Greeting from San Ramon!
Its a little town near Matagalpa in the northern area of Nica. There are gorgeous mountains full of trees and fincas, aka farms. The vistas are beautiful. Last night after the two hour bus ride from Managua, and two different cabs, we practically hiked up the super steep driveway to the hotel. Needless to say we were all extremely out of breath. We had dinner, a quick charla, and prepped for today. This morning we woke up in this gorgeous, fresco pueblo had breakfast and headed out to visit a brigadista. The landcruiser ride there was a blast. We had to go up and down through hills and across at least three small rivas full of rocks. After our visit with the brigadista she showed us around her fincas. There are coffee plants, mango trees, lots of chickens, two natural wells, and so much more. I could definitely live in a place like that for the next two years. After our visit we headed back into town. The heading back consisted of an hour plus walk through rugged paths and the crossing of those three small rivers on foot. It was so beautiful and refreshing. It felt good to actually explore some nica nature. I took loads of pictures of the vistas and pasajes and hope to upload a few using a friends memory card reader within the next month sometime. After a well deserved lunch my group headed to the casa materna in san ramon to give a charla and just hang out with the ladies. There was actually only one embarazada staying there because the other 6 had gone into labor yesterday. They said it was because of the full moon. Anyway our charla went very well, but tomorrow we are headed to a different town nearby for the day to work in a casa materna with more embarazadas.
Next monday and tuesday is the mid term language evaluations and sometime next week is the site fair. Hopefully within the next two weeks Ill know where my site for the next two years is going to be. Im so excited and nervous at the same time.
Anyway I need to go but I hope to update again soon!
Miss you all!
Cheers and Paz as always
22 February 2011
15 February 2011
Finally an update
Buenas!
Im finally making myself sit down an write an update. Im still distracted by facebook as always but I dont have any pertinent homework to get done today. I mean theres always something to do but nothing due tomorrow.
So where to begin....well Im eating stale rosquillas right now. My family hasnt made a new batch since friday so im thinking tomorrow morning ill be woken up at 430 to the sound of pounding corn and kneeding dough right outside my bedroon door. Oh the joys of home business.
My week has been very busy but not too stressful. Everyone keeps saying how busy we are but I feel like i have more free time and less work than i did in college. My group prepared a charla on sunday for a womens group but only one lady showed up. Today we walked for over an hour going door to door visiting and interviewing pregnant women. We also invited them to our next charla, so hopefully well actually have an audience.
Today I gave my second charla in the centro de salud. Last tuesday I gave my first one on la higiene de la boca. My charla this morning was sobre larvarse las manos. If you dont know what those are you should look them up.
Its becoming really hard to say certain words and phrases in english now when ive been saying the so much in spanish. Por ejemplo (por example), casa materna, salud materno infantil y nutricion, y hay muchas mas. I feel proud that im beginning to think and dream more in spanish but its still hard at times. However, I usually get caught off guard when a nica starts talking to me in english. Often Id rather they just talk to me in spanish.
Obviously I still miss a lot of the conveniences of "back home" but its the little everyday things that make me love it here. Por ejemplo, when people say "por ejemplo." The way they say it is just so great and matter of fact. Its my favorite when im talking to my five year old nephew and he whips out "por ejemplo." I guess youd just have to hear it to understand. Other things that make me smile inside are seeing my clothes hang on the line in our little patio, watching my dad rotate rosquillas in the hornea (special outdoor oven), latino music videos, sitting in the park, looking at and talking about my nephews pet fish with my nephew (hes just hilarious. his new favorite thing is to do the egyptian pharoah dance move every time he sees me. last week his favorite thing was to mimic the expressions i had made during one of my spanish class activies (por ejemplo, estar enamorada y tener miedo)), staring at the catholic church, eating eskimo with my amigas, listening to my dad sing every verse of every birthday song after i only asked if the second line was feliz cumpleaños a ti like the first, watching old mexican movies with my mom, and seeing the random american tshirts and hats. Obviously there are many other little things that make me smile inside everyday, but those are just the ones that come to mind ahora. (Tambien, something that its cool and creepy at the same time is when random people ive met once remember my name and use it).
Things that have become normal:
-throwing tp in the trash rather than the toilet
-cold showers (even though i still dont like them)
-traveling only by crowded rundown microbus
-sleeping under my mosquitera
-having ants crawl on the walls of my cuarto
-using papelographo and marcadores every day
-telenovelas
-keeping money in my bra
-hearing yelling vendors in the streets
-being called chele, chelita, and amor pretty much everytime im outside my house.
Just to name a few.
I went to mass on sunday, and while it was entirely in spanish i really enjoyed it. The traditionality and orderliness of it is so comforting in my somewhat hectic life thats constantly pulling me in several directions at once. Its hard to balance my personal, professional, and academic lives when they are forcefully and intentially interwoven. Por ejemplo, most of my spanish homework consists of talking with my family about their lives and traditions, my ability to make effectiv charlas and giving them is directly related to my spanish speaking abilites, and my everday interactions for the relationships that I can use for health education. These seem extreme now and will be even more so when I move into my site.
Speaking of my site I still dont know where Ill be place yet. I kind of am hoping to be placed on la costa atlantica, but i heard that they will probably place the more advanced spanish speakers there. Most likely ill end up somewhere north central. Ill be ok wherever Im placed. Im just excited to get to my site and actually start doing "real" work.
OH, I almost forgot. I get to go to Volcan Masaya on Saturday. Its active, and Im so excited to finally see some nica natural beauty and hopefully photograph it. I still havent gotten my camera out yet, but I definitely plan to for this trip.
I should probably get headed home now.
I never know what to post in these updates, so if you have any questions just post a comment and ill answer all in my next posts.
Cheers and Paz to all
Im finally making myself sit down an write an update. Im still distracted by facebook as always but I dont have any pertinent homework to get done today. I mean theres always something to do but nothing due tomorrow.
So where to begin....well Im eating stale rosquillas right now. My family hasnt made a new batch since friday so im thinking tomorrow morning ill be woken up at 430 to the sound of pounding corn and kneeding dough right outside my bedroon door. Oh the joys of home business.
My week has been very busy but not too stressful. Everyone keeps saying how busy we are but I feel like i have more free time and less work than i did in college. My group prepared a charla on sunday for a womens group but only one lady showed up. Today we walked for over an hour going door to door visiting and interviewing pregnant women. We also invited them to our next charla, so hopefully well actually have an audience.
Today I gave my second charla in the centro de salud. Last tuesday I gave my first one on la higiene de la boca. My charla this morning was sobre larvarse las manos. If you dont know what those are you should look them up.
Its becoming really hard to say certain words and phrases in english now when ive been saying the so much in spanish. Por ejemplo (por example), casa materna, salud materno infantil y nutricion, y hay muchas mas. I feel proud that im beginning to think and dream more in spanish but its still hard at times. However, I usually get caught off guard when a nica starts talking to me in english. Often Id rather they just talk to me in spanish.
Obviously I still miss a lot of the conveniences of "back home" but its the little everyday things that make me love it here. Por ejemplo, when people say "por ejemplo." The way they say it is just so great and matter of fact. Its my favorite when im talking to my five year old nephew and he whips out "por ejemplo." I guess youd just have to hear it to understand. Other things that make me smile inside are seeing my clothes hang on the line in our little patio, watching my dad rotate rosquillas in the hornea (special outdoor oven), latino music videos, sitting in the park, looking at and talking about my nephews pet fish with my nephew (hes just hilarious. his new favorite thing is to do the egyptian pharoah dance move every time he sees me. last week his favorite thing was to mimic the expressions i had made during one of my spanish class activies (por ejemplo, estar enamorada y tener miedo)), staring at the catholic church, eating eskimo with my amigas, listening to my dad sing every verse of every birthday song after i only asked if the second line was feliz cumpleaños a ti like the first, watching old mexican movies with my mom, and seeing the random american tshirts and hats. Obviously there are many other little things that make me smile inside everyday, but those are just the ones that come to mind ahora. (Tambien, something that its cool and creepy at the same time is when random people ive met once remember my name and use it).
Things that have become normal:
-throwing tp in the trash rather than the toilet
-cold showers (even though i still dont like them)
-traveling only by crowded rundown microbus
-sleeping under my mosquitera
-having ants crawl on the walls of my cuarto
-using papelographo and marcadores every day
-telenovelas
-keeping money in my bra
-hearing yelling vendors in the streets
-being called chele, chelita, and amor pretty much everytime im outside my house.
Just to name a few.
I went to mass on sunday, and while it was entirely in spanish i really enjoyed it. The traditionality and orderliness of it is so comforting in my somewhat hectic life thats constantly pulling me in several directions at once. Its hard to balance my personal, professional, and academic lives when they are forcefully and intentially interwoven. Por ejemplo, most of my spanish homework consists of talking with my family about their lives and traditions, my ability to make effectiv charlas and giving them is directly related to my spanish speaking abilites, and my everday interactions for the relationships that I can use for health education. These seem extreme now and will be even more so when I move into my site.
Speaking of my site I still dont know where Ill be place yet. I kind of am hoping to be placed on la costa atlantica, but i heard that they will probably place the more advanced spanish speakers there. Most likely ill end up somewhere north central. Ill be ok wherever Im placed. Im just excited to get to my site and actually start doing "real" work.
OH, I almost forgot. I get to go to Volcan Masaya on Saturday. Its active, and Im so excited to finally see some nica natural beauty and hopefully photograph it. I still havent gotten my camera out yet, but I definitely plan to for this trip.
I should probably get headed home now.
I never know what to post in these updates, so if you have any questions just post a comment and ill answer all in my next posts.
Cheers and Paz to all
01 February 2011
oh facebook
I would've actually had time to post today but facebook was just so distracting. Life in Nica has been pretty much the same every day except for all the concerts last week and fiestas on the weekend. Im getting a lot busier with preparing charlas, surveys, etc. I thought that when I was busier I would think of home less, but its actually the opposite. I really just want a cheeseburger, mac and cheese, and a nap on jareds couch while watching a netflix movie. I guess my life in the states was busy but in a different way. My down time there was spent just relaxing, but here even my relaxing requires thinking (to understand the television, talk with my family, and be careful how im perceived simply just walking down the street). Right now im preparing my first charla to give in the centro de salud next tuesday. Ill be a ten minute somewhat interactive presentation on oral hygiene focusing on hygiene for pregnant mothers and infants. Ive gotta go research some more. Hopefully Ill get to post a longer update soon.
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