¡Puro Frijoles!

Why pure beans? Because myself and this country eat so much gallo pinto that our bodies are puro frijoles. It’s great for a vegetarian trying to get protein. But for those who don’t agree with beans, they may struggle a bit with the frequency of them.
¡Como el tiempo vuelva! (How the time flies) I am currently at the end of week 7 of my 11 week training period. It has been full of activities and thus provides my explanation for my absence from my blog. However, here is a summary of what’s been going on. During week 5, I went on a site visit with a fellow trainee to a town called El Coral, Chontales. We visited a volunteer, Jenny, who is approaching the end of her Peace Corps experience. (Someone from our group will replace her in her site.) Her site is considered medium sized. Jenny is a “star” volunteer and has a long list of accomplishments in her town. She is currently working to provoke interest in a water filtration project. We were fortunate to see her give charlas about it to different groups and try to convey the importance of purified water versus their fairly contaminated water. The main issue is that it is somewhat costly and they will have to save for awhile in order to buy the system/apparatus. It was exciting to see how all that we have been learning had come into play in her site. There was also a delicious food we had a few times there called quesillos. They consist of a tortilla with cheese (the taste and consistency reminds me of mozzarella cheese), a cream mixture, a bit of hot sauce, and onions. This town is also out in cowboy campo (country) so there were a ton of men walking around in cowboy hats and boots. We got up one morning about 5:30am to go milk cows. I was a bit squeamish as I wet my hands with the warm milk and then tried to milk the udders. It was unexpectedly challenging to try to get the same quantity of milk that the farmers were rapidly getting. I also learned that the majority of volunteers live on their own in their communities after 6 weeks and consequently my dream campo house has graced my daydreams and doodles in my notebook ever since. I am also aspiring to make and maintain a chicken coop out of recycled material. (Any suggestions gladly accepted.) We will see how that one plays out.
Second issue of importance: I was extremely saddened to discover that our garden that we had nurtured to adolescence was unfortunately ripped from the ground. (Culprits are unknown. Suspects: young school boys messing with the gringos.)Therefore, we no longer have a garden, quite disheartening, I am not going to lie. At our houses, we are trying to grow a few plants in cut pop bottles in order to still get the experience of harvesting and such.
Otherwise, I am adjusting to cultural differences while enjoying learning about a new culture. Our youth group has been fairly successful, despite their disappointment with the garden mishap. The other day we made pulseras (bracelets) using bottle caps. We made holes with nails and braided strips of plastic bags to make the string. The amount of things you can do with garbage stuns me. I am working on a few projects for my future site. (Updates to come). The issue we have been adapting to concerning our group is that if it rains here, most likely no one will come. This is true of all events with all Nicaraguans. I have even seen school being canceled because of rain. I find it a bit peculiar considering they have a whole season of rain. However, I can understand that their building structures don’t allow for the best noise control during storms. They believe that if you get wet you may get sick.I guess the saying "rain or shine" would not really be applicable here. Another concern is the poor drainage of the streets. I also taught on my own to fourth graders the other day. It was challenging since it was about energy and that is difficult for me to explain in English. Tomorrow I will teach about sound. (Fingers crossed.) On Sunday, all of the other trainees and myself got together for a finca (farm) party thrown by a trainee’s family. It was very entertaining as they provided very creative games for us to compete against each other. One being a sack race and peel the banana with your mouth was another. Each town was in charge of a part of the meal. We brought the desert: Nica style S’mores. It consisted of marshmallows and cookies with a chocolate side (We couldn’t find chocolate bars or graham crackers.) Despite the changes, they still tasted awesome. Last night, I went to a Super 18 Birthday Party. It was costume themed so three other trainees and myself home-made our Ninja Turtle costumes. Conversely, the other party goers showed us up with their expensive or just in general, more creative costumes. I loved it since they don’t really celebrate Halloween here so I still felt like I got to celebrate it. The best part of the night was the red carpet that all of us had to strut down as everyone took pictures. The living room was changed into a discoteca with a DJ and strobe lights. I never know what to expect here. There are events in my town or around it almost every 3 days and they never cease to amaze me.
I have about a month left and then I will be off on my own (YIKES). No more Spanish class for 8 hours a day. No more English breaks with the other trainees. No more hand-holding. On Wednesday we are told our site assignments and basically our home for the next two years. The following Monday I will spend a week in this site and meet my counterpart. I am very excited but also nervous about it all.