Well this week has been eventful to say the absolute least.
Last time I blogged, I was on my way out to a quince anos fiesta. It was sooo much fun! Before the party, we had to go to mass for Rosa, the girl who turned 15. We all paraded there with a mariachi band! My host niece, Melissa, was one of the girls leading the way in her gorgeous cream and red gown. Then came Rosa (who I think is a distant relative of mine?) in her beautiful pink princess gown, and then the rest of us. After she took her communion, we all paraded out to the closed down restaurant where the party would be held. My whole family sat together so there were about 13 or 14 of us at a huge table we made from all the little tables. The food was amazing and of course I got to dance! My host sisters didn't dance because their mom (my would-be host mom) died less than nine months ago, so they are still in mourning. =( Out of respect for her, they won't dance for a year. My family's very traditional in that way. Apparently it doesn't apply to the guys though, because my host brothers were dancing all night! (Thank goodness, or else I would've had to fend off the guys in the neighborhood that just wanted a chance to dance with the new “chelita” lol.) Being at the party made me realize how horrible my Spanish is though. I'm fine when I'm talking one on one with any of my family members or teachers because they all know that I need time to think and process, so they speak slowly and simply to me. Being at a table with 13 other people though, made me feel like I had never learned a word of Spanish before in my life! Thank goodness dancing doesn't require language!
Aside from that party though, this week has been nothing but work work work. Now I see why all the previous blogs I've read have said that training is insanely busy. I've had my usual 6 hours of Spanish classes everyday plus nightly homework. On top of that, we started our classroom observations this week. I'm going to be teaching 3 science lessons to 4th graders, but that doesn't happen until two weeks from now, gracias a Dios. We also had two youth group meetings, one of which was observed by our language facilitator and our technical trainer! Luckily our kids (all 22 of them!) are AWESOME! For our recycled materials project, we are making friendship bracelets (pulseras) out of plastic bags (they're multi-colored here.) You should see how into it they are! And I'm talking about teenage kids! I'll have some pics to post next time if these computers ever decide to work fast enough for that. We also had to prepare our charla (lesson) on drugs and alcohol, which we'll be giving to our youth group next week. And lastly, we had to write up our survey, another requirement of all trainees. We decided to survey the 6th graders in our school to find out what they already know about the environment and their natural resources. Keep in mind, ALL of this is completely in Spanish. I must be doing better than I think I am.
Unfortunately, I'm ending my week with a bacterial infection. (fever, extremely upset stomach – neither of which are fun during rainy season in a house with an outdoor latrine!) I'm kinda glad that's all it is though, because after all the charlas on dengue fever and parasites, I was expecting the worst. Thankfully Peace Corps has been awesome and I was able to get diagnosed almost immediately even though it's the weekend. I'm now on antibiotics that my host brother, Nelson, was kind enough to get for me. (Since we don't have a pharmacy in my town, he offered to ride his bike into the town over.) My whole host family has been taking care of me, so no worries. I'm doing just fine. =) I guess in the place of greisbri (I know that's spelled wayyy wrong) and The Princess Bride, I'll settle for tea, soup, and lots of rest.
Unfortunately being sick last night and this morning meant I had to miss the beginning of our school garden today. My three site mates and a few of the school kids worked all morning in the torrential rain to start up the garden. I'm hoping to go help out with the finishing touches tomorrow – assuming the entire area isn't under water. The rain is insane this weekend because of the hurricane nearby. Luckily all we'll be getting from that is rain though. It's bad news for our seeds, and also means that NOTHING ever dries! Literally everything is damp to the touch. Bleck. Well, at least it's relief from the heat! =)
In other news, one of my cows had a baby this week! Absolutely adorable!! Her name is Estrellita.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Just a Few Blog-able Moments
There have been so many shall we say “blog-able” moments this week, but I've been so incredibly busy with Spanish classes; gardening, composting, and organic pesticide practicums; medical talks about dengue and malaria; rabies and typhoid vaccinations; lesson planning discussions; and youth group meetings, that I haven't had time to write any of them down. I guess we'll see what highlights come to mind right now for those of you who have requested to hear about my day-to-day experiences here. Excuse the format though, since I don't have much time. In my youth group we had to have the “jovenes,” or kids ages 13-22, create a “lluvia de ideas,” or a rain of ideas, about recycled materials projects they would like to try out. (Similar to “brainstorming” in English I suppose.) Given my lack of cyber time at the moment, I shall now present you with my “lluvia de momentias blogables.”
*Watching chickens climb the mango tree while brushing my teeth in the backyard the other morning.* There's a ladder there that the chickens and roosters like to climb! They actually sit up really high in the branches of the tree! Pretty bizarre sight if you ask me.
*Sneaking food to my host dog when nobody's looking, only to find out he doesn't eat boiled plantains...boo!!* Dogs here are treated simply as pest control and guard animals, and are therefore not played with or fed very well at all. Generally the food is pretty good here, but one can only take so many tortillas and beans before one is willing to share with the sad eyed, hungry dog. He and I have a decent system worked out where he'll only come into the kitchen if I'm eating alone and have some scraps to spare; but the other day, to my dismay, I found out he hates boiled green plantains just as much as I do! Either he's not as hungry as I thought, or they're just that bad. I'm going with the latter in this case.
*Waking up at 4am to the sound of fighting dogs and roosters, sure that there was a bat in my room again.* Luckily, when I mustered up the guts to turn my light on (which I can thankfully reach from my bed without opening my mosquito net), I realized that it was only a HUGE toad (or frog?) that came in to escape the monsoon. The light scared him and I rustled around in my bed enough to convince him I was a threat. He decided to chill just outside my door instead. My host fam was quite amused by “mi amigo, zapo” as they called him.
*Getting poured on last night while brushing my teeth and admiring the sleeping chocoyos.* My family here has 3 small green parrots. It's sad since they used to live wild here in the rain forests in Nicaragua. Luckily laws have been put in place to stop the selling of wild animals such as them, but they are hardly ever enforced. Anyway, while I was watching them sleep and brushing my teeth, I could hear the rain starting up down the street. Within 3 seconds, it hit my “patio,” or backyard, HARD! I was soaked before I had time to rinse hahaha. Yet another moment for my host sisters and I to laugh about.
*Last but not least: Getting woken up by a mariachi band at 3:45 this morning!!* Apparently in Nicaragua, it is customary for a girl who is turning 15 to get serenaded the morning/night of her birthday! They were right on the corner of my block and sounded like they were in my bedroom! I´m headed to the quinceañera later on today, so that should be fun!
More to come soon, ¨si Dios quiere.¨ (If God wishes), as they say here all the time.
*Watching chickens climb the mango tree while brushing my teeth in the backyard the other morning.* There's a ladder there that the chickens and roosters like to climb! They actually sit up really high in the branches of the tree! Pretty bizarre sight if you ask me.
*Sneaking food to my host dog when nobody's looking, only to find out he doesn't eat boiled plantains...boo!!* Dogs here are treated simply as pest control and guard animals, and are therefore not played with or fed very well at all. Generally the food is pretty good here, but one can only take so many tortillas and beans before one is willing to share with the sad eyed, hungry dog. He and I have a decent system worked out where he'll only come into the kitchen if I'm eating alone and have some scraps to spare; but the other day, to my dismay, I found out he hates boiled green plantains just as much as I do! Either he's not as hungry as I thought, or they're just that bad. I'm going with the latter in this case.
*Waking up at 4am to the sound of fighting dogs and roosters, sure that there was a bat in my room again.* Luckily, when I mustered up the guts to turn my light on (which I can thankfully reach from my bed without opening my mosquito net), I realized that it was only a HUGE toad (or frog?) that came in to escape the monsoon. The light scared him and I rustled around in my bed enough to convince him I was a threat. He decided to chill just outside my door instead. My host fam was quite amused by “mi amigo, zapo” as they called him.
*Getting poured on last night while brushing my teeth and admiring the sleeping chocoyos.* My family here has 3 small green parrots. It's sad since they used to live wild here in the rain forests in Nicaragua. Luckily laws have been put in place to stop the selling of wild animals such as them, but they are hardly ever enforced. Anyway, while I was watching them sleep and brushing my teeth, I could hear the rain starting up down the street. Within 3 seconds, it hit my “patio,” or backyard, HARD! I was soaked before I had time to rinse hahaha. Yet another moment for my host sisters and I to laugh about.
*Last but not least: Getting woken up by a mariachi band at 3:45 this morning!!* Apparently in Nicaragua, it is customary for a girl who is turning 15 to get serenaded the morning/night of her birthday! They were right on the corner of my block and sounded like they were in my bedroom! I´m headed to the quinceañera later on today, so that should be fun!
More to come soon, ¨si Dios quiere.¨ (If God wishes), as they say here all the time.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Getting Settled in a Completely New World
Well I made it to my training town!! I'm living with an awesome family in a small “barrio” outside of Jinotepe in the department of Carazo. I have a host father who's in his 60s and 8 host brothers and sisters who are all in their 20-30s. (Only 4 of them actually live in my house, but the others and their spouses and children are always stopping by.) =) My two host sisters are sooo sweet and always go out of their way to slow down everyone else's Spanish for me, and my 6 host brothers couldn't be nicer or more accommodating. =) One even wants me to teach him English!! They all love to make me speak because I make SO many mistakes, and they get to take turns correcting me lol. Apparently my Spanish isn't as bad as I thought it was though, because I wasn't placed in the lowest language group!! Who knew?? Regardless of what Peace Corps thinks I'm capable of, it is SOOOO hard living and breathing completely in Spanish. In the 6 hours of Spanish class we have a day, only Spanish is spoken because my teacher doesn´t speak English, and if I'm not there, then I'm at home with my host family speaking only in Spanish because none of them speak English! Luckily there are 3 other trainees in my training town, so we get to vent to one another in English on the way out of class each day. Jessi (one of the other trainees) and I have been running in the mornings at 6 which gives us English time too. Yes I can see the looks of shock about me running at 6 every morning. Lol whatever!
My house here is by far the most...shall we say, modest...of all the other host homes in the neighborhood. I'm the only one of the trainees that has an outdoor latrine, rather than indoor plumbing. I do have running water for the outdoor shower though, on the days it happens to be running (which it has been 2 out of the last 4 days =D). My “cocina” or kitchen consists of a room with 3 walls that houses a “pila,” or sink with no running water, a raised ¨fogon,¨ or fire pit for cooking, and a few shelves with heavy duty pots that can withstand the direct flames. The walls of my house don´t touch the roof, and there´s no glass or screens on the windows, so there are just as many flies and mosquitoes inside as there are outside. (Thank God for my mosquito net!!) The walls of my room obviously don't touch the ceiling either, so last night a bat flew through and left me a little “present” on the side of my net!! UGH!
The upside though? The rain sounds beautifullll on my tin roof, and the roosters out back will never let me sleep through my alarm. (Actually they start around 3-4am...way before the sun smh. Someone should tell them they're doing their job wrong.) I think in total, my family has 1 dog, 3 parrots, 6 cows, and 20-30 chickens. What's interesting about that is that we live in “el centro” of the community! We're directly across from the school and by no means out on a farm or anything. My block is right in the center of town. I don't mind all the animals and family members though. I love my new familia. They have character, and we all know I need a family with character. Melissa, my host niece is 8. I can't understand her Spanish at all, and she can't understand mine, but we exchanged necklaces yesterday, so we're obviously going to be best friends. =P She reminds me of Livi and Mary which does wonders for my home sickness.
All in all, I'd say everything here is as good as I could have asked for it to be. I had my first lesson in hand washing my ¨ropa interior¨(undies and bras) today, and I think it went pretty well, even if my host sisters thought it was hilarious that I didn't know the “right way” to hang my panties on the barbed wire that serves as our wash line haha! After that adventure, I ended up moving them to a line in my room anyway, since it started raining (which it does at LEAST once a day here during the rainy season.) I kinda prefer that to having them out on the same line as my host brothers' work clothes though lol. Now all I can do is hope that another bat doesn't fly through my room tonight and “soil” them while I'm sleeping. (PS my host sisters wash all the rest of my clothes and will continue to do so while I´m in training. SWEET!)
Right now, aside from improving my pathetic Spanish, my challenge is to master the art of timing my pre-sleep latrine run around the evening downpour. Lol gooood times. In the mean time, pray that I don't get sick because I'm pretty sure my host sisters have been washing my veggies in water that's been standing in barrels for days. =/ Don't worry mom, I feel fine so far! More to come next time I can get to the cyber when we happen to have electricity and free time (both of which are hard to come by in our busy little town.)
My house here is by far the most...shall we say, modest...of all the other host homes in the neighborhood. I'm the only one of the trainees that has an outdoor latrine, rather than indoor plumbing. I do have running water for the outdoor shower though, on the days it happens to be running (which it has been 2 out of the last 4 days =D). My “cocina” or kitchen consists of a room with 3 walls that houses a “pila,” or sink with no running water, a raised ¨fogon,¨ or fire pit for cooking, and a few shelves with heavy duty pots that can withstand the direct flames. The walls of my house don´t touch the roof, and there´s no glass or screens on the windows, so there are just as many flies and mosquitoes inside as there are outside. (Thank God for my mosquito net!!) The walls of my room obviously don't touch the ceiling either, so last night a bat flew through and left me a little “present” on the side of my net!! UGH!
The upside though? The rain sounds beautifullll on my tin roof, and the roosters out back will never let me sleep through my alarm. (Actually they start around 3-4am...way before the sun smh. Someone should tell them they're doing their job wrong.) I think in total, my family has 1 dog, 3 parrots, 6 cows, and 20-30 chickens. What's interesting about that is that we live in “el centro” of the community! We're directly across from the school and by no means out on a farm or anything. My block is right in the center of town. I don't mind all the animals and family members though. I love my new familia. They have character, and we all know I need a family with character. Melissa, my host niece is 8. I can't understand her Spanish at all, and she can't understand mine, but we exchanged necklaces yesterday, so we're obviously going to be best friends. =P She reminds me of Livi and Mary which does wonders for my home sickness.
All in all, I'd say everything here is as good as I could have asked for it to be. I had my first lesson in hand washing my ¨ropa interior¨(undies and bras) today, and I think it went pretty well, even if my host sisters thought it was hilarious that I didn't know the “right way” to hang my panties on the barbed wire that serves as our wash line haha! After that adventure, I ended up moving them to a line in my room anyway, since it started raining (which it does at LEAST once a day here during the rainy season.) I kinda prefer that to having them out on the same line as my host brothers' work clothes though lol. Now all I can do is hope that another bat doesn't fly through my room tonight and “soil” them while I'm sleeping. (PS my host sisters wash all the rest of my clothes and will continue to do so while I´m in training. SWEET!)
Right now, aside from improving my pathetic Spanish, my challenge is to master the art of timing my pre-sleep latrine run around the evening downpour. Lol gooood times. In the mean time, pray that I don't get sick because I'm pretty sure my host sisters have been washing my veggies in water that's been standing in barrels for days. =/ Don't worry mom, I feel fine so far! More to come next time I can get to the cyber when we happen to have electricity and free time (both of which are hard to come by in our busy little town.)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Nicaragua: El pais de brazos abiertos!
Hola mi familia y mis amigos!! I've arrived safely in Nicaragua and it.is.beautiful. I'm currently in the middle of my three day orientation retreat with 42 other trainees in Granada (the Nicaraguan city, not to be confused with Grenada the Caribbean island.) It's a touristy, colonial city located right on the coast of Lake Nicaragua, which is the biggest lake in Central America. It's absolutely gorgeous here! Some of us went walking through the town yesterday afternoon and we got to see the park, some market streets, and some awesome colonial churches and architecture. Then, during dinner out on the hotel porch, we got to witness our first intense Nicaraguan thunderstorm! It was so refreshing and beautiful at the same time (even if it did make the lights flicker a bit.) At 5:30 this morning, I awoke to the sound of church bells (which were quickly followed by my alarm) and a bunch of us met up to head down to the lake and take in the sites (those who were more ambitious ran rather than strolled with us.) The road we walked to get there was strewn with coconuts! <3 Have I mentioned I love it here??
Don't be fooled though, these past two days have been completely jam-packed with Peace Corps Orientation activities. We've had sessions on personal safety, received our medical kits, had medical interviews, received our training manuals, taken pictures for visas and PC IDs, anddd perhaps the most stressful part of my day today...had our language interviews. By this time tomorrow, I'll know what training group I'm in based on the recorded 20 minute interview I participated in (completely in Spanish!!) =O Without a doubt I will be in one of the lowest language groups if not THE lowest, but that's ok with me because Peace Corps has been training people in language acquisition for years and I'm hoping they'll be able to work miracles with me. =P
Perhaps my favorite part of one of our talks today was a quote we were given as our “guiding principle” with regard to Peace Corps Service:
“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say 'We have done this ourselves.'” -Lao Tzu
It reminds me that our purpose here is not only to share our skills and knowledge, but also to be sure that the cultural and educational exchange is mutual. We are here to impart sustainable activities and to give the Nicaraguan people the ability to continue what we've started together long after we're gone. I'm looking forward to beginning my service here, and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be embarking on such an adventure with. The other trainees are great and the PC staff is so helpful and warm and completely dedicated to training us to be the most competent and confident volunteers we can be. Tomorrow is the last day of our retreat, and we'll all be moving in with our host families bright and early on Saturday morning!
Love and miss you all, and I'm so excited to finally be here and able to share stories with you! More to come next time I have internet access!
Perhaps my favorite part of one of our talks today was a quote we were given as our “guiding principle” with regard to Peace Corps Service:
“Go to the people. Live with them. Learn from them. Love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But with the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say 'We have done this ourselves.'” -Lao Tzu
It reminds me that our purpose here is not only to share our skills and knowledge, but also to be sure that the cultural and educational exchange is mutual. We are here to impart sustainable activities and to give the Nicaraguan people the ability to continue what we've started together long after we're gone. I'm looking forward to beginning my service here, and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to be embarking on such an adventure with. The other trainees are great and the PC staff is so helpful and warm and completely dedicated to training us to be the most competent and confident volunteers we can be. Tomorrow is the last day of our retreat, and we'll all be moving in with our host families bright and early on Saturday morning!
Love and miss you all, and I'm so excited to finally be here and able to share stories with you! More to come next time I have internet access!
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