“The Whole Store’s Got the Flu”

I want to first preface this entry by clarifying that what I write is not meant to be offensive, but represent the realities and “My Cousin Vinny”-type moments (hence this entry’s title) that I face on a daily basis in Nicaragua. With that being said, let me tell you a little story about what a “typical” meeting is like for me here…

On Wednesday, I am invited to a meeting/training with two of the forestry governmental organizations here in town regarding an important Nicaraguan environmental law. The invitation states that the meeting will begin at 9 AM, but having now been here for almost 9 months, I know that “9 AM” really means “whenever you feel like showing up”. Let it be said that this meeting was originally scheduled two weeks prior, and when I arrived right on time and no one was there, I soon realized after talking to the kind (and slightly sketchy) police officer that works around the library that the meeting was probably changed and I failed to be notified. Awesome.

So, this time, in typical Nica fashion, I show up to the meeting at 9:30 (instead of 9) and only one other person is there, who isn’t even one of the people running the meeting. At about 9:45, some people start arriving and the powerpoint presentation (atypical for Nicaraguan meetings) is being set up. It is quickly realized that the projection can’t be seen due to all the light coming through the windows. So we close all the windows in what is an already suffocating-ly hot room, but the projection still cannot be seen. We then rearrange all of the furniture – a huge table, 15 or so chairs, some benches, and a whiteboard – so that the projector is facing a different wall. In the midst of all this rearranging, like clockwork, the rest of the group arrives exactly at 10 AM (I suppose we can call this “Nica punctuality”). The computer’s projection still can’t be seen, despite all of our manual labor. After I suggest we get some kind of sheet to cover the windows, a woman who works at the Mayor’s office finally runs off to look for something. In the meantime, people are still fiddling around with the projector, trying every different display setting.

So we finally decide, over an hour after the meeting is supposed to begin, to maybe try a different location. We move down to the 2nd flood of the library, find a place to set up, move some tables, then realize there’s no outlet. There’s no outlet on the entire floor. So we get up and move down to the first floor. Everything gets set up again (this time with an outlet nearby). The woman from the Mayor’s office finally returns with the sheets but we’ve already moved locations.

It’s about 10:20. We’re all ready to go, and suddenly the computer doesn’t work. The projector works fine, but the computer screen is blank and won’t turn on. After a few minutes of struggling to find out what the problem is, they ask for my help and I point out in about 3 seconds that the computer ran out of battery and needs to be plugged in. I state this in about 5 different ways (and my Spanish isn’t THAT bad) before it finally registers. So it’s determined that we’re going to plug in the computer. But where’s the cord to plug it in? It’s in their office in another building, of course. So we wait some more (at this point I’m actually quite amused and am having a good laugh with one of the other people at the meeting).

FINALLY, at 10:40, the meeting starts. Let me remind you that we have now wasted an hour and 40 minutes due to a lack of punctuality and preparation. And pretty soon, 12:00 rolls around and people are hungry, have to go to class (some teachers were there who only start work in the afternoon), and/or are falling asleep (me). So the rest of the presentation, which should have taken 4 hours, is rushed through and ends at 12:30.

The point of this story is that what seems like common sense to me (maybe preparing all of the technology before hand and trying out the room to make sure everything works well, bringing the essential parts of the computer with you to the meeting, having a hard copy of the presentation on-hand) may not be common sense to everyone (and these are directors with college degrees). I’m SURE there are things that seem like common sense to Nicas that are difficult for me to grasp (for example, if you can fit 10 people in a 5-person car, why bother taking 2 cars?), but the point is to demonstrate the frustrations inherent in getting things done here. This is not only the case with punctuality and preparedness, but also with having to return somewhere to meet with someone 4-5 times until you can finally get done what should’ve taken 5 minutes instead of 5 weeks (I’m not exaggerating). And this is exactly why I’m here for 2 years instead of 1.

So there you have it – a little taste of what meetings, classes, and practices have generally been like for me here. Is it frustrating? Yes. Does it sometimes feel like a waste of time? Yup. But these are the realities of working in a developing country, and I signed up for the Peace Corps with the expectation of having to be flexible and ready to deal with them. So here I am, with 1 ½ years to go, with the anticipation of hopefully getting at least one major thing accomplished in my time here…even if it does take the whole 2 years.

(Completely random side-note: While writing this entry lying in my hammock at home, a couple of cows decided to mosey on up to my front door, peek in, and say hello.)

Top 10 Reasons Why Nicaragua is Awesome

1. Its not a party if there isnt dancing.
2. La comida tipica (typical Nica food) is almost always vegetarian.
3. Love handles are cool.
4. If youre stranded without a car or missed the last bus, hitchhiking is always a non-sketchy, acceptable option.
5. Avocados, mangos, and all sorts of interesting tropical fruits, sometimes even right in your own backyard.
6. Hammocks.
7. If youre ever lost, hungry, or thirsty, just knock on any random persons door and youll be treated like one of their own.
8. Volcanoes, mountains, lakes, ocean, tropical forest...what else could you ask for?
9. Fun music blasting all the time.
10. Where else is it acceptable for a 7 yr old to walk around with a machete? (My personal favorite)

Hope you enjoyed that ;)

IST and Masatepe

These past few weeks have been pretty eventful and fun. For a few days a couple of weeks ago I had in-service Peace Corps training (IST) with my fellow environmental ed volunteers and our counterparts, or local school directors or community leaders that assist us with projects. Unfortunately, my counterpart was busy working on the literacy program that we have in the municipality and decided the last minute that he wouldnt be able to come. Regardless, it was a very useful training where we were able to brush up on gardening techniques and learned some useful new project ideas like using trash (particularly plastic bottles and bags of chips which are the most common) to make crafts. We also got to stay at a beautiful nature reserve in my very own department of Matagalpa.

Last week we had Friday off for Nicaraguan Labor Day, so I took the opportunity to go back to visit my training town for the weekend. Some fellow volunteers from my training town were also in the area so we had a mini-reunion with some local friends which was fun. I really enjoyed my visit and stayed with my former host family, who I feel is like a second family to me. I also went to Masaya for a few hours and spent some time in one of the 2 big markets, filled with vegetables, crafts, hammocks - you name it - and bought some exciting things that I have yet to find in my site (like black beans and ginger). It really felt like a vacation being back there, now that I feel like Masatepe is like Long Island compared to my town, which at times can feel like the rural south. So Im looking forward to future visits!

The rainy season has started in the area, which means its rainy, then its sunny, then its rainy, then its sunny, on and off all day everyday for the next 8 or so months (fun, right?). But one advantage to all this rain is that its time to start gardening in the schools. I am in the process of coordinating with the Mayors office and MAGFOR, a government agroforestry organization, too, to try to get ornamental plants and fruit tree seeds to be planted at each of the schools. Soccer practices, English classes, and eco-youth group meetings have been slow due to classes being cancelled, people not showing up, PC training, etc., but Im hoping they will pick up again. Sometimes its hard to get people motivated to come to meetings, which can be incredibly frustrating, but we will see how things go in the upcoming weeks. This weekend I have a retreat for a new Peace Corps committee I joined, called Guia, which is a gender and development committee that works on projects and talks to try to promote gender equality in Nicaragua. So I look forward to that, and hopefully getting back into gear in my site after all these trips and trainings!

Thanks, as always, for reading! And to all you phantom blog readers out there (you know who you are - you regularly follow my blog but I never hear from you), send me an email - let me know whats up (carolyn.smalkowski@gmail.com)!!