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.

Jeans from the Mercado!

I guess I have to start by admitting the reason I needed to buy new jeans: I have never in my life gotten too fat for my jeans...until now.  I guess all the awesome food I was getting when I lived with my host family was just too tastey for me to ask for smaller portions. (We all know I never turn down good food.) So, I wore through my favorite pair of “everyday jeans” in the inner thigh area – which I realized when I got up from my seat on the bus and felt air entering through a hole the size of a golf ball! I'm telling myself that because of it's placement, no one noticed as I walked up the entire isle at my stop.

This unfortunate event left me with two options...1 head to an overpriced clothing store to use American money to buy jeans, or 2 head to the mercado and see what I could find on the carts of the street vendors. (Option 3 – repair my jeans – was actually not an option, because they really don't fit me anymore.) Of course I opted for numero dos and headed out to the market!

There I was, strolling down my usual path in “the city” of Rivas, through the marketplace towards the park. I had already passed the blocks of fruits, veggies, rice, beans and corn, and I was coming up on the clothes, hair clips, earrings, shoes etc when I saw her. A woman had a whole table of really cute skinny jeans just waiting to be worn. So naturally, I asked if I would be able to try some on because jeans never fit me right. “Claro que si!” she told me as she asked me what size I thought I might need. Well since I had just worn through my size 7s, I opted for a 9/10. She then led me back down the block where I came from and walked me into the back of one of the market stalls. Since these stalls are set up on a normal street, the backs of them open into the sidewalk in front of people's houses. The door to the house (her house?) was open because here in Nicaragua, if people are home, the door is always open. She quickly pointed me towards the bathroom and went back out to her table of jeans. So, I walked into this house, explained to the people working in the kitchen that I was just trying on jeans, and they didn't even look at me twice. I found the bathroom and tried on the jeans only to find out they were too small!! WHAT?! 9/10 jeans?! I headed back outside and up the block again to her table and told her to my dismay, that they were too small. (All clothes and shoes run very small here it seems.) I then took the 11/12s back to the fitting room – oops I mean stranger's bathroom – to try again, this time entering without saying anything at all, just throwing a smile and wave to the kitchen as I passed it. Success!

So I bought my first pair of mercado jeans – which are super cute skinny jeans with pretty silver designs on the pockets...very Nica. I'm wearing them right now, and I love them! I paid my 170 cords (about $7.75) and was bid a very good day, filled with God's blessings. Yeah...have I mentioned I love it here?

Semana Santa

Call it "holy week," "spring break," "Easter vacation," or whatever you want...but here in Central America, the week before Easter is Semana Santa.  Of course there's no school, but what's even better is that from Wednesday until Sunday, the whole country pretty much shuts down!  Ok, I might be exaggerating a little, but the grand majority of businesses, stores etc. are closed, which means everyone gets a few days to completely relax and forget about life for a while!

I started off my week "arreglando" or straightening up my house.  Then on Tuesday, I got invited to head out to San Jorge, one of the beaches on Lake Nicaragua.  I almost declined because I was invited by a group of guys my age - which has the potential for causing some serious "chisme" (gossip) since girls and guys don't generally hang out together here - but I'm so glad I went.  Two of the guys in the group are really good friends of mine, so I knew it would be a fun day.  It was absolutely gorgeous with the view of the island of Ometepe out in the water, and we played beach volleyball and swam all day long.  Lunch was amazing too since we all brought along different goodies.  I think all together we had avocados, watermelon, pineapple, sandwiches, soda, mangoes, and thanks to my grandma, GOLDFISH!  So have I heard any gossip about it yet?? No, but I'm sure word has made it around town that I piled into a taxi with 5 guys, plus the male driver to head out to the beach. Eh...if I let gossip run my life here, I'd never leave the house - haha which would lead to gossip about me being proud and anti-social. I just need to give credit to these guys and say that not once did I feel uncomfortable around them, and that not one of them even considered hitting on me!  It was such a chill day. =)

The rest of the week, I spent in my training town with my old host family. <3 On Wednesday, we baked literally all day long.  This is a typical tradition here in Nicaragua during Semana Santa - because after Wednesday, everything is closed, so people need to have their bread and pastries to eat!  Since my family has an oven and owns the "molino" or place where they grind corn into "masa" for baking, basically the whole town came over with their ingredients to bake.  We literally baked from 8 o'clock that morning (they started heating the oven at 6) until after 11 at night!! We made rosquillas (a ring shaped pastry), tortilla dulce (basically homemade sweet cornbread), and bread.  Let me just say that bread is a LOT of work!! Like literally a work out!!

So, after all our hard work, we spent the rest of the week hanging out in hammocks, listening to music, talking, playing, and just generally relaxing and enjoying life.

Since it was "holy week" there were also processions everyday in every single town here.  Palm Sunday was awesome because someone dressed up as Jesus and rode into the church on a donkey while we all laid palms on the street in front of him!! I'm so mad I didn't have my camera! On Friday, the procession was very sad, complete with depressing music and the people of the church carrying around the Jesus from the crucifix on one of those beds they carry queens around town on - aka a funeral march.  We walked for more than 2 hours all around town, and ended in the church for a quick blessing.

Easter Sunday's procession was much happier, complete with firecrackers and a band "making a joyful noise" to celebrate the resurrection.

All in all, I have to say Semana Santa was pretty awesome.  I got to experience some really cool Nica traditions and got to just chill and relax.  Of course we went out to dance on Saturday too. =P

Happy Spring everyone!! =) Speaking of your spring...my summer has gotten to the point where after showering and reaching for a shirt to put on the other day, I pulled my hand back in disgust at the realization that my shirt felt like it had just been taken out of a drier.  Never felt heat like this before in my life.  Maybe I'll break down and buy that fan...

The Ins and Outs of Living on Your Own – Nica Style

So I've officially lived a week in my new house!! (Well actually tomorrow will really be my two week anniversary haha, but most of this past week was spent in In Service Training in the mountains of Matagalpa, a department located in the center of Nicaragua, which was unbelievably gorgeous and green and required us to wear LONG SLEEVES almost the whole time! I got to sleep under a blanket at night and slept better than I have in weeks! See album labeled In Service Training in Matagalpa.)

Where was I...oh yes...living on my own here in Nicaragua! Well obviously, the shock of going from a house where everything is cooked and cleaned for you, to living alone is substantial – especially when one is moving from a house that's basically built to suburban America's housing standards to a house made of bricks, adobe, and cement floors, with an outdoor latrine. So what's the verdict then? Well...I absolutely love it!!

Regardless of all the work that goes along with it, nothing compares to the freedom that comes from living alone. I can come and go as I please without being worried about being locked out when I get back, I can cook or not cook, I can have visitors, I can be a hermit on Sundays if I want to, and perhaps the most exciting thing of all, I was able to accept my student's gift of a kitten last weekend!!!!

So what are the responsibilities that come with living in a house such as mine on a block such as mine?

1. Collect water! I'm lucky enough to have a house with a water spigot out back, but that means that I don't have a well to rely on for the days when we don't have running water. Therefore, I have to wake up bright and early to start collecting! Three 5 gallon buckets are more than enough for two showers, dishes for the day, and floor watering – it even gives me a little left over for small laundry jobs. I also keep two 2L soda bottles full of water to drink. The problem comes in when I use all of the collected water assuming that the following day we'll have better luck – eh, I'm learning as I go. (Interesting Aside: I can tell if it's a water day or not from laying in bed in the morning. If there is water, I can hear my neighbors filling their buckets sometimes as early as 4:30am because lately, we never have it past 8am and they have way more clothes and dishes to wash than I do.)

2. Sweep cement floor at least two times daily to prevent the accumulation of inches of the dust that hangs in the “dry season” air.

3. Water cement floor because it's new and needs to be watered daily, also to keep the house cool. (This of course is easy to do on the days when we have water – which is about 50% of the time – the other days, if I fail to accomplish responsibility number 1, my floor's out of luck.)

4. Sweep the front porch, front steps, and street out front because living on the same street as the school means that EVERYONE passes by in the morning and afternoon, and I can't be known as the sloppy gringa that doesn't keep the house presentable.

5. Sweep and water the “patio” (aka back yard) because it touches the back yards of 3 other families, and therefore must also be kept presentable at all times. (I've learned to use the bucket that collects the water from my sink drain [aka the hole in my sink bottom] to water the patio – yay for being green!)

6. Handwash laundry at least 3 times a week because no one here just lets their laundry sit all week. Therefore, I must find time during my insanely busy week to at least hang out a few shirts for good measure.

7. Always have coffee to offer to the many visitors that bless me with home cooked meals, ice cold frescos, furniture, and company. =)

8. Learn to cook Nica so as to not seem incompetent if someone stops by around lunch time.

Did I mention that I work 43 hour weeks on top of all that and I still have to co-plan with 6 teachers and be available for social events at the drop of a dime?? Yeah...Peace Corps is NOT a vacation.

Weekly challenge for those of you bold enough to try: Get through a day with just 15 gallons of water.   

Blessings

I have to write right now, just to acknowledge the amazing amount of selfless kindness I've received in the last hour.  I honestly believe that Dona Lidia is an angel that's just here watching over me and making me smile at the times when I need her most.  

Today I literally ran from dawn til dusk, and therefore was starving when I got out of English class at 8pm. [Sidenote: I now have 3 different levels of English classes because having 44 students with different levels was just not working for me or for them. My intermediate class met today, and I didn't speak a word of Spanish to them!! LOVE IT!]  Anyway, I had to walk to the director's house (aka my old host house) before going home to leave her school keys with her.  As I made my way outside, the neighbors, Dona Lidia and Don Dolores, were outside across the street on their front porch and immediately pulled out an extra chair for me.  They then asked me if I had already eaten dinner, and when I said no, they immediately prepared me a plate. “Que barbaridad” to think that I was going to cook for myself at 8 o'clock at night!  So I ate some amazing gallo pinto, complete with green plantain, (which I've grown to love) and avocado <3.  They even had a ginger fresco for me! 

So I ate way more than I  would have even thought about preparing for myself (I was thinking oatmeal or a banana), and then I sat with them for almost an hour, just talking about life.  After chatting, I decided I should probably head home because 9pm is really late here and I didn't want to overstay my welcome.  Of course Dona Lidia offered to walk me home (half a block and around the corner) because she's just awesome like that.  While we walked, she reminded me again how I could call on them for any and everything.  Then, like a true mother (and like every other neighbor/friend I have here), she told me to be sure to lock up tight at night, and not to open my door to anyone.  After giving her a quick tour of the new house, I said goodnight and locked up tight. 

As I re-entered my house from the back door after using the latrine, I heard a knock on my door.  I was almost “asustada” (scared), but I looked out my front window to see Don Dolores sitting on my front porch on a wooden rocking chair!  He and Dona Lidia walked me over two of their wooden rocking chairs, insisting that I use them because they had plenty.  They said that when I have company, I'll need to have seats for them.  Dona Lidia told me that they may not have a lot, but that they have more than enough to share. <3 That statement right there, sums her up completely.  I'm so thankful for the people like her that I've come to know here. =)