I do quite a bit of walking in a day and as I walk by there´s lots of english phrases shouted at me often by little children, hello, goodbye, whatisyourname (yes, all one word) and in a country where not many people speak english I´m amazed that the phrase ¨hey blondie¨ is remembered and used when I walk past.
Let´s see....another week down and more and more spanish is being absorbed into my head, I´m often finding myself waking up and talking to myself in Spanish, that´s a good sign right?! I´m feeling like I´ve done quite a bit of improving over the short 3 weeks that I´ve been in country, but I still catch myself utterly bewildered when my host sister gives me the benefit of the doubt and rambles on way too quickly in Spanish, like I´m a native speaker. But she´s good at noticing my confused look and stops herself, slows down and repeats words sometimes to many times to count.
Things are moving along quite well and we´re actually starting to get our hands dirty, literally. We had a gardening charla/training last week and I helped build a garden. Grandma - if you´ve figured out how to read my blog yet, I may actually return from this experience and want to help you weed your garden instead of considering it cruel, slave labor- we´ll see.
We´ll be building our own gardens at the elementary school this Saturday and I really hope that we have lots of little hands to help us, otherwise I´m going to have my work cut out for myself. I´m feeling more confident in our ability to gather children for our groups and projects have are super successful youth group meetings!
We had a meeting on Monday, which 11 students showed up to, way better than our first attempt and one that we were all proud of; but it gets even better. We had another meeting on Tuesday and.....drumroll please.....22 students showed up!!! Woo Hoo! And I´m kicking myself for not carrying my camera with me every minute of the day, luckily Hannah brought her camera and I´ll steal the photos to post because I´m super proud and want to show off our creative students. Our goal for the youth group is to create a product out of recycled materials, so has an introduction we had the students collect trash, which can be found all over the streets, and make something that could potentially be used in the bathroom. The students were so creative, I was amazed. They made toilet paper holders, toothbrush holders, flower pots, fly swatters....I promise I´ll post the photos. We also decided on our big recycled project which is......another drumroll......a playhouse for children made from plastic bottles and other materials. This is a super huge project, but the students seem really excited about it and so are all of the aspirantes (trainees/not yet volunteers). I´ve thrown my camera into my bag and am now going to carry it around all the time, so I promise to take lots of photos and post them occasionally to show progress.
Hm....that´s the really big news for me this week. Wait! I got my cell phone finally!! so if I haven´t texted you already and you´d like my number email or facebook me. I was super excited to actually talk to my mom this week, even though it was only for a few minutes.
And I have to get going because it´s almost 6pm and it´s truly like clock work here...sunrise 6am, sunset 6pm. Before I leave I´m going to give one last plea for mail...a postcard, letter, package, anything would be greatly appreciated. I´m the only one of the 4 trainees that haven´t received any mail yet, it´s gotten to the point that Emily a trainee promised to send me a letter. C´mon people!
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
One week successfully completed....
My first week is complete and I´m still alive.
I´m living in a small pueblo, Niquinohomo, for the next three months during training. I really lucked out with my host family and living conditions. I live in a house surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants with amble amount of butterflies and hummingbirds buzzing around daily (for those of you familiar with the movie, Matilda, it´s remineiscent of Miss Honey´s cottage, but Nicaraguan style). I have running water, YAY no bucket showers!! and even though it´s cold water it´s actually quite refreshing, after the initial shock of shivers. And quite possibly the best part, I have a washing machine, YAY no handwashing clothes!!
My family consists of parents, two sisters, 15 and 8 years old and a grandmother. They all very nice and very understanding of my lack of understanding and my use of a circle of words that I use to describe something. Their house is a good 15 minute walk away from the city center where the other volunteers live and where Spanish classes are held everyday, so I get to walk about an hour everyday. I walk to class at 8AM, return home for lunch at 12PM, return to class at 1PM and return home at 5PM.
It´s been quite a long week. We have formal Spanish classes for about 6 hours everyday and then I return home for my continued Spanish immersion. It´s quite tiring for me to think so much about Spanish and the constant translating and searching for correct words and verb tenses. I´m pretty sure I´m developing a form of ADD because I often catch myself glazing over and simply nodding and replying ok, si and really I have no idea what they just said or even worse they´re looking at me expecting me to answer the question they just asked. I´m often done for the day by 9 pm at the very latest, sometimes earlier. Last week, I hit a wall on Thursday where I´d had enough Spanish for the week, and I´m hoping that doesn´t repeat itself weekly.
This week we´re actually getting started with our projects that we need to complete in training and unfortunately our first attempt at forming a youth group was an epic fail! We posted two posters in the library and videogame shop advertising our awesome request for teenagers to join us for an environmental, recycling project. Today we went to the library, hoping someone would show up and we were in no luck. We waited an hour and prepared more advertisements for our round two attempt for a meetig next week. We even bought cookies and Coke to try and allure them into joining the group. Hopefully we´ll have more success next week.
I feel like there´s so much that´s happened and much, much more that I could talk about, but I´ll keep it simple with a list of things I´m liking and not liking so much.
Me gusta....
1) Chocobananas and Eskimo (ice cream shop) the meeting place for me and the other volunteers to debrief and have English time
2) Watching iCarly in Spanish, I can actually understand what´s going on
3) The Starbucks instant coffee that Aunt Tracy sent with me before leaving (lifesavers, thank you1)
4) My host family
5) The weather - it´s actually quite enjoyable
6) All the pretty flowers and plants
7) and more.....
No me gusta....
1) Rain on zinc roofs (very, very loud)
2) The constant state of dampness in everything- clothes, paper
3) The giant spider I saw in my bedroom the other day (the size of my palm, no lie)
4) The mold I found growing on my shoes
5) The carb overload I´m suffering every meal, every day
6) It´s dark at 6PM every day
It´s not that I don´t like it, but I can foresee me not liking it after two years and that is....I have some combination of rice and beans for every meal, every day.
Overall, I´m having a good time and am anxious to get started with our projects and it´s not that I hate the things listed, more like things I have to learn to like.
I´m living in a small pueblo, Niquinohomo, for the next three months during training. I really lucked out with my host family and living conditions. I live in a house surrounded by beautiful flowers and plants with amble amount of butterflies and hummingbirds buzzing around daily (for those of you familiar with the movie, Matilda, it´s remineiscent of Miss Honey´s cottage, but Nicaraguan style). I have running water, YAY no bucket showers!! and even though it´s cold water it´s actually quite refreshing, after the initial shock of shivers. And quite possibly the best part, I have a washing machine, YAY no handwashing clothes!!
My family consists of parents, two sisters, 15 and 8 years old and a grandmother. They all very nice and very understanding of my lack of understanding and my use of a circle of words that I use to describe something. Their house is a good 15 minute walk away from the city center where the other volunteers live and where Spanish classes are held everyday, so I get to walk about an hour everyday. I walk to class at 8AM, return home for lunch at 12PM, return to class at 1PM and return home at 5PM.
It´s been quite a long week. We have formal Spanish classes for about 6 hours everyday and then I return home for my continued Spanish immersion. It´s quite tiring for me to think so much about Spanish and the constant translating and searching for correct words and verb tenses. I´m pretty sure I´m developing a form of ADD because I often catch myself glazing over and simply nodding and replying ok, si and really I have no idea what they just said or even worse they´re looking at me expecting me to answer the question they just asked. I´m often done for the day by 9 pm at the very latest, sometimes earlier. Last week, I hit a wall on Thursday where I´d had enough Spanish for the week, and I´m hoping that doesn´t repeat itself weekly.
This week we´re actually getting started with our projects that we need to complete in training and unfortunately our first attempt at forming a youth group was an epic fail! We posted two posters in the library and videogame shop advertising our awesome request for teenagers to join us for an environmental, recycling project. Today we went to the library, hoping someone would show up and we were in no luck. We waited an hour and prepared more advertisements for our round two attempt for a meetig next week. We even bought cookies and Coke to try and allure them into joining the group. Hopefully we´ll have more success next week.
I feel like there´s so much that´s happened and much, much more that I could talk about, but I´ll keep it simple with a list of things I´m liking and not liking so much.
Me gusta....
1) Chocobananas and Eskimo (ice cream shop) the meeting place for me and the other volunteers to debrief and have English time
2) Watching iCarly in Spanish, I can actually understand what´s going on
3) The Starbucks instant coffee that Aunt Tracy sent with me before leaving (lifesavers, thank you1)
4) My host family
5) The weather - it´s actually quite enjoyable
6) All the pretty flowers and plants
7) and more.....
No me gusta....
1) Rain on zinc roofs (very, very loud)
2) The constant state of dampness in everything- clothes, paper
3) The giant spider I saw in my bedroom the other day (the size of my palm, no lie)
4) The mold I found growing on my shoes
5) The carb overload I´m suffering every meal, every day
6) It´s dark at 6PM every day
It´s not that I don´t like it, but I can foresee me not liking it after two years and that is....I have some combination of rice and beans for every meal, every day.
Overall, I´m having a good time and am anxious to get started with our projects and it´s not that I hate the things listed, more like things I have to learn to like.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A hot mess in Nicaragua
I've finally arrived in Nicaragua!
It's been a whirlwind the past few days and I'm so sleep deprived that I'm a walking zombie and really haven't been able to absorb what's going on around me.
To make a long story short, I've been waking up way too early the past two days (4AM and 2AM) that it should come at no surprise that I slept throughout most of the flights. But, I also had the pleasantry of seating in the middle seat between two men that I didn't know on both flights; so there were some moments where I caught myself sleeping/leaning a little too close to my travel companions. On a positive note, I didn't drool on anyone that would've been embarrassing!
Let's see....arriving in Nicaragua is like walking into an oven. I'm already struggling to lug around 4 rather heavy bags, which is quite the workout, then I'm greeted with a hot and humid atmosphere as we wait outside the airport for a school bus to come pick us up. I was quite sweaty by the end of our journey, like hot yoga sweaty (gross, I know!). Driving through Managua from the airport to our training compound was not the most scenic route. As I was gazing out the school bus window, the scene reminded me a lot of Nairobi.
Right now, I'm staying in a training compound where I'll be overloaded with information and paperwork; but on the upside I've been able to cool down, and I'll have WiFi YAY! I'm rather tired and am trying to absorb as much as I can, but my neurons seem to be slowing down. I'll keep you posted with any new and exciting information, like my roommate just told me she found a large, luckily dead cockroach in our room; at least it wasn't a rat!
It's been a whirlwind the past few days and I'm so sleep deprived that I'm a walking zombie and really haven't been able to absorb what's going on around me.
To make a long story short, I've been waking up way too early the past two days (4AM and 2AM) that it should come at no surprise that I slept throughout most of the flights. But, I also had the pleasantry of seating in the middle seat between two men that I didn't know on both flights; so there were some moments where I caught myself sleeping/leaning a little too close to my travel companions. On a positive note, I didn't drool on anyone that would've been embarrassing!
Let's see....arriving in Nicaragua is like walking into an oven. I'm already struggling to lug around 4 rather heavy bags, which is quite the workout, then I'm greeted with a hot and humid atmosphere as we wait outside the airport for a school bus to come pick us up. I was quite sweaty by the end of our journey, like hot yoga sweaty (gross, I know!). Driving through Managua from the airport to our training compound was not the most scenic route. As I was gazing out the school bus window, the scene reminded me a lot of Nairobi.
Right now, I'm staying in a training compound where I'll be overloaded with information and paperwork; but on the upside I've been able to cool down, and I'll have WiFi YAY! I'm rather tired and am trying to absorb as much as I can, but my neurons seem to be slowing down. I'll keep you posted with any new and exciting information, like my roommate just told me she found a large, luckily dead cockroach in our room; at least it wasn't a rat!
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Minor panic attacks
The countdown is down to just 9 days!
Let me stop and catch my breath, the realization that I'm leaving for Nicaragua to live there for 27 months in just 9 days is truly beginning to sink and has got me freaking out just a tad.
I'm really not ready at all. The other day I tried to separate what I need to pack/might pack/won't pack and made lists of things I still need to get and still need to do before departure. This process was rather overwhelming so I just left my room a mess and fled the scene without looking back. This packing thing has engulfed my worries so much that I've been having nightmares that I arrive in Nicaragua to find that I've forgotten the basic necessities and lots of other essential things. For the past 4 days I've tried not to think about it. But there are constant reminders, like...
Panic attack #2: I've been spending money like I'm a millionaire, which couldn't be farther from the truth. I've got way more money flying out the door than coming in and even though I'm freaking out about it, it really doesn't faze me to say no to going out with friends or finding more things to buy at REI and Target. I just keep swiping my check card and then a couple of days later have a mini heart attack looking at the dwindling numbers of my bank account. Oh well...
Panic attack #3: Family members getting too sentimental. My mom started crying the other day talking about how much she's going to miss me and worry about me. My mom even played out the scene of when she drops me off at the airport and says goodbye. My grandma told me she misses me already and I haven't even left yet. My cousins who are 5 and 8 keep reminding me how many holidays and birthdays I'm going to miss and predict how tall they're going to be when I return. All of their sentimentality is very touching, but I'm trying to keep it all together (for them and for myself). I'm not sure how much longer it will be until I break down and start crying over every little thing, but I have feeling as the amount of panic attacks grow, my stress level rises and the number of nightmares occurring increases; I'm going to reach my breaking point and the flood gates will open.
Let me stop and catch my breath, the realization that I'm leaving for Nicaragua to live there for 27 months in just 9 days is truly beginning to sink and has got me freaking out just a tad.
I'm really not ready at all. The other day I tried to separate what I need to pack/might pack/won't pack and made lists of things I still need to get and still need to do before departure. This process was rather overwhelming so I just left my room a mess and fled the scene without looking back. This packing thing has engulfed my worries so much that I've been having nightmares that I arrive in Nicaragua to find that I've forgotten the basic necessities and lots of other essential things. For the past 4 days I've tried not to think about it. But there are constant reminders, like...
Panic attack #2: I've been spending money like I'm a millionaire, which couldn't be farther from the truth. I've got way more money flying out the door than coming in and even though I'm freaking out about it, it really doesn't faze me to say no to going out with friends or finding more things to buy at REI and Target. I just keep swiping my check card and then a couple of days later have a mini heart attack looking at the dwindling numbers of my bank account. Oh well...
Panic attack #3: Family members getting too sentimental. My mom started crying the other day talking about how much she's going to miss me and worry about me. My mom even played out the scene of when she drops me off at the airport and says goodbye. My grandma told me she misses me already and I haven't even left yet. My cousins who are 5 and 8 keep reminding me how many holidays and birthdays I'm going to miss and predict how tall they're going to be when I return. All of their sentimentality is very touching, but I'm trying to keep it all together (for them and for myself). I'm not sure how much longer it will be until I break down and start crying over every little thing, but I have feeling as the amount of panic attacks grow, my stress level rises and the number of nightmares occurring increases; I'm going to reach my breaking point and the flood gates will open.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Adios Minnesota
My countdown to departure continues....15 days!
As my departure date creeps closer and closer the number of goodbyes grows bigger and bigger. This was my last official weekend in Minnesota and tomorrow I will pack up the remaining things (which is pretty sparse) in my apartment and make my way to Wisconsin. This last weekend in Minnesota was the best! I spent the weekend with a group of great friends and had a bit too much fun, maybe.
Although today was pretty hard to say goodbye to everyone. I'm going to miss my friends and family so much and it's really difficult saying "goodbye, I'll see you later" when I don't know when later is. I don't know what I'm going to do without them. I do know some of my friends are seeking replacements for me, good luck! If a replacement is brought in they better not get too comfortable because I do plan on coming back and resuming my position.
There are so many things I'm going to miss about Minnesota and others that I'm not going to miss at all.
I will miss: family, friends, the lakes, the Current, Corepower Yoga, Grand Ave., my school and students, the cherry and spoon, DL, and much much more.
I will not miss: 9 month winters, feet and feet of snow, subzero temperatures, Minnesotan accents you betcha!, terrible sports teams; there's really not all that many negatives other than weather related topics.
And since I've grown such a disdain for Minnesotan winters I've officially decided I don't plan on coming back for visits during October - May because there's a possibility that Minnesota will be experiencing snow and winter conditions. My visits will be in June - September because the summer is the best season!
On that note, hasta la vista Minnesota I'll be back!
As my departure date creeps closer and closer the number of goodbyes grows bigger and bigger. This was my last official weekend in Minnesota and tomorrow I will pack up the remaining things (which is pretty sparse) in my apartment and make my way to Wisconsin. This last weekend in Minnesota was the best! I spent the weekend with a group of great friends and had a bit too much fun, maybe.
Although today was pretty hard to say goodbye to everyone. I'm going to miss my friends and family so much and it's really difficult saying "goodbye, I'll see you later" when I don't know when later is. I don't know what I'm going to do without them. I do know some of my friends are seeking replacements for me, good luck! If a replacement is brought in they better not get too comfortable because I do plan on coming back and resuming my position.
There are so many things I'm going to miss about Minnesota and others that I'm not going to miss at all.
I will miss: family, friends, the lakes, the Current, Corepower Yoga, Grand Ave., my school and students, the cherry and spoon, DL, and much much more.
I will not miss: 9 month winters, feet and feet of snow, subzero temperatures, Minnesotan accents you betcha!, terrible sports teams; there's really not all that many negatives other than weather related topics.
And since I've grown such a disdain for Minnesotan winters I've officially decided I don't plan on coming back for visits during October - May because there's a possibility that Minnesota will be experiencing snow and winter conditions. My visits will be in June - September because the summer is the best season!
On that note, hasta la vista Minnesota I'll be back!
Friday, July 29, 2011
Packing, packing, and more packing
My departure to Nicaragua is closely approaching, about 4 weeks until I say adios to the US; but my goodbye to Minnesota is coming even sooner. August 15 will be my official last day in Minnesota:( then it's off to Wisconsin for the last two weeks. For the next two weeks I won't be homeless, but I'll be rather possession-less. Even though I'll be living in my apartment in Minnesota until August 15, my mom and brother are coming up tomorrow to help me move most of my things out of my apartment and into her basement to be stored for the next two years. So I get two weeks on an air mattress and a duffel bag of clothes! YAY!
I'm really hating this process:
1) I'm a huge procrastinator, hence the reason I'm posting on my blog versus packing and cleaning my apartment. Also for this reason I can totally see myself waiting until the night before to pack for Nicaragua.
2) I like to be organized, so I would ideally like to have things that I'm taking to Nicaragua packed separately from things that I'm leaving behind; but see reason #1 and that explains the word ideally and how it most likely will not be organized.
3) And the biggest issue....What am I taking to Nicaragua? The things that I'm not taking, will I want them within the next 2 years? Will I want them when I return to the US? Am I really willing to get rid of everything to be totally possession-less upon return?
I've definitely been scaling down over the past few months, by donating or tossing out things that I don't need/use, and most of my furniture is being passed on to my brother (one of the reasons that my possessions are being moved out before me). So I really won't have all that much to store while I'm gone, but there are some things that I just can't seem to part with. It's not so much about my attachment to the things, it's more like a security blanket for me. I'm having a difficult time imagining myself returning from this experience with absolutely nothing and having to start completely from square one. It's not like I can't do it; I've done it before when I first moved out, and the thought of 'will I even want the things that I kept', has crossed my mind. I don't know, luckily I still have some time to answer the big packing questions.
P.S. It's even more official now. I've received my staging material and booked my flight to DC. I depart Madison, WI on August 30 for DC, then depart Washington DC on August 31 for Nicaragua.
I'm really hating this process:
1) I'm a huge procrastinator, hence the reason I'm posting on my blog versus packing and cleaning my apartment. Also for this reason I can totally see myself waiting until the night before to pack for Nicaragua.
2) I like to be organized, so I would ideally like to have things that I'm taking to Nicaragua packed separately from things that I'm leaving behind; but see reason #1 and that explains the word ideally and how it most likely will not be organized.
3) And the biggest issue....What am I taking to Nicaragua? The things that I'm not taking, will I want them within the next 2 years? Will I want them when I return to the US? Am I really willing to get rid of everything to be totally possession-less upon return?
I've definitely been scaling down over the past few months, by donating or tossing out things that I don't need/use, and most of my furniture is being passed on to my brother (one of the reasons that my possessions are being moved out before me). So I really won't have all that much to store while I'm gone, but there are some things that I just can't seem to part with. It's not so much about my attachment to the things, it's more like a security blanket for me. I'm having a difficult time imagining myself returning from this experience with absolutely nothing and having to start completely from square one. It's not like I can't do it; I've done it before when I first moved out, and the thought of 'will I even want the things that I kept', has crossed my mind. I don't know, luckily I still have some time to answer the big packing questions.
P.S. It's even more official now. I've received my staging material and booked my flight to DC. I depart Madison, WI on August 30 for DC, then depart Washington DC on August 31 for Nicaragua.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Let the countdown begin....
48 days until departure....
I'm reading a really great book that I recommend to everyone, Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists by Courtney E. Martin. It's come at a perfect time and this excerpt is on the first page of the book.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others will destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.
- written on the wall in Mother Theresa's home for children in Calcutta
This is what I'll come back to every time I'm doubting myself and my efforts.
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