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.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Settling in
I have a bunch of things to write about but not enough time (the power went out in the big city, so my hour long internet session got cut down to 15 min).
Here is whats been going on with me in the past week:
Myself and the three other volunteers at my training town formed a youth group in town and had our first meeting yesterday. We were all a little nervous about how things would go and whether our spanish speaking and understanding skills would be able to handle 15 teenagers. Anyways, things ended up going great. We invited about 20 kids in town (went to their houses and personally invited them to come) and 13 showed up. We considered that in itself a big success because if i was 15 and a random foreigner invited me to a youth group, I probably wouldnt have gone. So we introduced ourselves at the meeting and had everyone else introduce themselves. Then we divided the group into girls and guys and had them each make a map of Santa Teresa. Its a really good activity for young people to see the differences in perception of the town between genders (especially in a country with concrete gender divisions like Nicaragua). We kept the first meeting short but have plans to go play soccer with them tomorrow afternoon, should be fun...I hope our group still shows up.
Other than that not much is new. It is fiestas patronales season here which means that each town has a small festival to honor their patron saint. Ours is this weekend which means lots of live music and dancing in the street. I´m excited about it. This past weekend I was at the fiesta patronale of another training town. I was walking with a group of 5 other peace corps volunteers down the street. During these fiestas there are random groups of people with instruments or costumes that make a haphazard sort of parade down the streets. Its sort of spontaneous and the people all get on the sidewalk and watch them go by. Well this particular time while we were walking a ¨parade¨came by. Except this time everyone that was in the parade and was watching the parade just stopped and started staring at us. We were only standing on the corner watching the parade but suddenly we became the entertainment. I thought it was quite amusing. This happens all the time here though. I get tons of stares wherever I go so I make sure that I say hello to everyone that stares at me, because then they realize that I´m a person and become really friendly. It seems to work so far.
Classes are going well so far. They are held at one of the other volunteers host family´s house. This happens to be my next door neighbor so my walk to class is about 14 steps. In the next couple of weeks we are going to be getting more involved with our town health center. In two weeks we will be giving our first ¨charlas¨which are basically health talks in the health center to the people waiting in the waiting room (more of a hallway). Since nicaraguans dont have much access to health education and the doctors are too busy doing the essentials (shots, giving medicine, etc.), a good way for the people to get information regarding preventing diarrhea, breast feeding, malaria and dengue, hand washing, HIV and other STIs is by giving little talks to the people waiting to see the doctor. A main part of my job in PC is to help the health center with these mini education session. When I am in my site I will be able to branch out and do education in schools and other places but talks in the health center will sort of be the bread and butter of my service.
I´m sure I could say more but I have to get home to eat my Gallo Pinto (rice and beans). Although you would think that eating rice and beans every meal since I´ve been here would get old...it hasn´t. I love it. If anyone has questions about anything else I´m doing or about Nicaragua, just email me, I´ll try to write about it next time.
Here is whats been going on with me in the past week:
Myself and the three other volunteers at my training town formed a youth group in town and had our first meeting yesterday. We were all a little nervous about how things would go and whether our spanish speaking and understanding skills would be able to handle 15 teenagers. Anyways, things ended up going great. We invited about 20 kids in town (went to their houses and personally invited them to come) and 13 showed up. We considered that in itself a big success because if i was 15 and a random foreigner invited me to a youth group, I probably wouldnt have gone. So we introduced ourselves at the meeting and had everyone else introduce themselves. Then we divided the group into girls and guys and had them each make a map of Santa Teresa. Its a really good activity for young people to see the differences in perception of the town between genders (especially in a country with concrete gender divisions like Nicaragua). We kept the first meeting short but have plans to go play soccer with them tomorrow afternoon, should be fun...I hope our group still shows up.
Other than that not much is new. It is fiestas patronales season here which means that each town has a small festival to honor their patron saint. Ours is this weekend which means lots of live music and dancing in the street. I´m excited about it. This past weekend I was at the fiesta patronale of another training town. I was walking with a group of 5 other peace corps volunteers down the street. During these fiestas there are random groups of people with instruments or costumes that make a haphazard sort of parade down the streets. Its sort of spontaneous and the people all get on the sidewalk and watch them go by. Well this particular time while we were walking a ¨parade¨came by. Except this time everyone that was in the parade and was watching the parade just stopped and started staring at us. We were only standing on the corner watching the parade but suddenly we became the entertainment. I thought it was quite amusing. This happens all the time here though. I get tons of stares wherever I go so I make sure that I say hello to everyone that stares at me, because then they realize that I´m a person and become really friendly. It seems to work so far.
Classes are going well so far. They are held at one of the other volunteers host family´s house. This happens to be my next door neighbor so my walk to class is about 14 steps. In the next couple of weeks we are going to be getting more involved with our town health center. In two weeks we will be giving our first ¨charlas¨which are basically health talks in the health center to the people waiting in the waiting room (more of a hallway). Since nicaraguans dont have much access to health education and the doctors are too busy doing the essentials (shots, giving medicine, etc.), a good way for the people to get information regarding preventing diarrhea, breast feeding, malaria and dengue, hand washing, HIV and other STIs is by giving little talks to the people waiting to see the doctor. A main part of my job in PC is to help the health center with these mini education session. When I am in my site I will be able to branch out and do education in schools and other places but talks in the health center will sort of be the bread and butter of my service.
I´m sure I could say more but I have to get home to eat my Gallo Pinto (rice and beans). Although you would think that eating rice and beans every meal since I´ve been here would get old...it hasn´t. I love it. If anyone has questions about anything else I´m doing or about Nicaragua, just email me, I´ll try to write about it next time.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Some Pictures
This is my host family...only Dayris and my host dad Julio are missing from the picture. Its Karen, Carlito, Me, Athzyri, and Lourdes.
This is my house...its all painted lime green which i really like.Postal Address
Some people have been asking about my postal address here, so here it is-
Cuerpo de Paz/Paul Fleming
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
That will be my address until March 30 when I move to my site town and get a new address.
Cuerpo de Paz/Paul Fleming
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
That will be my address until March 30 when I move to my site town and get a new address.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
My new life...
Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, I’ve been very busy adjusting to my new life! Let me explain a little bit about what’s happened (a lot!) since I left Chicago a little over a week ago…
I arrived in DC and stayed in a hotel in Georgetown and got to meet everyone else in my group. There are twenty of us that are all going to be volunteers in Nicaragua in the health sector. I was very surprised to find out that everyone was between the ages of 22 and 24. I was expecting some people in their late twenties or older. Everyone is from different backgrounds and different experiences and it’s great because all of us are pretty much at the same place in our lives. Those two days in DC were full of meetings on Peace Corps policy and other mostly boring things. But it was amazing how quickly you can make good friends in such a short time!
Early on Wednesday morning our group flew to Miami and then to Managua, Nicaragua. I wasn’t that nervous getting off the plane but I did have the realization that “Whoa! This is really happening!” We were whisked away by a Peace Corps bus to the tourist friendly town of Granada, an hour south of Managua. January 10, the day we arrived was a very important day in Nicaragua because they inaugurated Daniel Ortega as their new president. He was a Sandinista leader in the 80’s but claims to be a changed man. From what I gather he plans on bring more equality to the poor people of Nicaragua. I still don’t know enough to comment on the situation but some Nicas (what Nicaraguans are called here) like him and some hate him. We shall see what happens… Anyways, while in Granada we stayed in a hotel and had meetings all day about what to expect from our training and how to deal with certain situations as they arise. It was much more interesting than the more general DC orientation. Also, we got vaccinations. I told some of you that I thought I didn’t have to get any vaccinations, I was very wrong. So far I have had three, and I have 7 more to go. Also, during these meetings in Granada, the training instructors evaluated our levels of Spanish. I expected to be more advanced in the group but I ended up placing just below average. That’s fine with me because almost everyone had a strong background in Spanish. A lot of people have studied abroad in Costa Rica or other Latin American countries so I feel like they have a bit of an advantage because the Spanish here is very different than Spain.
On Friday we received our training site placements and host family. There are five training towns all within about 8 miles of each other. Our group was divided into five levels of Spanish and so each town hosts one of the levels. I got placed in the town of Santa Teresa which is right outside of the city of Jinotepe, which is an hour south of the capital. I think that there are about 4,000 people that live here (I’ve asked 5 different people, but no one knows the population). The family that I moved in with is absolutely wonderful. My host mom and dad (Lourdes and Julio) are both in their 50’s and are super accommodating and nice. They have three children, Karen is 28, Dayris (male) is 23, and Athziri (it’s a girl, and is pronounced at-zee-ree) is 9. Also, my favorite part about the house is Carlito, he is Karen’s son. He is four years old and the cutest kid I have ever met. He is always dancing and singing around the house and rolls around on their dirty floor. It’s great. When I don’t know what to be doing or saying with the adults, I just go play with Carlito. The first three hours in their house were a little awkward but since then I have felt completely comfortable with everything.
I know everyone is wondering about what facilities I have here so I will explain. We have running water and electricity in our house. The running water only functions from 7am-8pm. The electricity is fairly spotty. Yesterday the lights kept going out for a minute at a time. But in other words, the majority of the time we have running water and electricity. The only concern of mine is that there is only one bathroom for the seven of us that are living in the house. This is problematic to me because Peace Corps keeps telling our group about all the gastrointestinal problems that we will be having. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, there is only one sink and it is in the kitchen so I have to brush my teeth and shave in the kitchen with everyone else around. I guess I have been spoiled thus far in my life because I have almost always had my own bathroom. My room is pretty basic, the walls are made of particle board and the ceiling is the tin roof. The room is more or less open air because walls don’t always reach to the ceiling so I can feel the wind shake everything. I am told that January and February are the “windy season”. All day and night there are huge gusts of wind that feel as if you are in a tornado. It really puts the Windy City to shame. Because of the wind it has been fairly mild here. Sometimes during the day it will be really hot but it cools down at night.
I have had a chance to do some really cool cultural things with my host family since I have been here. My first day I went to a “Quince Anos” party of a girl that was turning 15. As you may know, in the Latin culture the 15th birthday of a girl is a huge deal. This party had about 100 people at it. It had the formalities you would expect from a wedding, a mass, a special dress for the girl, dinner for everyone. It was impressive and very interesting. Also, on Sunday I went to a basketball game with Dayris and some of his friends. The game was between the Santa Teresa team and another local town. After the game we played some two on two and then some other game that was like “21”. I think I may have won, but I didn’t really understand the rules so I’m not sure. On Sunday night I went with Dayris out to the local bars. There are three restaurant/bars in Sta. Teresa. When I have a beer in me it’s much easier to understand and talk so it was a very fun night!
As far as the classes part of training, those are going well so far. I have Spanish class every morning from 8-12. In the afternoons we have different activities depending on the day. For next week, myself and the three other volunteers have to start a youth group and talk about some topic regarding health. It will be hard to organize and recruit youth, but I think it will be a great experience. I think I will get better at Spanish very quickly because there are only four of us in the class and we have class so often. Also, I talk a lot with my host family so hopefully I can improve quickly.
I guess those are the basics of my life so far. I’m sorry if this was written poorly, I’m already struggling transferring between English and Spanish. It looks like I’ll have internet access about once a week so I should be able to update this site weekly. If anyone has any questions for me, just email me!
I arrived in DC and stayed in a hotel in Georgetown and got to meet everyone else in my group. There are twenty of us that are all going to be volunteers in Nicaragua in the health sector. I was very surprised to find out that everyone was between the ages of 22 and 24. I was expecting some people in their late twenties or older. Everyone is from different backgrounds and different experiences and it’s great because all of us are pretty much at the same place in our lives. Those two days in DC were full of meetings on Peace Corps policy and other mostly boring things. But it was amazing how quickly you can make good friends in such a short time!
Early on Wednesday morning our group flew to Miami and then to Managua, Nicaragua. I wasn’t that nervous getting off the plane but I did have the realization that “Whoa! This is really happening!” We were whisked away by a Peace Corps bus to the tourist friendly town of Granada, an hour south of Managua. January 10, the day we arrived was a very important day in Nicaragua because they inaugurated Daniel Ortega as their new president. He was a Sandinista leader in the 80’s but claims to be a changed man. From what I gather he plans on bring more equality to the poor people of Nicaragua. I still don’t know enough to comment on the situation but some Nicas (what Nicaraguans are called here) like him and some hate him. We shall see what happens… Anyways, while in Granada we stayed in a hotel and had meetings all day about what to expect from our training and how to deal with certain situations as they arise. It was much more interesting than the more general DC orientation. Also, we got vaccinations. I told some of you that I thought I didn’t have to get any vaccinations, I was very wrong. So far I have had three, and I have 7 more to go. Also, during these meetings in Granada, the training instructors evaluated our levels of Spanish. I expected to be more advanced in the group but I ended up placing just below average. That’s fine with me because almost everyone had a strong background in Spanish. A lot of people have studied abroad in Costa Rica or other Latin American countries so I feel like they have a bit of an advantage because the Spanish here is very different than Spain.
On Friday we received our training site placements and host family. There are five training towns all within about 8 miles of each other. Our group was divided into five levels of Spanish and so each town hosts one of the levels. I got placed in the town of Santa Teresa which is right outside of the city of Jinotepe, which is an hour south of the capital. I think that there are about 4,000 people that live here (I’ve asked 5 different people, but no one knows the population). The family that I moved in with is absolutely wonderful. My host mom and dad (Lourdes and Julio) are both in their 50’s and are super accommodating and nice. They have three children, Karen is 28, Dayris (male) is 23, and Athziri (it’s a girl, and is pronounced at-zee-ree) is 9. Also, my favorite part about the house is Carlito, he is Karen’s son. He is four years old and the cutest kid I have ever met. He is always dancing and singing around the house and rolls around on their dirty floor. It’s great. When I don’t know what to be doing or saying with the adults, I just go play with Carlito. The first three hours in their house were a little awkward but since then I have felt completely comfortable with everything.
I know everyone is wondering about what facilities I have here so I will explain. We have running water and electricity in our house. The running water only functions from 7am-8pm. The electricity is fairly spotty. Yesterday the lights kept going out for a minute at a time. But in other words, the majority of the time we have running water and electricity. The only concern of mine is that there is only one bathroom for the seven of us that are living in the house. This is problematic to me because Peace Corps keeps telling our group about all the gastrointestinal problems that we will be having. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, there is only one sink and it is in the kitchen so I have to brush my teeth and shave in the kitchen with everyone else around. I guess I have been spoiled thus far in my life because I have almost always had my own bathroom. My room is pretty basic, the walls are made of particle board and the ceiling is the tin roof. The room is more or less open air because walls don’t always reach to the ceiling so I can feel the wind shake everything. I am told that January and February are the “windy season”. All day and night there are huge gusts of wind that feel as if you are in a tornado. It really puts the Windy City to shame. Because of the wind it has been fairly mild here. Sometimes during the day it will be really hot but it cools down at night.
I have had a chance to do some really cool cultural things with my host family since I have been here. My first day I went to a “Quince Anos” party of a girl that was turning 15. As you may know, in the Latin culture the 15th birthday of a girl is a huge deal. This party had about 100 people at it. It had the formalities you would expect from a wedding, a mass, a special dress for the girl, dinner for everyone. It was impressive and very interesting. Also, on Sunday I went to a basketball game with Dayris and some of his friends. The game was between the Santa Teresa team and another local town. After the game we played some two on two and then some other game that was like “21”. I think I may have won, but I didn’t really understand the rules so I’m not sure. On Sunday night I went with Dayris out to the local bars. There are three restaurant/bars in Sta. Teresa. When I have a beer in me it’s much easier to understand and talk so it was a very fun night!
As far as the classes part of training, those are going well so far. I have Spanish class every morning from 8-12. In the afternoons we have different activities depending on the day. For next week, myself and the three other volunteers have to start a youth group and talk about some topic regarding health. It will be hard to organize and recruit youth, but I think it will be a great experience. I think I will get better at Spanish very quickly because there are only four of us in the class and we have class so often. Also, I talk a lot with my host family so hopefully I can improve quickly.
I guess those are the basics of my life so far. I’m sorry if this was written poorly, I’m already struggling transferring between English and Spanish. It looks like I’ll have internet access about once a week so I should be able to update this site weekly. If anyone has any questions for me, just email me!
Saturday, January 06, 2007
About to Leave...
Hi Everyone!
This is where I am hoping to post updates throughout my two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. I am still unsure how often I will have access to the internet to post on here but I am hoping that I will be able post at least twice a month.
My flight leaves from O'Hare at 9am on Monday so I am less than 48 hours away from leaving! I have been getting all of my things packed up and tying up all my loose ends. Its been a tiring process but my excitement about everything has kept me energized. I'll explain whats going to happen in the next couple of days because I have been getting a lot of questions.
On Monday I fly to DC to meet up with the rest of my Peace Corps group (about 20 other volunteers that are doing Community Health Education in Nicaragua) to have a two day orientation. While we are there we go over some paperwork, Peace Corps philosophy, and the basic details of getting to and living in Nicaragua. On January 10 our Peace Corps group will all fly together to Managua, Nicaragua where we will stay in a hotel for a couple of days and get adjusted to Nicaragua. After the brief stay in the hotel we will each move in with a host family. We will stay with our host family for the duration of our training (about 3 months). During training I will take classes on cultural adjustment, safety, the Spanish language and most importantly, how to be a health educator.
I also have had a lot of questions about what I will specifically be doing in Nicaragua so let me explain a bit. I am a Community Health Education Volunteer and will be working out of a Nicaraguan rural health clinic. My primary job will be to give talks to local community groups and schools about topics such as HIV prevention, clean water, general nutrition and sex education. Right now I know very few specifics about my job but I should find out more in the next week or so. I will not get an official assignment concerning where in Nicaragua I will living and working for the next 2 years until March.
Hopefully that information explains a little bit more about what I am doing. Any other questions anyone has just email me, although a lot of things are still up in the air. I hope to hear from all of you soon! I'll try to post again shortly after I arrive in Nicaragua...
This is where I am hoping to post updates throughout my two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua. I am still unsure how often I will have access to the internet to post on here but I am hoping that I will be able post at least twice a month.
My flight leaves from O'Hare at 9am on Monday so I am less than 48 hours away from leaving! I have been getting all of my things packed up and tying up all my loose ends. Its been a tiring process but my excitement about everything has kept me energized. I'll explain whats going to happen in the next couple of days because I have been getting a lot of questions.
On Monday I fly to DC to meet up with the rest of my Peace Corps group (about 20 other volunteers that are doing Community Health Education in Nicaragua) to have a two day orientation. While we are there we go over some paperwork, Peace Corps philosophy, and the basic details of getting to and living in Nicaragua. On January 10 our Peace Corps group will all fly together to Managua, Nicaragua where we will stay in a hotel for a couple of days and get adjusted to Nicaragua. After the brief stay in the hotel we will each move in with a host family. We will stay with our host family for the duration of our training (about 3 months). During training I will take classes on cultural adjustment, safety, the Spanish language and most importantly, how to be a health educator.
I also have had a lot of questions about what I will specifically be doing in Nicaragua so let me explain a bit. I am a Community Health Education Volunteer and will be working out of a Nicaraguan rural health clinic. My primary job will be to give talks to local community groups and schools about topics such as HIV prevention, clean water, general nutrition and sex education. Right now I know very few specifics about my job but I should find out more in the next week or so. I will not get an official assignment concerning where in Nicaragua I will living and working for the next 2 years until March.
Hopefully that information explains a little bit more about what I am doing. Any other questions anyone has just email me, although a lot of things are still up in the air. I hope to hear from all of you soon! I'll try to post again shortly after I arrive in Nicaragua...
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