So it’s been almost a week since I’ve been in Boaco and not too much has been going on around here. I did get the money thing resolved with my host mom, although I’m still paying more than the other PCVs. After the 6 weeks, I’m going to make my own food though.
After leaving Managua on Tuesday, I found out that one of my best friends here, Jess, decided that she wanted to leave Nicaragua. I was heartbroken to hear that, but I know that she’s gone through a lot being sick and not feeling the same after having Dengue. Fortunately though, Peace Corps does a good job supporting their volunteers, especially in these situations, and the medical team decided that it would be best to have Kellie and me go back to Managua on Thanksgiving so we could all be together for emotional support.
I left Thursday morning and got on the bus in Boaco to see Steve, my site mate (small business) getting on the bus too. I waved him over and he said I was lucky because he was getting off at the empalme (20 minutes down the road) and then getting a ride with an ex-volunteer in his car into Managua. So we caught up with Scott, who was a TEFL PCV on the island of Ometepe, where my friend Andrew is now. Scott works for an NGO now in Boaco and he drove us in to Managua, which was nice.
I made it over to the hotel and met up with Kellie and Jess. It was good being together for the day and being able to say goodbye in person instead of over the phone, but it was still sad. I’m really going to miss my friend and I’m bummed that we can’t continue to share stories about our interesting lives in Nicaragua. She can always make me laugh. I know that it’s best for her to go back to the U.S. and take of herself though. I hope we can meet up again later in life :)
Because I was leaving Managua on Friday to return to Boaco, this coincided with my host brother going home to Boaco (he studies in Managua during the week). This was nice because I then had someone to ride the bus with. Taking a taxi over to the bus terminal to meet him was absolutely crazy though. Kellie and I waited for the taxi to arrive at the PC office, which it came a little late… The plan was for him to drop her off at one bus terminal and then me after at another terminal, since our buses go in different directions. Well, there was an accident or something that held up traffic for awhile. I was supposed to meet my host bro at the terminal to catch a 3:30pm bus but I had to call to let him know I wouldn’t make that one, but we could take the 4pm. After we dropped off Kellie, we headed out and were stopped again in traffic—this time there was a minor accident with a bus and a car. The front bumper/light of the car was a little crunched, but both vehicles were taking up the whole road and not being moved—there weren’t any people in them either. So, my taxi driver did what only seemed natural in this situation; he drove up the curb, drove down the sidewalk a little to pass the bus, and then entered back onto the road. We weren’t in a jeep or anything, just a little beat up car. I love how this was totally acceptable to do; well there weren’t any police around…
We finally got to the bus terminal right at 4pm, and with this culture usually being late or on “Nica time”, the buses are unusually timely to leave the station. The 4pm bus was just pulling away as I entered the terminal and it was crammed pack with people so I wasn’t going to attempt to run after it. I found my host brother and I apologized because he had to wait so long, but he’s pretty chill and wasn’t upset. So, we had a half an hour to hang out before the next bus so we chatted.
The 4:30pm bus pulled up and we got on quickly in order to get a seat as it filled up. As we pulled away from the terminal and drove out of Managua, the bus made some weird noises which worried me as we began our 2 hour trek out into the campo. Many buses make weird noises here though, so I was optimistic. Our ride was okay, but we drove pretty slow at times. It wasn’t until it was dark and we were still quite a ways from Boaco that our bus started grumbling and jerking. Hmmm…I definitely felt comforted with my host bro sitting next to me instead of some random Nicas, but I was still worried whether or not we would have to sleep overnight in the bus if it broke down. I wasn’t the only worried one as other gasped around me when the driver attempted to change gears and the bus did not agree. The country hills are very hard on these buses. Eventually, we made it in to Boaco, just 2 ½ hours later. I was just thankful to be on stable ground and off of that bus. I’ve had so many crazy bus experiences here that I could probably write a book about them. Anyway, we made it home and ate dinner with Hazzel and my host mom (Carmen).
Saturday, was a very Catholic filled day. My host brother told me that he was going to speak at the mass so I said I would go with him and take pictures. It was a day to celebrate the Virgin Mary—I’m not exactly sure what exactly it all was about, like why this day and what specifically they were celebrating, but it was about Mary. Yasser and I went to the church but we were a little late getting there so he said that he probably wouldn’t be speaking. The church was overflowing with people so we weeded our way through the sea of people to go up near the front. I got all kinds of stares. Then, if we hadn’t brought enough attention to ourselves pushing our way to the front during mass, Yasser wanted to go across to the other side in the very front of the church. I asked him if he was serious because it seemed like this wouldn’t be respectful, and I knew that in the Catholic church, when people cross the middle or go into the middle of the church, they make the cross motion (Ok, I’m not Catholic so I don’t know the terminology) and sort of half kneel. Well, I’m not Catholic so I was also worried that if I crossed the church in front of all these people and didn’t do the kneel cross motion I would disrespect a lot of people. I had to put all those worries aside because we crossed anyway. I then stood awkwardly while Yasser talked to the other youth group members.
Yasser decided that he was going to speak and discussed his lines with the group members, but then realized he had forgotten his camera battery. I had mine, but he was determined to go home and get his. So, again we pushed our way through the mass, but this time we were going to the back of the church so I could see everyone’s faces as I was asking them to move aside so I could exit the church. What a day filled with pena (embarrassment). I hung out with Hazzel in the church for awhile and then she sensed my boredom and we went to the park to get ice cream. It was a really hot day too, so being pressed up against people in a overcrowded church was not pleasant. The ice cream was refreshing and Yasser met up with us afterward. Needless to say, he did not speak at church. After mass finished, they had a procession which resembled a parade with mini floats representing all of the different barrios and their designs to celebrate Mary. Each “float” they carried had a figure of Mary (of varying sizes) with flowers and other adornments. It was interesting. We stood on a street corner to view the entire procession. Something that’s even more interesting (in some people’s opinion) about these processions is that you don’t just watch it go by once and go home, you then race to another corner to watch the very same procession, walk with the procession for awhile, cut down some other streets and watch it again from another corner. At one corner a taxi tried to drive through a small break in the procession which upset a lot of people. One lady shouted “Que vulgaridad”. Although I kind of chuckled at the reaction and her statement, it was pretty disrespectful, but taxis try to get through everything any way they can (just like my curb driver).
We headed home after the procession returned back to the church and I was sure my face and scalp were sunburned. After eating lunch and hanging out for a bit, Yasser said we were invited to a house for more celebrations, so I went with him and Hazzel. The house was filled with plastic chairs, a band was outside, and there was a grand altar with a figure of the Virgin Mary with flashing blue Christmas lights, candles, and burning incense. This was interesting. We sat down and I asked Hazzel what we were going to do, and she said “pray”. So, a lady began and then they passed around the rosary praying the specific prayers bead by bead and then singing songs in between. At the end, they brought out food to everyone and little baskets for us to carry our food home. I’ve never experience anything like this so it was a good cultural experience to say the least. After going home, Yasser informed me that they had a youth group get together, so we went over to what I guess was a convent. We chatted with others for awhile and then a nun came out and asked the students to share about the group, etc. She then put some pendants of Mary on an altar and asked the group to go up one by one to get a pendant to wear. I didn’t go up there, but she approached me after and said I could get one, but I explained, respectfully, that I wasn’t Catholic. A girl in the youth group asked me what religion I was—Nicas are very direct with this question! I told her I am a Christian. The next question Nicas ask after that is “You’re Evangelical?” Evangelical is very different here and I feel like the Catholics and Evangelicals don’t quite get along. I tried to explain that I don’t belong to a certain denomination, but I believe in God and the trinity. She then asked “But you don’t believe in the Virgin Mary?” I felt so uncomfortable because I was amidst this group of Catholics on the day they were having a large celebration of the Virgin Mary and staring at a figure of her and had to explain that I don’t celebrate her sanctity. It was very complicated, but I don’t think she was offended. I’m just surprised at how direct Nicas are regarding religion. The rest of the night was fine, but I kept thinking about how quite a few PCVs have been bothered by their host families or community members trying to force religion on them or trying to scare them into believing something. It’s frustrating how some people can be a little too extreme and push people away from faith with their “good intentions”.
Following this, my host mom asked me the next day if I was going to become Catholic. I told her no and Yasser started laughing. I’m assuming my response wasn’t rude then. It was quite a Catholic weekend.
Highlight: yesterday I got a package from my grandparents filled with great supplies for my classroom and peanut M&M’s :) I forgot to take a picture of the stash and then I didn’t want to put it all back in box after I had organized it all and put it away. Anyway, shout out to Grandpa Al and Grandma Milly for sending me treasures! Thanks! Love you :)
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Money issues...
So, I tried talking to my host mom last night about how much I should pay her each month for my room and food. I arranged a price based on what I had paid for the site visit, which included a room and meals, so I figured this would be a good price, especially because it fit in the window of what PC said was the average amount to pay. I talked to my host mom and she agreed on the price and it seemed like everything was set.
Well...this morning, she asked me if we could talk about the prices again because she was a little confused about our conversation last night, which was weird because it seemed clear. Anyway, she told me that the contract from PC said that I should pay a certain amount for the room for the 6 weeks. PC sets up rooms with families for the 1st six weeks so we have a secure place to live while we try to find another place if we want to move out. I just thought it would be easier to pay monthly instead of the 6 weeks. Ok, whatever, that's fine to pay the 6 weeks. Then, she told me that she knew prices for the meals and told me how much breakfast, lunch, and dinner should cost (which were way more than the correct prices) and calculated everything out to tell me how much I should pay. Volunteers in department capitals get paid a little more than other volunteers because things are a little more expensive, but this was ridiculous. First of all, I hate talking about money issues, but this was even worse because she was asking me to pay pretty much my whole monthly "salary". I obviously can not afford the price she offered and I was kind of upset about the issue because I felt she was asking too much. So, I decided to drop the issue because I had to leave the house soon and I would talk to her later.
After thinking about it and worrying a little about how much money I'm going to have and if I'll be able to stay with them, etc. I decided that I will just tell them that I will pay for the meals they have given me so far, but after that, I'm going to make all of my own meals. Again, I don't like talking to people about money because it's always awkward, especially in this type of situation, but I guess I just have to let her know that I don't get paid that much as a volunteer, go figure haha This should be a fun conversation--wish me luck!
Well...this morning, she asked me if we could talk about the prices again because she was a little confused about our conversation last night, which was weird because it seemed clear. Anyway, she told me that the contract from PC said that I should pay a certain amount for the room for the 6 weeks. PC sets up rooms with families for the 1st six weeks so we have a secure place to live while we try to find another place if we want to move out. I just thought it would be easier to pay monthly instead of the 6 weeks. Ok, whatever, that's fine to pay the 6 weeks. Then, she told me that she knew prices for the meals and told me how much breakfast, lunch, and dinner should cost (which were way more than the correct prices) and calculated everything out to tell me how much I should pay. Volunteers in department capitals get paid a little more than other volunteers because things are a little more expensive, but this was ridiculous. First of all, I hate talking about money issues, but this was even worse because she was asking me to pay pretty much my whole monthly "salary". I obviously can not afford the price she offered and I was kind of upset about the issue because I felt she was asking too much. So, I decided to drop the issue because I had to leave the house soon and I would talk to her later.
After thinking about it and worrying a little about how much money I'm going to have and if I'll be able to stay with them, etc. I decided that I will just tell them that I will pay for the meals they have given me so far, but after that, I'm going to make all of my own meals. Again, I don't like talking to people about money because it's always awkward, especially in this type of situation, but I guess I just have to let her know that I don't get paid that much as a volunteer, go figure haha This should be a fun conversation--wish me luck!
Estoy en Boaco
I arrived in Boaco and took a taxi to my house, but my sister was still at school. There was a lady taking care of the house and one of their cousins eating lunch. The lady made me lunch and I talked to the cousin, Darwin. He seemed really nice. I unpacked all of my stuff…way too much stuff! Then, I eagerly waited for my sister to come home because I was pretty bored. Now that we have our new Claro chips I was able to text Kellie and Jess for free…it’s so nice not having to buy saldo anymore. I will have to buy some to call the U.S. or my counterparts, but now I have free text messages to anyone and free calls to other volunteers woo!
My sister finally got home from school around 6pm and I heard her opening the door so I went out in the living room to say hi. She was pretty excited to see me and I was excited to see her as well—we pretty much ran to each other and shared a big hug :) This was very special and made me feel welcome. What a nice treat—she really is a sweet girl and I look forward to getting to know her more. Hazzel told me that she wasn’t sure if her mom was coming back from the farm that night or the next day—she was still there from when I had visited 2 weeks ago! She ended up coming home that night, but her husband stayed at the farm. Apparently they go to the farm a lot and stay there for a long time. My counterpart told me I was going to go to the farm with them soon, but I reminded him of a TESL conference December 3 that we both should attend so my family is going to wait a bit. I do want to go to the farm, but my boss for PC told me that I can’t go for that long…it’s hard to tell my family that because I know they have to work there and their kids like to go. I told my host mom that I can’t go for more than 2 weeks. I kinda feel bad making them come back before they would like to, but I guess that’s just the way it has to be.
Yesterday was a pretty boring day since there wasn’t much going on. I ate breakfast with Hazzel and Dona Carmen, and then hung out and talked to Kellie and Jess. I looked through my scrapbook that my friends & family made me which was fun because it’s been 3 (or 4) months since I’ve seen everybody and it was a nice reminder of the friendships and love I have back home :) Thanks for contributing!
Lunch came quickly, even though I was bored. I didn’t feel like eating that much since I had been lazy all day, but they insisted on giving me lots of food. I told them I don’t eat much haha I decided to wash my clothes because I had a lot of laundry and guess what, my family has a washing machine. I lucked out again with this one! I bought a small bag of laundry detergent which was 10 cords. I can use it for about 2 loads of laundry, which is pretty good (50 cents for 2 loads). After that I was hanging out around the house, just watching TV and my Carmen suggested that we go over to Argelio’s house so I wouldn’t be bored. I thought Argelio was coming over to the house in the afternoon, because he told me he was, but I guess he forgot… So, Carmen, Hazzel, and I went to Argelio’s and chatted a little. I then ended up sitting on the couch with Hazzel watching an old show that was already on. So, I was doing the same thing I was at home, but watching a show I didn’t want to watch. Argelio left after awhile because he had to do something. His sister made me coffee and served me cookies as well—they are so generous when I visit. I chatted with his sister for awhile, which I enjoyed. She is a very nice lady and likes talking to me. It’s good practice for my Spanish :)
We came home later and had dinner together. Hazzel made ham sandwiches with the grill (kinda like a George Foreman). She gave me 3 sandwiches. Really?! Ok, they weren’t huge because they only had one slice of ham, but still. I only ate 2 of them. I told them that in the U.S. a “traditional meal” is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I hope we can make that sometime! I miss my dad’s creamy tomato basil soup!
We then watched some telenovelas (soap operas) which are oh so popular here and pretty funny. They are also good practice for Spanish :) I met Argelio’s son, whom he also told to practice English with me. He is 17 and a nice kid. He speaks pretty good English too. I told him that we can get together to practice English this weekend and he seemed excited about that—he kept saying that he didn’t want to bother me though. I think Argelio requested me to come to Boaco so I could be a private English tutor for his kids hahaha I would get paid big bucks for that outside of Peace Corps—shoot! Haha It’s a good thing that I love teaching and helping others. The Lord has equipped me well for this job!
My sister finally got home from school around 6pm and I heard her opening the door so I went out in the living room to say hi. She was pretty excited to see me and I was excited to see her as well—we pretty much ran to each other and shared a big hug :) This was very special and made me feel welcome. What a nice treat—she really is a sweet girl and I look forward to getting to know her more. Hazzel told me that she wasn’t sure if her mom was coming back from the farm that night or the next day—she was still there from when I had visited 2 weeks ago! She ended up coming home that night, but her husband stayed at the farm. Apparently they go to the farm a lot and stay there for a long time. My counterpart told me I was going to go to the farm with them soon, but I reminded him of a TESL conference December 3 that we both should attend so my family is going to wait a bit. I do want to go to the farm, but my boss for PC told me that I can’t go for that long…it’s hard to tell my family that because I know they have to work there and their kids like to go. I told my host mom that I can’t go for more than 2 weeks. I kinda feel bad making them come back before they would like to, but I guess that’s just the way it has to be.
Yesterday was a pretty boring day since there wasn’t much going on. I ate breakfast with Hazzel and Dona Carmen, and then hung out and talked to Kellie and Jess. I looked through my scrapbook that my friends & family made me which was fun because it’s been 3 (or 4) months since I’ve seen everybody and it was a nice reminder of the friendships and love I have back home :) Thanks for contributing!
Lunch came quickly, even though I was bored. I didn’t feel like eating that much since I had been lazy all day, but they insisted on giving me lots of food. I told them I don’t eat much haha I decided to wash my clothes because I had a lot of laundry and guess what, my family has a washing machine. I lucked out again with this one! I bought a small bag of laundry detergent which was 10 cords. I can use it for about 2 loads of laundry, which is pretty good (50 cents for 2 loads). After that I was hanging out around the house, just watching TV and my Carmen suggested that we go over to Argelio’s house so I wouldn’t be bored. I thought Argelio was coming over to the house in the afternoon, because he told me he was, but I guess he forgot… So, Carmen, Hazzel, and I went to Argelio’s and chatted a little. I then ended up sitting on the couch with Hazzel watching an old show that was already on. So, I was doing the same thing I was at home, but watching a show I didn’t want to watch. Argelio left after awhile because he had to do something. His sister made me coffee and served me cookies as well—they are so generous when I visit. I chatted with his sister for awhile, which I enjoyed. She is a very nice lady and likes talking to me. It’s good practice for my Spanish :)
We came home later and had dinner together. Hazzel made ham sandwiches with the grill (kinda like a George Foreman). She gave me 3 sandwiches. Really?! Ok, they weren’t huge because they only had one slice of ham, but still. I only ate 2 of them. I told them that in the U.S. a “traditional meal” is grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. I hope we can make that sometime! I miss my dad’s creamy tomato basil soup!
We then watched some telenovelas (soap operas) which are oh so popular here and pretty funny. They are also good practice for Spanish :) I met Argelio’s son, whom he also told to practice English with me. He is 17 and a nice kid. He speaks pretty good English too. I told him that we can get together to practice English this weekend and he seemed excited about that—he kept saying that he didn’t want to bother me though. I think Argelio requested me to come to Boaco so I could be a private English tutor for his kids hahaha I would get paid big bucks for that outside of Peace Corps—shoot! Haha It’s a good thing that I love teaching and helping others. The Lord has equipped me well for this job!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I'm an official PCV!
The day has finally come (well yesterday) that I got to swear-in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). No more being called a trainee! :)
So, we got to all hang out at the hotel here in Managua for the last couple of days which has been really fun. We had our ceremony yesterday. We all got dressed up, ate breakfast, and then PC shuttled us over to the really nice hotel for the ceremony. As they were setting up, we took tons of pictures together and our families started arriving so more pictures were taken. The first part of the ceremony consisted of thanking the families for all they have done for us the past 2 1/2 months. We presented certificates to the host mom's and took pictures. Then we had some snacks while they changed things up inside. The second part of the ceremony consisted of speeches from a volunteer from each group, kind of like a valedictorian speech. Then, the U.S. Ambassador gave a speech, which included us swearing-in, and then our country director gave a speech. We then were called up one by one to shake hands with our country director, the U.S. Ambassador, and our APCDs. Then we signed our life away on a paper that was whisked away quickly and we were handed a PC pin.
The whole day was pretty exciting and we got McFlurry’s to celebrate, of course. We then came back to the hotel to change and hang out. Our country director invited us all over to her house to celebrate Thanksgiving since our host families would obviously not be celebrating. This was very nice. We were shuttled over to her house and we scarfed up as many appetizers as we could and then eagerly waited for the Thanksgiving dishes. We were pleasantly surprised to see and eat such great food: mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberries, turkey, sweet potatoes…and then pie!
Many of us were wearing our PC polos so we had to take pictures in those since they are so cool and we are pretty excited to finally have them.
After eating all of that food and spending about 3 ½ hours there, we were all getting pretty sleepy so we had out trainers take us back to the hotel. It was a nice night to relax and hang out with everybody before leaving today. It feels weird that we’re actually leaving for our sites and leaving our friends, but hopefully we’ll see each other for Christmas or New Year’s. But for now, I’ll be heading back over to Boaco…not sure when that family farm trip will be, but I’ll keep you posted!
So, we got to all hang out at the hotel here in Managua for the last couple of days which has been really fun. We had our ceremony yesterday. We all got dressed up, ate breakfast, and then PC shuttled us over to the really nice hotel for the ceremony. As they were setting up, we took tons of pictures together and our families started arriving so more pictures were taken. The first part of the ceremony consisted of thanking the families for all they have done for us the past 2 1/2 months. We presented certificates to the host mom's and took pictures. Then we had some snacks while they changed things up inside. The second part of the ceremony consisted of speeches from a volunteer from each group, kind of like a valedictorian speech. Then, the U.S. Ambassador gave a speech, which included us swearing-in, and then our country director gave a speech. We then were called up one by one to shake hands with our country director, the U.S. Ambassador, and our APCDs. Then we signed our life away on a paper that was whisked away quickly and we were handed a PC pin.
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| Kellie, Julia Elena, Jess, & Me |
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| Host mom, me, host aunt |
The whole day was pretty exciting and we got McFlurry’s to celebrate, of course. We then came back to the hotel to change and hang out. Our country director invited us all over to her house to celebrate Thanksgiving since our host families would obviously not be celebrating. This was very nice. We were shuttled over to her house and we scarfed up as many appetizers as we could and then eagerly waited for the Thanksgiving dishes. We were pleasantly surprised to see and eat such great food: mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberries, turkey, sweet potatoes…and then pie!
Many of us were wearing our PC polos so we had to take pictures in those since they are so cool and we are pretty excited to finally have them.
After eating all of that food and spending about 3 ½ hours there, we were all getting pretty sleepy so we had out trainers take us back to the hotel. It was a nice night to relax and hang out with everybody before leaving today. It feels weird that we’re actually leaving for our sites and leaving our friends, but hopefully we’ll see each other for Christmas or New Year’s. But for now, I’ll be heading back over to Boaco…not sure when that family farm trip will be, but I’ll keep you posted!
Check out more of my pictures in my Facebook album:
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Last days in San Juan
This weekend has been a little sad because it was my last weekend in San Juan de Oriente. Of course I plan on visiting, but it’s still sad. Friday we had meetings in Managua and then headed back to our training towns for the last couple days before leaving. Our youth group decided to throw us a despedida (going away party). It was really sweet because our youth group was kinda falling apart, but they were so kind to do that for us. They played music, did some dances for us (they have a dance group), and then shared kind words of appreciation. We then gave them “diplomas” for their participation in the group—they really liked the diplomas so that was cute. We took a picture together as well. Then they served us a traditional Nicaraguan meal—gallo pinto, tostones, and cheese. I had already eaten dinner, but I couldn’t pass this up :)
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| (Back) Pablo, Yahoska, Me, WAlter, Catalina, Paola, Alvin, Kellie, (front) Gerson, Eddie, Emir |
Saturday was a full day as well. In the morning, Kellie and I went to Masaya to run some errands and pick up some last minute things. I bought some rice, beans, and sugar (in bulk) for my family as a gift. Beans are really expensive nowadays so I thought that would be a good gift. These three things are staples here. I also got a new phone because Peace Corps gave us new Claro chips which allow us to call and text all PC volunteers and staff for FREE! Yay :) This is nice because I had been spending a lot of money trying to keep my saldo from running out. No more of that!
We got back from Masaya around 12:30pm and after lunch, Caridad and I went to Masatepe because some PCVs were hosting a taller (workshop) on call centers. Caridad had expressed interest in working in a call center and I was so excited when I found out that some of my friends were doing a taller on this. They had two people who work at call centers share about their experiences, the benefits, and requirements for working there. It was really interesting and I felt that I learned a lot of stuff too, especially with the whole taller being in Spanish :) Caridad seemed excited and we found out that there are free English classes available in Masatepe, which is only about a 15 minute bus ride from San Juan. I hope she pursues this.
We got back a little late, but I had some time to do a little packing. I ate dinner and took a shower because we had water haha Then, something terrible happened! I was walking through the kitchen and oh my gosh there was a tarantula heading right toward my room. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First of all, I HATE spiders! Second of all, this was a tarantula! Are you kidding me!?!?!? All I could do was squeal and I couldn’t even say spider. My host mom kinda giggled and came over. She told me that they don’t hurt and they aren’t poisonous and I told her I was scared haha She through her flip flop on it which stopped it, but it’s legs were still quivering. Ugh :( Gross! Gross! Gross! It started moving again, but then she brought the broom and dust pan and took it outside. Oh, gross! I’m so glad this happened on my last night here, and not the first! Phew! As you can imagine, this was a very traumatic experience for me.
As I was still a little shaky, my friend came over to say goodbye and gave me my “favorite things”: fresco de cacao and chocolates :) So sweet! Fresco de cacao is chocolate milk made from grounded cocoa beans, so it is awesome! And, it’s cold, so that’s why it’s “fresco”. This made me feel better :)
I then gave out some small gifts to the kids because as they came home—my mom had sent some little packs of Disney playing cards and they loved them. Of course the little girls fought a little about which Disney princess cards they would get, but it all worked out in the end.
Since pretty much everybody was home, we decided to take our family picture—yay! Rene, my host brother who lives next door, didn’t want to be in the picture and his wife was working. Anyway, my friend took the picture and it was so fun being with everybody. We all hung out in the family room after that for awhile—it was crazy and loud because of all the kids and there was a jump rope in the mix, but I loved it and it was so nice to spend time with everybody.
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| (Back row) Sara, Caridad, Jennie, Dolores, Sara, (Front row) Luis Angel, Wendy Sofia, Me with Alice, Maria Eduarda, Giselle |
Today I hung out with my family in the morning and then had to say goodbye to everyone. It was really sad saying goodbye because all of the little kids were hugging me and I got a little teary-eyed. Then as I walked down the street I got a little more teary and had to put on my sunglasses haha
I met up with Kellie and Jess and we walked to the empalme to meet up with the Catarina peeps. We caught a bus to Managua and then realized it was going the very long way to get there…bummer! It took about 2 hours to get there and then we had to take a taxi over to our hotel. After checking into our rooms and then getting some food, we got our PC polo shirts that we ordered. We are pretty excited about these—tip to future PCV’s—ask about shirts early (talk to Roger) and get the color palette to make the order with your group. It’s up to the volunteers to put the order in, not the PC staff. Anyway, we got the shirts and everything if good now :)
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| Me, Julia Elena, Janelle |
Our swearing-in ceremony is tomorrow so I’m really excited about that!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Meetings...
So, this week has been one full of meetings. We had our last Spanish class on Monday which was kinda sad, but then it's been meetings the rest of the week. It has pretty mush been getting up really early, taking a crammed pack bus to our destination, sitting in meetings, eating lunch, sitting through more meetings, riding a crammed pack bus home in the late afternoon/evening, eating dinner, going to sleep...then the same thing the next day. This week has been exhausting! That's an understatement.
We were supposed to visit the U.S. Embassy today but they had to rearrange things because the Ambassador had a last minute meeting. We talked to another guy from the Embassy who was interesting. We had more security meetings after that and then preparation for swearing-in. I'm so excited for Monday because then we'll officially be volunteers--woo! We had to practice the Nicaraguan national anthem and our promise to service in Spanish. Fortunately, during the ceremony we will have a little cheat sheet for the national anthem, but the promise to service is something we repeat line by line.
Tomorrow we have more meetings all day and then we will go back to our training towns. I'm trying to organize a family picture before I leave so I can show everybody what my host family looks like :) We'll see how that goes!
We were supposed to visit the U.S. Embassy today but they had to rearrange things because the Ambassador had a last minute meeting. We talked to another guy from the Embassy who was interesting. We had more security meetings after that and then preparation for swearing-in. I'm so excited for Monday because then we'll officially be volunteers--woo! We had to practice the Nicaraguan national anthem and our promise to service in Spanish. Fortunately, during the ceremony we will have a little cheat sheet for the national anthem, but the promise to service is something we repeat line by line.
Tomorrow we have more meetings all day and then we will go back to our training towns. I'm trying to organize a family picture before I leave so I can show everybody what my host family looks like :) We'll see how that goes!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Shopping Madness
So today was a day off for us and it felt so nice to make our own agenda. Jess, Kellie, and I went to Masatepe so we could get money from the bank, since that’s the closet bank. We also had another hidden agenda—we wanted to shop and get some ice cream :) We accomplished both of these things. We went to Pali because that’s the supermarket here and it always has great things to find. Our next stop was the panaderia right across from the bank which always has delicious pan dulce (sweet bread) or bread with cheese baked in the middle…yum! We then found a big outdoor market so we had to check it out. We chatted with this nice lady about earrings and bought some since they were pretty cute and only 5 cords (25 cents). We walked around until we found the meat carts and headed back before we got sick.
Masatepe has a nice central park and we walked by that over to the ice cream shop. We got sundaes and enjoyed each other’s company. Next was a mission for Jessica to find a dress for Swearing-in. We visited all of the little clothing shops—used & new to check things out. Jess and Kellie got shoes, but I just picked up a couple snacks. After no luck for a dress, we headed back toward home and went to Catarina. We visited with Julia Elena for a little and then went shopping again. I found some cool little souvenirs—I’m a sucker for those things! We didn’t find a dress within a reasonable price range (remember Peace Corps volunteers are not rich) so we headed back to San Juan.
There is an artisan fair this weekend in San Juan and it was set up by the time we got back in town so we cruised through a little before heading home for lunch. After eating, we planned for our teacher workshop that we had today and then we went back over to the fair to check out more things. Our jovenes told us that they would be dancing, so we wanted to support them and watch. It took quite awhile for things to get going, but we eventually got to see them dance. After all the dancing, there was a pottery competition—there were 4 artisans and they each had their own pottery wheels (and these are manual ones). It was pretty cool to watch them make the pottery and the news was there interviewing the artisans. We headed back home before it got too late because we were definitely exhausted from all the shopping and sun!
Today we had our teacher workshop and we were expecting at least 30 English teachers from the area to attend. Instead, only 2 showed up. Sad. On the positive side, our counterpart came! I was a little surprised, but we were pretty proud that out of all the counterparts, ours came :) It was a good experience for us to present our topics anyway, and refresh our minds for teaching.
We walked around Masaya after and then did a little shopping in San Juan to get some traditional Nica blouses. I think I'm done shopping for awhile because this definitely does not fit into my Peace Corps budget. Oh wait, we ordered our Peace Corps polo shirts today which is gonna cost me a pretty penny... I'm really excited for those though because we've been waiting since the first few days in Granada when we saw the PCV's sporting their PC polos.
Masatepe has a nice central park and we walked by that over to the ice cream shop. We got sundaes and enjoyed each other’s company. Next was a mission for Jessica to find a dress for Swearing-in. We visited all of the little clothing shops—used & new to check things out. Jess and Kellie got shoes, but I just picked up a couple snacks. After no luck for a dress, we headed back toward home and went to Catarina. We visited with Julia Elena for a little and then went shopping again. I found some cool little souvenirs—I’m a sucker for those things! We didn’t find a dress within a reasonable price range (remember Peace Corps volunteers are not rich) so we headed back to San Juan.
There is an artisan fair this weekend in San Juan and it was set up by the time we got back in town so we cruised through a little before heading home for lunch. After eating, we planned for our teacher workshop that we had today and then we went back over to the fair to check out more things. Our jovenes told us that they would be dancing, so we wanted to support them and watch. It took quite awhile for things to get going, but we eventually got to see them dance. After all the dancing, there was a pottery competition—there were 4 artisans and they each had their own pottery wheels (and these are manual ones). It was pretty cool to watch them make the pottery and the news was there interviewing the artisans. We headed back home before it got too late because we were definitely exhausted from all the shopping and sun!
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| wedding party |
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| our jovenes dancing in the artisan fair |
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| Making pottery |
Today we had our teacher workshop and we were expecting at least 30 English teachers from the area to attend. Instead, only 2 showed up. Sad. On the positive side, our counterpart came! I was a little surprised, but we were pretty proud that out of all the counterparts, ours came :) It was a good experience for us to present our topics anyway, and refresh our minds for teaching.
We walked around Masaya after and then did a little shopping in San Juan to get some traditional Nica blouses. I think I'm done shopping for awhile because this definitely does not fit into my Peace Corps budget. Oh wait, we ordered our Peace Corps polo shirts today which is gonna cost me a pretty penny... I'm really excited for those though because we've been waiting since the first few days in Granada when we saw the PCV's sporting their PC polos.
I can’t believe it, but Swearing-in is just 8 days away! I have been here for almost 3 months now and I’m going to be an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). I’m so excited, but we still have a lot of things to get done this week. We have a lot of meetings and on Thursday we are going to visit the U.S. Embassy.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Back in San Juan
It was quite a week in Boaco, a little long if you ask me, but it was a good experience nonetheless. I had a good time exploring and meeting new people, but I was definitely happy to see my friends when I arrived in Managua :) I met up with Jessica, Julia Elena, and Melissa at the bus terminal and then we headed over to the other bus terminal so Melissa and Julia Elena could go back to Catarina, but Jess and I went to the PC office for doctor check-ups. We hung out at the office while we waited for our appointments—checked emails, chatted, etc. We finally got in to our appointments and had to run some errands and then decided that we should get some food before heading back because we hadn’t eaten lunch yet. So, we walked over to the McDonald’s and we were trying to be a little more aware of our surroundings this time because apparently some PCVs got robbed in that area a couple nights ago. It’s not the safest place for gringos (Managua in general). Anyway, we got some lunch and of course McFlurry’s. We headed back to the PC office and talked to some of our trainers and found out I had gotten mail! I finally got the package my parents sent me about 4 weeks ago…not sure why it took so long. This was so exciting, and even though I had my big backpack and I was going to be riding a bus back to Managua, I decided to take the package with me.
Jess and I had the guards call us a taxi and then we had to wait for about 20 minutes for the guy to arrive. He helped us with our bags at the bus terminal and told us to be careful as it was already getting dark (5:45pm). We found a bus and it wasn’t leaving until 6pm, so again we waited. It took forever to drive through Managua because this apparently is the prime time for bus travel out of Managua. Our bus filled up and kept filling as we traveled. It was ridiculous how many people were squished on there and then if someone was getting off, it was almost impossible for them to squeeze through people to get to the front. The bus ride took about an hour and a half and when we tried to get off the bus in San Juan, we had our bags and couldn’t get through the people, and we were in the front seat! It was absolutely ridiculous because the bus was stopped, everybody was watching us, but nobody would move out of the way, or step off the bus to make room. So, we pushed our way through with our bags and finally got off with the bus assistant pulling us off the bus to help.
It felt so good being back in San Juan, our quaint little town. Jess took a moto and I walked over to Kellie’s to tell her we were home. We saw one of our little neighbor friends with a popsicle (like a freeze pop) and asked her where she bought it. We went to buy them and found out that they were actually double the size because she had split hers with her friend. Kellie and I each got one and they were only 1 cord (5 cents). I should have taken a picture because they were like giant freeze pops.
I then headed home and greeted my family—it was nice to see them after being gone for so long. I opened the package while I was eating dinner and was pleasantly surprised by all of the goodies that came spilling out. I shared some with my family and I can’t wait to eat my peanut butter M&Ms!
Yesterday, we had class and there was no electricity all day. This didn’t affect our class though because there is sufficient sunlight, but I really wanted to go to the cyber…then I ran out of saldo for my phone and I couldn’t call/text. I was falling apart haha I took a moto over to Catarina and was able to find a cyber, although the internet was rather slow. I couldn’t do much, but I was able to talk to my parents and my friend Erin from Gonzaga. We had to cancel our youth group meeting because it was too dark and just told them we would have it the next day.
I came home and it was pretty dark already. I ate dinner by candlelight and then put on my headlamp to organize things in my room. I didn’t want to go to bed because it was too early, so I decided to pack some things and put things together because I’ll be leaving soon. Our language professor gave us our schedule for the next few weeks and it’s gonna be crazy! We have a lot of meetings, next week we’re visiting the US Embassy, we leave San Juan on Sunday, 21st, we swear-in on Monday, 22nd, and then we leave for our sites Tuesday, 23rd. It’s coming up so fast and I’m really excited, but also sad to leave my friends.
Jess and I had the guards call us a taxi and then we had to wait for about 20 minutes for the guy to arrive. He helped us with our bags at the bus terminal and told us to be careful as it was already getting dark (5:45pm). We found a bus and it wasn’t leaving until 6pm, so again we waited. It took forever to drive through Managua because this apparently is the prime time for bus travel out of Managua. Our bus filled up and kept filling as we traveled. It was ridiculous how many people were squished on there and then if someone was getting off, it was almost impossible for them to squeeze through people to get to the front. The bus ride took about an hour and a half and when we tried to get off the bus in San Juan, we had our bags and couldn’t get through the people, and we were in the front seat! It was absolutely ridiculous because the bus was stopped, everybody was watching us, but nobody would move out of the way, or step off the bus to make room. So, we pushed our way through with our bags and finally got off with the bus assistant pulling us off the bus to help.
It felt so good being back in San Juan, our quaint little town. Jess took a moto and I walked over to Kellie’s to tell her we were home. We saw one of our little neighbor friends with a popsicle (like a freeze pop) and asked her where she bought it. We went to buy them and found out that they were actually double the size because she had split hers with her friend. Kellie and I each got one and they were only 1 cord (5 cents). I should have taken a picture because they were like giant freeze pops.
I then headed home and greeted my family—it was nice to see them after being gone for so long. I opened the package while I was eating dinner and was pleasantly surprised by all of the goodies that came spilling out. I shared some with my family and I can’t wait to eat my peanut butter M&Ms!
Yesterday, we had class and there was no electricity all day. This didn’t affect our class though because there is sufficient sunlight, but I really wanted to go to the cyber…then I ran out of saldo for my phone and I couldn’t call/text. I was falling apart haha I took a moto over to Catarina and was able to find a cyber, although the internet was rather slow. I couldn’t do much, but I was able to talk to my parents and my friend Erin from Gonzaga. We had to cancel our youth group meeting because it was too dark and just told them we would have it the next day.
I came home and it was pretty dark already. I ate dinner by candlelight and then put on my headlamp to organize things in my room. I didn’t want to go to bed because it was too early, so I decided to pack some things and put things together because I’ll be leaving soon. Our language professor gave us our schedule for the next few weeks and it’s gonna be crazy! We have a lot of meetings, next week we’re visiting the US Embassy, we leave San Juan on Sunday, 21st, we swear-in on Monday, 22nd, and then we leave for our sites Tuesday, 23rd. It’s coming up so fast and I’m really excited, but also sad to leave my friends.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
New address in Boaco
I talked to the small business volunteer in Boaco and he already has a P.O. Box, which has been passed down by past volunteers, so I get access to it too! Here is my new address and you can start sending things now if you'd like because I'll be back in 2 weeks :)
Megan McCann
Apartado Postal 23
Boaco, Boaco
Nicaragua
Central America
Megan McCann
Apartado Postal 23
Boaco, Boaco
Nicaragua
Central America
Gringa in Boaco
Saturday night I hung out with my host brother and sister on our front porch with one of their friends and then Veronica came over too. I had mentioned to my host brother about the piropos (catcalls) I had gotten before in San Juan, because we encountered some on our walk around town and this came up in our conversation. They were all joking around making the hissing noises, and I was too. It was pretty funny and we were joking about the gringa, or blanquita as a lot of men say too. I was telling them what guys usually say and we were having some good laughs and making our own piropos. We had some good bonding moments :) We listened to music on the porch and sang a little and of course did a little dancing because they wanted to see the gringa dance—that’s exactly what they said “gringa baila!” It was endearing haha Everybody had nicknames for each other so I know they weren’t just making fun of me :)
Because we stayed up late Saturday night hanging out, Sunday morning we all slept in. I got up around 9:30am which is way late here! My sister made breakfast for us—what a sweetheart :) After breakfast, my host brother asked if I wanted to go on a walk again, this time to see where the hospital is because that’s one of the places I need to find for Peace Corps stuff. He had told me that it was a pretty far walk, but I was up for it. So, my host brother, sister, one of their friends (Bismarc), and I left the house a little before 11am and headed out on a long journey. They decided to take the trip through the country instead of on the carretera. We walked quite a long time and heard some piropos, which we all started laughing after we heard what people said (oh, mi amor…gringa, muy hermosa, and lots of whistling/hissing).
We arrived to their Bismarc’s house around noon and we took a little rest and had some “enchiladas”. I never know what I’m gonna get when people say enchiladas here because it’s always different. These were good though, so I didn’t mind. We then walked over to another friend’s place and sat and chatted for awhile. Bismarc went back over to his house and his mom insisted on giving us lunch, so of course we stayed. Before leaving, I wanted to use the bathroom and his mom led me into a bedroom that had a back room that was open to the rest of the bedroom, so they shut the bathroom door. I looked around and saw no toilet and I was so confused. There was a large bucket that was pretty full with some liquid, but I didn’t know if that’s what I was supposed to use. This was bizarre. I looked around again trying to decide what to do—should I fake that I went pee or go out and ask them what I’m supposed to do? I decided to pee in the bucket, and then his mom came in to give me toilet paper and scared me. I thought she was going to freak out when she saw me on the bucket, but she said “tranquila” (calm/cool). It was a pretty interesting experience and I’m glad I’m done with that.
We then continued our journey and finally arrived at the hospital. They asked me if I wanted to go inside, but I said no because it had a large gate and guards so I didn’t really feel like dealing with all that—I just needed to know where it was. So then we walked back home, but this time on the carretera, which is pretty dangerous, but fortunately there wasn’t that much traffic. We ended up by my instituto, so that was cool to see where exactly it was in relation to other places. We still had about 20 more minutes so we powered through the hills and hot sun and made it back, but stopped at the Eskimo before going home. We got home just before 4pm…our trip was almost 5 hours! Crazy! Bismarc kept saying he was going to die during our trip, so I told him we need to go walking everyday haha
I thought I would be exhausted for the rest of the day, but we decided to go up to the park and hang out after dinner. Then we were walking around looking for a place to dance and we found a friend of Bismarc’s who was driving around, so we got in his land cruiser and cruised around the town. At first I thought we were going somewhere, but no, we were just circling around the town playing loud music. It was hilarious, but I was having fun with my host bro & sis and my new friends. Finally, they guys decided that we would go to a disco that’s popular here, right outside of the town on the carretera. It was pretty fun and I learned some new Nica dances—they are a lot harder to do than dances in U.S. clubs because they actually have steps for things and I feel like a dork because I’m the only one who doesn’t know what to do. As if I don’t stand out already…Anyway, I had a great time and it made for another late night. I feel comfortable with my host bro and sis though, so that’s good—we definitely bonded in this short time and I’m looking forward to staying with them :) Let’s hope their parents love me too!
Because we stayed up late Saturday night hanging out, Sunday morning we all slept in. I got up around 9:30am which is way late here! My sister made breakfast for us—what a sweetheart :) After breakfast, my host brother asked if I wanted to go on a walk again, this time to see where the hospital is because that’s one of the places I need to find for Peace Corps stuff. He had told me that it was a pretty far walk, but I was up for it. So, my host brother, sister, one of their friends (Bismarc), and I left the house a little before 11am and headed out on a long journey. They decided to take the trip through the country instead of on the carretera. We walked quite a long time and heard some piropos, which we all started laughing after we heard what people said (oh, mi amor…gringa, muy hermosa, and lots of whistling/hissing).
We arrived to their Bismarc’s house around noon and we took a little rest and had some “enchiladas”. I never know what I’m gonna get when people say enchiladas here because it’s always different. These were good though, so I didn’t mind. We then walked over to another friend’s place and sat and chatted for awhile. Bismarc went back over to his house and his mom insisted on giving us lunch, so of course we stayed. Before leaving, I wanted to use the bathroom and his mom led me into a bedroom that had a back room that was open to the rest of the bedroom, so they shut the bathroom door. I looked around and saw no toilet and I was so confused. There was a large bucket that was pretty full with some liquid, but I didn’t know if that’s what I was supposed to use. This was bizarre. I looked around again trying to decide what to do—should I fake that I went pee or go out and ask them what I’m supposed to do? I decided to pee in the bucket, and then his mom came in to give me toilet paper and scared me. I thought she was going to freak out when she saw me on the bucket, but she said “tranquila” (calm/cool). It was a pretty interesting experience and I’m glad I’m done with that.
We then continued our journey and finally arrived at the hospital. They asked me if I wanted to go inside, but I said no because it had a large gate and guards so I didn’t really feel like dealing with all that—I just needed to know where it was. So then we walked back home, but this time on the carretera, which is pretty dangerous, but fortunately there wasn’t that much traffic. We ended up by my instituto, so that was cool to see where exactly it was in relation to other places. We still had about 20 more minutes so we powered through the hills and hot sun and made it back, but stopped at the Eskimo before going home. We got home just before 4pm…our trip was almost 5 hours! Crazy! Bismarc kept saying he was going to die during our trip, so I told him we need to go walking everyday haha
I thought I would be exhausted for the rest of the day, but we decided to go up to the park and hang out after dinner. Then we were walking around looking for a place to dance and we found a friend of Bismarc’s who was driving around, so we got in his land cruiser and cruised around the town. At first I thought we were going somewhere, but no, we were just circling around the town playing loud music. It was hilarious, but I was having fun with my host bro & sis and my new friends. Finally, they guys decided that we would go to a disco that’s popular here, right outside of the town on the carretera. It was pretty fun and I learned some new Nica dances—they are a lot harder to do than dances in U.S. clubs because they actually have steps for things and I feel like a dork because I’m the only one who doesn’t know what to do. As if I don’t stand out already…Anyway, I had a great time and it made for another late night. I feel comfortable with my host bro and sis though, so that’s good—we definitely bonded in this short time and I’m looking forward to staying with them :) Let’s hope their parents love me too!
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| Me with my host bro, Yasser. |
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| Me with my host sis, Hazzel. |
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bored in Boaco
So I’ve been feeling pretty bored lately because it’s hard being in new place but no friends to explore with. I’ve been texting with other trainees and there’s boredom across the country… Fortunately though, the small business volunteer here called me last night and invited me over to his place to have cake with him and his girlfriend, who is an environment volunteer who just finished her service. I walked up to Boaco arriba and met Steve in the park, and then walked over to his house. We ate chocolate fudge cake—amazing! I haven’t had something that wonderful since being here in Nicaragua. I usually don’t like chocolate cake because it’s usually dry, but this was fudgy and awesome! Loved it! This was a great time because I got to talk in English and talk with people who I had something in common with (Peace Corps). It was a good hang out time that I really needed because I felt kind of lonely and overwhelmed here.
We then walked back toward town and went to Boaco abajo toward the bank, because I needed to add it to my map and I had forgotten where it was—this place is a lot bigger than San Juan and there are tons of hills and windy roads so it gets confusing! It will be nice to have a complete map :) We then walked over the street with the markets—this was cool to see. There were tons of little markets lining the street with clothing, fruits and vegetables, etc. I bought bath & hand towels and then my host brother carried my bag, of course. Then, we headed home. I was so excited that I got out—I certainly had cabin fever and was dying to get out and walk around but I didn’t want to walk alone and get lost. It was also really good exercise, which I mentioned to my host bro. He kept asking if I was tired, but I wasn’t—it felt refreshing. He told me that his sister said that I walk bien rapido (very fast) and I laughed at this comment, because I think Nicas walk really slow haha Who’s right? We’ll never know :)
Saturday seemed like it was going to be pretty darn boring too. After my hiking plans with my counterpart got canceled, I decided to get my host sister to show me a few places because I needed to buy credit for my phone and withdraw money from the bank. I picked up some more water—never realized how much water I drink, but I guess that’s a good thing :) I still think I need to drink more though. Anyway, after the water, I saw Eskimo and thought this would be a good chance to hang out a little more with my host sis, so I offered to buy Eskimo. We got ice cream and chatted there for awhile and then walked home. P.S. Anytime I buy something with my host sister (or my counterpart’s daughter) they carry my purchases for me; they insist on carrying them for me. It’s really cute, but then I feel kind of bad, like I’m having them carry my stuff for me, but I guess it makes them feel good. It’s definitely a change because I’ve walked with guys in the states before that haven’t offered to carry my grocery bags, etc.
Anyway, so I ate lunch after that and hung out around the house. I was so incredibly bored and didn’t know what to do as my host brother and his friend were watching TV in the living room. I watched some shows on my computer and then got a pep talk from my mom and decided to ask my host brother to show me around. I was worried that I would be a burden to him, but he was actually super nice and took me all around. We went to Boaco arriba and he took me to the lighthouse, which is really random because we are nowhere near a large body of water. But, it’s a cool lookout with great views of the surrounding area.
We also walked down a long road past the baseball field, along the river, to the dam. I definitely noticed a gradual change in housing the more we traveled outside of the “urban” area. It was vastly different by the time we got down by the river and dam.
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| Heading out toward the country. |
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| Baseball stadium |
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| Washing clothes in the river |
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| Beautiful sunlight on the river |
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| The dam |
We then walked back toward town and went to Boaco abajo toward the bank, because I needed to add it to my map and I had forgotten where it was—this place is a lot bigger than San Juan and there are tons of hills and windy roads so it gets confusing! It will be nice to have a complete map :) We then walked over the street with the markets—this was cool to see. There were tons of little markets lining the street with clothing, fruits and vegetables, etc. I bought bath & hand towels and then my host brother carried my bag, of course. Then, we headed home. I was so excited that I got out—I certainly had cabin fever and was dying to get out and walk around but I didn’t want to walk alone and get lost. It was also really good exercise, which I mentioned to my host bro. He kept asking if I was tired, but I wasn’t—it felt refreshing. He told me that his sister said that I walk bien rapido (very fast) and I laughed at this comment, because I think Nicas walk really slow haha Who’s right? We’ll never know :)
Friday, November 5, 2010
Discovering Boaco
So my host parents left for their farm on Thursday morning, and my host mom was worried because they would be leaving me, but her friends came and stayed with my host sister and me and made us meals and cleaned the house. This was fine, but they´re not coming back until Tuesday or Wednesday, and I leave Tuesday morning. I was hoping to get to know them a little during the visit, but I guess I will have plenty of time later for that. I like this place, but I´m really starting to miss my other PC friends, especially Jess and Kellie. I´m getting a little sad thinking about how we only have 2 ½ more weeks in San Juan before we go off to our sites for the 2 years! It’s hard because I feel like I have to start all over again, when I was comfortable in San Juan and getting used to the transportation and everything. It’s going to be sad to leave the familiar, but I guess I did that 2 months ago.
Anyway, on to happier things…my counterpart, Argelio, came and got me Thursday afternoon with his daughter, Veronica (20), and we walked around Boaco arriba again. He introduced me to the police and told them that I was a new volunteer and I would be there for 2 years—it’s part of Peace Corps rules that we introduce ourselves to the police and other leaders in our community. It’s a good idea and it makes me feel a little safer. Argelio seems to know everyone in town, including the police, and somehow we ended up in the Chief of Police’s office and chatted with him. I wasn’t expecting this so I was a little intimidated, but it was nice to meet him and find out he is a kind man. He also has an air-conditioned office. I told Argelio that I needed to familiarize myself with the town because we have to draw a map of our site, so he took me over to a building with human resources and asked them for a map. This cracked me up, but I went along with it. They had to talk to other people and told me to come back on Monday to get it. I started drawing a map, but Argelio told me to just wait until I get the map on Monday. I hope they actually give me a map because that would be very helpful.
We then went over to the park and sat on bench to relax. Argelio insisted on his daughter practicing her English with me and was embarrassing her, as she was pretty shy. I would be too if I was learning a language and told to practice with native speaker, oh wait, that’s what I’m doing now! She said a few things and we had a conversation between the three of us. Then, I wanted to buy some things at Pali so Veronica went with me and Argelio stayed in the park. I found out that she knows a pretty good amount of English and she got more comfortable when she wasn’t being told by her dad to practice :) She is very sweet and I’m glad she came with me. It started to rain really hard so we waited inside the store, along with everyone else until the rain stopped. We then walked back to the park and found Argelio, who said he needed to go to the church, but Veronica could walk me home. I’m glad this was his daughter and not his son, otherwise this would sound like he was trying to fix me up haha He just really wants his daughter to learn English. She walked back with me to the house, which she’s comfortable being there because it’s her aunt and uncle’s house. We hung out for awhile and chatted. She is such a sweet girl and I hope that we can become friends—I really enjoy talking to her in Spanglish :) I’m not sure how often she’ll be around because she goes to a university in Managua, but maybe we’ll get to hang out over summer break (December and January). Oh, now that I think of that, we probably will because Argelio already asked me when I can start working with her to practice English. This was pretty funny. He kept asking me what days I could work with her and I finally had to tell him that I wasn’t sure what my schedule would be. He also really wants me to go to my family’s farm too, so he’s pretty eager for me to do things here. I’m glad that he is trying to find things for me to do though.
Today, so far, has been the day of waiting. I decided not to go to the high school in the morning because I was planning on going to the afternoon session to meet my other counterpart, Antonio, and observe his classes. I was so tired last night so I went to bed a little early, but then this morning I couldn’t sleep in that late. The senora made me breakfast which was a giant helping of gallo pinto (just like yesterday). This was a lot of food and I’m hoping that maybe I can change it up a little so it’s not that much gallo pinto every morning, maybe some eggs and toast? I do love gallo pinto, but I usually don’t eat it that often haha I read through my PC papers and made a list of places to find in my town. Argelio’s daughter was going to meet me at noon and walk to the high school with me, but she had to go into Managua for something, so I decided that I would just take a taxi at 12:30pm. I was so bored with not much of anything to do. I sat around, watched some TV, read the newspaper… I was going to walk around outside a little, but I felt weird going by myself. I think I’ll get Argelio or Veronica to go with me this weekend, or maybe my host sister. She seems really nice and she has gone with me to a few places already.
I finally left for the high school and got there a little after 12:30 hoping to meet with my counterpart before classes began at 1pm. I sat around and enjoyed the breeze. At 1pm, students started arriving and sitting outside of the classrooms, but no teachers were around. I thought that maybe classes actually start at 1:15pm. At 1:10, I asked the janitor when the classes were going to start (in future tense) and she said 1pm. Well, since it was 1:10pm already, I don’t think that was going to happen. Oh, Nica time… The bell finally rang at 1:18pm and then my counterpart showed up and introduced himself. I asked if I could observe his class and he told me that they were just checking work today and it wasn’t going to be a real class, but I sat in anyway because I was there. Another 45 minutes of waiting…
After the class, I got to talk to him about his schedule and we chatted about when I would be returning to Boaco and what my plans were. He seems really nice and he speaks very good English. He said that he actually was in LA for 3 years of high school in the ESL program and then came back here. It should be interesting figuring out a schedule with Argelio and Antonio, but I’m sure I’ll make it work. It’s kind of a bummer because Argelio works in the morning and Antonio in the afternoon, but maybe I can split it up where some days I work in the morning and some in the afternoon, so I don’t have to work all day (7am-6pm).
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| My new site: Boaco, Boaco. |
Anyway, on to happier things…my counterpart, Argelio, came and got me Thursday afternoon with his daughter, Veronica (20), and we walked around Boaco arriba again. He introduced me to the police and told them that I was a new volunteer and I would be there for 2 years—it’s part of Peace Corps rules that we introduce ourselves to the police and other leaders in our community. It’s a good idea and it makes me feel a little safer. Argelio seems to know everyone in town, including the police, and somehow we ended up in the Chief of Police’s office and chatted with him. I wasn’t expecting this so I was a little intimidated, but it was nice to meet him and find out he is a kind man. He also has an air-conditioned office. I told Argelio that I needed to familiarize myself with the town because we have to draw a map of our site, so he took me over to a building with human resources and asked them for a map. This cracked me up, but I went along with it. They had to talk to other people and told me to come back on Monday to get it. I started drawing a map, but Argelio told me to just wait until I get the map on Monday. I hope they actually give me a map because that would be very helpful.
We then went over to the park and sat on bench to relax. Argelio insisted on his daughter practicing her English with me and was embarrassing her, as she was pretty shy. I would be too if I was learning a language and told to practice with native speaker, oh wait, that’s what I’m doing now! She said a few things and we had a conversation between the three of us. Then, I wanted to buy some things at Pali so Veronica went with me and Argelio stayed in the park. I found out that she knows a pretty good amount of English and she got more comfortable when she wasn’t being told by her dad to practice :) She is very sweet and I’m glad she came with me. It started to rain really hard so we waited inside the store, along with everyone else until the rain stopped. We then walked back to the park and found Argelio, who said he needed to go to the church, but Veronica could walk me home. I’m glad this was his daughter and not his son, otherwise this would sound like he was trying to fix me up haha He just really wants his daughter to learn English. She walked back with me to the house, which she’s comfortable being there because it’s her aunt and uncle’s house. We hung out for awhile and chatted. She is such a sweet girl and I hope that we can become friends—I really enjoy talking to her in Spanglish :) I’m not sure how often she’ll be around because she goes to a university in Managua, but maybe we’ll get to hang out over summer break (December and January). Oh, now that I think of that, we probably will because Argelio already asked me when I can start working with her to practice English. This was pretty funny. He kept asking me what days I could work with her and I finally had to tell him that I wasn’t sure what my schedule would be. He also really wants me to go to my family’s farm too, so he’s pretty eager for me to do things here. I’m glad that he is trying to find things for me to do though.
Today, so far, has been the day of waiting. I decided not to go to the high school in the morning because I was planning on going to the afternoon session to meet my other counterpart, Antonio, and observe his classes. I was so tired last night so I went to bed a little early, but then this morning I couldn’t sleep in that late. The senora made me breakfast which was a giant helping of gallo pinto (just like yesterday). This was a lot of food and I’m hoping that maybe I can change it up a little so it’s not that much gallo pinto every morning, maybe some eggs and toast? I do love gallo pinto, but I usually don’t eat it that often haha I read through my PC papers and made a list of places to find in my town. Argelio’s daughter was going to meet me at noon and walk to the high school with me, but she had to go into Managua for something, so I decided that I would just take a taxi at 12:30pm. I was so bored with not much of anything to do. I sat around, watched some TV, read the newspaper… I was going to walk around outside a little, but I felt weird going by myself. I think I’ll get Argelio or Veronica to go with me this weekend, or maybe my host sister. She seems really nice and she has gone with me to a few places already.
I finally left for the high school and got there a little after 12:30 hoping to meet with my counterpart before classes began at 1pm. I sat around and enjoyed the breeze. At 1pm, students started arriving and sitting outside of the classrooms, but no teachers were around. I thought that maybe classes actually start at 1:15pm. At 1:10, I asked the janitor when the classes were going to start (in future tense) and she said 1pm. Well, since it was 1:10pm already, I don’t think that was going to happen. Oh, Nica time… The bell finally rang at 1:18pm and then my counterpart showed up and introduced himself. I asked if I could observe his class and he told me that they were just checking work today and it wasn’t going to be a real class, but I sat in anyway because I was there. Another 45 minutes of waiting…
After the class, I got to talk to him about his schedule and we chatted about when I would be returning to Boaco and what my plans were. He seems really nice and he speaks very good English. He said that he actually was in LA for 3 years of high school in the ESL program and then came back here. It should be interesting figuring out a schedule with Argelio and Antonio, but I’m sure I’ll make it work. It’s kind of a bummer because Argelio works in the morning and Antonio in the afternoon, but maybe I can split it up where some days I work in the morning and some in the afternoon, so I don’t have to work all day (7am-6pm).
Spoiled in Boaco
Ok, so I was kinda nervous about my site, especially hearing that it’s cattle country and very hilly. The bus ride here was not bad, although there was a small hole in the floor of the bus where I could see the street below. It took about 2 hours to get to Boaco from el Mayoreo in Managua and my counterpart, Argelio (early 40’s?), was kind enough to come to the bus terminal in Boaco and pick me up in a taxi to help me with my bags. That was a relief considering we were supposed to catch a taxi by ourselves and take all of our bags with us to our instituto to meet our counterparts. Well, Argelio said he would take me to my host family’s house first, but I said the address was in my bag. He said that didn’t matter, and then I remembered that our counterparts set up the host families, but I guess it could have been my other counterpart who did the arrangements. Anyway, we arrived and I met my new host mom Carmen (Andrea Carmen) and my host sister Hazzel, and my host dad Alfonso, which was not on my paperwork so this was a surprise, but a good one. I found out that my host dad is actually my counterpart’s brother. Keeping it in the family. This was nice though because then I knew that I was in a good place, besides seeing that the house was really nice.
They let me choose my room out of two rooms and I chose the second one just because they said it was a little cooler, but then I changed because I realized that it was extremely small and didn’t have room for a dresser or bookshelf. I kind of felt bad moving because they had to take some stuff out of the room, but of course, my counterpart and my host parents told me it was no problem at all. So I didn’t notice how great this room was at first and how spoiled I am right now. My room has an attached bathroom (flushing toilet, sink with water, and a shower with showerhead), a ceiling fan, a bright light (so I’m not left in the dark), a full length mirror (I only have a small hand mirror in San Juan which I use in a poorly lit room so it basically doesn’t work), and this is something I almost don’t want to say…a TV. I’m not sure if it’s staying in my room, and quite frankly I don’t really need a TV in my room and it seems just a little too luxurious for a Peace Corps life. So, I might take it out of the room, unless there isn’t sufficient room for it anywhere else, then I guess I will just have to watch TV in my room :)
So after I moved my stuff in my room, Argelio wanted to take me to the Instituto to check things out and meet the directora. The school there is in pretty good shape and there are about 900 students. It doesn’t seem that large though, and the classrooms looked fairly small, so I’m not sure exactly how many students are in each class. We looked around for the directora but she wasn’t there—this seems pretty common with schools that I have visited. Anyway, we walked around a little and I peeked into the computer lab, which is huge! Then I met the small business volunteer that’s here in Boaco, Steven. Peace Corps told me he was going to be here until next July, but my counterpart said he has already been here for 2 years, so I’ll have to clarify with him. I was hoping to be able to work with another volunteer and thought it might be fun. We’ll see!
So, we finally saw the directora and Argelio begged her for a couple minutes. I said thank you for the opportunity to be there and I was kind of tongue tied as I had not prepared what to say. I was a little frazzled from the travel and the whirlwind of meeting a new family. Anyway, she started saying that she hadn’t received information about when I was coming or something and she sounded a little irritated so I didn’t like how that sounded. Argelio said a few things and I think everything is clear now. Oh well. There was a funny thing though: the directora asked me name and I said Megan, which Argelio repeated a couple times to himself to practice. Then, Argelio asked to tell her my last name, so I said McCann. He then repeated, asking for my last name. So I said it again. Then he asked me the same thing in Spanish (tu apellido?), which I’m not quite sure why I would need a translation, but maybe he thought he was saying the wrong word in English. I then repeated my last name for the first time and he said, “oh it’s said the same.” I repeated it again very slowly, and he said “oh, parece similar” (it sounds very similar). I chuckled and then he asked me to write it on a paper. He then read my name out loud a couple times and told the directora to practice too. This was hilarious. I guess I didn’t realize how much my first and last names sounded alike. P.S. I found out later that the directora is Argelio´s ex-sister-in-law. She is his ex-wife's sister. One of the representatives from MINED (the ministry of education) has the same name as Argelio, so I'll have to check if they're also related haha
After the school visit, we took the school bus back into town and we ate lunch at my house. I had some rice and beef, which I believe I will be having fairly often here in cattle country. I’m not a big meat eater, so that should be interesting.
Argelio left for awhile so I could get settled in, and then he returned to show me around the town a little. We walked to Boaco arriba (upper Boaco) which has quite a staircase. There is a road that you can take that doesn’t have stairs, but it’s still at a large incline. We made it up to the top and it had a beautiful view.
We walked over to the church and he showed me around, and then we went to the park which was right in front of the church. He offered to buy me ice cream, so of course I said yes. We sat on the patio for awhile and chatted. He speaks pretty good English and loves to ask questions. He then took me over to the Pali (supermarket chain here) because I wanted to check out what they had. He bought some plantain chips and we shared those in the park. I felt so spoiled yet again. It started to sprinkle so we headed home.
My family is so kind and I’m excited to be living with them. I hope they don’t mind me staying for 2 years… I guess we’ll see! They helped me put up my mosquitero and told me several times if there is anything that I need, just to ask them. I’m excited to get to know them more :)
They let me choose my room out of two rooms and I chose the second one just because they said it was a little cooler, but then I changed because I realized that it was extremely small and didn’t have room for a dresser or bookshelf. I kind of felt bad moving because they had to take some stuff out of the room, but of course, my counterpart and my host parents told me it was no problem at all. So I didn’t notice how great this room was at first and how spoiled I am right now. My room has an attached bathroom (flushing toilet, sink with water, and a shower with showerhead), a ceiling fan, a bright light (so I’m not left in the dark), a full length mirror (I only have a small hand mirror in San Juan which I use in a poorly lit room so it basically doesn’t work), and this is something I almost don’t want to say…a TV. I’m not sure if it’s staying in my room, and quite frankly I don’t really need a TV in my room and it seems just a little too luxurious for a Peace Corps life. So, I might take it out of the room, unless there isn’t sufficient room for it anywhere else, then I guess I will just have to watch TV in my room :)
So after I moved my stuff in my room, Argelio wanted to take me to the Instituto to check things out and meet the directora. The school there is in pretty good shape and there are about 900 students. It doesn’t seem that large though, and the classrooms looked fairly small, so I’m not sure exactly how many students are in each class. We looked around for the directora but she wasn’t there—this seems pretty common with schools that I have visited. Anyway, we walked around a little and I peeked into the computer lab, which is huge! Then I met the small business volunteer that’s here in Boaco, Steven. Peace Corps told me he was going to be here until next July, but my counterpart said he has already been here for 2 years, so I’ll have to clarify with him. I was hoping to be able to work with another volunteer and thought it might be fun. We’ll see!
So, we finally saw the directora and Argelio begged her for a couple minutes. I said thank you for the opportunity to be there and I was kind of tongue tied as I had not prepared what to say. I was a little frazzled from the travel and the whirlwind of meeting a new family. Anyway, she started saying that she hadn’t received information about when I was coming or something and she sounded a little irritated so I didn’t like how that sounded. Argelio said a few things and I think everything is clear now. Oh well. There was a funny thing though: the directora asked me name and I said Megan, which Argelio repeated a couple times to himself to practice. Then, Argelio asked to tell her my last name, so I said McCann. He then repeated, asking for my last name. So I said it again. Then he asked me the same thing in Spanish (tu apellido?), which I’m not quite sure why I would need a translation, but maybe he thought he was saying the wrong word in English. I then repeated my last name for the first time and he said, “oh it’s said the same.” I repeated it again very slowly, and he said “oh, parece similar” (it sounds very similar). I chuckled and then he asked me to write it on a paper. He then read my name out loud a couple times and told the directora to practice too. This was hilarious. I guess I didn’t realize how much my first and last names sounded alike. P.S. I found out later that the directora is Argelio´s ex-sister-in-law. She is his ex-wife's sister. One of the representatives from MINED (the ministry of education) has the same name as Argelio, so I'll have to check if they're also related haha
After the school visit, we took the school bus back into town and we ate lunch at my house. I had some rice and beef, which I believe I will be having fairly often here in cattle country. I’m not a big meat eater, so that should be interesting.
Argelio left for awhile so I could get settled in, and then he returned to show me around the town a little. We walked to Boaco arriba (upper Boaco) which has quite a staircase. There is a road that you can take that doesn’t have stairs, but it’s still at a large incline. We made it up to the top and it had a beautiful view.
We walked over to the church and he showed me around, and then we went to the park which was right in front of the church. He offered to buy me ice cream, so of course I said yes. We sat on the patio for awhile and chatted. He speaks pretty good English and loves to ask questions. He then took me over to the Pali (supermarket chain here) because I wanted to check out what they had. He bought some plantain chips and we shared those in the park. I felt so spoiled yet again. It started to sprinkle so we headed home.
My family is so kind and I’m excited to be living with them. I hope they don’t mind me staying for 2 years… I guess we’ll see! They helped me put up my mosquitero and told me several times if there is anything that I need, just to ask them. I’m excited to get to know them more :)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Celebrations!
I have officially been in Nicaragua for 2 months now. Time has flown by and I only have 3 weeks left of training! This past weekend was one for many celebrations: we found out our sites on Friday, which was also the fiesta de los aguizotes. This is a night where people dress up like witches and scary people from the famous legends of Nicaragua. It is similar to Halloween in the way that people wear scary costumes and roam the streets, but they don’t go trick-or-treating. They form parades in the streets to show off their costumes and then buy various food and drinks to celebrate with others until the wee hours of the morning. I went to see what this was all about and it was pretty interesting to see. Most people wear black clothing and masks or paint their faces. We went to a bar after because we wanted to go dancing. There was karaoke there and I was really excited to begin my Nicaraguan karaoke career, but their binder of songs that contained so many English songs was a lie. They actually did not have any English songs, so unfortunately I have to wait until I find another place, or I need to learn some Spanish songs :)
Saturday was the day that Nicaraguans celebrate Halloween, well some of them. There were actually protestors in Managua on Friday holding signs against Halloween. This was kind of odd considering they are okay with la fiesta de aguizotes, which is very similar to Halloween.
We went out again Saturday in Masaya and there were actually a lot of gringos at the club, which was pretty funny. I now know how silly we appear to Nicas. We had a good time though and danced a lot.
Sunday was actually Halloween, and I believe there might have been parties somewhere in Masaya or Catarina, but two nights in a row of going out was more than enough. I did celebrate by eating some chocolates at my house :)
This week I’ll be in Boaco visiting my site and I’m really excited to see everything!
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