Wednesday, April 16, 2008

It’s fieldtrip time: 1 bus, 60 Nicaraguans, snacks, and Transporter 1 and 2 (why wouldn’t I go?)

I must admit it has been getting increasingly hotter in Nicaragua, but yesterday I saw something that really made me think I must be living in an oven (which is what the local people call, Leon, the part of Nicaragua that I am living in). I got on a bus headed up North and sat down somewhere in the middle, to the right of me was a man carrying two live chickens in a bag. In front of me sat a mom trying to control her 3 kids and behind me sat a man in a cowboy hat. For the first time in a long while the bus wasn’t packed full had we all had our own seats, it was quite pleasant. As I was looking around observing, I noticed something rather odd, the bus driver and his helper were wearing oven mitts. Now to my knowledge we weren’t planning to bake a cake and Betty Crocker wasn’t anywhere in sight…so why the mitts? Apparently, the steering wheel to the bus, made of shiny metal, attracted the sun’s rays and thusly heated up to temperatures that warranted an oven mitt to be worn. Quick note, all of my fellow passengers were just as shocked as I was that two grown men were wearing oven mitts…all they were missing was an apron!

My bat problem is back…now I think I have a whole family making a nest in the rafters of my roof, but a new friend has joined the gang: a giant rat. The rat skitters across my roof and it is the size of a cat too bad it’s a rat and not a cat.

The classroom scene, at times, is really a sight to behold. It reminds me of the crazy hyperactive monkeys caged at the zoo mixed with a jailbreak scene from the movies. In the U.S., the worst classroom was simply a noisy classroom but here I have to be a firefighter, referee and teacher all rolled into one. In the past, I have seen fires started, flame balls thrown, kids standing on desks, kids throwing desks, kids throwing large objects, and finally kids tossing kids. However, usually I can handle it. Last week, I reached my breaking point and for the first time since I started teaching, I completely lost control of a class and I had to walk out mid-class instead of teaching. My counterpart was of no help because she was just yelling over all the kids who were also yelling. She kept shouting, “You are losing points, minus 10 points from your grade.” The only problem is that they are empty threats because all the students will pass. Therefore, the kids do not care about their grades! Threatening to lower a grade is not a motivating factor. The class culminated with a mini-fight breaking out between students. That is when I threw in the towel and gave up. I assigned homework and just walked out. I hope that next week will be better.

El Rosario, where trash is turned into treasure...aka compost piles help cultivate plants

I came to the turn off, a long dusty dirty road, which leads out to one of my school. Normally, I traverse the road alone, which I enjoy doing. Occasionally, there is a 30-year-old guy that sells lottery who will wait for me to ride into town so that he can ride in with me asking me question after question. I try to avoid this man at all costs, as I find his haranguing annoying and I am sick of telling him, “No I do not want to date you.” Yesterday, was an unlucky day because my bike broke, giving him just enough time to catch up to me. He started with his usual bout of questions about sports teams (that I have never heard of) and as usual he moved onto his dream to live in the U.S. with me. Then he started talking about something weird, he wanted to know about the vitamin water that the USA allegedly provides to all of its citizens. Apparently, the water dripping from U.S. faucets is rich in all sorts of vitamins, which help us to become stronger, taller, and faster (sounds a bit to me like Brave New World). This guy wasn’t talking fiction, he was dead serious. He really thought that the U.S. had this “vitamin water.” I set the record straight (I think?) and told him that vitamin water didn’t exist, which sadden him just a little.

More pics from my fieldtrip to El Rosario. This picture shows the actual compost pile.

It has been a good 15 years since I last took a fieldtrip, but a few weeks ago, I was able to experience the pleasantness of sitting on a bus full of passengers ready to go somewhere to see and do something! The first question I was asked when I sat next to my bus buddy was, “Where are we going?” I responded, “El Rosario, why where are you going?” She replied, “I’m just going where everyone else is going.” I told her, “Well then it looks like you are going to El Rosario.” This didn’t seem to disparage her in the least and she handed me a bag full of potato chips, which I gladly accepted and ate. However, there was a rhyme and reason for this fieldtrip. My town was going to another town (4 hours away) to observe their method for recycling garbage. My town has a trash pick-up service, but the service only collects everyone’s trash and then burns the trash in one big collective pile, versus individuals burning their own trash in their own individual piles. Therefore, this fieldtrip was an important step in getting the town’s people to see how composting trash is not only better for the environment, but can be turned into an actual business by selling the composted soil and plants. All of this was just fine and well but the trip to get to this other town was a trip I would rather not take daily (or even weekly for that matter). People were eager to go at 6am; each bus passenger ate a heaping plate of gallo pinto, queso, tortilla, crema and jugo for breakfast (and now I understood why my bus buddy had hopped on the fieldtrip bus). Next, there was a 4-hour ride to the town. We arrived to find that there were only two bathrooms available to 60 people (and oh yeah the water wasn’t working…do the math). We made it to the recycling plant and received 2 hours of interesting information, but it also happened to coincide with lunchtime. People were getting antsy and hungry. We all got back onto the bus and arrived at local restaurant for another huge meal of meat, rice, salad and fresco. Finally, the trip was ending and we were gearing up to drive back to our town in the big yellow school bus. One problem, the bus stopped working. We were served snacks and told to wait a few hours, while the bus was being repaired. Eventually, the bus was fixed and a fresh DVD was popped into the television, which was firmly welded into the front of the school bus. However, not everyone could agree on what to watch. What a conundrum. Half the bus wanted to watch Transporter 1 and 2 (that was my vote as well), while the other half of the bus wanted to watch soap operas (boring). It was a sticky situation but luckily Transporter 1 and 2 won out (thank goodness). My bus ride home involved watching a action packed movies, while the woman sitting next to me spit on the floor continuously while yelling loudly to her friends who sat a few seats away. With my feet surrounded by puddles of spittle and my mind deteriorating slowly from watching too many action movies back to back, we made it back into town at 8pm a mere 14 hours after we departed. It was a whirlwind day filled of valuable information for all. I left the bus feeling a little more informed as I took a sip from my jugo de manzana and a bite out of my sugar-coated piko. What a field trip, and I must say that it made me reminisce on the fieldtrips of my childhood (minus the gallo pinto).

More composting fun...

The door-to-door salesman is alive and thriving. I remember hearing stories and even recall seeing old movies with door-to-door salesmen peddling their goods. However, where I grew up I was never solicited by a door-to-door salesman, sure the occasional girl scout would stop by and even charity organizations but never a true blue salesman (which was probably due to the anti-solicitation rules in my neighborhood). In Nicaragua, the salesman still exists and he stops by my house at least once a week (although other vendors stop by everyday). Today a man with a giant duffle bag stopped by my house trying to sell me every single item in the bad. It started with sheets, then towels, moving onto shampoo and creams, window curtains, dishes... It reminded me of Mary Poppins’ bottomless pit of a bag that she carried filled with floor lamps and other home furnishings. This salesperson had everything. He also said that I didn’t even have to pay for everything upfront that I could buy things on credit. I listened to his spiel and then politely declined. This guy was on a roll and he would not take no for an answer (and what salesman will?). He asked what I would buy that he could bring with him the following week! I replied that I couldn’t think of anything that I needed. With all the street vendors selling things, I don’t ever really have to leave my house (but I choose not to be a hermit and thus leave my house daily). Anoche (last night) I did purchase some lemon-scented floor cleaner from a man, which came in handy. Basically, I never know what products are going to pass by my front door…it’s like the home shopping network, except I don’t have to call up and order.

Plants being grown at El Rosario...