Big Changes

10/4/10

This is my one month anniversary of being in Nicaragua now only 26 more to go haha. Said like that it sounds like a prison sentence which is not what I intended. My fourth week of training went pretty well nothing really exciting to report on that front. We had some interesting technical classes about needs assessment in the community another about gender roles and stereotypes. It was very enlightening because we talked about cultural norms in the US versus Nicaragua. We as one month old trainees have come that point in our culture shock/adjustment that we are more surprised by things that don't fit the Nicaraguan cultural norm more than the American norm. For example seeing the packed buses with people hanging the back is still remarkable but now its just a way of life. What is more surprising is seeing a husband cooking or cleaning around the house. I found that to be an interesting change in perception of culture.

Also of interest, last Friday some other PC trainees and I went to observe and occasionally offer our opinion at the monthly TEPCE teacher conference. TEPCEs are when all the high school teachers in your school district come and talk about the past months' topics and plan for the upcoming month. The Nicaraguan English teachers were all very happy to have us participating in the conference and sharing ideas. One of the main debates among the teachers was about the topics they are learning, such as climate change, which is a very important topic but is English class the right place to learn about it? They asked would class time be more beneficial for the students to instead focus on building a stronger base with the most important verb tenses and grammatical structure? On the other hand is it better to teach advanced topics to improve vocabulary, despite whether or not they understand the grammatical structure? We were able to come to an agreement that they are both important. Having a large vocabulary doesn't do you any good if you can't express your ideas, and put them into sentences. However English grammar like grammar in general is boring, so it important to introduce new topics so that the students stayed interested. I have really enjoyed learning about how someone learns a foreign language. Its completely different from how we learned English as children.

The big news events of the past week are first my volunteer visit got canceled. Curse you Hurricane Matthew!! Because of the excess amount of rain that fell during the week the hurricane was here a lot of the roads, highways and bridges around the country got flooded and or washed away as a result. The Peace Corps didn't not want to send us out to different parts of the country, and take the risk that some of us would be stranded in route or at site and not be able to get back. In fact one of the current volunteers that came and talked at one of our technical sessions last week had been stranded from her site for close to a week because the only bridge the goes into her town was under water. Fortunately the Peace Corps office paid for her to stay in a hotel in Managua until she was able to return. That being said I completely understand and agree with their judgment call, but I was still disappointed. Ironically now today was very sunny and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Although I don't have any how conditions outside of Niquinohomo, because were told not to leave are training town except for training classes which we were picked up and driven to.

My other big new of this week is that I have changed host families. I am still in Niquinohomo just on the other side of town and much closer to the high school which is nice. Early Saturday morning a Peace Corps driver came by in the standard PC big white land rover and picked me up and took me over to my new family. It was kinda of weird because got to my new house quickly shook hands with my host family members, dropped of my bags. Then got back in the car to catch up with the PC bus that was taking everybody to the neighboring department for a training session with the environment half of Nica 54.

The back story on why I changed host families is this, it all boiled down to 3 main issues. Firstly , before me my host family had only hosted girls trainees which is not bad thing, but some Nicaraguan women and girls as a result of their cultural up bringing are very quiet around men. This isn't the same across the country or even towns as I found out talking with other trainees' host families. However in my host family which was comprised of 5 females and 2 two males the only person who really talked to at any length was my host mom. The rest of the family was kinda apathetic that I was there. Most conversation I had with them was small chat that stopped shortly after “How was your day?” I found this to be very odd because I meet the girl who lived with my host family before me at the training orientation in Granada. She told me that they were a great family, very sociable and that she still goes by and visits when she is in the area. I unfortunately did not have the same relationship with them I believe that it mostly has to do with the cultural issue, that being said I don't know why the husband of the oldest daughter or my host dad rarely talked to me. The second and third issue was about food quantity and variety. One of principle expectations of Peace Corps is flexibility, so I knew when I came to Nicaragua that things would be different, and I was OK with that. A normal breakfast for me included two pieces of semi-stale bread and a glass of juice. For lunch and dinner it was usually a variation of a meager portion of Gallo Pinto( fried rice and beans) or regular rice and beans with boiled plantains and super salty cheese for lunch and dinner. Not the greatest but I was adapting to the Nicaraguan cuisine and trying to be as flexible as possible. I knew there was more to the Nicaraguan cuisine because I had seen people selling it around town. After hearing stories from other volunteers and seeing in person the big disparity between what they were eating and what I was eating, I knew there was a problem. I knew it wasn't a financial problem because they had internet and satellite TV in addition to getting a relatively large bi-monthly stipend to host me. So I talked to my Spanish teacher and he gave me some tips about how to change my meal situation.

An interesting side note here in Nicaragua if you are trying to change something indirect communication is the key. For example a lot of the volunteers here myself included don't like the boiled plantains they are very starchy and have a texture similar to an undercooked baked potato but worse taste. Instead of saying I don't like these boiled plantains I said when I was eating fried plantains one night that fried plantains were much better than boiled plantains. It worked wonders and I stopped being served boiled plantains. It took a little longer to get the message across that I didn't like the salty cheese but after 3 or 4 attempts I was able to get my point across more directly than indirectly. Saving face is very important in Nicaraguan culture so anything critical is said indirectly.

Anyways so after I talked them my meal situation improved slightly the biggest improvement came after I mention something to one of my PC trainers not only about my small portions and lack of variety but about that lack of conversation. They agreed with me that was odd and went to talked to them in more of a direct manner than I was expecting. After my host mom talked with the Peace Corps suddenly I started to receiving more food and more fruits and vegetables. I was much happier. A week later I received a call from my training director asking how things were going. I told her that the food situation and had improve and my host mom was really making an effort to talk to me more but the family conversation level had not improved. That is when she decide to move me because she wanted me to have a family where I could talk and improve my Spanish skills. I was hesitant at first because I wanted to avoid any awkward situations that involve the question “Why don't like our family” as I have experienced before. My director say that Peace Corps would take the bullet, so to speak and leave me out of it. However I was inevitably asked by my host mom and dad at separate time “Peace Corps says you are moving why don't you like our family?” I started with the excuse that I wanted to stay but they were making me moved, but at the end of the night I finally had an honest direct conversation with my host mom about the issues at stake. It felt good to get off my chest that it wasn't personal she had made a great effort to improve my food situation and that I really appreciated that however the rest of the family wasn't talking to me and Peace Corps felt that it was really important that I was in a more talkative family. I understand the importance of indirect communication and saving face but sometimes its just easier to put your cards on the table and say what you need to say, instead beating around the bush.

It has been almost a week now since I moved and I am very happy I took Peace Corps advice and moved. My new host family is much more open and talkative. Meals are great I have much greater variety of food and quantity so much that I had to tell my host mom to serve me less because I can't eat some much. They are in their mid 30's and have to young daughters and so far everything is going great. My host dad just got home from work so I am going to sign off and go talk with him and the family.

Until next time stay classy!!