San Jorge, al lado del lago

            I know that a lot of time has passed since I last wrote, but no worries… I’m still alive and well. In the past month I had my volunteer visit, where I went north to Nueva Segovia. This was a great experience, and I got to stay with a great volunteer, Jamie, but it definitely did open my eyes to a lot of things. As much I say I can be flexible, I sure do have preferences. We had to travel at least an hour to whatever school we went. And at these schools, there were no restrooms available. This meant no water!! Because if you gotta go, you are S.O.L., stuck! This isn’t so bad except it had to have been 100 degrees that week. Yeah so preference #1: water/ bathroom within distance. Here you can always expect the unexpected, like a coworker’s baby being sick, or someone missing the bus and having to wait another hour for the next. Whatever the reason is, things happen and plans don’t always go as smoothly, or sometimes there’s no way to get home for hours. So you wait on the side of the road, while a runaway bull passes by, with his owner chasing him down. Anyways flexibility is key, but I would prefer to be located relatively close to where I work if at all possible, bulls passing are optional.

            I returned from this site visit, with a new friend and family up north incase I ever want to visit to other side of the country again. Everyone was great and I really did enjoy the experience. One step close to the beginning of my own experience. I was able to talk to my bosses about my experiences and observations while on my volunteer visit. 3 weeks later I found out my site. San Jorge, Rivas. I had never heard of this place before but I did see there was a beach nearby! San Jorge is a little port town next to Lago Nicaragua. I have 3 schools that I will be working in. One is a bit of a trip, one is less than 10 min by taxi and my main campus is less than two blocks away. I really couldn’t have asked for more.

            So now I’m officially living in my new site and starting fresh again. The kids have a LOT of energy, a LOT!  (now gotta try and channel that energy into productivity). I’m living with a family here, which is great. There are 6 people in the house: grandpa, mom, 2 sisters (ages 23 and 9), husband of sister and their 2-year-old daughter. It’s a full house but it never quite feels like it. I love the mixture of ages, there’s one of everything, and I really feel like it’s a good fit for me.  So now its time to readjust to my new town, try and make friends, and find work. The hardest part, after 11 weeks of chaotic busy training, is it is Wednesday morning and I have no class today. Tomorrow is an assembly for Mother’s Days, so no class then. And Friday is Mother’s Day … so once again no class. As lovely as it sounds, they’re really long days when you’re in a new site. Guess its time to withstand the heat and go make friends with a pulperia owner. 

* I wanted to reach out to all of my fellow Gauchos. I heard about the tragic incident this weekend, and could not believe it. I thank God that my sister and UCSB family were not physically harmed that day. But my heart goes out to all the families, friends and the campus affected. I hope that you all come together as a family and support each other. You have my support and from many others here in Nicaragua.

Hippy no more?

So I thought last week was nuts. Well this week definitely trumped that. Let me start with this picture:

Yes. I chopped off my hair. Well not exactly me. You know that saying: it takes a village to raise a child… well it took a village to cut my hair. So now that the shock has hit you (as it sure has hit me a million times this week), let me rewind a little bit.

I always knew that jobs could be more challenging to receive with dreads. I always knew it was not the norm. And I always said if it came down to having a job and having dreads, I would need to be responsible and choose to have a job. BUT I didn’t think that moment would come this week. Basically since my second week after leaving home I’ve had conversations with my superior about how I could be more presentable in the professional realm, as in the Nica culture dreads may close some opportunities before I would even have a chance. This is something that I’ve been open to, and started wearing it back with a headband when I would be in work setting. It seemed like this would work. I had started working in a school co teaching. I felt like the students and teachers were all responsive and that we worked cohesively.

Well Tuesday I was told that I would need to cut my hair. That preparing it in a more controlled matter simply wasn’t enough. I know that my “look” wasn’t ideal, but I always have used my personality and work ethic to show who I am as a person. I no longer had the opportunity to do that and still have my beautiful locks. I spent about a day and a half being heart broken, and definitely a crybaby. Then I went to my newest hairstylist, tia Delma. She and about 4-5 assistants began the long EXCRUTIATINGLY painful process of trying to salvage some of hair. 2 days of 3 hours sessions later I was shocked. First off that I survived the yanking and pulling, and my scalp feeling like it was on fire. (Yes its still sensitive 2 days later). But mostly I was shocked that I didn’t look like Brittney spears after her mental breakdown. I couldn't stop smiling and stop touching my hair. It was soft and actually looked like a normal short cut.

No I was not happy to do it. No I do not think it was necessary. But I am incredibly grateful, that when I was caught between a rock and a hard place, that I had supportive family and friends here in Nica. It definitely was a group effort, and they worked miracles. Now I can continue doing my job, with out having to worry about “what if”.

I’ve learned a ton from having dreads. There are some who love them, some that hate them, and some that are just curious about them. I have loved opening peoples eyes and surprising them when I break stereotypes of being just some dreaded hippy. I was successful with them, and I will continue progressing with out them. Same Hannah, just minus about 10 pounds of hair. 

RIP my baby dreads <3

Week 3 √

 

Last weekend I went to the Volcano in Masaya. I was definitely reminded how lucky I am to be in a country with such nature, as we had a whole day of training at this volcanic park. Which is active, but luckily not that day!

I’ve officially been in Nica more than 3 weeks now. And boy am I looking forward to this weekend. I believe this week I had one of those moment where you feel stuck at the bottom a huge hill and didn’t know how I was gunna make it to the top. I had my first co planning and co teaching in a Nicaraguan public school for an 11^th grade class. We had our youth group meeting, 2 technical training days, another co planning session with another peace corps training, of which I won “piedra, papel, tijeras”, and got to be the lucky first one in my group to plan a presentation. Along with having class from 8-3 Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. AND DOING IT ALL IN SPANISH. Yeah definitely started out a little stressed.

            Monday I met with my counterpart, and we planned our first class on generating ideas. The next day I help co teach, which I believe went fairly well considering I had about 30 11^th graders telling me their “lluvia de ideas” for a new creative product in their entrepreneurial class. 99% of which I could not understand, but thankfully my counterpart was super helpful and patient, as well as the students. I returned to start co planning for my Creativity charla that I would give Thursday. Wednesday was a long day of historical, economical, and technical training. That night I found out that I wouldn’t be giving my presentation, but instead sitting in on a teacher meeting at my new school to plan the next month’s curriculum. Now I'm realizing this sounds like a long rant… but I'm just trying to get used to this new thing called work, in the Peace Corps, in a foreign country.

            Essentially our way of learning here is sink our swim. And I’m glad I can already swim… or at least hold my breath for a while! Because now at the end of my weekend, I can look back and see all the things I accomplished and learned. And I still managed to enjoy my week and have a little bit of fun. I look forward to my weekend, but surprisingly I’m looking forward to starting again on Monday, as nuts as it does sound.

            I’m constituently learning and making mistakes here. But you just gotta go with it. There’s no point in getting upset when youth show up a half hour late, or not at all. Or when teachers want more from me than what I feel like I can give them. I’m glad that the people around are actively seeking out help and opportunities. And I hope that I can work hard enough that we can be a productive team together. And as for those 13 year old neighbors… ill just keep rounding them up with my gringa charm!

Here are my 2 nutjob coworkers (the americans), my cousin, sister of a coworker and a neighbor of mine. A night out by the Mirador

¡Quiubo! (Hey!)

I have officially been in Nicaragua for 2 weeks. It’s flown by but at the same time I feel like I have been living here for a while. This last Sunday I had quite the adventure with my family and my fellow gringos. We woke up at 6am so we could leave at 7am (which in Nicaragua time ended up being 8am). We packed a picnic of rice, platanos, tunas, sardines pica pica, and a grand assortment of fruit. We started our voyage down to la Laguna de Apoya, which was a steep decent for about an hour. We finally arrived and enjoy some mandarinas, watermelon, and bananas. Since there is a volcano on the cliff above the lagoon there were little potholes with hot sulfuric water, which is apparently good for the skin.

            From there we went to another spot along the lagoon where we hung out a bath for most of the afternoon. The water is not too cold, not too hot, but just right! After a huge lunch we headed out to a hotel that is lagoon-side to have a refreshing beer and a dip in the pool. It was beautiful, and definitely felt like vacation more than being in a foreign country for work.  However we still had a huge walk ahead of us. ALL. UP. HILL.

            Luckily we caught a bus, which is completely different here. Literally filled to the brim with hot and sweaty people, including me, as well as some foreigners breathing down my neck with breath that reeked of too much fiesta. I was squished in the entrance with my cousin and aunt balancing on one foot and hanging onto the doorway for about 20 minutes. Later we caught a mototaxi to take us all the way home which 7 full grown adults in what should only have about 4. Luckily being a woman I got to sit inside the whole time as the men walk up the hills that we were too heaving to make in the taxi all together. We finally arrived home around 5pm, only to realize we were burnt to the crisp, like the true gringos we are. Lesson of the day: REAPPLY REAPPLY & REAPPLY that sunscreen.

            That night we went to a neighboring pueblo to celebrate the birthday of one of our fellow trainees. It was nice to see some of my buddies in a non-work setting and relax a little before starting week 2 of training.

            Now it’s Wednesday. We had our first youth group meeting yesterday, which went better than expected. But as always it’s a struggle to get students excited to participate. Today I met the teacher with whom I am going to start co planning and co teaching. So starting Monday I'll be in an actual Nicaragua classroom, “trying” to help co teach. But I’m excited. I’m healthy, happy, and surprisingly sleeping more through the night!!

Hasta Luego :)

           

P.S. Happy Belated Birthday Aaron and Amanda (and Andrew)

The Land of Lakes and Volcanos

I finally have time to sit down a start thinking about this blog I said I was going to write….

Starting March 3^rd I was one of the few lucky ones to brave the snowstorms and arrive safely in Washington DC. We started our training the next day, but only after I walked around DC in flats looking for breakfast and the White house. Both were successes, the white house was beautiful decorated in snow, but needless to say my feet were popsicles. This cali girl was ready to head to toasty Nicaragua. After a long day of “charlas” and icebreakers, other volunteers and I braved the cold to enjoy our last American hamburgers. Delicious! We returned to the hotel to take a quick nap, as we left the hotel at 3am the start our voyage to Nica.

            We had a layover in Miami, where I was already enjoying the sunshine and Latin flavor. Little by little it was setting in that I was actually going to Nicaragua. To live. For 2+ years. A few hours later we arrived in Managua, Nicaragua. Greeted by smiling Peace Corps volunteers, directors, and WATER (which was necessary in this heat!). We started our voyage to hotel Ticomo, and definitely stood out as a bus full of gringos. Nicaragüenses pointing, waiving, and coming up to the bus to catch a glimpse of us. We arrived to the hotel and had a delicious meal of rice, chicken., vegetables, fried platano chips, and un fresco de naranja (delcious fresh orange juice). We spent to next 3 days there having classes, eating delicious food and getting to know each other.

            Saturday was the day that my experience officially started… I was going to meet my family where I will live for the next 3 months. My mama is Doña Lucia and I live in a small pueblo in the district of Masaya. I felt so excited to see my new home and meet my new family… until we pulled up in front. Luckily my mama greeted me with a huge smile and open arms. I could tell off the bat that I have a great home. Soon after I had my first meal here. And let me tell you I have never been disappointed. I have a full belly, and the food is SABOROSA. In between meals she is always giving me fresh fruits, some of which grow here at home. We have cilantro plants, trees of límon, banano, and avocado (which fall numerous times everyday making a loud crashing sound on our tin roof). But this isn’t the only buya (noise) that I get to enjoy in my new environment. There is always music playing, geckos chirping, dogs barking, and roosters crowing. In the morning, during the day, and ALL hours of the night… definitely need to get used to these things as sounds enters through the space between where the walls stop and the roof starts. But this isn’t the only thing new I have experienced.

            Three words: cold bucket showers. Yes everyday for the rest of my time here. However it’s not as bad as I expected. Its helps me wake up early after an interrupted night of sleep, or is refreshing after a day of sweating and being pelted with dirt from the breeze, that makes the heat more bearable. We have water every other day here, so there’s always a great supply to last for a bit. And I’ve been putting it of but I think tomorrow I will finally learn to wash some clothes by hand (on a cement stone, at least everything dries quickly).

            I forgot to talk about my family! Other than my mama, I live with a sister, a brother in law, and a nephew. They’re all really friendly and Camelito and I play Uno together almost everyday. I tried teaching him bananagrams, playing in Spanish. Super dificil, for me! My family is great, but it doesn’t end there. My mama is one of 7, and I have about a billion family members in my little pueblo. Everyday I meet someone new.

            There are two other trainees in my pueblo, but I’m the only girl. We are working together for the next 10 weeks in our classes and to start a youth group. We will also have to co-teach and co-plan in a public high school in a neighboring pueblo. I’ve only been here one 12 days but I have definitely been busy! I don’t have Internet, so I have to go to a cyber to use their computers/ wifi. I finally got a phone the other day, so at least now I have a way to contact my fellow trainees and coworkers.

I could go on and on forever about all the differences here and everything that I'm learning, but in the end it’s really not that different. Good people living the life they know, with what they have. I really am fortunate to be placed not only in Nicaragua, but also in my pueblo in Masaya. It seems safe, has a warm environment, and a beautiful mirador where you can see la laguna de apoya. I miss home but I look forward to be making my new one here in Nica… for now. Until next time, Adios…


*These are my own words and beliefs, nothing of the Peace Corps*