the Nica speed of life.
Yesterday we had our Madriz volunteer meeting, but we went to Esteli instead of Somoto because there are better cafes and restaurants, and I rode the bus with Matt & Jess who are my site mates in Somoto. We took the 10:00am bus, hoping to get into Esteli in less than two hours and then 10 min. into the ride the bus stops and they open the engine hood up to pour a couple gallon jugs of water into the coolant tank or whatever (sorry Dad, I couldnt tell). Matt, Jess and I knew what this could imply, either A) The trip would be augmented by 30 min. at least B) The engine would burn up rolling down the hills or C) We would have to get off and take another bus. We get going again and at the fork of the highway where one part goes North to Ocotal and the other goes west to Somoto (aka the Emplame) we of course pull over and the engine is still overheating. Great! Just great! We have about 1 hour and 40 min. to get to our 12pm meeting, it's not the meeting we were worried about...it was getting lunch that we worried about. Meetings never usually start on time anyways in Nica...good ol' Nica time (I hope I don't come back home thinking that a 10am meeting means 10:30am!). So the engine is busted and everyone starts getting off, of course we follow suit. What happened to us next is very common when it's gringos vs. Nicas. The guy was handing out 20 cordobas (about $1) to everyone because we paid 25 cordobas to go from Somoto to Esteli, and Jess & I were waiting to get reimbursed while Matt ran up the road to save us seats on the next bus (which turned out being way full). Well, this pinche (cheap) Nica gave us back 55 cordobas instead of 60 and told me that it cost 7 cordobas to get to the Empalme. When I asked him why we got charged the gringo price, he said it wasn't and that's what everyone was getting back, as I watched him give 20 cordobas to the guy next to me. I got pretty angry, yes it's 5 cordobas (aka 20 cents) but still that's messed up. I argued with him for a couple of minutes, but I just gave up because as PC would tell us (and common sense) in the end it's not worth it. So, I left with my words of "digraciado huevón" (unholy A-hole), "pinche Nica" (cheap Nica), and I was going to add a couple other words but I was too mad. I got over it in about 5 minutes as we waited for another bus, and we got onto an Expreso (these buses cut time in about half) to Esteli and all was good. We do get reimbursed for our bus trips to meetings, so at the end of the day the 5 cordobas didn't really matter that much. Luckily I shouldn't have to take that bus again if I don't want to.
We had our meeting at Café Luz, one of those places catering to the gringo population of Esteli and the wanna-be "posh" Nica college crowd. I finally had my first really good tasting cheeseburger in Nica and it was amazing! They even put paprika on the french fries! And there was dressing on the salad! ¡Gracias a dios! (Thank god!) Not bad for 5 bucks (not cordobas). Our meeting was to talk about new PC policies and to address any concerns we might want our Madriz representative to take to the national meeting that will take place in 2 weeks. Nothing too exciting to write about.
However, the stir up yesterday was that a member from my SBD 47 group was ETing (Early Terminating) his service and he was on his way to Managua this weekend. We all have our own reasons for doing PC and we all have our own reasons to keep going. Also, we take what we want out of our service and no one can say we are right or wrong for those movtivations. I see PC as a service to my country and a resume-building experience. I will find out if 3rd world development is the career path I'd like to pursue or if living abroad the good majority of my life would suit me well. Others see PC as a personal growing experience, a chance to see another part of the world, etc. None of us harbor the same ambitions! I am sad to see him go, he always provided a good laugh for me during training and I could always count on him to provide a realist insight on whatever was going on. I wish him the best of luck and I can't wait to see how many kids he ends up having in the future!
Another event that happened to me this week was the lack of communcation between the public school and myself. I had asked on Tuesday if there was anything going on this week that I needed to know about and I was told "no of course not, nothing special this week". Little did I know that the monthly teachers meeting was this past Friday and my counterpart sort of "forgot" to tell me! So I get all dressed and ready to give class at 7:45am...and no one was there! I had to ask one of my students why there was no class! Now I know no matter what, every last Friday of the month there is no school due to these meetings...live and learn. My day became productive after that as I went to the mail box to grab letters from Jan and Mamow (thank you!) and went to get a key copied for the Cusmapa Volunteer house. After that I went to work on Fabretto's Empresa Creativa Competition which we are going to have on September 30th.
The Competition will take place in Somoto in between the student business groups at the 3 Fabretto Oratorios. Right now I am looking for judges to evaluate the students' groups and choose the top 3 to go onto the Regional Competition, sending out invites to important community members, and sending out donation letters to get money for the prizes we would like to give the top 5 groups. During September, the competition will rule my life! I'm sure the volunteer before me had a little bit easier time because he didn't have to find funding and he was already 1 year at his site and knew more people. It will be a challenge, but it presents a great networking opportunity for me and I am excited to get to know the city leaders and NGOs better (Mom remember, NGO stands for Non-Governmental Organization...like Rotary!). At the competition the kids have to show the judges their business plan and product. In their plans they have points like a marketing strategy, know who their target market is, calculate a "break-even" point for costs and profits, etc. The judges will base their decisions on creativity, clarity of the business plan, quality of the product, as well as presentation skills. I believe at the moment we have 25 student groups who will be competing! The kids at the Cusmapa and Quebrada Honda Oratorios are really on top of things, while the kids at Somoto sometimes don't really seem to care. All in all I think we will have a great community turn out and the kids will have a great time.
After this week I don't have housing but I think there might be a big possibility for me to pay to live in the Fabretto Volunteer house in Somoto. I have to talk to someone this next week, but it's pretty empty right now and there shouldn't be too much of a problem. I found a place for $70 a month, with water, gas, and electricity included but I'm not sure how much I really like it. I want to keep looking at a couple more places around town before making a decision.
The weather hasn't been too bad here...yet. Of course there are thunder storms about 5 days a week, but they usually come after 4pm and don't last too long. The street next to the Cusmapa house is still unpaved, so I still have to tromp through mud on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Luckily I brought my rain boots up there to stay so the mud isn't as bad when I wear them. The only downside to the rain is when I have to walk 20 min. up the hills to Quebrada Honda and there is no other mode of transportation available! Knock on wood it hasn't poured on me yet, but I know it has to be coming soon. Course, if it's pouring, the kids don't come to school...so there would be no point to walking in the pouring rain...unless it's pouring when I'm walking back to the bus stop (aka the side of the road)...ugh.
I am 3 for 3 on getting packages ok (knock on wood) and the religious writing seems to be working! Thank you Mom, Dad and Gina for sending me those packages! I'm trying to ration the chocolate...but can't say that I was able to on the licorice, I forgot how much I love it.
I caught a little head cold this week, so I'm trying to rest and sleep it off the best I can. I should probably find some herbal teas so help out and keep the sugar level to a minimum. It's so hard to keep the glucose away with all the rice, corn tortillas, etc...I definately miss the healthy California life style. Granted I do the best I can, like make homemade spaghetti sauce and stir fry, but the quality of the fruits and veggies the majority of the time is not the same. Even the avocadoes, though cheaper, have less meat in them and the seed is bigger! They don't grow the Hass avocadoes that I love :( And finding Roma tomatoes is like finding a needle in a haystack. Hopefully I can find some seeds or have Mom and Dad bring some down in January.
Hope all is well at home and the heat is slowly fading away! I will definately miss the crispness of the Fall air rolling in...though we've got another month or so for that.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
Sadly I still don’t have a true established weekly schedule, which means I don’t have a blog writing schedule worked out yet. I have written the last three entries in the last 2 weeks and have yet to publish them…sorry! Today you will have the pleasure of reading all 3 and I hope they entertain you to say the least.
Today’s topic: Moments in Nica that fall into 3 categories (Good, Bad, Ugly). I would like to explain some experiences that make me feel my two years here will be amazing, some that are annoying but I can deal with, and others that make me want to hop a plane right now back home (not really, but it’s a hyperbole).
The Good
-Watching a man jump out of a bus to save a child from being crushed by a semi-truck on the other side of the road…shows that the Nicas care about their countrymen
-There is always an invitation to someone’s house for dinner or coffee…Nicas want to get to know the gringa and are always free to talk
-I met a guy named “Tupac” in Cusmapa and at first I thought it was a joke…turns out to be a Bolivian/Peruvian name, didn’t know that!
-A women’s cooperative makes baskets out of pine needles and thread…I just think it’s a neat product and it looks really nice on a table (I can’t wait to send this before Christmas so you all can have a really cute decoration)
-The clouds are so big and fluffy, even bigger than the ones we have in the Sierras, and when there is a thunderstorm it shakes the entire house…those storms will make the ones at home seem like pathetic drizzles
-Going to the karaoke place called the Someteño in Somoto and listening to all the horrible sounding English songs sung by Nicas (I wanted to tackle a guy while he was singing “Hotel California, yeah it was that bad)…course when I sing anything, they go nuts and I instantly make 10 new friends at once
-People are still valiant enough to give up their seats on the bus for mothers with children and frail older folks…Nicas have some sort of social decency!
-Having blonde hair and blue eyes immediately has celebrity status perks like being able to dance with the cutest guy in the place (sadly these are very rare a find), being recognized on the street, my kids listening to me a little bit more intently than their regular Nica teacher…overhearing kids bragging that they have the “Chela” teacher gave me sort of an ego
-Rosquillas are found plenty in Somoto, they are dry cornmeal cracker-type things mixed with cheese and then formed into mini donuts…I love how they cost less than 10 cents for a bag that can last a couple bus rides in my purse
-In Somoto you can always ask local personality Tololo for a song or two on his guitar in a restaurant, on a park bench, or on a doorstep for a couple Córdobas…he sometimes gets annoying but he has definitely grown on me
-At 5:00am in the morning the Mariachis continue to play on at the bar…good to see musicians so enthusiastic about borrowed music from
-Kids never fail to give me a million hugs!
The Bad
-My kids asked for my phone # the first day I met them…wtf mate, I’m their teacher!
-Since I am “Gringa” everyone wants to practice their English with me, whether it be during Business Class or on the street…sometimes I just lose patience with this and I want the conversation to end immediately
-Everyone likes to yell the few words they know in English (aka “I love you”, “How is you?”, “Goodbye”), thinking this will spur instant conversation or that I will show them more attention…the accent tends to hurt my ears
-That celebrity status I was talking about, well it sometimes gets old….yes, I am “chela” aka “white person” and thanks so much for pointing that out to me because I hadn’t noticed that before
-I have a new perfume and it’s called OFF!...two words: mosquitoes suck
-Can’t be too friendly to the opposite sex, even if it’s a 60 year old man…he might fall in love with you!...can’t I just make friendly conversation without someone asking for my #?
-No one has change for the equivalence of a $5.00 bill…you run a business, carry change for God’s sake!
-The “Love” debate, how everyone can fall in love at first sight even though probably 90% commit adultery, have 5 girlfriends/boyfriends (mainly it’s the boys who have a million girls at their disposal), or have 10 illegitimate children…wouldn’t Nica children see this atrocity and not want to commit the same acts?
-Nicas are probably on the average fatter than Americans and don’t understand why so many of them have diabetes…oh I don’t know, maybe because they deny cream has fat or they dump half a bowl of sugar in their coffee every morning?
-Our housekeeper in Cusmapa didn’t know the earth traveled around the sun…I’m not sure I want to cry because it’s sad or sigh because of the educational system
The Ugly
-The bus breaking down on the road, getting flat tires, or not leaving at all…we need better Nica mechanics and it’s just plain annoying when I’m trying to transport cold groceries for a 3 hour bus ride. Also if there is a schedule, stick to it!
-Nicas asking me to buy them things aka the lady at the grocery store who wanted me to buy her an ice cream….uh NO! Not only does it have no nutritional value, but she had a handful of other groceries…did she REALLY need that ice cream? Fine then, by it yourself!
-Nicas asking me to give them things that I am wearing (that are mine), aka my only pair of earrings when they are already wearing earrings…I have yet to understand this part of the culture: “You are gringo so give me what you have, even if I might already have enough, because you are white and already have too much”
-I am seen walking around with a coworker who is around my age, so instantly he becomes my boyfriend and it is the talk of the town…come on people, what grade are we in? Like 7th?
-The dogs, horses and cows are so underweight and malnourished…makes me appreciate the SPCA at home!
-No gratitude is shown, nor is showing up at a house uninvited and empty-handed for dinner in poor manners …I made a really nice dinner for Lauren’s birthday and we all chipped in to pay for it, then 4 Nicas just roll in and expect to be fed without saying Thank You!!! This part of the culture I shall probably not get over! Say thank you, is it that hard? I’ve met people at home who don’t have a lot and they are the most thankful people ever…but here if you have nothing, you don’t have to show gratitude because duh you don’t have anything! Drives me nuts! Maybe because my parents raised my sister and I to say thank you for EVERYTHING! I appreciate this value now very much!
At least there are more Good than Bad or Ugly right?
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Somoto Chronicles, Part 1
Today is one of those ordinary Nica days where it starts raining at night and when you wake up it is still raining. And what does rain in the morning usually mean in Nica? No class.
It makes sense for Somoto that there isn’t any class because probably about 50 percent of the kids walk anywhere from 40 min. to 3 hours to get to class every day because they live out in the campo. It’s not like at home where we get dropped off by our parents on their way to the office at 7:30am or simply park our cars in the lot and walk under an umbrella to class. First world vs. third world. But then again, this could be a place that gets no rain at all right? We haven’t had real rain since I’ve been here, about 2 weeks, and I could see that most of the river (I guess it’s more a creek) was already dried up. And this is winter right now! I thought we’d always have water in the creek!
I forget how California, more specifically Northern California is so different from most places in regards to water supply. We rely on the winter snow and rain to supply with water for the summer, but not just drinking water…water that allows us to take our gasoline powered barcos (boats) and drag our kids along in an innertube. We whine when not enough snow fell during the year because now we can’t escape the heat as easily. But at least not yet (knock on wood) there hasn’t been a major shortage right? Course I’m not at home and I can’t answer that question. I’m more worried about our crops and vineyards in California not having enough water to irrigate quality produce and wine grapes!
Back to Nica time, I guess it’ll be a productive day for me: write this blog, get some letters written to leaders around the community about our Empresa Creativa competition in September, and read this new book I got from Callie (Fabretto volunteer in Cusmapa) called Eat, Love, Pray (I recommend this book for any woman!). This morning I woke up at 7:00am hoping to take another cold shower and I wake up to find that not only is it raining, but there is no electricity and no running water. Ugh! I smell like OFF! bug repellent and I’d like to wash it off! Maybe I’ll catch some rain water and shower with that. My new host family has a shower faucet so they don’t save the water in big old oil drums like my old host family did. It’s nice to have the cold water come out of the faucet because it warms it up a bit, yet annoying on days like these when I really wouldn’t mind taking a bucket bath just to get the yuck off of me.
I’m with a new host family in Somoto till about the 2nd week of September and then I am allowed to move elsewhere. They are nice, but it feels like more of a business contract with them rather than being part of the family like I was back in my training town. However, my host mom got ahold of her friend who has a house for rent and hopefully I’ll be able to see it soon. It’s not going to be as expensive as I thought renting in downtown would be, but I’m still going to ask around the city and see if there are other options. Right now I don’t feel very grounded because I lack space! I have my room of course, a 10 by 10 room approx, but there is no place to hang my clothes or even begin to organize my life for 2 years! I have my whole life thrown onto the extra bed and the rest in my suitcase. I know it will be better soon; I just hate being partly stressed out because I have no room to be organized.
My kids at the Somoto Oratorio on Monday told me they didn’t care about the course anymore and they didn’t want to compete in the competition on September 25th. So, I had no ambition to teach this course to these kids who could care less about the course or the fact that people at the Oratorio actually care about them. There are so many resources these kids receive at the Oratorios but so many of them fail to actually use them to the fullest extent. They are more worried about chatting on their cell phones, buying Doritos-type chips, and spreading chisme (rumors) around the classroom. Yes yes, I remember that is how teenagers are back home but then again the majority of the kids from home (I mean Loomis home, not the U.S. in general) aren’t trying to rise above poverty. And the thing that kills me is just seeing the wasted potential of these smart kids!
This kind of goes along with the attitude of “Si Dios Quiere”…which means “If God wishes”, which is very shocking to typical “Western thought”. It is one of the aspects of the culture I shall have a hard time getting over. For example, it’s very common to hear “I’m going to the store today” and then “if God wishes” is put at the end of the sentence. (I’m going to the store if God wishes) To me, of course you will go to the store…if YOU want to go or have the motivation to walk the 2 blocks to the market! Or maybe even scarier is the phrase such as “I’m going to college after I graduate high school, if God wishes”. So, basically instead of working hard in high school on one’s grades, many of them choose to do mediocre work and hope that a higher power will grant them this wish. Sometimes I feel many Nicas are just waiting to be saved by something higher up, so they have a poor attitude or poor motivation to work…or if they have a job, they don’t seem like they want to work. Another example, some markets I walk into look at customers and basically roll their eyes because they don’t really want to help them. Why work then? Why be in business? Don’t you want my money? We are so used to customer service and giving GOOD customer service at home, I really miss that! I mean, is a smile so hard to make when a customer walks into your shop? Another volunteer mentioned an interesting comment: “Nicas like to ‘play’ the roles of life…for example, ‘I work in a bank and I am playing banker’ or ‘I own a market so I will play owner of this shop’”. A very true comment and a very sad comment at that.
It makes sense for Somoto that there isn’t any class because probably about 50 percent of the kids walk anywhere from 40 min. to 3 hours to get to class every day because they live out in the campo. It’s not like at home where we get dropped off by our parents on their way to the office at 7:30am or simply park our cars in the lot and walk under an umbrella to class. First world vs. third world. But then again, this could be a place that gets no rain at all right? We haven’t had real rain since I’ve been here, about 2 weeks, and I could see that most of the river (I guess it’s more a creek) was already dried up. And this is winter right now! I thought we’d always have water in the creek!
I forget how California, more specifically Northern California is so different from most places in regards to water supply. We rely on the winter snow and rain to supply with water for the summer, but not just drinking water…water that allows us to take our gasoline powered barcos (boats) and drag our kids along in an innertube. We whine when not enough snow fell during the year because now we can’t escape the heat as easily. But at least not yet (knock on wood) there hasn’t been a major shortage right? Course I’m not at home and I can’t answer that question. I’m more worried about our crops and vineyards in California not having enough water to irrigate quality produce and wine grapes!
Back to Nica time, I guess it’ll be a productive day for me: write this blog, get some letters written to leaders around the community about our Empresa Creativa competition in September, and read this new book I got from Callie (Fabretto volunteer in Cusmapa) called Eat, Love, Pray (I recommend this book for any woman!). This morning I woke up at 7:00am hoping to take another cold shower and I wake up to find that not only is it raining, but there is no electricity and no running water. Ugh! I smell like OFF! bug repellent and I’d like to wash it off! Maybe I’ll catch some rain water and shower with that. My new host family has a shower faucet so they don’t save the water in big old oil drums like my old host family did. It’s nice to have the cold water come out of the faucet because it warms it up a bit, yet annoying on days like these when I really wouldn’t mind taking a bucket bath just to get the yuck off of me.
I’m with a new host family in Somoto till about the 2nd week of September and then I am allowed to move elsewhere. They are nice, but it feels like more of a business contract with them rather than being part of the family like I was back in my training town. However, my host mom got ahold of her friend who has a house for rent and hopefully I’ll be able to see it soon. It’s not going to be as expensive as I thought renting in downtown would be, but I’m still going to ask around the city and see if there are other options. Right now I don’t feel very grounded because I lack space! I have my room of course, a 10 by 10 room approx, but there is no place to hang my clothes or even begin to organize my life for 2 years! I have my whole life thrown onto the extra bed and the rest in my suitcase. I know it will be better soon; I just hate being partly stressed out because I have no room to be organized.
My kids at the Somoto Oratorio on Monday told me they didn’t care about the course anymore and they didn’t want to compete in the competition on September 25th. So, I had no ambition to teach this course to these kids who could care less about the course or the fact that people at the Oratorio actually care about them. There are so many resources these kids receive at the Oratorios but so many of them fail to actually use them to the fullest extent. They are more worried about chatting on their cell phones, buying Doritos-type chips, and spreading chisme (rumors) around the classroom. Yes yes, I remember that is how teenagers are back home but then again the majority of the kids from home (I mean Loomis home, not the U.S. in general) aren’t trying to rise above poverty. And the thing that kills me is just seeing the wasted potential of these smart kids!
This kind of goes along with the attitude of “Si Dios Quiere”…which means “If God wishes”, which is very shocking to typical “Western thought”. It is one of the aspects of the culture I shall have a hard time getting over. For example, it’s very common to hear “I’m going to the store today” and then “if God wishes” is put at the end of the sentence. (I’m going to the store if God wishes) To me, of course you will go to the store…if YOU want to go or have the motivation to walk the 2 blocks to the market! Or maybe even scarier is the phrase such as “I’m going to college after I graduate high school, if God wishes”. So, basically instead of working hard in high school on one’s grades, many of them choose to do mediocre work and hope that a higher power will grant them this wish. Sometimes I feel many Nicas are just waiting to be saved by something higher up, so they have a poor attitude or poor motivation to work…or if they have a job, they don’t seem like they want to work. Another example, some markets I walk into look at customers and basically roll their eyes because they don’t really want to help them. Why work then? Why be in business? Don’t you want my money? We are so used to customer service and giving GOOD customer service at home, I really miss that! I mean, is a smile so hard to make when a customer walks into your shop? Another volunteer mentioned an interesting comment: “Nicas like to ‘play’ the roles of life…for example, ‘I work in a bank and I am playing banker’ or ‘I own a market so I will play owner of this shop’”. A very true comment and a very sad comment at that.
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!
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!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
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!)
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.
Friday, August 1, 2008
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?
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!)
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!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
