Last week

I have returned, triumphant but without photographic evidence (apologies – I didn’t have space in my bag for a camera), from my practicum week in Estelí. While I won’t bore you with the majority of the mundane details of the trip, I will say that after this week I have a slightly better sense of what life can be like as a volunteer. I learned:

• The hills of Estelí are beautiful even in the dry season, so I can only imagine what the landscape will look like when it begins to rain again.
• If you would like a fantastic pair of boots; fresh, fruit-filled yogurt; or delicious rosquitas (think windmill cookies, and you’ve come close to the taste), Estelí is the place to be.
• We take for granted the basic education we usually receive in the United States regarding nutrition, hygiene, and health. What we consider to be “common knowledge” really isn’t – not that we always put it to good use even if we possess it.
• Relationships are key. Want to have success in your service? Take all the time you need to first build trust, respect, and friendship with your colleagues as well as with the people you serve. Without these relationships, you are destined to fail.
• Flexibility is also key. Because things can and will change. Have a plan A. And a plan B. Maybe a plan C too. Also, understand that sometimes all the planning in the world will not save a situation. You will not be successful in everything you do, and you need to be able to accept that. Along the same lines, make sure to celebrate the small successes.
• Like fine wines, charlas get better with time (and practice).
• Unlike fine wines, latrines do not get better with time.
• Children love piñatas. However, when children mix with piñatas, it can end in injury. Always have excess candy to throw around the edges to avoid the otherwise inevitable trampling of the youngest and weakest of the herd.
• Billiards tournaments can be an excellent way to impart information on sensitive topics (such as HIV/AIDS) to an audience that would normally want nothing to do with you (such as a group of semi-drunk men).
• For all intents and purposes, there are only three songs in Nicaragua right now that do not feature Pitbull, LMFAO, or a washed-out American artist from the 1980s. These three songs are fantastic, but after the fifth repetition of the day they can start to be a bit tedious. For your entertainment, feel free to investigate them: Una Vaina Loca – Fuego; Lovumba (Solo SomosTu Y Yo) – Daddy Yankee; Ai Se Eu Te Pego - Michel Telo.

• I find clowns to be creepy, no matter what country they are from or what language they are speaking. Do not feed the clowns on busses. They will come back for more, and no one wants that.
• Service in the Peace Corps is what you make of it.

This weekend was equally exciting, with a site fair in Masaya and an unexpected trip to Granada. Masaya is a pretty, medium-sized city and a hot spot for artisanal fare from around the country. In the future I will need to return, as the main purpose of my visit was to learn more about the locations and work opportunities in my future site (wherever that may be).

My host family went to celebrate the first birthday of an extended family member, and they were kind enough to take me along. Granada is also beautiful, with a completely different atmosphere. While Masaya has tourists, Granada IS tourists. The center of the city is full of elegant hotels, grandiose churches, and public buildings in the Spanish colonial style. A short ride in a taxi or horse drawn carriage can take you to the beach, where you can stay until it grows dark…at which point you can walk across the street to one of the numerous clubs to dance until dawn. The trip was enough to get a taste of the city, but just like Masaya, I would love to return.

Now it’s back to the usual days filled with classes and technical sessions, but there is a greater sense of urgency now that we only have a few weeks left before our swearing in at the Embassy. It’s time to kick it into high gear, so that we might learn a few extra words that might help us survive once we are thrown from the safety of our training towns into the big, scary world of volunteerhood.

Nica phrase of the week: Así es la vida – That’s life. A good phrase to have on hand to make yourself feel better when things don’t go as planned… J

A slight amendment

That party I mentioned? You know, the one RIGHT outside of my house? It didn't end. When I left at 6:30 AM on Monday morning for practicum week, people were still gathered around, chatting, with no apparent desire to depart in search of say... a bed. The band continued on through the night, in fits of discordant tunes every 20 to 30 minutes. And let's not forget the bombas.

The streets were littered with banana leaves; remnants of the hundreds of nacatamales passed out to revelers during the night. The patron saint statue had somehow migrated to the bamboo structure erected outside to shelter the guests from the afternoon sun.

Nicaraguans know how to party. Nicaraguans also apparently get Mondays after patron saint festivals off.

Peace Corps aspirantes do not.

Las fiestas

This past week has been las fiestas patronales (patron saint festival) for my sleepy host town – a cause of much commotion. Starting last Friday night and ending tonight, the patron saint festivals are a mixture of religious ceremony and merrymaking. The weekend (or, Friday through Sunday) festivities begin promptly at 4:30 AM with bombas and marching bands. I am still not sure why it seems to be necessary to start so early, as everything is done by 5:00 AM. I attempted to find out, but was simply told it was “tradition.” Ah well. The nights are filled with drinking, parties, and dancing until the wee hours of the morning. These dances serve to confirm the seeming universal appeal of Pitbull and LMFAO. I mean…really….who doesn’t love endless repeats of the Party Rock Anthem?

During the week, there were nightly showcases of traditional (as well as less traditional) dancing. A different group of youth were bussed in each night to don the vibrant traditional Nicaraguan festival wear and dance their little hearts out for hours. These kids are quite impressive – I have trouble seeing American adolescents (especially adolescent males) devote themselves so earnestly to an extracurricular that would require them to dress in flashy, sometimes flamboyant, clothing and move and shake their bodies in ways that I would not dare attempt for fear of causing injury, or at the very least, extreme embarrassment. One of the final dance shows of the week featured ghosts, ghouls, witches, and devils. When the music started, there was a second when I thought they might actually be performing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” Much to my disappointment, it was actually a somewhat culturally relevant and more traditional number. However, they did manage to sneak in “Mambo #5,” and perhaps more entertaining, “Land Down Under” during an intermission.

There was also a competition for the Queen of the festival – grueling rounds of pageantry, including sportswear, evening dresses, and homemade costumes made to be representative of the girls’ passions (for example, a dress made of cans and bottles, showing the importance of recycling). This year’s queen, chosen by popular vote, was one of the girls from our youth group. I skipped out before the end, when they decided to count each vote (foam flowers placed in the box of each candidate) out loud on stage, but I was told that she won by a landslide. Clearly I have made some good connections in my short time here.

This weekend concludes the festival. Yesterday, the statue of the patron saint that normally inhabits the catholic church in the center of town made her triumphant return home after having made the rounds for the past week in the outlying rural neighborhoods. Although I was unable to attend the procession due to Saturday morning class, I was told that she was carried for miles on a platform, driving off the demons dancing in front of her (P.S., 3 year old Nicaraguans make excellent, and adorable, diablitos). This morning there was a mass, followed by huge family parties featuring various Nicaraguan delicacies. While my host family is evangelical and therefore does not participate in such activities, I am fortunate enough to live right next to the extended family of another host family, and was able to participate in the making of nacatameles. This particular family’s fiesta is one of the larger in the community, and is monetarily supported by the local alcaldía (mayor’s office). Hundreds of community members were invited to participate, sharing whatever they were able to (a hand here, a pig there). Although it’s Sunday, there will be one more round of raucous dancing at the alcaldía tonight. Tomorrow, it will be back to business for most, although that may include a massive hangover and a later than average start time (perhaps 6 AM as opposed to 5 AM?). For us aspirantes, it will mean an early start and a long bus ride to our practicum week site.

Which brings me to my final thought for this week’s entry: training is flying by! We are about to begin week 6 of 11. Last week we gave our second round of formal presentations at our health centers and in our youth clubs. We endured (actually, it wasn’t that bad) our second round of language interviews to assess our progress. And last but definitely not least, we received out site packets, containing the descriptions of all of places we may potentially call home for the next two years. This week’s practicum sessions will offer us an opportunity to get a better sense of what it means to be a volunteer (as well as see a new part of the country), and a full week to mull over our site options before participating in an informational site fair and site interview the following week. I am trying to keep as open a mind as possible when it comes to future site selection, but I think you’ll be happy to hear that there are several that strike me as potentially good fits, and none that stand out as “bad” sites.

Onward!

Nicaraguan word of the week: Bulla – noise. Used frequently by my host family this past week (“Sarita, use sus tapas – va a haber mucha bulla esta noche” or, “Sarita, use your earplugs. There will be a lot of noise tonight”).

In other news

Today, I climbed around a volcano. Volcán Masaya to be exact.

How cool is that!

Happy anniversary to me!

I have now been a part of the Peace Corps for one month! In this past month, I have:

1. Moved, for the first time, to a foreign country.
2. Surpassed the amount of time (continuous) I’ve spent outside of the United States by 13 days.
3. Said good bye to hot showers.
4. Said hello to cold showers and bucket baths.
5. Have gone without any form of telephone communication, and less access to internet than I’ve had since middle school.
6. Eaten a lot of great Nica food, and probably put on a few pounds.
7. Woken to the songs of roosters every morning around 5:00 or 5:30 AM. And sometimes at 2:00…3:00….4:00…
8. Spoken more Spanish than I’ve ever spoken in my life.
9. Watched Death Race and Rambo for the first time ever. And dubbed in Spanish, no less. Also watched Red Dragon and Slumdog Millionaire in Spanish.
10. Gotten to know 19 great new people that will be sharing this experience with me.
11. Met many wonderful Nicaraguans in and around my training community, including my fantastic host family.

I have learned:

1. Many fun and useful new Spanish (and sometimes, Nica-specific) words and phrases, which I will continue to share.
2. That you really can taste the difference if your meat source grows up outside, eating natural foods, exercising, and living a life sans hormones and antibiotics. (Related: started eating chicken again).
3. How to wash clothing by hand. Or, perhaps more accurately, started to learn.
4. That farting is funny in Nicaragua too.
5. That dried bull penises make formidable weapons.
6. That you can always fit one more in a bus. Or taxi. Or motorcycle.
7. That the rabies vaccine makes me sick. Good thing I’m now done with the 3 shot pre-exposure series. Keep your fingers crossed that none of the millions of stray dogs wandering the streets bite me. I’d hate to have to get the two post-exposure shots too.
8. That chloroquine really does give you some crazy dreams.
9. That bug bites on feet itch the most.
10. That I will probably need to start overcoming my fear of spiders. And scorpions.

Nica phrase of the week: “Hay más tiempo que vida” – There is more time than life. The Nican conception of time truly is different than that of the United States. I’m adjusting, but I think I have a few friends back home that would fit in here perfectly…

Because I love food...

In no particular order, some of my current favorite Nica foods:

Gallo Pinto – Beans and rice, cooked together. A basic staple food, gallo pinto shows up on Nica plates morning, noon, and night. Tasty and filling.

Maduras fritas – Fried sweet plantains

Nacatamal – A specialty, “weekend only” type of food. ¡Muy rico!

Huevos con tomate y chile dulce – think really tasty scrambled eggs

Chop suey – do NOT think typical, Americanized Chinese take-out. Food of fiestas, and a kind of hodge-podge, kitchen-sink type food. My Nica mom’s version includes cabbage, carrots, sweet peppers, onions, and olives, sautéed in olive oil, Worchester sauce (“salsa de Inglaterra”), and vinegar. With some of those crispy noodles sprinkled on top.

Frutas – fresh fruit here is amazing and abundant. Right now we’ve got mountains of mandarin oranges, bananas, and watermelon. I’m told that next up on the list is mango and avocado. There is a small refrescería that sells fresh fruit juices in plastic bags. To drink, you bite a hole in a corner of the bag and suck out the juice. Only 3 cord, and makes for a fantastic snack when a break from class is needed.

Nica word of the week:

Chacho – used by my Nica mom to describe food that lacks flavor, but I can’t use it for her food, as she’s a good cook.