An interception saved my sanity! I was at the internet café drinking a rum and coke watching the number one ranked University of Alabama play at the number ten ranked Arkansas Razorbacks this last Saturday. We were losing the entire game until our safety Robert Lester saved my sanity. You see, without that spectacular interception with around 3:00 to go in the game to propel Heisman Trophy wining running back, Mark Ingram’s game winning touchdown, I could very well have gone insane. However I am as cool as the bricks on an igloo at this moment after a 24 – 20 come from behind victory.
My Famer tan is a work in progress, however after this Saturday’s softball extravaganza that had me on the cow pasture / softball field for 7 hours, It certainly is on its way to being legendary. Speaking of softball, we played again this weekend. This is how the softball organizational structure is set up here. First after numerous encounters and reconfirmations, my cousin’s boyfriend and I go to the designated 8:00am meeting spot on Sunday at the town park so we can all go together to the Port to play again. We wait for 1 and good healthy chunk of an hour before deciding that everyone must have got smashed the night before and not wanted to play. While we were sitting there a fun little event unfolds right in front of our eyes.
This park that we are waiting at happens to be situated at the feet of the big catholic monstrosity of a church. I say monstrosity because in tranquil little Rama, a church of this grandeur doesn’t belong, however being in Central America, one sees such things frequently. After about 1 hour of waiting at the little fritanga (sell fried food and fresco juices) stand in the park, a deafly loud roar came creeping up from around the church. A procession of what must have been thousands of folks waving flags and following in the chants led by the lady with the microphone walked towards us before entering the church. Then right behind these people was another procession with outrageously loud music coming from stadium sized speakers mounted on top of the 3 wheeled imported from India mototaxies. This procession went around the block to what I’m assuming was their own church. Then came another, and then came another, and so on and so forth. What turned out to be the day of the bible really was a competition between church groups to see who could be louder and more obnoxious? Because Jesus is happier the louder you chant and sing his name, Fact! I thought it was great though really, I love watching these people do their thing!
Anyway, back to softball. We walked to the baseball stadium in the midst of all this madness because we figured we would watch a baseball game if we can’t play our own game of softball. While in the stadium, we encountered a guy claiming that we were going to play the Alcaldia after his game at a completely different field. We agreed to check this claim out especially because the new field was 2 blocks behind my house. We get to this cow pasture, softball diamond gem of a sports facility to see a horde of hombres playing catch getting ready for their game. See ladies and gentleman, each pair of teams plays 2 games during the “first hour” and then another set of teams follows in the “second hour.” We thought we were first hour, but really unsuspectingly to us had been designated second hour. There were 5 of us waiting for an hour before in true Nica-time, the first hour started 2 hours late. This is where the farmers tan really is starting to shape up. After the rotation of kids finishes shoveling cow shit off the entire diamond, the teams commence. These guys finish their two games and luckily we are able to accumulate a substantive team to go against the most formidable opponent in all of the great Rama.
The Alcaldia (Mayors office) scare its foes with blindingly bright White and Red Professional looking uniforms. Stitched numbers and names make them intimidating. They warm up with rocket launchers for arms and sound footwork and ball technique. We had guys taking pulls off the cheapest rum plata and smoking cigs during our warm up! Anyway we start, they think the gringo has game, because I start at short, and leadoff hitter. My first at bat was robbed, I hit a hard grounder up the middle, and while the shortstop made a great play, the ball reached first way after my foot, but alas, the gringo was out. We jump to a 2 to nothing lead in the 3rd inning, I’m up to bat, with 2 outs and men on first and second. The pressure is on at this point for me to come through. I hit a monster of a shot to left center, my ill prepared, tennis shoe covered feet slide along the bases to a stand up triple. Easy home run if not for the snail like rounding of the bases due to lack of traction! By far the furthest hit of either the four games I saw. We won the game in a shocking 5 to 4 clash of softball fanatics.
The second game we started out loosing. We never lost our heads, and with a few genius coaching adjustments and player position changes, we were in position to retake the lead. Once again, after a terrible little pop up, I’m up to bat with 2 outs and men on 1st and second. I deliver in the clutch a solid line drive over the short to drive in a run. We never looked back from there and delivered a crushing 10-5 slaughter over the then highest ranked team. For all of you wondering how my throws were, impeccable, couldn’t have made them any sweeter.
I almost got a triple play as well. With men at first and secont the batter hit a hard grounder up the middle found my glove, and in an instant I tagged the guy at second, hit the bag, and attempted to throw to first. Now at this point after some rain and 0 traction I hit the guy on 2nd, the guy coming from first in what looked like I was playing running back in a football game. That is to say I leveled these two guys, and when I fell over them, I lost the ball. This resulted in only 1 out although it should have been two because I dropped the ball about 3 seconds after touching the bag. “El gringo es muy furioso, super agresivo,” is what I heard from the opposing bleachers. They were just joking, I think.
I walked off the field feeling pretty good about my performance. Even the Alcaldia were telling me that I need to get cleats though. My mother here told me that kid’s walked by and said the gringo was the best batter of the day! I came home and looked in the mirror before entering the shower to see a partially burnt farmer folk. I have begun what could be one of the most awesome farmers’ tans in the history of El Rama. I will keep you guys updated on the status of this development.
Today is Monday, September 27, 2010. I have no school this week due to the TEPCES teacher training that I thought was last week. I will study a lot and work in my garden. I will also frequent the internet and meet that guy at the microfinance institution to see about some jobs that I can help out with.
I hope all is well over on the part of the world where it dips below 78 degrees Fahrenheit during the night!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
¡I Must be Famous!
So, i´m walking down the road on Monday, minding my own business, when I stumbled upon that last drum competition. Woo, its over! There were people from various other communities flooding the streets with costumes and odd Nicaraguan facial expressions. The street facing the gymnasium where the competition was held was inundated with tents and venders selling food and arts and crafts and other knick knacks. I’m caught in the middle of all this mess, a little dumbfounded by recently unexpected sensory overload, when a herd of gringos stampedes towards me. The leader of this wild pack was none other than the United States of America´s Ambassador to Nicaragua. We literally almost hit each other due to his rapid pace and my stagnant confused standing position. I hastily did a one two shuffle to get out of his way – walk with him. Ambassador Callahan extended his hand and said ¨you’re a Peace Corps volunteer aren´t you? ¨ We chit chatted for about 30 strides when I was shuffled to the back of the pack by his entourage. The lady next to me was his public relations staff member who promptly struck up a nice conversation. She was friendly and gave me her business card, as well as the rest of her fried plantains. Umm, Delicious! I must be Famous! The ambassador recognizes me and I get free fried treats.
I thought that there was no school this week due to the end of the month TEPCES planning session that all the teachers participate in on the last Friday of every month. Since 3 of my four schools are on Friday I really don´t have class or planning sessions during TEPCES weeks. Well I was misinformed. I have class this week as well as my designated planning sessions. Oops. No biggie, I responded with a quickness to tackle any task that is at hand. I called those counterparts and made moves.
I also had the first of hopefully many meetings with Samuel Mejia Peña. This is the guy who can get me all the prime jobs here. I guess he used to be the mayor of El Rama in the 80´s. His office has 5 rooms with air-conditioning. I hope I can smooth talk my way all the way to a desk with internet.
That’s all for now, the huerto looks superb.
I thought that there was no school this week due to the end of the month TEPCES planning session that all the teachers participate in on the last Friday of every month. Since 3 of my four schools are on Friday I really don´t have class or planning sessions during TEPCES weeks. Well I was misinformed. I have class this week as well as my designated planning sessions. Oops. No biggie, I responded with a quickness to tackle any task that is at hand. I called those counterparts and made moves.
I also had the first of hopefully many meetings with Samuel Mejia Peña. This is the guy who can get me all the prime jobs here. I guess he used to be the mayor of El Rama in the 80´s. His office has 5 rooms with air-conditioning. I hope I can smooth talk my way all the way to a desk with internet.
That’s all for now, the huerto looks superb.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Extracurricular activities
No school for 2 weeks has its benefits and its disadvantages. This last week there was no school for the parades and festivities relating to Independence Day, September 14th. Have I told you funny people about the constant drumming that has been going on right across the street from my house, and according to my colleagues, all around Nicaragua? Well if not, these kids pound on their drums like it’s their favorite sport. It really gets on your nerves after about a month. The point of all this ear harassment is to practice for their competition that was held on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday up until about 4pm, I was like, shit yea, I can hear myself think; that was until the pounding commenced and I learned that there was to be another competition held with students from other parts of Nicaragua this Monday. I don’t really mind too much, I have really grown accustomed to this sort of obnoxious behavior, and really with my lack of stereo etiquette in college I really should not have any qualms with an hour or two a of this in the middle of the day.
This is the Drum Competition
As I said last time, I am making some vegetable gardens. This has proved to be very difficult work, especially because of the earth that I am working with. My backyard is a lovely space that is conducive to a nice garden of sorts. The only problem is that after I removed a few trees, their roots started to rear their ugly little tentacles. The mud is saturated with water making it heavy and extremely sticky. This has made it quite a work out for me in this brutal sun. I melt like gummy bears in the microwave! Can you say farmers tan! I wore no shirt the last two times, and luckily was too tired to continue for extended periods of time which almost certainly would have brought on massive burns on my ill equipped gringo skin. I bought almost all the necessary materials for my bocashi compost. These include:
1) .5 % yeast
2) 27% Cow manure
3) .5 % molasses
4) 2 % semolina – feed for animals
5) 2 % ashes from wood
6) 27 % soil
7) 14 % Carbon (I’m using burnt corn husks)
8) 27 % un burnt corn husks
This mixture hopefully will make the soil good enough for my thumb to be super green; although I think I have a natural knack for growing things! This should take 2 more weeks, at which point I will be able to plant my seeds. I still don’t know yet what exactly I’m going to plant, but I think cantaloupe, watermelon, and chili peppers are essential, maybe some pot, just joking, Peace Corps wouldn’t like that.
the begining
Day 1
It was Hot, plus i thought you´d like some eye candy
all cleared
I played soccer 2 times this week across the street from my house at the school. I just joined one day and to my surprise I had a sweet gol. The next day was a different animal. It was muddy and raining; everyone was playing barefoot and sliding around, myself included.
On Saturday my host mother climbed 5 ranks in her police unit for her soon to be completion of nursing school. She skipped 9 years of work by obtaining her degree. You’d think these benefits would be more apparent to the majority of the population of Nicaragua, but education really isn’t looked upon the same way we look at it. At the after party lunch event I met a perfect contact.
My Peace Corps job description dictates that I should take on various other secondary jobs. The recommended jobs include but are not limited to: working with youth groups, tourism, women’s groups, microfinance institutions, and advising small business. Well holy mierda, guess what this guy does. He owns a microfinance institution that gives consultations to its clients, has a youth group, a women’s group that makes jewelry, helps with a nature preserve to bring in tourists and to top it off this guy has a few books, and my favorite I think will be his book of jokes. Anyway I hope to really take advantage of this guy, so I am going to meet with him this week to be a nuisance until he hooks me up with some jobs I want. I mean lets be serous for a minute, I’m free educated labor, who doesn’t want that?
Today I finally was able to participate in some softball. We took a cab to the fields 25 minutes away only to find out that our team was playing at the big river port that is about 5 minutes away. While there are limited sports venues in this country and especially in the Branch, (El Rama) I thought this shitty little softball field was quite cool. It is inside the national port of El Rama. We had to go through a security checkpoint before proceeding to our game. We were late of course and missed the first game, but luckily we were playing a double header. There were cranes and huge boats 30 meters from third base with hills and the river in the surrounding views. I sat the first 2 innings being the new guy and all. Then I was subbed into second base. I thought I was a pretty good baseball player in high school and a good softball player in college, but today I showed that practice really makes perfect and lack of practice makes you like me. I was 2 for 2 batting with a double and 2 runs. The highlight was my pickle going home with a guy on first and a grounder to the shortstop I decided to go for it. I went home and faked back to third before my cheetah like dash home. I had a great inside slide with my right foot dragging across the corner of the plate just evading the catcher’s high tag. It was controversial but in the end I was safe for the run. In the field, I didn’t let any ball by me. What I did do however was heave the ball into the ground 3 times. I was furious with my inept throwing abilities. The hat saw the dirt on 2 separate occasions! I blamed it on me not playing for 4 years, but seriously 3 times is uncalled for. In the end it was a blast and I can’t wait to keep playing with these older guys that named the team, el juventud (the youth). Haha. We lost the game 13 to 8. The other teams had legit uniforms and we were a scattered bunch with half the team smashing cigs on the sideline. I wouldn’t want to be on any other team.
The day continued with a fun outing at our local baseball field, to watch a game between the El Rama Indios and some other team from a small community out in the middle of nowhere. I left early to study some Spanish, but it was fun none the less. Also, best part of baseball here; beers are the same price in the stadium as they are anywhere else in town. I was really happy to see how into the game the community was; the stadium was packed with a few hundred people.
Did Alabama dominate once again, yep! Roll Tide.
Hope the beautiful Bay Area is treating you well, and the south and Midwest. Where ever you are at really! I miss Jamba Juice and Tombstome pizza. So if you want to send some money so I could make up for this deficiency with the only thing that could possibly fill it, Traveling around Nicaragua, I am all for that!
Adios!
This is the Drum Competition
As I said last time, I am making some vegetable gardens. This has proved to be very difficult work, especially because of the earth that I am working with. My backyard is a lovely space that is conducive to a nice garden of sorts. The only problem is that after I removed a few trees, their roots started to rear their ugly little tentacles. The mud is saturated with water making it heavy and extremely sticky. This has made it quite a work out for me in this brutal sun. I melt like gummy bears in the microwave! Can you say farmers tan! I wore no shirt the last two times, and luckily was too tired to continue for extended periods of time which almost certainly would have brought on massive burns on my ill equipped gringo skin. I bought almost all the necessary materials for my bocashi compost. These include:
1) .5 % yeast
2) 27% Cow manure
3) .5 % molasses
4) 2 % semolina – feed for animals
5) 2 % ashes from wood
6) 27 % soil
7) 14 % Carbon (I’m using burnt corn husks)
8) 27 % un burnt corn husks
This mixture hopefully will make the soil good enough for my thumb to be super green; although I think I have a natural knack for growing things! This should take 2 more weeks, at which point I will be able to plant my seeds. I still don’t know yet what exactly I’m going to plant, but I think cantaloupe, watermelon, and chili peppers are essential, maybe some pot, just joking, Peace Corps wouldn’t like that.
the begining
Day 1
It was Hot, plus i thought you´d like some eye candy
all cleared
I played soccer 2 times this week across the street from my house at the school. I just joined one day and to my surprise I had a sweet gol. The next day was a different animal. It was muddy and raining; everyone was playing barefoot and sliding around, myself included.
On Saturday my host mother climbed 5 ranks in her police unit for her soon to be completion of nursing school. She skipped 9 years of work by obtaining her degree. You’d think these benefits would be more apparent to the majority of the population of Nicaragua, but education really isn’t looked upon the same way we look at it. At the after party lunch event I met a perfect contact.
My Peace Corps job description dictates that I should take on various other secondary jobs. The recommended jobs include but are not limited to: working with youth groups, tourism, women’s groups, microfinance institutions, and advising small business. Well holy mierda, guess what this guy does. He owns a microfinance institution that gives consultations to its clients, has a youth group, a women’s group that makes jewelry, helps with a nature preserve to bring in tourists and to top it off this guy has a few books, and my favorite I think will be his book of jokes. Anyway I hope to really take advantage of this guy, so I am going to meet with him this week to be a nuisance until he hooks me up with some jobs I want. I mean lets be serous for a minute, I’m free educated labor, who doesn’t want that?
Today I finally was able to participate in some softball. We took a cab to the fields 25 minutes away only to find out that our team was playing at the big river port that is about 5 minutes away. While there are limited sports venues in this country and especially in the Branch, (El Rama) I thought this shitty little softball field was quite cool. It is inside the national port of El Rama. We had to go through a security checkpoint before proceeding to our game. We were late of course and missed the first game, but luckily we were playing a double header. There were cranes and huge boats 30 meters from third base with hills and the river in the surrounding views. I sat the first 2 innings being the new guy and all. Then I was subbed into second base. I thought I was a pretty good baseball player in high school and a good softball player in college, but today I showed that practice really makes perfect and lack of practice makes you like me. I was 2 for 2 batting with a double and 2 runs. The highlight was my pickle going home with a guy on first and a grounder to the shortstop I decided to go for it. I went home and faked back to third before my cheetah like dash home. I had a great inside slide with my right foot dragging across the corner of the plate just evading the catcher’s high tag. It was controversial but in the end I was safe for the run. In the field, I didn’t let any ball by me. What I did do however was heave the ball into the ground 3 times. I was furious with my inept throwing abilities. The hat saw the dirt on 2 separate occasions! I blamed it on me not playing for 4 years, but seriously 3 times is uncalled for. In the end it was a blast and I can’t wait to keep playing with these older guys that named the team, el juventud (the youth). Haha. We lost the game 13 to 8. The other teams had legit uniforms and we were a scattered bunch with half the team smashing cigs on the sideline. I wouldn’t want to be on any other team.
The day continued with a fun outing at our local baseball field, to watch a game between the El Rama Indios and some other team from a small community out in the middle of nowhere. I left early to study some Spanish, but it was fun none the less. Also, best part of baseball here; beers are the same price in the stadium as they are anywhere else in town. I was really happy to see how into the game the community was; the stadium was packed with a few hundred people.
Did Alabama dominate once again, yep! Roll Tide.
Hope the beautiful Bay Area is treating you well, and the south and Midwest. Where ever you are at really! I miss Jamba Juice and Tombstome pizza. So if you want to send some money so I could make up for this deficiency with the only thing that could possibly fill it, Traveling around Nicaragua, I am all for that!
Adios!
Monday, September 13, 2010
This is huerto season! Jo Pa better bet on it!
And a very merry Christmas to you!
Well it feels like that anyway with all the church celebrations that are going on at all times. But no, its just the same old celebration everyday. Gracias a Dios!
This last week was nice and tranquilo. School has been canceled this week and next week for various reasons, or at least on the days that I have class. Therefore I wanted to make sure last Friday the students received their full dose of business acumen. Counterpart 1 didn´t show up. And she had the class plan, so I was blessed, gracias a dios, to improv an hour and a half class. I'm a pretty relaxed teacher, but when they wont stop talking I tend to raise my voice pretty high. That will teach them!
I have some free time, so i thought it would be a great idea to start a huerto in my house and at 2 of my schools. A huerto is like a Little vegetable garden. I figure this would be mutually beneficial since I would choose what will be planted, and thus get to reap the rewards of our efforts, that is the students and mine. To get this plan off the ground, I solicited the help of one of my AGGIE friends, Jessa, who lives 4 hours north in a town called Kukra Hill. She came on a 5 am ruta, remember folks, these are the covered wagons that I take to Wapï. The trip lasted for 4 hours, absolute nonsense. I set up meetings with the principals of the schools so Jessa could explain how she is doing her huerto at the school in Kukra. Things went smoothly, I mean the principals like me and so I can pretty much do what I desire.
My goals with the huerto are to:
1) eat some tasty foods.
2) Learn how to grow a veggie garden and start a compost
3) Teach the kids how to do the same
4) Implement the garden into my entrepreneurship class in various ways
a. Have them do studies on feasibility of larger production within the community
b. Pricing calculations of production
c. Local demand for our products
d. Effective marketing strategies to sell these products
e. Also i want to sell the harvest to raise money because the students will be starting their own companies next year in the class, therefore they will need some initial capital.
So we hung out Saturday and went to the Internet café to watch the Alabama Penn State collision of football Goliaths. Jessa is a Penn state fan so I thought that this would be a great chance for me to really get in to football mode to demoralize a fan right in the flesh. I was nice to her considering the thrashing that Alabama unleashed on the out manned opponent. There was a glitch however. In true Nica fashion, the power went out in the 3rd quarter so we were forced to leave the game. Fortunately there was Little wondering to be done as a significant lead had already been built. We went to eat and have a Toña before calling it a night.
Sunday rolled around, but before Jessa had to take a 9:30am ruta back to Kukra Hill, which to my understanding is more like Kukra Plateau, we decided to hike up El Rama´s very own majestic hill – Mountain. We did this in the early morning, because frankly, its been hotter than hell recently; i feel like I'm slowly melting away. Gracias a dios for water bottles and ice cold beers in my favorite air conditioned bar, la costa verde!
Yesterday, Sunday the 12th of September was my host moms birthday. I didn´t know what to get her so i said i´d work my ass off in the huerto in her back yard and produce some delicious vegetables and other goodies for her. She said what all mothers say, ¨ohh son, as long as you are nice and kind and thought full, that's all any mother wants, I don´t need anything.¨ This kind of conversation happens frequently, although she just completed 31 years of life. That detail changes everything as I really feel more like her brother than her son. Although she does cook for me, and take care of me like a mother, so I guess ill go with that.
Adios!
Well it feels like that anyway with all the church celebrations that are going on at all times. But no, its just the same old celebration everyday. Gracias a Dios!
This last week was nice and tranquilo. School has been canceled this week and next week for various reasons, or at least on the days that I have class. Therefore I wanted to make sure last Friday the students received their full dose of business acumen. Counterpart 1 didn´t show up. And she had the class plan, so I was blessed, gracias a dios, to improv an hour and a half class. I'm a pretty relaxed teacher, but when they wont stop talking I tend to raise my voice pretty high. That will teach them!
I have some free time, so i thought it would be a great idea to start a huerto in my house and at 2 of my schools. A huerto is like a Little vegetable garden. I figure this would be mutually beneficial since I would choose what will be planted, and thus get to reap the rewards of our efforts, that is the students and mine. To get this plan off the ground, I solicited the help of one of my AGGIE friends, Jessa, who lives 4 hours north in a town called Kukra Hill. She came on a 5 am ruta, remember folks, these are the covered wagons that I take to Wapï. The trip lasted for 4 hours, absolute nonsense. I set up meetings with the principals of the schools so Jessa could explain how she is doing her huerto at the school in Kukra. Things went smoothly, I mean the principals like me and so I can pretty much do what I desire.
My goals with the huerto are to:
1) eat some tasty foods.
2) Learn how to grow a veggie garden and start a compost
3) Teach the kids how to do the same
4) Implement the garden into my entrepreneurship class in various ways
a. Have them do studies on feasibility of larger production within the community
b. Pricing calculations of production
c. Local demand for our products
d. Effective marketing strategies to sell these products
e. Also i want to sell the harvest to raise money because the students will be starting their own companies next year in the class, therefore they will need some initial capital.
So we hung out Saturday and went to the Internet café to watch the Alabama Penn State collision of football Goliaths. Jessa is a Penn state fan so I thought that this would be a great chance for me to really get in to football mode to demoralize a fan right in the flesh. I was nice to her considering the thrashing that Alabama unleashed on the out manned opponent. There was a glitch however. In true Nica fashion, the power went out in the 3rd quarter so we were forced to leave the game. Fortunately there was Little wondering to be done as a significant lead had already been built. We went to eat and have a Toña before calling it a night.
Sunday rolled around, but before Jessa had to take a 9:30am ruta back to Kukra Hill, which to my understanding is more like Kukra Plateau, we decided to hike up El Rama´s very own majestic hill – Mountain. We did this in the early morning, because frankly, its been hotter than hell recently; i feel like I'm slowly melting away. Gracias a dios for water bottles and ice cold beers in my favorite air conditioned bar, la costa verde!
Yesterday, Sunday the 12th of September was my host moms birthday. I didn´t know what to get her so i said i´d work my ass off in the huerto in her back yard and produce some delicious vegetables and other goodies for her. She said what all mothers say, ¨ohh son, as long as you are nice and kind and thought full, that's all any mother wants, I don´t need anything.¨ This kind of conversation happens frequently, although she just completed 31 years of life. That detail changes everything as I really feel more like her brother than her son. Although she does cook for me, and take care of me like a mother, so I guess ill go with that.
Adios!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Coconuts with Rum and Cuban Cigars for Fun
Back to work! After a week of being a degenerate bum for a week, I was able to be pretty productive this last week. On Monday, like every Monday, I did my hours of Spanish study. I have to admit that I have been pretty diligent about trying to learn this language, but to no avail. I feel like for the effort that I have put in, I have not seen an equally proportional result in language improvement, however I will continue; I am determined this time around to conquer Español.
Tuesday of this past week was another fun day adventure to Wapí. So I take the taxi to the entrance to Wapí like usual and wait there for about 45 minutes until the Ruta, as they call the wagon, comes by. When it does, I get on a little frustrated about my circumstances, and how on a weekly basis I have to deal with this shit and wait and wait only to sit on a covered wagon that takes 2 hours each way to go to a school where I don’t really teach, and my counterpart doesn’t do the reading before I get there. Then about 20 minutes into the ride thinking about the same circumstances I had a little epiphany. I’m sitting on a wooden plank that makes me about a foot higher than the rest of the passengers; I’m also facing the back of the Wagon while they are on side facing benches, and I’m listening to some fun music when it hits me that this is hilarious. I’m being bounced around on this silly little wagon with intermittent sprinkles of rain on my face and an entire Ruta looking at me as the weird Gringo going to some remote community in the middle of Nicaragua. So I just started to smile and enjoy it for what it was.
Wednesday came around rather quickly as it has been lately. The weeks are flying! This is already my 6th week in site. I cant really believe it, and it makes me realize that this 2 years really will pass me by. So the day starts off at 8 in the morning with a planning session with my counterpart at the local Catholic school. I really like this counterpart; she is on top of it. I am then free to do more studying, which I do like a good student of the language would do. At 2 and 3:30 I have 2 more planning sessions with the other 2 schools that are around me. Or that is what I thought. At 12:36 my counterpart from the school right across the street walks over to inform me that we will be reviewing the equilibrium point class to the high school seniors because they are having trouble with the material. Absolutely fine with me, I was excited to be able to impart some knowledge on these youngsters. Then I get to the class only to have them present some equilibrium point project, which was done completely wrong by the whole class. Furthermore, when I tried to correct them, I was informed I had to wait till they had finished presenting before I could share my wisdom. This of course frustrated me because I couldn’t stand sitting in my little seat listening to these kids present improperly the subject material for so long. Well I got through the day, a little more patient. I have been noticing my patience level climb, which I’m sure most of you know is probably a virtue that I was lacking completely before my Peace Corps journey.
The following morning I did what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks now. That is 250 to 300 sit ups and 200 to 250 pushups. I feel a lot better about myself considering I eat mucho fried rice, beans and anything else that can be fried really. I complete my work out routine and you guessed it, I studied. I study on average about 4 to 6 hours daily. I was informed by my fried Sarah Jessamine that our friend Joe from a small site about 4 hours away called Rocky Point, was in El Propio Rama selling coconut products with his Host Family. They found a Nicaraguan NGO in El Rama that set them up for a night, paid for their travel to and from El Rama, and gave them a table at the little vendor market to sell homemade products. Joe´s family didn’t do so well but I imagine it was fun none the less. Joe and I enjoyed a large cup of Joe before I had to head off to a meeting I had at 2. I also gave him my old phone now that Im super flashy with my iPhone.
Fridays are my long days. I had class from 7am till about 4 pm at 2 different schools. Nothing exciting happened, just more 14 year old girls asking for my number. Ohh and when I say no, it doesn’t matter, because someone from the school will give it to them so they can harass me with texts and calls anyway. Que Barbaridad!
Time: 2am. This is the moment when I must wake up to take a bus to Managua for my host brother from Masatepes wedding. I get the bus with no problems, and arrive in Managdad at around 8 am. I had nothing to do, so I walked around the mall trying to find a present, but that didn’t happen, I figure my presence is present enough, right? I drank a beer or 2 while watching the Notre Dame game at a bar to pass the time, then I head to a hostel I had heard about that only costs 8 dollars a night to shower and get ready for what was to become an epic fiesta. After arriving to the Brides families house and conversing for 2 hours, the family heads to the church. WOW, I didn’t know my brother had so much money, because it had to cost a pretty penny to pay for the church, band, candles, and incredible blooming flowers that were engulfing the room. The ceremony was beautiful; however it was way too long, and had way too much praying and singing and religious content for my liking. Then came the Fiesta. The place they rented out was phenomenal. Top notch in all aspects. Flowers were everywhere, silver plates and smoked salmon and cheeses for appetizers. They had all types of liquor you could ask for as well as champagne, and wine. The band-Dj was really great as well. The food was delicious, and it was served at around 10pm, right when you needed it. At 12am there was an announcement, all people put on your straw hats and take a shot of tequila, or a few as most people did. Next thing I know, some waiter is passing out coconuts filled with rum, while his waiter buddy was passing out Cuban cigars. Overall, a spectacular wedding.
The next day was not so fun! I asked the bus company when I arrived what time the buses leave to go back to El Rama. He said 1 and 2pm as well as some other times. I decide to get to the bus station at 1:30 so as not to be late for the 2pm bus. Well I get there and they told me straight up like this ¨No siry bob. ¨ I was like great, next one leaves at 6 what should I do. I see a bus that leaves in 3 minutes to a town an hour and a half south of my town and decide to hop on. Then I realized I only had 160 cordobas, the normal bus to El Rama costs 150. I get on not knowing where I have to get off to catch a second bus to El Rama, and not knowing what the combination of the 2 bus tickets will be. Well the first ticket was 100, Excellent! Then after 4 hours they say if you’re going to El Rama get off here to catch the second bus, I couldn’t believe it, but right in front of us was the second bus, just waiting for us to hop on and go direct to the Rama. Next the guy says, that will be 40 cords please. I was flabbergasted, it all worked out perfect and I had some extra cash to spare. What a great Sunday! To top it all off, when the internet cafes are all but assured to be closed at 7 pm on a Sunday, I passed by one that was still open, and I had the extra cash to enjoy looking at the stories of glory and excellence about the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Roll Tide.
Hope your all Tip Top. If you get this as an email go to the blog webpage because I will try to have some photos and even a movie clip!
Tuesday of this past week was another fun day adventure to Wapí. So I take the taxi to the entrance to Wapí like usual and wait there for about 45 minutes until the Ruta, as they call the wagon, comes by. When it does, I get on a little frustrated about my circumstances, and how on a weekly basis I have to deal with this shit and wait and wait only to sit on a covered wagon that takes 2 hours each way to go to a school where I don’t really teach, and my counterpart doesn’t do the reading before I get there. Then about 20 minutes into the ride thinking about the same circumstances I had a little epiphany. I’m sitting on a wooden plank that makes me about a foot higher than the rest of the passengers; I’m also facing the back of the Wagon while they are on side facing benches, and I’m listening to some fun music when it hits me that this is hilarious. I’m being bounced around on this silly little wagon with intermittent sprinkles of rain on my face and an entire Ruta looking at me as the weird Gringo going to some remote community in the middle of Nicaragua. So I just started to smile and enjoy it for what it was.
Wednesday came around rather quickly as it has been lately. The weeks are flying! This is already my 6th week in site. I cant really believe it, and it makes me realize that this 2 years really will pass me by. So the day starts off at 8 in the morning with a planning session with my counterpart at the local Catholic school. I really like this counterpart; she is on top of it. I am then free to do more studying, which I do like a good student of the language would do. At 2 and 3:30 I have 2 more planning sessions with the other 2 schools that are around me. Or that is what I thought. At 12:36 my counterpart from the school right across the street walks over to inform me that we will be reviewing the equilibrium point class to the high school seniors because they are having trouble with the material. Absolutely fine with me, I was excited to be able to impart some knowledge on these youngsters. Then I get to the class only to have them present some equilibrium point project, which was done completely wrong by the whole class. Furthermore, when I tried to correct them, I was informed I had to wait till they had finished presenting before I could share my wisdom. This of course frustrated me because I couldn’t stand sitting in my little seat listening to these kids present improperly the subject material for so long. Well I got through the day, a little more patient. I have been noticing my patience level climb, which I’m sure most of you know is probably a virtue that I was lacking completely before my Peace Corps journey.
The following morning I did what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks now. That is 250 to 300 sit ups and 200 to 250 pushups. I feel a lot better about myself considering I eat mucho fried rice, beans and anything else that can be fried really. I complete my work out routine and you guessed it, I studied. I study on average about 4 to 6 hours daily. I was informed by my fried Sarah Jessamine that our friend Joe from a small site about 4 hours away called Rocky Point, was in El Propio Rama selling coconut products with his Host Family. They found a Nicaraguan NGO in El Rama that set them up for a night, paid for their travel to and from El Rama, and gave them a table at the little vendor market to sell homemade products. Joe´s family didn’t do so well but I imagine it was fun none the less. Joe and I enjoyed a large cup of Joe before I had to head off to a meeting I had at 2. I also gave him my old phone now that Im super flashy with my iPhone.
Fridays are my long days. I had class from 7am till about 4 pm at 2 different schools. Nothing exciting happened, just more 14 year old girls asking for my number. Ohh and when I say no, it doesn’t matter, because someone from the school will give it to them so they can harass me with texts and calls anyway. Que Barbaridad!
Time: 2am. This is the moment when I must wake up to take a bus to Managua for my host brother from Masatepes wedding. I get the bus with no problems, and arrive in Managdad at around 8 am. I had nothing to do, so I walked around the mall trying to find a present, but that didn’t happen, I figure my presence is present enough, right? I drank a beer or 2 while watching the Notre Dame game at a bar to pass the time, then I head to a hostel I had heard about that only costs 8 dollars a night to shower and get ready for what was to become an epic fiesta. After arriving to the Brides families house and conversing for 2 hours, the family heads to the church. WOW, I didn’t know my brother had so much money, because it had to cost a pretty penny to pay for the church, band, candles, and incredible blooming flowers that were engulfing the room. The ceremony was beautiful; however it was way too long, and had way too much praying and singing and religious content for my liking. Then came the Fiesta. The place they rented out was phenomenal. Top notch in all aspects. Flowers were everywhere, silver plates and smoked salmon and cheeses for appetizers. They had all types of liquor you could ask for as well as champagne, and wine. The band-Dj was really great as well. The food was delicious, and it was served at around 10pm, right when you needed it. At 12am there was an announcement, all people put on your straw hats and take a shot of tequila, or a few as most people did. Next thing I know, some waiter is passing out coconuts filled with rum, while his waiter buddy was passing out Cuban cigars. Overall, a spectacular wedding.
The next day was not so fun! I asked the bus company when I arrived what time the buses leave to go back to El Rama. He said 1 and 2pm as well as some other times. I decide to get to the bus station at 1:30 so as not to be late for the 2pm bus. Well I get there and they told me straight up like this ¨No siry bob. ¨ I was like great, next one leaves at 6 what should I do. I see a bus that leaves in 3 minutes to a town an hour and a half south of my town and decide to hop on. Then I realized I only had 160 cordobas, the normal bus to El Rama costs 150. I get on not knowing where I have to get off to catch a second bus to El Rama, and not knowing what the combination of the 2 bus tickets will be. Well the first ticket was 100, Excellent! Then after 4 hours they say if you’re going to El Rama get off here to catch the second bus, I couldn’t believe it, but right in front of us was the second bus, just waiting for us to hop on and go direct to the Rama. Next the guy says, that will be 40 cords please. I was flabbergasted, it all worked out perfect and I had some extra cash to spare. What a great Sunday! To top it all off, when the internet cafes are all but assured to be closed at 7 pm on a Sunday, I passed by one that was still open, and I had the extra cash to enjoy looking at the stories of glory and excellence about the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. Roll Tide.
Hope your all Tip Top. If you get this as an email go to the blog webpage because I will try to have some photos and even a movie clip!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Panga Man You Will Be Missed
Happy Thursday! New Pictures are up - link is on the blogpage
Have I ever told you that it´s all for the kids? Well I just told myself that for the first time in a while, which led me to my most recent endeavor. I just got in contact with Las Lomas High School today, my former school for those of you out of the loop, to ask them if they would like to be paired up with me in a program that is facilitated through the Peace Corps. The program is called WorldWise Schools, and the focus of this program is to match Peace Corps Volunteers in the field with U.S. classroom teachers. The result? A vibrant two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts that helps U.S. students in the classroom learn about the people, geography, environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers living in other countries. Well, I talked to some people in the office, surprisingly, they all remembered my name, except for the student who answered the phone, but she has probably heard of me. haha. I think I will be placed with a 12th grade AP economics or geography classroom. I was going to pair up with my little 8 year old brother, but I decided I didn´t want to dumb down my inquisitive excerpts.
So what else is going down in the Rama you might be asking yourself? Not a whole hell of a lot. So every last Friday of the month, there is a meeting among teachers called TEPCES, it stands for something in Spanish that you wouldn't understand. How this affects me is simple, 3 out of my 4 schools teach my class on Fridays! So Tuesday when I am supposed to go to Wapí, the school really far away, I just plan, but since the TEPCES is across the street from my house, and my counterpart will be there, I did´t go because I will just plan with her Friday. My other 3 classes are obviously canceled so I don´t have class, nor do I have the need to prepare for class like I usually do during the week. This has resulted in a week filled with nothing but time. What have I been doing?
Studying ze Spanish. Literally 6 hours a day learning about subjunctive and catchy phrases. Today I went to talk to a local university about giving some entrepreneurship lectures to the students. In about 7 minutes I will be at one of my high schools, talking to the English teachers to see if they would be interested in my help. Shit, if they don´t want my help, they don´t want their kids to learn, fact!
By the way, Ramalama has many pretty women, the only problem is that once they turn 18 they also start turning out babies. ohh well!
I forgot to tell you last blog post that 10 minutes before my friend Jessa, Joe, Nga and I arrived at the port in Bluefields to come home, a man was fatally shot. The body was gone, but I literally walked over his massive pile of blood. 2 men came by panga, (little outboard motor passenger boat) jumped out, chased another panga driver and shot him to death. They fled on their boat, only to be apprehended by police on a much faster panga in no more than 20 minutes. Pretty riveting to say the least. I had a little goma, so I was out of it, and didn´t really care. I was more concerned with drinking my Coca Cola classic and relaxing in the shade then about the dead guy.
See Ya
Have I ever told you that it´s all for the kids? Well I just told myself that for the first time in a while, which led me to my most recent endeavor. I just got in contact with Las Lomas High School today, my former school for those of you out of the loop, to ask them if they would like to be paired up with me in a program that is facilitated through the Peace Corps. The program is called WorldWise Schools, and the focus of this program is to match Peace Corps Volunteers in the field with U.S. classroom teachers. The result? A vibrant two-year exchange of ideas, stories, pictures, and artifacts that helps U.S. students in the classroom learn about the people, geography, environment, and culture of the world from the direct experience of Volunteers living in other countries. Well, I talked to some people in the office, surprisingly, they all remembered my name, except for the student who answered the phone, but she has probably heard of me. haha. I think I will be placed with a 12th grade AP economics or geography classroom. I was going to pair up with my little 8 year old brother, but I decided I didn´t want to dumb down my inquisitive excerpts.
So what else is going down in the Rama you might be asking yourself? Not a whole hell of a lot. So every last Friday of the month, there is a meeting among teachers called TEPCES, it stands for something in Spanish that you wouldn't understand. How this affects me is simple, 3 out of my 4 schools teach my class on Fridays! So Tuesday when I am supposed to go to Wapí, the school really far away, I just plan, but since the TEPCES is across the street from my house, and my counterpart will be there, I did´t go because I will just plan with her Friday. My other 3 classes are obviously canceled so I don´t have class, nor do I have the need to prepare for class like I usually do during the week. This has resulted in a week filled with nothing but time. What have I been doing?
Studying ze Spanish. Literally 6 hours a day learning about subjunctive and catchy phrases. Today I went to talk to a local university about giving some entrepreneurship lectures to the students. In about 7 minutes I will be at one of my high schools, talking to the English teachers to see if they would be interested in my help. Shit, if they don´t want my help, they don´t want their kids to learn, fact!
By the way, Ramalama has many pretty women, the only problem is that once they turn 18 they also start turning out babies. ohh well!
I forgot to tell you last blog post that 10 minutes before my friend Jessa, Joe, Nga and I arrived at the port in Bluefields to come home, a man was fatally shot. The body was gone, but I literally walked over his massive pile of blood. 2 men came by panga, (little outboard motor passenger boat) jumped out, chased another panga driver and shot him to death. They fled on their boat, only to be apprehended by police on a much faster panga in no more than 20 minutes. Pretty riveting to say the least. I had a little goma, so I was out of it, and didn´t really care. I was more concerned with drinking my Coca Cola classic and relaxing in the shade then about the dead guy.
See Ya
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Drop Draws, Boyee!!
Muy Buenos Dias America,
I have had a pretty interesting 2 weeks. After Ryan left to continue his fun journey to the north, I got back to work, spreading my knowledge to a pretty uninterested selection of misfits. I had my site visit on Wednesday, that was semi-fun. My boss, came into town to check in on me and make sure that I am not loosing my mind. I assured her that in fact, my mind was flourishing in the Rama. I had appointments set up with all my counterparts, and the head lady at the ministry of education so that we could all sign a letter of intent and purpose for me being here, dedicating my precious time. All the appointments went off with a hitch, and the best part about it was that I specifically neglected to make an appointment with the school that is 2 hours away so that I wouldn't have to deal with that garbage. Needless to say, i think my boss was in accordance with my decision.
On that Friday of last week, the 13th, I found out that there wouldn't be school at 2 of my schools for some absurd reason. It is very common here for teachers to not show up and for school to get canceled at the drop of a dime. Speaking of teachers not showing up, one of my best counterparts told me that she would not be in class that day, in the only school that actually still was supposed to have classes. That's fine and all, because lets face it, I can dominate these kids easier without her being around. Just joking, but anyway, it was the class on equilibrium point, so i just taught my first solo class here in my site, and I have to say it went well, besides the heaps of sweat engulfing my face.
The weekend was super duper tranquillo, I watched muchos programas on my computer, thanks for the 24 mom, excellent choice.
So, Jeff does the Bluefields for a second time. That's right folks, I was in Bluefields from Monday till about 2 hours ago, aka 3:00 pm on Saturday the 21st of August. I have to say this trip made Bluefields a much better painting in my art gallery. We had the whole week filled with lectures and meetings with literally every famous and or important person in the city. We definitely receive special treatment being the pioneers of the Autonomous region and all. By the way, read about it, the history is crazy here, its supposed to have autonomy from the rest of the country because of all the crazy indigenous and African cultures.
We had terrible beds, no water, and 1000 bug bites while staying at the dorms at the university that we used for the week to host many of our lectures. The week was just plain fun. We had boring nonsense, followed by a slurry of fun. We would go out every night and eat phenomenal food, for cheep. I ate a Turtle on Wednesday for 4 dollars. Now before you freak out, this turtle is not the endangered species, but I have to be honest, it probably will be soon. So it was legal to eat, and it was delicious. It is a red meat, something in between cow, lamb, and alligator. Very nice indeed. I also devoured shrimp 3 times, fish, and 2 steaks, every meal was under 7 dollars, get out of here!
Last night, the gang went out for cocktails on the town, we had fun = now I feel like a pile of garbage. I had to take the panga ride today in a boat with no top = Im freekin Burntski. Ohh another fun thing we did is try some Drop Draws. This is a weird cocktail consisting of Turtle fin, Rum, Milk, Spices, and some other things I probably don´t want to know about. Over all it was a medium at best drink. However the name alone incites happiness. Kriol in the coast is hilarious by the way! Read About it, Rite Nya Da Beech, Boyee!!
Its all for the kids
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