Nuestro grupo de Jóvenes, los otros aspirantes y yo hicimos un huerto

Monday will be the 3 week mark of my Peace Corps experience. Since I left my “quarantine” situation I have been so busy. These 3 months of training are going to be intense and filled with charlas (talks) on health/ safety/ technical skills, many reading assignments, 6 hours of Spanish class each day, and shadowing at school classes. Then we will put it all into practice in our own charlas presented in a school class. We will be forming a youth group and developing our own gardens. The purpose is to prepare us to enter our community of 2 years and be completely ready to do it all on our own.
Last week was the celebration of their Independence, and as such they had no school for the week. On our bus ride home from one of our charlas last Saturday, we were privileged to see the running of La Antorcha (the torch). It is run through Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and usually Honduras (but it was deemed unstable and skipped this year because of their present war). The torch is a symbol of the independence of these Latin American countries from their colonizers. It is also shown on their money with the 5 mountains placed in the center of the bill. During the short parade, there was a boy holding the torch, other children surrounding him along with police cars and trucks full of people (honking their horns both before and after he passed). It was almost like we were just as much a spectacle as they were. When they noticed a bus full of Americans they were pointing and yelling “HELLO” and “BYE” at us. Then on Monday, the actual day of independence, they had a long parade with all the schools. Every grade of each school of my town had their own outfit and flag. Some of the schools had their own band and special dances that they preformed. They all filed into the outdoor stadium and sang songs about independence, the importance of anafetabismo (reading and writing literacy), and lit off a few fireworks. Then they filed-out again and did more coordinated dances.
This past week I have been attending my daily Spanish class and my Wednesday / Friday charlas. The most exciting and challenging tasks of the week have been forming our youth group and developing our garden. I missed last week (quarantine) when they went into the school library and asked for participation from the students. I was present for the planning of it all. We held our first youth group meeting in the local library with about 18 participants (ages 7 – 18) and it went off without a hitch. We started with a general introduction and played a dinámica (a group game). We threw the ball and they had to answer with their name, age, favorite singer, and a fact they knew about the United States (that proved to be a bit challenging for them). Then we showed them the map we made of their town and asked them to show us where they lived and what important spots we were missing. They said we were missing the ice cream shops and internet cafes! Then we shared the plans to make a group garden that would start the following day (Thursday and again Saturday). We played another dinámica where we made noises with our bodies leading up to a tormenta (storm). We talked about what to bring to help with the gardening. It was great and they all seemed so excited. The next day we met at our meeting site, the yard of a local school. The space had been evaluated by Peace Corps, a specialists said there were a few challenges ahead of us. The site we have chosen (really the only one available) has drainage issues and it is infested with beetle larva and leaf-cutter ants (both of which will eat our crops). There was a large mass of weeds to clear in sweltering heat. Thursday, we cleared the large majority with machetes (I am horrible at using them), shovels, and our hands. Sweat poured down our faces and my energy was drained. I was surrounded by such energetic and hard working kids who were so excited about their garden. On Saturday we worked for 4 hours clearing the rest of the land. To make our seed bed, we had to break-up the soil, take-out the larva (ekk), rip out the shrubs, and then turn the soil to make it softer and easier for the plants to root. We also added cal (a chemical that will kill the insects and helps the plants) and also some of the soil of the leaf cutting ants which is a natural fertilizer. Then we built up our seed bed, put black bags over it so the sun will heat it and kill all inside. In three days we will plant our seeds in this area. With the remaining area we added rows for cucumbers. We planted the seeds, the cucumbers don’t require a seed bed because they will not be transplanted and the soil didn’t have to be turned because the seeds are stronger (which means it took about ½ the time of the little seed bed). We also planted 6 small circular beds above the ground. They have two types of plants that will not be transplanted. To protect the garden from pooling rain water we dug a ditch around the garden. It was very tiring and HARD, by the end of the day I was a red tomato (I wore sunscreen but I think I sweated most of it off). We still have to build a fence and water the garden every day. We need to pour a small mixture on the leaves to kills the ants. In a month we will transplant the seed bed plants into two permanent rows that still needs to be developed.

Finally, I just wanted to mention some other Nicaragüense (Nicaraguan) habits that I have noticed:
 They scrunch up their noses and point them forward to show confusion or to direct you towards something they want you to do.
 They stick-out their hand, drop the wrist down and wave the fingers back and forth in unity to tell you to come to them (I had a hard time with this one at first because I thought it meant they were “shushing” me away)
 They also use a hissing through their teeth noise to get someone’s attention. Sometimes this is in a nice way, such as from within your house. Other times, it is like a catcall to a girl/me on the street followed by “Mi amor” (my love) or “Que bonita” (how beautiful).
 They mention God a lot in their sayings to others. They usually ask how you slept, if you slept well they may say " well, thanks to God" (Bien, gracias a Dios). Or when you are leaving the house and you are saying goodbye to your host mom, she will most likely tell you “that you go with God” (Que te vaya con Dios).
 Some families have children that appear like the stereotypical American with blond, red, or light brown hair, freckles, and light complexion. The funny thing is that their parents don’t look like them but rather a stereotypical Nicaraguan with dark, Latin features. My host mom explained to me that this is generally because one of their grandparents was white and that the traits usually skip a generation.

This sweltering heat and humidity is difficult for all of us, even the people that live here.
 Also, here el Niño is a phenomenon that causes less rain than usual (it is the opposite in the U.S.) and la Niña is when there is a ton of rain. Right now we are having el Niño, which means the rain never cools us off.

I also wanted to give a shout-out to Highcrest Middle School's Spanish classes (Wilmette, Illinois) and my former Spanish Teacher! Thanks for following my blog!

Quarantine?

As I sit in Quarantine, yes I am in quarantine (I’ll get to that in a second), I can’t help but think...I better update my blog! I am currently in Managua,the capital of Nicaragua, an air conditioned room with room service and cable television. Last night my roommate/cellmate and I ordered Pizza Hut. Seem a little bit strange? Well, it should. On Sunday night, I was feeling very sick. I felt dizzy, nauseous, cold chills, etc. However, I had taken my malaria pill in the morning and I read in our
medical packet that the reactions that I was having are normal for some people. So the next day I went to my 8am Spanish class and asked my teacher to call the medical office and request the other option of pills for me. Since it was Labor Day though, the Peace Corps office was closed and so we were going to call the next day. After the first half of class, I went home to eat lunch. (I am feeling great btw.) I was in the middle of lunch when I hear my host parents and the host mom of another trainee (the mom at the house where we have Spanish class)telling my parents that I need to go with her b/c I have a phone call from the medical office. However, my parents are arguing with her; telling her that I will come after lunch b/c I am in the middle of it. After awhile I intervened and was like no, no it's ok I will go with her and eat my lunch later after Spanish class. So I get into a taxi and ride over to their house where I have to wait for a phone call back from the Peace Corps Medical Office. At this point I think they must just be calling me back about the phone call my Spanish teacher made earlier. So they eventually call back and ask me how I am feeling and I let them know, Great! But last night I was sick with this,this and this. So then they proceed to tell me that I needed to come to Managua to be quarantined and observed for 5 days. The volunteer that I had shared my room with the first 2 days of training was sick with something, possibly the swine flu (so they have to be careful)!! So of course I started to cry b/c I was scared; I didn’t want to fall behind. And I didn’t want to scare my family which has a daughter who is pregnant. But the host mom there and my teacher said don’t worry, it is normal. They are just taking a precaution. I told my family that I was going to be observed and packed up my stuff. While waiting for my ride, I actually had the best conversation I have had while I have been in Nicaragua with my host mom. All in Spanish, we talked for about 2 hours about her life, problems of the town, marriage, etc. Then my teacher came and the three of us continued the conversation. So, despite the current issue at hand, I was proud of myself for holding such a long conversation in Spanish and understanding 80% of it. Haha. But then my ride came in a Peace Corps truck, wearing a paper mask. Great! I was handed one and my new roommate,not the original sick volunteer, but another trainee who was with me in the old room and therefore was also being quarantined. We rode to the city, went to the medical office, and each were handed preventative medicine, a box of masks, and antibacterial medicine. Also, I will be receiving a different type of Malaria medicine! We were taken to our hotel room and found-out that there were 2 other trainees being quarantined with us. They have also assured us that they will figure out a way to catch us up and so we shouldn’t worry about that. We have to wear paper masks when we leave the room. We get a lot of stares. Luckily, we have been here for four days and none of us have been feeling sick in the least and so they called us to let us know that tonight we can leave. Thank goodness because otherwise I may go a bit STIR CRAZY here!

This is us in our masks. I am the one in the brown and my roommate for the last couple of days is the one in the blue :)

Hello blog followers :)

Buenos dias! On Friday, we had one more day of pre-training in our training camp and by evening we were all settling into the houses of our new host families. In the morning we went over general environment topics (TEFL went into another room). We were given about 15 different books covering a range of topics (and reading assignments in each…it’s like I’m in a college course again!), and then we were split into different Spanish test groups. The groups were split again into three levels:novice (beginning), intermediate (middle to high level Spanish) and advanced/superior (fluency). I was put into the intermediate level and for an hour we did different interactive Spanish games to see which people worked best together. Later these groups were further broken down into groups of 3-4 trainees (out of the original 8 in intermediate). Then we were assigned to towns where we will receive training for 3 months. I was assigned to a small/medium sized town with another girl and two boys. I live with a fairly large family. My host mom and dad have three daughters- 10, 20 and 25 years of age. The 25 year old is married, 5 months pregnant, and has a 7 year old daughter. Beside the family members that I live with, the entire block consists of other brothers and sisters of my host father. My understanding is that typically the father of the family buys a plot of land and eventually leaves the land for his children to split up amongst themselves. As a result, they generally live in close proximity. However, the land is usually given to the sons and the daughters usually go to live with their husband. Sometimes the parents may not have enough land to pass onto their children. This was the case for my host mother whose family didn’t have land to pass on; her family is more spread-out. Nevertheless, family is very important to Nicaraguans. I have a lot of respect for the way that people in Latin American have shown me how much they value their families. It is rare for family members to live far from each other or even in another town. My host mom was saying that is one of the big differences between the U.S. and Nicaraguans. Independence is sought after in the U.S., with some people going as far as they can for things like college. In Latin American you don't leave your home for college. In my host house, the women seem to have a system for how things work. My host mom cooks during the week,the older daughter cooks on the weekends (during the week she is a teacher), and the other daughter cleans when she is not at school. My host father is a truck driver for a construction business. And as I mentioned my host sister is in school, studying engineering in Managua, the capital. She has class from 3 to 8 pm but has a two hour bus ride to get there every day. DEDICATION! I have my own room with a bed, a dresser and a lamp. I flush the toilet and shower in the morning with a bucket of water! They have a huge vat of water, which they then pour a portion into a smaller painter’s bucket. I then use a small bowl to pour the water over my head. It was a bit difficult at first but now I have the hang of it and I think it is a quite effective way to manage the amount of water each person uses every day. Al Gore should take note. I also found the structure of the houses interesting (Thank you dad. I notice the structure of houses). They build the houses with as much “openness” as possible. I believe it is to deal with the humidity, heat and provide more air flow. They use bricks /stone blocks with holes (or rather designs punched-out of the brick), have openings between the walls and the roof, large walls, and big doorways. They generally use big cuts of stone instead of smaller bricks because of the cost of the bricks and the cement is high. I have also found that they love Michael Jackson (and are very taken back by his death :( ) and almost every home has a few rocking chairs (abuelitas). Also, they love baseball. The first three questions I was asked by my host family were: What music do you listen to? What is your favorite comedy tv show? And who is your favorite baseball team? The best part was during my first hour of being at my host house, my host dad had the Chicago SOX game on!!! I was like OMG my family would love this house! That is the other thing. The house I am in, does have cable and the young girls love the Jonas Brothers, Dora the Explorer, The Fairy God Parents, and Jimmy Neutron. Also, I taught my host sisters some card games and since then we have played cards every second that we have had together. They love UNO, KEMPS, and SPOONS.

The young girls also took two of the other trainees and myself on a tour of the town - showing us the park, their school, the mayor’s office, the church, etc. I have also started my Spanish class, which is 4 hours of general interactive vocabulary and grammar lessons. Two more hours include going into the town and learning more technical terms and how to start things like a youth group. I also went to church on Sunday with my host mom and there were big firework noises that kept going off that made me jump each time. It was Mother Mary’s Birthday so I am not sure if that noise is a normal occurrence or not (for my sanity I hope not). For those that do not know I am a vegetarian; so I was somewhat concerned about that. However, my family has been amazingly accommodating and everyday they introduce me to new meals that are not always the most flavorful but are still very tasty. In the morning I am typically given a piece of bread that sometimes has cheese in it, maybe eggs or a potato, a vegetable mixture,and sweet coffee or fresh squeezed juice. Lunch and dinner may be pinto gallo (rice and red beans) with a vegetable soup or some sort of maiz tamale with a salty cheese, or maybe cooked bananas. There are four types and all are used in an assortment of ways: guinea, banana, platano, and I can’t remember at the moment the name of the small, sweet one. I also was given a maiz (corn) drink the other day that looked liked iced coffee but had more the flavor of a sweet juice with an interesting kick. The town seems a bit run down but still beautiful and full of history. There are displays of different propaganda painted onto the walls running through-out the town. There isn’t a huge amount of pollution in the streets. My host mom explained to me that this is a recent development and that the town has really been working hard to control the litter, and they are doing different restoration projects with the money they do have. I also feel very safe here. The people are all friendly and you greet everyone on the street that you pass with Buenos Dias, Buenas tardes, Y Buenas Noches. Though it is considered the winter (invierno) and the end of the rain season, it has only rained about twice and is very hot! This is just a general overview of what I have seen so far in my short time being in my town. That’s all for now! Hasta Pronto!

Some fotos

My weekly allowance of Cordobas (The rate is 20 Cordobas to 1 dollar bill)and
The TEFL (english teaching group)and my group of the environmental volunteers

La Empieza

Hola from NICARAGUA (finally!)
So I only have a few minutes but I thought I would update you on my adventure. I arrived safe and sound!! Our flight from DC to Miami was delayed. So we were stranded in Miami forever and I had only had about 1 hour of sleep, not even and was feeling pretty drowsy. About 3 hours after our original take-off time, we got on the plane. (We being myself and 38 other environmental and english teaching volunteers from an assortment of other states). The flight was uneventful with a bumpy landing and a few gulps to go with it. We were greeted by cheering Peace Corps staff and after 10 minutes of standing at the baggage claim area, found-out that our luggage was in Haiti! So apparently it had traveled more than we had! However, they assured us that it would be arriving the next night and would be delivered by the airport to our resort. Bad omen? Let’s hope not. Then, we all pilled into a van,chugged down the provided chilled bottled water and traveled to our training center. We were fed a lunch, a scrumptious mixture of rice, veggies, French fries and a small salad. Nothing out of the ordinary and besides the ride to the resort which displayed a desolate setting, nothing has seemed like we were in a 3rd world country. After that we were taken to a room, introduced to our training crew, filled-out a few forms, and then informed that tomorrow ,(which is today) we would be having medical interviews and our Spanish interviews/conversations, YIKES. After that , we talked with a few current volunteers who showed us their pictures of their current experience in Nicaragua. When my eyelids could hardly be held open, I knew I needed to go pass-out, which I did and slept like a baby!
Day 2 started early with a pancake breakfast at 7am followed by an ice breaker on the basketball court. The game, which I hear is fairly popular here, is where we sit in chairs in a circle and someone in the middle says something about themselves. Everyone that it applies to, then has to run to a new seat and the person who couldn't find a seat has begin the process again. It was fun and SWEATY!! Then we went in the meeting room and met the new DIRECTOR OF PEACE CORPS, Director Williams. He explained how he is hoping to receive more funding from the government to expand Peace Corps since “we have the wind in our sails from Obama.” Pretty cool to have a president gung-hoe for the cause that I am currently enduring! Following that we had our medical interviews, rabies shots, and an informal Spanish interview to determine our spanish levels and thus those who are considered at your level will train with you during training. Following that we had more lectures on health and safety, money, project overviews, and sang happy birthday to a fellow trainee. Now we are sitting around about to eat dinner and luckily my luggage just arrived and I hope to finally shower my stinkiness away!!! Tonight we are also having a movie night of a special on Nicaraguan cuisine that featured some Peace Corps members and was shown on the Food Network Channel. Yeah! Besos…

Question: How do you pack for 27 months?

Answer: You stuff as much as you can into a hikers backpack, a rolling backpack, and a large carry-on.
Result: EXTREME regret as you get bruises and strange marks on your body from the bags cutting off your circulation.
....HOWEVER... It is 27 months and I do feel fairly well prepared. Hmmmm