I have arrived (Bring on the beans and rice)

This picture shows my new home...this is my living room/the front of the house. The table in the picture acts as my dinner table, study table and multi-purpose activity table.

My new site (and home for the next 2 years) is quaint and semi-rural. I have running water, electricity (that goes out at 7a.m. and returns around 3 p.m.). I also have my own little house, which is adjacent to the casa of one of my teacher/counterparts at the local school. My house has a small living room, a frig and gas stovetop (a tank of gas costs C$ 200 cordobas or around $11 dollars). Behind the living room is my bedroom, which I have already semi-decorated with my mosquito net.

This is my frig and cooking area. This is also located in my living room in the front of the house.

Yesterday, I went to a rural community 45 minutes away on a bus that has trouble going in reverse. Of course, the bus route we take calls for the bus to reverse twice! I always cross my fingers when I come to this part of the journey in hopes that the bus will be able to reverse smoothly and we will be on our way. However, we frequently encounter trouble and the solution is to pop the hood and literally pour 1 gallon of oil on top of the radiator (I am no mechanic, but this method seems to do more damage than good). When I finally arrive at the school I am greeted by the school’s director who is very excited to have a volunteer at the school. I am equally excited. I have 17 students at this school and after a brief lesson on Dengue (brief lesson summary: Dengue involves bleeding internally and from your eyes…it is also commonly known as the “bone crusher”). Note to self, don’t get Dengue. The kids (ranging in age from 15 to 18) are all interested in me and the following dialogue pursues:

Female student: My name is Marta, what is my name in English?

Me: Marta, I suppose, it’s the same

Female student: hahaha!! (very excited)

Me: My name (Brie) is the name of cheese in France

Students: Really? (Everyone laughs)

Me: Yep!

Students: Cheese? But in the U.S. what does it mean?

Me: Not sure, it’s just a name

Students: Do you have any kids?

Me: No

Students: Are you married?

Me: No

Students: You do want to get married, right?

Me: I suppose

Students: Do you have any brothers?

Me: I have 1 younger brother

All of the female students: Ooooooooo

Students: When is he coming to visit?

Me: I don’t know

Students: Are you allowed to date here?

Me: I guess

Select students: I have a brother…

Me: (SILENCE)

Students: Is that your natural hair color?

Me: Yes

Students: Do you like rivers?

Me: Sure

Students: Do you like the ocean?

Me: Yep

Students: We will all have to go to a river close by

Students: Do you like Celin Dion, My Heart Must Go On

Me: From the movie Titanic, yes that was a nice song (in truth, I would prefer never to hear that song again…it has been played out).

Me: OK, See everyone next week!

The entire class proceeds to walk me to the bus stop (3 blocks away) and wait with me until my bus comes 30 minutes later. I was glad to have the company of all the students. I really enjoyed this class session and look forward to next week, which will cover topics such as “what is the Peace Corps” and “what is LEC (La Empresa Creativa).”

On Friday, I woke up at 4:50am to get ready for the day and go catch a mystery bus that could arrive as early as 5:30am or as late as 7am. Therefore, I thought it would be better to be really early and catch the bus opposed to arriving too late and missing the only bus that travels to a rural school about 1 hour north of my town. The town is only 1 hour away if I was driving an SUV; however, I am not driving an SUV I am riding in a small micro-bus that travels about 20mph and therefore it took around 2 hours to reach the town. When I finally arrived at the school I was pleasantly surprised because the class that I will be working with prepared a mini-welcome celebration complete with a poster that read “Welcome Teacher” and balloons decorating the classroom. The students prepared poems, dances and games to welcome me to the community and to the school. I had a wonderful time! As the time passed I was informed by one of the teachers at the school that sometimes the afternoon bus back to my town does not come…ahhhhhhhhhhhh! I was in a bit of shook because I was unaware that there was a possibility of me being stranded in this town…without a way out! No worries, because one of the teachers I work with offered a room in her house for me to stay in…however, I lucked out because the bus finally came…it was just really late. In the future, I will remember to pack a toothbrush and my lesson plan!

My weekly schedule:

MONDAY– I don’t even have to leave my town!! I just walk 3 blocks down the street to teach in the local school. Classes are 45 minutes each and have around 50 students a piece.

TUESDAY- I hop on a bus headed toward a town 45 minutes away. This class has 17 students and a bus that has trouble reversing!

WEDNESDAY – I travel to my 3^rd school, located in another rural community 45 minutes away (a medium sized class of 35 to 40). I walk 6 kilometers to get into town and if I’m really lucky I might be able to borrow a horse to ride. I also sleep over at another volunteer’s house because the bus stops running in the afternoon.

THURSDAY – I travel to another school to simply observe the class. This school has made it to the national competition for the LEC 2 years in a row…it is a chance for me to see sustainable development in progress.

FRIDAY – I travel 2 hours (give or take) up North to teach. The classes have 50 students each, but they are muy alegre (very happy). This is another town where the bus sometimes comes in the afternoon and sometimes does not come…therefore I may have to sleep over at a fellow teacher’s house (she is 27 and very polite, happy and fun).

SATURDAY/SUNDAY – I stay in my community to get to know people, plan lessons with teachers, talk with the women at the market, do laundry, shop for food, clean my house, study Spanish, watch Spanish TV and read!

The Gripe (Score: Brie=0 Gripe=2)

Farwell to my host/training town. This picture shows the central park of my town. Every town in Nicaragua has a central park/gathering area.

This week was suppose to be fun and relaxing, as it marked the culmination of my 3 month training course and my official swearing in as a Peace Corps volunteer. Everyone was celebrating and having fun…except for me! I came down with a bacterial infection and I find myself sitting in an air conditioned (with wi-fi access) hotel room…so I cannot complain too much. Yet, I wish I had been able to go to the ceremony, which only happens once for each Peace Corps volunteer.

On a positive note, I am very excited to be getting to my new home and I have also been given medicine to kill the bacteria I am now harvesting. I would have a lot more to report on in this blog entry if I had gone to the swearing in ceremony (my host family did attend and I was told they had a nice time). For now, I am just glad to have indoor plumbing!!!

My site for the next two years…and Eskimo ice cream

This past week I traveled (3 hours one way…6 hours roundtrip) to my new site location in the Northern part of Nicaragua. I first had to take a micro-bus (about a two hour ride) and then I transferred to a large bus (just like the big yellow school bus that I road in middle school and high school) for a one hour trip into my town. I had to ask a few people for directions to my house due to the fact that that address was:

3 blocks from the Mayors office, and ½ block north

I did not know where the mayor’s office was located nor did I know my cardinal directions…to put it short, I was lost! However, in Nicaragua since there are no street signs or names everyone gets lost when they go to a new place and they must resort to asking at least 5 different people before finding their final destination. It has taught me a valuable lesson: never be shy about asking for help. During my 4 day site orientation, my schedule was packed full of visits to the local schools and various houses. Unfortunately, the first two days I became very ill (note to self don’t drink the water straight from the tap). Also, when you are having stomach problems and need just a little food that won’t upset your stomach further…don’t ask a Nicaraguan to make you something because it is bound to be fried, with tons of grease, butter and salt!! On a positive note, Nicaraguans are very hospitable and my new family was very concerned about my condition. After recovering from my horrible stomach ache I was introduced in front of 200 students at the local school. Funny story…the school was giving the morning announcements on the basketball court. All the students were lined up according to grade and were standing in front of a small stage. On the stage were all the teachers who were giving announcements with the help of a microphone and 2 very large speakers. Every 10 seconds (and this is not an exaggeration) the microphone would crackle and squeal and everyone was forced to cringe and cover their ears. Finally, it was my turn to present myself (I was more nervous about the microphone squealing than the fact that I was going to have to speak Spanish in front of all these people). Sure enough during my 30 second introduction the microphone crackled several times…what a way to start. The announcement ceremony ended with the Nicaraguan National Anthem, which I learned how to sing before my visit.

The next day, it was on to the next school. I jumped on a big bus and on the bus with me were the following people:

1) A blind kid singing and playing the guitar

2) A preacher preaching the good word

3) A woman selling miracle location for wrinkles and warts

4) A man selling pills that will cure everything

5) A chicken…and maybe a rooster as well

6) And around 80 other people

Once again I had no idea where I was headed and therefore I made sure everyone around me knew that I had no clue where I was going (I did know the town name but I did not know the exact location of the town). As usual the Nicaraguan people were incredibly helpful and got me to the next school. The second school I will be teaching at is located in a small farming community 45 minutes from my site. I have only 17 students at this school and they are all really excited to be learning business skills.

Some quick info about the class I will be teaching…The class is called La Empresa Creativa (LEC) it is a 1 year business course. The class starts by giving students activities that allow them to think outside the box and in general think creatively. Next, the students are asked to come up with a product that does not yet exist. They must create this product, find a market for this product, sell the product and make a detailed business plan. At the end of the year there is a local, regional and national competition at which students compete to win prizes based off of who has the best business plan and most creative product.

The third school I am teaching at is located 45 minutes from my site in another small farming community. Once again everyone was very kind and welcoming. The highlight of this visit was my horse ride from the town back to the highway! The saddle was very detailed and beautifully made and the horse was a medium sized trotter. Finally, I have two other schools that I am teaching at, but was unable to visit due to my stomach illness. Therefore I will have to check the remaining schools out when I return to my site. I have 5 schools total and 7 different counterpart teachers that I will be working with at each of those schools. My classes vary in size from 17 students to around 50 student and something tells me I am going to be very very busy.

To wrap this up I am posting some pictures of my current training town. Below is a picture of the Eskimo ice cream parlor. If you like ice cream then there is plenty of it all around Nicaragua. At Eskimo you can get an ice cream (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry) with chocolate syrup. Another popular dessert is banana dipped in chocolate. There is the every present ice cream man in every town that rings his bell as he rolls his cart up and down the streets. To put is simply, it is hot here and therefore there is ice cream.

This is a picture of the big yellow bus

I have noticed that when asking where something is located people are bound to tell you it is far away. However, it is important to clarify how far is far. For example, I wanted to walk to another park in town and I asked where it was located. Here is the response I received (translated of course):

Me: “Hi, do you know where the other park is located?”

Nicaraguan friend: “Oh no that is far, it’s that way (hand singles pointing towards the other side of town…also gives an air lip kiss/pucker, which represents the general direction of the park).”

Me again: “Ok, well I am going to go walk to the park”

Nicaraguan friend: “It’s really far”

Second Nicaraguan friend: “Yes, it is far”

Exactly 7 minutes later I reach the park! Pictures of the park below…along with a very popular mode of transportation: the bike carriage made to bring people to various locations around the town…such as the park that is supposedly really far away!! Lesson learned: whenever asking how far something is get (A) an estimated time to reach the destination or (B) An estimated distance in kilometers.

OOOOoooHHHHEEEEEE…that is the sound a howler monkey makes

The picture to the left is a picture that was taken close to my new site loction! Quite the beautiful view.

Last Sunday I woke up around 6am, did my laundry (a 3 hour experience), hung up everything to dry in the sun, and ate breakfast around 9am. In the afternoon, a friend and I decided to meet up with the other PCTs (Peace Corp Trainees) who were at the local Laguna. Little did I know my excursion to the Laguna would be very similar to the classic 90’s movie Jurassic Park. Just to remind those who have not seen this movie in a while (I saw it on the local Spanish 10 channel recently) the scene in the movie that I am referring to: The scientists and 2 kids land on the island of Jurassic Park. All appears to be well at first, lush green trees and picturesque crystal clear water surround the park. Then the group ventures through two large doors that encapsulate the park to go into search of dinosaurs. To sum it up quickly, it starts to rain and the group gets terrorized by man eating beasts.

Now back to my experience…as my friend and I are walking through the green canopy trees we come to the serene Laguna. The water is still and there is a volcano in the distance with puffs of white fluffy smoke emitting from the top. We are walking along a path and run into one of the PCTs that we were going to meet. The trainee directs us to keep walking (maybe 40 minutes give or take) and we should run into the other group on the beach. As we are walking along in search of this beach it starts to rain. The paved path we were walking on turns into a dirt road. And out of nowhere a noise like that of a t-rex ready to swoop up its pray comes echoing out of the forest “OOOOOOoooooooHHHHHHHEEEEEEE.” My friend and I look at each other in horror….not knowing if we should run, hide or just stay put. We decide to turn back…having never found the rest of the group. The rain continues and there is an eerie silence to the forest. We decide to find a place to sit to eat our lunch and we proceed to walk down closer to the water. In the middle of lunch we hear the sound again “OOOOOooooooooHHHHHHEEEEEEEE” and then we hear “Hey Guys!” We both jump, only to look up and see the rest of the group standing at the top of the hill. We finally meet up with the whole group and we walk towards the bus station together. I found out that the sounds we heard coming from the forest were the sounds of howler monkeys…not dinosaurs. We jumped on a big yellow school bus and headed back to our town around 4pm. I will never forget the sound that a howler monkey makes…but if you’ve never heard one then just imagine the sound a dinosaur makes because it pretty much sounds the same!

When I arrived back in my town there was a festival in full swing at the central park. I sat down and partook in some local entertainment and food. I ate something filled with rice and pork (it was greasy but really good). I also ate fried plantains, which are sweet and delicious. To finish off the meal I ate a tortilla! It was a fun celebration. However, the party did not end until 3am and I was trying to get to bed early to catch up on some sleep. Instead, I got to listen to some really load Spanish music coming from the park that is only 2 blocks from my house. But what’s a good fiesta without loud music and greasy food!