A Week in the Life

Greetings! Sorry it has taken so long to update!! Although time seems to move slowly here and no one is in a great rush to do anything, I can´t seem to find a moment to spare. I can not believe I have already been here one week. This country is truly starting to feel like home, and I finally feel like I am catching on to the language (at least a little bit).

My family is wonderful. They are smaller and quieter than most, but I think this is a very good think. My immediate family is only a mother, father, and three year old son, so except for the normal antics of a three year old, our house is fairly calm. They do, however, have a VERY large extended family, who takes over most of the surrounding neighborhood. This is wonderful as I can live in a quiet house, but have lots of fun family members to visit and hang out with. My 20 year old  ¨newphew¨ Reynaldo hangs around the house the most, as he is very close with my parents, so he tends to be the one I go to most often with questions on what really is said or culturally acceptable in Nicaragua. Most of the volunteers, including myself, have found that it is easiest to talk with Nicaraguans of similar age, as they are interested in similar topics and tend to slow down more and enunciate.

My host padre is also very interesting, however, as he is an organic farmer. He is extremely helpful in teaching me methods for composting and farming in Nicaragua, as it is no easy task, and I am definitely a beginner. Along with significant language classes, we have started recieving lessons in gardening and environmental issues, which is what I am most worried about picking up. Yesterday we worked on creating seed beds and transplanting. This is not only labor intensive work, but impossible when in Spanish. I barely get it in English. Hopefully I will catch on...

The Spanish classes we attend are incredible. Peace Corps absolutely has their act together when it comes to this. We have one language facilitator per 4 students in one community. Classes are three hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon used to apply what we learned in the morning within the community. Essentially the lessons are everything I always wished school could be. We come in and ask any questions we have about what a word or phrase is that we may have heard the night before or something we are curious about, and only learn useful relevant vocabulary. I feel as though I am learning so much, as I immediately apply what I am taught in the community or with my family. I have no choice but to speak Spanish, and therefore am slowly but surely picking it up.

Even though we are learning we are still the constant butt of jokes around town. Most of the time it is very funny, but I think we are going to have to learn to laugh A LOT at ourselves. For example; in the first youth group meeting we attempted to have, in which we mangaged to gather 8 youth (mainly 21 year old males coming to check out the new muchachas in town) one member of our training group declared that she likes to ¨montar los caballeros¨ ....ride cowboys....I should mention that she is 65 and hilarious...She often provides much needed comedy around town, and although it involves our group being laughed at, it also gives us the opportunity to introduce ourselves and explain why we are in town.

By the way, the name of my town is Guisquiliapa, pronounced Whiskey-lee-apa. It is a very small town outside of the slightly larger town of Jinotepe. It is very easy to travel between the two towns in either the two microbuses or two taxis that go between them throughout the day. It is extremely cheap, and both the taxi drivers and bus drivers recognize us and honk when they see us in either town and ask if we need a ride. Needless to say, we stand out.

Overall, I am loving my time down here. I currently have a bit of a cold (el gripe), but I don´t think it is anything very serious. My host mother believes it is because I take showers at night (which is really 6:00 but for them that´s night). My family is also able to hear everything I do at night, as our house is somewhat like one giant room with partitions, as none of the walls reach the ceilings, so my mother already knew I had el gripe by the time I woke up. They also know that I sleep talk quite frequently and ask me in the mornings about my dreams. There is very little privacy here. Oh well.

Also, if anyone is looking to adopt an animal, come to Nica. They are all very skinny and in need. The kitten living in my home is supposed to get her food by eating mice, but she is too tiny, so I feed her almonds I brought with her. Somewhat of a problem as she now follows me around and I´m afraid my family will find out. I also plan to bring a dog home with me eventually. They are all so loving down here and just need to be fed. Think about it!!

Ok, I will try to update sooner next time, and with more flow to my thoughts. Hasta Luego!