Dad and Kara Visit!

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

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

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!

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....

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! :)

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....

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!