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.