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 

Este bus es muy lleno

What defines a full bus?  When it reaches the maximum capacity written at the front of the bus?  When every seat is full?  When nobody else can fit behind the white “do not cross” line up near the front?  Here in Nicaragua there is an expression, “The bus isn’t full, just ask the women sitting on top of me”.

Waiting at the Catarina Rotunda outside of my training town San Juan de Oriente, my training group and I are trying to catch a bus to Managua at 7am.  The first bus passes and stops in front of us.  The side slide door is open and the emergency door in the back is open with bodies bursting at the seams.  A few brave women at my bus stop make the commitment to get on that bus.  They push their way into the mob of bodies and somehow disappear into the mass, like the bus just swallowed them up.  Three more buses pass and a few more daring souls disappear into the swarm of bodies and the bus drives away with heads, arms and legs sticking out at both ends.

After waiting for an hour and watching 4 “full” busses pass, a bus appears that is completely packed, but it looks like there is enough room that maybe we could be the people sticking out at the ends.  We all break out in a sprint, three towards the back emergency exit and I make a quick decision to attempt the front.  Pushing my way through the crowd I grab both handles and push my body forward.  I am able to squeeze and push enough to get both of my feet onto the first step of the bus.  “Yes!  I’m on!” I think to myself, having no idea the fate of my three friends who ran to the back of the bus.  With everyone pushing, I eventually make it up all three steps.  Five more people were lucky enough and pushy enough to squeeze on after me.  I manage to get myself into quite the position.  My back end is literally squashed into the driver’s right shoulder.  My left leg is between the driver’s seat and the clutch, my right foot is stuck between two women’s legs and three women are wedged into me from the front and the side.  To balance myself I have my left hand on the front windshield, my right hand is guarding my purse and clutching it close to my body.  As we stop to pick up more people, yes more people, all the bodies sway in different directions into each other like a wave and I have to fight to keep myself up right.  Completely drenched in sweat, I look around and count; there are 15 people up here in the front, between the bus driver and the door.  In front of the usual place on a yellow school bus that says “do not cross this line”.  Fifteen!  And we keep stopping to fit more!  I take a deep breath and prepare for an hour drive in this position.

Then the guy who collects the money climbs through bodies to collect our fees.  Somehow we each have to reach into our pockets and purses to pay him.  Then he continues to push his way back through the bus sliding and squeezing through bodies to make sure everyone pays.  The crazy thing is that this works.  Everyone works together and is surprisingly kind to one another.  Somehow we all fit into a strange, sweaty puzzle piece of bodies and together, we all manage to make it to the city in one piece.  Wild.

A Four Day Glimpse into my Future

Site Assignment Day was a long anticipated and Stressful day!  Oh my gosh.  My heart was Pounding.  The Next TWO years of my life... in a manila envelope.

 Yacarely, our wonderful Assistant Program Director presented us with our gift of service to this country.  She reminded us that we were here as Peace Corps Volunteers to serve and that our service to Nicaragua was a gift and a privilege.  All 14 of our futures lie on that table!

My gift of service!  

It was hard to keep my heart rate down when this envelope was about to tell me where I would be spending the next two years of my life.

This is it!  Laura holding her unknown future!

Trying to look excited... my heart was pounding!  I don't think I've ever been so nervous!

 We were told to open the small envelop first.  Inside, we each found our personal Aspiration Statement that we wrote about a month before we left the United States for Nicaragua.  Our Aspiration Statements explained what we hoped to accomplish as volunteers, our strategies for effectively working with host country partners to meet country needs, our strategies for adapting to a new culture, the skills we hoped to learn during training, and how we thought Peace Corps would influence our personal and professional aspirations.  Reading our individual statements before we saw our site placement was to remind us of our reasons for joining the Peace Corps.  They especially wanted to remind us of our promise to be flexible.  Seven people put the same site as their number 1 preference so it was impossible that everyone was going to get their first choice.  It was also likely that some would be unhappy with their site placements at first glance.  We were gently reminded that when we joined the Peace Corps we committed to serving wherever we were asked to serve.

Now that I just addressed the importance of flexibility... out of the 15 site options, there were five that I disliked so much I would have probably broke down and cried if I opened my 'gift' and saw one of their names on the folder.  I just couldn't see myself doing well in these sites.  They were small, rural sites in very remote areas of the country.  I wanted a site with opportunities to stay very busy and I also didn't want to be isolated and cut off from the world.  So these 5 completely terrified me!  Then there were 6 that I didn't think I would love, but I knew I could have learned to embrace and ultimately like.  These sites were bigger and less secluded but I didn't feel that I fit the project opportunities as well as some of the others.  Then there were 4 that I thought I would absolutely love.  Medium sized sites close to big cities where I knew I could keep very busy with tons of schools, organizations and NGOs to work with.  They let us rank our top three preferences and explain why we thought we would do best in those sites.  But ultimately, we had to trust them knowing each site and knowing the personality and background of each volunteer to make the best match.


Finally, the moment came.  On the count of three we opened our package.

And this is what I saw!

They decided my first choice was my best fit because I got my number one site preference!!!  
I was feeling seriously lucky, relieved and very excited!

Where is this place I'm moving to for two years...?

Everyone finding their new home and putting their name on the map!


I was SO glad when that was over!

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Two weeks later:

Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early in Managua excited, nervous and ready to go.  As I sat on the hour long bus ride to Nagarote, I stared out the window at the absolutely beautiful countryside.  With funky Latin music playing in the background, I scooted over closer to the wide open window breathing in the fresh air, in this moment, life felt surreal.  I was looking out at a panoramic view of Lake Nicaragua and some of Nicaragua’s most beautiful volcanoes.  The grass was green and the sun was shining and I was high on the adrenaline of the unknown.  It didn’t take long to reach the entrance to Nagarote and with a deep breath I jumped off the bus onto the main carraterra to face my future...  This place is going to be my world for the next two years… 

I had four days to get acquainted with the town, meet my new host family, visit my schools to talk with the principals and teachers, visit the local NGO’s, get to know the people in the Ministry of Education, (MINED), the local government (Alcaldia) and the police, and meet my site mate.

 

Nagarote is only 42km from Managua and has a population of about 34,000.  It boasts as being the cleanest city in all of Nicaragua and is famous for its quesillos, a traditional dish made with a big piece of mozzarella type cheese wrapped in a tortilla and flavored with onions and sour cream.  

Quesillo!

My first Quesillo and Cacoa drink!

Why I am in love with my site:

The work opportunities: 7 schools, 2 NGO’s, a environment site mate and a ton of businesses to work with.  

It’s beautiful: There are multiple parks and tons of trees.  The central park is lined with big shady trees and nice green grass.  There is a long pedestrian only walkway lined with adorable street lights and flags.  There is a Mirador or overlook, to view the entire city and Volcan Mombotombo.  

View of Nagarote from the Mirador with Volcan Momotombo in the background 

Oldest tree in Nicaragua

It has great amenities:  After living in a training town for 3 months that only had running water 2-3 times a week, no restaurants, no banks, no grocery stores, Nothing except 4 convenient stores and a cyber café, I was overjoyed to see all the great amenities that Nagarote has to offer.  Water runs daily, there is a bank with ac and an atm (big deal), a grocery store (big big deal!), a cell phone store, also with ac, a few restaurants, an appliance store, a hostel! ($15 a night with wifi and free breakfast… come visit?) And most importantly, an Eskimo!! (ice cream store!).  

Its accessible:  To top it all off, buses come straight into the city center and I can easily get to Leon, Leon or Managua, Managua in no time. 

After a 4 day assessment, I think we are a perfect fit :-)        

What will I be doing here for two years?

My primary job here will be to co-plan and co-teach the Emprendedurismo course, an entrepreneurship course in the local high schools.  This is a course that Peace Corps created and started using years ago.  The Nicaragua Ministry of Education (MINED) adopted the course into the national curriculum in 2010.  Now every 4^th and 5^th year high school student throughout the country takes the course.  I will be working with the teachers’ one on one to provide capacity building, give them ideas to have a more dynamic classroom, help them understand difficult business concepts and co-teach with them. 

Throughout the course each student group will form a business, create a business plan, create prototypes of their product, conduct a market study, learn how to analyze the data of a market study, learn about costs and prices, equilibrium point, capital, financing a business, how to package and market their product, and the importance of good customer service and quality control.  They will take all this information and create a business plan.  At the end of the school year, they will compete in a local competition.  For many of them this will be their first experience with public speaking.  They will present their product and defend their business plan.  The winners will go on to a regional and finally a national competition in Managua.  I will be helping to coordinate and run the local and departmental business competitions in the fall. 

I will be working in 7 schools.  Two in Nagarote, Two in La Paz Centro, a town about 15 minutes away by bus, and three rural schools that are Really far from me.  Commuting to the rural schools is going to be extremely challenging.  One of them only has two buses a day and during height of rainy season I apparently won’t be able to cross the road to reach another one… I am predicting that commuting to these schools will be one of my biggest challenges. 

My second project will be working with two NGO’s in Nagarote, Norwalk and Arquois Iris.  Norwalk is an after school youth program that provides classes and activities for youth in Nagarote.  I will be able to give charlas on business skills, life skills, nutrition, and anything else under the sun that I want to teach or the students show interest in learning.  I could even do things like cooking classes or start sports leagues.  There will be so many great opportunities to get involved through this organization.  Arquois Iris or Rainbow Network, provides health, education, and economic development programs to the community.  I am excited to get involved with them in any capacity but I should be able to find opportunities to give business skills charlas to the community members that they serve. 

I will also be seeking out small business owners around town to give them charlas about business skills and provide them with business advice.  One of my rural schools has already shown interest in me giving monthly charlas to local business owners in their town.    

Lastly, I want to do cross sector work with my site mate Cindy.  She is an environment volunteer that has been here for about 8 months.   We are already talking about starting a girl’s kickball team and having an educational fair. 

I am so excited to get started here.  During my site interview I said I wanted a site where I could stay extremely active and get really involved.  Well this is the perfect site to do so.  7 schools, 2 NGO’s and a ton of people to reach in multiple towns, I will definitely have my hands full. 

Now, I return to my training town for about 3 weeks to wrap up a Ton of stuff before I head out of there.  July 27^th we will be officially sworn in as Peace Corps volunteers and on July 29^th I will officially begin my two years of service as a Peace Corps small business volunteer in Nagarote, Leon, Nicaragua.  

Tuesday in Training...

Today, I wake up at 6:30am, take a freezing cold bucket bath and scarf down a quick and yummy breakfast of oatmeal, fresh pineapple, bananas and 2 fried plantains with cinnamon while finishing my homework assignments and reading over the Emprendedurismo course material that I will be teaching later today.

At 8 am my Spanish teacher and fellow trainee show up at my house.  Today, just like every other weekday, we set up ‘class’ on my front porch.  This consists of 3 plastic chairs, one whiteboard, a handful of poster sized paper that we call papelografos , markers, masking tape, and an eraser.

At 2 pm today we are teaching our second “Life Skills Charla” to our youth group, topic of choice, “Rompecabezas de Comunicacion” or “Communication Puzzles”.   

The first hour of class we spend planning.  The weather is still manageable, it’s in the low 80’s and my skin is still dry.  We spend a decent amount of time looking up words we don’t understand and trying to comprehend the meaning of complex sentences and the overall theme of the lesson that is so eloquently written in Spanish.  Once we figure out the material, it’s time to figure out how to teach it in a foreign language.  Not only do we have to comprehend the material, we have to explain it and make it understandable to our students in Spanish. 

It’s starting to heat up and by noon we are completely drenched in sweat.  The mosquitos are biting and the pesky flies won’t stop landing on my arms, legs, face, neck, everywhere.  It so utterly disgusting but I eventually give up and stop trying to make them go away.  I have no more power in me to fight them.  A motor-taxi driver parks across the street and is blasting some stupid American song that goes “I want to make love right now” and about every hour the Catholic Church procession carrying a statue of Jesus with full band in toe marches past us blaring their trumpets and ardently pounding their drums.  No big deal, we aren’t trying to study or anything Nicaragua.  A few times, the Catholic procession stops about a house away and stays there for awhile making it just about impossible to hear each other speak, accomplish anything or let alone prepare an important lesson.  Then there are the “bombas”, these ear-piercing firework type things that are blasted up into the air at all hours of the day and night.  They end with two extremely loud “pops” and depending on the distance can really hurt your ears.  How in the name of God are we supposed to get Anything accomplished under these ridiculous circumstances!?

Finally, somehow we successfully finish planning our lesson, jump off of our plastic chairs and take a seat on the dusty floor, grabbing a marker and starting to prepare our papelografo’s.  These are the visuals we will tape up on the wall to teach our lesson to our students, there are no blackboards or powerpoints here.  Finally, it’s time to practice.  Our Spanish teacher corrects our pronunciation, and sentence structures, she chimes in when we use the wrong verb tense, or forget an ‘a personal’ or completely butcher the Spanish language. 

By 1pm the blistering heat makes it hard to think straight.  I physically feel like my brain is frying and I cannot attempt to think straight any longer in a foreign language.  My jeans are literally sticking to my body and I am drenched in sweat.  I’m mentally drained and it gets harder and harder to communicate in Spanish.  I get so frustrated and so close to being broken down.  This material is hard enough to teach in English let alone in Spanish!  But by the time I am about to physically and mentally lose it, Peace Corps arrives to watch us present our Charla to our students.  They are here to provide feedback and more importantly, to report our progress back to our superiors.  I push on for one more hour because now it’s time to make a good impression and teach my kids an important charla in Spanish. 

Surprisingly, I get all my points across and the four of us trainees co-facilitate well.  Our kids understand the theme, have fun playing the communication games, stay involved and have fun answering our questions.  I think they even learn something new about the importance of good communication skills.  Afterword we receive great positive feedback and I feel really great about what we just accomplished.

Now its 3 o’clock and the clouds are coming in, it starts pouring rain on the zinc roof and we can barely hear each other.  But the cool breeze provides a much needed relief.  Everyone leaves and I take a minute to breath.  Lying in my bed safe under my mosquito net I don’t care how sweaty I am.  I relax and watch an episode of The West Wing on my computer and enjoy a break from the horrible mosquito’s and the Spanish language.  Then, it’s back to work, time to prepare my lesson for tomorrow; the topic is characteristics of an entrepreneur.  I’m teaching it at 7:45am at the local high school.  I spend my time before and after dinner looking up words I don’t understand, asking my family if my sentences sound right and going over important phrases. 

By 8pm I’m completely beat and happily head off to bed.  Tucking myself in under my mosquito net I can’t help but smile.  This is really hard.  But I’m doing it.  Day by day I’m getting through it and I am proud of my accomplishments.  I’m learning a whole new curriculum and I am learning how to teach it in Spanish!  I’ve never done anything like this!  It’s hard, really hard but I’ve never felt more accomplished.

An afternoon of pottery making and stark realizations

Kevin: “who would have guessed six months ago that we would be sitting here today hand making jewelry out of pottery with a group of Nicaraguan high schoolers?” 

Here in Nicaragua, I’m living in a town of artisans.  My small business youth group has decided to use the resources of their town to create their project for our small business competition.  We spent the afternoon working on our prototype while snacking on a bag full of fresh bread from the corner store and listening to backstreet boys on one of our student’s cell phones.

While a group of the kids sat in an empty classroom trying to hand drill small holes through pieces of broken pottery, the other group of kids and I walked around town to visit a handful of artisans to ask them to donate broken pottery to our project.  While walking from home to home of different artisans, we ended up going to the home of one of my students.  We have 11 students in our youth group but 4 of them are our all star kids.  One of them has stuck out from the first day.  He is teaching himself English and is well on his way to fluency.  I am extremely impressed by his intelligence, drive and bubbly personality. 

Walking around San Juan soliciting ceramic donations from local artisans 

Walking through our town we made a right-hand turn down this tiny dirt path I’ve probably passed a dozen times and never noticed.  I started realizing that this little slippery dirt path goes a long way back.  Before I know it I am passing shacks on the left and the right and I realize I am in a part of town I didn’t even know existed.  The poverty back here just took my breath away and literally made my stomach hurt.  These people are my neighbors.  I was in shock.  This is where my all star student lives?  He comes to school every day put together, clean and with his homework completed and this is his home?  The people here are generally poor but these houses took poverty to a whole new level.  I’ve spent 6 weeks working with this kid, I had no idea.  How in the world does he live back here?  We finally arrive at his home, a structure with no doors; just cement openings into a one room ‘house’ with dirt floors.  A curtain separates the single ‘bedroom’ from the rest of the house.  There is no bathroom, no kitchen.  His parents happily invite us in through the door less entryway and they give us tools and pottery to use for our project.  After showing interest in the pottery making process, the dad jumps into his spinning wheel, starts spinning the wheel with his foot, takes a clump of clay and in less than three minutes forms a gorgeous vase with his bare hands.   It was simply amazing.  I made him promise to teach me how to make pottery.  He said it would be his pleasure and that I am welcomed to return any day to learn.  I asked him if he was serious and then promised to return soon.  I am definitely going to take him up on his offer.  This place amazes me every single day.

36 days...

36 days… that’s how long it took me to get deathly ill here in Nicaragua.  It was only a matter of time.  Slowly one by one we were all ‘catching’ it… that dreaded stomach bacteria that seems all but inevitable here.  No matter how hard you try it will eventually catch up with you.  Well it did and it was really horrible.  I think it was the cabbage and veggie salsa in the fried plantains I ate from a street vender… it was so yummy!  But goodness I know better than to eat food from street vendors!    102 degree fever, aches and pains, all types of bodily functions gone wrong, but we all survive.  I named my killer bug Crazy Carlos…. Seemed appropriate.  Thank you antibiotics for being so wonderful!  My host mom took such great care of me.  I so wanted to express my gratitude but in Spanish about all I could say to her is “mucho gracias” which just doesn’t cut it for all that she did.  I would love to say “you are a life saver!  Thank you for your kindness, lemonade rehydration salt concoctions, hugs, and attention while I was sick.  Thank you for calling a mototaxi and taking me to the clinic to turn in my poo sample and for holding my hand while I got blood drawn and getting me a discount and I really appreciate it” but… “mucho gracias” will just have to do because I just don’t know how to express all that in espanol.  But I can tell all of you in my fine English just how thankful I am for my wonderful host mom.  She even climbed under my silly mosquito net to rub my legs and feet and put my socks on.  I was so incredibly thankful for her love.  Dona Melania you are the Greatest!    

Church in villanueva, chinandega

I had an awesome volunteer visit in Villa Nueva, Chinandega.  I stayed with a volunteer named Ronald and his host family.  We visited the schools, the local government and local business owners.  I assisted Ronald in his class in the high schools, we saw a local baseball game, biked to a beautiful lake connecting his town to the next town and I got my nails painted with an awesome volunteer who also lives in Villa Nueva named Ashley.  Ashley is a health volunteer and I was able to sit in on her women’s group where she taught local women about the importance of nutrition.  It was so cool!  I can’t wait to have secondary projects where I can teach women and youth nutrition and health charlas.    

River between Villanueva and Las Pilas

During the peak of rainy season the two towns are
completely cut off from each other

:-) Fancy nails

View leaving Villanueva, Volcan San Cristobal -
The highest and one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua.
Last eruption was in 2008

I learned so much about the realities of life as a volunteer.  Out there they have a lot more freedom than we have now in our training towns.  Freedom to do their work without a lot of oversight, freedom to create secondary projects that they feel will best suit their community and their own personal interests and they have the freedom of flexibility.  But thinking about being alone out there is also a bit scary.  During my visit I was introduced to the realities of down time… in training we are kept extremely busy but as a ‘real’ volunteer there will be days where we spend half the day figuring out what to do with the other half of the day… and no matter how many schools you’re teaching in, NGO’s you’re working with, women’s groups you’re running, youth group projects your involved in, community banks you’re overseeing, soccer clubs you’re starting, businesses you’re advising these days are just inevitable. So what do you do to entertain yourself, alone in a small town with very little to do for two whole years…?  And even on busy days where I am working from 7am to 6pm, I will 99% of the time be in my house for the night with the door locked before dark… what do I do when I get a burst of energy at 9pm?  Dance party alone…?  In my training town I have three other trainees just a few doors away.  They are close by if I need anything or if I get bored or I have a favor to ask.  Out there I might not have any other volunteers around.  Here Peace Corps staff is only a quick drive away… out there they could be hours away.   These are all new realities that I will have to embrace and adjust to in the next few months.  Basically I am going to be completely on my own which is exciting and a bit terrifying.

 

Homemade (American) oatmeal cookie and chocolate cake!

Training is going by So quickly.  This week we have our mid-service language interview and our site preference interview… both are Extremely important so this week is going to be slightly stressful.  I think I’ve narrowed the 14 sites down and picked my top three choices but it is so Hard to attempt to decide what sites will be the ‘best’ for me for the next two years of my life.  They are all so different and unique and who knows what really will be the best for me… but I’ve picked my top three choices and I am preparing to defend why my educational background and skills are best suited for those sites.  Then, they get to make the decision.  Sometimes I wonder if they let us ‘chose’ our top three sites just to appease us.  Do they have us all pinned to sites already?  Possibly.  Either way at the end of the day two people are deciding where I will be spending the next two years of my life and I don’t know if what I say to them will really make a difference… but I will still try!  I think I will be relatively happy with about 10 out of the 14 sites… a few of them are so rural I think I would lose my mind… ha so I am PRAYING I don’t get assigned to those ones.  We will know soon enough.  Site assignments are coming SO SOON.             

Enjoying some much needed down time at the Mirador

My training group

By the way!  My Sweet sister Rachel sent me a letter this week with baby Jack's adorable birth annoucement!  (Thanks sister!) It only took 14 days to arrive and only cost her ONE dollar!! So, feel free to send me love notes... it's really nice to get mail here :-)

Hannah Tarrien
Cuerpo de Paz ~ Nicaragua
Apartado Postal # 3256
Managua, Nicaragua, Centro América