Amoebas and hostels

So the title of this blog sounds misleading.  I didn't get an amoeba from the hostel I'm staying in.  I already had the amoeba before staying the hostel.  I don't know where I got sick from, but luckily it only lasted one day.  But I'm still going to take the pills they gave me anyways since apparently there are baby amoebas that stick around unless you treat them. 

So the week of the Spanish taller (workshop) is over.  It was actually good to have more lessons, because this time the focus was all grammar, which I really needed.  My host family was super nice told me that their house is my house if I ever come back to visit.  The last night I was there they took me out for pizza and we just sat in the restaurant chit chatting for a while.  The flat screen TV in the restaurant was playing music videos, including a medley of Lady Gaga videos, the new "We are the world" mix and the original one right after it, and part of a Backstreet Boys concert.  Interesting.  I had to explain to them what "poker face" means in Spanish.  But it was good times.  They're a young couple and they are super friendly.  We ended up talking about Carebears and Lionel Ritchie, but also about teen pregnancy. 

After that a group of us headed to the city of Matagalpa to spend the weekend in a really cool hostel.  I'm not supposed to go back to the city of Jinotega due to a potential closing of current presidential party festivities, so I'm here for the weekend just hanging out and getting lots of internet time.  They also have a big flat screen TV with cable so there's some good movies to watch.  Last night we went out for dinner in the pouring rain.  It had been dry all day and all of a sudden started pouring and within a half an hour the streets were completely flooded.  We didn't realize how much water had accumulated when we starting running out the hotel, so by the time we got to the restaurant we were soaking wet.  The streets and sidewalks were completely swamped with water, cars were practically floating away (not joking), and the streets were literal rivers that we had to wade across.  It was crazy.  I wish I had my camera with me to record the moment, but of course glad I didn't have it since I was soaking wet.  So now my only pair of closed toed shoes are wet for my journey back to site.  Good times. 


Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!!!

~Sarah~

Spanish taller in Diriamba

I'm currently back in my original training town of Diriamba, Carazo, for a Spanish workshop that all the aggies were required to attend since our final language interview after training put us at an intermediate mid speaking level.  They want us to continue improving, so we had to come back for more classes.  But before I could come down for the taller I was invited to a wedding!  One of my Nica friends in my community has been with her "marido", or the person she's sleeping with, for 16 years, and they have 4 kids, but they never got married.  So they had  a civil ceremony at their house and had people over for food and dancing.  I found out last Wednesday, three days before the wedding, and I had already made plans to head into Jinotega on Saturday to stay over so I could cut the trip to Managua in half.  Well, there was no way I was going to miss her wedding, so I ended up having to take the first bus out of Pantasma at 5am on Sunday morning so I could catch the earliest bus possible to Managua.  Well, once I got to Jinotega I found out that the next bus left over an hour later, so I really didn't have to take the earliest bus after all.  Lame.  But I met up with another volunteer and we had a good breakfast so I guess it was okay after all.

So the wedding: she had specifically told me I had to stay in Wale on Saturday so I could dance at her wedding.  How do you say no to that?  So I did stay, and it was fun.  The ceremony they had was really simple.  They just sat down at a table in the living room with two witnesses and the officiator (what do you call them?).  They were read some info about legally being married and the expectations involved, which are all about the same types of things they say at American weddings, that they must respect and love their partner for the rest of their lives, and stuff like that.  They each had to stand up and raise their right hand as they replied "yes" to the contract.  Then they were married!  Real simple, short and sweet.  They did give each other a little kiss at the end, but seemed embarrassed about it.  I made sure to hoot and holler at them to make it a little more fun, since most people there were super quiet.  Then the food was served, which was some delicious stewed beef with rice and a typical Nicaraguan salad of shredded cabbage, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  I felt kind of out of place just sitting around waiting for food, so I got up to help serve the plates of food to the rest of the party.

After eating, people were just kind of sitting around staring at each other while the music was blasting.  It was obvious people wanted to dance but no one wanted to be the first one on the dance floor, including me.  So we all just waited for something to happen.  Then the groom came over to me and asked me to dance, which was a nice surprise, so we hit the dance floor while everyone starting really gathering around to see the gringa dance with the groom.  I wasn't embarrassed, I was actually glad that someone did something to get the party started.  I did some funny moves and people were laughing and the mood started to change a bit, and after that people started getting up to dance.  Which basically meant that from that point on I was the hit of the dance party with all the men, who kept coming up after every single song to force their hand into my face to ask me to dance.  It was a repeat of the "Nica dance party" I attended a month or so back.  I couldn't sit down for one second without people bursting my personal bubble to ask me to dance.  It was actually really annoying and I had to leave and hide in the kitchen a few times to get a break.  Men are pushy here, and won't take no for an answer, at least when it comes to dancing.  Don't worry, I won't get myself into any dangerous situations, if that previous statement sounded a little scary.

I had asked Esmeralda what a proper wedding gift was here in Nica, and she said dishes for the woman, which was expected I guess.  We do that in the States too.  So I bought her a set of white tea cups and plates with red flowers on them.  She called me after the wedding to say thanks and that we would use them for Christmas Eve, which in Nica is a bigger day than Christmas Day, so she must have liked them.  So overall the wedding was fun and I'm glad I stayed to be there to dance at her wedding.

So on Sunday I took the bus into Managua to spend some time at the Peace Corps office.  We were all given reservations at the hotel there so the whole ag group stayed there and got to catch up a bit before starting the taller on Monday.  We had to take an early bus to Diriamba since classes started at 8am.  I arrived at my house right on time, but when I got there the lady of the house was on the phone, and I wasn't sure if it was the right house, so I just stood in the doorway like a dork until she would acknowledge me.    Then all of a sudden she handed me the phone and said it was for me, which totally caught me off guard, but made me realize that I had indeed found the right house.  The woman on the phone was the head language trainer telling me that Paige's home-stay family for the week had just had a death in the family, which was where we were going to have our classes, so we would have classes at my house instead.  They also had to scramble to find another family for her to stay with.  She ended up going back to her original family for training at the last minute.  So when Ryan, the other person in my group, showed up to my house, it had at that point been decided by our language facilitator that we would have more space having class at his house instead of mine, so after he walked half way across town to get to my house, we all walked back to his house, and are now having classes there.  So it was a crazy, confusing start to our first day of the taller, but it all figured itself out.  And the house that he's staying in is actually really nice, very American in it's layout, which is a weird sight.  The layout of the kitchen with the counter tops and the toaster oven and microwave and glass-paneled cabinets is not very Nica, but very American.  The living room also has a nice formal sitting area of couches around a coffee table that faces the TV, also very American in appearance.  Plus, the master bedroom has a big plasma TV, which is so not typical of the setup in Nicaragua.  She's got a nice place!

The house I'm currently staying in is much different than the past house.  I prefer the setup of the past house, to be honest.  I was super spoiled with my wireless internet, private bathroom and bedroom in the back of the private patio.  In my current house, the bedroom walls don't reach the ceiling, so there's absolutely no sound barrier to the rest of the house.  It has been raining a ton here in Diriamba for the past few months, which means it's hard to do laundry since nothing dries when it's rainy.  And I think the bedding they had to wash for me for this week didn't dry all the way, so my bed smells like mold and mildew, especially the pillows.  I couldn't sleep on them they're so bad, so I make-shifted a pillow from an extra blanket I found and my sweatshirt.  The one bathroom of the house shares a wall with my room, and also has no ceiling, so EVERYTHING can be heard while you're on the john, which is terrible when you have really bad diarrhea, like I do right now.  I got sick with something yesterday and woke up at 3am having to run to the bathroom more than once before getting up for the morning.  I was super nauseous and thought I was going to throw up, but never did, so I just felt terrible all morning lying in bed trying to fall asleep again.  Plus, I've got the sulfer-burps, which means I probably have giardia.  Yuck.  I called the med office and they had me drop off a stool sample at the local lab.  Trying to poop in a cup without crapping on your hand is a disturbing experience, let me just say, and virtually impossible as well.  So that was fun.  I still haven't heard back the results, however, so I guess tomorrow I'll see what kind of remedy of pills they'll subscribe me.

Well, I've gotta go eat some dinner with the new fam, so I'll cut this short here.  Love and miss you all!

~Sarah~

3 month meeting

October 20, 2011

So yesterday was my big 3 month meeting, where Felix, the Ag program specialist, came to listen and help clear up information for my community if needed. I had a ton of posters to show the results of each one of the meetings I've had up until this point. There were actually almost 30 people that showed up, so I was feeling pretty good about it. There were a ton of people I personally invited that didn't show, which was annoying, but let's just not think about that part. So I basically just presented the needs list the community has provided me through the various meetings we've had. The most common issues that came up include potable water, better overall health (improved diets, access to a health center), latrines, school improvements (better materials, better attendance, a pre-school center, better school health/meals), improved roads and bridges, access to credit, and reforestation (or also better use of firewood). So I presented some ideas I have of types of projects we can try to start, including building improved ovens and stoves that use less firewood and produce less smoke, starting family gardens to improve family health and variety of produce, latrine building projects, a school garden (which I've already started and hope to successfully maintain), and starting more community banks. The hardest part of the meeting was just getting people to talk. That's the toughest thing about meeting here, is the amount of pena, or shame or embarrassment that people have. They'd rather say nothing and get nothing done sometimes than speak up in front of a group and be heard aloud. Really frustrating when you're trying to get the opinion of your community about what types of projects are most important to them. But after a little bit the group warmed up and spoke up about some things. I made two future meetings with some ladies to give a presentation at their houses for the people that live near them about starting a community bank. Many people were interested in building stoves and ovens, after Felix stepped in to help me explain the logistics of it, so I got a list started for that. I had no one speak up about starting a reforestation group so we can start a tree nursery. That was frustrating because everyone stated how important that topic is to them. So why don't you want to help then!? They know what they want and what needs to change but getting them to show up and take action is the hard part.

After the meeting Felix congratulated me and said it looks like things are going well for me, and that my Spanish is really good. I know there's tons of improvements to be made in the Spanish department, but it felt nice hearing that from him. I walked him down the road to the little casita I'm thinking of moving into and had him take a look at it to give me his official Peace Corps say. We talked a bit with the woman who owns the house, and afterwords he told me it's a possibility if I wanted to go for it, but there's a lot to do, which I'm aware of. I need to put in a cement floor (not because I have to, but I want to), put in a latrine and a shower, somehow hook up a water source, buy or otherwise acquire a lavandero for washing clothes, hook up electricity (I'd really like a mini fridge), buy a gas stove for cooking, and some more furniture, like a new bed and larger table for eating and whatnot. Not to mention other odds and ends that I have provided for me now, like dishes. That all comes out to lots of cordobas. But luckily Peace Corps allows us to take out loans from future paychecks to help pay for larger housing issues. Some volunteers build their houses from the ground up, so you can imagine they'd need more money sooner. They say it's tough having less money later, but having your own place is totally worth it. So I'm going to start looking into prices for cement floors, a latrine, and a shower. Those three at least will have to be installed before I can move in. But I get ahead of myself; first I have to talk to the committee of FUMDEC, the womens group, because they actually have an agreement with the owner to use the house for meetings when necessary. But I don't think they'll have too much of an issue since in the end I'll be fixing up the place anyways, and they'd benefit more in the end when I leave them a nice updated house. So we'll see what they have to say.

I want to say thanks to all the awesome people who have been sending me packages filled with goodies. It means a lot to me, and I definitely use every ounce of every item that I get. Since I'm letting my hair grow out these days it's always in my face, but it's luckily at the length that I can tie it back. So hair-ties, the nice ones without the metal band, are a good package-stuffer if you feel the urge. Plus, I've been pinning my bangs off to the side so if you see any cute hair clips, the kind that just bend and snap open and closed, I could use some options for nicer occasions. The hair items sold here are usually really cheap quality. Also, “Airborne”, the citrus flavored cold-preventer pills, are a good idea, since it sucks being sick, and maybe, just maybe, if I could prevent a cold coming on, it would make my week so much better. These are just ideas, of course I don't expect anything because mailing packages can be expensive. But hey, if the holiday spirit is just bursting out and you can't resist sending me Halloween candy, I'll gladly accept! And don't forget: you MUST send me (e-mail is fine) pictures of your carved pumpkins! Me faltan las calabasas! (I'm lacking pumpkins!). I also want to mention that simply sending photos is super awesome. Like my friend Tina recently mentioned in an e-mail (who's currently in training in Peru), sending photos means you get displayed on the family and friends wall in our rooms, which is a good place to be! So they're super important :)

Well, next week starting on Monday is our 3 month language workshop for my whole Ag group. We're going back to the town of Diriamba, in the department of Carazo, to stay with the same families we stayed with during training, since the current group (environment) in training is going to be at their sites visits, so we get their rooms for the week. However, my training family apparently didn't get a trainee this time, most likely because this current training group is smaller than my group was. So I'll be staying with a new family for the week. But I'd like to go visit my old family again and check in with them, especially since I feel my Spanish has improved a bit. So we'll be in our same language groups as before, having class from 8-4pm Monday through Thursday. I'm sure we'll be making time to socialize with everyone again, since this is the first time we'll all be back together again. It'll be nice to see some faces again and catch up on how everyone's sites are treating them.

I hope everyone's doing well and staying healthy.  Sorry, but I've been lazy with the Spanish lessons lately.  Don't forget to check out my pictures: sarahinnica.shutterfly.com

~Sarita~

Parades and Tic-Tac-Toe

October 13, 2011

Today I woke up at 6 am, thinking I had a meeting with Wale 2 about the Community Bank at 10 am, since that was the time of the last two meetings.  But then I actually had the mind to check my planner to see that it was at 2pm.  So I took advantage of the extra time in the morning and did some laundry while Esmeralda was still making tortillas.  If I know she's busy in the kitchen, then she can't come out to the lavandero and stand there staring at me wordlessly telling me to hurry up and finish so she can do whatever she needs to do.  Obviously I've been extra irritated by her lately.  So I washed my whole full bag of clothes before eating breakfast.  Then I headed back to my room to go through my bank book again to see how I could improve my presentation for the meeting that day.  While reading the book I was getting really sleepy, so I decided to take a nap before it got too late to do so since I had the meeting at 2pm (it was only 10 am at that point, the earliest nap I've ever taken).  So I set my alarm and   laid in bed for a total of about 20 minutes before I got up to hear what all the racket was outside.  The marching band from the secondary school in Praderas was slowly heading up the carreterra and past my house.  I just then remembered that today was a school parade to celebrate Dia de la Raza (which is actually October 12, but they celebrated today), where the kids dress up in costumes depicting indios, or the native people of Central America, girls dressed as men (like vaqueros), queens, nurses, viejitos, which are little old people, and other random stuff that I didn't make the connection with.  I jumped out of bed, threw on a shirt, grabbed my camera and ran out to the front porch to see them march by.  All the teachers kept calling my name and telling me to join them, but I didn't feel dressed appropriately since I had my lazy house flip flops on and my hair was all messy from my recent siesta.  Plus I realized a little too late that I in my haste to get up see what the noise was all about, I had put my shirt on inside out.  But after they passed by I thought, why the hell wouldn't I join in the fun?  So I ran back inside to tidy up, fix my shirt, and put on a hat, the most important item since it was super bright and sunny, and I ran up the street to catch up with the procession.  I walked all through the parade taking pictures of the kids in their costumes, occasionally busting a move to the band's drum beat, which made the kids laugh and shyly look away.  I didn't go all out and really dance like I wanted to, however.  I'm still working up my comfort level with this community, and don't want to scare them away with my crazy American dancing style :) They have to warm up to me too. 

So the procession walked up the hill a bit and then turned around and headed back to the school, where there was food prepared representing typical cultural dishes.  I was invited to sit down in the room with the marching band and baton girls from the secondary school in Praderas.  I wondered after a bit where all the primary school kids went to since I knew them better than the kids I was sitting next to.  I was served a chicken and rice dish with a cabbage salad and tortillas, of course.  No one knew me or wanted to talk me, which is normal with the white girl, but it was even more awkward when the kids on either side of me actually picked up their chairs and moved to another part of the room to be closer to their friends.  Great, I thought, way to make me stick out even more.  So I finished my food and left the room to find out where all the younger kids went.  They were in the other classroom and had already started some performances, which made me mad that I had stayed in the other room for as long as I did.  They did some cultural dances and had some short speeches from the reinas (queens) of 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th grade.  Then there was a costume contest!  Yes! I thought, this is more and more like Halloween!  Kids dressing up, marching around town, costume contest.  It's as close as I'll get I suppose.  Then the teachers called me up to be one of the judges, which was fun.  I was taking pictures the whole time, of course.  We picked 4 girls out of the crowd that had the coolest outfits.  Three of them were indios, with leaves and plant skirts, flowers in their hair, corn husk hats and dresses, painted feathers.  All kinds of cool stuff.  The 4^th girl was the youngest and smallest, and was dressed up as a viejita, and was the cutest little old lady I've ever seen.  She was decked out with a cute little dress with an apron, white socks and shoes, granny glasses, white in her hair, a cane, and topped it off with a hump on her back.  I loved it.  And she had a super cute smile on her face the whole time.  Since there was only supposed to be 1^st through 3^rd place, and we had picked 4, they decided to have them dance to see who'd win.  They turned on some traditional Nicaraguan music and the girls all moved around a little bit, not really milking their audience like I felt they should have.  But, as I've mentioned before, there's a ton of pena here (shame), and public performances rarely crack a smile out of the performers.  It just goes against everything I've ever been taught or had the urge to do on stage, so it's hard for me to watch dancers here look like they're hating being on stage.  Why are you even there then?!, I always think.  Don't perform if you can't look happy doing it!  Okay, that was my 2 cents.  So the costume contestants were doing their dancing thing, and I couldn't decide who should win since they were all doing the same basic, simple move, with little to no emotion.  Except for the little viejita; she had a huge smile on her face and was actually making the effort to do a turn every once in a while.  So I made sure to point that out to my fellow judges, and they agreed.  So little old lady won first prize in the costume contest!  She deserved it, she was so adorable.  I loved the other costumes as well, they were earthy and colorful and they just made me happy. 

After the contest it was time for them to eat.  The dishes prepared included gallo pinto, nacatamales, and some type of soup that I didn't get a good look at since I had already eaten and wasn't served anything.  One of the girls came up to me and asked how much a picture was.  I asked if she wanted me to take a photo of her, and she said that she wanted to buy prints.  So I told her how much it costs to print colored photos in Jinotega, which is only 10 cordobas a page, and I usually put 4 pictures on one page.  So she told me she wanted 4 pictures of herself.  Okay, cool, I thought, I love taking pictures.  So  I took her to a scenic spot with pretty green hills in the background and took 4 pictures of her in slightly different poses, showing off her costume.  If I haven't already mentioned it, I need to now.  Nicaraguans NEVER smile in photos. They could be laughing and smiling and having a great time, but when you pull out a camera for a photo their face goes limp and they stare at the lens like they're bored as all hell.  I hate it!  Why would you want to look so lame and unhappy in a photo that lasts forever!  The worst is all gigantic 8x10 photos in everyone's house of the graduation ceremony of their kids from school.  Graduating from school, whether it's from preschool or secondary school, is a huge feat for some people since not all kids can get an education here.  I don't understand why the parents and graduees in every picture look like they're tired and have something better to do.  Your kid just graduated from high school!  Look happy for them like a proud parent should be!  So needless to say, all the kids are accustomed to donning that same bored face that their culture has taught them to make for pictures.  Every time I take a photo of someone I tell them they need to smile, and sometimes won't take the picture unless they crack a little smile, even if it doesn't have any teeth showing.  Just give me something, please.  Or I try to make them laugh, then snap the shot.  But some of these kids are tough, man.  They won't crack a smile for nothing. 

After the first little girl asked me to take her picture, others started gathering around and caught on that I was taking photos and going to print them, so I ended up taking pictures for about 4 different groups of people who wanted prints and said they would pay for them.  Only one mom paid me up front, the others said they'd pay me when I come back with the prints.  Which is fine, as long as I don't get taken advantage of.  So this got me thinking, I could probably do some kind of fundraising activity taking family pictures for people.  I could charge a little extra for the prints and use the money for some type of project.  I'll see how these first few families like the photos I print for them and then go from there. 

After the Dia de la Raza activities, I had to hurry back home to bathe and then catch the bus that takes me up the hill to the community of Wale 2.  The bus dropped me off right on time, 2pm sharp, at the big cement bus stop that they use as their meeting point.  Not a soul was there, except for the workers who have been slowly but steadily cobblestoning the carreterra.  Not a surprise, since no one's ever on time to meetings, so I sat down and waited about 15 minutes.  The last meeting I had people showed up at a decent time, and I've had good attendance with the last two meeings with Wale 2, so I started to get conderned that this was the failure meeting.  Luckily I have the phone number of one of the guys who helped me set up my first meeting with them, so I called him to ask if he knew there was a meeting today and where everyone was.  He of course said he didn't know about it, which means all 19 people from the previous meeting failed to pass along the message about the next one.  So frustrating.  But he ended up coming over and meeting with me.  Then a few minutes later the community leader showed up to, who hasn't come to any of the other meetings I've had there, and I've heard he doesn't like coming to meetings anyways.  So I just spent about a half hour talking with them about starting a community bank and the steps we would have to take to get there.  It was hard talking with them because they hadn't yet seen my presentation explaining what a bank is and how they do work, and they kept comparing it to other cooperative situations where the initial funds for loans are provided by an outside organization.  That's not at all what a community bank would do, and I was trying to explain that to them, but they just seemed super pessimistic about it.  So I felt extra frustrated that used my time and paid for the bus ride up there and back when no one even showed up, and the ones that did were hard to convince.  In the end I asked the one who had helped me set up the first meeting if he could please talk with the community about setting up another meeting to discuss this idea of bank.  He said he would and that they will come, but seeing is believing.  So even though that meeting felt like a failure, at least I got the community leader to come out and see me and listen for a  little bit.  So much for the awesome attendance at meetings from Wale 2.  They totally got me all excited and led me on with the first two meetings.  I don't know what I did wrong for this last one.  I mean, they tell me what days and times work for them, so they should be there, right?  It's just a never-ending battle. 

Then to top off the day, my attempt to make a flavorful dinner for the family since Esmeralda is out of town for two nights failed. I had just bought some produce from the grocery store in Jinotega the day before, including globe grapes, broccoli, apples, and celery, all things I can't get in Praderas.  My plan was to use the celery in a soup.  It started off bad when I asked for help starting the leña fire.  The last time I attempted to start a fire on my own the wood just never ignited, no matter how much paper and cardboard and plastic I threw in there.  The youngest brother kept trying to help get it going, using a big piece of thick plastic from an old patio chair to start the fire.  They use plastic here to start fires since the melted plastic sticks to the wood and gets it going.  But the wood just took forever to ignite.  So this time I just asked them to start it for me, I wasn't even going to try.   And sure enough, the same thing happened; no matter how much fuel we put in there the wood just wouldn't catch.  So it took like an hour just to get the flames going to heat the water in the pot.  I made a mock beef stew using beef boulion flavor for the broth and but I had no meat.  So it had only potatoes, onions, squash, the celery I bought just for the occation, some pasta to bulk it up, and a ton of other spices I always throw in for flavor.  Turns out you really need the beef for a good beef stew flavor.  Not like that surprised me, but in the end I realized I must have not put in enough beef flavor for the amount of water, because no matter what other spices I poured in, it just tasted thin and lacked flavor.  I toasted some tortillas to go with it, but that just seemed to make it blander.  Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

October 14, 2011

Since there was left over soup from the night before, I heated it up for breakfast.  It tasted even worse than it did last night!  I'm so bummed that I had to dump it out and waste the food.  It tasted sour, like maybe the celery sitting out all night in the pot had just enough time and temperature (not having a fridge that's plugged in overnight is really annoying) to turn from bad to worse.  At least I think it's the celery.  That's what my instinct told me when I first tasted it.  So I told Don Pantaleon don't bother trying the soup again, it was worse than it was last night.  He asked if I had peeled the celery.  What? I thought, no I've never peeled celery before putting it in a soup before.  He said he doesn't have much experience with celery, but the few times he's had it it's tasted different when peeled.  So I either had bought a bad batch of celery from the store that would have tasted bad anyways, or I just need to peel it next time first.  I've never had to do that before and it's tasted just fine, so I'm confused and disappointed that I had to throw out a pot of food.  The pig will get a little something new in her meal today. 

I forgot to mention that I had my first attempted robbery experience.  I was in Jinotega getting on the last bus of the day to take me back to Pantasma.  Since it's the last one people always crowd the door as it's pulling in and try to shove their way onto the bus so they can try and get a seat.  I was amongst the crowd trying to shove my way on, with my backpack on and two shoulder bags, one full of mail and one full of groceries.  I felt an oddly extra amount of pressure on my backpack, like someone was pushing at me harder than usual to get on the bus.  I turned to look to make sure it wasn't someone messing with my backpack, but sure enough, it was.  This guy had his hands on my bag and was franticly trying to unzip the second pocket, the one that holds my wallet and my camera.  I don't remember what I said first, I think it was “Hey!”, and turned around and shoved him away from me and my bag, yelling in Spanish “what are you doing!”.  I could see then that he had already opened the first little pocket on the front of the bag and had worked his way up to the second one, but I had luckily turned around in time to stop him before he could reach in a take my wallet that was sitting so nicely right on top.  I looked at his hands, which were empty, and angrily asked him what he had that was mine, and he just backed off with his hands in the air telling me he had nothing.  When I got on the bus and got my seat I checked everything to make sure he really didn't get anything, and he didn't.  Apparently he didn't think my ziplock baggie of med items and toilet paper that's in the front pocket is worth stealing.  What pissed me off the most though is that no one said anything while this was happening.  The crowd of people getting on the bus with me just watched him do it without any sense of good samaritanism to tell me he was trying to steal my stuff.  That's just not the way here.  People don't care, or they just look the other way and pretend they don´t see it.  I'd like to think that if that happened to me in the States, someone would say something if they saw that happening.  Not the case here.  Well, I learned my lesson and will be putting my wallet deeper in my bag from now on, and will take my bag off and hold it in front of me in crowded situations.  You can never be too cautious sometimes.  I was lucky this time, at least. 

October 16, 2011

Today's the first day I've spend almost the entire morning in bed.  I have a cold that was at it's worst yesterday, I think, but today I woke up extra tired.  I slept in til almost 8am, which is super late here, got up to go to the bathroom, then laid back in bed all morning and finished reading my book that I had stayed up late last night reading (The Help, which was sooooo good!).  This is the first real sickness I've had here in my site so far.  Runny nose, congestion, and a nasty, phlegmy cough.  But it already feels like it's on it's way out, so that's a relief.  I'm hoping to be nice and healthy for my big meeting on Wednesday.  It's the date of the 3 month community meeting where I'm supposed to present the results of the meetings I've had during these first few months getting to know my community and finding out their problems and needs so I can figure out what types of projects we can do here. Felix, the Ag Specialist for Peace Corps, will be coming to listen to my presentation, so that makes me extra nervous.  He's a great, super nice guy, but he's kinda like a supervisor so it's always intimidating.  Plus, we're required to have the presence of both our community counterpart and our INTA counterpart to help us deliver the info, and I don't know if my INTA counterpart can make it.  I won't know until the day of since he has to check his work schedule.  I'm so frustrated because I told him probably a month ago about the date of this meeting, and then reminded him a few weeks later, and he acted like he hadn't ever heard about it.  Other than missing a few meetings here and there, he's been very willing to work with both me and Paul, the other volunteer in my area, so I can't complain too much about it.  We'll just have to wait and see if he shows on Wednesday. 

The last English class I taught went well, better this time than the second class.  I was teaching about plural nouns and the rules, such as if the word ends in a consonant -y, you change the -y to -i and add -es (baby=babies).  We played tic-tac-toe; they split into two teams, and they had to change the word in the square from singular to plural, but if they were wrong the other team could steal and take the square.  They loved it.  It was fun because they hadn't ever played this game before, so they had to learn the tricks, and they got really competitive and started yelling and screaming if the other team got it wrong so they could steal the square.  It was good fun.  They ended up getting so good at it that after the 6^th round there were all ties.  Then after class one of the older students invited me over to eat one of his mom's freshly cooked nacatamales.  It was good to get invited into their house since they are the direct neighbors to the little casita I'm looking into, so I'd like to get to know them better and get on their good side.  It's the second nacatamal she's given me for free (she sells them at 15 cordobas each, less than $1), so I told her I'd print out some pictures of her kids for her from the Dia de la Raza parade in exchange.  I hope she likes them.  I hope she likes me. 

The presidential election is about 3 weeks away, which means Peace Corps is getting tighter on security.  We're prohibited from traveling a week before the election (Nov. 6th) until a month after the election, for our safety in case the country gets crazy when the results are announced.  There have been some protests in the nearby town of Praderas the past couple of weeks, where people have been putting up blockades to stop the flow of traffic in or out of the town.  So lines of buses, trucks, and motorcycles just have to sit and wait for hours until the protest stops.  I had to walk home from Praderas the other day since the buses couldn't pass through, but luckily my house is close so it's not a problem for me.  They're protesting not receiving their cedula, which is like a social security number in this country.  You can't vote without a cedula, and the government has so conveniently been providing cedulas to only the members of the Sandinista party, preventing non-Sandinistas from receiving theirs.  That means they can't vote.  Plus, the election age has been dropped to 14 years old, allowing a ton more people to vote this time around, but only if you have a cedula.  The fear and anger of election fraud by the current government is a huge one, so we're all anxiously waiting to see what the results of this election will be and whether or not the country will go crazy over it.  So needless to say, Peace Corps has been working hard to make sure they have various ways to get a hold of us if they need to and that we know to stay safe and out of trouble.  Plus, the rainy weather in Managua has been a huge safety issue. It hasn't rained too hard in my area of Jinotega, but Managua and other areas of the country are being hit hard by the storms, flooding towns, making bridges impassable.  We're currently in a “stand-fast” mode, where we're not supposed to move from our current location.  So volunteers that were out of their sites for the day have to stay there until the stand-fast is released.  I'm fine in Wale, so it's weird thinking that there's others that can't get home since the bridge is flooded, or something like that.  Overall I feel super safe, and right now my biggest concern is preparing for the meeting and getting invitations printed and passed out to my community before Wednesday.  Wish me luck!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures in this blog, I'm using an ordinary internet cafe computer with lousy signal and I don't have the patience to wait for them to load.  You can always check out my Shutterfly page for more pics!  sarahinnica.shutterfly.com

Community banks and baseball games

October 8, 2011

Yesterday I had my first Community Bank charla with Wale 2, the community up the hill, where I gave a presentation on what a community bank is and how they could benefit from it. It's basically a way for them to be able to save money while also having access to loans. The loans are repaid with interest which increase the funds in the bank over time, and at the end of the cycle (usually one year) all the money is equally divided amongst the members. They can use it for income generating activities, like to start a small business or increase their swine production for example. So I gave my little talk and they all seemed really interested and ready to start a bank. The problem is that many people were missing from the meeting who had initially expressed interest in starting a bank, so I decided to do one more meeting where I would do the same presentation for a new group of people. But I don't know if I will get a new group of people for the next meeting. I had 19 show up yesterday, which is a great turn out considering I usually get less than 10 people for my Wale 1 meetings. So I hope to have more new faces next week for the second presentation so we can get this thing started!

I'm also working on improving the current bank in my community Wale 1. We have a meeting this Sunday, and I went around to everyone's houses personally to make sure they know to come for the meeting so we can start discussing how to improve the bank. The main problem is that less than half of the members actually come to meetings, which is pretty normal around here for any “organized” group. And for a bank to be successful it's members need to be present for each meeting so that money can be properly collected and saved and so they can actually take out loans! You can't save your money or take out a loan if you're not present! So I'm working on that. Which means I need to work on my presentation skills so I actually come across like I know what I'm talking about. It seems sad that I have to act like a saleswoman and “sell” the idea of a properly run community bank, like it's really a trick and I have to convince them it's good for them, but really, it is something that could be good for them if they used it properly.

The garden still has yet to be planted! Last Tuesday I was supposed to meet with Maria Elena who was going to help me teach the school kids plant the seeds properly, but when I got there one of her daughters told me that her mom had to go to Jinotega and wouldn't be there to plant with me. So now it's to the point that I just need to get some seeds in the ground. The soil's ready, and I'm sick of waiting for others to help me get the job done. Don Pantaleon, my host dad, told me he could come plant with me anytime during the week, so I'm going to take him up on his offer so I can at least get this thing started. It's frustrating because these are all signs of how the rest of the garden is going to be. If I can't get help from parents and other adults to show up on time and get things started, why would I expect the rest of the process to go smoothly? I guess I figured that once the fence was built and the seeds were planted that it would be up to me and the students to keep the garden running since they'd be using class time to keep up the garden and wouldn't have the excuse of not showing up because they're already there. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes. I hope they're interested in seeing the garden grow and maintaining it's progress. Only time will tell.

This past week I had the good fortune of acquiring some new American movies on my computer to watch in my free time. Paul, the volunteer who lives in Pantasma with me, is very familiar with the ways of the computer, unlike me, and has been sprucing up mine for me. He's uploaded a media player so I can watch movies, given me a new word processing program since the trial version of Microsoft Word I was using will be running out soon, and gave me a whole bunch of movies to watch! Including the neweset Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean movies. I was beside myself with joy. So needless to say, I locked myself up in my room two nights in a row, laid in bed with my computer on my stomach and my earphones on high, and gave in to my guilty American pleasure of watching the newest action movie with my box of Sour Patch Kids close at hand (thanks for the candy Mom!). As excited as I was to get my mind away from community meetings and beans and tortillas, I must say it was a weird experience letting my consciousness wander off into magical movie land and have to come back again to my little room in Nicaragua. Usually after a movie in the States I walk out of the theater, use the restroom with automatic flushing toilets and no-touch faucets with running water, get back into my personal car that I myself drove there, and drive myself home to a house where I can take a hot shower and microwave my dinner (if there's leftovers, for example). Well, after my movie here in Nicaragua, I turned my computer off, climbed out of my mosquito net, grabbed my roll of toilet paper to take with me to the latrine in the backyard where I have to dodge the loose-running pig on the way and swat the flies off my butt cheeks once I'm in there, then go to the lavandero to pour water over my hands with a bowl to wash them, then go into the kitchen and heat up a tortilla to eat with my gallo pinto and cuajada for dinner (if you need an explanation, gallo pinto is a typical food of mixed rice and beans, and cuajada is literally “curdled milk”, or a type of cheese that's super common here). So for my movie experience here in my community, and not in the big theater in the big mall in Managua, I had a little bit of a reflective moment. It was kind of sad and depressing, because it really sunk in that the place I'm currently in is very different than the place I'm accustomed to and comfortable with (which made me all of a sudden really miss home), but also eye-opening, as you can imagine, because it forces me to see the reality of my situation and the new lifestyle I've taken on. So I've decided to take it easy on the American movies, and watch one every so often, like once every few weeks or once a month, instead of getting all crazily-eager for that taste of home and watching one every night before bed. I've also been reading books sent from home too, which is a good way to mentally get away, but less shocking than a movie, apparently, for me. I think it's due to the fact that while reading the rest of my senses (especially hearing) are still in Nicaragua, and I don't really go too far away into my mind. During a movie, I have my headphones in and am completely submerged in the music of the film, the actors speaking English that I can clearly understand without thinking, and the crazy sound-effects that inevitably come with action movies that you just don't hear in a rural community in Nicaragua. Not to mention visuals of colossal alien robot battles and hot effeminate pirates that you just don't see here either. I was far, far away in movie land and found it hard to come back to reality. Which makes me think, is the life I've left behind already a shock for my now-ruralized Nicaraguan senses? Returned volunteers say it's hard coming home after service to an environment you once lived in after living in a quiet, less populated, less technology-driven society. Something as simple as the first visit to a fully stocked grocery store can force people to tears trying to make a decision of what to buy or which brand to choose. Or the hectic hustle and bustle of traffic in the morning on the way to work can trigger a mini panic attack. Have I already started showing signs of integration? Honestly I'm not sure, but for now I'm going to have to take it easy on the movies.

October 10, 2011

Today I got to do more “agriculture” stuff. The malanga seeds were finally delivered to our house for Esmeralda's greenhouse. She's part of a women's project that is doing experimental malanga planting to see how they grow best in different situations. So I got up at 5:30, really because I had terrible diarrhea and physically couldn't stay in bed any longer, so I just stayed up after going to the bathroom. I went to the semillero because I heard the corn which was laid out to dry moving around. It was a neighbor kid Lupo putting the corn into sacks, making room for the seeds to be planted. I took out my box of tomato plants to put out in the sunlight, then asked if he wanted help. I don't know what is answer was, he just kind of mumbled something, but I started helping him anyways. After scooping all the corn into sacks I went out front to see what the rest of the guys were doing. They were chopping down some trees in the front yard and making platforms to hold the screens, or the corn driers. After they put all the corn back out in the sun to dry (which bugged me, why couldn't we have just picked up the screens and moved them directly to their new spot instead of having to go through the trouble of sacking them all?), we started cleaning the malanga seeds. Really, they're like little baby plants, or bulbs. I watched as Don Pantaleon and Lupo put them in the fungicidal liquid and helped spread them out to drain on a screen. Then we started separating them into 3 sizes. Then he had me count them, which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. There were about 400-500 of each size, and I counted them in groups of 20 to make 100. But then later Don Pantaleon lost the piece of cardboard he had written the numbers on and had to ask me what they were again. I remembered each one pretty well, but I noticed he wrote down the wrong number for the medium sized ones even though I told him more than once it was different. He obviously disagreed with me. Next we spent pretty much the entire day putting the bulbs into plastic tubes filled with dirt. Then those were transported into the semillero. I felt a little weird helping out knowing that the two other guys who were there were being paid to work, so I was basically free labor. I'm okay with that, of course, because I want to learn and actually do something, but I hoped I wasn't taking their work away from them. They actually probably appreciated the help after all since that means they work less and still get paid. 

It started pouring down rain right around noon, so I took a break and made some lunch for myself. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a green apple, and a vanilla pudding cup, all “specialty” items I have to buy in the grocery store in Jinotega. I felt like I was in elementary school again, minus the brown paper bag and Capri Sun, but it tasted great. The guys kept working throughout the rain, and I felt no need to help them since there were three of them filling dirt cups. There wasn't much room for me, literally and socially, seeing as they were chit-chatting it up and would probably stop once I came back into the picture. Working around the guys is very quiet work. They don't talk to me and I don't know how to talk to them. After the rain died down a bit I went out to help again, seeing as some of them were now working inside the semillero and there were still bulbs to be put in tubes. It was boring work and a long day of planting, but I'm glad I was able to do something.

This past Sunday was a Wale baseball game against Malecon. I asked Jorling, one of my brothers who's on the team, if they wanted their individual pictures taken before the game since they had mentioned it more than once before. Once the team saw that I brought my camera to all the games word got around that maybe I could take posed pictures of them like baseball cards, and they could get prints. My pleasure, I thought, sounds like fun! So he said yes, and that I should show up at 9am on the dot to get the pictures done before they started the game around 9:30. So I did. I brought my stool to sit on like the last game, the dork that I am (sometimes sitting on a rock for two hours hurts) and I had my camera with me and ready like normal. I walked up to Jorling to ask who wanted pictures taken, and he pointed out a few guys. But really we just stood there watching everyone warm up. I got impatient but was also shy about walking up to them to tell them I was ready to do the photos since they were all obviously busy warming up for the game. But it was also frustrating because no one approached me about it or seemed to take it seriously. When a couple of them came up to ask me if I was taking pictures, I said yes, that I was ready, and that they could pick the photo they liked and that I would print it for them, but they had to pay for the prints. Then they just walked off and continue practicing, while I kept waiting. They knew from the get go that they'd have to pay for the prints, so I knew this wasn't new information for them. I eventually just sat down and the game started, so it was hopeless. I don't know if they thought I was going to try and round them all up or if they didn't want photos after all, but they didn't get them after all. I was frustrated and annoyed. I'm still trying to figure out how to constructively communicate with Nicaraguans. It's a daily battle.

Not to mention that the baseball games are kind of awkward for me anyways. I sit on my stool and try watch the game and figure out what all the guys are saying. They're typical baseball game yells and shouts to the other team, where they tease each other or call names and try to egg each other on, but I don't understand anything they're saying so I just kind of sit and watch, feeling left out of everything because of the language barrier. And being one of the few females present on a field full of machismo guys doesn't help either. That would be annoying in the States! Plus, towards the end of the game I went over to one of the neighbor women to buy and eat one of her delicious rolled tacos, and then commenced to spill half the contents of my Tang fresno all over the front of my shirt and lap when the bag slipped in my hands. I felt like such an idiot. And no one even laughed with me, that's the worst part. It's like they were embarrassed for me and just tried to ignore it. So I left after the first game, all by myself, just like I arrived. I felt so lame and defeated. It definitely wasn't a good day.

On with more bad news! The kitten is unfortunately no longer. He mysteriously disappeared after I came back from a day in Jinotega. Esmeralda told me that he was found dead first thing in the morning so they took him out to bury him. I hate to think it, but I don't believe her. I know that they didn't like that cat and feel like they took advantage of me being gone from the house to give him to someone else or otherwise get rid of him. I wouldn't put it past them, since she had already mentioned to me that she wanted to give him away since he was such a bother. Which he was, honestly. He was one of those strong personality types that had a loud voice and liked to use it. But I love cats with personality, so he grew on me with ease. I was the only one who ever gave him any positive attention, and I would sneak better table scraps to him when I could, like little pieces of meat instead of just rice and tortillas like he would normally get. I also gave him the tuna juice from the can after making a tuna sandwich, a true feast for any cat indeed! So the family knew I spoiled him and let him sit in my lap and things of that nature. They probably didn't want me to be angry at them for giving him away, so they did it when I wasn't home. Or, honestly, he could have died, he was a pretty skinny, sickly little thing. I'll never know for sure.

However, the same day I came back and heard the bad news about the kitten, the house had a new member from the canine department. It was a black male puppy, one of the brothers of the female that had been at the house previously but was returned to mature for another month. So we lost a cat and gained a dog. He's pretty cute and playful, but cats have always had a special place in my heart, so there's just no comparison. Unfortunately you won't get to see what he looks like, because every time I post of photo of the new pet, they die. So sorry folks, you'll have to wait til the dog is mature to see him; don't want to jinx this one!

Last Saturday was my second English class. It started off slow and boring, and I was afraid that the fun we had the first class playing Hangman had worn off already. But really, if you just stand there in front of the class writing greetings on the board and having them repeat them, it is boring. The class didn't pick up until I started having them come to the board to play a version of Pictionary, where they had to draw a picture of something and ask “What's this?”, and the class had to answer “That's a _____”. We were working with the adjective-noun order, like blue pencil and red notebook, because in Spanish they say the adjective after noun. Mostly I just want them to speak. There's so much “pena” here, or shame. People absolutely hate talking aloud in class or answering when called on. The kids just sit there and avoid eye contact with me even when I blatantly call on them to answer a question. That's actually worse when I call them out individually. But usually by the end of class I have a small group of people who have shaken off their shyness a little and are eager to come to the board to draw or write something. The key to get them to stay interested and have fun is to play games with the lessons. Anything will do, as long as it's interactive. So I have to get creative. 

October 12, 2011

So yesterday the school garden was finally planted!!! I'm so relieved to get that one huge step out of the way. Don Pantaleon went with me to the school and we planted carrot, onion, tomato, cabbage, beet, cucumber, and 2 types of squash seeds with the kids. I didn't even have to go to the classrooms to gather kids, they all started accumulating around the garden to see what we were doing and then all came in with their hands stretched up to my face to get a handful of seeds. They all seemed to have fun planting them, but we'll see how the work goes from here on out. In 5 days we're supposed to check if the seeds have germinated, then transplant some of them later once they've grown a bit (the cabbage, beet, and tomato). Like I said, what a relief to finally get this part done, but the real work is ahead of me. 

I haven't forgotten it's Halloween time back home, so don't forget to send me pics of your Halloween activities!  Costumes, pumpkins, parties, whatever.  I love it and hate that I'm missing it.  I especially love the 50% off day-after-Halloween sale at Spirit Halloween stores.  Too much fun stuff.  

I hope everyone's doing well and staying healthy.  Keep sending me update e-mails so I know how you're all doing!  

~Sarah~

Wale 2 and English class

Yesterday was a good day.  I had a meeting to introduce myself to the community of Wale 2, since there's technically 3 parts of Wale.  I took a bus up the hill about 10 minutes with Don Pedro to meet with a group that I figured would be maybe 5 or 6 people who remembered to show up. Turns out 26 people showed up!  They don't have a communal meeting place, so they all gather around the bus stop.  Which means there was no place to tape up my posters of information about Peace Corps and what I'm doing here.  So two guys held my posters for me, blowing in the wind, while I gave a quick presentation about Peace Corps in Nicaragua.  Then afterwards we had an open discussion about the needs they had in their part of the community.  Potable water is always top on the list.  Then latrines, a 'casa comunal' where they can have meetings, and other things like accessibility to credit and loans.  So I set up a meeting to discuss starting a community bank and plan to attend the next FUMDEC women's group meeting for that sector.  Overall the meeting went really well,  I had a great turnout, people listened, and seemed really interested in what I was doing there.  But that's just the first step.  Meetings can be easy if people seem interested; the real deal is when people actually show up to work on something or work on a project.  We'll see. 

Then in the afternoon was my first English class.  I wasn't sure how many people would show up and what ages they would be.  I've had interest from all ages (not from people older than 40 or so since they don't really expect to get a job using English), but didn't know if the adults would show up considering they knew how many kids were interested.  The turnout was about 20 or so young adults and kids, including one of the school teachers.  I started out with some basic classroom rules in English and Spanish, like raise your hand to speak, no cell phones, and show up on time to class.  Believe it or not most of them showed up within 15 minutes of the start of class. I started out with the alphabet and we ended up playing hangman for an hour and a half, them spelling out the words in English and me giving them new vocab words.  It was loads of fun for me and for them, and overall went really well. 

I'll keep you posted on how the rest of the classes go!  Plus the garden, this Tuesday we're planning on actually planting the seeds!  Yay! 

More later. . .

~Sarah~