Highlights of the first 2 weeks of training

Hola everyone!  I know it’s been awhile since my last blog post.  Here are some highlights of the first 2 weeks of training.

• ·      Independence Day and the Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto:  Both the 14^th and 15^th of September are holidays here in Nicaragua.  Normally, there are parades on the 14^th and then the schools hold events on the 15^th.  However, recently there have been quite a few small earthquakes and some activity at the volcanoes, so the president made the decision to wait and have the parades on the 15^th.  I’m not sure how waiting one day made much of a difference, but whatever.  On the 14^th the four of us went with Doña Elsa, Susana’s host mom to a restaurant to have some beers and dance.  There was a live band, and we danced all night, getting home at 1:30 in the morning.  The next morning we woke up early to go to the parade.  All of the schools in town participated.  Every student marched with their school.  Some students wore sashes to show that they have academic excellence, and others played in the band or danced with batons.  After the parade, they presented awards to some of the students.  Then, each school did a performance in front of the park.  I stayed for the whole thing, even though it was really hard to see due to the HUGE crowd.
• ·      Spanish class:  Not too much to report here.  We’ve been having class the past 2 weeks and we only have one week left with our teacher.  This week we’re switching over to the schedule we’ll be having after she leaves so we can get used to doing our new activities.  I’m going to be teaching science in a 6^th grade classroom in town 2 days per week and then doing some programming at the library as well.  We also have to set up our school garden next weekend and work to maintain that over the rest of our time here.  Tuesday is my first day of teaching.  I’m teaching a 90-minute block on renewable and non-renewable energy sources.
• ·      Block Party!:  Friday night, one of the political candidates (town elections are in November) threw a concert at the end of my street.  The band was really good, and I spent a couple of hours listening to the music and dancing with the twins and a younger cousin who’s 8 or 9.  It’s hilarious how young kids here learn how to dance so early!
• ·      Huertos:  On Saturday, we had an all-day training on how to make gardens.  We went to an agricultural training center and had a training session about how to make a garden, what pests we should look out for, and how to make organic pesticides.  Then we spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon trying it out.  We were in small groups with a facilitator to help show us what to do.  We started with a patch of tall grass and had to use a machete to clear it out, then pickaxes and rakes to prepare the soil.  We made a fence by sewing empty sacks together and propping them up on sticks stuck in the ground.  We planted a row of radishes, a row of cucumbers, and some squash.  We also created a seedbed to plant tomatoes and bell peppers.  In order to have good soil, we had to mix compost, lime, and ash into the dirt.  We also had to sift all of the dirt so that the seeds were in very fine soil.  Robi, Tim, Chelsea, and I worked with our APCD María Antonia.  It was a really long day, but now I feel somewhat confident in starting our school garden.
• ·      La Hípica:  Sunday was the hípica in Masaya, the nearest big city to my site.  Susana, Chabela, Susana’s host brother Fran, Chabela’s host sister Lisbeth, and I went into Masaya in the morning.  We walked through the market, hung out in the park, and had lunch.  After lunch, we lined up on the side of the road to watch the parade.  It was a parade of tons of people on horseback.  There were men, women, and kids on all different types and sizes of horses.  It was crazy because there were lots of people and lots of drinking going on, even the people on horseback were drinking beers during the parade.  It was also raining pretty heavily the whole time, but we were only slightly annoyed by it.  After watching an hour of horses go by, the highlights would have to be all of the people drinking beer while riding their horses, the random guy riding a bull instead of a horse, picking out all of the attractive guys that rode by, and seeing all the cute little kids.  We left before the parade ended, mostly because after awhile all of the horses started to look the same.

Sorry for the lack of pictures on here and on Facebook!  My new camera causes my computer to freak out every time I try to upload photos.  The camera came with software that I’m supposed to download, so I think that may be the problem.  However, I need to have my computer connected to the internet in order to do that, so I’m not sure when that will happen.  However, I promise you I have been taking pictures and eventually I will find a way to get them up here!

Also- I said this when I was in Honduras, but I’m going to apologize up front for my writing.  Because I’ve been focusing so much on my Spanish and using it all the time, my writing and speaking in English is not what it used to be.  I am normally a pretty good writer, I swear J

And training begins...

I’m not sure when I’ll get to post this because I don’t think I’ll be having much internet access over the next 10 weeks, if any at all.  When I was in Honduras, I tried to keep a journal, but I wasn’t really able to make a habit of writing things down everyday, so it was short-lived.  It’s definitely easier for me to type things, so I figure I’ll just write a bunch of blog posts as I go and then post them as soon as I have internet access.  I apologize in advance for these posts being so long.  I hope someone will take the time to read them, but if not at least I will have these notes and thoughts for myself to document my time here.

September 9, 2012

Today is my first full day with my host family.  Yesterday, after a long charla (training session) on living with host families in the morning (which was kind of boring for me, since I’ve already lived with two), we split up into different buses/trucks and headed out to our training towns. 

I’ve noticed many differences between the way Peace Corps training is done in Honduras and here.  In Honduras, our whole group of 15 trainees was living in the same town, Las Cañadas.  We had Spanish class in small groups most mornings and had technical training sessions together in the afternoons.  Almost all of our training took place in Las Cañadas, with a few trips into the office in Tegucigalpa on Fridays.  Here in Nicaragua, both projects are living in different departments (states).  All of the environment volunteers are living in the department of Masaya, in 4 different towns: Pio XII, Masatepe, San Juan del Oriente, and Niquinohomo.  I am living in Niquinohomo, which is pronounced Knee-key-no-mo.  After dropping off the volunteers who were living in Pio XII, we arrived in Niquinohomo to drop off Riana, Chabe, Susana, and me.  My host family has hosted like 30 volunteers in the past, so they are very experienced as a Peace Corps training host family. 

The family’s house is very pretty.  The property is completely fenced in.  It has a beautiful front yard with tropical plants and flowers, and a front patio with tables, chairs, and rocking chairs.  In the front of the house there is a big, open sitting area, and the whole house has really high ceilings.  My bedroom is right in front of the house, off of the large sitting area.  There are 2 beds, one full size and one twin bed.  I have plenty of space to unpack my stuff, and I have most of my stuff laid out on the twin bed.  The rest of the house has a bunch of rooms off of a main hallway that goes towards the back yard, including a few bedrooms and the kitchen/dining room.  The house is very open, and is closed up in the back by a large gate rather than by a door.  This allows for better air circulation because it is HOT.  The back yard has a cooking area, the bathroom and shower, and an area for washing clothes. 

When I arrived at my house, I put my stuff down in my room and got a little tour of where everything was, including my special gallons of bottled water kept in the refrigerator.  Then I sat down out on the front patio with my host sister and chatted a little bit before having lunch.  Host families, in general, always give you way too much food.  I had a full plate of rice, fried yucca, chicken, French fries, and salad.  I ate as much as I could, but there was no way I was going to be able to finish it all.  After lunch, I spent some time in my room unpacking before heading to Spanish class at 1:00.

I’m still working out all of the names of the people who I live with, but so far I’ve met my host mom, Doña Manuelita, her older daughter Patricia, another daughter who has an adorable 2-year-old son named Diego, and the twins who are in their early 20’s.  I’m still working on the names.  I was definitely told them initially, but it’s hard to remember everything when you’re meeting so many people all at once.

At 1, the twins, Diego, and I took a mototaxi to Spanish class, which is held at the house where Chabe lives.  It is so different being in an advanced level Spanish class.  It is mostly just conversation-based.  We spent our first class together learning some words and phrases that are unique to Nicaragua, going on a walk to the local pulperia (convenience store), and visiting Riana’s host mom for a chat about the town, her family, and the past volunteers who have lived with her.  I should mention that we did sneak a peek at the list that our bus driver had to see our exact Spanish levels, and I somehow managed to get Advanced-Mid, which is the same level I had when I left Honduras.  This really surprised me, but I’m glad I was able to pick up the language again so quickly once I arrived here, because I haven’t really spoken much Spanish since January.

After class, I hung out in the house.  Living with a host family is a little awkward sometimes because there is only so much you can talk about, so there is a lot of awkward silence.  I hung out and chatted with people, and ran out to the store with one of the twins to buy some stuff.  I found out that my host mom and sisters run a kind of small-town fast food business out in front of our house.  I’m not sure if it’s something they only do on the weekends, or if they do it every night.  They had a table set up out front with food, and people came to buy plates to go.  I had dinner, hung out around the house, and had a nice conversation with a friend of the family who came over to visit.  It’s definitely an advantage to have the ability to have a real conversation with someone.  The whole family keeps complimenting me on my Spanish.  I remember how difficult it was when I moved in with my host family in Honduras, and it has definitely been easier to make an initial connection with this family.  I ended up heading into my room around 8:30 or so.  I started reading a book on the history of Nicaragua, so I read a little.  Despite the radio playing, Diego crying, and all of the other noise of a Saturday night, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and fell asleep early.

This morning I got out of bed around 8:30, which was fabulous.  In all of our days at the hotel during orientation we always had to be up around 6 to be ready to leave at 7, so sleeping late was such a treat.  I took a cool bucket bath, which was refreshing because of the heat, and had a great breakfast of bread, instant coffee (ok, that part wasn’t that great), and a big bowl of fruit salad with pineapple, watermelon, and banana.  I spent the morning playing and coloring with Diego and playing Uno with the twins out on the front patio.  This afternoon I’m hoping to get to walk around town a little and see everything. 

I just realized that I forgot to mention the rain, which started yesterday evening and didn’t end until probably about 9 or 10 this morning.  It’s the beginning of the rainy season here, so I’m sure this is only a taste of what is still to come weather-wise.  I hear October is the rainiest month of the year. 

So, that’s all for now.  I’ll be spending the rest of the day today with my host family and then I have Spanish class Monday through Wednesday and other training on Thursday with the entire group.  We have Friday and Saturday off this week because of Dia de Independencia (Independence Day), so we will get to celebrate with our host families and see how the holiday is celebrated here.  Spanish classes are going to be from 8 to 12 and then in the afternoons from 1 to 3 or 4.  As an advanced class, we are only going to be receiving 3 weeks of class, and after that we’re going to be doing projects in the community.  I’ve been trying to hold my own in a class that includes native speakers, and it’s definitely going to push me to learn a lot.  The fact that I’m doing all of this for the second time definitely has made me feel more comfortable and excited about everything as opposed to nervous and anxious.  Of course, I do have some anxieties, including being successful in an advanced Spanish class and acquiring the skills and knowledge about the environment that some of my peers already have because many of them majored in environmental studies or environmental science in college.  More updates to come!

---One of the other girls in my training site has internet at her house, so looks like I could have semi-regular access.  I'll have a cell phone in a few weeks so that I can coordinate times to skype with people via text message!

    

Moving out of the hotel...

Our three day orientation is coming to a close today.  We've had language interviews and a bunch of overview-type trainings to get us ready to move out to our training towns.  Right now, two different project groups are all together (Environment and TEFL), but starting this afternoon, we're going to be split up.  Each group is going to a different area, and each language class of 3-5 people within that group is going to be living, working, and taking Spanish class in a separate town.

I tested at Advanced Spanish level, which was a relief for me.  I don't know exactly which level I am within advanced, but I'm glad that I was able to test close to where I was in January when I left Honduras.  I'm going to be in a town with 3 other girls, two of which are native speakers.  This is a little intimidating for me, but I know it will push me to learn even more Spanish and practice all the time.  So, today we move away from the hotel and training center and in with a host family.  I'll be in the town Niquinohomo, which is the birthplace of Sandino.  I couldn't tell you much about Nicaraguan history, but I know he was an important figure in its history, so if you want to look it up, it's probably pretty interesting.  Maybe I'll do a future post about some history stuff.

Miss you all, and I hope I can find some kind of internet access in my training site to keep in touch!

Hasta luego!

Words of Wisdom

"Go in search of your People:
Love Them;
Learn from Them;
Plan with Them;
Serve Them;
Begin with what They have;
Build on what They know.

But of the best Leaders
When their task is accomplished,
their work is done,
The People all remark:
'We have done this
Ourselves.'"

-Lao Tsu, China, 700 B.C.

Quick update!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for all the birthday wishes and safe traveling wishes I received yesterday.  I'm constantly reminded about all of the awesome people I have supporting me.

So, I'm here!  Safe and sound and VERY tired.  Yesterday was a busy day.  I left home around 7 a.m. for a 9:30 flight out of Bradley (which left about 20 minutes late).  At the airport I met Emily, another environmental education volunteer who is from Windsor.  We got to chat before we got on the plane, and then we shared a cab once we got to Washington D.C.  We had a few laughs about the ridiculous amount of luggage we had to carry, and made it to the hotel with enough time to check in, put our stuff in our rooms, run down the street and grab a sandwich, and then get to staging, which started at 12:30. 

Staging, for those not familiar with Peace Corps lingo, is a pre-orientation where volunteers get to know each other and start talking about the mission of the Peace Corps and what the next 2 years will be like.  I should also mention that it is EXACTLY the same, no matter what country you are going to.  That made the hours from 12:30-7 very boring for me, since I had already done the same exact thing last July.  However, I did help my group win the Peace Corps knowledge quiz, so I guess my experience came in handy.

It's been weird being a returning volunteer in a group of new volunteers.  As much as I don't want to keep talking about Honduras, everyone was constantly asking me a million questions.  I made sure to answer questions the best I could, but I also made sure to not answer any questions that I wasn't sure I knew the answers to.  Training varies a lot from country to country, so I couldn't answer anyone's questions about what our training in Nicaragua will be like.  However, people seemed relieved that they could ask me questions, and I was glad I could help alleviate some of their anxiety.  Now that we're in-country, I think the questions will start to let up, as we become more involved with our training here.

After staging ended, we headed out to find food.  I went with 5 other volunteers to a restaurant with outdoor seating where I enjoyed a burger, fries, and a beer...a pretty good last meal in the U.S. if I do say so myself.  Then we headed back to the hotel, and after a little facebooking, I went to sleep. 

At 2 a.m. our wake up call woke my hotel roommate Rachel and I up, and we crawled out of bed and packed everything up again to be in the lobby at 2:30.  At 3, the bus showed up and we headed to the airport.  Peace Corps loves getting people to the airport ridiculously early...our flight wasn't leaving till 7:15.  Both flights went fine (DC to Miami and Miami to Managua), and we were welcomed at the airport in Managua by Peace Corps staff and a few volunteers with signs, cheering, and a cooler filled with bottles of water (hydrate or die! :-) 

Training started after that.  We are now officially in PST (Pre-service training).  We went to a conference center-type place, had lunch, and got started.  I'm posting right now from that very place.  We have about an hour to kill before dinner, and then we will check into the hotel where we will be staying until Sunday for our orientation.  (In case anyone's wondering, we're 2 hours behind Eastern Standard Time)

Tomorrow we will be having our LPIs (Language Proficiency Interviews), and I will see how much worse my Spanish has gotten since I left Honduras in January.  I was at the Advenced-Mid level on my last LPI from Honduras, so we'll see where I am right now.  Hopefully I can pull off a good interview and get placed in an Advanced class.  After these three days of orientation, which include vaccinations, basic training sessions, and other orientation-type stuff, we will be moving out to our PST community based training sites.  The other environmental education volunteers and I will be living in 4 different towns: Masatepe, Naudasmo, Niquinohomo, and San Juan de Oriente.  There will be a few volunteers in each town, and we'll be divided up by language levels and living with host families.


So, there's the update for now!  There's internet here at the training center and also at the hotel, so feel free to skype/facebook chat/email/whatever.  I'll be here!

All my bags are packed...

Finally finished packing.  Miraculously, thanks to help from my dad, everything fit into my bags.  Off to DC tomorrow on a 9:30 a.m. flight for staging.  I'll be in Managua, Nicaragua on Wednesday morning for a 3-day orientation.  I'll have internet access at the hotel where we'll be staying, so hopefully I'll be able to post again before I start actual training.

 I've added a couple of things to my blog recently.  On the right, you can put in your email address to subscribe by email.  I've also posted my address during training, in case anyone wants to write me a letter via snail mail.  Otherwise, I can still be reached by email and facebook for now.

Hasta luego!