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)!!