Wednesday- The whole TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) group got together today to discuss a health issue in Peace Corps. This past weekend, someone was tested positive on a test that could indicate the H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu). That girl and 6 others that she was in close contact were brought from their training sites to Managua to be in quarantine. They received Tamaflu and were put up in a hotel. Peace Corps got our training group together just to let us know they have medicine for all of us and give a talk on symptoms to look for.
Thursday- Today and tomorrow we have a National Conference for English Teachers. There are over 1000 in attendance including all the TEFL Peace Corps Volunteers. Different presenters give sessions on various topics. As I have mentioned before, the English teachers here are in need of our assistance. The Ministry of Education (MinEd) quoted to us that 60% are not certified teachers and the other 40% have a low English proficiency level. It was good to talk with MinEd and sit in on the session to see exactly where these teachers are coming from. It gives me an idea of why I’m here… and now I know I do have a place here.
Friday- My first medical testing was today. I haven’t been feeling too great for the past two weeks, and finally decided to see what was actually going on with my body. The results say I have a bacterial infection from something I ate down here (yeah, that narrows it down) and my body reacts to any fat or dairy. Limiting dairy is not an issue, because I can think of two times I’ve eaten it. One morning I drank a bit of milk in my coffee which is a treat down here. The other was a dish called “atol,” which is milk cooked with corn starch and cinnamon. Afterwards, I was up every hour that night being sick… fun times. The grease in the diet is a bit harder to control considering that the main ingredients for food here are oil and salt. To get feeling better I have to take an antibiotic and limit my diet to fruits, vegetables, and liters and liters of rehydration salts. Finally I have an excuse to ask for no bread or gallo pinto!!
The gringos had a movie night at my host brother’s house, with his wife and friends. Steve and I made a special trip to Pali, the local supermarket in Jinotepe (1 km away) to get Oreos, chocolate milk, snickers, popcorn, Diet Coke, spicy yuca chips, and more cookies. It cost us a whopping 180 cordobas ($9). We finally settled down to watch Nacho Libre, where a Mexican monk played by Jack Black becomes a wrestler with his atheist street rat side kick to help out the orphanage where he works. The gringos thought it was pretty funny, but it wasn’t as funny to the Nicas. Can we say awkward? I guess it was the world balancing out after the experience we had at the conference today.
The conference’s closing ceremony started off mundane with the president giving 30 minutes worth of “special” thanks to a laundry list of people. I think it even included the guy that changed the light bulbs that morning in the auditorium. Afterwards the Nicaraguan version of Adam Sandler came out, acting like an old man walking slowly with his guitar. Because he was speaking with a forced old guy accent, no one but the native speakers in our group could understand him. He started singing a comedic song about gringos and all heads in the auditorium whipped around to stare at us. Do the gringos understand? Are they going to laugh? Can we laugh? I understood enough to know he was making fun of the way we dress, eat, dance, and use protection not to have 15 children. I’m sure there was more, but I stopped listening and started to play MASH with another chick (Ashten Kutcher and I are going to live in an apartment near a trash dump in Kasas where we have 7 kids and drive a horse-drawn cart and I’m a professional meat slicer.) . After the ceremony, multiple people stopped to take pictures with the gringos. I couldn’t help but feel these pictures were going to become something of a trophy. “Look, I got a picture with the gringo that only drinks bottled water and nothing with grease!”Did I also mention that the closing ceremony included a rap performed by one of the English teachers? Language conference and rap concert all rolled into one!
Saturday- I went to a Quinceanera, a party celebrating a girl’s 15th birthday. It started with a
processional from the girl’s house to the church. First came the court, made up of 10 or so couples that the quinceanera picked out to support her on this day. At the church, they had a brief 10 minute ceremony talking about how she was now a woman and had responsibilities, and the procession went to the restaurant. The girl and her father had their first dance and then the court performed a choreographed dance. Afterwards, the Christian band started playing their ear splitting set (seriously, my ears are still ringing) and the people were served their FIRST dish of food. **The US is not the only ones with an obesity problem** No one was able to talk because the music was so loud, and it was a Christian celebration so no one could dance. The best part was the 40 year old chick next to me that kept asking if I knew any gringo that she could marry. She emphasized that it didn’t matter if he was ugly. Any takers?When I got back home, my host dad was kind enough to kill the mouse I found climbing on the wall above my bed. Thanks, host dad! All of you should be proud… I was not girly… no screams, no running away, nothing!
Did I tell you that during training they showed us Nicaragua Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmer? The best part was where he ate iguana eggs. They are soft boiled so the yolk is still runny. You pop the whole thing in your mouth, suck out all the insides and then you have to pull out the shell. Zimmer just about puked! One of my site mates, Steve (who happens to be vegetarian) was served iguana eggs by his family. He tried them… and to see his face as he recounts it is fantastic! I don’t think he ralphed, but he was pretty close. It might have been a dine and dash… to the bathroom.
A few things I’ve seen on the street:
- Dead dog
- Men completely passed out on the sidewalk
- Ox drawn cart
- Horse drawn bicycle
- 23 people packed in a microbus
