I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling homesick for the first time since I’ve been in Nicaragua. I had been having a vivid dream about going to a grocery store in Colorado and buying strawberries, and then sitting in my backyard at home and playing with my cat. I woke up from the dream and lay in bed thinking that I won’t be able to eat strawberries for 27 months. When I get back, in all likelihood, Herman (my cat) won’t remember me. I LOVE summer in Colorado and the way the shadows play on the ground when there is a breeze and the cool breeze itself, and the long days. I stayed in bed for a while and analyzed my dream and thought about what I was doing in another country. It was 5am and the roosters were crowing, the first round of people were in the street selling their milk, or bread, or cheese which entails them wandering around yelling their advertisements: “¡el paaaaaan!” or “¡queso, queso, queeeeeeeso!” I heard the birds chirping and the first busses coming by and honking their horns in maddening rhythms at the bus stop directly outside of my bedroom window. I heard wooden carts and wheelbarrows clanking clumsily along on the cobblestone street. I saw the red and then purple and then light blue dawn out my open window, from under my mosquito net. I began to remember where I was and all of the steps I’ve taken to get here and all of the work that I’ve put in, and that my whole life has been a preparation for this moment. I have an opportunity that many people don’t have, and may never get in their lifetimes to make a difference and to learn. I set aside my nostalgia, knowing that it will pass, and enjoyed the dawning morning. I made a cup of mint tea with honey, an ode to my life in Colorado, and began my lesson plans for the classes that I’ll be teaching the rest of the week.
Wednesday afternoon we got the list of possible sites and although I wanted to shut myself in my room and read the folder cover to cover, I had to plan a lesson. I finally got a chance to read the packet on Thursday afternoon and already had an idea in my head of what I wanted. I ultimately want PC to decide where I’m most needed. That being said, I’m leaning towards going north to the mountains. Because, I’m from Colorado, right? Kind of, but also because I want to work with agricultural projects and women’s groups. The site’s that are possible,( because I know you’ll want to know, mom) are San Marcos, Somoto, Corinto, Cinco Pinos, Tonala, Esteli, Granada, San Rafael del Norte, Yali, Leon, El Jicaral, Nagarote, Masaya, La Concepcion, Veracruz, Ocotal, El Jicaro, Bluefields, Pearl Lagoon, San Carlos, San Miguelito, El Almendro, and El Rama. The sizes range from 150,000 people to 2,500 people. Most have electrity most of the time and not all of them have running water. The farthest away is about 9-10 hours of traveling involving both buses and boats. The sites I’m looking at are 4-6 hours away from Managua and between 5,000 and 50,000 people. I’m staying open to possibilities and letting the perfect site find me. We have the site fair on Saturday morning where we will get a chance to meet with volunteers who are in the sites and hear about the projects and living situations of the different areas. We’re all super emocionados!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Volando vengo, volando voy
I have had a pretty great day, a pretty great weekend and a pretty great week. On Sunday I went to Matagalpa, Matagalpa for my volunteer visit. The premise of the volunteer visit is that each aspirante (trainee) goes to a different site to shadow a volunteer in their everyday lives. Matagalpa is a fairly large city with about 90,000 people. It’s a couple hours north of Managua in the mountains (ie coffee and chocolate) and the drive is quite beautiful. I stayed in a hostel (Buena Onda) that an ex-Peace Corps volunteer set up and I had hot water (yeah!) I had originally thought that I wanted to be placed in a small town but after visiting a city I’m having second thoughts. Matagalpa has tons of NGOs which, from what I can tell, is both good and bad. It’s good because, obviously, it’s helping towards the development of the country, but it’s bad because many of the NGOs give out money and then people expect PC to also give out money, which isn’t how PC works. I did get a chance to meet with a really cool NGO called FUMDEC; they work primarily with women on a variety of development projects. The principle is that by educating and training women in different arenas, for example agriculture or health, then the whole family base will be lifted up since the women take care of the household. I would love to work in this area and, based on the needs of the community in which I’m placed, I’d like to set up a similar project.
On Saturday we had a group outing to the Volcan de Masaya (it was a diversity charla, good work PC on picking a rad venue!) The volcano is still active and fuming with sulfur-smelling smoke. Garry, I thought of you, and even remembered aa and pahoihoi (spelling?) I read somewhere that Somoza used to throw people in the volcano (alive) as to dispose of any evidence. Aside from that creepy fact, it was beautiful. Also, PC brought peanut butter for a snack, so that was diacachimba (flippin awesome)! I came home afterwards to take a nap and my host town buddy, Jonathan,’s host mom came and yelled in my window leading me to believe that Jonathan was on his death bed and I was the only person in the world with the ability to save him. So, I went up to his house and he ended up being pretty sick with a high fever. We called the medical office but of course the labs and farmacias were closed so we had to wait until the morning to take any action.
Jonathan was sicker on Sunday morning that he had been the night before so I went on an expedition (with a bag of his poo) to the closest laboratory that would be open on a Sunday. I borrowed a bicycle and rode through rutted, dirt roads to Masatepe, about 20 minutes away, to a sketchy lab run by a maje (dude) out of his house. I waited an hour and a half for the results (which proved he had a bacterial infection) rode over to the farmacia, and then rushed home with his meds, pretty much saving the day. Kinda super-heroine status. At the moment he is still in bed, but I’m pretty sure he’ll live.
In the afternoon on Sunday my family had been planning to go to the Laguna de Apoyo to hang out on the beach for a bit. They warned me that we wouldn’t go if it was raining but when it ended up raining we went anyways. I think they didn’t want to let me down because I was super excited all weekend about swimming. I swam in the rain, alone, but I had a really nice time. It’s my favorite place in Nicaragua, so far.
This coming weekend is the site fair, so we’ll get to see all of the sites that are available to us and a week and a half after that we’ll get our site assignments. There is a ton of excitement surrounding our site assignments and it’s the main topic of conversation among the trainees. We’re half-way done with training and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I’m bracing for INTENSIVE training for the next 6 weeks. ¡Tengo que hablar solamente en español si quiero mejorar!
On Saturday we had a group outing to the Volcan de Masaya (it was a diversity charla, good work PC on picking a rad venue!) The volcano is still active and fuming with sulfur-smelling smoke. Garry, I thought of you, and even remembered aa and pahoihoi (spelling?) I read somewhere that Somoza used to throw people in the volcano (alive) as to dispose of any evidence. Aside from that creepy fact, it was beautiful. Also, PC brought peanut butter for a snack, so that was diacachimba (flippin awesome)! I came home afterwards to take a nap and my host town buddy, Jonathan,’s host mom came and yelled in my window leading me to believe that Jonathan was on his death bed and I was the only person in the world with the ability to save him. So, I went up to his house and he ended up being pretty sick with a high fever. We called the medical office but of course the labs and farmacias were closed so we had to wait until the morning to take any action.
Jonathan was sicker on Sunday morning that he had been the night before so I went on an expedition (with a bag of his poo) to the closest laboratory that would be open on a Sunday. I borrowed a bicycle and rode through rutted, dirt roads to Masatepe, about 20 minutes away, to a sketchy lab run by a maje (dude) out of his house. I waited an hour and a half for the results (which proved he had a bacterial infection) rode over to the farmacia, and then rushed home with his meds, pretty much saving the day. Kinda super-heroine status. At the moment he is still in bed, but I’m pretty sure he’ll live.
In the afternoon on Sunday my family had been planning to go to the Laguna de Apoyo to hang out on the beach for a bit. They warned me that we wouldn’t go if it was raining but when it ended up raining we went anyways. I think they didn’t want to let me down because I was super excited all weekend about swimming. I swam in the rain, alone, but I had a really nice time. It’s my favorite place in Nicaragua, so far.
This coming weekend is the site fair, so we’ll get to see all of the sites that are available to us and a week and a half after that we’ll get our site assignments. There is a ton of excitement surrounding our site assignments and it’s the main topic of conversation among the trainees. We’re half-way done with training and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I’m bracing for INTENSIVE training for the next 6 weeks. ¡Tengo que hablar solamente en español si quiero mejorar!
Monday, June 14, 2010
I know, I know, I’ve been neglecting all of you for the last five weeks. But I’m here now and I have a moment to breathe and to update you on my adventures!
I’ll start at the beginning. I left home five weeks ago today (woah! It seems like only a week!) for Nicaragua to work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Small Business Development. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be here for 27 months. Unless I decide to stay forever, which I haven’t ruled out. I am in training for three months in Nandasmo, a small town (human population 3,000, stray dog population 300) about 20minutes away from Masaya, and two hours south of Managua.
I am living with a family in Nandasmo which consists of mom and dad, two brothers, a sister-in-law, a three year old niece and a 12 year old nephew. In comparison to the other trainee host families, mine is small. I have electricity and running water about 6 days out of 7 but there was a week of storms where we didn’t have either for a few days so I’ve become adept at bucket-baths. I’ve got it down to a science. Science can be messy, right?
I have two other trainees in my town with me and we have activities from 8am-4pm 6 days a week. We have “language class” in the morning but it usually turns into more of a culture class with some grammar and vocab thrown in for good measure. In the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have a youth group at the local high school. We are working on an entrepreneurial project in which they are developing a product or service, conducting a market study, writing a business plan, etc and then competing against the other youth groups that the other trainees are working with. Our town won last year and our kids are great and high energy so this is one of my favorite projects. I’m also teaching one day a week and a private, all-girls, catholic school on business basics. Last week we taught them how to conduct a feasibility study for a business. I had initially thought that this would be horrible because when we went to visit the class room to observe the girls, they were completely out of control; passing notes, talking on cell phones, talking to each other, getting up and leaving the class room, etc. HOWEVER, when we taught they were well-behaved, engaged, and they all participated (for the most part). Which lead me to believe that perhaps the teacher who taught the class that we sat in on had created that atmosphere by not laying any ground-rules. On Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays we have technical training which can range from anywhere to cultural adaptation, to the economic history of Nicaragua. It usually sounds painfully boring but the presentations end up being really interesting.
The climate here is quite nice once you get used to it. The first week we were here it was HOT and muggy but I’ve acclimated and when it gets down to 80 degrees at night I usually put on a sweater. I had flu last week and I’m still trying to get rid of it but its getting better. I had a fever, chills, body aches, tingling extremities, cough, congestion, headache, eye pain, nausea, diarrhea, and I was really dizzy. BUT one of the other trainees has already gotten Dengue, so I’m doing pretty well in comparison. Also, I figure that it was a seasonal flu so maybe I won’t get it again this year? I am becoming stronger!
In all, I am having an amazing time. Training is taxing but the Peace Corps folks have it down to a science so I feel like I’m in good and capable hands. I’ll try and update this page more frequently and please let me know if you have any questions! I do have skype and I get to an internet café about once a week. Also, I have a phone now! 505-8438-0635 If anyone had a hankering to send me….oh, I dunno, jelly beans for example….or a letter on Lisa Frank stationary….my address is:
Vanessa Krueger
Apartado Postal #3256
Managua, Nicaragua
América Central
I love you all very much and I can’t wait for you to come and visit me!
I’ll start at the beginning. I left home five weeks ago today (woah! It seems like only a week!) for Nicaragua to work as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Small Business Development. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be here for 27 months. Unless I decide to stay forever, which I haven’t ruled out. I am in training for three months in Nandasmo, a small town (human population 3,000, stray dog population 300) about 20minutes away from Masaya, and two hours south of Managua.
I am living with a family in Nandasmo which consists of mom and dad, two brothers, a sister-in-law, a three year old niece and a 12 year old nephew. In comparison to the other trainee host families, mine is small. I have electricity and running water about 6 days out of 7 but there was a week of storms where we didn’t have either for a few days so I’ve become adept at bucket-baths. I’ve got it down to a science. Science can be messy, right?
I have two other trainees in my town with me and we have activities from 8am-4pm 6 days a week. We have “language class” in the morning but it usually turns into more of a culture class with some grammar and vocab thrown in for good measure. In the afternoons on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have a youth group at the local high school. We are working on an entrepreneurial project in which they are developing a product or service, conducting a market study, writing a business plan, etc and then competing against the other youth groups that the other trainees are working with. Our town won last year and our kids are great and high energy so this is one of my favorite projects. I’m also teaching one day a week and a private, all-girls, catholic school on business basics. Last week we taught them how to conduct a feasibility study for a business. I had initially thought that this would be horrible because when we went to visit the class room to observe the girls, they were completely out of control; passing notes, talking on cell phones, talking to each other, getting up and leaving the class room, etc. HOWEVER, when we taught they were well-behaved, engaged, and they all participated (for the most part). Which lead me to believe that perhaps the teacher who taught the class that we sat in on had created that atmosphere by not laying any ground-rules. On Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays we have technical training which can range from anywhere to cultural adaptation, to the economic history of Nicaragua. It usually sounds painfully boring but the presentations end up being really interesting.
The climate here is quite nice once you get used to it. The first week we were here it was HOT and muggy but I’ve acclimated and when it gets down to 80 degrees at night I usually put on a sweater. I had flu last week and I’m still trying to get rid of it but its getting better. I had a fever, chills, body aches, tingling extremities, cough, congestion, headache, eye pain, nausea, diarrhea, and I was really dizzy. BUT one of the other trainees has already gotten Dengue, so I’m doing pretty well in comparison. Also, I figure that it was a seasonal flu so maybe I won’t get it again this year? I am becoming stronger!
In all, I am having an amazing time. Training is taxing but the Peace Corps folks have it down to a science so I feel like I’m in good and capable hands. I’ll try and update this page more frequently and please let me know if you have any questions! I do have skype and I get to an internet café about once a week. Also, I have a phone now! 505-8438-0635 If anyone had a hankering to send me….oh, I dunno, jelly beans for example….or a letter on Lisa Frank stationary….my address is:
Vanessa Krueger
Apartado Postal #3256
Managua, Nicaragua
América Central
I love you all very much and I can’t wait for you to come and visit me!
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