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~