My new home beginning on November 20, 2011 until November 20, 2013 will be......drumroll....... Muy Muy, Matagalpa. Muy Muy literally translates to Very Very, for those of you non-Spanish speakers. I'm pretty stoked about the placement because it's in the mountains so while some other volunteers will have the pleasure of sweating their balls off day and night, I'll get to sleep peacefully in my cool mountain climate!
So I've really lucked out. I don't have a latrine (score!), I have a shower (no bucket baths for me!) and the town is pretty decently sized so I have cell service, internet cafes, and pulperias (little corner stores). Other sites aren't quite as lucky, most have latrines and some don't even have cell service; I'm sorry for all of you. But, the one downside for me is I'm 99% positive that I'm sharing my bedroom and kitchen with my arch nemesis: rats!
So I spent a week visiting my site and my new host family and getting the DL from the volunteer that I'm replacing. It was a pretty good experience overall, I'm super excited to actually start living and working there; but there were some minor problems with my visit.
1) I technically have to live with a host family for my 2 years of service and even though my assigned host family is very nice I just won't be able to survive living with them for the full 2 years for a couple of reasons:
a) My bedroom is the size of a closet and is really just a temporary wall that partitions me off from the rest of the kitchen.
b) There are rats in the house! Many of you know about my history with rats, so I believe I should not have to endure this. I didn't sleep for the whole week because I heard them scurrying around the kitchen wreaking havoc throughout the night and even if I was able to doze off and "ignore" them, I was startled awake by the rat that is living in my closet!! Yes that's right another closet rat. The worst part is it's right by the head of my bed and "slept" with one eye open and by headlamp on the whole night. I will be investing in some poison, traps and possibly some cats.
Luckily I only have to live with this family for 2 months and then I can find a different family to live with. I'm hoping that I can move into the casita of the other volunteer because it technically fits the rule of living with a host family because I will be sharing a back porch with them and to my knowledge it is rat free! Everyone keep your fingers crossed that it works out and I'll be able to survive 2 months with my rat and then be rat free for the next 22 months.
2) I fell victim to the inevitable stomach problems. Each night I didn't sleep due to the rats and to the terrible cramps in my stomach. I was a bit scared to get out of my bed in the middle of the night to make my journey to the outside bathroom, but luckily I didn't spot any of the rodents on my many trips during the week. I'm feeling better now, I'm not sure what the culprit was but I didn't like it and hope that I don't suffer from it continually in site.
Even though there were some minor set backs, I am really excited to move on from training and start my service. Everyone in the town seems very nice and excited for me to start working with them. Also, if you haven't noticed I changed my address in the top of my blog. So don't send anymore letters, packages to the old address because it will just take even longer for me to receive it from Peace Corps.
P.S. Some of you have mentioned difficulties commenting on my blog, I changed some of the privacy settings, so you may have success now if you would like to try.
Thank you to everyone reading my blog, you have no idea how happy I am when I hear that people are reading it and actually enjoying it. Love you and miss you all!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY....
Ay! It´s been raining for the past 2 weeks straight, today was the first day without rain until now. You should all be happy that I´m taking the time to write this and will unfortunately suffer while walking home in the downpour. I can officially say that I do not like rain and have been in a funk because of it. The other day my host sister asked me what I like more rain or snow..... and I was literally speechless. I didn´t know what to say; therefore I´ve decided I might have to live in an arid, desert like climate in order to be happy year round.
All of this rain has got me thinking about the comforts of home that I miss. After walking around in the rain and sitting in wet clothes all day (if you can tell me what´s worse than wet jeans, let me know) all I want to do is curl up in a comfy chair, with a delicious pumpkin spice latte, a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie and mindlessly explore the internet on my laptop with free wifi access...I´m growing more and more nostalgic while writing this and reliving my dream. Unfortunately I haven´t been able to find any of these comforts here. Instead I curl up in my canoe shaped bed under my mosquito net, read Bossypants by Tina Fey (Great book, I highly recomment) and eat Oreos.
Why oreos? Because that´s the only familiar cookie they sell here, and I don´t even like them that much especially because it´s missing the obligatory ice cold glass of milk; yet I´ve eaten more Oreos in the past 7 weeks than I´ve eaten in my entire 24 years before Nicaragua. The Peace Corps gives us Oreos at every training event, which occur 2-3 times a week, and I think they´re performing their own version of Pavlov´s drooling dog experiment because we all devour the Oreos once they´re put out, and if they´re late in arriving we all get a little tense and on edge. I´m afraid that the day the Oreos are missing is the day a riot will break out among the Peace Corps trainees.
I´ve completed my last class in training. Unfortunately my last two classes weren´t as stellar as my first one. Probably because I got a little cocky from the grand success of the first one and thought that I didn´t have to plan and practice as much. Oops! And obviously I didn´t learn my lesson because after my second class was less than stellar, I still didn´t prepare more for my last class today. I´m going to go ahead and blame my laziness on my funk caused by the rain. I learned that I should be scared and fully prepare and practice my lessons in order for them all to be successful, or maybe I just had beginner´s luck?!
I´m going to find out where I´ll be living for the next 2 years tomorrow!!!! I was excited to find out, but after today´s discussion in Spanish class I´m now rather terrified. Apparently there is a rat plague taking place in one of the departments (I´m picturing rats literally raining from the sky) and with my luck I´ll probably end up there and die from some awful disease that is rampant and it´s cause is from rat urine. Por ejemplo, you should wash soda cans before drinking out of it because if a rat peed on it and you drink from it, BAM you´ve contracted the disease. Mom - if you get a phone call with someone hyperventilating and crying hysterically it´s probably me, which means that I´ve been sent to the rat haven....I´m hoping that doesn´t happen. I´m also getting quite worried because our Spanish teacher keeps talking about the instability of laterines and the dangers of possibly falling into a latrine pit.
My worst nightmare: falling into a latrine pit filled with rats! OMG I need to stop, I already won´t be able to sleep tonight from worry, I don´t need to add nightmares to my fitful rest.
What else....I received a lot of mail yesterday!!! Thank you so much Mom and Grandma Vick I received the packages, and I´ve already enjoyed some granola bars and candy and I´ve shared the wealth with other trainees, students and my host family. Also, grandma I´ve received three letters from you, thank you! Red and Jan I got your card, thank you so much! I appreciate it all so much. For those of you thinking about sending stuff....The packages were sent September 27,28 and I received them October 19; so a little less than a month. The letters are all different, but at least a couple of weeks.
Well, I´d better start my trek back home. There´s a lapse in the rainfall and I´m going to try to get home dry. Please pray that I don´t end up in some Rat infested town! Thank you all for reading my blog. Miss you and love you!
All of this rain has got me thinking about the comforts of home that I miss. After walking around in the rain and sitting in wet clothes all day (if you can tell me what´s worse than wet jeans, let me know) all I want to do is curl up in a comfy chair, with a delicious pumpkin spice latte, a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie and mindlessly explore the internet on my laptop with free wifi access...I´m growing more and more nostalgic while writing this and reliving my dream. Unfortunately I haven´t been able to find any of these comforts here. Instead I curl up in my canoe shaped bed under my mosquito net, read Bossypants by Tina Fey (Great book, I highly recomment) and eat Oreos.
Why oreos? Because that´s the only familiar cookie they sell here, and I don´t even like them that much especially because it´s missing the obligatory ice cold glass of milk; yet I´ve eaten more Oreos in the past 7 weeks than I´ve eaten in my entire 24 years before Nicaragua. The Peace Corps gives us Oreos at every training event, which occur 2-3 times a week, and I think they´re performing their own version of Pavlov´s drooling dog experiment because we all devour the Oreos once they´re put out, and if they´re late in arriving we all get a little tense and on edge. I´m afraid that the day the Oreos are missing is the day a riot will break out among the Peace Corps trainees.
I´ve completed my last class in training. Unfortunately my last two classes weren´t as stellar as my first one. Probably because I got a little cocky from the grand success of the first one and thought that I didn´t have to plan and practice as much. Oops! And obviously I didn´t learn my lesson because after my second class was less than stellar, I still didn´t prepare more for my last class today. I´m going to go ahead and blame my laziness on my funk caused by the rain. I learned that I should be scared and fully prepare and practice my lessons in order for them all to be successful, or maybe I just had beginner´s luck?!
I´m going to find out where I´ll be living for the next 2 years tomorrow!!!! I was excited to find out, but after today´s discussion in Spanish class I´m now rather terrified. Apparently there is a rat plague taking place in one of the departments (I´m picturing rats literally raining from the sky) and with my luck I´ll probably end up there and die from some awful disease that is rampant and it´s cause is from rat urine. Por ejemplo, you should wash soda cans before drinking out of it because if a rat peed on it and you drink from it, BAM you´ve contracted the disease. Mom - if you get a phone call with someone hyperventilating and crying hysterically it´s probably me, which means that I´ve been sent to the rat haven....I´m hoping that doesn´t happen. I´m also getting quite worried because our Spanish teacher keeps talking about the instability of laterines and the dangers of possibly falling into a latrine pit.
My worst nightmare: falling into a latrine pit filled with rats! OMG I need to stop, I already won´t be able to sleep tonight from worry, I don´t need to add nightmares to my fitful rest.
What else....I received a lot of mail yesterday!!! Thank you so much Mom and Grandma Vick I received the packages, and I´ve already enjoyed some granola bars and candy and I´ve shared the wealth with other trainees, students and my host family. Also, grandma I´ve received three letters from you, thank you! Red and Jan I got your card, thank you so much! I appreciate it all so much. For those of you thinking about sending stuff....The packages were sent September 27,28 and I received them October 19; so a little less than a month. The letters are all different, but at least a couple of weeks.
Well, I´d better start my trek back home. There´s a lapse in the rainfall and I´m going to try to get home dry. Please pray that I don´t end up in some Rat infested town! Thank you all for reading my blog. Miss you and love you!
PLASTIC BAGS
A thought I´ve been pondering...in Nicaragua the plastic bag is a hot commodity. They use them for everything, including a way to serve frescos, helados, and when you buy a soda in a glass bottle and don´t drink it there they pour it into a plastic bag and give it to you. At first it takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it I don´t know if I´ll go back to drinking from any other container.
From an environmental aspect, we all know plastic is bad and needs to be recycled instead of thrown into landfills or in the case of Nicaragua thrown wherever you want; but in comparison to the US mass consumption of products in plastic bottles vs. the use of plastic baggies; which is the lesser of two evils?
I´m not sure yet; but I do know that helado de banano con leche eaten from a plastic bag is delicious.
Quick lesson on eating or drinking from a plastic bag:
1) pick a corner
2) bite off the corner and spit out the tiny fragment of plastic
3) drink and enjoy
4) if your Nicaraguan or have adapted to Nicaraguan culture (like some volunteers have; not me) after you finish you´ll chuck the remains onto the street.
From an environmental aspect, we all know plastic is bad and needs to be recycled instead of thrown into landfills or in the case of Nicaragua thrown wherever you want; but in comparison to the US mass consumption of products in plastic bottles vs. the use of plastic baggies; which is the lesser of two evils?
I´m not sure yet; but I do know that helado de banano con leche eaten from a plastic bag is delicious.
Quick lesson on eating or drinking from a plastic bag:
1) pick a corner
2) bite off the corner and spit out the tiny fragment of plastic
3) drink and enjoy
4) if your Nicaraguan or have adapted to Nicaraguan culture (like some volunteers have; not me) after you finish you´ll chuck the remains onto the street.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Nica Time
I don´t even know where to begin, it´s been quite some time since my last post and I feel like so much has happened. So I´ll just give the highlights:
1) Our school garden has been successfully created and is actually growing! We planted tomato, cucumber, squash, peppers and chitome (don´t know what the english translation is). Our chicken wire fence is really a sad excuse for protection, especially since a good portion is rusted and falling apart and the other parts are sagging and can be hopped over. I believe we´ll be able to transplant our tomato plants next week!
2) I gave my first class in Spanish to my 6th grade class and it was AMAZING! I taught them about types of energy and classified it has renewable or non-renewable. They seemed to enjoy the dinamicas/activities which is different from their normal rote memorization and copy method. And it seemed like they learned some stuff and could decipher my Spanish (at least I hope). I´m giving my second class this Thursday on the carbon cycle.
P.S. It doesn´t matter where students are from all middle schoolers are the same. I did a KWL activity and was asking the students what they knew about energy before we started and I had my ¨star pupil¨ (who I identified within the first 5 minutes of class) just start reading from the book hiding under his desk. I quickly stole that away from him.
3) We went on Site visits! I spent two days with a volunteer in Rivas to observe what volunteer life was like and to talk to her and get the DL (for all you older readers, translation: DL = the scoop, information) It was a really awesome time. One, I got to escape from my tiny little town and see a different part of Nicaragua. Two, I learned some valuable information from her. Three, I can´t wait for training to finish up so that I can get to site and start volunteering.
While we were there we observed some of her science classes and english classes; met her friends; hiked to a really pretty river, saw a tiny waterfall, some monkeys, almost got stampeded by a pack of cows; went to a wonderful bakery where I was able to indulge in some brewed coffee and delicious coconut bread! It was heavenly!
4) We´ve been to Managua a couple of times now and experienced the joy of Nicaraguan public transportation. Everyone warns about the buses and the ladrones (thieves), well knock on wood nothing has been stolen from me except for my personal space. They pack as many bodies on to these retired school buses as they possibly can and you´re being jostled around like a pinball. I have no idea how I´m going to travel on these buses with my enourmous suitcases when I move to my site in a month. The upside was we got PIZZA while in Managua. Another heavenly experience, we all pretty much gorged ourselves with it because it was not gallo pinto (rice and beans).
Yeah, so I think those are the highlights. Time is flying by and I think my Spanish is improving, but I still have those days where my brain just doesn´t want to function in Spanish.
I still haven´t received any mail, but have received word from many people that it´s in transit. Thank you!! It will be greatly appreciated when received!
All you Midwesterns are starting to experience fall weather, which I´m a tad jealous of. The climate here is always the same, relatively hot and humid; so I´m missing out on those crisp fall mornings and evenings and all the beautiful changing leaves. But then again, fall will quickly disappear and you´ll be faced with a cold slap in the face and I´ll still be enjoying my hot and humid, tropical climate.....hmmm......
1) Our school garden has been successfully created and is actually growing! We planted tomato, cucumber, squash, peppers and chitome (don´t know what the english translation is). Our chicken wire fence is really a sad excuse for protection, especially since a good portion is rusted and falling apart and the other parts are sagging and can be hopped over. I believe we´ll be able to transplant our tomato plants next week!
2) I gave my first class in Spanish to my 6th grade class and it was AMAZING! I taught them about types of energy and classified it has renewable or non-renewable. They seemed to enjoy the dinamicas/activities which is different from their normal rote memorization and copy method. And it seemed like they learned some stuff and could decipher my Spanish (at least I hope). I´m giving my second class this Thursday on the carbon cycle.
P.S. It doesn´t matter where students are from all middle schoolers are the same. I did a KWL activity and was asking the students what they knew about energy before we started and I had my ¨star pupil¨ (who I identified within the first 5 minutes of class) just start reading from the book hiding under his desk. I quickly stole that away from him.
3) We went on Site visits! I spent two days with a volunteer in Rivas to observe what volunteer life was like and to talk to her and get the DL (for all you older readers, translation: DL = the scoop, information) It was a really awesome time. One, I got to escape from my tiny little town and see a different part of Nicaragua. Two, I learned some valuable information from her. Three, I can´t wait for training to finish up so that I can get to site and start volunteering.
While we were there we observed some of her science classes and english classes; met her friends; hiked to a really pretty river, saw a tiny waterfall, some monkeys, almost got stampeded by a pack of cows; went to a wonderful bakery where I was able to indulge in some brewed coffee and delicious coconut bread! It was heavenly!
4) We´ve been to Managua a couple of times now and experienced the joy of Nicaraguan public transportation. Everyone warns about the buses and the ladrones (thieves), well knock on wood nothing has been stolen from me except for my personal space. They pack as many bodies on to these retired school buses as they possibly can and you´re being jostled around like a pinball. I have no idea how I´m going to travel on these buses with my enourmous suitcases when I move to my site in a month. The upside was we got PIZZA while in Managua. Another heavenly experience, we all pretty much gorged ourselves with it because it was not gallo pinto (rice and beans).
Yeah, so I think those are the highlights. Time is flying by and I think my Spanish is improving, but I still have those days where my brain just doesn´t want to function in Spanish.
I still haven´t received any mail, but have received word from many people that it´s in transit. Thank you!! It will be greatly appreciated when received!
All you Midwesterns are starting to experience fall weather, which I´m a tad jealous of. The climate here is always the same, relatively hot and humid; so I´m missing out on those crisp fall mornings and evenings and all the beautiful changing leaves. But then again, fall will quickly disappear and you´ll be faced with a cold slap in the face and I´ll still be enjoying my hot and humid, tropical climate.....hmmm......
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