Settled in for the long haul

I now know, more or less, what the next two years will hold.  That’s the first time I’ve been able to say that since I started this whole process. 

During the two year long application process, the whole world was an option, if I even got accepted.  Then during the first two months of training, I knew I would end up somewhere in Nicaragua but I had no idea where.   During month three, I received the name of my site, schools and NGO’s I’d be working with.  And even then I didn’t really know what that would mean for my two years of service. 

Now I’m finally living it and it’s exciting because I love it.  I’m in site and I’m settled in with my new host family and I am working to get to know both of my sites, my 7 schools and 11 counterpart teachers. 

Two of my students

New adjustments:

I came to this country having no idea what to expect.  I ended up in the small town of San Juan de Oriente, Masaya with the most amazing host family for my 3 months of training.  I adjusted to living life like them and with them.  I learned that I needed exactly 8 scoops of freezing cold water over my head to get clean during my daily bucket showers.  I learned that we had running water about every two days usually during the late afternoon and that this was the best time to shave and use conditioner.  I learned to wake up early and go to bed early.  I learned that the best time to chat with my host mom was around 4pm when she wasn’t busy cooking lunch or dinner.  I learned to wear socks when I ate to save my feet from mosquitoes.  I learned to love a pet Turkey and got sad when he died.  I learned how to eat ice cream and drink juice out of a plastic bag.  I learned that oatmeal served cold in a drink is delicious and that there are a bazillion different types of bananas. 

My host mom and sister from my training town

Our pet cat Ruby playing on my dresser 

The Pet turkey and parrot 

I got to know my host mom, dad, sister and brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles, boyfriends of cousins, neighbors, and grandbabies.  I learned about their births and illnesses and about their life during the war.  My 11 year old host sister became my best friend and I taught her how to play Monopoly and Egyptian rat screw.  Their home became my home.  It was such a great three months.  Then it was time to move on to the next thing and do it all over again; new town, new family, new schools, a new life.

Date with Daniela to Lagona de Apoyo

Just love these two

Beautiful San Juan de Oriente ceramic work

the sweetest little things

My host brother Giovanni and our next door neighbor Gwendol

We spent the weekend in between leaving our training towns and moving into site in Managua where we were officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers.  

Swearing in Ceremony 7-27-12

I am proud to report that I can now sing the entire national anthem of Nicaragua which we had to sing, along with the U.S. national anthem at our swearing in ceremony.  Yes, I will sing it for you on request.   

Dinner at the Director's house night of swearing in

 Then it was time to say goodbye to all my friends that I had spent the last three months with.  We all left to go our separate ways and are now spread throughout the whole country.  I moved to the department of León about 3.5 hours away from my first family.  Coming here it was time to adjust to a new family and a new routine all over again.  We spent time looking at wedding albums and baby pictures and talking about my family back home.   I quickly learned to knock before entering the bathroom because the door doesn't lock and I realized that I will probably always make my family curious by my healthy eating habits.  I discovered the best way to survive the hours of 11am-2pm is to lay under a fan on full blast with as little movement and clothing as possible.  I figured out which of the 5 dogs are friendly and which ones to stay away from.  I met a bunch of extended family, grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins including the cousin that paints nails and the uncle that lives in Miami.  My new host mom taught me how to hand wash my own laundry and how to make quesillos and that cheese in Nicaragua can actually taste delicious.  It’s been 5 weeks now, and it’s nice to start feeling like I’m at home again.

Homemade Quesillo thanks to the help of my little sister

My new host family agreed to let me stay longer than the required two months.  I am relived that I can stay hunkered down in one place for awhile and not have to move and go through this process for the 3rd time.  I am happy to finally be here in site knowing what life is going to be like in one month and maybe even next year.     

Slowing things down:

Mangoes in a bag!  You can't just can't go wrong

Life here is tranquillo, things move at a slower pace.  Meetings, events, the school bell, all go with the flow.  When school starts at 7am, the bell usually rings around 7:15 or 7:20, whenever one of the teachers decides it’s time to ring it or when it seems like enough teachers and students have arrived to start the day.  That English competition that was supposed to start at 9am, well things finally got started around 11am.  I spend a lot of time now sitting and waiting.  Waiting for events to start, waiting for buses to come, waiting for my counterparts to arrive, it’s all a part of learning how to slow down.  I like it.  I don’t stress about anything.  Sitting at a bus stop for two hours waiting for a bus to come isn’t stressful.  With a good book to read or a new friend to talk to, it’s actually peaceful and relaxing.

Waiting for the bus and eating mamons

Home Life:

My host mom has a pulperia, which is basically a convenient store that she runs out of the front room of our house.  My room opens up into the store so I usually walk out into a room full of neighbors buying fresh beans, cheese or toilet paper.  It is ‘convenient’ because whenever I need another tomato for my salad or am craving a banana late at night, all I have to do is walk out my bedroom door!

My 11 year old sister goes to a local private school from 12pm – 5pm every day and she attends an English language school in Leon every Saturday.  My 14 year old host brother goes to the local high school where I teach for the morning session from 7am-12pm then travels to Leon for English school in the afternoons.  They are both sweet kids and let me hang around them and their friends J.  My host dad works out in the Finca or farm during the day with his dad.  They buy, sell, tend for, and ultimately murder cows.  On the weekends we have large tubs of cow parts around the house.  It’s a little unsettling and reassures me that my decision to stop eating meat was a good one.  He also drives truck loads of this delicious mozzarella type cheese down to Costa Rica to sell every couple of weeks.  We also have an empleado who is here a few hours a day to help out around the house.  He cooks the big pot of black beans over the fire outside every day which we eat and sell.  They are the most delicious beans I’ve ever tasted and I am grateful that he spends the time cooking them!  He is really funny and loves messing with me.  Last Saturday when we had a fresh bucket of raw meat sitting in the kitchen he kept picking up pieces and explaining what part of the cow he was holding.  As he continued to watch me cower further into my chair he pretended to eat it and then danced around the room with it, gross, but ultimately very humorous.    

We have 5 dogs, 3 pigs, a parrot, and a kitty that doesn’t live here but wanders around the house a few times a week.  The dogs and pigs are usually good at staying out in the backyard but they occasionally wander into the kitchen and I have to shoo them away. 

My new room is a good size this time.  I have a big industrial box fan hanging on the wall right over my bed which I am extremely grateful for in this heat.  I even have a TV with cable!  It gets CNN espanol which is great because I can keep up with what is going on in the States and more importantly, I now get all the telenovela channels.

My host mom is one of 13 and most of her siblings still live in our town.  It’s nice because everywhere I go around town I’m ‘related’ to someone and there is always a full house of family members to hang out with.  They also invite me to all the family birthday parties and activities which is a great way to get out and meet people. 

Work:

Seven schools in two different municipalities is definitely a handful.  I get lost All the time trying to figure out two decently sized towns and 3 rural towns, was the school 3 blocks arriba from the church or 3 blocks abajo?? …but eventually it will all make sense.  I like my schedule because it's keeping me busy and the weeks just fly by.  It’s also fun to have two sites because I’m starting to learn which town has the best produce, best second hand clothing stores, best mangoes in a bag stand, and which town makes the best quesillos (I can’t say who's quesillo is better on here because both towns take great pride in their quesillo making and both boast about having the best but ask me and I'll tell you!)  I love my adventures out to my rural schools and everyone I meet along the way.  People on the bus are always so helpful when I look lost or need directions.    

Some students during the science fair

My work in the schools is off to a great start.  All of my teachers have been very welcoming and ready to work with me.  Unfortunately, school is cancelled a lot, so we are making progress but slowly.  That’s the good thing about being here for two years, I will have plenty of time to get them trained and ready to work on their own before I leave.   

It would be nice to walk down the street and see a Starbucks, Chipolte, or 24 hour CVS, but I am starting to enjoy the finer things of life here in Nicaragua.  No I can’t grab a burrito on my way home from work or swing by Starbucks on the way to school in the morning to get my iced latte with soy, but I can walk two doors down to buy a chocobanano for C$2 or pick up a baggie of fresh mangoes on my walk to class or grab a quesillo in a plastic bag for lunch.  Then there are the ladies who sell the most amazing bread called Pico on the buses and around town that is to die for delicious.

Laura showing how happy we get with lattes and cheesecake in Managua

I was able to visit my neighborhood guys from back home over the weekend while they were here on a surf trip.  We had an awesome time on the beach and they even brought me gifts from home!  J

It’s great to finally be here, in my site, working and living this experience that I've dreamt about for so long.

I love being out here on my own figuring it out day by day.  Yes I miss my family, and the nephew I haven’t met yet, and the relationships I’ve had to put on hold to make this possible, but I wouldn’t trade this job and this experience for an ordinary desk job, with a 401k and an air conditioned studio apartment. I love what I am learning about this country and it’s people, culture and history.  I love that I can be a small part it's development.   I love all the new things I am learning about myself through this process.  I love how I’m learning how to slow down and enjoy the little things, like a classroom with a whiteboard or a rainstorm at 1pm that cools down the house.  I love how I can walk into any home, school, or office and be invited to sit and talk regardless of what the person was doing before I arrived.  In 10 years I don’t think I’ll be reflecting on the luxuries I had to give up to be here.  I don’t think I’ll regret having given up my own transportation, washing machines, and drive through Starbucks to step out into the world on my own and embrace a new language, culture and way of life.  Life is good.

Pacific Ocean Sunset - Playa Colorado