My Peace Corps service has officially ended and I am safely on American soil. Because of increased harassment, PC decided it would be best if I left a few weeks earlier than my previous ending date in early November. It was a precautionary measure, and absolutely for the best. I had been staying in the capital my last 10 days in the country, and when I went back to my town to pack up my life, I realized I’d forgotten my keys in the hotel. Drr. Luckily I was able to get the outside gate key from my landlady to get into my patio. Then I got one of the neighborhood boys to break into my house. With a hammer. It’s kind of odd to actually watch someone so deliberately deface your property, but it was super helpful. So I packed up my things, gave a bunch of stuff away to local students, and stopped by my school to say goodbye. That was just the most awful part of the day. Nay, of my entire service. The kids all looked surprised, but they understood a lot of foreigners were fleeing just before the election (to take place the first week in November). I got a lot of good last hugs from them, but many of them were surprised and timid to get emotional in front of the class. That didn’t hold me back. I ugly cried most of the time. And a couple of the kids cried along with me. That look of those sad little Nica faces hugging me will forever be burned in my memory. I made the goodbye quick because I didn’t want to draw it out, and continued on to another students house (who boxes in his front yard with a home made punching bag, and runs 5 miles a day!) to drop off tennis shoes for him. These are a real treasure down there. Athletic shoes are seldom sold, and are only found in the capital for some big $$. He was so happy, and as we turned the car around, him and his little sisters ran after us, waving us down, like there was some catastrophe. We stopped the car, and he gave me his digits. Real cute.

After completing all my medical exams and exit interviews I got my plane ticket, and took an early morning cab ride to the airport. It was all so anticlimactic. The driver asked me if I wanted to sit up front ( I always get made fun of for riding next to the driver, even if I’m alone), so I decided to play it cool and ride in back like you’re “supposed” to. Then I realized he asked me where I was going to sit because his giant machete was taking up the front seat. A real protector and chivalrous gentleman, that one. When I got to the airport, I made the rounds, filled out my paperwork, and that was it. It was a long day of waiting in MIA, with my plane getting delayed because of bad weather (and the fire alarm going off), and I just wanted to ‘time machine’ forward and get home! My good friend Jenn, who came to visit me in Nicaragua my first year, was at the airport to take me in her private vehicle with air conditioning and seatbelts and hubcaps and power windows to my parent’s house. To make matters awkward, my parents weren’t home. Neither was the dog. My parents were out of town for a wedding, and the dog was at the kennel. Breaking into my parents house made everything feel even more unreal, but also a little easier. The situation of coming home after so long, after experiencing so much, good and bad, was so overwhelming. But to come home the way I did felt like I was baby stepping back into things. I’ve since negotiated and bought my own car, and started functioning like a normal person here. I’m remembering all the cultural norms: you can’t touch strangers when you talk to them, you must wear a seatbelt, there are laws that you have to follow otherwise you face actual consequences, making eye contact is considered polite, just because someone’s white doesn’t mean you know them, and so, so many more.

For now, I’m readjusting and looking forward to the holidays. I’m beginning to send out resumes, and looking into going back to school. I’m excited to put on my big girl pants, and take all the skills and attributes I’ve gained over the past 2 years and apply them in positive ways. I’d like to make a difference in our country, and hopefully open people’s eyes to the realities of the world. We should all be pulling together to create solutions to our nation’s current situation, instead of whining about it (while holding $4 cups of Starbucks coffee).

I will forever carry with me the bizarre 2 years spent with my wonderful students, townspeople, and co-workers, including my 2 great PC friends, Carla and Jocelyn. We lived in separate parts of the country, but we were in the experience together. They were my confidantes, friends, vacation buddies, and my American breaths of fresh air when all you want to do is quote American comedies and share coveted jars of peanut butter.

Thanks to everyone who donated to my projects, supported me, prayed for me, sent me good vibes, etc. It was meaningful to me to know that there were so many people behind me, whether we talked frequently or not, who supported the work that I and so many other people have/are/will do out there in this big, big world.

Last weekend I got out of town and up into the mountains of Matagalpa, where I belong. The climate is quite cooler and cloudier, and in this season, rains on and off all day. Ok, it’s a LOT cooler. I actually walked to the grocery store, during the DAY, and I didn’t break a sweat! It was a miracle. When I got home after my trip, I sat down without a fan pointing at me, and I was profusely sweating How quickly I forget how horribly hot it is where I live…

I spent the long weekend with some other volunteers, hiking to a waterfall, going to the gym (yes, this city has a REAL gym that could very well be in America), and eating good food (variety? Say what?). I watched cable tv for the first time in awhile and boy was that weird. Sounds like we’re all broke, overweight, and downright dumb by the looks of it. And that was just from CNN. I don’t THINK that’s the case. But seriously, after seeing MTV, I don’t blame other countries for hating us. Did I continue watching that trash? Absolutely. I fought through feeling embarrassed of my country and our values, and found the programs absolutely riveting.

The day the other volunteers left, I stayed an extra day to go on a long hike. I went for “cerro apante”, but I ended up passing by it (perhaps an accident, but I didn’t want to pay the 30 cordobas anyway) and trucking on through to the next mountain range. On the way up I was accompanied by a young man who lived at the top, and makes that trek every day! He asked me if I was bored walking alone. But the majority of the time we walked side by side in silence. I don’t see much of a difference. I said I don’t get bored walking by myself. Ahh the cultural differences. As Americans we do SO much alone, but here, I suppose because the entire family lives together and is always around, no one ever does anything alone. Towards the top, I thanked him for accompanying me and said I’d see him at the top. He looked at me really weird that I was stopping and planned on continuing alone. But honestly, I had to pee, and I didn’t want to tell him that, or have him wait for me. I’m a lady for goodness sake! So after a few hours after I realized I’d overshot my mark, I decided to turn around since I was running low on food and water, and at that point, I was just bumbling into the campo where few whites have gone before. Instead of kids smiling and waving at me because I look different, they looked downright frightened. It was a gorgeous scenery, all rolling green hills of coffee plants, streams, and even some sprinkles of rain. It was amazing to be out, even towards the middle of the day, and have the sun hiding behind dark clouds and not feel like my skin was being burned off. Amen.

6/Sept/2011

September marks the beginning of our fiestas in town….again. I can’t believe this is the THIRD time I’ve experienced the annual big round of fiestas. There are weekly parades, high school “miss” pageants, bombas going off at all hours of the day and night, carnival rides in the park, and bullriding. The other day we had our own “running of the bulls” and when they came barreling down my street, they knocked over the snack stand outside my school! I wish I could have gotten a picture, but when you’re hiding and taking cover, it’s kind of difficult.

I’ve only had one day working at the town hospital, since the lab tech went to a training until the 15th of this month. But on my first day, I learned so much. I got to test for HIV, pregnancy, anemia, blood type, cholesterol, blood sugar, and…I think that’s about it. There’s virtually no machines to do the work, so it’s very manual, which I like, because you’re such an integral part of the process. They staff was so great about tetaching me and letting me do tests, and all because I’m an educated American that can speak Spanish. Sweet. I love low requirements. I want to seize this opportunity because Lord knows this would NOT fly in the states.

Last week my friend Carla’s dad came into town to do some pro bono knee surgery. We met with him after our meeting at the Peace Corps office and went out to a nice dinner. Earlier in the day, Carla and I had also seen a movie (our first!) with McFlurries in hand. Yes, this was a mental health day at it’s finest. If I had known how awesome the theatre was in Managua, I would have gone a long time ago! We saw “Horrible Bosses”, which in Spanish is translated into “Quiero Matar A Mi Jefe: I want to kill my boss”. There were a few other Nicas in the theatre, and there were subtitles, but the movie was spoken in Spanish. A lot of people were laughing, but just not at the same parts we were. A perfect example of the difference in sense of humor (which I continue to struggle with). There were so many American culture references that no one from another country could truly understand (like the ..Bowflex?” comment in the bar).

My cat has had another round of kittens, and today they are about 5 weeks old, and ready to give away. Even the kitty with one eye is getting a loving home. I’m going to have some students over after class to pick up their new pets. And yes, they all got 100% on their exams last week and are very deserving. One kid is even taking the mama, finally my liquidation of everything I own here can start!

My official ticket for Phoenix is booked for November 15th!

23/8/11

I’m in the process of doing my reports and filing other paperwork for the close of my service. There’s very little keeping me from going home. Aside from school and tutoring, I need finishing signatures, reports, selling/giving away my stuff, saying goodbye, and packing, there’s very little I have left to do. It could be a beautiful thing. But it’s making me a little crazy. I need a little more to keep me here. The fact that so little holds me back from finishing and going home is wild. I’m beyond ready to move on with my life and get this show on the road! I’m excited for a real job (though I’m sure I’ll lament that soon enough), living on my own in America, driving my own car, hot showers, a/c, seeing my family and friends whenever I want, eating a variety of delicious food, speaking real English everyday, going to an indoor gym also with a/c, not being sexually harassed everyday…oh no….I could just go on and on. The POINT is, I’m excited to go home, feeling a little nostalgic for all the little things I’m going to miss, and very, very excited to start my real life.

For our close of service conference, we had an awesome life coach talk to us about how to re-amp our resume, interview with confidence, and how to readjust to living in America without totally resenting all.the.waste. She was strong and to the point; no nonsense. I wanted her to be my best friend. She gave us great advice, and listened to our plans and worries for returning home. Since then, I had my very last visitor, and am back in my routine.

To turn on my necessary go –getter attitude in preparation for my return, I started training for another marathon and/or Ragnar race in February of next year. I feel great, and have graduated to from my 6k runs last week, to 10k runs this week! I’m trying not to get overeager, this is certainly not a good place to get injured considering I have to walk everywhere! With this, I’m getting a new and very welcomed focus. Also, I’m working in the local hospital once a week. Why? Because it’s fun, I get to hang out with my new health sector sitemate, and because they let me!

Ok people. T – 4months. Well, maybe. As well as not actually knowing when school ends this year (October, so as to get out before November 4th elections. December, taking a break for November elections then returning to finish the last few weeks of the school year), I also do not yet know when I get to go back home. You just have to listen to the rumors, and maybe one will be true. Communication is not a strong point of operations in this country.

We are currently on our July break. I have 3 more days to do some rainy day yoga, go running to the Momotombo volcano, do some cooking (my new kick is Salvadorian “pupusas”, a sort of corn pancake stuffed with beans, spices, and cheese), hang out with my kids, play pool with some of the guys on my street with no life path whom I’m secretly mentoring, and do my normal chores. The 19th of this month will be our Independence day. It involves a countrywide caravan straight to the capital, Managua. Buses don’t run that day because they all.drive.down. It’s crazy! President Ortega will give a speech, and people will celebrate the country. Until things get political and rowdy. I’m certainly not leaving that day. I’ll just listen to the “bombas” (with the boom of a firework, without the pretty lights) from my house.

I finally felt my first earthquake last weekend. 5.7 off the coast! Instead of the rumbling of thunder, or of a big diesel truck going by, this rumbling didn’t come from just one direction. It was coming from all directions, but mostly coming from under the bed. I was almost certain what it was, and confirmed it later on the earthquake.usgs.gov website which lists all earthquakes in the world up to the hour.

So, I’ve been cutting my own hair…this WHOLE time with my medical kit scissors. Really, my hair isn’t disgusting in that obvious way, because it’s always up (remember, it’s a little too toasty here to have your hair down). But I finally set out to get a real Nica haircut. I saw a woman cleaning her shop when I entered Leon, and I decided to just go for it. There was only one salon chair (err, plastic lawn chair) and she wasn’t busy. So I went in to what was actually the front room of her house to realize… it was a tranny. Look, it’s cool. I don’t judge. In fact, I’m kind of fascinated as to why (do they feel they don’t belong in the body they were born in)??! When I let loose my hair, she gasped and said “ohh, your hair is SO beautiful”, except in Spanish, duh. That would be quite a trip to have a perfect English speaking tranny cutting my hair. Anyways, I laughed that she could even think I had nice hair, but I took that compliment and ran with it. She did a fine job, and my hair feels SO much better and healthier now, totally worth $2.50. Though later I found out that my friend Carla only pays $1. Drat.

Me and some kiddies at school

Teacher appreciation day

9/June/2011

Did you think I wasn’t here anymore? I think my perspective had gotten a little stale, and didn’t really have much of anything positive to say. Though even in the most trying, frustrating times, I still think this life here is absolutely hilarious.

Now that I’m back from my quick trip to the States for a wedding, I only have 5 months left! I’ll do my best not to let them slip away, and really try and soak it up, but that doesn’t take away from my excitement to go home!

I really have almost no memory of before my trip to the States, but the weekend before, I went to my all-time favorite, Laguna de Apoyo. I got some great open water swimming in, and the water was nice and calm. The owner had “my” room ready for me. I hung out the first night with the owner and some Israeli girls staying there. It’s always fun to get to know other cultures and share things in common. The next night, Carla joined me. We skyped home, and caught up with some quality time. As the sun went down, Michael Jackson, (no seriously, that’s actually his name, not ‘Miguel’ Jackson, Michael Jackson.) the lookout guy, was walking around the entire place flipping on and off the light switches like a crazy person. Like maybe if he flipped each one just 100 MORE times, the lights would come on. The owner was out surfing in another town, and it was just Carla, MJ, and I in the hotel. He lit tea lights around the place, and I had my trusty headlamp. Carla and I made dinner in the dark (thanks to Carla’s sister for the delish soup mix). That soup paired with the eggplant I brought was sooo good. We took turns shining my light on our bowl, so we could see what we were eating, and to make sure we weren’t eating any bugs (not that that’s stopped me before) as we sat there, sweating bullets, and giggling when Michael Jackson would come in the room and accidentally scare us. Later that night (ok it was probably only like 8), the owner came back and called the electrician/neighbor. He fixed the switchboard and almost all of the lights worked. This was also the same night as "the end of the world", which totally made it feel like we were the only ones to survive. As an apology, he let Carla and I stay in the upstairs room (since it wasn’t booked that night) in front of the water.

It’s a 2story room with direct beach access, a porch over the water, lots of space, plasma tv, etc. Ahh it was soooo amazing!! If I got that every time the power went out in my town, hah, I’d be living large. The next morning I had another amazing swim while Carla left early for a meeting that was just too important to stay at the laguna and bask in it’s glory. After I got back and washed up, I was ready to hitchhike out of the laguna (it’s just one way out, so you know no matter what car passes, they’re going up). Finally a crapbucket pickup came by with about 6 people already in the back. They picked me up, along with these boys that were waiting for a ride as well. I believe there were a dozen of us in the back, no including the 2 dogs! About ¼ of the way up, the truck stalled, and never recovered. We all jumped out, laughed it off, and “thanked” the driver for the ride. Some more cars passed, but ignored my thumb. I had a way better chance of being picked up since I was alone (not in a creepy way, well….) and there’s always more space for one! Finally an SUV passed me, then stopped. There was another white person in the ca along with Nicas. Turns out he was a med student doing a 3 month rotation in Managua and the others in the car were other hospital workers. They brought me to one of the 2 exits to the freeway. Although it was the more inconvenient one, I was still thankful for the free ride. Finally I made my way to the right spot, and got a bus to Managua to connect to another bus to take me home.

My last couple days at school before going to the States were kind of crazy, as usual. I learned that 2 of my 6th grade girls have 22 year old boyfriends. I can’t describe the disbelief and rage and those boys for taking advantage of young girls like that. And the girls are so blind to this, they are just so giddy and excited that an older guy would like them. This is part of why I have a problem teaching English. How about we focus on NOT getting pregnant first? Just saying. I’m still milling over how to deal with this, though it’s not exactly my problem, but I just feel really protective of these girls, and I remember what it’s like to be that dumb and think a guy telling you you’re pretty is just the best.thing.ever. More innocent happenings the last couple days before I left….

Kids were running around, screaming for their lives on the playground as usual. It seemed a little more intense this time, and I wondered what was going on. There was a boy with a huge dead toad tied to a string, and he was running around whipping it around at kids like it was a lasso. Now THAT’s funny. Well played kid. Also, the girl who won the raffle (who turns out to be the daughter of the maid at the family’s house I used to live in) told me the kitty hadn’t come out from under the bed for 2 days to play or eat. I asked what she gave it to eat, and she said a cockroach. I laughed, because I told her that cats eat bugs and mice in the house, but only if they hunt them first, that’s the whole point! I thought it was so precious she killed a cockroach just for the kitty to eat. I suggested some other food options for her, but I might just buy her some cat food to supplement. I talked to her mom today though, and the kitty is just fine.

7/May/2011

Time warp. I keep thinking it’s 2010, and when someone asks me how old I am, I pause. 20…..something? Someone the other day asked me when I arrived in country. September….2009, really? This is really messing with me! All I know for certain is my service is over in 6 months and I’ll be coming home for good.

Things have been going…you know. More skin rashes, more petty theft, more sexual harassment. School has been going well. My 6th graders had a test last week, and the majority of them passed with flying colors! For those that got 100%, we are raffling off a kitten. Because you can do that here. I’ll have their parents sign their test, then they’ll come over to my house after school ( I live a block away) and get the kitty. That’ll leave me with just 1 kitty, and the mama, having already given one away last week.

The high schoolers are another story. They’re acting like it’s the end of the year or something. Maybe it’s the heat that’s making everyone mad. The rainy season is supposed to start any day now. Annnny day now. It’ll cool things down, and make things green again and get us out of this ugly sahara looking desert phase we’ve got going on now.

Just got back from a rugged, gorgeous, down to earth vacation in the Corn Islands! The day I left, I went to work out beforehand. I put on my workout pants, went out the door, and suddenly an awful pain hit me. In my butt. There was SOMETHING in my pants!!! I yanked them down (in front of a lady washing clothes) and instantly knew that pain had to be from a scorpion. I finally got it out of my pants and killed it, but I was still reeling from the pain. After I calmed down from that serious rush of adrenaline, I went to the gym. A few minutes in to working out, my lips, tongue, and part of my face were numb in addition to the sting site. I started to get a little worried, what if I just keel right over in the gym and no one knows what’s wrong with the gringa? I asked the owner of the gym if he knew much about scorpion stings and what he thought of my numbness. He basically told me to not be such a baby. I appreciated that. Better than some of the crazy remedies like drink a shot of black coffee and rub lime on the sting. I stayed numb til later that night, but no other side effects came out of the sting thank goodness. Lesson learned: it’s not enough just to shake out your clothes before you put them on, you have to turn them inside out and inspect them as well.

Later that night, Carla, Joc, and I spent the night in Managua at an Embassy worker’s house. There were a few moments where I truly believed I was in America! We even went to the mall, at night, and had dinner. Don’t roll your eyes. It IS a big deal to be out after dark in Managua and not feel like you’re about to be robbed. We had a lovely meal, and then gelato, which I did not think existed here. It was so weird to see so many rich Nicaraguans out dining at the mall. It was baffling. I imagine that no one in any of our towns even knows that world in Managua exists, and that you really can go for a night out and dine on things that normally don’t exist in this country.

The next morning we got on a 36 passenger plane and flew to Big Corn Island.

From there we took a “panga” boat for 25 minutes and arrived on Little Corn Island. We found a place to stay and started exploring the 1.5k island.

Within the first couple days, we got SO lost. We were wandering through thick brush and along the water on what seemed like completely untouched beach. Most of the way, we were led by our trusty guide dog that took us on as his charity case to get us back to civilization. He finally led us back to the main path after cutting through someone’s farm and almost getting attacked by a bull and other cows because our guide dog was taunting them. Once on the main path, our guide dog wandered off and we were able to get back to town. There were no roads on the island, so all “traffic” was foot traffic, and all goods were delivered via wheelbarrows.

We spent a few nights on the quietest part of the island (though all of it is quiet) in a coconut tree house. It was made mostly out of natural materials: palm trees and fronds, bamboo, etc. There was no electricity, just candles. And we washed our clothes in an old canoe with a washboard in it.

We also showered outside and cranked our water from the well. It was a very natural experience, and we were pretty dirty the whole time. Aside from more costly restaurant food, pretty much all there was was coconut bread and beans.

Even fruit and vegetables were hard to find, and very expensive since it’s such a trip to bring them there (the island itself doesn’t really grow anything of it’s own, maybe because it’s so tiny?) So besides the 3 times we ate pizza, it was 7 days of coconut bread and beans, over and over again.

A highlight of the trip for me was snorkeling. A boat came and picked us up right at our little coconut house on the beach, and took us out. We saw sharks, stingrays, lobster, and lots of colorful fish. It was all so beautiful and fun to be swimming around with fins. The water was so crystal clear, and just the most beautiful color of turquoise.

Another highlight of Little Corn was climbing the islands highest point. There was a “lighthouse” tower to climb. Just an open faced metal ladder. To make things more anxiety provoking, the old lighthouse tower was collapsed over on it’s side right in front of the new tower! The view from the top was great, but it was very nerve racking going up and down with sweaty, nervous palms; afraid to fall!

Our last 2 days were spent on Big Corn Island. After another “panga” ride (which stalled out about 4 times and we were afraid we were just going to be floating along in the ocean for an awful long time), we landed and found a place to stay. We explored the beaches and found bread and beans to buy. The next day we hiked to the highest point on the island to take in the views. Halfway up, we stumbled upon the Island’s school (apparently combating childhood obesity as the have to hike quite ways to get there!) and a family who sent their 2 boys to take us up to the top so we wouldn’t et lost. The boys were so excited to chow us around, but so shy at the same time. It was really hard to understand them, because though the Islanders speak English and Spanish, it’s a Creole and/or Mesquite dialect of English. But we tried our best to communicate with them, and they brought us to the top.

We climbed the “lighthouse” (basically a phone tower with a light at the top) and check out the gorgeous island, and Little Corn off in the distance.

I loved running on the big island. There was a road that went all the way around the island following the water. It was a fun way for me to go exploring and just have some solitude to take in the gorgeous views. They even let you wander across the airport runway! It was super fun to run across it. I love when totally inappropriate things are totally acceptable because it’s in another country! At one point, I ran across the runway along with a horse, a guy on a bike, and half a dozen other people.

It had been quite a long week. Though wonderful, I was ready to get back home to the luxuries I had been missing the whole week (it’s amazing what “luxuries” mean to me now). I’m happy to be back to drinking coffee, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, having good cellphone service, and sleeping in my own bed under a mosquito net that doesn’t have huge gaping holes so I don’t get eaten alive.

16/Feb/2011

Still waiting for “normal” to set in. Still not there yet….

This week we started school. Naturally it’d start Monday, but being that it was Valentine’s day, it was deemed a holiday, therefore we started on Tues. I arrived to school on Tuesday a few minutes before 7 am. I was cutting it a little close, and felt a little bad since it was the first day. I hardly saw any kids on my walk to the school. I thought that was really odd, and kept checking my watch, thinking that maybe it was running really slow and perhaps I was REALLY late. I figured that everyone must have been super excited for the first day of school and gotten there half an hour early. “That must be it” I though. I got even closer to the school, and still saw no kids, heard no noise. I got into the gates and saw a couple teachers and a couple students, so I sat down with them, and they said we were waiting for everyone to show up, and then we’d make our way to the park together for a “First day assembly”. We waited, and waited. Since no one else showed, we walked to the park together. Already in progress was basically a Sandinista (the current ruling party) love fest, talking up the party and how great President Ortega is. The kids were free to go home after what turned out to be a political rally. Us teachers made our way back to school to make “Welcome” banners for the next day. On our walk to the school, we turned and went into one of the teacher’s houses where she had cake waiting for us. It was 9am. After some antics and cake, we finally made it to the school for real. We started making the signs when the new Vice Principal showed up, telling us school was cancelled until Monday because there wasn’t enough money to pay the electric or water bills, or the librarian. The hope is that the 150 kids that transferred to another school across town (long story) would come back. Word on the street is that some of that school’s classrooms now have as many as 70 kids in a class, which is just ridiculous., and can’t work effectively. So we are waiting for Monday, hoping that we’ll have those kids back, which means more tuition, which means maybe we can turn on the lights and water in the school.

Regardless of all those tough issues we had to talk about, I was reminded how absolutely hilarious and united the teachers at my school are. We were laughing and having a great time all morning. There’s even talk of me giving them nutrition classes this year!

3/3/11

It might be in my best interest to keep my mouth shut about what’s going on at the school I work at until everything has blown over.

Aside from that, I’m patiently waiting for the rains to come….trying anyways. Within 2 months they should come and cool things down and settle all the dust that is swirling around all the time. You can sweep all you want, but within that same day your floors will be filthy again. The water is also going out just about everyday. Sometimes it’s just for an hour, sometimes it’s for 2 days straight. So…that’s…inconvenient. For a town that has a “good” water system, not many people save their water for when it goes out. I have about 14 liters saved, but that can get used up quick when you take into account washing dishes, cooking, etc. I almost decided to just start going to the bathroom outside to save water. I just couldn’t allow myself to do that, though it wouldn’t be the first time. As a retreat when the water went out for two days, I actually went into the city to a café that has a/c and internet. Great alternative.

Last weekend I went to la Laguna de Apoyo to celebrate Jocelyn’s birthday. Carla’s sisters had bought her a night at the laguna for Christmas, so we redeemed that night and really, really relaxed. We ate like it was Thanksgiving, did puzzles, and watched movies. I took a nice swim across the laguna, and thought about how much I miss it. When we were about to leave, the owner of the hotel told us since no one else was going to be staying there that night, we could hang out for the day and catch the last bus. It was so tempting, but Carla and Jocelyn had to get going. I had nowhere else to be, so I sat and listened to the waves crash, and took another shot at another puzzle. Yeah, life really can be that simple. It was lovely. On my way to catch the bus, I was offered a ride by a red chevy with a/c. American cars are few and far between here, as a cars with working a/c, as are nicas that speak perfect English and are graduate school educated. So yeah, that happened. They brought me not only to the main road, but all the way to Managua. They were super nice and enjoyed speaking with a native English speaker. And I enjoyed the ride. Very much.

Back in my first year of service, I thought about extending for a 3rd year, as long as I got to move cities. Preposterous. I don’t know where I came up with such slander. As much as traveling and living abroad changes and broadens your perspective, once you really put down roots and get settled, you’re in that “same $h!t, different day” mentality that so many American complain of. I had sort of forgotten what my old life was like. I got used to corresponding with my friends and family through a computer or by phone. But to be in their presence totally changed everything. It reminded me that life is so much richer when you’re around the ones you love. I’m perfectly content in my little house with my coconut trees and machete….and 4 cats (ahem, which were born while I was at the laguna for Joc’s birthday…surprise!). Spending afternoons reading in my hammock with the only worry being whether or not a mango is going to fall off the tree and hit me in the head is really wonderful. But I can’t wait to trade that and get back to my real home. This has been such a fortunate ride for me to be here, but seeing as it’s my last 8 months, I’m really excited t be on my way out.

10/3/11

Running shorts, matching team warm-ups, fast times. Yes, I ran a completely legit race here up in the mountains of Jinotega. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we arrived at the convent in San Rafael del Norte, Jinotega. All race participants stayed the night at an old convent. We had dinner, bombas going off at 4am, breakfast, and then went to the race start. I couldn’t believe how organized and punctual everything was. There were runners from all over central america. The course was brutally hilly, but even still, the winning time for the half marathon was 1:15! There were about 12 PCVs running, 6 in the half marathon, 6 in the 10k. It’s really tough to run in the conditions we were in. We had been traveling all day the day before, ate rice/beans/cheese for dinner, slept on wooden planks with a skinny foam pad on top (I almost busted a kneecap on that!), awoke to bombas at 4am, and ran with just a few water stops. But overall it was a really cool experience. A guy I know from my town brought his daughter, whom he trains, and she won the 10k! It was really cool to see them, since we see each other running to Momotombo all the time. Another familiar face was a boy from the Embassy English camp in December. We ran into him within about 2 minutes of arriving to town. His dad turned out to be president of the race, so they were very involved in the whole thing and taking lots of pictures; cheering us on. It was interesting to be racing with people from latin america. Like most in this area, they are so engaging, so friendly, and have such a collectivist mentality. Me, well, I’m not like that. I want to be, but in comparison to them I’m a rude, competitive American that wants to beat them in the race. I had my eye on one guy, and eventually passed him. He had a race belt on, and I assumed he was white like me (because who else would wear a race belt, and where in the world would you ever get that here?!). Later on, he proceeded to pass me back. I thought, he must be white. But he said “vamonos juntos” in a non-gringo accent, which means “let’s go together”. Ughhh. Why was he so nice, and whyyyy can’t I be more like that? When I pass people I throw out the occasional “good job” or “keep it up”, which really when you think about it are slightly patronizing as you are doing better in the race than they are. But regardless, my response to passing someone has never been to bring them along with me, finishing the race together. I told him to just go ahead as I stewed by myself about what a bad Nica I am, so independent and unwilling to accept help from others. As I finished the rest of the race, I thought about how I wanted to be more Nica like him; less individually competitive, and more group minded.

Though the travel was certainly rough and exhausting (8 hours each way), all the volunteers maintained positive attitudes and were able to laugh at unfortunate situations (i.e. not getting a seat on the bus after the race and having to stand…and then having that bus break down…)

13/3/11

This morning I went to Laguna de Xiloá, just north of Managua. It was gorgeous, and so undeveloped. After hitching a ride most of the way, I got to the laguna, whose waters were still overspilling on it’s banks through what used to be people’s homes. Our rainy season last year was pretty serious, and displaced a lot of families who lived along shorelines. I started hiking on what I’d loosely refer to as a “trail”. There were no markers, directions or anything. I just had a general idea from what I had seen in a guide book of the direction to go to hike around Xiloá to get to another laguna just behind it, Apoyeque. I crouched, hiked, tumbled a bit, and eventually found my way around the laguna. In the distance, in the opposite direction, I saw the other laguna (so I thought). I assumed the quidebook was wrong, since I’ve noticed other errors in details. So I did an about face and continued in the opposite direction to explore the other laguna. I passed by a house that sold little sorbets in plastic bags, so I bought some for myself and the little girls that I’d been talking to about the laguna.

They asked me to show them the pictures I had taken, and then asked me to take a picture of them. We all shared some tamarindo sorbet (made from the tangy tamarind seed, water, sugar, then frozen) and I was on my way. When I got back to that general direction of what I thought was Apoyeque, I asked if I could cut through someone’s property to get to the shoreline, since I didn’t see any other way. The guy explained to me that it was actually the Managua Lake. Gah. I must have just seen a little inlet of the lake and thought it was the laguna. He explained to me that I had been going the right direction to get to the other laguna. But since the sun was getting high and I felt my skin sizzling, I decided to call it a day. On the 7k walk back to the highway, a stumbled upon some military training camps. It’s not as if they were secretive by any means, they were well marked with armed guards standing outside. They were very friendly, smiling and waving, but I still couldn’t bring myself to take a picture. There’s always the risk of someone thinking you’re gathering information about them, rather than just bumbling around aimlessly. It just so happened a bus was leaving to go to the freeway. At first he shook his finger at me saying “no” that I couldn’t come on. Maybe he thought I was going TO the laguna, not coming FROM it. I continued walking as he picked some people up. They were taking their sweet time, so I caught up to the bus again, and he let me get on, dropped me off at the freeway, and didn’t even charge me. Nice. From there I waited for an LPC bus to my town. And now I vow that every weekend that I’m in town, I’ll take a quick day trip to somewhere new close to home.

Getting some work done.

At the time, I was positive it was a crocodile. Now I'm not so sure.

22/3/11

This past weekend I spent the night at Laguna de Apoyo, my favorite spot in the country, and where I bring all my visitors. By my dumb luck, it just so happened to be on a full moon, when the moon was actually the closest its been to the earth in 13 years or so, don’t quote me on that though. The moon was gorgeous how it lit up the laguna! I spent the day going for a 2 mile swim, reading, and talking to the owner of the place. As I was reading my book about the revolution in Nicaragua during the 80’s, I started asking him questions, as he was here for the horrific ’72 earthquake as well as the revolution. He told me stories of looting and murders out of desperation during the earthquake, and stories of guerillas coming out of no where and killing entire families during the revolution. After so much peril, I can’t believe he’s still here, as he has since become a US citizen. But living at the laguna is far removed from anything going on in the country, it’s pretty secluded…and perfect. The next morning I took another long swim and headed home. Only 30 hours away, but it was just a breath of fresh air.

I’m starting to get uncomfortable questions and comments regarding our bombing Libya. Since the Nicaraguan government is in support of Libya, it’s creating a bit of a rift. Perhaps I’m just sensitive and/or paranoid, but I feel like some responses have been more along the lines of “bombing Libya, why did YOU do that?” This is the point that I wish I never mentioned that the Peace Corps is a branch of the US government. And also the point at which I wish I hadn’t been denying being German the past year and a half, making it very very clear that I was separate from them, indeed from the US. Maybe I’ll be Swedish. Everybody loves them.

My kitties are growing and getting cuter and more playful by the day!

Our cabana on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica

Arenal Lake in Costa Rica

We found this....thing....wandering the streets in Costa Rica

Look how big that tree is!

My favorite flower of Central America. Only grows in high elevation.

Waterfall in Monteverde, Costa Rica

Best breakfast EVER. Fruit galore, french toast, gallo pinto, and eggs.

A view of the gorgeous Laguna de Apoyo

2/February/2011

That was the best vacation. Ever. My friend Keith form Arizona came down to visit, arriving the same day as a PC conference ended. I left the conference hotel in the dark, hoping to make the bus in time to get him from the airport. I got there in plenty of time to greet him, and we wasted no time getting into the nitty gritty. We got on a PACKED bus, standing in the aisle the whole time, absolutely crammed and sweaty. We arrived to my house to unpack, then go on a hike to a laguna nearby. I realized we wouldn’t have enough time before dark to wait around for the bus, so we went in a motto taxi, a 3 wheeled covered cart. From where it dropped us off, it’s about a 40 minute hike to the beautiful laguna with views of the nearby Momotombo volcano. On our way back, we grabbed another mototaxi to get back to my town before dark. We picked up some other people which is totally normal. What was not normal was that we picked up 3 adults, 3 kids, a goat, and a parrot. Really. For a point of reference, a mototaxi “comfortably” fits about 4. It was just the most ridiculous sight. And of course the sound effects from the goat just made everything seem even funnier. We got back to my house and I made my favorite nica dinner of beans, soymeat, tomatoes, garlic, spices, etc. It was only Keith’s first day, but I feel like he got a legit taste of life here, and he acted like it was totally normal. The next 2 days, we went for long runs towards the volcano drinking homemade cantaloupe juice along the way and getting stuck behind the biggest herd of cattle I’ve seen yet. Among the other activities in my town we went to a cockfight, walked around town, got ice cream in the square, and hung out with my counterpart.

Our next stop was the Laguna de Apoyo, a favorite of mine as well as my previous visitors; my parents and my friend Jenn. Turned out the place we tried to email was booked. They said we could sleep on mattresses outside. That was doable, but we decided to keep looking. Turns out a brand new place had just opened up this year, and it was gorgeous, super private, and had rooms right on the water! We spent our days on long swims in the laguna and going to the market in town, stopping to eat at someone’s house. This is a common small business here. People simply move their furniture and set up tables and chairs and run a little restaurant out of their living room. It’s almost always good, and the price is right.

Next stop was San Juan del Sur, a beautiful beach on the southwest coast of Nicaragua. Our first night we took a walk on the beach, watching all the soccer games and people having fun as the sun was going down. On our way back, the sun had just barely set. I guess it was the excitement of vacation and being accompanied by a tall gringo, I set out to do things I wouldn’t do normally (aka walk after dark). All of a sudden 4 guys came from behind and to the side of us with shirts tied around their heads. 2 jumped on Keith, and 2 came towards me. I threw my bag as far away from me as I could and took a few jumps back as 3 of them then focused on Keith, and another guarded me. I couldn’t tell exactly what they were doing. Usually if you’re trying to protect your identity like that, you’re out for something serious. They had a knife or something similar to his back so he couldn’t move much, but it didn’t escalate from there. Luckily Keith had a decoy wallet. Well, actually it was his real wallet, but he hardly had anything in it. Everything else important was in a pouch that hooks under the pants. They grabbed my bag, took his wallet with not much in it, and ran off. They left us stunned, but thankful that it went as smoothly as it did, and they didn’t take anything important. So…that’s why I don’t have any pictures, my camera was in that bag. Perhaps the event ruined our fun for one night, but the next day was bright and full of promise. We went surfing all day, then took a midnight tour (determined to get over our newfound fear for the beach after dark) to see seaturtles hatching. We got driven in the back of a pickup through the middle of nowhere to get to a practically deserted beach. We watched new baby turtles surface from the sand and book it towards the ocean. It was so precious. They were so tiny and so determined to get to the ocean! Our last day there we walked around town and I bought new flip flops (those jerks stole my favorite pair of Rainbows!). We also stumbled upon a parade with a band playing, nothing really our of the ordinary for Nicaragua. But this parade was special, it was the Miss Nicaragua parade! They were the tallest, most alpha female group of Nicas I’d ever seen. They strutted their stuff in super high heals through the market and along the cobblestone streets, now that’s talent.

Skipping ahead, we spent a couple days in Granada walking the city and enjoying the nightlife, then were finally off to Costa Rica. We had to spend the night in a city we didn’t plan on, since we couldn’t make it to our destination before dark. The next day we rented a car and were off to middle-of-the-mountains Monteverde. It was maybe the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen. The rolling hills and sharp elevations were just breathtaking. Not to mention that there are waterfalls everywhere in Costa Rica! We took a hike to a waterfall, went on a run into the hilly abyss, and then we were off to our next destination. In La Fortuna, we stayed at the foot of a HUMONGOUS active volcano. It took up the entire view of the window in the room. The town is settled right on a gorgeous lake. The contrasts between the lake, the mountains, the sky, and the volcano are just far more incredible than I could do justice in writing. I bet a picture would help. Haha. Our second day we went whitewater rafting, a dream of mine ever since I went with my family when I was younger. There were waterfalls everywhere, and we were in the middle of a thicket of jungle. The rapids were pretty fantastic, 47 in all I believe. There were a few times where I thought we were going to flip the boat. My adrenaline was definitely pumping a lot of the time. Afterwards the tour took us to get lunch on a farm and see how their cattle manually squeeze sugar cane juice. A delicious end to a crazy day!

Our last stop of the trip was to Puerto Viejo on the caribbean side of Costa Rica. Aside from riding bikes along the beach every day, we did absolutely nothing, and it was fantastic.

My trip home was a 12 hour busride. It was less than ideal, but you do what you gotta do. It was the most fun vacation I’ve ever had, and I’m so thankful I could have Keith come and experience it with me!

7/DECEMBER/2010!!!!

We just finished our weeklong (and then some) camp at a convent on the “skirt” of Mombacho Volcano outside of Granada. There were 5 of us volunteers, 4 nica teachers, and 80 kids. It started out pretty rough. We had gotten no info about the camp until the night before Thanksgiving, so that left all the work until 1 or 2 days before the camp. But even with having a bad start, we all came together and put together a really fun, interesting camp. The kids were UNREAL. They were all so polite, friendly, open, interested, hilarious, creative, and about a million other positive attributes. I was beyond impressed. It really encouraged me to be able to see the potentially brighter future of Nicaragua. Not to throw kids that I’ve worked with this year under the bus, but these kids from camp were so unbelievably attentive and well behaved. I just couldn’t get over it!

Each day we had about 5 hours of English class in the morning, and 3 hours of American culture class in the afternoon with a few hours mixed in for talent show rehearsal, closing ceremony rehearsal, and homework. We were busy every moment which I think kept everyone in line, but it was pretty intense. It was wonderful seeing kids improve their English literally overnight. I felt like such a proud mom every time I saw kids really catching on.

One thing that really struck me during this week was the dynamics between the kids. They came form all areas of the country, including the Caribbean coast. They were so good to each other, so supportive. Whether they were bff with someone or not, it seemed like everyone was so interactive and friendly. I only saw a fraction of a second that I could say that someone was “bullying” someone else. I was expecting quite a bit of drama and/or bad blood with 80 highschoolers. What are they doing here to yield that kind of result? From what I remember, things were just not like that at home. I wish it could have been.

Every night we have some kind of activity. When we had movie nights, I went out running on the steep hill leading up to the convent. With my headlamp, I ran under the gorgeous starry sky. It was so gorgeous, and made me think of Ragnar relay (the only other time I’ve run in the pitch black). One night, Carla and I were running the hill and we saw the security guard with his giant shotgun walking into the darkness. We made sure to tell him we were out there running, and if he could maybe just not shoot us, that’d be just great.

The last night of camp was the talent show. There was a lot of singing and dancing, a few poems, and a skit by the volunteers. We kicked off the show with a skit about us whites coming to Nicaragua, not knowing how anything works or how to effectively communicate. The first scene started off with me in a drenched (sweaty) shirt, a giant bag “getting off the plane” getting sexually harassed and hustled by taxi drivers. I was only speaking in English to everyone. Then I got on a bus where the woman next to me gave birth, then asked me to hold her baby while she paid her bus fare. Jocelyn, sitting next to me, handed me her squawking chicken. I then proceeded to buy a bag of water, tried drinking it, with it exploding all over me. Then I went to the market where I bought tajadas (plantain chips) from Liz and proceeded to get raging diarrhea. I ran to the bathroom and changed clothes for the next round of scenes set in the time period “1 year later”. We went through the scenes again, where I was able to handle them with ease, and speaking Spanish. Then at the end, Jocelyn proposed to me, dipped me, and I said I’d stay in Nicaragua forever. Throughout the whole skit, and especially at the end, everyone was screaming and cheering and laughing. It was so fun!

Our last day we performed our closing ceremony acts and took pictures etc. Then we all had to separate and go our own ways to various bus terminals. Throughout the week, we watched kids make such close friends. There were bromances and friendships being made left and right. The last day everyone was crying because they didn’t want to go home! It was so sad. I hope this week had as strong of an impact on them as it did on me. I can definitely say this was the most fulfilling week of my service to date.

campers walking back up to the convent after playing in a nearby park so that we could exhaust them so they wouldn't wake up at 4:30 in the morning and bug us!!

20/November/2010

School has ended, though the kids are still going this week to have different parties and end of the year activities. They’re being kept in school this week because some kids haven’t paid their monthly dues, and they have to stay until they do!

This week was my girls camp. We made arts and crafts like bracelets, picture frames, and Christmas cards. When it wasn’t raining, we played volleyball and other games outside. I finally got some use out of the World map mural, quizzing the girls on countries for little prizes. It was super fun for all of us!

30/November/2010

If you’re not paying attention, TOMORROW is December.

Thanksgiving was spent with some other volunteers at a volunteer’s home about 3 hours away form me. I started off the day (don’t judge me) trying to slip my cat a bit of an antihistamine to make her sleepy, so she could come with me, and I could give her to my friend Meg, to whom’s house we were going. The cat was not having it. She ran away and I thought she wouldn’t be back it time before I left. But she did come back. I tried to lure her into the big duffel bag with some food. But since I’m still a little afraid of cats, I really didn’t try hard enough because I was afraid she’d lash out at me. It was a no go. She stayed at my house and I left. Thanksgiving dinner was humble, but lovely. We had stuffing and pumpkin bread mix sent form the states, cranberry sauce, veggie chilli, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. We all shared funny stories (there really is no end to how many weird stories we all have) and had a great time.

Joc and I went to Carla’s new house to sleep. She lives in a freaking chicken coup. We are all used to an unbelievable amount of noise in this country by now, but this was at an all new level. The chickens might have well been in bed with us. Their godawful noise started at about 4am, so there was just no sleep happening for us. Then we went to the most wonderful laguna and had a nice hike and swim. On our hike up, we tried to hitchhike because it’s a long haul, and we were pressed for time to make it to a bodybuilding competition. Yes, that’s right. After a few cars pulled past us ignoring our thumbs, we lost hope. We trudged up the hill and all of a sudden a car pulled up, and this guy was like “Hey, do you girls need a ride?” We were all stunned. We got a ride where we needed to go in order to catch the bus from this guy who spent almost 20 years in the states, And he actually knew another volunteer of ours! The bodybuilding competition was….ridiculous. We are all so used to getting catcalled and harassed everywhere we go. But walking into this competition, the 3 of us were giggling idiots. We were so surprised that the audience was pretty serious. We thought everyone would be whooping and hollering, as they do on all occasions, but they weren’t. They were applauding for the super beefy guys, and staying quiet when the not so beefy guys came out. Well we ladies didn’t stay quiet much. We were giggling and laughing and letting out little hollers here and there. It was so much fun, and topped off what was one of my most memorable days in Nicaragua.

29/Oct/2010

School is coming to an abrupt close. I was told on Wednesday that that was indeed my last day of teaching regular class. The next 2 weeks we have exams, officially finishing on the 11th. This is all allegedly do to the outbreak of Leptospirosis, a disease that is spreading through this area. It’s transmitted through food and water due to contaminated animal urine. It’s totally treatable and/or preventable by a cheap over the counter pill, but for some people that aid just doesn’t get to them in time. As of a week or so ago, the death toll in my department is 16. So that’s why school is letting out early. I’m not sure why going to school is putting them in any more harm of contracting the disease than they would normally be, but that’s just the way it is.

This weekend I’ll be going to the most beautiful Laguna in Nicaragua to go for a nice open water swim, then on to Masaya to celebrate Halloween. Apparently this town really celebrates the holiday, and everyone walks around the streets in costumes and it’s a big shindig. I’m not altogether sure what I’m going to be. I bought some really ugly clothes a couple days ago, for about a quarter each piece. But I ended up wearing them to school, though they were meant to become a Halloween costume…

The 2nd world map is done. It’s even bigger, and maybe better? Than the 1st one. I’ll also be going out to a friend’s itty bitty town for a couple days and stay with her old host family to finish her map, as she just finished her service and doesn’t have enough time to finish before going home.

2/11/10

This past weekend being Halloween, I went with some other volunteers to Masaya, which celebrates Halloween in a much more morbid fashion than we do in the states. Most people in the streets wear scary masks, and carry machetes with baby dolls stabbed on the end. This goes on on the 29th and 31st. I was only there the night of the 30th, where we had a more innocent-costume party at a volunteers house. I dressed as a street vendor. We also had Scooby doo, a hillbilly, Rainbow Bright doll, and a leprechaun among others. That same night, a group of us went in search for masks. In Masaya, they make these homemade paper mache masks that look completely evil. There’s nothing cute about Halloween there! We came upon a house that made them, and in true Nica fashion, the family set out chairs for us to sit in while we looked at masks. And, of course, there just happened to be a dance recital of sorts going on too. We watched the most precious little kids dancing folklore in pairs with their families watching and cheering. I only wish I had my camera! The family gave us a fresco (a typical juice drink) and we watched, cheered, and enjoyed.

The morning of the party I stopped by my favorite place in all of Nicaragua, la Laguna de Apoyo. It’s a gorgeous crater lake in an extinct volcano. I brought my friend Jenn when she visited me, and also my parents. The buses were on my side that day, and I made the trip in great time. On 4 different buses, in 3 hours. Not bad. I found a private property and the family let me on, since all I wanted to do was swim, I wasn’t about to pay a hostal just to watch my stuff. I put my bag in a tree, changed in the woods, and went for a 2 mile open water swim. It was SO lovely. It’s amazing how something so simple can just completely change your attitude, and all is right in the world again.

21/Sept/2010

Woah woah woah. If everything could just slow down so I could get a nap in, that’d be great. Way too much is going on. In addition, I have 2 back to back trips to Managua, one for my 1 year medical review, and one to give an info session of physical assault. Then some trainees are coming to my site for 4 days to see how I live. Then I’m apparently going back to Managua to give another info session about materials development (ahem, I was not actually consulted about this). And then there’s the map. Ohhh the map. This is number 2. It’s going much slower than before, because I had to contract a mason to cement the brick wall of the school so it’s smooth enough to paint on. It took a little longer than expected due to a lot of, um, how should I say, “chillin” on his part, plus some bad timing on the rain’s behalf. My friend Carla came to visit and help me start the map. We went to the school to paint the blue background and noticed that some of the cement was already chipping off (because the paint underneath hadn’t been completely removed like it needed to be). We asked some other men working at the school what we should do. To exemplify that the job was done poorly, on of the men started picking away at the falling cement with the blunt end of a shovel and I assured him that yes, I get it, it was done poorly. But please step away from the wall…. Carla and I had to decide what else to do with our weekend. We were going to go camping, but got too scared (ok it was just me). So we went to Leon one day for lunch, then danced our faces off at the local disco in my town, which by the way, is remarkably nice. Come Monday, Henry (my mason)came and fixed the wall like the good guy he is. So assuming the rain cooperates, we should start pretty soon.

25/Sept/2010

So….the rain is NOT cooperating. I really shouldn’t complain, I LOVE the rain. It lowers the temperature substantially and it’s just lovely. But this is Hurricane Matthew and this is a lot of rain. Maybe the most I’ve ever seen? We were supposed to start painting and drawing this weekend but very obviously that won’t be happening. Even if it stops raining for a few hours, we still need a perfectly dry wall to put the paint on. But at this point in time, I always have something to do. I’ll be preparing my hour long session on TPR (total physical response) to present to all the English teachers here in Leon and Chinandega at our annual conference to be held October 1st. Besides planning my presentation this weekend, I expect to do a lot of hammock lounging while I watch the rain fall, and workout out to this crazy lady called “Tracy Anderson” from the States. My friend Jenn sent me a workout video by this crazy woman. So when I can’t run, she keeps me going.

Here’s the street outside my house just a couple hours into the storm.

Monday is our Regional Safety and Security Meeting (assuming we can still have it if the hurricane is still looming). Right from there I head to Managua for my annual medical checkup. Because I’ve been here that long. Which is still bizarre. Luckily my 2 smart friends Carla and Jocelyn made the appointment for me so that we could all be there the same day, and share a hotel room together and revel in the a/c, internet, bedsheets, and grocery store nearby. We call it the “den”. Once we enter that hotel room, there’s no getting us out of there, it’s just too wonderful. Plus, the 3 of us are rarely together.

A picture from the parade last week, celebrating Independence Day. All the schools march and dance hours on end.

2/Oct/2010

Earlier this week I was in Managua for my annual medical review. I raced there from a Security conference, and barely made it to the dentist before they closed. I grabbed a taxi to take me there. We went to a part of Managua I’ve never been before, and it was not looking good. I couldn’t believe I was going to go to a dentist here. I hate people touching my face, and even more so my mouth, so I was quite nervous of whose kitchen table I was going to be laying on while I got my teeth cleaned. Amidst a really gross area, there was a super cute air conditioned little dentist’s office. The dentist was soooo nice, and very well spoken. Somehow I understood all the oral terminology in Spanish. I felt her poking at a gummy spot. Gah. I had a cavity. The sun was then setting. She busted out that huge needle for novocane. “Woah!” I said as I threw up my arms. I mean, aren’t we supposed to set a date to fill this? So without any numbing agent, she stuck me with it. I was almost in tears, because I imagined being in Managua, alone, after dark, with a numb mouth unable to speak or hail a cab. After a couple more anxiety provoking moments (aka when she took out the drill BEFORE I was numb) the cavity was filled, and it wasn’t too traumatic. I was able to talk…sufficiently with my numb mouth, and actually found a really nice cab driver back to the hotel. But then came the rain. All last weekend it rained, and it started up again while I was in Managua. So much so that we were put on “standfast” meaning you can’t leave where you are. Parts of Nicaragua were demolished with all this rain and flooding, 54 people dead. After another day and a half, things had calmed down, and I got permission to go home, since my immediate area was ok. But watching the news of towns not too far from mine that are on Lake Managua were another story. They called in the Army to help, and everyone was trying to evacuate their stuff via horsecarts. And then they showed someone drown on live tv. I really thought he was going to make it, and I lament that it was on tv for my eyes to see.

The annual English teacher’s conference went really well yesterday. Since they changed it from a nation meeting to a regional one, I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal. Plus, it was on the day of our once a month all teacher meeting. I made a handout the night before and gave minimal thought to what I was going to say. There would hardly be anyone there anyway. I even slept like a baby, not worried one bit. The next day when I got there, there were Presidents of education programs, US Embassy workers, and over 200 teachers. Wow. I was not anticipating that. Luckily things went great. I gave my session twice, and both times it was very interactive. People may have even had fun?! I presented about TPR (total physical response) as a teaching method using hands on activities and getting kids out of their seats. We all played 2 of the games so the teacher’s could get a better feel for them, and hopefully increase the probability of using them in their own classrooms. And with my free dress that I happened to find in the PC lounge (I didn’t steal it, there’s a box that people throw their unwanted stuff into when their service is over) that was just my size, I even looked legit when giving my session. Sweet. During the closing ceremony, after such a fruitful day, of course things got weird. They gave out a bunch of free prizes like dictionaries and bags which people had to compete for. Saying tongue twisters. Ok, not so weird. Impersonating a famous person. Quite funny. Singing Kareoke. Funny, though some people took it too far. Dancing. This simple act turns vulgar at the drop of a hat. Teachers were literally on the floor with someone dancing over them. After such a long day, I couldn’t believe people still got so crazy! At least they won a prize.

Today I went to finally put down the base on the 2nd world map, because it finally stopped raining. No one was there, and the lady that used to keep the key no longer had it. I asked her to please get it from the security guy so I can come in tomorrow. If it doesn’t rain….

10/Oct/2010

I learned that if I didn’t have anything nice to say, not to say anything at all. So lets fast forward to the positive. We’re making great headway on the World Map. Though I’ll be going back in forth to Managua to help train the new TEFL group this week, we should be able to start painting pretty soon. I’m in the zone. Hours pass as I draw. My lifelong dream of being a tortured artist, suffering for my work is finally coming true! The best part is people actually THINK I’m an artist, perhaps even talented. Muahaha.

The other night I was watching Nightly News before going to class as I always do. There was a really touching piece on Peace Corps, and how we’re now back in Sierra Leon, after a long absence. They also talked about Peace Corps worldwide. That really meant a lot knowing that they know we’re OUT here, that we didn’t just fall off the face of the Earth. It’s comforting to know.

19/Oct/2010

I’ve been in and out of site lately for my one year medical appointments and training the new group of English teachers that arrived in September. It is bizarre that they are looking at me, listening to what I have to say as if I know what I’m doing?! I don’t know when that happened. I feel like I woke up one day and just knew how things worked around here, and how to speak Spanish (for the most part). But then I think back to the days full of trial and error over the last year, and then I remember, I too had NO IDEA what I was doing.

This past weekend I went to my old training town of Santa Teresa. I made the trip because I was already going to be in the area for a doctor’s appointment, and to give a training session to the trainees. I get SO giddy when I go back to ST, it really does feel like I’m going home. But then again, I don’t know how it feels to actually go home, yet. I was greeted by my loving family, and Mili, the youngest, who has sprouted up to my thighs, and she’s only 2! She can speak so much more, and I even taught her how to count to 3 in English, which was the cutest thing I’ve seen since the little naked toddler on my street wearing only rainboots. I felt more a part of the fam than ever, as I slept in the family’s room rather than my own. Instead of begrudgingly sharing a room with 4 people, I was flattered that we had so much confianza (confidence/close relationship). Aside from just hanging around the house, I went to see the bullriding competition and unfortunately witnessed a man get stomped on the back. He was dragged away from the bull, unconscious, and taken away by the rescue workers. But they didn’t attend to him for 10 minutes, although they were waiting outside. It was quite the family affair because Joc was visiting too, along with her brother from the states. Carla was being visited by her father from the states also. We all went out to dinner and had a good time, and although we were SO tired, Joc and I took her bro out to go dancing since it was his last night here.

23/Oct/2010

We’ve made tons of headway on the 2nd map! It was up to me to draw it, which was tough. But it actually looks like it’s supposed to, so I’m relieved. I had a couple all star kids help me paint and they did a great job. Just one more day of painting and it’ll be done! Things are really winding down now. I’ve been really busy the past few months. Now my kids youth group is over because everyone has folklore dance practice or band practice during that time. My adult class is ending this month too. That’ll leave all my afternoons free, which I plan to spend playing with my new volleyball team that’s starting in November!

My favorite person in La Paz, the security guard at the German Organization.

15/Sept/2010

I’ve been running a lot more lately to train for a 30k in December while I’m back at home on leave. It’s so motivating and wonderful to have something to train for again!

Running to the neighboring town of Momotombo has gotten quite hilarious. I feel pseudo famous now. Everyone along the way seems to know me now. They all think it’s the weirdest thing ever that I run that far. And the real kicker is that I run BACK to La Paz Centro. I don’t know what people previously thought I did in Momotombo, but they were all under the impression that I simply ran there, and stopped. I have cheering sections along the very rural route when I pass clusters of houses, men working in the fields, and people making the trek along the same path. Now that we’re all familiar with each other, I don’t have to explain why I’m sweating so much anymore. The people at the pulperia (like a tiny convenience store) that I always stop at used to ask me if I had just showered. But know they know the story. Every time I stop there we all learn a lot about each other. They are the typical friendly, curious Nicaraguans. The girl has shown me pictures of her newborn, and discussed differences between the US and here. The man and I exchange a few English words, s he spent 10 years working in Alabama, along with other stories.

Along the way boys on their bikes usually end up accompanying me for a couple miles and we chat. They just pull up alongside me, ask how tired I am, and then we go over the everyday clarification that no, I am not German, I’m American (there’s tons of German NGO’s all over the country). Then we proceed to talk about how weird it is that I run. I’ve even got a couple people that have seen Forest Gump here, and compare me to Forest, which is hilarious. I love it.

21/Sept/2010

Woah woah woah. If everything could just slow down so I could get a nap in, that’d be great. Way too much is going on. In addition, I have 2 back to back trips to Managua, one for my 1 year medical review, and one to give an info session of physical assault. Then some trainees are coming to my site for 4 days to see how I live. Then I’m apparently going back to Managua to give another info session about materials development (ahem, I was not actually consulted about this). And then there’s the map. Ohhh the map. This is number 2. It’s going much slower than before, because I had to contract a mason to cement the brick wall of the school so it’s smooth enough to paint on. It took a little longer than expected due to a lot of, um, how should I say, “chillin” on his part, plus some bad timing on the rain’s behalf. My friend Carla came to visit and help me start the map. We went to the school to paint the blue background and noticed that some of the cement was already chipping off (because the paint underneath hadn’t been completely removed like it needed to be). We asked some other men working at the school what we should do. To exemplify that the job was done poorly, on of the men started picking away at the falling cement with the blunt end of a shovel and I assured him that yes, I get it, it was done poorly. But please step away from the wall…. Carla and I had to decide what else to do with our weekend. We were going to go camping, but got too scared (ok it was just me). So we went to Leon one day for lunch, then danced our faces off at the local disco in my town, which by the way, is remarkably nice. Come Monday, Henry (my mason)came and fixed the wall like the good guy he is. So assuming the rain cooperates, we should start pretty soon.

25/Sept/2010

So….the rain is NOT cooperating. I really shouldn’t complain, I LOVE the rain. It lowers the temperature substantially and it’s just lovely. But this is Hurricane Matthew and this is a lot of rain. Maybe the most I’ve ever seen? We were supposed to start painting and drawing this weekend but very obviously that won’t be happening. Even if it stops raining for a few hours, we still need a perfectly dry wall to put the paint on. But at this point in time, I always have something to do. I’ll be preparing my hour long session on TPR (total physical response) to present to all the English teachers here in Leon and Chinandega at our annual conference to be held October 1st. Besides planning my presentation this weekend, I expect to do a lot of hammock lounging while I watch the rain fall, and workout out to this crazy lady called “Tracy Anderson” from the States. My friend Jenn sent me a workout video by this crazy woman. So when I can’t run, she keeps me going.

Monday is our Regional Safety and Security Meeting (assuming we can still have it if the hurricane is still looming). Right from there I head to Managua for my annual medical checkup. Because I’ve been here that long. Which is still bizarre. Luckily my 2 smart friends Carla and Jocelyn made the appointment for me so that we could all be there the same day, and share a hotel room together and revel in the a/c, internet, bedsheets, and grocery store nearby. We call it the “den”. Once we enter that hotel room, there’s no getting us out of there, it’s just too wonderful. Plus, the 3 of us are rarely together.

11/September/2010

I started out today watching CNN International remembering all those Americans who died unnecessarily 9 years ago in NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. I remember being at the PC office on this day last year, spending a minute of silence and reflecting. Then messages from President Obama and Director of PC Williams to all PCV’s all over the world were read, followed by the ominous ringing of “the bell”. “The bell” is rung when PVC’s complete their service, when PCV’s or staff pass away, and for other special circumstances. When it rings through that silent atrium it’s truly moving.

Let’s flash backwards to earlier in the week. The kids were totally out of control, since the biggest fiestas of the year are this coming week, and there’s no school. I had given my proposal for a Mapa Mundi to another school a few days prior, in which I went to the school to talk to the Director. There just so happened to be an all teacher meeting, so I ended up presenting my idea on the spot to all 8 or so teachers. Obviously I was caught off guard, but it ended up being great to get everyone in the loop and onboard all at once! After a couple days, I hadn’t been contacted so I decided to go back and see what the official word was. I got to the school and there just so happened to be a meeting with EVERY director of EVERY school in LPC and Momotombo, including the Delegada (like a superintendent). How lucky am I?! Then I had the chance to get everyone else in the loop, including the most important, the Delagada, who has the most power to make things happen in the schools. I talked about wanting to get maps in all the secondary schools, including Momotombo. Things are NEVER this easy and efficient. I was stunned that in a total of 2 or so total hours, I was able to talk face to face with everyone and more about my project. On my way home, I passed by a house under construction to contract an albañil (I think it’s a mason in English) to chip away the paint on the outside of the school in order to put cement on so we can have a flat smooth surface to paint on (the schools are painted brick). So I found a guy who said he’d start the job 2 days later. Say what?! I mean, you just can’t do that in the States.Since my “permiso” to change the structure of one of the outside walls of the school was expedited, we got “permiso” to start in under less than 2 days. As we speak one of the guys is chipping away at the paint and cement pillars to redo it with a flat finish! This was all remarkably smooth and easy to organize, but hiring someone to do the cement part is way more expensive than I thought. About 50 bucks total for supplies and manual labor. Ok, that’s a steal, but relatively speaking that’s a lot.

The new Deputy Ambassador, Robert Downes, came to my town yesterday to see how PCVs live. He’s sort of on a tour of the country to get acquainted. Along with his right hand man, Tyler Sparks, we went to my school along with 2 of my kids to see where I work. We checked out the Mapa Mundi and talked about resources (or rather lack of) that we have in the schools. They were disappointed that none of the classrooms weren’t open (because there was no school). So we looked through the bars that line the sort of open air windows we have. Then they saw that there’s only a white board and chairs. Not even lights (we really don’t need them), just wires hanging from the sockets and they realized maybe a tour of the classroom wasn’t a big deal after all. They also met my counterpart then were back on the road after about an hour. It was an honor to be visited by people from the Embassy to check out the grassroots work that goes on outside of their air conditioned office jobs. And they may have outfitted me with up to date Magazines, pesto (which I haven’t had for a YEAR!), Sangria, Jif peanut butter (impossible to find) and some other goodies. A great plus to the visit.

27/August/2010

Two days from now will mark 1 YEAR since leaving Phoenix, say whaaat? I’m a little surprised I’ve lasted this long! I've recently come down with a case of homesickness, and almost punched someone in the face when they touched my butt today. Instead I yelled "a$$ h0l3!" Homesickness makes you act out badly. I'm out of control.

These last two weeks have been very much business as usual: class in the Instituto, youth group class, adult class, nutrition class, putting final touches on the world map, and rubbing my clothes with soap and water against a rigid stone (aka doing laundry). I’m looking forward to the mid September fiestas. The whole town will be involved, there’s no class for a couple days, and the “Queens” of the town parade on big horses. Each school elects their “Queen” (sort of like a homecoming Queen or Prom Queen in the States) and they parade around in town.

This Sunday is our school dance, where they’ll announce the Queen of our school. I’m going to sell food and drinks and maybe get my dance on with some of my more respectful students (there’s a group that just never cease to harass me). Oh, and by drinks, that includes beer. And yes, you remembered correctly, I do indeed teach at a secondary school. And yes, it’s a Catholic school. And yes, they sell to minors…on school property. I cringe at the idea. I’m hoping to just sell soda because that’s ABSURD that they sell booze to kids. I plan to capture all the awful/awesome moments of the dance on film, don't worry, it'll be like you were there too.

We could have just left it this way, looks pretty good to me!

Looking a little pathetic...

Another day, more inspired.

With the help of some of my kids we finished the painting portion of the map! It's just so beautiful!

16/August/2010

This past weekend was one of my most memorable here in Nicaragua. An old high school friend of mine, Ron, just happened to be passing through Nicaragua on a trip with some high school and college students along with the head Pastor at his church, Dave. They visited an orphanage, came to LPC to help me make the World Map at my school, went to their sister city (of Bend, Oregon) Condega, Esteli, and to the Managua dump where 2000 people live in shanty towns.

Ron and Dave’s group are such impressive young people. It seems everyone I talked to was involved in working for non profits, environmental change, had traveled to other countries, played an instrument, played sports, and was involved in some other clubs at school. They were pretty much the most well rounded group of young people I’ve ever met. So if anyone is losing hope at home for America, good news, we may not be screwed after all with these kids being our future leaders.

My friend Jocelyn was going to be in Managua this week, so I told her to come up to my town to help out with the map (and since she’s never seen my site). The morning the group was to arrive in LPC, Joc and I were scrambling to get everything set up so we could get to work. Turns out my idea of a projector and the school’s idea of a projector isn’t the same. All the teachers told me to just use the projector in the library like it was the most normal thing in the world. My counterpart even gave me transparencies to print the world map on (to project the image on the wall and trace it). Well, when Joc and I brought the transparencies to the library to get the projector, the librarian looked at us like she had no idea what a projector even was, Then she dug up some dusty little machine that I think you need a reel to use, Drat. The only other option was to go to the German organization and borrow their projector and hook it up to my computer and project the map with that, We rushed over there and came back to the school to try and connect it, but I didn’t have any of the cords to hook it up to my Mac. Shucks. So, it was official, we had to use the much dreaded grid method of drawing 26 x 58 squares and follow the trace-by-grid design I had. Meanwhile, the time came that the group was about to arrive. We met them in the park, and they were not hard to spot. We boarded their bus and were overwhelmed by the sheer amount of light skin, light eyes, and light hair. Life here is normally bizarre, so it didn’t feel so strange that a friend from 10 years ago would pass through the 3rd world country I was living in with a bunch of amazing young people ready to go to work. I gave Pedro (the driver) directions to my house so he could park the bus there. We then made our way to the school to hang out with the kids and begin the map. The kids were sort of shy at first as usual, but quickly warmed up to everyone even though they had very limited Spanish skills. I left everyone at school to begin the grid and mingle so I could get on the internet and print the PDF of the grid for the map. After some technical difficulties again, I was luckily able to do it. Whew! If that hadn’t work, we wouldn’t have been able to work on it. When I got back to school, the grid was almost completely finished and the kids were teaching the group how to dance and play different Nica games. And of course, the school band was having practice. It was quite a happening place. The group had also brought art supplies for the kids to make pictures. Thanks to our devoted group, the map was drawn in a couple hours and it looks awesome! Everyone had a blast all afternoon. It was such a positive, fun experience to involve many of my students in the process (it’s their map after all) and I think they really had a great time (and most of them fell in love big time with the white kids). Even the group of students that always disrespect and harass me at school stayed around to help make pictures and hang out. Jocelyn gave them quite the talking to. It didn’t really resonate with them, but I’m glad she did it. Then one of them challenged me to an arm wrestling contest. I thought maybe if I won they’d be so embarrassed and leave me alone. And if I lost, well, I’m a chick, so it’s ok. I dominated him. But the harassment still continued, but at least now when he’s standing outside my classroom staring and making comments at me while I’m teaching I can tell my students he got beat by a girl at arm wrestling. We wrapped up the day with a discussion with the group about Peace Corps and living in a different country. They had great questions and a lot of them are interested in applying when the time comes.

The kids hard at work drawing pictures for the Americans to bring home.

Showing off the goods.

The next day Joc and I met the group in Leon to celebrate the “gritería chiquita”. It’s for the ascension of Mary. It’s kind of like trick-or-treating where you go house to house and the person yells something to the effect of “ who causes you so much happiness?” and your responEse in “the ascension of Mary!”. Then you get candy. In the town center there was quite the party. There were bombas and fireworks and sirens and dancing. The problem with lighting these things off here is that they’re sort of like tiki-torches that you light off and they spring high in the air and explode with a noise, but then the flaming hot tiki-torch hurtles back down. All in all, a couple hundred of these flew back into the crowd. It’s really quite terrifying. Another spectacle that makes the crowd run in fear are the flaming bulls. There’s a cardboard box constructed to look like a bull (legs, tail, dead, etc) that a guy wears on hid shoulders. He runs around as if it’s a bull. But here comes the flaming part. The thing is shooting out fireworks and flames as the guy runs into the crowd. Everyone goes running, and a few brave people chase the bull. They lit a couple dozen of these! It just kept going and going. It was really fun, but took a few years off all of our lives. Later that night we met up with some other PCV’s and all danced our faces off at a club in Leon. We had such a fun night. The next morning we went to the beach, then I made it home as they went on their way to their sister city of Condega, Estelí. As with all visitors I’ve had, when it came time to say goodbye, I had that ‘Don’t leave me here!’ feeling. As always, the feeling passes once I get back to work. But it was so great to hang out with super fun Americans. I just love the culture. Thanks guys for such a great time, and all the help with the map, the kids and I loved having you here!

Of course I failed to take a picture of the actual map we drew on the wall. I'll make sure to get on that this week to show it off to you after it's been painted!

8/August/2010

Last week I connected with home in a way I never even dreamt about. I just happened to be sitting at my favorite internet café all day last Thursday (never happens) between working out and teaching my nutrition class. I was chatting via skype with Jenn while she was at work. She had to go do a radio interview, so our conversation didn’t last long. I asked her if there was some way I could listen in, and she sent me the link so I could listen to it streaming live online. It was surprising that it even worked, because most video type sites aren’t available if you’re located outside the US. I listened in and it was so cool to hear her voice, her usual quick wit, and her slightly nervous laugh. I was looking at the radio schedule while I listened and came upon the phone number to call in. I thought nothing of it until I heard someone calling the program to stump Jenn (she was “Green Diva” answering questions about recycling on behalf of Earth 911, a recycling and product stewardship company (did you know you can donate hair clippings to be used to clean up oil spills?!)). So I thought to myself….and wondered if it would be crossing that personal/work line if I called in. Sometimes I forget what’s appropriate in the States and I cringe at having to relearn some social norms when I get back (it’s totally cool to spit inside someone’s house here, so when I get back, if I let that slip…sorry in advance). Anyways, I decided on a whim to call in. They picked up on the second ring! The lady that screened my call listened to my question. I didn’t know how long I’d have to wait for them to actually put me through (the clock way ticking away on my skype account). Then I heard “Green Diva” clarify my question to answer it. I was LIVE!! What? Who doesn’t screen radio calls from crazy people calling in to prank their friend from another country?! We talked like I was any other caller. They asked the callers name, and thereafter Jenn talked to “Julie” thinking nothing of it. Then they asked where “Julie” was calling from…”ummm…Nicaragua”. Commence the longest 3 seconds of dead air ever. Then everyone started laughing. Jenn played it totally cool and explained who I was and we talked a little bit about the troubles of attempting to recycle in Nicaragua. But really I know we both wanted to be like “Ohhh my gosh, we’re on the radio together, YAY!” I really did have a legit question…how do you recycle (#7) plastic like Nalgene bottles? The answer is you pretty much just have to repurpose them for something else. This call really made Jenn and my’s day. Completely random and hilarious.

This week some Americans are coming to my site to shake things up a little bit. An old high school friend of mine is coming down with some college age kids for a cultural exchange/service project here to Nicaragua. The last time I knew someone that just happened to be passing through Nicaragua was…..never. They motivated me to get my butt in gear and get my World Map project going asap so that they could participate when they come through this week. Some of the members of the group also have a partnership with an NGO called W.E.L.D. the World. This NGO wants to support me and my project, and also be involved in future projects in Nicaragua. I really, really enjoy when surprise opportunities just slap you in the face. This has given me new motivation, and it’s always exciting when I can supplement my schedule with something other than teaching English.

31/July/2010

We’ve just begun a new semester. And things have really turned around. They were never really THAT bad, but I’m much happier and satisfied with my work and my life as of late. I used to go out and treat myself when I had a bad day. But now I treat myself when I’ve had a really good one. It’s a win win. I guess that means either way I’ll end up treating myself. Hmm…

New things this semester: I’ve officially dropped my less-than-stellar counterpart, my relationship with my other counterpart has really strengthened, I’ve started giving adult “advanced” English classes 3x a week, and I’ve started giving a nutrition class in Leon 1x a week. I’ve also talked with the vice-mayor about getting money to paint some world maps at the schools. My goal is to have a giant painted on world map at every (4) school. There is already a map at one school from a volunteer a few years back, so that leaves 3, 2 of which I’ll also need to buy cement because there is no smooth wall space to paint on. The vice-mayor said they may only be able to support me with 50% of the money, but that’s where people from home can come in to play! On the right side of your screen, there’s a brief list of upcoming projects that I need funding for. I could go through PC, but since these projects are pretty cheap, I don’t want to go through the rigorous and lengthy process of getting them approved. Also, once you have a project being funded by PC, you can’t apply for another one with them until the 1st one is completed, and you can’t have more than one in the works at a time. Basically, I don’t want to pigeonhole myself.

The main reason why my strong counterpart’s and my relationship has blossomed is the PC training we received last weekend in Granada. It was 3 days, and really quite miserable. We were served majorily (Word says that’s not a word but I swear it is) bread and rice, it was a really hot location with no fans, and we had no free time. BUT afterwards I found my counterpart really utilizing the teaching techniques we were taught. For us PCV’s it was basically a refresher from our 1st 3 months of training. I’ve found this headstrong counterpart of mine can be really resistant to using my ideas in the classroom. But when we do, the kids seem to really like them, and they seem effective (ok the majority aren’t MY ideas, they’re what I learned in training). But now that she was taught these teaching techniques and activities by PC, suddenly they’re all great ideas! It’s a little frustrating, but I’ll take it. Since returning, we are now using 80% English in the classroom, and doing much more interactive activities. I think using English in the classroom last semester was such a struggle, because there’s a lot of classroom language that she doesn’t know how to use properly, and understandably, she didn’t want to be teaching them the wrong things. But now I’m working more hours with her (since dropping my other counterpart) and I’m there more often to help her along with how to run the classroom in English. We really had FUN this week. Not just the both of us, but the kids too. It really was an awesome week.

My adult “advanced” English class only has 4 people, but it gives us a chance to talk in depth a lot more, and allow for one on one attention. And there’s WAY more activities that I can utilize, unlike my school classes of 50 kids where only certain activities work.

My nutrition class has started off really well, with 18 women attending! It’s sort of difficult to teach though, because here they’re not as well versed at checking the labels etc. or really even knowing what a carbohydrate is. I knew I’d have to start at the basics..but….I was a little surprised. My first taller (workshop) was about the 2 types of carbohydrates. Man we could have gone on that topic for hours! I challenged everyone to change one aspect of their diet for one week to see how they feel. Such as not frying their rice, using only whole grain rice, or eating American oatmeal for breakfast instead of practically a whole loaf of white bread. They had a lot of great questions, and I’m sure we won’t run out of material. But like all women, they want a quick fix, and aren’t too happy that I’m referring this as a ‘lifestyle change’ instead of a diet. Sorry ladies, these changes should be for good.

25/July/2010

Last weekend Joc and I met in the city of Esteli and traveled to Somoto Canyon together in Madriz, Nicaragua. In a word, the trip was unfreakingbelievable. Yes, that was just one word.

When we arrived in beautiful Somoto, Madriz, we went into town to try and find the hotel that I had found online. We went in, and the lady told us it would be 300 cords for the both of us (about 15 bucks). I said that I had found this place on the internet, and it had said it was only 5 bucks a person, and that included breakfast. Then she looked at me like “internet??” I asked if this rip off she was charging us included breakfast, and she said no. After a drawn out staring contest, we said fine, but just for one night, we’d look for other accommodations later. We settled into our cell, then went into town to run some errands. We also stopped by a shockingly nice little hotel in town to see if they had any room for us. We asked for the cheapest room, and it only had one bed. We said we’d take it. Before we knew it, every staff member of the hotel was surrounding us, clarifying that yes, we are two people, and yes, we want one room. And yes, we are aware that one room only has one bed. And then everyone teased us and making gay jokes. We explained that the issue was simply the price, and that in fact we were sisters (all white people look alike, right?), not that it was any business of theirs anyway. The price was the same as the other hotel, but it was much nicer and didn’t have “World’s Creepiest Tour Guide EVER”. We continued with our errands and returned to hotel #1. We were both laying on our beds talking when “World’s Creepiest Tour Guide EVER” entered. He stood in the doorway with his cereal killer smile just staring, not saying anything. We had some small talk, but Joc and I still had no idea who this person was. Finally he said that he was the tour guide for the hotel, and he led people through tours in the Canyon. And then he repeated himself an embarrassing amount of times until finally we had to get pushy right back and say “OKOKOK” and shut the door. And lock it. And consider pushing the beds against it….

The next morning we met a guy at breakfast who was taking a few days vacation down here after dropping off his High School daughter on a service project in the department of Boaco. We said that we were going to “ford the river alone” to see the cnyon, and not go with a guide. He says he’s going with a guide, and it’s already paid for, and we’re more than welcome to come along. We considered it until in walked W.M.A.T.G.E. (world’s most annoying tour guide ever). He gave us some fatherly advice, and we promised we wouldn’t do anything stupid, and we went our separate ways.

It was raining the entire morning, but we still wanted to get the show on the road. It had rained like crazy the night before, so we understood the river would be pretty high and prove to be more of a challenge. We took a cab then hiked down to the river where we needed to cross. We didn’t even have to pay the entrance fee (we had no idea why, but we were relieved because we realized we didn’t have enough money anyway!). The water looked pretty rough, so we tried to walk along the banks to a more calm stop. Well, everything was just pure mud, and we were slipping everywhere. But we did apply a wonderful, rich mud mask. As we proceeded to try and find away, someone crosses the river from the other side. Good thing, because at this point, it was pouring and we actually saw the river rising. We hurried and washed off the mud masks so as not to embarrass ourselves. We watched him cross and he made it, barely. We decided at this point it would be stupid of us to cross, so we went to the road to wait for the bus back to town. It turned out to be quite the scandal that 2 soaking wet white girls got on the bus; everyone was talking about it. We got back to town, went to the new hotel, and got showered and warm.

That night we hung out with some people that worked in the hotel. While in the lobby: enter 2 young Israelis and a German girl. They explain they want the cheapest room, that the girl isn’t staying with them. On came the jokes about them too. We went out that night and made some instant friends in town. We went to a “cool” kareoke bar (no such thing in my opinion) and had fun dancing and chatting all night.

The next morning we woke up to have a redo of fording the river. We decided to perhaps devise a rope bridge so that we could safely cross. But we didn’t buy the rope, because it was too expensive, so we were just going to think quick on our feet. Before leaving, we went looking for breakfast, because at the hotel it was too expensive. And of course, in the street we ran into W.M.A.T.G.E. After a few failed attempts, up walks little Fabio. We tell him we’re looking for breakfast, so he naturally invited us to his house. We talked to his mom, told her what we wanted, and she said she’d send him with it to the hotel for us to eat there, just return the plates later. And little Fabio did just that. He brought the fabulous breakfast of beans, eggs, and tortilla right to out hotel. Such service. While we were eating, the Israelis and the German girl were talking to W.M.A.T.G.E. (he was EVERYWHERE). He was going on about blah blah blah and talking about all these ridiculous prices. We told them a cheaper way to do things, and that we were leaving on the bus at 9:30 (and that it costed a fraction of the price of a cab). Right before leaving, Alex, the hotel worker that we invited on the trip showed up. So all 5 of us went together (missing an Israeli because he had gotten sick). We got to the river and we were hounded relentlessly about guides etc. Joc and I said we weren’t willing to pay for a guide, but they were more than welcome to do whatever they wanted. We convinced them to at least just look at the river and decide for themselves. We got down to the river and met a totally jacked park ranger named Noel. He said he’d take us on a tour for 50 cords each. It was on.

The tour was WAY more awesome than I anticipated. First of all, Noel and his sidekick floated each and every one of us on an inner tube while they forded the river alongside the tube. We then had to cross the river again in a more shallow spot. It was still up to our waist, and it was really strong, but no one got carried away. We went up to 2 different breathtaking lookout points (one of which we OF COURSE ran into W.M.A.T.G.E.). After about 4 hours of hiking, Noel and his sidekick again floated us back down the river to where we entered the river. It was such an awesome day!

The next day was the anniversary of the Revolution, and all traffic went to Managua for the celebration. We had no choice but to go through Managua in order to get home. I can just say….it was packed with people and an experience I’ll never forget.

13/July/2010

My 4th of July plans didn’t quite pan out. I ended up getting really sick a few days before and going to Managua to get some blood tests. At first it seemed like dengue, but my symptoms of fever, extreme body aches and nausea passed. The only thing my blood tests came back with was that I had low blood cell counts. I ended up recuperating in just a few days. Though it was a bit of a pity party…sleeping long hours and not feeling like moving.

A PCV was looking for a new home for her cat, because she was finishing her service and going home. I really don’t like cats, and I’m actually kind of afraid of them. So naturally I said I’d do it. I’ve been looking for a dog, and finally found a puppy awhile ago, but it died before I could get it. I figure cats take care of themselves, so it wouldn’t be a big deal. I still am not a fan, so luckily for me as soon as Jocelyn gets her own place in her site, she may be the 3rd generation owner of “Pegaloca” (crazy glue)

The following weekend I went back to Santa Teresa. Jocelyn came too, and it was so wonderful to have the 3 girls back together. We stayed at Carla’s house. It’s so nice to go back to a town where people know you. We went to our favorite ice cream shop, walked the town, I hung out with my family, and the 3 of us went out one night. It’s the kind of town that you can walk in the middle of the night and even the hobos are nice and harmless. One morning we went to the gym (which I apparently lived 1 ½ blocks from for 3 months and didn’t know it existed) and got personal training by 2 former Nicaraguan body builders, one of them deaf. We paid the equivalent of 50 cents for about an hour and a half of undivided attention and circuit training. They seemed really impressed by our American girl strength.

I hadn’t had a good conversation in English since the previous weekend, and apparently I got really rusty, making up words like using “fascinated” as a verb and rearranging words in all the wrong order when I spoke. It came back to me though, after 2 days. Since Carla had just gone home to visit, the 3 of us “fascinated” (see it should totally be a word) what we’re going to do when we go home for Christmas. I’m glad there’s other people as excited and obsessed about going home for the holidays as I am. There may or may not be a list of 100 things I’m going to do when I go home in the works. Don’t judge me.

Since this weekend is the anniversary of the Revolution, there’s no school Monday. Joc and I are talking about taking a trip to this place called Somoto Canyon. I’ve been meaning to do more exploring here. I really don’t get out much, and to think that there could be a hurricane anytime now, and we’d maybe have to leave really bothers me. So I’m going to try and take more advantage when there’s days off school to see new places and get to know this country better. I’ll make sure to take more pictures too!

Here’s my kids getting their diplomas:

30/June/2010

Last weekend I went back to my training town to visit my old host family. It’s always fun to go back and visit and be reminded of the certain quirks of the family and the town. Every time I go back to visit, I’m surprised by how much more I understand everyone, and can participate in group conversation, even when everyone is riled up and talking over each other. It rained pretty much the whole time I was there, as pre-hurricane Alex passed our way. Although I was bummed I couldn’t run, the weather was so cool and beautiful! And the reason I went was to hang out with the family, so I didn’t mind being stuck in the house with them. Going back to that town is so fun, everyone remembers you, and it’s just a little Nicaraguan Utopia!

The day after I got back form Santa Teresa, we had our “acto” (like an assembly) for Teacher’s Day. The kids put on the acto and gave us little gifts. They started off by playing music and handing out treats, and then things got really weird, for me anyways. So, in our American culture, teachers and students don’t fraternize, male teachers will never be caught dead in a classroom alone with a female student (and vice versa), teachers/students don’t ever comment (at least to their face) about physical appearance, and, well, the following scenario would result in expulsion of the student and firing of the teacher (and perhaps maybe a trial?)

…after the music was played, a male student came out lip singing love songs with a microphone. He serenaded each female teacher, and tried to get them to dance with him (only successful with half). Then he came gave me a flower and a passionate serenade., along with a kiss on the cheek. I was so embarrassed. Not just for myself, but for the general state of things in this strange world. After the lip singing portion of the acto was over, it was the girl’s turn to present an inappropriate form of entertainment. The girls came out with their uniform skirts hiked up and tank tops. They performed a dance typical of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. Just think of a rap video, mixed with hula dancing. It was all good and fine until they started each giving the male teachers lap dances. No, SERIOUSLY. It was something that looked like it would normally be paid for. I was mortified. I had brought a camera to school because I thought the kids were going to be doing something cute for Teacher’s Day. I never took it out, because everything was too inappropriate to take a picture of, and those memories are forever burned in my brain anyways. After the madness was finally over, I asked my counterpart if anyone would get in trouble for what had happened (I knew they wouldn’t but you have to think of different ways to ask “What the heck just happened here? Are you people out of your freaking minds? How is this ok on any level? What happened to respectful student/teacher relationships?!” before your head explodes). And yes, the response was that this was totally normal.

This weekend I’m going to a nearby Podunk town with some other Americans for 4th of July. I’m just excited to be speaking English (not just using simple terms) and having real conversation on the most American day ever! I will be dreaming of family and friends, apple pie with ice cream, watermelon, and backyard grilling while I sleep outside in the campo in a hammock.

Happy Birthday America!

Awkward moment: The kids explained to me that when it rains, and the rain gets into the volcanoes, they erupt with more lava. In my head, this is how my response went:

Julie: (Shaking children by the shoulders) "Are you completely out of your mind?! That doesn't even make ANY sense on ANY level!! Who taught you that? I want NAMES."

In reality, I pretended to look interested, asking them the reason behind that and WHY the rain caused the volcanoes to erupt with more lava. They had no idea, but they were convinced.

Big changes are happening in the upcoming weeks! Starting in July I will be:

-no longer working with one of my disrespectful counterparts

-teaching nutrition classes at the local 'gym'

-teaching 6 hours a week of advanced adult English classes (no more ABC's!)

I'm very excited about these changes. I will be busier, but I find that I'm happier overall when I have more work to do, and a more structured daily routine. I was raised a swimmer, I am a creature of structured habit!

Everything is going well as we finish this semester. Exams went surprisingly well, including in my youth group. The majority of the kids passed the exams in school, and all my youth group kids passed their exam. I am presenting them with their "diplomas" (thanks Aunt Agatha!) next week for completing my class. They're going to bring goodies to share, as well as some family members (hopefully not ALL their family members, that adds up quick here!). Also, mom and dad have mailed me the kids photos from when we had a party a month or so ago. I just hope they arrive in time to give them out this week!

We will break from youth group class for about 3 weeks, and break from Instituto class for about 1 week (I heard through the grapevine they make up a bunch of holidays and it's more like 2). I'm looking forward to visiting my training family again. My friend Jocelyn will also be reuniting with me and Carla in our training town. Should be a blast as always!

Although my pulley system was infiltrated a few days after implementation. I was not locked in my house once this week! The repairman never came to make the change to the door though. Another battle.

Dengue has strickened LPC. There have been 17 positive cases this season in LPC alone. The department of health keeps going around and fumigating with God-knows-what-kind-of-poison. They fogged my house with no warning. Then I had to wait at least 30 minutes to enter, and boil everything that I wished to ever have contact with again. Ok, thats an exaggeration, I really only boiled my toothbrush, retainers, and contact case.

12/June/2010

This week started off really strange, by seeing a dead body in the street. And then ANOTHER ONE the very next day…

Apparently both people were hit while crossing the Pan-American Highway (which runs by my town). I was wondering why the bodies were just left on the 2-way street, uncovered, with police and bystanders just looking on as traffic had to navigate around the body. I learned later that they are not allowed to move the body until the family members get to the scene. So until then…

This week yet again brought some pretty phenomenal storms. For my youth group class at my house, we had our final test on Wednesday for them to either pass on to the next level, or stay put. Unfortunately, before everyone had finished, a storm rolled in. There was almost no warning, no sprinkling of rain first. Everyone went running just before it hit, and it was the strongest storm, maybe that I’ve ever been through. Those of you in AZ, imagine the strongest summertime monsoon EVER. The rain was sideways in a solid sheet flooding everything almost immediately. The thunder was freakishly loud, and made you wince every time, because it felt like it was crashing down on top of you. The lightning that came was like a strobe light illuminating the sky. It was nuts! The power and water went out immediately, and I scrambled to light my candle and grab my headlight for some light. I stood in my doorway watching the palm trees sway like they were about to do cartwheels. As everything began to flood, I noticed the ground sort of moving. Keep in mind it was still super dark, and I could only really see every couple seconds when the lightning flashed. I horrifically realized that what was moving on the ground were all the little critters and cockroaches whose homes were flooded looking for refuge. They were making their way FAST. I didn’t know what to do, they were only a few feet away from my front door! So, I did the only thing I could think of. I put on my polkadot galoshes (thanks mom), grabbed my headlamp, and started stomping all the critters dead in the rain. It was just so gross. I killed almost 2 dozen. There were a few that got away into my house that I was later able to hunt down. After that debacle, I read by candlelight for a little bit, then went to bed at 7:30, because what else is there to do?!

About 4 separate times this week I was locked IN my house by the troublemaking kids in the street. I have a walled in patio around my house, and they lock me in that way by pushing the metal bar (that is inconveniently located on BOTH sides of the door, so you can lock the bar at night when you’re on the inside, and lock the bar on the outside when you leave). It’s absolutely maddening when you’re about to leave, and you realize you can’t. A couple times it was too early to yell for help, so I just went back to bed. Other times, I stared out the crack in the wall to wait for someone to pass by, then yelled for them to let me out. I devised a temporary pulley system so I could pull the metal bar free on the outside, while I’m still on the inside. But that only functions as long as the kids don’t cut the rope. But I talked to my landlady about getting the repairman to make a fix to the door, so I can remove the outside bar when I’m at home, and hopefully that’ll fix the problem.

We were able to finish our tests last night, and almost everyone passed! 2 girls that aren’t exactly the strongest students shocked me with getting 100%. I couldn’t believe it! And I made 15 different tests, so I know they didn’t cheat! Cheating is RAMPANT here, mostly because there are no consequences, and most teachers just don’t really care if their students cheat. I know I won’t be able to eradicate this, but I’d at least like to prevent my own students from doing this, and seeing the value of studying, so you don’t have to cheat to get the answers. The teachers here always complain that their students don’t study, but would you at that age if you knew you could just cheat off someone and get a decent grade?

3/June/2010

The rain is so loud I can’t even hear my fan that is sitting right in front of me, nor the keys as I type on my laptop. Ahh but I love it. I don’t actively sweat the entire day (only part of it)!

Last week Tropical Storm Agatha came up the west coast of Central America. It rained for 60 hours straight!! There was a lull of a few hours in which I decided to travel to Leon to go to the gym, because everything (school, stores, etc) was closed anyways and I had nothing to do. Well everything was pretty good and wet when I went to Leon, as it had already been raining for about 36 hours. But as I was leaving the gym, a torrential downpour came, and along with it, a flash flood. I proceeded to the bus station to go back home. I just kept walking with my raincoat and my umbrella as if they were really making a huge difference against the buckets of rain. All of a sudden, I was up to my shins in dirty malaria water (ok I just SAY malaria, but it doesn’t ACTUALLY mean that). I still pressed on. Then all of a sudden I was up almost to my knees. Now THAT was gross. I shuddered at the thought of what was racing through the riverlike streets. As I was crossing one street alongside another lady, I noticed she was suddenly sucked down into the Earth. Ok fine, she just fell. But it was quite dramatic at the time, let me tell ya, Two other ladies nearby and I helped her to her feet. She had been up to her waist in the filthy water. (Quick cultural lesson) Normally, people here laugh at those who fall down, even when they hurt themselves. People just laugh, and occasionally, sometimes lend a hand. I really do not accept nor like this, but it’s just the way it is. But in this scenario, the other ladies were very compassionate and we all helped her up. After that episode, I realized the reason the fell: giant uncovered ‘manholes’ if you will. There are these small to big holes in the streets and on some of the “sidewalks” (aka people’s front porches that are uneven and connected together) that go down into the ground to absolutely nowhere. For the most part, people just throw their trash in them. I went back to the scene a couple days later, and the hole she had fallen in was almost 2 feet deep. I’ve seen them as big as 6 feet deep. Careful crossing the street in a flood kids!

One very productive thing that has taken place since the rains have started are my materials development for class. If you’re stuck in the house, why not get down with some crafts? I’ve been saving any cardboard for the past, well, 9 months. Now I can finally put it to some use. I used old scrap paper to draw pictures and/or make sentences, then “laminated” them with clear tape, and cut them up to separate them so the kids would have an activity for class. They really respond well to hands on learning, as they have nothing besides their notebook and a couple pens for class.

21/May/2010

I can’t believe how many stories and wonderful memories there are to write about from my parent’s visit. Everything went the best it could have, and I’m so happy they had such a great experience here, and no one got sick, hurt, or robbed. Success!

I started out going to Managua to pick them up, and, naturally, I arrived about 7 hours early so I could just sit in the air conditioned hotel room skyping with my family and keeping in touch with friends. And then a hot shower came right after that. When my parents arrived that night, I walked across the street to the hotel, where I nervously looked for them in the long line of people coming in. I was a little worried, because of all things, there plane was 20 minutes EARLY. But eventually I saw them getting closer and closer to me in the exiting line. I was a little perturbed when they were shuffled into another line. I walked along the outside of the airport to see if I could see where they were being sent to. I stood in front of the window as my parent’s bags were being screened. I saw a lot of laughing on my parents end, and a lot of confused looks and polite smiles on the screeners end. The flax seed my mom brought for me provided quite a suspicious scene. They didn’t understand what it was, so she tried to clarify by spelling the word flax. In English. They did not speak English. Hence they didn’t understand. I just sat outside cracking up.

Our first stop was to my town. We took a hike to the nearby laguna, and on the way I introduced my parents to different modes of transportation. We started out with a mototaxi (sort of like a 3 wheeled golf cart with a bicycle style steering wheel) ride to the bus terminal. We realized the bus had already left, and was just ahead of us, so the mototaxi chased it down. The bus stopped for us, opened the back door, and we ran up and jumped in. The bus was standing room only, and we drove off road until we got to the road that leads to Momotombo. Luckily I have nimble parents, and we were all able to hold on tight. When we got off the bus, we started walking the 2 miles or so to the laguna, and I introduced them to the “owner” (his words, not mine. He charges people to enter because his house is right at the entrance) of the laguna. We spent some time at the laguna, just soaking it in. It’s basically untouched besides some beaten dirt paths. We were all alone there, in complete silence aside from some of the natural wildlife.

The rest of the time in my town we in school, Leon, German class, and youth group. For the latter, we had a party for the kids. The week prior I had practiced with them different ways to present themselves, and give and receive personal information. And such questions such as “Is that your natural hair color?” for comedic effect. Mom and I went out and bought a piñata. The kids went absolutely crazy for it! Also, some of the parents brought pottery presents for mom and dad. The whole party went great, the kids were so sweet, and I think my parents really loved it.

Later on in the week, we went to the Isla de Ometepe and stayed on a Finca (like a farm) with horses, cows, chickens, dogs, and cats running around. From one view from the hotel you could see the lake, and if you turned around you could see the very active volcano Concepcion. We went to a pristine swimming hole, had lunch on the beach, saw petroglyphs, and a gorgeous waterfall in a small, remote village called San Ramon.

The beautiful waterfall in San Ramon

On the way back to the mainland we had lunch in San Juan del Sur. Then quickly made our way up to my old training town of Santa Teresa to meet my former, beloved host family. I was translating a little bit, but my host mom and my mom were talking to each other directly, and just kind of understood each other even though they weren’t speaking the same language. It was so cool for my parents to meet the people that took such good care of me my first 3 months I didn’t think we’d have time to make it there, but I’m so glad we did. My host mom reassured my parents by saying that even when they leave, I still have family in Nicaragua.

Our last night we stayed at the Laguna de Apoyo in this really great hotel that I visited once many months ago. It’s a very rural setting, overlooking the beautiful laguna. We were literally the ONLY people at the hotel, and La Abuela (‘Grandma’:the name of the hotel) herself was tending to us. We had great food and enjoyed wonderful swimming before heading out to the airport.

My parents left me with a ton of goodies (hopefully I can ration them out, I won’t be home til Christmas!), teaching supplies from my Aunt Agatha, and a pretty strong dose of homesickness, which will hopefully subside pretty soon.

The same day my parents left, I was back in my town translating for the US Navy. Yes. That’s right. Confused? I was too. I just had one burning question for them: "WHAT are you doing in my little town of La Paz Centro all the way in central America??!!" They were here for 2 weeks in different towns offering free medical services and medications. It was so cool to be able to talk with them and share the experience. This is the type of story we need to hear about more in the news!

My new address is:

Julianna Ryan

De la Ferreteria Paiz, 2 cuadras arriba

La Paz Centro, Leon, Nicaragua

Central America

I’ve already successfully received my first test letter! Right to my door, even though we don’t have address numbers for the houses, nor street names…Magic. My address is literally ‘from the Paiz Hardware Store, 2 blocks east (but we call east “up”)’ And I THINK I can really trust the guys at this post office. But again, I can’t imagine how many people come in contact with a package on such a long journey, and the problem could lie with other people on the way.

25/April/2010

Still no rain. The electricity and water keep going out. The weather report alleges that this week for a couple days it will rain and the high will only be 90! Wow, that would be fabulous, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Until then, things are really quite uncomfortable, because not even my fan works at the moment without power.

I’m going to assume this week at school will be “normal”, however you’d like to interpret that. There have been teacher strikes going on since the week before Holy Week about wages and not getting paid on time. I missed school on Thursday because my counterpart teacher was a part of a strike held in Managua, Apparently they got really riled up, even lighting a car on fire! Then we were back to school together the very next day. Does anyone else think that’s really weird? There’s supposed to be more teacher strikes this week, but I don’t know if it’ll affect my schools or not, we’ll see.

Again, I’d like to stress to you to not send any packages. I have 2 that were sent months ago and never arrived. And some others that are in route and taking a curious amount of time. I asked another volunteer in my department about it, because about 30 of us share 2 P.O. boxes. They said they were having the same problem. We brought the issue up at our regional meeting the other day, and everyone made a list of approximately how many packages and letters they were missing. The numbers were staggering! I mean, how sad. We’re talking birthday presents, Christmas presents, and comforts from home. I think our P.O. box is being targeted because after all this time, the people at the office know that this ‘PVC’ word in box 366 signifies Americans, and the contents could be pretty sweet. I even heard a tale of a former PCV who published a book about serving in Nicaragua. He was suspicious that the people at the post office were stealing from him, and as he was expecting a package from home with his favorite tshirt in it, he saw the dude at the post office WEARING it. PC is “investigating” the office now. This problem is only occurring in Leon, which makes us believe that it’s a problem with our specific office, and the issue is not that things are getting stolen at customs. Maybe in the future I will change my mailing address back to Managua, so my things arrive there, or possibly to the post office in my town. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

Next weekend I’m going to Mataglpa, the cool, green center of the country to visit Jocelyn. Carla is coming out too for the weekend. We are going to spend our time on the farm milking cows and riding horses. Yee haw. It’ll be a great break from the heat with my 2 friends.

7/May/2010

Living in this time warp is killing me! Since when is it May?!

Last weekend I took the journey to Matiguas, Matagalpa to stay with Jocelyn in her site. Carla made the journey out there as well, and a wonderful time was had by all. I was sick the week before going, and tried to schedule a doctor’s appointment, but there was none available. I wavered between wanting and not wanting to go. Getting better was my priority because my parents come on the 9th and I didn’t want to be sick for them. I wasn’t going to go until I woke up early in the morning, finally able to breath out of my nose. I spazzed out of bed in a frenzy, got packed, and left on the 530 am bus to leon. From there I took a microbus for a couple hours to Matagalpa, Matagalpa (the capitals of the departments are almost always the same name as the department). From there I took a taxi to the other terminal in town that buses would leave from to take me to Jocelyn’s site. I ended up having to wait for an hour and a half in the world’s most annoying bus terminal. LITERALLY every 10 seconds someone was shoving something in your face offering to sell it to you. I actually almost lost my cool. But luckily I was able to focus on my book, and when someone shoved something in my face I’d merely lean over to the side and not miss a beat of the book. A couple of harassing hours later and I was on my way to Matiguas. This part of the trip was all on dirt road. It was beautiful countryside with little shacks in the middle of nowhere. After arriving in Matiguas 8 HOURS LATER, the town drunk introduced himself to me as I texted Jocelyn to hurry up and get to the terminal to get me!

The next day the 3 of us went to Jocelyn’s host family’s farm. Carla and I fulfilled every young girls dream of milking her 1st cow. Then we got on horses and rode around the farm for awhile, with the main goal of finding a lost cow. We practiced riding the horses, getting them to run, slow down, ect. I forgot how much fun that is! We all got so comfortable riding the horses, we thought it’d be funny to see if we could herd the cattle. We just wanted to see if they’d listen to us. Plus, at that time, the rest of the farm workers had gone back home for breakfast, and we had the place to ourselves. So we rode into the pasture where the cows were and began the herding. We started out just chasing the cows one by one until they sort of grouped together and exited. It was so hilarious that we were really doing it! I don’t know what happened next, but I disturbed some bees. Luckily there weren’t hundreds, as there are in my worst nightmare. I did get stung 5-7 times though, which at the time was very upsetting and confusing, as I hadn’t quite figured out yet what was actually stinging me. After that we went back to the farm to recollect the cattle and bring them back out to the pastures where they belonged. We thanked them for listening to us and playing along with our fake cowgirl shenanigans.

Our next adventure brought us to a river with a waterfall. This place is so beautiful! It’s so lush, even though it’s the end of the dry season, and the rolling hills are something out of a movie. We jumped into the wonderfully cold water and swam around. Jocelyn and I later jumped off a big rock into the water. I’ve missed that thrill of jumping into the air, not knowing exactly when you’re going to hit the water.

After the great trip, I made sure to return home going through Managua, and I shaved 3 hours off my trip, making it a quick 5 hours.

This week my parents come for a visit! I think they’ll be able to hack it. We are gong to be staying in my site for awhile. Although we won’t be doing completely routine things, I think they’ll get a pretty good idea of what my reality it. They’re going to be coming to school with me and also to my youth group. All the kids are so excited to meet them. I sort of thought they wouldn’t care, but they surprised me by being totally excited!

18/April/2010

The weather is really changing! The rainy season is ACTUALLY coming, seemingly a little bit early. During Holy Week, the temperature peaked, and after that, came down a few degrees, and there’s actually clouds in the sky now! Our last rain was November 14th, and since then, it’s been completely clear skies and hovering around 100 degrees. There’s no water, and often times they shut off the water to our homes without notice. On any random day we can lose water from 4-8 hours during the day. You don’t realize how agitating that is, until you’ve experienced it. That means no showering, no washing your dishes, no laundry, no washing your hands…nothing! Now that I feel the rain coming, I’m so excited! Clean water is a precious resource, and if you pick up the new April National Geographic, you’ll read all the fascinating and frightening articles and pictures of water all over the world. I hope it’ll change the way you think, and conserve water. Maybe give a military shower a try (turning off the shower while you lather, turning it back on to rinse)!

I just got back from a super po dunk town actually not too far away from where I live. The thing is, it’s SUCH a remote place, there’s almost no transportation whatsoever to get there. I’d like to go more often, but I think the transport issue will keep me from going. There’s an Agriculture volunteer that lives and works there, and I went with her to unload all the bricks and materials to build more efficient stoves out there. It was really cool to see a project completely different from anything I’ll ever do in my program. I may try to go there again in the next week after school to learn how to build the stoves and help out. I spent the night there last night because there was no way out til this morning. It was actually quite nice sleeping in the cool outdoors in a hammock.

Here’s the world map the Agriculture volunteer made in her town, and what I hope to do soon (although I may have to wait until after the rainy season depending on how bad it its).

4/April/2010

Jenn and I had quite a week! It really feels like we did a LOT. I picked her up at the airport last weekend in the evening, and we just walked across the street to the hotel to make it easy. I peeked at a bunch of the goodies my parents sent and packed for me. It’s so nice to have my old jeans, teaching supplies, some treats, and I think the greatest thing of all, my electric toothbrush!

The next day we headed up to LPC to drop off a bunch of stuff and see my town. I think Jenn was a little surprised to see the bus terminal in Managua, and the realities of traveling around this country. There’s a plethora of food sitting out in the sun ready to spoil, chickens being held upside down by their feet, kids running around in the malaria water (what I call any stagnant water) without shoes, open cuts of hanging meat, and people yelling their prices. She also got a kick out of the fact that our bus driver, the same one that drove me there the day before and stopped on the side of the highway to buy an iguana, was hanging out in the market while our bus was about to leave. We made it up to LPC and she was again shocked when I turned on the faucet to get a drink, and there was….no…..water. I’m pretty much used to that here, (though I still get pretty pissed and feel like we’re all going to die because what if it NEVER comes back?!) but Jenn seemed pretty horrified. Aside from that, we had a nice little visit to my school, bought some beans, and bought some bottled water from a neighbor. Then it was on to Leon and to Poneloya beach. The next day we went volcano boarding (surprise! Jenn didn’t know until the day before) with a very colorful group of people that could best be described as the 3rd world travelers Breakfast Club. The trek up the volcano was relatively short and easy, but once I saw the drop down that we would be boarding, I started getting nervous. This was a SERIOUS hill. Before we went down we dug into the volcano just a couple inches to feel how hot the active hill was, it was almost too hot to touch! It was wild to feel that kind of natural heat radiating from underneath us. According to it’s history, we’re due for an eruption! Before going down the hill, Jenn and I noted vultures circling down below, not a good omen. I took off down the hill pretty cautiously, trying to go faster towards the end as I felt more in control. If I had a chance to do it again, I’d try and go all out from the beginning.

After 2 days at the beach, we got a bus from Leon to Matagalpa to go up to Selva Negra. We had many different opinions of travel availability since Holy Week usually has limited availability. Because of this, we actually got stuck in Leon for a few hours and had to kill some time. Once we got on the bus, everything was easy. It was an Express, so we hardly stopped and got there in good time, and once we got there, we got a good cab price to take us straight up up up the mountain to Selva Negra. It was actually almost cold up there! What a relief! It even rained that first night, which is something I’ve only seen 2 brief times since November 14th. We had 2 days of hikes with beautiful views, a coffee farm tour, and great organic food fresh from the farm that was a part of the grounds.

Taking various buses to Masaya was very taxing and exhausting, but we safely made it to La Laguna de Apoyo. We had a few days of great swimming, and one day of walking the Artesian market in Masaya. The day in the market allowed Jenn to see the nicer side of Nicaraguan shopping. She bought a bunch of gifts to bring home, and even bought as matching handcrafted wooden cutting boards. I love mine so much, it’s such a beautiful piece of work. It’s too beautiful to use, so it’s sitting pretty in my kitchen. Another day, we took a long kayak ride out on the laguna, took a nap, then later went for a swim. That’s my kind of day! The destination of the swim was to a party on another side of the laguna. We washed up on shore, and people obviously thought we were Olympians, because we could swim. And we obviously did not deny any of those claims. As Daniel Tosh (a comedian) would say “You want to make your life more interesting? Start lying…” It’s just a joke, but seriously. We had a really fun conversation with a family who owns a bakery in Matagalpa. I was really impressed with Jenn’s Spanish skills, she was able to keep up with the conversation so well! We also dispelled the belief that the laguna has a “pull” that swallows people up. If you ask anyone, they’ll say that because the laguna is shaped in a deep “V” form, people will wade out into the water and then drop down and get sucked in. Really, people drop down because of the steep dropoff, and they can’t swim so they get “sucked down”.

Travel in Masaya and to the airport was incredibly stress free thatnks to the greatest cab driver, Felix. He gave us amazing prices and was even early to the Hostal to take us to the airport. Punctuality is not a strong suit of Nicas, so I was so impressed that he was so reliable, on Easter no less! Jenn and I gave him treats, he saw us laugh, he saw me cry after saying goodbye to Jenn; we totally bonded. He’ll be the one to take my parents and I around that area when they come to visit in May.

8/April/2010

Last night, I was again awoken by the mouse in my house. We’ve met face to face before, but he was just too quick for me to do anything about it. Last night, he knocked over a plate that way laying to dry. It fell into the sink with a loud crash, and scared me half to death. The trouble with living alone is that you’re the one that always has to check for the boogey man even when you’re scared. I got out my trusty headlamp, and made my way through the kitchen checking things out. I realized that little bugger had eaten trough the bread bad on the counter and eaten some of my bread. I need to finally go buy the poison and set it out for this little guy. Enough is enough!

I witnessed the darker side of La Paz Centro today. After I had gotten back from giving classes in Momotombo, I went to go buy some food for the day. I heard a kid screaming in the street, but I thought “What else is new”. Kids here are always running around screaming their heads off and roughhousing in the street. Then I saw this guy riding a bike, with his free hand leading another bike alongside him. Again, I didn’t think anything of it, until he took the corner of the dirt road too fast, and the bike he was leading with his free hand spun out of control. He didn’t stop to pick up the bike, which I thought was weird. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw this hefty mother barreling down the street with all her might, with her kid still wailing in the background. That dude on the bike had stolen that poor kids bike! I mean what the heck. The neighborhood isn’t safe even in the broad daylight of 1 in the afternoon.

10/April/2010

My youth group has resumed after almost a month of traveling for Peace Corps trainings and a week of vacation for Holy Week. I feel like I’ve had a Super Nanny Intervention or something. We’ve got structure now! What a beautiful thing. We all made name tags, which are their responsibility to bring to class every week. They can earn stickers to decorate their name tags by good behavior or going beyond expectations, etc. And after this weeks 2 classes, no one else may join the class, and no one can miss more than 3 classes, or they’re out. I was amazed at how much fun we all had learning. I taught them the ABC song, because it is atrocious to me that seniors in high school here still don’t know how to pronounce their ABC’s. Along with the song, I included some material my Aunt Agatha sent me from the states. She’s a teacher as well, and it’s easily recognizable that she was born to teach. She’s uber organized, full of ideas, and just enthusiastic in general about teaching. I used her “Spelling Aerobics” in class yesterday, and we had a blast with it. Tall letters have a neck (as I describe it) such as b, d, k etc. Medium letters are a,c,e,I, etc. Low letters have a tail (as I describe it) such as j, g, q etc. With tall letters, students touch their head. With medium, they touch their belly, and with low they touch their toes. This also helps differentiate the sounds between v and b for example, which is really tough for them. Everyone participated and had a good time learning, and it reminded me that I really do like teaching, which I sometimes forget when things, well, look completely hopeless.

I’ve decided my first project is going to be a school map. We have a “paint by numbers” design to use to paint a world map on the outside of the schools. It’s a great first baby step to bigger projects. It’s something that’ll last a long time, it’s pretty easy, and volunteers have had a lot of success with it in the past. So I’ll ask those of you that have been so faithful in your care package sending, to hold that love, and instead donate to my project fund once I get it approved on the Peace Corps website. You’ll be able to donate at peacecorps.gov once I get it set up (I’m not eligible for 6 more weeks when I complete 6 months post-training service). There’s already great projects on there available to view. Not to mention the mail system has been failing me lately, and I have 2 packages that have taken over 2 months to get here, and it’s looking more and more likely they won’t come. So I think project donations are way cooler, because you know your money will go to good use, instead of someone that likes to steal international mail. Shame on them.

26/March/2010

Awkward Moment: The lady that comes to clean my landlady’s clothes showed me that there’s oregano, basil, and cilantro growing in the yard (score!!!). And she told me that by putting basil in your ear (to keep the wind out) gets rid of a headache. I pretended to be suddenly enlightened and said that I put it in my food. She said “You eat it?!” and looked at me like I was nuts.

Could it be??!! Jenn Berry comes tomorrow?!

This past week I was yet again…gone. Before I left I had one last youth English class at my house. Well, actually it was cancelled, but 4 girls showed up anyways. So we had a great class, reviewed what we learned last time, and went over some topics they were covering and about to be tested on in school. They are such hardworking, motivated girls, and I hope in the future I can get them scholarships to study English if they want. Through Peace Corps and the U.S. Embassy, we have access to scholarships for kids to attend summer camps, study in Managua, and even study in the States for a short time. There’s one girl in particular that stands our, and if she wants, I think she can go really far. She picks up on new topics quicker than any kid here I’ve seen.

I went back to my old training town of Santa Teresa, Carazo for a language taller (workshop). We had 4 days of class, 8 hours a day, plus homework. Gag. It was a serious training flashback. We all stayed with our old families, which for me was wonderful, because I love that family! I stayed in my old room, slept on my old bed, and was reminded of all the quirks of the house and the town, like: my hostmom snoring like a freight train, playing with Milli (the 2 year old), eating greasy Nica food, helping Anita (my hostsister) with her psych homework, talking to my hostmom about her anxiety and giving her tea to relax her, seeing Joey outside the house (a little dog with a devastating underbite), eating ice cream (it’s actually too hot to eat ice cream where I live, it melts before I can eat it), sneaking out super quietly before anyone wakes up to go running, and having lunch with the priest. I was completely surprised when I arrived, because my hostbrother, and a friend of the family who previously I could never understand, suddenly were talking somewhat clearly to me. I couldn’t believe I was hearing each individual word they were saying, when before it was just rambling sentences strewn together. This is really the only marker of success I’ve had since training. We got through each day, wondering how we EVER survived 3 months of training. By the time lunch came around, we were pretty much spent, and in the afternoon we grew to be slaphappy.

One night we went to the next bigger town called Jinotepe and stopped in for ice cream. We saw a big guy, saying “Whatcha want” in a thick southern accent. We thought it was so strange, and as we looked around we saw more white people. Like idiots be began giggling, because it was so strange to see white people in a town like Jinotepe. It’s normal in Leon proper, or at the mall in Managua, but in a smaller town, no way. While we were giggling, we recognized this kid that was part of our youth group when we lived in Santa Teresa. We caught up a little bit with him, then he responded to a question from the white guy. Obviously, in ENGLISH. This kid is apparently a translator for these white people’s church group. And he was in our ENGLISH class, and NEVER lead on that he spoke English! It was so bizarre. We kept asking why he never led on that he knows English, especially because at that time during training, our Spanish wasn’t that strong, and we had trouble explaining things to the kids. They left the ice cream shop, and we were left with so many unanswered questions. So many.

On the way to Jinotepe that night, Carla, Jocelyn and I were in a microbus, talking in English about some things we had learned in class, and wondering what we thought some of their sayings mean. There was one particularly dirty saying, lets just call it “fireworks”. I sat in the seat riding backwards, facing the rest of the bus, and I asked Carla and Jocelyn “I think “fireworks” means……” Except I switched from English to Spanish without thinking, and said the dirty phrase, which SHOCKED the bus. There were people blushing and laughing with looks of pure shock, and maybe a little disgust. The 3 of us immediately realized and burst out laughing. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard I cried….before this. I was just beside myself, trying to turn my head away from facing the rest of the bus.

On the way back to LPC I tried to travel as cheap as possible out of Managua. I got on a “ruta” bus for the first time ever in Managua (these buses only go within Managua, and they’re where the most crazy stories come from). I was trying to haggle some taxi drivers to take me to the bus station, but they were asking too much, so I went with the ruta. I haven’t been that nervous for months! I thought there was only one way out of Managua in that certain direction, so I got on the first one I saw. As luck would have it, about 10 seconds after I paid, I asked the driver to let me off, while we were waiting in the left hand turn lane, because I had to go straight, not turn left. I continued to walk at an extremely brisk face, trying to broaden my shoulders and look tough, staring down any guy that was staring me down. I came across a bus stop and asked a couple which bus to get on to get to the terminal, and they helped me get on my way, the right way. Hopefully I got out any confusion today, so that when I’m traveling with Jenn we can go along smoothly.

AWKWARD MOMENT OF THE WEEK:

Realizing a bird had pooped on my shirt (apparently when it was laying out to dry) AFTER I had already arrived at a meeting.

17/March/2010

Last weekend again brought me out of my site. This time it was for ‘Peer Support Network’ training. We had members of the U.S. Embassy come and give us training on how to deal with and avoid rape and sexual assault. At one point the presenter asked “Has anyone read ‘The Gift of Fear’?” Boom. Hand up. It was one of the books about survival and kicking butt that I brought with me here, thinking I’d be in much more taxing, life or death situations than I have been. I felt so empowered that she was backing that book up, which is all about using your senses; your innate tuition to help you survive and outwit your attacker. After that presentation we had training specifically for PSN for the next couple days. We learned our role within Peace Corps, that we’re not here to give people advice, but to facilitate their thought process by asking questions, and essentially letting them “talk it out”. We made a plan of action for things to do in the future to get the word out about this available service to volunteers, and that was that. Not to deviate from the point, but we got to stay in a HOTEL with A/C and WIFI!!! It was just fabulous, and this particular hotel had a super breakfast.

After training, I went with a few people to San Juan Del Sur, a popular tourist attraction. We stayed in a solar powered beach house outside of town that was completely secluded, we had an entire beach cove to ourselves called Gorilla Head. I just don’t know how these things happen, but they do, and this house was donated to us for the weekend by an American couple. Long story short, they were very nice and generous to do this for us, and we had a wonderful, relaxing time. The house (since it’s in the middle of NOWHERE) has it’s own 24/7 security guard this lives in a little house out back, along with a maid (the security guard’s wife). We layed in hammocks and read, went swimming, took walks, went through the woods to another beach, and explored the area. It was a fantastic, relaxing time. No tv, no internet, to cell phone service. Just us in our little eco friendly house surrounded by nature.

What’s up with the months changing so fast?

Well last week I was in quite a pickle. Because Washington had a few snow days recently, PC was behind on their processing. So Peace Corps WORLDWIDE didn’t get paid. Like everyone else, I had to pay my rent. Normally, I wait til the new months salary comes in (on the last Friday of the month) to pay my next month’s rent. Well, since the next months rent didn’t come in, I had much less to withdraw from in my account, especially because 2 months rent is MORE than one month’s salary. I literally had less than a dollar to my name. I went without fruits and vegetables for almost a week (they’re kind of expensive)!! Now this is what I’m talking about ! Finally I’m suffering a little bit. Ugh, what a relief. My brother, Matt, gave me $50 in silver before I left “In case things got crazy, money became obsolete, and I needed to barter my way out of the country”. I was hours away from exchanging that silver for cash! I just didn’t know what to do. I’ve never been so poor before. My parents talked about wiring me money, but it wouldn’t work with my bank down here. And I wanted to withdraw money from my savings account at home, but my debit card was expired. Bust. Finally I resorted to borrowing money from the owner of a café I frequent on a weekly basis. She lent me the money so I’d have enough money to travel this week to my conference. The day before I was due to leave, I traveled on a whim to Leon to see if we had gotten paid yet. Although we still hadn’t been paid yet, my “emergency” funds I requested from PC had come in (4 days late). So I was able to pay back the wonderful café owner, and travel.

6/March/2010

Jocelyn, Claire, Carla and I

Now I’m here on the Island of Ometepe. Yesterday we had 10 hours of meetings over grants and funds that are available for our potential projects. They talked about how to write a proper proposal, and the hoops you have to jump through to get funding. We visited a site here of a current volunteer to see his site, and talk about his grant work that he’s doing to make it more of a reality. It makes it seem more feasible to see some of the grants actually in motion, and makes me want to get the ball rolling in a couple months when I’m eligible. I’ve been thinking about a project with the library in town, or a project with nutrition. Both are very relevant projects, but especially the nutrition one would be quite the mountain to climb. People are so stuck in their ways, it’s not like in the states where everyone has their own traditions, varying family to family. Here, everyone eats the same, there’s not much variation. To give you an example, because I’m a vegetarian, people think I only eat vegetables…only. The typical diet here is so heavy in oil and salt…and sugar. There is such a problem with blood pressure because of it. The painful part is hearing people talk about the diet their doctor prescribed for them. According to what I’ve studied, and what I believe, it’s all kinds of wrong. If I can muster up the courage and energy, the nutrition project MIGHT work. I’d love to host cooking and nutrition classes with a little bit of food prep/sanitation mixed in. One thing at a time.

Me and some cows taking a walk on the beach

I was a part of those 10 hours of meetings yesterday, I gave a session on emotional and physical wellbeing. I focused on our idea of “control” and how we use that to lie to ourselves and make us feel better. Our “control” should be over something helpful to us, not harmful. It should not consume our lives nor should it interfere with daily functioning. For example: proper diet and exercise are a form of control. If applied in healthy moderation, this is a good form of control. But this form of control can easily take over our lives to become unhealthy. Any one of us can easily become obsessed about this and it can become a self destructive behavior, rather than a healthy lifestyle.. Especially with how we live in Nicaragua, it’s important to stress self awareness and responsibility. We don’t regularly have anyone checking up on us. We usually go about 2 months without seeing our bosses or our peers. I hope that talk allowed people to reflect on themselves and their lifestyle choices. Sometimes we all need a wake up call to remind us to keep it real.

8/March/2010

Awkward moment #1: “Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss USA…” was announced by a teacher that speaks some English as I arrived at school.

Awkward moment #2: Jocelyn texting “I haven’t heard from anyone that left on your ferry all day and I’m really worried! Please let me know you got home.”

Well what I was hoping she’d figure out was that all of our minutes on our phones had expired, (we all expire approximately the same time every month) so we couldn’t respond. And I’m pretty sure hers expired today, so hopefully she’s figured it out by now!

It was so nice being away from site for a few days! I’ve been cooped up for over 2 months in my little bubble! When I got back I was happy and refreshed. And of course, it’s always nice to be missed. The kids were excited to see me again, and asked when we are going to have youth group.

The trip home yesterday was, as usual, a complete pain in the neck. We started off by taking the smallest ferry EVER. This was the little tug boat that could. It’s the dry, windy season, so the lake was very choppy. The boat swayed side to side rather violently the entire hour of the trip. It was kind of like riding a horse the way you had to move your lower body to roll with the motion and not slide across the bench….or maybe more like riding a bull. When we got to the port, we found an Express bus to Managua. Sweet. We got on board, and left AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER. Rough. That ride took a couple hours, until the bus got a flat tire. All bus drivers here are master mechanics, so he had us going fairly quickly. From Managua, we had to take a taxi to another terminal, which a Nicaraguan woman and her baby helped us haggle for, as whites are usually overcharged. From the next terminal, I took the bus to my town and was finally home, about 7 hours later.

Rewind back to being on the Island this weekend….

Jocelyn, Carla and I ventured out to a nearby laguna at night, so we could see the stars nice and bright without any light pollution. We made our way arm in arm and Jocelyn’s headlamp securely mounted on her head. Of course, it was creepy, like the perfect setting for a horror movie. We made it to the laguna and sat down to chat and look at the stars. They were absolutely brilliant! It was so wonderful, there’s really no other way to capture it, than to see it for yourself. After a bit, we made our way back. As we passed a fallen tree, and leaves all over the ground, and a small tree sticking up through the trail, I thought to myself, “hey, we didn’t see a fallen tree, nor leaves on the ground, nor that small tree sticking up through the path on the way here.” I instantly felt a sinking feeling in my chest. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want anyone to panic, and I also thought I could be wrong. Then Jocelyn said “Uh, guys, I’m just throwing it out there, but…” And I cut her off saying “AGREED, LET’S TURN AROUND!” We all stayed calm in the ABSOLUTE DARKNESS and retraced our steps back to the laguna, then back the correct way we came from the hotel. I just prayed that the battery in the headlamp wouldn’t go out, because then we’d seriously be screwed! It was such a relief to be back at the hotel and not in the pitch black jungle with lord knows what.

25/February/2010

I just got finished with a 6 hour site visit. Just think of it as a 6 hour interview by your boss meeting all the people you have regular contact with. AGH! It was filled with a lot of constructive feedback, and I had tons of questions and comments for her. First we went to Momotombo so she could observe a class with Loyner (my counterpart) and I. We got to the school and he wasn’t there. Awkward. I thought maybe he didn’t come because he knew my boss was coming, but it turns out his cousin died yesterday. So we went to his house to talk to him. This was even more awkward, because everyone in the house was sad, crying, and talking about how the cousin died. Also, they were preparing for his “vela” where everyone that knew the deceased sits in plastic chairs all night until the next day drinking and playing cards and praying, and then bring the body to the cemetery.

After that awkward meeting we continued on to my school in La Paz Centro and talked to the teachers and principal. Then it was off to my house for lunch and to talk in depth about my life as a volunteer. We talked about way to change and control my crazy youthgroup! This is what I need the most help with. I TOTALLY felt like she was my supernanny, saving me from myself and how I deal with 30 crazy kids ages 6-20. It just sounds ridiculous. I knew I had to split up the group somehow, and I think now I’m settled on separating it between ages, instead of boys and girls. I’m excited to come back after our two week break (because I’ll be traveling) and split the kids up, and instill some structure! With such a vast age difference in kids, things have got to change, and I can’t wait! I thought I wouldn’t have to change the group, because slowly numbers would dwindle. From my experience in training, we started with 20+ kids and it dwindled to about 10 or so that consistently came. I’ve been waiting and watching to see the numbers dwindle. But then all 30 kids come, plus other randoms. I can’t believe they keep coming back! That’s great that they’re having fun, but it’s become an absolute nightmare for me. Mommy needs a break.

27/February/2010

My dream came true last night when about 15 kids showed up to youth group. Looks like my friendly little announcement from the other day discouraging kids from coming who were not motivated and ready to learn really worked! There’s a hint of dread that many missed out because there was something else going on on a Friday night. We shall see. But allow me to enjoy a recap of the warm and fuzzy night we had. Only the motivated kids ready to participate showed up. It was so wonderful. We played listening and speaking games, and everyone was really into it, asking to play again and again. We even played a spelling game (my childhood forte) that they ended up loving too! All I want is for them to learn English and not get pregnant. So far so good!

14/February/2010

So far, teaching in one school is going wonderfully. As for the other school, not so much. My one counterpart that I work with in LPC is great, and our ideas go pretty well together, we just seem to get along pretty well and have the same basic goals for the classroom. She’s very open to my suggestions, but she brings a lot to the table as well. I’m having a bit of trouble with my male counterpart that I work with in Momotombo. The rule of Peace Corps is that we must coplan before class in order for me to go. There has just been too much taking advantage of the volunteers in the past. So this week I didn’t go to school with him, because no coplanning was done, although he did invite me out for a beer in lieu of coplanning. He seems more interested in having a drink with me and telling me him and his wife are “just friends” than getting together to do actual work. Again, I’m not going to write him off so soon. I was going to pass by his house today to see if he wanted to coplan later, but then I realized it was Valentines Day and I didn’t want to send any mixed signals. Or any signals at all for that matter.

My youth group started this past Friday evening. I had about 16 young kids gather on my patio all wanting to learn some English. We started out by playing the “human knot”, where you stand in a circle and grab someone’s hand, then put your other hand in and grab that of someone else. Then the group procedes to untangle itself to form a circle again while still holding hands. Luckily, they thought it was just the greatest thing ever, and they even repeated the process 3…4….even 5 times. Then we learned V-day type words like love, hug, etc and played “memory” with the words. Last we made V-day cards. That’s when things got really precious. Most kids made them for their mom, and a few of the boys made them for their girlfriends, refusing to show anyone but me to make sure they spelled “Will you be my Valentine?” correctly. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and when we discussed when our weekly meetings should be, they seemed dissatisfied with only one meeting per week and suggested 5 meetings per week. I talked them down from that ledge and we agreed on twice a week. They’re quite a handful, even on the first day where they’re supposed to be shy! I think once I learn their names it’ll be a little easier to get them to settle down. It’s kind of hard to address someone when you don’t know their names, and they all look alike (sorry, but to me they do).

The month of March is going to be crazy! I’m looking forward to it because I am feeling a little claustrophobic sort of being stuck in my site for 7 weeks so far. The beginning of March I’ll be in the Island of Ometepe for InService Training with the other people form my program. The following week I’ll be in Managua for ‘Peer Support Network’ training which I was just accepted into. It’s basically a network of a few people per department that offer confidential, emotional support to other volunteers. About a week or 2 after that, I’ll be up in Jinotega to run a half marathon. The following week I’ll be back in my training town of good old Santa Teresa with my old host family for a language bootcamp. The day after that’s finished, Jenn comes to visit!

I’ve been pretty glued to the Olympics the past couple days. What REALLY had me on pins and needles was the men’s 1500 short track, where Apollo Ono won silver because at the last second, a Korean tried to pass his teammate and collided! And another American took bronze. It was the most excitement I’d had in weeks!

19/February/2010

Awkward Moment of the Week: Walking back home from buying my beans midday, I walked right past my neighbor peeing in the middle of the street. (?!)

This week has given me some hope for effectively teaching English here. My counterpart in LPC is great, and our coplanning sessions and classes go really smoothly and are full of interactive activities. My other counterpart is not as reliable. I have been nearly stalking him since school started. I stop by his house, he’s not there, we’ll have a meeting, and he won’t show up. The only time he texts me back is to say ‘excuse me for not making the meeting’. I finally tracked him down yesterday at his house. He was asleep, so I decided I’d just come back later. NOT. I woke him up and we FINALLY coplanned. We had class today, and it went pretty smoothly, but I think I need to reiterate the goals and rules of my organization. But things are looking up!

The youth group at my house has blossomed to 30 kids. To help me out, one of the kid’s family’s is going to let me borrow their dry erase board, because I’ve been using a ton of flashcards in order to give the kids visuals. We are playing games, and I’m trying to get them to repeat and practice pronunciation, by far the greatest struggle, as much as possible. But my problem is the broad range of ages of the kids. I’d say they’re anywhere between 7-17. Some of the kids are obviously more advanced than others, so to target each group I’m thinking of possibly splitting the group up in the future.

Seems like some La Paz Centro people took things into their own hands and decided to burn down the mayor’s office. All because they didn’t want 4 extra mototaxis added to our bustling 87 mototaxi platoon. That’s WAY too many for this small town, and they hardly make any money because there’s so little business. If you just walk outside your house to a corner, within 30 seconds a mototaxi will pass by and pick you up. Because of the uprising I wonder if those 4 are going to be added after all…

No one here even knows what the Olympics is! Give me a break!

20/February/2010

Last night's youth group got crazy. We played a partnered game with one partner in an inner circle, and the other partner in the outer circle. As music played, the kids were supposed to walk in their circles until the music stopped, grab their partner and perform whatever action I said like "dance", "raise your hand", "sit down", "hello" (wave). It ended up looking like a mosh pit! There were kids pushing each other and going CRAZY. They had a lot of fun, but I felt like the boys sort of scared off the girls, as they started sitting out. My next plan of action is after this upcoming week's meetings, we will not have any for 2 weeks, as I will be out of town. When we resume I would like to have a girl's only group one day, and then have an open group another day where everyone can come. The girls seem much more calm and willing to learn in a less chaotic environment.

I usually wear shoes in my house to protect me from any cockroaches, scorpions, etc. But now I have a new fear: giant iguanas. One of the other volunteers who lives a few miles from me found a 3 FOOT IGUANA in his bedroom!!! He has NO idea how it got in there!

This kid had a Phoenix, Arizona shirt and I thought it was the greatest thing ever! The majority of the clothes worn down here are actually second hand from the states. There was even an ASU tshirt sighting!

5/February/2010

Awkward moment of the week:

Talking to a bilingual Nica who actually works for Virgin mobile, the American cell phone company (who does all their customer service from Managua, who knew?!), about different types of American accents. He asked me “Why do black people talk differently than white people?”. Woah. I felt like how I imagine my parents felt when I was young and very innocently asked them a million very blunt, inappropriate questions.

I’ll be teaching two days in my town of La Paz Centro, two days in the neighboring town of Momotombo, leading an adult English class, and having a youth group. The latter will actually end up being babysitting/play time because I got suckered into it in a very vulnerable moment by a very well mannered, cute little girl, who at the time I thought was much older than she really is (9). So her and her 10 friends or so are going to be in my youth group which is gong to be kicked off with a Valentines day party. And all our activities are going to lead up to and finalize at the end of April with Earth day. No more burning plastic or throwing trash in the street. There may even be a cleanup project we’ll tackle for Earth day. Although I felt suckered into the group, I’m pretty sure it’s going to end up being AWESOME! The younger the crowd, the more excited they are to be part of a group.

“School” started this week, and “school” deserves quote marks when being referred to in this case. The first day of classes, all the kids showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed, so excited to have new notebooks and uniforms and whatnot. We had an “acto” which is basically just an assembly. The teachers were introduced, we had mass, and the school rules were outlined. Just so you know, boys here are not allowed to “look gay” by wearing earrings as stated by the Priest. Other than that, the rules are basically the same more or less, no PDA at school, be on time, etc. Except I swear at my other school I saw a kid with a machete, I wonder if that’s just considered a tool.

So there is still no class schedule. Kids are still being rearranged within classes to find the right fit. Therefore we cannot coplan before class, because we don’t even know what level we are teaching. The deal with PC is that I am first and foremost a teacher-trainer. I work with my counterparts to better their English and show them more fun and interactive ways of teaching. This keeps the program sustainable. We are by no means substitute teachers. Apparently in the past, and well I’ll just be honest, the present, there’s confusion with this. Some teachers think they’ve got it easy because they have a volunteer. So they go ahead and schedule that doctor’s appointment during school, or go to the bank, or maybe just take a nap because their volunteer can take over. So the deal is, if we don’t coplan before class, I do not go to class to coteach with them. And If I get to school and they’re not there, I do not give the class without them. Although I’d rather just have my own classes so I could do my own thing, I know this is for the best because what we’ve taught the teachers will go on even after our 2 years is up.

So as of now, we don’t have classes. The kids go to school, but there is not much learning going on. Although I did start teaching one of my 7th grade classes the ABC song and they were all over it. They just couldn’t get enough of it and I even heard them singing it together after class in the schoolyard. It’s harder working with the older kids, because once you get into the high school years here, there’s quite a lot of kids that have taken time off from school for whatever reason, so they’re older than they should be, and much less motivated. There’s even an 18 year old in 9th grade. It’s really challenging to try and get them to be hungry to learn like the younger kids are.

My adult class will start next week. I hope there’s enough interest for people to actually come. My friend Jocelyn just had her 1st meeting with her adult class and over 70 PEOPLE came! There were even announcements on tv and radio for her class.

My ticket home is officially booked! I will be arriving the evening of December 15th! Although that’s quite a long way off, it’s nice to have something concrete that I can look forward to. I’m already making a list of things I want to do while I’m in Phoenix! I’m so excited!

21/January/2010

Awkward moment of the week: Coming back from the PC office in Managua, I decided to take a microbus rather than a huge school bus (because they take FOREVER). I asked the woman next to me how much the fare was, because I always go the cheap route and take the school buses. She said it was 20 cords (I swear that’s what she said). I got off at my town, an earlier stop than the actual destination of the bus. After I got out the driver came over to collect my money, I handed him a 20 and started to collect my things. He put out his hands like “Hey crazy lady, give me mo’ money”. I asked how much the fare was, he said it was 40. I told him someone had told me it was only 20, and he proceeded to ask inside the microbus “Who was it, who told her it was only 20?” It was so uncomfortable because I felt like I was ratting the lady out, I didn’t think he’d make such a big to-do. I just tried to look innocent to hopefully play the well-meaning-yet-still-ignorant-white-person card.

There’s not been much to report the past few weeks. I’ve literally just been passing time, which I certainly can’t complain about. Since when did I get to have such a great amount of time to read in a hammock, write, listen to music, and small talk with my neighbors? I wonder if this is what retirement is like? Anyways, it’ll be over soon, which I am equally thankful for. The meetings for the reforestation project have resumed, and now we have way more people, and even other organizations on board. We are planning on working in a few sectors with this project. We are going to try to implement proper trash and recycling disposal, a septic system, and reliable potable water in the next town over, Momotombo. Luckily we’ve got an organization to tackle the septic and water situation, because I would have nothing to offer in that department. I’ll be working with the trash/recycling program. But it’s going to be hard to get people to care about it. Culturally, trash is burned along with leaves and fallen, unripened fruit in the yard. Just this morning next to my cute little compost pile (I’m composting during the dry season so in a couple months I can plant for the rainy season) was a trash and leaf pile on fire. How sad. It’s a hard subject to bring up, especially on such a personal level with my neighbors. There is a trash pickup in my town, all they have to do is collect the leaves ect. And leave it out for the trash to pick it up instead of unleashing God knows what kind of toxins in the air from the plastic bags. If you ask anyone here, “How would you start a fire if you DIDN’T have a plastic bag?” I swear they wouldn’t be able to come up with an alternative.

By some unkind force of nature, it’s getting noticeably hotter. I’m talking like July in Arizona kind of hot. In terms of the heat, I thought we reached the cap, or rather I thought the temperature really only deviated 10 degrees throughout the year. But apparently the temps are going to continue to rise over the next 2 months. I’ve heard from other volunteers in the area up to 115. WHAT?! In Arizona, if your A/C went out during the summer, you’d be in a hotel. This is the kind of heat that kills the elderly and babies. Reading this made me want to stop complaining and erase this paragraph…until I felt the tickling all over my body of sweat beads sunning down my skin. Complaining deserved.

About 2 short months from now I’ll be having my first visitor! My good friend Jenn from Phoenix is coming the week before Easter! I’ve got to plan everything out ahead of time because it’s a holiday week and everyone goes to the beach and/or on vacation. After a night at the airport hotel, I’ve got us set up to stay 2 nights at the beach in Leon (the department I live in) with a super sweet surprise included which I won’t reveal, because I just love a good secret! From there, I’m thinking we’ll escape the heat to the very cool climate of Matagalpa. There’s a place called Selva Negra there, a cloud covered forest and organic coffee farm. I’ve heard there’s great hiking, tons of monkeys, and it’s an overall great, cool, jungle experience. Our last stop will probably be the Island of Ometepe where we can climb the smaller of the two volcanoes, (the larger one erupts almost on a weekly basis) Volcan Madera, to get to the laguna on top. We’ll have to make our way off the island a full day before she has to leave, because I’m afraid ferries won’t run on Easter, the day she’s set to depart, and I wouldn’t want us to be trapped on the island! Well, obviously I WOULD love that, but I’m just being practical. There’s SO many places to go here, I had a hard time choosing just 3 places for us to go in a week. Instead of focusing on all the fantastic places I want to take her, but don’t have time for, I’m going to focus on the AMAZING adventure we’re going to have!

24/January/2010

I had quite the long excursion yesterday with some Germans and Nicas from my town. We went to another laguna in the neighboring Momotombo. We’d heard that there are crocodiles at this particular laguna, but we had no such luck in finding them. But on the other hand, we were probably lucky not to find any! The only wildlife we found were turtles, iguanas, and snakes. The Nicas with their amazing slingshot skills went hunting for iguanas and snakes. Here’s a picture of a poor unsuspecting little iguana killed by a slingshot:

And a great picture of Volcan Momotombo, with it’s reflection in the water (and on the right hand side of the reflection you can see the moon!):

I didn’t go swimming in the laguna for fear of the alleged crocodiles, and because the water was unbelievably murky. You couldn’t even see one inch into the water. Apparently it’s been like this since hurricane Mitch over a decade ago. It’s amazing to see the long term repercussions of natural disasters here, like up and down the coast there are countless buildings in shambles still surrounded by sandbags.

I rung in the New Year violently ill, so I’ll spare the details. Luckily though, it passed within 36 hours.

At midnight on New Year’s Eve, “El Viejo” is burned in the streets. This is sort of a scarecrow looking life sized man doll filled with paper and fireworks. It signifies the old year dying, and a new year beginning. The families that made the man dolls brought them out into the streets and lit them on fire…fireworks were flying everywhere in the streets and in the sky. It was crazy! This was the only thing I could manage to get out of bed for.

After my illness passed, I was ready to move! I filled a mototaxi (a 3 wheeled motorcycle with a cab on top) with all my things, which seemed to have multiplied in my 4 months here to make the half mile trip to my new home. I was a little confused when I got there, because it didn’t look the same as when I had come to look at it before. The owner said she was going to remove a lot of the luggage and whatnot from my room, because she had been using it as storage for the most part. But my house was also missing the fridge, stovetop, extra bed, sidetables, and dresser that had previously been in it. Not knowing how to address the issue, I proceeded to clean and unpack until the owner came home. I asked her about all the missing items, and apparently they belong to her son, who lives in the U.S. Him and his wife weren’t happy with someone using their stuff for 2 years, so they made my owner take out all their things. And apparently that’s not even the last that’s going to be taken out. The bed I’m currently sleeping on, and the tv and tv stand are also theirs, which will be taken away soon too. My owner has extra furniture somewhere that she’s going to replace these things with. She’s very on top of things and is one of the few Nicas that gets things done! I have faith in her that she’ll take care of me. I’ve already got my stovetop as of yesterday, and will have a fridge on Thursday!

I love my house, and I love having my own place! It’s so nice to finally have space to fully unpack and have privacy! The greatest part about this place is it’s located within a walled in patio, so my door doesn’t face the street. I don’t have to fret about leaving it open or people looking through my windows to see what the white girl is up to. I share the patio with the owner, and she always has friend over in the evenings, including my counterpart who I’ll be working with come February. The also is sort of a Godmother to a few neighborhood boys whose families are quite poor. She feeds them, gives them clothes, and pays for their school. They even have their own bedroom in her house. They’re always in the patio or at her house cleaning up and running errands for her, and they’re really nice young kids.

Within my first weekend at my new place, the boys taught me how to use a machete. Well, it didn’t take much teaching, because I was a natural! No but really, you just aim and hack away at an angle, it’s not something that needs to be taught because it’s so easy. One of the boys climbed up the palm trees…I’m talking monkey style, hands clasped around the opposite side of the trees as he walked up, bent at the waist like a jackknife. From there, he would cut down coconuts. Between the 3 of us, we hacked open well over 2 dozen coconuts (ok some more that others). We drank the slightly sweet water from each and every one of them, and ate some of the insides. With the rest of the coconuts, the boys gutted and shredded them to make a sweet treat called cajeta. I normally only like coconut in it’s pure form, but these sweets were delicious! Next in season is the mango, can’t wait til March!

8/January/2010

Carla’s boyfriend came to visit from the States, and they came up to Leon to see my place! They dropped off my 5 PACKAGES and then we were off to Leon, Leon to walk through the city and then go to the beach. We went to Poneloya, a beautiful beach really close to me (if you’re going by car, which we weren’t). We played in the waves and walked around and had a great time. We stayed at a 5 dollar a night hostal right on the beach. And we were all dumbfounded at how fast the stars move (ok duh, I know, it’s actually the Earth) in this part of the world. We had been looking at Orions belt earlier in the night towards the east. Later in the middle of the night I went out to the beach, and Orions belt had moved alllll the way over so it was situated over the water in the west. The stars were SO bright over the water, I’ve never seen anything like it! It’s a pretty developed beach, but they don’t light things up at night here like they do in the States. So being surrounded by darkness allowed me to see so many stars and constellations that I’ve never seen before. It was phenomenal!

This morning I went out early to go for a swim. I was going along, so happy and carefree, thinking about the million times I’ve swam in open water, but yet am still scared every single time. Then all of a sudden my arm stung like the dickens! A jellyfish had just stung me. I started swimming faster to get away from it, then bam. The jellyfish also stung my leg. I decided to GET OUTTA THERE and swam right into shore. The hostal owner said I could either put urine on the stings, or ammonia. But they didn’t have ammonia. So… I actually ended up not peeing on myself and just putting lemon on it per the advice of someone working at the hostal. Apparently I may wake up in the middle of the night with horrendous burning at the sting sight. If not, I’m in the clear.

When I got back home I got the opportunity to sit down and sift through my packages. It was a religious experience. I read each card, and it felt like there was a surprise around every corner in each package! I couldn’t believe how many markers and nutrition bars I got! I feel like I’m set for a seriously long time. It’s so wonderful to have those comforts of home like the teas, nutrition bars, and cereals that were sent to offset my twice a day bean eating! I just don’t even know what to do with everything! Thank you so much for all the goodies, cards, updated pictures, stickers, markers, and my new pair of running shoes!!! I appreciate it all so much. I love hearing from people at home, especially via mail. Pinch me! I have my own place, a whole bunch of hugs from America in the form of envelopes, and school is going to start soon!

Happy Holidays!

AWKWARD MOMENT of the week:

Riding in the trunk of a minivan while hunched under the curve of the roof for an hour while people make out not just but 6 inches from my face.

So if I just HAD to spend the holidays away from home, away from my family, and away from delicious family food and traditions, I SUPPOSE this was the way to go…

I started out my trip to Santa Teresa, my training town to reunite with my best friends in Nicaragua, Carla and Jocelyn. Jocelyn and I stopped my our old host families to say hi, and I couldn’t believe how excited I was! I actually sort of felt like I was going HOME. I was super giddy and I started having all these dreams before I left of what I was going to do like rent a car, go to the grocery store etc. when I had to catch myself…wups, wrong home. Anyways I arrived at my old house and I actually almost cried when I hugged my host mom. I think I’m mixing up my emotions and perhaps transferring them a little. Hugging my old host mom was somehow symbolic of hugging my real mom.

We all three stayed at Carla’s house for a couple days. We went into the next town over for pizza with a few other volunteers that were visiting also, and spent the whole day laughing and speaking English. I realized (and it was also pointed out to me) that I was slightly more socially awkward than normal. I hadn’t been able to really be myself for almost a whole month, you know, sarcastic and witty and all that. Later we went back to Carla’s and caught up on stories that had accumulated the past month. At one point, we watched both sisterhood of the traveling pants movies while comfort eating with peanut butter and oreos until we were completely nauseous, but yet totally satisfied.

Most of the celebrating goes on on Christmas eve here. There was mass and a big dinner, and then everyone stays up until midnight to throw bombas and light fireworks. There were children in the streets parading around in clothing from Jesus’ time (they actually looked like gypsies, so we were really confused). The power went out around 6pm, which usually means it won’t come back on until morning. We all sat around with candles and flashlights sort of pouting because the blackout rained on our parade. Everyone locks up their house when the power goes out, but at least we were on a gated patio so we could see the beautiful stars. After just a couple hours the power came back on for a Christmas Eve miracle! The power has NEVER returned like that in the same night! After all the festivities we went to bed around 1 and slept in until the next morning, when the family was supposed to go to mass, which they ended up sleeping through. Christmas day itself is really boring. After the few presents are opened, that’s about it. Everyone sits around the house. I got to talk to mom, dad, and Matt for about an hour and a half, which flew by so fast! It was great to talk to them, but I felt like they were having a more depressing Christmas than me. For goodness sake they watched old home movies of Matt and I on Christmas morning when we were little! That’s just about the saddest thing I’ve ever heard. I only completely lost control of my emotions when I was saying goodbye to them, and for a minute or so after, in which I proceeded to silently heave into Carla’s arms. I spent a lot of the day dreaming about next Christmas and how I’ll be home for a couple weeks enjoying being surrounded by family and how wonderful it’ll be! And then again the next day wondering if mom was braving the early moring hell at the Crate and Barrell after Christmas sale.

There was an alleged party Christmas night, but it was moved to the following day on short notice. Carla’s cousins had already come in from Managua for the alleged party, so we decided to go out anyways. There were exactly 30 people in the “club”. We still had a fantastic time. We danced all night, and Pedro, Carla’s cousin said I’m dancing better. Thank goodness for that. On a dare, I danced with the next person that asked me (yes, there’s always a line to dance with the gringas) which just so happened to be a 70 year old man. He ended up having really sweet moves, so it didn’t bother me. What did bother me were his hands…rough and calloused from the field (I shudder at the thought).

The next day I traveled to the Isla of Ometepe with family friends of my old host family, Solieth and Hector. As usual, we left about 4 hours later than discussed. We missed the last bus to Rivas because it was completely full, which meant we’d have to leave the next day. The driver just happened to be Solieth’s uncle, so she convinced him to let us ride in the trunk (which is illegal here-another thing I learned). Se they opened up the hatch back, and the three of us got in, with our bottom halves standing up wedged between the back row seat and the hatch back. We were bent over the last row and braced ourselves with our hands on the row in from of that. There was a couple under me, about 6 inches from my face to be exact, showing their dear affection for each other for the entire hour of the ride. We got stopped by the police, and I felt like such a little illegal immigrant trying to get past a border or something. The police looked in the van and saw us peering out all guilty from the back. Everyone moaned about the expensive ticket we were about to get. Magically though, no ticket was issued! We barely made the last ferry of the day to the island. The ferry itself costs 50 cords, but there’s an extra fee for whites just to enter the ferry. The shenanigans continued as we somehow convinced them that I was Nicaraguan, so I didn’t have to pay. We then took the ferry while it was still sunlight for an hour to the island where I took my one and only picture before my camera battery died. After a short time, it was twilight and we were on the water with the cloud covered forest at the top of the volcano in the background and the stars and almost full moon overhead, and behind us the landscape blazing from the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The few days I spent on the Island with the family were fantastic. They’re such a lively bunch, every one more friendly and endearing than the next. The whole extended family lives on the island in various houses, so we bounced around, but would usually eat dinner at one house. At one point, I think I counted 35 people in one house, but that’s just a ballpark because everyone was moving around. We rode bikes to various beaches and even took a small boat to a tiny island located off the big island. Another day we went to a swimming hole with pristine natural water coming up from the ground. I’m definitely going back, and I’ll even bring YOU if you come to visit!

One night the kids had “secret friends”, which is similar, except not at all like our “secret santa”. Each person is blindfolded, and has to dance to the music as they make their way to peg the nose on the clown. Once they do that, they describe their “secret friend” until everyone else guesses who it is. The kids dancing blindfolded was HILARIOUS! We were all doubled over laughing. The kids all exchanged their gifts and proceeded to put themselves into a sugar coma laughing and giggling the whole time.

This trip re-energized me from being a little down this past month. Everyday I couldn’t believe how much I loved Nicaragua and all it has to offer, and how unbelievably generous and open the people are. I was blown away, and needless to say I did not want to leave the Island!

Oh and for the record, 5 packages have arrived for me!!! It’s a long line of connections to get to me, so I’ll just put it like this, Carla is going to bring them up to me in Leon next week when she comes to visit. I’ll be getting my PO box on January 9, so if you’ve got a letter or anything to send, please wait til I get that, otherwise it’ll take forever!

14/December/2009

“Please don’t make me take those, I really don’t think I’ll use them.”…was my response to a last minute packing recommendation. If you’ve ever packed your bags for 2 years with a weight limit of 80 pounds total, you know that you have to be quite picky about what to bring. Just the things you can’t live without. Well I begrudgingly packed mom’s hiking boots per her recommendation days or maybe even hours before leaving for Nicaragua. They’ve stayed tied up in a Target bag taking up space for nearly 4 months…..until…YESTERDAY! I finally put them to some good use as I hiked the still active Volcano Momotombo with a group of 9 Germans, 3 Nicas, and me as the lone American. I woke up at 3:10 to get ready and be out of the house at 4. We drove to get gas, but the filling station wasn’t open, but we still barely made it to the neighboring Momotombo to meet the rest of the group. After waiting for quite some time (it’s not JUST Nicas that are always late, it’s a tardiness is a condition that infects you upon entering the country) for the rest of our group, we were on our way. We walked over an hour to get to the “skirt” of the Volcano as they call it here. I would have never been able to find the pseudo trail on my own. It was so windy, and it split off a few different times, and most of the way there really is not trail, because people don’t normally do this sort of thing here. All 13 of us, plus one horse, committed to staying together. By leaving no man behind we ended up waiting…a lot. But it was nice to stop and take pictures and focus on the beautiful scenery instead of looking down at your feet to make sure you weren’t going to trip. I was focused so much on the group I hit my head at least a few times on lowlying tree branches. It didn’t take as long as I thought to get to the tree line. From there on up was solid ash, volcano rock and dirt at more than a 45 degree angle. We were scrambling with our hands and feet to try and make some headway up the volcano. We were so close to the top, and so close to the smoke coming out of the volcano! The angle was beautiful, it was like you were suspended in the air over the beautiful views below of the lake, other mountains and volcanos, and lagunas (I thought there was just the one I go to, but turns out there’s 3). Various windstorms hit, and even a funnel cloud. Each time this happened, our guide gave us a whistle to tell us to lay down against the hot volcanic rock to avoid being blown away! We were then pummeled with rocks and dust. It whipped across us SO hard; it was the worst stinging feeling. After this happened, a few of the others and I decided to head back to the tree line where it was safer, we were hardly making and headway anyways, it was always 2 steps forward, 1 step falling back. While I literally skied down the volcano (which was super fun) I thought how wonderful it was to be 100% covered by the PC health insurance policy. Not too long after, I totally biffed it and skinned the side of my butt open. I guess I’d compare it to road rash when you fall off your bike, just in an inopportune spot. I was more angry than anything when it happened, and I’m all fixed up now. Back at the tree line, we waited over an hour and a half for a few of the people that dared to go all the way to the active crater where the smoke comes out of the volcano. While we waited, we all slept under the trees, and shared fruit and music. It was quite nice, but a little unnerving as our supplies started to run out, and the others still weren’t back. Finally we had everyone safe and sound and ready to head home. To just take this hike, it’s about 4 hours, but with getting a late start, stopping a lot, having to walk one hour each way, and stopping to swim in the lake on the way back, the whole ordeal lasted 12 hours. We really took full advantage of soaking up the whole day. I was tired, dehydrated and hungry when I got home, and had a fabulous 12 hours of sleep.

I decided to start an “awkward moment of the week”:

Buying a snack from a woman that was breastfeeding. With one hand she cradled the baby against her open breast, and with the other, she gave me my change.

6/December/2009

It totally doesn’t feel like December! Even Arizona gets cool this time of year. Today I rode a bike to the laguna that’s about 8 miles from my house. I went with an Environment volunteer, and we were lead by Ricardo “Negro” who I’ll be working on a project with in the neighboring Momotombo. After riding very…very…slowly over the rough off-road terrain we reached a house in the middle of…somewhere..and left our bikes and grabbed walking sticks. We proceeded to walk up the brim that contains the laguna, and then down the other side of it to get down to the water. This was real jungle hiking, it was great! Once we got down to the water, I noticed how completely untouched this place is! There’s absolutely no sign of man-made development whatsoever. The only other people who were there was a family laying in hammocks under the trees and bathing in the water. Since it took us 2 hours to get there, we didn’t stay long, since we had a long and hot way to get back home. After walking up to get out of the laguna area, we went up one more time to another level of it. I’m not sure how to describe it other than the highest point in the area to see out over all that is beautiful and glorious. And in this magical place sat a cute little hut set on stilts 2 stories above the ground. You can see over the laguna and then past it to the “hole” in the next volcano over, then off to the east you can see the giant Volcano Momotombo with Lake Managua at it’s feet, and other volcanoes sticking up from the water, as well as the farmland and hills that surround the lake. So this is my new secret spot. I have a date there this Tuesday with Spanish Harry Potter, my ipod, and a peanut butter and banana sandwich (come on people, I haven’t changed a bit). And to avoid the 30 cord charge (at a random house on the way which no one apparently ever even works at) I get a “notarized” (well, notarized-ish) letter from the mayor’s office saying I’m working for them on an eco-tourism project there.

Since I don’t really have any friends (no really, it’s true) this is my solution for the immediate future to spend a couple days a week either in Momotombo or in the department capital Leon. I can’t stay cooped up in a house I’m not too fond of, and I don’t have much work to do until school starts. This is for my own well being so I don’t go completely nuts. Let me mention a key obstacle for making friends: every female my age plus or minus 5 years is either knocked up, already has kids, or studies in Managua and is hardly ever at home. And the guys my age plus or minus 5 years do not just want to be friends. The whole opposite sex friendship thing doesn’t really work here like it does at home. Here opposite sex friendships end up permeating the aforementioned circumstances of the females my age.

8/December/2009

Yesterday was the Purissima, the celebration of the conception of Mary. It’s basically a religious version of Halloween. Everyone puts up a shrine to Mary in their house (aka haunted house scene) and everyone goes door to door (aka trick or treat) to receive goodies. Now if you can imagine a bunch of less fortunate kids going house to house to get gifts and prizes….it got crazy. There was pushing and very aggressive lunging, and don’t even get me started on the outstretched hands. Everyone that goes door to door gets a gift, even the adults. Host family put me to work for the first hour or so, handling out goodies. You’re not supposed to give them out, until the group has sang a song about Mary. There were some times that a group would come in, and we’d have a staring contest while their hands were outstretched until I’d finally ask “Aren’t you going to sing?”, then they’d giggle, start singing, and I’d give them the goods. Because the white girl was handing out goodies, our house was quite popular. I had a whole security team to make sure the event stayed calm. I had Carlito, Christian, and Emmanuel (my host brothers) working the door; making people form a line and only allowing 10 people in at a time. Then I had the boy that works the Pharmacy counter standing next to me making sure people didn’t try to put both hands out for prizes. There were a few crazy bolos (hobos) that came in singing at the top of their lungs, and yes they too got their prize. There were only a few times that things got crazy and I had to take a few steps back as the crowd started swarming me a little. Then I got to leave the house and partake in the festivities, I came away with plastic dishes (just in time, because I was just about to buy some), candy, whistles, Budweiser mardis gras beads (I know, I’m thinking the same thing, what?!), a carrot, 400 grams of sugar, and homemade candy. All the rules of “don’t eat unwrapped candy” from the States are out the window here. I ate cajeta (kind of like a dulce de leche type sweet) that someone made at their house, and they didn’t even wrap it up; just handed it out from their hand to mine…and I ate it…because I love the stuff…and I didn’t even get diarrhea. Props to my iron stomach for once again withstanding the elements, I’m still on a 100% healthy streak!

Today I went back to the laguna close to where I live. I went along with my pocketknife, peanutbutter and banana sandwich, Harry Potter, and ipod packet up into my camelpack. I was walking along, thinking it would take about 2 hours to get there. I was sort of chuckling to myself thinking of all my hardworking family and friends at home, and what they were doing at that moment. Then along came Juan Castillo on his horse. He’s some hombre that lives in Momotombo who decided he had nothing else going on, so why not give the gringa a lift! So we proceeded to ride horseback together to the house that collects money to go to the laguna. He saved me quite a bit of time, and I can’t remember the last time I rode a horse, it was so fun! Once he dropped me off at the house, I was approached by Reynaldo, the guy that collects the money. He was actually working this day, because it’s a holiday. I was pleased to see that I could even talk my way out of paying for something in Spanish. I’m supposed to bring a document with me saying I work for the mayor on a project in the area so I don’t have to pay, but I haven’t gotten it yet. He seemed really intense when we first started talking and I anticipated having to fold and pay him. But after a couple minutes he told me to go ahead, and I said I’d bring my document next time. And now we’re practically friends, because I’m going back Friday, and he’s going to take me to the “oyo” (the “hole”) which is a crater on another volcano in the distance behind the laguna on horseback. I spent the whole afternoon hiking around exploring the area, and hardly had any time for Spanish Harry Potter after all. But it was wonderful.

3/December/2009

Today Leon, Leon rocked my socks. It’s the department capital and it has almost everything Managua has, except a mall (that I know of). In Leon I feel at least 50% less likely to get robbed than in Managua so it’s pretty much the best place ever, and less than an hour away! I went to go bumble around and explore the city and basically kill the whole day, because I had nothing planned and knew I might go crazy if I stayed at home as I’m used more as a playtoy/babysitter/bff for the little girl in my house. So off I went, not knowing exactly where I was going or how I was going to find anything. Just the way I like it. I brought my swim stuff because another PCV told me the UCC (Universidad de Ciencias Comerciales) had a pool. I also knew there was a La Union grocery store I could hang out in (it has A/C) and maybe buy some more peanut butter. So, after asking several opinions of how to get to the UCC (people always give you directions whether they actually know or not, and most people’s directions are SO different from one another it’s hard to know what to believe), I got there ok and asked if I could use the pool. Turns out today was cleaning day, so it wouldn’t be open til 3. At this time it was 10:22. So I had some time to kill. I don’t like to brag or to seem like a slacker, but I can kill time like nobody’s business. So I walked a mile or so to get to the city and see all the beautiful cathedrals, go to the bank, grocery store, and post office. When I was looking around at the endless things for sale in the market I was approached by a young girl. She told me the classic sob story that she had a kid and they have no money. Anyways, she didn’t ask me for money, she wanted milk. I asked her why she didn’t have breast milk since she said her baby was only 3 months old. I didn’t understand the words in her response but it was something to the effect of she wasn’t lactating. Anyways, long story short she showed me where the bank was so I could withdraw money, and we went on a wild goose chase for formula for her baby. I bought the cheapest available formula, which still isn’t cheap! I don’t know how these babies survive with formula so expensive! We went our separate ways and that was that. No warm fuzzy, I just felt like I was probably a sucker, but at least I gave her milk and not money, whether or not she planned to sell it back. I went on my way to look for La Union. For this I had to get at least 5 opinions, everyone kept giving me different directions. Finally I found it….and I also found whole flax seeds, soybeans, and lentils. WHAT?! Hello vegetarian paradise? I just couldn’t believe it, I was so ecstatic! And better yet, this healthy stuff is pretty cheap here because no one buys it! I gave up on finding the Post Office because the various directions I received for that were just ridiculous. I lunched on papaya slices, spicy peanuts and a diet coke. Treats I only frequent when in a big city. I went back for the UCC around 2 or so to wait for the pool to open. For 20 cords I have access to this magical place with COLD water fountains, flushing toilets, tons of shade, and a nice swimming pool. When I got in there was hardly anyone there. It was magnificent. I was smiling the whole time even though the taste of chlorine was getting in my mouth. After about half an hours time, there were a ton of kids and it was like a YMCA pool during summer vacation. There were kids swimming down my lane the wrong direction, swimming perpendicular to the lane, and I swear they were waiting for me to swim in front of them so they could jump off the side of the pool. I had had a successful hour, and my now jello like arms were tired, so I decided to call it a day, since I wanted to make it home before dark anyways. I got home only to be pulled out into the street to walk behind a procession with a band and “fireworks” for one of the saints. It was an awkward end to a FANTASTIC day.

5/December/2009

I’ve already started working on an ecotourism project, or rather piggy backed on other’s progress…Some German volunteers that live in Momotombo have had a youth group going for awhile, and starting this week we are going to gather supplies and I’m going to start English lessons with some of this kids. The idea is to attract more tourists to Momtombo to bring more money t the community. There are a few tourist spots in Nicaragua, but Momtombo isn’t one of them. It’s pretty isolated. But that’s the best

I’m not sure quite where to start with this one. I thought the hardest part, training, was over. But now I’m all alone in my site. I don’t know anyone yet, just the acquaintances that are my host family and my counterpart teachers that I’ll be working with. So needless to say, I’m really trying to stay positive, but I’m REALLY overwhelmed. It may seem counterintuitive, but I can’t wait to move out on my own. I’m desperately in need of some freedom! A host family is a great idea…having a mandatory period of 6 weeks will be valuable in the end. They’re a great resource for things such as bus schedules, meeting people, finding stores, and avoiding spots that are allegedly dangerous. It’s not like anything has a website you can check out beforehand to find, because it doesn’t even have a street address! But I have gained a new freedom: cooking for myself! This is a big upgrade. Not that my food at my previous host house wasn’t awesome, it’s just tough eating what you’re given, sometimes way too much, sometimes too little etc. Not to mention the three weeks it took for us to hone the system of what I would and would not eat. So now I get to avoid that, and shop and cook for myself. So far I’ve just bought food and not really cooked, because my host family is going to buy a tank of gas for the hot plate type contraption for me to cook on. Then it’s on.

Let me rewind to this past week of air conditioning, hot water, real beds, internet, speaking English, straightening my hair, swimming, and eating fantastic food. We spent 5 nights in hotels! Luckily, Carla, Jocelyn and I got to share hotel rooms the whole week! The first 2 nights we spent in a hotel for our Swearing In Ceremony. We were absolutely beside ourselves sitting in the freezing cold hotel room on the internet after we had all just taken hot showers. Wow. Overload of fantastic things. Not to mention we went to La Union, a huge super fancy grocery store that is ALMOST as awesome as walking into an American grocery store. They have so many American brands at ungodly high prices. On our very modest salary, we obviously couldn’t go too crazy. But I definitely let myself splurge on peanut butter! I bought some crackers and some knock off chocolate flavored cookies. Just delicious.

The morning of Swearing In, we got picked up to go to an International Hotel in Managua. There was a car accident blocking traffic, and things were crazy, at one point we were budging our way onto the wrong side of the street in our bus to try and take a shortcut to get there on time. Everyone was at a standstill, and somehow we managed to shimmy through without bumping into any other cars, We made it on time and greeted members of our host family that came to see us graduate. The first ceremony was for the host families. We gave out certificates to each, and someone from each group (Environment and TEFL) gave a speech. The second ceremony brought people form the embassy, the director of PC Nicaragua, and someone seemingly important from the Nicaraguan government. We proceeded through the ceremony, then I gave my speech, and that was that! I was pretty surprised at how nervous I was. I guess you really don’t know how you’ll react in a situation til you’re in it. My heart was pounding so hard and I felt a little cold sweat start up. After the first two paragraphs I felt myself calm down and my voice stopped quivering. I wish I was more comfortable to speak from bullet points, but in reality I was so nervous I just had to read my speech. Apparently no one could tell I was nervous, and no one noticed that my voice was shaking. Hmm I fooled them!

The next 2 days brought us to a new hotel for the All Volunteer Conference. We learned about other sector’s work such as building ovens, trees whose leaves are superfoods, making gardens, composting, etc. It was pretty interesting, but a bit overwhelming to be with every volunteer in all of Nicaragua. As the newbees, it felt like we were crashing everyone else’s reunion. But at least now we’ve met everyone, and they’ll be familiar to us when we go to meetings or want to do cross sector work. I forgot to mention the pool had an almost 25 yard pool! I got 3 quality swims in. It was so great, I just wish I had muscle like I used to so swimming wouldn’t be such a challenge. But nonetheless I’m holding up ok and was able to swim over an hour each time, and I loved every moment of it!

The fifth night brought us to yet another hotel with all of our stuff in tow. We picked up the rest of our belongings the next morning to make the trip to our sites for the first time. Contrary to what I had previously thought, I really could physically carry everything: huge backpackers bag, bookbag, duffel bag, and a smaller bag. Every single one of them was literally tearing at the seams and super heavy. I had to sit on each and every one of them to get them shut! Only 6 more weeks of pseudo living out of suitcases and then FINALLY I can unpack in my permanent residence. Saying goodbye to Carla and Jocelyn was pretty terrible. I’ll see them in a month or so, but it was the end of or daily pueblo lives together. They’re the only true family I feel like I have in Nicaragua and I’m really attached to them because, well they’re just great.

I’ve wanted to run down the different dirt paths through the campo of LPC (La Paz Centro) like I did in Santa Teresa. It’s way more fun to go exploring through the beautiful countryside than run in circles around a field. As I tried to run down a path yesterday, it was blocked because a group was cutting down trees. I asked if I could pass, and a guy helped me navigate over the trees that had fallen on the trial. He said the path was dangerous, but if I wanted to pass it was my decision. But this is where I had run the last time I visited LPC and all seemed well and I had no problems. I feel like people may be paranoid, but on the other hand they’d know much better than I what roads are dangerous. But still it reminds me of running around ASU campus. At all different hours I used to go running there even though in that area and on campus as well there were attacks, robberies, and all sorts of crime. But I still didn’t consider it dangerous, because in 5 years I never experienced any incident besides a stolen bicycle seat. Nor did I ever see anything happen. Anyways, the guy that said “it’s your decision” which by the way drives me crazy, because it really means you should chose the right answer otherwise you’re making a big mistake, so it’s really not your decision. Anyways, he said he’d show me where the baseball stadium was so I could run safely in there. Combating my urge to say no thanks, I’m fine, I decided to go along with him. This turned out to be one of my greatest decisions. Nicolás brought me to the stadium, which is always locked, but almost always has Gavíno working as the groundskeeper. Turns out they know each other, and they told me about a group that comes to run super early in the morning before work. I said I’d like to meet them, but I’d like to come and run a little later, like when the sun has actually risen a little. Gavíno let me in so I could run, and Nicolás returned to cutting down the trees on the path I was going to run on before. He said he knew a lot of people in the community, and he could introduce me. He passed by my house this morning, I knew we had this plan, but I wasn’t sure why. He said he’d introduce me to the mayor, but I wasn’t sure why the mayor would be in the office on a Sunday. But again, I rolled with it. After Gavino let me in the stadium to run again this morning, I went home to shower, wondering if Nicolas was really going to come by, as Nica’s are super flaky. I also wondered if I had even heard him correctly. Anyways, as I stood in front of my fan after showering (it is SO hot in Leon. I’m talking Arizona summer without air conditioning. You never get a break from the heat until the middle of the night, if then) Nicolas came by looking for me. I quick threw some clothes on and he brought me to the house of the mayor’s uncle, who also has the keys to the stadium. I think maybe Nicolas thought I wanted to run so early I’d open up the stadium. Who knows, my Spanish still sucks. So after I met the mayor’s uncle, Antonio, Nicolas and I went to the town square where they’re having a donation drive. We went looking for the mayor because she was supposed to be there. After asking around for awhile, her chauffer who was in the square brought us and her secretary to the house of the vice mayor. I know….WHAT?! So we all went to the Vice Mayor’s house where she was making treats to sell at the donation drive to raise money. I met the Vice Mayor, and then the rest of us brought the treats back to the town square, where the Mayor had arrived. I got to meet her too and she seemed excited to work together at some point in the future. Also there was one of the delegadas of MINED. MINED in the Ministry of education in Nicaragua and they control the curriculum, and as a teacher I have to work hand in hand with them, so it’s great to have a good relationship so you can get more stuff done with their help. The delegadas are…I’m not sure what they are in English, but they’re liaisons between MINED and the schools. So I met Lily, one of the delegadas. She was wearing a “Single and Ready to Jingle” shirt and I swear she may have been inebriated. She was VERY excited to meet me, and immediately hustled me on stage to the gazebo where they were playing music. She had me read over the microphone a call to the people of LPC to donate whatever they could. Not once, but two separate times she had me go onstage and read her speech. Then she tried to get me to sing, and that’s where I drew the line. I couldn’t think of any song that I knew all the words to, nor did I want to sing in that situation. So after making nice with all the important people of town, I came back home for lunch, and I’ll go back later with my host sister who is apparently going to do a native dance. I honestly thought, and heard from previous volunteers that it takes weeks or even months to meet all the important people in town. I thought this was going to be even harder since we’re arriving just when vacations are starting. But I just accomplished in 2 hours what I thought to accomplish in an entire month, maybe. And for the record, it all happened because running is awesome, and that’s how I met Nicolas, who knows EVERYONE.

17/November/2009

As a treat for our last weekend as Trainees a bunch of us went to the beach on Sunday! It was such a beautiful day, and somehow luck was on our side because the 3 buses there and 3 back were prompt and quick! We all went swimming and got burned and had a great day. The waves here are tremendous. They are SO huge and so powerful with currents pulling you every which way. One of our girls got pulled out a little further than she was comfortable and couldn’t get back in to shore. She was swimming and swimming and wasn’t making any headway and was yelling for help. So Jocelyn ran back in to yell for me to go rescue her! Everyone jumped up Baywatch style to at least go into the water to see if there was anything they could do. Carla and I swam out to her. I was nervous as I fought off the waves thinking that when we got to her, she’d say she couldn’t swim any longer, but she was ok, just tired and scared. We offered her moral support more than anything, but would also take turns pulling her forward by her hands as hard as we could. When we got back to shore all was well, we joked about her drowning and her Baywatch rescuers and all was well, the end.

I officially passed my language interview! I can wholeheartedly say I’m a competent (cough…mediocre..cough cough) Spanish speaker! That was the last thing (that I know of) that would hold me back from swearing in. If I’m giving the speech at the ceremony they can’t can me, right? We have charlas and a whole bunch of paperwork to do all this week, and we’re even staying in Managua Thursday night so we can have a Thurs/Fri marathon of information sessions! Super fun. It’s kind of like your work having a “lock in” during the week and putting a positive connotation on it to fool you. But anyways, as always we make fun where we can and always seem to have a good time.

We are on “standfast” right now meaning we’re not allowed to leave our department because of potentially violent protests. We’re not supposed to travel to Managua this weekend at all, but Sunday is when we’re moving from our sites to Managua for the week. Oops. Awkward timing. PS is going to inform us later about what they’re going to do with us. I’m hoping they’ll just pick us up in our towns with all our stuff and take us to Managua themselves. Not just because the PC landrovers are faster, safer, have air conditioning and seatbelts, but because I’ll need some help with my bags ☺

21/November/2009

Our Managua training the last 2 days really solidified my feelings for being here. We also had an off the record, very frank discussion with the US Ambassador Robert Callahan. It was great to see his views on politics here, and his opinion of what we do, and the message we send. Another chat we had was with USAID, which gives aid all over the world to countries that need it. They’re not really on the grassroots level like us, but they do a lot of good work. And in both sessions they talked to us about options for us after our service. I knew when I got on the plane to leave Phoenix my life was never going to return to the way it was. That was so frightening for me, because I had a GREAT life, and couldn’t believe that I had spent so many years of it just pinching myself because I couldn’t believe how good I had it. I know I’ll never get to go back to that, but now I am presented with SO many opportunities right at my fingertips. I’m so excited to be teaching for 2 or more years with Peace Corps (I don’t want to speak too soon about extending. I’ll wait til after my ‘midservice crisis’ to decide) and then to have a lot of job opportunities still within the realm that I’m currently in. I never really quite knew the web of connections PC has with NGO’s and companies all around the world.

There are demonstrations in Managua this morning. I don’t really know what the deal was yesterday, just that traffic was really bad…so instead of taking public transportation back to our pueblos like normal, we got a lift from the all and mighty powerful white PC landrovers to avoid any potential madness. I just saw on the news that the demonstrations this morning finished with no major incidents reported, so we should be able to go tomorrow to our hotel for swearing in with no problems.

I just went on a run that lasted 3 hours. I wouldn’t say I was lost, I just kept running on a new path per Carla’s recommendation. I kept running and running…. I saw my first monkey! Finally, I’ve been waiting for 3 months for that! The little guy wasn’t too far away from our main town. Another guy was looking at him and said usually they’re in the jungle and they travel in families, but this one was by himself, just enjoying his snack eating the leaves on a tree. It was SO cool! I just said yesterday how I wanted to go to the zoo in Managua to see what it’s like.

I’m putting my final touches on my speech for our swearing in ceremony. I’m highlighting Obama’s “call to action” speech that he gave at my graduation. I’m not nervous now, but I KNOW when I’m in front of all those people I might freak out a little.

*An important note to add is that I'll be taking my FIRST warm shower in 3 months this week in an AIR CONDITIONED hotel!!!

13/Novemeber/2009

I slept GREAT last night, up until 1 AM…

I woke up to something hitting the floor next to my bed. I actually thought it was a piece of the ceiling, maybe we were having a little tremor. When I realized it was my little mirror I keep on my window sill, I looked up at the window sill and gasped because I saw a shadow jump from the sill onto the ground. If it had jumped off the other side of the window sill, it would have jumped ON MY FACE. I frantically fumbled to find my head lamp to investigate. My first inclination was that it was a possum. There was already a girl in our group who had a possum in her room. She woke up her family and her dad walked in with a machete and slaughtered it right there on her bedroom floor, dragging it by the tail leaving a trail of blood. Whatever it was, it had gone under the other bed in my room, and I couldn’t see anything with my head lamp. I tiptoed over and turned on the light in my room so I could figure out my next move. I stood in the middle of my room for almost 30 minutes racking my brain trying to figure out what the animal was, and more importantly how in the dickens did it get in my freaking room??!! I had no idea, I proceeded to scooch my bed away from the wall to the center of my room, and curled up at the foot of the bed, propping my head so I could keep an eye on the hiding spot of the animal. I dozed on and off for the next 5 hours with the light on, constantly checking to make sure the animal had not resurfaced. Finally at 6 I started getting ready to leave, and while I was getting ready got the nerve to lift up the sheet that had previously been blocking my view of the animal’s hiding spot the night before. I took a few steps back and shined my head lamp on it. Haha my heart is actually pounding right now just thinking about it! When I shone the light…I saw…HAIR. So that meant I wasn’t crazy, and there really was something there. I had questioned myself for quite a long time last night wondering if it was really just my imagination, that I was finally losing my marbles living in this country! I continued getting ready as I waited for someone else to wake up. I shined the light on the animal again so I could get more specifics to tell someone. And this time I saw eyes gleaming back at me!!! It turned out to be a damned cat!! Again, seriously, HOW did it get in my room?! And that means it had been in there wince I went to bed! I went into the kitchen because my sister Anita was getting ready for school. I told her I didn’t sleep at all the night before because there was an animal in my room, and I thought it was a cat. I asked her if she wanted to see and she said absolutely not, and woke up my host mom. Immediately Thelma came barreling out of her room and into mine yelling obscenities about this damned cat while Anita and I were jumping around in the kitchen like total girls. We heard “RRRREEEEAAAAARRRAAARRRR” coming from my room, then saw the cat fly out the door into the yard. Problem solved. That’s one tough woman. Turns out the cat must have come through the dining room window when it had been opened earlier in the night and snuck into my room. And Thelma was pissed because she thought they ate our 3 green parrots a few weeks ago when they mysteriously disappeared. But it turned out Luis had given them away without telling anyone. Anyways, moments after she threw the cat out of the house, I had to get going amongst all the excitement. Thelma asked me if I remembered my banano and all resumed back to normal. I didn’t wake anyone up the night before to get rid of the mysterious animal in my room because the last time……

A few weeks back in the middle of the night I heard the front door being violently shaken in the middle of the night. I was more annoyed than anything that there was possibly a drunk doing a poor job of trying to enter the house. Our house is always locked at least 3 times, with a chair in front of the door to make a bunch of noise if the door actually gets opened. The noise was intermittent, it would be on for 10 minutes, stop for 30, and on and on. Along with the severe rattling sometimes there would be dog whining. So the robber’s accomplice was a dog apparently. After more than an hour of this madness I decided to wake up the family. I was nervous and trying to think of what to say without freaking them out. No one had woken up during this ruckus so I went in through the bathroom (their door is bolted shut) to wake them up. I somewhat communicated that there was a disturbance at the door, and I wasn’t sure if it was a robber or not. The whole family got up and we proceeded to the front door to investigate. I didn’t know what they were going to do, I didn’t see anyone with a weapon ready to kick some ass if need be. We got to the front door and they exclaimed that it was just the cleaning lady’s dog, Joey. Joey had been scratching at the door so furiously he had scratched off quite a bit of paint and wood. He was standing there frantic and panting with his ridiculous underbite. Turns out Liseth had let him in late last night because he was crying at the door looking for shelter from the rain, and now he wanted out. After they let him out, it turned into “poor poor Julia, so scared and it was just Joey”. It turned into a long running joke of “Poor Julia”.

And this is why I didn’t want to wake them up last night, because I thought what if it’s just something stupid. Freaking street animals getting into the house are driving me crazy!

13/November/2009

We had our final youth group presentation today in front of ALL the youth groups of the nearly 40 English/Environment Trainees. Each group presented a summary of what their group did, and the elected 5 kids that got to come to the presentation spoke too. The kids were picked up from our pueblos via the infamous white landrover PC vehicles to bring them to Ave Maria college, as we were already there. We presented our project and our video, and I was so proud of our kids for talking in front of that many people! That’s something that took a lot for them to do here, towards the beginning of this group, there’s NO way they would ever speak in front of a group. We were so proud of them, and I think they felt great about it too. It ended in hugs and warm fuzzies.

Speaking of warm fuzzies, the other day walking through town, Jocelyn ran into two of our youth group kids and reminded them about the presentation today. After we said goodbye, we heard some other kids calling us. We turned around to find 2 girls summoning us. The one girl told us her friend spoke English and she wanted to practice, then the other girl spoke up, in great English! Turns out she studied at Ave Maria, the English school. She told us she really wants a way to practice her English and if there was anything we could do. She knew we worked for Peace Corps, but didn’t quite know what we were doing here, only that we spoke English. So we told her Carla would be staying in Santa Teresa for 2 years and she would be starting a conversation group after Christmas. It really felt like Peace Corps had paid them to say this to us. It’s exactly why we’re here, and it’s so funny when that situation arises because we rattle off the same speech that was drilled into our head the first week about how PC is a government program that gives help to countries around the world who invite us in, and we work in 5 sectors……. We gave her Carla’s whereabouts and she left with such a huge smile on her face.

As you can imagine, it’s awkward to show up on a stranger’s doorstep with your belongings in hand to live at their house. You’ve never met, and you’re about to eat, sleep, poop, and live in their home as an extension of the family. After having “counterpart day” in Managua this past week to meet my 2 teachers I’ll be working with for 2 years, I traveled to La Paz Centro, Leon to experience the aforementioned encounter. I tried not to consider it a bad omen that the wheels on my suitcase broke on the way from the bus stop to the house. But it just wasn’t a good sign. I already had my huge backpack on my back, and had to carry instead of roll my 10 ton suitcase completely full of teaching books, manuals, and what felt like bricks. I showed up at the Clinic/Pharmacy (where I live-both the parents are doctors) a sweaty mess, and at first they didn’t quite get who I was, as they have randoms coming in and out all day for medical consultations. After a couple introductions and wondering if they actually knew who I was or not, my host mom showed me my room; small, no windows, no ventilation, and I couldn’t help but think even still, something was missing. Ok, I got it, the mattress, there’s no mattress. I asked her is there was going to be…a mattress in the future and she said that no one had asked her if she had a mattress for the bed. Some people may think that would be implied, but there were two of us in that room, and only one of us believed in that implication. So we put the sheets over the bedframe to ensure my cozy night’s sleep. I don’t want to go too deep into the details of my “6 week house” because my outlook on it is really quite positive. It’s just that the first impression was overwhelmingly negative, and I had to take deep breaths and talk to myself telling myself I’d survive the 6 weeks. Behind closed doors obviously. But the evil dog named snowball that guards the bathroom which is outside so I can’t use it during the night and have to pee in a cup in my room is just the tip of the iceberg…

I spent nearly 12 hours in the schools I’ll be teaching in between Thursday and Friday. Thursday I went to Pablo VI with my counterpart Blanca to observe her classes, help teach a little, and go room by room introducing myself to everyone. Although it’s a pretty big city, they obviously don’t get very many white people because they thought it was just the greatest thing ever. I had kids carrying my bag from class to class for me and cheering for me as I entered every classroom. I see a lot of motivation from these kids to learn English and see a lot of opportunity in that school. There’s SO much to combat though. Two principle observations I had were the lack of respect for classes in session, and the blatant cheating and lack of original thought. I say the lack of respect, because the kids that were about to graduate from “high school” were having a party outside to welcome the incoming “freshman” to the school. In the classroom I was in, we were doing the final review for an upcoming exam. Not 20 feet away was this party of about 100-200 kids with raging raggaeton music and a huge piñata swaying from the trees as kids beat the crap out of it. Our classroom review was almost useless, as the kids were distracted and could hardly hear us. And the cheating, oh the cheating. I’ve seen it in the classes I’ve been teaching the last 2 months, that a lot of the kids lack original thought, and copy off their neighbor or constantly ask for answers from other. Or they even copy my example from the board and when I come around checking answers, they try to pass it off as their own. But I literally JUST wrote that, how could you seriously think I wouldn’t recognize MY own answer? Anyways, I was overseeing a class taking a test. These kids aren’t even creative cheaters! Whatever happened to answers written on the inside label of a water bottle, or even written on your forearm under your sleeve? Come on guys. I saw kids leaning so far over in their chair to copy off their neighbor they nearly fell over. It was SO obvious. I gave the stank eye to so many kids to let them know I was watching. They were so embarrassed, but continued to do it. Just 2 kids got their tests taken away, only to get a fresh one. I’d say 90% of the class cheated. My mission is to effectively design tests in which 90% of the class does NOT cheat. I don’t know how I’m going to do that when I’m outnumbered 50 to 1, but a girl can dream.

The Momotómbo school is set up in the hood. This is what I imagined Peace Corps to be like; rough. It’s set at the foot of the Momotombo Volcano, the houses are of mud, branches, plastic bags, etc. The water is scarce/bad and mostly every house uses a latrine. There’s not a single paved road which can be an issue in the future with getting in and out during a rainstorm when the roads are washed out. There’s about 200 kids that attend the school. It was funny to me that they thought a white girl coming to work there was not a big deal, when the kids from the city thought it was the greatest thing ever. Turns out there’s a German and a Spaniard already working at this tiny school! I traveled with my counterpart Loynard and we spent the entire morning Friday teaching classes and introducing me to people and showing me around. I see a lot of opportunity at this school, but the kids seem much less motivated. Before class we have to round them up from the back of the building to get them to come into the classroom for class. The classes are very mixed in abilities, and even disabilities, another hurdle I wasn’t expecting.

It rained almost my entire 5 days in La Paz Centro. I only got to run once, even though it was raining I needed to get out! Everything was pretty much washed out, but I tried my best. After about 10 minutes of running and being harassed and playfully chased by kids a boy came up to me on his bike. His neighbor had told him there was a white girl running alone and he should go accompany her. So he rode alongside me as I ran. I quickly realized I could really only walk with all the mud, and the random 6 foot jumps I had to make over mini rivers in the path. Jose Luis and I talked for about an hour as we made our way through the campo. Turns out he’s an 18 year old kid, living alone with his little 13 year old brother. They both completed the equivalent of our 8th or 9th grade. They couldn’t continue on any longer because they had to work. I knew this situation was going to arise, and I knew I wasn’t ready for it. Kids like this, whose primary needs aren’t met, have to focus on meeting those needs…putting food on the table is first. What can I do for these kids? I’m here to teach English, but that seems so far out of reach for kids like this. It seems like an agricultural worker would be more effective, teaching more productive methods of planting or something. I asked him if he’d be interested in a running group or a conversation group. He said of course, but I don’t know if that was just because the white girl was asking him personally, or if he had other motivations for it. Regardless, I think it would be great for him and his brother to be opened up to a new culture and the possibility of opportunity for a better life. That’s my rationalization for now until I figure out a solution.

I know I’ll have a ton of work available in La Paz Centro. I surely won’t ever have any excuse to be bored. I ‘m excited to get into it, and I can see how things will just come together. The city is the perfect size for me, and it’s pretty close to: the beach, mountains, volcanoes, and a big city! In the few days I was there, I had an insta-friend in my counterpart Blanca’s daughter, 21. And I found a potential house for myself. It’s already got a bed and a small fridge, and it shares a common patio/garden with another house. This is the perfect setup because it offers privacy but the security of having someone close by. It’s owned by someone in Blanca’s family, so I feel that would be someone I could trust. Everyone in the community seems to want a piece of me. And because I require quite a large chunk of personal alone time for Nicaraguan standards, I know I’ll have to give some of that up. I’ll make due in my 6 weeks house, just in the few days I felt much more comfortable with the family. The parents have great senses of humor and are always making each other laugh. As soon as I can keep up with their quick talk I’m sure I’ll be laughing too. We’ve also made the agreement that I’ll be buying and preparing my own food. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for a couple months, and I’m so excited they agreed to let me pay them for the room only and take care of the rest myself. No more fried cheese, 4 different carbohydrates in the same meal, or salt covered anything!!! The mom is going to teach me how to knit and make baskets. And I’m also thinking of taking sewing classes down the street at what might actually be a small sweatshop. And then I’ll be even closer to being a nun.

Soooo….I’m giving a speech at our Swearing In Ceremony on the 23rd to represent the TEFL program in front of the Ambassador and who knows who else. I’m going to give a shout out to Obama’s “Call to Service”, YEYAH!! And I’m definitely going to be getting my speech edited by the native speakers of our group! Among other random news, I’ve seen my first political demonstrations today by the Sandinistas. They’re driving around in the rain blaring music and talking about how much they looove Daniel Ortega, what else is new. And tomorrow we’re going to the US Embassy, so hopefully everything is calm there, because last I heard they were throwing things at the Ambassador.

1/November/2009

Wow I can’t believe it’s NOVEMBER and I’ve been away from home for 2 months! I’m still hanging in there, and I don’t anticipate home sickness until I move to my site and I have summer vacation and not a lot of work to do. But I still can’t wait for that! These next few weeks are crazy as usual, except with a lot of travel. This Tuesday morning, I, along with a suitcase and a large backpack have to fit into a microbus. Interesting. I know they are going to tie at least my suitcase to the roof and I cringe at the possibility of the loss. But now that I think of it, they’re successfully transported a bed frame on the top of a micro, so I guess anything is possible. I will be going to Managua to meet my 2 counterparts that I’ll be working with up in Leon. We’ll spend a jam packed day getting to know each other along with all the other kids in my program and their counterparts. Wednesday we’ll all head out to our respective destinations and I’ll show up on my new family’s door with a bunch of luggage. “Oh, PS, can I leave this here for 3 weeks?” I need to take half my luggage now, and half when I really move, because I physically cannot bring all of it at once in a micro, or carry it by myself. I’ve acquired a lot of books, med kit, mosquito net, etc that have made this move into quite the production. I’ll be in Leon until next Sunday!