ALGO ASI…SOMETHING LIKE THIS….
I am thinking long and hard about family today as it is the season and all that---also I know part of my family is gathering today to celebrate Christmas a little early. I miss all of you guys and love and appreciate each and every one of you SO much.
We’ve been spending our time here in site much like before, walking for hours on dirt roads visiting farms, eating eggs, beans, and tortillas, talking with strangers etc. Just yesterday we went to visit a farm that is in the family---consisted of a little bus ride, hitching a ride in the back of a pickup, taking a little boat across a river, and walking and walking and walking—oh yeah and carried live chickens with us—I found I was most comfortable holding them upside down by their legs…it was beautiful but quite a different world than what we are used to---as is most everything for us. We picked mandarins off some trees while some of the family made some tortillas beans and eggs….we walked through a field of platano trees….pigs and chickens roamed between our legs freely as we ate….we helped sweep the dirt as is the custom…then we visited a nearby neighbor, and oddly enough, we were invited in for some coffee and corn on the cob (or the Nica equivalent) while watching a videotape of the funeral of this family’s grandma. Yes, this is the second time I have witnessed such an event---apparently it is quite common for everyone to have a video of their loved one’s funerals and to watch them often. A little awkward—yes—sure—but it is a feeling I am adjusting to. Then we were serve corn porridge—pudding type stuff and had a hard time getting down the gigantic bowls we were served but managed it. How incredible is it that everyone wants to share everything they have is the thought I always keep in mind. We sat around for some time, which is also something I am adjusting to—and then the husband of the house showed up with his horses—saddled up one of them and one of the little kids led the horse around while Matt and I each took a turn riding. They really got a kick out of this. The trip home was much like that of the trip there---but took a lot longer as no ride came along and then we missed a bus and waited and waited in a little town between here and there---finally caught a ride in the back of a pickup and one of my possible students was in there with us (neat), but the truck didn’t take us quite all the way home…..we could have walked the rest of the way if it weren’t for the huge sacks of corn and beans we had with us that weighed too much for even Matt to carry…so we waited again…..eventually another bus came along that took us into town. All in all our day lasted from 6 am when the first bus left until about 630pm. Matt and I like to refer to it as Corn Puddin’ Day. It was really fun and beautiful and awkward all at the same time.
More to come---our internet service can be sporadic and there have only been a couple days so far where the electricity has been out most the day so that is a plus. Thinking about the school year and the conference we have coming up with our Nicaraguan counterparts. Also, have been recently informed we may be hosting another Teacher Workshop sometime in March….vamos a ver.
Missing a Texas Christmas
OH AND SOME EXCITING NEWS=OUR PO BOX where we can receive mail:
Julie Westerman/Matt Reid
Apartado Postal 21
Ocotal, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua´
Centroamerica
Friday, December 17, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Well been in site for a week or so now---and contrary to what everyone told us, we have NOT been bored or found ourselves with too much down time….that may change but it may not.
Upon arriving in site, our host mom’s dad had passed away so we experienced roughly the equivalent of a Nicaraguan wake our first day in site, which also happened to be Thanksgiving. It was really beautiful and involved a mass, lots of singing and instruments, flowers and analter, and the sharing of a lot of food.
The next day we spent mostly running around all day with the neighborhood kids, playing basketball, soccer, hide and go seek, and other games that I didn’t understand the names of---we received piles of little gifts from all the kids, including drawings and friendship bracelets. We set up a meeting with these kids to see if we may be able to start up some type of youth group for the month of December (dec and jan is their summer break, so they have looooaaadddss of free time now). We’ll see how that goes.
The next day was the monthly meeting for all the professors in the area, Matt and I went and observed and listened while our group of English teachers discussed goals and changes they would like to see in the future (in Spanish) . They also had to compile an evaluation for the whole school year to give to our director. It was especially nice because we got to hang out with all of our counterparts in the same place.
Following day we went to visit the farm of the family of one of my counterparts—we hopped a bus from her house on the edge of town and rode for just about 15 minutes down a dirt and incredibly bumpy road---I am sure these roads become impassable during the rainy season. And the bus was jam packed—including all the aisle space, with people hanging out the back a bit. Her farm was beautiful and the family there was especially welcoming and kind---we went for a long walk through the bosque or forest as this part of town is called, to a suspension bridge that was just recently built. My counterpart says that previously the folks on the other side of the river often could not cross because of floods. However, on the other side of the bridge there are also amenities. My counterpart’s niece came along with us, about 9 years old? And she is like a sponge for the English language—I had a great time teaching her words. Back at the farm we were served coffee and oranges and sweet bread. We climbed a tree and walked around and talked some more before starting for home. It was a long walk home since we opted not to take the bus, but after about an hour, a mini bus came along and the driver new my counterpart so he offered us a ride. The sunset over the mountains and the river was gorgeous.
The next day we went to observe University level classes that take place at the school were matt teaches, but only on the weekends. We will be pursuing some opportunities to help out there as well. The students were only taking exams, but we had a chance to meet the English students and to spend some time practicing a little conversational English with them—it was fun and the students seem very motivated—as does matt’s counterpart who teaches them. After this, it was back to the house to get ready for preschool graduation—yes 3 of the 4 kids that we live with graduated from preschool. I had no idea how big of deal this was going to be—but the 96 kids and their parents were dressed for Prom and paraded down the main street to the pavilion where we had the grand ceremony. It lasted almost 2.5 hours and was pretty extravagant—also adorable and I took zillions of photos.
LATER THAT WEEK--
Sort of over graduations now that i have been to 3!!!! we did get to sit in chairs of honor and have our names announced at the high school ones....
got to climb a mountain
and play some wicked games of soccer with the kids--one of whom we think should be on a professional team---those kids outplay us, and they dont ever drink water!!! OR wear shoes....man could i go on, but i won,t.
i will tell you all that we miss you and love you. i try not to--but i cannot help but think of all the things we are missing, all the babies and holidays and birthdays and coffee with the momma in law, we REALLY miss you guys. Please write when you can and let us know how you are---it helps!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE
JULIA Y MATEO
Upon arriving in site, our host mom’s dad had passed away so we experienced roughly the equivalent of a Nicaraguan wake our first day in site, which also happened to be Thanksgiving. It was really beautiful and involved a mass, lots of singing and instruments, flowers and analter, and the sharing of a lot of food.
The next day we spent mostly running around all day with the neighborhood kids, playing basketball, soccer, hide and go seek, and other games that I didn’t understand the names of---we received piles of little gifts from all the kids, including drawings and friendship bracelets. We set up a meeting with these kids to see if we may be able to start up some type of youth group for the month of December (dec and jan is their summer break, so they have looooaaadddss of free time now). We’ll see how that goes.
The next day was the monthly meeting for all the professors in the area, Matt and I went and observed and listened while our group of English teachers discussed goals and changes they would like to see in the future (in Spanish) . They also had to compile an evaluation for the whole school year to give to our director. It was especially nice because we got to hang out with all of our counterparts in the same place.
Following day we went to visit the farm of the family of one of my counterparts—we hopped a bus from her house on the edge of town and rode for just about 15 minutes down a dirt and incredibly bumpy road---I am sure these roads become impassable during the rainy season. And the bus was jam packed—including all the aisle space, with people hanging out the back a bit. Her farm was beautiful and the family there was especially welcoming and kind---we went for a long walk through the bosque or forest as this part of town is called, to a suspension bridge that was just recently built. My counterpart says that previously the folks on the other side of the river often could not cross because of floods. However, on the other side of the bridge there are also amenities. My counterpart’s niece came along with us, about 9 years old? And she is like a sponge for the English language—I had a great time teaching her words. Back at the farm we were served coffee and oranges and sweet bread. We climbed a tree and walked around and talked some more before starting for home. It was a long walk home since we opted not to take the bus, but after about an hour, a mini bus came along and the driver new my counterpart so he offered us a ride. The sunset over the mountains and the river was gorgeous.
The next day we went to observe University level classes that take place at the school were matt teaches, but only on the weekends. We will be pursuing some opportunities to help out there as well. The students were only taking exams, but we had a chance to meet the English students and to spend some time practicing a little conversational English with them—it was fun and the students seem very motivated—as does matt’s counterpart who teaches them. After this, it was back to the house to get ready for preschool graduation—yes 3 of the 4 kids that we live with graduated from preschool. I had no idea how big of deal this was going to be—but the 96 kids and their parents were dressed for Prom and paraded down the main street to the pavilion where we had the grand ceremony. It lasted almost 2.5 hours and was pretty extravagant—also adorable and I took zillions of photos.
LATER THAT WEEK--
Sort of over graduations now that i have been to 3!!!! we did get to sit in chairs of honor and have our names announced at the high school ones....
got to climb a mountain
and play some wicked games of soccer with the kids--one of whom we think should be on a professional team---those kids outplay us, and they dont ever drink water!!! OR wear shoes....man could i go on, but i won,t.
i will tell you all that we miss you and love you. i try not to--but i cannot help but think of all the things we are missing, all the babies and holidays and birthdays and coffee with the momma in law, we REALLY miss you guys. Please write when you can and let us know how you are---it helps!!!
LOVE LOVE LOVE
JULIA Y MATEO
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
QUILALI!!!! Site visit week
Ok so there is WAY WAY too much to say so the following is something i banged out super quick, love you all and know it may be hard for anyone to visit our site, since it{s a long ways off, but its super quaint and safe and GORGEOUS!
QUILALI!
I do not know where to start! After 3.5 hrs bus to Ocotoal, about 2 hours at the bus terminal, and 4 bumpy windy hours later through the mts we arrived at our site around 6 pm at night. Thankfully, matt’s counterpart and his subdirector were there to meet us at the bus stop. We were ex-hausted!
We briefly met the pastor’s wife had some refrescos, and were then on our way to our new host family. Our house is precious—and really nice. We have our own room that use to be a closet but it has lovely tile floors and all the walls connect with the ceiling! They also painted it just for us—the only room that is painted in the house (the paint was actually still wet when we arrived).
Our host family is awesome—our host mom Esperanzita is tiny and cares for many little ones—we basically live in a day care. In fact, last night, we had a dance party with the little ones---I think I can really learn a lot from them! Our kitchen is gorgeous and they let us cook when we want---matt made chicken curry for everyone one night—delicious!
The people here have been nothing short of fabulous—it is a veeerrry small town (well not compared to some other volunteers)---sort of way off in the middle of tons and tons of beautiful mountains and rivers. On the way here we saw such an interesting mix—pine trees! With palm trees and mangos! It is like something out of a movie for sure. I left my camera behind this trip but look for pics to come on FB soon.
My sub-director has been our main point of contact—it’s been sort of nuts, as is the life here I suppose, running around meeting all the people at my school and matt’s and the police and the Education Department plus various neighbors and family members. Matt and I even sort of taught a class on the spot yesterday~ Our town is very religious and apparently there have been lots of non prof organizations already doing work in our little town (yes it already feels like our little town). Oh and get this, My subdirector lived in San Antonio, TX for a year and a half along with Matt’s counterpart, Johana.
Oh yeah, Matt has one female counterpart at the semi-privado school—which happens to be an Evangelical School WHICH on the weekends doubles as a University, and his male counterpart is off in the hills in a nearby community.
I don’t really know how to adequately describe anything right now---my mind is so full of names and faces, and my emotions are an insane rollercoaster of awe and happiness and shock of “whoa this is home for 2 years….Overall, so far, I really love quilali and the people here—they have been SOOOOO kind and welcoming and are genuinely excited to have us here. Will keep you guys posted and please send us some updates! In a few days it’s back to our training towns to finish training=Spanish interview, final portfolio/ESSAYS, Teacher Taller, Youth Group, aiyyy yaii yaiii…………..
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL
QUILALI!
I do not know where to start! After 3.5 hrs bus to Ocotoal, about 2 hours at the bus terminal, and 4 bumpy windy hours later through the mts we arrived at our site around 6 pm at night. Thankfully, matt’s counterpart and his subdirector were there to meet us at the bus stop. We were ex-hausted!
We briefly met the pastor’s wife had some refrescos, and were then on our way to our new host family. Our house is precious—and really nice. We have our own room that use to be a closet but it has lovely tile floors and all the walls connect with the ceiling! They also painted it just for us—the only room that is painted in the house (the paint was actually still wet when we arrived).
Our host family is awesome—our host mom Esperanzita is tiny and cares for many little ones—we basically live in a day care. In fact, last night, we had a dance party with the little ones---I think I can really learn a lot from them! Our kitchen is gorgeous and they let us cook when we want---matt made chicken curry for everyone one night—delicious!
The people here have been nothing short of fabulous—it is a veeerrry small town (well not compared to some other volunteers)---sort of way off in the middle of tons and tons of beautiful mountains and rivers. On the way here we saw such an interesting mix—pine trees! With palm trees and mangos! It is like something out of a movie for sure. I left my camera behind this trip but look for pics to come on FB soon.
My sub-director has been our main point of contact—it’s been sort of nuts, as is the life here I suppose, running around meeting all the people at my school and matt’s and the police and the Education Department plus various neighbors and family members. Matt and I even sort of taught a class on the spot yesterday~ Our town is very religious and apparently there have been lots of non prof organizations already doing work in our little town (yes it already feels like our little town). Oh and get this, My subdirector lived in San Antonio, TX for a year and a half along with Matt’s counterpart, Johana.
Oh yeah, Matt has one female counterpart at the semi-privado school—which happens to be an Evangelical School WHICH on the weekends doubles as a University, and his male counterpart is off in the hills in a nearby community.
I don’t really know how to adequately describe anything right now---my mind is so full of names and faces, and my emotions are an insane rollercoaster of awe and happiness and shock of “whoa this is home for 2 years….Overall, so far, I really love quilali and the people here—they have been SOOOOO kind and welcoming and are genuinely excited to have us here. Will keep you guys posted and please send us some updates! In a few days it’s back to our training towns to finish training=Spanish interview, final portfolio/ESSAYS, Teacher Taller, Youth Group, aiyyy yaii yaiii…………..
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL
Saturday, October 30, 2010
BUCKETS annnnnd Site Placement!!!!!
Buckets, and Barrels, and Pans
Amazing how much of my life here revolves around these things….The barrels are a standard at every house I have been in here---we keep them full of water all the time (5-7 huge ones at my house) in case of a water outage and just for daily tasks in general. You use smaller buckets to get water out of the big barrels to put water in the medium size bucket that sits in the shower room. You then use a small plastic pan/bucket thing to pour the water from the shower bucket onto your body. The big barrels also come in handy if the water is out and you reallllly need to wash something. Also, to flush the toilet at my house anyways (‘member Matt has a latrine), you also use a small bucket to get water from one of the large barrels to pour into/flush the toilet. I also use a small pan/bucket to wash my face at night and to get water from the deep sink that we try to always keep full in order to wash the dishes. I know you may be thinking, all this standing water, what about mosquitoes? There is a powder here, which I can’t think of right now (but will likely be buying frequently) that you can sprinkle in said water that keeps the little buggers at bay and is non-toxic. Brilliant! We also keep the barrels covered with lids or big wooden boards. I don’t know if this will be exciting to you all or not, but I thought I would share my love and appreciation for Barrels, Buckets, and Pans with everyone at home!
Now, THE BIG NEWS!!!
We had site placement yesterday and Matt and I will be living in DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLL PLEASE
Quilali, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua
For the next 2 years!!!!!
That is in the Department of Nueva Segovia and it is waaaaayyyy up north near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua. You pronounce it KEY-LAH-LEE (or something close to this, with the accent on the last “i”. It looks pretty tranquilo—it is a town of about 13,000 peeps, is surrounded my mts., there is a look out point we can hike to—as well as a spot on the river where people go to swim and relax that is supposedly clean and well maintained. Matt has taken to saying that we are going to be “hillbillies in Nicaragua”. There are men’s baseball and soccer leagues---none for ladies yet, something which if there is any interest at all I will be working to change (-: and a few high schools, elementary schools and a university nearby. There is cell phone service and internet cafes so it should be easy to stay in touch. It should take us between 5-7 hours to get there by bus from Managua—The closest “big” town is called Ocotal. This part of the country also has a cooler climate than other parts. It is suppose to be very safe, but if it rains a lot the roads may become tricky.
I will be working in the public high school with 2 lady counterparts and matt will be working in a semi privado (yes that is semi private) high school with a male counterpart—and we are both expected to reach out to other area teachers and the University to plan workshops etc. We are living with a woman and her grandson and a couple nieces ??? (we aren’t really sure), but one of our bosses told us yesterday that she is crazy---so that is exciting (-: So she told us she is really nice actually and pretty liberal especially by Nica standards. We will have one volunteer in our site from the Health Sector and there are a bunch in the Department but a few hours away…
We will know OH SO MUCH more about our site after next week when we actually go to visit for 7 or so days!!!! I hope to have some pics and more details. On Wednesday morning Matt and I will be on a bus on our merry way---we only have to take 2 buses to get there, and then find a taxi to take us to the high school where supposedly our counterparts or someone?? will be waiting for us. Yes, this is sort of intimidating, but I just keep thinking of all the others in my group who are doing this alone! You guys rock! There is only girl from our group going further north than us, and I don’t think she will be toooo far away so it will be nice to have someone to visit (-:
Matt and I are pretty happy with the site—it seems like it will be a good fit for us even though it feels so crazy to be starting over after getting comfortable where we are….onwards and upwards! (literally)
PS I am sorry I never put pics on here, it takes too long! I am using FB to post pics (-:
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Amazing how much of my life here revolves around these things….The barrels are a standard at every house I have been in here---we keep them full of water all the time (5-7 huge ones at my house) in case of a water outage and just for daily tasks in general. You use smaller buckets to get water out of the big barrels to put water in the medium size bucket that sits in the shower room. You then use a small plastic pan/bucket thing to pour the water from the shower bucket onto your body. The big barrels also come in handy if the water is out and you reallllly need to wash something. Also, to flush the toilet at my house anyways (‘member Matt has a latrine), you also use a small bucket to get water from one of the large barrels to pour into/flush the toilet. I also use a small pan/bucket to wash my face at night and to get water from the deep sink that we try to always keep full in order to wash the dishes. I know you may be thinking, all this standing water, what about mosquitoes? There is a powder here, which I can’t think of right now (but will likely be buying frequently) that you can sprinkle in said water that keeps the little buggers at bay and is non-toxic. Brilliant! We also keep the barrels covered with lids or big wooden boards. I don’t know if this will be exciting to you all or not, but I thought I would share my love and appreciation for Barrels, Buckets, and Pans with everyone at home!
Now, THE BIG NEWS!!!
We had site placement yesterday and Matt and I will be living in DRUM ROLLLLLLLLLL PLEASE
Quilali, Nueva Segovia, Nicaragua
For the next 2 years!!!!!
That is in the Department of Nueva Segovia and it is waaaaayyyy up north near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua. You pronounce it KEY-LAH-LEE (or something close to this, with the accent on the last “i”. It looks pretty tranquilo—it is a town of about 13,000 peeps, is surrounded my mts., there is a look out point we can hike to—as well as a spot on the river where people go to swim and relax that is supposedly clean and well maintained. Matt has taken to saying that we are going to be “hillbillies in Nicaragua”. There are men’s baseball and soccer leagues---none for ladies yet, something which if there is any interest at all I will be working to change (-: and a few high schools, elementary schools and a university nearby. There is cell phone service and internet cafes so it should be easy to stay in touch. It should take us between 5-7 hours to get there by bus from Managua—The closest “big” town is called Ocotal. This part of the country also has a cooler climate than other parts. It is suppose to be very safe, but if it rains a lot the roads may become tricky.
I will be working in the public high school with 2 lady counterparts and matt will be working in a semi privado (yes that is semi private) high school with a male counterpart—and we are both expected to reach out to other area teachers and the University to plan workshops etc. We are living with a woman and her grandson and a couple nieces ??? (we aren’t really sure), but one of our bosses told us yesterday that she is crazy---so that is exciting (-: So she told us she is really nice actually and pretty liberal especially by Nica standards. We will have one volunteer in our site from the Health Sector and there are a bunch in the Department but a few hours away…
We will know OH SO MUCH more about our site after next week when we actually go to visit for 7 or so days!!!! I hope to have some pics and more details. On Wednesday morning Matt and I will be on a bus on our merry way---we only have to take 2 buses to get there, and then find a taxi to take us to the high school where supposedly our counterparts or someone?? will be waiting for us. Yes, this is sort of intimidating, but I just keep thinking of all the others in my group who are doing this alone! You guys rock! There is only girl from our group going further north than us, and I don’t think she will be toooo far away so it will be nice to have someone to visit (-:
Matt and I are pretty happy with the site—it seems like it will be a good fit for us even though it feels so crazy to be starting over after getting comfortable where we are….onwards and upwards! (literally)
PS I am sorry I never put pics on here, it takes too long! I am using FB to post pics (-:
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Monday, October 25, 2010
So what is up with us !
Hey all,
Know it has been awhile....we are still busy bees and this past week we went out of town to a city called Matagalpa to practice teach in a public high school there. This was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done--you know going to a new city in a foreign country walking into a classroom you have never seen before teaching students you have never seen before etc. but--BUT we all did it and did it successfully! Matt and I worked with an incredibly nice Nicaraguan counterpart named ALFREDO and we taught 7th 8th and 9th grades. It was interesting to say the very least, and also matt and i co-taught one class together--it was super fun to see Matt teach and to have him there to observe my classes too! 2 of our bosses also popped in from time to time to observe us teach. Matt and I ended up sharing our school with the other married couple because something happened at their school to where they could not teach ---so we referred to our last day of classes on Thursday as DOUBLE DATE day ---and it was great to see them teach as well.
I was a lil sick during the week but am healing quite nicely, poor Matty ate something that got him pretty good over the wknd and he was pretty sick at my house but he is now also doing better---so all you mama s out there dont worry!!!!
Matty and I celebrated --one---of our anniversaries on Saturday the 23rd by going together to a town called Masaya and drinking fruit shakes and eating pizza ----maybe the pizza is what got him! he surprised me with a necklace he managed to buy in the park when I wasnt looking!!! We also watched a slideshow from our AWESOME celebration at Pedernales FALLS and the Bowling Alley extravaganza---man oh man we have INCREDIBLE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
We find out where we live on Friday for the next 2 years! For now it is , co planning and co teaching, translating my resume, preparing a charla for our youth group and working on our teacher taller and we still have Spanish class everyday!!! aiy yai yai! Love you guys!!!!
Please continue to stay in touch and let us know what you are up to!!!! we LOVE hearing from you!!!!
Know it has been awhile....we are still busy bees and this past week we went out of town to a city called Matagalpa to practice teach in a public high school there. This was probably one of the scariest things I have ever done--you know going to a new city in a foreign country walking into a classroom you have never seen before teaching students you have never seen before etc. but--BUT we all did it and did it successfully! Matt and I worked with an incredibly nice Nicaraguan counterpart named ALFREDO and we taught 7th 8th and 9th grades. It was interesting to say the very least, and also matt and i co-taught one class together--it was super fun to see Matt teach and to have him there to observe my classes too! 2 of our bosses also popped in from time to time to observe us teach. Matt and I ended up sharing our school with the other married couple because something happened at their school to where they could not teach ---so we referred to our last day of classes on Thursday as DOUBLE DATE day ---and it was great to see them teach as well.
I was a lil sick during the week but am healing quite nicely, poor Matty ate something that got him pretty good over the wknd and he was pretty sick at my house but he is now also doing better---so all you mama s out there dont worry!!!!
Matty and I celebrated --one---of our anniversaries on Saturday the 23rd by going together to a town called Masaya and drinking fruit shakes and eating pizza ----maybe the pizza is what got him! he surprised me with a necklace he managed to buy in the park when I wasnt looking!!! We also watched a slideshow from our AWESOME celebration at Pedernales FALLS and the Bowling Alley extravaganza---man oh man we have INCREDIBLE FAMILY AND FRIENDS!
We find out where we live on Friday for the next 2 years! For now it is , co planning and co teaching, translating my resume, preparing a charla for our youth group and working on our teacher taller and we still have Spanish class everyday!!! aiy yai yai! Love you guys!!!!
Please continue to stay in touch and let us know what you are up to!!!! we LOVE hearing from you!!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Vida es GOOD.
Coming off a super wknd in Catarina—got to return to the Laguna de Apoyo with Matt and some of his family. We had a nice hike down through some jungle type terrain, saw a snake, claimed a spot on the coast, hung our clothes on a tree, went swimming, met a man fishing, played in some hot springs (The Laguna is in the crater of an old volcano)---arranged for one of matt’s host brothers to pick us up in his moto-taxi (how lucky for us he is a driver!). The ride back up was lovely—and long, it is much quicker to take the steep hike down from town but I am grateful we didn’t hike back up! This really is a beautiful country with sooo much to offer---The Laguna is beautiful, blue mineral water surrounded by mountains mas or menos and you can see Granada in the distance…on the ride back up we passed small houses, pulperias, tons of farms and fields of fruit trees etc. Matt’s family owns some farm land out there and I can’t wait to take a tour! People on horses and bikes and people carrying firewood and baskets of supplies on their heads---and we are talking a pretty steep and long hike up! Of course, there were also the sprinkling of fancy big houses likely owned by ex-pats—but I am happy to say the Laguna still remains free from too much development (am sort of nervous as I type this because I want to remain so!) I know there is part of it that is a Nature Reserve and therefore I am pretty sure there are laws protecting it from development, but I still need to find out more.
I still haven’t been able to teach a second class due to a multitude of reasons---something I am adjusting to as well (could be a day of bands at the school or the students have to go out and give a census to the town, or it rains too much and class is cancelled etc). Our youth group is going well, though we had some speed bumps there too what with ALLLLL the rain last week and we tried to change locations—learned that wasn’t a good idea—back to our original spot and with our original kids—I think we are becoming quite fond of them (-: We have just started planning for our Teacher Workshop we are giving in a few weeks and I can tell it will require a lot of work. We want to be super prepared for this since it is teaching teachers most of whom have already been teaching for years!!! No pressure!
My host family is still AWESOME and I miss them when I am in Catarina—though I love matt’s family there too!!! Now that we are busier I feel like I don’t spend as much time with them as I want to!
Matt and I had a site placement interview the other day which consisted of us reading about 4 possible sites we may end up in and ranking them in order of preference. The handout didn’t give the names of any places or directions or which part of the country they are in—It is SUCH a mind game! All the sites sounded really cool, one is only about an hour from Managua, one is 3, and the other two are b/t 5-7 hours from Managua. They are all a little different but the same---I know that sounds confusing! I guess I won’t write too much about them because we will know in about 3.5 weeks which one we are being sent to---will be sure to let you all know as soon as we do!
We are currently having Spanish classes at mi casa on our patio in rocking chairs, so that is wonderful! And our new teacher, Gloria, is AMAZING and we love her—she has been with PC for 15 or so years! She took us to our town’s library today which just re-opened not too long ago and I am pretty pumped about being able to go there to do hw and plan and read books in espanol! It is small and really pretty and was the house of the famous revolutionary Augusto Sandino---if you know about him it is pretty amazing to be living down the street from his house. (which they are restoring and maybe one day hope to turn into a tourist destination??) For anyone who is interested in Nicaraguan History a great read is “Blood of Brothers” by Stephen Kinzer—much thanks to Sam for loaning me the book! It is super intriguing and easy to read—I started yesterday and am hooked.
Ok that’s a pretty good ramble for today I think—sure feel that I could write forever—
PLEASE keep sending me updates on your lives as it really makes my day!!! And I like to know what you guys are up to!
Mom—still waiting for your letter so I can like one of the cool kids at our training sessions(when they pass out our mail!) Thank you!!!!
Okay much amor a todo!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Despues Tres Semanas....
Niquinohomo, Nicaragua—My home for now and the next 9 weeks (-:
So in the short 3 weeks that I have been here, I have noticed and (hopefully) adjusted to many things. My town that I love is called Niquinohomo and is about an hour, hour and a half by bus from the capital city of Managua. There is a carretera (highway) that connects my town to a handful of other towns where other trainees, including Matt, are living. The highway is two lanes and often you can see horses wandering and hanging out on the side of it.
In my town there are probably about 15 streets that run east to west and 10 or so that run north to south (the main ones, I am sure there are more I just don’t know about). There are no street names and no addresses –I am use to the no numeral addresses, but the no street names makes it tough on someone like me who has such an awesome sense of direction to begin with (-: directions are given using how many blocks north south east or west from a point of reference such as the park or church or policia to get to where you want to go….
I am use to being surrounded by noise constantly, whether it be the newborn in my house telling us he needs something (-:, people just generally talking—which they do loudly here, roosters chickens dogs bird parakeets etc—storms, thunder lightning—and everyone’s favorite—the “baratas”—or old pickup trucks that drive around with a megaphone making various types of announcements at all times of night and day—these announcements can be about an event, a special at a store, people selling things out of the truck, or telling the town about a death of someone from the town or nearby (this is how everyone finds out when the funeral will be)—So far, my family has lost 2 close friends since I have been here—and there have been 2 funeral parades in my town—that involve everyone marching up and down the streets carrying umbrellas and playing lots of musical instruments—the music usually sounds pretty happy however. Another sound I hear a lot is just the people that walk up and down the streets carrying huge baskets on their heads selling bread, tomales, or other goods—I am pretty amazed at their ability to do this---and at the talent with which they call out what they are selling—joe tomales joe tamales joe tamales!!!!
I am accustomed to seeing moto taxis and 2-3 people riding the same bicycle in the same street as horse and ox drawn carts—also wild chickens and roosters freely roam the streets. I have also seen the BIGGEST pig of my life and a few others not so big kickin it on the streets. There are dogs EVERYWHERE and little kids running around playing soccer in the street sometimes with a small ball or bottle or whatever they have---there are a few basketball hoops in addition to the real court, or cancha, that my town has right next to the big stadium we have where they play soccer and baseball. I am pretty in love with ALLLL the little kids here and they often giggle and scream gringa gringa gringa! As you walk by---or sometimes they call out Hello or Goodbye, which is encouraging since you are here to teach English (-: I have also become accustomed to avoiding animal droppings of all sorts in the streets—which are all cobblestone-- and have taken to generally just walking in the middle of the street as most people seem to do…..there is no such thing as a stop light in my town….it is pretty tranquilo and I am quite fond of it and its peeps. People sell individual items out of their houses, like there is one house you go to for eggs, and another to rent plastic chairs, and another that sells beans etc. Some people, like Matt’s family, operate small stores out of their houses—pulperias, or may have internet cafes or sell shoes etc.
I have become accustomed to rocking chairs and spending most of my nights rocking and talking on my family’s patios as people stroll up to our house to ask about what we are selling that night—pollo hamburguesas, tacos, gallo pinto etc---I can even pass the order along to my mom or sisters who are usually busy in the kitchen. Matt and I are pretty convinced we will have lots of rocking chairs in our house in the future…I am used to a cold bucket bath every morning and filling up buckets of water to use to flush my toilet. I am getting use to doing my laundry by hand and the consistent smell of fire in my backyard…I am accustomed to tons of people passing in and out of my house—most of them family members and a lot of whom live right across the street…..I have become accustomed to going to bed around 830 or 930 and waking up around 530 or 600 without the help of any alarm…
I still have a lot to learn and need to practice my Spanish as much as I possibly can, but even just writing this helps me feel like I have been doing some adjusting over the past few weeks! I hope this helps paint a somewhat clearer picture of my town—which is a little similar to Matt’s—his is actually a little smaller, but cleaner because it has more tourists—a lookout point over the Laguna de Apoyo—it has a hotel and tons of arts and crafts stands and also tons of gardens and small plant nurseries.
As far as work goes, there is no lack of that—me and the 2 other people in my “group” have a youth group that meets twice a week to practice English, we are starting to plan a teacher workshop based on the requests of needs the professors at our instituto told us they wanted help with, and we will start co-planning and co-teaching classes (hopefully) this week—and we still have Spanish classes and usually on Weds and Fridays we have Peace Corps Training sessions in which all the other volunteers in my sector gather for formal training on different topics such as Building Strong School Relationships, Lesson Planning, and Materials Development etc---oh and to get vaccines—I am sick of shots! But understand they are muy necessario…I think we have received about 7 so far—and I thiiiiinnnk that may be it……
My host family is still amazing and they take care of me like I am one of their own for sure (still thinking about that warm water bucket bath I had when I was sick!) though they have begun to realize I am a little crazy (-: aka can be pretty emotional sometimes---I have earned myself the nickname “tranquila Julia” in my house bc I stress out too much apparently (-: but am certainly learning how to cope with a variety of tasks and adjustments while being “mas tranquilo”!
We miss you guys MUCHISIMO and have been getting random updates from some of you peeps up home that we LOVE even though it is hard to realize how much we are missing out on back home---it is way better to hear from ya’ll than not!!!!
Ok this has been quite the novel, we should be finding out our placement for the next 2 years sometime during the next few weeks so we will definitely let you guys know as soon as we do!!!!
TODO NUESTRO AMOR—
Tranquila Julia y Ya Tranquilo Mateo
Monday, September 20, 2010
Lil more than 2 wks in''''
And life is still FULL FULL FULL. We have now had 2 youth group meetings that I think have gone pretty well''tomorrow we actually start incorporating more English into the group''so we ll see how that goes!
Spanish classes are still in full swing, and at times I feel completely lost still and sometimes I sort of have more than a clue!
I spent the past weekend in Catarina with Matt{s host family and it was his host mom{s birthday which was SUPER fun'''there was a pinata and more food than you can imagine and bailando and a little bit of rum punch. The strange thing'''''even the adults went NUTS for the candy when the pinata broke'''to the point where one of my beautiful toes, some of you are familiar with, started bleeding and I got lots of attention from the fam''and many a photo was taken of my bleeding toe. His family is AMAZING and kind and BIG and I want to adopt some of the little ones already'''they are SO cute!
Tomorrow my group starts observing English class at our local institute''should be interesting and hopefully by sometime next week we start co planning and co teaching with the Nicaraguan teachers here''''and also keep having our youth groups, and start planning for a teacher workshope we are going to have in a couple weeks....never a dull moment!
Ok, hopefully an amigo is going to show me how to upload some pics so I can share some visuals with ya{ll soon!!! Love you and MISS YOU ALL A LOT. Let me know what you re up to please!!!!
Spanish classes are still in full swing, and at times I feel completely lost still and sometimes I sort of have more than a clue!
I spent the past weekend in Catarina with Matt{s host family and it was his host mom{s birthday which was SUPER fun'''there was a pinata and more food than you can imagine and bailando and a little bit of rum punch. The strange thing'''''even the adults went NUTS for the candy when the pinata broke'''to the point where one of my beautiful toes, some of you are familiar with, started bleeding and I got lots of attention from the fam''and many a photo was taken of my bleeding toe. His family is AMAZING and kind and BIG and I want to adopt some of the little ones already'''they are SO cute!
Tomorrow my group starts observing English class at our local institute''should be interesting and hopefully by sometime next week we start co planning and co teaching with the Nicaraguan teachers here''''and also keep having our youth groups, and start planning for a teacher workshope we are going to have in a couple weeks....never a dull moment!
Ok, hopefully an amigo is going to show me how to upload some pics so I can share some visuals with ya{ll soon!!! Love you and MISS YOU ALL A LOT. Let me know what you re up to please!!!!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
i am blog incompetent
sorry i am having such a hard time uploading photos--i have a bunch of my house and family--some day i will ask a more tech savvy person to show me how!!!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
First Week or So...
Pues, So,
Where to begin!?? I feel like it has been about 3 months already even though it's been about 10 days....
So in D.C. we had a crazy day of orientation and got to meet the other 40+ volunteers going with us--they are all awesome--we checked out of our hotel at 230 am to go the airport to catch our 720am flight to Miami continuing to Managua, Nicaragua. The day was a smooth day of travel--there were Peace Corps staff and a few volunteers who have been here a year already waiting for us outside with welcome signs etc. We all piled into a couple micro buses--and they threw all our bags into a giant truck. We drove about an hour to Granada, to the Hotel Granada where we had a really intense 3 day orientation--days full of meetings, language interviews, spanish classes, medical interviews etc...it ended with a trip out on the lake to look at all these little private islands where all the rich folks have built some crazy houses---and at one point, I literally had a monkey on my back...actually we had a couple different monkeys hop onto our boat from one of the islands...it was a little loco and an incredible whirlwhind...
In the morning of our last day, the group split in half, the Education and The Environment folks were loaded onto different buses with all our bags tagged with the addresses of our host families...and we were off...matt got off first and i gave him a quick peck and then for some reason when he got off i started bawling--it was really embarrassing! also bc i got off to meet his incredibly sweet host family and couldnt stop ! his host grandma is ADORABLE about half his size and hugged him tight and told me not to worry--he is her Hijo, or son (-:
I soon learned I only live about 4 mns away from Matt , who lives in Catarina, by moto taxi, in a town called Niquinohomo.
I LOVE my town and my host family is INCREDIBLE. I have a host mom, a sister of about 40, and 2 twin sisters about 19 years old. Also a niece and her baby and soooo many family members coming and going and living so close.....the baby stays at our house and he is almost a month old---Diego, and he often sleeps in his hammock! I take bucket baths every day and my mom runs a cafetin out of her house so there are even more people coming and going, which is great! and her food is muy rica!!!
I could go on forever but I will try not to---i also played awhile with my 7 year old...primo? i think, and we ran all over town his house etc.... and watched a soccer game and a baseball game
Where to begin!?? I feel like it has been about 3 months already even though it's been about 10 days....
So in D.C. we had a crazy day of orientation and got to meet the other 40+ volunteers going with us--they are all awesome--we checked out of our hotel at 230 am to go the airport to catch our 720am flight to Miami continuing to Managua, Nicaragua. The day was a smooth day of travel--there were Peace Corps staff and a few volunteers who have been here a year already waiting for us outside with welcome signs etc. We all piled into a couple micro buses--and they threw all our bags into a giant truck. We drove about an hour to Granada, to the Hotel Granada where we had a really intense 3 day orientation--days full of meetings, language interviews, spanish classes, medical interviews etc...it ended with a trip out on the lake to look at all these little private islands where all the rich folks have built some crazy houses---and at one point, I literally had a monkey on my back...actually we had a couple different monkeys hop onto our boat from one of the islands...it was a little loco and an incredible whirlwhind...
In the morning of our last day, the group split in half, the Education and The Environment folks were loaded onto different buses with all our bags tagged with the addresses of our host families...and we were off...matt got off first and i gave him a quick peck and then for some reason when he got off i started bawling--it was really embarrassing! also bc i got off to meet his incredibly sweet host family and couldnt stop ! his host grandma is ADORABLE about half his size and hugged him tight and told me not to worry--he is her Hijo, or son (-:
I soon learned I only live about 4 mns away from Matt , who lives in Catarina, by moto taxi, in a town called Niquinohomo.
I LOVE my town and my host family is INCREDIBLE. I have a host mom, a sister of about 40, and 2 twin sisters about 19 years old. Also a niece and her baby and soooo many family members coming and going and living so close.....the baby stays at our house and he is almost a month old---Diego, and he often sleeps in his hammock! I take bucket baths every day and my mom runs a cafetin out of her house so there are even more people coming and going, which is great! and her food is muy rica!!!
I could go on forever but I will try not to---i also played awhile with my 7 year old...primo? i think, and we ran all over town his house etc.... and watched a soccer game and a baseball game
My typical day is like this
wake up around 6ish, breakfast of bread, fruit and instant coffee, walk to my friend Neha's house (another volunteer) where we have about 6 hours of intense Spanish class with another volunteer named Sam (from Oregon). They are my anchors here and we spend ALOT of time together. After class, we have about an hour until dinner which is more speaking in espanol and with whomever happens to be around, then a couple hours of homework and i go to bed often times by 8!!!! Repeat.
We had a meeting in Managua on Friday to get more vaccines and learn more about diarrhea (sp?) and also specifics to our work projects. It was a long day which involved getting up around 4 30am to get there in time...but we had presentations from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education etc that were very interesting indeed. Soon we will start observing our local high school's classes and co planning and teaching with a teacher. We also had our first Youth Group meeting last Thursday and 12 kids came--we basically just played some games and introduced ourselves and our purpose and asked them what they want to do and gave a poll to find out more about their level of Spanish--the real question is, how many will return next week?? It was really interesting to facilitate something completely in Spanish, although Sam and Neha did a good amount of talking--thanks guys!!!
Some random things I learned from my family:
Some folks here think if you are sick you shouldn't eat fruit when you re sick bc it is cold. also cold water might make you sick. also when our baby has hiccups, they take lint and roll it into a little ball and stick it in his forehead center annnnd low and behold, it worked!!!
Ok, i really could go on but folks are waiting on me! My family is amazing and the twins are in Business School and my older sister works for City Hall and is studying to be a lawyer...their generosity has been AMAZING. ie. i have a giant room allll to myself and am not sure but at least 4 or 5 share another.....and i have 2 beds in my room!!! It's nuts. Life is full and good and busy. Matt and I miss each other during the week but honestly dont have much time to think on it---and he is spending the wknd w me right now! yay!
Ok,, time to try and post some pics! I love you guys sooooo much and miss you mucho!!! i have been reading a few cards at a time from the going away party--and I LOVE them!!!! will be trying to schedule some Skype times soon!!! (there is an internet cafe in my town)
Mucho Amor de Niquinohomo--Julia y Mateo!!!!
PS Sorry this was like a run on story! and for any errors--not going to preview!
Monday, August 16, 2010
In the Beginning
This is an attempt to keep friends and family up to date on our lives in Nicaragua!
Our Peace Corps Journey is just about to begin, although we started our application process a year ago! (Here I'd like to quote my little brother's Taekwondo Instructor, Master Jason "Persistence is the Key--Never Give Up"). I won't bore everyone too much with the application process details--it was thorough and included a lengthy application with professional and personal and volunteer supervisor letters of references and something like 10 years of job history, an interview, fingerprints, a nomination and acceptance, a super lengthy medical process--dentist, eye, regular doctor, etc--a few follow up essays and motivation statements--and FINALLY an invitation to serve as TEFL Volunteers in Nicaragua!!!
A Run Down of Events We Know of From Here on Out:
August 30=Depart for Washington, DC--Orientation/Staging
Sept 1=Depart for Managua, Nicaragua-Continue Orientation
Sept 4?= Matt and Julie Sent to Live with Separate Host Families for 3 Months of Training--the exciting part--we don't really know much about the Where and the Who yet~will update when we do! All we know is that we will be placed in either the Department of Masaya or Carazo.
Nov 24 2010--Hopefully we will have survived Training which includes Language Class (have to be at a certain level of proficiency to continue), Safety and Culture Class, and Technical Skills Class--that I think will involve lots of hands-on Teacher Training and Group Facilitation components. If we do make it through Training, then we will actually be sworn in as Official Peace Corps Volunteers at a fancy schmancy event sometimes held at the US Embassy in Nicaragua!!!! That's right, we are Peace Corps Trainees at the moment (-: not quite Volunteers.
Also at this point in time, Matt and I will continue our lives as a married couple that lives in the same house!
I hope to get some pictures up in time and that everyone who wants to can enjoy this blog! We are both incredibly sad to be leaving behind our ABSOLUTELY amazing family and friends, but hope to see you further down south (-: *Please Visit* Without the help and support and love of all you guys we wouldn't be who we are today nor would it be possible to be pursing this adventure!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!
Our Peace Corps Journey is just about to begin, although we started our application process a year ago! (Here I'd like to quote my little brother's Taekwondo Instructor, Master Jason "Persistence is the Key--Never Give Up"). I won't bore everyone too much with the application process details--it was thorough and included a lengthy application with professional and personal and volunteer supervisor letters of references and something like 10 years of job history, an interview, fingerprints, a nomination and acceptance, a super lengthy medical process--dentist, eye, regular doctor, etc--a few follow up essays and motivation statements--and FINALLY an invitation to serve as TEFL Volunteers in Nicaragua!!!
A Run Down of Events We Know of From Here on Out:
August 30=Depart for Washington, DC--Orientation/Staging
Sept 1=Depart for Managua, Nicaragua-Continue Orientation
Sept 4?= Matt and Julie Sent to Live with Separate Host Families for 3 Months of Training--the exciting part--we don't really know much about the Where and the Who yet~will update when we do! All we know is that we will be placed in either the Department of Masaya or Carazo.
Nov 24 2010--Hopefully we will have survived Training which includes Language Class (have to be at a certain level of proficiency to continue), Safety and Culture Class, and Technical Skills Class--that I think will involve lots of hands-on Teacher Training and Group Facilitation components. If we do make it through Training, then we will actually be sworn in as Official Peace Corps Volunteers at a fancy schmancy event sometimes held at the US Embassy in Nicaragua!!!! That's right, we are Peace Corps Trainees at the moment (-: not quite Volunteers.
Also at this point in time, Matt and I will continue our lives as a married couple that lives in the same house!
I hope to get some pictures up in time and that everyone who wants to can enjoy this blog! We are both incredibly sad to be leaving behind our ABSOLUTELY amazing family and friends, but hope to see you further down south (-: *Please Visit* Without the help and support and love of all you guys we wouldn't be who we are today nor would it be possible to be pursing this adventure!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!
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