Firsts

Yesterday was the day for “firsts”.  There was no water so it was the first time I took a bucket bath.  It was the first time I used the latrine.  It was the first time I used the latrine in the middle of the night with my headlamp while paying extra close attention to not shining the light in the hole because I definitely never want to find out what’s down there.  It was the first time I saw a cockroach in Nicaragua (while using the latrine in the middle of the night… I never picked up my foot so quickly).  It was the first time I realized why, in the morning, there are feathers on the floor of our living room—there’s a bird’s nest in the rafters.  It was the first time I talked to my mom on the phone!  It was the first time I began reading a book in Spanish, El Principito, with much needed assistance from the dictionary of course. 

It’s Monday and I just found out we won’t have water until Thursday.  Thank goodness we have a latrine because otherwise, we’d be up a creek.  Showering won’t be a problem because that’s what rain’s for… good thing it’s the rainy season.  Cooking and drinking, however, is going to be a concern because all the water has to be boiled before doing anything.  It’s really rare for there to be no water for this long of a period, so many people aren’t really prepared.  In el campo, supposedly everyone has buckets and buckets of water saved for times like this.  Not in Santa Teresa.

On a better note, we had a really successful youth group meeting yesterday.  We now have two boys in our group who are going to be a huge help.  We’ve decided to make an environmental awareness sign out of plastic and metal bottle caps by nailing them on a big wooden board.  We have to go to the mayor to ask for money to buy the wood and we’re hoping he’ll give us a decent amount so we can follow through with the project.  We also finally completed our community map and have all the hot spots in Santa Teresa on it.  To top off the day, my family and I watched “The Hot Chick” at night.

how many gringas does it take to hang a poster?

This past Saturday, we had our first hands-on tech training and I built a huerto (vegetable garden) with my group.  We tore up the ground, made seed beds, built a trellis for cucumber plants, and presented it to the rest of the group.  This will definitely be the most difficult part of the next two years because I have ZERO experience gardening except for planting the 10 plants I bought from the PTA at Orange Ave.  Thanks, Mom.  Now we need to start clearing ground at the elementary school where we are going to build a 5 x 5 m. garden with our fifth and sixth graders.  We're going to be planting tomato, cucumber, pepper, squash, and pipian seeds so if you have any advice, we are all ears!

On Sunday, we made invitations for our youth group and hung the signs at the internet cafe (Cyber), the libreria and at the Instituto which is the secondary school.  As the title of this post suggests, it took 4 of us to do this difficult task and even after the hard work, we only had 6 people come to the meeting on Wednesday.  It was kind of discouraging but are hoping for more on Sunday.  We did come up with some really good ideas for our recycled materials project... signs out of bottle caps promoting environmental awareness, mosaics out of glass, pinatas out of newpaper and chip bags, pencil holders out of soda bottles.  We really want to ask the mayor for money to buy materials to have garbage cans made but know we will not get nearly enough money and it will be really difficult to raise enough money in only 3 months.  Also, garbage cans are NEVER used here as my host-mom pointed out numerous times and from what I've seen on the street.  Someone could be standing right next to one and still throw their trash on the ground which we've come to realize is just cultural.  As much as we'd like to promote the importance of throwing trash in the garbage can, it's not something we can take on with such little time.  There is plenty more to do and the youth are enthusiastic.

Tuesday, September 14 was the celebration of Nicaraguan Independence Day so that meant no Spanish class!  It was a nice break but a huge part of me wishes we did have it because lord knows I need to improve.  Anyway, it was a really fun day.  There was a huge parade in Santa Teresa for all the students from the elementary public and private schools and the secondary school to march.  I basically walked in the parade with my 18 year old sister because her younger sister was in the parade so we needed to make sure she stayed hydrated.  It started at 8:00 AM and ended at about 11:30.  After, the secondary school band played for awhile and should seriously consider being featured in Drumline because they are incredible.  It brought me back to Italy because they played Waka Waka.  At night, I went to a club with my sister, cousin, some of her friends, and the other aspirantes.  It was ridiculously hot and the DJ was terrible but it was a good time because the entire community goes out and has a late night and by late night, I was in bed sleeping by 12.  Mom, you'd love the sleep cycle.

Today we had more tech training in Masaya and talked about lesson planning so today has been a great day!!  It was a huge relief realizing that I'm here to teach and that I feel really comfortable doing it.  Teaching in Spanish is a whole other issue but I'm not thinking about that right now.  It was much more encouraging coming out of today's tech training than Saturday's!

Ohh and I really feel part of my family now (not that I didn't before).  A teacher in town walked into my house with me yesterday while my mom was cooking in the kitchen.  I introduced myself to the teacher and as we walked in, she told my mom that her daughter was home.  My mom still hadn't seen us because she was in another room so she said who?  The teacher responded, your daughter.  Again, who?  Finally, the teacher said, your daughter, the gringa.  "Gringa" put the icing on the cake and I couldn't have felt more special.

como se dice...

everything!!  I've arrived in Santa Teresa and absolutely love my host family!  My host-mom works at the Health Center in town and my host-dad works in Managua so is only home on the weekends.  I have two sisters, 18 and 11, and both are extremely nice and very patient with me.  I've been super busy with Spanish class this week but it's good because there isn't much to do here... a lot of sitting outside and saying Adios! to everyone who walks by.  My host-mom's favorite show is Law and Order, though, so Sarah, if you want to come hang, you're more than welcome.  It's in English and subtitled in Spanish so I've been reading everything and picking up on some phrases here and there.  And we have running water and electricity  WAHOO!!  It will be a pretty big adjustment when I move to el campo and won't have either of those on a daily basis.  

Okay, so my group doesn't exactly know Spanish yet but we are getting there (we hope)!  This past week we've had 8 hours of Spanish class every day-- usually 5 hours in the "classroom" which is one of the aspirantes' houses, then we go out into the community and practice our newly acquired skills.  My three other groups members are fabulous and we're all really enthusiastic to learn and to eventually be able to give "charlas" (talks/lessons) in Spanish.  Today we didn't have class because we went to Managua to have technical training and to learn about our four projects during pre-service training-

One is creating a survey pertaining to one of the major problems in Santa Teresa.  We need to interview at least 20 community members to gain inside on how they feel about a major problem we see in the community.  We are thinking about surveying them on water conservation, green space, or trash.  There is SO much garbage in the street, along with a ton of dog/horse/cow poop.  Don't worry, I'm always watching my step.

The second project is to form a youth group, around ages 16-22.  With the group, we need to make some sort of recycled material project (any suggestions??!!), give 2 charlas on life skills we think are appropriate to the group, and basically just get to know the teenagers and have fun!  At the end of the 3 months, we're going to present our project to the rest of the Environmental aspirantes.

Third, is teaching in an elementary school for grades 4-6.  During weeks 6-8, I will have to teach 3 lessons (in Spanish, duh, but-- ahhh!) on natural science.  I'll be collaborating with the classroom teacher to know the topics I'll be doing lessons on and I'm really looking forward to it!  It'll be nice getting back into the classroom :)

Finally, with my group, we're going to build a garden at the elementary school we'll be teaching at.  I have zero experience doing anything related to gardening but I'm going to be a pro soon.  I just know it.   Tomorrow we need to be in Jinotepe at 7:15 to learn how to start a garden!  Also on a side note, I'm pretty sure I'm the only non-outdoorsy person here.  Not totally shocking but everyone talks about their camping/rock climbing/travel experiences and I can proudly say I've been camping once with the Berkowitz's (thanks Jill and Glo!) and we had lovely running water.  I'm going to learn how to rough it.

It's been a jam packed week and I've never felt so many ups and downs in one day.  I've definitely questioned my decision once or twice but there are so many more positives than negatives so I know it's going to be fantastic.  Already I feel like my perspective has been changed on a lot of things.  For example, I probably would never look at a house made of aluminum in the US and say, wow, that's pretty nice.  Or, I'd never get up at 5:30 in the morning to run because I ate a ton of fried food the day before.  Or, I'd never think 20 cordobas was expensive because it's really $1.  

I have to get up early tomorrow to build that garden!  Hopefully the fire ants don't get to me and I am capable of using a Swiss Army Knife.  We'll see...

ps.  thanks for the comments!!  

baby steps

It's been three days in Granada and I'm loving it.  It is a beautiful city and the hotel we are staying at is a 5 minute walk from Lake Nicaragua, a fresh water later with 365 islands and fresh water sharks.  I can see the Mombacho Volcano from the balcony of our hotel room.

Today our group, Nica 54, was given a surprise which was a boat ride on the lake for about 2 hours.  One of the islands is owned by the richest man in Nicaragua who makes Flor de Cana, the most well known rum in Nicaragua.  Another island had monkeys on it who jumped on a couple of our boats (not mine unfortunately) but they were adorable and eating lollipops people gave them.  Sooo.. we are all kind of curious what the Peace Corps is actually about because we've been having a pretty upscale lifestyle for the past few days.  To acclimate to the culture, we definitely are taking teeny tiny baby steps but I'm not complaining!

We've also been having training on literally everything-- safety, culture, language... you know, our job for the next two years.  We were placed in our Spanish groups today after an oral interview and then a mini class this morning with others who were on a similar level.  For the next three months I'll be living in Santa Teresa, a town in the region of Carazo, with my host family!!  Along with my host mom and day, I have two host sisters but word on the street says there are usually a lot more people living in the house.  I'm really excited to meet them tomorrow morning.  The next 3 months consist of intense Spanish training for 4 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon Monday through Thursday.  Fridays are usually for situating other things like meds and more training on culture and safety.  On occasional Saturdays, we have technical training which means I'll learn how to start a garden, make compost, and other things relating to the environment and how to teach it in the schools.  There are three other volunteers in my town and I'll be with them everyday learning Spanish with our Nica facilitator.  Needless to say, it's an exhausting 3 months but completely necessary for me whose Spanish is certainly not up to par.

I'm off to go downstairs to our hotel pool and outside dining area where we're having a huge dance party and probably getting some salsa, cha cha cha, and merengue lessons.  You know my dancing skills are unfortunate so I've got a lot to learn.

Another post will be coming soon to tell you all about my family!