Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation's compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain love for one another. - Erma Brombeck

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Well this has been a hard week. I had my second site visit from my sector boss that did not go well. She said the majority of negative things. The only thing I was doing right was i had good ideas. This put my spirits down alot even though i was very motivated and excited before the visit. This is not the typical ocurance usually they encourage you and give you good constructive advice  I know that she is stressed and busy right now but so are the volunteers there was no need to take it out of me. 

I guess it did get me thinking about what i could do better since i was obviously doing everything wrong. After feeling sorry for myself I got of my chair and began to plan some some things to do with the kids like a belly dancing class, a vegetarian cooking class and a mural. I want to start these in the next month or so. This will give me more things to do an prove that i can be a good volunteer not just good be great!

Well one good things this week was my first meeting with my leaders for my ecological burgade. Even though one of the people didn't show up it was still a good talk. The one man that showed has alot of good advice and ideas. I think that he will be a great addition to the group. I hope I can work more with him on other projects as well. It will be a big success, I can't wait to get started. i think I will be starting earlier than i originally thought. The only issue that i am running into would be the dry season and the kids not waters the plants. For this reason I might not be starting now. 

I think i will have to move again. This time i am going to look for a casita or a small house connected to  a family  This way i can have my own privacy and maybe my things will be a  bit safer  I love my family now but it is not a good living condition. They keep taking my things and now they have started to pick my locks. I feel back since Peace Corps just put bars on my window for protection and i would be moving but life  goes on. 

There is not much more to share talk to you all next week. 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Hey a lot has happened since i last wrote. I got to see three rainbows and one of which was in a cloud no not in the sky but just the cloud it was so cool. It must be my month or something for me to see such a beautiful rarity three times in a row. I also go to feed and touch a monkey at a monkey park in Matagalpa. In Matagalpa we got to see a beautiful waterfall, and ate some really good food.  We also saw the bands for the day in Independence  This is when all of the schools in the town put on a show and march through the streets of town. It is always very fun to watch and they have some very creative skits if not two provocative. 

Lets see what else happened there was the national day band for my own school happened this week. I am glad that i got to see it since i missed the independence day one. They were amazing and i have some pictures posted on facebook of them. I then went shopping and come back for the 6:30 bus into site. It never came he apparently decided not to run the last bus today. By that time it was dark out and I did not feel safe walking the 6k into my site on a unlit street with a few houses spaced out over the distance. I called a few volunteers to see if I could crash at their houses for the night. I got some positive responses but luckily a truck came by and offered me a ride into my site. The next day i had to get out of my site for an appointment but the bus left early and i missed it. I began to walk to 6k to get stopped my a man on a bike. I was offered a ride by sitting on the front  bar the connects the handle bars to the seat. It was a very uncomfortable ride but the man was nice. I got to the meeting on time which was great! Welcome to the fun adventure in the Peace Corps.

I have two leader for you ecological brigade and will be having the first leaders meeting soon! I am very excited about this it should be great. My research on malaria and dengue has been very interesting and informative i am learning a lot of things i never knew like mosquitoes sip pollen form flowers and it takes one week for the malaria decease to develop in it's host. 

My family is good but there are still thinking disappearing from my room. I dont' know who is doing it so we are now taking more precautions to protect it. We are installing bar on the windows and I am  making sure the room is locked at all times. I'm sure that everything will be ok in the end. 

until  next week bye


Saturday, September 15, 2012

Well update on everything that is going on with the volcano and evacuation. We are still all stuck and the volcano is still erupting and the sulfur is doubled reading and there are a few new blockages. This was caused by the explosion blocking three of the gas vents. There is a fear that there will be more blockages. This is creating pressure to build up and might explode to release this blockage. I am safe but restless. We were in Managua the capital since Sat and just got the permission to travel to other areas not the costs, Atlantic area and near the volcano. So at least I am not stuck in Managua anymore. Isn't fun to have a all paid vacation. I am with a bunch of friends and we are having a blast. I don't think i will be going back soon.

I really miss my site and I just hope that things are still going to be running when i get back. Like my English class and my manualidades class. I want to get involved with my teachers classes again. I was to implement a test but I fear that i will not be able to do that. I also have a lot of ideas to do with the kids and i need to get there to do them. You can't change things so I just have to make the most of this situation. I am also meeting a lot of new people and getting some ideas from them. My planning has not stopped at least. I jsut have to get back soon to implement these ideas.

Love you all and miss you. XOXO

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/nicaragua.html

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Hey, this has been an interesting week. As I am sure that a few of you have seen on the news there has been a lot of disasters close to Nicaragua. I am fine! I did feel the earthquake that was in Costa Rica but there was no damage in my site or anywhere near me. All of the volunteers are fine it was just a shock. Yesterday the volcano  San Cristobal erupted we were evacuated from my site. It is the region next to Leon. We are all safe and my village is safe too. There was no real danger there was a lot of smoke and ash a few random lava  but it didn't really effect us at all. We are being held some place safe and waiting to make sure that there is no more after problems. I have this feeling that this will not be our last evacuation for and environmental disaster I hope that I am wrong but we are on vault lines and the land of volcano. 

School has been going well I have gotten out garden close to done at my second school and the kids are very excited about my manualidades class (arts and crafts). I have been doing many things with the third grade teacher. I am creating one of the final exams with him and will be giving it. This should be fun to do and i have some great ideas. I think he will let me at least help out with the science one and I will be implementing the ECA (Arts and culture). There was an teachers meeting which are usually boring and long but i got a lot of Spanish lessons in. I brought my grammar book with me. I have also taken the initiation to read one thing in Spanish everyday weather it is a few pages of a book or a national geographic magazine in Spanish. I also am having Spanish tutoring classes every time I am in Managua. I hope that this means i can at least get up to advanced when I leave in a year. That is my personal goal if i get higher that would be amazing to. 

I have gotten a person who is interested in helping me with  my ecological burgade. I am very excited and hope that this will get going pretty soon. I just want to talk to one more person to see if she is interested and have a group meeting. Then i can finish the grant form and hopefully get it posted on line. My process with the fair is going well and have great ideas to start with that. I feel that things are coming along nicely with my side projects. I want to see if i could start some rain gardens to help solve run off problems I will see if i can do a small scale one on my property or maybe in the school to see how it would work out. The only problem would be the dry season and everything  dies. I will need to do more research on it. 

Love you all talk to you more later


Friday, August 31, 2012

One Year In Country!!!!

Well this week has been boring there has been little to no class. The kids are practicing for the the independence parrade. Also know as band practice and marching. With the little kids trying top copy the older ones. Very annoying very loud but the band is good and fun to watch. Testing is comming up so there is some reviewing and stuff. I have been jumping for class to class doing what i can. I have been asked to come up with a arts and cukture test. This should be fun. One of my teachers dad died so there hasn´t been class in my far school.

Things are going great with my family. I seem to be gettin g along well and learning more spanish every day. The dog had puppies three of them. They are so small and cute! They told me I can have one but I´m not sure if i want it. I have Miles and he is enough work as is. A horse also backed up into my fence to my garden and nocked out one of the posts and loosened another so I have animals in my garden. I will have to start over after the rainny season since the rain is also washing way my seads. But i do have some flowers on my canolope so hopefully i will get soemthing if the pigs don´t eat it all.

My counterpart has had her baby but it´s a premi about a few months early or something. I think people said it was a girl i am excited about seeing it. Don´t know what they are coming home though. not much more to report bye for now

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Nicaragua vs USA


I have been thinking about this blog for a while  since I have time I figured I would write two blogs this week. It is the differences between Nicaragua and the USA.
1.       Pizza Hut is good pizza
2.       The sound of Roosters is a wakeup call
3.       Beans and Rice is almost all you eat
4.       Kisses on the cheek
5.       Cat calls
6.       Glue sniffers
7.       Overly packed buses
8.       Very skinny pets
9.       Mosquito nets
10.   Cleaning at least 4 times a day
11.   Bucket baths are preferred
12.   No running water or electricity for half or more of a day
13.   Latrines being preferable to toilets
14.   Most of food is bought in outdoor markets
15.   Only 5 TV channels
16.   School is half a day
17.   School is maybe 4 days a week
18.   Teachers can leave class rooms
19.   Clothes never dry
20.   Washing laundry on a wash board
21.   Very tight clothes that don’t fit their body
22.   There are only two religions catholic or evangelical
23.   Doors are left unlocked
24.   You are expected to walk into houses without invite
25.   Mode of transportation is a horse
26.   Roads turn into rivers when it rains
27.   Walk 6k to get to your house
28.   AC is too cold
29.   A fan is your new best friend
30.   70F is cold
31.   A rain storm sounds like the house is falling apart
32.   There is dirt yards not grass
33.   Horses are the main source of transportation
34.   All schools wear the same clothes
35.   Hitchhiking is welcomed
36.   Parasites and Bacteria are your babies
37.   Food on wood fire tasts better
38.   The oven is a storage place
39.   Dogs and cats are anorexic
40.   Traficlights are just for show
41.   What is a speed imit?
42.   All clothes are ironed
43.   Salt sugar and oil are their own food groups
44.   What is a trashcan?
45.   Not greeting someone is an insult
46.   Reading is not a pastime
47.   Hitting kids and animals is the norm
48.   Food, rent and utilities are only $65 a month
49.   There are no prescriptions just go and ask for what you want

Wednesday, August 15, 2012


Well this has been an interesting time. Let’s see I have 14 kids in my manualidades (arts and crafts) class. I have talked to the teachers about having SONATI a NGO from Leon come and do a class about the environment. They agreed on a topic and we are now having them come twice! The first time I will have to change because I will not be in my site. They will be doing the charla your responsibility to the environment and animal trafficking. Those are rough translations of the Spanish version. It should be fun and I can’t wait to see what they do. The best things is the only thing that we need to pay for is the transportation.
I have been having problems finding times to help the high schoolers with their projects. When they are out of class and doing most of the work I am in class. As well when I am out of class they are in class. I am still trying to figure this all out. I really want to work with them just haven’t figured out how yet. My English class had gone well and I think I am really getting the handle of things. I hope that all of the students show up again. I need to remember to get their numbers I have to be able to call them to tell them about any cancelations or changes in times.
Classes are going relatively well I have taught some cultural and art classes. They did a picture using three of more different types of materials. They could go out and look for the materials in the school then they had to make a picture using said materials and different colors. They were graded on the number of material their creativity and participation. They loved it and the teachers loved it too. I have fun doing it and did a really good job. I even had teachers bragging to the other teachers and I did in their classes too! It feels good to be appreciated.
I am also helping another volunteer with their youth group and we are having a blast doing it I can’t wait to help more. They kids are really nice and she is giving me a lot of ideas about things that I could do. While I am on the topic of helping volunteers I will tell you what I did this weekend. I went to my friend’s house and helped her with a fair she was putting on. It went great but I was so tired after it. We woke up early every day and worked for most of the day. The kids were great and they had a blast. She also lives next to a river so we got to go swimming something I really miss. It was nice to get cooled off and hang out with a great friend. I think I will do a fair of my own around the topic of malaria and dengue. It will be done after school gets out giving the kids something fun to do. Maybe I can get the help of other volunteers of community members.
I have a lot of new ideas of things that I want to do. I am planning for a baseball competition with HIV and AIDS theme. I am also working on the ecological brigade like I mentioned before. I think that it will cost will be a about 1,000 dollars so I think that I will post a partnership through Peace Corps that will allow friends and family to donate to the event. I will keep you updated if this is something that I will do and when I post it. Tell me who is interested in giving some money I need to know for the grant process.
Thanks and I love you all. 

Saturday, August 4, 2012


This has been a very productive week and I am finally starting to feel like I am accomplishing something. I am beginning to feel like a real volunteer which is nice. Just as everyone said it will take a year and in one month it will be a year in country. Time as gone so fast it feels like I just started here. So let’s get on to the week shall we.
Monday classes were canceled so I cleaned my room and did a lot of prep work. I just printed off the syllabus that all of the teachers get about what they need to teach in a year and when they have to teach it. I was looking at that and making activities that would fit with the upcoming semester. I had a few ideas and wanted to see if they would fit into the year. They did so I had a lot of fun writing them down. I then played with my siblings and had some me time. I found out that my counterpart was worried about me because I forgot to tell her I was back from Managua. I called her the middle of last week telling her about the extension. She thought I was sick again and called Peace Corps to find out where I was. Peace Corps said that I had left all ready and she called me. It turns out that she has a project for me. I talked with her next day.
Tuesday I had class and helped out a lot with math class. I am now the official go to for answers and works checking when I don’t know the topic that will be taught. I also put in my own two pieces when I can. That afternoon I went to the high school to meet the new English teacher. The old one is in the US for 6 months. I introduced myself saying that I was interested in helping her teach some classes. We then hit it off well. She is my age and we seem to have a fair amount in common we talked all through recreo when I had to go and talk to the other classes. The project that my counterpart was talking about what helping the high schoolers do there senior/final project.  There are three classes and I will be helping each one. One is doing a garden of some sort in the school, second is making things out of garbage and the last one is doing some sort of trash pickup. I need to talk with the kids to get more information about their ideas. I ended up staying the whole day.
Wed is usually my day of no classes I went because I was to work with one of the high schoolers but no one was there. So I went to work with one of my teachers instead. He had me teaching almost every class, Language, Science and I helped with math and discipline. It was a great day went back and relaxed. I get a call from my assistant director of Peace Corps asking to come out to my site. The first thing that went through my mind was oh no what did I do! Nervous I gave him my schedule and would see him the next day.
Thur. I want up to my second school where we started the school garden it went well but we still have a lot of work to do. I get a call from the director saying that he would be there in about 10 min. I was a 4K walk from my site. He ended up picking me up at school. My fears were for nothing! All he walked to do was see how I was doing and see my site. So we walked around my site. I had an appointment with one of the neighboring volunteers and he drove me there. We did a youth group with manualidades (arts and crafts) and it wants over really well. I walked about her town and used the internet to do some research for tomorrow class. I get on the bus and go to the empalme (entrance) to my site. I was about 1 ½ hours early for the next bus so I decided to walk. And walk and walk. I finally hitch a ride for the last k maybe to town. I find out that it is 6k to my site. I was exhausted and in pain. I cooked dinner and went to bed. I figured out that I walked about 9k that day with is about 5.5m.
Fri. I was in so much pain it felt like I just did the marathon or something I dragged myself out of bed early to get to the early class at school. I was exhausted from the day before. I arrive on time after falling back to sleep. Just as class was about to start one of the students fainted, there was a ton of people to help her. I gave my water and phone to call her mom to come get her to the clinic. She was pretty bad I’m not sure how she is I will have to ask on Mon. Class starts and we were finishing up the abonera (compost) which is a lot of shoveling dirt into bags. We ended up with about 4.5 sacos (sacks) full. This is great because I can use them in the school garden. I then quickly went back to my house to get my forgotten computer and returned to school to teach my second class of the day ECA which is like an arts class. I did a wonderful job. So well that the teacher was boasting about it with the other teachers. I feel like I might end up doing it with other classes. I’m really proud of myself for this accomplishment. I was offered to go to their house later but I ended up falling asleep I will have to go day to make up for it. One the way back to my house I was stopped by my old host mother she wanted me to help teach her class that day. I politely refused and said I would do it next week and collapsed in my bed. I ate dinner and went to sleep.
It was a great week and I have a lot of things planned for the upcoming months too. I want to do a baseball AIDS completion where between the teams there would be information about HIV/AIDS. I am planning an ecological brigade involving tree planting and trash as well as some activities and a field trip.  I will be starting a manualidades class at my econ school every Mon. starting next week as well as an English class. My only concern now is to not overdo it and get sick I have to remember that I am only one person and can only do so much.  We get a new bunch of Environment volunteers soon so I will post likely be helping them with training I am excited to meet them. I don’t feel like I have much to offer them but I will do my best to make them feel welcomed and give as much advice as I can.
I hope that all is well and enjoying life as much as I am.  Love you all XOXO

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Well I just got back from my trip to Granda. We went shopping, climbed the volcano Mumbacho and went zip lining. It was a lot of fun and a good break but I lost my wallet so it is been a fun time canceling all the cards and getting new ones. But that is life. All is well and I'm getting along well. 


I can't wait until things start up again I feel like it's been a while since i did anything productive. I will have to crack down on the teachers and have them let me do more things in class. That way i can actually do my job. I will be restarting my after school activities when school starts too like the English class and youth group. I'm looking forward to it. 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Well hi everyone this was an interesting week I fell out of a animal pulled cart luckily it wasn't moving and i only skinned my leg up really bad. I have a nasty bruise to prove it. Ok this is what happened I got into the cart first to have my sister get in and i fell as the cart tipped in. Next i ran a shovel into my foot while i was working on my garden. I scrapped my hand against the wall when my sister tried to trap me in the room. i got the common cold, and what i think might be a urinary track infection. My heal hurts for about two weeks now. I have no idea why i just work up and it was hurting. I broke my glasses once again not sure how just work up and they were all wonky. I have been having diarrhea and i threw up on the bus so i might have a parasite.  My brother is driving my crazy just a really bad kid. My cat scratched me up because he hates motos and i had to bring him home from my friends house. Over all i'm doing well. 


i got my garden is going along well I got the ground dug up and mixed. I have a fence ready put up just have to do the door and then i can plant i am really excited about that can't wait to have yummy food. I am also happy about how great my family is. 


It is school vacation and it is nice not to have to wake up for classes. I sometimes feel very useless here like what am i really doing here. I go to school and do nothing sometimes i help out the teachers in math and i have a lesson planned but usually don't get to do it because the teacher changed the schedule or just doesn't do my lesson. So i sit there doing nothing. then I go home and do some lesson stuff and try to find something to do. Once again it's usually nothing. I play with the kids in the house and work on my garden or some other mundane thing. I go see a few people in site when I feel moved to but over all i do nothing. It is very frustrating and makes you feel useless. I hope that things speed up eventually because this gets old really fast. 


Even though I am having an interesting time I do love it here. The people are great and the work that I am doing is fun. I am glad to be a volunteer it is just not what i expected. Love you all until next time. 

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Welcome Back!


Hey I got back to my site after being sick for a while. It is nice to be back and well I defiantly missed it here. Everything has been going well. It was the week of the teachers so there was no school and a lot of parties, delicious food and great company. There were a lot of jokes said on my expense which I didn’t’ understand all of but that is fine. I have learned to laugh at myself because most of the time it is something funny anyways. There was no electricity for the whole party so some kind person brought in a generator so we could have music and dancing. We ended up dancing for about two to three hours. It was a lot of fun and tiring.
I was to go to the festival in the neighboring town but I decided to spend time getting to know the family. I think it was one of the best things I could have done. We have been getting closer and the girls Reyna and Caty are a lot of fun to hang out with. There was no light again that night and we spent the time sing songs dancing and just talking. It was one of the best nights I had in site yet. I felt like a part of the family it’s amazing.
It has been cloudy here but with little rain. There have been scares like a lot of thunder and dark skies we begin to prepare for rain and it never comes. It has been very hot and humid though which is miserable. The mosquito are crazy right now as well I have been back form about three days and I am covered in bites but that might have something to do with the fact that my mosquito net is broken.  I hope to get one soon but we will see when someone is coming my way. That way I can sleep outside of the sheet and not roast to death. Maybe then I won’t get as many bites.  Well good news I fixed my mosquito net so now I get to not be eaten alive! It is amazing.
I haven’t really been doing much in school since break is in a week. There have need a lot of midterms and things. I have been helping some in math classes and just catching up with the teachers. I don’t really feel productive doing that but that’s ok. I’ll start doing more next semester. I want to start the school garden then and do more environmental things with the kids. There is no point in starting one right now since there will be no one there to tend it for a week.
I have stated my garden in the house. It’s a lot of work and my hands are now dead but my sisters helped out a lot as well as some boys from the neighborhood so it went fast.  I have to wait a few days for the son to kill the pests and bacteria in the soil before I can plant but I’m excited to get started. The ground isn’t really good it has a lot of clay but I will have due. I have some cow manure so hopefully things work out.
I really love this new family they seem like it would all work out. There is one little boy who drives me crazy he is very nesio (bad). Doesn’t listen to anyone! Oh well he is slowly getting better though which is great.  I am very happy here and am glad that I am back and getting started again. I have to leave so I’ll write to all of you soon. Lots of Love. XOXOXO

Sunday, April 22, 2012

How to...

1. How to take a bucket bath: First fill the trough with water. Have your bathing supplies ready get a pan and fill it with water starting with your legs pour water on them then your chest arms and back. With a full pan of water pour it over your head moving your hair around to get it all wet. Get just enough shampoo to clean your hair in your hands and lather. With the pan slowly pour water over your head as you rinse the shampoo out. I stress the slowly because if you just pour you'll never get all the soap out. Repeat until hair is clean. If need be use conditioner and repeat process. Dunk your rag into the water and soap it up cleaning your body well you want all of that sweat and dust from the day off of you for at least 5 min. start from you top down and pour water over your body rinsing off. Grab a towel and from top to bottom dry off holding the towel in just the right way so that it never touches the dirty ground. get dressed in same fashion and continue with the day.

2. How to wash clothes without a washing machine: Make sure you have plenty of water or a hose near my. Get the pile of your dirty clothes and some bar soap to wash clothes. You can a. soak your clothes in a bleach mixture before hand or b. just wash them straight away. I do option b Nicaraguans do option a. take out one to two objects of clothes and once them are soaked rub soap on the front ,back, selves, legs etc of the clothes. then take part and begin to viciously rub it on a stone slab with grooves in it. (It can be made  by the handyman nearest you. Found in all towns of Nicaragua.)  Take other sections of the cloth and repeat process until front an back of clothing are clean. Begin to pour water on it while you squeeze your clothing with on hand moving it around and picking it up until the water coming from it is clean. wring it out and then shake it before putting it over the clothes line to dry.

3. How to put up a mosquito net: Take net out of back and find the four corner of the net. Lay it out to the best of you ability to find out which sides are the long side and which side it the short side. Tie a long piece of string, rope, cloth or what ever you have to each corner loop. Put up four nails, find for rafter, find for hooks what ever you can in the room that is on the far wall of the four corner of the bed. Lay the net over the bed it is not already and pull one of the ties to your nail and wrap it around before doing a loose knot but not puling the last sting all the way through this allows for a quick easy take down when needed. Repeat the process with the other corners. Then adjust the tightness of the stings until it is a comfortable height from the bed. Pull the sides around the bed and tuck in three of the sides leaving one side hanging over the edge to get you enter your bed.

4. How to use a latrine: Enter the latrine and pull the door shut firmly behind you. Put your lets on either side of the front of the hole with a cement seat and squat with your hips pointed towards the back of the seat. wipe and throw tissue into the hole. Close the door behind you so the animal won't get in. Wash hands in the pila. 




Wednesday, April 11, 2012

A day in the life of Isis

I thought I would give you a day in the life of Isis:

At 7:00 I wake up sitting up and taking out my earplugs and pull out the mosquito net. I place my feet into flip flops. I kick my cat out of the way and filling his food dish. I get dress and place my PJ’s under the mosquito net before tucking it in again. I leave to the latrine opening the door and squatting over a hole in the ground with a cement seat I go to the bathroom. Going to the pilla (a stone barrel that has a wash area next to it filled with water) I splash water onto my hands and look for some laundry soap. I wash my face and brush my teeth then go to eat breakfast of eggs and rice. Grabbing my bag I swing onto my bike and leave for my school that is 6k way. Putting in the headphones I put on some music to make the ride go faster.

I get passed by a man on a moto who slows down to chat with me and asks for my number I politely refuse and we go on our way. I get passed by a guy on a horse carrying jugs that will be filled up with water later and give the basic “Adios” greeting. About half way there I am passed by my teacher on a moto (motorcycle). Swerving to avoid rocks in the road I finally make it to the road that turns up into my school. I jump off my bike and navigate it from a path or huge rocks and bump my way, up a hill to the one room school house.

Class has already started as I park my bike at the front of the school and go inside. All of the students stand and say “Buenos dias” (good morning). I respond “Buenos dias, sientense” (good morning sit down). I greet the teacher and get the lesson topic in science for the day as they continue with Spanish. I look through the book and plan my lesson for one of the three grades 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade. I stop to teach Math to one of those three classes and then begin the first half of my lessons which is one hour long before they have recreo (recess) that goes for over the allowed time of half an hour. I get dragged to play games with the kids until I get tired and go over the join la profesora in the shade. Class starts again and we continue with the lesson. Once school ends I get pestered by my teacher to ride on the moto back to site and I have to deny since it is part of the Peace Corps rules. She gets irritated and thinks I don’t like her and I begin the long hot ride to my site. I have to slow down for a herd of cattle that are coming my way and avoid rocks and poop again.

I make my lunch of tuna fish and rice with juice and maduros (plantains fried). I eat while talking with the kids in my house. After I finish I have descansa (siesta) which is when I go online or read from my kindle. Or I should say try to I have kids coming into my room trying to talk to me and if I go out of the room it’s worst. It can take a while to get anything done. After the hot of the day passes I would adventure out to plan lessons with my other teachers for the next day or go talk to my counterparte (counterpart). I begin to start dinner which is an American meal of pasta salad and fruit. I eat while talking to my mother.

I go to my room and give the cat his dinner while getting myself ready for a bath. I slip on my flip flops and grab my bath things and go out into the night to the bath house. I scrape the old bath water from the clogged drain and step over the wet area to get undressed in the small outhouse hut with a door that doesn’t lock. I hang up my clothes on some of the multiple nails on the wall. I take the pale (bowl like pail) that is in a corner stoned off area that has water filled from the hose. I pure it on my legs arms chest and back shivering from the cold water. I soak my washcloth in the water and begin to wash my body (once a week I would wash my hair by pouring water on my head slowly from the pale I would put the shampoo in my hair to slowly wash it out when I think it is all out I move to conditioner which I leave in until the end of the bath) I rinse off the soap and then the hair. I grab the towel and dry off wrapping it around me and rush to my room before people can see me. I finish drying off and get changed into sleep clothes. I go into the main house and watch some TV with the family as they cell hamburgers from their house. It’s more like a fried piece of meat that they put condiments and lettuces and tomatoes.

I return to my room turn on my fan if it is not already on which is usually is. I go pee on the ground outside my room because it is really dark and the latrine is on the other side of the yard. I climb into my wipe off the dirt and crap on my bed and tuck in my net. I read for an hour and put in earplugs and have my spray bottle of water with me to scare Miles off the bed at night. I turn off my headlamp and got to sleep at 9:30-10:00.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Samana Santa

Samana Santa also known as Easter was awesome! I went to Isla Ometepe with two other volunteers and had a blast. We kind of did a trip where we played it by ear. We left on Sunday and went to Rives and stayed that night there. We hung out in the hostel that we randomly found and ate some bad pizza and watched a movie with some sparkling grape juice. It was quite the party! The next day we got on the boat that was rockier than a baby’s cradle. They were showing Karate Kid in Spanish with Chinese subtitles and the movie was dubbed over in Spanish with a Chinese accent so no one could understand. It was a long one hour ride luckily I did not get sick. We finally landed in a not so busy port town and looked for another random hostel. We ended up with a good one. It had a private bath and a bunk bed set up where the bottom bunk is a double bed and the top a single. There was a patio that had a bunch of hammocks to read in and an upstairs area with tables, sofas and chairs. There was really good wireless but I didn’t bring my computer and I didn’t really care but my friends had fun with it. The people who ran the hostel were fun to talk to and were always joking with us. That night we went out to look for something to do but the town was dead so we ended up eating in one of the other hostels and had a fun meal chatting with the waitress.

The next day we went to the beach and met up with another volunteer that lived on the Isla. We were not out that long but we all got burned really badly. The sun here is really strong. I don’t burn easily so you know it must be strong. We swam around some and brought our own food to save on money and some amazing cheese sandwiches. That night we went to this hamburger place I got an amazing grilled cheese sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, and grilled vegetables in it and for dessert we had hot brownies with whipped cream on top I was in heaven but that was before I knew what was to come.

The next day we traveled to the other side of the Isla and stayed at another hostel that was a 1k walk up the side of the volcano. It was absolutely gorgeous to see with beautiful flower everywhere and trails to walk through the woods and up to the top of the volcano. The accommodations were nothing to write home about but it was for the most part clean and comfortable. The day we went to a natural spring swimming hole name Ojo de Aqua. It is said to be the cleanest swimming water found in Nicaragua. It was cool but nothing that you couldn’t find in other countries. There was nothing very unique about but it was a great place to relax after traveling. We met up with other volunteers at a local restaurant which had the best food I have eaten in Nicaragua. I had a vegetable stir fry what had a wide variety of vegetables over the right amount of rice and rich flavorful sauce that was not too thick or strong. Heaven! It was so good that we went there the next day again. We chit chatted the night way before returning to the hostel for a nice night sleep.

We were planning to go Kayaking the next day only to be told that it would cause 50 US dollars. There was no busses running because of the Samana Santa and we ended up walked the 6+k to the beach before being told of the price. We stayed on the beach for a little bit before walking another 3k to the tourist part of town to eat turned around and walked halfway back before my feet died and we hitchhiked but to the hostel. By the time we got back my legs were numb and shaking I collapsed into bed after freezing my butt off in a ‘nice’ ice cold shower.

We went horseback riding the last day at the finca (farm) we thought it would be a two hour ride that turned into 6hrs. We rode to a path up the side of the volcano that led to a one hour hike up to a waterfall that the water was so pure you could drink. WE had to risk it since we ran out of water and were very thirsty with a whole ride back a head of us. Apparently he was right because I have yet to get sick and parasites and bacteria tend to show up pretty quickly. The ride up was on trails that were extremely rocky and I was scared that the horse would trip and hurt its leg. She did slip a few times be nothing bad happened. I was an amazing trip and one of my favorite parts of my vacation. We were told that there would be no hostels with room that day so we quickly went to catch one of the last boats out to the main land and stayed in Rives all over again. There we met up with a dad and his daughter that too were trapped they lived in Costa Rica and the boarders were closed. We had a lovely dinner with them and talked some of the night.

That Saturday we went to Granada to celebrate one of the other volunteers birthday we ate a ridiculously expensive lunch that was worth the end of the vacation party. Talked and caught up. WE had a blast but I was more than ready to head home and most of us were becoming grumpy and snappy. Unfortunately I could still not go home the busses were running but packed full and no reliable. I ended up staying with my only training host family.

There was a really interesting tradition in the town on celebrating the Samana Santa. Every day the week there was parades with a part of the death and resurrection of Jesus. On a huge detailed statue that they carried through the street. On one day those who want to repent their sins in a way would walk on the knees blindfolded from one part of town to the church with two people helping them. It was a big event and the town was packed. I never have seen that town like that even during the Independence Day parade. It was a very unique cultural experience one that only that town does. I am very glad that I stayed the night with them and even had some good conversation with my family which almost never happens. It is late and I must wake up early tomorrow. I will write more tomorrow I have an interesting idea of a blog to do for you all. Love you all and miss you. XOXO

Friday, March 30, 2012

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT

It is burning up here. Everyday seems to be hotter than the last. I sweat all day in the afternoon I jump into a baby pool fully clothed to cool off. Then use my wet clothes as a cooling rag an hour later. The night showers and a fan are the only ways I can get to sleep at night. It is almost too hot!

I am moving tomorrow! I will be going to none of the previous options. I will be moving to a home with an older woman 60's and her two grandchildren. A girl in high school and a little one i would say 4. The woman seems very talkative and open I am very happy and think that this will be a good change. They have so many animals which i love but little to no roosters or chickens! NO being waken up at 1:30 at night or 4 in the morning! My room has it's own entrance into the house and a window. There is another room with AC that i can go into if i need a desperate cool off. A huge kitchen which I will be cooking all of my meals.

I am using this time to start over in my service and to do things the way i would have wanted it to go before. I am taking the time to get out of the house more and meet new people. Start a few groups and be a real volunteer. I am going to put more of an effort into socializing with the family. I always think it is my fault that things didn't work out with my first family. If I only did this or that, things would have been better. But there is no point in playing the 'If I' or 'I should have' game. The past is the past and can't be changed. One can only learn from your mistakes and successes and make the present and future the best that it can be. I'll have more info after the move.