http://photobucket.com/jeffanderlite
I will try to put more up soon, it takes forever! I do have more, so you'll just have to wait for the excitement. Although i don't really have any good photos.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
I know a mean panaderia lady that makes tasty cheese bread
I was told volcanoes were pretty stinky places yesterday. I didn't find that to be the case at all. There was some sulfur in the air for sure, but overall i felt the volcano had a pretty nice aroma. We went to visit volcan masaya today, Pretty Spectacular. We did have a nice diversity Charla before, just so we were all still aware that we were in the Peace Corps.
I am going to go get a Pico in a minute. A pico my friends is a fantastic pan dulce with 2 main flavors; pineapple and my favorite, with cheese. For a pico the size of half of your face i pay 2 cords, or roughly 10 cents American. I eat a pico pretty much everyday, although I have ventured quite a few times. The best bread in town is at a shop not far from my house, on the way from my Spanish classes actually. They sell this bread that is braided with melted cheese on top. There are 3 problems i strugle with every day when thinking about this bread. 1) It is very large and i know i will eat it all, but i don't want to be a fat ass. 2) It costs 8 cords - 40 cents, this just seems astonishingly high, although it is a big hunk of bread. 3) the lady that works there has a terrible attitude and that makes me want to go to the other place that sells the tasty pico.
Anyway, I hope America Dominates the world cup!
Our youth group is making mango hot sauce. I havent tried it but apperently its pretty damn delicious, which makes me happy because that will give us a better chance to beat the other business volunteers, and consequently make us look good!
...
...
...
1)Draw these dots just like you see them on a piece of paper.
2)connect them all using 4 lines - this means four movements of the pen, you cannot go back and forth over a line to get to the next line you want to draw.
3) the lines must be strait
4) you cannot lift the pen from the paper. Good luck!
See ya!
I am going to go get a Pico in a minute. A pico my friends is a fantastic pan dulce with 2 main flavors; pineapple and my favorite, with cheese. For a pico the size of half of your face i pay 2 cords, or roughly 10 cents American. I eat a pico pretty much everyday, although I have ventured quite a few times. The best bread in town is at a shop not far from my house, on the way from my Spanish classes actually. They sell this bread that is braided with melted cheese on top. There are 3 problems i strugle with every day when thinking about this bread. 1) It is very large and i know i will eat it all, but i don't want to be a fat ass. 2) It costs 8 cords - 40 cents, this just seems astonishingly high, although it is a big hunk of bread. 3) the lady that works there has a terrible attitude and that makes me want to go to the other place that sells the tasty pico.
Anyway, I hope America Dominates the world cup!
Our youth group is making mango hot sauce. I havent tried it but apperently its pretty damn delicious, which makes me happy because that will give us a better chance to beat the other business volunteers, and consequently make us look good!
...
...
...
1)Draw these dots just like you see them on a piece of paper.
2)connect them all using 4 lines - this means four movements of the pen, you cannot go back and forth over a line to get to the next line you want to draw.
3) the lines must be strait
4) you cannot lift the pen from the paper. Good luck!
See ya!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Jalapa Shmalapa
Greetings,
I Went to Jalapa this weekend. People that I have traveled with can attest to the quality of buses south of panama. They are not quite the same here. I had an 7 hour ride on an old school bus to get to the volunteer, named Diego, that I was visiting. On the way there i was smart, thinking ahead to the possiblility that the driver wouldn´t stop, thus giving us a chance to get out and relieve ourselvs. Well i was right in my forthought. The town is nestled amongst beutifull little mountains that compliment the refreshingly cool nicaraguan air. I arived to a grand welcome with Diego and the principal of one of his schools along with an english teacher. We ate a typical nicaraguan rice and beens plate with some carne de res. I took my stuff to a little Hotelito owned by a guy named Edgar. We hit the town for a little bit, but called it a night quite early due to the fact that a nice hour long bus ride was waiting for us at 6 am the next morning.
We left for school the next morning to a school mear feet from the Honduran boarder. Now for those of you not familiar with recent nigaraguan history, here is a little breifing. IN the late 70´s early 80´s Nicaragua went through a civil war, well actually a lot longer than that, but for our porposes we will focus on the early 80´s when good old Regan was in office. You see, we supplied the contras that were living in the mountains in hounduras to fight the Sandinistas. Well this led to much anti american sentiment in this area. Anyways, I say this because the first school we visited was ravaged by bullet holes from the war.
The next day, tuesday, we had 12 hours of school. Well, In reallity we only had about 3 hours, but because of the bus schedule we found our selfs waiting at 2 different schools for an estimated 7 hours, not including class time of travel time.
On the last day I left early to return home. The bus actually stopped, which was a miricle because I really needed to pee. Also, i bought some tasty Nica snacks that i needed to munch on.
Last night was spent preparing for today, My second day of teaching the class. this is not to get confused with our yourth group that we meet with every week that we help to create a product, no, this is me infront of 45 17 year olds teaching a class in some foreign language with 2 people from the Peace Corps eyeing and recording my every move. It´s very nerve racking. I was told that I did a poor job the first go around, which really pissed me off. So I tried my best again, but with more visual aids, and was told that I had taught a successfull class.
Now Im going to relax, I have been stressing about teaching those kids since friday. On saturday we all go to volcan Masaya for a little field trip.
I hope your all good.
I Went to Jalapa this weekend. People that I have traveled with can attest to the quality of buses south of panama. They are not quite the same here. I had an 7 hour ride on an old school bus to get to the volunteer, named Diego, that I was visiting. On the way there i was smart, thinking ahead to the possiblility that the driver wouldn´t stop, thus giving us a chance to get out and relieve ourselvs. Well i was right in my forthought. The town is nestled amongst beutifull little mountains that compliment the refreshingly cool nicaraguan air. I arived to a grand welcome with Diego and the principal of one of his schools along with an english teacher. We ate a typical nicaraguan rice and beens plate with some carne de res. I took my stuff to a little Hotelito owned by a guy named Edgar. We hit the town for a little bit, but called it a night quite early due to the fact that a nice hour long bus ride was waiting for us at 6 am the next morning.
We left for school the next morning to a school mear feet from the Honduran boarder. Now for those of you not familiar with recent nigaraguan history, here is a little breifing. IN the late 70´s early 80´s Nicaragua went through a civil war, well actually a lot longer than that, but for our porposes we will focus on the early 80´s when good old Regan was in office. You see, we supplied the contras that were living in the mountains in hounduras to fight the Sandinistas. Well this led to much anti american sentiment in this area. Anyways, I say this because the first school we visited was ravaged by bullet holes from the war.
The next day, tuesday, we had 12 hours of school. Well, In reallity we only had about 3 hours, but because of the bus schedule we found our selfs waiting at 2 different schools for an estimated 7 hours, not including class time of travel time.
On the last day I left early to return home. The bus actually stopped, which was a miricle because I really needed to pee. Also, i bought some tasty Nica snacks that i needed to munch on.
Last night was spent preparing for today, My second day of teaching the class. this is not to get confused with our yourth group that we meet with every week that we help to create a product, no, this is me infront of 45 17 year olds teaching a class in some foreign language with 2 people from the Peace Corps eyeing and recording my every move. It´s very nerve racking. I was told that I did a poor job the first go around, which really pissed me off. So I tried my best again, but with more visual aids, and was told that I had taught a successfull class.
Now Im going to relax, I have been stressing about teaching those kids since friday. On saturday we all go to volcan Masaya for a little field trip.
I hope your all good.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Coming To America
HI
So just a quick little tidbit because I am tired - On Wednesday we found out where we are going for our volunteer visit. This is not where we will be for the next 2 years, but rather just a short 4 day stint with a current volunteer so we get the feel for what being a volunteer is all about. I of course, am being sent as far as I possibly could. I am going to Jalapa, Honduras, I mean Nicaragua, but in that general vicinity. Anyway, I´m actually glad because I get to check out more of the country on my visit, and I met the hombre that I will be visiting, He was at the conference making tasty treats; he make the jams and jellies. I leave Monday morning and will be gone till wed night.
Also, as if I wasn´t busy enough, yesterday I received a call from the technical trainer with instructions to go to the local public school to ask permission to teach a class on next Thursday. So with this weekend completely full and my volunteer visit till Wednesday I won’t really have that much Time to prepare. But no worries, I will do well. I taught a class this Wednesday day that went alright in the Private school. I was told that I need to not read from my note cards so much, and I need to use more visual aids, so that’s what I’ll do for round numero dos.
Today was pretty tranquilo. We all went to Managua for a little lesson from volunteers about classroom management. They served a slider with mayonnaise for brunch and, as all of you who really know me could imagine, I refused. After that I went to America. We went to the U.S Embassy to hear a lecture about food security from this expert. He had a fantastic job, and by my count had been an advisor in Guatemala, Egypt, Peru, Azerbaijan, and Hungry. These are just the places mentioned in his speech that was quite informative and interesting. He basically stressed that when we work with the producers of food and the consumers while we try to increase wealth we should focus on the demand side of the equation. We have a conventional wisdom, especially when thinking about malnutrition and food scarcity, to think solely on the production side, i.e. we only need to produce more to fill the needs of the hungry. He preached that we need to focus on connecting potential suppliers with concrete buyers at this level so the risk of production is diminished and when the buyers are identified the potential suppliers can start to produce and if need be this is when these NGO´s can help with capacity building and expert advice pertaining to production, quality control and distribution. I have to say I agree with him. Now there are many more points he made that would probably make this a lot clearer to you the reader, but overall it was pretty Twany.
Well, I have to go do some stuff as usual, PAZ-Out
So just a quick little tidbit because I am tired - On Wednesday we found out where we are going for our volunteer visit. This is not where we will be for the next 2 years, but rather just a short 4 day stint with a current volunteer so we get the feel for what being a volunteer is all about. I of course, am being sent as far as I possibly could. I am going to Jalapa, Honduras, I mean Nicaragua, but in that general vicinity. Anyway, I´m actually glad because I get to check out more of the country on my visit, and I met the hombre that I will be visiting, He was at the conference making tasty treats; he make the jams and jellies. I leave Monday morning and will be gone till wed night.
Also, as if I wasn´t busy enough, yesterday I received a call from the technical trainer with instructions to go to the local public school to ask permission to teach a class on next Thursday. So with this weekend completely full and my volunteer visit till Wednesday I won’t really have that much Time to prepare. But no worries, I will do well. I taught a class this Wednesday day that went alright in the Private school. I was told that I need to not read from my note cards so much, and I need to use more visual aids, so that’s what I’ll do for round numero dos.
Today was pretty tranquilo. We all went to Managua for a little lesson from volunteers about classroom management. They served a slider with mayonnaise for brunch and, as all of you who really know me could imagine, I refused. After that I went to America. We went to the U.S Embassy to hear a lecture about food security from this expert. He had a fantastic job, and by my count had been an advisor in Guatemala, Egypt, Peru, Azerbaijan, and Hungry. These are just the places mentioned in his speech that was quite informative and interesting. He basically stressed that when we work with the producers of food and the consumers while we try to increase wealth we should focus on the demand side of the equation. We have a conventional wisdom, especially when thinking about malnutrition and food scarcity, to think solely on the production side, i.e. we only need to produce more to fill the needs of the hungry. He preached that we need to focus on connecting potential suppliers with concrete buyers at this level so the risk of production is diminished and when the buyers are identified the potential suppliers can start to produce and if need be this is when these NGO´s can help with capacity building and expert advice pertaining to production, quality control and distribution. I have to say I agree with him. Now there are many more points he made that would probably make this a lot clearer to you the reader, but overall it was pretty Twany.
Well, I have to go do some stuff as usual, PAZ-Out
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Peanut Butter Delight
Hello,
This week was busy like usual. We had to do workshops on Friday and Saturday. The workshop on Saturday included a guest speaker that was a former volunteer in Nicaragua. He spoke to us about the business climate in Nicaragua and the foreseeable trends, political functions relating to trade and commerce and what he considers should be the main focus for this country to lift itself out of poverty. The workshop on Saturday included both the agriculture and small business groups. The workshop was to promote inter group resourcefulness and cooperation and collaboration. We worked on food processing and storage techniques that included: canning, dehydrating, sterilizing, pasteurizing, smoking among other techniques. I found this to be a pretty interesting and useful class. the remaining 3 hours of class were really fun. We made jam from the local fruits, crushed peanuts, salt, honey, sugar, and oil to make incredible peanut butter, homemade pesto from some leaves that apparently grow anywhere in Nicaragua and are scientifically one of the healthiest plants on the face of the earth, gram for gram when looking at nutritional content of potassium, iron, vitamins b, c, d, calcium and others I'm sure, but cannot remember. We also made banana fritters and some soy products. The day was a tasty treat.
Today - I'm going to do homework, since I have to prepare for a class on wed. I meet with my counterpart on Monday. Other then that nothing out of the norm. On Wednesday we find out where we go for our site visits. This is not where our future sites will be, but rather the sites of current volunteers that we will follow for 4 or 5 days so we can see what being a volunteer is all about.
This week was busy like usual. We had to do workshops on Friday and Saturday. The workshop on Saturday included a guest speaker that was a former volunteer in Nicaragua. He spoke to us about the business climate in Nicaragua and the foreseeable trends, political functions relating to trade and commerce and what he considers should be the main focus for this country to lift itself out of poverty. The workshop on Saturday included both the agriculture and small business groups. The workshop was to promote inter group resourcefulness and cooperation and collaboration. We worked on food processing and storage techniques that included: canning, dehydrating, sterilizing, pasteurizing, smoking among other techniques. I found this to be a pretty interesting and useful class. the remaining 3 hours of class were really fun. We made jam from the local fruits, crushed peanuts, salt, honey, sugar, and oil to make incredible peanut butter, homemade pesto from some leaves that apparently grow anywhere in Nicaragua and are scientifically one of the healthiest plants on the face of the earth, gram for gram when looking at nutritional content of potassium, iron, vitamins b, c, d, calcium and others I'm sure, but cannot remember. We also made banana fritters and some soy products. The day was a tasty treat.
Today - I'm going to do homework, since I have to prepare for a class on wed. I meet with my counterpart on Monday. Other then that nothing out of the norm. On Wednesday we find out where we go for our site visits. This is not where our future sites will be, but rather the sites of current volunteers that we will follow for 4 or 5 days so we can see what being a volunteer is all about.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Dia De Madre and Puke in a Can
Que Tal,
This past weekend was interesting. I did some form of running with the bulls on Saturday. If you remember, fiestas patronales lasts for 3 weeks; well this week’s event was a running with the bulls. Now, don´t get me wrong, it was fun and exciting, but it was nothing like the Pamplona version. The fun consisted of 4 bulls being released in intervals, with people throwing rocks and hitting them with sticks to get them mad and go crazy. They were tied to men on horses to avoid any deaths or other serious injuries. Overall the experience was very fun, and I enjoyed it, although I was a delicious tomato after all the sun.
On Sunday, may 30th, we celebrated mothers day, witch was correct as it was mothers day here. It is a very large spectacle here, everyone talk´s all day and gives presents to their mothers; I gave my mom a fun little care package from the little tienda by my house that consisted of lotion and some other spay-smell good stuff. We proceeded to go to dinner, although we never ate a thing. My family ordered bottles of Flor de Caña rum with soda water. I was worried all night because I had homework which wasn’t yet complete, so while they partied, I drank coffee. Overall it was a fun event though. Ohh also while I was there, I saw another volunteer in my group named Jessica who had a bad reaction to the food and had to through up in the garbage can in plane view of everyone at the restaurant because the bathroom was occupied. HAHA
This week has been going great for me. It has gone by fast and I have been less busy. I talked with my shoemaker business that I am advising, as well as the group of high school seniors that we are teaching entrepreneurship classes to. The business advising is going pretty slow, I am just gathering information right now. The class however is in full swing. They are not quite as creative as I would like them to be, however they are great students that go out of their way to come to class after school so they can learn. I really appreciate that. Ill keep you updated with the class, because we have our competition at the end of our training and I want to dominate the other business groups with out students work.
That’s all Folks - Hope you all are doing well.
This past weekend was interesting. I did some form of running with the bulls on Saturday. If you remember, fiestas patronales lasts for 3 weeks; well this week’s event was a running with the bulls. Now, don´t get me wrong, it was fun and exciting, but it was nothing like the Pamplona version. The fun consisted of 4 bulls being released in intervals, with people throwing rocks and hitting them with sticks to get them mad and go crazy. They were tied to men on horses to avoid any deaths or other serious injuries. Overall the experience was very fun, and I enjoyed it, although I was a delicious tomato after all the sun.
On Sunday, may 30th, we celebrated mothers day, witch was correct as it was mothers day here. It is a very large spectacle here, everyone talk´s all day and gives presents to their mothers; I gave my mom a fun little care package from the little tienda by my house that consisted of lotion and some other spay-smell good stuff. We proceeded to go to dinner, although we never ate a thing. My family ordered bottles of Flor de Caña rum with soda water. I was worried all night because I had homework which wasn’t yet complete, so while they partied, I drank coffee. Overall it was a fun event though. Ohh also while I was there, I saw another volunteer in my group named Jessica who had a bad reaction to the food and had to through up in the garbage can in plane view of everyone at the restaurant because the bathroom was occupied. HAHA
This week has been going great for me. It has gone by fast and I have been less busy. I talked with my shoemaker business that I am advising, as well as the group of high school seniors that we are teaching entrepreneurship classes to. The business advising is going pretty slow, I am just gathering information right now. The class however is in full swing. They are not quite as creative as I would like them to be, however they are great students that go out of their way to come to class after school so they can learn. I really appreciate that. Ill keep you updated with the class, because we have our competition at the end of our training and I want to dominate the other business groups with out students work.
That’s all Folks - Hope you all are doing well.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Agua, Cerveza, Coca Cola
Buenos Dias,
So Its the rainy season here. It will rain about 23 hours a day for the next month and a half. I usually don´t like the rain, but with all that HOT that has been going on, i really don´t mind getting wet as long as there is some coolness.
We went to managua today, what a scattered and dirty city. I´m sure like everywhere there are nice parts, but over all the city is very dirty, scattered(there are no street signs in Nicaragua by the way, they give directions by point of reference, like go 1 block north of the main cathederal and 2 blocks west) and it is dangerous. Anywhoo, we got back late, and we had a meating with our youth group to work with them on their creative business class. They are going to start a company and present it at a fair in 8 weeks with our help, they best company wins prizes. We showed up 45 minutes late, and they were gone, but miraculously after we left, a kid ran us down and told us to come back, and when we arrived at the school there were 8 of them ready to learn. So anyway, I had to teach in spanish a lesson about being creative when thinking of ideas to start a company, not an easy task, but I thought I handled it really well.
The fiesta patronales was very fun. party on the street all weekend. I went with my family and we danced to all types of music. When I say my family, I mean like 20 cousins and nefews and brothers.
Im learning spanish which is nice. I should have been better before I got here but ohh well, im learning now...
I hope all is well. training is very hard, And im working like 5 to 6 12 hour days a week or more.
Paz - Primos
So Its the rainy season here. It will rain about 23 hours a day for the next month and a half. I usually don´t like the rain, but with all that HOT that has been going on, i really don´t mind getting wet as long as there is some coolness.
We went to managua today, what a scattered and dirty city. I´m sure like everywhere there are nice parts, but over all the city is very dirty, scattered(there are no street signs in Nicaragua by the way, they give directions by point of reference, like go 1 block north of the main cathederal and 2 blocks west) and it is dangerous. Anywhoo, we got back late, and we had a meating with our youth group to work with them on their creative business class. They are going to start a company and present it at a fair in 8 weeks with our help, they best company wins prizes. We showed up 45 minutes late, and they were gone, but miraculously after we left, a kid ran us down and told us to come back, and when we arrived at the school there were 8 of them ready to learn. So anyway, I had to teach in spanish a lesson about being creative when thinking of ideas to start a company, not an easy task, but I thought I handled it really well.
The fiesta patronales was very fun. party on the street all weekend. I went with my family and we danced to all types of music. When I say my family, I mean like 20 cousins and nefews and brothers.
Im learning spanish which is nice. I should have been better before I got here but ohh well, im learning now...
I hope all is well. training is very hard, And im working like 5 to 6 12 hour days a week or more.
Paz - Primos
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