I'll be Home for Christmas

Hola a todos! Not too much to report from Bluefields. This week was pretty hectic since I was running a summer camp from Wednesday – Friday of this week. I was nervous as to how it t would go, but thanks to my other site volunteers, it was largely a success. I learned a lot and hopefully next year it will go even smoother. Now I’m just getting ready to spend the holidays with Geri (another Peace Corps volunteer) in Pearl Lagoon, a Creole community on the coast.

It definitely is an unusual feeling to not be spending Christmas in the states with my family. This has always been a special time for us, and since I’ve been born, we’ve always been able to spend it together. As I was shopping this morning, I passed by a store playing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (the reggae version of course, because this is Bluefields) and started to tear up. To hold in, I proceeded to scrunch up my face so that the whole walk home it looked like I was trying to poo. Merry Christmas Bluefields.

Listening to this song, however awful its timing was, made me think about the story of the first Christmas. Regardless of what you believe of this story, there is no doubting the enormous sway that it holds in the imaginings of all who celebrate this holiday. The constant messages of “Peace on Earth” and “Love your fellow man” both have strong connections to the birth of Jesus. According to Christian tradition, it was his love for  man which allowed him to be born in the most humble of settings: a smelly and less-than-sanitary animal barn. This theme of love is most, taken from the original Christmas story, is the focus of every Christmas.

For me with my scrunched up got-to-poo face, this year was different. Instead of focusing on this particular theme, I was thinking instead of Mary and Joseph. Like me, Mary and Joseph weren’t able to be with their own families on this first Christmas. Instead, thanks to Caesar Augustus, they were required to travel to Bethlehem while May was nine months pregnant This means that Mary was forced to give birth 1) without the support of her family 2) without comfort of being in her own home or even an inn and 3) after having ridden a long way on a donkey (which cannot be comfortable for a pregnant woman). Any woman will tell you that these are not the most ideal conditions for giving birth, but this is what Mary did. And through this hardship, beauty was brought into the world. 

Now, to clare-ify (I’m sorry, I love doing that), I’m not trying to compare myself to Mary, or claim that what I’m doing is going to produce anything beautiful. It’s simply that experience of not being home for Christmas, has allowed me to look at this story from a different perspective and gain a deeper appreciation of the sacrifice involved. This Christmas, my greatest gift has been to realize that it these little sacrifices (or things I have been forced to give up) which enrich my experience here, reminding me to step outside of myself and my own needs. For during what time is of year is it better to focus on others than Christmas? Merry Christmas everyone J   

Cuando Estoy in Nicaragua...Bluefields Edition

Hola a todos! Looking back on my blog posts, I realize that I should have done this type of blog posting three times by now (I think I said once a month which was rather ambitious of me).  My bad. The good news is that I’I've waited long enough that now I can do a Bluefields themed "Cuando Estoy En Nicaragua". So without further ado, this is a little taste of my life so far in Bluefields.

Well Water: There is no official water infrastructure in the city of Bluefields. Apparently, there have been attempts to construct one the past with the help of foreign aid, but since the water ended up being contaminated with salt water, people stopped paying for the service. Now nearly everyone gets their water from a well, which can only be used for washing and cleaning thanks to fertilizer runoff and tiny microbes.  Drinking water has to be purchased and tends to be pretty expensive. It’s no wonder no one here drinks water…

An Anthropologist’s Paradise: There are six different ethnic groups living in Bluefields, each with a distinct cultural identity and language. The largest ethnic group is, of course, the Mestizo.  These is the part of the population that we generally think of to be “quintessentially Nicaraguan.” The next largest group is the Creole. They are descendants of the Caribbean Slave trade and speak Creole English. What is English Creole? The closest thing I have to compare it to are the English dialects spoken in the Caribbean.  The words are derived from English but many have evolved to have different meanings. The grammatical structure also varies from traditional English. The next ethnic group is the Garifuna, and since that group has more recently come from African , so you tend to see that influence in a lot of aspects of the culture, especially the dancing. The last two groups are the indigenous groups: The Miskito, Suma, and Rama. These three populations were descended from the original inhabitants of Nicaragua.

Wait…country music?: Thanks to my neighbors, I have now listened to more country music in the past month than I have in the past year. Why is that? It is because Creole people love country music.  Every time I hang out in a Creole bar, country music is played. If you don’t believe me, come visit and see for yourself.

Coconuts…are in everything: Coconut trees are everywhere on the coast. Therefore, they put Coconut in everything. My food is fried in coconut oil (which, by the way is actually way healthier than using vegetable oil), the most common type of bread made here is coconut bread, and my gallo pinto is made with (wait for it…) coconut milk. I used to think that the only way to eat coconut was shredded. But I was wrong. So, so wrong. 

Life in Bluefields

Hola a todos!

Since arriving in Bluefields, I realize that I have yet to write a blog post about what I’ve been doing for the past three weeks.  Therefore, I’ve written up a rough schedule for all of you who are interested:

Monday-Thursday: Usually during the week, I spend two days at each school observing classes and getting to know the students and teachers whom I will be working with. The teachers at both schools have been treating me well and giving me more food than I know what to do with! (Confession: I accidentally ate turtle the other day. I know, I know. I’m so ashamed. Environmental peeps, all I can say is “It’s delicious, and I’m sorry.”).  From what I can observe, there’s definitely a lot of work to be done. The lessons are mainly a lecture and copy format followed by a workbook activity at the end. Students aren’t really encouraged to participate, or think more deeply about the information they have learned. The good news is that there seem to be a lot of motivated teachers in both schools, so I’m fairly optimistic about the work that I can do over the next two years.

Friday: On Fridays, I usually either go back to one of the schools in the morning if I feel that I need more observation time, or I run errands.  The past three weeks, I have been working with a youth group run through the Alcaldia (the local unit of government). The age of the kids there ranges from 10-15, so it can be tough to find an activity that appeals to everyone. I’m really enjoying it working with them though, and am hoping to do a “summer camp” in January if I can pull it together in time. At night, I’ll usually go our dancing or grab a beer or two at LaLa’s with friends and fellow volunteers.

Saturdays and Sundays: Weekends are generally a time to relax and clean. Now before you start to get impressed by my dedication to cleaning here, I just want to point out that the even bare minimum weekly chores (aka: washing floors and clothes) take at least 4-5 hours since I 1) haul all the water that I use from a well and 2) wash all my clothes by hand. It’s really hard to think that I complained about doing laundry in the states when now it seems so luxurious to have a washing machine and drier. However, I have to admit that now I’m beginning to enjoy the process. It gives me a couple of hours to be by myself, think, and listen to podcasts that I’ve downloaded n my iPod.

And that is my exciting life in Nicaragua. For those of you trying to live vicariously through my experience, I’m sorry. It’s amazing how fast the novelty of living somewhere can wear off, turning what once felt like life in an alternate universe to the rustics of everyday life. Still every day I feel incredibly blessed for this opportunity to further expand my conceptualization of what it means to live “normally.” Until next time….

On the Difference Between Joy and Happiness

The difficulties of this past week have lead me consider the difference between joy and happiness. Growing up in the United States, I am used to valuing things that being me happiness. “Do what makes you happy.” Is a phrase I hear continually when making decisions. But is happiness really what we should be aiming for? The very word “happy” originates from “hap” which meant “lucky, favored by fortune, prosperous.” Happiness, then by its very definition is something that is caused by external events. It can come and go very easily depending on your circumstances. The word joy, has its root in the Latin word “gaudium” which literally means “to rejoice.” “To rejoice” is a choice that a person makes, independently of their circumstances. True joy therefore comes from internal factors, and as such is more infallible than happiness. A sense of purpose in the work you do for example, is going to last longer than the elevation that comes from a small success or the dismay that comes from failure.

To be fair, joy is much harder to maintain than happiness. To be joyful requires making a choice every day to embrace all the challenges ahead, knowing that they will cause you to grow as a person. To be joyful requires seeking out appreciation for all the good things in your life, even if they may not be obvious or bring you immediate happiness all the time. As I stated in one of my previous blog posts, I found contentment amidst the stress of training in the act of eating breakfast every morning with my host mom. This week has had many of the same challenges as my first few weeks of training. I have experienced fear, loneliness, and exhaustion. However, I have never felt a stronger sense of purpose than I have in being here in Nicaragua. This feeling has allowed me to, despite these challenges, continue to strive towards being joyful. (I still am far from living out my own advice perfectly.) So while my reply to the question, “Are you happy in Nicaragua?” may change based on my circumstances, the joy that I experience here will hopefully continue to persist for the next two years.

Thanks again for reading. This blog was a little heavy so here’s a picture of my new home to make up for it: 

                                                     Downtown Bluefields

Bienvenidos a Bluefields!

                                                                                                                                This past week of training has been hectic.  Every single trainee has been bombarded with classes they need to teach, projects they need to finish, and national anthems they need to learn in key (whoops). That is why I am not going to feel guilty for slacking on my blog post especially since it’s on Bluefields, the city where I will be living for the next two years.

                                                                                                                                Anyways, two weeks ago (That’s right I am a week behind on my blog. No shame.), in a country not too far away, all of the Nica 62 trainees set off to travel to their future sites for a week. For me and the other two trainees on the Atlantic coast, this was a slightly more arduous process than for the rest. On Monday, the whole training group met up with our counterparts in Managua. What is a counterpart you ask? Well they vary for each sector, but essentially they are the one or two people that Peace Corps chooses to be your point of contact in the community. They are responsible for both introducing you to your site and supporting you in your work for the next two years.  In addition, you are required to report to them about the work we are doing in the community. For the environmental sector, these are the directoras (essentially the same as principles) of the schools that we will be working at.

 After a full day of charlas, we stayed in Managua for the night and I got to enjoy the comforts of a HOT shower with water pressure (honestly, what more could I ask for?), air conditioning, and free wifi. That almost made up for the fact that I had to wake up around four to travel to my site. At six, me, my two counterparts, and two other trainees with their counterparts left Managua and embarked on a six hour bus ride to El Rama, which is the furthest point East in Nicaragua by road. Now let me give all of you a word of warning about the Nicaraguan transportation system. Its slow, there are very few bathrooms (and for those that are available you have to pay and provide your own toilet paper), and it’s usually done on an old school bus. Now this is fine for a two or even three hour trip but for six hours, it’s too long. Despite this, I have to admit that the views are incredible. Since you are passing through the whole country when you travel from Managua to Bluefields, you get panoramic picture of all that this country has to offer in terms of natural beauty. I saw mountains, river, undeveloped rain forest habitat, and of course, the sea.

               
From El Rama, we took a Panga on the Rio Escondido for two hours to Bluefields. This was by far the most fun/terrifying point on the trip, and ended with a first glimpse of my new home. I have to admit that Bluefields is a bit different than I imagined. As with any tropical city on a coast, I immediately got this image in my head of it as a white beach paradise. I had been warned that this was not the case beforehand, but it’s an image that was hard to shake. Instead of being right on the Ocean, Bluefields is located on a bluff within a protected bay area. In addition, there is absolutely no beach culture that exits in the town.  There are beaches in the area but most of them take at least a five minute panga ride to get to. Sorry to all my beach loving friends! You should still come and visit though. I promise that my site has many more redeeming qualities than simply being a coastal paradise.

After settling in with my host family (who did not realize that I was coming on Tuesday), I went to bed ridiculously early. The next two days I spent introducing myself in the two primary schools where I would be working: Santa Rosa and Ruben Dario. This was by far one of the times that I have felt the most nervous here. As was the first impression that all my students and future colleagues would have of me, I of course felt like it should go perfectly. Long story short: it definitely didn't. I made grammar mistakes, pronounced students names wrong, couldn't understand questions that the teachers and students were asking of me, and spilled food on my shirt. Despite, this I feel like everything went relatively well. It may have even been that all the mess ups made me more relaxed than I normally would be.The majority of the teachers seemed really friendly and ready to work with me, and the classes they taught were significantly smaller and more well-behaved than those I had taught in training. As I will be the first person from an outside organization to work with Santa Rosa, I feel like my work there will be more challenging than at my other school, Ruben Dario where the directora has been collaborating with other environmental NGOs and aid groups for several years. However, both have a ton of experience in working in schools and I am sure that I will learn a lot in working with both of them, no matter what I am able to accomplish.

On Friday, both my counterparts gave me a whirlwind tour of the city and I got introduced to the Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Environment, the Mayor’s office, and two environmental organizations in the area. I was also introduced to the most delicious food on earth, pan de coco, which is a sweet bread made with coconut milk. I may or may not have eaten two loaves (spoiler alert: I did). After that, I unpacked one of the huge suitcases that I was planning on leaving in Bluefields, and went out to dinner/drinks with the other volunteers in site. With me and the other trainee, the number of volunteers in Bluefields is now at five. There is a small business volunteer, two English volunteers, a health volunteer, and me. We all seem to get along really well and I’m excited to start doing some cross-sector work them. There are also several other volunteers over on the Atlantic Coast, most only an hour Panga ride away in Peal Lagoon, another creole community on the coast. We may all be isolated, but at least we can be isolated together!

The next day was my ten hour trip back and with that ends this ridiculously long blog post. You may not believe it when I say that I slacked, but if you knew how much I didn't put in that I could have, you would definitely agree. Thankfully I’ll be living in Bluefields the next two years so there’s plenty of time to write more. There’s so much I could say about the city where I’ll be spending the next two years. Get ready for some long blog posts headed your way! (Sidenote: Skimming is totally acceptable) 

Booze, Horses, and the Virgin Mary

Hey all! So at this point in my training, I do know what my site is. However, there was so much to put in this particular post that I’m going to save it for the next post. Please send all your hate mail to my Hotmail account since I never check that one.

I do want to start with talking about the one big event in El Rosario that’s been going on for the past week which is Dia de la Virgen. Essentially it’s a whole week dedicated to the Virgin Mary (You will find out in later blog posts that there are at least three festivals a year dedicated to honoring Mary. She’s a pretty big deal down here). Each day starts promptly at 6 with the bells of the church ringing loudly to announce the start of mass. Then at seven, or whenever mass is finished, the church sets off polveros (fireworks minus the  pretty colors) for about 15 minutes while a procession carries a statue of the Virgin Mary to a new house to spend the night. That is the time that I usually wake up. Our house is night next to the church and so I literally wake up “with a bang.” Pun so intended. During the week, the Virgin Mary spends each night in a different house. Each night, the family that is hosting the Virgin Mary invite everyone in the town to come eat food and hold a vigil at their house.

The best part of this particular festival happens on the first and the last day.  After the night mass, the church sets of fireworks and the whole town participates in “Juegos de Polveros.” Literally this translates to “fireworks games.” As you can probably glean from the name this is definitely not something that would fly in the states. What happens is that a man will run out from a hiding place carrying a wooden bull on his back. This is no ordinary wooden bull though. It is a wooden bull completely covered in polveros that shoot off at random. The trick is for people on the street to try and avoid getting hit by one. Being a naïve American, I assumed that since children were allowed to participate, this was not a dangerous activity. However, when I asked my host mom and brother to confirm, they simply laughed at me and replied “Of course it’s dangerous.” Therefore, I don’t think that’s something that I will be bringing back to the states anytime soon.

In addition to Dia de La Virgen, my town also hosted an Hipica festival. Although the real focus is supposed to be on locals showing off their horses, the event has evolved to consist of a 75% focus on drinking and a 25% focus on horses. People start drinking at 2:00 in the afternoon and continue well into the night. The horse parade, which is supposed to be the focus of everything lasts for all of an hour. After hours of drinking, the event ends with a town fiesta. I had the pleasure of being able to go to this town fiesta stone cold sober. It was a blast. Geri, one of the other trainees, and I learned how to dance cumbia in the rain. I also got to meet a lot of locals from my training site. If anyone wants advice on how to better integrate I have two words for you: town fiesta. They are seriously one of the best opportunities to meet and talk to people.

Well as they say in Nica “Aqui Muere.” (I’m done). Tune in next time for a blog post about my site visit to…..BLUEFIELDS. I am stoked to finally start getting to know the place where I will be spending the next two years. I know that I’m going to love it. 

The Issue of Trash In Nicaragua

 One of the environmental concerns that consistently comes up when talking about Nicaragua is the issue of trash in public areas (i.e the streets, parks). As a training group, we recently completed a mock survey, or encuestra, to further investigate this issue on a more local level in El Rosario. The overwhelming sentiment seems to be that it is the government’s response to clean up the trash that seems to litter all public places. After all, after hundreds of years throwing organic material on the ground that would decompose quickly, it’s hard to switch to the habit of throwing trash in specific receptacles.

It seems that this is the response that is most quickly offered is to educate students about the importance of making sure they dispose of their trash in a responsible manner. The first lady of Nicaragua (who most Nicaraguans think is a witch, but that’s a different story) has actually started a campaign called “Viva Sano, Limpio, Bonito,” which roughly translates to “Live Safely, Live Cleanly, Live Beautifully.” The whole focus is to get people to pick up their trash, and the slogan is particularly ubiquitous on trash cans and pack benches.

While I think that this may be a good first step in addressing the issue of trash in Nicaragua, I’ve also had a lot of time to think on this issue (When it takes you about 30 min to eat a bowl of gallo pinto, you have a lot of time to think).  While trash on the streets is an issue that needs to be solved, it also brings to light the problem of trash that is worldwide. Nicaragua is a country produces significantly less trash than the United States. However, the problem of trash appears to be much greater simply. Why is this? It is based on the impact that the visibility of an issue has.

As humans, sight is one of the most important senses that we possess. The question, “Would you rather be blind or deaf?” most frequently produces the response “Deaf” because we rely so much on this one sense. Thus, it is only logical that the more visible an issue, the more likely we are to act on it. The issue of global warming is an especially potent example. This is a potentially dangerous phenomenon, but because of its lack of visibility to the human eyeit’s been hard to convince people of its existence.

In the United States, we have largely surpassed the issue of trash in public places that seems to be a focus of development efforts in Nicaragua. My question is though: has this indeed solved the issue of trash, or simply made it less visible? While I am certainly not an advocate for the current mode of trash disposal in Nicaragua, I can’t help but think that the way we address the issue of trash in the US isn’t much better. Does hiding the problem really solve the issue? The trash may be buried, hidden from human eyes, but has it really gone away? Perhaps this method of trash disposal has even aided in hiding the true problem presented by the disposability of the products that we buy. While I feel inadequate to post solutions to a complex problem on my PC blog, I’m at least beginning to feel that the solution being presented in Nicaragua may not be the best one.

This could also be a wakeup call to try and change my eating habits a bit. As I told you earlier, when it takes over 30 min for me to finish Gallo Pinto (and I have it almost 3x a day), I have a lot of time to think about things like this. I promise that my next entry will be more fun and informative of what I am actually doing here. Miss you all!

Dance Dance!

The blog post I’ve been dreading…..Too much to talk about and too little space and will power. So I’ve decided to throw out some bullet points on the highlights of the past two weeks.

1.     I taught my first class ever. And in Spanish. There were 42 third graders in the class. Surprisingly, it went pretty well. They could understand mas or menos what I was saying and no one died. Therefore, I consider it a success. My next class is on Thursday, and I feel a bit more confident going into this one. After teaching that, I’ll only have two more classes left that I’ll be required to teach.

2.       I went to my first town fiesta last Sunday night as part of the Nicaraguan Independence day celebrations. My brother’s salsa band was playing that night and it was great to see him in his element. I even got complemented on my dancing by a straight, sober Nicaraguan woman (so I know the compliments genuine and not just someone trying to hit on me). Yeah cultural integration!

3.       This past week I spent four days observing one of the environmental volunteersin their site in Posoltega Chinadega.. For those of you not familiar with Nicaragua, Chinadega is a department in the Northwest corner of Nicaragua and is considered to have one of the hottest climates in Nicaragua. (Lucky for me, this time of year is considered winter so it was a bit cooler than normal.)It was really great to see what the life of a volunteer is like since it automatically takes for me what was simply an abstract notion to something that is more tangible. As a trainee, I tend to get caught up in the largeness of what we’re expected to accomplish andforget to think about the small daily steps it takes to get there. Tara, the volunteer, seemed really comfortable and happy with her site and after only 9 months already had a project going to build nine high efficiency stoves in her site.

4.       On the way home from our visit to Chinadega, the other two trainees who were with me and I decided to spend some time in Leon. Leon is a gorgeous old city that was built by the Spaniards and is famous for two things: churches and murals. In addition, it is also a hotspot for backpackers so we saw a LOT of other gringos. We were able to buy brunch in a cafe near one of the larger cathedrals and spent the rest of the time site seeing. I took many photos, but since my camera was stolen on the way home, I unfortunately cannot post them. But believe me, they were good.

5.       Today, quite unexpectedly, I decided to take part in a six hour dance competition in my training town. It cost less than a dollar to participate (20 cordobas to be exact), the whole point being an emphasis on physical fitness. Claire, another volunteer in El Rosarion, and I decided within five minutes of the competition starting that we wanted to do more than just watch….we wanted to join inSince her host sister was a judge for the competition, we were able to sneak in late, and had an amazing time. Think of an hour zumba class. Now multiply that by six. I have never been so tired, and happy at the same time.

Thanks for reading! Remember, I love mail. I’ve put my address in the “About Me” section if you need it. I promise that I’ll be the best pen pal ever. Miss you all!

On Being Whelmed in Nicaragua

One of my favorite lines from the movie “10 things I Hate About You” comes from the character Bianca and goes something like this: “I know that you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but can you just be whemled?” To this her friend replies “I think you can in Europe.” Part of the struggle in training has been trying to find a balance between being overwhelmed and underwhelmed. Or as they refer to it in Europe “being whelmed.” (Note: I know that is not actually a term in Europe. Its hard to portray a sarcastic tone in a blog post!) There have times when I’ve been completely overwhelmed and ended up curled in a fetal position in my mosquito net. There have also been times, mainly on weekend days, when I’ve felt bored and restless in my training town. The challenge is to find those small moments of calm and contentment and carry them with you through those periods.  It also lies in finding those small victories, like finally being able to understand what my two-year niece is saying.  If Nicaragua has taught me anything so far (besides Spanish), its been to find gratitude the small, ordinary moments in my day. I realize that this sounds like some cliché Halmark card, but hey those people must know what they’re doing then.  For example, one of my favorite moments of any day is having breakfast with my host mom.  For that half hour, I get to eat fresh local fruit, eat freshly made bread, sip on some delicious café con leche (which my host mom makes with A TON of sugar……just the way I like it), and learn about Nicaraguan food from my host mom. Back at home, I always had the tendency to only set aside the last five minutes before I ran out the door for breakfast. That’s not how it’s done here. People take more time for food and conversation, even at 5:30/6:00 in the morning. By more fully appreciating this moment, instead of wondering why my host mom is trying to talk to my so early in the morning, I start off my days feeling more calm, relaxed, and sustained.

That’s my reflection on the week.  Tune in next time to hear me talk about my experience teaching a class of 42 (not exaggerating) third graders completely in Spanish. I’ve already written out everything that I need to say, just in case. Any good thoughts, prayers, karma that you could all could send my way would be much appreciated. Miss you all! I wish I could write to you all personally, but this blog will have to suffice for now. However, see my previous blog post if you have any interest in writing me. I promise that I’ll be the best pen pal ever. (Although I can’t say the same thing for the Nicaraguan mailing system.)

Hasta la proxima vez! Adios!

A mountain getaway. Side note: I did not have to work too hard to appreciate this :)

Cuando Estoy in Nicaragua: Bulls and Bucket Showers

Hello all! Since I’ve had a few rough days of culture shock/homesickness this week, I’ve decided to start a segment on my blog called “Cuando Estoy in Nicaragua.” Every month or so, I’m going to compile a list of 5-10 things that are quintessentially Nicaraguan to both introduce you to my new home and remind myself of the things I love/find endearing about this place.

1.       Animals in the street. Dogs, cats, bulls, horses, chickens. You name it, I’ve seen it walking in the street.  There are also no traffic signs so it can get pretty crazy. Every time in the street is a little bit of a fight for space. For a particular story involving bulls, see Tom’s blog (another gringo in Rosario)

2.       Bucket Showers: Usually I have running water, but there is one day a week that the water is turned off and I have to take a bucket shower. Each time I take one (which so far has only been twice), I am amazed by little water I actually need to bathe. The amount of water that I use in one bucket shower is less than the amount of water that I use in one minute in the shower.  If you’re looking to reduce your water consumption, that’s definitely one way to do it.

3.       Nicaraguan time. Those of you who know me well will probably call me guilty of this phenomenon. The joke among PC is that Nicaraguans will always show up at least thirty minutes late for any event. They are also not prone to making plans in advance.  As Americans, it can be difficult to understand this phenomenon since we place such a heavy emphasis on time as something finite that can and should be used as productively as possible.  This is not the case for Nicaraguans. To sum up nicely how Nicaraguans perceive of time, I’ve included a popular Nicaraguan dicho (or saying) “Hay mas tiempo que vida.” Translated to English, it reads: There is more time than life.

4.       The Gringo phenomenon: I’ve used this word several times in my blog so by now you must be wondering what it means. Basically this word can be used to describe any white American. Of course the word itself encompasses more than just the simple definition and assumes all kinds of behavior patterns and beliefs, but that’s something to cover in a different blog post.

5.       Street Vendors: Everyone is selling something. Everyone. At least 50% of the houses that I pass on my way to Spanish class have signs advertising something for sale (usually its food). In addition, it is not uncommon to get 4-5 local solicitors per day who are selling some kind of food. Don’t worry, I haven’t given in to temptation yet. The Peace Corps medical officers did a good job of scaring me away from street food.

Well, that’s all for now. Tune in next time to listen to me freak out about having to teach my first class COMPLETELY IN SPANISH, which will happen next Monday.

Week 1

Hola a todos! In celebration of finishing my first week of training, I put some minutes on my modem. Which means that I have internet (for a limited time only). I call it my "gringa time."

What a week this has been! I've gone through about every emotion possible while here: happiness, excitement, contentment, fear, stress, homesickness, and doubt. I don't think that I've ever been as nervous as I was to meet my host family. While most people in my group have both lived abroad and with a host family, both were completely new for me and I had no idea what to expect. Not only did I have doubts about my ability to communicate with them (they only speak Spanish), but I was also afraid of the culture barrier that would inevitably be there and whether that would be an obstacle that I'd be able to overcome. I'm overwhelmingly happy to say that this was not the case. My host family is incredibly friendly, generous, and patient. They are also a huge family. I'm talking multiple generations under one roof. So you readers can ignore all the information that I put about them in the previous blog post. Apparently the Peace Corps photo that was given to me was a bit misleading. I actually have a host mom (Petrona) and dad (Manuel) as well as 2 host sisters (Mara and Sayda), 2 host brothers (Gerall and Omar), three nieces, and a nephew. One of my nieces, Naomi, is two and already calls me "Tia Clara," or "Aunt Clare" in English.

Speaking of which I have Spanish classes every Monday- Thursday for 6 hours a day with the three other volunteers living in El Rosario. Between that and talking with my host family, I am speaking Spanish about 95% of the time. I can already tell that my grammer and vocabulary are starting to pick up, although I still have a ways to go. After Spanish class, which ends around 3:00, we usually have a cultural integration activity for two hours. Last week it was making a map of Rosario. Around 5:00, we all go home to hang out and eat dinner (Gallo Pinto!) with our host families. Then Thursday afternoon-Saturday we usually go to a larger city like Jinotepe or Diriamba to attend lectures (charlas en espanol) about Peace Corps service and do technical training. Yesterday, we learned about all the diseases that we could get in Nicaragua. Fun! Rest assured that  I will never buy food from a street vendor, drink water from the tap, pet a strange dog, or forget to sleep with my mosquito net set up.

Well that's all for now! If any of you are interested, I finally have an address here. Any letters or care packages (*hint, hint...kidding!) should be sent to:

Clare Pillsbury, PCT

Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3256

Managua, Nicaragua

Central America

Los gringos de El Rosario en Managua :)

Estoy en Nicaragua

Hola a todos! I knew I'd be really bad at blogging and my progress thus far hasn't proved this wrong. I finally made it to Nicaragua. After a full day of staging in DC on Tuesday, we boarded the plane on Wednesday morning at 7:00 am. From there, we flew into Miami, took a quick picture to document our last time on American soil, and then flew into Managua. Since then, we've had three days of getting tons of information thrown at us about what the Peace Corps, and more specifically, the next three months of training will be like. We also did language placement tests to determine our training groups. What's it like to be in Nicaragua you ask? Well, I found a salamander on my pillow last night, which helped remind me that I was not in Wisconsin anymore The last few days though, our entire staging group has been staying in a nice hotel in Managua, so it feels a little like a vacation. The hotel is gorgeous and consists of small, colorful cabins with a pool and communal dining room. Tomorrow we go out into our training sites and spend our first day with our host families.

Speaking of which....I finally know where I'm going to be for the next three months! I will be training with three other environmental volunteers in the town of El Rosario in the province of Carazo. I can't find too much on the town, probably because its so small (the population is around 2,000). My host family consists of a host mother, father, and their three daughters, all of which look to be in the age group of 10-16 years old. I'm extremely excited to meet all of them. Hopefully they like me!

Until next then! A quick fyi: I most likely won't have internet for the next week so if you don't hear from me, don't worry. I'll be back on in a week to update you on my new living situation.

Nica 62 Environmental Volunteers!

What up internet?!

As you may have gathered from the bad 90's reference, I'm relatively new to the blogging world. So why am I starting a blog now? My intention is that it will be a way for all of you out there (yes, creepy guy with the handlebar mustache who found my blog randomly) to keep up with all of my life happenings during my two years of Peace Corps service in Nicaragua.

Well, that's all for now! Sorry about the short blog post. I promise that there will be more to come in the next week.