can someone say 180

It doesn´t seem like its been 3+ months since I left snowy Michigan and then snowy DC.....actually that´s a lie. It feels like it´s been much longer.

Just to sort of generalize and sum up my current feelings: It was a lot easier to be away when my thoughts of home were filled with freezing weather and snow. Now that I´m imagining the freshly blossomed flowers, warm spring air, and hopes of fun summer times, it´s getting quite a bit harder. Honestly, I think that most of this is due to my need to readjust all over again.

For the most part I feel settled in my new hospedaje home. (I had an epic battle which a cockroach last night. He insisted on continually attempting to climb the wall which hindered me from killing him until I brought the mosquito repellent into the playing field. He then had no choice but to fall and let me smash him with my Teva. This was a good lesson because I can now recognize the sound of a running cockroach in my room).

The food is great and with three decently well balanced meals a day and coffee everymorning in a beautiful semi outdoor dining room surrounding by Clarissa´s garden, I can´t complain. However, I have yet to do my laundry, and there is quite a load of dirty clothes crammed into my saco. There is a lavadora, I just haven´t gotten up the nerve to ask to use it. The days are hot, but the sound of occassional rain is soothing in the mornings. I have been told that I will come to dread this rain when the ¨rainy season¨ officially starts in a couple of months. To prepare I am buying rubber boots today.

I think the biggest obstacle in my adjustment is language in the workplace. By language I mean Spanish and not swearing. I thought I could successful communicate, while still basic, with anyone, but this has proven especially challenging with my new colleagues and the ladies in the casa materna. The talk very fast and casual (someone slurred) with eachother and therefore the same with me. I feel awkward asking them to repeat and slow down. They often do but in the same words. So if I didn´t understand something the first time it´s unlikely that I´ll understand it the second time. I just keep telling myself that this will come in time, but it sure is hard to plan my work when I don´t feel valued because of my language. My site visit on the 26th should help clear some things up. I know that I´m supposed to take things slow right now during these first few months, but forming real relationships with my counterparts and the casa materna is vital to my future work. Its not that I can´t communicate when I need to or that they ignore me because I can´t speak, Its only that I don´t feel confident anymore. I´m sure that when I get my tutor (after semana santa because the spanish prof is on vacation), I will improve a lot. Actually its not even that I need to learn more. I know a lot. I plan anything I want to say perfectly and understand someone´s words long after the fact. It´s the inbetween execution of my words and ability to quickly respond that´s lacking. Clarissa, my sort of host mom, but more like a friend, keeps reminding me that I´m doing fine and will improve quickly. However, it´s a lot easier to speak to her or other gente in the town when there is no professional pressure.

Sorry that was really rambly, but I just had to get it out there. Other that those concerns, my town is as beautiful as always. I visited both the escuela and the instituto on thursday and introduced myself to the teachers and students. I also visited the alcalde (mayor) and he seemed happy to have me and willing to help with whatever I needed (now I´ll just have to get up the courage to follow through on that help when I need it).

I also visit the cacao cooperative on Wednesday (started my the germans). They practiced giving a tour on me and I got to eat some delicious yet armargo (i think it means bitter) freshly sun dried cacao seeds. Something that not many others can say they´ve done. I only had a few as I thought was acceptable. Then the ¨tour guide¨ asked if I didn´t like them. I said that of course I did, and he said something to the effect of ¨well eat some more then.¨ Down here the rules regarding moderation are a bit fuzzy. If you eat something just because its good for you implies that you love it and want to eat it all the time (i.e. cucumbers, beets, gallo pinto, fresco de piña). I like to enjoy a varied diet, and that is just hard to grasp sometimes. However, I think I´ve finally rid myself of the soup. I really don´t mind soup, but I do not enjoy a ginormous serving bowl filled with hot liquid and ginormous chunks of vegetables and meat (of course still on the bone) when it´s at least 75 degrees outside. Clarissa somehow telepathically knows this and hasn´t once offered me the soup. If she did I would politely decline, but its much easier to not even have to encounter the situation. I´ve also eaten fish at least one time every day for the last week. I know that this will suprise you, Mom and Dad, but if you ate the same fish I do everyday you would understand. I get a few pieces (just enough) of finely breaded, just barely moist, and perfectly fried fish without the bones. It doesn´t even taste fishy. I realized that the reason I really didn´t like fish was the flavor and the chance of encountering a deadly bone. Here I have yet to come across that problem. Its also a lot cheaper to eat fish, so ¨when in (nicaragua)....¨

On the topic of food, Clarissa has begun to teach me to cook Nica style. Actually I just started watching over the counter and she began to quiz me. I would have learned in Santa Teresa, but I was always busy when the food was being prepared. I now know the concept of how to make Nica rice and fresco de pineapple, however i haven´t practiced yet. Clarissa said that this week (semana santa) there will be fewer clients in the hospedaje so she´ll let me practice some cooking.

...It seems like everything is happening ¨after¨ semana santa. Cooking, my site visit, legit work planning, visits to the communities, and a visit to a finca where they grow cacao. Oh, I also met the Alemana who lives in Jill´s old house. She invited me over to dinner on sunday. We had some good conversations (obviously in spanish because she is german and i don´t know german)(also one reason I am confused about why Its hard to understand my counterparts). However, I need to get to know her more if I hope to live in her house.

Well I´ve spent far too long on the internet, but I probably won´t get back to San Carlos for a few more weeks. However, I overheard mention of a cyber in my site the other day, so I definitely need to investigate. Also, I sent my first memory card home last week, so be looking for pictures from my parents.

I wish myself buena suerte!!! I know the adjustment will come eventually (it always does). I´m just hoping for sooner rather than later.

As always I miss you all and think of you often.

P.S. I already have lots of plans for those who come to visit me.

5 days

I can't believe there are only 5 days left until swearing-in. These 10 weeks have been both fast and slow at the same time. I feel like I've been here forever but yet it seems like I shouldn't be done with training yet. Sin embargo, I definitely think that I'm ready to get to work and get these two years started!

Right now I'm sitting at Terry's Dinner in Jinotepe using the free wifi and natalie's computer to write this. Yesterday I bought my first pair of Nica jeans. Don't worry they're not as skin tight as they could be. However, today is blazing hot and definitely not conducive to dark jeans wearing.

I had my final language interview on Wednesday and my interviewer told me that she thinks I'm intermediate-mid which is the requirement for swearing-in. Assuming she is right, I won't have to stay for an extra week of language classes. My last night in Santa Teresa will be Wednesday, and supposedly I'll be having a despedida with my fam. Actually I'll just give an outline of my week:

Today/Sunday = chilling in Jinotepe, movie with my Santa Teresa chicas, movie with the fam.
Monday = full day of HIV related sessions in Managua (starting at 7:45 which means I have to leave my house no later than 6)
Tuesday = shorter day of sessions in Masaya including final training evaluations
Wednesday = another full day of sessions in Managua including handbook review and finances breakdown
Thursday = moving out of Santa Teresa in the A.M. and heading to Managua.
= Embassy Visit!!!!
Friday = Swearing In + several parties/picnics to celebrate including visit to the country director's house
Saturday = hanging out in Managua and probably heading to Rio San Juan
Sunday = heading to and possibly arriving in Rio San Juan
Monday = The Real Journey Begins!!!!!!

Anyway, I'm sending my first memory card home sometime this week, so you can start bugging my parents for pictures within the next month. I'll warn you now that I haven't taken a lot, but that will change once I get in site and feel comfortable carting my camera around.

Cheers and Paz
-Shona-

The longest post I'll probably ever write

Hola to all my lost long friends and family.

It seems as if I’ve been gone for far more than just 2.5 months. I’m not saying that I want to, but even if I were to leave now this has been a once in a lifetime experience. My Spanish, even though far from perfect, is way better than it ever would be. I’ve also learned to live without so many things that I was accustomed to (even though I still miss them; i.e. huge wardrobe, the wii, cooking whatever I want whenever I want, going to Meijer several times a day, my debit card, my car, hot showers, frosting, and unlimited access to the internet). I’ve learned to appreciate the little things that I can still enjoy; i.e. nacatamales, rosquillas, watching Disney channel with my nephew, talking in English with my fellow aspirantes, having an excuse not to shower or do laundry when the water goes out, not having to cook or clean for myself, and my mosquitero.

Speaking of my mosquitero, the following is a poem penned by yours truly.

Me and My Mosquitero

I love my mosquitero.

Love it, I really do. I

t feels more like a fort

Than a cage at the zoo.

It protects me from malaria.

That prevention is a must

If I’m sleeping through the night

Or napping after lunch.

Its big and green and makes my bed

Oh so cozy when I rest my head.

My new address is:

Shona Smith

Postal Numero 5

San Carlos, Rio San Juan, Nicaragua

If you start sending my letters there I will be sure to get them sooner at my site. Otherwise, I’d have to wait until I get back to Managua, and I don’t know when that would be. By the way, I am writing this on my compañera Natalie’s computer, so I don’t have to worry about the time factor. Also, it is much more grammatically considerate.

Outline of the rest of this blog:

 Food

Television

Weather

My future home

Food: The food here is good just a little too similar each day. There are two typical breakfasts. The first consists of a huge plate of fruit including at least two or three of the following: watermelon, banana, pineapple, papaya, or mango and a small loaf of bread with pre-sugared instant coffee. I used to eat this breakfast every week day. However, about a month ago I began having extreme sensitivity (ironically enough the word in Spanish is sensibilidad and makes me think of sense and sensibility every time I hear it or say it) in one of my front upper teeth. It got so bad that I could feel it no matter the liquid or its temperature. However, I did master the skill of putting my tongue behind my tooth every time I drank something. This started on a Friday, and conveniently I was headed to Managua that Monday for some sessions before Practicum Week. While it wasn’t an extreme emergency, I decided to call the med office on Sunday to see if I could somehow get a dental appointment while in Managua. If I couldn’t I would probably have had to go at least another week without getting it checked because I was headed to San Ramon, 4 hours from Managua, until Friday. I didn’t think it was really serious, but the more people I talked to the more scary possibilities they suggested, i.e. cavity, skin graft, dying tooth, exposed nerves. Miraculously I got an appointment for 10:30 on Monday morning and Eduardo, our chauffeur, support staff, problem solver, snack buyer, and anything else we might need, drove me to the dentist. She was super sweet and will be the one to give me my yearly cleaning. She did some x-rays and told me my teeth were perfect. However, without even asking what I generally ate she said that I could not eat pineapple for at least ten days and should eat/drink other citrus fruits cautiously. She said my tooth should feel better within the week, and the sensitivity is actually a common occurrence resulting from too much citrus. I laid off the piña and was back to normal in a couple of days. However, my family found this very entertaining when I got back home and told them. I think the funniest part came exactly 9 days after I returned from practicum week when my mom bought a pineapple, told me several times how sweet it was, and said she would serve it to me the next day. The following day I had fresco de pineapple for lunch as well as a huge chunk of it as a snack while watching my favorite telenovela, El Fantasma de Elena. I now only eat it occasionally. (I forgot to mention that the pineapple down here is white and much more flavorful than in the states). Additionally, I don’t eat a huge plate of fruit every day. My family is beginning to wean me off of it because it is somewhat expensive.

Instead I often eat another typical breakfast. This includes gallo pinto (fried beans and fried rice that they fry once more while mixing them together), fried egg, fried platano, and fried cheese with tortilla and the same pre-sugared instant coffee. (I now have a special place in my heart for this super sweet weak drink. I still enjoy my coffee dark and black, but a little sugar makes me feel at home). This breakfast is often hard to eat so early in the morning due to all the grease and more than once I’ve felt slightly queasy in class after. Nonetheless, I love a good piece of queso frito. Other times this breakfast is varied to some combination of egg (scrambled with peppers or ham, or just fried in oil), beans, bread, and a banana or avocado. This variation has come more recently since my mom left for Costa Rica (Her dad who lives there is very sick, so she’s down there for the rest of my training). Any of these breakfasts can include rosquillas if my host dad walks by while I’m eating.

My favorite breakfast only comes on Sundays (and not every Sunday). This breakfast is Nacatamales. You haven’t lived until you’ve eaten one. The are similar to a traditional tamal but yet very different and much better. It is a mixture or corn meal/dough (called masa), some rice, a piece of sausage, a piece of potato, a piece onion, and if you’re lucky you’ll be alarmingly surprised by a piece of spicy pepper. All of this is perfectly arranged in a Banana leaf (they look identical every time) wrapped up and cooked in a pot over the fire/coals for a while. My family buys them from my aunt. However, when I’m in my site I will buy them from a lady who makes them on the street corner every Sunday for 24 cordobas (just over 1 u.s. dollar). It is more than enough for a meal so I plan to save the leftovers for breakfast each Monday.

Wow, that was a lot of information on breakfast. Moving on to lunch. Lunches vary greatly so I’ll just list some typical dishes. Rice + tomato salad / tomatoes/ cabbage salad +platano maduro, + some kind of meat (usually chicken) (that’s what I ate today), soup with rice and huge chunks of veggies, a whole fish (eyes included which I don’t eat) with a side of soup and rice, the new lunch for Friday’s during lent: cheese soup with rice and corn meal patties/cookies, or sopa de frijoles (one of my personal favs). The first time I ate this bean soup I was extremely frightened. It includes an item in the soup that looks very similar to an internal organ. I waited until my mom left the room and decided just to cut it in half with my spoon to investigate. Surprisingly it was just a poached egg that got died brown because of the beans. I proceeded to eat it and have loved it every since.

Dinner is generally beans and rice or gallo pinto, corn tortilla, cheese (white and salty yet super natural), and avocado or tomatoes. Occassionally there will be a fried egg (my personal favorite) or fried cheese. On Sundays I sometimes have tamales with dinner and we generally drink coca cola.

Drinks for every other lunch and dinner are usually some type of fresco (lately pinolillo, made of ground corn). My favorite is arroz con piña (pink, thick, and looks like pepto-bismol). Much of these things may change once I get to my new home in Rio San Juan so I’ll keep you all posted because I’m sure you’re just soooo fascinated with my dietary habits.
P. s. you can’t get virtually any American food from any American restaurant in Managua including subway and mcflurries.

Television: I currently have cable television in my home, but I probably won’t when I move. It has all the basic channels like Disney, cartoon network, discovery, history, tnt, cnn, tcm, espn, and fox. Additionally, there are music video channels, local programming channels, several channels with a mix of current shows from the u.s., and a random assortment of movie and other channels with Spanish programming. You can pretty much always find a good American movie either dubbed in Spanish or with subtitles. I watched American Idol last night (the episode from march 8). I’m beginning to get really annoyed when you all tell me you think of me every time you watch survivor. I would absolutely love to be watching it too, but I have yet to see it on tv down here. However, it was filmed on the pacific coast a few hours from my future home, and the volunteer before me met some of the crew.

A couple weeks ago I watched Apocalypto with my host mom and dad (my dad loved it because as he explained to me, obviously in Spanish, it is a story about events than actually happened to tribes of people in Central and South America). I think he felt that it was a part of his history, and we connected on feeling a deep sense of pain for the people who had to go through pointless suffering and persecution like that (something that nicaraguans definitely understand). The more I read my Nicaraguan History Packet the more remorseful I feel as an American. I’m not going to go into it here, but our country does a lot of ridiculous things just to keep control of people we have no business controlling just for the sake of having control (and it keeps happening every day).

Telenovelas are also super popular down here and are on primetime, as well as throughout the afternoon, every weekday. Unlike soap operas in the states these generally only run for a couple of years. I just saw a preview for a new novela that is almost an exact replica of Grey’s Anatomy. I can’t remember the name now, but all of the characters look remarkably similar to the main characters on Grey’s. Oh how Nicas love their American culture.

 Weather: I’m going to skip this because the only significant thing to note is that it’s hot and generally very windy (that’s usually the reason for power outages) in Santa Teresa, and it is even hotter, humid, and often rainy in Sabalos (my future home).

Rio San Juan = my home in hopefully two weeks: I will be living in a somewhat quaint little river town (I have edited out the name for security purposes) about two hours east of San Carlos (capital of Rio San Juan). It is less than an hour north of Costa Rica, and many of the residents work in Tico (costa rica). Nonetheless most nicas don’t like ticos and vice versa. My town has about 2500 residents and 42 surrounding communities many of which are only primarily accessible by river. Most people travel there by river, but if one absolutely has to use a car they can drive on a road north of the rio san juan and cross the rio on super small car ferry. There are 8 pulperias (little corner stores), a couple of comedors (cheap restaurants), several hotels (one very nice hotel across the rio where hopefully my parents will stay when the come to visit), 2 schools, a health center, casa materna, police station, basketball court, and of course the dock. The people are very friendly and are used to having a female peace corps volunteer (I will be the seventh). I will be living in a hospedaje (hotel) for the first two months owned by Clarisa (my host mom) who is related to about half of the town. She is super kind and sweet and is a great cook. While I’ll have my own little room, I’m already looking forward to living on my own. The volunteer before me (she just moved out last week) lived in a great house up a little hill from the dock. Supposedly it is one of the nicest volunteer houses. It’s a little pricey but I think it would be worth it. Currently there is a german roommate who will be living in it until October, so I would have to get to know her before asking if I can move in . I also got several offers from families who want me to live with them, but right now I think I’ll want my independence and more privacy.

I’ll only talk briefly about my future work because this post is super long (four pages). There is a huge variety, which I love. I will be working a lot in the casa materna and occasionally in the centro de salud (its always busy). I also hope to form a young women’s group and pregnant women’s group (it also will consist of young women due to the high prevalence of teen pregnancies). I hope make frequent trips to the outlying communities with a health worker who has a boat. Another project I want to start is a youth group focused on promoting tourism. I think if the young people had something more productive and fun to do they’d be a little less likely to get pregnant. Though there are several men who give tours (and also enjoy speaking the English they know to me), but there is still a lot of undeveloped tourism. Additionally there is a chocolate co-op, but it is run by germans (actually ritter sport). I want to get the local youth involved in making and marketing chocolate locally and to tourists. This side project would be a big undertaking so we’ll see how much of it happens. There is also a huge desire for English classes, so I’ll probably work in the school with a mix of health education and English clubs. I also plan to work on improvements in hygiene and sanitation as well as brigadista training to sustain my work after I leave. I’ll keep you updated on my work over the next two years.

If you actually read this entire entry thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it and got many of your questions answered. I love and miss you all. The next time I post I promise it will be sooner and not quite this long.

Paz and Cheers

failure

well i have a super nice long blog post written. i typed it on natalies computer, a fellow trainee in my town, and saved it on my ipod. however, this computer wont recognize my ipod. actually it keeps connecting and disconnecting, so using that as a usb drive is out of the question. thankfully its still saved on natalies computer, so ill hopefully come back tonight and post it straight from the source. besides that im doing well and really enjoyed my site visit in sabalos. i hope the snow has all melted by now.

the above picture is a nacatamal. my absolute favorite food here that is only eaten on sundays

my home for the next two years

Im excited to inform you that I have the utmost priviledge of living in Boca de Sábalos, Rio San Juan for the next two years!! I get to visit it for almost a week starting saturday (i think the journey starts friday night). Its really close to the Costa Rican border on el Rio San Juan. From what i hear its super tropical, super humid, has a long rainy season, and has lots and lots of plant and animal diversity. One of the primary activities is cacao production. I dont want to say too much about it before I visit, but Ill be sure to write a long post after I get back next week.

San Ramon

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

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