Since I know the Top 10 Lists have been such a hit and are in such high demand, here comes yet another Top 10 list…
1. A Refrigerator
I know, you’re probably thinking, “How does a person live without a refrigerator?”, or for those of you still in college-mode, “Where does she keep the beer?” Well, let me assure you, it can be done. I’ve learned from my fellow Nicas that you can keep food for several days just by reheating/boiling it 2-3 times a day. So I don’t have to cook everyday – I’ll usually make something that’ll last me a few days and just reheat it every few hours (ie: my favorite, rice and beans ;) ). The only downfall is that I can’t keep juice or vegetables for days, and if I want a cold drink, I need to buy ice (but I’ve grown accustomed to luke-warm beverages). But luckily, I have a market here so I can do my vegetable shopping daily if I want to. (As for the beer, well, that’s what bars are for).
2. 24/7 Water Access
I usually only have water access before 8 or 9 AM and in the late afternoon and evening. This isn’t so bad, as long as I get up in time to wash all my clothes and shower. Otherwise, I have water stored in large garbage cans and bucket showers are always an option!
3. Hot Water
This was an amenity I learned to live without in Costa Rica, so not having hot water here wasn’t as much of a challenge. Taking cold water showers here is pretty refreshing because it’s so hot during the day, but at 5 AM before I go to school, the temperature drops pretty low and taking an ice-cold shower…not so much fun.
4. A Toilet
I managed to get through all of training and my first 3 months in-site (living with a host family) with a toilet, and the idea of having to live without one was not something I was not looking forward to. But, eventually, I have grown accustomed to my latrine, or outhouse, and have even developed the “ganas” to sit down! It’s not so bad, except when I get up 1-3 times in the middle of the night and need to go (for some reason this only happens to me in Latin America). However, a small plastic pan does the trick ;) (TMI?).
5. A TV
Not having a TV was never really a big deal for me, since I don’t really have the time to watch it and would rather spend my free time reading or talking with friends than watching Brazilian soap operas dubbed in Spanish that I can barely understand anyway! I do miss my Oprah, though.
6. An Oven
I do all of my cooking on a two-burner gas stove that was handed down to me by the previous volunteer in my town. It does the job! And besides, I don’t think I ever used the ovens in my apartments in Burlington, either. Who says women need to bake pies (Sex & the City reference for all you fans out there)?
7. A Washer and Dryer
Yes, I wash all of my clothes by hand and dry them outside on a clothesline. It’s not so bad, as long as I have time to do it and it’s not the rainy season. I learned the hard way during training that too much rain = moldy clothes. Not fun. I only have until May to enjoy the sunny weather!
8. Regular News Access
This is something I deeply miss – waking up every morning to the crisp New York Times in my email inbox. But now, with internet access limited to my time at the internet cafe, and not a whole lot of money, I barely have this luxury anymore. Yes, there are local newspapers here, but they’re impossible to find because they’re only sold by people walking by on the street (and for some reason never in my neighborhood). Occasionally, though, I’ll get a glimpse of CNN in Spanish from the states at someone’s house who is lucky enough to have cable (like when my teacher-friend, Marisol, paints my toenails every couple of weeks).
9. A Couch
Just plastic, but still somehow expensive, chairs, a very cool-looking chair from the artisans in Masaya (how I miss Masaya) that I bought in Matagalpa, and a pretty awesome hot-yellow hammock that hangs right in the middle of my kitchen/living room!
10. A Pet
This, I know, doesn’t seem like an essential item. But for an animal lover like me, it kills me not to have an animal in my home, especially with all of the stray dogs that wander starving in the streets. Well, for me a pet is a huge responsibility, so if I got one, I would want to take it home with me to the states, and it’s doubtful I’ll be staying in one place and not traveling for the next 12+ years of my life (or roughly the animal’s lifespan). And I wouldn’t want to leave the animal with someone here, either, because frankly, people just don’t pamper their pets the way Americans do. However, I am happy to say that I do have plenty of visitors in my yard, including cows, horses, and the occasional chicken. So that pretty much does the trick.
I’m sure there are other things that I’ve grown accustomed to not having that I’ve just forgotten about. I guess you’ll just have to come and visit me and find out (although I’m sure after this Top 10 list, my chances of getting a visitor have diminished)! Other things that I think would be a given that I don’t have at home: internet access, a microwave, a DVD/VHS player (although I luckily have my laptop for that). For the entire 6 months that I lived with host families, the only time I could listen to my own music was on the headphones to my iPod. I know, I have an iPod and a laptop and I’m in the Peace Corps, I shouldn’t complain. But for me this was a big deal – not being able to blast my music at maximum volume on a stereo system with amazing sound quality. Up until last week, I managed to get by in my house with these teeny tiny speakers to which I could connect my iPod. However, I finally had enough and decided to splurge beyond my Peace Corps living stipend and get a decent stereo. It was well worth it, and now my neighbors will have exposure to American music beyond Celine Dion’s “My Heart will Go On” and cheesy 80s love songs.
That’s all folks! Hope you enjoyed this week’s Installment of “Carolyn’s Ridiculous, Yet Humorous, Nicaraguan Life”. Keep an eye out for new pics coming soon!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Fiestas Patronales craziness
Last week started the beginning of a 2-week party here in town called the Fiestas Patronales, or parties for the Patron Saint. This basically takes place in every major town/municipality throughout the country, and is celebrated with bullriding, horse parades, dancing, loud music, and lots of alcohol. Needless to say, not really my thing, but I did take the opportunity to go out dancing, since the fiestas are only going on a short walk from my house. In two weeks Semana Santa starts, which is Easter week. Pretty much everyone here goes to the nearby rivers to celebrate, usually with lots of food and alcohol (like every other holiday here). Ill probably end up going with some friends at some point during the week, and maybe taking a couple of days to travel and spend time with other volunteers since we have a couple of days off. Other than that, Ive started giving environmental classes and theyve been going well...the kids have been very receptive and well-behaved. We are trying to start making composts in the schools, and Im in the process of doing one in my own yard, as well as a garden, with some neighbors for practice (and hopefully some veggies to show for our labor!). Im also holding ecological youth group meetings twice a week with the high school in my neighborhood. The kids seem educated about environmental issues and motivated to plant trees and clean up the school, so Im glad that its something theyre passionate about. English classes continue to be going well. I have about 12 students who come to every class, maybe 15ish in total, but new people continue to tell me theyre interested so hopefully the class will grow a bit. A neighbor of mine told me she has a friend who is interested, but that she needed to ask her husband first for permission. This, surprisingly, is not uncommon here, and really infuriated me. The fact that the women here are basically condemned to a life at home while their husbands go out partying almost every night is no exaggeration. Im hoping to do something with the women, like have a womens group or cook together or something, ANYTHING. I just need to find a block of time, and a group of women, first. Hopefully itll be another future project in the making...stay tuned.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Birthday Fun and Weekly Update
Monday was my 23rd birthday, making it the second birthday I’ve spent in Latin America! The day started off in one of the rural multigrade schools where the kids sang me a variety of birthday songs and all greeted me with a hug and kiss. After a couple of hours of class, the teachers decided to make enchiladas with the students, which was exciting for me because I got to learn how they are made and enjoy their deliciousness. The school has a small concrete area separate from the classrooms where we cooked everything on a wood-burning stove. To make the enchiladas, first the tortilla is made with a combination of corn flour, water, and spices, flattened and shaped into a circle, then fried. The tortilla is then topped with refried beans and a cabbage and tomato salad = extremely tasty. The enchiladas were accompanied by fresh tajadas, or fried plantains, grown right on the school’s property – doesn’t get any fresher than that! I even got the added bonus of bringing home the plantain peels for the compost I’m making in my yard…very exciting stuff! After an exciting morning, I came home and relaxed/cleaned up a bit and went to my friend Griselda’s comedor, or small restaurant, for special birthday tacos with soy meat. I guess you could call it a romantic meal since I ate by candlelight, thanks to losing the electricity for a few hours (doesn’t happen too often but it’s not that uncommon). Luckily, it came back in time for me to go out with another friend of mine, Norvin, and celebrate with some local beverages ;). Overall, it was a fun day! I also celebrated the weekend before in the neighboring city of Matagalpa with some fellow Peace Corps volunteers at a laid-back bar with a hippie vibe. Matagalpa is fairly touristy/has lots of Europeans living there, so places like these and cafes with locally-grown coffee are plentiful.
Work-wise things have been going well. I am starting to plan with the teachers and give my own environmental classes this week and next. I’m not TOO nervous, since I already have a little bit of experience from training, and my trusty environmental teaching guide with pre-planned activities. Some of the challenges will be to figure out a secure place to put the tree nursery and garden at the school without interference from farm animals, robbers (some of the trees we’ll be planting are endangered and therefore incredibly valuable), and children playing. I’ve been in the process of getting materials to enclose my yard so random cows and horses don’t enter my yard (no joke), although the free manure they’ve provided me will make a great addition to my compost! I’m going to use tree branches, barbed wire, and plastic sacks (all locally available) and hopefully that will be sufficient! We’ll see…
Other activities that have been going on: On Sunday, I was cordially invited to participate in a parade for the beginning of the soccer league in town, so all of the teams (by neighborhood), plus the people involved in the soccer federation, the mayor, and other important people got to march (I felt pretty important, too :) ). My role is going to be working with the women’s soccer teams that I am working with the soccer federation to form (4 teams organized by neighborhood). We are lucky enough to already have a “select” women’s team in my town, since women’s sports aren’t really prevalent in Nicaragua, but hopefully now we will be able to have an actual women’s league, like the men’s, within town. Uniforms are apparently the big gimmick for getting players motivated to play, but we’ve been unsuccessful so far trying to get a local NGO from Spain to donate them. So we are searching for plan B…whatever that may be.
This week I will be having my first meeting with the high school ecological youth group I’ve helped organize. The school director wants me to have a discussion about not throwing garbage on the ground, since this is a huge problem here, and to propose some ideas about future projects with the kids (similar to what I’ll be doing in the elementary schools). Also, English classes continue, two nights a week. It seems that in the two weeks that I’ve had the classes, word has spread like wildfire and random people are coming up to me on the street asking me if they can join the class. Unfortunately, I am starting to turn people down because the class has reached about 20 people and if it gets any larger, I won’t be able to give each individual enough attention and people aren’t going to get as much out of it. But I’m enjoying the classes and am really glad that my students are motivated to study and continue with the class.
Overall, things have been picking up and going well. I am starting to really appreciate the little bit of free time I have to myself in the house, and have decorated it and made it a cozy little space I can call home (will post pictures as soon as I have everything hanging up). Although I’ve been busy with meetings and classes, I am enjoying being busy a whole lot more than the absolute boredom I experienced in my first two months. I am happy that things are starting to form, slowly but surely, and am excited to see what comes of it in these upcoming months.
Work-wise things have been going well. I am starting to plan with the teachers and give my own environmental classes this week and next. I’m not TOO nervous, since I already have a little bit of experience from training, and my trusty environmental teaching guide with pre-planned activities. Some of the challenges will be to figure out a secure place to put the tree nursery and garden at the school without interference from farm animals, robbers (some of the trees we’ll be planting are endangered and therefore incredibly valuable), and children playing. I’ve been in the process of getting materials to enclose my yard so random cows and horses don’t enter my yard (no joke), although the free manure they’ve provided me will make a great addition to my compost! I’m going to use tree branches, barbed wire, and plastic sacks (all locally available) and hopefully that will be sufficient! We’ll see…
Other activities that have been going on: On Sunday, I was cordially invited to participate in a parade for the beginning of the soccer league in town, so all of the teams (by neighborhood), plus the people involved in the soccer federation, the mayor, and other important people got to march (I felt pretty important, too :) ). My role is going to be working with the women’s soccer teams that I am working with the soccer federation to form (4 teams organized by neighborhood). We are lucky enough to already have a “select” women’s team in my town, since women’s sports aren’t really prevalent in Nicaragua, but hopefully now we will be able to have an actual women’s league, like the men’s, within town. Uniforms are apparently the big gimmick for getting players motivated to play, but we’ve been unsuccessful so far trying to get a local NGO from Spain to donate them. So we are searching for plan B…whatever that may be.
This week I will be having my first meeting with the high school ecological youth group I’ve helped organize. The school director wants me to have a discussion about not throwing garbage on the ground, since this is a huge problem here, and to propose some ideas about future projects with the kids (similar to what I’ll be doing in the elementary schools). Also, English classes continue, two nights a week. It seems that in the two weeks that I’ve had the classes, word has spread like wildfire and random people are coming up to me on the street asking me if they can join the class. Unfortunately, I am starting to turn people down because the class has reached about 20 people and if it gets any larger, I won’t be able to give each individual enough attention and people aren’t going to get as much out of it. But I’m enjoying the classes and am really glad that my students are motivated to study and continue with the class.
Overall, things have been picking up and going well. I am starting to really appreciate the little bit of free time I have to myself in the house, and have decorated it and made it a cozy little space I can call home (will post pictures as soon as I have everything hanging up). Although I’ve been busy with meetings and classes, I am enjoying being busy a whole lot more than the absolute boredom I experienced in my first two months. I am happy that things are starting to form, slowly but surely, and am excited to see what comes of it in these upcoming months.
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