HAPPY NICARAGUAN INDEPENDENCE DAY!

9/14/10

This week has been action packed! I have successfully made through my first week of training in Niquinohomo. I have Spanish class Monday – Friday 8-4, when we are not in class we are walking around the town getting to know it and how to find our way around. My 2 other classmates and I made a map of the town after walking around and trying to mark a rough sketch down. However in country that doesn't have street names or house numbers making a map is much more challenging. Just giving someone directions to your house can be difficult. We learned that the people here use reference points to the direct people to places, such as 1 block north from the central park and two blocks west. So we all practiced giving directions and picking out two reference point for directions to our houses.

I am still adjusting to the heat here . When I get home I am usually pretty exhausted due to a number of factors first and foremost is the heat. We are in the rainy season right now so I'm told this is the cooler season but It not cold so I guess it all relative. Being from Oregon I am use to the rain but when it rain here it pours, and I mean pours!! It rains so hard that the streets flood and there are small raging rivers going through the middle of town. Last night I was over a friend's house and we could see the water quickly rising, it was even breaking over the top of the sidewalks which are about a foot high. Luckily my host family's house is on a little hill so our street doesn't flood as badly as it does at the bottom of the hill. These thunderstorms can be short or up to two hours long. Then as quickly as they start they stop, the water drain away into spillways and the sun comes out again and I start sweating again. Its not the heat some much that is making me sweat as much as the humidity, I feel like I am in woman is menopause with hot flashes haha Sitting in class I go from comfortable to sweating profusely in a matter of seconds sometimes. I'm told that I will get more used to it once I am here longer so I am anxiously awaiting that moment.

Thursday we had our first Peace Corps mandated youth group. We were all pretty nervous about organizing it and if anybody would come. We were unable and go to the school to invited the students in person, due to bureaucratic reasons. So we made a big sign advertising it, and talked to a local church group and we ended up having 13 students show up. The girls and I were very pleased. We told the kids who we were and what the Peace Corp was all about. Afterward we did a icebreaker, talked some about what the students wanted out the group and what our goals were and then played a couple more games to judge their level of English. I was very impressed. We are having another this Friday and I hope it goes just as well.

Friday we got up at the ass crack of dawn at 4:30am for and all-day training session in Managua. My biggest qualm about the mornings here is all the noise. My host family has so many freaking birds you'd think it was a bird sanctuary!! The ones I hate the most are the roosters and the parakeets! They are always make an ungodly squawking noises at ungodly early hours of the morning. This morning was no different. The sun wasn't even up and the birds were already crowing. The funny thing is that my host family seems obvious to this racket the penetrates even through my earplugs.

Anyway I got up and walk to the bus stop to catch the bus with the girls and our Spanish teacher. In Nicaragua there are 3 main types of public transportation and I have had the pleasure to ride all them in my short time here. Public transportation here is really cheap comparable to other things here. For example a trip to Managua depending what kind of bus you take ranges from 15-23 Cordobas ( $1 = almost 22 cords). While a 20 oz coke is 10 cordobas I find that very interesting that or about the price of two cokes you can take a 90min bus ride. As for the types first you have the the moto taxi, identical to the Thai tuk-tuk the moto taxi is a 3 wheel golf cart like vehicle on steroids. They are good for getting around town and visiting nearby towns. They are quick and cheap and not bad as long as you hold on tight so that you don't fall out while you are weaving through traffic. The second is the Expresso mini-bus, which is basically a large mini van packed with 4 rows of car bench seats, there is even fold down seats in the aisle so that no spot is wasted. Not bad though not the most comfortable ride but much better that the last option, which is the school bus. These brightly painted buses are old school buses that have mostly like been donated or sold super cheaply from American schools districts because they were old, unsafe for school children or some other reason. At 6'3” I have never enjoyed riding in school buses under the best conditions. Here in Nicaragua they take bus riding to the extreme. Similar to the Expresso buses the goal is cram as many people as possible into the bus. The only modification made to the bus other than in the bright exterior colors is two bars that run down the length of the ceiling. Unlike the expresso bus there is no limit to how many people can get on, if you can find a place to stand or hang on you can ride. When we left the Managua bus station the bus was full and there were a few people standing, as we made our way out of town the bus got fuller and fuller. I was amazed how many people they crammed in just on the way out town. When we finally made it out of town the bus was stuffed to the rafters and I was sure they would not be able to fit anyone else in.....I was wrong. Between Managua and Niquinohomo at least another 15 squeezed on. I had the pleasure of not only experiencing how cattle must feel, but riding and hour and a half with some guys ass cheeks just centimeters from my face. When I got home and told my host mom she sympathized with me and said that farm animals in this country travel better than people and I believe her! The most amusing part about the journey is the ayudantes they are the bus driver's helpers they collect fares and shout off their destinations like auctioneers in both expresso buses and school buses. While we were walking through the bus stations the ayudantes were shouting off their destinations over the tops of their competitors, as if we choose are destination depending on their sales pitch haha, When we were on the road the guy would hang out the door and shout the destination if someone rose the their hang then bus would slow down enough to make a rolling stop, the person would jump on and the bus would continue on its way. Safety and traffic laws in this country are truly just suggestions, its always interesting to see if the person is going to make it on the bus. Other the cramped bus ride the trip to Managua was pretty fun I got to catch up with the other PC trainees. I got the first of my many shots this one was rabies the next is typhoid fever as well as learn about was is in store for technical TEFL training.

As the title says today is Nicaragua's Independence Day. In celebration of today I walked down to the center of town with my older host sister and watch the parades of elementary and high school students march, dance and play instruments, it was pretty fun. The school children have school off all week but I only have today off Thursday – Saturday are going to be full of TEFL training and I get to get another shot. Fortunately I don't have to go all the way to Managua this time.

That's all for now until next time.