Week 3 update!

Week three in Chinandega flew by as my work is really getting off the ground!  I’ve partnered with Microfinance Institution Fundacion Leon 2001.  I spent my day yesterday in the neighboring city of Leon judging local entrepreneurs as they presented their business plans in hope of scoring a micro loan.  Down the road, I will be following up with the loan recipients to make sure that they are keeping their finances together and running their small business successfully.  The idea of entrepreneurship is so different here with the lack of education and creative thinking.  I was so disappointed when a young lady presented her business plan to open a clothing store even though she would be finishing her law degree next year.  People just don’t know how to take their future and careers to the next level.  Society has grasped that the rare opportunity for a college degree is in fact a great thing, but they never seem to utilize it to its full potential.  Culture here also stands in the way.  I watched a young 20 something present her business plan to open a small convenient store while her 3-year-old ran around the room.  This is very common here, a young mother trying to save her future with a little one to look after and a father who was never in the picture. 

Occasionally a young person with a great idea will come forward and set an example, but its interesting here how people aren’t looking to be the hero or the free thinker.  People would rather do something safe and riskless to mesh in easily with the rest of society instead of challenging its boundaries.  It’s rather frustrating from my end.  I ask such questions as “how are you going to gain clients over you competition?” and the common answer would be to offer discounts, but they just don’t get that offering discounts doesn’t make their business any better than their competition who does the same thing.  I get really worked up because that’s my goal over the next 2 years is to try to get the youth and women that I work with to think outside the box.

A more relaxing topic is my Sunday by the beach.  I think I may have already mentioned that it’s only a 15 min bus ride to a beach scattered with ranchos that play music, serve cold beer and a whole fried fish platter.  It’s a perfect day after a long night of dancing at the local discotecas.  Sundays are the big day to go as all the locals are taking advantage of their one real day off.  A fun Nica fact is that bathing suits aren't worn.  Instead people hit the water fully dressed.  No joke, I'm talking women in skin tight jeans and collared shirts with a full face of make-up just run straight in to the ocean.  I cant imagine how uncomfortable all that wet clothing would be!  Anyways, I joined a few volunteers to eat, swim and relax this past Sunday.  Although I have Sundays off too, it seems that I constantly need to be on my best behavior as several of my students frequent the same beach with their families.  Peace Corps will preach how volunteers work 24/7 because people are always watching us and we need to set a good example for the U.S.  This is 100% true.  I realized just how true as I was walking along the beach in my bikini back to my friends with a plate of fish and a beer in my hand when a young man shouted “Hola Profe!” which is short for profesora or teacher in english.  Whoops!

On another exciting note, I found a new place to live!  I ran in to another American the other day here in Chinandega who has lived here for 8 years.  Her in-laws are Nicaraguan and have a very nice house, which is much more centrally located and in a much nicer neighborhood than where I am now.  The house has actual sofas(very rare here) and a full kitchen!  I’ve been cooking on a simple gas burner so imagine my excitement to see a microwave and oven!  I will have my own bed and bath and brace yourself because they have, a washing machine and dryer!  No more hand washing laundry, well for the most part.  I think the thing I’m most excited about is free Internet!  I’m really lucky to have found a welcoming family who is well off and is happy to have me live with them.  I’m looking forward to the change.

But I’m even more looking forward to Jamie’s visit this weekend!  She should be here in about 2 days!  I can’t wait to see her face!

I’ll leave you with a quote I thoroughly enjoyed from one of my tea bags because I think it accurately describes how I am viewing my work here in Nicaragua.

“Your life is based on the capacity of energy in you, not outside of you”- Yogi Tea Bag

Making Chinandega Home

I’ve been in Chinandega for a whole two weeks now and life has changed so much now that I’ve gotten to my site.  My first weeks have been jammed packed, challenging, and exciting all at the same time.  Some highlights have been getting to know my students and teachers in my institutes via class and a 50^th Anniversary Dance Performance Celebration at one of my schools last Friday night.  I attended one of my counterparts son’s 1^st Birthday party.  Got some surfing in as well as a narly sunburn.  I’ve met new volunteer friends, Nicaraguan locals, attended salsa dance class from a well-known local, and identified my future guitar teacher.  I’ve really enjoyed discovering the local eateries, using public transportation and investigating the city grid via my new bike. 

This last Saturday was my region’s Peace Corps Anniversary Celebration for 50 years of service around the world(Are you seeing the 50 yr theme?).  It was great to meet all 32 volunteers in my region and put faces with names.  Many of us decided to celebrate that evening with a reggae concert at a beach side club, which was a real treat.

I’ve also encountered some challenges like another parasite and a head cold.  Living with in my budget is not only going to be a challenge, but down right near impossible in a city.  Cooking for yourself in a foreign country is quite a challenge as well as when you’re starting from scratch.   I’m lucky that there are grocery stores with packaged goods, but it’s cheaper to trudge through the packed open-air markets for fruits, beans, tortillas and vegetables.  My biggest cooking accomplishment was fish tacos this last week.  When I don’t feel like cooking after a long day I’ve also identified a great pupusa joint as well as American fixes for hamburgers, chicken wraps, subways and paninis, but that’s about it for American food so hope that lasts me for 2 years!  I have actually found myself craving Nicaraguan Fritanga food, which is fried street side fair!  My favorite place serves grilled chicken, rice, beans, cabbage salad and fried plantains.  Yea that’s right I actually think about wanting to eat Nicaraguan food, its really good up here in Chinandega! There are other expensive Nicaraguan restaurants that my budget would only allow every great once in awhile.  Can you tell that a majority of my day is spent thinking about food?  I think it has something to do with the fact that I have such limited access that we constantly obsess over food as volunteers and fantasize about things we miss ha ha.  For me its asparagus, salmon, scallops, spinach, red peppers, hummus, good cheese, wine and really good deserts!  Oh god I have to stop!

I’ve been meaning to take my camera around the city to take pictures of all the cathedrals and points of interest.  Chinandega is by no means a touristy city and this rubia sticks out like a soar thumb.  I think I’m probably the only blonde girl in town besides another blonde woman who I met at the bank this weekend who owns a hotel out on the coast.  I’m told daily that I’m beautiful and quotes such as “ahh mommy”, “I love you”, and “Guerra Bonita” are all too common.  Self-esteem booster right?  Not! Usually these comments are accompanied with some other atrocious comments that I ignore.  Even though I’m in a big city I cannot avoid the machismo culture that plagues this country.  Women are a piece of meat on the street and men behave as such.  I guess the positive is people will get to know me really quick if I look like such an outsider it’ll be hard to forget me!

Work wise I’m really enjoying the different institutes where I’m assisting my teachers in teaching the Entrepreneurship coarse.   I’ll also be working with the mayor and local school system to organize a regional competition for all the business plans that come out of my course.  I’ve met with several nonprofits these past weeks to identify where I can add value in areas of microfinance, business training, and consulting.  I’ve already agreed to assist a fellow HIV/Health volunteer with a group of sex workers that he works with to identify ways they could start a business instead of surviving off of selling their bodies for a living.

I feel very fortunate to have some really great site mates here in the city of Chinandega.  I give major props to the volunteers out there that are going through this whole process in a really rural community and with out other volunteers to show them the ropes or support them.  I have to say having the Peace Corps network has made the transition to life in a foreign country that much more manageable.

No major concerns accept for skin cancer.  The sun is hot and strong and I’m doing a ton of walking and biking.  Oh and did I mention its ridiculously hot!  I find myself escaping to bars or the bank for AC!  Holy cow I sweat so much here! Ok kids stay cool for me!

"Swearing-in" and meeting President Ortega

I’m at my new home in Chinandega laying on my queen mattress staring up at my mosquito net realizing that I’m definitely not in training anymore.  I think this past weekend’s events of transitioning from a trainee to a volunteer will prove to be my favorite memories of my time here in Nica. Thursday was spent at the US Embassy learning about their various government roles here in Nicaragua.  Friday morning we “swore in” at the very luxurious Holiday Inn in Managua.  We took an oath to serve the people of Nicaragua and simultaneously the United States Government for the next two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  Since 2011 marks the Peace Corps 50^th Anniversary our swearing-in ceremony was done up rather large and we even invited President Daniel Ortega.  Unfortunately he was unable to make the ceremony, which was accompanied by the Ambassador and VP of International Affairs.  President Ortega wanted to recognize the 50 years of service that Peace Corps has provided and supported his country so he decided to invite us to his house that evening!  All 43 of us volunteers who swore in, plus several Peace Corps staff joined Ortega in his press conference room for what turned in to a three-hour ordeal.  Ortega had a list of all of our names which he called one by one so we could stand with a mic and answer his questions…..in Spanish…..broadcasting live on TV, can we say nerve racking?!  It was quite an experience that will stick with me through out my service.  He asked me personally where I was from, what I studied in college, if I had work experience, and what I would be doing in Chinandega.  He also threw in a last minute question asking me if I liked the food I had tried here in NIca, random right?  We all left the President’s house dumbfounded by what had just happened.  I think we all figured that our invitation was for a quick chat and speech and then be sent on our way.  No one expected to be singled out and interviewed over a 3 hour time period!  It was truly an unforgettable experience.  Even though President Ortega is a socialist, I did appreciate him taking the time to make each and every one of us feel special.  It really says a lot in his efforts to work jointly with the US Government to better Nicaragua.

I think the best part about this weekend was that our hotel had a pool, which I was physically in the majority of our stay.  We played frisbee in the pool, drank in the pool, chicken fought and just plain chilled.  And when I say drink, I mean we drank, everything from champagne and wine to rum and bloody marys.  It was awesome to have everyone in the same spot enjoying each others company just chillen with a guitar making its rounds.  Our last night we all(40+) went out to an outdoor club(ranchito) which is basically a dance floor covered by a hut where we ended up drenched in sweat as we danced the night away.  It was hard to say good-bye the next morning as we departed for our different sites all over the country.  We won’t all be together again for another three months until we have another week of language training in October.

I can’t believe that I made it through the 3 months of training!  My host mom attended the swearing-in ceremony and then that was that, not a whole lot of emotion there ha ha.  I swore in at Intermediate-high level Spanish, which is higher than required so I felt good about that. I definitely treated myself for making it through that rough patch with good food in Managua and a mani/pedi in Nandasmo before I left.  Kelli’s host brother is a hairstylist and paints nails.  He did a very nice French manicure for the equivalent of $4.

Another treat coming my way is Jamie!  My girl is visiting me the last week in August and I can’t wait to see her face.  Miss and love you all!

Winners!

I just wanted to give you all a quick update on Last Friday’s competition!  Our youth group took 2^nd place over all out of the 12 groups represented at the competition!  Better yet we received first place amongst the business sector, which was awesome.    The other groups had no idea what had hit them.  We even sold three out of the five candleholders that we had made for the competition.  The presentation went really well and I was so proud of our girls looking so professional with their PowerPoint and matching ensembles.  One unfortunate instance, or fortunate depending on how you look at it, was the fact that our girls were cut short by the timer during their presentation.  He made a mistake and even though they had 3 minutes left to present they had to return to their seats.  When the judges had realized what had happened they called the girls back up at the end to finish the presentation and obviously take home 2^nd place!  I can’t tell you the amount of frustration and emotion I felt at this moment for the girls.  They had worked way to hard to be cut short.  I think I amazed myself how much I actually cared and wanted success for these girls after watching them work so hard.  The judges were really impressed by the artistic work that was represented.  I must say, the gals are really talented.  My boss even bought one of the candleholders!  I will post some pictures of the finished product so you can see for yourself. 

It was great to work with three young women on this project because I could tell that they were taking this opportunity seriously.  All three of them are very adamant about bettering their lives.  They are the first three young women I have worked closely with in Nica and I can’t wait to be able to influence the lives of many other women here.

Needless to say it was a great last weekend in our training towns.  We all went to the Laguna one last time on Saturday to enjoy its beauty and indulge in fish tacos by the shore.  That night we all reunited for chicken wings(first time in Nica) and beers to celebrate the end of all our hard work with our youth groups.  Last night we took our three young winners out to dinner as a good-bye/congratulations dinner. Tonight I'm going to my Nica girlfriends' house for another good-bye dinner.  Let’s just say I’ve been eating pretty well ha ha.

Three more days here in Nandasmo for training and then I’m off to Managua for three whole nights in a hotel!  With hot water!  And all my friends!  With bars and clubs in walking distance!  Thursday we are meeting the new Ambassador and Friday we swear in as official Peace Corps Volunteers in Managua.  We will be raising our right hand and taking an oath to serve the goals of our country as well as Nicaragua’s.  We are also taking this opportunity to celebrate Peace Corps 50^th Anniversary, which means we get to go to the country director’s house(my bosses boss) for dinner and a fiesta!  Sunday I’m off to the big city of Chinandega and never looking back, well maybe, I guess I did learn quite a bit here.

I love and miss you all back home!  Thank you so much for your support over these last months!  You have no idea what it has meant to me.  Even though these posts may seem happy go lucky, there have been some really difficult times and it helps just knowing that you are all there for me.  The skype sessions, emails, phone calls, and gchats have gotten me through.  Mom you have been amazing sending me packages to keep me sane!  Much love!

Training is Winding Down

Training is coming to a close and everything is happening so fast!  I only have 8 days left in my training town, but quite a bit to accomplish still.

I know I have mentioned my youth group in prior posts, but basically we have been working with a group of youth from day one on starting their own business and producing a product.  After several weeks of 2 meetings weekly we are complete with three very talented and dedicated young ladies.  Our product is a candleholder with repujado, which is where a design is pressed in to aluminum and applied to the recycled glass candleholders.  The name of the business is Nandaluz, Nandasmo for our town and luz(light) to represent the candle light.  Our competition to market our product is this Friday so wish us luck!

On top of the work that needs to be done, I haven’t really been sleeping much as this weekend marked the day of the Samosa dictatorship expulsion some 30 years ago from Nica.  This meant constant celebration with fireworks and bands playing through the night.  Today I had off from Spanish class because it is the celebration of the victory of the Sandanistas who won the infamous Revolutionary war that terrorized Nica back in the 80’s.  All of the yellow school buses normally used for public transportation were excused from duty to carry thousands of Sandanista(current ruling party) supporters to Managua for rallies in the streets.   People were piled dangerously high on top of the buses and hanging out of their windows with drunken excitement.  I decided to avoid that chaos and head to the Lake with some other volunteers on my day off which had me up early.  Not to mention the all girls sleepover that occurred at my house last night due to the lack of school today.  I watched the first twilight movie in Spanish and ate cookies with 8 lil Nica girls under the age of 14 including my sisters.  I had forgotten that Bella was originally from Arizona and all the girls gasped and said “Kati es su estado”(it’s your state) like it was a big deal ha ha!  And yes I had to watch as they rewound the DVD to watch Bella and Edward kiss again!

We have been celebrating a lot of birthdays in our group which means I’ve been eating and drinking quite well.  That’s the one thing volunteers love to do when given an excuse, splurge on good food!  Me celebrated my buddy Leslie’s b-day dinner in Masaya where we bought our first bottles of wine at a “French” restaurant or the Nica version of one at least.  To celebrate Michelle’s b-day last Saturday we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant where I splurged on Chiliquiles, horchata and chicken tacos!  I’m not going to lie; I also had a piece of cheesecake alongside the b-day girl!  That night’s celebration was complete with a bottle of rum and card games, you can imagine the rest.

Another highlight of my past week was making bread at my favorite bakery, Panaderia Esperanza, with its owner Antonio and his wife Raquel.  Our Spanish teacher thought this would be a more useful language lesson than sitting in a classroom and I totally agreed.  The four of us volunteers here in Nandasmo spent the afternoon learning the process of mixing, cutting, rolling and stuffing bread to bake.  The best part was that we got to take it all home!  I was on bread overload for about three days!

I have finally made a Nica friend!  Irma is 23 and attends an American university in Managua but lives in my small town of Nandasmo.  I get to practice my Spanish and she gets to practice her English, perfect! I met her during festivities here in Nandasmo and then attended one of her dance classes with her, which was quite an experience!  It was like Nicaraguan folk dancing meets ballet! I was also invited to her intimate birthday dinner at her house, which made me feel pretty special.  She’s been practicing yoga with myself and my other fellow yogi volunteers as well.  They say you’ve integrated when you can make a Nica friend.  I’m really going to miss her when I move to Chinandega.

Nica Culture 101

So I’d like to start this entry with sharing the realization that I have experienced culture shock here in Nicaragua.  I wasn’t sure if this would be something that would really be an issue for me and in reality it hasn’t been.  In fact I didn’t even realize I had experienced it until I read some PC materials about what culture shock is like.  So it’s taken me until now to be able to share it with you.  Part of my goal of keeping this blog is to share the Nicaraguan culture and now that I don’t find it as crazy, I can laugh about the weird things that I see here.

At first I just felt down right guilty about everything, guilty about everything that I did have or didn’t have.  For instance, I felt super guilty for having a laptop and bringing it out in front of my family.  Then I felt super guilty that my bed was hard as a rock and that I thought that I deserved something better than what the rest of my family slept on.  After getting over the guilt I was just plain angry about the poverty for quite awhile until I just started embracing everything Nica. This took quite some time, but now with three months here in Nica I can laugh at all the crazy and ridiculous things I see daily.

I’d love to share some of the things that led to my culture shock, but now I’ve accepted as part of my daily life here.

Oil- Every thing is cooked in massive amounts of oil.  I’m talking a fried egg is literally drowned in oil so it cooks on both sides without flipping it.  My stomach did not agree at first, but now I eat mostly just fresh food and cook my own eggs, thus avoiding the issue all together.

Beans- Red beans, not black, are served with every meal here.  We all know beans are a great source of protein, but black beans are better  for you than red.  Black beans are even cheaper than red here, but because red beans are such a huge part of the culture a family will not buy black beans in place of red unless they are 2 points off starving.  Frustrating!

Coffee- Some of the best is harvested here.  Unfortunately most Nica families can only afford Presto instant coffee and that is what most families will offer their guests.  The excellent coffee that is produced in the mountains is mainly exported to other countries before being sold locally because the coffee bean farmers can make more money this way.  One only has to splurge a little bit more at the grocery store to get it.

American Clothes- Since many fabricas(factories) for American brands are located here, Hollister, American Eagle and A&F dominate the population.  I wish I had some pictures, but everyone wears clothes with English writing and have no idea what it says.  For example I saw an older lady, probably someone’s grandma, wearing a hot pink t-shirt that read “looking for Mr. tonight”.  My all time favorite was the morning after our fiestas Patronales here in Nandasmo when I spotted the town drunk(Picado), still hammered wandering the streets with a bright orange t-shirt that boasted “I am the after party”, classic!

Noise- It’s constant unless you are purposely out in the wilderness.  Fireworks are a daily performance in the streets.  Trucks crawl through the streets announcing sales, fiestas, and other happenings via loudspeaker.  Churches play loud music religiously, ha!  My families TV is constantly on or we are blaring the radio, which I happen to love.  Bands will not hesitate to play in the streets until 4 or 5 am.  Loud and live music also makes for great fiestas!

Privacy and Personal Space- There is none.  People are literally on top of you on public buses.  People stand in your personal space at all times.  There is nothing private from your Nica family.  Everyone knows where you are in the house at all times, including the bathroom.

Transportation- The main mode of transportation is retired American yellow school buses that have been pimped out and repainted in bright colors.  There is a bus schedule and for the most part it is followed accept when a bus breaks down, there are political rallies, or someone just decides not to drive their bus that day.  In the isle of the bus there will be people selling food, drinks, or other random things and constantly yelling about the product that they are trying to convince you that you need.  How does one know what bus to take?  Well there will be a guy half hanging out the door yelling the names of the stops they are going to make of course!

Beaches- They are plentiful and have world class surfing .  Most Nicas don’t enjoy swimming, mainly because they can’t.  Come Semana Santa(like spring break here) Nicas will go all out and party relentlessly on the beaches for a week until they are physically destroyed.

Trash- Everywhere.  I’ve learned to control my rage when I see people throw trash in the streets.  Since there is no waist management system in many towns/villages, people will burn their trash in the street in front of their house.  Can we say toxic?

Ok, so that all probably sounds really negative, but there are many great things about Nica.  There are some beautiful Spanish colonial cities.  The people are very nice and the land here is absolutely gorgeous.  Some of the most beautiful volcanoes, lakes, and beaches can be found here.  As you can see the people need education more than anything.  I know the work that I have come here to do is appreciated and hopefully very effective in changing the future for Nicaraguans.

I hope I didn’t all scare you away from visiting because despite the lack of education here in Nicaragua there is a wealth of tradition, loving families, and a beautiful land awaiting you!

Chinandega Site Visit

I now know why Chinandega is labeled a very Nicaraguan city.  I entered the bustling commercial center through “El Bisne” which is the largest market and bus station that the city hosts.  Chinandega is a flat city, but the largest volcanoes in Nicaragua linger close and can be seen towering over the city in the distance.  The old and new money that keeps this community afloat comes from sugar, bananas, Flor de Cana rum, peanuts, sesame, soy and shrimp!  Chinandega is far enough north that it isn’t frequented regularly by backpackers or tourists, but serves as Nicaragua’s most important agribusiness center.  Travelers usually pass right through on their way to the untouched northern beaches of Chinandega where surfing is at its best.   The city doesn’t boast any fancy Spanish architecture and tons of hostels like it’s neighboring city Leon.  I love that I can walk through the streets and not hear a word of English.  Locals treat me like one of their own in the community and not as a visiting gringo.  The central park has an enormous beautiful yellow and white cathedral and various types of food to enjoy in the open air such as gyros, puposas, hamburgers and subs.  Each barrio or neighborhood sports a brightly colored colonial church whose steeples serve as a guide as I wander around the city. 

I’m not going to lie, its hot here in Chinandega getting up to 90 degrees during the day(and its winter).  The 32 volunteers that live in this department boast that we live in the hottest region and we love it.  Granted the Pacific Ocean is only 15 minutes by bus, which provides much needed relief from the heat.  The closest playa is Paso Caballo is littered with large huts made of palms called “ranchitos” where you can pick out your whole fresh fish to fry on the spot and drink cold beer after a nice swim in the refreshing waters.  This is an important aspect of the city that I’d like to point out- Nica’s largest fishing as well as export/import town Corinto is just down the road making seafood a part of the diet here, thank god!  I know you all know how much I love seafood!

The three institutes(high school equivalents) that I will be working in range from private, semi-private to public and are all on the outskirts of the city making them beautiful places to work.  One of my schools has an outside classroom under a cabana surrounded by tropical trees.  My other private school has passageways lined with palm trees and beautiful flowers.  I met all of my directors in the schools and felt very at home in each schools community.  All the teachers that I will be training and supporting with business experience are very dedicated and love their jobs which makes my job so much more enjoyable.  The head of administration at my private school has already asked me to motivationally speak about North American culture and our workforce with a dedicated group of students from all over Chinandega who have earned scholarships and have the chance to go to college.   I made an appearance at the nonprofit Promujer(see link on right hand side column), which helps women to realize their dreams of starting a business through micro loans and business advising.  I’m hoping that when I meet with the HR representative in a few weeks that there will be opportunity to get involved here.  There are ample nonprofits and cooperatives to work in and I look forward to starting relationships with micro finance institutions like FINCA and Fundaceon Leon.

My outdoor classroom

Entrance to one of my schools

I’m going to be living my first two months with an older lady who is very sweet.  She is actually the mom of one of the teachers I will be working closely with whom lives next door.  I’m getting upgraded to a huge room with my own bathroom(with septic) and ample space to practice yoga, which is huge!

I love that the city is lively and extremely social which perfectly matches the personalities of the volunteers that inhabit it!  Right away I clicked with another health volunteer Lindsey who has been here for three months.  Lindsey and I found ourselves salsa dancing by the second night I was in Chinandega.  I enjoy that my new city serves as a transportation hub, which means several volunteers are passing through at any time and creating excuses for us all to get together and cool off with some cerveza.  The city is large which means I walk a lot, but there are also options to take a triciclo(bike powered carriage) or taxis for a fixed cheap price no matter where you go in the city.  I’m looking forward to permanently moving there in 3 weeks when training is over!

Lindsey and I out Salsa dancing!

In the mean time I’m going to enjoy the last few weeks I have in Masaya and take advantage of the access to the artisan market and crafts, which is what this city does best.  That’s right, I bought my first Nicaraguan hammock!  Today we lounged on the beaches of Laguna de Apollo once again and kayaked its shores.  This is one little piece of paradise I’m truly going to miss.  On the flip side, Pacific surf here I come!

Where I ordered my hammock- pics to come when its finished!