Alex and Kaitlyn's Peace Corps Days in Nicaragua

Buenos Aires

2009-12-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

We spent the end of our trip, almost six days total, relaxing in the modern city of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is actually commonly likened to a European city rather than its Latin neighbors. There we enjoyed excellent food (plenty of meat), wine, soccer games, and of course tango.

We started off our weak in BA by attending the last soccer match of the season for the renowned Boca Juniors team. For those who do not know, the fans of the Boca Juniors team are known as the most passionate in the entire world. The fans certainly lived up to their reputation even though the game we attended did not matter at all technically for the Boca Juniors team. At that point they had already been eliminated with a poor record over the season, and the team they were playing were to become champions whether they won the game or not. Regardless, the Boca Juniors supporters cheered louder than anything we had witnessed in our lives. The real "fans" were restricted to one section of the stadium, where unfortunately (or fortunately) we were unable to purchase tickets for. From our seats on the other side of the stadium we could not hear each other speak over the singing that peaked in volume in the final minutes before the start of the game. The fans continued to sing, beat drums, wave flags, and jump up and down for the entirety of the game. The fervor apparently paid off and the Boca side won the game 2-0. However this had some implications for ourselves. One major drawback of the seats that we were assigned was that they were located directly under the upper section where the fans of the opposing team were sitting. This is a bad place to sit, since we were at the mercy of their wrath that increased after each goal scored by our the Boca side. Various items were thrown into our section from above including lolly pops, rolls of paper, water bottles, spit (which landed on Kaitlyn's arm), and even fireworks (M-80s no less) at the end of the game. All in all quite an eventful afternoon and certainly home to some intense sports fans.

The rest of the week was filled with much eating, drinking, a lot of shopping for Christmas gifts, and wandering around the cities many, many beautiful neighborhoods. We visited the Evita musuem and later her grave at the Recoleta Cemetery, which is a 150 year old collection of extremely ornate mausoleums. Some brand new, some immaculately preserved, and some in such disrepair that you could literally stick your arm inside a hole in the wall and lift a coffin lid...if your into that kind of thing. We also made sure to see plenty of tango shows, which left us thoroughly convinced that Americans are totally inept at dancing, but that one day the two of us will make our best efforts at learning that mother of all dances.

After 42 days of rambling through South America and a 24 hour trip back to the US, we arrived in JFK just a few hours before the snow storm hit, perfect timing to arrive punctually yet take full advantage of a phenomenon that we've been deprived of for over two years. We're both elated to be back home and very excited to see everyone very soon.

Pictures from Argentina

2009-12-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

Street-side dancing shows, gaucho (cowboy) in this case.

Boca Juniors stadium, and jersey.

At the falls in Iguazú Park.

Butterflies in Iguazú Park

Recoleta cemetery, probably the most ornate in the world, in Buenos Aires.

The colorful Italian neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires

Argentina

2009-12-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

After over two weeks of roughing-it in Bolivia we were ready for some leisure in Argentina. We knew our hopes would be fulfilled when we crossed the border, and the road turned from dirt to prime asphalt. Our first stop was the Northwestern city of Salta. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the city, which was exactly what we were looking for. We spent three days sleeping in comfortable hostel and eating good food. Argentina is known for three things gastronomically: empanadas, wine, and meat.

The big sight that we had been waiting for lay wait in the other corner of Argentina. After a brutal, 23 hour bus ride across the north of the country, we arrived at the small town of Puerto Iguazú, the town next to probably the most impressive waterfall(s) in the world. Iguazú Falls consists of over 275 waterfalls in one area. Certainly one of the most stunning places we've ever seen. We spent a full two days walking around the national park, enjoying the different views, swimming, and even taking a boat ride under some of the largest drops. Apart from the waterfalls, the park preserves a large area of rainforest that was full of wildlife. In two days we managed to see an armadillo, many giant lizards and raccoon-like animals, a monkey, many colorful birds, two snakes (one venomous and way too close to my leg), and multitudes of different butterflies.

Today we take another excruciating bus ride to Buenos Aires for the final part of our trip, six days of relaxing, eating more good food, and buying Christmas gifts for a lucky few. See some of you in a week!

Pictures from Bolivia

2009-12-06T17:50:00.000-08:00

Protest by the indigenous population in La Paz,

much more harmonious than most.

Giving props to Uncle Satan.

Endless salt hexagons.

The salt flats.

The salt hotel.

We weren't smiling after another 3 hours.

Finishing up in Bolivia

2009-12-01T14:54:00.000-08:00

Since leaving La Paz we've had many a long journeys and seen many strange things. Leaving the capital, we took an sleeper bus towards the south of Bolivia. We didn't sleep so much on the sleeper bus but made up for it with many quiet nights in the quiet, university city of Sucre. Sucre is very different from most of the other parts of the country we visited. It's white-washed buildings and roominess contrasted sharply with the claustrophobic chaos of La Paz. We took many strolls in the Mediterranean-like atmosphere, had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at a French Restaurant, and visited some excellent museums. One of the museums boasts a 1.5 kilometer wall of rock that is covered with various dinosaur tracks.

From Sucre we hopped over to Potosí. Potosí is the highest city in the world at 4,060 meters above sea level and is adjacent to the probably the worlds most famous mine. The strength of the Spanish empire was built in large part on the silver extracted from the "Rich Mountain" that towers above the city. Some 6,000 miners continue to mine the mountain to this day for its silver, zinc, tin, and lead. Indeed, the touristic highlight of visiting Potosí is a trip to the mines. We dared the risks of accidental explosions, collapses, falls, asbestos, etc. and journeyed inside with our guide. It is estimated that at least 8 million people have died in the mountain during its almost 500 years of exploitation. The first part of the tour consists of buying gifts for the miners, which can include coca, cigarettes, dynamite, and alcohol (for ritualistic use). We then ascended into the darkness with only our miner's headlamps to light the way. Near the entrance we gave offerings to the statue of the underworld god, "Uncle", which looks exactly like Satan. We spread coca and alcohol on his head, shoulders, hands, feet, and yes even his protruding penis, all to give us the powers we needed to endure the mine's hardships...and gain more fertility. After nearly 2 hours crawling and climbing through treacherous tunnels we emerged unscathed, thankfully protected by Uncle Satan. Unfortunately his favoritism did not extend beyond the walls of the mine shafts, since that night I (Alex) came down with a vengeful case of the runs.

Next we took the beautiful, yet bumpy ride to Uyuni, the dusty town next to the largest salt flats in the world. We joined a tour group full of Brits and Aussies, leading us to have to constantly control the urge to speak in a false accent, on a two day tour of the hallucinogenic, white desert. We spent one night sleeping in a hotel made exclusively of bricks of salt. This mesmerizing 48 hours can only be truly appreciated by viewing the pictures.

Our last stop in Bolivia was in the small town of Tupiza, which is located in the middle of an extensive network of incredible, multi-colored ravines. We chose the "triathlon" tour which consisted of jeeps, horses, and down-hill mountain biking. Kaitlyn truly impressed me with her mountain biking skills. Just when I thought I had left her in the dust while straining my nerves to their limits while speeding down the boulder-strewn roads, I would turn around to find her right on my rear wheel. It appears that we gained some prime bicycling abilities at the least in Nicaragua.

Trip update

2009-11-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia! Well, we successfully made it through Peru. After spending a few days in Cusco, checking out some of the local ruins, markets, and yummy food, we made the trek to the infamous Machu Picchu. To try and save money, we took the "back" way instead of taking the outrageously priced train directly from Cusco. This day long journey entailed taking several tiny vans along perilous twists and turns on dirt roads through part of the Andes (I, Kaitlyn, almost got sick several times and we both spent the majority of the day clinging to our seats praying we would not go over the edge), several stops at tiny towns in the middle of nowhere, seriously, and then a two and a half hour walk along train tracks to the town of Aguas Calientes. From here we spent the night and the next morning Alex climbed up the mountain to Machu Picchu and I (thankfully) took the bus as my legs were like jello.

We arrived before the park opened (Alex was number 30 in line and I was number 295) and immediately joined a small group to take a tour. Nothing can really prepare you for your first view of Machu Picchu. It was literally breathtaking. Not to mention that we were literally on top of the world as we were surrounded by the beautiful Andes mountains. The tour was very enlightening as it helped us understand the significance of what we were actually seeing. The Incas were truly ingenious, and we spent most of the day ooohing and ahhhing. After the tour, Alex made the trek up Wayna Picchu to get another look at the Inca city. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the site and avoiding the large tour groups from all over the world. However, we were lucky as this was the low season and there weren't nearly as many tourists as there could have been (around 4000 per day!). The next day, I made my way back to Cusco partially by train and partially by bus (my stomach could not handle another trip on those roads) while Alex risked his life once more and traveled back the way we came.

We left Cusco on an overnight bus to go to Copacabana, Bolivia on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Little did we know that only US citizens need to pay for a visa to enter the country and that it costs 135 big ones per person! This is the same it costs a Bolivian to enter the US, so I guess that's politics. After frantically running around to secure the visa we were able to enter the country. Needless to say, there are not many American tourists here. We spent a day and a night exploring Copacabana and then took a boat to the tiny island of Isla del Sol (Sun Island) where the Incas believed the sun was born. The island was incredibly beautiful but freezing at night. After two days exploring and enjoying the island we made our way back to Copacabana for one more night and then set out for La Paz.

Currently we planning to stay in the capital for a few days and then make our way to Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, Tupiza, and then crossing over into Salta, Argentina. We have 25 more days of trekking left and will be sure to update in a few days! See you all soon :)

2009-11-23T11:20:00.000-08:00

The Cusco market.

From the ruins on The Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca.

Quechua women in the Sacred Valley.

Machu Pichu, at the top.

Pictures from the Trip

2009-11-12T17:06:00.001-08:00

Just chillin with my crew next to an Incan wall

Central Cusco

Beautiful Barranco...and wife

Pisco Sours...delicious!

Kaitlyn warned me not to leave my socks on the floor...

The crypt...creepy

The coast, at the edge of Miraflores and Barranco, Lima

40 Days in South America

2009-11-12T16:33:00.000-08:00

After over two years of roughing it in Nicaragua serving in the Peace Corps, we decided what we really needed was another 40 days roughing it while backpacking through South America. Now there was certainly rational in this decision. At the moment we have: the free time, the Spanish, the knowledge of how to get around a developing country, and even a little bit of money afforded to us by the US government at the end of our PC service. So with those justifications to get us over our yearning to return immediately to the United States, we went directly from Nicaragua onto our southern journey.

First we visited Costa Rica, simply because the flight to South America was much cheaper. In actuality we would never truly want to visit the land of the Ticos...Nica for life! (For those of you who don't know, the relationship between the people of Nicaragua (Nicas) and Costa Rica (Ticos), is slightly strained. Our visit was more of a passing through, since we only took a bus directly from Managua to the capital of San Jose. At the least we can say that yes, Costa Rica has done a much better job of preserving their natural surroundings compared to Nicaragua. Much less trash, many more trees. We spent one night in San Jose and visited the Jade Museum, which as great.

After a short stop in Miami (again, cheaper to fly indirectly), we arrived a cloudy and cool city of Lima, Perú on the 7th of November. Simply put Lima impressed us. Very modern, clean, and bustling. We spent three nights in the Miraflores neighborhood, very cosmopolitan and great food of all flavors (there are great, cheap restaurants EVERYWHERE). We also visited all the atractions in the city's center, the bohemian neighborhood (Barranco) along the coast, and a archaeological site which was a huge pyramid only two blocks from our hotel.

We made a valiant attempt to sleep in the Lima airport the night before our 5:45 AM flight to Cusco, but alas to no avail. We dropped down over the snow-capped Andes and landed in "Imperial City of the Incas" totally exhausted. We were only to become more so as we took the wrong bus, which dropped us off a good 10, steep, cobbled blocks from our hostel. A combination of sleep deprivation and altitude can be brutal. Luckily for us the hostel's prices were more expensive than listed on the Internet so I, Alex, was relegated to sprinting around town to find the best deal. At last we found a $10 steal and crashed. First impression of Cusco, well it just can't really disappoint.

Service Completed

2009-11-08T14:36:00.000-08:00

On the 6th of November, 27 months of service ended. Last week we spent saying a great many goodbyes, to students and teachers, to neighbors, to coworkers, to friends and even dogs. Overall it has been an overwhelming, happy, sad, and exhausting few weeks. Of course the full signficance has not yet set in, we still seem to think in the back of our minds that we will soon be returning to our community, house, and friends of these past two years. Even though we were ready and excited to leave, we still felt a strange sense of dread crossing the border out of Nicaragua the other day, leaving a world that has become so familiar for one unknown. I guess that fact reveals that we truly achieved what we set out to accomplish, integrating into a world that at first was completely foreign.

We leave feeling satisfied, in our work and our relationships. We received many thanks and heartfelt goodbyes, and of course made many promises to return soon. Our last night we spent together with our entire group, now to a diminished 11 volunteers, marveling at how far we've come and how close we became as friends. One of the unforseen regrets of leaving is the dispersal of our group across the US upon our return.

The two of us now head out on a 40 day tour of South America. After enduring strong urges to cancel our flight to Peru and head home instead, we made it to San Jose, Costa Rica for our one-night stay. Of course the we had to fight an even stronger urge to fly home while waiting for our connecting flight in Miami. At last, we made it to Lima and as we hoped we would, got into the traveling mode.

Busy, busy, busy!

2009-10-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all for being extremely irregular with our blog posts. These last few months have been really busy with closing out our PC service. To summarize quickly all the picture from the last post...Kaitlyn and I went on a trip to the island of Ometepe, which is a large island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. It was a great time and we were glad we finally made it to this very popular, yet very tranquilo destination. We also attended the wedding of our of our fellow PC volunteers, which was also a great time as are all the gatherings that bring our group of Nica 45 Env. Ed. volunteers together. The two of us are also in the process of saying goodbye to the teachers and students that we've been working with for two years. The good-bye parties include a treasure hunt and piñata with the students. These have been the saddest good-byes, there is no explaining with words the look of sadness on a kid's face when they realize that they might never see you again.

As of late we have been stressed with planning our second annual HIV/AIDS fair, which went off just last Friday. We put a whole lot of work into the fair this year and it truly paid off.
The fair was much bigger and received much more support and participation than last year. There were sports, music, and dancing competitions. Over 150 HIV tests were administered. We had a band play a concert at night. The community, including the mayor, was very pleased and excited to continue the fair in the following year.

As of today we have exactly 10 days left in Nagarote. It took a while for the fact that we were leaving to sink-in since we have been so busy. There is a strong mix of excitement and sadness in our leaving. We have a 40 day trip to South America, returning to family and friends, going to grad school, and finding a job (hopefully) to look forward to. Yet we are leaving a people, language, and way of life that have become our own for the last two years. Although so much of what we have gained will go with us, it is strange to think that much of what we have learned in the last two years will cease to apply the moment we step on the plane.

Weddings, Trips, Trees, and much more...

2009-10-03T09:57:00.000-07:00

Fun at the wedding.

On the ferry to the island of Ometepe, which can be seen in the background.

Parrots...evil parrots...

Maderas volcano on the island of Ometepe.

Evening swimming at Charco Verde on the island of Ometepe.

Monkeys at Charco Verde.

Independence Day parade on Ometepe.

Independence Day parade at the foot of Conception Volcano on Ometepe.

Drawing water from the well on the beach in Salinas Grande.

Getting ready for the pinata.

Giving instructions before the scavenger hunt.

Tree delivery day at school.

Tree delivery day, giving a mango tree to one of my teachers.

Drawing their own island, containing all the natural resources

they would need to survive.

Home-made seed beds.

One of my teachers, now taking the reins and leading a class activity.

Kevin, enjoying the new books.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures and 77 days left!

2009-08-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Thats right! Here are some more fun pictures for your enjoyment. With only 77 days left to go in our Peace Corps service we are taking a lot more pictures and trying to spend more time with people. We also recently attend our COS (close of service) conference where we got to reflect on our experiences here and Peace Corps tried to prepare us to re-enter American life aka get jobs and go to grad school. So we are writing up a lot of reports for Peace Corps, working on resumes and applications, and trying to get things sorted out to say adios. So enjoy some of our last pics from Nicaragua!

Bobby, the dog we share with our neighbors, is just so big now!
Working with two of my buddies from El Recreo.

Everyone loves to play in the dirt :)

Working in the garden at Las Parcelas!

Cleaning up in Las Parcelas!

Pictures

2009-08-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

Scariest caterpillar ever!!!

With the kiddies.

More kiddies.

Parent's meeting, where we gathered money to buy a box
to protect dontated story books we received.

The church, one block from our house, that had its roof torn off by the tornado.

100 days to go....

2009-08-01T11:49:00.001-07:00

My kids at El Recreo!
Alex the artist at work :)

Me, taking over the world!

Alex and his buddies celebrating teacher's day.

My teachers and me celebrating teachers day.

Yep, that's right! Only 100 more days until the end of our Peace Corps service! After a quick but busy trip back to the states we arrive back in Nicaragua on the tail of a tornado (which ripped plenty of roofs off of houses only a block from our house and caused one death) and ready to plow into our last three months. We will spend the bulk of our time...

-wrapping up our projects at our schools

-transplanting our trees

- planning our AIDS fair

-brushing up on our Spanish to take our exit exam

-writing a lot of reports

-applying to jobs (Alex) and grad schools (Kaitlyn)

-organizing our sports teams (soccer and volleyball)

- attending the wedding of a fellow volunteer to a Nicaraguan

- spending time with friends, Nicaraguan and volunteer

-saying goodbye

-taking pictures

-Getting ready for our backpacking adventure to South America!

Looking back, it is hard to believe that we have made it this far. The finish line is in sight, but we still have plenty to do and plenty to keep us busy until we depart. So wish us luck in these last three months and we look forward to seeing everyone at home again on Dec. 18th after our trip!

World Map Success!

2009-07-08T13:39:00.000-07:00

Our World Map Project in the Municipal Library in Nagarote!

Ahhhhh...sweet tangibility

2009-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn and I wrapped up a small project last week, just in time before our trip back to the States on the 15th. We completed a mural of the world on an inside wall of our town's library. World maps are popular PC side-projects, especially among education volunteers. Primarily these maps are useful to the community since most classrooms lack the resources of atlases, globes, or large maps. However the project was also successful in promoting artistic creativity among youth as well as developing cooperative relationships among the various groups that came together to make the map project possible. Initially we received permission to use the space from our local mayor and librarian, were given the funds to buy the paint and other supplies from the local sister-city project (Norwalk-Nagarote), and did the actual painting with the help of the teacher and students from the sister-city project's art class. In all it took us three long, hard days to finish, but the results speak for themselves. We were blown away by the hard-work and creativity generated by the art students. As the pictures show, the true essence of the mural lies in the accompanying paintings located above the map that include: the national bird (guardabarranco), nicaraguan flag, and our town's icon the genizaro tree.

Some pics for your enjoyment :)

2009-05-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Some cuties at Las Parcelas.
One of my smaller schools. You are looking at all of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

Alex and his tree buddy, Javier.

Planting trees in Las Parcelas!

Bobby the dog that lives next door but comes over to eat :)

My posse in Las Parcelas.

Reading is fun!

My new school this year, San Antonio.

Pre-school girl in San Antonio.

Some of my volleyball girls during a toureny in Nagarote!

Okay so that is it for now. Alex and I are doing well and are counting down the days until we come home for vacation (2 months) and then finish our service (6 months). We will update soon. Miss you all!

7 months to go....

2009-04-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

Finally! A blog update. Yes, it has been a very long time and we apologize for the delay. We have been trying to get back into our routine since our string of visitors (Hunter, Meredith, Kara, Chris, and AJ) and then I (Kaitlyn) had to make an emergency trip home to say goodbye to my grandfather before he passed away :( On a different note, Alex participated in a half-marathon about a month a ago that took place in the northern department of Jinotega. Many volunteers and Nicaraguans participated. Alex finished as one of the faster volunteers in the race (3rd place amongst Peace Corps Volunteers!) Overall, it has been an emotional and chaotic few months but things finally seem to be settling down as we head towards our last hard months of service.
We are currently both working hard to get our school gardens and school tree nurseries up and running. The idea is to get everything planted now, so when the rainy season comes in about a month that the little plants will be strong enough to withstand the torrential downpours. A few of my gardens suffered over the week long vacation of Semana Santa , or Easter as we call it but we have replanted and hoping that my students will be cautious with the plants.
A few other projects include: helping the local sister-city project develop their Community Education Curriculum, Alex has been writing a guide for Environmental Leadership projects, giving out donated sneakers to my girls volleyball team, trying to start a world map project in the local library, International Book Donation for our poorest rural schools, writing a supplement for our Peace Corps Environmental Education Guide that helps teachers adapt the lessons to multi-grade classrooms (Alex and I work in only multi-grade schools so we are sort of the experts in this area), planning for a teacher workshop about Environmental Education in another town, working on our new government formatted 4-month reports, and getting ready for In-Service Training to take place next week in Selva Negra, Matagalpa.
These next few months we hope to accomplish the majority of these projects, along with getting all of our teachers on board to co-teach and eventually teach on their own using the new participatory methods that we have been demonstrating. In July we will be making a short trip home for vacation and when we return we will have our close of service conference in August and then we start wrapping up our service that will officially end in November! On the one hand, it has been a long road and on the other it is hard to believe that we are in the last quarter of our service! This means we have started to stress a little about post-Peace Corps life, especially with the economy, but we are also looking forward to moving on to the next stage of our lives. So with 7 months to go we are pushing through, working hard, and aiming towards that finish line! We will keep you posted as new projects develop and will try and post some more pictures soon! Adios!

2009-03-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Life in the cloud forest.

The city of León from the old fort/prison.

Nicaraguan myths and legends.

Paintings of torture techniques on the walls of a revolution-era prison.

The old fort/prison from the revolution outside León.

Random Photos and Notes

2009-03-31T16:31:00.001-07:00

The lions of León, outside the largest cathedral in Latin America...which was originally supposed to be built in Lima, Peru...long story.

Market madness in the Masaya bus terminal

Kaitlyn in the clouds on top of Mombacho cloud forest.

Alex holding his find, a dead rattlesnake.
Environmental brigadeers.

2009-02-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Good times at home.

Sad times in the airport on the way back.

FINALLY!!! Another blog post...

2009-02-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Ok so we haven't exactly been good about keeping up with our blog recently. It's been a combination of being too busy yet not busy enough to post anything. We've recently been busy preparing for our final year of service, with school just begining the first week of February. However, we haven't really been doing anything interesting. Planning isn't all that exhilarating to talk about.

We will report that our trip to the states was incredible. From start to finish we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. First thing we did was hit up the first bookstore to buy a copy of TIME Magazine with that now so cliche red, white and blue picture of Obama on the cover. I'm not usually the most sentimental person but on that one occasion well I just couldn't help myself. Next we had a good old burger and fries dinner at none other than TGI Fridays, washed down with a Newcastle for me. Oh the glory.

First impresiones on being in the United States after 16 months: most people in the US are really pasty but then again there are also black people, people walk really fast, no one stares at you, everyone has an Iphone of a blackberry now, even grandmothers play videogames now that there's Wii, conveinience stores have a maddening array of products, cold weather is unbearable, we tend to stuff ourselves.

Too all those we saw over the holidays, it was so very, very good to see you. We may have already overly-expressed how great it was to see you all, but if we didn't already, we express again how very, very good it was to see you. It is quite a difficult thing to be removed from your life-long family and friends for such a long time, but of course all the sweater when you see them again. A special thanks goes out to our friend Jace who planned and executed an incredible party for us where we got to reunite with a huge group of our Hill School friends, it was truly an unforgettable evening. Also, thanks to a wonderful Christmas present, we'll be returning to the states for a trip in July...clear you schedule.

As for our return to Nicaragua, as I've already said it has been fairly uneventful in the way of work and life in Nicaragua. Unfortunately we did receive some very bad news of Kaitlyn's uncle's death fairly soon after we returned, so that has put quite a damper on our spirits. That, combined with a harrowing delay of our luggage by the airlines and various other maladies made our immediate return dificult, but we've survived.

This next year is looking to be a good one. We have varouis projects lined up including reforestation projects, painting world maps, another AIDS Day fair, and all kinds of fun activities in our schools. In March we're going to receive at least 5 visitors from home which will surely be a blast. Again, we will only be here until November of this year, so if you're looking for a cheap, exotic trip with free spanish-speaking guides, now is the time. Don't worry about your job, from what we hear you're going to lose it anyways.

AIDS Fair

2008-12-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn and I recently completed a big project which was a fair to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. We spent about four months planning and organizing the event, working alongside another organization in Nagarote. Kaitlyn, two young women, and I were able to gather various organizations together to create an educational and fun experience for the community. We focused mainly on young adults, but received participation from all ages. The result was the first annual AIDS Day fair for our town.

Below are some pictures of the fair!

AIDS Fair

2008-12-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

People taking free HIV tests at the fair.

Young people learning how to use condoms. We received a very

large donation of condoms and ended up giving out thousands.

CILIAS, one of the national organizations that participated
in our fair. The had all kinds of educational materials, including
the wooden penises in the picture, and sold crafts made by
people living with HIV/AIDS

One of my incredible posters of the fair's schedule.

Kaitlyn's volleyball team competing at the fair.

The two of us next to the stand that we shared with the

organization who helped us organize the fair. Yes, we did

wear our Peace Corps t-shirts on purpose.

Elections!

2008-11-13T14:38:00.001-08:00

November has been the month of elections for us in Nicaragua. First, of course we were able to watch Obama win, which was bittersweet because we were so far away from home. Everyone in our town was happy to hear that Obama won and I think it changed some perspectives that people have of Americans. One guy told Alex, "I really didn't think he could win. I thought Americans were too racist." Another girl on my volleyball team commented, "The United States is finally making some changes. If they can change, maybe there is hope for Nicaragua too." I think it was really inspiring for the people here to see the Americans make such an important and historical decision. Hopefully, the Peace Corps budget will increase too :)
On another note, the municipal elections were held a week after ours. They are to elect the new mayors of each town. In Nicaragua, the mayor plays a pivotal role in each town and who is elected is a huge deal. There are two main parties, the Liberales and the Sandinistas. Currently the Sandinistas are in power and after the elections in Nagarote, it looks as though it will continue. However, there has been a lot of violence related to the elections and police have all been on patrol with tear-gas, face masks, the works. Many people are enraged by the results because they think there was fraud all over the country so the Sandinistas could remain in power. It is a very controversial and touchy subject so we have tried to lay low. There is going to be a recount of the votes so we will see what happens. It was interesting to see how much passion people have for the elections here. Work and school were canceled for two days for the elections and people as young as 16 are able to vote. People waited in line for hours. After the Sandinista were declared the winners, there was a HUGE parade through the street. Our town is pretty evenly divided so while half of them celebrated the other half got angry and cried "Fraud!" Travel in the capital has been dangerous because that is where the violence is most prevalent. We will keep everyone updated as the votes are recounted to appease the other party.
Lastly, we are finishing up the school year with final exams, pictures, and graduation ceremonies. We will be posting pictures of these events shortly. Sorry for the delay in the update. We are really looking forward to coming home for Christmas and can't wait to see you all :)

The New Veterans

2008-10-12T13:27:00.000-07:00

This month we've been busy with assuming the new role as veteran Peace Corps volunteers. It seemed only yesterday that the two of us arrived here. However, we were forced to do a lot of reflecting on last year and recognize how far we've come once the new group of trainees arrived last month. Since then we've been occupied every week with giving workshops, hosting trainees in our house, and answering all the same questions we asked a year ago. The one year mark seems to be bringing about a lot of changes in outlook, and a lot of reassurance. We're able to quit worrying so much about where we need to be, in terms of language ability and assimilation, and focus more on the relationships we've made and the activities that we enjoy most. As many people told us at the beginning, the second year of service appears that it will be easier and even more enjoyable than the first.

Estelí Trip

2008-09-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

Mountains?!

Agave

Shunpei contemplating suculents at La Casita

Where the valley meets the mountains

One Year In-Country Trip

2008-09-14T18:24:00.000-07:00

Independence Day

2008-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Folkloric Dance

The original 5 independent countries of Central America.

Marching

The boss

The kids at one of my schools, my teacher, and the boss.

Time

2008-09-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I know it has been awhile since you have heard from us, but we thought we would give a mini-update onh how things have been going lately. I guess the theme of this post will be time.
The most interesting thing is that on August 29th we celebrated one-year in country with our group in San Juan Del Sur. It is hard to believe that we have already been here a year. Day to day life seems to move pretty slowly, especially in the heat, but before we know it another month has passed. We offically now have about 14 months left of our Peace Corps service. On the one hand, that number seems pretty daunting knowing that we are going to be away from our homes for so much longer even though we have been gone a year already. On the other hand when we think of all things that we still want to accomplish, it doesn´t seem like nearly enough time.
On another note, the new group of volunteers from our sector arrived on September 5th! We are no longer the newbies and it is our job to help train the new group and show them the ropes of Peace Corps. Because Alex and I live so close to Managua, Peace Corps has recruited us to do alot of work with the new group and we will be having several Trainees visit our site on Tuesday to learn how to make a Vivero (tree nursery). It is hard to remember that this time last year, we were the scared trainees, trying to figure it all out.
My Birthday... yep I will be spending my second birthday in Nicaragua! By then end of my service, I will have had three birthday´s here. When you think about how much you grow and change in three birthdays, it boggles my mind to think about how different I am now than when I first came here and how different I may be when I am finished my service. When I entered Peace Corps, I was in my early 20s, ready for an adventure and when I leave Peace Corps I will be 25 and ready to start another chapter in my life.
On Dec 21st, in 99 days, Alex and I will return for 2 weeks to celebrate Christmas with friends and family! We are really looking forward to seeing everyone and can´t wait for these days to fly to help with some of our homesickness.
Finally, to end this rambling post, a little bit about friendship. True friendship stands the test of time and distance. Being here has enabled us to really reflect on our relationships with other people, both in Nicaragua and at home. We know that distance, time, and different life experiences can make it difficult to keep up friendships but I believe that when all is said and done, that at the end of this journey, your true friends will be waiting for you at the other side. We miss everyone and strongly encourage keeping in touch. We love to hear about your lives and adventures back home so please keep us posted. We love you and will hopefully see you in December!

Just a friendly reminder of our address down here because our box has been empty for months and months....

Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick
Alex Fuller-Young
Apartado Postal 366
León, Nicaragua
America Central

Fiestas Patronales

2008-08-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

Our massive patron saint holidays ended in the beginning of August after a solid month of festivation. The central event in all of this celebrating was of course the much anticipated bull fighting/riding. Although the reality was just, or more, as entertaining as we could have hoped for, it was not exactly what we expected.

I always envisioned bull fighting as we see it in the movies, where a handsome Spaniard is dressed in an elegant suit, wielding a intricate sword and a deep red cape. I always imagined bull riding as we see it on ESPN, where professional cowboys from Texas tactfully evade the wrath of a purebred monster. Our events were nothing like either of these.

Our town's mayor's office rebuilt a brand new bull ring for this year's festival, complete with grand stands for the fans, a box for the mayor and his cabinet, chain-link fence and zinc roof to protect the spectators, and a well designed containment area for the bulls. Watching the construction over the months increased the excitement greatly, as we observed the amount of planning, care, and resources put into the event center.

The first day came and we were sure to be there, along with some PC friends that we invited to experience the famed Nagarote spectacle. The stands were overfilled with people from the community, as well as others that had come from a great distance away, including a good number of family members that were visiting from places like Miami, Los Angelas, and Houston. The queen of the festivals entered on horseback, followed by a parade of cowboys and cowgirls dressed in their finest hats and spurs. The made a round of the ring while fireworks exploded overhead, then dismounted their horses and found their places in the mayor's box. Next came the brave young fighters, and here is where Nicaraguan bull fighter begins to differ from tradition.

At least 200 men enter the ring, ranging from the ages of 12 to 50. All of them ready to face down a bull, some with the help of a great deal more alcohol than others. Soon a cowboy leads the first bull from the containment area into the ring and with the help of others, ties the bull head to a pole near the middle. However, the danger begins as soon as the bull enters, since it is only being led by one rope. In more than a few instances the bull immediatly charged once it caught sight of the swarm of men. If everything went according to plan, the bull was pacificied enough to stand still while it's head was tied to the pole, ropes tied around its torso, and men wrestled one another for the position on top of the bull. Once aboard, usually the bull started bucking while still tied to the pole. This created the chance of the man being crushed between the bull and the pole, but somehow I never saw this actually happen.

The real fun begins once the bull is let loose. After all of the pulling, smacking, tieing, kicking, shocking, and general terrorizing of the bull, it is thoroughly emotional. The question is how the bull will express itself, which does actually vary. At times the bull will be so terrified and exhausted that it will simply trot around the ring while all of the men scramle up the sides as it comes around. Most of the bulls we saw were more animated. It turned out that this day was when they displayed the most bravo bulls of the area. In less than an hour we witnessed a compound fracture to the arm, a broken collar-bone, massive loss of teeth, concussion, and a person's leg get stepped on by a full-grown bull. Or course, even more close calls and death defying acts occurred than actual injuries. In short these men were not risk-adverse people. More injuries seemed to fuel the enthusiasm for the whole thing, and fuel our own enthusiasm for being on the other side of the fence.

Fiestas Pictures

2008-08-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

The parade

Ready

Set

Our Patron Saint

The Queen of the Fiestas

Musical Entertainment

Mariachi

More Fun Nicaraguan Celebrations

2008-06-30T13:21:00.001-07:00

This previous week marked the beginning of our town's month long June festivities. Every area of the country has a designated month-ish period where they celebrate their patron Saint. Our month is July, and our saint is Jacob. Anyways, all the stories and descriptions of the fun to be had as told to us from our fellow Nagaroteños has placed us under intense anticipation.

Last Tuesday was the first of the celebrations and we were sure not to miss it. It turned out that this fiesta was actually not, in fact, celebrating of our own patron saint, Jacob, but saint John instead. For all those not well-acquainted with stories of the Christian saints, including myself, Saint John was beheaded. This is important because the celebration memorialized exactly that aspect of his story.
¨
"La Carrera de Patos" is the festival whereby our town of Nagarote remembers Saint John. A string is strung across a street at a height of about ten feet. A duck is tied by the feet, upside-down, in the middle of the rope. The neck of the duck is greased. The farmers from the surrounding rural area ride into town on their horses and line up at one end of the street. One at a time the men take turns galloping down the street, reaching up, grabbing the ducks neck, and attempting to tear off its head. This process could last for one attempt, or fifty. I was told that the older the duck is, the more difficult to tear off its head. My observations supported this belief. Once a rider is successful at removing the head, the lucky winner takes off on a sprint around the block, followed in hot pursuit by some of his rivals. When the winner returns he is awarded the duck and a bottle of spirits. Usually one or two more ducks are strung up before the fun is over in that location, whereby the gang moves on to another neighborhood where the event is repeated.

Needless to say, this was quite a mind blowing experience for us to kick off July. I'm not really sure how this could be upstaged. However, everyone assures us that the real good stuff is yet to come. Late July brings horse shows, discotech parties, carnivals, and of course bull riding. More updates and pictures of said events to come.

New Pictures!

2008-06-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cute pictures that we wanted to share with you! :)

Baby turtle at Playa Coco.
Alex and his family at San Juan Del Sur!
Me and some of my students celebrating mother's day at a school party!
Yes, I am on a horse.
Beautiful view of the cathedral and Mombacho from Granada.

Enjoy the pictures!

June Update

2008-06-20T08:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Yes, we have been bad and have failed to keep a steady update once again. We apologize and we hope this post will curb your craving for some more info.

Alex's Family Visits: Alex's family (parents, Zoe and Ashton) came to visit for about 10 days at the end of May. This time we rented a car so we had a little more freedom to travel about the country. We started our trip at a small beach south of San Juan Del Sur called Playa Coco. We rented a beautiful house and we pretty much had the beach to ourselves. Next, we traveled back to Nagarote to show off our site. After that we headed down to Granada. We went to the Masaya market, spent time at Volcan Mombacho doing the hike and canopy tour, spent the day at the Laguna de Apoyo, and Volcan Masaya (it was very difficult to breath with all of the sulfur). We ended with a final night in Managua. It was a great trip and it was really wonderful to see people from home again. If anything it made us more anxious to go back to the states and see everyone else that we are missing!

Transportation Strike: In May we also suffered from a two-week transportation strike. The bus and taxi owners were fighting for a discount on gas since the prices have sky-rocketed. This meant that we could not leave our site. Like the majority of Nicaraguans we rely on the public transportation system to get around. Fortunately, Nagarote has access to many things such as a supermarket and bank. Other volunteers were stranded in their sites with little access to food or money. Luckily, the government issued discounts to taxi and bus drivers and transportation is back to normal.

Hurricane Alma: This hurricane hit while we were in Granada with Alex's parents. We only noticed a significant amount of rain. It hit the department of Leon fairly hard and many people had roofs ripped off their homes and fallen trees. Luckily the damage was significant but they have predicted about 27 hurricanes/ tropical storms this year.

Work and Schools: We have been VERY busy this month working in our schools and getting secondary projects started. I (Kaitlyn) have completed tree-nurseries and gardens in all of my schools and am now working with teachers to help make their classes more participatory. Alex has started co-teaching with his teachers and has also completed tree-nurseries in all of his schools. He also started a community bank with the teachers in his NERPE. We have both been working with the mayor's office to give enviornmental workshops to the 8th graders at the high-school. This project started out well, and the kids were intelligent and responsive. Unfortunately, as things often do here, this project fell apart when we lost the involvement of the mayor's office environmental commission. We have also worked a little with a local NGO to help educate families that live in rural areas about making family gardens and the importance of nutrition. My volleyball team is still going strong and we are planning an all day volleyball workshop for next week. Lastly, we are participating in a fair this weekend to help raise money for a eco-friendly community center with the local sister-city project Norwalk. Overall, we have experienced both successes and frustrations with our projects so far.

Okay, well I hope this information gives you a better picture of what we have been up to this past month. We are really starting to get into the swing of things and anticipate getting some more projects off the ground soon. In July we have a mid-semester break and I (Kaitlyn) will travel home to the USA for a week and Alex will spend some getting to know more places in Nicaragua, such as Volcan Consiguina. We look forward to hearing from everyone and hopefully I will see some of you when I come home to the states! Nos Vemos.

Updates

2008-05-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

We have been neglecting our duties of consistently updating our blog . Below follows some random updates on our activities.

It is very hot, the hottest part of the year here in Nicaragua. We have also been informed by a fellow volunteer that our town is in a small, geographical area that is the hottest of the entire western part of the country according to a climate map she saw...Yay. Mid-day naps on the hammock are vital in order to recharge for the rest of the day. At times a smell emanates from my body that resembles that of an overheating engine.

Last month we attended an "In-Service Training" session where we convened with all of the volunteers from our sector, as well as our counterparts (Nicaraguans we work closely with in our town). We spent three days receiving further technical training to use in our service, and of course catching up with our friends. Personally I did some catching up with my friends in another way, by finally catching a gastrointestinal infection (the last one of our group to do so) and spending the final day of the training session in a stupor in the Peace Corps office.

We have finally gotten into a work routine in our schools. We are both teaching classes about the environment and natural science, using our incredible guide books that contain a plethora of fun and participatory lessons. We have also created school gardens in our schools, and very soon will be creating school tree nurseries as well. Environmental Education volunteers have it easy in the way that all the kids living rural areas tend to love the subject of natural science and doing interactive activities outside.

Last Wednesday I spent another great afternoon platicar-ing (chatting) with a rural family next to one of my schools. They gave me my first bowl of iguana soup, which is delicious, like chicken but even better.

At the moment the country is enduring a transportation strike. This is a dire issue considering how many people rely on public transportation (buses, taxis, etc.) in order to travel to work everyday. The entire economy is in a gridlock as the drivers are trying to force the government to lower the price of gas. There are rumors it could last a month. A difficult situation and impossible to place blame on anyone. For now we are content to pass the time in our community as everyone is trying to stay positive and treat it as a long vacation.

In two weeks my family will be visiting, the last of the family visits for now. Looking forward to others making the trip down here. Although the dollar is crashing, know that the Cordoba is actaully doing worse, and the exchange rate has gone up by almost 1% (19.14) since we've arrived here. Although this does not bode well for the economy of Nicaragua, hopefully it might entice some of you to take a vacation.

Dad and Kara Visit!

2008-05-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting once again, but we have been fairly busy. Recently, Dad and Kara came to visit and we had a blast touring Granada, zip-lining through the canopy at Volcan Mombacho, and hanging out at the beach at San Juan Del Sur! Here are a few pics for you to enjoy but Kara has most of the good ones on her camera so bug her or check out facebook! We miss you all and please keep in touch!

Sister love :)
Kara and Alex enjoying the Nica beverage of choice: TONA
Hanging out with Dad and Kara in San Juan Del Sur!
Alex and Kaitlyn :) Don´t you miss us?!?!?!

View from the top of Volcan Mombacho!
Hiking at Mombacho!
View of Mombacho from Granada!
San Juan Del Sur!
Doing what we do best... hanging out at the beach!

Hope you enjoyed the pics! Keep in touch!

A Change of Pace

2008-04-02T21:29:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share another quick story of the nature of our new home.

As we’ve mentioned in earlier posts, we’ve been attending our assigned schools for about two months now. We’ve been spending this time observing class, getting to know the teachers and students, and creating a work plan for the next two years. At the same time we’ve started to assist an NGO with their reforestation project. The immediate needs of this task were to survey the families in my schools’ community, which gave me a great opportunity to get to know everyone.

My first day of surveying was very successful in my mind. After classes I managed to introduce myself and survey a total of ten houses in about and hour and a half, get back in time for a late lunch, and work on other things in the late afternoon.

My second day of surveying was very different. This time I recruited a few of my students to act as guides for the afternoon, enabling me to execute my task even more efficiently and also get to know the kids better. As I did not yet know, only one of these two goals would be met. By including the children on my journey, I thereby put myself at the whims of the Nicaraguan pace of life, and I would later appreciate this folly…but not yet.

A Peace Corps volunteer is constantly forced to deal with contradictions. One of the most central of these in my experience has been the inherent contradictions in our supposed purpose in Nicaragua as volunteers. Peace Corps states that our intentions are to promote positive cultural exchange (requiring being sensitive to cultural norms), while at the same time helping to generate increases in the opportunities for improvement of people’s lives. At times balancing these two goals can prove difficult.

In my view United States citizens tend to be a very driven people, efficient and “professional” in their work. Indeed, these are in many ways very admirable and beneficial traits. Although PC volunteers tend to be very unique people, they are surely products of their culture and I am no different in this way. Along with our flexibility and hunger for cultural difference, we intend to work hard to produce tangible results for those we serve. Enter frustration.

My afternoon with my three chavalos (young boys) began at the house where two of them lived. Naturally it would be a longer visit, but I hoped I could keep it to around fifteen minutes as I was shooting to visit at least an equal number of homes I had the day before. As I was an honored guest, I was immediately seated and provided with refreshments. I was then presented every personal item the boys owned before I was able to talk with their parents. Thirty minutes.

A major delay was met on the way to the second house. A mango tree. Mangoes are a trendy snack in the US. In Nicaragua they may be considered a reason for living. Mangoes trees are planted everywhere, the fruit is taken from the tree still green the first week they appear, everything stops to enjoy the sweet, sweet, sweeeeeeeeet…..what happened? Sorry I was eating a mango. Another half hour spent under the mango tree chatting and mostly suckling.

Second house was that of the third boy, who lived with his elderly aunt. This women’s slow speech made her easy to understand, but further pushed me from my goal. Chairs, refreshments, chatting, mangoes. This was a very typical type of visit to a home in rural Nicaragua. Sitting, a bit of conversation, a lot of long silences that are at first very awkward for gringos. After forty-five minutes I forcefully and offensively pried myself away, but not before having my backpack stuffed full of tamarindo fruit from their tree.

At this time it was getting more towards dinner instead of my late lunch. I resigned myself to only achieving two introductions for the day, but my chavalo guides insisted one more. Already drained by the sun, concentration on language, and fading blood-sugar level, I was met with the opposite extreme of a Nica home visit. Instead of slow and inconsistent conversation, I was met by a barrage of greetings, instructions, questions, advice, etc. from a super-humanly gregarious family. My brain already asleep, I simply smiled and nodded for another forty-five minutes. Sensing my fatigue, they released me for my long ride home, but not before filling my backpack with yet more tamarindo fruit from their own tree.

Three houses in a total of over four hours.

Initial frustrations have led to deeper understandings and appreciations...and resignation. Our own concept how to approach “work” does not always coincide with others’ here. People do not walk into someone’s house, give them their name, and start firing questions at them all in the name of efficiency and progress. Relationships are everything and work is not done before relationships are forged. Indeed, “There is more time in life”.

Volcan Telica

2008-03-24T12:17:00.001-07:00

On our latest adventure, Alex and I took a hike up to volcan Telica in the middle of the night! It is a special full moon hike that they have about once a month. We hike to the top all night and then stay up top in a small campsite area for a few hours until sunrise and then hike down. After that we stop at a place with boiling mud pits and finish up the trip with lunch at a cozy comedor the next day. The whole trip lasted about 13 hours without sleep! It was fairly difficult to climb because the trails were made of really loose dirt and rock so I slid fairly often. However, it was an AMAZING view at the top as you look out over all of Nicaragua and the other volcanoes in the ring of fire. Here are a few pics from our trip but my camera ran out of batteries so I did not get that many. Enjoy!

Olena, Alex, Me, Shunpei, and Regina right before we started the hike.

Notice how clean and happy we are!

Yay, we are sitting at the top of the volcano, right at the edge of the crater! Unfortunately, we did not see any hot lava but we did see a lot of smoke and steam.

Alex and me at the top. Notice the long-sleeves... it was FREEZING and windy at the top. It was hard to believe that we were still in Nicaragua.

View of Volcan Telica from the small base just before we climbed to the VERY top and looked in...

Small base camp, huddled around the fire around dawn before we climbed back down.

Keep your posts and your comments coming! We love to hear from everyone and we hope you are enjoying the blog!

More Pictures!

2008-03-19T07:51:00.001-07:00

Okay everyone, here are some more pictures! They are somewhat random, but we hope you enjoy them anyway!

Alex and our group from Norwalk after making our compost beds!

Alex leaving the field after a soccer game. Notice the field of dirt and weeds....

Alex and Chris are SO HAPPY!

My garden at one of my schools!

The kids from one of my schools and me after planting our garden!

An old church in Granada.
Folkloric dancers in Granada!

Olena and me in Granada!

Girl's at one of Alex's schools, getting water from the well.

Alex and Me at Playa Roca when my Mom and Krissy came to visit!

Sunset again at Playa Roca!

My mom and Krissy came to visit... so we got fun drinks!

My mom helping plant a garden in one of my schools!

Planting day at another one of my schools!

Kids working hard to sift dirt so we can plant our garden!

One of Alex's schools :) Yes, this boy is using a machete at school.

Cute little girl at one of Alex's schools.

View of the Church and park in Nagarote, where we live!

View of the boulevard in Nagarote.

Two cute little girls named Katerine and Lucia at one of my schools.

View of Volcan Mombotombo. I take this walk to get to one of my schools.

Class picture at one of my schools. In this school there are grades pre-school to sixth grade in the same classroom with one teacher.

We hope you enjoy the pictures and there will be more soon! Keep leaving your comments and keeping in touch. We love to hear from you! Adios!

It's been awhile....

2008-03-14T14:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, so we know that it has been awhile and we sincerely apologize for the lack of blogging in the past month but we promise a steadier stream of updates from now on! We have a lot to update you on, but we will try and keep this entry and as interesting and yet as reader friendly as possible.

Schools:
We have been busy for the month of February observing in our schools, getting to know our teachers and the kids that we will be working with, and learning about our school communities. Needless to say, we have been learning a lot this past month, while experiencing many frustrations and surprises. We both work in three tiny, relatively poor communities outside of the larger town where we live. Our job for the past month has been to observe the teachers to get a sense of their teaching style, as well as learn about the Nicaraguan school system. While we will be teaching Environmental Education to students in these schools, we will also be working with the teachers to help them have more participatory methods of education. Ideally, while we teach Env. Ed. In the schools, we will also be serving as a model for the teachers but it is a long process and we are only at the beginning.
Our initial reaction to the schools was probably one of shock and appall. All of our schools are multi-grade schools, which means usually one teacher who is in charge of kids between 1st and 6th grade in one room or two teachers who teach kids from 1st to 3rd grade and 4th to 6th grade respectively. The main and probably most obvious problem with this system is that there is one teacher who needs to cater to the needs of many different students at many different levels. A typical school day usually runs something like this:
The teacher comes in and the kids help clean up the classroom (there is dust EVERYWHERE because it is so hot and dry). Next, the teacher assigns math or Spanish work to the various grades while he or she may or may not work with another grade. The work is usually mindlessly copying out of a workbook. Once a student is finished (which may take hours because they may not be able to write, may not understand the assignment, or may just be bored out of his or her mind) he or she brings their notebook to the teacher who puts a check on it and then assigns them something else. Then they take about an hour long break for recess and dish out some rice and beans. After the “lunch” (school only lasts from about 7:30ish to about noon) they may finish up work from the morning and if they are lucky will have a ten or fifteen minute class of science or social-studies. Needless to say there is very little teaching going on and a lot of mindless busy work. Time is also not managed efficiently, and while there are about four or five hours in a school day, only about an hour of actual work gets accomplished.
This has obviously been very difficult for us to watch coming from the US where we were both lucky to receive wonderful educations. While schools here focus on the memorization of information (without really understanding it) we have been taught (in the US) that creativity and engaging with the information is a much better way to actually learn. Students here have trouble being creative and thinking outside the box because they have never been given the opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, they do not even really know how to apply any of the knowledge that they may have accumulated and there are also big holes in what they do know. For example, Alex was doing a map exercise with some students one day and they could not find Nicaragua on the map. Once they were shown a map of Nicaragua, they could not figure out what department (similar to a state) that they lived in. They were completely confused by the entire exercise. There have been many other incidents similar to this one and probably more to come.
Unfortunately, the teachers here receive very little support and may have very little training. They only know how to use didactic teaching methods and are often stretched too thin. Trying to teach many different grades at once is an almost insurmountable feat. Another major issue is that many students are too old for their grades because they have had to repeat so often. Usually around planting time, students will be pulled out of school in order to help on the farms. Missing school and having to repeat another year is most frequently the result of these stints away from school. If a child is lucky enough to make it through the school system and even go to University, he or she will have a lot of trouble finding a job to match his or her skills so the motivation to continue with school is very low. While the situation has been frustrating there have been some silver-lining moments.
Probably the most rewarding thing about working in the schools has been the kids. They are some of the nicest, warm, friendly, and happy kids that we have ever met. They absolutely love any attention that you can give them, even if it is something little such as telling them good job on one of their assignments or something big such as helping them write a paragraph for about two hours. They are also very generous, and will often give us their snacks and leave nothing for themselves. For the most part they are respectful of their teachers and overall, just want to please you. Everyday we are usually greeted with big smiles and hugs, which make a lot of the other frustrations, seem a little less important. One really great experience that I had with my schools is making school gardens. The theory behind making the gardens was that it would be a class project that the entire school would be responsible for while simultaneously yielding fruits and vegetables to boost the nutrition level of the kids. All the students loved digging in the dirt and had a lot of knowledge from their farming experience. (My mom also came to help one day while she was visiting and even though she could not speak a lick of Spanish, the kids were very sweet to her). The kids can be a handful but we are very lucky to get to work with them for the next two years. Our teachers (for the most part) have been really great to work with as well. While they struggle to teach many different kids, they have been warm and welcoming and genuinely seem to care about the kids that they work with. In short, we have a lot of work ahead of us. Our job is daunting and frustrating but we must do our best to overcome the obstacles and to enjoy the more rewarding moments.

Other stuff:
We have been working on several other projects in the past month as well. I have two sports teams that I have been working with, one girl’s soccer team and one girl’s volleyball team. Women’s sports are almost nonexistent here so any chance the girls have to get out there and play is a great opportunity. Unfortunately, women and girls tend to have a lot more responsibility here and many girls have to miss practice to cook or take care of little brothers and sisters. Alex is also involved with two soccer teams. He is helping coach a team for younger guys (around 16 years old) and he plays with the older guys on another team. Sports have been a great way for us to be involved in our community.
We have also been working with a sister-city project called Norwalk. They are a great organization who works with kids from low-income households. They have classes in photography, music lessons, cooking, sewing, computer, and other things. They also give scholarships to help kids go to school. We have been giving charlas (mini-workshops) on making organic compost by building compost beds and making worm-boxes. We will also be helping them with their reforestation project and their community garden.
Lastly, we have been busy with visitors and events. Kristyn and my Mom came down for a few days and it was GREAT to see someone from home finally. We took them to the beach, and toured Leon and Masaya (great shopping). Then, this past week we had a Spanish language workshop where we were bombarded with all new Spanish vocabulary and tenses. This week is Samana Santa where everything comes to a halt and people go to the beach and party. Next, my Dad and Kara are going to visit March 31st, after that we have another week of technical training in April and finally in May Alex’s parents will make the trip down. On top of all that we will be teaching in the schools and hopefully figuring out our secondary projects.
Okay, well I hope this long entry will satisfy your appetites for more information. Thank you for being patient. I have also have lots of pictures to upload and they will be up soon. We miss you all and really love your comments and when you keep in touch! Nos Vemos! :)

2008-01-31T13:39:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn and I are finding adjustment to be a slow, inconsistent, and interesting process. As most volunteers forewarned us, things tend to be day to day. One day we feel like isolated, incompetent foreigners and the next we'll snap back to feeling totally accepted and enthusiastic.

We've found that the most productive activity for us right now is to simply "platicar", which pretty much means to shoot the shit. We've been spending the majority of our nights getting to know our neighbors, which is an indespensible, yet time consuming activity. I have never considered myself a master of the small talk, and life in the states certianly did not prepare me for the level of platicar-ing that we are confronted with in Nicaragua. Thankfully, people here don't consider long pauses during conversations ¨awkward silences¨, so we are learning to stop stressing when we've run out of things to say. Instead, spending our nights platicar-ing is rapidly helping us to feel like part of the community, as well as giving us many insights into the nuances and quirks of Nicaragua.

Below is an example of a typical, evening conversation when we first introduce ourselves. There are also ample explanations, which may be annoying but are absolutely necessary. It is also important to realize that the universal, evening activity here is to sit on your front porch. Combined with the fact that Nicaraguan's are astoundingly warm, friendly, and hospitable, introducing ourselves is extremely easy and certianly our most enjoyable activity every day.

Nica Good Evening.
Us Good Evening.

Come In! Sit Down! (plastic lawnchairs or rocking chairs materialize immediately)
Muchas Gracias.

(Introductions follow: PC volunteers, living here for two years, etc.)

Do you have kids? (Almost without fail the first question)
No not yet, we're not allowed to while we're volunteering.
That's too bad. Oh well, you'll have them soon.

Where are you from? Miami? (In Nagarote almost everyone has at least one relative living in Miami and it seems that many beleive that Miami encompases a far, far greater proportion of the population of the U.S. than it actually does.)

We're from Philadelphia, close to New York.

Is it cold there?

Yeah, there's snow there. (Highly interesting and fascinating to someone who hasn't seen it. Kaitlyn spent the good part of an hour trying to describe snow to two of her teachers.)

How do you like Nagarote?
We love it, the town and the people are very laid-back. (very true and also what seems to be the highest compliment when describing someone's town)

How do you like the food? Which is your favorite?
It's great, we love Gallo Pinto. (A bit of a stretch since fried rice and beans are a bit more simple than we're used to, but probably 99% of Nicaraguans eat Gallo Pinto at least twice a day, and besides everyone gets a kick out of that answer)

(Around now, enter a magically appearing glass of coke or juice)

After these standard questions the conversation will usually delve into issues such as their family, which is almost always very large and seems to consist of half of the population of the town (people do not move frequently from their home town, so for the most part everyone knows everyone else). We might also discuss Nicaragua's troubles, of which are always spoken of as if they exist somewhere other than where we are at the moment, and indeed any unhappiness is rarely immediately evident.

Visits and conversations here never have any type of unspoken, yet alotted time as they do in the states. In fact if we stay until the time of dinner we'll be given food (of which it is unthinkable to deny). Eventually we'll decide the it is time for us to go, which is necessary since we'll never be asked to leave.

The Creatures We Share Our Lives With....

2008-01-31T13:01:00.000-08:00

This post is about the creatures that we share our lives with. These are various pictures that we hope you will all enjoy and hopefully experience yourself when you come to visit!

Yep, that is a cockroach. They share our house with us... and every other house in Nicaragua. They are pretty much everywhere.
Cuddly panda bear at the zoo or cute dog nextdoor?... you decide.
Caballo (Horse). The other form of transportation besides bikes.
Alex and his GIGAN TIC Grapefruit. He makes fresh juice out of these every morning! (Yes, it is not a creature but still pretty interesting).
Me and the cute little puppies at Norwalk, Lorenzo and Mona.
The scorpion that attacked Alex in the shower.... They are AWFUL!
The Rooster that likes our yard aka Alex´s arch nemisis and our alarm clock at 3 am, and 4am, and 5 am.....
The Rooster in our shower..... yes it got intoour house and into the shower!
Gecko. These are ALL over the place too. They just chill around our house.
Finally, the spider that is as big as Alex´s head. This nasty thing was in our room one night... Yikes!

Those are all the pictures we have for now. Hopefully I will add more to this post. I wanted to get a picture of the HUGE pig that lives nextdoor as well but no such luck. Love and miss you all!

Things I´m missing the most right now...

2008-01-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

I hope you have all been enjoying our pictures and I promise that more on on the way soon! In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a few of the things that I am REALLY missing right now!

Family: This obviously goes without saying but I just thought I would tell our families how much we are really missing you all. It is really easy to take your time together for granted but our time here has given us some time to reflect how lucky we are to have wonderful and supportive families. Thank you for everything and remember that we are always thinking about you!
Friends: We have been lucky to have met some amazing people while we have been here and have formed some great friendships with the other volunteers in our group but this doesn´t mean that we aren´t missing you guys like crazy! Our house is covered in pictures of you all and we sit around often and say ¨Man, I wish we were hanging out with our friends from home right now!¨ We wish you would send us some emails and let us know how you are doing! Keep in touch PLEASE! I know we are far away but we still want to be apart of your lives.
Seasons: Around Christmas it was the worst because all I really wanted to see was some snow! Since we arrived here at the end of the summer, and it is still hot here, it is like we have been living in a never ending summer. What I wouldn´t give for one cool day when I had to put on a hoodie and some boots! It would be really nice for a change to experience another temperature besides hot and even hotter.
GOOD FOOD: Typical Breakfast: Oatmeal, pancakes, and/or fruit. Typical Lunch: Rice and Beans. Typical Dinner: Chicken or Pasta or Mac-n-Cheese. That pretty much sums up our diet. I really miss being able to say ¨I want Chinese/ Pizza/ Steak/ Roast Beef/Hot Wings/ Salad/a sandwich/ Fish/ pretty much anything we want. We are every lucky in America to have access to such a wide range of food! What we wouldn´t give for a Pizza right now....
Good Movies: No we do not have a TV but our host family does and we have spent many a nights watching ¨classic pictures¨such as Seed of Chucky, Norbit, and The Wailer. All in Spanish by the way... Obviously we are really missing curling up on the couch with a nice bowl of popcorn and watching a really good flick.
Good Music: Nicaraguan do not like change. Therefore, they listen to the SAME songs, everyday, all the time. They also LOVE the corniest 80s love songs in either English or re-made in Spanish. These songs include, ¨Lady in Red,¨ ¨Total Eclipse of the Heart,¨ and any and every song by Celine Dion, especially ¨My heart will go on.¨

Okay, I am finished rambling for a bit. Being in Nicaragua really makes you appreciate many things you never thought you would about America. Enjoy a good movie and a Pizza for us (and a good beer for Alex!) Miss and love you all!

Hogar Dulce Hogar (Home Sweet Home)

2008-01-15T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Here are the much awaited pictures of our new home! I wanted them to be in order but unfortunately I am not that savy yet on this website. So in no particular order, we give you our new home!

This is our bathroom. The scene of the scorpion attack on Alex.

This is our patio and lavadora where we wash our dishes! The other cement block is our grill where we cook over a wood fire using a metal fan cover.

This is our cute little patio or backyard. We will be doing alot of gardening back here.

This picture was supposed to be first. This is the front of our house! The motorcycle is not ours, it just likes to park there all the time.

Here is our sala (living room). Note Alex on the hammock (his favorite spot). We also have decorated our home with lots of pictures of everyone so send us more!
This is the middle room where we keep my hammock.

Yes, that is a yellow gas tank for our stove.

This is our beautiful kitchen.....

And finally, this is our bedroom, complete with mosiquito net! Notic that everything else is on the floor, as we do not have enough money right now to buy a dresser.

That completes the tour of our new home! We hope you enjoyed this adventure and now you can picture us here with some more ease. Miss you all!

Holidays Abroad...

2008-01-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

...are not as fun as those at home. Not only were we away from all our friends and family this Christmas, but Christmas in general was dissapointing here. We simply assumed that all other countries with a foundation in Christianity considered Christmas to be the big holiday of the year. Not so in Nicaragua. Turns out that Easter gets an entire month of celebration, but Christmas is more just a semi-formal dinner. Our family did have a fake tree and ornaments, and they did wrap presents. However, there was certianly no Nat King Cole and obviously no snow. Furthermore, the main activity for the Christmas night turned out to be dancing to reggaeton at the few discotecs in town. Needless to say this did not coincide with our idea of Christmas.

New Years! That turned out to be a good time. We had to make the tough decision between staying in our site and enjoying the big festivities with our Nica community or spending it with our fellow volunteers. However, after a long first month and a half in our site, we were ready for some gringo exposure. We stayed for three nights in our local beach hang out at Playa Rocas, Las Peñitas with about 15 Env. Ed. and Agriculture volunteers, all from our training group. A very laid-back, beautiful place. Cheap seafood, comfortable hostels, and deserted beaches (except for New Years day). We had a great few days relaxing and exchanging tales of each others' experiences in our new sites. Many of which are very different from ours, especially for the Agriculture volunteers. For instance, in comparison to our large town with a supermarket and bank, one Agr. volunteer lives in a town on the other side of the mountians, in a crater, on the edge of the rainforest.

The big announcement is that we now have our own house, which we moved into yesterday. We loved all of our host families very much, but after more than 4 months we were more than ready for our own space. Plenty of room and much cooler than the average house in Nicaragua. Mango and lime tree. Friendly neighbors. Both toilet and latrine. Hammock hooks to be installed Thursday. Pictures coming. We'll be buying an extra matress, so we'll be waiting.

New Years and other random things

2008-01-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

A neat picture of the rocks at Playa Roca.

This is a picture of Playa Roca at Las Peñitas.

Notice how few people actually go to the beach.

We can usually go to the beach and be one of the few people there.

This is the BEAUTIFUL sunset at Playa Roca.

This is the hostel at Playa Roca where we spend most of our time.

It has rooms that overlook the beach for $6.00 a night, good food, and a bar :)

Alex and Me during the beautiful sunset :)

Another great view of the rocks at Playa Roca.

Hello everyone! We know that it has been awhile, but we have not really had anything exciting to write about. However, we did have an awesome time on our little vacation to the beach, Las Peñitas for new Years. We hope you enjoy the pictures of this beautiful beach! We have also recently FINALLY moved into our new house. It is a bit of a mess right now, but next week I promise that we will put up pictures of our new hogar (home). Miss you all! :)

ATTACK OF THE SCORPION!

2007-12-20T12:34:00.000-08:00

I survived my first scorpion attack! Two nights ago, Alex and I were sound asleep when I woke up to a horrible burning pain in my arm. I started yelling so Alex got up and turned on the light. I was crying that my arm was burning and that something bit me. We looked all over the room and found nothing. Finally, we looked right near where our pillows were, and sure enough there was a baby scorpion who had just settled down for a nap. My entire arm was burning and my lips and tongue were all tingly and numb. Luckily it was only a baby because apparently when the big ones sting you, then you can´t even walk for awhile. The scorpions here have poison but they aren´t deadly. Okay, so that was my survivor story. Miss you all!

Finding a House

2007-12-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

Finding a house to rent in Nicaragua is unlike any other experience that I have ever had. At first, Alex and I used our host Mom to talk to people for us and see if they knew anyone who was renting a house. There are no signs here, or agencies, or even listings in the paper so you you need to rely on word of mouth. At first the general response was that there were absolutely NO houses to rent. Finally one turned up but it turned out to be a fixer-upper to put it mildly. We were feeling slightly discouraged but finally we decided to take matters into our own hands and just wander the streets and ask people. It was generally a good way to get to know people because it gave us an excuse to talk to them and get to know our town. However it was usually an exhausting experience that usually left our heads spinning as we walked all over town viewing one house or another. Here is a typical conversation that we had while trying to find a house.
Kaitlyn/Alex: Hello! We are Peace Corps Volunteers and we are going to live here for two years. We are looking for a house to rent. Do you know of any?
Nicaraguan#1: No, there are no houses to rent.
Nicaraguan #2: Yeah, there isn´t anything at all around here.
K/A: Oh really? That is too bad.
Nicaraguan #2: Well actually, isn´t there that house over there?
Nicaraguan #1: Oh yeah! Actually, my best friend´s, brother´s mother-in-law´s, cousin has an aunt whose friend´s Mom lives in Miami and they might want to rent their house! Do you live near Miami?
K/A: Really? That´s great! Where is the house? And no, we actually are not from Miami.
Nicaraguan #2: Okay, well you go 3 blocks down that way, go past the old church that used to be there but isn´t there anymore, then go right for 2 and a half blocks right near Rosa´s house and where they sell tortillas but there isn´t a sign, then on the left side there is a house about halfway down the street, you should go ask for Juan. He can take you to the house.
K/A: Uhh, okay wow thanks. What color is the house?
Nicaraguan #1: I don´t remember. But its real easy to find. Just go to that street and ask for Juan.
K/A: Thanks!

Okay, so that was basically how it went. There are no street signs here or addresses. Finally though, Alex and I managed to find a house that is too big for us but it is comfortable and has a BIG patio with fruit trees. We even have a spare room so we expect many visitors! We have nothing to fill our house right now except our clothes, a fridge, a fan, and a stove. Next on our list is that we need to buy a bed and if our host family does not take us to get one we will have to transport the bed on a bus which should be another adventure. We will move into the new house in January and then we will post pictures. We love and miss you all and are sad that we can´t be home for the holidays :( Thanks to everyone that sent packages! It is really much appreciated. We miss you all! Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!

Day of the Virgin

2007-12-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

We got our first taste of a true Nicaraguan celebration last Friday night, the eve of the Day of the Virgin (Mary´s bday). This is one of the country´s biggest holidays, and there sure was a whole lot of excitement building up to this event all month. Fireworks are incredibly popular here. They had been going off every day, all day all through November announcing the distance approach of the celebration. Every Catholic family (most) also puts a small shrine to the Virgin in a corner of their house. However, we couldn`t have predicted what the night would actually be like since all the big stuff was all going on behind the scenes.

Our host mom kept reminding us that we needed to be prepared with our backpacks to walk around town at 6:00 PM, and that we would be receiving lots of items for our new house. We also must learn at least two songs praising the Virgin Mary, which she provided us with. We were confused. Did we need to bring gifts also? Was it ok that we weren´t practicing Catholics? Here is a summary of the nights events:

The entire town, including the people in the smaller villages surrounding Nagarote, fill the streets around 6:00. They then walk in groups to particular houses around town. These houses have set up a massive shrine to the Virgin Mary somewhere inside or outside their home, complete with a large statue, candles, music, Christmas lights, etc. The group of people stands in front of the shrine and sings songs praising the Virgin Mary. Once the host family has deemed the singing worthy, gifts are handed out to all of the singers. Children, mothers, grandfathers, and ourselves then push to get to the front for the best items. The group then moves on to the next house to repeat. This goes on for almost exactly four hours until 10:00 Pm when everyone returns home.

This was a very interesting experience. First of all we, especially myself since Kaitlyn did formally attend Catholic churches, felt awkward singing songs praising a shrine of the Virgin. Also, we only practiced two songs, while throughout the night our family sang an assortment of about 6 or 7 songs. Not sure what to do, we ended up spending the majority of the night mouthing Spanish lyrics that we didn't know. The diversity of the gifts was also incredible. We never knew what to expect. Here´s a list of some items: candy, rice, cookies, corn on the cob, homemade deserts, juice, a bag of salt, fruit, pasta, superman plastic bowl, a plastic pitcher, laundry detergent, Tupperware, a bar of soap, sugar, a washcloth.

The eve of the Day of the Virgin was very surreal and definitely a great time. Everyone was in a really good mood. It's really a great way of having a community wide activity and also for some of the more wealthy families to redistributing some wealth back into the community. It was a prime opportunity for us to be able to see the entire population of our area, and also for them to see us participating in the event. Next year we'll be sure to have the songs memorized.

New Address

2007-11-24T13:48:00.000-08:00

Here is our new official address!

Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick PCV
and/or
Alex Fuller-Young PCV
Apartado Postal 366
León, Nicaragua
America Central

Here are some more pictures!

2007-11-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

This was our awesome cake for our swearing-in ceremony.

It was a really nice event and the US ambassador swore us in.

I (Kaitlyn) even gave an interview in SPANISH for a TV station!

This is NICA 45 Environment right before we swore in.

In the middle are Bobbi and Suzy who did a traditional Nica dance!

A picture of me and Alex at swearing-in!

Notice his cool traditional Nica shirt!

This is Alex and Me with my host parents at the ceremony.

Me with Alex´s two other wives, Olena and Analea.

He has his hands full with us!

We hope that you enjoy the pictures and we promise that since we are back from gallivanting around that we will be in touch more often. These next few months will be hard because we really do not have that much to do. We are really supposed to be getting to know our community and doing our community analysis tools (you really don´t want us to explain). Alex is looking forward to the slow-paced life but I am going to go crazy so please write to me A LOT! Thanks to everyone that is reading the blog, and we appreciate your feedback! Miss and love you all tons!

Swearing-In and The All Volunteer Conference

2007-11-24T13:09:00.000-08:00

We are finally at our site and ready to settle in, for real this time. We spent the last two weeks in the capital doing various things. The week before last we spent in a hotel, dialy receiving lectures on everything from HIV/AIDS to how our living allowance is broken down.

At the end of the week we had our "Swearing-In" Ceremony, which is an official event where we become volunteers, instead of lowly trainees. We sing the Nicaraguan national anthem, which we also spent time learning the week before. We say goodbye to our training host families. We receive cute little Peace Corps pins. We eat cake.

Last week we spent at another hotel for the "All Volunteer Conference". Here all the PC volunteers in Nicaragua convene to exchange ideas during the day and then have lots of fun during the night. We had an Olympics competition between the sectors (Env. Ed., Agriculture, Health, etc.) that consisted of the usual events (trivia, dodgball, etc.). Unfortunately we got last place.

We also got to grab some Thanksgiving dinner. Peace Corps does a great thing of hooking us up with either a PC or embassy staff member for some good old turkey, stuffing, and football. Kaitlyn and I had dinner at a foreign service person's house. Fascinating life, next year she'll spend learning Russian so she can serve in Moscow for the following three years.

The last few weeks have been great fun spent with the other volunteers. All are very fun and interesting people. Especially our group of course. However, it's going to be a rough transition back to living among Nicaraguans, no air conditioning, and speaking Spanish. It's astonishing how quickly a foreign language can deteriorate.

Hope all is well back home and everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We missed you all.

Pictures!

2007-11-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Alex and me with my host family.

This is a picture of kids from my youth group.
For one of our projects we made planters for the school out of bambú!

This is the view from the mirador of our new pueblo.
Yes, that is a volcano in the background.

This is a group of us at the Laguna de Apoyo, the water filled volcano.

Here is picture of me and my
awesome hamock that Alex got me for
my birthday! We will be spending a lot of time in these.

Here is Alex and his hammock. Yes, I am now "Alejandro".

Alex and the guys of Nica 45 Environment.
Notice that there are only 4 of them in our group. (R-L: Cris, Alex, Shunpei, and Jason)

Me and the girls of Nica 45 Environment.
We are pretty much the best group ever :)

Alex and his host family. His little niece has the cutest laugh in the world. Note: Nicaraguans smile all the time, but they usually tend not to in pictures. No, this is not because they believe pictures steal your soul. Rather, they just don't get a lot of opportunities to get pictures taken, so those they do have are a big deal.

We hope that you have enjoyed the pictures! The next ones will be from the swearing in ceremony!

Our Site Visit

2007-11-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

Well, we have just returned from our one week site visit. Our town is rather large, beautiful, and clean! Needless to say that we were kind of in shock when we arrived because the town is really so progressive and has so many great programs that we we wondering what we were doing there. The first day we went to meet our host family. We have a Mom, a Dad, a sister who lives there and two brothers who do not live there. One of the brothers actually married a Peace Corps volunteer a few years ago. You would be surprised how often that happens in Peace Corps Nicaragua. The family was really nice and accommodating and they taught us how to make gallo pinto, the national food of Nicaragua (basically fried rice and beans). We have to live with the host family for 6 weeks and then we will FINALLY be allowed to move into our own house so we expect visitors!
On Monday, we went to visit our multigrado schools, which are all located in the campo. While our town is clean, beautiful, and wealthy in comparison to the rest of Nicaragua, the campo surrounding the town was extremely poor. I was in shock at how poor the little towns were and the living conditions of the people. I know we have been prepared for this but it really hit me hard that first day in the schools. The second and third days we went to visit our other schools. My farthest school is a little over an hour away on foot and there is no other way to get there but walk. Alex borrowed a bike to get to his far schools but it still took about an hour or so. Usually the roads are so poor and full of holes that it impossible to navigate even on a bike. Besides visiting our schools, we also visited the mayor, the police, the ministry of education, the library, and a local NGO. We are going to have a lot to do these next few years.
We are in our last week of training in the pueblos. Next week go to Managua for a week and then we officially swear in as PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS. We stay in Managua for a week to attend a conference and then on Nov. 23 we officially go to our sites. That is all the news I have for now and I promise to update pictures when I have 5 spare hours because it really takes that long. Miss you all!

Site Visit

2007-11-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a quick story from last week´s visit to our site:

During one of my school visits, I was completely exhausted by my the few hours there. I spent the school day, between 8 and 12, being literally pulled in all directions. The students insisted that they show and explain every tree, plant, and object in the schoolyard. They insisted that I play soccer and baseball, and afterwards that they be allowed to clean my shoes because they were muddied. During class they insisted that they needed my assistance with their classwork, as I spent the morning literally being pulled from one desk to the other. After school they insisted that I visit their homes, where I was welcomed with more warmth then I've ever experienced entering a house. There they filled my hands with bags of the few snacks they sell out of their home, as well as a soda, since you gringos are not used to this heat...true.

These are the moments of enjoyable culture shock. The contrast between these people´s utter poverty and their unrivaled generosity is truly amazing. It is hard for someone coming from the states to comprehend these things, since in the back of our minds we can't help but wonder how someone so poor can be so kind, welcoming, and generous.

SITE ASSIGNMENT!!!

2007-10-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today we learned where we´ll be living and working for the two years of our service. We´ll be going to the town of Nagarote in the Department of Leon. This town of about 35,000 is a short 45 minute trip from the capital of Managua, and is on the shores of Lake Managua and next to volcano Momotombo. It´s also close to the beach, which brings to mind Peace Corps Jamaica´s unofficial slogan, "You don´t have to suffer to serve". It is one of the most progressive town´s in the country, and has won Nicaragua´s Cleanest City award five years running.

We´ll be working in six schools that are all "multi-grade", meaning that multiple grades are in the same classroom together. This is challenging, but we actually wanted these types of schools because they tend to be smaller, more intimate, and the teachers and students are typically very receptive. There are also a wide array of projects that we´re interested in working with, as well as many community groups and NGOs that we´ll be able to collaborate with.

Friday we´ll be going to Managua to meet our "Counterparts". This is the person who requested volunteers for the site, has connections within the community, and will facilitate us with our integration and with our work throughout the two years. Then, Saturday we´ll be heading off to our site for a one week visit. We´ll be able to meet the people we´ll be living with for the first six weeks, the people we´ll be working with, and just get a feel for the place.

Overall a big day. We´re excited.

Busy, Busy!

2007-10-14T16:34:00.000-07:00

This week is going to be a pretty tough week for us. We have youth group projects, a youth group charla (presentation) and another class in the schools. My group also has our survey presentation. This Saturday night we went to a dance club in Catarina with some other aspirantes to blow off some steam before our ¨hump¨week. Two of our friends had their wallets stolen. An important thing to keep in mind here is that is perfectly acceptable to keep money in as many places as you can, all over your body (ladies, this includes your bra so you can boost your bust). Next week we will find out our site so we will be sure to update everyone on our new permanant location. Next time... more pics!

The Beloved Care Package!!!

2007-10-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

In response to some requests from family and friends, we have created a care package "wish list". For all of those that wish to send us a cardboard box full of love, here are a few things we're craving:

Dark Chocolate!!!!! (Kaitlyn wishes to add exclamation marks to this one)
Reeses
Hard Candy
U.S. Magazines (Time, The Economist, etc.)
Pop Secret Homestyle Microwavable Popcorn or Plain Kernals
Cooking Spices
Good CDs
Good Books
Office Supplies (good thick permanent markers)
Hand Sanitizer

Our new address in Leon is listed below. We've also heard that the best way to get things through is actually standard U.S. Postal Service, as other methods have a higher chance of getting tampered with at customs. Also, apparently they have some deal where you can send up to 20 pounds for a fixed rate. Now who loves us most?

Alex Fuller-Young / Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick

Apartado Postal 366
León, Nicaragua
America Central

Things That Make One Realize They're Not in the U.S. Anymore

2007-10-14T15:33:00.000-07:00

As I promised awhile back, here are a few things that someone that is wideeyed and fresh to a new country has found a bit strange:

Electricity is rarely a dependable commodity, and in-fact the vast majority of towns and cities do not receive power during working hours.
The easiest way to trim the grass in the town's schoolyard is to perpetually move the place where the horse is tied to the fence.
Some believe that in order to ensure their family's safety, the entire family should sit on the same bed during a thunderstorm.
The concept of "passenger capacity" does not exist, or apply, when it comes to public transportation.
Men would never think of riding side by side in the very common "ciclotaxis" here (a bench on the front of a bike), but have no problem fitting up to five people on one, traditional bicycle.
The concept of "disturbing the peace" does not exist in the majority of Nicaragua, and it is in-fact highly offensive to ask a person to limit the amount of noise they are creating.
Some believe that drinking a cold beverage in the afternoon, or taking a shower after exercise, is a very common cause of fevers and other illnesses.
The strangest, most fascinating thing people have seen in a long while is you.

Volunteer Visits and pictures!

2007-10-04T15:10:00.001-07:00

Here are a few more pictures. We hope that you enjoy!

Alex and me in my training town.

A typical meal in Nicaragua. See the

rice and beans.... I eat them EVERY day

for lunch..... and dinner.... and for a snack....

This is me and my host sister Amanda Sofia.

She is two and she LOVES to listen to my music.

Here is a picture of Alex and me during the

Independence Day parade. The building is a

Catholic church- the biggest and nicest building in the city.

Here is the parade. Boys carry drums

and girls get to twirl things.

We successfuly hade our first volunteer visits. Alex went to Chinandega and I went to Leon. Both places are VERY hot. However, the scenery was beautiful and the experience was really beneficial for us to see what other volunteers do. My first day we went to the beach which was really fun. However, it seems as though I got a bacterical infection (the first of many I am sure) and I had to pull the taxi over on the way to the beach and squat in a cow field..... I am sure that it will not be the first time. We both had really informative visits because we go to live with another volunteer and visit the schools with them. We are now VERY anxious and excited to get to our site. Alex and I hope for ALOT of visitors because there are SO many cool places that we can take people to visit. This Saturday we are going to Volcano Masaya. We will be sure to post some cool pictures. Hope you enjoy the ones above!

Some Pictures!

2007-09-29T16:18:00.001-07:00

This is me and my training town buddies!
Kaitlyn, Denise, Misti, and Jenny.
We are standing outside Misit´s house on the
Calle Principal.

This is Laguna de Apoyo again. This is the view from the

top of our hike. The hike up was not so fun....

This is Alex and me in Catarina. Behind us

Laguna de Apoyo which is actually a volcano crater.

We went swimming there a few weeks ago and had

to make the KILLER hike up. It was SO beautiful though!

Me, Olena, Suzy, Emalee, and Analea at Catarina.
Kaitlyn and Alex at our vivero technical session.

One Month In Country

2007-09-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

It has officially been one month in Nicaragua! Time has gone by quickly with how busy we´ve been, as well as the fun we´ve been having. Sorry we havent been posting a lot, but we´ve been way preoccupied. To make up, we´ll make this post nice and long.

Tomorrow we head out to our ¨volunteer visits¨, which means we´ll be staying with a current volunteer, asking many questions and tagging along to observe they´re daily activities. I´ll be visiting the area of Chinandega in the extreme northwest of the country and Kaitlyn will be going to the area of Leon, which is just south of Chinandega (Both very hot...but on the coast!). We´ve both been able to meet our hosts since they gave ¨charlas¨ (chats) to our training group. It should be a good time and a nice break from the training regiment.

The last few weeks have been high stress. The combination of langauge class, technical training, and work with the schools and kids is quite a lot to take on. Last weekend was our long awaited ¨vivero¨ project with our youth groups that we formed(a group of about 25 sixth graders), which is a fun, educational tree nursery project.

This week was intense as we had to give our own ¨charlas¨ (a word we´ll be refering to a lot in the months to come). My group´s first was done as a group to our youth group. However, due to some confusion on the teachers´part, we ended up with far more kids than expected (about 50!) crammed in a tiny classroom. In the end, we did manage to fight through the panic and chaos and give an effective presentation on self esteem. The next was a charla done as a duo in a classroom, which went beautifully. The kids were great and I made some stellar animal drawings for our food chain explanation.

We also had a scheduled soccer game with the kids, which was a major confianza (trust) builder with the kids. We can´t walk by the school now without getting swarmed by kids and shout outs. It was also encouraging that the girls were just as excited about playing as the boys were (girls are traditionaly discouraged from play sports here). It was also interesting that THEY demanded that the game be girls vs. boys.

The kids here are incredible to work with. They are extremely motivated, energetic, enthusiastic, and gracious. It amazes me how excited they get to do things like draw a map of their community, talk about environemtal projects, build a vivero, or just play some soccer.

Apart from all the work, we have had a little time to relax. A group of us took a hiking trip into a nearby extinct volcano a few weeks ago (Laguna de Apollo). The crater is now a very, very deep lake, which is very interesting because it has floating rocks (pumus) in it. We also got to see some howler monkeys on the hike down. After the hike we had lunch in a tourist town at the top of the volcano´s ridge, which has the most incredible view I´ve ever seen. From there you are above the lagoon, and beyond is an active volcano (Masaya) in the near distance on the right. To the left is the colonial city of Granada on the other side of the lagoon, and beyond that Lake Nicaragua, which you can see clear across to the to the mountains on the other side. From that one point you can see a huge piece of Nicaragua. We also got to grab some pizza and burgers there to indulge our cravings for American food.

On another note, my practices with the soccer team have now earned me a uniform! I´m just waiting for a weekend when my schedule doesn´t conflict and I can actually have time to play a game.

Adios for now and we promise we´ll try to post more frequently so that the posts wont be quite as exhausting as this one...

Background Infor

2007-09-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

Some people have mentioned that we haven´t filled everyone in on how this whole process works, so for those of you that are still in the dark, here´s a basic outline of our schedule.

We had a 3 day staging in DC and a 5 day stagin in the capital city of Managua

We then arrived in ¨training towns¨, all located close to one another in the area near the city of Masaya (an hour from Managua)

Here we spend three months living with a host family and receiving langauge, teaching, cultural, medical, leadership, safety, etc. training 6 days a week. Very regimented and tiring. Kaitlyn and I live a 10 minute bus ride from one another, seperated to help us in our language learning and cultural adjustment.

In about a month Kaitlyn and I will be assignend a site and do a week long site visit to get to know the place, people, our ¨counterparts¨ that we´ll be working with, and find a place to live.

After three months of training we are ¨sworn in¨ as volunteers at the end of a week long session in Managua. After that the two of us head for our site where we´ll be serving permanently for the next 2 years.

So that´s the plan, the details later.

Monday

2007-09-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

It is only monday and already my brain is about to explode. Today we spent alot of time talking to the mayor and the teachers at the school we will be working at. We also had interviews with one of the Peace Corps directors to see where we will be placed for our permanent site. Everyone in our town is busy getting ready for the big parade on Friday to celebrate Independence Day in Nicaragua. I promise that by the weekend we will post some pictures. Love and miss you all!
- Kaitlyn

Week One

2007-09-09T14:37:00.000-07:00

We have made it through our first week of training! Our days are jam packed with lots to do. On Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesday (AM only), and Thursdays we have language classes all day. They are really interesting, not at all like a typical Spanish class. We meet our teachers at a fellow PCT (Peace Corp Trainee) house and we have class, usually on a porch. Most of the Spanish is practical and applicable to trying to live in Nicaragua. We have learned how to ask for directions, how to navigate the transportation system, and how to buy things, (always count your change!) We have also been bombarded with vocabulary! After classes we have homework and we need to go home and talk with our families.

Wednesday afternoons, Fridays, and some Saturdays we meet up with the other Environmental Education volunteers (about 18 of us) for technical sessions in classroom management, health issues, environmental issues, etc. It is really great to see the other trainees, (especially each other). Our group is really awesome. Everyone is really nice and we all seem to get along really well. It is a pretty young group, we range from about 21 to 30 years old. There is one other married couple in our group and an older married couple in the Agriculture group which is currently north of Managua, so we don´t get to see them until we swear in as volunteers on November 16th.

Friday our group traveled to a local college to listen to a really interesting speaker about the natural resources in Nicaragua. It really is a beautiful country but it has a lot of problems with trash, deforestation, and poverty. The talk really made our job here seem daunting. It is going to be a long, ongoing process. Saturday, we visited this really interesting self sustaining farm in the campo. There we learned how to plant our viveros (tree nurseries), which we are expected to do with our youth groups next week.

Part of our training is working with youth. This week we start doing observations in local schools and gathering youth for a youth group. Obviously, these are considerably daunting tasks when you speak little Spanish. However, these activities are important steps to get us ready for our final sites. This week will be busy as we have interviews with our Associate Peace Corps Director, school observations, youth group meetings, and class. We are exhausted, but are still enjoying it!

My family (Kaitlyn) is very nice and very patient. I have a mom, a dad, a 10 year old brother, and a 2 year old sister who is SO cute. They are really kind people, but I wish I could talk to them more. I have exhausted my limited supply of Spanish, so there are many moments of awkward silence and weird looks. I suppose the language will come soon, but for me it is never fast enough! I have my own room and running water (for the most part). There is a major energy crisis here, so they shut off the power during the day from about 7am to 4pm. It isn´t so bad because we are usually in class during that time. Overall, it has been a positive experience, although it still hasn´t hit me that Nicaragua is my home for the next two years. Right now, my goal is to make it through training and learn Spanish!

My family (Alex) is also really great. They have hosted 8 other volunteers before, which is a lot for these host families. I live with my host mom, who is a grandmother that takes very good care of me, her 26 year old daughter, 24 year old daughter in law, and her 4 year old grandchild. They feed me very well, plenty of rice and beans of course, but also a lot of chicken, plantains, and of course amazing, fresh juice from fruit I´ve never heard of.

It was great to finally get to our training sites after all of the time spend in hotels. We´re finally experiencing another culture! Training was great to meet all the volunteers in our group, and it´s also sweet when we all get together for our larger classes. As I expected, PC volunteers tend to be very dynamic people. We´re all from different backgrounds, but we all have a good deal in common and so get along swimmingly. I truly seems like the people who serve are some of the most interesting people from our country.

As Kaitlyn said, the work is exhausting when your spending your days trying to decipher and speak another language. By our last language class on Thursday my brain was totally saturated with Spanish vocabulary. At the same time the projects and assignments pile up as your having to spend all your energy trying to learn Spanish. On Tuesday we´re supposed to have a youth group meeting about planting trees, in Spanish of course...

The goal of integrating into the community was made a little easier for me this week however, since a teenage neighbor of mine invited me to play soccer. It was a lot of fun and I got to meet basically all of the young guys in the town. Now they want me to practice everyday, get a player´s ID, and play in their games...yet another activity I´m going to have to somehow find time for. Definitely awesome though! The guys in my town are really chill.

In the future, I´m going to create a list of all the funny things about Nicaragua that makes one realize that they´re not in the States anymore. However, I´ll give one small anecdote for ya´ll. While in language class on Thursday on one of our group member´s porches, our professora´s lesson was interrupted by the squeals of a piglet. She noted that, ¨Oh no, chanchito es muerto.¨ The three girls in my group were a bit distressed as the pig´s squeals slowly subsided over the next five minutes.

On that note, until next time!

Training!!!

2007-09-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn and I have finally made it through the week of boring orientations, both in Washington DC and in Nicaragua´s capital city of Managua. We are now in our training towns, living with seperate host families in the department of Masaya, which is about an hour south of Managua. Kaitlyn is in a bigger town while I´m in a tiny pueblo. Both of our families are extremely friendly and even more patient with our language abilities. We´re both finding that we are picking up Spanish quickly, although it will be a long three months of hard work until we gain the proficiency we´ll need to work in our sites. The days are crammed with language training, all in Spanish of course. Time is running out on our computers so we´ll post more info soon! Although this is all really exciting, we still miss everybody!