Friday, October 30, 2009

My Little Friends




So the kids on my block did sack races last night, after doing three legged races and playing tag. We also played a version of Monopoly (the version where you have lost of the pieces and have made your own money) and Jacks.

My Site for the 2 years: Ocotal, Nueva Segovia



So I’m going to Ocotal, Nueva Segovia! I’ll be visiting the town this upcoming week. When I get back, I will for sure put some pictures up of my new stomping grounds. But for right now, let me share some of the literature I was given about the area.

General: Ocotal is surrounded on all sides by the highest mountain range in Nicaragua covered with green Ocote pines (hence the name). It is the last major settlement before the Honduran border at Las Manos, 21 km away, and the vast nothingness that stretches eastward to the Carribean. It is the department head of Nueva Segovia, which contains mountains (the Dipilto range), rivers (Coco, Macuelizo and Dipilto Rivers), and valleys. It sits 605.59 meters above sea level.

History: Established in 1780 by Spanish, there were frequent attacks by the Xicaques indigenous group and English PIRATES (yes! Pirates… arrrr!) that came up the Coco River. Now the river doesn’t have enough water to support transit, so I guess we are safe.

During the 1920’s, Ocotal was an important setting in General Augusto Sandino’s revolt against US occupation. Being occupied by Marine forces for most of the 20’s and early 30’s, Ocotal was chosen by Sandino as his first major attack against the Marines. Staging attacks from their barracks in the center of town, he had many successes against the Marines. Frustrated by the setbacks, the Marines called in their air forces from Managua and bombed the city in 1927, giving Ocotal the distinction of being the first city to be aerially bombarded in the Western Hemisphere. Sandino’s forces fled to the surrounding hills and began long-term guerrilla campaign that eventually proved successful.

Population: Ocotal had a population of 37,000 in 2005, of which 99% is urban, making Ocotal the most densely populated city in the country by some estimates. It is estimated that the population will hit 50,000 by 2010. Half of the townspeople are younger than 19, and 54% are women. Hopefully the youth of the city there will be some interested in forming an informal group to learn English, health issues, or talk about gender roles.

Weather: There are two seasons: dry season from mid-November to mid-May, and the wet season for the remainder of the year. Usually there is a month break from the rain July 15- August 15 (good time for a visit…). The annual rainfall is between 800 mm and 1 meter. Weather can be hot during the day and cool at night, so maybe I’ll get use out of my fleece I brought. December and January have highs of 80, lows of 65. April and May have highs of 90+, lows of 75. The surrounding mountains have a much cooler climate.


Water/Electricity:
Some months Ocotal has short electrical outages, and at times there are 7am-5pm planned outages for maintenance. During the dry season, water service is almost always scheduled, functioning a few hours early each morning. I might be waking up at 4 am just to save up some bath water. Water can also go out for DAYS at a time during the rainy season. Purified drinking water is delivered in 5-gallon bottles to your door by several companies which generally charge $1.50 per bottle, including delivery. This might be my best bet.

Economy: Due to its heavy dependence on agriculture as well as having been affected by the war and Hurricane Mitch, Nueva Segovia is one of the poorest departments in Nicaragua. The main source of income is coffee, but other crops include beans, corn, and tobacco. Ocotal is the financial and trading center for the region.

Transportation: I will be able to get a bus to just about every other part of the country. Within the city, there are taxis that run until 8pm. The Pan American Highway goes through the city “straight” to Managua and is in excellent condition. Supposedly, all roads in the city are paved, but the incoming country roads are not. (This can make for a dusty atmosphere during the dry months.)

Communication: I’ll have cell phone and internet service on a daily basis, if I want it. There is even talk that wi-fi and fax machines exist. A post office is right around the corner in town and I’m hoping to share a p.o. box with the other PCVs.

Recreation: I’m movin’ to the big town! There are five supermarkets, variety stores, a farmers market, a dancing club with live music, 2 gyms, swimming pools, a museum, 3 libraries, plenty of hotels and restaurants and a private Spanish language school. There are apparently men and women’s basketball, soccer, football and baseball leagues that play in the multiple stadiums/ fields in the area. Just outside of Ocotal there are great places for hiking and biking, as long as you have a guide.

Health:
There is a hospital and Red Cross in Ocotal. Pharmacies are abundant, as are Health centers.

Central Park: Parque Las Madras, as it is called, was reconstructed to be a tropical garden with more than 100 species of plants. There are magnolias, more than 8 species of roses, orchids, begonias, heliotrope, wild ginger, Jupiter, birds of paradise, gardenias, and pearl of the orient. The cypress and pine trees are more than 100 years old. The park has many benches for sitting, a drink stand, and two pretty water fountains (that don’t work). The park is closed and guarded starting at 10pm (yeah… no gang activity!).

Work: I’ll be working with three counterparts (of 5 English teachers) that work in the same high school. It is said that I have good support from the vice principal and teachers. The principal is new, so I might have to explain my role with Peace Corps a bit. My counterparts haven’t worked directly on methodologies except in recent workshops led by a PCV from a close by community. I’ll have opportunities to collaborate with this PCV to present workshops for the region. There is also a possibility I can work in the university in Ocotal after I make some connections.

Host Family: For the first 6 weeks, I will be living with a woman, her 3 kids (20, 19, 14), and her niece (24). It is supposed to be a two story house with my room upstairs apart from the rest of the house a bit. They have offered to cook my food or let me do that. Depending on how things go, they are willing to have me stay for the two years. If it doesn’t work out, there are other options like an apartment, boarding house, or the computer teacher has offered to let me rent a room in her house.

Other PCVs: Ocotal has never had a TEFL PCV, but there is a Health PCV and Small Business PCV (both female) in the city. The closest TEFL PCV is a 15 minute bus ride away in Mozonte , and Steve is about an hour away in Jalapa. Clara is close by in San Nicolas, Esteli and Jaime is in Esteli, Esteli. These last three people are in my current group of TEFL trainees and we all get along really well. All of us have a high/superior level of Spanish and some teaching experience. We are hoping to do some good collaboration during the two years of service.

Thank you for all your attention and desire to read the above information. Since I’ve read through everything, I’ve been really excited. I think the community holds a lot of great opportunities and plenty of activities for me to get involved with. It might be hard to integrate in, but I’m expecting to get some help from my host family, counterparts, and fellow PCVs. This upcoming week I’ll be able to see what its really like with my own two eyes.

Teacher Conference




Whew! We are finally done with the teacher conference. It really wasn’t hard (all the work was done for us), but it’s nice to have it off our plate. Apparently the first two days we were in country filling out tons of papers, they slipped in a question about what we would like to teach. It turns out that I wanted to teach pronunciation. So anyway, Liz and I did a great job considering how much we worked on it (minimally) and practiced it (none). We worked really well as a team and got our point across. Mission Accomplished.


Other groups presented grammar, vocabulary and Lesson Plan topics. All presentations were in English and called for a bit of audience participation. Some teachers here have good comprehension and speaking skills, but then there are others that looked completely lost. Hopefully they at least got something from the artistically drawn posters that so many groups had. Peace Corps had invited around 60 teachers and a bit more than half participated. I’m pretty sure the main draw was Tip-Top, the Bojangles/Church’s/Popeye’s like place that catered the fried chicken, roll, and soda.




Oh yeah... I forgot to mention these guys. In the middle of a presentation I went to use the restroom and encountered this bunch. They kindly stopped to pose for the pic. Gotta love culture!


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Where has the time gone?

Time is flying by here and I really don’t know where it has gone. The day goes by kinda slowly, but then all of a sudden it is the weekend again. It seems like forever that I took my language interview, which by the way was a flop. Apparently I have not improved my language since I have been here. Personally, I don’t buy it, but it wasn’t pleasant to hear from the Language Director who took a special trip to tell me that I suck. A bit frustrating to say the least. With wise words from the parental unit, I am moving on and enjoying my time left in training.

Speaking of training, we are currently in week 8 of 11. WOO-HOO!!! On October 28 we find out the site where we will be living for the next two years. Everyone is on pins and needles and secretly hoping that they get their preferred site at all costs. Crying and cat fights are sure to erupt. I’ll be sure to take pictures. J On Thursday, Peace Corps will lead a language conference for Nica English teachers. For a reason I’m still not sure of, I signed up to present pronunciation methods. Liz and I will basically copy word for word a charla that another PCV presented to us. The most exciting part of the conference will definitely be the food, Tip-Top (the Nica version of KFC/Chick-fil-a). In week 9 we visit our site and meet our counterparts. YIKES! Week 10 is basically wrapping up and presenting our youth group project. In our last week, we will be staying in hotels in Managua with the entire PC Nica 51 group to attend meetings and swear in (Nov. 23). I’m way pumped about the hotels!

This past week I got to spend the night in Managua with another trainee, Clara from Argentina. After our doctor’s appointments (no worries), we went to the PC office to check out books from the library. I grabbed the Moon guide to Nicaragua- which was written by a Returned PC Volunteer who served in Nicaragua, The Zookeeper’s wife, and The Shack. Already excited with our finds, we then went to a swanky restaurant and got salad and empanadas. Just as we were about to leave, it started to pour down the rain. We made a bad situation good by ordering a bit of mango and coconut ice cream drizzled with chocolate. What a treat! To top the night off, I had my first hot shower in two months and watched Shrek on cable. Is that a good night or what? I’m gonna have to start making up illnesses to go to Managua more often. J

This week I also went to a few birthday parties. Mallerlys- the four year old in my house- had a chill birthday party with family and food (yuca with salad and soda) and the little kids dancing to a video. You wanna know why all Latinos know how to dance? Because they literally start when they are four shaking their butt and droppin it like it’s hot. This four year old has WAY more moves than I do… and she knows it… and laughs at me. Katie and Bekah will be happy to know that I do share my dancing skills with my family here. They laugh just as much as you two do.

Then I went to a neighbor’s party that included all her family and really good taquitos and cake. We entertained ourselves with a piƱata. One at a time the adults were blind folded, given a long stick and then turned around to lose their sense of direction. Luckily we didn’t have an America’s Funniest Home Video moment. But the person did have to dance meringue between each hit. Best part of the night: they got the token gringa to do it too, accompanied by hoots and hollers by all the party goers. I’m pretty sure my face was beet red, but luckily I didn’t hit anyone or fall on my face. That is what I call a success.

What did I learn from all these parties?, you might be saying. Well, I’m glad you asked: 1) Gifts are definitely not expected here. If you do give a gift, it will most likely not be opened in front of you unless it is a child. 2) If the family doesn’t have a lot of money, there will be no celebration. Many times there will not even be a small celebration with the family with no-cost presents. They simply do not celebrate. 3) Parties consist of the host family serving a meal with soda and cake. During this time, the music is blaring and people can barely talk. If they do talk, they are actually screaming at their neighbor. Although there is music, this does not necessarily mean there is dancing. 4) Cake is served on napkins with no forks. The taste is pretty bland and the texture can be dry. I’ve never had seconds, except when we ordered one from a bakery with dulce de leche. It was fantastic!

Hilarious, smiling Claire from West Virginia turned 23 this week. On Friday, about ten of us went out to the Green House, aka the Gringo House, to have a few drinks. A few drinks turned into more than a few drinks and the next thing I know, we had to order a bit of food so we didn’t float out of the place. The cheeseburgers were served with cucumbers but we enjoyed them just the same. We ended up staggering home around 9:30. Don’t think badly of us early drinkers, we have a 10pm curfew… if you want to party, you have to make sacrifices!


Sucking up our hangovers from the night before, we decided to go to the beach. Liz, Steve, Alex and I had fun swim in the surf, chat, and eat bananas with peanut butter and Ritz crackers. We paint faces with rock paint (we meaning that Steve made the paint and the girls made the designs). The designs started off as animals, but slowly just turned into Indian Warrior paint. I was surprised that no one had ever heard of rock painting… must be a river thing. Yay river rats!!

Well, I think this might wrap up the majority of my last two weeks or so. Oh yeah, I also joined Facebook and erased Myspace. I plan to eventually add all my pictures to Facebook so I have a good back up in case my computer gets stolen. If you’d like to see these photos, just add me as a friend. Have a great week!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Southerners have the best accents!

“Good Mornin’, darlin’” is the most beautiful thing to hear. This week I got to hang out with a fellow Tennessean who is a current TEFL volunteer. You could hear both of our accents getting stronger the longer we talked to each other. It was fabulous! People just walked by and stared at us. Did I mention that there are NO other southerners in my group? The longer I stay here, the more I appreciate Tennessee, the people there, and the life I lived there. My dad was right; I will probably come back to Johnson City and think it is perfect.

Speaking of a place to live… we received a packet of the sites to choose from. We have the weekend to look it over and then on Wednesday we’ll be attending a site fair. At the fair, a volunteer representative comes from each department of Nicaragua to tell us a bit more about the different projects, the living conditions, any problems, etc. On Thursday we have an interview with the Program Director, Joaynne, to tell her our preferences. Right now many of the sites interest me. I’m kinda looking for a mid sized site where I am not an anomaly, but also not anonymous. I would like to stay busy with many counterparts or by working in a nearby university. That being said, I would still like to see other volunteers at least twice a month, so my site would have to be relatively close to others. I guess we’ll see what I get.

This past week has been pretty chill. I had my language interview on Thursday and I’ll receive the results on Monday. I think I did pretty well, but you never know. The last time I was a Strong Intermediate High, but they said I would have done better if I talked more. Sometimes it is hard to get enthused about the topics they bring up and you don’t feel creative. This time however, I talked her freakin’ ear off! If they are looking for rapid fire Spanish, I gave it to them. Not so sure about the grammar though. J

Other than my interview, I have taught a few classes and youth groups. My counterpart and I only have 3 more classes to teach before the end of school. I’m teaching seniors (who are fantastic!), so the last month is always busy and therefore we miss a lot of class. The official end of the school year is the second week of November and then my seniors will be “promoted”. It is supposed to be a fancy ceremony and I’m really looking forward to being there. I hear there are even corsages!

Many people are really looking forward to the break, especially my youth group. They had an unfortunate situation where their English teacher got a scholarship to the U.S. and left ALL her classes at the beginning of October. The Ministry of Education failed to get a substitute and the school didn’t have enough money to pay for one. That is when PC stepped in and offered us as a good alternative. We are substitutes, but not allowed to call ourselves that because we aren’t going along with the MINED curriculum. It has been a challenging group because they were told they are “lucky” to have this opportunity when three other classes don’t get it. (AKA- you get to work when the others get to play soccer and eat ice cream in the courtyard with their friends.) Needless to say, it has been hard to motivate them. We will see if we accomplish our final project of singing 2 Michael Jackson songs, 1 of Celine Dion and 1 of Nick Cannon. This past class we translated them from English to Spanish. Anyone wanna translate “Beat it” for me?

So tonight started out really fun. I came home from Jinotepe after going to the cheap phone and calling the U.S. for 2.5 cents a minute (compared to 25 cents a minute to make a domestic call within Nicaragua). I dropped by Steve’s house, talked with his family, and played with the little 4 year old, Ferani. They are great to hang out with and I will definitely come back to visit them. After that I stopped off at the bakery and got some cookies to share with Isolina and Francisco (my host parents) and on the way back home I was invited to play. This may not seem like a lot, but the neighborhood kids are so much fun. We play baseball, tag, kickball, around the world, cups, some kind of patti-cake thing… and lots of others that they teach me. I quite often feel like I am taking Tom Hank’s place in the movie “Big.”

So, yeah… it started out fun, but now the windows are vibrating from the music playing at the basketball courts- a block and a half away! Apparently they have a school sponsored dance every other weekend. The students are charged admission to gain entrance, and they blare music all night. At first I thought this was a great fundraiser, but then was told that the school simply keeps the money and doesn’t do anything with it. I secretly wonder if this is how the principal is paid. The music is very alluring and I thought about joining the fun, but then realized that grinding on the students may be frowned upon here. Flashes of newspaper articles and movie clips went through my mind that Mom and Dad forced me to view during my student teaching. Thanks guys… you knew it would pay off.

Well, I guess that is all for now. We have a birthday coming up in my family (Mallerllys is turning 4) and I am going to go to a PCT party tomorrow at a farm. Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to read this blog. I hope that you are getting something out of it, because I really enjoy sharing my experiences with you. Also, thank you to everyone who is writing me emails. I do get to read them once a week and it is always a treat to hear what is going on in the States. Have a great week!

Visiting Questions... Hint Hint

If someone was to come visit you down there and you could only take them to three places where would they be?

Right now I haven´t visited too many places in Nicaragua. But the first place I would take you is Dolores, Carazo. This is where I am currently living and it´s essential to see for anyone who comes down. You have to meet my host family and play with the little kids.... they are amazing! Secondly, I would take you to the beaches. Depending how far you wanted to travel, we could go to the Pacific Coast nearby or we could travel to Ometepe Island. Both are beautiful. Finally I would take you to Leon or Granada where you could see a big city with gorgeous architecture. We would try not to spend anytime in Managua except to pick you up from the airport and bring you back. :)

You say you live in a "city" there, but in comparison to the states would you rank it as a Mayberry, a Fourway in (strawberry plains), or a Knoxville type "city".

Does Mayberry have a restaurant? Because if so then it is a little too fancy for lil´ol´Dolores. Dolores is a "town" more than a "city". It has two internet cafes (don´t get confused, no coffee is served), a bakery next door, a few corner stores, a park in the center, a basketball court down the block and.... yeah that´s it. It is four streets by 6 and I would call it... petite. Some people own cars here which they use to go to church (by the way, Dolores has 12 churches), but not too many cars go up and down the streets. There are more bicycles and motorcycles. However, if I need to go to the post office, grocery store, restaurant or bar, or to make a cheap phone call, I just go to Jinotepe which is about a 20 minute walk down the highway.

If you were to give someone advice for packing to come to Niceragua for a month what would you tell them to bring?

I am hoping that this is a HUGE hint that I am getting visitors. This question could have so many responses depending on where you wanted to go. But for a general answer I would say bring a lot of T-shirts and jeans. They should be nice, but don´t bring anything fancy. If you are female, you could bring some nicer shirts and no tennis shoes. All the girls wear nice sandals here (not flip flops). Bring a sweat rag, because you will definitely use it and don´t forget your bathing suit. You will look like an American, though, for two reasons: first of all you can swim, secondly you aren´t wearing regular clothes to flop around in the one foot water. Because you CAN swim and ARE wearing a swim suit, I´ll take you into the waves, which is unheard of for a Nica. Don´t worry about bringing toothpaste, shampoo, and all that jazz; we can go to the supermarket when you get here and pick that up. You will want the extra space in your suitcase to bring back all the super cool crafts that you will buy while you are here!

Monday, October 12, 2009

These pictures posted backwards, so you might want to go to the bottom of the entry and scroll up. Hope you enjoy them!
It was snack time for everyone. My host mom, brother and his wife. and four little ones from the family went to the beach on Sunday. We had a really fun time and I didn´t even get burnt (However I look a little more Nica now). The beach was amazing and the water was a perfect temperature.
These beautiful girls are the twins on the left and then Hazel´s sister to the direct left of me. The twins are 8 and Daniella is in 7th grade.


Yours truly... This was before I lost my lovely prescription sunglasses to the sea. Serves me right... I was looking way too cool for Nica standards with those babies on!

This is one of the beautiful sights at the beach looking out at the Pacific coast. We were one of two families that we saw all day. This is a wonderful beach and I would love to take anyone that comes down here.

After I was eaten alive by mosquitos the first night (go figure), I covered up a bit more the next night.


Alexis and her friends from the states. She is part of a NGO down here.
A sunset on Lake Nicaragua in the National Reserve.

The boat ride on Lake Nicaragua. It cost about $1.50

Joe (?), Clara (Argentina), and Steve (Michigan) enjoying a charla in Diriamba. This is where we usually have class on Wednesday afternoons, all day Friday, and Saturday morning.

Jaime (California/Mexico), Donna (Chicago) and Dave (California)

Julie (Arizona), Jocelyn (?), Allison in green (Chicago), and Liz (Virginia)

Megan and Claire (both from West Virginia), Alex (Panama), and Emily (Illinois)

Isolina and Mallerli in the hammock. The day before the hammock fell with Isolina in it and she scrapped her elbow and leg. She is braving it in this picture.
This is Raul stepping up to bat. He works when there is work at some buisness close by. I haven´t figured out completly what that is.

This is Alexander playing baseball in the backyard. He is in high school, but only goes to school on Saturdays. They have to study independently and then go to class all day once a week.

Good Questions

Here are a few questions that were sent to me. I thought they were really great and wanted to share some of the responses.


So what are the sanitary conditions in comparision to the states? I know you bucket shower, but does everyone stay somewhat clean?

The people take pride in being clean down here. Backpackers completely disgust the Nicas because they look dirty and oily. Most people here bathe in the morning and wear pressed jeans and tshirts (for the guys) and jeans and nice, tight shirt (for the girls). Professionals will wear nicer pants and a dress shirt and students wear uniforms. As far as washing hands, its pretty uncommon and there is a lot of trash in the street. They litter all the time and it does not phase them.

As ambition goals go, what does the primary professional ambition of people who are 20-25 years old ?

Sadly, most females have had a baby already and most guys have two kids running around. If someone is lucky, they will be in the university by their early twenties. Some high school seniors are twenty because they don´t have a maximum age in school. If someone is not in the university, they are looking for a job, or caring for their kids.

Would you classify the majority of the locals you have met as a) very proud and not accepting of handouts, b) working hard to get by but is appreciative of the help, or c) as our stereotypical bumb and is waiting for the handout and blames others for their situation?

Nicas would love for anyone to give them anything at anytime. Some people are proud and wouldn´t accept something, but this is a very sharing culture. Cheating is a hard thing to stop because it is viewed that if someone knows the answer then they should help their friend.

What is the likely hood of a person who grew up poor and without much family support to have the opportunities to advance and better their life?

Most kids from poor families don´t move up socially. They would probably make it through a few grades, but then they would have to drop out of school to help support the family. If they did make it through high school, it would be almost impossible for them to go to university. Although public university is free, it is really hard to get into because of the test to enter. Most public high school students cannot pass the test. Private Universities are expensive, but do give a few scholarships.

If I were to roll into town with $20,000 would I be viewed the same way that we look at millionares rolling into vegas, or would I be looked at as just an upper middle class?

You would be a freaking rock star! It is unbelievable to them that someone is able to save money, period. Here the salaries are barely enough to cover food, electricity, and water and then all the school uniforms, etc. Most people don´t have a bank account and they don´t neccesarily want to hoard money around the house in case they get robbed. But then again, that is assuming they have money to hoard. Someone with $20,000 is unheard of. The average professional salary is $200 a month.

Thank you for the questions! If you would like me to answer anything specific, please feel free to email me something to write about. I love any suggestions.

Explaining the Unknown

We are officially half way through our training here and we are all feeling a bit down. It feels like we aren’t doing much here right now. However, just as I was thinking that, I had the following conversation today with my host family over lunch. If nothing else, I can say that I am TRYING to educated the Nicas about the true United States, and trying to learn about the REAL Nicaragua.

My host dad starts the conversation out with the topic of suicide. Apparently hanging oneself is one of the more popular methods here. Other methods include drug or alcohol use, or using a gun. (as I type this, I’m seeing that I have unusual conversations) So I naturally ask what some of the reasons for suicide are and if it is very common. It seems that poverty is the number one reason for suicide according to my host dad. Then he asked me about suicide in the States. Whenever I am asked about a topic/scenario for all of the US, I feel a huge obligation to be diplomatic and try not to stereotype. I told him that like any society there are many reasons and methods of suicide. We got into drug/alcohol use, stress of jobs, unhappiness with relationships, feeling that there is no other option, etc.

This conversation segued into one about poverty in the United States. My host dad is convinced that there is no poverty in the States and that everyone who wants a job has one. He thinks that if you don’t have a job and a house, then you are basically lazy. (Just for the record, I’m pretty sure my host mom doesn’t feel the same way) I tried to explain that there are many wealthy people, but that the U.S. also has poor people. Some people have lost their job to the economy, some can’t get jobs because they are untrained or others will work for less, some are over trained and no one wants to hire a college grad because they have to pay them too much, etc.

My host dad says that many people from Nicaragua have gone and they have jobs. So of course this got us on the topic of illegal aliens in the States. He doesn’t understand how his friends have jobs in the states, but I know people that don’t. He says he knows people that work and make $300 a week (!!!!) and he doesn’t know how anyone couldn’t work for that amount. My host family was talking about all the things they could do with $300 a week.

So then we talked about the standard of living in the States versus here in Nicaragua and what all we have to pay for apart from food, electricity and water. They are amazed that we have to pay so much to the government and have to pay so much for insurance.

This went on to talk about inflation, minimum wage, worker unions, and lots of other stuff. It is amazing how everything ties in together and I am so happy that my family is curious. I just hope they believe me when I say that the US has its own set of problems!

Volunteer Visit- Ometepe Island

Wow! Time has really been flying down here. It has been about two weeks since I have posted anything and I swear it is with good reason.

This past week, all the trainees went to visit different TEFL volunteers currently in their service. I went to Ometepe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The lake is so big that it forms waves and takes about an hour by boat to get to the island. (You can take a look at the map on my first blog entry if you are curious) So I left Saturday, Oct. 3 around 10am. After taking a taxi, microbus, another taxi, boat, and a bus I arrived at my volunteer’s house around 4pm. Her name was Joanna, she had 3 counterparts, and was about an hour from the closest volunteer. Her secondary project was teaching basic English skills at “the project”, a house that helps adolescent boys who committed crimes in Managua to get integrated back into society. During their stay at the house, they learn life skills and a technical skill and in return they have to behave and stay legit.

I was able to see how she co-plans and co-teaches with the Nica counterparts during the week. She works 25 hours in the classroom, which is a bit more than the 16 hour minimum because she doesn’t work with “the project” that much. I also saw how she interacts with the people in her community and how she lives her daily life. Hers is unique because she is isolated on the island and still lives with a host family. Both of these characteristics are much different than the majority of volunteers. Because of this, I’m thinking of asking to visit some other volunteers so that I can see a different view of PCV life.

While I was on the island we did lots of fun stuff. The first night we painted toe nails (mine are purple with little hand painted white flowers with a rhinestone center). One night we rode bicycles through really rough terrain to the dock and watched the gorgeous sunset behind the volcano. I would love to show you, but I forgot my camera of course. One day our counterpart didn’t show up (meaning we couldn’t teach) so we had the afternoon off. Luckily one of Joanna’s friends from the island was going to the beach with two visitors from the states, so we tagged along. I went swimming for the first time in Nicaragua and then we hiked a bit in the National Reserve. It wasn’t grueling, but rather a nice walk with a beautiful finish!