And just like that ladies and gentleman I have finished the marathon that was Peace Corps Nicaragua. Yep, I made it. The journey began on May 13th 2009 and officially ended on July 8th, 2011. Those 790 days are now just a memory and the Peace Corps chapter of my book of life has closed.

This, my friends, will be my last blog post and it comes to you from the comfort of my own home in Florida…

Since my last post I continued to teach class and saw my departure date grow ever near. I think all volunteers will admit that after the 2 year mark they are just ready to be done. It’s a tough job where sometimes progress is hard to be seen. With the final days came a lot of goodbyes both with other volunteers and also with people in La Trinidad. Most of my schools threw a little party for me on my last day and gave me small gifts to remember them by. It was tough to say goodbye to the family that hosted me for 2 years. I still remember the day I arrived thinking oh geez, “I’ve got 2 years ahead of me and I have no idea how it’ll go.” Well, obviously I made it and I’m proud of myself. It was a test that I feel I have passed while many others have failed for various reasons.

I wonder sometimes how the people from my town will remember me. I’m pretty sure I’ll be the “gringo teacher who taught in the high schools.” They’ll probably all think I taught English haha. I hope I’ve inspired just a few students to keep on studying and try to free themselves from the poverty they live in. I’ve taught over 300 students but I don’t expect them all to be successful. The law of averages says just a few will do it. The majority of students just aren’t motivated. They have no drive and it seems like they have already resigned themselves to repeat the cycle of poverty.

Looking back, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Peace Corps. It’s one of these things where you have a vague idea about what they do but you can’t fully comprehend it until you are actually in it. I was sent to Nicaragua to teach business in the public high schools but also to befriend locals and exchanged cultures. I’ve gained some valuable tools in the past few years. My Spanish is almost fluent, I’ve become a better public speaker, I’m more confident in my abilities, and I can take a bath with as little water as what’s contained in a bottle of water. This experience will no doubt look good on any job resume but that’s not why you do Peace Corps. At last it wasn’t my reason. You do it for the adventure, the unknown, the mystique, and above all because you have something to contribute to another society.

Would I do it all over again knowing what I know now? Of course. And for those that think 2 years is such a long commitment: well it is. But what good can be accomplished in just a couple of months? That’s what has set Peace Corps apart from other international volunteer experiences. If you are thinking about doing it, just do it, you won’t regret it.

As for future plans…as most of you know I have accepted a job….in Nicaragua. It is not associated with Peace Corps but rather is a private K-12 bilingual school in the capital, Managua. So I will be returning to the tiny central American country. I’ve been asked to teach high school economics and psychology. It will be a complete 180 for my work with Peace Corps. I’ll be working with the children of the upper crust families of Nicaragua. I will be teaching in English and not Spanish. My students (and parents) will surely be more motivated since most students come to the states to study in college and the parents are spending $500 a month for tuition (remember that most Nicaraguans earn between $200-$300 per month). I will be getting paid in DOLLARS (woo hoo!). I’ll be living in the capital and will have more amenities at my disposal, including malls, theaters, and soccer fields in better condition! Wish me luck…

I guess this is it. Click on the links for pictures from my last days in Peace Corps Nicaragua as well as a video (read the description before watching).

Well my readers, it was fun while it lasted. Thanks for all your love and support.

Adios blog!

Video

Last days in Peace Corps

Well my friends, as the saying goes “better late than never.” So with that I bring to you the long overdue blog update. It’s a short one

Since we last chatted about 2 months ago not much has happened

*School is in full swing right now. I’ve really taken a back seat to the teachers I assist, letting them lead the class since in a few months they’ll be on their own. Of the 6 I work with I’d say 4 are prepared to fly solo but the other two still needs some work. There will be no volunteer to replace me after I leave. If you remember I replaced a girl that was here from 2007-2009.

*Soccer season is officially over. Thank God (you know if you look back at my previous entry I wrote “soccer season is back!.Thank God”). Things have changed. It was a terrible season for our pathetic team. I think we only won 3 games and finished losing 4 of the last 5. The field is covered by 99% dirt and rocks and 1% grass. I’m glad I’ll never play on that field again. Luckily I only sprained my ankle one time the entire season. I finished with 0 goals (I hit the post today). Frankly the season just wasn’t that fun this time around. Our players are lazy and arrive 5 minutes before the game. They all criticize each other and argue about everything. It was good while it lasted and makes me appreciate all the well organized leagues I’ve played in in the states, the responsibility and most of all GRASS.

* We had our COS (close of service) conference in April in the colonial city of Granada. This is an event that takes place in Peace Corps throughout the world (not just Nicaragua) about 3 months before finishing your 27 month commitment. It’s basically administrative stuff where we learn about procedures, forms, appointments, etc that need to happen before officially finishing Peace Corps. They almost make it as hard to get out of Peace Corps as to get in haha. The COS was for Nica 50 small business group and also Nica 50 agriculture group who came in at the same time as us in May 2009. Both groups have lost about 50% of the volunteers who arrived two years ago. I think that’s pretty standard throughout Peace Corps. There’s probably about a 40-50% attrition rate. So it’s definitely not a cake walk. Our group has gone from 19 to 9. It's been a wild ride and everyone's had their ups and downs but I think everyone is just ready to be done. Although, one person I think is looking at extending another year.

*Expect maybe 1 or 2 more blog posts in the coming months…

Enjoy the pics

on a trip back to Masatepe to see my first host family. This are two of my sisters, Marcela and Teresa

me and marcela arguing about something. by the way we didn't drink all those beers there were 5 others at the table lol

marcela's friend Eunice with her newborn

me with the little dude. his middle name is alexander also

on the way to the conference in Granada we were stuck in a traffic jam in Managua. it was hilarious, nobody knew what to do. the power went out at the intersection. see the video below

The survivors of Nica50 small business. Just 9

breakfast at the hotel. gallo pinto(rice and beans), eggs, sweet plantains, cheese and cream.

at our COS conference getting ready for lunch

the conference room where we discussed all types of topics

our soccer field. nice scenery but terrible surface. look at me #97

like i said nice scenery terrible field

here's a group shot of the team.

before brent's graduation in April

brent with his college diploma

shout-out to Sox who hasn't forgot about me even though she hasn't seen me but once every couple months

this is the video of the traffic jam. it's pretty funny

I can now count on one hand how many months I have left as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. 5. Just 5 months. That means that 22 months have gone by if you can believe. I swear it feels like just yesterday when I stepped off the plane and at other times I feel like I’ve been here for decades. Maybe for my fellow blog readers it has felt like decades since my last blog post haha.

Anyways…

* School started about a month ago so I’ve been busy going to class and being somewhat productive versus my time in January where I resembled more of lazy bum. It’s a miracle that my schedule worked out without any conflicts considering that I teach in 6 schools. It’s pretty much the equivalent of rolling 6 dices (dies right?) and having each one land on a different number 1-6. The kids are all new to me so I took a picture of each one with their name on the board to try to learn all of their names. There are probably 150 in total. It’s amazing when I tell them I want to take a picture, they go nuts. Some refuse to take it. I think either they think it’s going to suck their soul away or they are so timid. The group that won the national competition last year disbanded since they are all studying at college. At least they enjoyed their $400 prize…

* Recently we had the Ms. Nicaragua 2011 competition. There were 14 candidates including one that is from La Trinidad (where I live). She lives in Managua so I never knew her but my “aunt” who lives next door is a seamstress and made the evening gown she wore for the competition. This meant that the girl had to come to the house and try it on and get measured. Lucky for me I got to meet here. She didn’t place at the competition but I’m sure she enjoyed herself. The girl that won actually lives in the states and went to Penn State. She was the consensus to win from the beginning. There were a couple other girls that live in the states and they definitely stand out from the “local” Nicaraguans. I’m sure a lot of factors have to do with that. You can imagine… food, health, self-esteem, etc

* February is my town’s party month so the town was inundated with vendors that filled the park, crazy drunk people, loud music, rodeos, fireworks, and the customary horse parade. I don’t get too much into the party atmosphere here in my town. I guess I’ve always believed that a teacher has to be held to a certain standard and since the town is small, I can’t hide lol. The gossip here is ridiculous so I’m quite sure that even If I’m seen drinking one beer, it could be misconstrued that I’m the American drunk. I’ve played it safe here though and protected my reputation as well as Peace Corps’

*Soccer season is back! Thank God. We had the usual beginning of the season kick-off parade where we walked from the center of town to the “stadium” (everyone here says stadium but its obviously just a field) on the outskirts of town. I think there are about 15 teams in the adult men’s league. Since it hasn’t rained since November the field is in way better condition even though it’s super dry and dusty with little grass. But it beats playing in the mud. The mayor gave each team a soccer ball which was a nice gesture and shows you just how poor the people are. Even for a team of 15 players, everyone pitching in for a soccer ball would be a tough task. To me the ball is crappy since I’ve played with actual real soccer balls. But nobody here seems to care and its hard shell is actually beneficial due to the rough conditions in which we play. Today we played our first game against last year’s champions and lost 2-1. As seems to be customary in every game, we let in an own goal and score goals that don’t count because someone is “offsides.” At least I got to run, play, and sweat for a couple of hours

* My host brother David is leaving in less than a week to Argentina to study at an Adventist university there. He isn’t exactly a serious student, and so this is a last ditch effort on the part of his mother to fix him up. The university is renowned for discipline, something he lacks (according to his mom). It’s a huge financial sacrifice for my host mom who is desperate for change. It’s rare for any parent in this country to send their kid to another country to study just because nobody can afford it so let’s hope David takes advantage of it. here is a video of him playing basketball. it was taken in august of 2009. i show up in the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb1kYq1sndA

I’ll be back at the end of April a couple of days for my brother, Brent’s, college graduation. Hopefully I’ll update the blog once before that.

Check out the pictures

Me with some new Peace Corps trainees at their site fair where they learned about the different regions of Nicaragua. I represented Esteli

notice how i appealed to both sexes. i've got the waterfall with the girl in a bathing suit and then a whole bunch of professional soccer players. i should go into marketing...

what's a good horse parade without a transvestite dancing along the parade route and grabbing his victims from the crowd to dance with him?

here come the horsies...

I remember this guy from last year. He looks like the head honcho

it just wouldn't be a party without the obnoxious band haha

more band

and of course the cowgirls dancing on their float

soccer parade. the walk from town to the field, along the panamerican highway

teams walking onto the field

there are 17 players on our roster and you can see just how many showed up for the parade. i think we have the reputation amongst the league as being the laziest

the mayor of my town giving some words before handing out a ball to each team. notice how they do the audio. truck, speakers, and a generator. it's a common site around here

my host mom made David's favorite soup today since he is leaving this week. it was delicious. cambell's doesnt even compare

yuca root

vegetables

look at that hearty soup...probably the most healthy thing i've eaten in a while

Here goes the first blog of 2011…

-It’s been about 2 weeks since I got back to Nicaragua from my 18 day USA vacation with my girlfriend Rebecka. We really had a blast and she met the whole family and saw a lot. I’ve posted some of the highlights of our trip at this link

TripPics

-School doesn’t start this year until February 15th which means I’m still on vacation. Jealous? In the meantime I’ll start up again with English classes and meeting with the kids who are starting the Community Bank.

- I found out another volunteer from my original Business group of 19 is leaving soon. We have now lost 10 people to various reasons and are down to 9 of the original 19 business volunteers. Every time someone leaves we always think that the remaining volunteers will make it to the end but there are always surprises! Our commitment ends in about 6 months which makes me wonder why people can’t just stick it out since they’ve made it so far. I guess everyone has their reasons. I know I’ll be one of the last volunteers standing!

That’s about it…not too much to report!

My last blog post was titled “Where did October go?” but right now I am wondering what happened to November. As was the case last year, the month of November was the busiest of 2010. In fact, I didn’t have a moment to sit down and update the blog. Here’s what went down in Noviembre

---In the beginning of November, Peace Corps called me to let me know that the Ambassador would be in the nearby city of Estelí and wanted to know if I was interested in meeting him and have a drink with him. Supposedly, whenever he travels he likes to meet Peace Corps volunteers in that area. I had the afternoon free and went to Estelí to meet him. I was greeted by the Embassy’s “press attaché” who introduced me to him and his wife (I had actually met them briefly a few days earlier at a fundraising activity in Managua). He remembered me and we went to the bar attached to his hotel and sat down for a drink and conversation. He is constantly surrounded by “bodyguards” who have earpieces and tiny microphones their hands just like the movies. At least they sat at another table haha. I didn’t feel nervous or intimidated at all like I thought I would and the conversation was great. We swapped stories; his of course were much more interesting since he’s worked in the Foreign Service all over the world for over 30 years. We were invited later that night to a baseball tournament which the Embassy was sponsoring/inaugurating. The Ambassador threw out the ceremonial first pitch and we sat with him in the VIP section behind home-plate. It was a fun night

---As you recall in the last post, winners of the local business competition advanced to the regional level where they competed against other teams from the north of Nicaragua. The regional competition was in the city of Ocotal which is north of Estelí and close to the border of Honduras. I had never been there before. The windy road through the mountains almost made me sick but we made it eventually. One of my teams (bean dip) won it, and advanced to Managua for the national competition at the end of November.

--- The next big thing in November was Thanksgiving. I had told Peace Corps I would like to be sent to an Embassy family’s house to share Thanksgiving with them but little did I know they would actually send me to the Ambassador’s house! I got the news a few days before Thanksgiving and only 5 other volunteers were invited. I’m not sure if it had anything to do with our first encounter in Estelí. Maybe I left a good impression? I headed to Managua that afternoon and made it to the Ambassador’s house around 3pm. It was heavily guarded as you would expect but I was let right in. I was expecting a lot of people but it was just the other PCV’s, his wife and son, another Embassy staff woman, and the daughter of an ex-president of Nicaragua. The Ambassador insisted on playing football in his huge backyard with actual grass (no rocks haha). He’s a big sports guy and is athletic. He played all-time QB and tossed me the winning touchdown pass. Afterwards he invited us to take a dip in his enormous pool. His son, who is 26, let me shower and clean up in his room. The house felt very “American.” It has been the home for U.S. Ambassador’s since the 70’s. His neighbors are the Russian Ambassador and one of the richest Nicaraguan businessmen who has a helicopter landing pad in his backyard. Dinner was excellent. I felt like I was at a presidential dinner, except we weren’t in tuxedos. The plates and silverware all had the imprint of the U.S. emblem. I helped myself to 2 rounds of food plus dessert. I seriously thought my stomach would explode but I held the food in. We spent the next couple hours on the patio chatting about Nicaragua and sharing stories. He even let us call back to the states to our families and I put him on the line with my Dad whom I’m sure was surprised. It was a great Thanksgiving!

---A couple days later was the National business competition. My team was one of 12 teams competing from all over the country. I had spent a lot of time in November revising their business plan and practicing their PowerPoint presentation. It all paid off though when they won 1st place! Their bean dip was a hit among everyone and they sold all the products they brought. The Ambassador, who showed up, loved it and the judges too. They had a rock solid presentation and defended themselves well when they were asked some tough questions. They got a nice plaque and $300 to invest in their business. I felt really proud of them for all their hard work and it was definitely a gratifying experience for me knowing that all my work didn't end up in vain. Like most other Nicaraguan kids, it was their first time in a nice hotel (Holiday Inn). Some kids had never even been in an elevator before.

--- The last couple days of November and the early part of December I attended the graduation ceremonies of 4 of the 6 schools were I worked at. Since I worked all year with the high school “seniors” I wanted to make it to their graduations or “Promociones” as they called it in Spanish. I missed two because of conflicts with the other ceremonies. In most cases I was invited to preside onstage as an invited guest. In some cases I got to hand out diplomas to the graduates and get me picture taken with them. (In 30 years when they look at that picture, you think they will wonder who I am? I bet so haha) The ceremonies were nice and formal.The graduating classes are a lot smaller because the schools are smaller. In one graduation there was only 12 graduates. The “graduation” music is different than the musical piece that you hear in the states. It’s customary here to have the graduate accompanied by someone, usually a parent or other sibling. They go up to the stage together and sometimes the graduates receive a ring from the parents like in a wedding. They award the student with the best grades but they don’t have to give a speech. I’m curious to see where my students end up in 5 years. I doubt the majority will finish college. Unfortunately, most will drop out and work to support their families, either working in the fields or doing some hard manual labor. That’s life here

---As you readers may or may not know, I will be heading back to the states from December 17th- January 4th to spend Christmas and New Years with the family. As you recall, last Xmas I stayed in Nicaragua. I’m looking forward to it and so is my girlfriend Rebecka who is going to come with me. She was lucky enough to get a visitor’s visa. I’m sure it will be a blast.

Enjoy the pictures! See you in 2011!

my students being interviewed at the regional competition

this is their product. its a powder, just add hot water and you've got a nice bean dip. really tasty

me and my students and counterpart after winning at the regional competition

before the national competition

the display at the national competition

us with the Ambassador

the kids by the pool. the girl on the left is Katherine, the girl living with us. She was invited to be the MC for the event. She's great at public speaking

us after winning 1st place at the national comp.!!

my students at my rural school in Las Mangas with some other teachers on the last day

at the baptist high school

me with the graduates of the baptist high school. some were part of the winning business group

the graduates of one of the private schools

me with Katherine, the student who has been living in our house this year

me with my host mom(Prof. Corina) and Katherine, the student living with us

this is what their diploma's look like. picture is always included

some graduates of the high school in San Isidro making their way to the ceremony

me with my counterpart in San Isidro

me with the Ambassador, his wife, and another volunteer, Kat, in Esteli

the Ambassador's backyard. it doesn't even feel like Nicaragua

me with the Amb and his son. We were playing "horse" and I was winning until the end when the Amb made a hook shot that I couldn't make. I guess since it's his pool, he can win

the Thanksgiving dinner!

the Amb's personal chef who cooked up the delicious turkey and other foods for dinner

nice Turkey!!

having dinner in the living room

outside the house. notice the emblem of the U.S.

Well guys, another blog post means another month gone by. October has flown by probably because it’s the busiest month of the year for us here in Nicaragua. Here’s a recap…

- The rain that pounded us in the month of September practically disappeared in October. It has been a pretty dry month compared to the last several months of the rainy season. As we enter the dry season we probably won’t see a drop of rain until next May. It’s gonna get hot!!!

-Rebecka canceled her trip to Oman because of visa problems and other timing problems. She is back singing with her musical group and has started to learn English. She can sing songs in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian but doesn’t really know a second language. Isn’t that interesting? Even though she is beginning to learn English her pronunciation is fantastic and she knows a lot of words. It’s been said that a lot of people learn second languages by listening to music.

- We had our annual business competition at the end of October. It’s always the culmination of the course we business volunteers teach. This year we had 16 student groups competing from 4 different high schools. We fundraised about $350 to put on the event. This year the mayor’s office gave us about $150 which got us off to a good start. It’s always a struggle asking for donations in such a poor country where the people can barely feed themselves. Anyway we hit our mark and the event went great. Check out the pictures below. The winners get to advance to the regional competition in November

-My rural school invited me recently to an English singing competition they were putting on. Each grade level had to do a performance, dancing and singing, to a song in English. There was Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Air Supply and others. This rural school is in a super poor community but needless to say the kids got all dressed up and the girls did their hair and makeup. They had a sound system, DJ, and a good audience. Even though half the time I couldn’t understand what the kids were saying or singing I appreciated the effort because I wouldn’t have the guts to sing in front of a crowd of people in any language, not to mention one that I don’t really know. Props to them

-Some of my senior students from this same rural school recently approached me about a project they wanted to start. It’s called a Community Bank and is popular in underdeveloped countries where rural communities have no access to banks, loans, or credit. The idea is that a group is formed and every month the individuals put in a fixed amount of money into a wooden box. The members can request to take out loans to use in income generating activities and pay back their loans with a fixed interest rate. After a year or so the money in the box should grow and everyone profits. The students told me they had already formed a group of 15 youth and wanted me to be an “advisor.” I attended one of their meetings and only 5 of 15 showed up but the president ran the meeting anyway. They were very official and kept good records. Right now they are putting in $2 a month with an interest rate of 5% for loans and penalties of $.10 for no shows at the meetings or late repayments. Do you know realize how poor this country is? Next month they are planning to organize a party with the money in the box, charge admission, and hope to make a profit. It’s something that one person couldn’t do, but as a “community” it’s very possible.

- As you all know, Peace Corps volunteers don’t get paid very much. It’s around $200 monthly to cover food, shelter, transport, and not much else. At the end of the month I usually have less than a dollar to my name, just enough to catch the bus to Estelí to get to the bank and withdraw the next month’s money. The other day I got a ride from the highway to one of my schools on a bicycle taxi (think Rickshaw). The rate is C$5 or $0.25 and I always pay this rate. But this one day the guy tried to charge me C$7 or $0.35 (rip-off, I know haha). I politely told him what the going rate was and that I would not give him the 7 Córdobas. When he realized that this wasn’t my first rodeo, he took the C$5 and we went on our merry ways. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of my actions…Was I right to not wanting to be taken advantage of? Or was I being way too much of a miser in not wanting to pay an extra $.10? I think if I was a tourist I would have easily given him the 35 cents or probably even a dollar but when you are living in this country, getting paid like we do, you realize how valuable your coins are…BTW a few days later a homeless kid asked for $.05 and I gave him a dollar. I think I got karma back on my side

Enjoy the pics!

these are some of the kids that showed up for the community bank meeting. really ambitious kids which is a breath of fresh air

"Welcome to the 3rd annual competition of Entrepreneurship, students of 11th grade"

The presentation area. Each group had their own table

Crowd picture

A group that did paintings on cloth...like on pillow covers

An instant bean dip. You just add hot water and you got yourself a tasty bean dip

A vegetable cutter like the ones you see on infomercials

This is a carrot jelly or marmalade I guess you could say. Really tasty

these are little angels made out of the husks of corn. they got 3rd place

A group of girls presenting their product, a solar oven. The judges destroyed them when they reminded them that for 6 months out of the year it rains in this country. Oops!

Me giving a thank you/ inspirational speech to the students and teachers.

me handing out an award

me and my counterpart Amarely with a group that one 1st place in the newcomer category...they did the bean dip

me and my counterpart Erick with the group the did the paintings on cloth. They got first place in the veterans category

these are my counterparts who I give class with

So I’ve been here almost 17 months and things are going well…I don’t have too much to write about in this post but here’s a quick update on what’s been going on since the last post

*I’m in good health after my bout with Dengue. I’ve returned to the gym and am slowly gaining back all the strength and muscle that I lost. I haven’t gotten a “gee, you look really skinny, what happened?” question in a while

*During Labor Day weekend I went to Houston mainly because my Dad paid for the ticket. It was a time to catch up with the family and eat a ton of food. My main goal was to gain some of the weight back that I had lost after being sick. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much food in a 3 day span. It was delicious. BTW, the return flight from Houston to Managua had about 50 people on it. I’ve never flown with such few people. It was almost surreal.

*The rain has ruined our soccer season. We only played about 4 games and the league was canceled. The directors of the league resigned. Who knows if we’ll ever play again? At least it was good while it lasted. Rainy season should end by November.

*The school year is coming to an end. Remember that here the school year is from February to November. We are preparing for the business competitions just like last year but class seems to always get canceled for one reason or another. The education system here is “subpar” to put it nicely

*Our original group of 19 small business volunteers that came in of May 2009 has shrunk to about 9. We’ve had various departures recently for various reasons. Peace Corps warns us about this at the beginning but I guess we were naïve to think that we’d make it 2 years without losing anybody. I suppose that life happens and I wish those departed well.

*My girlfriend Rebecka will be traveling to Oman from October-December to make some extra cash singing. She’s got connections there and I know she’ll be fine. She did this once before in Mali before we met. Needless to say she has a sense of adventure and a ton of talent. Maybe she’ll learn some Arabic!

Enjoy the pics/vid!

when i went back to visit my original host family in Masatepe it was my host sister Teresa's birthday. The family decided to bring in this band to wake her up at 5am on her bday and serenade her. It don't think even the heaviest of sleepers can sleep through all that noise.

doesn't she look very enthused about her bday surprise?

The view from Rebecka's house in the large mountainous city of Matagalpa. (1.5hrs from me)

me and Rebecka before one of her nieces birthday party

The view from a lookout point outside the city of Matagalpa

We spotted a group of monkey swinging through the branches

A look out into the valley

Nice scenery right? I mean the background of course...

At the lookout point

Rebecka trying to get us a ride back into town

my turn to try

At the Independence day parade (september14/15). These students are from the local public high school

Some of my students at the public high school

One of my students holding the Nica flag at the parade

This is the Baptist school and their part of the parade

This is one of my students. His dad is a famous musician here in Nicaragua. The kid has talent.

Another one of my students who was elected the "Queen" of her school.

If you can read the sign...it's a Viagra sale at the pharmacy!

This video was taken at the lookout point. There is nothing overly spectacular about the video but the reaction of Rebecka is priceless. She's a big animal lover. Take a look and laugh a little bit.

this is a short clip from the independence day parade

this clip was shot in April2010. i forgot i had it and have never uploaded it before. its a tour of my house

I thought I could do it. I thought I would be the first. I thought my body was strong enough. And then I got bit by a mosquito. After 15 months in Nicaragua, this wasn’t my first mosquito bite. Oh no. There have been plenty bites before. But this one…this one…was different from all the rest. This one made me suffer. And boy did I suffer. This mosquito gave me DENGUE FEVER.

This is my story…. VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED

It was a Tuesday afternoon and all of a sudden I felt a fever coming on. My skin turned hot to the touch but all I felt was a deep cold inside my body. I put on a long sleeve shirt, sweat pants, and soccer socks pulled up to my knee despite temperatures of 80 degrees outside. Two weeks before I had gotten strep throat which gave me a fever but I killed off the infection in 2 days with some pills. There was something different about this fever though… I knew I was in for a wild ride. That night I barely ate anything for dinner and went to bed before 9pm. I was lent an extra blanket but nothing could warm up my body. My skin was on fire but on the inside I was freezing, shaking, shivering. Around midnight I puked in the bathroom. I had a lot to eat for lunch, so you can imagine. I thought I would make it 2 years without puking, something that is rarely accomplished in Peace Corps Nicaragua. I briefly felt better after throwing up my rice and beans and my fever seemed to go away but it came back fast and then at 3am came the 2nd round of vomit. By the 3rd round at 5am with no food left in me, only liquids came out.

The next morning, Wednesday, I called my counterpart to let her know I wouldn’t be coming to class. I started to wonder if it was food poisoning that had caused the events of the previous night, or perhaps a bacterial infection in my stomach. After all I did vomit for the first time in my time here so something must be going on in my gut, right? I had no desire to eat, partly because of the fever, and partly for the fear of throwing up again. My skin was still burning up, and I still felt cold. My whole body was sore, especially my muscles and joints. I’m not sure how I made it to my 2pm meeting but I did. The sun was out in full force but I couldn’t warm myself up. My eyes couldn’t handle the sunlight. I attributed this light sensibility to the fever. I ate my first food of the day at 4pm: A banana and some Ramen noodles. I barely could finish the puny dinner plate that I asked of my host mom, Corina. I was in bad shape.

Thursday. No vomit last night which I thought was an improvement but I still couldn’t get rid of the damn fever despite taking Tylenol as directed. I decided I was well enough (I really wasn’t) to go to my 11am class and my 2pm class. Surprisingly, I made it out alive. I was feeling really weak all day, due to the lack of food. Today I didn’t eat until after 3pm. I just haven’t had an appetite. I ate little for dinner and got ready for another uncomfortable night.

Friday. In my whole life I had never felt what I felt last night. Nobody can say “I feel like I’m dying” because obviously anybody with a voice doesn’t know what dying feels like since they’re alive….but…I swear that last night I thought I was at the end of the road. I woke up in the middle of the night with the driest mouth ever. My bones were aching and my muscles even more. My muscles felt like they had no juice left in them. The 5 foot walk from my bed to the bathroom seemed like a marathon. My whole body was severely dehydrated. It hurt to move. I had the desire to vomit but nothing would come out. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw how thin I had become. The walk to the kitchen to fill up my water bottle was brutal. It was pretty scary. I can’t say that I woke up, because I’m not really sure if I slept but I decided that I had to get some lab work done to see what was going on. Today was the day when I became like all the other Peace Corps volunteers. Today was the day when my good luck ended and I lost my invincibility. Today was the day I pooped into a cup… I had so wanted to make it the whole 2 years without doing this. You must understand that there are volunteers that within their first week of being in country get sick to their stomach and have to give a stool sample to see what parasite, amoeba, or bacteria had invaded their bodies. Others will be lucky and be spared a couple months before they get attacked. I had lasted 15 months!!! I can’t say it’s a Peace Corps record but I was in uncharted territory. Sure I had gotten diarrhea before but it all passed. I never got any lab work done until today. To be honest I didn’t poop into a cup, it was actually an empty matchbox since I was told the lab technicians only need a little to work with. Don’t ask me how I managed to do it but I did. Peeing into a cup obviously took less skill. I proudly put my samples into a black plastic bag and marched across town to the lab so they could analyze my insides. While I was there they took my blood. So to recap ..I had made it 15 months before I had my pee, poop, and blood analyzed. It has to be a record…

I got the results a couple hours later at around noon and called the PC doctors in Managua so I could read them the results and they could give me the magic pill. Turns out that according to the numbers and levels of certain stuff in my poop…I had a bacterial infection in my gut. What a relief a thought. Just bacteria. It’s easy to get rid of. The doctor had told me to get some Ciprofloxacin pills and take them every 12hrs for 5 days. So I wouldn’t have to get up in the middle of the night I didn’t take my first pill until 8pm. I went to bed tonight feeling optimistic that tomorrow I’d feel better.

Saturday/Sunday. Miraculously during the weekend I started to feel a little better. I was sleeping better, eating more food, and my skin didn’t feel like it was on fire. In fact my skin to the touch started to feel relatively cold. Weird, I thought. I thought the fever had passed but at the suggestion of my host aunt who lives next door and used to work as a nurse, she stuck the thermometer in my mouth and I was at 102. Holy cow I thought, How could this be? I felt like I was better and didn’t feel like I had a fever but on the inside my body was still in disequilibrium. On Sunday morning I called the PC doctor who was on call (great medical attention here so you know). I told her that despite taking the antibiotics, I still had a fever and she told me to do another blood and urine test on Monday. She told me to have the lab test for Malaria and also the platelet count in the blood. When she said platelets I knew she started to suspect the famous tropical disease Dengue Fever. When someone has Dengue, their platelet count plummets. I wasn’t worried about Malaria since its nearly wiped out in this part of Nicaragua. I started to do research on Dengue on the internet and realized that I had every symptom but the only real way to know was a blood platelet test.

Monday. I sweat through 2 shirts last night and woke up feeling like a new man. I knew that I had finally gotten rid of the fever. But something alarming had appeared all over my skin over night. It was a rash and it itched liked crazy. It was ok though because a rash is the final thing Dengue curses you with and it’s a sign that the virus has run its course. Although I still felt weak, I felt strong enough to go to my 9am class. Afterwards I caught a bus to Esteli to do my lab tests there since the labs are more reliable in big cities. I got pricked and delivered my pee. At 3pm I went to pick up my results and opened the paper as if it were a Christmas present. I was anxious to see at what level the platelets were. Holy crap. The normal ranges is 150,000-450,000. I had 83,000. Um.. not so good I thought. I called the docs in Managua to read them the results although I knew exactly that the suffering I had been through was because of Dengue. They told me to come on Tuesday morning to Managua so I could do more blood tests, etc. Anyways, I made it back to La Trinidad around 5pm and felt like my heart was going to explode. My body was still weak and all the walking I had done in Esteli was catching up to me.

Tuesday. I woke up this morning with a slightly upset stomach and knew that Peace Corps would make me do some more tests today in Managua so I went ahead and pooped into, this time, an empty vitamin bottle. I wanted to rule out any infection in the gut. I carried my poop with me on the bus for the 2hr trip. That was a first. I made it into Managua around 10am and the doctors there in the office gave me a check up and then sent me to the lab to do the blood test and hand over my poop. Results came back at 3pm so in the meantime I went to see Rebecka and we went out to lunch. I headed back to the the PC office around 3:30pm to get my results. Good news: nothing abnormal with my poop. Bad news: the platelet count dropped from 83k to 65k. Remember 150k is the minimum normal count. This earned me a trip to the hospital. I was kind of mind boggled because I felt relatively recovered, although still weak but I understood that a doctor will always make you do the cautious thing.

Tuesday-Friday. So another first for me. I spent time in a hospital outside that states for the first time. In a third world country no less… but the hospital was more like a 5 star hotel. It’s definitely the best hospital in Nicaragua and even has some special accreditation that few hospitals in Latin America have. I imagine that when foreigners who live in Nicaragua get sick they come to this hospital. It’s legit. I had my own room, flat screen t.v., own bathroom with hot water shower, sofa with pull out bed. You know, the whole nine yards. I was so fortunate to have Rebecka stay with me the 3 nights I was there. She switched all her plans around for the week just to be my side. It definitely made the time go by faster. The doctor told me on the first day I was there that I wasn’t leaving until the platelet count went up. You might be asking, What’s the big deal with platelets? Well they help to clot your blod and since I had way below normal count I was at risk of bleeding. That’s what they told me. P.S. that’s why some patients who have a severe Dengue case bleed out of all the holes in their body. I guess I got a milder strain of the virus.

On Wednesday the lab people came in at 5am to take my blood. At 8am the doc came in and told me my count had actually dropped to 62k (I told you it stayed the same dad so you wouldn’t worry). The doc didn’t seem to be worried, in fact he predicted that on Thursday the count would go up. In fact it did. Back to 85k. On Friday I was up at 103k and they let me leave. The whole time I was enjoying my time at the hospital…bathing in hot water, watching American channels, stuffing myself with American food that they served me. I actually wouldn’t have minded another couple days there but all the American taxpayers that will pay my bill probably wouldn’t approve. Peace Corps actually wanted me to stay in a hotel on Friday night because they thought I was still in a fragile state but I convinced them that I would take it easy and I’d be more comfortable at my home in La Trinidad. They let me go and told me to get a blood test Monday just to see if the platelets went back to normal. That weekend I rested a lot and ate a ton. That Monday I did the test and was at 200k platelets. Wooo!

****So let’s resume. I got bit by a mosquito that gave me Dengue fever. I suffered for a week before finding out what I had (they say that’s usually what happens). I spent 3 nights in a hospital. And now I’m fine. It looks like I had a bacterial infection and Dengue at the same time. It was a good 14 days that I was down and out. Just so you know, Dengue is rarely deadly and it’s possible to get it numerous times. Most Nicaraguans have got it and probably never realized it because it can be mistaken for a really strong virus. A lot of PC volunteers in the last couple months (because of rainy season) have gotten Dengue. I guess it was my turn. Being healthy in a third world country for 15 months was just too good to be true…

In other news….

*Seems like the soccer team fell apart while I was on the injured list. Remember we won the first game 2-1 thanks to a goal by yours truly. Well in the 2nd and 3rd games we lost by a combined score of 9-0. This past Sunday I played with the team for the first time since the first game and we lost 3-2. The field was absolutely in terrible condition. It had rained the day before and you can imagine the mud that accumulated on the field. I felt like I was playing in a pig stay. You couldn’t even pass the ball. I didn’t have any scoring chances but hopefully in the next game I’ll get one in.

*We are now in the 2nd semester of school and time will fly. In September there are a bunch of holidays because of independence day. That means a lot of school will be canceled. But hey what else is new? This year we are going to have the business competitions in October and November so we’ll start planning soon.

* I’ve started going back to the gym and eating a lot of food. It seems that I can’t fill myself up. I lost 10 pounds during the sickness and all my students notice. They constantly remind me of how skinny I’ve become.

*I’ll be making a trip back to the states in early September during labor day weekend. Thanks for the ticket Dad, even if it’ll only be 4 days.

I don't have too many pics for you guys just some from my experience in the hospital...

So this was the first night in the hospital when they brought me dinner. French fries and a ham and turkey sandwich I think it was. They made me put on that goofy gown but I couldnt tolerate it and took it off after a couple hours. They didn't care

One of the nurses checking my blood pressure. A nurse would come into my room every couple hours, even in the middle of the night, to monitor my vital signs. Everything was normal.

A close up of one the my lunch plates. Giant piece of steak, fresh veggies, rice, baked potato, and a fresh fruit drink. Not so bad for hospital food, right?

Did you miss me? It’s been a while guys…We haven’t spoke since the end of May. Let me catch you guys up on things here…

*I successfully reached my goal of spending an entire year outside of the United States. To celebrate this achievement I went back to the states for 10 days to spoil myself with all the luxuries of a developed world…I got to visit all of my family and friends and was invited to lunches and dinners everyday stuffing myself with copious amounts of food and drink not easily available in Nicaragua. On one hand it felt like an eternity that I’d been away but on the other it felt like I closed my eyes, woke up shortly after, and found myself in the same spot. Thank you family and friends for treating me like a king in my short time with you guys. Hopefully this Xmas I’ll be back…

*When I got back to Nicaragua I surprisingly felt “at home.” Everything was normal. Nothing caught my eye. I guess I had gotten used to everything. I guess I’ve really adapted to this country and settled in comfortably. I did notice on the way back to La Trinidad from the airport that the countryside was a lot greener. The rainy season had begun! (and continues)

*Last year at this time it didn’t rain as often. I guess last year was on off year. The rain cools things down but makes it tough for your clothes to dry since we don’t have dryers here. In an instant it may look like the sun will be out for the day but then as soon as you hang your clothes to dry, God plays a trick on you and brings in the black clouds…When it rains too, the kids don’t show up to school because some come from rural communities and cant cross rivers and streams to get down to the highway

*The day after I got back from the states (June 6th) there was a parade in our town to commemorate the start of a new soccer season here in town. While I was in the states I was fortunate to have been donated a set of uniforms from an old friend of my dad (Thanks Don Gordon!). On that day all of the 22 teams competing in the league walked through our small town and then to the “stadium” for a quick ceremony. My team loves the uniforms and we wore them for the parade and got lots of complements.

* The league was supposed to start the day after the parade but the field was in bad condition because of the rain. Finally a month later in the beginning of July we played our first game…at a different field…in a surrounding community. To get there we had to cross a small river…I fell and everyone laughed at me but I must admit I have no experience crossing rivers. We won our first game 2-1 and I scored again…on another free kick. Even I couldn’t believe. Every single goal I’ve scored since last season has been on a free kick(I’ve got I think 7 goals). At the end of the game a guy on the other team got angry with the ref and pushed him to the ground. A fight broke out and I just left…I crossed the river again but didn’t fall! Supposedly the ref quit and now we’re not sure if the season will continue because they’re have trouble finding another ref…Last Sunday there was no game because of the World Cup final.

*Speaking of the World Cup…baseball is the national sport here but everybody loves international “futbol.” Most Nicas root for Brazil, some for Spain and others Argentina. They stick with the latin teams usually. For the first game we set up a projector in one of the classrooms and projected the game onto the chalkboard and charged admission for the kids to watch it. It was really exciting and all the kids were into it. Since the projector belongs to my host mom (also principal of that school) we used it at the house to project the game onto the wall to watch the all the big games en “pantalla gigante” (or big screen). I almost had a heart attack the day of the U.S-Algeria game…I was in Managua that day and all the channels there were showing the England game which was on at the same time. I tried a couple of places but they were only showing England..Finally I made it to a casino that was showing the U.S. game and I got there at halftime. What a game! I jumped out of my chair at the end. The next game against Ghana I watched with about 15 other Peace Corps volunteers in Esteli..disappointing exit once again.

*One of my Dad’s coworkers was in Managua in June to visit the company’s office there and he invited me for an appreciation lunch that he was giving to all of the 30 Nicaraguan employees. His daughter, college aged, was tagging along with him and is going to UF in the fall. I met some people that do business with my dad including one Nica that is going to see him in Jacksonville relatively soon. It’s a small world…

*In the middle of June, Peace Corps sent me a new trainee to stay with me and observe the “volunteer lifestyle” for a couple of days. He was a really cool guy and I think he enjoyed his stay. He will swear in at the end of this month and start working in August just like I did last year.

*And last but not least…I’ve got a girlfriend here. I can hear the ooh’s and ahh’s already haha. Her name is Rebecka and she’s Nicaraguan. She sings for a popular girls band and also sings as a soloist. The band usually has concerts on the weekends in towns throughout the country. It’s like pop music but they do a lot of english cover songs too. She can sing in english but doesn't speak english. I’ve only been to two concerts and she actually sings really well. Working solo, she’s sang in front of high ranking European diplomats at a black-tie event, the wedding of a granddaughter of an ex-president of Nicaragua and also more recently at the American embassy’s 4th of July party. I guess you could see she is fairly well known…Anyway she’s my girlfriend and she’s wonderful.

Enjoy the pictures!

the start of the soccer parade

teams walking to the stadium

some of the teams gathered at the "stadium" for the inauguration ceremony of the new soccer season

Here is some of our soccer team the day of the parade. I'll try to get a better picture in our full uniform the next game

you can see the projector we set up in the living room...it was pretty sweet

my host brother Harum, brasil supporter, during the brasilian national anthem against Ivory Coast

I hung two orange shirts since I was going for Holland. You can see the red one for Spain

the champions Spain, as seen from our living room wall

the genious octopus

this is the gym where i got to in my town almost everyday..finally got some pics

the gym seen from the inside

another pic from inside the gym

me and new volunteer Steven at the top of one of the hills in my town

on a hike...beautiful rainbow that we could almost touch

view of my town from above

me and rebecka

The all important year mark has come and gone and I’m still hanging around in Nicaragua. Can you believe it? Sometimes I can’t. At times it feels like just yesterday I landed in Nicaragua not knowing what to expect with this whole Peace Corps experience and at others times it feels like I’ve been here for centuries. Needless to say I’m doing well physically and mentally and see nothing to hinder me being here until the end of service in July 2011. In this post I’m just going to list random observations and occurrences like usual but be on the lookout for a more serious post sometime soon with my “one year reflections.”

Without further a due and in no particular order….. on with the post!

* I mentioned in my last video post about my beach trip over the Easter break where I got badly burned. Well I’ve posted a pic below so you guys can oohh and ahh and make fun of me or feel sorry for me. I literally shed (like a snake) for 3 weeks. I guess I’ll start using sunscreen

*You know when you have one of those really bad days where everything goes wrong. I had a morning like that not too long ago. .. I woke up one morning and received an important text. I needed to respond but my supposedly “unlimited text” had magically expired overnight. I went to put some more minutes on my phone but the network was down and I so I couldn’t. I tried to send the text through some internet site but the internet was down. Then I spilled milk all over the floor, and guess what, all the napkins were out. This was after I wanted to watch t.v. but the power had just gone out. I’ll just calm myself down with a shower, but oh the water went out. I go to class and only half show up and they misbehave. Umm..this happened between 7am-9am. At first I was mad, and then I just laughed. Thanks Peace Corps.

* Its been raining a lot lately, mostly at night which makes it really cool and refreshing but also very muddy. The flies and mosquitos thrive in the raining season that has begun.

* The power and water have been going out almost every other day in the last month at random times which makes it really unpredictable to do common things like take a shower, brush your teeth, or recharge your phone. Since we have a washing machine we need both the power and water which when they are on at the same time is a miracle. Good news though is we just put up a water tank in the back of the house which stores water so when the water cuts off, we’ll always have a reserve. It’s massive. Now all we need is a generator haha.

* I saw a movie in a theater outside of the United States for the first time ever. Only 2 cities in the whole country have a movie theater. I went to the one in the capital, Managua, and it was actually very American-esque. It was stadium seating and had AC. They served popcorn, coke, etc and tickets were $7. It was some scary movie that came out in the states a while ago but just got to Nicaragua. It was in English was Spanish subtitles.

* “Survivor” recently announced that they will start filming a new season this summer in Nicaragua. I bet a lot of Peace Corps volunteers could whoop ass in the show since some of them really do live a tough life. I’m a little bit spoiled on the other hand… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzydOcz-mZg

* A friend in town recently had a baby. She came home after a couple days at the hospital and still hadn’t named the little girl. I thought it was odd but here it seems common. Not sure why since you have 9 months to pick a name. After you come home you register the baby at the mayor’s office. So essentially you can leave the hospital without any papers o even a name…just the baby.

* One thing that really annoys me…these people that call in on the live local morning shows to ask a question never turn down their t.v.’s which creates this horrible feedback that makes me cringe. I guess they really want to hear themselves on live t.v. Does that happen in the states or is it just common sense to turn it down?

*I can’t believe I’ve never mentioned this but the author of a famous guide book for Nicaragua (Josh Berman, Moon:Nicaragua) was a volunteer with Peace Corps about 12 years ago. Guess where his site was?!?! Yep, La Trinidad, exactly where I am. There’s a little fun fact. I’ve actually communicated with him on the internet a couple of times. He knows every nook and cranny of this country.

*Whenever there is a death of someone in town. A car drives up a down the streets with giant speakers on the roof announcing the death of so and so. There’s been a lot of those lately. Obituaries are nonexistent here since there are only 2 newspapers for the entire country. It’s not like the states where every town has their paper.

* Backfired! A couple weeks ago was the birthday of one of the little girls in my first host family in Masatepe, Ellen who turned 5. Obviously I was invited to come for the birthday party but decided to tell them that I wasn’t able to until a following weekend and then show up anyway so it would be like a surprise. Well when I showed up on the supposed day of the party, everyone was definitely surprised ,me included, because they had postponed the party just for me to the other weekend. Haha. So my surprise trip backfired. I still got to spend time with them and made the trip back the following weekend for the party. Little Ellen was happy about that. BTW. It takes 4 hrs to get there from La Trinidad.

*The world cup is coming. Although baseball is more popular here everybody still likes soccer. Nicaragua has never had a team go to the world cup and probably never will. There isn’t a good enough infrastructure to support the development of good players here. I think we got beat by some random island country 5-0 not to long ago. People here care more about the Spanish and English leagues and follow them religiously. Here you are either a Real Madrid fan or a Barcelona fan. In this household we are Real Madrid which is unfortunate because they got beat by Barsa this year and Barsa won the Spanish league. We’ll get teased by the Barsa fans for the next year…All Nicaraguans secretly want to be Brazilians and always root for them in the world cup. I prefer the underdogs..

*We had a nice mid-service training retreat at the beach a couple of weeks ago. It was a nice 3 day getaway with all costs paid for by Peace Corps. It was also the first time since January that I had seen all of the business volunteer from our NIca50 group. BIG NEWS: we came in May of 2009 with 19 business volunteers and lost one in the training stage (he was kicked out, remember?). In the span of one week this April we lost 4 who are leaving early.. The two oldest volunteers decided to leave, both for health reasons (an older gentleman, and older woman). I knew it would be hard for them to make it 2 years in a 3rd world country at their age but give them credit for making it a year. Also two volunteers of the original 19 are marrying each other after meeting each other in Peace Corps and have decided to terminate service and go back to the states. We’re down to 14. Hardly any group can make it 2 years without someone leaving early.

* The annual horse parade in Masatepe was last Sunday and I showed up. Horses, beer, and music. That’s Nicaragua for you. This parade was one of my first memories as a trainee last year when I had just gotten into town and started living with the family. This time I returned back as a volunteer.

*Just as we came in last May, the new group of business volunteers came in about 2 weeks ago. They are a little bigger than we were with 24 trainees. One of the trainees is actually the son of the Peace Corps director in Washington D.C…the head honcho appointed by Obama that is in charge of Peace Corps throughout the world. That goes to show you what type of reputation we have here as Peace Corps Nicaragua…a very Ivy-league-esque one if you compare with PC programs in other countries.

* And lastly, by the time you read this I might already be back in the states. That’s right , I’m going take myself a nice 10 day vacation to visit and catch up with family and friends in the states and eat anything and everything that isn’t rice and beans. It’ll be my first trip back to the states since I’ve been in Nicaragua. I could have come home for Christmas last year but always had the goal from the beginning to make it a whole year without returning. Now that I’ve done it, I’ll get my reward. I’ll be in Jacksonville from Wednesday May 26th to Friday June 4th. My US cell phone still works… 904-571-2920. Hopefully I’ll come back to Nicaragua with a clear and refreshed mind ready to move on with my service!

* Hope you enjoyed the post, check out some pics…

Ouch..thats why you should wear sunscreen!

we had fish a couple sundays ago and i had to take a picture of the beautiful plate. my host mom made it..rice, fish, plantains, salad....que rico!!!

our view from the hotel room at the beach conference

from the porch at the hotel room...

me after doing a short hike in Matagalpa..it's one of Nicaragua's biggest cities located in a valley

at the horse parade

look at the little boy riding his bull

one of the many mobile bands driving by with all kinds of obnoxious music haha

also at the hipica were some rides...you can see how the little girl on this ride was horrified...at least she had the guts to get on..i didn't. this ride turned you upside down.

little ellen from my first host family. just turned 5!

this has nothing to do with the blog..just found it on the internet. its probably sadly mostly true

Ok. I’ve been staring at the damn computer screen for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how I’m going to start this post and what kind of funny joke I am going to make to capture everybody’s attention but it’s just not coming to me right now so how about we just get started. In no particular order…

-I’ve surpassed the 300 day mark in this beautiful country which among a lot of other things means that I have eaten rice and beans everyday for 10 straight months.

- I met a Nicaraguan girl who studied at the University of Florida at the same time I did. I guess it’s true that the gator nation is everywhere.

- I watched the Super Bowl with Spanish commentary for the first time ever. Luckily I understood the game.

-I won a poker tournament that some of the volunteers participated in. It was a hefty $2.50 buy in and I walked away with about $15. Since we didn’t have any poker chips we used beans instead. In the end I had about 500 beans to my name.

-I visited Boaco, “la ciudad de dos pisos” or the “the city of two floors”. It’s famous for cattle and cheese and of course the layout of the city. It’s the closest Nicaraguan city to resemble San Francisco. Good exercise!

- I’m tempted to continue every little news bit starting with “I” but I feel that’s kind of selfish of me. I do realize that these two sentences both started with “I.” I’ll put it an end to it.

Ok so time is absolutely flying here in Nicaragua. I´ve now been in my site La Trinidad for 6 months and in Nicaragua for a grand total of 9 months. Ive been reminded numerous times from people around here that in my time in Nicaragua I could have had a baby. Well obviously not me but you get the idea right? Anyway lets recap what has happened since my last blog spot.

--As mentioned before there is no school here in Nicaragua in December and January. This means that I had 2 months off from work. Here´s what I´ve done

- In mid December I took my host family here to Barcelo Montelimar Beach which is Nicaragua´s famous 5 star beach resort about an hour from Managua on the Pacific side. Its one of these deals where you pay a fixed price per person and you get unlimited food and use of the pool (biggest in central America) and the beautiful beach also a hotel room. I went with my two host brothers here and my host mom. We went for 3 days/ 2 nights and it was a blast. I probably gained 10 lbs from the all you can eat buffet with American food. I didn’t eat beans for 3 days! Its like the Disney World of this country but hardly anyone can afford it, just foreigners and the upper crust.

- Since most of my readers are family you are quite aware that my dad, brother, grandma, aunt and uncle, came down for xmas to visit me. They were only here for about 3 full days but we had a blast. We hired a private driver with a big van to fit the 6 of us and he took us wherever we wanted. We got to have lunch with my first host family in Mastepe and the current one in La Trinidad. We visited Volcano Masaya, the markets in Masaya, a beautiful lookout point in Catarina, the cathedral in Esteli, the city of Granada and its small island homes, and got to see a great folklore dance performance. We ate great and slept in a ritzy hotel. It was the first x-mas for all of us away from the States but it was equally as fun.

-New years here was pretty fun. I actually went back to Masatepe to pass the new year with my first host family. The night was filled with fireworks but there is no channel that carries the coverage of the ball dropping in Times Square so you don’t really know the exact moment when its midnight. Tradition here is to stuff a scarecrow looking guy with fireworks and explosives and toss him in the street at midnight and set him on fire. It was pretty cool and just walking through the streets were numerous exploding scarecrows.

- School is about to start and there is one big change. The Ministry of Education (MINED) has decided to make the business course we´ve been teaching mandatory for every high school senior in Nicaragua. This is a big achievement for Peace Corps since they invented the course and have been trying for years to get MINED to adopt it. The only problem is Peace Corps has been giving it to Juniors which means that in 2010 all the kids will have to repeat basically the same course. At least they should all get A´s right? I´ll still be working in 6 high schools but my schedule still isn´t known because well school is still a couple days away.( can you catch the sarcasm?, things work slow here)

-Our soccer season is done. We played about 10-12 games and won about half. I finished with 4 goals all coming from 20 or more yards away from the goal. The next league starts in May. If any of you readers want to sponsor our team and get us really cool uniforms…let me know.

-A Baptist mission group of builders and doctors from Tennessee came a couple weeks ago to my town to work on building a new church and do medical consultations. I spent some time with them mainly translating since they didn’t speak Spanish. We also talked a lot about SEC sports which was fun.

-We are welcoming a new addition to my family here in La Trinidad in 2010. She´s actually a student at the high school where my host mom is the principal. She´s entering her senior year in high school and is an orphan. The orphanage where she was living doesn’t want her anymore so my host mom is taking her in. She was my student last year and will be again this year because of the changes above mentioned. I´m curious to see how living with one my students will be…

-In light of the new addition to the house and my inability to wash clothes by hand I bought a laundry machine for the house. Its definitely going to save time for everyone.

-This whole month of February my town of La Trinidad has its ¨fiestas patronales¨ This means that the entire month the town will be in party mode. We have the famous ¨Hipica¨ which is a horse parade with riders from all over the country and central America that will be the 14th. Fireworks have been going off at all hours of the day and the park is busy with venders. With all the commotion and parties and noise, the start of school might as well be in March.

- Ive never written about Nica girls but let me take a moment. Most girls my age already have 1 or two kids and a husband (if they decided to get married). They still live with their parents and grandparents and most likely are unemployed. They definitely aren’t shy and will ask you within moments of meeting you if you are single. The girls have no shame in asking for your phone number and then call you and hour later. I think it´s a little to aggressive for me but here it´s the culture. After I got called 20 times over a 24hr period by one girl (26yrs old, married with kids) I think i´ll keep my number a secret

-The biggest story of the new year! For the first time in all my wordly travels I got something stolen. And it was a big something. My beloved laptop may you rest in peace. Yes I got it stolen on a bus. At least the thief left me the bag it was in. How did he know there was a computer in there? That’s right he took the computer out of the bag and walked off the bus. How could anyone not notice you might ask. Well of course someone noticed but nobody here tattles because they are scared. Anyway in less than a 30 minute ride it happened. I don’t know how since I was watching the bag up on the racks the entire time. I filed a police report for insurance purposes not because I think they’ll do anything because they wont. To add a twist to the story I knew whoever stole it would try to sell it because here a nice laptop is worth $$$. A couple weeks after it happened I stepped into a computer store in Esteli. (just a one room shop) and asked if they had any laptops (hoping that I would stumble upon my stolen one). Well she hands me a flyer with all the laptops she has and they are all crappy minus one Dell that basically looks like my computer on paper. All the specs were the same, everything, I mean everything! I thought I just found the needle in the haystack but the computer was in Managua so I asked them to bring it to Esteli so I could see it. To make the story short, I think they got suspicious and realized that the victim of a theft was looking for his stolen property. So after fighting for weeks I´ve officially given up even though my gut feeling is that it was my computer. The only real important stuff on my laptop was all the pictures but luckily before I came to Nicaragua last May I saved all the photos of my previous trips on a CD. I lost all my photos of my time with Peace Corps minus the pictures I’ve posted on this website. I guess it could always be worse…

---The only pictures Ive taken since the last blog post have been for the trip to the Montelimar beach resort and pictures from when my family came. On hand all I have are family pics but I´ll try to get the beach pics on the next post. Enjoy

---excuse all the typos on this post since i wrote it at an internet cafe with a bunch of distractions and rushed

me and the family with my host mom in La Trinidad who is the principal at one of the high schools where i teach and also where this photo is taken it. missing is uncle alex who is taking the picture

my real family with my entire family in Masatepe. They are a big group and i spent my first three months in Nica with them

a group picture of my family at the hotel before dinner

trip to Granada and the boat tour we took of the island homes

at the Volcano Masaya where you can look down into the volcano

group picture of the Masatepe family and my family after a traditional Nica dance performance in which my 3 host sisters are members of the dance troupe

I’m still hanging around Nicaragua and loving it. Right now the schools are out and don’t go back until February so I’ve got a lot of free time on my hands and trying to figure out what to do with it. Last time we spoke I recapped the month of October so here’s what happened in November/early December.

- In the Spanish culture they celebrate every November 2nd “Dia de los muertos” or “The day of the dead.” Nicaragua is no different and my town certainly participated. It was an official holiday and everybody goes to the cemetery to decorate the headstones of their relatives and friends. You would think this would be a sad day but in typical Nica fashion they make a party out of it. The streets were filled, loud music was blasting in all directions, and people were passed out drunk on the streets. Death isn’t so sad here…

-A couple days later the business sector of the PC hosted a cocktail party at the very luxurious (that wasn’t a joke, its top notch here) Holiday Inn in Managua to help raise money for our national business competition the following week. A lot of people showed up including other volunteers from other work sectors (health, English, environment, agriculture) and it was a success. Everyone got really dressed up and for a night it seemed like we were in South Beach or something. Some important people from the embassy showed up but not the Ambassador.

-The Ambassador did show his face at the National Business Competition the following week at the same hotel. The best 11 teams from each region arrived to pitch their business to a panel of Nica entrepreneurs. It was a long event but great for the kids who probably have never set foot in a hotel like that before not to mention shake hands with the Ambassador. The Ambassador did some schmoozing with the teams, gave some words, and abruptly left. He had some15 bodyguards with him probably because the week before they were pelting the embassy with rocks. The winning team won 700 U.S. dollars which is probably 2 months salary of their parents and a ton of money here. Hopefully they’ll invest it. The event was a pretty big deal and the news stations came out and the newspaper published an article the next day.

- One of the funnest nights I’ve had so far was when I was invited to be a judge for an English singing competition. I had heard from other volunteers that these things were great so I gladly accepted. I thought it was going to be like American idol and be just individual singers but they came out in groups and did dances and it was more of like a theatrical performance with medleys of different songs. They had numerous costume changes, on stage fireworks, and some kid even drove a motorcycle on stage. I’m sure numerous safety violations were broken but here that’s no big deal. I heard Air Supply, Eagles, Michael Jackson, Backstreet Boys, John Lennon, “Eye of the tiger,” Savage Garden, “Total eclipse of the heart” and the list goes on. I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time because the kids tried so hard but the pronunciation was lacking and so it made it funny to listen to.

-At the end of November the PC had its AVC (All Volunteer Conference) in which all the volunteers in the whole country come together for various seminars, talks, etc for a couple days. It’s supposed to be an annual thing but last year they didn’t have money to put it on so it had been 2 years since they had one. I think we are close to 200 volunteers in the country between the 5 different sectors. I obviously saw faces I have never seen before. Anyway they put us up in a nice hotel and the conference was there so were locked up for 3 days but it was fun. In the day was work but at night they had fun activities one of which was “trivia night” in which teams of 4 competed to answer the most random questions on earth. Me and 3 other guys from the Nica50 business group beat out 11 other teams and won $60. Hopefully they’ll be able to do another AVC next year.

-The AVC finished on Thanksgiving morning and the PC was nice enough to split up the volunteers and send them in groups to American families from the embassy. 6 lucky people got to go to the Ambassador’s house for dinner. I wasn’t one of them. I went with a group of 20 to a guy that works for USAID. He was gracious enough to host a Thanksgiving dinner and yes there was turkey and everything else you could imagine. Everybody got fed and was full by the end of the night. As a side note, these people from the embassy and other U.S. government organizations get put up in really nice American quality houses in private gated communities. They have guards too at night. You forget you are in the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere when you are laying on a comfy couch watching the NFL on a plasma screen t.v. (yes that’s how I digested my food)

-Since I was in Managua already for Thanksgiving, I made a trip the next day to visit my first host family in Masatepe (the ones who I lived with in training). I hadn’t seen them since late August when I went back for my sister’s birthday. Everyone looked great and the little girls are growing. After I finished training in July they received a new trainee from Nica51, which arrived in early September. They recently swore in before the AVC and now my group that came in May aren’t the new guys anymore. Nica52 (health) comes in January.

- One of my classes took an end of the year field trip a couple weeks ago and invited me to go. It was me, another teacher, the driver, and 13 of the students. It was an all day affair starting at 6am when we left La Trinidad until 10:30pm when we got back. We basically saw a bunch of touristy places that most Nica’s have never seen because they rarely travel. We went to the Volcano Masaya, the crafty market, the lookout point in Catarina, an old fort, a group of small islands in Granada, a swimming pool (rare despite the heat), and the city fair in Managua. It was free for everyone and they even brought in an ice skating rink. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Too bad the lines were too long otherwise I would have put Michelle Kwan to shame.

-Saved the best for last. Yours truly is the leading goal scorer for his Sunday soccer team with 3 goals all from free kicks. After we started off the season with 3 losses we have regained some of our dignity tying twice and winning a game. We played a horrible game about a month ago after it had rained the day before. There was puddles and mud everywhere. I couldn’t even pick up my feet because they would get stuck in the mud. My blue cleats were black at the end. Now the field is super dry because it hasn’t rained and its like playing on asphalt. The cows graze there during the week and so there is random cow dung piles scattered on the field. In one of our previous games a horse got loose and ran on the field. Ahh the adventures of Nica soccer. In our last game after the refs robbed us of a goal and gave the other team a cheap goal and so we were losing 2-1 at half against the team in first place. The second half I got a chance at a free kick from about 30 yards out. It was a beautiful shot, a “ripper” upper 90, and it tied the game. I got mobbed by my teammates and they were calling my “golazo” (meaning awesome goal in Spanish) one of the best every scored in the league. I’m sure it would have made SportsCenter’s top10 if it had been filmed. Even the players on the other team wanted to shake my hand. And when I was in the gym a couple days later people we asking me if it was me that had scored. What can I say; I’m doing big things down here.

-My next post will be in 2010

***Merry Christmas and Happy New Year***

the graduating high school class at one of the schools

a bunch of lights in the form of an xmas tree in Managua

on the field trip

one of the little islands in Granada inhabitated by 5 monkeys..heres one

somebody's vacation getaway island

me with some of my students at the lookout point in Catarina

me with my students and counterpart

another picture with my students and counterpart

at the english singing comp. notice the motorcycle on stage for the last performance

one of the products at the business competition. waterproof backpacks

this is the stadium where we play our sunday soccer games..haha jk this is the stadium in Esteli where Real Esteli plays against other crappy Nicaraguan clubs. This is a pic from a game i went to back in August.

this picture was painted by a group of guys from my rural school that competed in the regional competition. they didnt win but i still bought this $4 work of art. they have a bunch more really nice ones from anyone who´s interested. it means ´´i am nica´´

these girls were competiting at the fieldday in some kind of pageant. the nicas love crowning young girls in whatever

the field at one of my schools. really nice scenery. this was the day i played with my students and got 2nd place in the oneday tourney

my students and their teacher. they are good players

the group of volunteers in the hotel before the halloween party

all of us in our really weird costumes. if you want to know what the bottom half of me looks like just look at the guy on the other side. (i can´t believe i just posted this pic, go easy on me)

-i dont have a pic yet of our sunday soccer team but i´ll take one the next time we play

Well the month of October has come and gone and you guys only got one post out of me. It was a busy month but we are heading into the home stretch of the school year. Here’s what I’ve been up to and some cultural observations

Work

- We had our regional business competition in Estelí at the end of the October and it went pretty good. We had 7 groups competing including 3 groups that were my students. This time the kids had to do a power point, which is gaining popularity here but the kids aren’t to tech-savy, but they surprised us all with good presentations. After about a half hour of deliberating the judges gave 2nd and 3rd place to my teams and 1st place to a group from Estelí. My groups still claim it was fraud since the judges were from Estelí. I doubt that was the case but I understand where they are coming from since this country has a history of corruption and fraud. BTW, 1st place won about C$500 ($25) which is a super ton of money here.

Fun

- I’ve been going to the gym consistently and getting back into shape but I’m really excited to have gotten back into playing soccer. I’ve played now on a couple occasions. One of my schools had a “field day” and hosted a one-day soccer tournament and high school teams from all of the surrounding towns came by. I played with my students that I teach and they are really good. We finished in 2nd place. They could all make any high school varsity soccer team in the states.

I’m also playing in the Sunday league here in La Trinidad with my host brother’s team. We are called “70 magazines” which they all think is great but I can’t figure it out haha. The league is really organized with a ref and linesman. Every team has uniforms and id cards and the fans come out to watch. It’s a good way to spend a Sunday. We’ve only played once and we got killed 4-1 thanks to four defensive errors but guessed who scored our team’s only goal? Yes it was me, very David Beckham-esque. A free kick from the right side that got up and over the wall and curled into the side net. That could possibly be the first time a “gringo” has scored on a Nica in the history of the league. Needless to say I got some good applause from the fans and I’m sure some respect from my teammates. The next day at school all the kids knew about it. See how quick word spreads when you are the only foreigner in a small town.

Funnier

- Remember the 100yr old grandmother of the host mom that I live with. Well as it turns out, the first time she met me she thought I was the boyfriend of her granddaughter saying “Isn’t he a little too young for you.” Since she is single and I recently moved in I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of people that don’t know me would think like that. I like a mature woman but not one that is 25 years older.

- A bunch of the volunteers from Nica50 went to Matagalpa for Halloween weekend and got all dressed up and went to a house party. It was a mix of volunteers and Nicaraguans and some of the Nica’s even got dressed up. It was a fun time. All the girl volunteers insisted that everyone wear these one piece jumpsuit things from the 80’s. Yes, even the guys wore women’s clothing just for a night but it was all in good fun because everyone looked dumb. You can see the pic to get an idea.

20 Nica Observations (in random order)

1. The whole “pet” thing is just catching on here. Lots of people have parrots and even cats to kill the rats. About 90% of the dogs here live in the street and are starved. Where as in the states we love our animals here they throw rocks at the dogs and the affection doesn’t exist between human and animal. Cattle and horses are emaciated also since the people can barely feed themselves.

2. Not a lot of people own cars but rather horses and actually use them as their primary transport. For that reason the streets are always filled with dung.

3. People try to sell anything on buses, its quite comical. I’ve seen vitamins, pens with a special light, cookbooks, pills that cure everything, chewing leaves that cure bad breath, dvd’s, toothbrushes, and every kind of vegetable imaginable. I’ve started to recognize certain people so when they get on the bus I know I’m about to get a sales pitch.

4. People here have started to give their kids English names probably thanks to the popularity of American movies. Also, when they have babies sometimes they don’t name them until a week after. I’ve got students named Axel, Mixer, and Lefty. I ask Lefty if he was left handed, it was supposed to be a joke but of course nobody got it. When I told him what his name means in English the whole class burst into laughter but I told him it was a cool name.

5. The newscasts here are stuck in the 80’s with all their graphics and it’s really funny to watch. There is no such thing as censoring and when they cover murders and accidents they show dead mutilated bodies. Nobody seems to bat an eye and I think people have grown immune to it. There obviously is no FCC

6. I’ve seen a lot of kids driving scooters, motorcycles, and cars. This is of course within the town and not on the highway but nevertheless its funny to see an 8yr cruising by you in his dad’s truck. Hey, gotta teach them young…

7. Nicas are known for their unpunctuality. They have what they call “la hora Nica” or “Nica time” and it usually means that when something says it starts at 8am, it won’t start until 9pm. The pace of life is surely much slower here. Nothing gets down until the last minute also. Reserving something a month before is unnecessary and won’t do you any good.

8. It’s not uncommon to see people eat a lot with their hands, including beans and rice. Forks, knives, and spoons do exist but are optional within the house.

9. People have no shame to ask you how much you earn. It’s just not taboo like in the states.

10. Math skills are lacking at all ages. Teenagers depend on calculators to find 30% of 100 and half the time are wrong because they don’t know how to read a calculator. Even adults have trouble doing simple adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. Trying to explain to my students that 1/2 is the same as 500/1000 took about 2 weeks for them to get it.

11. Everybody here loves certificates and diplomas. They think it’s the coolest thing ever and are proud to show them off if they receive them.

12. The nicas must possess a magical book that contains random holidays that I’ve never heard of. Did you know that international wash your hands day, tourism day, world food day, and Nicaraguan librarian day existed? I find it really funny and wonder where they come up with this stuff. Every other day is some special day for them.

13. Religion is a big deal for everyone. There are Catholics, Baptists, Adventists, etc. Much more diverse than what I imagined. But people put so much trust in god that the response to “See you tomorrow” is “If god allows it” or “If god lends us life.” If you mention anything about doing something in the future it’s always followed by a God response from the other person. Unfortunately I think a lot of people rely on God to fix their problems and thus sit on their butts waiting for a miracle.

14. Halloween has slowly caught on here in the last couple years but the religious leaders despise it saying it’s a thing of the devil. It does have pagan roots but even the catholic churches in the states have parties so I think it’s ok. It might take a while for it to be seen as just something fun and not have religious undertones.

15. Every other girl my age is pregnant or already has a kid. This country really has a teenage pregnancy problem and it shows with over 70% of the population being under the age of 30. I’ve heard stories of girls as young as 12 having babies which is disturbing. One of my students who is 14 just dropped out of school because she got pregnant. The law states you can’t be pregnant and attend school at the same time. Not sure what I think about that.

16. You see a lot of the people here watering the dirt with a hose or throwing water on the dirt and you wonder why because there obviously is no grass or plants to grow but it gets really dusty here and so to avoid it they dampen the ground. It looks really weird to see it but now I get it.

17. Breast feeding in public spaces is normal and nobody complains about it. They don’t have ridiculous lawsuits over stuff like this like they have in the states.

18. The Nicas love American brand clothing and their favorite is Hollister, which is usually worn by American teens and young adults. It has someone gained popularity here in Central America (duh, its an American brand so it must be good so they think) and they sell it in all the shops. Whereas in the states you would never see a person over 30 wear this brand here it’s worn by babies to elders but I still crack a laugh when I see a grandmother wearing one. You can usually spot a fake Hollister shirt because the logo is spelled “Holistar” or with only one L. See the influence we have on the world.

19. The English language too has gained popularity and they use a lot of English words in daily conversation. They say the word “brother” to mean a good friend and almost all the vocabulary of baseball “out, strike, hit, double play, home run, etc” are said in English here but it just sounds funny with the accent. Same thing with other sports. I always tease people that they are stealing our language knowing though that the English language contains plenty of words from other languages.

20. Body language does exist but here it’s a little different. For example in the states when we want someone to come, we open up our palm and wave the fingers inward. Here you keep the palm down and wave your fingers in and down. They look at you funny if you do it the American way. Also if in a conversation somebody doesn’t understand the other person they do this weird nose and eye scrunch that you just have to see. It clues the other person to clarify himself. Whenever they talk about someone with “billete” or money they always rub their two point fingers together. There’s a ton more but hard to describe in words. I can do most of the Nica body talk but am still working on the eye/nose thing.

====Pictures coming soon====

me with 3rd place winners

the winners from the rural school who suprised everyone

nice photo frames, if you want one i´ll put it an order with the ladies

gators game on tv in managua

my two sisters in granada, notice the beautiful cathedral and lake

marcela eating her first pancake ever

with my two sisters at the karaoke bar

independence day parade

one of the battling bands

little drummer boy

baton girls

on the way to the swimming spot in the mountains, gorgeous

the swimming hole in the middle of nowhere

It’s hard to believe that I’m almost at the 5 month mark here in Nicaragua and almost a full 2 months working in La Trinidad. I’ve definitely settled into a routine and feel now like it’s just like any other job. I’ve been really busy in my first two months which is good because here boredom can kill you. I’ll be put to the test in December and January when the schools are on break. Any suggestions to keep me busy?

Anyways no really big news but here are some things I’ve been up to since the last post… (i tried to post pics at the end but the internet was too slow, i'll have them up in the next couple days)

- I’ve decided to stay with the family I’m living with because I’ve got a good setup and see no need to change it. My rent is $50/month.

- I surprised my Masatepe family at the end of August when I paid them a visit for one of my host sister’s birthdays. They welcomed me back with open arms. A new group arrived to the country earlier this month, Nica 51 (Environment and English). The family is now hosting a new trainee for 3 months again.

- Peace Corps in Washington D.C. got a new director that was a former PCV in the Dominican Republic about 30 years ago. His first visit was to the DR and then he came to Nicaragua within a week of being sworn-in. I told you Nica has a good Peace Corps reputation. He said he was really impressed with what’s going on here.

- I hiked out to a swimming hole up in the mountains with my host brothers and some of their friends. It was pretty neat. The rocks had formed a natural slide that dumps you into the water. You could also jump from the trees although I’m not sure how deep it was.

- My “uncle” has a gator shirt and a jaguar shirt which always puts a smile on my face when I see that but of course has no idea who either team is. Just something to put over his back.

- The Spanish word for wife is esposa which I’ve known for a while. What I just found out is that the Spanish word for “handcuffs” is the same word! I’m sure some guys would agree with that.

- I told you that we always have to hitchhike from the school that’s in the middle of nowhere. The other day the only person that stopped was a truck driver carrying rice and since there wasn’t space in front, I had to ride in the back. I climbed up top and sat on a rice pile (recently harvested) probably 10 feet deep. I kept saying, “Only in Nicaragua.” But should have been saying “never in the US” haha.

- I went out to a popular bar/club in Esteli a couple weeks ago and my host brother pointed out a famous Nica soccer player that plays for Real Esteli and also the national team. Hardly anyone knew who he was and he was just sitting by himself. Only baseball players are famous here.

- I met up with two of my former host sisters in Granada for a night out. I treated them to dinner and then we went to a Karaoke bar. A lot of Nicas were singing American songs and my sister Marcela sang a song or two. She has a nice voice. We both sang “Hotel California.” I don’t think I’ve done karaoke in probably over 10 years. I’m no singer but I think I sounded pretty good since I was the only person singing in English that actually knew what he was saying. It was a good time. The next morning we had breakfast in arguably the most famous breakfast spot in the country “Kathy’s waffle house.” It’s a favorite among tourists and rich Nicas. My sisters had never tried a waffle or pancake before. I had a ham and cheese omelet. Mmmm good.

- I got stung by a bee for the first time since I was 5 or 6 years old. It got me in the hand and I had to tweeze out the stinger.

- In Peace Corps Nicaragua there are 4 University of Florida alumni’s and for the Tennessee game last Saturday three of us were able to get together to watch it in a sports bar in Managua. Managua and cities to the south actually get CBS, NBC, ABC from affiliates in Miami and so we could watch the game in English exactly how you guys would watch it. Some other volunteers joined but were just football fans. Some Nica friends came also but don’t understand how the game works. We’ll probably get the same group together for the other big games. It was fun and brought back memories seeing my orange and blue.

- I mentioned before one of my jobs is to organize local business competitions. Finally I’m done with them. I had to do 2 since I have 6 different school and did one in the beginning of September and one just this week. They went really well and everyone said both were better than last year. All the kids were nervous but had to present their product and business. The top 2 for each competition will compete in a regional competition in October. The four winners are an electric Styrofoam cutter, recycled paper art, trash cans made out of recycled bottles, and a group that made beautiful painted landscape pictures.

- Just an uplifting story. The last group was a group of guys from Las Mangas (the rural school). That school brought 4 groups to compete against the bigger high school in San Isidro who brought 15 groups. The guys from LM won 1st place and everyone was raving about one of their speakers who presented excellent. You see the majority of the kids are so nervous that they write down every word that they want to say and then they stutter, forget it anyway and hand the mic to the next victim. But this guy from the school in the middle of nowhere blew people away with his presentation. It was kind of like a David beating Goliath. Hopefully they do well in regionals. I’m rooting for them.

-Nicaragua celebrates it’s Independence Day September 15th so they had a parade that day with every school’s band. I told you, being in the band is cool here. They had some awesome costumes and I saw a lot of my kids marching in the parade. It was no Macy’s thanksgiving day parade but it shut down traffic on the pan American highway for about an hour. They also canceled school for the whole week so they could continue celebrating. They are serious about their festivals here.

- I know I’ve been slacking on the blog posts but I’m not going to update you guys on what I had for dinner. I usually wait for an accumulation of “cool things” to happen and then do a post like this. Until next time!!!

Well hello again my faithful readers. You’ve finally got the long awaited post. I know you are all anxious to see how the first month has gone for me as an official Volunteer and you’ll be delighted to know that it’s gone surprisingly well. There is so much to tell so sorry if it seems scatter brained or unorganized, just trying to get it all out there.

Just to recap, I’m living in La Trinidad, a small town near the ginormous (gigantic+enormous) city of Esteli. My primary role is to assist my Nicaraguan counterparts in the classroom teaching a basic business course called “La Empresa Creative” (LEC), or “The Creative Enterprise.” Us volunteers teach this class in conjunction with a Nicaraguan teacher (our counterpart). Since I’m working in 6 different high schools, I’ve got six different CP’s. They range in age from 25-50yrs old.

Later on in my service once I establish myself I am free to do other secondary work like form youth groups, small business advising, teaching English, sports teams, or whatever else comes my way. I’m sure I’ll be in high demand. But my number one job for two years is to train the teachers to give the course so that when my service is over they can keep it sustainable. Estamos claro? (Are we clear?) Good, let’s continue

Family: Like I’ve mentioned before I’m living with a family (mom and her two teenage boys). The kids are off at college in Managua and only come home on the weekends so it’s usually just me and her. It’s a great little house and I’ve adjusted to the quiet (after living in a house with 12+ people in training). I’m obligated to stay with them until mid September and then have the option to move out and look for a new place but I’m perfectly content here so for now I’ll be staying for the near future.

- My host mom’s grandmother (still alive) turned 100 the other week and we went to their cabin up in the mountains to celebrate with a family BBQ. See pics

- My younger host brother David plays basketball for his university and while playing in a tournament in Mexico was approached by an assistant coach at Baylor University doing recruiting. I talked with the coach by phone and emailed him some stuff but he hasn’t responded. Not sure what’ll happen but he must be decent, right?

Work: As I’ve mentioned before I work in 6 different high schools. Four are located La Trinidad, one in a nearby community of San Isidro and the other way out in the middle of nowhere in a community called Las Mangas (“The Sleeves”). My daily schedule varies as I meet with each school and each class once or twice a week. Working with the school system keeps my schedule fixed as opposed to the AG group and other sectors who wake up and have no set schedule. Peace Corps says to ease into work but it’s pretty much impossible when they throw us into the fire in August.

You see, the objective of the business course is to form groups and come up with a product (much like what we did in training) but on a grander scale. Local competitions are held in Sept, regional competitions in Oct, and the big National competition in Nov. The volunteers along with their CP’s are in charge of organizing and planning the local competitions so I’ve been busy with that. We have to solicit money, invite people, find judges, etc, etc. It’s a big headache but it must be done. Next Friday is the local competition in La Trinidad.

The Sleeves and San Isidro will have their own competition at the end of Sept. For the competitions the kids have to make business plans for the judges to see. The criterion on how to do it is crystal clear and every group has directions but they mess up big-time. I hate to stereotype but the math skills in the country are lacking to put it nicely. These high schoolers need calculators to figure out 40% of 100. Needless to say figuring out the unit costs, fixed costs, variable costs, and break even point is a big source of frustration.

Another thing the Nica youth have gotten used to is copying. They copy everything. One of the teachers gave an example of a business plan and the kids turned their plan into me and it was the same thing with some names and numbers changed. Even graphs which would be obviously different from group to group depending on their numbers were exactly copied. And they think they can get a way with it, not so fast my friend. Professor Jason won’t tolerate it. There is an extreme lack of creativity among the youth and lack of thinking for themselves. Every other product is some kind of jam, yogurt, bracelet, etc. Always the same. Ok enough of the venting…

Play: Finally I’ve gotten back into a decent workout routine after 3 months of not doing anything. The gym costs me $8 a month and it’s worth every penny. It gets pretty crowded in the afternoon and even the ladies get sweaty. We aren’t talking about Gold’s Gym but it works for me. In the central park they’ve got a rec center with a basketball court where I played one time. The Nica’s love basketball for some reason. Still haven’t got to use my soccer cleats but hopefully soon. There’s no nightlife here and everyone is locked up in their house by 9 or 10pm. I went out one night in Esteli to a Karaoke bar with the volunteer that lives there (no I didn’t sing). That city is known for its nightlife since there are a couple universities there.

Food: The kitchen we’ve got in the house is like an American kitchen with all the modern appliances but that hasn’t made me any more inclined to cook for myself. For breakfast I just make eggs, cereal and a couple bananas. Maybe some fruit. Since my host mom is super busy during the day (she’s a principal), I eat lunch at a great restaurant run out of the house of a super nice family close by. Its really well known and everyone traveling on the Pan-Am highway for a long trip will stop for lunch there. Its about $2.50 for a giant plate of rice, beans, plantains, tortilla and either beef, chicken or pork. I always eat dinner at home with my host mom.

Random notes:

- A local taxi driver told me how he tried to cross the border into the states through Mexico two times but got caught. I told him the third time was a charm.

- My family are big fans of all sports and especially the Yankees. They know the players better than me and subscribe to an all MLB channel.

- Despite the remoteness of Las Mangas it’s easy to get to, but busses hardly pass on the way back. All the teachers live in other towns and we all hitchhike back to civilization. Here its normal and nobody thinks twice of it. Just hop on the back of a pick truck and enjoy the scenery. At least it’s free.

- Us teachers in Las Mangas got chased by a rampant bull in the street (dirt road) one time. Good adrenaline rush.

- You can buy DVD’s here from the guy in the park for $1. They are all pirated but good quality nonetheless. Some even come with 5 movies on one DVD. Like the $1 DVD I bought with 5 Denzel Washington movies. What a deal.

- Participating in band here is the cool thing to so. The practice early in the morning and after school too.

- One of my CP’s in a local school has been out for over 3 months because of a sick sister. I’ve had to stand in solo, which is clearly not my role, but I feel bad for the kids. They clearly take advantage of the newbie but I can’t do much about it. They say she’s coming back soon

- I went to a soccer game in Esteli one night when they were playing Chinandega. Real Esteli is the best Nica team and all of their players play for the national team but a decent college team in the states could beat them. The atmosphere was awesome though, the fans are crazy as you would expect and they even had a band in the stands. The stadium was like a high school soccer stadium.

- This weekend I’m heading back to Masatepe to visit my first host family since it’s the birthday of one of my sisters. I told them I couldn’t go so it’ll be a nice surprise. Ever since I left they’ve kept begging for me to come back.

- New mailing address: Jason Azzo, Apartado Postal 0044, Estelí Nicaragua, Central America. Send me whatever, I'd love anything.

Scenery on the way to Las Mangas

Kids at band practice

the front yard of my house, notice the coconut tree

my living room/kitchen

my room

the 100yr old great grandma going strong

view from the cabin up in the mountains, nice little stream

corn on the cob

some of the older men talking Nica politics

the scenery on the way to Esteli

Coming back into La Trinidad

beautiful mountainside

me and my two brothers riding on top on the way back home from the bday party

lots of cowboys in this area with their horses

Last week was full of meetings and last minute advice from the part of the staff before they sent us packing. We officially swore in on Friday morning in a nice ceremony in the nicest hotel in Managua. The first part was dedicated to the families for having hosted us for the last three months. Some of the volunteers spoke and some of the families as well. Only two from each family could come so my mom and brother, Douglas, came. I think I’m probably the 7th or 8th volunteer that has stayed with her so she knew just how special the occasion was. The second part was more official, some high ranking people from the embassy spoke as well as the Nicaraguan minister of education. We sang both national anthems and took oaths in English and Spanish. It was a nice ceremony and by noon we were officially “volunteers” as opposed to “trainees.”

We had been in Managua in a hotel since Wednesday for meetings so afterwards we headed back for lunch. Most people said goodbye to their families after the ceremony because they were leaving straight from Managua but my family offered to give me a ride on Sunday to my site. On Friday night the sub-director of the PC hosted a fantastic spaghetti dinner at her house for the newly sworn in group of 32. A lot of the staff and big honchos in PC were there and so was a Marimba band. It was a fun time and a super nice house, even for American standards. The next day I said goodbye to my fellow volunteers, not knowing when the next time we’d all be together, and headed back to Masatepe to pack up my things and spend my last day with my host family. Packing wasn’t hard because I didn’t have to choose what to take but rather stuff it all in suitcases and bags. I’ll admit it was kind of emotional knowing I’d be leaving them after 3 months. They’ve been so good to me and there was never a dull moment.

Sunday I said goodbye to my brothers/aunt/uncle/cousins/niece/nephew. My three sisters, mom and the little girl Ellen took me up to my site. We got in around 2pm and my two host moms talked with each other for a while. Finally I had to say goodbye to them as they had to get back for dinner in Masatepe. We all shed a few tears but I know we’ll see each other sooner or later. I spent the whole rest of the afternoon unpacking and fixing up my new room. I’m pretty much unpacked but still need to get a few things. It’s noticeably very quite which I’m not used to since it’s just me and my host mom in the house. Her two sons 17 and 20 are here but only during the weekends since they study in Managua. It’s definitely going to take time to adjust. My new life starts now…

the four of us that trained in masatepe plus the families

shaking hands with the minister of education in Nica

my mom and i

the oldest trainee(now volunteer) in the group, John, but he goes by Juan. Really great guy. glad he´s made it this far

the director of the small business program in PC Nica. she is nicaraguan but from the caribbean side. excellent boss

me, my mom, and my brother douglas

This post is appropriately titled almost because..

We are almost done with training! We've basically finished everything but just have a bunch of general administrative meetings next week and then Friday July 31st is the swearing in ceremony. 2 days later I'll be in my site, La Trinidad. Next post will probably be from my site.

We almost made it to the end of training without any people quitting but unfortunately in the last week some people decided to pack their bags early and go home. Remember we started with 36 (19 business, and 17 agriculture). 2 aggies have gone home and another had to go back for surgery but will return to Nicaragua and 1 business volunteer is getting dismissed for breaking peace corps policy/procedure. That leaves 32 for the swearing-in ceremony but perhaps someone will drop out within the next week. Maybe the reality of being in Nicaragua 2 years is starting to set in. Almost made it unscathed...

And we almost won the competition! Today was the product competition for our youth group. The 10 different training towns each had their own different youth group with their own product that they've made and comercialized. As you remember ours was the chocolate. Each group had their own table and had 15 minutes to explain their product, their experience with us americans, etc. Our group presentation was amazing and the kids explained their costs, prices, break even point, etc but in the end we got 2nd place. The judges said the decision was hard and they were in the jury room for a while.

The winner was from the neighboring town of Nandasmo and they had made a kind of jam. Other products included a hammack, fruit juice, cake, perfume, and more small edible things. They only awarded 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place so 2nd place isn't bad at all. They were still a little disappointed. Regardless, this whole experience working with them was great. They were so excited for the competition and dressed up really nice with name tags and everything. They made posters and the presentation was wonderful. BTW they all won backpacks with cool school supplies stuff in there which they were thrilled by. 1st place won cell phones. Hopefully they continue their little business since they created it. Almost!

Our youth group of Masatepe at the competition this morning. great group of high schoolers. Really amazed us americans with their work ethic.

The product, "LovesChocolate"

so finally a picture of the family I've been staying with. I know it took almost three months but it was probably the first time we were all together. I took them to a wonderful restaurant in Granada and they really enjoyed it. (brothers Douglas 19 and Luis 26, sister Teresa 19, my wonderful host mom, sister Maria Luisa 28 and her daughter Ellen 4, and 3rd sister Marcela 25) great big happy family, i'll miss them

So I got back to Masatepe after a couple days visiting what will be my permanent work site, La Trinidad. The site visit was a chance for all of the trainees to visit their new homes and meet some important people at the schools and in the community. It’s just basically a heads up to let them know a “gringo” will be moving into their town in a couple of weeks.

Keep these things in mind.

-Every business volunteer’s work will consist of teaching a basic business class called “La Empresa Creativa (LEC)” or “The Creative Enterprise” and also advising small businesses and working with NGO’s. The distribution of the work differs in each site. All schools are high schools.

-Every volunteer must live with a new host family in their site for the first 6 weeks and then are free to find their own housing or if possible continue staying with the family.

-Volunteers are set up with Nicaraguan counterparts. They are never supposed to teach class alone since the purpose of this course is to develop the teacher’s skills so when we leave, it’s sustainable. It’s very much a joint operation.

-Some sites are new sites, meaning you will be the first PC volunteer to ever work there. Most are follow-up meaning we are coming in right after the previous person completes their two years. Mine is a follow-up.

---------------------------------------------------

-The town itself is right on the PanAmerican highway, the same one that runs down from Alaska to the bottom of Chile. It takes about 2 hours from Managua and is a smooth ride. The town is very clean, has 24/7 water and electricity (which I don’t have now), postal office, central park, church, gym, internet café, etc. It’s small, quiet, but friendly. Very nice climate, mountains all around, great scenery. Not a lot of traffic despite the highway. Has mostly everything you will need and the giant city of Esteli is only half hour north. A lot of people there are rich from cattle. There is a lot of money there so the houses show it and the people are dressed well.

-5 out of my 6 schools have experience with the LEC due to the previous volunteer or a past volunteer. I will be implementing the program from scratch in only one school and working to strengthen the program in the other 5. Three schools are private and three are public. All class sizes are very small. 15-25 students compared to bigger sites with +50 in a classroom.

-6 schools mean 6 different principals and 6 different counterparts. All are excellent and seem very supportive of the Peace Corps’ work. Obviously only one doesn’t have experience with the course but she’s enthusiastic. One of the principal’s father-in-law lives in Gainesville. One of the other principals is with whom I’ll be living with for the 6 weeks and maybe longer. The biggest complaint among volunteers is lack of cooperation among counterparts but it looks like i won´t have this problem.

-The family is really nice. Great house right off the highway. Just the mom and her kids but they are off at college in Managua so it’ll be mostly just her and me. It’s a two story house, small but cozy, very American. I’ll get the bottom floor and she gets the top. I’ve got a big bedroom with a big bed and private bathroom. There is a washing machine!! I’m really happy about the housing situation.

-The volunteer working in La Trinidad was getting ready to come back to the states and so the whole time she was saying her goodbyes and I was saying my hellos. (how does the saying go, every beginning is someone’s end? I forgot). In one of the schools they had an assembly in the gym to say goodbye to her and welcome me. I got handed the microphone unexpectedly but managed to say something. In another school they had hamburgers and cake and we played some games to break the ice with the teachers and staff. I’m glad I got such a warm welcome. I also got to meet the mayor and a lot of her friends who I’m sure will take me under the wing.

-We will get paid the equivalent of $200 a month. So that will have to cover rent, food, transport, etc. I think most volunteers are broke by the end of the month.

-Only about two weeks left of training. Have one more language interview and one more interview with the boss. We’ve got a bunch of reports and stuff to turn in as well as the youth group competition. Go chocolate! Swearing in day will be Friday July 31st. On Sunday August 2nd I’ll move to La Trinidad.

sorry i didnt take alot of pictures of LaTrinidad but I´ve got two years to do so...

me playing some balloon game with a fellow teacher...fun time

at center- the girl I´ll be replacing. on her left my host mom/principal. the guy, erick, will be one of my counterparts. nice people

picture from a trip to masaya a couple weeks ago. nicaraguan hammocks are handmade and famous

And so my home for the next 2 years is...

DRUMROLL PLEASE..........

La Trinidad, Esteli

Woooo!!

So there you have it. Today was the big day in any Peace Corps volunteer's service. As is standard for all Peace Corps programs in all countries there is a 3 month training period and then 2 years of "service." You train in groups and then do your service individually in your own city. Today both the business group and agriculture group learned where they'll be for their 2 year service. We had a couple interviews with the boss and she heard our preferences but could choose to put us anywhere she thought fit. I ended up with a site that was 1 of the 3 I requested so I can't complain.

La Trinidad in english means "The Trinity" (father,son, holy spirit). It's called that because the city lies in a valley surrounded by three big hills. The city is in the department of Esteli 30 minutes away from the enormous capital city of Esteli. It's only around 10,000 people versus the bigger capital sites of 60,000-150,000. It's only about 2 hours north of Managaua but it's a lot cooler in that part of the country because of the mountains. I told the boss since I had lived in Florida for 22 years I wanted to avoid the heat for a change.

I'll be following up the work of another volunteer who is finishing up her 2 year service there and she loves it. My job will consist of working in the local schools and some schools in surrounding communities as well as secondary projects working with businesses,NGO's and english classes.

Next week I'll actually visit the city for 4-5 days and meet with the volunteer there now to tie up loose ends and get on the right page before she leaves. When I arrive to my site after swearing in (July 31st), I'll be living with a family for 6 weeks and then can choose to live on my own or keep staying with them. I'll meet this family next week and can start to move some luggage there.

Overall I'm pretty excited. They dragged out the reveal of the sites just like American Idol or a beauty pageant but I guess it's fun for the bosses to see us in agony. Well I'll have more info in the next couple days or after my visit next week to give you guys more detail...

A picture of La Trinidad i found on the internet, should be nice scenery

Since I don't think I've posted pictures of my family...

Trip to the beach with my 3 sisters(left to right, Maria Luisa,Marcela,Teresa) and niece(Ellen Camilla, daughter of Maria Luisa).

Yep, it’s been just about 50 days here in Nicaragua and everything is going along smoothly. Maybe to my dad it feels like 50 years (right?) but I think time is flying by. We have one month left of training and then “swear-in” as actual volunteers (remember we’re just trainees now).

Some quick tid bits from the past 10 days or so…

-Peace Corps took us on a field trip to visit Volcano Masaya which is a live volcano but not in that perfect cone shift. Smoke was fuming out but we couldn’t see lava. You can drive your car to the top but must park it in backwards in case it blows.

-Last Sunday we killed a chicken in the backyard and then made a soup with it. It was a lot less gory than the goat but equally as tasty

-Our youth group is doing amazing. The kids have produced their chocolate product, packaged it beautifully and have been selling it for the grand price of $0.17. Not bad when their unit costs are $0.10. The competition with the other 9 youth groups is at the end of July and we have a good chance of winning.

-As I write this, a Michael Jackson song is playing on the radio. It’s been non stop Michael Jackson since he died. I guess he really was a worldwide icon. A lot of people here know his songs.

-We had our mid training language interview. On day one, I tested into the intermediate-high level. Now, I’ve progressed half a level to advanced-low. You have to have intermediate-mid to “swear-in” but I think some people are still stuck in the novice level. Hopefully they pull through.

-The embassy of Mexico presented an instrumental quartet (violin,clarinet,viola,cello) in the church the other night and a good amount of people showed up. Two mexicans, one Russian, and the other from Georgia (the country) comprised the group. They’re based out of Mexico and are professionals who’ve done concerts throughout the world. After doing concerts in London, Paris, Moscow, etc I think a concert in a church in Nicaragua was a big change for them (especially when the bats were flying in the church at head level the entire concert).

-We had our “site fair.” This was a presentation of all the 19 different sites available for the business group to do their 2 yr service. We learned about the sites, what kind of jobs are available, etc, etc. We have an interview with our program director next week and can express interest in certain sites. Kind of a big deal when this site is where you’ll be living and working for 2 years, right? There’s a lot of factors to think about like climate, work, distance from the capital, size of site, etc. Business volunteers always get “bigger” sites with water, electricity, internet, cell phone coverage, etc. They leave it to the agriculture and health volunteers to live in the remote remote areas. It’s really a mix and match game trying to place trainees into sites because each site is different and each trainee is different. The only person that knows the site and us is our program director who is awesome. Past groups have said that she always does a great job placing people in sites where they’ll do best.

-They’ll be revealing the sites on Wednesday July 8th. That will probably be my next post so hang in there and I’ll have some giant news.

giant spider web above my bed, thank god for mosquito net

after killing the chicken

musical quartet in the church

volcano masaya

almost all of the business group at the volcano

Well I’m back in Masatepe after a nice four day trip to the north of Nicaragua. It was really a fun trip and good to see a volunteer “in action.” Me and another trainee who was going in the same direction left on Sunday and actually met our two volunteers in Managua just by coincidence. They were returning to their sites as well. We stopped in Jinotega to have lunch and they actually took us to the same place I ate when I was there a year ago. I guess the gringos know where the good spots are.

The north of Nicaragua feels nothing like the south. First of all the landscape is totally different. After clearing Managua and heading north you begin to see the hills and mountainside. It’s a really pretty drive but takes forever because school busses aren’t made to climb mountains. Regardless, its pleasing to the eye.

Another thing about the north is the people. They are more “Spanish” than “Indian.” By that I mean that in the north people’s skin is lighter than mine and their hair as well. We came across some blondes, brunettes, red heads, blue eyes, green eyes and no eyes. A little bit of everything in the north. You forget you are in Nicaragua for a second. The north is more mountainous and cooler and so a lot of people work with coffee and cattle. Lots of cowboys up there. Could probably resemble a remote Californian community in the mountains.

The guy I went to visit was a business volunteer that is about to finish his first year. He loves his site and everybody knows him because the town is so small. I can’t tell you how many times we were walking and I heard “Hola Patricio, que onda?” Or “Hey Patrick what’s up?” Even the toddlers would call him out. I observed him giving his class in the high school and his students love him as well as the other teachers. He works a lot with the businesses and they really appreciate his help. He has really integrated himself well into the community.

I’ve got a lot of random notes so here:

-We were the only two foreigners in town

- He stays with a host family and so I stayed with them. Nice people.

-There is a famous Italian priest that moved to San Rafael del Norte a while ago and did a lot of good things for the community. He died about twenty years ago but everyone still remembers him and there is a picture of him in everyone’s house. He’s like their town’s saint. I went to his burial site on the top of a mountain and supposedly his body hasn’t decomposed.

-Because it gets so cold there in certain parts of the year some people have rigged heaters for the showers. Ours was broke and the water was like -40 degrees.

-They have 24/7 water and electricity which Masatepe doesn’t

-I slept with a long sleeve shirt and socks

-Some say the church there is the prettiest in all of Nicaragua. I don’t doubt it, the inside was gorgeous. There is also a famous painting in the church of Jesus and the Devil. People say the Devil resembles the now president Daniel Ortega. The Devil is painted with a mustache and Ortega has one so I guess I can see it. The funny thing though is that is was painted before he was born. Maybe a premonition?

-I had a bunch of 16yr olds asking for my email and number. I think they want me to come back.

-I have no chance of getting that site since he still has a year left but I would love a place like that where everyone knows your name.

Landscape of northern Nicaragua

Altar of the church in San Rafael Del Norte

The painting of Jesus and the devil (Ortega?)

Tomb of the famous Italian priest

The local high school, beautiful views

*enjoying a day at the laguna de apoyo, actually the laguna is in the crater of a volcano

*dancing everywhere in the streets

*cockroach almost as big as my cell phone, he's dead

That’s where ill be going for about 4 days to visit another volunteer. Peace Corps sends all the trainees to different sites to visit an actual volunteer in their 2 year service. They informed me that I will be going to San Rafael Del Norte. I know exactly where it is because last year when I was in Nicaragua I wanted to visit this town but didn’t have enough time. You probably won’t find it on the map unless its really a detailed map but it’s right next to the city of Jinotega which is on every map (look north).

They PC staff stressed that this visit is no indication of where you will be for two years. In fact in a lot of cases we are visiting volunteers who still have a year to complete their service so the chances of you getting that site are 0%. That’s my case. Either way it’ll be good to see something different so you can request a “comparable” site or something totally different.

Other than that everything is going great here in Masatepe. I’ll be leaving this Sunday and coming back on Wednesday. Look for a recap of the visit late next week…

Another week in the books here in Nicaragua and everything is going great. Wednesday marks one month in country. Got some cool stuff to talk about…

Surprise birthday party- Tuesday was our good friend Sol’s birthday. She is the host sister of one of the other trainees in Masatepe. We organized a surprise birthday party in a nearby town of Catarina which has a great lookout point. It took some good coordination and logistics to get people there without her knowing but it ending up being a success and she really was surprised (even though we stalled so many times for stupid reasons). The next day we slaughtered the goat…recall previous post.

Charlas- This past week I gave two “charlas” or lessons in the local high school. The kids were very respectful to having foreigners in their class and we gave a good 45 minute class on preparing for the future. We did some games and activities which they probably wouldn’t have done with their Nica teacher and some of the students have some pretty high aspirations. Teaching in Spanish really isn’t as bad as I thought, although I can’t imagine how someone just learning could pull it off.

Youth group- These kids are really doing a good job. We’ve got a good group of ten and since they picked their product to sell as chocolate they formed teams and brought in 3 samples of different chocolate products for the group to vote on. There was chocolate covered pineapple, a milk chocolate, and a kind of pudding chocolate in different shapes. All three were delicious and creative. We’ll vote on Tuesday.

Tid bits:

-I got my first haircut outside of the states. My hair was really long and I couldn’t stand it anymore so I went to the barber shop and the lady fixed me up for $1.50. It’s hard to explain in English exactly how you want your haircut much less in Spanish. Anyway, I look like I’m in boot camp now…but I’m fine with it.

-Saturday was the big running of the bulls festival here in Masatepe. I think there was about 4 and they were more like cows walking through the street. The people had fun anyway antagonizing them.

-Every three weeks we change language teachers just to be exposed to different styles of teaching and different accents. I thought our previous teacher,Blanca, was the best but we are getting Gloria now which has worked for PC the longest and has the reputation of being great. Hope so…

- One of the students in the youth group asked me to find the lyrics to Cindy Loper’s “Time after Time” and Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live without You.” You think any of the 16yr old’s in the states listen to those classics?

-Nicaraguans love fireworks. I think I begin and end my day with fireworks. There is constantly the sound of fireworks being exploded throughout the day. They sound more like bombs. I think of it as a kid who just learned how to ride his bike and wants to ride all the time, although I’m sure fireworks have been around for a while

-Sunday there was a big mass at the Catholic church. The bishop from Mangagua came. He is the holiest guy in Nicaragua. Important parts of the mass are marked by…you guessed it..fireworks. Of course not inside but loud enough so everyone can hear it. After the mass was a procession of a “Black Christ” for which Masatepe is known for. There was dancing and music as always. This past month is probably the most festive for Masatepe.

-Next Saturday or Sunday we leave to visit and shadow an actual volunteer in their 2yr service. Everyone visits a different volunteer, and some say where they send you for this 3 or 4 day visit could be indicative of where your 2 years could be. Some say not. I’ll let you know who and where I’ll be visiting before I leave.

Traditional Dance with young ones

Black Christ

The Masatepe group with our first teacher Blanca.

Before you get all worried. I´m perfectly healthy, I didn´t bleed a drop. But the same can´t be said about my lunch. It was a goat. And it bled alot...in front of my eyes... because the butcher came over. Yes I witnessed the slaughter of an animal and then ate it 2 hours later. Is it bad to say that I enjoyed it..Maybe so.

Anyway so the story is that the host sister of another trainee had her birthday this week and so they bought a goat to slaughter and eat. On Wednesday morning the butcher came over with all his knives and machetes and did his job. We were supposed to have class that morning but since a goat had to be slaughtered some of us gladly watched the process. I have video of the whole thing if anyone is so interested.

So here are the details:

Butcher arrives, sharpens tools, ties up the goats legs, pins the goat to the ground, and slits the throat, the blood came pouring out but it took a while for the goat to actually die. After it sputtered around for a little bit splattering its own blood on everyones pants, it finally died. The butcher hung it on a tree branch and the skinned it, disembowled it, and cut it to pieces, he also decapitated it. The host mom cleaned up the meat, spiced it, and threw it on the grill. It was really tasty. Sick yet? Now you know where your meat comes from. Probably a cow though right? BTW, the butcher didn´t wear any gloves or any special clothing. He was a badass.

--sorry the pictures are out of order, i can´t exactly figure out how to perfectly place them. hope you enjoyed

Some trainees with Nica friends at the Beauty Pageant, recall previous post

Horse parade

Festivities of horse parade

Folkloric Ballet in Managua

Wow, what a week it’s been. Get ready for a long post… Youth group- We started with 16 but the last couple of times the same 10 or so have come so it looks like that’ll be our group. They decided their product to sell would be chocolate. Not sure how creative it is but that’s what they want to do and they are pretty enthusiastic about it. Rain- Finally the rain has come and I don’t think it’s going anywhere for a while. Right now it’s just been raining at night and it really cools down everything and makes it really nice to sleep to. The only thing about the rain is it brings mosquitoes but since I have a “mosquitero”, mosquito net, I’m well guarded. The medical office has warned us about malaria but it’s pretty rare here. Another disease that goes around a lot is Dengue fever which cannot be prevented. Hopefully I won’t get either. Cuban quintet- On Wednesday, my sister Marcela (26) invited me to a concert given by a Cuban quintet who is touring Nicaragua. They were an all instrumental group and were really amazing. They even played the theme song from Pink Panther. About 100 people showed up including a couple foreigners. Cooking lessons- Thursday for lunch we went to the house of another trainee, Joseph aka Jose, and his mom offered to show us home to make a pizza from scratch. She bought all the ingredients and we paid her back. She’s quite a cook. We made 3 large pizzas and the ingredients cost about $8. They tasted awesome. Afterwards the family invited us to their “finca” (farm) outside of the city. It was pretty remote but was a fun way to spend the afternoon. His dad showed us around the property and all the different fruits growing on the trees.

Folkloric Ballet- Probably the highlight of the week. My oldest sister Maria Luisa (27), mother of the 4yr old girl Ellen, is very involved in traditional Nicaraguan dances. This past Friday all the best dancers in all of Nicaragua had a folklore show in the national theater of Managua. She was one of the main dancers and as a result had been given two tickets. So I went with my mom on Friday night to Managua to watch the ballet. The theater itself is on par with any performing arts center in the United States. It was very upscale and everybody was all dressed up in their Sunday best. There were about 20 different dances with all kinds of colors, costumes, music, and masks. It was a lot of fun. Of course my ticket was free, but the value was a hefty 200 cordobas ($10). That’s a ton of money in Nicaraguan standards but I could only help but think that that same show in DC, Miami, LA, or NYC would have cost about $80-100 a ticket. La Hipica- As I’ve mentioned before we are in a period of “fiestas” here in Masatepe. This weekend was the big kahuna. The Hipica is a big parade of horses from all around Nicaragua that go up and down all the streets in the city. Tona, a beer company, is the big sponsor and hence there was a lot of activity and parties this weekend. People come from all over the country for these parties and to see the horses even though each city has its own parade at different times during the year. Saturday night I went with my sister and some of her friends to a big outdoor party sponsored by Tona. There was a band, DJ, mechanical bull, and of course beer. Needless to say that’s a good combination for a bunch of fights. Don’t worry I wasn’t part of any of it. Sunday was the horse parade and the all the streets were lined with people and tents selling beer. It really reminded me of a giant outdoor tailgate party (like Florida Georgia weekend). It was a good time. Random notes: -I got another shot. I think the second rabies shot. I’m losing count. -I watched the U.S. national spelling bee with my family and they were amazed I didn’t know what any of those words meant. - We had our first of three interviews with the PC project director about where our sites will be. We didn’t get into any specifics but everyone already wants to know where they’ll be for 2 years. I don’t think we’ll find out for another month or so. - I took my first bucket bath because the water was out. It wasn’t as bad as I thought and was really refreshing. -I found the cheapest restaurant in the city. $2 for a giant plate or rice and beans, bottled water, fried plantains, and fried cheese. Yes, everything is fried. - This week we start giving “charlas” or training sessions in the schools. -And I finally worked out.I´ve been trying to load some pictures but for some reason it won´t let me. I´ll try again soon.

So in my last post I mentioned about the Ms. Masatepe contest. Well I ended up going and it was something else. It was held in the cultural center outside and about 1000 people showed up. Admission was $0.50 and they sold popcorn, beer, and snacks. The contest itself was well put together with judges, two MC´s and performers in between breaks. There were 6 girls competing ages 15-18 although they all looked like they could be my age easily. The Nicaraguans don´t hide their emotions.

For example, when the MC asked the crowd to ¨give it up¨ for each girl they didn´t even clap except for the prettiest one. They had costume changes, question and answers, much like in the states but when the judges didn´t pick the obvious fan favorite everyone started booing the winner and getting rowdy. My mom was actually one of the judges and she said she didn´t agree with the decision. Anyway, it was a good saturday night and it was nice to see the city enjoying themselves. By the way, two of my host sisters are former winners...

So it’s been about 10 days since I left the states and about a week since my last post. I’ve settled into my house and have gotten into some bit of a routine. I’m not going to give day by day updates but rather comment on some different topics Family/Food- They are treating me great. I get along really well with my five brothers/sisters and the younger cousins and grandchildren. The two young girls in the house, Ellen 4 and Chari 6 are always following me around and playing with me. There is always people coming in and out of the house but they are all friendly. My room is nice and private. I shower every morning because there is water and the cold water feels great. They feed me everything. Breakfast is usually light, like a fruit salad (pineapple, watermelon, banana, etc). Lunch is the heaviest of the day, usually rice and beans with chicken or meat and plantains and a freshly squeezed “refresco.” Dinner is almost like lunch but a little lighter. I’ve been eating great here. Language- Us four trainees in Masatepe have a wonderful Spanish teacher named Blanca. We basically have class everyday from 8am-12pm in a volunteer’s house. The informalness is great. Most of us are strong in Spanish but are lacking the technical vocabulary, Nicaraguan expressions and country-specific words. After lunch we meet up again and observe classes, and meet community members. We’ve even met with the chief of police to let him know that 4 “gringos” are living in his city.“Charlas”- You guys will hear this word a lot. It means like a talk or training session on a certain theme. We have been receiving them almost every day since we got here. Topics include health, safety, transportation, how the school system is, microfinancing, community banks, etc etc. We trainees also have to give charlas on a variety of topics to the high schoolers to help us get ready for our future stints as teachers. Youth Group- Also, as part of our 3 month training we have to form a youth group of high schoolers from the “Instituto” and give them charlas on business and life themes and work towards commercializing a product to sell in a contest against the other groups from other training towns. We met with a group of 16 teens, boys and girls and they decided to meet with us Mondays and Fridays. Last night was the first meeting at one of the girl’s house and it was a complete success. 13 out of 16 showed up which was awesome and we did some icebreakers, brainstorming, and community analysis. They seem really into it which nobody was expecting. Masatepe the city- It’s the biggest of all training sites but small in comparison to American cities. You can walk around the city in a short time. The “fair” has come to the central park and there are all kinds of mechanical rides and clowns and kids just having fun at night. There is a big horse parade next weekend that attracts people from around the country. The police chief warned it would be a little unsafe because of the type of people that come (drunks) but he welcomed us to watch it from the steps of the police station haha. The city also has the “Coronation of Ms. Masatepe” tonight. Maybe I’ll stop by. The people in this city are so nice and welcome us into their homes. Everyone here has rocking chairs and they just sit out on the front porch and rock away. It’s fun. Tid bits: -The sun comes up early and goes down early so the days seem to take forever. I am pretty much up from 6am to about 10pm. I’ve been sleeping great - There is an internet café and telephone place about a 30 second walk from my house. Another 30 seconds is the gym ($3 to join, $2 per week) -No stomach problems - Had my clothes hand washed and sun-dried. Give a hug to your washing machine. -A lot of people here actually like basketball and are following the NBA playoffs. -High schools are called “institutos” and are the equivalent of 6th-11th grade. - The PC office in Managua is air-conditioned! -Masatepe is known for “Mondongo” which is a soup made of cow intestines. I’m sure I’ll be invited to try that some day. -There are tons of old American school buses being used here. They are the cheapest to travel but are slow. For the expensive price of $1 you can get a “microbus” and go direct. They also have these “mototaxis,” like those that you see in Southeast Asia and India. Those are fun. - Tomorrow we’re going with some fellow trainees and Nicaraguans to a group of small islands in Granada. This will my 3rd time there but should still be fun. ---Hasta Luego

On Saturday we got delivered to our training sites which will be our homes for the next 3 months or so for training. They sent the agriculture trainees (aggies) to some really remote areas and put the business people in small cities and pueblos. The aggies left on their own bus so I have no idea what happened with them but the business people all got on and made stops in Catarina, San Jual De Oriente, Nandasmo, Niquinohomo, and finally my city, Masatepe.

The bus was filled with nerves and excitement as the first volunteer heard his name called and went in to meet the family while the driver delivered the luggage. Everyone in the bus was so curious, looking out the window and laughing. One by one they got dropped off, about 4 to a city. My city was last so there were only 4 people on the bus by then. I made it to my host family in Masatepe around 11:30am and was greeted by an enormous family. There is the mother/husband, 3 daughters ages 19-27, and two sons 21 and 25. So I guess I fit right in. There are the grandparents who are in their 80’s and some grandchildren. Its confusing because I still can’t figure out who lives here and who are just visiting.

I have my own room. I put up my mosquito net, have a dresser, desk, and mirror. Really basic but I made all my stuff fit. Of course no AC in Nicaragua. The roof is zinc which makes the house radiate heat like a furnace. There is a nice living space with rocking chairs and a dvd and entertainment system, a really small kitchen, a very nice bathroom, and the a big backyard which is shared with the neighbors. All the dishes are hand-washed and so are the clothes. All this is done in the backyard. They have electricity 24/7 but the water is only on from 6am-9am and then from 4pm-6pm. There is a lot of water stored around the house for bucket bathes, cooking, washing, etc. The Nicas know what they’re doing and are used to having a limited water supply.

After I unpacked I was fed a typical Nica lunch with rice and beans (gallo pinto), sweet plantains (maduros), and fried cheese (queso frito). At 2pm all four of us trainees (aspirantes) in Masatepe met for a Spanish class with our teacher, Blanca. All the classes will be really informal and take place in one of the trainees houses. We finished around 4pm and walked around the city for a bit to get our bearings and visit the other host families. The city is quite nice and seems relatively safe. I came back to the house and had dinner, watched tv and went to bed. It is much cooler at night thank god. Everyone in the house is so nice but there is just constant movement and commotion and the walls are paper thin. I didn’t have much trouble falling asleep but around 4am the roosters started to crow, and the kids started to cry. The birds started singing. By 5:30am the sun had come up and I was just laying in bed staring at the ceiling. Should be an interesting few months, I’ll keep yall updated.

Wow! Welcome all. So it's been a second straight day of waking up around 4am. This time for a flight out of Washington D.C. to Miami and then on to Managua, Nicaragua. All of our flights were on time and we got into Nicaragua at about 1:30pm local time. We made it through customs easy with all workers in the airport wearing a mask, fearing we were bringing the swine flu to them.

Anyways no problems with baggage and everyone made it into the welcoming arms of Peace Corps Nicaragua. They bussed us over to a place I can only describe as a "compound" where we'll be until Saturday when we go to our host families. We are still doing a lot of paperwork, introductions, and general administrative stuff. Tomorrow they will do a language exam to see where everyone fits. They had a small snack for us and then a group dinner at 6pm (rice and beans with sweet plantains of course). Everyone is in good spirits and is ready for this adventure.

Just a funny story, having been to Nicaragua I know just how crazy Managua is. Its not a place to spend a lot of time because of safety concerns. On the way out of the city we saw two guys getting into a knife fight and then a motorcycle that had been hit. Good times in Managua..

P.S. The Peace Corps uses a lot of acronyms so I may start using them in my blog to be quicker. For example...

Peace Corps- PC

Peace Corps Trainee- PCT

Peace Corps Volunteer- PCV

Returned Peace Corps Volunteer- RPCV

Country Director- CD

Peace Corps Medical Officer- PCMO

-There is a ton more but for now this will do

* Keep in mind that for the next 3 months we are all trainees and not volunteers until we "swear-in" at the end of July.

Haha is that really what the Peace Corps is? Definitely no, but the last two days have felt like that. Peace Corps mandates that every program leaving abroad must participate in a 1 day orientation called "Staging." Yesterday was my staging in Washington D.C. for my group Nicaragua50, meaning we are the 50th group being sent to Nicaragua since PC started there back in the 70's. There are 36 of us, about half doing small business and half doing agriculture. There are people from all walks of life which is wonderful. There are recent college grads, young married couples, retired couples, you name it. Peace Corps is diverse. Most of these people are seasoned travelers that have put their lives on hold for a 2 year adventure.

Staging felt like the first day on the job with learning about policies, procedures, logistics, icebreakers, etc. Anyways I'm just sitting in the airport waiting for a flight to Miami and then to Managua. When we arrive we will be having a group "retreat" until Saturday when they deliver us to our host families for 3 months. Official training will start on Monday. I should have regular internet access for the next 3 months so I'll definitely keep you posted. Hope all is well.

P.S. If there are any questions that are picking at your mind, just leave a comment. See you in Nicaragua!

Peace Corps says that mail between the U.S. and Nicaragua is dependable. Timely, maybe not. They suggest sending padded envelopes or small packages not exceeding two pounds. According to their website "airmail takes about two weeks."

They also suggest not sending valuables since the package will probably be opened at customs. You can send something through DHL or UPS as well.

Lastly, they suggest addressing me as "Padre Jason Azzo" or "Hermano Jason Azzo" which means Father, or Brother Jason Azzo. Apparently handlers along the way are less likely to steal something with a religious affiliation to it. You can always write "Que Dios te bendiga" (God Bless You) on the package and with those helpful hints hopefully your mail arrives in one piece!

*Until about August this is my address:

PCT Jason Azzo

Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3256

Managua, Nicaragua

Central America

P.S. I'll put together some kind of wishlist once I get down there and start to miss certain things.

Hey Jason, I've heard about the Peace Corps but how exactly does it work? Hopefully this will clarify some things...If you have specific questions post a comment and if I think of anything else I'll add to the list

How long will you be there?

- 27 months. 3 months of training around Masaya and 24 months "in-site." I have some say in where those 24 months will be.

What will you be doing in Nicaragua?

- Teaching basic business classes to high schoolers and also working to improve small businesses in my community

Where will you be living? Do you get a house or apartment?

- All volunteers must live with a host family during the 3 month training period. Once a volunteer is "in-site" he/she must live with a host family for a month or so and then is free to choose whether he wants to get an apartment/house/ or continue a homestay

Are you getting paid for all this?

- Sorta. We are volunteers but we do get paid a stipend each month to cover living, food, travel, and other expenses.

Can you come home or travel outside of the host country?

-Yes. After the training period volunteers accrue 2 days vacation per month and can use them as they wish.

How will you get around?

-In bigger cities you can get around in local buses or taxis and smaller cities you can walk. Public transportation in Nicaragua is surprisingly efficient and cheap. Since most people don't own a vehicle it must be that way.

How can we contact you in Nicaragua?

-Through mail, internet, cell phones. Nicaragua does have the internet in case you where wondering. Most cities are internet accessible but more remote villages and pueblos will not. You can mail a parcel or package but expect it to take a while. Despite the poverty, most everyone in Nica has a cell phone. I should be issued one. If not I'll buy one. The rates in Latin America are cheap since lots of people have family in the U.S.

Can we come visit you?

-Of course! Visitors are welcome and encouraged. Just let me know way in advance so we can work out the logistics. Nicaragua is an up and coming tourist destination. It's a Costa Rica in the making...

What happens if you get sick?

- I got the best health care coverage as a volunteer that I'll ever have in my life. If I need medicine or to come back to the U.S. to see a doctor then the government will pay for everything. And I mean everything.

Is Nicaragua safe?

-Latin America is safer than alot of people think and there are thousands and thousands of foreigners, expats, and tourists in the region. Some places are safer there than here in the U.S. Nicaragua has the reputation of being the poorest yet safest and having been there already I can speak to that.

What happens if you want to quit and come back to the states?

-As we are volunteers nobody can make us stay but seeing as though we made a commitment to the Peace Corps and the host country for two years, early termination (ET) is the last resort.

No I'm not referring to traveling abroad, living abroad, or even volunteering abroad because those are all things I've done before. I'm talking about blogging! So I guess this first post is a test-run to see how this blogging thing will all work. I have a little over a month before they ship me off to Nicaragua and I intend to keep up with this blog so all of you guys can keep up with my experience of a lifetime. Hasta pronto!