San Juan del Sur.
Half the fun of Peace Corps is jumping into the unknown. It took me my first full year in Nicaragua to understand the daily workings of things. Then it took me another 20 months to start implementing projects and getting something done. I learned to be patient, talk to everyone, but mostly just to listen. Most opportunities that came to me during my service came through the contacts I made. At times I stretched myself too thin wanting to help everyone, and I wasn’t always successful in everything I did. But I always tried and I can honestly say I never gave up. In Nicaragua, I sometimes felt alone. Others times I felt surrounded by either people, noises, animals, smells, smoke and/or heat. However, most of the time I just felt at home. I learned that things never go quite as planned (I have fixed my fair share of flat bike tires), but to roll with the punches (walking works well when you get a flat), keep a positive outlook (it will probably rain while you’re walking but at least it won’t be hot), and you will find success in anything you try to accomplish. To the right are my students, counterpart
and myself posing for a picture after winning
the national business competition.
and myself posing for a picture after winning
the national business competition.
Peace Corps for me has been about a lot of rejection, and then how the re-group after you’ve been rejected! The answers are never right in front of you, and sometimes you have to be really creative to turn a bad experience into a “learning experience.”
For me, the biggest challenge I faced was something that I couldn’t change or alter. However, it didn’t matter because I learned how to get around that challenge and still be successful. It’s like building a road but there’s a giant mountain in your way. So I just learned to go around my mountain, granted it took longer and the path wasn’t quite as smooth, but when I finally made it over the feeling of achievement was that much greater.
Now that it is officially time for me to leave Nicaragua I have realized that my biggest accomplishment isn’t the amount of projects I completed but in fact it is the amount of people I met along the way.
Here's a pic of Goggins and I at the beach.
He can't swim so he just soaked up some
sun while I splashed in the waves.
My top ten memories of Nicaragua:
1)Dancing: in buses, with small children, at fiestas or whenever/wherever the mood might strike.
2)Eating hot soup at 12pm.
3)Finding a rat den in my house complete with 10 rats.
4)Riding the “Farris wheel of death” at my town carnival.
5)Going to the circus where the rafters swayed from the weight of people (including myself) that sat on them.
6)Falling off a bridge with my bike over my shoulder into a very deep muddy pit.
7)Getting stuck in a river while I was on a bus.
8)Getting hugs from all of the little kids that lived around my house.
9)Saying “Adios” to everyone on the street.
10)Watching my students graduate from high school and go onto college.
2)Eating hot soup at 12pm.
3)Finding a rat den in my house complete with 10 rats.
4)Riding the “Farris wheel of death” at my town carnival.
5)Going to the circus where the rafters swayed from the weight of people (including myself) that sat on them.
6)Falling off a bridge with my bike over my shoulder into a very deep muddy pit.
7)Getting stuck in a river while I was on a bus.
8)Getting hugs from all of the little kids that lived around my house.
9)Saying “Adios” to everyone on the street.
10)Watching my students graduate from high school and go onto college.
