Happy Holidays!

12/27/10

Merry Christmas everybody! I hope everybody had a great Christmas.  Sorry for the long lapse in updates, I had come down with a bronchitis-like lung infection. So I ended up spending two weeks in Managua. There wasn't much to report since I spent most of my time going to see the PC doctors, hanging out in the PC office chatting with all the volunteers who were going back to the States for Christmas and watching A LOT of tv.  I was kind of sad that I missed the Purissma festival which celebrates the virgin Mary on December 7^th  Although I did get to see some cool fireworks from my hotel. It was nice to stay in the hotel I had hot showers, free wifi and was able to watch American TV channels. Just by chance when I was channel surfing I saw that On the Rocks the A Capella group from my university was competing on The Sing Off on NBC. It was pretty cool to see the guys I went to school with and used to listen to every Friday in the student union, on national television. Unfortunately they didn't win, they got eliminated in the semi-finals. I personally believe that they got robbed because there was a group of washed up 60's era soul singers that had a professional career but “fell on hard times” according to them. I don't think they should have allowed them on the show since the rest were college and amateur groups but oh well I'm not a tv producer.

After returning to my site after my extended absence I picked up right were I left off … not doing much.  Everybody is still on vacation but the town is hopping just like back home. Everybody is out shopping and selling everything from coffee beans to clothes and backpacks. I have lately been spending my mornings sitting on the porch with a cup of coffee that I have made myself (big thanks to my dad for coffee filter he sent me!)  reading the newspaper trying to improve my Spanish and watching the world go by. Its really nice way for me to ease to the morning, since Nicaraguans are much more morning people than I am. I don't if this a real common thing for Nicaraguans to do but I think its not that unusual however I usually get a few visitors usually trying to sell me something because I'm a “rich gringo” sometimes I buy their stuff  sometimes I don't.  Another interesting thing I have learned is that  Nicaraguans in general like their coffee super sweet. My host family adds like a cup of sugar to the pot and think its odd that I don't add any sugar to my coffee. But seriously what they are drinking is more coffee flavored sugar than sweeten coffee.

Recently I have met this Nicaraguan guy Milton through Alejando.  He is around my age and has been pretty nice showing town and introducing me to his friends. Unfortunately he is introducing me as “This is Sam his a Peace Corps Volunteer teaching English, he doesn't go to church.” By that he means I'm not Evangelical like he and his friends are. I have mention before that my family in the US is Protestant a type of Catholic, but it doesn't seem to matter. I don't want to get into a religious debate with them, (even though Catholicism is a much older and historical religion than Evangelicalism before they split off, that is a bag of worms I don't want to open)  because its pointless and their religious fervor is much stronger than mine.  However in a town that appears appears to be very religious/Evangelical I don't want to be introduced and known as a godless heathen. For two obvious reasons, one I'm not and two it could make the next two years very uncomfortable and difficult to get work done in the community.  So I'm going still hang out with Milton but I think I am also going to go by the Catholic church in town and see if I can meet some other friends who aren't quite as judgmental.

Right now I am spending the Christmas holiday with training host family because my host family in La  Dalia doesn't celebrate Christmas, not sure why but it has something to do with their belief that Santa Claus is a pagan devil. I can accept that but since I don't share that belief I came down south and have really enjoyed my time here. It has been really nice to see them and catch up with. Christmas is celebrated much differently here. The majority of the celebration are done on the evening of 24^th. We had a nice dinner with chicken stuffed with vegetables and other meat, it was really good.  For dessert  we all had rum cake called sopa borracha  drunk soup and couple other delicious things. The rest of the evening we spent hanging out with family and shooting off fireworks and waving sparklers. Unfortunately something I ate did not agree with me and I spent most of Christmas day resting in bed or in the bathroom. I am still recovering I don't want to travel back sick to my stomach but I'm feeling a bit better than before I think in a few more day I'll be good as new.

My host dad's brother and his family came down from California to visit and we went to a quincera a big coming age birthday party for girls when they turn 15. We eat, drank a lot and danced late into the night. It was a lot of fun, the first one I have ever been to.    

Before I came down to Niquinohomo I went to a coffee plantation with my counterpart Luis. This coffee plantation is out in the middle of nowhere about an hour outside of La Dalia. The owner of the plantation has set up a summer camp for the children of the coffee pickers so that they don't have to work in the fields with their parents. I was really impressed that he was so socially conscious avoiding child labor. At the camp I played soccer with the kids in the morning and then in the afternoon, we had an English class were Luis and I taught them some basic introduction phases and a little about family members. It was pretty fun, I am planning on going back with Alison in January.

Well that's all for now I hope everybody back home is having a great holiday season!

First week in Site

So my first week in site has been pretty slow. I have had a lot of free time, a lot of free time! In my daily fight against boredom I have spent the majority of my day reading, listening to music and NPR podcasts and playing solitaire. I haven't been couped up in my room the whole week, today was actually the first day since I have been here that spent at all home. I have been hanging out a lot with my sitemate Alison, she is really cool and I am sure I would go stir crazy during these vacation months if I didn't have her company.

Monday she and I went to the City Hall and met the mayor, city manager and an environment official. They all seem really excited to work with us, which is great. Alison has already worked some with the environment official because she is an environmental education volunteer. Other than the people at City Hall I have had a bit of difficulty getting to know people around town. When I was here during my site visit I met this very nice lady who worked at the library she seems interested in working with me in the future. However when I went back she wasn't there, I have introduced myself to other couple people in the library which I think would be a good place to possibly do some community English classes but they seem kind of apathetic. I told another Peace Corps friend of mine who is on her second tour with Peace Corps, she told it more likely that they don't know much about Peace Corps or what to make me and not take it personal. I think this good advice which I am taking to heart. Right now I'm less concerned with get secondary projects started and more concerned about just meeting people and making friends. Once I make some friends I know won't be so bored.

On Tuesday I went to visit Alison at the school where she and my host dad work they had a little graduation for the students and then a secret Santa party where they give each gifts. I didn't get a gift because I wasn't part of the school but it was fun to watch. Later that night I went to a family gathering with my host family for some family member high school graduation. The power went out shortly after I arrived so the family chatted and ate dinner around a single candle, it was pretty interesting.

Wednesday Alison came up to visit me and we went back and talked with the city manager about renting a house here in town. He said he knew a few places he would check on and get back to me. It really nice to have his help since there is no real estate agent or even classifieds here it all by word of mouth and occasional signs on houses. The rest of the afternoon we spent at the internet cafe. I found another internet cafe which is much faster than the one in library. Its a little more expensive but totally worth it because I can Skype with my family and download podcasts much easier. My counterpart Luis came up from Matagalpa to visit with me and finish up a group essay the he and Alejandro are working on for their university class.

Today I haven't really done much I just hung out some with my host family and watched movies with the little kids. Nothing to exciting. Although this evening another English teacher Ishmael came by to talk about the community English class we talked about during my site visit. Ishmael is a really cool guy. His English is amazing he has almost a native accent which is even more impressive considering that he has never been to the US. He teaches English at the university in Matagalpa and with works with various NGOs around the department. What we are planning on doing is having a English teachers class where we focus more on advanced topics class discussion and other things the teachers want to work on. The second class would be for community members who are not English teachers. I am really looking forward to working together with him. He also might have an house I could rent which would be really nice as well. I won't be moving out until the first week of January so I have some to check out my options and get my final choice approved by the PC Safety and Security officer.

Tomorrow I'm going into Matagalpa to run some errands and meet up with fellow PCVs for lunch it will be a nice break. Sunday Alison and I have been invited to help cut coffee as a fundraiser for my host family church. Its going to be an interesting experience I am sure I'll be sure to report on how it goes.