First week in Nicaragua

Hello everyone! This is my first week in Nicaragua and it has been a fun and interesting 7 days since I left Tennessee. Last Tuesday all the Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) going to Nicaragua met in Washington D.C. It was wild to walk into a room and almost everyone be extroverted. They had set up an ice breaker for us, but none of us needed it. Within thirty minutes, the game was forgotten and we were all just having a great time! We went through a few training hours which was the typical coma-inducing class you find at any seminar. The best part was meeting everyone… there are two groups: TEFL (19 people) and Environmental Education (18 people) and we come from all parts of the country. Many people are from California and the Mid-west. I am one of 2 southerners. I guess I’ll have to call ya’ll to hear the Appalachian drawl.

After class ended around 7pm a group of us went out, where my last U.S. dinner consisted of a buffalo chicken sandwich and a nice pint of Stoney’s amber ale. Our group decided that there was no point in going to sleep since we had to check out of the hotel at 1:30am, so we stayed out and got back just in time to make sure we had everything.

The airports were a big blurr. It was 3am by the time we got to the DC airport. Apparently I was sleeping on my bag in line, because the random businessman behind me had to wake me up occasionally. We finally reached Miami around 8am where we were supposed to meet the PC Director Aaron Williams. However, since there was bad weather, our plane was delayed for HOURS and he had to move on. We finally did see him a few days later at the training center.

The training retreat was like one big summer camp. We bunked three to a room, ate in the cafeteria, and had class for the majority of the day. What really made it feel like camp was that we were all stinky. You see, nobody received their bags when we reached Managua. One lucky group received half of their bags on the 2nd night and the rest of us got them the day we left the retreat (Friday). I met my host family in the same clothing that I left Knoxville in. But no worries, I still gave them a big hug but then quickly excused myself for a long, COLD shower!

A few nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night. This is not an uncommon thing, because even though I wear earplugs to sleep, I can still hear the music, chickens and roosters, dogs, and something that sounds like a whistle. I woke up because I had to pee. I’ve been drinking tons of water so as not to get dehydrated, but I didn’t want to get out of bed to go. Let me explain the process: I sleep under a mosquito net to prevent dengue and malaria, so I have to untuck that from the bed and find your way out, put on my shoes (you can’t walk barefoot or you might get worms), and then find my way to the bathroom. All this kept going through my mind as I lay there covered in a sticky layer of sweat and bug spray, asking myself if it was worth it. Finally, I just had to go. But then do you flush the toilet and make noise, or just leave?

Sunday morning, my host mom and I went to the market in Jinotepe. I currently live in Dolores, the smallest “town” in Nicaragua, which is about a kilometer from Jinotepe. We were in search of some flip flops for me and chicken and vegetables to make soup for lunch. It was quite the experience, which there is no way I can do justice. (Go to youtube and search Nicaraguan market. Look for the outdoor one.) There are people selling anything and everything you can think of. To name a few things being sold: granny panties, vegetables, pirated DVDs, spices, little pigs, lottery tickets, home-made sweets, 4 inch wedged shoes, and a tube top that stated the wearer was “hot stuff”. They have stalls on the streets and you just look around for the person who is selling what you need for the best price. I’m so glad that I went with my host mom or it would have been very overwhelming. She always goes to the same people each time because she has known them since she was a girl.

It was also helpful to have her to navigate the taxi. My town, Dolores, is right on the Panamerican Highway (all my students should know what that is) so it is very easy to get to other towns. But apparently they have taxis that only go to certain places. Now, there is no marker or indicator of that; you just have to know. If you get into the wrong cab, it can cost you much more than the real price. So we got into the correct cab, and along the way we picked up two other people. Yes, that’s right. It’s like splitting a cab, but you never know how many they will try to pile in. We were lucky there were just 5 of us going there. On the way back there were 6. The good thing is it only takes 5 cordobas per person to take the cab… that’s roughly 25 cents.

There are 3 other “aspirantes” (aspiring PC volunteers) in my town. We all have Spanish class together 6 days a week for three hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon for as long as they want to keep us. I tested in as a strong Intermediate high speaker and the others in my group as Advanced Medium speakers. That makes me the dumb kid in class. So I am really going to have to put in the effort to keep up. To do that, I’m currently reading Charlotte’s Web in Spanish that I borrowed from my 8 year old host nieces. She keeps asking when I’m going to return in… but I’m only on the fifth chapter! I am excited about the 200 hours of language class that I will receive in the next 3 months. Apparently the PC language program is one of the best in the world for the results it gets.