My posts have been sort of boring lately about my future placement and everything, so I thought I´d share something funny.
Hear in Nicaragua the power goes out frequently. It is caused by the over use of electricity and the system shuts down. Since the water pumps that allow us to have running water here are powered by electricity, when the power goes, so does the water. So the other day I had went running, and while I was gone, ¨se fue la luz¨, as they say when the power goes. So I was in dire need of a shower but yet there was no running water. Since this happens often, every Nicaraguan has a garbage barrel full of water in their bathroom. The idea is that when the house doesn't have running water you can still shower using a bucket and the water from the barrel.
So, I could still take a shower after the run, using the bucket and barrel, but in order to use the bathroom I would need a flashlight. Luckily, my lovely sister Laura gave me a headlamp as a birthday present before I left. I decided that a bucket shower is the absolute perfect use for the headlamp (except of course when I´m washing my hair). So there I was, naked in the pitch black bathroom, with a head lamp, scooping out small buckets of water onto myself trying to get myself clean. At one point during the ¨shower¨ I just started laughing by myself in the bathroom at how silly I must have looked with this headlamp on.
Ok, so maybe the story isn't that funny, but I couldn't help but think, ¨Oh, if my friends and family could see me now!¨.
Everything else with me is good. I have no class or meetings today and tomorrow so I am super excited to have some free time. I plan on visiting a nearby river tomorrow with some other trainees and some teenagers from our youth group. It should be a fun time since I´ll finally get to swim! Its so hot here but there really isn't any place to cool down until the nighttime.
I am about halfway done with my time here in Santa Teresa which is completely bizarre to me. Time has been moving fast year because they keep us so busy. Anyways, thanks for all the emails people have been sending me! I´ll try to send some hot weather up there if all of you will send some cold weather down here!
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Volunteer Visit to Chinandega
So I suppose I'm sort of a moron, but I just realized how to see the comments that people have posted! Thank you for all of the nice/funny comments...its good to know that people are actually reading this!
I currently am in the Peace Corps office in Managua after my volunteer visit. The office is a really nice space and has two computers that the volunteers can use the internet free of charge, its great!
So the trip that I had been anticipating for a long time, the volunteer visit is basically over. It was a really great experience to be in Chinandega for a couple of days and be with a real live volunteer one-on-one. We meet a lot of volunteers who come and give us trainings, but you can´t ask them all the questions that you want to. Plus, actually seeing something in action is a much better teaching tool.
The first day we got there we went to the beach. This beach wasn't particularly beautiful but it was a beach in the sun so it was great. It was the first time I had been swimming in the Pacific, and I'll be honest, the waves really disappointed me. I was told that the waves were very unusually calm when we were there, so I guess next time I'll see the 100 foot waves that I was expecting.
After that little day at the beach we went back to Chinandega and hung out. This city had a much smaller town feel than I expected. The tallest building is three stories high and most all building are one story. Also, there is really only one main road with a bunch of city things on it, while the rest of it is just endless typical Nicaraguan neighborhood. There are three other volunteers that live in Chinandega, a married couple (both 26) that teach English, and a business volunteer (27). Oddly, this is one big reason why I would want a smaller city as a site. I want a site where I live and am friends with Nicaraguans. If I am in a site with 3 other volunteers I would be tempted to hang out with them all the time.
On the flip side of that argument against the big city, the programs available to work with in the big city are amazing. The health center has a great HIV/AIDS testing program and is very open to new ideas that a volunteer would bring. Also, there are a couple of NGOs that work with HIV education that are very willing to collaborate with a new volunteer. While I was visiting, we met some of these various people and agencies that are working on this and it was a great experience.
Basically, I am really having an internal battle with myself over what I want in a site. I want a more rural community with access to the NGOs and people affected by HIV, unfortunately this doesn't really exist (actually one site does sort of exist like that, but I'm trying not to get set on it because we can only preference sites, not actually pick them). Anyways, if you want to know what consumes my thoughts during most of my free time, it´s this internal debate.
During this trip I got to experience for the first time, Nicaraguan HOT. The city of Chinandega is one of the hottest places in the country. Unfortunately I don't have a temperature of how hot, but the sun felt like it was burning a hole through you during mid-day. By 9am it was hot, and only around 5 would it start to cool off. It was so draining to the point that during mid-day you couldn´t really accomplish anything...so we didn't. Where I live in Santa Teresa would probably be just as hot, however we have really strong winds throughout the day and night that keeps things cooler. As a result I never feel too overheated or anything in Santa Teresa, although it is really hot. I did decide that I could live in Chinandega even though it was super hot. Which was good to know because whenever you ask a Nicaraguan not from Chinandega about Chinandega they respond with "Holy crap its super mega hot there, why would anyone ever live there!" But I have learned that every Nica thinks that about every place that isn't where they live.
Anyways, I'm heading back to Santa Teresa this afternoon and I'm actually pretty excited to get back "home". I will be having normal training for the next couple of weeks. One exciting thing we do get to do in the next two weeks is receive information on all the available sites that we can go to and then we have an interview with Peace Corps staff about our preferences. I'm very anxious to receive my site, and also very excited! Anyways, thanks again for the comments, if anyone has a question just let me know!
Happy Valentines Day!
I currently am in the Peace Corps office in Managua after my volunteer visit. The office is a really nice space and has two computers that the volunteers can use the internet free of charge, its great!
So the trip that I had been anticipating for a long time, the volunteer visit is basically over. It was a really great experience to be in Chinandega for a couple of days and be with a real live volunteer one-on-one. We meet a lot of volunteers who come and give us trainings, but you can´t ask them all the questions that you want to. Plus, actually seeing something in action is a much better teaching tool.
The first day we got there we went to the beach. This beach wasn't particularly beautiful but it was a beach in the sun so it was great. It was the first time I had been swimming in the Pacific, and I'll be honest, the waves really disappointed me. I was told that the waves were very unusually calm when we were there, so I guess next time I'll see the 100 foot waves that I was expecting.
After that little day at the beach we went back to Chinandega and hung out. This city had a much smaller town feel than I expected. The tallest building is three stories high and most all building are one story. Also, there is really only one main road with a bunch of city things on it, while the rest of it is just endless typical Nicaraguan neighborhood. There are three other volunteers that live in Chinandega, a married couple (both 26) that teach English, and a business volunteer (27). Oddly, this is one big reason why I would want a smaller city as a site. I want a site where I live and am friends with Nicaraguans. If I am in a site with 3 other volunteers I would be tempted to hang out with them all the time.
On the flip side of that argument against the big city, the programs available to work with in the big city are amazing. The health center has a great HIV/AIDS testing program and is very open to new ideas that a volunteer would bring. Also, there are a couple of NGOs that work with HIV education that are very willing to collaborate with a new volunteer. While I was visiting, we met some of these various people and agencies that are working on this and it was a great experience.
Basically, I am really having an internal battle with myself over what I want in a site. I want a more rural community with access to the NGOs and people affected by HIV, unfortunately this doesn't really exist (actually one site does sort of exist like that, but I'm trying not to get set on it because we can only preference sites, not actually pick them). Anyways, if you want to know what consumes my thoughts during most of my free time, it´s this internal debate.
During this trip I got to experience for the first time, Nicaraguan HOT. The city of Chinandega is one of the hottest places in the country. Unfortunately I don't have a temperature of how hot, but the sun felt like it was burning a hole through you during mid-day. By 9am it was hot, and only around 5 would it start to cool off. It was so draining to the point that during mid-day you couldn´t really accomplish anything...so we didn't. Where I live in Santa Teresa would probably be just as hot, however we have really strong winds throughout the day and night that keeps things cooler. As a result I never feel too overheated or anything in Santa Teresa, although it is really hot. I did decide that I could live in Chinandega even though it was super hot. Which was good to know because whenever you ask a Nicaraguan not from Chinandega about Chinandega they respond with "Holy crap its super mega hot there, why would anyone ever live there!" But I have learned that every Nica thinks that about every place that isn't where they live.
Anyways, I'm heading back to Santa Teresa this afternoon and I'm actually pretty excited to get back "home". I will be having normal training for the next couple of weeks. One exciting thing we do get to do in the next two weeks is receive information on all the available sites that we can go to and then we have an interview with Peace Corps staff about our preferences. I'm very anxious to receive my site, and also very excited! Anyways, thanks again for the comments, if anyone has a question just let me know!
Happy Valentines Day!
Friday, February 09, 2007
A break from training...
All the trainees are splitting up this Sunday and everyone is going to visit a different volunteer in their site until Wednesday. The peace corps staff picks where we are going based on what we are interested in in location and job. I received where/who I am visiting today and I am really happy! I am going to visiting a volunteer who is living in Chinandega. Chinandega is the capital city of the Department (same as State) of Chinandega. If you´re looking on a map, it is in the very Northwest corner of the country. Let me give you a little background on this place and why I´m excited to be going here:
The Department of Chinandega has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the country to Nicaragua. The only Department that has more is the Department that the capitol city is in (Peace Corps Volunteers do not working in that department). So as a Peace Corps Volunteer, you biggest chance to work with HIV education and prevention is in the Department of Chinandega. I am almost positive that this is the field I want to be working in so I am happy I get a chance to visit it to get a sense of what it is like. Also, since it has the second highest HIV/AIDS rate it has a lot of NGOs working there with education and with group of people living with HIV. Many of the health volunteers placed in the Department of Chinandega work with these NGOs on education projects and with training nurses and doctors on appropriate care for HIV+ patients. This work sounds super interesting to me so I´m excited to see exactly what a volunteer does there in a typical day.
So the volunteer that I am visiting lives in the capitol city which is pretty rare for a health volunteer. This means that she works more with the administrative/policy part of health care (but obviously, her main focus is education). I still don't know exactly what she does, but she has been involved in some really great projects. One thing she has been involved with is initiating and carrying out a counseling program for people that are going to get an HIV test and for people that have been recently diagnosed. It will be great to learn more about the stuff she has been working on and how she got involved with it.
Overall, this is pretty much the site I wanted to go to most, so I am super happy about it. The only negative thing about it is that I don't get to visit a volunteer that is living in a more rural area and see that perspective. I wish we could visit two volunteers! I´m still torn on whether I want my site to be more rural or a bigger city. I think that both have their advantages and I hope to have a better idea of this after I get back from my volunteer visit.
I´ll leave this Sunday and then come back to Santa Teresa on Wednesday, valentines day. Some of the kids in our youth group invited us to be a part of their "Amigo Secreto" game. This basically entails us picking from a hat somebodies name in the group, and then you are their secret friend, and you buy them a gift and everyone exchanges them on valentines day. Here valentines day isn't quite as romantic in the US. Its called "dia de los novios" and also "dia de amistad" which both mean, day of boyfriend/g-friend, or day or friendship, so it works both ways. I plan on getting a gift for my person on my little trip to Chinandega.
Anyways, Happy Valentines Day to everyone else! I´ll be sure to update when I get back from the trip...
The Department of Chinandega has the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS infections in the country to Nicaragua. The only Department that has more is the Department that the capitol city is in (Peace Corps Volunteers do not working in that department). So as a Peace Corps Volunteer, you biggest chance to work with HIV education and prevention is in the Department of Chinandega. I am almost positive that this is the field I want to be working in so I am happy I get a chance to visit it to get a sense of what it is like. Also, since it has the second highest HIV/AIDS rate it has a lot of NGOs working there with education and with group of people living with HIV. Many of the health volunteers placed in the Department of Chinandega work with these NGOs on education projects and with training nurses and doctors on appropriate care for HIV+ patients. This work sounds super interesting to me so I´m excited to see exactly what a volunteer does there in a typical day.
So the volunteer that I am visiting lives in the capitol city which is pretty rare for a health volunteer. This means that she works more with the administrative/policy part of health care (but obviously, her main focus is education). I still don't know exactly what she does, but she has been involved in some really great projects. One thing she has been involved with is initiating and carrying out a counseling program for people that are going to get an HIV test and for people that have been recently diagnosed. It will be great to learn more about the stuff she has been working on and how she got involved with it.
Overall, this is pretty much the site I wanted to go to most, so I am super happy about it. The only negative thing about it is that I don't get to visit a volunteer that is living in a more rural area and see that perspective. I wish we could visit two volunteers! I´m still torn on whether I want my site to be more rural or a bigger city. I think that both have their advantages and I hope to have a better idea of this after I get back from my volunteer visit.
I´ll leave this Sunday and then come back to Santa Teresa on Wednesday, valentines day. Some of the kids in our youth group invited us to be a part of their "Amigo Secreto" game. This basically entails us picking from a hat somebodies name in the group, and then you are their secret friend, and you buy them a gift and everyone exchanges them on valentines day. Here valentines day isn't quite as romantic in the US. Its called "dia de los novios" and also "dia de amistad" which both mean, day of boyfriend/g-friend, or day or friendship, so it works both ways. I plan on getting a gift for my person on my little trip to Chinandega.
Anyways, Happy Valentines Day to everyone else! I´ll be sure to update when I get back from the trip...
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Update
Here’s a quick (or long) update on my life:
This past weekend was a fairly calm weekend. I had class all day Friday and again on Saturday morning from 8am-noon. Friday night I just hung out at home with my family and went to bed early at around 9:30, I know, I’m such a party animal. Then after class on Saturday I went running (I’m up to running about 8k’s now, I’m training for a “supposed” half-marathon that exists here in Nicaragua in July) and hung around the house.
One interesting thing about Nicaraguan culture is the value of simply sitting around and talking. I’ll quote one of our cultural readings: “Westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a ‘waste of time’ nor is it a manifestation of laziness Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relations.” This quote and other readings got me to thinking that us Americans feel like we are doing “nothing” if we just sit with people for the night. There needs to be some activity such as watching a movie, playing a game, going somewhere in order for us to feel like we did something. I still feel like I did nothing this weekend but at the same time when I reflect, I feel that I did some good bonding with my host family this weekend, so I suppose that doesn’t count as nothing. Generally, the people here don’t do anything on the weekend just to do something. There has to be some fiesta or some reason to actually leave their house. This includes vacations as well. The people don’t generally go somewhere just to see it, they go because they have a reason to go for a job or something. For some families it has to do with money, but for many it is simply just the way their culture is. Very different from the U.S. (keep in mind that when I make these cultural statements I am generalizing and I really only have the perspective of 1 town in Nicaragua).
Anyways, moving on from the psychology of sitting to the Super Bowl. I did get to watch the Bears lose the Super Bowl. I’ve noticed that when I leave the country my team always gets to the final and loses (e.g. Illini B-Ball). Oh well. It was actually a lot of fun watching the game because a group of 10 of us Peace Corps trainees got together at a bar/restaurant in Santa Teresa to watch the game. The restaurant is owned by my host aunt so that was fun. Included in the group were three trainees from Chicago and one trainee from Indianpolis so we had a good rivalry going. It was fun to get the group together outside of a classroom setting. This was one of the first times that it has happened because we all live in different training towns and we are always busy with classes or homework. All of the trainees are sort of torn between hanging out with each other in our free time and hanging out with our families. So far we’ve all mostly chosen to hang out with our families for the sake of getting to know them and improving our Spanish. But it is kind of a shame to make some really good friends and then not be able to hang out with them as often as you would like.
One major accomplishment of mine this past weekend was washing my own clothes. I’m talking about hand washing with a washboard. It was actually really fun although family seemed to think that it was just about the funniest thing ever. This was mostly because I am white and because I am a guy. My host dad and host brother both don’t know how to wash clothes (although don’t get the wrong impression, my host dad actually does most of the cooking) so the idea that this white boy was washing clothes was too much for them. The other trainees have their wash basin in their backyard patios of their houses so they have some privacy while they wash. Mine however is right in the middle of our tiny kitchen. For me to wash all the dirty clothes I had took about 2 hours. Meanwhile during this my host dad and sister were cooking lunch, people were eating lunch at the table, people walking in and out of the house. So basically I had no privacy while doing this like most of the other trainees have. The other thing that they thought was so funny was that I was sweating while doing this. I was not sweating profusely, but some beads of sweat accumulated on my forehead. This is a very labor-intensive activity that I was doing in an un-air conditioned house in the tropics. In other words, I had every right to be sweating. Basically what I realized after this was that I will always be funny. It will never be normal for a white boy to wash his clothes, or do any other various “Nicaraguan” activities. But hey, at least I could make some people laugh for 2 hours. Plus, washing stuff on a washboard gets things 10 times cleaner than in a washer.
Anyways, those were my little adventures/thoughts this past week. This Sunday each trainee goes and visits a volunteer at their site for about 4 days. We are all very excited about it to finally see exactly what the daily life of a volunteer here in Nicaragua is. Assume that my next post will be about that so hope that it’s a positive one!
This past weekend was a fairly calm weekend. I had class all day Friday and again on Saturday morning from 8am-noon. Friday night I just hung out at home with my family and went to bed early at around 9:30, I know, I’m such a party animal. Then after class on Saturday I went running (I’m up to running about 8k’s now, I’m training for a “supposed” half-marathon that exists here in Nicaragua in July) and hung around the house.
One interesting thing about Nicaraguan culture is the value of simply sitting around and talking. I’ll quote one of our cultural readings: “Westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a ‘waste of time’ nor is it a manifestation of laziness Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relations.” This quote and other readings got me to thinking that us Americans feel like we are doing “nothing” if we just sit with people for the night. There needs to be some activity such as watching a movie, playing a game, going somewhere in order for us to feel like we did something. I still feel like I did nothing this weekend but at the same time when I reflect, I feel that I did some good bonding with my host family this weekend, so I suppose that doesn’t count as nothing. Generally, the people here don’t do anything on the weekend just to do something. There has to be some fiesta or some reason to actually leave their house. This includes vacations as well. The people don’t generally go somewhere just to see it, they go because they have a reason to go for a job or something. For some families it has to do with money, but for many it is simply just the way their culture is. Very different from the U.S. (keep in mind that when I make these cultural statements I am generalizing and I really only have the perspective of 1 town in Nicaragua).
Anyways, moving on from the psychology of sitting to the Super Bowl. I did get to watch the Bears lose the Super Bowl. I’ve noticed that when I leave the country my team always gets to the final and loses (e.g. Illini B-Ball). Oh well. It was actually a lot of fun watching the game because a group of 10 of us Peace Corps trainees got together at a bar/restaurant in Santa Teresa to watch the game. The restaurant is owned by my host aunt so that was fun. Included in the group were three trainees from Chicago and one trainee from Indianpolis so we had a good rivalry going. It was fun to get the group together outside of a classroom setting. This was one of the first times that it has happened because we all live in different training towns and we are always busy with classes or homework. All of the trainees are sort of torn between hanging out with each other in our free time and hanging out with our families. So far we’ve all mostly chosen to hang out with our families for the sake of getting to know them and improving our Spanish. But it is kind of a shame to make some really good friends and then not be able to hang out with them as often as you would like.
One major accomplishment of mine this past weekend was washing my own clothes. I’m talking about hand washing with a washboard. It was actually really fun although family seemed to think that it was just about the funniest thing ever. This was mostly because I am white and because I am a guy. My host dad and host brother both don’t know how to wash clothes (although don’t get the wrong impression, my host dad actually does most of the cooking) so the idea that this white boy was washing clothes was too much for them. The other trainees have their wash basin in their backyard patios of their houses so they have some privacy while they wash. Mine however is right in the middle of our tiny kitchen. For me to wash all the dirty clothes I had took about 2 hours. Meanwhile during this my host dad and sister were cooking lunch, people were eating lunch at the table, people walking in and out of the house. So basically I had no privacy while doing this like most of the other trainees have. The other thing that they thought was so funny was that I was sweating while doing this. I was not sweating profusely, but some beads of sweat accumulated on my forehead. This is a very labor-intensive activity that I was doing in an un-air conditioned house in the tropics. In other words, I had every right to be sweating. Basically what I realized after this was that I will always be funny. It will never be normal for a white boy to wash his clothes, or do any other various “Nicaraguan” activities. But hey, at least I could make some people laugh for 2 hours. Plus, washing stuff on a washboard gets things 10 times cleaner than in a washer.
Anyways, those were my little adventures/thoughts this past week. This Sunday each trainee goes and visits a volunteer at their site for about 4 days. We are all very excited about it to finally see exactly what the daily life of a volunteer here in Nicaragua is. Assume that my next post will be about that so hope that it’s a positive one!
Hipica - Drunkards on Horses
Here is a random procession that happens all throughout the fiestás patronales. This one passed right in front of my house.
This is basically what the hipica is...drunk guys on horses.
This is the street i live on...That green house on the left is where I live. The church is farther down on the left.
This is my host brother, Dayris, and his cousin´s kid, Ashkom...he visits often and is really cute.Fiestas Patronales de Santa Teresa
(note: i wrote this post on Feb 3, however the internet was being difficult so I was unable to post it...here it is)
Last week in the middle of the week I was feeling really frustrated. My spanish was not to the level that I wanted it to be. I couldn´t throw in quick jokes to the conversations like I wanted to and sarcastic jokes just failed miserably. I feel like that took away a big part of who I was, and therefore with the locals I couldnt really be myself. I couldnt joke around with the guys in my Youth group and I wasn´t ready for the whole spanish learning thing to be a LONG process. But...then this past weekend happened and I have felt way better ever since...
This past weekend was the big yearly fiesta in Santa Teresa where basically everyone just parties for three days straight. There are various activities each day that the town does. For example, on Friday night they have a stage set up in the street and the town elects the ¨queen of santa teresa¨which is more or less like electing a homecoming queen except they do it in a form similar to the ms america pageant with teenage girls competing from different neighborhoods in sta teresa. The girl who ended up being the queen is a girl from our youth group! So that was part one of feeling better, I knew the prom queen. Thats the most important thing in any town, right? I was feeling good about myself but still not completely out of my funk.
My favorite part of the fiesta was on saturday. A music group from the carribean coast came to perform in santa teresa. They were a fun raggae type band (called dimension costena, check them out). They played indoors basically in a rec center type place. Nicaraguans love dancing, and as many of you know, i´m a fan of dancing. So this was a great non verbal way to be bonding with the locals. I went with my host brother and host sister as well as some other peace corps trainees. We showed the nicas some dance moves and they showed us some merengue and salsa moves. Not to mention that this was my first opportunity to dance with a real live latina woman. I´ll be honest, their hips dont lie. Also, let me just explain a little bit about this ¨rec center¨ There are only a few small windows. There were about 400 people dancing in the room. and it was about 85 degrees outside. Obviously this place did not have air conditioning. I´m sure most of you can imagine what a sweaty mess I was, but it didnt matter because so was everyone else. It was nice to finally be accepted for my sweatiness.
The third day of the fiesta was the ¨hipica¨. This was explained to me before the fiesta as a day where these specially trained beautiful horses come and parade gracefully on a parade route through town. It is beautiful and the best part of the fiesta. Let explain what actaully happens at the ¨hipica¨. Everyone within 10k of Sta Teresa who owns a horse rides into Santa Teresa. When they get here they all start drinking beer. Meanwhile, all the residents of santa teresa go on their porches and start drinking beer. This all occurs at around noon. So by 2pm there are basically drunk guys riding around on horses haphazardly while drunk nicaraguans are dancing in the streets to makeshift musical bands. I decided to be an observer this day (still a little tired from the night before) and it was quite comical. Another volunteer and me were standing on a crowded street corner and a drunken bum decided to come up to us and sing us a song. Everyone is dying laughing that the bum is singing the gringos or cheles (as we are called here) a song. Midway through the song, his pants simply fall down, he doesnt notice and just keeps on singing. Quite comical for the entire street of people staring at us.
All in all this weekend was a good weekend of bonding with my nicaraguan family and some of the neighbors I have gotten to know. This past week for some reason my spanish has felt better and has started to click a bit. I gave my first health center talk with no problems and our youth group meeting went smoothly. This training in peace corps will have lots of ups and downs, as will my two years service. But right now, I´m just enjoying this good mood swing.
Last week in the middle of the week I was feeling really frustrated. My spanish was not to the level that I wanted it to be. I couldn´t throw in quick jokes to the conversations like I wanted to and sarcastic jokes just failed miserably. I feel like that took away a big part of who I was, and therefore with the locals I couldnt really be myself. I couldnt joke around with the guys in my Youth group and I wasn´t ready for the whole spanish learning thing to be a LONG process. But...then this past weekend happened and I have felt way better ever since...
This past weekend was the big yearly fiesta in Santa Teresa where basically everyone just parties for three days straight. There are various activities each day that the town does. For example, on Friday night they have a stage set up in the street and the town elects the ¨queen of santa teresa¨which is more or less like electing a homecoming queen except they do it in a form similar to the ms america pageant with teenage girls competing from different neighborhoods in sta teresa. The girl who ended up being the queen is a girl from our youth group! So that was part one of feeling better, I knew the prom queen. Thats the most important thing in any town, right? I was feeling good about myself but still not completely out of my funk.
My favorite part of the fiesta was on saturday. A music group from the carribean coast came to perform in santa teresa. They were a fun raggae type band (called dimension costena, check them out). They played indoors basically in a rec center type place. Nicaraguans love dancing, and as many of you know, i´m a fan of dancing. So this was a great non verbal way to be bonding with the locals. I went with my host brother and host sister as well as some other peace corps trainees. We showed the nicas some dance moves and they showed us some merengue and salsa moves. Not to mention that this was my first opportunity to dance with a real live latina woman. I´ll be honest, their hips dont lie. Also, let me just explain a little bit about this ¨rec center¨ There are only a few small windows. There were about 400 people dancing in the room. and it was about 85 degrees outside. Obviously this place did not have air conditioning. I´m sure most of you can imagine what a sweaty mess I was, but it didnt matter because so was everyone else. It was nice to finally be accepted for my sweatiness.
The third day of the fiesta was the ¨hipica¨. This was explained to me before the fiesta as a day where these specially trained beautiful horses come and parade gracefully on a parade route through town. It is beautiful and the best part of the fiesta. Let explain what actaully happens at the ¨hipica¨. Everyone within 10k of Sta Teresa who owns a horse rides into Santa Teresa. When they get here they all start drinking beer. Meanwhile, all the residents of santa teresa go on their porches and start drinking beer. This all occurs at around noon. So by 2pm there are basically drunk guys riding around on horses haphazardly while drunk nicaraguans are dancing in the streets to makeshift musical bands. I decided to be an observer this day (still a little tired from the night before) and it was quite comical. Another volunteer and me were standing on a crowded street corner and a drunken bum decided to come up to us and sing us a song. Everyone is dying laughing that the bum is singing the gringos or cheles (as we are called here) a song. Midway through the song, his pants simply fall down, he doesnt notice and just keeps on singing. Quite comical for the entire street of people staring at us.
All in all this weekend was a good weekend of bonding with my nicaraguan family and some of the neighbors I have gotten to know. This past week for some reason my spanish has felt better and has started to click a bit. I gave my first health center talk with no problems and our youth group meeting went smoothly. This training in peace corps will have lots of ups and downs, as will my two years service. But right now, I´m just enjoying this good mood swing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)