Out on my Own

So moving out on my own has been quite an adventure. Let me start by saying that I am loving my independence with the new house. There have been some adjustments that I have had to make. One being getting use to the "nature” coming inside. I have had some scares with the spiders, lizards, mice and cockroaches. But I know by the end of this I will be fearless when it comes to little critters! I am already starting to have a thicker skin when it comes to that stuff. I am cooking for myself now! But I am finding myself having to be creative with what I am cooking. I have made some good/strange meals so far. I am finding myself eating soy meat, which I always hated (but never tried) in the states. Sometimes I feel like I am a vegetarian here. Which isn’t a bad thing.
I paid my first month's rent the other day. Everything went smoothly except for when I asked my landlord how much the electricity bill was. She said something like “oh didn’t hear that man driving around in that truck with that megaphone announcing that it’s time to pay your energy bill.” Apparently I have to pay some man that drives around in a van. I have to present my receipt, which I also didn’t have and pay my bill. Otherwise I have to go to the main office, which is a pricey cab ride. But on another note, the plantain tree in my front yard is now “bearing fruit” My neighbor cute them down and gave half to me and she took the rest. So I will be frying up some of those up soon. Those are just a few of my many adventures as a renter in Nicaragua. I bet there are many more stories to come! Almost a year in Nicaragua! I must say I am proud of myself!

Pictures:

1. I found that painting in my little backyard. It was pretty nice so I put it up on the wall
2. Some of the plantains from the tree. I am going to eat them
3. Two Gatorade bottles I filled with dirt and made into weights for when I exercise

Moving Out

Hello all!

So my big news is that I moved out into my own little casita about a week ago. For the past couple of months I had been thinking about moving out into a place of my own. Since I am a volunteer, I don’t get that much money a month. It took me awhile to find a place that I could afford! After asking a lot of people and a little searching I found a cute little palce. It’s pretty basic there is only one small room where my bed is and the rest is open. The walls and the floors are made of concrete the bathroom is outside. There is a small patio in the back where I wash dishes and wash my clothes. I don’t have all the comforts of home, but it’s my own little space and I like it a lot. I live on the same property as another family but the two houses are completely separate. I am still trying to set things up. Poco a poco, I will find things to add to the house. I still need something to hang my clothes on. I live really close to my host family, so I can visit them anytime. I do miss spending time with the kids but I plan on going to hang out with them often. I am excited to have my own space and have my own schedule. It's really great because a lot people here in my community let me borrow furniture from them. Someone let me borrow a bed and two tables. My school let me borrow a table and four plastic chairs! It was a big help, because it can add up.

As far as cooking goes I have a two-burner gas stove. Cooking if definitely different. I am so use to my host family making all my meals. But I plan on getting really creative and trying to make some different meals. My first meal I made on the stove was fried plantains with cheese and avocado. It was pretty good. I will definitely be eating more like a vegetarian while I am here haha. There are two banana trees in my yard also. The owner said I can eat them; I just have to cute the banana tree down with a machete so it will grow again. He said it like it was no big deal. I don’t really know how to use a machete so I am not sure if I will be eating those bananas! Well that’s all for now.


The picture is of my first meal and then there are also a few pictures of the house.

Bluefields and Palo de Mayo

This past weekend I went with a group of friends/ volunteers to Bluefields for Palo de Mayo. Bluefields is located on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. The people that live there speak English, Spanish and Creole. A lot of their ancestors came to Nicaragua as slaves from Africa for the British. The trip was so much fun! When I was there, it felt like I was in a different country. Since a lot of the people there are of African decent a lot of people mistook me for a Nicaraguan. A few times people came up to me and started speaking Creole. I had no idea what they were saying. While I was there I wasn’t sure if I should speak English or Spanish, it was confusing!

Getting there was an adventure in it’s self! We left Managua at 8:30 pm and arrived in a city called Rama at 2:30 in the morning. We waited in Rama until 5:30 am. and then took a little boat (panga) to Bluefields. That’s the primary way the people from Bluefields go back and forth to the capital. There is an airport in Bluefields but of course that is more expensive. On our way back to Managua it was raining and there was no roof on the boat so they covered us up with a tarp like luggage haha. It was very interesting. I stayed at another volunteer's house during the trip. His name is William. He lives in Bluefields with a family. His family is so nice; they have a really nice house and a huge family.

There was a parade to celebrate Palo de Mayo while we were there. Palo de Mayo means may pole in Spanish. Which is adopted from the May Pole that is celebrated in England. In Nicaragua, they are celebrating fertility. They dance around an actual tree with fruits tied to it. I didn’t get to see a May Pole dance, but I saw the decorated tree. At the parade there were people from the coast dancing traditional dances; it was really fun to watch and the little kids were so cute! I also ate seafood and sat by the water. I didn’t realize how much I miss living near water. It was very relaxing. I heard reggae music nonstop while I was there. It was a nice change from the music I hear normally in my site. There were a few bumpy moments during trip, which is inevitable when traveling, but overall a good trip! I want to go back and see all the beaches there, especially corn island and pearl lagoon!

Pictures: From Bottom to top
The Dock in Rama before we left for Bluefields
On the boat about to dock in Bluefields
A May Pole
A view if the parade from up above
Me with my friend Stephanie and Megan at a resturant by the water

I will put up the rest of the pictures on facebook.

Central Park Inauguration

This past weekend was the inauguration of the central park in my town. When I first got here in November it was under construction. I was told by many people that the park was really beautiful before. So I was really curious to see what they would do. The finished product is really great! There are beautiful trees and a little gazebo and benches and a basketball court and a stage. Last night they had a free concert for everyone. They had tradional folklore dances and some hip hop dances which was fun to see.

I also saw a band called the Nuvevo Panzers. One of the first songs they started singing was one of my favorite songs I hear on the radio here in Nica. At first I thought omg this is the same group that sings this song, yay! Then I heard another song I knew and that’s when I put it all together. Last night I heard my first Nicaraguan cover band. They played all the popular songs that are on the radio and it was a big dance party. It was fun to watch all the people dancing, and doing salsa, merengue, and bachata. All the dances I can’t do, but want to learn. It was a nice event, to get everything in the town together to celebrate. Because of this big dance party, we don’t have school today. The mayor decided that people will need some rest today after the bacanal aka big fiesta. I took some pictures but they aren’t very good. There is also a picture of the park during the daytime(also not very good_). There is also picture of my host brother with his project. He worked really hard on it and I was impressed. It’s all the rivers in Central America.

Adios Amigos

Mom and Britt Visit Nicaragua!

Hola a Todos!

I just had a wonderful week of fun with my mom and sister in Nicaragua. I knew it was going to be a good trip when I picked them up from the airport and my mom told me that she accidentally put the house phone in her purse and brought it to Nicaragua. If that isn't a sign for a good trip I don't know what is!

So the first day they arrived. We went to the hotel to drop our stuff off. We stayed in the city of Granada. We took a short nap and then we decided to go in the city to walk around and eat dinner. In many ways Nicaragua is my mom's shopping dream come true. There are so many booths with crafts and such. My mom's favorite. Even though I had to explain the Nicaraguan/American money conversion to her every time she bought something... haha The city of Granada has a lot of cool restaurants and places to walk around. It was fun for Mom and Britt to walk around.

The next two days we spend visiting my old host family and my new host family. On Monday along with another friend of mine, we took my first host mom and host sister out to lunch in Catarina. At the restaurant we could look out and see Laguna de Apoyo, it was really pretty. Then Tuesday we went to the Market in the city of Masaya to do more shopping. We ate some delicious fresh fruit drinks before going to my town to see my current host family and to walk around the city. My mom brought gifts for the family and they really seemed to like them. Later on a few of my students from my community English class came over to meet my mom and sister. They were supposed to introduce themselves in English but they ended up doing nothing more than giggling. They were cute though.

The next day we decided to go to Mombacho volcano. We went in a truck up a steep hill to go part of the way up the mountain. Then after that we went on about an hour long hike to see the different look out points on the volcano. It was really pretty. Although not what my mom and sis were looking for. I think they wanted to see some smoke and lava haha. We plan on going to an active volcano next time. After this trip to the volcano we re-named mom MOM-bacho after the volcano. She can erupt just like a volcano haha. (Not really but it was funny to us at the time) We felt very active and adventurous that day because we went on a hike!

On Thursday we went to visit the Isletas of Granada. They are little islands that were formed when the volcano erupted and the rock from the volcano formed hundreds of little islands. We took a boat out to the islands and we had a tour guide show us all the flowers and birds and beautiful houses on the islands. If you are interested in buying an island, they start at about $300,000. We also went to Monkey Island. We tried to feed them Mangos but they weren't having it.

The trip went by really fast. It was so much fun to spend time with my mom and sister. I didn't want them to leave. I think they had a really great time in Nicaragua. The trip brought out their adventurous sides. At he end of the trip they already told me that they wanted to come back! If anyone wants to come and visit me between now and Christmas time, let me know!!!

I had a really great time with my mom and sister. I just wanted to make sure they had a good time and I think I accomplished that!

I have one or two pictures from everyday of the trip. The rest of my pictures will be on facebook.

Hasta Luego

Language Taller and Matagalpa

Hello All,
Que Onda!? I have been really busy with school and planning with my teachers. Coordinating with all four of my teachers is a lot harder than I thought.

Anyway this past week I was at a spanish language workshop. Since I was at the intermediate level before the end of training I had to go back for a week long workshop to evaluate my spanish and to see if it had improved or not. So I was kind of dreading it at first, but in the end it was really good to review certain topics and learn new grammar. We were able to ask the teacher questions. I think that my spanish has improved a lot but I still have a loong way to go to have that perfect spanish that I want. Hopefully after two years I will get there.

So for the language workshop we had to stay with a family for a week in our old training town. I love my training town. It's really small and everyone there is super nice and they always remember me when I come back. Most people stayed with their same families they had during training. My host family didn't have a new volunteer so I had to stay with a completely new family. I was a little bit nervous about that because I would be staying with strangers again. Well I was worried for nothing! The family I stayed with were some of the nicest people ever! They made me feel right at home. Elba and Luis were the parents and then Emanuel and Orlando were the two boys. They were so sweet. They talked to me and they said they want to come visit me at my site. I am always amazed at how sweet and caring Nicaraguans are. So many times complete strangers have gone out of their way to help me or make me feel comfortable.

This past weekend a big group of us went to Matagalpa to see Sam's ( a volunteer from my group) new house. He has this great new house with two levels and a kitchen and it's awesome. He had a little house warming party. It was like a mini reunion. It was so much fun to see everyone! We also went into the city and I had a calzone, it was soo good. I haven´t had Italian food like that in a long time! We also went out for a little dancing that night too.

Well that´s all for now, I have to get to school.

Picture: The Group at Sam´s house. We have ¨finger mustaches on¨I realized that I am completely covering mine and defeating the purpose!

Life Update

Buenos Dias

I haven’t written an entry in awhile. I have been really busy with school and getting use to my schedule. Teaching is going pretty well so far. I am starting to get to know my teachers better which makes it easier to work with them. The other day one of the students asked me why all gringos (americans) have dreadlocks lol. I just started laughing. I explained to him that a lot of the gringos that come to Nicaragua do have dreadlocks but not all Americans have them. My community class is going well. It’s kind of nice to be the only person in charge of the class so you can do things the way you want to. Sometimes it can be intimidating also because you want to make sure they are learning and that the class is interesting. But I have a good group and they all seem really interested in learning English. We have had four classes now.

This past weekend I went to a jazz Concert in Masaya. It was really fun. The U.S. embassy brought bands from the United States, Germany and Nicaragua together for a four day festival. It was free and the bands were good. It was outside and there were tables and chairs set up for people to sit. It’s fun to get out and things like that. My friends and I felt so cultured lol.

I still haven’t made that many Nicaragua friends. I do have a few friends, but not that many. I really love hanging out with my Peace Corps friends but I also want to have a few Nica friends. But I guess my teachers are my friends and people in my host family are my friends. I guess I haven’t really made friends that are my age. But I met two different sets of people this week and they invited me to their house for a meal so maybe I will make more friends soon.

But I am very excited because my mom and sister are coming in about 6 weeks! I can’t wait to seem them. I am slowing trying to prepare them for the ridiculous heat! lol I am going to stay in the hotel with them and I am really excited about that. (Hot shower and air conditioning)