April update...well, it was April...

Where to start? I think a shout out to my Nana who passed away recently is most definitely in order. We had the great fortune to be able and be there during her last week or so and be with my ginormous family (is that a word -ginormous?). She was an incredibly unique and strong willed woman who really always spoke her mind. I believe the family and friends honored her and her life very well…some of the things she was passionate about included TRAVEL and EDUCATION—things I feel blessed to have in common with her, even if we didn’t share all interests or personality traits. And lately, I don’t know, I feel like she has been around in my Nicaraguan daily life—I know it sounds a little odd, but I can’t help but feel it. So thank you Nana, for giving me this amazing life and opportunity—I hope you and all my grandparents are watching from a better place and are proud of the little things we are doing. I have been a small bundle of emotions thinking about my own set of parents and really missing, well, missing THINGS. But there are things to finish here. We have been welcomed back into our little community here with hugs and coffee and meals and sincere condolences. I hope I never forget the amazing folks of Quilali. I don’t think I will or ever could. *today my host uncle who is sometimes pretty drunk and sleeps on the street but is generally a super kind soul, kicked horse in it’s rear and the horse nailed him. Just one of those little moments. Things that struck me when we were home—some people were surprised to learn we don’t have air conditioning in our house—FUNNY! There is only ONE air conditioned room in my entire little town—and it is the mayor’s office (-: Not even the hospital—which we are lucky to have one in our town. Other surprise—I kept commenting on how I sort of miss furniture, you know couches, soft pillows, recliners, chairs that aren’t plastic etc—and someone was pretty surprised about that. They automatically assumed I live with a couch. I assure you, we do not own much in the way of furniture—wayyyyy too expensive. We have a plastic table, two plastic chairs, some buckets, a real bed-thank goodness---and the pocket chair we won at the Christmas party (thanks Lyndsey and Dave). Said person asked me, “well, then where to people eat?” hmmm, they sit on the ground-grab a tortilla and eat with their hands—or on a bucket or stool or whatever box or thing is available. Funny how I didn’t think about the difference until this time around….Also, another person was shocked to learn that we went over one year without riding in a CAR. Um, it’s the Peace Corps folks! But I have to not be a snob bc of course, not everyone knows what exactly that means. My 8 year old brother seems to have a pretty good grasp on it now. He knows that we are given a stipend equal to that of what a teacher earns here—roughly 200 USD a month and expected to live on that—just like EVERYONE else in our community. So, we take the local school busses that were donated from the 70’s or 80’s pretty much every time we need to get anywhere or maybe ride a horse WALK or ride a bike. Peace Corps is not like being in the military at all from what I gather—it is referred to as “service” not “tour” maybe because we don’t earn much moolah and are NOT part of the military or any type of religious or missionary group- we don’t live within a community of other white folks from the states, but instead are completely integrated into a small town where I AM THE ONLY WHITE WOMAN. Our office and bosses and staff are NINE hours away by school bus and visit us ONCE/TWICE a year, more if we ask for or need it. We have no grocery store, bank, or post office—all of these are 3.5 hours away on bus—and bus is the ONLY method of transportation out of town, unless you hitchhike. We don’t live on a base or an enclosed community—but in the same neighborhoods as everyone else—though our house/garage type thing is pretty nice by Nica standards. Many Many of my students, friends and neighbors have dirt floors and tin roofs—and almost no one’s walls connect to their ceilings. Even most other volunteers have pretty basic letrines or outhouses that fill with critters and took some getting used to at first. Power outages are frequent and running water used to be consistent—well one hour in the morning and one in the evening, but has become a bit more sporadic as of late (recall the month and a half we had with NO running water ever) Bathrooms with sinks and mirrors and storage are pretty much non-existent—except in hotels---people just have a small square room with a big bucket of water and keep a mirror in their room or they have four wooden posts with big black plastic sheets nailed to them in their backyard where they put their bucket of water or shower. I appreciated doing the dishes every time when we were home---sinks with running HOT water—and DISH WASHERS. Doing my laundry brought small tears to my eyes, ok not really, but it was awesome not washing by hand. In short, I realized how little many of my friends and family understand what the daily life of a Peace Corps volunteer entails….maybe I have been doing a bad job of communicating? I hate to mention that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after HAITI, because it seems to be a sensitive fact to many of my friends and colleagues here and they are professional hard working folks—but that’s what the numbers say. I just have a hard time swallowing it I guess when folks try to compare living here to a study abroad experience in Europe or Asia—um, not quite the same, actually not the same at all, but living outside one’s own comfort zone whether it be here or somewhere a bit more developed is still something to be respected for sure. Just as being an accountant in an office is something I don’t think is or will ever be for me, being a PC Volunteer is probably not for everyone either. I get that. Heck, sometimes I wonder what the heck we signed ourselves up for myself! All that being said, only 7 months left to go, and feeling pretty attached all the sudden to many people and my town (even though sometimes I feel totally insane and want to run away…) One of my bosses says it is sort of masochistic what we do---we move in, become close like family in these really small communities and then up and leave after two years…it’s gonna be harder than I thought. Even with my recent trip home, and how I am growing tired of missing family and friends back home….home…I think we will feel like we have a few by the time we go….. In work related news—funding for our bottle classroom came through !!!! It’s go time—demolition and initial preparation scheduled to start MONDAY! And today we bought 90 bags of cement---though it was WAY more complicated than you can possibly imagine as is every task that would be so simple at home. (there is currently NO, AS IN 0, Bags of cement in our entire town at any hardware store –but we were fortunate enough to meet an owner of one who has a truck on the way and sold to us before it even arrived—even gave us a discount and had it dropped off at the school!) It is been one heck of a rollercoaster ride trying to coordinate with the mayor’s people and the PTA like organization of said community to begin the whole process---and I imagine we will only encounter more and more and more hiccups—like there being NO cement anywhere, along the way….but I think I’m ready. I also spent about 6 hours recruiting guys we know around town and going house to house asking to borrow shovels in order to dig out 15 meters CUBED of sand that we will need for the project—we almost left 2 times to do the job, but each time the representative from the Mayor’s office said we didn’t have enough helpers…..yup, that was my day. It ended up working out well, because, well, oddly enough, after we decided not to go the SECOND time, it POURED rain for an hour and a half…..very odd for this time of year….SIGH. Miss my parents, brothers, sister, B, Bug and so so so many people. Love my big beautiful family as nuts as we may be (hey, who’s family isn’t?) Wish us luck, and let’s hope we can stay flexible and finish this crazy thing! BOTTLE CLASSROOM WELL UNDERWAY NOW! I COULDN’T BE HAPPIER OR MORE IMPRESSED WITH THE PARENTS FROM THE COMMUNITY THAT SHOW UP EVERY DAY TO WORK A FULL DAY FOR FREE. IT’S BEEN A BIT CRAZY AT TIMES AND WE HAVENT STARTED ATTACHING THE BOTTLES, BUT OVERALL, JUST AWESOME. MORE LATER.