Christmas and Ovens

December 24, 2011

Happy Christmas Eve.  It's raining today and I'm just kind of spending the morning reading a book and updating my blog.  My host family isn't really doing anything today, no big feast that I know of, no epic journey to the church in the evening and food and festivities until after midnight.  So I'm spending the morning to myself just hanging out.  This afternoon I'll head down the road for a birthday party/Christmas Eve party at another family's house, so hopefully that gets me in the Christmas spirit.  As for tomorrow, their are two baptisms I'm invited to but that's all.  No one does anything big on the 25^th like we do in the States. 

Yesterday I spent the day trying to help make nacatamales at a neighbor's house, but mostly I just sit and watch because they already have their solid routine down and I feel like it would be awkward to try to adjust the order of things.  So she did the prepping and cooking and I helped tie the nacatamales with string.  At least I get to help eat them later.  I helped her make a pizza earlier in the month and did a lot of the prep for that, so I don't feel out of place all the time.  And a few days ago I helped make a carrot cake and sugar cookies with a different neighbor who already had an improved oven built for her when the last volunteer lived here.  The desserts didn't turn out as yummy as I hoped they would.  I think most all flour and margarine baked products here end up tasting the same, I don't know how to alter the recipes enough to make them taste like they would back home.  I'll have to attempt to bake with real butter when I can find it, I think that would help, but margarine is just so commonly available here and everyone uses that instead.  

The school year ended on December 9^th and the local primary school had their graduation ceremony for the pre-schoolers and 6^th graders.  I of course had my camera and was taking pictures, which turned into everyone and their mother (no joke!) coming up to me and asking to take pictures for them.  I've made the mistake of taking pictures for people and printing them in Jinotega when I go to town, so now everyone thinks I'm the local photographer and asks me to come to every birthday and graduation party to take pictures for them.  I told them all they have to pay me ahead of time so I can afford to print them when I go into town, so now I have about a hundred pictures to print, all pre-paid, the next time I go into Jinotega.  The problem is, when I last went to Jinotega, the color printer at the photocopy place I usually go to is broken and being repaired.  So now I have to wait until it's fixed, which could take who knows how long, meanwhile having to explain to everyone I run into why I haven't been able to print their photos yet.  And there aren't many other options in town to print color photos.  I will have to just tell people 'no' next time when 20 of them approach me about taking “just one more photo” of their baby in her best dress.  At this one graduation party a girl (yes, girl, like teenager) had just had her baby and asked if I could take a picture of her.  I said sure, so we walked outside and I took a couple photos, and that turned into another girl asking if I'd take of picture of her.  Next thing I know there's a line of people coming out of the house one by one with their kids in tow, frantically slapping on the fanciest dress they could find to get a quick photo while I was there doing it.  I kept telling people, “okay, this is the last one, NO MORE! I have too many photos I still need to print for other people!”  But then one more person would approach me and ask for “just one more”, and if I told them yes then I would have to tell the person after them yes too, and it got so frustrating I just had to be rude and tell them I wouldn't take any more photos for anyone, sorry.  They all look so disappointed that I took photos for other people but wouldn't for them.  I've learned my lesson and will now just have to tell people that I don't have my camera with me.  It's great that I can take pictures for the families I know sometimes, but I'm not here in Nicaragua to be Wale's personal family photographer, okay? 

On the subject of the school garden, it is growing and producing, but since there's no one really tending to it very closely (my fault for not figuring that out before school ended), some of the plants are dying off without having been watered in weeks.  But it has been raining lately, so the tomatoes, which are still doing really well, are hopefully going to continue to do well.  Last week I picked all the cucumbers that had grown, most into small ball shapes or C's since they weren't properly cared for, and also pulled out the radishes and beets.  Only one beet made it to a size smaller than a ping-pong ball, and the radishes barely looked like anything, but I handed out the vegetables that I could to the families that  helped me get the garden started.  Since school's out I can't give the harvest to the school for food, so I figured the families would appreciate a cucumber or two.  For the next garden I will attempt to be tougher and create and enforce more organization with the students so they do most of the work and maybe actually care about the garden.

I build my first improved oven at a neighbor's house on the 15^th.  Paul came and helped along with two other volunteers Alicia (Ag from my training group) and Lenka (Health from a previous group).  We started a little late, like at 10am, since we were waiting for their buses to come in, so Alicia and Lenka couldn't stay to the end to finish the oven since they had to catch their buses home, but Paul stayed and helped me finish it.  It went pretty well considering Paul and I were the only ones who had ever made one previously during tech week in training.  I remembered more than I thought I would.  Some of the bricks were a little off their measurements, but I think it looked good in the end and as far as I know is still standing.  Since we were running out of time towards the end of the day we didn't put a final coat of mud all over the whole thing, but the woman who we made the oven for wants to put a nice white layer of mud on it like most of the women do here to their ovens and stoves to have a pretty finished look.  So that's left for her to do.  Next week I have two more ovens to build.  I was supposed to have done one last Thursday, but on my way to the owner's house I ran into him and found out that they didn't make the mesa for the oven to sit on like he said they would.  His worker was unavailable that day apparently, and he didn't tell me, which was annoying because what if I had more volunteers coming from out of site to help me?  They would have left their site and paid for the bus trip and back for nothing.  Of course we could have hung out for the day, but the point was to build an oven.  Luckily no one was able to help me that day anyways and I was expecting to make the oven with the owner and his worker, but I made sure he knew that he needed to contact me when his plans changed in the future.  So hopefully this next week the mesas get made by the next two families and I can make both ovens. 

Also this past week, I bought 12 bags of cement to start the rest of the construction on my new house.  I got a quote finally from a local worker who says he can do the rest of the work for me, and he told me he could start setting the cement floor in the kitchen today (yeah, working on Christmas Eve or even Christmas doesn't really phase anyone here).  But, I haven't heard from him yet and it's already midday, so who knows when he's actually going to get started.  Santos, the owner of the house, is due to come into town today from his job, and he told me last week before he left that he has plans to get the bathroom installed (cement floor, toilet, and tiles—yeah he's fancy and wants to put tiles in the bathroom!) during his weekend here for Christmas.  Yeah, again, we'll see about that.  As for moving into this house, it definitely won't be until January or (I'm dreading) even later, depending on the construction and someone from Peace Corps making the trip up here to give the house one final official safety check before I relocate.  On some good news though, the woman who I baked sugar cookies with last week has a 3 burner stove (the table top kind) and gas cylinder she's not using due to high gas prices that she said she'd lend me for the rest of the time I'm here.  So that's awesome and will save me some cords for sure.  That way I can put the money that I was going to buy the stove with toward a table for the kitchen or a small fridge.  Every little bit helps! 

December 28, 2011

So on Christmas my host mom did end up making a special dinner of gallina rellena, which is a pork stuffed chicken, but she never filled me in on those plans and I had already planned go to a neighbor’s house for a baptism and the party afterwards.  I went with them to the Catholic church in Praderas for mass, which was an hour long and of course all in Spanish, so it was kinda boring, but the baptism was nice to experience and I’m glad I went to the church finally to at least see what is looks like.  After church we went back to their house and ate dinner and did some dancing in her small kitchen.  But for me it was finally fun to dance since there weren’t a ton of drunks swaying around trying to get me to dance with them.  But mostly the past few days I’ve been catching up on some movies that I haven’t watched in a while, as well as some older TV shows like Friends and 30 Rock, which is hilarious and I want more.  It’s been a little lonely this holiday, honestly, and I do miss my friends and family, so watching some American entertainment has been a nice break.  Another nice break was actually getting out and doing some work with my hands, like building an oven.  I built my second oven yesterday with another neighbor and it went really well.  Next week I’ll be making my third one. 

As for the house, the guy working on it didn’t start until Monday, two days after he said he would, and then only worked in the morning.  So it’s going to be a really slow building process, I fear.  Again, hopefully I can move in January, if all goes well.  Right now I’m spending a few days in Leon, which is one of the oldest cities in Nicaragua, close to the Pacific coast.  It’s hot here all the time, and known for its volcanoes.  There’s a group of volunteers getting together for New Years, some people staying at hostels in the city of Leon, and some have hostels on the beach which is about a 30 minute drive west.  I’ve never been to Leon, but didn’t want to spend a whole bunch of money for 3 or 4 nights, so I decided to come for a couple nights and head home on the 31^st to make gallina rellena with a neighbor who will teach me how to make it.  I hope everyone has a great New Year’s! 

Love Sarita

Thanksgiving and La Purisima

November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving was good and I'm glad I went to Managua.  I got to meet many volunteers that I hadn't met before, and the meal we had was delicious.  The Chargés house is huge and beautiful and has a pool, so most everyone was swimming before we ate.  I didn't bring my bathing suit so I just dipped my feet in the pool, but it was nice.  We had a full on traditional meal with two turkeys, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce (canned and fresh), sweet potato pie, bread rolls, and salad.  Desert was a mixture of things, including fruitcakes and marble cake, and of course pumpkin pie with whipped cream.  There were two servers complete with bow-ties that walked around the table during the meal and made sure that everyone's wine glasses stayed filled.  The house can make free phone calls to the US so we all got to make a free call home if we wanted to.  Overall it was good food and good company.   

That night I stayed at the house of another employee of the Embassy, and got to make pumpkin pancakes for breakfast the next morning, using her modern kitchen with a sink with running hot water, a stove that lights itself, and a fridge that's actually plugged in all the time.  That day about 25 of us volunteers went to the Embassy to hear a career panel from 3 employees who work in different areas of the Embassy.  Lots of volunteers have expressed interest in foreign service jobs and so the Embassy held this panel to help answer some questions.  It was an interesting discussion and I'm glad I went to listen, but I think having a career in foreign services is way too political for me.  Not really my thing.  After the panel we went to the mall in Managua and I ate my first McDonald's meal since arriving in country, a Big Mac and fries.  It was really good, tasted just the way it should.  It cost 99 Cordobas, about $4.34, about what I would expect at home.  Then we got gelatos for dessert.  It was just overall a super yummy filled food weekend, and I felt super spoiled.  This next week I have In Service Training (IST) in Esteli, where my whole ag group will get together to learn about more ag subjects, like starting seed banks.  I'll be there for 4 days, then hopefully when I get back to site I can start making ovens!  I have 4 people who have already bought their metal barrels and bricks, and need to get the rest of the materials so we can start.  I'm super excited about starting some ovens.  I hope they turn out well and that people get good use out of them. 

December 7, 2011

The week of November 28th—December 1^st was In Service Training (IST) for my ag group.  We all met in Esteli and had 3 days of charlas, including how to start community seed banks, how to fill out our volunteer quarterly work report, recognizing the life cycle of the volunteer, and sources of funding for our projects.  For the life cycles part, we discussed the changing emotions and routines of a volunteer throughout service, and drew graphs of how our emotions have fluctuated throughout our first 4 months in site.  Everyone's is a little different, of course, but the point is to show that we go through quite the roller-coaster of emotions through this experience, depending on our health, our family relationships, social relationships, community integration, living situation, work motivation, etc.  They gave another charla on changing behaviors, because essentially development work aims to change the behavior of a community to work towards something different and new.  If we want to give a health charla on cleanliness and personal hygiene to avoid spread of germs and illness, but the community has never developed the habit of washing their hands after using the bathroom, then we must try and change the behavior of the community to understand the connection between spreading of germs and illnesses.  They have to understand and accept the truth in the behavior and ultimately adopt the behavior as routine.  That's something that's very difficult to do. 

After the IST I came back to site to get crackin' on trying to improve the community bank I'm working with.  We had a meeting where I guided them in making a new set of rules and routine for the bank.  They also chose a new committee (president, secretary, treasurer).  Everyone seemed ready for change and willing to try a more organized way of running their bank, but one big problem with the bank is low attendance to meetings, so only about 6 people showed up for that meeting.  That means the people who don't show up didn't have any say in the rules.  So if they disagree later with the new way of running the bank, they'll just have to show up more often so they can have a say, or they won't be able to continue with the bank.  It's tough love.  I'm still hoping to start more banks in the community.  I haven't given up on the other people I had previous meetings with, I just need to go visit them again to sell the idea better and schedule a meeting time when everyone (or at least more people) can show up. 

As for the ovens, there are three families that have all the materials ready.  Next week I'm going to start the first oven with Paul's help, the other Ag volunteer that lives close to me.  Two more volunteers who live about an hour bus-ride away want to come to help too.  So hopefully the first one goes well and I can get the other ones done soon.  My hope is that these first ovens turn out really well and that the rest of the community sees them and creates more interest.  Usually when one person has something new the neighbors want one too. 

December 7^th and 8^th is the time to celebrate La Purisima here, or the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary.  The tradition is to parade through the community carrying a statue of the Virgin,stopping to sing at the doors of houses to receive gifts of food or candies (at least this is what I've been told, maybe it's celebrated differently in different countries).  Or sometimes people gather at a church or a house around an alter of the statue and sing songs.  There was a celebration of La Purisima at the primary school this past Sunday that I was invited to.  The teachers and some parents helped fill little baggies with cookies, candies, and balloons to hand out to everyone who participated in the event afterward.  They set up an altar with a statue of the Virgin Mary, vases of flowers, and Christmas lights, and everyone gathered around and sang traditional songs of La Purisima.  I of course don't know the songs so I just watched and took pictures and some video.  The 7^th and 8th are the most celebrated days of this event, so I'll hopefully get to see what some families will do to celebrate the event tomorrow.  Although, I've found out that families will celebrate La Purisima at any date during December. 

December 10, 2011

Last night a neighbor family celebrated La Purisima in their house.  They set up an alter with the statue of the Virgin Mary and some flowers and Christmas lights.  Neighbors and friends showed up to sing and listen to some religious words spoken by someone that I guessed was a pastor or someone affiliated with the church.  Afterward they handed out baggies of goodies filled with gofio, which is like a corn meal cookie, candies, and noise makers.  The fresco that's traditionally made is called agualoja, which is a strongly flavored drink consisting of ginger, cloves, cinnamon, and other flavors I didn't recognize.  I couldn't drink the whole thing, it was too strong for my taste.  I actually didn't participate in the whole Purisima celebration because I was at a graduation party of the nephew of Gloria in the nearby town of Las Praderas.  There were very little people that showed up by the time we got there in the evening, so we just kind of sat around eating the meal and listening to music.  The house the family lives in is connected to a bar, so there were random bar-goers in the eating area.  One guy kept bugging me to dance with him, which was so annoying.  I got up to dance once earlier in the evening with a neighbor friend that drove us there, but it was really annoying and awkward because we were the only ones dancing in the middle of this open dance floor, and of course once we started a whole crowd of people gathered around to watch.  I like dancing, but it's absolutely no fun if no one else is dancing and you're the only one who is bombarded by people bugging you to dance with them.  Plus, all people want to do is stand around and stare while I'm dancing.  I hate being stared at, especially when I know all the guys are just waiting in line to get their turn to dance with the gringa.  It's really annoying and it gets to the point where I won't dance at all because it's just no fun.  It's an unfortunate situation. 

The new house situation is getting stressful because time is running out. I ideally would like to finish the work on it so it's liveable and I can move in before January.  But there's only 3 weeks left in December, and I still need to get money to pay for the rest of the construction.  The PC office paperwork slows down considerably in December due to everyone taking their vacations, so I don't know if I'll have time to get my future pay in time to get the work finished.  It's really stressing me out because I don't want to have to pay another month's rent in the house I'm currently in if that money can ultimately be used to move.  Yet another frustrating aspect of my life right now. Here's a pic of what the front looks like:

I hope to blog again before Christmas to let everyone know how the house project goes!  Have a good vacation from school and work everyone! Miss you all.

~Sarah~