Regional Competition Madriz 2009

I want to write about the awesomeness of my regional event, but I'm going to do it when I get the next round of pix. For now, please enjoy the splendor which was the Madriz Regional Competition of Empresa Creativa. I promise to go into detail when I have the other pix!!!

Thank you to Kristen, Penny, Jennifer, Emily, Peter, and Lauren for all the help before and during the event! I couldn't have done it without you guys!

Kristen, my fellow Small Biz PCV in my department, and fellow event coordinator

Setting up tables...crap the tents are up yet!

Ahhhh, there they are...whew!

Purses made out of old clothes...to your style and tastes...

Café...always good to have!

Can't see them, but they are vases made out of bamboo.

How many times do we need to say that necklaces are not creative...

My girls from Cusmapa with their recycled glass jewelry...at least it's something different!

All 6 judges showed up...that's unheard of!!! How did we get so lucky! I swear I'm not scolding Kristen in the background!!!

Pretty sign that we will use for years to come!

Spectators came in and out, but at least it was open to the public!

The kids sitting around...come on guys, sell, sell, sell!

The choir from my public school came to sing some songs and the national ath

Profesor Ernesto led the choir with his guitar

More music by the Instituto Nacional de Madriz, bravo!

Krisly, age 5, a daughter of a Fabretto coworker, does a folkloric dance called "The Somoteño". She was soooo adorable!

The crowd couldn't get enough of her!

Some highschoolers singing "Colgando en tus manos", a popular Pop song at the moment. They really got into it and put alot of acting into the singing as well which made it fun.

Another folkloric dance by the House of Adolescents from the Mayor's Office of Somoto.

They were also very good and everyone seemed to like them.

Since the cultural acts were going a little longer than expected, the judges took a tour of the groups to ask some peliminary questions and get their hands on the products. Thanks Kristen for suggesting this! It worked out great!

Sadly we had a group make picture frames out of fomey that made it to regional. Technically fomey was banned this year, but we had to let them in...at least they had a good presentation.

Some of my Fabretto kids not looking very lively...I told them they needed to look approachable if they were going to sell more.

The Cusmapa girls explain aspects of their market (aka potential clients) to the judge from Palacaguina.

Coffee boys again.

Bamboo Vases otra vez.

No comment...

Yay more dancing by the kids from the Mayor's Office!

They wore their best costumes for the event.

We also had a group of little girls dance folklore and merengue. Here they are in their merengue outfits.

Each group had 7 minutes to present their Business Plan and then the judges had 3 minutes to ask questions.

My group from the public school, their business was a student-run restaurant.

Everyone seemed to find the Master of Ceremony energetic and entertaining!

We got through 9 groups in less than an hour and a half...amazing!

One of Kristen's groups from Palacaguina.

My brillant and very creative idea for trophies, clay piggy banks that we paid under $5 for and then I paid Anna $3 to paint them. Way better than regular trophies and way cuter!

Gold, silver, bronze for the first 3 places of course, then blue pigs for Best Presentation, Best Business Plan and the Most Creative Product/Service.

I'm so proud how well they turned out!

Thanks Emily (one of my bosses) for being there and helping with awarding the teams their trophies!

Emily and Kristen waiting for me to announce the 3rd place team, which was the coffee group from Condega.

The girls from Fabretto Cusmapa won 2nd place!

And the winner of the golden piggy is...

Oh wait...another shot of the MC...

The Bamboo Vases from Palacaguina! Congrats Kristen!

This group now goes on to the National Competition on November 12th in Managua.

New Friends From Canada!

At the moment there are a group of Canadians here in Somoto doing the Canada World Youth program. From what I understand a group of young Canadians goes to a 3rd world country for 3 months to do projects with Host Country Nationals (in this case Nicas) and then they go back to Canada all together to do a project there. It's an interesting and fun concept, and at the least it's nice to have a conversation with non-tourist gringos in town.

These pictures are from a night where they were supposed to host a concert to raise money for their Nica counterparts so they could pay for their medical clearance examinations. Sadly, another bar was having an event at the same time and not only was the entrance for the other event was cheaper, got you a shot of tequila with it and a dance show by "ladies of the night". Needless to say, the ladies won so the concert and fundraiser did not happen. But I did get a chance to hang out with them and dance a little to the DJ's tunes.

Shot-gunning cervezas...yeah, I'm past that college phase. I will admit to playing flip cup that night...and winning!

Gotta be fierce!

With Alex, my hair cut looks pretty good! Not bad for under 20 bucks!

It was supposed to be a Charlie's Angels pose with our cigars...I sort of blew it...oh well, still looking good!

When drunks sneak through the door you have to carefully kick them out or they'll whack you!

The last picture of the night.

Mi Casa es su Casa

I think I might win the prize “PCV Who Moved The Most During Service”, not counting moving from the U.S. to Nicaragua or training town to site, I have moved all of my stuff 5 times in the last year.

Move 1 – 1st Host Family in Somoto to Fabretto Volunteer House *September 2008

Move 2 – Old Fabretto House to New Fabretto House *November 2008

Move 3 – New Fabretto House to Dr. Carlos and Doña Vera’s fancy house *February 2009

Move 4 – Fancy house to Matt & Jess’s (temporary move for 2 weeks) *July 2009

Move 5 – Matt & Jess’s to Karla & Family’s *July 2009

I pray to the real estate gods that I don’t have to move ever again in this town! Like I said, not only is it a pain in the arse to find a good place to live, but it’s even harder to find a good family to live with who isn’t only interested in $$$$. After finding out I had to move and then being a couch surfer at my site mates’ house, I dreaded starting the house search…yet again.

Somoto is a small city, which translates: a small housing market. In bigger cities like Leon, Granada and Esteli, one has more options and a bigger area to work with. I have about 5 blocks by 10 to work with…granted a Nica block is about 25 yards más o menos (more or less). Outside of the town center there are more houses, but one doesn’t want to live where the paved roads turn to dirt. I wanted to stay more in the center, which is about 4 blocks by 6 blocks, so I could be close to everything and be in the nicer part of town.

So how does one go about finding a place to live without Craigslist or the local newspaper? Well, you ask around. Usually it’s best to start with coworkers and people you know around town. For example I started out with coworkers, the ladies at the post office, Somoto friends, and even a couple random people on the street. If those sources prove to be unreliable it’s best to go to local pharmacies and inquire within. Why the pharmacies? Well, first of all there is a family owned pharmacy on every other block and they receive business from the neighborhood…aka they are a great source for renting information, and the occasional gossip.

My room is a good 9 by 8, not including the bathroom and armoire area. I have one window that some air passes through, the floor is made of tile (like most others) and my ceiling is open which means I can see all the electrical wires running around. So far it’s been great, especially the fact that my bathroom is directly attached and I have another little space where all my clothes can go without taking up space in my room.

The house is made up of the store in front, three bedrooms on the right side, kitchen, semi-living room where the TV is and then on the left side which is apart is my room and Karla’s room. The only sounds I hear are the ones outside my window and most of the time it’s pretty quiet. My students are more familiar with the house, so they tend to stop by more often to chat which is nice. In addition, we have a leña cooking unit, which is a clay stovetop fueled by wood out in the backyard. In many Nica households this stove is inside the house which leads to many respiratory problems and these types of stoves are one of the leading causes of deforestation in Nicaragua. Many young trees are prematurely cut down and none are replaced.

The family here consists of Karla, who is about 37 and her two children Mario (12) and Eddie (5). Karla’s husband passed away last year due to a sudden heart attack when he was working in El Salvador. The cook/housekeeper Clementina also sleeps here most of the time. Sometimes Karla’s brothers Mario (35) and Byron (27) sleep in one of the extra rooms when they have work in Somoto, but most of the time they live in one of the outside communities of Somoto. It’s very interesting to me how here in Nica even lower-middle class families have housekeepers and cooks, and even hire other people to come and do the laundry. Granted most of the hired help probably makes around $50 a month, but still that’s a pretty big cost for a family of lower income.

Since I am without a washing machine now, I have decided to pay the lady Karla hires to do laundry to wash mine as well. The other day I had 40 pieces of clothing (underwear are 3 = 1 piece) and paid under $4 for the soap, softener and the labor. It is great for me because I don’t have to spend hours washing clothes, a chore which I truly loathe even with a machine…I’d rather do dishes. And at the same time it’s a wage for Arlen a woman from Santa Isabel, a community of Somoto. My clothes actually came out cleaner and smelling better than if I would have washed them. I’ll probably have her do my laundry two times a month now. The greatest part of the whole situation is everybody wins!

As for location, I’m a block away from where I used to live and I’m still right in downtown Somoto. Even better, if I need anything from the store I don’t even have to go there because Karla’s shop is 10 steps away from my room…haha, I’m soooooo lazy.

We also have a boxer named Layka and a cat named Mitch. Two months ago the dog gave birth to 10 puppies, 5 survived and were all sold at about 1 month old. This was her 2nd pregnancy and last time she had only 3 puppies…poor girl tripled the amount of offspring this time. They don’t know which dog knocked her up so the puppies might turn out to be oddly proportioned like so many Nica dogs are. I hope they turn out to be really cute! The cat is not so nice at times and likes to attack feet, but it’s still too small to actually hurt anyone with its bite.

Wiring across the ceiling, at least I have electricity though!

You can see my tin roof, luckily there are no spaces in between the walls and roof. This means alot less critters come in!

All my pictures on my wall! I love having everyone up there!

World Map that Tim sent me, I put where everyone is at right now with pink stickys! Can you see Allison all the way in Africa in Tanzania?

I put the postcards sent to me around the map, approximately in the area where they came from.

Lots of books and an empty wine bottle on the floor.

Desk, air conditioning (har har) and my beloved country's flag.

Where I sleep, sans mosquito net because it's not too bad where I live.

Peace Corps Map!

The two quotes I read everyday before I walk out the door. One is from Terri Kempton and the other from someone else who I can't remember at the moment...oops.

I've got everything necessary to sobrevivir (survive).

Bathroom on one side, closet on the other.

Yay for working showers! No hot water, but at least no bucket baths when there is water!

Having a closet is really nice and handy!

What Eddie, you don't want your picture taken?

Needless to say, that ended real quick...

Putting his sunglasses on one of the puppies.

Posing with our dog Layka and her puppies.

You can kind of see the rest of the house...I'll get some better pix soon.

And now he's in the bucket.

In his swimming pool.

And annoying poor Mitch.

Arlen taking a break from housework.

Eddie with Karla, reading one of the books from the Cusmapa house I brought with me.

Mario and I, he's at that "I'm too cool" teenager stage.

Karla and I

Nicaragua's Independence Day

Setember 15th marks the Independence Day of Nicaragua, so what does that mean? Parades, drums, no school and lots of loud noises for about 2 weeks. I spent the holiday week up in Cusmapa with Lauren, which was a nice change since I had been in Somoto for many consecutive weeks. The students do a parade and then there are also dance and drum competitions later in the day. Nothing more to say about this holiday because that's about it in a nutshell!

These girls are baton twirlers, or gimastas...IMO it's just an excuse for little girls to wear short skirts and hooker boots, which is quite disturbing to me.

Gieselle in her uniform with the patriotic sash.

I was so happy when the drummers stopped practicing for this event...such a headache.

The cymbal player waiting for his moment of triumph! Other than that he just looked bored, poor guy!

Some students form the Oratorio in Cusmapa.

Danilo looked so handsome that day!

Norlan's little brother was running around and we snapped this shot of him.

Wilmer's brother (can't remember his name) wanted a picture with me.

Arlen, Wilmer's sister, and her friend

And again with me this time!

A cute picture of Marlon hiding away in the bushes.

More drummers...they just don't go away! Hehe..

...and more...

Everyone in the town was out watching the band and their baton girls, the building in front is the Catholic church in Cusmapa.

The students from the communities of Cusmapa, all lined up to march down the street.

And even more students...

You see what I mean...short skirts and high boots...