Boards & Bruises

To continue where I left off, I went volcano boarding in Leon with three visiting friends (Mateo, Curran, and Annie) and my volunteer friend Maria. I realize this might be a totally new concept for people, so let me explain: there are a couple ways to do it, but we went through a hostel that supposedly was the first to offer this crazy opportunity. They drove us and about 8 other adventure-seeking tourists out to Cerro Negro (in Spanish: Black Hill) which we climbed up and hiked around in under an hour. We had to carry our boards which consist of wood with a rope handle stuck onto some sheet metal and a piece of plastic under your butt to make you go extra fast. You’re basically sledding with a handle. We were also given sexy orange jumpsuits & goggles.

The group heading up the Black Hill


Geographers on a volcano (the three of us were all geography majors in college, so no, I’m not the only one)


Maria & me dancing on the volcano



Curran & Annie modeling their jumpsuits


Our guide was this Aussie guy who irked me by explaining for the ladies how to go slowly and for the men (who were told they weren’t allowed to brake or they’d be called pussies) how to go fast. This of course made me decide that I had to go as fast as possible just to prove him wrong. I ended up going first with Annie. My friend Curran ended up pushing me off, I couldn’t really think fast enough to try to steer like we’d been shown so I just held on and rode out the bumps and curves as best I could (this isn’t sand, mind you, but mostly small volcanic rocks so some parts weren’t exactly smooth riding). I made it all the way to the bottom before wiping out at top speed in the worst place to fall due to the larger rocks in the last few meters.

I tumbled a couple times, gathered my wits, got up, and the guy at the bottom showed me my speed: 68 km/hr (aka 42 mph)!! I was pretty stunned from the fall but he said good job and I limped off to check my wounds. I had some minor scratches on my left arm and right leg, but my crowning glory was on my left leg – clearly the pants had flown up leaving my leg exposed when I fell.



Everyone in the group fell at least once, except for Curran who actually slid to a stop halfway down the hill, but no one got scratched up as bad as me. In the end I had the top speed by more than 10kph for both men and women and got my name on the high speed list for women at the hostel: tied for #4!! Totally worth it.

Maria volcano boarding


Annie & me showing off our wounds (Annie does have one, you probably can’t see it though!)


Look at me, I have a record!


The rest of the week we spent in my site celebrating Central America’s independence from Spain and at various beaches. As if I wasn’t beaten up already, I tried surfing since Curran & Annie had done it before and wanted to get some wave-riding in. Nicaragua is actually a fantastic surf spot due to favorable winds created by the big lake. I picked up some more bruises from that adventure (including a beauty from getting whacked by the fin) but I did manage to ride in a couple small waves on my knees and kind of almost stood up a couple times!

I’ve never seen sunsets as beautiful as in Nicaragua


Sand castle triumph


Clearly I had an amazing time traveling and hanging out with my friends, but now it’s back to site for the last 2 months of classes and continuing to plug away on my random projects. Oh, and healing up – don’t worry, my leg is healing nicely.

All work and no play.....

I´ve been super busy the past couple weeks, culminating in presenting at a conference on Thurs and Fri in Managua. The conference is open to all English teachers in Nicaragua, it´s not free but there are scholarships and such available & while we initially were told about 600 people would be there the final tally after registration the first day was more like 1,100!! Awesome that so many teachers were able to attend, but it created problems for us who had been told to expect 30 participants per session (and therefore 30 copies of handouts) while in some sessions double that showed up.

I was nervous going in, I get anxious about speaking in public in general & yet had decided that I should do not only the one presentation with my friend Maria but a second one by myself which I ended up preparing only the weekend before. I thought it would be a good challenge for myself and provide good practice, but I was afraid that maybe it was too big of a venue to be ¨practicing.¨

Luckily all went well, Maria and I did our presentation on how to improve your English twice the first day - first to a group of 60 and then to a group of 40. On Friday I did my solo presentation only once to a group of 35. Both went really well, it´s probably the least nervous I´ve ever been before speaking before a sizable group of people. Not to say my public speaking fear is totally gone, but I¨m proud of myself for taking a risk and having it pay off.

After the conference on Friday I met up with some friends visiting from the states & headed up to Leon to see the sites and do some volcano boarding! So far we´ve had an awesome time, it´s nice to get a chance to relax and unwind after all that stress. Today we´re heading back to my site to enjoy the Fiestas Patrias festivities tomorrow and Tuesday celebrating Central America´s independence from Spain. I will post pictures as soon as I can but it might be till after my friends leave that I have a chance to post again.

Poder Ciudadana (Citizen Power)

When I was at PDM, my counterpart, Rafael, mentioned to me that his NGO was going to be doing a series of trainings with community leaders from the small communities around San Rafael about laws guaranteeing citizen participation as well as how to design a community project. He asked if I’d like to help out and obviously I jumped at the chance.

Those trainings were this past week and it was a very eye-opening experience. I had the opportunity to meet folks who live in some very impoverished areas, hear their thoughts and concerns, and see what projects they would like to see completed in their communities. One thing that caught my eye was how many women were in attendance – I guess that even in a country where machismo is the norm and women often don’t have the same opportunities as men, they still are the ones who are most involved in their communities. I suppose too that since the training was held during normal working hours that perhaps there were men who would have come but were working.

Groups working:




Rafael presenting:


Part of the agenda was for groups to make a map of how they want their community to look in five years, and then a list of projects needed to make it that way. Since CEDRU was going to take the lists to the mayor’s office to give them an idea of all the needs in the communities, we asked the participants to make the lists as specific as possible (exact numbers, distances, etc.). I was helping one group put more detail in their list – the project listed was for electrification so I asked how many houses were without electricity and they answered 22. Then I asked how many houses were in the community and they said 25.

I was surprised to see how many communities had electrification projects as well as drinking water & well building projects on their lists – imagine that, living only a couple kilometers from people who have lights, water, TVs, computers, the works, & you’re stuck carrying water from the river and burning candles. Living in my fairly large site with all its amenities, I something forget how poor Nicaragua really is. Other desired projects included repairing and paving roads, building health centers, fixing roofs for the poor, food programs for children and the elderly, libraries, classrooms, and parks and playing fields.

The idea behind the training was to educate these citizens about their rights to participate in local government and to get started on a project proposal to turn in to the mayor’s office to be included in the budget for next year. Many of the participants thanked the NGO for providing the training, they never knew anything about the laws guaranteeing their participation and even less about how to formally present a project. They were excited and motivated to participate, now let’s see if a) they turn in their proposals and b) if the mayor follows through and funds them.

Ciao Chele

Although I’ve never had a Peace Corps sitemate, I was blessed with a random white South African German dude named Bernd, or Bernardo as the case may be. He’s been here almost the entire time I have working in primary schools as a physical education teacher and training some soccer teams. This kid has one of the best dispositions I have ever seen, rarely in a bad mood, always ready for an adventure, willing to talk to anyone and everyone. We’ve shared good experiences (days at the beach, nights out, traveling, learning the difference between British and American English, & when to slip “cheeky” into a sentence) and bad ones (that time I kicked rebar into my foot and he helped me to the centro de salud, the general stress of living outside one’s country). It is entirely impossible to explain our friendship, so I give you Montage de Bernd:

I think this one photo sums him up:


Getting crazy in the truck:


Gangsta volunteers:


The beach!


Getting more crazy when the truck breaks down:


Excellent posture:


Training a soccer team on the beach – with Bernd I got to get a peek into the life of men in Nicaragua that I may not have seen otherwise. Since I can’t trust really any man in Nicaragua, it was nice to have one guy I could go places with and not worry if it “meant” something:


I can’t remember what they’re called in Spanish, but those things we’re eating are bull testicles:


Throwing around small children, as usual:


It’s not really goodbye, it just means that a trip to South Africa is in the works :)

More Alphabet Soup

Last week I went to a Project Design and Management workshop (aka PDM), which was conveniently held at a hotel on the beach not far from my site. We spent basically three full days discussing development, approaches to participatory community development (that is, getting the community involved as much as possible), and the steps of designing and managing a community-based project. The workshop is open to pretty much all volunteers in Nicaragua so we were a mixed bag of volunteers from all five sectors: agriculture, small business, health, environment, and English. The volunteers came from regions all over Nicaragua and everyone brought a Nicaraguan counterpart so I had the opportunity to meet some new and interesting people.

As my counterpart I brought Rafael, who manages the NGO where I teach English. They do a lot of projects in the rural areas outside of town so he came in with a lot of knowledge but he said he learned something so that’s good.

Here we are in our little work group with an environment volunteer and her counterpart who are working on building a bigger library in their town:


And here’s some of our work, PC-Nicaragua is probably the country’s biggest consumer of papelografo which are the big sheets of paper you see here. We basically wallpapered the room we were working in:


Although we did work our tails off, we also had some fun. The last night we had a bonfire on the beach and the hotel staff roped a bunch of us into doing a goofy competition. For being good sports (my partner Colin and I came in 3rd out of 4 teams), we were awarded these fancy shell necklaces:



But my favorite part was at the end each group had to present a creative review of the steps we learned. All the groups presented some fantastic and very creative summaries. My group did a fashion show, I put my Spanish to the test as the announcer while my group members strutted their stuff:

Stephanie showing El Sombrero de Visión (The Vision Hat)


Rafael in La Faja de Plan de Acción and Las Botas de Presupuesto (The Action Plan Belt & Budget Boots)


Go Team Mafael del Sillo (we named our team by combining the names of our two sites)!

Transportation, Nica Style

One of the things I’ve been trying to do with my teachers is to contextualize our lessons – that is, using familiar situations and everyday vocabulary for Nicaragua, not the U.S. The old English book they used before had all this stuff about airplanes and stewardesses and stuff that 90% of my students will never encounter. This month in the 9th grade we’re teaching about transportation and my counterpart brought in what he thought was an appropriate list of means of transportation. I thought I had done a good job by adding things like horses and trying to figure out the best way to translate “microbus.” Well, Joel came in with a list that included not only horse but mule and donkey as well as cart.

This post will require a part two because this doesn’t even cover all the forms of transportation in this country, but here’s a start:

Guy riding a cow (not common, but it happens):


Guys hanging on the back of a truck (very very common):


Launching boats in Masachapa, which is still done by rolling them out on logs:


On the bus:


Caponera, the Nica equivalent of a rickshaw:




Small child on moto, and no, she doesn’t have her license:


Horse cart:

I seriously think about this stuff ALL THE TIME!

The past couple weeks have been pretty uneventful. I tried to organize a meeting about doing a ballet class with a group of dancers at the instituto but that fell through because the teacher I was coordinating with wasn’t able to organize the kids in time. Some friends are trying to organize a general dance group in the community and want my help so I’m hoping that might work out, and if not I’ll try to organize through the instituto again. But the next month will be difficult to organize anything at all: next week I’m going to another Peace Corps training, the beginning of September I have a big English conference in Managua to present at and at the same time I have three friends coming to visit and the fiestas patrias, aka Independence Day. So despite feeling ready to get started on something new right now, I’m forced to wait in order to give myself the greatest chance of success. One of the frustrations of Peace Corps service.

Development work in general is just not easy. I find that I, and many of the volunteers here, often get bogged down in bigger questions of culture, gender, and the effectiveness and sustainability of our work. I had conversations about this with both Nicas and Americans this past weekend, so it’s been on my mind again. One of my Nica friends was expressing his frustration to me about how programs, groups, even businesses don’t last long in this community because the people lose interest & motivation really quickly. I found that was true with my adult English class, which started with 10 students and ended with only three. Although I think that it’s a common problem, he felt it was particularly acute here in our community.

So I brought up the conversation I had with a volunteer and former volunteer on Saturday, which is that development and religious mission organizations in the past (and often the present) created a Culture of Receiving in many countries. By coming in with money, materials, and resources & building, donating, and giving, these organizations broke the mantra of “give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day but teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Basically, people become accustomed to not having to take responsibility but simply wait for someone to come in and give them what they need. So when I came here with just myself and no money or resources, people were pretty puzzled about how I was going to help.

More recently development organizations are realizing this and trying to work for more sustainable change, but that often entails working against a culture that may have been created by the same organization in the past. And it’s difficult to find funding for long-term, sustainable projects that may not show results in the next five or even ten years. Donors (and the public) like to see the new hospital, the kids eating school lunch, and farmers planting and harvesting more crops. It’s the need for instant gratification and the do-it-yourself mentality so many of us westerners have. It’s a lot harder to go in and teach others how to do something that they may do imperfectly by U.S. standards, or never at all. And when you throw in the fact that the changes we wish to make (higher education standards, new agricultural methods, environmental awareness, gender equality) are based on our culture and not necessarily on the culture in which we are working and the ethical implications of that, my mind starts to spin so fast I have to sit down.

This all might sounds really abstract and weird to those of you who aren’t accustomed to pondering development in your spare time. So here’s my current, on-the-ground dilemma: I have had it hasta aqui (up to here) with machismo and a culture that directs large numbers of women down the path of dependence on men who many times don’t treat them very well. So right now I really want to start working more with my female students, through dance or a more explicit girls empowerment club, because I feel that it would be beneficial for them to learn skills such as leadership, family planning, self-esteem, etc. so that they can be successful in life – a success that is defined by my cultural standards, not necessarily those of rural Nicaragua.

So the question is, is this a change that is even desired by people here? Do women see something wrong with their way of life? Do men? And what is my right as a foreigner to come in and say, “Do it MY way! It’s better!”? Well, short answer, is that I do know a lot of women who aren’t happy with their lives, and most men don’t realize that it’s a problem. As for the rest of it, it’s a gray area. So, as far as I can decide, I hope to form a girls club that is formed around the wants and needs of the girls themselves instead of dictating it all based on what I think they need to learn. And it might fall apart, it may never even get started. I have encountered a totally new kind of stress in my work here, it’s not having too much to do (though I do have that too) but having ideas and goals and not being able to reach them. My biggest struggle has been taking an idea from my head and making it happen on the ground, but I’m still plugging away and hoping that in the coming months before I leave that it will be something I grow more and more confident with.

That was a lot. To close on a not so serious note, here’s a picture from back in June of some of my students who performed a socio-drama at an anti-domestic violence event. The group includes my most fabulous gay students (you can probably guess who they are) who were mostly dressed as women for the skit. I love these kids!

Revolucion

Just before the IST we passed a big political holiday here in Nicaragua: The 19th of July, which this year was the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. I know that before I came to Nicaragua I had little or no clue about the history of the country other than a big war in the 80s and since I was born in the 80s I knew almost nothing about that either. So, based on my Peace Corps history packet, here’s some Nica History:

Basically, Nicaragua was ruled for many years by the Somoza family, who were generally backed by the U.S. government. I’ve heard varying reports of the prosperity of the country during that time but a lot of the people I’ve talked to tell me that Nicaragua was generally in good shape and that migrant workers in the region actually came here looking for jobs (today they mostly go to Costa Rica and Panama). In December 1972, a major earthquake virtually destroyed Managua and international aid money poured into the country. It was because of the misuse of those funds, which were largely distributed to rebuild and strengthen businesses owned by the Somozas instead of helping the people, that the revolution happened. Guerilla wars occurred between 1972 and 1979, and the Carter administration in the U.S. began to criticize Somoza’s human rights record in 1977, eventually suspending economic aid. On July 17th, 1979 Anastasio Somoza went into exile in Miami.

So the Sandinistas came to power and the current president, Daniel Ortega, was in charge of the country for pretty much all of the 80s. The Carter administration attempted to make things work with the new Nicaraguan government but when Reagan took over, he decided he didn’t like the new leftist government in his hemisphere so, with the help of Congress, he funded the Contras out of Honduras to re-start the civil war in Nicaragua with a little additional help from the CIA. That lasted until 1984 when Congress decided they didn’t want to fund the Contras anymore which then led to the fun-filled Iran-Contra Affair in which Reagan raised funds for the Contras by illegally selling weapons to Iran and I think we all know how that ended up.

In 1989, the first democratic elections were held and the Sandinista party lost. In fact, it wasn’t until Ortega was reelected President in 2006 that they returned to power. So on the 19th of July there was a big party in Managua, all buses were going that direction with Sandinista flags waving (the infamous red and black) and lots of fireworks & such things going off around town here. It happened to fall on a Sunday so we had Monday off as a national holiday so I ate sopa de mondongo (oh yes, that’s cow stomach soup!) and relaxed on my patio.

Here are some pieces of war history at the scenic look out over Managua:



For my non-Spanish speaking readers, the sign says: “The remains of the horse monument to General Anastasio Somoza that was in front of the National Stadium. It was constructed in 1954 and torn down July 1979.”

Alphabet Soup

Like any good government agency, Peace Corps is full of acronyms: PST, IST, COS, APCD, ET, SLF, VRF, PDM, the list goes on. So this past week we had our one-year IST which stands for In-Service Training. There was one three months in that I missed because I was still hanging around in Panama and then we get this one at a year in. I have officially made it through one full year of Peace Corps service!

For IST everyone grabbed a counterpart or two and headed to the lovely northern city of Matagalpa:

I originally was gunning for a site in this area because of its cooler temperatures. I brought a sweater, wore closed-toed shoes, and even wore my hair down! Craziness! And we were put up in a lovely hotel up on the hill that had hot water and cable TV – quite frankly they’re lucky we left our rooms.

But it wasn’t all hot showers and vegging out, we definitely worked hard for our nice accommodations. Most of us left our sites between 5 and 6am on Wednesday to be in Matagalpa by 10:30am and we started promptly at 11. We worked all day Wed and Thurs. Friday our counterparts left after lunch and us volunteers stuck around to do some more stuff and were cut loose on Saturday. We covered a lot of topics, largely pertaining to activities to use in the classroom, evaluation methods, planning teaching workshops, going over our new manual for the new curriculum, and learning a bit about Nonviolent Communication – which I think everyone should learn about! Here are Erin and Alli teaching everyone about how to resolve conflicts more effectively:

It’s challenging to get so much information in such a short time, but I know my counterpart, Axel, really enjoyed it. Here he is with a mango:

And here’s Axel with Matagalpa in the background, I guess he’s trying to look like a tough guy or something:

More photo highlights:

The lovely ladies of TEFL:

Enjoying a break:

And singing along to Eternal Flame, yes those microphones are markers – we were a little punchy by the end:

It was really great to see everyone and get to hear a little about what people have been up to for the last year. We also received our official COS date (that is Close of Service, when we’re done) and that is July 16^th, 2010. I know that the next year will fly by so I need to get on those projects that have been floating around in my head. Also, after April 16^th I can’t take more vacation so all you stragglers out there who still wanna come visit better take note!

Nica 51 Packing List!

This post is really for the new group of TEFL trainees who will be landing in Nicaragua in September. I figure at this point they’re starting to gather some of the stuff they’ll need for the big plunge so I present my list of necessary items:

Must Haves:
• Headlamp – for late night reading under the mosquito net/trips to the latrine/when the lights go out
• USB Memory Sticks – for taking to the ciber, backing up photos
• Camera - duh
• A good everyday bag – I actually found my good everyday bag in Panama, it has a strap that you can lengthen to wear crosswise or shorten to wear on the shoulder & it’s big enough to fit a couple notebooks & a water bottle
• Umbrella or rain jacket – it rains a lot, especially in October, I recommend the umbrella route
• Books – again, duh

Recommended
• Ipod & speakers – you can take them to school if you want, or just to play music at home
• Battery powered alarm clock
• Command hooks – esp if you think you’ll live on your own
• Cards/Uno deck – my host sisters really liked playing Uno during training
• Laptop & DVDs – aside from the obvious benefits, PC does a lot of communication electronically so it will save you money going to the ciber all the time to write reports, etc. Don’t bring a shiny new laptop though, it could get stolen, attacked by viruses from using USBs at the ciber, and most likely will be covered in dust after the first summer in Nicaragua. Mine is suddenly slow as molasses & I can’t figure out why. Be prepared to junk it when you leave.

If you have space
• Pillow – I brought mine and I’m sooooo happy I did!
• Spanish-language book, if you have one you like – I didn’t bring one & wish that I had
• Sheets – this is more for if you plan to live on your own, you also might just wait & have them sent down later or bring them back when you visit home which is what I did

Women’s Clothing – my advice is to pack what you can and leave a pile of clothes behind, some for hot climates & some for cooler climates & when you get your site assignment you can have your family or whoever send off a package – this goes for anything you wanna pack & don’t have space for.
• Look for materials that either absorb sweat or don’t show it, or bring camisoles to wear under your shirts if you sweat a lot
• At least 10 pairs of underwear, synthetic if possible
• 7 bras, including sports bras
• 5-7 pairs of socks
• Work-appropriate tank tops with wide straps – no spaghetti straps at school, but teachers here do wear sleeveless stuff, just make sure it’s tasteful
• 7 shirts/tank tops you can wear to work
• 5 shirts/tank tops for casual
• 2-3 long-sleeved shirts
• 1 going-out outfit
• 1-2 pairs of jeans
• 3-4 work pants or capris or skirts
• 1-2 casual pants or skirts
• 1-2 nice outfits or dresses
• 2 pairs of shorts for lounging around
• 1-2 swimsuits
• Pajamas
• A fleece or light jacket
• Tennis shoes
• Walking sandals
• 1-2 Nicer work sandals/shoes
• Flip flops

For guys, work dress is a lot more lax – nice jeans are acceptable for both sexes but the male teachers wear jeans a lot more than the female ones. And a simple button-up is good for work or whatever.

Toiletries – it is true that you can buy most any of this stuff in-country (except contact solution, which you can find but it’s tricky) but during training you get very little money so either pack it or bring money from home to buy it with
• Lots of contact solution if you use it
• If there’s space, a large supply of pads and/or tampons, pantyliners or bring a Diva Cup
• Pack Towel
• The usual: toothbrush, tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, hair bands, etc

Misc
• School supplies – markers, whiteboard markers, index cards, pens & pencils
• Special spices for cooking
• Sheet/blanket/sleepsack for hostels
• Sewing kit
• Sunglasses
• Moon Handbook
• Anti-bacterial hand stuff
• Flashlight
• Gatorade powder
• Yoga mat or other exercise stuff – I didn’t bring my yoga mat & was able to buy one here but I had to wait till the very end of training. I have started downloading yoga podcasts on my laptop to do at home & you can bring exercise DVDs or buy them here (only a dollar for bootleg DVDs!)

You’ll be given a big bag o’ books during staging as well so be prepared. It includes a Spanish-English dictionary & some more language stuff, as well as technical manuals & a notebook to use during training. I packed in a large backpacking pack, a rolling duffle bag, and my normal backpack & so far that’s served me pretty well.

And a word on staging in DC – a number of people in our training group had problems with the staff in DC in terms of clothing and piercings, but as far as I know none of the issues they brought up were actually issues in Nicaragua. Por ejemplo, my roommate in staging was told that her dress pant capris were too short (they kinda showed her knees a little) so she ran out and bought a bunch of new stuff before we left but I know she’s worn them here and never been told they were inappropriate. Same for piercings, some people were told to take out eyebrow and nose piercings in DC but when worn in Nicaragua they never have had problems. And not everyone with piercings was told to take them out. My recommendation is to wear your nicest stuff to DC and if you have a piercing to wear a small one. If there’s a real issue with something you wear, the staff in Nicaragua will tell you. Keep things tasteful and respectful while at the same time being true to who you are. We want to be good representatives for the U.S. while at the same time representing its diversity and ourselves as well – that of course is my opinion and has nothing to do with official Peace Corps policy :)

A Wedding, Nica Style

As you may or may not remember, there is a former volunteer who lives about 20 km away from me. Sarah left Peace Corps but she stayed in the country to teach in another school near Managua and this past weekend she got married to her boyfriend (now husband), Moises.




You may be thinking “woah, PC volunteer marrying a Nicaraguan!?! Craziness!” but it actually happens a whole lot – more often with female volunteers marrying Nicaraguan guys but it can go the other way too. Seeing the direction the rest of our TEFL group is headed in, I kind of doubt that anyone else will be taking the plunge before we leave.

I digress.



Six of us volunteers attended the wedding, and we weren’t really sure what to expect. Sarah’s parents and a group of friends flew down for the festivities but it was largely a Nicaraguan affair. First off, it started a half hour late :) All the gringos were firmly in their seats but the Nica’s kinda just rolled in whenever so although we started with a half empty church, it ended closer to full. There were also about a zillion screaming babies.



The actual service was what surprised me the most. It started out much like any religious wedding, but in the middle of it the pastor stepped down and a lady in a suit stepped up and took care of the civil part of the wedding. This involved reading off the full names, ages, professions, and birth places of the bride and groom and having them along with their witnesses sign some paperwork. When that was over we got back into the religious stuff and finished with the usual kiss. We all thoroughly enjoyed the part where the pastor was trying to pronounce English stuff and would make his attempt and then follow it with “algo asi” (something like that).



Then there was the reception with food and the best cake I’ve eaten in Nicaragua (Nica cake is different from American cake- especially the frosting which just doesn’t taste right and they put something between the two layers of cake that looks like it might be tasty but usually it’s not – the first time we got Nica cake during training everyone’s eyes lit up but that only lasted until the first bite when we realized that it’s not what we were expecting). Then my friend Maria caught the bouquet, the second one she’s caught in Nicaragua thus far:



Overall, really not that different from a wedding in the U.S. except for the civil part.

Fun with English-learning

One of my secondary projects (teaching in the schools is my primary project) is teaching English to the three person staff of a local NGO – I know I’ve written about them before. I love teaching them, partly for situations that arise that are absolutely hilarious. One of my favorite misunderstandings that came out of that class happened a while back. I asked one of the women “Do you have a cousin in Rivas?” and her attempt at translating before answering (“Eres una cocina en Rivas?”) actually means “Are you a kitchen in Rivas?” That might be one of those, “you had to be there” moments but we still laugh about it to this day.

Last week in class we were going over the homework which was to match the opposite adjectives in a list (small-large, deep-shallow, etc.) and the two women in the group had worked together and determined that “tall” didn’t match with anything on the list and so they had written in “bass.” I kept looking at it thinking “how in the world did they come up with bass?” With a little more thought I realized that they had taken “tall” which is “alto” in Spanish and knew that the opposite was “bajo,” which translates to both “short” and “bass” as in bass guitar. It’s like a little puzzle sometimes making the connections :)