Producto!

We baked our product with our youth for the first time this Thursday!! It was such a success! Still can't tell you what it is in case other trainees in the other competing groups find out (shhh!)

 Even the youngest youth helped. Technically, we are only supposed to be working with youth ages 15-24, but how can you say no to 4 year olds like William and Meli!?

 Eddy and my host brother, Wilmer, prepping the coconut and pineapple. It was such an out of body experience to be baking and just watching as the youth did almost all of it. They rock!! They use the machine in the corner called a molinda, or grinder, to grind and crush everything! We use them in the states to grind corn and wheat too, but they use it for fruit and veggies and everything!

 Alberto, David, Eddy, Johnaton and Fidel in front of the horno while the 2nd cake is baking! I was the only girl in the whole kitchen! Busting those gender roles!

 Stefan and Benjamin working out the logistics for the logo and packaging of the baked good. The kids really dynamic and receptive and incredibly intuitive. I was so proud of them! Some of them worked with us the whole day, so close to 5 or 6 hours straight of baking, packaging and selling!

 Selling the finished product. I was the official tesoro, or money holder/treasurer. The community members were supportive and also very verbal with suggestions for the next time we bake. Less sugar and smaller pieces for less money...good to know

And lastly, I know it's fuzzy, but while we were selling around the neighborhood, the kids found some old bike tires and started racing the tires up and down the dirt paths in the fields. If this doesn't put a smile on your face, nothing will. It's the little things! :) Many hugs, Meg

Masaya Day Trip

The weekend before Tech Week, my training group decided to check out Masaya, one of the bigger cities in the same municipality as Masatepe and Jardin Botanico, our training town. There is an Artesanal Market and a much bigger and cooler general market for everyday goods. 

 One of the many funky gifts you could get in the wicked gringo touristy Artesan Market. funny.....

 The beginning of acclimating to the bus transportation system. They are all old school buses and the can fit as many people as the chofer says they can fit (you would be surprised!). And then people can fit on the top with the chickens and bags of mangos. Personal space does not exist on the bus and you have to watch yourself and your belongings. There are incredibly nice people on the bus too who make sure that you get off at the right stop.

And there are incredibly cute little girls in the bus stop market in hammocks just hanging out!

Saturday Day Boat Guide around the Isletas de Grenada

So the Satuuday after Tech Week, we took a group boast guide trip around the islands of Grenada. Miguel, the Assistant Country Director, came with us as our unofficial guide and officially the best cook of everything (including Nestle recipie cookies and homemade tortilla chips!)

 This is Miguel, or Miguelito. He is the best!! He served as a volunteer on the other side of Lake Managua before becoming the Training Manager and now he's the Assistant Director of the whole PC Nicaragua. He's like a walking Lonely Planet only better because he's also funny!

 There were 3 boats of trainees from both Small Business and Agriculture.

 There is also an Island named Monkey Island. Guess what they have?! And the monkeys do tricks if you throw food. Well trained! And adorable!

 I threw a carrot and celery stick. So cute!

 Me at the front of the boat. Represent with VT shirt!!

 And Meli and I collected A LOT of pelote, an apple-pear fruit, when I got home. She really likes getting her picture taken!

 It was raining a lot!! This is to be expected in rainy season. The non-existent sewer and water system just can't handle the flash flood conditions. But I have utter confidence in Don Douglass and his driving ability.

And lastly, despite the rain and fog, we drove to the top of the Diria to check out another Mirador. This is actually the town that Miguel trained in for his service. So that's it in a nutshell.

Tech Week Pictures!

Hey guys!! So here are the pictures from Tech Week. I went with 4 other trainees to San Nicolas in the south tip of Esteli. As I summarized earlier, we built an improved oven, played baseball, and got to have some serious face time with several volunteers who are at least a year into their site. Here is Chris and Gerry cutting the chimmney for the stove.

 And me getting filthy while applying the mud mix.

 It's a big stove! You can see the 2 chambers. One is for combustion and the other is for slow-cooking tasks like beans and rice. The measurements have to be much more precise than for the oven though. Definitely felt my ceramics and clay side kicking in! And I broke my feet into my new rubber campo boots.

 And there are cute puppies in the campo too!!

 This is one of the many views from Spencer's site!! Awesome right!?

 One of the farmers we visited with and spoke to about his plot and crops gifted us two chickens. One escaped when we got back to Spencer's and the other trainees chased it up and down the little hill.

 Group photo!! Form front left: trainee Brittany, Alison, Gerry and Spencer, then in the back left is Travis, me, Chelsea, Chris, and Volunteer Brittany. AWESOME GROUP!!!! Made all the difference!

 The baseball field. So we were going to play in the campo field, but the adult team got eliminated so they planted the field with corn. But then they heard that Peace Corps volunteers were going to be coming and playing so they opened the official municipality stadium and closed school for the day for the youth teams to play. Like a reverse Field of Dreams!

 And I got to bat too!! Only girl.

 Another Mirador. The boys are actually pointing out the field where we had just played down in the valley.

 Trainee shot of the Mirador (lookout). Apparently the Hoduran border is all the way way way in the back

 Miguel, the assistant director for Nicaragua, told us not to fall down the drop because it's just more paperwork for him! :)

 So pretty!

 Can you see the baseball field?

Trainees and Volunteers from Las Puertas Tech Week!!

Back from Tech Week

Hi all,
Survived Tech Week! Went with a group of 5 other trainees to Las Puertas in San Nicholas, which is a little west of Esteli. It actually got cold enough at night to need a hoodie!! Will add details later this week with LOTS of pictures, but in a nutshell we made an improved stove (got dirty with mud and concrete again!!) and played baseball with the local youth, and we were given two chickens as a present from one of the local farmers. And most importantly, we got to stay in a volunteer´s house with 4 volunteers from the area and talk  everyday with them until about 10PM about the good, the bad and the ugly of being a volunteer. Found some kindred spirits and definitely a well-timed solidarity break. Regrouped in Esteli for the Site Fair and AgNight (you can guess what that is-think Keewaydin end of season). I chose Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Madriz or Esteli as my top choices for the sites, but we´ll see what happens. Just great to come home to a shower and Manuelito and Melissa. Two weeks until Site Visit!!

Week 5-See ya after Tech Week

              

 Bueno. It’s been awhile, but been super busy and sick. Started out feeling bad last Thursday, went to the lab on Friday, did Cipro for 3 days to no avail, followed by these next 5 days on an antiparasitic and another pill to help with digestion to encourage me to eat more to gain back the minimal weight I lost. Dramamine is a beautiful thing too. Now that the bad news is out of the way and getting better here’s the good stuff. More than a month into Training and the Community Garden is looking great. Just transplanted the tomatoes with the help of the local youth (as shown).  Good age and gender mix. They are all a huge breath of fresh air on Sundays when we are just about to start another week. My training group is a little front-loaded in the sense that we have our informal meeting  (playing games and working in the garden) on Sunday, then work on the garden with our Sector Field Director on Monday, then formal youth meeting on Tuesday. Peace Corps charlas and sessions are usually on Wednesdays and Fridays, so you see how it starts to add up a little. This Wednesday the topic was Coping with Stress-somewhat appropriate given my current condition. It’s been a pretty steady diet of steamed veggies and crackers for the last couple of days. They gave us some great “recipies from home” ideas in the Coping Packet, but need peanut butter and quick-cooking oats and not sure how easy those will be to find. Hint…hint…hint J Also baked our first version of the coconut pineapple cake we decided on for our youth baked good. All the youth loved it despite the rushed baking hours before the meeting, but everyone agreed that it might even be too sweet (Hard to imagine right?!)

         It is becoming more and more clear that Training is not really anything like time at post or in site. Volunteers in the sessions have made it incredibly clear that it will be rural. The constant check-ins by Peace Corps staff, which are primarily for project purposes and to check on group dynamic and wellbeing, do not happen nearly as often since it’s just you.

Some fun moments: My family and I made pizza this weekend after the PC sessions. The typical Nica cheese is super dry and salty, but there are places that sell quesillo, which is like mozzarella. Unfortunately, these places are not open on Saturdays when I am looking for the last ingredients. But, there is creamy block cheese in the Pali, the Nica Walmart, so we improvise. Everyone in the family was watching me knead dough and Dona Lysett and my host sister were masters at veggie chopping for the homemade salsa. It definitely felt a little like home. I forgot how much baking is a part of my routine and how relaxing it can be to follow a recipie and make something I can eat. We used the new improved oven and it was a resounding success! Even with my family loading every piece they ate with packets of ketchup (yes, ketchup is for more than just hotdogs here).

          On a different note, Melissa has decided that I am the chief when it comes to braiding hair and all hair styles. So several times a week, she’ll stand in front of me with her head just out of the shower and her comb in hand, ready to go. This is hilarious given my lack of girly genes and given that my only experience with girly hair stuff is my own head.

          Wilmer, my host brother, and I were sick most of the last 5 days. He had major migraines and came home from school so the 2 of us created a bit of a sick fort on the back patio porch area. Melissa even gave me her butterfly pillow to fall asleep with to make me feel better. Very cute.  When we weren’t on the patio, most of the time the two of us will be chilling in front of the TV watching the World Cup. Wilmer and the rest of the guys want Spain and anyone but Ireland to win, so of course I side with Ireland.  I can actually understand most of what the announcers are saying…especially when there is a goal J

Two weeks now with the new Spanish professor. She is awesome!! She helped me relax about missing class to go to the lab and helped talk to my family about diet changes for when I was sick. She also has two little kids of her own and is very no-nonsense, but at the same time talks with me about the cartoon and superheroes shows her kids like to watch. She also takes us to different places, like Jinotepe, to practice outside the classroom. There was a supermarket with CHOCOLATE CHIPS!! WOOHOO!! Really expensive here though. The prof also did a great job prepping us for the mid-cycle training interview.

         So the way it works is PC  does an initial interview in Spanish to gage your level for training, then another one mid-cycle to determine how you are progressing, then a final one before you go to site. In addition to that, we are also headed to Field Days for a week, which is a little like the field trips in Costa Rica. We are going to different sites that currently have volunteers (don’t know specifics yet because it’s only happening Monday-there’re like 4 days jeez J) and be doing projects that we would not be able to do in our training towns. It’s also a little teaser mid-way through training to get us thinking about real-site life.  End of Field Days on Thursday is the Site Fair where we hear about all the potential areas and then it gets pretty downhill from there. Every couple of weeks, the Training Staff meet at Roundtables to talk about everyone’s progress and the topic turns more into selecting and fitting sites for everyone when we get back with 5 weeks left. We get our sites by Week 9 because we actually go to our sites for a week before coming back to finish up all the training projects and get sworn in. Whew! Poco a poco. Needless to say, my big-picture brain is having a little trouble taking it a day at a time with all these big schedule things coming up. It has been an emotional training for me as the cultural adaptation is normalizing, which leaves room for me to try to overachieve. Have to remind myself to sit on my hands sometimes and that I don’t always have to be doing something, since most of the time the best things happen when I’m not already doing stuff. It’s a constant struggle, but it also helps when the current volunteers validate my perspective with their experiences.

Weeks 4 and 5

Week # 4 and 5

Sorry it’s been such a while since posting but definitely hit the ups and downs. Just finished 1^st round of cyproflaxine after sleeping for about 14 hours yesterday. After sending some samples to the lab, they think I have a bacterial infection. All part of the experience, but caught up on some reading and Dramamine is a beautiful thing. My family was super sweet and let me be a slug for the rest of the day. Since last I wrote, built an oven with my gringa sister, Lindsey. She was the volunteer my family had before me and she is awesome! Lots of talking about the whole PC experience and the best host family ever! Made the oven in about 4 or 5 hours and hope to use it today to make pizza, but have to get yeast and cheese. Lindsey was a great booster.

 Also, got the ipod and got to run twice before getting sick. Felt great to run and just get into motion. Unfortunately, the first time I ran I didn’t know where I was going and according to my family I ran to the most dangerous part of town, Fatima, and back. They were very worried and I felt very sheepish. Needless to say, I ran to Campos Azules the next time, with permission and guidance.

This past weekend was the beginning of the Patron Saint of Masatepe Festsival so imagine Irish Catholic Church on steroids. About 2 hours smushed together then the bumber car routine to Communion, then standing outside in the midday sun and watching all the amazing folklore and traditional dances. There are kids of all ages who participate in the procession. It starts with fireworks the night before. There will be fireworks again tonight and another procession tomorrow to finish the weeklong festival. It has something to do with “Tincho,” a black Jesus. Lindsey has a banana bread specialty, so got my baking on with Dona Lysett and we made 2 more big banana breads before the fireworks. My brother-in-law has family who are in charge of the whole festival. Got some of my host cousins and nieces and nephews to help me make the paper greenhouse for the garden project. They were quite enthusiastic which was a nice pick-me-up. Have also started braiding plastic bags to possible crochet later. Otherwise all trash, including plastic bags, get burned outside of the house or are used to start kitchen cooking fires.

Made a makeshift volleyball net for the informal youth meetings on Sunday which all the kids loved. Unfortunately, gender norms make it so if the boys want to play, then the girls don’t, so we are constantly coming up with alternatives or separate activities. It is nice though that so many come and during the week ask me if the meeting is at the same time and place.

There are some days when I actually just let myself fall asleep because I’ve crammed that much Spanish into my brain or I’ve done that much planning or integrating, etc. Also been having some group dynamic issues. My family was actually very comforting and supportive as I explained what was frustrating me and it’s nice to hear their perspective having already had one trainee who has come back and told them about her (Lindsey) experience. Tempers were also a little high since we had our official charla, or life skills talk with the youth this past Tuesday and seemed to wait until Monday to plan it out.  The charla itself went fine. I had a group of boys who told me they wanted to graduate and become policemen, architects, and lawyers. I am also realizing that I have a little more formal and informal education experience than the average Agr. Volunteer (especially since the last several  charlas have been on facilitation, informal education (like Friere),  and Sustainable Development). Basically my thesis in a nutshell. We did get to make organic pesticides for our gardens this week (but the chile felt wicked bad on my hands-gloves next time!!). Also learned about the basic pests, bacteria, and fungi that affect the plants in the campesios. The trick is that it{s way easier for the farmers to just use what has worked in the past or just buy any pesticide even if the problem isn{t a bug. The inorganic pesticides are also expensive and highly toxic in most cases. The PC goal is too help small-scale farmers choose organic pesticides and proactively work with the soil conditions and garden strcture to save money overall.  Also, got to go to Jinotepe, about an hour by bus, to the super fancy market. They have CHOCOLATE CHIPS!! Also got a mini book in Spanish to practice. Definitely worth a repeat trip when my stomach is not doing cartwheels J

Today{s charlas were about gender in development activites. Nicaragua has a big machismo culture, so sometimes it is better to have separate meetings with women and men. PC and most development agencies are esepcially working with women as they are more responsible with money and have a greater generational impact with children and other women. Most community banks are led by women and the improved oven project is also geared towards women. Some of the Catholic stereotypes about pregnancy and the birds and the bees are still very prevalent down here as well as what girls can and can{t do. But I{m just the weird, tall, athletic and outspoken gringa, so I get a pass J The last charla of the day was on cultural adaptation and hitting those points of culture shock, honeymoon, adapting, etc. Hopefully past the 1^st shock, but can expect at least one more during tech week and definitely when aclimating to my site. But, with one month under my belt, taking it , one stomachache, and one day at a time.