Getting down to business

When I finally got back from all the craziness that is Managua, the rain had settled down a little and I got to help out my small business sitemate with her entrepreneurship competition.  I went Friday morning & I immediately felt bad for her as the people changed the location on her the night before and then said there weren't going to be any tables, chairs, sound equipment, etc.  Well, good thing she's a tough cookie and fought for those chairs!  Everything ended up coming together just fine, but it made for a stressful morning & a little late start (but what really starts on time here?!).  Anyway, it was a fun experience for me to see this competition and I was the official photographer/videographer.  That's always a fun thing to do--you get to walk in front of people and stand up while others are sitting and mosey around to check things out and not look awkward because you are taking the pictures, and not just a random person taking pictures, THE official pictures.  I tried not to let it go to my head. haha ;)

Judges' table

Some student tables

I was impressed by some of the projects.  The SB PCVs have said before that it is a little difficult to get the students to think outside of the box and create different products than ones that already exist, but I don't know if I could have done that in high school.  Good for them :)  It was cool and I look forward to seeing more in the future.  *Oh wait, I guess I did FBLA in high school, but I didn't create any new products or anything...just did a presentation on some fundraisers. 

One of the presentations

One of the groups was selling this mango cinnamon marmalade.  It was delicious!  I bought a container of it and even though the stuff is delicious, I'm a little more excited about reusing the awesome Tupperware dish with a screw-top lid that it came in.  Is that weird? 

Another group made this chocolate milk sort of stuff and stole the Chick-fil-A logo which I didn't notice at first, but another PCV from the south pointed out to me.  Funny.  They didn't win, so I don't think they'll have any worries with copyrights...

This one group made a facial mask/soap from different tree barks which was interesting.  I almost took some home to try, but then thought it probably wasn't best to "try something out" on my face.  Glad I thought twice about that! 

Some group made some natural medicine mixture with garlic that was supposed to cure the cold, but smelt very potent and probably wouldn't taste very good straight up.  It smelled great for cooking, but not sure about taking shots of it. 

I'm interested to find out what other groups have come up with from different departments around the country. The group who won this competition made some drink mix that is similar to popular drinks here (in texture) and they'll be going to Matagalpa soon for the regionals. 

Well, I gotta get back to making materials for classes this week.  I got to plan with one of my counterparts (host uncle), but my other one is still MIA.  Or I should say my other two.  The lady is sick and wasn't there all last week, which is a bummer.  Hopefully she'll be there tomorrow, but the other guy hasn't really let me know when he wants me back.  I'm thinking it just won't happen, but I've already come to terms with that.  No worrying about that now. 

Peace!