Right off the bat I feel like I should apologize for taking so long to update. I think it has been almost a month. That being said, I am going to go back quite a bit in this blog and most definitely am going to forget a few things, but hopefully I hit the key moments of the last month.
For those who don’t know much about the Peace Corps process, or haven’t been listening to me at all when I tell you what I’m going through, I have been in training for the last three months in Carazo, a department of Nicaragua (much like a state in the US). I spent the last couple of weeks saying goodbye to my youth group in Carazo, my training family there, and receiving endless training lectures from the Peace Corps to prepare us for the next two years in our permanent sites (mine is Chinandega). At this point I have come to love my host family in Guisquiliapa, Carazo, love the people in the town, love my training site mates, and can’t quite believe I have to pick up and move. It is hard enough getting to know a family and town once, so to have to do it all over again...alone...is terrifying. At this point all trainees naturally start getting pretty angry with the Peace Corps for making us fall in love with our training towns only to rip us away. Before I move on to the part where I leave my host family practically crying and wanting to quit the Peace Corps so I can stay in Guisquiliapa, here are a few funny moments.
As anyone who has ever lived in a small farming/cattle raising community can tell you, you do not get in the way of a herd of cows going home (or going anywhere for that matter). They are not particularly smart, they are easily frightened, and they will run over small children (or whatever is in the way). At just about any given moment, someone in a Nica town is leading their cows through the streets. It is a given that cows, or cow led carts, always have right of way and you simply get the fuck out of the way or it is your own fault. It just so happens that two rather aggressive female cows (with enormous horns, who knew the females could have horns too???) eat in a pasture next to my house all day and are led home at night by one of my “nephews.”
Normally this is no big deal as you can hear my nephew yelling at them to get them moving and everyone knows to get out of the street. However, one day, the cows deciding to leave the pasture of their own accord...apparently someone didn’t close the gate right. As the cows come meandering around the corner into our happy game of street baseball, we all immediately take cover behind trees and inside houses. My nephew starts throwing rocks, the cows return, and all seems to be safe. But like all naively cocky three-year olds, my young host brother thinks it’s a good idea to taunt the more aggressive of the two cows, who is still waddling her way back to the pasture. Sure enough, she doesn’t like being made fun of by something the size of her head and just as I reach for my brother’s hand to pull him away, the cow actually starts charging, nostrils flared, rearing, bucking, and all. I wish I could say that I scooped my host brother up and led him heroicly to safety...however....I ran. I ran hands flailing and screaming (much to the delight of all of my teenaged nephews who did impressions of this for a long time to come). When I reached safety and turned around, thinking my host brother was in front of me, I looked to realize he was the only child not yet in a house and was about an inch from being flung. Luckily, he did get inside right before the cow turned the opposite direction and charged down the street; however, I don’t think I will ever be able to live down ditching my three year old host brother.
As I write there is an alarm going off in my house. It is a broken tweety bird alarm clock that my family refuses to get rid of. It goes off at all hours of the day and night and NO ONE ever turns it off. For example, it has been going off now for around 45 minutes and no one has done anything about it...am I the only one who hears it? Two nights ago it went off for 30 minutes at 2 am...everyone slept right through it until someone finally must have kicked it. I would throw it down the latrine if I could find it, but it’s in my host parents’ bedroom. I actually think the beeping will drive me mad.
Returning to the end of training. We finished up with our youth group by presenting (and even selling) some of our awesome bracelets made of recycled plastic and chip bags. The project came out way better than we expected it to and we (my training mates and I) are going to miss our youth group so much! Hopefully when we return to Guisquiliapa for Christmas our garden will still be watered and well cared for. When we left it we had flowers on the squash, tomatotes, and peppers (I think those are the ones, although we use the spanish names so god only knows what I think I’m growing...). Aside from a few ant problems all was pretty strong.
Our swearing in ceremony, to become volunteers, was also really lovely. The US ambassador spoke and presented our certificates along with the country director of the Peace Corps, and our host mothers were also presented with certificates (which was the best part). Aside from having to sing the Nica national anthem, and our own (both were a disaster on my part), the ceremony was beautiful. The country director also held an incredible Thanksgiving dinner for us after the ceremony in her home in Managua. So good!! This was particularly nice as the Nicas obviously don’t celebrate Thanksgiving and there is no way I could have afforded such American food on my own budget. Definintely a delicious treat.
So all of that puts me here, in Posoltega, Chinandega. Luckily, things have improved quite a bit since the last time I was here. I am happy to report that the latrine now has a curtain covering the entrance rather than a piece of tin roofing. My overly-curious six year old host brother did burn two rather large holes in it, however, so I am somewhat in the same position, but oh well. Likewise, I now have my own light and electrical sockets in my room (yay), which means that I can plug in my fan (thank the good lord). I did go out and buy myself a fan and mattress, although I was given several lectures by my family and random strangers on the bus about how mattresses are the new cause of kidney failure/issues due to the extreme overheating they can cause. I reassured them all that I will be sure to use my fan, and that I can not help the fact that I am just a silly American accustomed to a mattress (what I actually bought isn’t even a mattress, it’s a stupid foam pad). What I wanted to say is that the overuse of salt and need to fry everything is the reason for kidney failure....but we didn’t go there. Whoa sorry, sore topic.
Anywho, I am still on the hunt for my own house. As much as I do really like my host family here in Chinandega, I feel that I have already fallen in love with one family in Nica, and am now ready for some privacy. Likewise, as much as I love children, I am going to be with them all day everyday very soon and need some adult time. There are a few empty houses around my area, so hopefully one will work out. I thought I was on to something a few days ago when a family who recently moved out of town offered to let me live in their previous house for no rent, only paying water and electric, until I actually saw the house and realized it was essentially a big, decaying barn....knew it was too good to be true. So, we shall see.
Yesterday I went to the coast for the first time with the teachers from my school as an end of the year celebration. It was absolutely one of my favorite days here in Nica. The mountains and volcanoes are huge in the background and the water is clear and blue. The beach was practically deserted, so we walked up to the restaurant huts lining the beach and had our pick of food. The owners bring out fish and you haggle over which one you want. They fry it up right there and you spend the whole day eating, listening to music/dancing, and swimming. It was a relaxing and fun way to get to know the teachers.
This week we are just preparing for the end of the year graduations (“summer” is here for Nicaragua, as their seasons are switched) and planning summer activities. I just formed a new youth group with a bunch of kids that hang outside one of my teacher’s houses, so I am hoping that they can help me get my new garden started and also form a volleyball team for an upcoming tournament in my town. They seem like a good group, so I am excited.
I’ll just close with some current Nica fashion trends:
- rat-tails ... men only (this is because they all watch 80’s music videos)
- men wearing women’s engagement rings....bling is bling
- ghetto nails ... I just got a pedicure with french tips and flowers (they didn’t give me an option)
- Hollister (usually fake)
Thank you everyone who has been writing me awesome long e-mails, I love reading them : )
Much love!
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