Are those gringos family of yours?

So yesterday, I heard that in the town over from mine (one of the comarcas of Belen) there was a brigade of medical missionaries from the states!! Well to be exact, I was asked by multiple people whether the gringos in the town over were family and friends of mine, so I decided to head over there to check out what they were up to!!

Turns out there was a huge group of Baptist Medical Missionaries from Alabama and Kentucky that came down to set up a clinic for the week!  I walked into the town's elementary school to find almost seventy Americans strewn all over the campus (school was closed for the week to house them and their clinic)!  Their group consisted of doctors, nurses, medical technicians, pastors, youth group leaders, and youth group members.  The school that I had helped build a compost in two weeks ago, now had lines of Nicaraguans waiting outside of all the classrooms that they turned into vision, dental, and gynecological clinics. They even had a pharmacy and kitchen set up! They were giving out raw rice and beans to each person they examined as well as clothes and shoes as needed. It was definitely a cool experience getting to walk around for an hour meeting some of the doctors and their families. Apparently this group travels to different parts of Nicaragua every year to give free check ups, eye exams, glasses, dental work, blood work, antibiotics, vitamins etc. I spoke to a really awesome guy named Ernest who has been traveling with this group for 15 years! He's an amputee and he even traveled down here the year that he lost his leg!!

On a hunch, I asked them if I could return that night with some of my intermediate English students just so they could practice conversing with some native English speakers, and of course they said yes! So after discussing it with my students, they decided we would spend our precious class time meeting and practicing with the brigade. We all piled into the taxi of one of my students (awesome benefit of teaching the taxistas English!) and headed over to meet the “monton of gringos!”

For me it was so amazing getting to watch my seven intermediates conversing in English with these strangers! I was literally beaming with pride at their efforts and at their success! The missionaries were so impressed by them and when one of my students thanked them not only for their health efforts but also for helping them practice English, I absolutely died. The girl he was talking to was so so touched that along with nerves and struggling to think in English, he still had it in him to be grateful and appreciative. I absolutely love my students.

After meeting and talking to a few of the youth group kids that were a part of the brigade, we were invited to join the church service they had set up. We decided to stay since the whole service was going to be given in English and Spanish. The translations were really good practice for both my students and for me!!

Spending some time with the brigade made me realize how amazing it is to be a part of Peace Corps. Of course the work this group is doing here is awesome; they work all year to raise money for this trip and they come down with open hearts ready to reach out and bless all the people they come in contact with. The cool part for me though, was that to all the Nicas here, these do-gooders were "outsiders." They are only here for the week, and will be gone in the blink of an eye. Most of them couldn't speak Spanish, which meant that although their smiles and good intentions were well-received, they weren't able to communicate with the majority of their patients. I felt really special while I was walking around the school/clinic because all of my students and their families came to talk to me and ask me about the “gringos.” They wanted to know my opinions of these outsiders and wanted to know why they didn't speak Spanish like I did. My closest friends told me that I'm the only “Nica Gringa” and that even though I wasn't giving out awesome free baseball caps and chocolate bars, they appreciate me for being a part of their community – although they said it while asking me why I didn't get them some of the free baseball caps and chocolate haha. It really made me value the two year commitment I've made to Peace Corps. It took this experience to show me how at home I really do feel here, and how many connections I've made during my time here.

I remember last year when I went on the mission trip to Honduras, I was on the other side of the spectrum. We spent a week building bunk beds for some amazing kids and made some really great connections with them. We lived with them, ate with them, played with them, took them on trips, and built them beds – but at the same time, we hardly spoke Spanish at all! After our week, we all disappeared from their lives as quickly as we had entered, and even though there were lots of tears both from us and from them, I know that their lives moved on as soon as we left because they're used to strangers coming and going in the blink of an eye. Of course they were grateful and of course they will remember us (especially because they have some awesome three-tiered bunk beds now), but it's just different.  

I guess that's why Peace Corps has the two year commitment requirement.  It was the hardest part of applying for me, knowing that I'd be leaving for two whole years, but now I understand why the commitment is necessary.  To really enact sustainable changes, one has to be a part of the community - not just an outsider deciding what's best for a town they've spent no time in.  Living here and actually forming lasting relationships is pretty amazing.  Unfortunately, as I was discussing with some of my friends here the other day, leaving after two years is going to be beyond heartbreaking.  I can't imagine leaving here and knowing that I'll only be back as a visitor from time to time.  These are my students, my co-workers, my new found friends and family.  I can't imagine having to say goodbye to them all!! I've been here in my town for 7 months now (in Nicaragua for 10!) and time is absolutely flying! Of course I'm excited to return home, but I can also say that I'm in no rush to leave here.  

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**In other news...I  got peed on by the notorious "Maya" bug that thrives here during the rainy season.  It's a nasty beetle-ish bug that pees on you and leaves behind a gross group of blisters.  I didn't feel it when it happened...I just noticed the blisters on my elbow when I woke up in the morning (which suggests that it was inside my mosquito net =O ahhh!).  As instructed by all my Nica friends, I quickly popped the blisters and the burn immediately began to burn like they said it would.  Eww!! Worst bug ever!

***More importantly...I'm headed to Costa Rica tomorrow to see the Boscherts!!! Can't wait!!!!!!!

To be truly selfless...

Tonight while talking to Doña Lidia about life as always, she asked me how everything was with my family at home. I told her everything was great and mentioned that I had just spoken to my mom about putting the house on the market. It should have occurred to me that to mention selling a house would lead to shock and awe, but because we have so much “confianza,” I didn't think before I mentioned it.

*Aside* Confianza is a beautiful idea. It's more than confidence and trust; it really means a level of mutual comfort between two people that allows both parties to feel at home in each other's presence, and to be themselves. Building confianza is a process and is something that's taken very seriously here.

The thought that someone would want to sell a house is beyond comprehension for most people in my town. Here, family life revolves around “la casa.” People here can spend their entire lives living in the same house. It's very common to see three or more generations living together. My students live with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and of course parents and siblings. It's rare to see a house occupied by less than two “nuclear families.” Here, often times people get married and continue living in the house that one of them grew up in. Grandparents or aunts and uncles help raise the children and take care of things in the house while parents work 12 hour days for 4 days straight in Zona Franca (a sweat shop that employs half my town and ships it's clothing products to the US where they are sold at prices that people here could never imagine spending on clothes...) People all over the world work their entire lives to have a home to call their own, but once that is accomplished here, that house will remain in the family for generations.

This, of course, is partially due to necessity – families just don't have enough money to live spread out in ten different houses. Deeper than that though is the fact that life here is based completely around the idea of family and community. In “los estados unidos” (the good ol' USA) on the other hand, life is based on individuality. Disagree if you want, but after living a few months in a country where everyone takes care of each other, it's impossible not to notice the difference. Doña Lidia's immediate reaction for example, when I said that my mom was selling the house because it's too big now that we've all moved out and on with our lives, was to assume that she (my mom) would be moving back in with her mom! This of course is not the case. The idea that a middle-aged couple (sorry guys teehee) would move in with a parent is absolutely unheard of in the States. Trying to explain the absurdity of that suggestion was difficult though, because here, it's absurd to think that one wouldn't want to live with their extended family. Clearly living together is cheaper in every sense – from groceries, to laundry, utilities, transportation, appliances, furniture...the list goes on and on. Not to mention that living together means splitting the household chores and living in constant “alegria” (happiness) due to the fact that your support system, entertainment, psychologist, babysitter, nurse, gardener, comedian etc. all live right there with you.

Our conversation really made me reflect on the countless differences between life here and life at home. Here, people live "regalando" (gifting) fruits, vegetables, plates of leftovers, chotchkies, animals, and daily necessities to their neighbors. It's not something that requires thanks or payback, it's just what's done. When people have more of anything than they absolutely need in that moment, they give to someone else who needs. It's beautiful. The notion of “saving for a rainy day,” or hording because tomorrow might be a little harder does not exist here. You'd think that in a country where poverty is so rampant, that people would think twice before giving away anything of value – nutritional, monetary, or otherwise – but that's just not the case. Like Don Dolores says, “when God rains his blessings on us, we have to bless others because there's always someone who needs it more than we do. We might not be rich, but we have more than enough to share.” That idea, so pure and seemingly simple, is just not common in the States where everyone is so focused on competition, personal gain, and personal improvement that true selflessness just doesn't exist.

I visited the house of my best friend here the other day and was immediately invited to lunch by his mother. I was given the biggest portion of food, the best chair in the house, a fresh homemade fresco, and was gifted a bag full of veggies before I left. This family is living in a house that's being “lent” to them by a friend because they can't afford a house of their own – and yet they didn't even consider thinking twice before giving me half of their veggies, which are expensive here. Since then, Doña Ana (my closest friend, Carlos's, mom) has sent me two cooked dinners and invited me back for lunch. Be careful how you read that though; I was given these things out of pure kindness – not a single part of this was done to impress me or to make it seem as though they have more than they do. Doña Ana just sees a young girl living alone, which to her, naturally means that she has to take care of me as she would her own family. The generosity and hospitality I've experienced here is like nothing I've ever witnessed before, and I have some pretty hospitable friends and family back in the States.

I hope that one day I'll be half as selfless as the people I've come to know here. I want to give without worrying that people will begin to expect freebies as a result of it, without judging who is or is not worthy of receiving, and without expecting gratitude in return. I want to think first about the comfort and wellbeing of others, and then about myself.

I still have a lot to learn about the person I want to be, and I can't think of anyone better to learn from that the friends and “family” I'm surrounded by here. I'm taught in different ways each day to be humble, to lend a hand, to give wholeheartedly, and to really care about the people I encounter each day – regardless of whether they're friends or strangers. The sense of community, mutual responsibility, and genuine kindness towards others reigns here, and it's definitely something I hope to take home and teach by example after my two years are up.   

Life in Belen

Like I said in my last post, a LOT has been going on here lately...hence the lack of recent blog posts.  I've been trying not to leave my site lately because I've done so much running around in the past few months with my language workshop, in-service training, security meetings, department meetings etc.  I can finally say that I've spent two complete consecutive weeks in site, and they've been great!  I  attended an annual Bingo event that was PACKED with all of my students, fellow teachers, neighbors,  and friends; I ate lunch or dinner with more families than I can keep track of; and I've been playing volleyball with one of the girls teams from my town and we're undefeated!  (Yeah, it's a really big ego boost when all my friends/students show up at the court to watch us play.)  School wise, I've been teaching daily and working crazy overtime with gardens, tree nurseries, and compost piles.  I can finally say that my gardens are doing really well in 3 of my schools and I've already transplanted some trees in one of my schools - and we used organic compost that we made to do it!! 

                                     Trabajando duro!! (Working hard!)

                           Daniel, Harry, Heyner, Bauther, Bruno and me! =)
         


Some of the bigger events here these past two weeks were Mother's Day and Children's Day - both of which were pretty awesome days for me.  On Mother's Day (the 30th of May), I decided to go visit all of my Nica Moms and thank them for all they've done for me during my time here.  I decided to make them little cards - and was able to couple them with doilies from Omi, which turned out to be a huge hit!  I spent literally the entire day just going house to house and visiting some of my favorite people in town.  They were so touched by the cards and gifts, but I tried to make them see that no card or gift could ever amount to the kindness and generosity they've shown me.  I can't even keep track of the amount of lunches and dinners I've been gifted, let alone the advice/good conversation/hugs/waves/introductions/
visits etc.  Making those cards made me realize how truly blessed I've been during my time here.

                                            10 cards for my 10 Nica mamas =) 


Children's Day was another huge day here.  Last Friday, classes ended two hours early to allow for the Dia de los Ninos celebraciones.  As you know I work in four schools, but I chose to spend Children's day in my biggest central school.  All of the teachers there decided to perform for the students because "actos," are a huge tradition here, and every big event calls for a stage and a show.  Since I'm always running school to school, no one told me about the performances until the night before when my closest teacher friend casually asked me what I was doing for the show.  When I nonchalantly told her I'd be dancing a hop hop routine, she assumed I was serious and asked me what song I was using.  I quickly realized she wasn't joking.  I thought about it for a second and realized it would be pretty cool to perform something for my kiddies, so I asked her if she wanted to teach me one of the traditional Nicaraguan Folklor dances.  She said she knew I could learn it quickly enough because she'd seen me dance in one of the fiestas (oops) and therefore knew that I was a "bailerina," or dancer.  So that night, after teaching English until 7 and playing volleyball until 8, I biked up to her house and she taught me the dance.  She then told me that one of the other teachers had the traditional skirt/shirt/etc. ready for me at the school and that I'd just need to show up!  Well let me tell you...when the performance started, the MC explained to the kids that I was sorry I couldn't spend Children's day with them.  She reminded them that I'm very busy and that I work in a lot of schools.  Then she proceeded to tell them the first act would be a traditional folk dance (which is always the first act of an event like this).  As the music started, I came out from behind the bulletin board dressed head-to-toe in traditional dance attire, with braids and flowers in my hair... *and the crowd went wilddddddd!!!!*  Haha, it was such an awesome surprise for them!! Half of the teachers had no idea either and were so surprised that I could dance decently.  They said I was "pura Masaya" or pure Nica!  It was so so cool!!

Last but not least, this past weekend, Carlos Erik, my 10 year old neighbor/student/landscaper/errand runner/tour guide/Spanish teacher, invited me out to his family's farm in one of the comarcas, or small towns, on the outskirts of Belen.  (I had been promising him for weeks that I'd go with him, and I finally had time to go!)  So, bright and early Sunday morning, we hopped on our bikes and headed out of town.  We went straight  to misa (mass) when we got there so that we could sit with his aunt and grandma to listen to his uncle sing.  After church, we headed out even farther to their houses.  His grandparents, who were not expecting me, immediately invited me to lunch, which on Sunday is always SOPA (soup jam packed with veggies and meat) mmmm!!!  After lunch, Carlos Erik took me out back to explore their acres of banana and plantain trees.  He then climbed a mango tree to cut me some mangoes, and we headed out across to his uncle's house to see the cows and gardens.  It was gorgeous!! When we got back to the grandparents' house, his grandpa sat me down on the front porch to ask me if I liked Mexican music.  I replied that I like all music, and he told me to sit and wait while he brought out a Mexican singer friend of his.  One minute later, he returned with a straw hat and a guitar and proceeded to sing to me/us for the next half hour.  It was sooo awesome!! He sang me a song about my green eyes, sang about friendship, sang about love, sang about fun and games, and the whole family sat out on the porch surrounded by palm trees and tropical flowers listening to his invented songs.  It was another perfect day - and we finished it off by racing the rain home!  The clouds behind us were unbelievably dark and we could see that it was raining just north of us, so we rode like the wind and made it back to Belen just as it started to drizzle!


Ahh gotta love it here.


PS My Spanish has been improving exponentially.  They said that would happen eventually...and it finally has!! 

Mom & Mary in Nica!!

It has been an unbelievably long time since I've blogged - well I guess it really hasn't - but soooo much has happened since the last time I posted anything on here! My mom and Mary have come and gone, I've become significantly more comfortable here in my town, I've been working wayyy overtime on gardens/tree nurseries/composting in all of my schools (on top of giving daily science classes), Nicaragua's Mother's Day passed, I danced a traditional Nicaraguan folk dance ON STAGE in one of my schools.......andddd back home in good ol' NY, my baby brother graduated from grad school, and my family and friends had yet another amazing camping trip without me.

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to try to cover all of the above in this blog because that might be exhausting...but we'll see what happens.

I'll start by saying that my visit with Mom and Mary was obviously amazing!! We cooked lunch for my training family, hung out in my new house with my students/friends, watched a parade of 66 ox-drawn carts in my town, talked/moved furniture/slept through the first night of rainy season in my house, and hung out on the beach in San Juan del Sur.

The procession was probably my favorite part because it was so "Nica!"  All of the farmers from the surrounding "campos" decorated their carretas beautifully with palms, flowers, balloons, streamers, you name it, hooked up their oxen and paraded into town with bands playing, heading straight for the church.  This is something they do every year on the 15th of May to welcome the rainy season.  They honor St. Isidro, a former farmer, by bringing all the oxen to the church to have them blessed and to pray for a good rainy season.  It was really a beautiful thing to see, and just like they said it would...it rained!!  First day of rain in almost 6 months!

I got to wave at tons of my students who were passing in their families' carretas, while at the same time translating between Mom and Mary who were talking to my students that were hanging out with us.

                                          Edwin, Josue, and Carlos Erik - some of my favs!

Halfway through, the already constant rain turned into a monsoon! We were standing under an awning, but that didn't stop us from getting soaked by the giant raindrops that were bouncing up from the curb.  After the procession passed, we  tried to wait out the monsoon before walking to the church to watch the outdoor mass in the park where all the carretas were parked, but the rain didn't let up one bit.  So??? We decided to throw caution to the wind and left the safety of our awning.  We walked out into the street and made our way down the 2 long blocks to the church in the pouringgggg rain!  We had to kick off our sandals to cross the street that literally turned into a river, and in the second "river crossing" Mary lost her flip flop!! Luckily, one of my valiant students jumped off the curb and chased it down before the current carried it too far.

                                          Please note the river they're standing in...

It was such an awesome morning - especially after spending the night sleeping under my zinc roof during the torrential first rainstorm of the season!  After that, we changed out of our soaking wet clothes (yep...down to the underwear), used my rainboots to make one last latrine run since my yard was a lake, and headed out to relax at the beach in San Juan del Sur.  Amazing times. <3

              Amazing bunk beds Dona Lidia lent me for them <3 Complete with my mosquito net!

                                     Mary getting ready to brave the trip to the latrine!

                                  Cousin lovin <3

                                     Me and FM!! <3

                  Mary and I walking back from the beach while my mom stalked us from our balcony.