Here is the Scoop

Hello there, thanks for staying with me and reading about my adventures!! Not many people have computers here in their houses and when they do they do not have internet, so my options are going to an internet cafe and paying for internet. While it is cheap here it is still not super convenient. But here is the update on my last week, which was very amazing. After I realized how great everything is here and how lucky I am to be here and meet such amazing people adn experience such a different lifestyle working in the area of international development, I just had a great week.

Last Friday, after working all day on my grant proposal at work, I got a ride home from Gabbie, my co-worker. Not only is it very rare to have your own car here because they are expensive but I got to ride in my favorite car (when it was rainning). Usually I would wait for the 115 bus to take me from Bello Amanecer, a poor neighborhood within Ciudad Sandino, and would walk to the bus stop, ten minutes and walk from the stop near by house to my house, another ten minutes...any it was rainning! Gabbies car was made probably 20 years ago, it is like a jeep but supper crappy. Her passenger side door has to be open and from the inside and closed from the outside, so I can never get in alone (I guess its a good safety measure though) adn the passenger window does not role down, so that sucks in the heat here. I also saved like an hour of travel evem though I just wanted to go across town. After a productive days work and my adventure in Chucky (what we call her car since it is almost as scary as that movie with the toy dolls) I took the bus into Managua to meet my friends Katie and Brian for a little Italian food in a mall. It is always a nice treat to go into managua and take a break from Ciudad Sandino. Managua is a nice city but still there is so much poverty and pollution and traffic. Actually it is not that nice at all but it is still a great break from where I live.

On Saturday, we decided to take it easy so in the afternoon Emily and I went to La Laguna de Xiloa. It is a little lake maybe 7 km away from where we live. We went swimming and just enjoyed the sun and surrounding mountains. It was very nice and slow paced. Then Katie and I decided to be fat kids to we went to the only super market in town called Pali and bought snickers and oreos and had a movie night at my place on her laptop since my family only have a tv without cable. But we watched surfs up in spanish it was great.

Sunday, I watched Spain play Italy in the Europe cup, which I think I have said before but it is huuuuugeee here! The guys in my family, Carlos, Oscar and Jonni (Carlos who is 45 or so and the boys who are my age) love Barcelona, Brazil and the general Spanish team. They are so enthusiatic during the games it is so much fun and they know all the players. And when they are not watchign soccer or working they are p'laying soccer. I have yet to play a game with them and their friends but I have definitely passed around a few times. Everyother week night or so it seems there is a soccer game infront of my house. Since Don Lorenzo and other family members often sit on our porch and and hang out it give sme a good excuse to always watch the games outside after dinner.

Monday I worked all day on my grant proposal (which was a solid eight pages and is in Spanish and English, I am proud!) and then went into managua to do a little shopping with Katie, to pick out outfits at Barrion, a Nica department store, for her going away party which was on that next wednesday. I also had a meeting with FSD, my program and some other interns talking about human rights and social justice as themes in our jobs. We always meet at a mall in Managua called Metrocentro at this cafe called Casa del Cafe. I had chocolate cake and it was great. Sometimes I just crave random food that the US always has. Here they don´t really have enough money for desserts and gallo pinto is the typical food for every meal. I like gallo pinto luckily and my host mom is a pretty good cook (not as good as my host mom in Spain but who is comparing) but the food here is a little bland.

Tuesday was just another work day on my project but Gabbie and I presented our project to the general Director, Isabelita, of CECIM (Centro Educative y Capacitacion Integral de La Hermana Maura Clarke which is the umbrella organization that operates the school I mostly work in), and she loved the idea. We already presented the idea of having an Environment day and actually setting up a recycling system at the school and she loved the idea too. It was really nice to hear we have her support on these projects. They are both very sustainable and realistic which are key elements I have learned in international development. After giving Isabel the copy of the project description and all the information, we had a great conversation about my work here and how things are going. She asked how I was feeling in general and I said, very much a part of the community here and a part of the organization. They really include in a lot and want to see what I am interested in as to where I would fit in. Everyone treats me as an equal or even a little special cuz I am white and a foreigner. I was pleasantly surprised how not one talked ot me extra loud or slow because they might have thought I don´t speak spanish well, but everyone really talks with me normally and are interested in my culture, where I come from and about my personal life. I couldn´t ask for more. It was really hard being thrown into a job where everything is foreign and new, but after the last month, I have a friends at work who I am comfortable with, I know the facilities and how everything runs more or less and I feel lucky to have had so much help on my project in the last few weeks. It is really hard to have to come up with a sustainable project within a month and try to implement it in two months. Getting to know the organization and come up with a realistic solution to a need is very challenging, especially when they need so much here and working with the skills I have is somewhat limited.

Here is a little about my project: What I described above is what I was pretty much sent here to do...create a sustainable project in two months with my skills meeting the needs of my organization and possibly having the chance to get money from FSD (the Foundation for Sustainable Development) if my project is good enough. So after talkign to people in the community a little bit and people I work with, we thought we would create a audio-visual resource room which would be attached to the library at the school. It would have interactive videos and educational documentaries about all different academic and social subjects. There is a solution and a problem clearly defined in my project. The problem, aside from social issues such as intrafamilial violence and low education levels, the learning system in schools here is very basic. It is characterized by teachers basically copying down their lesson plans onto the blackboard and then the 35 to 55 studetns in each classroom section copying down the notes on the blackboard into their notebooks. There are not many great text books for all subjects or interactive learning. My project addresses learning styles of audio, visual and physical learners as well as those with special needs. Giving the library a resource room with a DVD player and audio-visual internactive materials that they can use as a part of their curriculum will enhance the way kids learn all around as well as improving the teachign system of teachers at the school. The sustainable aspect is that the room where these materials will be stored and used already exixts they just need the resources adn trainning on how to use them which is what I can give, along with the two directors and Gabbie the psychologist who have given me their full support on this. So, I turned in my prject proposal to the main office of FSD in San Francisco and will hear if my project gets approved on this Monday the 30th! We will see, I have a lot of faith in this project because it deals with education which is completely sustainable in general, because once you give the kids the tools and knowledge to make good and informed decisions and educate them about the world, social patterns and behaviors begin tot change improving the society.

Okay, I am sorry I know this is like a huge essay and don´t feel bad it you can´t read it all....

A couple more details...

I turned my project in on Wednesday, the 25th, which was a big day! It felt like a Friday with all the work I had accomplished that week and since we went out to celebrate that night. Well, after turning in my project via email I went to the school with Gabbie in Chucky to then head to Las Comarcas again with my supervior, Nelly. Since she was still in a teachers meeting at the school. Lesbia, the librarian, Gabbie and I decided we didn´t want to work anymore (at this time it about 4pm) so we played the card game UNO. Let me tell you, it is sooo much more fun in Spanish! They have different rules and we bet on the games. We bet things like a capuccino for the winner. Gabbie said she was good, but I thought I would be better because I have years of experience playing with my grandma in Kansas. But Gabbie ended up winning twice and now we owe her 2 cappuccinos, they cost like 50 cents each which is good for me but still a little expensive I think for Lesbia, who is Nicaragua. I loved hearing her little spanish sayings and retorts while playing the game, it was great and we were all really into it!

After UNO, Nelly and I finally left for the poor rural region in Las comarcas, the area is actually split up into towns, and I learned that last week we went to Cuajachillo 2, and Wednesday we went to Cuajachillo 1. So we went on her moto, very exhilerating and met up with two other women Milena and Marta, and we all set out walking in the town around 5:30 to evaluate the classes given to kids who work full time during the week. These teachers usually have between 4-8 young adults, kids or adults in their classes, which consists of sitting outside where ever there is light with their notebooks. Because these people live far from a school amd have to work everyday to survive and support their families no matter what age they can only go to school at dark after work for a couple hours everyday. So Nelly, my supervisor and the school´s director where I work and for the education campaigns in the rural areas, evaluates how the classes are going about once a week. I really enjoy these trip because we get to see the coutryside more and crazy animals like ducks, birds, pigs and huge cows and oxes all on one family´s property. This is definitely a different lifestyle than where I live in Ciudad Sandino, but it is still close...living day to day.

On the way home, we made a couple of stops on her moto (motorcycle) at the school the pick something up, at a vela (like an outdoor memorial service where basically the whoel community goes to remember and listen to the family of someone who died). It is such a tight knit community that everyone knows where the service is an who will be there, it is really great. We also stopped by a clothing store, which is usually just cloths hanging up infront of someone´s home, so Nelly could buy a new outfit for a school event they are having today. It is teachers day. So while waiting and evaluating the cloths she was trying on, I found a bright yellow Brazil soccer jersey and I instantly thought of Carlos, the middle aged son who lives in the house with me and so I bought it thinking I would give it to him when I leave as a thanks but I couldn´t wait so I gave it to him yesterdasy and he loved it! He is a funny guy, very polite but just does not say much to me, like he has his own life, but now we have a closer relationsip...he made me coffee today I was very excited!

After las comarcas I changed quickly to try and catch the last bus out to Managua to go out with everyone. We were celebrating Mariana´s Birthday (the program coordinator), our turning in and finishing of our projects, and Katie´s leaving the country. But, in trying to catch the last bus, I was witing and waiting and finally these two creeping older men came up to me since they noticed I was waiting by myself, which is a little dangerous, and they offered me a seat near them and offered help. They ended up being super nice and wanted to help me since they knew I was a foreigner and had been waiting alone for like 20 minutes. We ended up chatting a little and they told me the best way to to get to Managua since buses already stopped, was via taxi and how much I should pay and stuff. Juan and Maria were so genuine and since it is pretty sketch to take taxis alone especially being female and at night, they got me a good taxi and made sure the driver understood they would come after them if anything happened. They said I should come by their house the next day to tell them I was alive and well. They were really sweet and the taxi driver ended up being nice, he actually used to go to the dance classes offered by my organization. So I felt safe and I made to my friends alright. We ended up having a blast at this club called Hipa Hipa. It was the clubs 10th anniversary and there were fireworks and champagne which were very appropriate since we were celebrating so much that night. The director of the program an this other really cute girl that works with FSD, named Anabelsy, came out too and we all danced together and had a great time! We ended up staying out until like 4 and it was awesome but I have had my dancing fill for a while.

A random side note, Emily and I were hanging out sitting in the shade at the plaza yesterday, Thursday, and she said that you really become and are part of a community when you can gossip or chat about people in the community...people in the streets amd people you knwo things about. That is exactly what we were doing, chatting about people we saw pass or friends who live here. And that´s when I realized I am really a part of this community and people know me and it made me feel great for being here. Anyways, Wednesday was my last productive day of work and was actually really like a Friday for me, since I am only writing on my blog today (Friday) and not dong anything!

After lunch today I am going to pack my backpack and go to a meeting in Managua with my group to tlak about the economic crisis in Nicaragua and then we are all off for a weekend adventure to San Juan Del Sur. It is on the beach a couple of hours south of Managua and I am super excited to relax. I also don´t have to work on Monday since there is no class, so it will be a nice long weekend there!

So I am done writing, but I just wanted to mention that there is a young mom behind me with her four year old son talking on scype to his Dad who is in the US working. That is such a reality here. I hear stories of people´s fmaily members who are working in the US for a better life and to better support their families in Central America. It is just amazing because they are away from their families for years at a time. It is interesting to have lived in the US and in Nicaragua where both families members are away from eachother...