Happy Holidays

I hope everyone has been enjoying the holidays! In Nicaragua, Christmas is pretty much celebrated by everyone, since the majority of people are either Catholic or Evangelical Christian. Christmas Eve is the big night - people spend time with family, go to mass, and eat and drink the night away until the wee hours of the morning. I wouldn't really say it's that much different from any other day, since family is always over visiting, just factor more food into the equation. We made nacatamales, a traditional nicaraguan food, made of corn mass, a bunch of spices, tomatoes, and meat (mine were veggie), wrapped tightly in a banana leaf and boiled for several hours. Other than basking in the holiday spirit and visiting with neighbors, not much has been new. I went to a nearby river yesterday and went swimming with the family of a volunteer's boyfriend, so that was fun. We brought a bunch of food and made a big soup right on the water's edge. I've also gone to a friend's farm, which basically whenever anyone invites you to their farm, it's like they're inviting you to a party. They killed some chickens (sad but very common here to kill the animal fresh from the farm) and made a soup (Nicas like their soup). I like that my town has a mix of nice mountain views and a tranquil environment with a more developed center. It's nice to mix it up. So overall, the last week or so hasn't been too productive work-wise since pretty much everyone has been on vacation, but at least it's been an interesting cultural experience. I'm making plans to talk to the new mayor after new years about maybe getting an eco/agro-ecotourism project going in town, since I was reading about similar projects in other small towns in my Lonely Planet travel book. I think it would be a good boost for the local economy, since many people are unemployed, and also a good way to capitalize on the beautiful environment that surrounds the town (and maybe provide an incentive not to litter it with trash). I also at some point in my service want to do a trash-burning awareness campaign, since despite the weekly trash collection in town, people continue to burn their trash just out of habit. There is some teacher-training that's going on mid-January in which I will most likely be participating. Until then, I'm just continuing to visit with teachers and will hopefully begin to plan for the upcoming school year.

Have a happy new year, all! To a great 2009...

graduations, lots of food, and matagalpa

These past couple of weeks have been pretty busy. Contrary to my most recent posts, where the highlights of my days were the half-hour walks to the internet cafe and doing laundry (yes, really), I have made some more friends here and been invited to a number of events. First, I went to a couple of graduation ceremonies and parties, one in which I was introduced and got to sit (awkwardly) up in front with the other teachers. The graduations here take place in the churches (separation of church and state?) so that´s something quite different than you´d see in the states. Àlso, they do graduations for preschool, 6th grade, and high school. Everyone is accompanied by a family member/friend as they enter into the church and their name is read 3 times throughout the ceremony (when they walk in, get their diploma, and leave), making it painfully longer than it needs to be. But it was definitely a new and interesting cultural experience. I have also been visiting with many of the teachers with whom I´ll be working, and have been invited to lunch and dinner with some of them on several occasions. I feel like I´m practically never eating at home, which makes a nice change to the usual rice, beans, and tortilla. I´ve been actively looking for a house so that I can move out as soon as my 6-week minimum host family living requirement is up, and have found a couple of options - just waiting to speak with the owners and hopefully I´ll be set! Lastly, I went to Matagalpa this weekend with the women´s soccer team to watch their departmental championship game (which they won...by a lot). Let´s just say the competition really isn´t there, which is unfortunate because I see the team having a huge potential to grow and improve. They don´t practice regularly and with jobs and other responsibilities they barely play. But I wanted to go to the game to introduce myself to the players and possibly work with them as a trainer in the future. Starting up a women´s soccer team was one of my goals before I came here, and although a team already exists, I would still love to have the chance to work with them. Other than that, just taking each day at a time and trying to continually work on forming a youth group and getting a tree nursery started. The concept of keeping to a schedule doesn´t really exist here so it´s been hard to get much accomplished working hand-in-hand with the mayor´s office. Keep the letters, emails, and phone calls coming - all are always much appreciated! Thanks for reading.

address correction

correction: this is my new address (although I doubt it´ll be a problem if people have already sent stuff):

Carolyn Smalkowski
Apartado Postal 113
Matagalpa, Matagalpa
Nicaragua
Central America

Over one week through!

I´ve survived the first week in my site! Woohoo! Slowly I´m meeting people - family and friends of my host mom, and teachers with whom I´ll be working. Last night one of the teachers who the previous volunteer introduced me to invited me to dinner. She cooked some lovely vegan food for me (spaghetti and tomato sauce, a local potato-like veggie, rice, banana ¨pancakes¨, tomatoes, and coffee) and I was very appreciative. Literally going there for dinner made my day, because she´s a really friendly and open person. Her family is very poor but the fact that she invited me over for dinner and made a special effort to cook me vegan food meant a lot to me. The previous volunteer has spent a lot of time with her so she understands the purpose of Peace Corps in sharing experiences and different cultural traditions. I plan on visiting her often. She´s also helping me find a house - I like her neighborhood because it´s close to lots of neighbors and has a nice view of the mountains, AND its within my budget. The living standards are definitely pretty low but it´s all part of the Peace Corps experience. I think it´ll help me to live more simply and appreciate the company of others.

Yesterday I also went for a nice walk/hike through a farm with my host mom´s son and his kids. The views from my site are pretty gorgeous, and slowly I´m getting the chance to see more and more. My family was visiting a farm today to buy and slaughter a pig. I was invited but I gladly declined. There´s certain things I just won´t do, no matter how Nica I try to be, haha!

I feel like my Spanish is getting better. These first couple of months are a good time for me to practice speaking, listening, and studying new vocab in my downtime. Learning Spanish fluently was one of my goals before coming here, so I´m really going to put in the effort to make that happen. I´ve also found a spot to practice making a compost and am working with the mayor´s office to form a youth group and start a tree nursery. These are some of the projects I will be doing before school starts in February. In the meantime I also plan on visiting different teachers daily to get to know them and possibly start planning for next year.

Overall, since yesterday things have been better. Just meeting one nice person who wants to be my friend has helped me enormously. I think over time these relationships will ultimately help pull me through service.

New Address

My new address for anyone who wants to send me anything (LOVE letters!!) is:

Carolyn Smalkowski
Apartado Postal 113
Matagalpa, Nicaragua
Central America

Muchas gracias!

I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer!

Today is Day 2 in my site and I have officially been sworn-in as a volunteer! We had our swearing-in ceremony on Thursday at the American embassy where we met the US ambassador. Unfortunately, our host families were unable to come due to all of the political violence that´s been going on, particularly in Managua, with the municipal election fraud. It was kind of sad not having the chance to have a big goodbye with them, but I hope to visit when I can.

This Thursday a couple of us are getting together in my department to celebrate Thanksgiving. I´ll get to see what the departmental capital of Matagalpa is like, and will be setting up my PO box, so keep a look out for a new mailing address!!!

So like I´ve said, it´s day 2 in my site and I´ve been trying to tackle any difficulties that may arise. For example, I already know that my host family situation is not ideal, and my room is incredibly depressing, so upon arriving I immediately put up photos on the wall and tried to lighten up the mood. I´m trying to keep a busy schedule for myself, with week-by-week goals and an agenda of what I need to do for every month. It probably sounds really cheesy, but I think staying organized will keep me busy and not allow me to lose sight of what I´m here for. Although I´m not allowed to leave overnight for the first 3 months, I´m hoping to be able to make some day trips here and there to visit other volunteers and go to Matagalpa. It´s the little things that I think will make this service successful and more enjoyable.

Last week of training

Hey all,

Thanks so much to those of you who have been following regularly. It´s so nice to know there are people at home who are still wondering what I´m up to! I want to hear what you´re all up to, too!!

Monday night is my last night in my training town (so sad!). Then we have classes all week in Managua, the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, and I head for my site on Saturday. We have really been feeling the Peace Corps budget crunch lately, especially hearing about how previous volunteers have been pampered. Hopefully I won´t have to dig into my savings in my site!

What else...I was unable to move my host family in my site. So that´s kind of a bummer. But I´m looking forward to a potential get-together for Thanksgiving in my department. I´m hoping I´ll be able to see other Nica48 volunteers at least once a month. I think this will keep a little bit of my sanity!

There´s not much else to say...the next couple of days will be filled with lots of goodbyes and new beginnings. Thanks for all the continued support from everyone.

Site Visit

Last week was probably the hardest week I´ve had since I´ve been here. I went on my site visit and was pretty unhappy the entire time. My host ¨family¨ is an older woman who´s used to living alone. She pretty much spends the whole day in the house, working at her ¨venta¨ or little store. She doesn´t talk very much either. So this was quite a change to my current host family, who I love, which is constantly bustling with people and there´s always someone to talk to. My host family in my training site has also hosted 8 volunteers prior, whereas in our sites, the families don´t receive any training from PC and my host mom is new. Also, the room where I´ll be staying for my first 6 weeks and 5 days (not that I´m counting) is pretty much like a jail cell...it´s dark with grey, cinderblock walls and no furniture other than my bed and a very small table. So, please send me pictures and stuff I can hang up to bring some life to the place!!! I´m going to see if I can try to change my host family to one that´s maybe a little bit more exciting, because our first 2 months in site will be pretty tranquilo, since school is out for ¨summer¨ and we basically have to spend the time just getting to know the community. I will have A LOT of downtime and fear major boredom, so hopefully I can get something worked out (or possibly have the opportunity to move out and get my own place sooner). I know these first 3 months in site will be the hardest, not only because it´s a new place and we´re starting from scratch all over again, but because school will not be in session and I won´t have much to do. I am also separated from all my fellow trainees. I definitely have become too comfortable in my training site, and have come back with a new appreciation for my training town and family. I will miss it dearly, and plan on visiting as soon as I can take some vacation time or travel on weekends (in 3 months...sigh).

In other news, things have been pretty crazy here as municipal elections for mayor are taking place all over the country. There are basically two major parties here: the Sandanistas and the Liberals. There are huge clashes and fights between the two parties (to the point where people are dying), so we´ve basically been in lockdown, mandated to stay in our towns until the elections are over. Most of the people I´ve spoken to in the Liberal party here say they have Sandino values but the current Sandanista party has changed and is leaning more towards the beliefs of Daniel Ortega, the current President. So that´s the current situation! And my host brother has been working literally around the clock getting practically no sleep since he works for the electoral board (not sure of his exact job). What a crazy situation it has been! Hopefully things will cool down in a couple of weeks.

Overall, I´ve just been trying to enjoy the rest of my time in my training town while it lasts. I have basically just a week left here, and then some classes for a few days in Managua before we swear-in as volunteers on the 20th. I need to push through these next few months, so any mail, email, or phone calls during this time will be MORE than appreciated! Let me know if you need any of my contact info. My mailing address will be changing soon but in the meantime you can continue to send stuff to the PC office in Managua.

Site!

Today I found out my site and Im going to the Dept of Matagalpa!!! I got my first choice site which I am absolutely PSYCHED about!!! Matagalpa is the center of coffee and chocolate growing, as well as some ecotourism and BEAUTIFUL mountains. I will be visiting the site all of next week with my counterpart, who is the person with whom I will be working for the next 2 years. The site is a larger site, with regular access to water and electricity, as well as internet cafes, a food market, small restaurants, and places to dance! I am absolutely thrilled to be going there, and would hopefully like to do some of my secondary projects in the areas of sustainable coffee and ecotourism. Here is a picture of where in the country I will be:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/NicaraguaMatagalpa.png

If youd like more information, send me an email and I can tell you more! Also, Ive posted all of my pics on Kodak Gallery so if youd like to see those as well, let me know and Ill hook you up!

New Update

So La Fiesta de la Finca Dos Mil Ocho was a success! The family and family friends of my fellow trainee planned all of these crazy games for us including potato sack races and water balloon tosses in rice sacks. Also included was a game where you had to pull a banana out of a string hanging from another string in the air using only your mouth haha. It was pretty awesome. We also made tons of shishkabobs, fried plantains, pasta salad, salsa, and french fries. There wasnt too much of an intercultural exchange as far as the food was concerned, I think just because Kendalls family doesnt really eat vegetables haha. So they made their own rice and beans. But her host father gave a big speech at the end about how hed always remember this time with us and it was really heartfelt. Yay.

I gave my second environmental class this week to a 5th grade class on the topic of natural resources and it went well! Only one left coming up in a few weeks! Now that my Spanish is much better, these classes are (almost) a breeze.

We find out our sites on Monday!!! I havent really been thinking about it though, trying to hold my composure and remain tranquilo. Very exciting stuff though!!

Other than that, everything is pretty much the same. We have a new Spanish facilitator (our third and last). Shes pretty cool. We have another talk to give to our youth group tomorrow about communication. Last week we made bracelets with them, which worked well since both the guys and girls were really into it and it was an idea they came up with on their own.

More to come! Keep commenting!!

Future sites

Yesterday we got a packet of information on all 18 of our future sites. Of course we haven´t been matched up to them yet, and the information is incredibly broad (whether or not theres regular water access, electricity, distance to closest city, etc), but it has given me a general idea of what´s available. It´s nice to know that we have a lot more options than I initially thought. We have an interview with the director of the environmental ed program and we get to tell her our site preferences. There´s a good number of medium-large sized sites, which is what I´m looking for, with regular access to water, electricity, and a market. I´m hoping not to get placed in what´s basically known as ¨cowboy country¨where the ¨fun¨activities listed in the packet are ¨walking, running, and milking cows¨ (not joking). But I need to keep an open mind because not everyone´s preferences can be met. I´m sure I´d adapt to wherever my site will be, as most volunteers do, because Peace Corps takes weeks and weeks to analyze all of your strengths and where you would be most successful and happiest. So I trust their judgement. But the sites generally all have the same projects - teaching environmental ed in elementary schools (most of which are multigrade), working on community garden, compost, and tree nursery projects - with some additional site-specific activities or projects to continue from previous volunteers (some sites are first-generation sites for volunteers, others have had up to 5 prior). Tomorrow we have a site fair so I´ll be able to learn a little bit more about each of the 5 departments (regions).

Sunday we are having a ¨Fiesta de la Finca Dos Mil Ocho¨(Farm Party 2008) haha. A bunch of the trainees and Nica family and friends will be getting together at one of my fellow site-mate´s family´s farm and having a big bbq and fiesta. I anticipate it will be lots of fun, but I´m sure there will be plenty of rain to put a damper on our party. Perhaps we´ll throw in some mud wrestling just to spice things up ;). Stay tuned.

Mas sobre la vida de Carolina

Yesterday morning I was awoken at 5 am to the sound of live music in my living room. If it hadnt been for a fellow trainee´s birthday last week, and an explanation of what a ¨typical¨birthday is like here, I wouldve been completely confused and not known what was going on (and angry that I was awoken at 5 am)!! So it was my host mother´s birthday and on the morning of someone´s birthday, there is a group who comes to the house and plays on the guitar some birthday-themed songs. I think its sweet, although I dont know how happy I would be to be woken up before the sun even rises on my birthday! They played for probably an hour, but I stayed in bed trying to fall asleep, since I wasnt really sure if this was supposed to be a private event or a family gathering. I think I chose right...

On Saturday night, I was invited to attend a traditional folkloric dance concert in Managua. My sister and her husband both perform in the dance and they wanted to treat my mom for her birthday. The dance was at this beautiful theater in Managua - very fancy...we even got dressed up and everything. So that was a nice treat! I wasn´t able to get any pictures bc it wasn´t permitted, but at some point in my 2 years here I´m sure I´ll catch a shot of some folkloric dance attire.

On Saturday morning and day, Peace Corps took us to Masaya Volcano (my second visit there since I went while studying abroad). I am still convinced that this volcano and the surrounding landscape is the most beautiful place in the world. The pictures I have from both of my visits are gorgeous. After the volcano visit and a short class, we went into the town of Masaya and walked around one of the markets (which I had also previously been to). There´s so much to see and visit and I´m really appreciating all that Nicaragua has to offer.

Other than that, things have been pretty tranquilo here. This week I have my mid-training interview in Spanish to assess my progress. Last week I was definitely feeling weaker in the language because of all the English I was speaking between the site visit and only 1 day of Spanish classes. But hopefully this week things will pick up again. On Thursday we will have another youth group meeting and will be making bracelets (on their request). We also have a survey to do in the community on the topic of waste water and water contamination, soon to be analyzed and presented to Peace Corps. Next week will be a little more hectic with another big ¨life skills¨talk with our youth group and teaching a class in Spanish at the elementary school. Until then, stay tuned...

Volunteer Site Visit

I just got back from my volunteer site visit and it was fun! Im not gonna lie, Im happy to be back ¨home¨here in Masatepe but it was nice to get out and see a different part of the country and what volunteers do on a day-to-day basis.

On Sunday we arrived to the department of Leon (northwest of the country). All of the trainees visiting volunteers in Leon and Chinandega met up and went to the beach. The beach was beautiful, but although it was raining part of the time, we managed to stay dry by relaxing at this beachside restaurant all day. I like the Nica45ers (the previous environmental ed group - have already been in Nicaragua for 13 months)...the group is very different from ours but theyre fun people!

On Monday I went to this rural multigrade school with my volunteer, Katelyn. The school is basically one classroom in the middle of a field (a 30-45 min walk through fields after getting off of the closest bus stop). Since there arent too many kids in the area, the students range from 1st to 6th grade. Because the kids have to help their parents work in the fields, attendance is poor and its difficult to know when to hold natural science classes for them (or what age students will attend). When we went, 4 1st graders and 2 4th graders came. Technically, we´re only supposed to work with 3rd-6th graders, so it was hard for Katelyn to gear the class towards all of the students. School only lasted a few hours, which is typical school day. Its clear that there are many challenges faced by the Nicaraguan education system and what we can accomplish is only a miniscule change. Its easy to get discouraged but staying patient and positive has been effective for most.

On Tuesday, classes were cancelled (not a huge shocker) so we didnt get to observe another class with a different school. However, I was able to go to volleyball practice with Katelyns volleyball team that she started. By working with a local NGO called ¨Norwalk¨, based in CT I believe, she was able to get a group of young women together and a paid volleyball coach and the team is looking good! This is just one of the many secondary projects she and her husband are working on. This morning, we attended a meeting to plan an HIV&AIDS fair in the town. The meeting was a success since many key people made it to the meeting and truly expressed interest. The meeting was also held with the help of another local NGO. Nagarote, Leon has many advantages for Peace Corps Volunteers because there are so many resources available, but it also has its limitations because many projects are already in effect. All sites have their upsides and downsides and this is just one example of a site where I could potentially be located.

Overall, the visit was good. I got to learn a little bit more about what a typical day for a volunteer is like (aka there is no typical day - you make the best of each situation and take things one step at a time). Ive realized that many projects take TIME because you have to spend time with the people in your community and community leaders to gain their trust before you can begin to assess areas for improvement and change. It all comes down to what the community wants to accomplish and as a volunteer, you pretty much just have to act as a facilitator to ensure that THEY are getting active in the projects to ensure its sustainability. All of this is incredibly complicated and thats why we´re getting 3 months of training but I think Im beginning to understand how I need to approach my service.

Im finally going to buy a memory card so I can update more pictures. I have some fun ones to post from the beach and my trip to the lagoon. Thanks for your patience!

Im one month in!

Im officially one month in! Its amazing how quickly time passes here. This week was INSANE with the amount of work we had - had to give a class, organize a new youth group (bc our previous group fell thru), give a talk to our youth group on decision making, decide on a secondary project to do with them (they decided on arts and crafts), and make a survey for the community on the topic of gray water and water contamination. But, the insanity is finally over and I can now look forward to my volunteer shadowing visit for half of next week. I will be going to the department of Leon up north. The volunteer is actually a married couple in their 20s so I will be staying with them with another trainee, Steph, who is also in my training town. Apparently their site is relatively big and they have a nice home so I look forward to relaxing and getting to check out what a day and a life of a current volunteer is like! Sunday, a bunch of them are taking us trainees to the beach so that should be really fun!

The language barrier here has become pretty apparent when last week instead of going to what I thought was the beach, we hiked for over an hour down to the lagoon, took some pictures, and walked back up. The Spanish word for beach, ¨playa,¨only actually refers to what we think of as the beach if its the ¨playa del mar¨or of the sea. Ha, oh well. Even though I had some beautiful views on the walk down, the lagoon was actually a pretty sad sight. It was really polluted and there were people bathing, washing their clothes, and fishing there. The poverty here is a major issue. Will try to post pictures on my next post.

Last weekend we never did end up going to Managua to go dancing because plans fell through, as Ive sort of come to expect here, but I ended up going to a birthday party of my host sisters friend instead, which was fun. She had a pinata at her house and when I played, it reminded me of how much fun it was as a kid! Good times. I also went to Catarina with my host brother where there is a lookout over a (different) lagoon and you can see the city of Granada. It was pretty dark so I dont have pictures but I have plans to go again tomorrow, pending the weather cooperates (fingers crossed).

So things overall have been going well! Ive been having some pretty unpleasant gastrointestinal issues (ill spare you all the details) but hopefully thatll pass ha. Its pretty common here among the trainees so at least we all have something to bond over!

This week we switched Spanish teachers (to get a chance to learn from somebody with a different way of speaking, teaching style, etc) and I really like our new one, Gloria, as well. Shes probably in her 70s and has been doing this for 11 years. So the teachers are very patient and incredibly helpful and warm people.

I enjoy getting news and political updates from you all back in the states. I dont have much access to US news on a daily basis, but Ive been hearing about all the economic problems, political debates, etc. Keep the updates coming - I like to stay informed.

Hope all is well with you all! Thanks for reading!

End of Nicaragua, Week 3

This upcoming week we have a lot going on. One of our big activities is to hold a class on Monday on an environmental theme. I will be co-teaching with another trainee, Lara, for a 5th grade class on an animal-related topic. The class is 45 min long, and somehow our Spanish teacher managed to talk to too many teachers, so now we´re running 2 classes, back to back. Oy. Im definitely nervous, since my Spanish level is not yet up to par, but we have a book to work out of with different topics and ideas for class activities. The students are not very well disciplined either, which should be interesting. After many attempts, we finally got to observe a class at a local school yesterday. Many times a class will randomly be cancelled for a teacher being sick, it being his/her birthday, its raining too hard, etc. So it was really difficult to get things started. This will most likely be the situation in my future site.

Tomorrow we have another youth group meeting in the afternoon. At the meeting, we will be choosing another project to work on, besides the garden. The status of the garden right now is questionable because of the massive amount of rain we´ve been getting (a lot even for the rainy season, because of many storms coming through). The rain has definitely put a damper on things since people don´t like to go out when it´s raining. The one bar in town has tables outdoors, so everytime I have plans to go out with someone in my family, the plans fall through. But tomorrow, pending that its nice out, we have plans to go to the beach, or lagoona, nearby. The water is too polluted to swim in but apparently the beach is relatively clean. I will try to take pictures. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Then, in the night, my family is taking me to Managua to go out dancing (FINALLY)! I´ve been dying to go out, since training is pretty tiring, so hopefully all works out this weekend.

In other news, I found out that theres 2 current PCVs (Peace corps volunteers) living in my training town. One of them happens to be a vegan (yay)! So Im going to try to get together with them at some point in the week. We have a lot to do next week so hopefully theyll be time for some fun.

Photos

I want to eventually put all my photos on KodakGallery, but since the website is giving me problems right now, here are a few to appease those of you anxious to see who Im with and where Im living!

Street market in my town

My walk to Spanish class

Two of my fellow trainees
(from left: Kendall, Steph)

Making an organic fertilizer
(From left: Steph, Lara, my grandfather)

With the youth group making the garden

My street

My host brother, Douglas (pronounced doog-la ha)

More of my host family (the woman is my sister, Marcela, and the little girl is my other sisters daughter, Ellen Camila...I still have to get a photo of her. The boys are extended family)

My host sister, Teresita (little Teresa)

My host brother, Luis

Douglas & Ellen Camila

Luis & Ellen Camila

My host mom, Oralia, w/ her granddaughter and niece

My grandparents (who live with us)

A group of friends

This is what goes on in the middle of Spanish class (aka LOTS of noise)

Mailing info

Hey all! Nothing new to report, just wanted to do a quick post with some pertinent mailing info. If you ever want to send me a package in the future (in a padded envelope), write either or both of the following sayings on the outside:

"Jesus vive"
"Dios te bendiga"
and if youre feeling really ambitious, you can even put religious cards on the inside. Apparently this increases the probability of getting the contents of the package into my hands :)

Much love!

Nicaragua - Week 2

So its week 2 here in Nicaragua and it already feels like Ive been here for months. Independence Day weekend was fun. There were lots of festivities - a parade with kids from all the schools marching and dancing, a traditional folkloric dance, and of course, spending time with my host family. There basically isn´t much to do here besides spend a lot of time with my family. Ive been actively seeking out places to go dancing but they basically dont exist anywhere nearby.

Lets see what else is new...I went to a soccer game (my third one so far including 2 of my town vs another in Nicaragua - professional games, and one of my brothers games). The games are fun and people are really intense...the fans can get really roudy. I went out the other night to a bar with my host brother and his friends, and one of the other trainees, which was fun. Since theres not much to do here, going out to a bar becomes the highlight of your week!

Today we had an interview with the director/manager of the environmental program, basically just to go over our resumes and assess our strengths. Thinking about my future site continues to make me nervous, but I try to take each day one day at a time and not get too worried. Im sure with all the training we´re getting things will work out (I hope!).

My days have been continuing with Spanish classes and technical/medical talks on Wed, Fri, and Sat morning. Im not really sure if my Spanish has improved much but I feel more comfortable speaking and I think Im able to understand more.

We met with our youth groups yesterday (as practice for what we will actually have to do at our sites). We´ll be starting our garden on Saturday, growing probably tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, and maybe squash and/or watermelon. Its nice that we have this as a sort of practice for the ¨real thing¨, since I dont really know what Im doing (we had about a 2 hr talk which is supposed to be sufficient for successfully growing veggies). But hopefully the kids/young adults (most of them are actually in their 20s) will get something useful out of it since Nicaraguans dont really incorporate many veggies into their diets, and it can serve as an additional income source. The youth group will be meeting 2 times per week and we´ll be coming up with an additional project initiated by the group members (could be something to benefit the community, sports, art, etc), besides the daily or weekly maintenance of the garden.

That´s pretty much all that´s been going on! Not too exciting, but life here is muy tranquilo (calm), so most of the time is spent sitting in a rocking chair relaxing and conversing (in Spanish, of course). I hope my actual site is as good as this one, in terms of my family, food situation, and access to transportation, internet, etc. But I guess everything takes time to get used to and I´ll have to wait 2 1/2 more months to find out! Hopefully I´ll be much more patient when I return to the states, since the key theme here with pretty much everything is patience. So we shall see.

Keep the updates coming and thanks for the comments, as well! I will try to start taking pictures this week and post them. I don´t have a thumb drive but I can see if I can borrow one from someone or buy one. Patience, everyone! ;) Much love.

8 minute update!

Hi all,

I have 8 minutes left on the computer so Im just going to write fast. All is going well here. My host family is really great and I truly enjoy their company (and can practice my Spanish)! Sunday is a national holiday here (Independence Day) so Im sure therell be lots of fun festivities going on. In the coming weeks, we need to prepare for service by getting together a group of 15-20 yr olds and starting a community vegetable garden with them. In the meantime, theres just been lots of reading and Spanish classes - nothing too exciting. Ill try to update more early next week!

Thanks for reading! :)

Masaya Masaya Masaya!

Hello all! Lots of updates. Today is my second day with my host family. Im living with a host family about an hour south of Managua, the capital. There are 3 other trainees in my training town. My host brothers and sisters are all in their 20s so theyre fun to hang out with. Last night one of my host sisters and her boyfriend took me out to dinner at a restaurant nearby, which was fun. Tomorrow I start official training, which is 3 days of Spanish classes in the mornings and afternoons, and 2-3 days of technical and health and safety talks. It seems like Ill be super busy with classes, reading up, and practicing mi español! Its amazing how tiring it is spending an entire day trying to speak and understand another language, especially when youre not in class and have to try to decipher the different accents, etc. Hopefully Ill get more comfortable with my Spanish!

The situation with my host family - much better than I had anticipated! Im living with what appears to be an upper-middle class family. We have electricity, running water, a toilet inside (which is really exciting), tv, dvd player. My vegan diet isnt a problem which is SUCH a relief (the family had hosted a vegetarian before so this wasnt much different). I dont even know how many people are living in the house haha because yesterday I met my host mom, 3 sisters, 2 brothers, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, husband of my sister, 2 dogs, cat (named Meow hehe)...the list goes on. But I have my own room, at least.

Some amusing/strange things Ive encountered so far (which I think youll also enjoy):

The addresses - For example, my address is something like "where the train station used to be, 2 and a half blocks north, on the left". There are no street names (some have hypothesized that Nicaragua was the inspiration for one of the band U2s hit songs, however I think they were trying to be a little deeper than that).

Running water - Last night around 8 pm when I went to brush my teeth, I discovered that no water was coming out of the sink. I inquired with my host family about what had happened and, after laughing, had told me that between 7 pm and 4 am the water is turned off (most likely to conserve what little water the country has), and so I have to use the water from a bucket.

Oil, oil, and more oil - pretty much everything here is fried in oil. Rice and beans, plantains, french fries, vegetables. Dont expect me to be a reasonable weight upon my return.

Im sure therell be many more things Ill come across in the future and Ill be sure to fill you all in.

Overall, Ive learned a lot more about the Peace Corps and feel that its really a great program. Not only do they really try to make the community projects sustainable, but they take good care of us. Through 3 months of Spanish classes, plenty of technical training, health care, and a huge support network, I feel much more confident about my decision and coming months.

I made it to Nicaragua!

Hi everyone!

So I made it here to Nicaragua after a loooong day of flights and orientation. I'm currently at a hotel in Managua until Friday, then I'll be off to my training site where I'll be living for the next 3 months. I'm excited about taking Spanish classes (I'm a dork)! However, right now I'm incredibly exhausted and very overwhelmed by all the information that is being thrown at us. It definitely doesn't sound like it'll be an easy 2 years and 3 months...

Keep the emails, etc. coming!!! I really appreciate hearing from everyone and the encouragement and love is what is getting me through the rest of the day. I was feeling pretty down until I came online and saw all the wonderful messages I've been getting from people.

Feel free to comment on my blog as well (just click the "comments" button below).

Hearing from volunteers who are currently serving, I will most likely have an internet cafe in or near my training site, so I'll try to come online at least once a week. I'll be living with a family and 3-4 other environmental education volunteers will be in my community. I'll keep you all updated as I learn more about what's going on.

Miss you all and please stay in touch!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello everyone and thanks for visiting my blog! I will update when I can once I get to Nicaragua since internet access will probably be limited. For now, you can read all about my assignment!

Nicaragua
Environmental Education Promoter
September 1, 2008 - November 20, 2010
Preparing for and holding environmental education classes at elementary schools regarding trash management, composting, and tree nursery and vegetable garden establishment; aiding local community organizations to increase their capacity to lead community-level sustainable environmental activities, such as reforestation projects in public areas and establishing family gardens.