Happy New Years

To all of my friends and family back at home, I hope you celebrated the Merriest of Christmases, and that all of you have a Prosperous and Fun Filled New Year! I wish I could be there to celebrate it with all of you, but that´s just not in the cards tonight. But since I won´t be home, I will fill you all in with a new Nica toast 

I recently learned over Christmas:

Arriba, Abajo, Al Centro, Por Dentro!

(Up, Down, to the Center, Down the Hatch!)

See you all in the New Year, when I make my triumphant return to the states in July!

Navidad in NicaLand

Well folks we meet again, this time on the other side of Christmas. I’d be lying if I said that this pass week and a half hasn’t been rough. It has. And for a couple of reasons.

First off, as I believe I mentioned I have tons of free time without any classes going on. That’s right, I phrased it as having so much room for activities. It’s the truth. So to productively fill up that time, I decided to have a youth summer camp, with an emphasis on both sports and youth development. I remember how much I used to love going to sports camp at the Y, meeting new kids from town and playing every sport under the sun. I wish I could still go to sports camps like that now that I think about it. As well as a fun opportunity for the kids – the focus being on the equivalent of 8^th grade, freshman, and sophomore boys and girls – it would also be an opportunity for me to get another step into my community. By meeting the kids, I would then by association meet their parents and siblings, and the goal was to build stronger and stronger relationships. So I went around town putting up flyers and even spoke to the kids while they were still in class a couple of weeks back, and it seemed like I had some pretty solid interest. I bought equipment, I planned each day – a healthy balance of athletics and development activities – and it seemed like I was all set to go. By development activities, I mean activities such as a community map or my life in ten years, activities to make the kids think about their own lives and to identify problems within the community. The big day finally strolls around I get their early, and I wait. And I wait. And I wait. And no one shows up. Not a single kid.

            Maybe you can understand my frustration, and what a hit to my pride it was. This was supposed to be my big project or a gateway project as I considered it. If it was successful, I would incorporate another session, and these kids were going to be the basis for a youth group I will eventually start. Now, there are other ways to start youth groups, but that’s not what was running through my head. The only thing I’m thinking is how I failed to get this project off the ground, and how suddenly my summer vacation is looking a lot longer, a lot slower, and a lot less productive. It kind of overwhelmed me for a bit, just thinking I have literally nothing to do (also not true, but I was in bad spot at the time), and it led me to really question what I was doing down here for the first time, what was my purpose. Am I really accomplishing anything?

            I had one bad small thought, and it just snowballed out of control, and quickly gained momentum. I had seen a lot of my peace corps friends go home for the holidays, and almost cruelly, I’ve been involved in the email chain of all my Richmond friends and their plans for the New Years. All of this brought about the realization of how long it’s been since I’ve been back in the states, close to 8 months now. That’s a long time, huh? All that kind of hit me at once, and it made last Monday far and away the toughest day emotionally of my experience down in Nicaland thus far.

But, I quickly learned since my arrival here to not dwell on the failures, but to learn from them, which I did. After questioning some community members, I learned that most people don’t want to do anything at all during the week before Christmas, but more importantly, the Alcaldia had scheduled some youth events for that week as well with conflicting times. And obviously the mayors office takes precedent, so what I did instead was join those youth events, in a project called Limpieza Internacional de Costas y Riveras, or International Clean the Coasts and Rivers. So on two separated days, at two separate beaches, we loaded up into the back of a big ole flat bed truck, and drove off to the beach, which usually included cleaning up a couple kilometers of beach for an hour and a half or so, and then enjoying an afternoon at the beach. The ironic thing about this clean the beach campaign, is what happens with the trash after it’s collected. Know that dumps don’t really exist around here. So I get back to our meeting ground with a heaping bag of trash, to find newly lit, blazing fires, fueled by the trash we had just collected. The rest we brought to a designated area for trash, which at some point also gets burned. So we concentrated the trash, and moved it to some where else, out of eyesight. So yeah we cleaned up the beach, but was it really environmentally friendly? I’ll let you decide. The second day I brought my surfboard to take advantage of the beautiful newly cleaned beaches that typically are tough for me to access. Here are some pictures of the gang cleaning, and then as well playing:

So cleaning beach with the gang, helped what at first seemed like a slow week past quicker, and the next thing I knew, I was heading back to Niquinohomo, with my volunteer friend Ron, to spend Christmas. Both of us developed very close relationships with our original host families during training, and decided there was no place we would rather pass the Navidad, since we weren’t heading home. It was strange though, it just didn’t feel like Christmas time, and I blame two things: the heat and lack of Christmas music. Spending every since Christmas of my life in New Canaan, I’ve always associated Christmas with winter, cold and snow, and being constantly bombarded by Christmas music wherever you go. Both of those were not the case here. And although it was colder than it’s ever been here on Christmas day (I actually needed a blanket at night), it just didn’t have that Christmas feeling. What surprised me too, is that the big celebration day is not the 25^th, but the 24^th. The 24^th is treated as a big party, and one of the largely followed traditions is eating a big dinner at midnight, usually with freshly killed and prepared chicken. I unfortunately didn’t partake in this tradition, but I did trade the usual Jam and Bloody Mary’s, for Gallo Pinto and Ron. Every time I thought the party was over Saturday night, we either went to a new party, or the current host would bring out another bottle of rum or more food. From 7pm to 1:30am we just did not stop eating or drinking, and we were having a very merry and festive time talking about anything and everything. And on actual Christmas day, Ron and I made the scenic hike down to Laguna de Apoyo, where we spent the afternoon swimming and lounging about with a couple of Tona’s.

It wasn’t a typical Christmas celebration, which would be a big day time feast with the Eatersons, but it was just fine by me. I hope everyone out there had a lovely Christmas, and Santa Claus brought you everything you wanted. And although initially I only made this Christmas card for my family to enjoy, I recently learned it was actually incorporated to the family Christmas card that gets sent to everybody. So Feliz Navidad!

Second Hand TShirts of the Week

Number One - I Recycle Everything but the girlfriends, worn on a guy who could be juggling a couple of girlfriends by his appearance

Number Two, worn  ironically by a drunk


Number coming from Jinotepe

Las Promociones

So this past weekend was jam packed with the Graduations of my students. One of the downsides of working in seven schools is that you can’t be in seven places at once. Five of my schools had their graduation ceremonies at the exact same time, and I received invitations from all of them. There’s usually enough of me to be shared, but not simultaneously. So I did what was fair in deciding which one to attend; no I didn’t accept who asked me first, but rather chose my favorite school, which as it is, is my largest school. One hundred and five kids walked that day. Needless to say it was a long afternoon.

The ceremonies here are very important, and well, very inefficient. As much as it pains me to say, most students won’t pursue a higher education. Of those who do, the number is even smaller for those who successfully graduate from the university. So this certainly was a big day for a lot of students, warranting the expenditure of a lot of money on new clothes, shoes, and of course, the graduation party.* The ceremonies themselves are a lot like the American equivalent in many regards. Each student wears their robes and caps,  walks on a stage to receive their diplomas and shake hands with the VIP’s, and throw their caps into the air at the end. But there are some notable differences however. Each student is announced one by one upon entering the graduation hall or courtyard, and is escorted by a parent or loved one to their seat. Then once everyone is seated, they repeat the whole process as each student, escorted by a loved one, walks to the stage to receive their diploma. What took me as particularly strange, is that the names of the students would be announced not when they walked on the stage, but when they first stood up from their seats. So Juan would be walking, receiving his diploma, but the MC would be announcing Yanerish, the person next in line. Strange, right? One thing that I did like in particular, and would have enjoyed this back at my graduation, is that each graduating home room of quinto ano had an opportunity to go on stage, and sing/perform the song of their choice, as a thank you to their teachers, and a goodbye to themselves. All of them were very moving, and made me think of those joyous hours after my own high school graduation, when all of us were all smiles, and giving each other high fives. I was on cloud nine the night of my graduation, and had a blast celebrating with my friends. So much fun, that I felt compelled to sneak out of the house that night to continue the party with my best friends. I didn’t make it back to the house until 9am the next day, but luckily my parents were to distracted to ever know I was missing.

            Perhaps the most memorable part about one of my graduations is that I was recognized by my students for my work this semester. They were handing out gifts to their home room teachers for their work for the school year, and therefore wasn’t expecting anything. So it was pretty heartwarming to hear my favorite student get up and speak such kind words about me, it justifies why I am here. I may not have reached every student in the classroom, but at the very least I reached one.

*To go on a small tangent, ceremonies like graduations, quincineras, and communions, among other things, warrant large celebrations here. Parents will often spend more money than they have, or worse lend money from banks or lending institutions to pay for lavish parties. Sure it makes for a fun afternoon/night, but at what expense. These parties can put people in debt, or take away money from their pockets that they ought to use to invest in their own futures. While I may not neccessarily see the need to spend on such an occasion, it is an interesting way to compare my own culture to the one I´m currently living in. Some things are just more important.

So Much Room For Activities

These past couple of weeks have in fact been a blur. So much has happened, that it’s actually a little difficult to put memories to certain days. It’s not often when tons of new, different activities occur simultaneously, so for me it was a little overwhelming.

            For instance, I neglected to mention that during our language taller, the National Emprendedurismo Competition took place in Managua. At the convention center of the Hotel Holiday Inn, the winners from all the regional competitions in Nicaragua convened to compete for the top spot. We had teams from all points of the compass: El Rama R.A.A.S, San Rafael de Norte Jinotega, El Viejo Chinendega, and of course my own team from Villa El Carmen. And what’s more, every business volunteer was required to come, so it was one of the few opportunities we had to see each other in one place. I’d be lying if I said that I would be on the edge of my seat, glued to every presentation, especially with so many of my friends there. More than likely, I would be in the back row, making wise cracks to my friends and shooting the breeze. But not this time! I was appointed time keeper for each presentation, which meant I was front and center, with the judges, and since I had nothing better to do, actually paid attention. The first thing I noticed was the world of difference between my local competitions and the national competition. Here, the kids participating are the ones that are the leaders of the classroom and (maybe this is wishful thinking) the future leaders of Nicaragua. They actually care about the project and their education, and it shows in the professionalism and quality of their presentations. There were some really incredible ideas, beyond the “100% all natural” or “superior quality and taste” products you hear during other levels of the competition. Among my favorite products were a car battery charger (which has huge implications in the campo where that can be the only source of energy), roof shingles of micro concrete, a flea repellent (doesn’t really exist down here), and a belt with multiple uses and patterns (using Velcro or snaps, you’re able to accessorize your belt in whatever way you could imagine, at a relatively low cost). Some really creative products were at the fair, and yet it seemed that the more creative products barely got recognized this year. A coffee based drink, flour made from pejibaye, and a flowerpot took first, second, and third place, respectively. I was planning on banning all bebidas in next year’s competition, as there is nothing original about them, but how is that possible now if it can win at nationals? Granted there is more to the evaluation process than creativity (Creativity – 30, Business Plan – 30, Presentation – 20, Marketing – 20, Finances – 20), but come on. It was a disappointing end for me, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. But I think all of SBD 56 took it as an incentive to improve the competition for next year, so hopefully some good will come out of it. **Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in Villa El Carmen and was unable to take any photos, sorry folks**

The competition and our language taller flowed right into our first In-Service-Training (IST), held in the liberal/college capital of Nicaragua, Leon. I know that sounds really exciting right? A couple days of nothing but training and charlas for 8 hours a day, where do I sign up? Surprisingly in a lot of ways it was, but largely because of timing and location – which I will get to in a bit. So our first four months in site have been solely devoted to teaching the emprendedurismo class and focusing on the competition. But for those of you who may remember when I told you in person close to 10 months ago, there are two parts to my title: business teacher and business advisor. This IST honed in on the second part of my title, business advisor. So we started off with an art gallery of sorts, where on a large piece of paper, everyone drew about their secondary projects and business advising opportunities within their sites. It was an interesting tool to see what could possibly be out there, and if there are any possibilities for collaboration with other volunteers working on similar projects. Great brainstorming idea. This was the icebreaker for the next couple of days, where we went over the culture of business advising in Nicaragua, the business advising approach, and different ways of financing start-ups, among other things. As we found out at the end, we’re the first small biz group to put a large focus on advising, so we’re guinea pigs in a lot of ways. Over the next couple of months, I’m expected to build relationships with small-medium sized businesses in la Villa, and develop and implement an action plan on how to improve their businesses. But where are all of these businesses hiding? My biggest problem is finding them, letting alone develop a relationship with them. But as school is out, I have plenty of time to do some serious research. More or less I now have two months of vacation, with as the saying goes, “Nothing but time.” Or maybe it’s nothing but surfing, but we’ll see.

The location and timing of our IST was so good because in coincided perfectly with a holiday known as La Purisma, which is almost exclusively celebrated in Nicaragua from what I’m told. La Purisma celebrates the birth of the Virgin Mary, and while it’s celebrated throughout Nicaragua, the largest celebration is in Leon. So although our IST ended on the morning of the celebration, our entire group booked a hostel to participate in the celebration. It’s similar to Halloween in that people decorate their homes (with altars praising the Virgin Mary instead of scary scenes) and people go from house to house (or stand to stand) to solicit dulces and little trinkets. La Purisma is also know as La Griteria (which more or less translates to the shouting), because to be given the dulces, one must scream, “Quien causa tanta alegria?” answered by “Maria de la Concepcion”. Literally thousands of people come to Leon for the event, the lines are multiple blocks long to go from house to house for the dulces. And there is a massive fireworks celebration in the main park from the roof of the Cathedral, where the masses gather to watch the celebration, to sing and praise the Virgin Mary, and watch the act that goes with it. The whole thing is quite the spectacle, especially because the fireworks literally explode 100-150 feet above your head. There’s no regulation or anything regarding fireworks, so it’s kind of a free for all. I’m pretty sure who ever was in charge didn’t need a permit or anything for such an extensive firework display. So the event is doubly interesting, because there is the chance of fireworks exploding too low, or inadvertently shooting into the crowd, both of which did happen at one point. But fear not, no one was hurt.

So until the next episode, adios amigos 

Back to Los Pueblos Blancos

What I mean to say is that this past week, with a brief pit stop in Managua and La Boquita, me and the other aspirantes-turned-volunteers returned to Niquinohomo for a week of language classes. Niquinohomo (or Niki-no-homo as my little brother quickly pointed out…so college) was my original training town where I spent my first three months. I was really looking forward to this for two reasons. First, it was here where I developed my first real and lasting relationship with a Nicaraguan family. Second, it meant that all of my volunteer friends would be only a stones throw or short bus ride away, something that hasn’t been the case for months. Because of that, it had all the feeling of returning home from college for the first time: your family is excited to see you again and swap stories, and you also have the opportunity to share a beer with some good friends you haven’t seen in months.

            What was really touching, was that my original host family, Dona Ivonne, Don Vidal, and the rest, were super excited to me, and it felt as though I was part of the family right away. We’re cracking the same jokes that we used to, and I was being brutally honest about what my life is like back in the Villa. Since not all is completely well with my host family in Villa El Carmen, it was relieving to be back with a family who seems to care about you and you feel completely comfortable around. And now, I have some Christmas plans locked down, as they invited me to pass the Navidad with them. I gladly accepted. And having all your friends close really increases one’s quality of life. After classes almost everyday, in some way, shape, or form, we would reunite over beers to catch up and just talk in English, somewhat of a rarity in sight.

            Despite all the fun we had in our “homecoming”, we were back in Los Pueblos Blancos for somewhat of a serious reason: to learn more Spanish. Training didn’t encompass every single part of the Spanish language, so the idea is that after acquiring a couple months of practice under your belt, you return to this taller with questions and enough knowledge to proceed forward. I was actually looking forward to the classes, until I learned what it meant: an absolute blitzkrieg of information. I learned a lot of concepts, but the amount of new Spanish I learned wasn’t too big of a percentage of all the material I covered. It will literally take me weeks to review my notes, and start putting all of that into practice. Did you know that the Spanish language has 14 different verbs tenses? To put that into perspective, English only has 7. So the struggle continues. It’s worth saying though, my own ability (as well as my companions) has increased tenfold in the last couple of months. It was really something to notice how everyone progressed so much, and speaking to each other within out 7 hours of class a day. And I made progress on my own barometer: understanding my host father Don Vidal. We actually had some interesting conversation together, and I really get the feeling I’m an older son he hasn’t quite had yet. It must get lonely in a family full of women.

            So now right now, we find ourselves in an awkward spot of time, in between our language taller and a small training we have in Leon at the beginning of this week. So what better to do that go to beach, where Niquinohomo and some friends decided to the pass the time catching up. We headed to La Boquita for some R and R, which has consisted of tons of surfing, a fair amount of rum, plenty of sun burns, and the unveiling of some alter-egos. It’s been fun. It was also the first time that all of us from Niquinohomo were gathered together again for the first time since training, so we couldn’t help but take a picture together. Check out our happy selves, and just where were we were.

Niquinohomo, joined by best from M2Strong

Lovely Sunset at La Boquita

Gumby, just being Gumby

 OH, and despite being in Nicaragua, I managed to have an American Thanksgiving. Families from the embassy down here invited Peace Corps volunteers to their home for the holiday, where amongst stuffing my face with turkey, I was able to take hot showers, skype with friends from home, and drink wine for the fist time since my arrival. Que fachenta. I literally couldn´t help but stuff my face. And I even carved the turkey!

A nice change from Gallo Pinto

Running the Ometepe Maratón

When’s a marathon, not quite a marathon? When you’re in Nicaragua when marathon, or maratón, simply means race. My marathon of the day was a little shorter than the one we’re used to back in the states only lasting a daunting 12 km. Maybe daunting isn’t the right word, I just wasn’t sure if I could really pull it off since my running has been pretty lackluster these past couple of weeks due to my all consuming school schedule. Despite my uncertainty about the run, I was pretty excited to head to the island, as it was my first time getting out of my site since the standfast started, as well as my first trip to the beautiful island of Ometepe. I’ve been looking forward to visiting Ometepe ever since talking with Gil Patterson back at home in April.

            Ometepe is a pretty unique place, as it is a quite a large island, smack dab in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. What’s more, the island is primarily two large volcanoes. The smaller one, located on the more remote side of the island is dormant, with a “lagoon” in it’s crater, where as the larger one, Concepcion, is still very much active. Needless to say the boat ride over was pretty amazing, seeing these two volcanoes getting bigger and bigger as we approached closer and closer.

Concepcion on the Right, Maderas on the left

It only would´ve been better if it was double rainbow

             The island boasts tons of natural beauty, much of which I was unable to take advantage of, due to prepping for the race, and lack of transportation. I would’ve loved to hike Concepcion had I not been running the next day, and despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t make my way out to a beautiful waterfall out by Concepcion. Like the rest of the country, you can’t always rely on public transportation, which surprised me. As Ometepe is built up as an established tourist destination, I was expecting a heavily developed infrastructure, but it’s very far from it as the island is a very rural part of Nicaragua. Surprise, surprise. So I need to head back to Ometepe on another weekend in the future, to really explore and find out all the island has to offer. I’m thinking maybe when some of the Richmond bro’s come in January, hiking the volcano could be an excellent decision. Despite missed opportunities, we still managed to pull in some beautiful landscapes, at the below Chaco Verde, a reserve right on the shores of Lake Nicaragua.

I don’t know what I was expecting for the layout of the course, I guess something exotic; trails through the forests, along the shore, and even along the foothills of the Volcano. I guess the last one did happen, as their were some pretty great views of Concepcion, and some of our friends posted up in from of one of the more picturesque parts of the track to snap photos of us in front of the volcano. That photo to come, once I can get the photos from my buddy.

What ended up making the race much easier and manageable came in the form of a gift package from my friends back in San Francisco at OPR. They were nice enough to send me a new Pearl Izumi E.L.I.T.E series Fly top, a Road ID, and a pair of Ryders Eyewear Defcons. Amazing gear that really does make running that much easier, or at least more comfortable, since running is always about pushing yourself to your limit. Whether it’s their top of the line stuff, or basic gear for the casual runner, it’s super comfortable and light, and wicks the sweat right off your back. It also dries super quick, which was good, since I had to pack my bags and leave almost an hour after the race. It was the first time I tried running with glasses, and I was surprised at how well they fit to my face, and didn’t mist up as I expected them to. After awhile, it was like you didn’t even know they were there. And how could I forget what really helped me push through: my GU chomps. It was at about the 9 km mark – when I was simultaneously patting myself on the back for only choosing the 12km instead of the 18km run, and kicking myself for not training a little better – that fatigue really started to set it, and “chomped” on my chomps to get me going those last couple of kilometers. I don’t understand why they work, but they certainly do the trick. I ended up finishing 4^th in the 12k, but the first gringo finisher, putting down a time of about 56 minutes. I think for the next run, (which could be a half marathon in Jinotega in February) I’ll do a little bit more than just play futbol and the occasional run.

These next couple of weeks should be fun, starting with a Thanksgiving with an Embassy family on Thursday, a weekend with some friends at Las Boquitas beach in Carazo, a week of language workshops back in Niquinohomo, and an In Service Training in Leon. Tough to complain about that line up. I´ll leave you all with the sunset from Moyogalpa, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Second Hand T Shirts of the Week

It´s been awhile, but here are the two best I´ve seen in a couple of weeks. But since I haven´t been able to leave for three weeks, it´s been tough to find new shirts.

The first one is from Julian in Tisma Masaya: I heart Hot Mom´s

Numero Dos is from La Villa: Sex Police - Doggy Style Unit

New Tab

You also may have noticed I included a new tab on the right hand side of the screen. If you´re ever writing me a letter, and feel inclined to add a little something more, I would really appreciate if you added anything in that list. Thanks!

Small Town Life Continues

So since the presidential elections, life has returned to normal. What’s strange is that life hasn’t been “normal” for more than a month now. The competitions, the election, and the standfast presented different challenges and opportunities everyday, which made life vastly more interestingly. So when I say that life is back to normal, it means I’ve fallen back into my daily routine of classes, reading the paper, and exercising. So once again, I’ve transformed into an old man, who’s up at the crack of dawn, sitting in a rocking chair, reading the day’s paper or writing out lesson plans. And to be perfectly honest, I’m totally fine with it. It certainly beats the hustle and bustle I was accustomed to back home in the states.

But some updates and some pictures for you. After three months of being in the Villa, I’m starting to make some friends (my age mind you), which is a huge relief. When I type that out, it makes me feel like I’m seven years old, running home from school, out of breath and excited, telling my mother about the new friend I made. But it’s the truth. The language barrier has been a big problem is actually developing Nica friends, and now that it has progressed bastante, I can actually have conversations and prove that I’m more than some quiet American. And I think that my ability on the futbol field has something to do with it to, as I’ve established myself as a solid and reliable player. Sports are the way to a man’s heart! (No homo) So I have been playing futbol probably four to five times a week, both futsala and futbol campo. Futsala is futbol on a concrete basketball court with smaller goals, a smaller and heavier ball, and is typically 4 on 4 with a goalie. It’s a lot faster paced, and almost a completely different game. And to make things interesting, there’s always money put down on the games, to try and increase the level of intensity, which is extremely effective in achieving a higher level of play. Maybe I should apply that to my classes. But yesterday halfway through a game this happened:

 Has this ever happened to you? Me neither. But I couldn’t just stop playing, so I continued with 1½ shoes, and even ended up putting in the winning goal with my ½ shoeless foot. I guess it’s time to invest in a new pair of sneaks.

Also got back to my room after playing to find one of my roommates, we call him here alacran, just hanging around on the wall. Check him out below:

  

Scorpions as roommates are tough, and I always got to make sure to shake my clothing out before anything on. I learned that lesson the hard way week one.

So while life is tranquilo now, it’s about to get unordinary again. In the upcoming weeks I’m running a 12k on the island of Ometepe, celebrating thanksgiving with a family from the US embassy, and then I have two weeks of language class and in service training back in Niquinohomo and a place TBD. So once again, I’ll be pretty vago from my site, traveling around all over the place. But I’m pysched for it, as it will be a great chance to see everybody once again, and I’ll finally have some people to surf with, instead of being out in the water all by my lonesome self. I bet you thought I wouldn’t bring one of my boards, didn’t you?  

11/11/11 A Significant Day

So unfortunately, unlike I initially wanted, this post is coming a day late. But some days I just can’t get to a computer with computer internet access, as was the case with yesterday.

On a smaller scale, yesterday marked my six month anniversary in country. I didn’t even realize it until a volunteer friend sent me a message of congratulations. It’s pretty crazy to believe that half a year has passed since my arrival to Nicaragua. In a way, time has completely flown by. It literally seems like yesterday, when I was enjoying a good old fashion American burger and Anchor Brewing Company Liberty Ale with my soon-to-be good friend Maclaine. But at the same time I look back at my time here and realize just how much I’ve done, and grown as a person, and think how could only six months have passed? I’ve visited dozens of new places, met many new people and lifelong friends, and experience things I never would have imagined if I had stayed back in the states. And yeah my Spanish is getting good too. It seems like my time here will fly by if it continues at this rate.

But why is today really important you may ask. It’s because today is not only the day the armistice of World War I was signed, but it also marks the day that our country celebrates Veterans Day. As a child I didn’t really understand why this was such a significant day, and was more annoyed that I had to sit through a long, seemingly boring assembly during school. Yesterday, waiting for buses, I had a long time to reflect on what it means to serve one’s country.         

For me, there is no greater, nobler deed than what the men and women of our armed services do. They’re protecting more than just our borders. They’re protecting an ideal; the American Dream and our way of living. And nowadays that’s not something you see to often in our nation. They put themselves out there on the front, protecting our freedoms and rights. As certain aspects of American life seem to be spiraling downhill, the army still remains, as the keeper of what American stands for and means in the world. And for that I have nothing but admiration for the men and women who have served our nation, past and present. It may not mean much, but Thank You.

Sorry Folks

I had to remove the last post, because it was a little too political to publish online. Both the country director (indirectly) and my father (directly) scolded me for being a little too, well I´d like to say honest. If you´d like to know what the elections are like, shoot me in an email or facebook message, and i´ll send you the post personally.

Life as a Vago

Well, what a week it has been, and as my host mother was happy to tell me, “Nunca esta aqui, esta vago. Vago, translates to vagabond more or less, and it’s not the best thing for your reputation in a small Nica town. People talk, and usually it leads to them thinking you leave so often because you don’t like being there. They have a good point I guess, but it’s untrue in my case. My schedule was just chock full this past week, and I was all over the country, for a mixture of work and play, and hit up four of the bigger cities of Nicaragua: Managua, Granada, Masaya, and Chinendega.

            I can’t remember if I mentioned it in my last post, but last weekend was the Annual Emprendedurismo Cocktail party, a big fundraiser for our national emprendedurismo course at the end of the year. Between bringing in teams from all over the country and hosting the nationals at a big time venue, it takes quite a bit of money to host the event. So what better way to raise money that throw a party for all volunteers, and anyone interested in supporting the competition. The best way to describe it is like Ring Dance, but a little less classy as most of us didn’t bring tuxedos down to Nicaragua with us. So more than being a way to raise money, this party is a chance for us PCV’s to all gather under the same roof, dress up in our Sunday finest, and actually pretend like we’re back in the states. We enjoy all the excellent amenities that Managua and the Holiday Inn have to offer, such as warm water showers, room service, and excellent rooms and facilities. The Holiday Inn is actually a bid deal down here, and is one of the nicest, and tallest building in Managua. So the actual even was an absolute blast, full of music, dancing, and your best friends down here. Throw in rum, a pool, and easy access to the roof, and we had quite the bacanal. It took me more than a couple days to recover from all the fun we were having. Some would say “Too Much Fun”, but that just doesn’t exist.

Suprisingly we can clean up a bit. Unfortunately this is the only photo I managed to take of the weekend

            The only bummer of the cocktail party was that I didn’t have any time to recover, as its still competition week, as I like to call it. My municipal competition may be over, but we still had plenty of regional competitions to plan and host over these past couple of days. Usually, you have the luxury of planning a regional competition in a site where a Volunteer is, but we lacked that this year, as the volunteer in Granada unfortunately fell sick (enough to be medevaced to Panama) right before the competition. So Leslie from Rivas, Chalin from Diriamba, Jordan from San Marcos, and me from La Villa, have spent the past two weeks or so at our new “site”, Granada, making contacts, meeting with all of the local schools, and doing all the legwork to make sure things went off without a hitch. And Granada is not close by the way, easily at least a two and a half hour ride via public transportation, which makes for interesting commutes. But despite being a bunch more work, it really has been a great experience, and a lot of fun, and as a result I’ve really got to know the other volunteers in my area. And speaking of the competition, which did do off without a hitch at the beautiful Convento San Francisco, my team SoyaMix, from Farabundo Marti, rocked it, taking home First Place no problem. The kids were absolute pros, put up a bomb presentation, and swept the judges off their feet during the question portion of their presentation. It’s pretty exciting stuff, and it means we continue on to the National Competition at the end of the month to represent Villa el Carmen, as well our region of Managua, Carazo, Granada, and Rivas. It’s a pretty big deal, as a lot of volunteers accomplishing this feat, so as you could guess, I’m pumped about it.

            To celebrate Halloween, the start of a steadfast, and a friends birthday, I headed up to Hot and Sunny Chinendega for the first time. According to the volunteers up there, it’s a fiery hell that is significantly hotter than the rest of the country. For any of those volunteers reading this, quit complaining. It’s not any cooler anywhere else, and I don’t want to hear your whining anymore, or worse, you all bragging about your heat. I mean, c’mon. Unlike Masaya, Granada, or Leon, Chinendega is known as a true Nica city, without any of the tourist attractions and bells and whistles of the previous mentioned towns. So what that means, as my host so bluntly put it, it’s ugly. But despite its ugliness we still managed to have some fun, dress up like idiots for Halloween and attract strange looks from Nica’s. We even managed to play flip cup and shot gun beers, two things that haven’t happened since leaving the states almost six months ago. Just a little taste of home, in the form of college party games. And I swear that beer tastes better shotgunned, and encourage you all to go out and try it one more time if you haven’t lately.

            So now, life as a Vago ends, and things will turn back to normal, kind of. The elections are coming up in two weeks, and depending on how they turn out, things could get pretty wild down here. Especially if the current ruling dictatorship, the Sandanistas, manage to lose somehow. And then, all hell will break loose, something I would love to witness first hand. With the Arab Spring going on in other parts of the world, maybe I could find myself in the middle of another revolution. But so as a result of this potential madness, the Peace Corps has established a steadfast, meaning volunteers are prohibited to travel from their sites for the next three weeks, starting today at noon. So I’ll be kicking it here, trying to teach the last couple of themes of the school year (which ends the first week of December), playing a lot of soccer, and hopefully a fair bit of surfing if I can swing it. Life will get routine, and a little boring once again, but I couldn’t be more excited for it.

And I apologize if this entry was a little dry, I’m still absolutely feeling the effects of a long week of work, and a heavy night of drinking.

Cloudy with a Chance of Entrepreneurship

I know, it’s a terrible title right? I had the book “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” on my mind, and I figured I could borrow the general theme of the title. But it does have some relevance for what is to come. So after being pushed back a week, and a well needed week of preparation at that, the big Feria de Emprendedurismo (Entrepreneurship Fair) was today, the dia de hoy. This is the culmination of a years worth of work within the Nica school system, and reflects largely on the work that Casey, Nicole, and I have done with our respective counterparts and kids. So understandably, I could barely sleep last night, just thinking about all the possible things that could go wrong. And believe you-me, a lot of things could go wrong in any sort of Nica get together.

To provide a little more background for those who forget, I have been working the high schools of my municipality teaching an entrepreneurship class to the senior class. These students formed groups and chose a product at the beginning of the school year, and since then have been slowly developing their business plans, in preparation for today, the big competition. That is the theory at least. Every class is a new part of the business plan (a very basic business plan), and the teams are encouraged to save their work over the course of the year, so that come competition time, their business plans only require a little bit of revision. But c’mon, who’s going to expect any high school senior to do that? So of course these past couples of weeks have involved me running around the entire municipality, helping to revise business plans, and in some instances starting from scratch. It’s important to note too, that I took over the classes of the previous volunteers, the above mentioned Casey and Nicole, who I give the majority of the credit for the success of so many of the teams here. They were the ones who really got the ball rolling, and I jumped in at the end to teach the no-fun technical stuff, and help organize.

Now to even get to the municipal competition, teams had to win smaller, local competitions within their schools. Due to the sheer number of schools, and therefore teams, you had to qualify for the Big One. Which meant that the best of the best from each school was present today, at our municipal competition, which took place right across the street from my house, in the heart of Villa El Carmen.

Now back to the title of this post, and while its relevant. For the first time in probably two weeks, it just stopped raining. It was still cloudy, hence the title, but no rain despite rain all last night. And no rain meant a 100% chance of entrepreneurship on the radar screen. Alright, I’ll stop with the bad weather jokes. But the weather was just one of my many worries. Will dirt roads be dry enough to drive on? Will all the judges show up? Will anybody show up? Do I have an audio system confirmed? Are the kids as excited as I am? Do horse shoes have horse socks? Is anybody listening to me? These were just a few of the worries flying through my head, and it turns out some were justified. One judge called in sick, and my original audio system never showed. But expecting such problems, there were backups for both of those problems. We activated Plan B, and continued on without a hitch.

Each group set up a stand to sell and present their product, and the judges and the general public had an opportunity to walk around and take a look at each group. A fair of sorts. After the fair, each group walked up to the stage, and gave a 10 minute presentation about their product to four judges, explaining themes such as the results of their Market Study, margin of earning and break-even point, and SWOT analysis. The groups were graded on Creativity, Business Plan, Presentation, Marketing, and Finances. An important distinction of this competition, and the class as a whole, is that the emphasis is on learning and creativity, not on the “success” of the business. On paper your business could be losing money, but what is important is that the group knows why they are losing money, and know how to use the tools to tell them if they’re earning or losing money. It’s no secret that one of the biggest problems here in Nicaragua is poverty, despite the rich resources of this nation. It’s not that the people aren’t creative, it’s that its not really encouraged to, let’s say, go against the grain. The end goal of this class is to foster that creativity in the kids, and to give them a skill set for life after high school since a small percentage continue their education. Because the job market is so small right now, it’s more important that these kids create their own employment, and in turn generate more employment for their community by creating their own small business.

 Every presentation went better that I could have expected, and I couldn’t have been happier with every group. I had this image in my head of how I wanted the day to go, and incredibly that’s how it turned out. But in true Nica fashion, an hour and a half late. But so is life down here. Below I included every picture of each team, how they finished in the competition, and a description of their product. I hope you enjoy the photos!

First Place - SoyaMix (Soy Powder)

Second Place - Condimento De Vegetales

Third Place - Sweet Carrot (Carrot Fudge)

Best Presentation - ACREC (Statues of Paper)

Most Creative - Cuculmilk (Refreshing Beverage, made from the root of Cuculneca)

Artes En Papel Y Mas (Figures of Paper)

EL Poder de La Espinaca - Spinach Medicine

LinaGel Hair Gel

Your Boy takng pictures with his favorite group. Really got to me that they didn't win.

Mo Rain, Mo Problems

So during training the topic of canceled classes came up one day as a frustration of current volunteers. And classes do get cancelled a lot for usually ridiculous reasons and holidays. And the speakers during training were right: it is super frustrating to show up to a school to find out that classes have been canceled because of “La Feria de las Raizes” (Fair of Indigenous People of Nicaragua, or more literally the Fair of Roots) However, of all the reasons that were listed on that initial list, one struck me as particularly odd: Rain. My first reaction was this isn’t some sort of athletic contest; you can’t actually close school because of rain. And if I can side track real quick, athletic contests don’t get stopped for rain, or lightening for that matter. It was a little unsettling to continuing playing football last week amidst a lightening storm. But c’mon, you can never be the first person to walk off the field or you’re the wuss that was “scared of a little rain”. But anyway, now I can understand why la lluvia has such a profound impact on the cancellation of classes. Aside from being slightly obnoxious, it can be really dangerous here, and the students in the isolated villages (comarcas) often can’t get to class because of swollen/flooded rivers, downed trees/power lines, or landslides. A young girl died here yesterday because the wind knocked over a power line, and in nearby Managua city, the paper reported that 1,622 were negatively affected by storm, 233 houses destroyed, and 100’s of people evacuated from the capital. The capital city! That’s not including the more rural areas. There was a span of more or less 18 hours where it just straight up did not stop raining. As an example check out the picture of the local river, where the level rose over the bridge:



If you look closely in the backround, you'll see people are standing chest deep in what was previously a road



As a result, I’ve spent a lot time over the past few days trying to scramble my competition together. But day after day of rain has caused me to move my municipal competition back a week, to next Thursday the 20^th. So at least temporarily I can now breath a little easier, have been able to read my new purchase on the Kindle (That Used to Be Us by Thomas Friedman, thank you dad), and hang out with one of my new best friends: my 4 year old neighbor Evalito:

This stick is his cuchillo to attack caballos y torros, which were all over my room that day

That’s the update for this week. I’ve now been in country for officially 5 months now as of this past Tuesday. Oh and I bought another surfboard, I couldn’t help myself. So now there’s no excuse for any of my so-called friends to come visit down here. I got an extra hammock and extra surfboard, access to cheap, high quality rum, and a very favorable exchange rate. What more could you want?

Two other fun facts:

-In a study done by The Economist Intelligence Unit, political stability in NIcaragua is one of the lowest in the world, tied with Egypt.

- Read a great book and feel the need to share it with someone, or in particular, me? If you ever feels that urge, you can buy the kindle version of the book following this link: http://amzn.com/w/1SF4V4PAAK63N

The Rainy Season Is Upon Me

So, since I’ve arrived here, its essentially been the rainy season. But as I found out this past week or so, it doesn’t really starting raining until about now, when it rains at least once a day. And Hard. Flooding of the streets is an almost daily occurrences, check out the photo’s below.

At one point yesterday, both of these were cobblestone streets!

What’s crazy is that it can be beautiful out only minutes before, and next thing you know you’re soaked through. You always got to be prepared. For me that means always having a rain jacket on hand, a plastic bag to cover my school materials, and waterproof shoes. Unfortunately, the waterproof shoes aren’t very waterproof anymore. So I have to invest in some cheap rubber boots at the local market. Here’s a weird coincidence. All my shoes have torn through in the last couple of weeks. First the waterproof guys, which now are temporarily sewn up, second my sandals, third my cleats, and fourth a cheap pair of flats I bought at a market to play football sala in. My feet are just getting abused left and right, something I need to fix.

So these past couples of weeks have been a pretty good mixture of business and pleasure. As a result of missing almost a month’s worth of classes in some schools due to the Fiesta Patrias, my classes have fallen behind. And it couldn’t happen at a worse time, as the local and municipal competitions are right around the corner. So first off you may find yourself asking, “So what does Sam wear on his feet?” which is then immediately followed by, “What is Sam talking about, what competitions?” This is a concept I think I may have neglected to mention. So within each of my 11 or 12 sections of classes, the class is split up into groups of 3-6 kids. At the beginning of the school year, based on local resources, knowledge, and skills, each group decides on a product to create over the course of the year, and essentially form a “small business” based on the product. Every class that I teach is a small section of the business plan, which they have to create to pass the class, and to compete in the competition at the end of the year. In theory, they should save their work after every class, so come years end all they have to do is organize everything. But that doesn’t happen, because well, they’re high school kids and other things take precedent (like band practice, which drives me bonkers). So each class I’m teaching themes such as SWOT analysis, Market Studies, Costs and Prices, Accounting, and Marketing to name a few, which they will need to elaborate their business plan. Right now, I’m knee deep in planning these competitions, which includes organizing times, locations, and raising money for all the costs and prizes, while trying to prepare every group. So life is a little hectic now, and it’s tough keeping up with seven schools, so if I didn’t write everything down, I’d be in trouble. I’ll be sure to keep you all posted as I get further into competition season.

            But I’ve been managing to keep things fun as well. Outside of my weekly dose of futball and surfing, me and 14 other small biz volunteers from my class met in Leon for our first real vacation together, to celebrate our buddy Ben’s birthday. The whole thing was just what we all needed, and a great “escape” from teaching and the Spanish language. For me it, all too much resembled nights from spring break or beach week, which in the moment is fun, but takes a toll on your body in the coming week. To keep it short and appropriate, we had a seriously fun time dancing in Leon at night and enjoying the beaches by day. The highlight being that Chalin had a Pinata specially made to mimic the pose of another volunteer, Mateo, from day one. He didn’t have a clue about it, check it out:

Mateo and his temporary twin

Chalin, the creator, and Ben the birthday Boy

 

The Majority of Small Biz 56. Notice the awesome Star Wars Tall  Tee  on Noelle on the far left

And one more thing. If you ask any volunteer the toughest part about your job, they majority of volunteers will respond the amount of free time. Well, this is how some of us in small biz 56 kill some of that time: whereinthewood.blogspot.com

You may notice that the pose in all those photos is what inspired the piñata. Hasta la Proxima!

Second Hand TShirt of the Week

A little innapropriate this week, so younger viewers avert your eyes.

1. "Hang out with your wang out" worn by middle aged women in la Villa

2. ¨"Dream on Boys, you no you can´t have me" worn by a male joven in Camoapa Boacao, spotted by Cassi

The next two come from my friend Chalin in Diriamba
3. W.I.F.E - Washing, Ironing, Fucking, Etc..  Worn on a machismo man. Very fitting
4. This one needs context. Chalin was sitting in the office of one of his principals discussing a budget for a project, when a student walks in with a "I heart boobs" shirt. He says he just lost it.

Happy 21st Lil Bro

Gazing ahead toward his future and his 21st Birthday

Gumby never leaves his side

This guy turns 21 today, make sure to wish him a happy birthday. I´ll do my best to find a good beer and drink it in your honor today. Have a wild one!

Fiestas Patrias

So this past week marked the Nicaragua’s Independence Day…both of them, respectively on September 14^th and 15^th. There are two reasons to celebrate independence here. Here’s a fun fact for you: an American by the name of William Walker, initially at the request of the Liberal Nicaraguans, came to Central America in the 1850’s  with a gang of mercenaries (or filibusters as they were known at the time), and forced his way into power. For three years, I believe 1853 – 1856, Walker was in control of Nicaragua and was making moves to conquer the rest of Central America, all in the name of the United States, of course. But on September 14^th, a coalition of Central American forces held strong, and finally repulsed him from the country, hence the reason for the first Independence Day. Day 2, 15^th of September, marks the anniversary of when, once again as a whole, a coalition of Central American forces expelled the Spaniards, the original imperialists in the area from their native lands 190 years ago. Another kind of fun fact is that Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica originally were one unified republic, but due to tribal and local differences, that disbanded after 20 years or so. BUT, take all this information with a grain of salt. I had to ask a lot of locals about the reason for the independence, and this information is the most generally agreed upon. For being so patriotic and enthusiastic about the holidays, it seems that the general public is pretty misinformed about it. Once person told me the 15^th marked the day that Nicaragua expelled the English from the country.

For me, Independence Day in the states means long afternoon/evening barbeques with friends and family, red-white-and-blue, and fireworks at night. Oh and how can I forget, plenty of delicious American beer. Here things are a bit different, where the majority of the festivities take place in the morning both days, before the sun gets to high in the sky, and therefore hot. Each colegio (high school) in the municipality has a band and a dancing group that march through the calle principal of Villa El Carmen, to the football field. At the football field, each school has the opportunity to perform their acto, a 20 minute long performance by the band, with the dance group of course dancing along to the beat. For high school students, the acto’s were surprisingly complex and incredibly fun to watch. Each school invests a lot of time, and fair amount of money into their performance (often at the expense of my class time to my chagrin), and they start preparing for it often a month of two in advance.  It’s an unofficial competition, and each school wants to be the best. I was lucky enough to be an “esteemed guest” which meant I was in the company of all the VIP’s of La Villa, and had a front row seat to each performance. Yup, just another one of the perks of the job. The whole thing reminded me of that cheesy Nick Cannon movie, Drumline, but much cooler since it was live…and in Nicaragua. I kind of wish I was in the band, banging on a drum with the kids. Maybe next year. So hear are plenty of pictures of the event, to see just how big the whole thing was, since each school brought between 40 to over 100 kids to participate. How you choreograph something like that, with that many kids, is beyond me. Enjoy the photos.

This kid on the rigtht is the Nica version of my meatheaded buddy Graham back in the states

 

Oh, one last little bit of Nica daily life. I’ve had this mystery stain and seeds appearing on one particularly spot of my floor the past couple mornings and I couldn’t figure out where on earth it could come from. So I finally asked my host mom, and she non chalantly told me it was just the murcielagos. For those of you remember, murcielago means bat. So At some point in the night, I have bats flying into my room to enjoy their midnight fruit snacks. With scorpions, spiders, and plenty of other bugs always crawling around, bats are just one more thing to add to the list. Am I right? Am I wrong?