Miss You Already

Welp, my time with Omi, Steven, and Amanda has come and quickly gone…

Being able to laugh, and reminisce, and relax among family was the most amazing gift I could have ever asked for.  Recalling inside jokes and “good times” from “back in the day” was so refreshing.  I had really been missing that since all the people I live around on a daily basis have histories together that I'm just not a part of.  Sure, I have friends here now, and we have good times together, but you don't realize how many times a day people bring up stories/memories from the past, until you're the only one who's not included in them.  Therefore I treasured every single belly laugh, movie quote reference, and “remember that time...”  Not to mention the intellectual stimulation and the ability to speak in a language that I can fully manipulate.

It was also just amazing in general to have them here with me in Nicaragua, especially when none of them would have ever considered coming here, or to any other country like this anytime in the near future.  Getting to show them where I live and introducing them to my friends and family here was absolutely priceless for me.  Watching my students/counterparts/host families interact with them, and seeing the connections made even across the language barrier was beautiful. 

On the flip side, having them here made me realize that I really have changed a lot since I've arrived.  I forgot how disarming it was to walk through the bustling marketplace when I first got here.  I forgot how nervous I used to be every time I had to approach the bus station and navigate my way through the yelling “cobras” to find the bus I needed.  It's normal for me now, to assume things will be running behind schedule, to understand that I'll be sweating through any activity I take part in, to expect conversations with people on the street to slow me down a little, to have a stranger's child sit on my lap on an overcrowded bus.  If I'm headed on a long trip, I just pack a few extra cords so I can buy some street food or a fresco (both of which are served in plastic baggies on any bus I might be on) so it doesn't occur to me to pack snacks anymore.  Cold water showers are normal for me – as a matter of fact, a running water shower is a treat!  Supposedly, none of these things were a problem for my visitors (because they're awesome), but I guess I forgot about the culture shock they were all bound to experience here.  I had 7 months to gradually “acostombrarme” (get used) to the differences here, and they had 4 days to experience it all at once – not to mention the fact that it was one of the two hottest months of the year!

Conclusions?

1. Sure we ran around a lot, but the memories we made were unforgettable. =)

2. My family is the best in the world and I couldn't have asked for anything more than just having you all guys with me. <3 

3. Hiking a volcano is wayyyyy harder than it sounds.  That's right folks, we scaled Volcan Maderas! (All but Omi of course.) Check out this view from the side of one volcano to the other!

It´s been a while...

20/3/11

So it's been a while since I've blogged.  Let's just say I was in no mood to blog these past two weeks.  The amount of stress/self doubt/sadness that can be brought on by “host house issues” is unbelievable, especially when on top of those issues, bike tires want to go flat, and immune systems want to stop working for weeks at a time. Buttttt I refuse to dwell on, let alone write about, what happened. Now that all such things have passed, it's time to reflect on the good!

This past week, I had an extra Spanish workshop provided by Peace Corps for those of us (all but two) who do not have an advanced level of Spanish.  For the majority of my training group, this meant that they got to hang with their training families all week long.  I on the other hand was sent to Diriamba – a city just outside of where my training town is located.  Even though I was sad (and initially really mad) to not get to spend the week with my training family, I learned so much during the workshop! It was really intense and tiring, but now I have tons of material I can study and I plan to continue improving.  =) Of course I'm at the point now where I've been communicating without a problem for months, but I want to move towards communicating correctly.  I want to be able to say things like, “It's possible that I would've been better off if I had lessons in my host town, but if that were the case, I would have had less time to study since I'd have been distracted by my friends and family” in Spanish without stuttering and deciding to quit halfway through because of too many verbs in the subjunctive mixed with the complex conditional.  (It's harder than you'd think.) 

Perhaps my most exciting realization during the week, came during my second night in my third Nicaraguan host house.  (Yes, I got to live with a third host family for my workshop.)  I realized that I'm now at the point where you can pretty much drop me anywhere and I'll be able to make myself right at home.  I am comfortable enough with my Spanish to strike up a conversation with whoever I'm in a room with, and there was a time not so long ago when I had trouble doing that in English.  I get more and more self confident everyday here, so much so that I was able to completely bounce back after realizing that one person's nasty opinion of me is not enough to tarnish the reputation I'm building for myself here in my site – even if they happen to be trying to spread it like wildfire.  Oops, I said I wasn't going to touch on the issues from the past two weeks right? Well luckily, my third host family was amazingly chill and awesome.  I might even stop by and visit them sometime. Most amazing part of their house? Check out these sheets!!

Rugrats and Aladdin?! Hello childhood, fancy meeting you here!

Oh...but what did I not pack for my week there? My mosquito net...ahhh!!

Final note: A MILLION thanks to those of you who have been hoping, praying, petitioning the universe, sending good karma my way as far as my housing situation! I finally got clearance from Peace Corps and was able to pay the owner of the house on Friday.  This means that work on putting in the floor, the doorknob, and fixing the roof is scheduled to start tomorrow and hopefully I'll be moving in ASAP!! Keep the prayers coming please!!

Oh and today's Monday which means IN 48 HOURS OMI, STEVEN, AND AMANDA  WILL BE HERE!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Soooooooo unbelievably excited to see you guys!!

Proud Owner of a Bicicleta!

So I spent the last month and some change trying my best to be a good, frugal Peace Corps volunteer - refusing to buy a brand new bike because of the cost. Sure I have enough money to buy a shiny new bike, and sure I have family members back home who would have loved to “sponsor” my purchase, but I wanted to accomplish this using only the money from my Peace Corps “salary” without leaving myself starving for my next paycheck. (That's generally been my rule here because I'm really trying to live at the level of the people around me. Peace Corps pays us the same salary that teachers here receive, and I figure since I'm not supporting a family like all the other teachers are, I have more than enough money to get by on each month, as long as I'm willing to budget.)

Entonces (therefore) I spent weeks visiting used bike shops and asking everyone I knew if they had any friends with bikes they wanted to sell. What did I learn from this?

1. Pretty much anyone that has a bike that still functions has no reason to sell it.

2. The bikes that are halfway decent in a used bike shop cost almost as much as the new ones!

Of course I could have settled for one of those bikes with the super skinny tires and curved handle bars (like the one my dad still rides), but I already stick out enough here, and didn't want to draw anymore attention to myself by riding around on an ancient artifact. (Hehe, just kidding Dad)

So just as I was about to give up hope and settle for spending the money I've been saving for my future house purchases (yes I'm still hopeful that I will soon be living “sola” and will therefore need money to furnish a completely empty house), a friend came to the rescue! Josue, a volunteer from my PC group in the town over from mine, found someone willing to sell a halfway decent bike!! After getting new gears and a new seat, the grand total came to 700 cords!! That's just about $35! Sure, it's a tiny bit small for me, and it might not be shiny and new; but it serves it's purpose! Also, I figure if there are nicer bikes “parked” near mine, they'll get stolen first bwahaha.

Upon purchasing my hot new ride, I began fantasizing about how beautifully peaceful it would be to ride it to my school out in Chacalapa the next day. It's only 4km after all. Surely the birds would sing to me as they accompanied me out of town...the wind would be at my back, refreshing me with cool scents of banana trees and ripening mangoes...my students would be waving and smiling as I passed their houses.

Reality Check:  My fantasy excluded the fact that I'd be riding uphill all the way to class at high noon when the sun is at it's strongest, right smack in the middle of dry season when the dirt roads turn into sandstorms at the slightest hint of a breeze. Did my students call my name and wave at me as I rode out of town towards the other school? Sure they did, and I loved every second of it. As for the harmonizing birds and refreshing breeze, I was too busy gasping for air, cursing my bag that kept getting in the way of my labored pedaling, and choking on the dust kicked up by the bus I could have been on, to notice anything else that was going on around me. Yeah...I showed up to school a sweaty mess, out of breath, with my face “bien roja,” and the whole world proceeded to ask me sarcastically how I liked the hills. Maybe I'll wait for the bus next time...


...Nah! It's downhill all the way home! =)

My Multi-Grade Mountain School =)

This past Thursday, I left my host family's house at 5:30am to begin the trip to my fourth school, way out in the mountains. I met Gisselle, the teacher that “commutes” out there everyday, and the two of us started our trek on foot. We took the dirt road out of town, crossed the river, and climbed two of the “lomas” (giant hills/mini-mountains) before her brother caught up to us with a mode of transportation that I don't have the liberty to talk about right now. Thanks to him, we arrived at school a half hour early, and the kids that have to trek from their farms to the school always arrive late, so we had plenty of time to work on decorating the two classrooms they have there – one for 1^st - 5^th grade, and one for pre-school. Yes, I said one classroom for 1^st - 5^th grade. Not counting my bi-weekly visits there, these kids have only one teacher and she has to plan lessons for each subject for each grade to keep them all occupied and productive everyday.

Being there with her for the day was such a culture shock – and that's coming from someone who's lived here for more than 5 months now. The other three schools I work in are all pure-grade like back in the States, and the two “urban” ones (using that term loosely) have way over-crowded classes (47 kids in my 3^rd grade class). The kids there though, generally show up with complete uniforms, usually clean and very crisply pressed. I think it's safe to say that the majority of students in my urban schools are matched age-to-grade about the same as in the US, obviously with a bunch of exceptions. There's a large variety in terms of socio-economic status, parents who are professionals, others who work in the plantain/sugar cane farms, others who can't read, kids that live in the center of town, those that travel miles to get there.

Out in the mountain though, things were very different. First through fifth grade consisted of only 38 students – 20 of whom showed up that day because the older boys have to work in their families' farms in the mornings, and many of the girls already work making and selling tortillas, etc. Four of the 1^st graders were over the age of 9, the oldest being 11. The oldest in 5^th grade for the day was 14, but the teacher told me she had two 16 year olds on her matriculation list.

I observed in awe as she wrote her four separate assignments on the board for them (there is no one in 3^rd grade, which means she has to plan for 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, and 5^th. Then, as the older students worked in pairs to read and answer questions from shared textbooks, she sat with the few 1^st graders that couldn't copy the alphabet from the board because they had never attended pre-school. Supposedly, there was going to be another teacher with her for the year, which would've meant that she could just teach the 1^st and 2^nd graders, but last minute, it was decided that there was no money for another teacher. Now, Gisselle, this awesome 28 year old that's 100% dedicated to her students, and who travels 6km each way to teach them everyday, is sick to her stomach, worried about how she's failing them because it's not possible to give them all the instruction and attention they need.

On top of all that, every cheerful song and tearful cry coming from the pre-school classroom, which is only separated from them by a sliding wall, can be heard perfectly all day long. There is no water in the school, which will make my job of starting a garden and tree nursery very challenging. (The mothers that helped to clean the school before the first day, for example, walked from the well with buckets on their heads to do so.) Worst of all, after 6^th grade, these kids have to travel into Belen for high school, and there is no form of transportation from their community out to Belen, aside from the motorcycles or carretas their families might have.

Speaking of carretas...

After school, we walked to the house where Gisselle grew up (and where her family still lives), which is less than a kilometer from the school we were at. We had an awesome lunch there and then got a ride back to town in her father's carreta, aka ox-drawn wooden cart!! Yeah...it's going to be a lot of work, but I love love love it here. =)

Yep...I Still Love Teaching =)

I am SO in love with my English class!!!! =D First of all, I just walked home with a bag full of freshly picked jocote because one of my students picked and gave them to me saying, “I don't know if you like them. I...I think you.. do.. not.. have jocote in New York.” Cue my immediate and genuine excitement over 1. being thought of by my students outside of class 2. receiving awesome new fruit that we indeed do not have in NY and 3. his awesome English explanation!

Getting to teach in a classroom full of students who are eager to learn and participate is the best feeling ever. Back in the states, I had plenty of days when I left work on a high because I was proud of my kids or because I loved how a lesson went, or because someone asked a question that showed me they were really thinking; but those kinds of results always required careful strategy and diligent lesson planning – plenty of hard work on my part. Getting to teach these kids/adults who asked me for class and who ask me for homework is so refreshing! During class, I get to see them really challenge themselves. It's genuinely hard for them to speak in front of the class when every single pronunciation “le cuesta” (costs/is difficult for them). I told them right from the start though, that to be in my class, they'd have to participate and I've been holding them to that. There are a few that require a lot of prompting, but they always at least try. =) (Don't worry...during my daily science classes, I'll be with regular school kids during the regular school day, and they will be just as obstinate, distracted and regular as the American kids I'm used to teaching – if not worse.)

Speaking of which, the school year officially started today!!! I had an awesome day and got to meet 4 of the 7 classes I'll be working with. Of course I love them all already. I guess I should fill you all in on my work schedule for the next two years since I've been slacking on the Peace Corps duties part of this blog lately. =P

Well, I'll be working full school days in 4 schools in my municipality. Two of those, (the ones I visited today for the welcome back ceremonies) are large schools located in the “centro urbano” of Belen – which means I'll have between 35 and 47(!) kids in each class. One of the other two is a half hour bus/45 minute bike ride from town. I'll be headed there once a week – hopefully by bike if I can ever find one that's decently priced. And the other is the mountain school I hiked to a few weeks ago – I'll only be out there like twice a month. I'll be working with two teachers in each school to co-plan and co-teach Natural Sciences (since the mountain school only has one teacher for all the grades put together, I'm only working with one there haha). With my teachers, I'll be working on forming interactive, student-centered lessons that encourage question asking, discovery, hands-on participation, and actual thought on the part of the students – all of which are rare in these classrooms where students generally copy from textbooks all day. I'm excited to get things started here, and I'll be sure to keep you all posted on what I'm up to!

Consider this a despedida (goodbye) to my vacaciones! I'm gonna be busy literally dawn 'til dusk!

“I see not too much has changed...”

After the above was mentioned to me yesterday, I decided it was time for a little self-reflection to see what indeed has/hasn't changed in me in the last 5 (that's right folks, 5) months. I came to the conclusion that:

I still...

exclaim “yay!!” when I get excited =P
eat all day everyday
dance any time I hear good music playing (which is pretty much all the time here)
take trillions of pictures
can't make it through the day with my hair down
wear boring natural colors 95% of the time
prefer writing to reading
prefer teaching boys to teaching girls
procrastinate and produce amazing results regardless
truly admire nature's subtle (and not-so-subtle) beauties
am super low maintenance compared to the other girls around me
love listening to r&b/reggae/broadway/acoustic rock/reggaeton on my mp3
am a perfectionist
smile and make eye contact with strangers on the street
walk fast
love my students to death and get super excited (yay!) when they master something new

So what has changed? Well, now I...

don't react at all to large insects on my floor/wall/bed
never throw my clothes on the floor (see above)
run every morning
don't mind washing dishes
have added tons of bachata to my mp3
am gaining weight like woah
can communicate better in Spanglish than English or Spanish
don't stress if I'm running a little late
consider sleeping until 8am sleeping in
can choke down hard boiled eggs (after 24 years of egg-free breakfasts on Easter)
enjoy eating cabbage – cooked and raw
eat at least 2 bananas a day – usually more
(ASIDE: clearly it hasn't changed that in order to talk about myself, I must talk about food.)

Yeah....so after reading this, I realize that aside from forcing those of you who miss my Krista-isms to remember me and smile for a second or two, this blog was completely pointless haha. I'll try to update you all on some PC stuff next time – although now that school has started, I'm insanely busy and I'm not sure when that update will get posted.

“Yay” for the new school year!!

Don't Tolerate Intolerance

Why don't they just move? 
This ignorant, yet all too common statement is often uttered impulsively by Americans responding to reports of people living in dire poverty. Ironically, it's these same people who then vote to limit immigration into the "land of opportunity" that our ancestors sought out when times were hard in their native lands.
Think before you speak/vote/act. Try walking a mile in someone else's shoes before you judge their situations/decisions/worth.


The above is strictly my own opinion and is in no way related to Peace Corps´ mission/ideology.