tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35663310511166843782024-02-07T22:00:43.597-08:00Emalee in NicaraguaThe contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government of the Peace Corps.Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-32117891776698996602008-11-17T15:08:00.000-08:002008-11-17T18:39:18.331-08:00MY EXPERIENCE<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_IS2wMYOj82L_Y5HeS43KS7ghpAUGMSP5EDVQruBBvRafAxPddUGvccgNYHjhfUVVkXo9LZf_uNSeH3Zga-7ShTvOEPsW4oQ9wiH6lSwaUyrLeiUshZ70RGAzrlVRFHP-FuFJTXaj5rv/s1600-h/DSC00363.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269809916388087506" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_IS2wMYOj82L_Y5HeS43KS7ghpAUGMSP5EDVQruBBvRafAxPddUGvccgNYHjhfUVVkXo9LZf_uNSeH3Zga-7ShTvOEPsW4oQ9wiH6lSwaUyrLeiUshZ70RGAzrlVRFHP-FuFJTXaj5rv/s320/DSC00363.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigtVTXRe8r_YwTKPtuv_lGIfuHiNoRNz8tR6EfdQ2WGaHx7oheLHvcvyUrZYmNS3hnWrVw6deUGj9BTAlmkjvTYuzyhkDp-FBvUHKYDM0v5XJLJHF3v4DuvtPK_jeIi0sp5G2T-kR67x7E/s1600-h/DSC00352.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269809915561200610" style="DISPLAY: block; 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MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMJQQ99D_MCiknXtzreKlq0xZyrw3z0UtubD7uvfmJOteBRPDEUWbWPKwwzihJpXgVCO2dtHZydMtDesRp2dp6bNs25qUFeM8IWw_q1xvohPYBv1QnV6K21_N-rlz7Tq9NfP6o0mL4woGG/s320/DSC00287.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269768771608320306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiickTjnQ9HoyVKjKRv1_E6OljpefHqiW3xgprWUR3yt89cNq9c7u-C3M9XOAq1fi4FFHP0x6nHkL26_q5uWUoNs6-9jXW0RxdATgRrSEjy2b6ESGQ-V0kLbUATf8RaUxUN7J0VHN3G9GJV/s320/DSC00357.JPG" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div align="center"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-76268740929525187112008-07-16T08:30:00.000-07:002008-07-16T08:37:13.137-07:00Back from Vacation... almost<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 255);">Oh how I love vacations at the beach, and really just vacations in general, but especially when you plan vacations to climb volcanoes! There is a volcanoe very close to where i live (and by that i mean 5 or so hours in bus) that I and a few of my friends were planning on climbing this past weekend. This place is beautiful. It has a lake in the crater! Exotic species of birds, and breathtaking views. But none of this i know from seeing it in person, because i got sick. Yes, you heard me right. I was sick. I got sick the day before the trip and therefore missed this amazing adventure with all of my friends. But they had a good time. I´m planning to do the trip again one day soon, maybe in december. But i just had to share my good fortune with all of you. Oh, and not to mention the fact that i had to pay $30! yes, that´s right, $30 and i lost it all! Now i´m broke from that, and paying medical expenses, and angry that I missed such an amazing trip. But I suppose the positive way of looking at this is that I didn´t have to sleep in a tent on the beach in the rain for 2 nights in a row. AND that i got sick before the trip and not during bc that would have been a whole lot worse!<br />take care all, stay away from amoebas... they are not fun! will try to write again soon, probably next month.<br /><br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-30177169881502147422008-06-29T14:04:00.000-07:002008-06-29T14:32:02.336-07:00Almost Independence Day!<span style="color:#66ffff;">Finally the weather is becoming bareable! Whew, before I would be sweating no matter what i´m doing. Now if i´m sitting in the bus and the breeze is blowing, i don´t sweat! Oh what an amazing thing... and just think, its gonna get cooler. well be cooler i actually mean like ya know, low 80s, but still! it will be more than tolerable. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">things are going well. getting back to work after the vacation has been fun, but in a week i will have another week off. and this monday is teacher´s day! that means, no class and all day party! that should be fun! i can´t wait, well actually it gives me quite a bit of pena (kinda like embarrassment) to dance in front of the teachers, but they love it, so i´ll just have to suck it up. hey, at least there will be free food and gifts! </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">also hopefully i´ll get to celebrate the 4th with some other pcvs here in chinandega. should be a good time if we can make it happen. nothing better than celebrating the 4th of july with firneds grilling cheeseburgers in the backyard! I´ll be sure to let you all know how that turns out. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">Things in general are going well. The transportation strike has been kept at bay so far, so nothing to worry about on that end. And the weather looks like its starting to cool down. The rain is coming (on and off right now, but that will be changing to just on soon) so that keeps it more or less cool, well there´s at least some cloud coverage to block out the sun. The day of the revolution is coming up soon as well. July 19th, big day here. Not sure how it will be spent. I hear that there are festivities that take place in managua to remember it. I´ll let you know. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">Well as you can see, life is just getting back to normal. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">However, i did have a very nice elderly man say something very sweet to me 2 days ago when i was riding my bike through town in the rain. "chela fea!" he yells at me, wasn´t that sweet of him. i really should have said thank-you. ya know, nothing makes you feel better than old men yelling "Ugly White Girl!" as you as you pass. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">well that´s the exception though, to be honest i don´t get too many "fea"s or "chelona"s (menaing big white girl) usually it´s "mi amor" "gringa" is by far the most popular, sometimes i even get "chelita" (which i know is a lie but it makes me feel good) </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">well happy 4th of july everyone! hope you all get to go to the parades, and grill out and enjoy life in america. don´t take it for granted this year. we are fortunate to live in a country that truly has indepence. while some argue that with the growing oil crisis we are dangerously becoming dependent on other countries, I´ll confidently say that we are nowhere as vulnerable as we could be. oil dependence is one thing, total economic dependence is another. </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">So do me this one favor as you´re relaxing in your lawn chair this 4th of july. Pop open a nice cold (really cold b/c it´s really hot here remember) beer (anything but miller, i´m not a fan) take a moment to think about how fortunate our country is, and how hard we work as individuals, families, communities, states, and a nation to keep it that way, raise your can annd take a huge gulp! </span><br /><span style="color:#66ffff;">!Felizidades! </span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-39382251164139216922008-06-13T08:15:00.000-07:002008-06-13T09:03:55.398-07:00I´m baaaaaack!<strong><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#66ff99;">Alright, so the vacation to the states went even better than I had hoped, but it also went a lot faster. I am very happy that I was able to see so many of my friends and family and also that I got to see my little sister graduate from high school! Yay Brooke! I´m sooooo proud of you! </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">The trip was all in all a huge success... well up until the flight home that is. I had a flight out of Miami at 12:45pm on Wednesday that was supposed to get me into Managua by 1:15pm local time (plenty of time to get back to my town) but the flight out of Miami was delayed because of maintenance issues. But not an issue that I had ever heard of before. Not that they had to replace a some instrument on the panel board in the cockpit, or even that inside cabin pressure gauge wasn´t reading correctly (which have happened when I have flown before) no, this time it was because there was a dent in the plane. A DENT. Now, I was never informed how it got a dent, I don´t know if maybe it had a mid air collision with a bird, or maybe ran into another plane when it was taxi'ing to the gate, but the point is, there was a dent. So they had to fix this dent because it had "no history" apparently dent´s with histories are perfectly fine, but because this one was a newby they had to check it out. They they decided after the 30min long inspection that this dent must be repaired, not a problem just another delay.... sure not a problem if we hadn´t already boarded the plane and hadn´t already been sitting there for 30min. (not to mention the fact that having a dent in the plane is freaking me out... i mean i don´t know much about flying but i´m pretty sure it´s important to have those panels on nice and tight and dent-free... I couldn´t get all those news clips of the space shuttle with the problematic loose paneling out of my head... there was going to be sparks and fire caused by air friction and this plane was going to go down... right in the middle of the golf of Mexico... or so i thought to myself.) I was however, trying to be very careful not to share these thoughts with the 13yr old boy traveling alone in the seat next to me (well he said he was 13 but he looked more like 10 to me). </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">So 2 hrs later..... they make the announcement that the mechanics have "fixed" the dent in the plane and that we would be taking off shortly, just had to finish up the paperwork.... 2 1/2 hrs later we take off... I´m exhausted by this point and try to fall asleep, well that and not to mention the fact that i was scared half to death to fly on this plane. (Here I must mention that I actually love to fly. I am rarely scared or nervous to fly maybe because I do it so often, I´m not sure. But THIS was not like most times) So roughly 1/2 hr into the flight we start to hit a little turbulence which wakes me up from my little nap on the fold-down table from the seat in front of me... and I quickly remember the dent, not that I had forgotten really but ya know rough air and dent just didn´t sit right with me. But the turbulence was soon over thank God and I was calm again. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">THEN we dropped. We dropped out of the sky. The plane I was on dropped so fast that had I not listen to those videos at the beginning and had not fastened my seat belt I would have touched the ceiling (not kidding). Everyone screamed, except your´s truly (but not because I wasn´t scared, Oh was i ever, and not even because I wanted to be brave for the little boy flying alone next to me) because I couldn't make the noise. I was too scared even to scream. THEN CAME THE BANK, after the fall the plane decided to turn sharply to the left and the people that were once sitting calmly to my left were now sitting almost below me... now people were really getting rowdy. Kids started screaming, Women started praising Jesus and saying prayers in Spanish, other´s were covering their hands and balling so nobody would here them. But the little boy next to me just looked over at me, with tears in his little eyes and said, "I´m scared". Man did that just jerk me into reality. I realized that I could NOT let this kid think he was going to die. (Even though that´s exactly what I thought was going to happen... just like i had predicted, going down into the middle of the gulf of Mexico) So i then started to explain to him about how sometimes when we go through clouds it get rocky like that, and I´m sure the pilot is going to fly us up a little higher so that we can get out of it, and that it won´t happen again. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">Finally the turbulence calmed down and the pilots did take us up higher, and little boy finally had a calm face...but needless to say the 1 1/2 remaining on the flight was the longest in my life! </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">But I´m back. Safe and sound. Had to stay the night in Managua, but it all worked out for the best. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;">It was a wonderful trip (menos the flight back) I was able to do so much more than I hoped for and see people that I was not expecting to see ;) but now it´s back to work. I just want to thank everyone-I truly had a wonderful time. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#66ff99;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ffccff;">Now for the upcoming plans. I´m still working in the schools 4 days a week, I´ve been playing with a group of 6th graders on Wednesdays but I am hoping to evolve it into something more like a scout group rather than just something where we play games. And I am also planning to build onto one of my schools. I hope to put some pictures of that up soon. Things are doing well all in all... I think. I already miss all of you and hopefully some of you will be down to visit me soon ;) You all must know that I welcome visitors at anytime... it´s just that if you expect to have some fachenta vacation here, you might have to be my sugar daddy for a bit of it considering i make in a month what most of you make in less than 1 week ;) but honestly, if you´re flexible, traveling here is cheap, safe, fun, and ALWAYS an adventure. I promise you will be in good hands if you come to visit me. I´m now taking reservations. I cannot have more than 2 or 3 people visit me at once though, and 3 is honestly stretching it. Well that´s if we come to my town, if not than as many of you can come at a time as you want.... but we wouldnt be able to stay the night in my house... which I know will just bum you out ;) </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ffccff;">take care all</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ffccff;">I´ll write soon</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ffccff;">Emalee</span></strong>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-32788367463047402422008-03-18T09:26:00.000-07:002008-03-18T09:36:04.732-07:00<span style="color:#33ffff;">Hello everyone back home! Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been busy, i think. Time has gone by really quickly lately. With classes starting i hardly have any free time except for the weekends. I also just started a youth group with a group of 6th grade girls. well i didn´t start it, one of them found me and asked if i could teach her how to plant trees. (how lucky am i?!?!?!) i said, get some friends together and we´ll do it together, so i will be doing that this afternoon! very exciting!</span><br /><span style="color:#33ffff;">Also for the past week i was out of Tonalá at a language taller (workshop) in Carazo, very close to my trianing town, so i was able to go back and visit my host families for the weekend. it was a really fun time. we had a nice 45 Environment (my group) reunion the weekend before the taller and all met up in the city of granada - it was a blast! there is some amazing food to be eaten in granada! also some fun dancing as well. and then being able to spend 2 nights in my old training town at the end of the taller was the perfect way to head out. also this week is Semana Santa so there is no work/no school so that is fun, all the people go to the beach to celebrate, i don´t really want to go, so i dunno what i am going to do. maybe i´ll go do a midnight full moon volcano hike.... what do you all think? things are going well so far, just making new friends and enjoying my time here, trying to get closer with my community, but it has been harder than i thought since i have had to be in and out of town because of medical stuff. but i am hoping now that i am feeling better than will change. sorry i do not have any pictures to post. it´s not like i´m on a vacation as a tourist so i really don´t use my camara alot unless i am out of tonala, i´ll try to get better at that. ok, well i´m starving so i think i am going to go grab a bite to eat at On the Run, yes that´s right, the gas station... it has air conditioning and a free toilet... you´d use it too if you were me. Dad, Jamie y Brooke - i can´t wait for you to come. maybe we can all eat at on the run together!!!! </span><br /><span style="color:#33ffff;"></span><br /><span style="color:#33ffff;">cuidense todos </span><br /><span style="color:#33ffff;">congratuations Jill! I miss you soo much! i wish i could be there with you at such an important time of your life...</span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-34158211123890175962008-02-09T07:59:00.000-08:002008-02-09T08:28:12.130-08:00Home Sweet Home<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJ5zbmkEzRy4JoAWN_u0Gx_x948JwCiyC9yryjeZCukC6aS_D3CSA_3myaDiT-ok8j5Q9efaOf_IUV25s4zSMTTMjdTIMs1HkAZZhSjBA7Pc0AIzFvX_pEJsAoGpdT8h-s3p9BREaxHMU/s1600-h/DSC00399.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165017855216741554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioJ5zbmkEzRy4JoAWN_u0Gx_x948JwCiyC9yryjeZCukC6aS_D3CSA_3myaDiT-ok8j5Q9efaOf_IUV25s4zSMTTMjdTIMs1HkAZZhSjBA7Pc0AIzFvX_pEJsAoGpdT8h-s3p9BREaxHMU/s200/DSC00399.JPG" border="0" /></a> Another picture of english class.<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfZ1uTHN-GbRSBucfo-7NtIyHOV-H5wWLTIm-KW9m2qEnNg1XPIO7I2ezNd4hn50jWF8E1kWaL59dOufUoxSsq1TE-QqlIdiCaQvkHezOeeyWYYGdJ2mdEtX4N4UTwjor_JPG-JpkOHfO/s1600-h/DSC00422.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165016540956748962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVfZ1uTHN-GbRSBucfo-7NtIyHOV-H5wWLTIm-KW9m2qEnNg1XPIO7I2ezNd4hn50jWF8E1kWaL59dOufUoxSsq1TE-QqlIdiCaQvkHezOeeyWYYGdJ2mdEtX4N4UTwjor_JPG-JpkOHfO/s200/DSC00422.JPG" border="0" /></a> My beautiful kitchen-living room- dining room-entry way- other half of my house! Ain´t it purdy?!?!<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpfkd_cwreqt3vwq2NoMktJsis5SXawRqdCHQAW2oeEHXIZFC4DrexMm1ULybTAvArT2FDoeCBVQPhoITV8OzXA8psA6WWBj8Fd333nWxGmw9Oyzy2bx5tZMv8q01HzDCNB-c_0ePyP_U/s1600-h/DSC00420.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165015115027606674" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpfkd_cwreqt3vwq2NoMktJsis5SXawRqdCHQAW2oeEHXIZFC4DrexMm1ULybTAvArT2FDoeCBVQPhoITV8OzXA8psA6WWBj8Fd333nWxGmw9Oyzy2bx5tZMv8q01HzDCNB-c_0ePyP_U/s200/DSC00420.JPG" border="0" /></a> View2, from the back.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWauWqXn2YpzNWhX5HaAJe4NVwwN9QUPVvfU0pc0aHK-WJkOYbZ8WOMWVPrv9XATH3vyRKaAQzGHY-FlN0XoHwFlfaLMcvdNEPHcjhwYQrs_FOJrs5y8tz_a_V10cdU3m3dwFRSUt7ifbV/s1600-h/DSC00418.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165014612516433026" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWauWqXn2YpzNWhX5HaAJe4NVwwN9QUPVvfU0pc0aHK-WJkOYbZ8WOMWVPrv9XATH3vyRKaAQzGHY-FlN0XoHwFlfaLMcvdNEPHcjhwYQrs_FOJrs5y8tz_a_V10cdU3m3dwFRSUt7ifbV/s200/DSC00418.JPG" border="0" /></a>The view of my "bedroom" from my front door.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2hIK3BoDJWd5LMoJWnr8uNaTAiDFG2hbdMTK_UVQ69cYBKejccWcy5XsEuPJZC-sjzcZBzWzYFvds4e0AksTBclNDvfLEahsnDVcnbEftvIRvWWFAlR7mkQWl2LjQlzI14oatXznDdJB/s1600-h/DSC00421.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165014350523427954" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-2hIK3BoDJWd5LMoJWnr8uNaTAiDFG2hbdMTK_UVQ69cYBKejccWcy5XsEuPJZC-sjzcZBzWzYFvds4e0AksTBclNDvfLEahsnDVcnbEftvIRvWWFAlR7mkQWl2LjQlzI14oatXznDdJB/s200/DSC00421.JPG" border="0" /></a><br />My kitchen, bathroom, and back yard, all in one!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPmuh5TpwoV8LttBKDa5FVEa_t4UxdaHCwd1Ed0qRN3d44kxhlExzoaU6J3Nn1vNtpCEAPyrJYiGHPTb7tCrwPS6GCjWyaNOBE1raspEYnOcnIooUxdOcsuce-JxYeAXtjb9Pz7KJB_Du/s1600-h/DSC00413.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165013233831930978" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPmuh5TpwoV8LttBKDa5FVEa_t4UxdaHCwd1Ed0qRN3d44kxhlExzoaU6J3Nn1vNtpCEAPyrJYiGHPTb7tCrwPS6GCjWyaNOBE1raspEYnOcnIooUxdOcsuce-JxYeAXtjb9Pz7KJB_Du/s200/DSC00413.JPG" border="0" /></a> Cows on the soccer field, while the team is practicing.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO3ptPECUOW3RuQuezy9xMt4nZmu_8pOo25rYBbVLqw9X3tURGP-WhEBv_MjCk-Vdrt4BS1rhcqlckJytHRieuhTqA74TETdM-ihMqVcAY5wgOe4hv1r4VPdkDDx7wrPTK-yrCRA8DzIO/s1600-h/DSC00396.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165012413493177426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGO3ptPECUOW3RuQuezy9xMt4nZmu_8pOo25rYBbVLqw9X3tURGP-WhEBv_MjCk-Vdrt4BS1rhcqlckJytHRieuhTqA74TETdM-ihMqVcAY5wgOe4hv1r4VPdkDDx7wrPTK-yrCRA8DzIO/s200/DSC00396.JPG" border="0" /></a> My community english class in 4 Esquinas. </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><span style="color:#cc66cc;">So I moved into my own little house, por fin! The school year is starting and we are having a little get together at the beach for all the volunteers birthdays soon, but i wanted to send out some picks of the new place. I´m still in the process of organizing. I have to buy some cinder blocks and wood planks to make shelves with. Still need a fridge, and a bike, but that will come with time. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-22829198045058614542008-02-04T09:49:00.000-08:002008-02-04T14:25:05.488-08:00<span style="color:#33ccff;">Well classes started today... but I am not there :( I am in managua again for some asma problems, but no worries, I am sure that the meds they put me on now are going to work. Lots of good news though. I finally found a house. It's beautiful, 1 room, with a <strong>running water </strong>shower outside, my own lavandero and latrin (outhouse) to use. The landlords let me a plastic table, and a dresser! I am soooo lucky b/c those things are sooo expensive! I will share a yard with my neighbor, but that's fine with me. My neighbor has a whole family of little ducklings, which I am sure are going to wander into my house, but she said that she has to get rid of her pig... he eats the ducklings! I'm telling you, they are bravo here... although, i don't know why the starving dogs don't eat the chickens or the pigs, but there are a lot of things that i don't have explanations to as of yet ;) </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">So far things are going well. English classes are a lot of fun. The kids seem to be really enjoying it. We have had to slow down are lesson plan, but that's for the best, we have a lot more younger students than we thought we would when we first set it up, which has actually served to help the class a lot i think. They have so much energy, and are not as shy about not knowing the right words. That's one of the hardest things to accomplish i feel, to get people to forget about they're fears of saying the words right, and just to say them. Which i think we are all guilty of that, at least i was, but now i don't really have the choice to be shy, just gotta say it. </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">I have met with the environmental sector in the mayor's office and hope to start getting some work accomplished with them. I would also like to get started on a youth group, but that will probably take a little bit more time, maybe not. Just got to get creative. I can't wait to get started on my garden and my compost pile! finally i'll have the ability to do it. thank god my neighbor keeps her pig tied up and i haven't seen any wandering pigs in the yard. </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">List of things I bought for my house:</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">juego de sillas (set of 4 plastic chairs, that i beleive are made out of recycled plastic ;)</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">cocina (a gas range with 2 burners that i bought used from another volunteer)</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">balde con tapa (plastic bucket with lid that i will use to bucket bath when the water goes out, and to soak laundry and store whatever)</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">panita (bowlish that i can use to scoop water while doing laundry or baithing)</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">broom</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">mop</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">dish drying rack</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">bed</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">wooden table to put cocina on</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">cleaning stuff</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">*luckily the voluntaria before me left me some dishes! and plastic containers to store things! (seriously saved me a lot of money!)THANKS!!!</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">and some other stuff like black beans, brown rice (yes i splurged), bread, tuna</span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;"></span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">well i know that's exciting to read! i would put prices next to all of it, but that would be hard to explain b/c for instance i paid 4o cords for a mop stick and 27 for the head, which is like 2.50 dollars, but that set me back a bit. especially with all the other purchases. </span><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;">hope all is going well back home, hope to have pics next time! </span><br /><br /><span style="color:#33ccff;"></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-33811239454637219362008-01-21T13:03:00.000-08:002008-01-21T13:44:32.996-08:00<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEJvyMNrN-ptHMVk7sjEhfVDLC6trzLKMAFubTfcTByWmNwg6hdLyXJXeZaKd2n-wno6NYbYcpKtVc9FA0WzARsQJm5AFJQV4daNAmZDFnlE5uZVYekyDHSPmTuo8ymLk1X3XA2VwOBzj/s1600-h/DSC00389.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158048279926488818" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvEJvyMNrN-ptHMVk7sjEhfVDLC6trzLKMAFubTfcTByWmNwg6hdLyXJXeZaKd2n-wno6NYbYcpKtVc9FA0WzARsQJm5AFJQV4daNAmZDFnlE5uZVYekyDHSPmTuo8ymLk1X3XA2VwOBzj/s200/DSC00389.JPG" border="0" /></a> ok so don´t know how to turn this right now but this is a foto of the carreterra on the way to my town! yeah, dust now, mud in a few months!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vS1i9kOZeUq5KaCdl1eb5_So1fUVPnJxd4lhkq7Mn9t-XPhOD0gVBpt08eGAJi79dTN3wRdpkrIVNCmywySIcTaRiwqT2X-XT2RGtU8xSbpeDzlJYUoHPjvHvSB8h5EvMvvzrE2Ugjmh/s1600-h/DSC00374.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158045758780686034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_vS1i9kOZeUq5KaCdl1eb5_So1fUVPnJxd4lhkq7Mn9t-XPhOD0gVBpt08eGAJi79dTN3wRdpkrIVNCmywySIcTaRiwqT2X-XT2RGtU8xSbpeDzlJYUoHPjvHvSB8h5EvMvvzrE2Ugjmh/s200/DSC00374.JPG" border="0" /></a> this is the bus stop by my town.<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gOsAvCuDBhNFsjgQvDUNgSBO9XbPI5P5ri3iqDT7zBV2r2WBu_t-QwYbIWYVo-gBMF8-F0918dDkcr-SUlSrQ28LREilFI7nX_Z7aRn7W9ph8eY_cqjPGWNHNV2k6ZEl-bM7UQ6Lsieg/s1600-h/DSC00367.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158044972801670850" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-gOsAvCuDBhNFsjgQvDUNgSBO9XbPI5P5ri3iqDT7zBV2r2WBu_t-QwYbIWYVo-gBMF8-F0918dDkcr-SUlSrQ28LREilFI7nX_Z7aRn7W9ph8eY_cqjPGWNHNV2k6ZEl-bM7UQ6Lsieg/s200/DSC00367.JPG" border="0" /></a> this is the baseball stadium in chinandega, woohoo! i can´t wait until next year when i get to go to some games!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyQF9xfq_UfN0QIjCZ0aj5LJ-BmTB7WbPJt2YRIXkY_MPwcL3w1cHV77LGQ8CYMRd7QUwXgwmOZ_0NqZcUYsz8ps4ot1xT2oMY8J87YdDUXc0YGweYhlU7Ap32vkZs9XkPa1jTXhrtnyc/s1600-h/DSC00366.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158043409433575090" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTyQF9xfq_UfN0QIjCZ0aj5LJ-BmTB7WbPJt2YRIXkY_MPwcL3w1cHV77LGQ8CYMRd7QUwXgwmOZ_0NqZcUYsz8ps4ot1xT2oMY8J87YdDUXc0YGweYhlU7Ap32vkZs9XkPa1jTXhrtnyc/s200/DSC00366.JPG" border="0" /></a> Una zona franca, where they employ a lot of people at rediculously low wages, but at least the people working there have some employment, but hell with the conversion rate of 18´cordabas:1 dollar, you´d they could afford to pay more than 5 cords an hour and still turn a heafty profit, especially since all the goods they manufacture there are for export only.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJBTnWopf7c5OEpeISYXrYKHk9PONHqT00eRL40GoOwlE2SWGR0KNYrLr1tTQ9DnXqrl2CTZ3907yJ_5Pmp93Ge8ZcA02irjwfjXp1O-jYQWvYmliiP8nWvrNTK2_IU6GqSbbMORvC46O/s1600-h/DSC00388.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5158039883265425058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJBTnWopf7c5OEpeISYXrYKHk9PONHqT00eRL40GoOwlE2SWGR0KNYrLr1tTQ9DnXqrl2CTZ3907yJ_5Pmp93Ge8ZcA02irjwfjXp1O-jYQWvYmliiP8nWvrNTK2_IU6GqSbbMORvC46O/s200/DSC00388.JPG" border="0" /></a> this is the view from one of my walks to my schools of the large volcan that is situated next to my town. this is pretty far away, my town is closer to them. how beautiful!</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-41222656957155994842007-12-29T13:43:00.000-08:002007-12-29T14:14:35.312-08:00Life is still life, no matter where you live it.<strong><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#ff99ff;">So I have had a lot of time to think lately. Being that I am not doing much. And that it is holiday time, and got a few days off to hang out with some other volunteers. I had some good times over the christmas holiday. Bought some cute gifts for ppl here, and also bought myself some good times as well. I have decided that i need to journal better, and then that way my blog wouldn´t be quite as random and boring.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:georgia;color:#ff99ff;">The reason I am even in the cyber right now is that I am sick, again. hahaha, oh the joys of being sick in nicaragua. THis time was worse than before, and i didn´t think that could happen. To save you all the not so pretty details, lets just say fate has a funny way of making you miss your last bus so you get to stay in a house that has a REAL toilet in the room less than 6 steps from your bed so that when you are running to the toilet every 5 minútes in the middle of the night you don´t have to leave the room, much less the house. And thank god that we don´t flush the toilet paper here and you have to have a trashcan in every bathroom, b-c vomiting while having diarrea is not convienient. So maybe I didn´t spare the details, but that´s because without them it would sound like i had the flew, not some bacteria that caused me to expel all liquid that i had ingested in the last 24hrs. Gracias a dios I had amazing ppl here to help me, including other volunteer friends who brought me suero (rehydration salts) and dramamine. It was a long 2 days, but i´m better now, well i have a cough, a very loud, annoying cough, damn that asma. Asma and chinandega dust don´t exactly "le cae bien" as they say here. So I´m going to Managua on Monday to get my lungs looked at. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff99ff;">But I couldn´t be luckier. The family that has taken me in here, has been amazing. They are making sure that I am getting everything i need and don´t let me do anything to help out around the house. But there is definately something to be said about Nicaraguan Hospitality. I really think that it has no borders. I don´t know what i would do without them.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff99ff;">It´s funny how similiar things are here with the US and oh how different they are at the same time. I mean, for instance, the transportation system in the country is amazing. Sure you may only have a bus that leaves your town 2x a day, but you can get literally anywhere in the country simply by bus, and you usually don´t have to wait too long. Not to mention the fact that you can move anything you want on the bus with you. (that can be a pain when you are just another passsenger on the bus and people decide to move a whole living room set and you have to wait for them to get it secure on the top of the bus). Speaking of living room sets, one would think, that this being nicaragua and all, they probably don´t have them here. Considering this is the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere, but that thought would be incorrect. Because while 90% of the population can´t afford it, some can. So they do have them here, and just like in the states, they have furniture and electronic stores, that you can pay monthly on the things you buy (with an extremely high interest rate). But i have come across alot of people that have refrigerators, some have microwaves, blendors (liquadores) are all the rage (anything cold is good in chinandega) some people have toasters, and even rice makers (they prefer to fry their rice tho). There are degrees of wealth here just like in the states, its just that there are even fewer people in the middle class. And the middle class here is not equivalent to that in the states. I hope to be able to expand more on this with time i´m sure i will. I guess the point i am trying to make is that just because it´s nicaragua, doesn´t mean i can´t get just <em>about</em> everything i could in the states, you just have to pay a hell of a price for it, and more than likely go to managua to buy it. But that doesn´t mean that even 15% of the people can afford to buy it. Nor make the trip to Managua. Sadly enough, I have seen more parts of this country than a large majority of the people that I have met. Including the families i have lived with. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff99ff;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff99ff;">Sorry to end so abruptly, next post will be more cohesive, and i´ll try to have pictures. Thanks, mom, for the rechargable batteries!</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff99ff;">Well i hope everyone back home is having a wonderful, bacteria-free christmas and new years.</span></strong>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-12559179253098694302007-12-21T14:09:00.000-08:002007-12-21T14:30:29.631-08:00I´m Dreaming of a White Christmas...not a dusty one ;)<strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">Well I hope those of you that have it are enjoying the snow! I can´t believe all the snow you´ve had! So i don´t have snow here, but i do have dust! hahaha and believe me, it´s not nearly as cool as snow. Can´t ball it up and throw it at people as they pass, can´t make a fort out of it, can´t make a man out of it, you CAN catch it on your tongue, but that would be gross, and i´m just sure if every dust particle is unique like snowflakes are, i would guess not. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">But minus the snow, christmas time in Nicaragua is beautiful. I can´t tell you how many times i have had people ask me, so you dont celebrate christmas there do you, and then when i say yes, people are like,¨"the same day and everything?" it´s fun to share things about our cultures that are alike. They were also suprised we celebrate New Years the same way. ;) </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">I have been doing well. I have a tos, but that´s the dust´s fault, not mine. The packages i got were from G&G Logan, and Dad & Jamie, thank you guys soooo much! G&G Logan, I absolutely love love love the shirts! and all the other goodies of course, my sisters were laughing at me as to why i had so much miel (syrup, but they don´t really use syrup here so we just call it honey) y jelly. I miss you all very much, Things have been busy, but good. I can´t wait to get my own place, I love living with a family, but I want to start living my way, which sounds selfish, but all that really means is i want to be able to decide when the music gets blared, and when i want to sleep in. Also i want to make a compost and worm boxes, and i can´t do that with all the pigs running through our yard. I might be getting a puppy! We´ll see. I haven´t really decided, i just wish they ate cochroaches like cats do! hahaha. I haven´t found a house yet, but i´m looking.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">For christmas i will be going back to masaya to spend xmas eve and day with my old host family, and the 23rd i am spending with other people from my group. so i am very excited! </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">I wish i had something more profound to write, I always think of good topics when I am at home, but after taking the 1 1/2 hr ride to get into the city, I end up losing them. Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you get everything you wish for and more, just keep in mind that even if you don´t you still are living in a country with clean streets, clean water, reliable electricity, more than likely are living in a house or apt. that has a ceiling and a roof, not just the latter, and that your house is sealed from the rain, and your walls are not made of thin tree branches with black plastic nailed to the outside. Not to bring you down, just to share some things that have opened my eyes in the past few weeks of living in Tonalá, oh and did i mention how lucky we are to live in a country that has a waste management system, however flawed it is, it is there and we use it and don´t burn our trash. I cannot begin to describe the smell and feeling of breathing when all of my neighbors burn their trash. I would say I can´t blame them, but I can´t. There is a trash truck that comes by to collect, and it costs 10 cords a month i think, which if that is the case, probably only about 40 - 50% of my town could afford it, and 10 cords is roughly 50cents, but it can also buy you 1/2 lb. of beans, and a whole lot of rice, which is the staple diet here. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#33ff33;">well merry christmas all! miss you, cuidense!</span></strong>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-81340892170760006642007-12-18T12:35:00.000-08:002007-12-18T12:52:49.509-08:00Christmas in July<strong><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#00cccc;">I cannot believe that it is almost christmas! I guess what makes it so hard to imagine is that i am sweating my butt off everyday. I have yet to see snow. lol don´t think that will be happening for the next 2 years. But things are going well. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures i posted last time. It was a lot of work, so you better have! But i have been really busy lately, suprisingly enough. (Just let you know that¨"shake it like a salt shaker" is playing in the cyber that i am in right now. hahaha) For it being their summer vacation, i figured i would be bored out of my mind for the next 2 months. but actually my site-mate invited me to help her teach english classes. In total, we are giving 7 classes a week. Which doesn´t seem like much i know but if you figure that each class is 2 hrs long, and that two of the communities that we give class to are roughly 1hr away from our home, by bus :) that´s 4 hrs a day just for one class! then we have planning, and on mondays and fridays we have 2 classes a day. plus these classes last until april! so we will be giving them while we are teaching in our real classrooms after class starts in february. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#00cccc;">But being busy is good for me. I hated just sitting around. But i´ve quickly discovered that there really is no "happy medium" it´s either you´re really busy with a lot of projects, or you´re bored out of your mind. I still have a lot of people to meet, and i also need to find a house to live in b-c i get to move out of my host family´s house in enero, but i dunno with all the other stuff going on if i will find a house by then or not. who knows. well i would have posted more pics, but my camera is not sirving me well (no me sirve) and keeps eating up all the batteries i have and they are not cheap here, so i will have to wait until i get my packages with my rechargable batteries. i have 3 packages waiting for me, i´ll let you know whose they are when i get them, but probably won´t be for a few days, maybe weeks. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#00cccc;">take care everyone!</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#00cccc;">¿Feliz Navidad!</span></strong>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-3092286377557491462007-12-09T09:38:00.000-08:002007-12-09T11:10:34.831-08:00Primavera Azul!Ok guys, i finally figured out how to do the whole photo thing, so here are a few. i´ll try to post a few every blog from here on out. ¡Disfrútenlas!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoC1J0RF-WbCGZJk0hDmLkE4njQ9B0FW8PusjmqlpwGlz0NB5t6Tzex1UmNEdKZMnqZbggpXTeEJJBPPiNFqmSlK3xcxKufz5P_a5SVfcm3CdDaBvxrgnXVKX1dLydyvkktp8CGEERwE0/s1600-h/DSC00344.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142046883984182034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoC1J0RF-WbCGZJk0hDmLkE4njQ9B0FW8PusjmqlpwGlz0NB5t6Tzex1UmNEdKZMnqZbggpXTeEJJBPPiNFqmSlK3xcxKufz5P_a5SVfcm3CdDaBvxrgnXVKX1dLydyvkktp8CGEERwE0/s200/DSC00344.JPG" border="0" /></a> (una foto de mi cuarto en la casa de mi familia anfitriona en Masaya)<br /> ¡Qué linda!<br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIVbFjcs2RbKHlpRZetKmmTpxmQRpU0jmlpVtzohkltspK8oJaSkPK_bPWrH4qpnCW1zMBrt8P9fN5nQE7YIDv21MD4sh4U7w74_luamXQuaqmIvA7FK2HRAhQ3Aer3yd_SKrz8yTzLz_/s1600-h/DSC00364.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142044861054585602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbIVbFjcs2RbKHlpRZetKmmTpxmQRpU0jmlpVtzohkltspK8oJaSkPK_bPWrH4qpnCW1zMBrt8P9fN5nQE7YIDv21MD4sh4U7w74_luamXQuaqmIvA7FK2HRAhQ3Aer3yd_SKrz8yTzLz_/s200/DSC00364.JPG" border="0" /></a> (una foto de unas casas que están ubicadas en la carreterra entre mi pueblo y la cuidad)<br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjIAWHw997isnNOKJkJNWEq2VthB3yQMK8vodBiKaifEeQsBGC13h8J8NoSMpMNtMD4cluNCNaImFVQbJ5-xD2WJ4IPXceft86zJdN25GazYD1slzPRVDIYa4JYTEtkvo8dGKRqK4sUTJ/s1600-h/DSC00363.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142043396470737650" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjIAWHw997isnNOKJkJNWEq2VthB3yQMK8vodBiKaifEeQsBGC13h8J8NoSMpMNtMD4cluNCNaImFVQbJ5-xD2WJ4IPXceft86zJdN25GazYD1slzPRVDIYa4JYTEtkvo8dGKRqK4sUTJ/s200/DSC00363.JPG" border="0" /></a> (una familia que está alistándose entrar el bus. sí, el barrón está llevando un pollo en el bus)<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYr9EeWe_2nt1uHFS0uGY3wYKRSXIMfBsaCR4qOkGeWFNCW6_3xzbNVsYfgU7oA5mm6iDX75yRaYdjh-DnY9mLg3VYcIqIS50Tzh8Rv_oBoTh85gmnR5uxWXc21fbtnxhdi4txVD8XH9gL/s1600-h/DSC00352.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142041343476370146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYr9EeWe_2nt1uHFS0uGY3wYKRSXIMfBsaCR4qOkGeWFNCW6_3xzbNVsYfgU7oA5mm6iDX75yRaYdjh-DnY9mLg3VYcIqIS50Tzh8Rv_oBoTh85gmnR5uxWXc21fbtnxhdi4txVD8XH9gL/s200/DSC00352.JPG" border="0" /></a> (la parada de buses en el mercado viejo en Masaya, look at those beautifully repainted school buses from the states! the smaller ones are called microbuses and they are really not all that safe but people manage to fit about oh 15 ppl in a micro)<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMVYQJo-x5jaySielN-Qf3oGeb8w3YOLvCY89QU2_2ma9G1rOf2B0YlC4KaL0QOt86HvLvjAU0VJKnLh9Vk2aXQFo2YlyMkraJyL789cCRcFv2_LVqluNZQ7tseJPM8D8YRSuQNWLN4x4/s1600-h/DSC00360.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142040226784873170" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMVYQJo-x5jaySielN-Qf3oGeb8w3YOLvCY89QU2_2ma9G1rOf2B0YlC4KaL0QOt86HvLvjAU0VJKnLh9Vk2aXQFo2YlyMkraJyL789cCRcFv2_LVqluNZQ7tseJPM8D8YRSuQNWLN4x4/s200/DSC00360.JPG" border="0" /></a> (el altar que mi prima hizo, ella pasó como 5 horas haciéndolo)<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyv14yrUHizvtt55q6PWYxXv2eunOwYcfbH0x2bxftKpc1fIwWWGJbp3YXmNs6hoZVOIAA8TFN25vOBBwrhCOYQyUHk_1he0s0bTWVdo_zzkQ05Ain5JPxAC-KwCkVL1lPAiE9coj3orQA/s1600-h/DSC00357.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142039449395792578" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyv14yrUHizvtt55q6PWYxXv2eunOwYcfbH0x2bxftKpc1fIwWWGJbp3YXmNs6hoZVOIAA8TFN25vOBBwrhCOYQyUHk_1he0s0bTWVdo_zzkQ05Ain5JPxAC-KwCkVL1lPAiE9coj3orQA/s200/DSC00357.JPG" border="0" /></a> (la promoción del sexto grado (lo que discutí en la ultima blog)<br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgz4byJkSIh6WJP8Gf92gvk9KshnruuuFzwSOA2PD9WdSxEGpoPDkjP76XRp_wuxgPVR_cw0_InJS_IEgsJ6LC8aD2PBwsdAzhN7xlRQ1xYTmXTr5suZ0CGf_pgdue955QSiOAqmMVnUWT/s1600-h/DSC00339.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142038242509982386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgz4byJkSIh6WJP8Gf92gvk9KshnruuuFzwSOA2PD9WdSxEGpoPDkjP76XRp_wuxgPVR_cw0_InJS_IEgsJ6LC8aD2PBwsdAzhN7xlRQ1xYTmXTr5suZ0CGf_pgdue955QSiOAqmMVnUWT/s200/DSC00339.JPG" border="0" /></a> (Beautiful Granada)<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkoX2gLPFK0-byztFyNoT34yT0BIUNGO1Zp_cePZg-fa5jOCeLPAS-f0rl-9ItxxISedeQuVoFXV71DENudKCQZbw5MJ_RADcvTCDNiJbhxZHc7DcLiT-gvq-QEOYxVaqxkNAsQQBg2VYO/s1600-h/DSC00308.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142036584652606114" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkoX2gLPFK0-byztFyNoT34yT0BIUNGO1Zp_cePZg-fa5jOCeLPAS-f0rl-9ItxxISedeQuVoFXV71DENudKCQZbw5MJ_RADcvTCDNiJbhxZHc7DcLiT-gvq-QEOYxVaqxkNAsQQBg2VYO/s200/DSC00308.JPG" border="0" /></a> (esta foto es de mis amigitas. de la izquirda: una amiga de mis dos sobrinitas, mi sobrinita Mayoling y mi otra sobrinita Josmely)<br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6KVVv5ECmJFTUTwMbQFy203HI6a58P2pRtEQoM52jpsyXGYhUp2wRTVVLK4NN3ols1ONi3jCn8QX7wq8gdDuGXJpJr52X1Nc9rTwrsmo0tLvT5_ASrgsyia_MWcZXMTAi2rt94XyIoCH/s1600-h/DSC00305.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5142034819421047442" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX6KVVv5ECmJFTUTwMbQFy203HI6a58P2pRtEQoM52jpsyXGYhUp2wRTVVLK4NN3ols1ONi3jCn8QX7wq8gdDuGXJpJr52X1Nc9rTwrsmo0tLvT5_ASrgsyia_MWcZXMTAi2rt94XyIoCH/s200/DSC00305.JPG" border="0" /></a> (esta foto es de una baile que se llama "el viejo la vieja" y las personas que están bailando son dos muchachos! hahaha ellos eran alumnos del instituto de mi pueblo en Masaya)<br /><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#33ccff;">Hey everyone! I hope things are going well in the snow-covered land of Indiana, and the oh so warm and sunny FL! It´s hot here, as usual. but now is the fresco time if i haven´t already said that. All that really means is that you don´t sweat.... as much, but you still definately sweat. the shade is a beautiful thing though, so are hammocks, maybe my two favorite things in nica (besides the beautiful views of course.) But all in all there is little to complain about. I know i was a little upset about my new cucaracha friends but well, that happens. and while i wouldn´t say i am acostombrada, i´m getting there) things are slow now so i am going to hopefully be starting a community english class with my sitemate (who teaches english at the highschool) and probably in two other communities as well. we´ll see. she isn´t gonna be here much for the next month, so in that case i will be doing them solo! (entonces, wish me luck!) </span></div><br /><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#33ccff;">So the graduation ceremonies have come and gone, and so has the purisima, oh how fun that was. lets just say its sortof like halloween, but without the costumes, and instead of saying trick-or-treat, people sing hymns to altars of maría that people put in their front porches and then the people give out candies, and tupperware, glasses, plates, ya know the typical stuff ;-) </span><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#33ccff;">But after the graduation ceremonies and for the purisima, there was fiestas/discos in town. the fiestas were after the promociones and they were free. i had to pay 30 cords to get into the disco after the purisima. and it was fun but i was a little disappointed in music choices. i mean you know how much i enjoy dancing, but i am not a fan of merengue AT ALL, machata i love tho but when i go to a disco i want some reggeaton! and instead oh about a good 30% of the songs they played were horrible 80´s songs in english! (of which i am not a fan). </span><br /><br /></div><div><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#33ccff;">But i was called up on to the stage infront of everyone by this guy that used to be the mayor and lets just say, i was extremely embarrassed and didn´t know what to say, i swear the moment i hit the stage i forgot every spanish word i know, luckly i remembered no se :-) those nerves. hahaha well i am going to try to put up some picks now. i hope people are doing well back home. things are a little boring at times, but i make it into the city once a week on the weekends, and i am con suerte in the sense that i do have someone in my site that i can communicate with fully. </span></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-26602666878301721702007-11-30T14:33:00.000-08:002007-11-30T14:39:34.477-08:00A day in Tonala<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);"><span style="font-size:100%;">Well everyone, i hope that your thanksgiving went by well. I spent it at the house of the Peace Corps director in Nicaragua. It was awesome! Right now i am in the city with my host sister visiting her family. It has been a long week, and together with a stomach ache and cockroaches in the latrina, it has been interesting. But all in all i have no complaints. Yesterday was the hardest and funnest yet. They had the promocion for the 6th graders and it was soo cool to see them all so proud and the teachers proud as well. They decorated the school, and they had important people sit on stage to congratulate the graduates as they received their diplomas. Apparently I am an important person, b-c i just went to watch, but little did i know they invited me to sit on the stage with the school director and delegada to the ministry of education. and then there was a party after wards. the thing a learned this week- you can never be overdressed, so if you are questioning what to wear, go for more. and nicas love to dance, from age 2 they can shake-it faster than you can imagine!!!!!<br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-12558081509198118622007-11-17T08:39:00.000-08:002007-11-17T08:49:52.828-08:00I´m off!<span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff99ff;">Well as of yesterday I am officially a Peace Corps Volunteer! yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i know you are jealous. hahaha Wow it´s finally happening. I feel like this whole process has taken forever, and finally FINALLY i am gonna get to see what it´s really like. I am going to be leaving from managua today to go to my site! It´s up to me now, no training staff, no group charlas twice a week, no mandated schedule of events to do. I have to find my own stuff to do now. Well that is not entirely true. I do know that I will be working in 4 schools with a minimum of 2 teachers in each school. they are all multigrado and i will have to bike to all of them but one that is located roughly 4 blocks from my new host family´s house. for the first 90 days we cannot leave our site but for day trips to the market and to do errands, and for EITHER la navidad o el nuevo año, not both. so that totally stinks, but i´m sure the time will go by quickly. i was reading interviews yesterday that the volunteers who have just left wrote and according to all of them the times goes by quick.</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff99ff;">My first three months in site are doing to be different. school ends in 2 weeks so i am not going to be working in the schools yet, but iwill still have a lot to do. i have to get to know my town and the people and hopefully some kids too. maybe i´ll even get to play some soccer with the kids around town. vamos a ver. </span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff99ff;">so please don´t get worried when i don´t write often. i will have a phone that you can always call if you are worried about me. but i´ll try to continue to keep in touch. </span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;color:#ff99ff;">take care all! and wish me luck! </span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-17385621200125230062007-11-10T12:43:00.000-08:002007-11-10T14:20:49.372-08:006 days!<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 255);">In 6 days I am going to be an official PCV (peace corps volunteer)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and so proud of all the people in my group that have stuck it out and will be there with me on friday to swear-in. Unfortunately we have had 2 people leave the group, but our group is awesome and ready to get to work.<br />I have been uber-busy lately. We had to wrap-up stuff at our schools and the three of us gave a capacitación to the teachers in our school over the guía that we use, b-c we gave them one as a gift to say thanks for letting us work in their aulas, and having patience with our spanish. Speaking of spanish, i had my final interview yesterday. I am not worried about being at the level you have to be at to ¨graduate¨ training, but I am anxious to see how i did, vamos a ver! I don´t think i could count the number of times i use that frase daily (or have used that frase since starting the peace corps process). <br />So for those of you that don´t know, i got a cell phone, but it´s not cheap, and right now i have no choice but to be pinche (cheap) b-c i have no money' lol, after all i am v-o-l-u-n-t-e-e-r-i-n-g. no worries, have enough to get me through, just not to talk for hours on the phone. feel free to call me b-c that is free for me, but i will probably only be calling the states after 8pm, and not frequently.<br />So monday will be my last day and night in the house that i have called my home for the past 10 weeks, and with the family that has taken me in and showed me how to do everything from flush the toilet (i´m telling you it is not as easy as just dumping the balde into the toilet bowl, there is a science to it) to wash my clothes and ride the bus. They are amazing, and i hope to visit them soon! my niece is obsessed with strawberry shortcake, chiquita fresa, and could talk about her all the time, my sister loves to sew and is attending classes to become a costurera (i think that´s how it is spelled) and my mom is awesome, can´t understand her some times, but has more patience with me than i probably have with her. my other sister is hilarious, is much smarter than she appears, and is a great mother to her two daughters. and my little sobrinita, adorable! she´s two and i have taught her to walk like a model with her hands on her hips, and she calls me Memoli. I will truly miss them. And i just made them french toast & bacon, over a fire, with a TINY pan, and believe me it was not easy, and i really don´t know if they liked it, but i did! tasted like sunday morning when dad used to make us the french toast out of the special cinnamin swirl bread (well didn´t taste exactly like that, but close enough that it made me remember it).<br />But i am totally excited to get started with work. I have so many things that i want to do! I want to make school veggie gardens, and work with the farmers to do worm boxes, maybe even the kids too. I want to hopefully work with the alcaldía (mayors office) and the centro de salud. but those are big dreams, so vamos a ver!<br />I am planning on living with a family for probably more than just 6 weeks there, depending on available housing, and cost. I´d rather spend more money traveling and more time working than worrying about keeping up a house and cooking all of my meals. but i don´t know, just depends on how much freedom i feel like i need. the new family seems really great tho. gotta build that confianza, but i know it will come with time. (as hopefully my spanish will to)<br />And for all of those that don´t know, i am going to be living close to the beach, and even closer to...manglares! (mangroves) i could not be more excited. i know that we have some serpientes peligrosos, like boas, but i still have to do some exploring. i have already established with my new family and counterpart that i am allergic to shellfish, and i feel like in that sense i am lucky, b-c i can use it as an excuse not to eat a lot of stuff, but also need to be aware of what i am eating b-c chinandega has a lot of shrimp-packing plants (and shrimp farms as well) but they cultivate other types of shellfish, and the people that work there often bring it home for their families to eat. Not to mention the lovely road that i get to take from Chinandega to my site. It´s a peach, but good news for me and the people that live there, the road is getting paved! But this is one of those processes that can take years in the states, so i´m just hoping that by the time i am COSing the road will be paved. who knows. but for me this is important, you see b-c it takes 1hr and 15min to travel roughly 15km.(i´m debating if i could ride my bike faster) and well after that long on a bumpy road in a hot bus with the lady sitting in front of me transporting her freshly (or not so freshly) cut meat, well i was not feeling so well. luckly i returned to managua from chinandega with my friends, and we stopped in léon to eat at a hostel (which apparently serves amazing pasta but i wouldn´t know b-c i was throwing up in the bathroom most of the time) and then from léon continued onto managua, in a bus that decided to break down well before we pulled out of the mercado, as well as got in roughly 3 accidents on the trip, and i swear at one time we broke 80mph. all i can say is thank-goodness for the sturdy plastic bags that our cellphones came in. Next time i´ll pass on the warm milk and sweet bread for breakfast. <br /><br />But Nicaragua is great. Lately people have been asking if i really like it here or not. And the answer is without a doubt, yes. But it´s life, no matter where you live it, and in a developing country that life is harder, for a gringa maybe not that much harder, but for the people that are my friends, family, and co-workers here, it is. Also, no matter where you are, there are those things that just get to you, the trash on the ground, the neighbor´s repeatative blaring of the same 3/4 of a song over and over at the crack of dawn b-c the luz goes out at like 7:30 every morning (gotta aprovechar la luz!) or your neighbor that is so obsessed with his lawn that you don´t even dare to touch it, much less step on it. Here there is still the same drive to have money and be successful as in the states; but that is not necessarily the primary motivator. Here there are people with various (very passionate) religious beliefs, same as political. But there are challenges here that the majority of americans are not forced to face everyday back in the states. Lack of access to water (especially potable water), strong social norms i.e. gender roles, extremely high unemployment, little assistance for higher education, transportation system that is slow and at times dangerous, and education system that is struggling to accomodate a massive population increase and at the same time change itself for the better. Family here, is extremely important, what your parents, grandparents think is important, and there is much more obligation on the part of the youth to support their family. Nicaragua is poor financially speaking, but the culture is anything but. <br />I have definately learned a lot about Nicaragua, it´s people, it´s culture, and it´s history in the past 2 months, and I am excited to learn more. In order to conocer this beautiful country, it takes time, and that is something I am lucky enough to have. <br />and i was going to post pics, but my batteries in my camera keep dying. i dunno if there is soemthing wrong, but if someone who loves me wants to send me some rechargable batteries, i would not be opposed.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">interesting nica details </span>(they are not really facts, but commonly held opinions)<br />Chinandega is hot, not just like hot, but i mean HOT.<br />Shade will be more valuable to me in the next two years than my IPod.<br />The preferred way to drink gaseosa (soda) is out of a plastic bag with a straw.<br />Red beans have more flavor than black, and therefore everytime you make gallo pinto, or rice and beans (b-c they are 2 different types of comida) you have to use red. (with this i fully disagree)<br />Oil is needed to prepare all of the following, beans, rice, veggies, soy, tortillas, gallo pinto, soup well pretty much everything except for fresh fruit, and maybe steamed veggies, b-c that´s questionable.<br />It is considered slutty to have your bra strap show, but it´s cool to wear your black bra with your white lacy top.<br />You can carry anything with you on a bus, including (but not limited to) chickens (live and wing-flapping), meat, entertainment centers, baskets, pottery, mattresses, and anything that can be boughten or sold at the market. <br />Music can never be to loud.<br />Taking a shower in the middle of the day is dangerous, and if you happen to get a cold or sneeze the following week, the shower is to blame. (this one i´m on the fence with)<br />You cannot and i mean cannot drink milk when you eat a nacatamal. Only coffee.<br />Ketchup is a delicasy and makes everything taste good, including cold spagetti noodles. (i think they like it more than americans do! and definately with more sugar)<br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-42689536616767563682007-11-02T12:46:00.000-07:002007-11-02T12:50:39.733-07:00Back home again<span style="font-family:arial;color:#33ccff;">So i realized that i have been MIA for a bit. I was on my site visit in... Chinandega! yes that is where i will be living for the next two years. not too far from the capital city, but not beachside. However, there are mangroves close by and its only like 2 hrs to the beach. and i got a cellphone finally! hope you all are doing well. i am fully recovered from the sicknesses, although i did get bus sick on the way back into managua. my road to my site is really bad. takes over an hr to travel 15km! yeah, it was not easy. but things are going well. we swear-in in 2 weeks! yay i'll finally be a real volunteer! </span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-57713083016099940662007-10-19T16:07:00.000-07:002007-10-19T16:10:54.671-07:00Sweet Recovery<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 153);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Well i am doing better, thank you all for the concern and support. it was hard being so far away from home, all i wanted was my confy bed (which i then realized that i sold it before i left, so even if i was home i wouldn´t have lol) but i´m doing well. going through the motions. i taught on thursday, horrible time managment, but i am learning, and it is a process. it´s called training for a reason i suppose. And i find out my site on this coming wednesday! we are all so nervous and excited. keep your fingers crossed for me guys!</span><br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-85700759328731815662007-10-14T14:07:00.000-07:002007-10-14T14:24:19.413-07:00Parasites, Amoebas, and Bacteria, oh my!<span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Well this has been an interesting week and a half. We are currently in the process of getting our site assignments, so we had our volunteer visit and had a site fair in which we learned about all the different departments. Friday we had our mid-training language interview which i did horrible on, but oh well.<br />By far, the most exciting thing that has happened to me so far, is having the oportunity to experience what it feels like to a whole little party of parasites and bacteria living inside of me! Ok, so maybe exciting is the best adjective to use to describe this experience. Last week, the overwelming feeling of nausea forced my host sister and i to go to a labortorio in the next town over, after carrying my lovely sample with me, then getting blood taken (which luckily was just a prick on the finger, but i did NOT know that going in and was nervous as all good be), and waiting an hour to get the results that i had.... lumbrices (huevos de lumbrices to be exact) living inside of me! But that´s just the beginning, but yesterday I got to go the lab again, different side effects this time, and i currently am in the possession of amoebas and bacteria! Not gonna lie, i´d prefer the worm eggs right now, but I´m doing well, got some meds (gotta take 3 different kind!) and i´m just sleeping alot. The lab i went to yesterday was beautiful by the way, so that was reassuring. And i really can´t complain, bc like i´be been saying, i want to make all the mistakes possible during training so that i´ll know how to handle things when i get to my site! I trully feel prepared now. hahahahaha<br />The only thing that bums me out was that i didn´t get to enjoy my afternoon off yesterday or go out with my friends last night! I have been looking forward to that for weeks now!<br />I wish i had time to really talk about Nicaragua. All of my friends i feel have shared very insightful opinions about the country and culture and the similarities and differences between here and the US. I promise i´ll get to that, but you know it will be long so i´ll save it for another day!<br />Also, currently Nicaragua has experienced heavier than usual rains and a lot of flooding and landsliding has been the result. All of the volunteers from the northern departments have been evacuated from their sites and are safe and sound, all others are awaiting further notice, but while the peace corps community in Nica is safe, many Nicaraguans have not been as fortunate. Many are sick, stranded from help, are missing or unfortunately did not survive, please keep the country and the region in your thoughts. The massive amount and constent pace of the rain has over saturated the ground, and even in urban areas there is a lot of flooding.<br /></span></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-35739941168903550372007-10-04T19:25:00.000-07:002007-10-04T19:52:58.556-07:00he regresado!<span style="color: rgb(102, 255, 255);"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I returned yesterday night from a ciudad in the department of Matagalpa. Amazing place. Went through matalgalpa, matagalpa (capital city of matagalpa) and it was awesome. the mountains are soo pretty and views the clouds and the sky of every hue of light blue imaginable. Definately was a visit that was interesting. The town i visited was large, and i am now definately thinking that i want to go to a small site. Which is strange b-c of you would have asked me before i left, one of my biggest fears was that i would be placed in a site that was small. I definately feel like a town of 15,000 ppl is too huge for me. a few thousand would be perfect. But who knows where they will send me. I wish i could say that i returned rejuvenated and ready to work, but i think i hade more motivation before i left. at least more idealism-optimism. Now i see how things can set in and how easy it is to just do the status quo. I don´t want to just do the status quo. That´s definately not my reason for being here. If anything it is the exact opposite. I think i have officially come into what Cuerpo de Paz calls the second phase of adjustment. The "honeymoon" period has worn off and reality is setting in. Or my perception of reality which is false and totally nitpicky. hahaha. i will adjust, the visit helped a bit with reality check too. I know that I can do this job, and that was something that I needed to be reassured of. However, the trip back was an interesting one. I returned solo (my trip there was with another aspirante). I took a bus that went straight to managua so i did not have to go through the dept. capital. However, the bus was packed with ppl! And i don´t mean sitting 3 to a seat packed, i mean crammed like sardines standing in the aisle packed. I was scared of squishing the little boys standing beside me when we took a sharp curve. For roughly 3 of the 4 hrs i stood. Which stunk not only b-c i was tired and hot and feared my nausea from the night before might return, but b-c i missed the view, i couldn´t see out the windows! But finally, about an hour outside of managua, the old man sitting in the seat next to me stood up so i could sit down, very kind of him considering it really looked like he could use all the rest he could get. And THEN I SAW THE VIEW, mountains and a river that looked so peaceful, and the rain started so the clouds came in, and i LOVE the rain (as you all know) IT was wonderful, made the 3 hrs of standing totally worth it.<br />This week has sped by. I cannot believe that my 5th week here is over! However, i am glad to be back in my training town with my host family. They are so comforting, they really help me feel at home. Especially when my stomach is cramping and they tell me that i am not allowed to have eggs or milk b-c that will make it worse, and when they check my body temp. b4 they serve me coffee just to make sure i am not too cold (b-c that would just make me worse). They have already invited me back for christmas, and i could not be more excited. well maybe if all my family and friends from the states came down to visit, but i am not seeing that as being a possibility. :)<br />We still have so much to do before training is over, and we really do not have much time!<br />I wish i had a funny story to tell, I am sure i will after this weekend. We are finally going to visit the volcano! Definately recommend to all of you to read the Moon Handbook to Nicaragua, its amazing and the deatials are awesome. written by RPCVs (returned peace corps volunteers) that did their training in one of the pueblos blancos también.<br />Next week i am going to visit a dump! sooo excited, will explain more later!<br /><br /><br /></span></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-44670802733009310082007-09-28T20:19:00.000-07:002007-09-28T20:27:43.964-07:00Long week<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 153, 255);">Wow what a long week! My heat is pounding as i sit here staring at this screen, but i have to write and tell how great things have gone this week. First, thank you soooo much Aunt Nancy for the care package, sooo sweet and the coloring books, crayons, and stickers are a big hit with my sobrina. (the other aspirantes loved the peeps) My fav was the pictures tho, and the crystal light packets. For future reference, anyone who would like to send me things, chocolate is always good, preferably something sealed well b-c it will melt, pictures, and crystal like packs, or emergen-C packs. there are other things también, but i can´t think of them right now. plus i really can get a lot of things here, but finding good quality markers and crayons has been impossible.<br />teaching went well. i didn´t make any huge mistakes. the lesson was simple. its amazing how much i underestimed the amount of time they would need. i definately went like 15 min over. but the teacher was cool with it, she is great, already asking when i will be back. best behaved 5th grade class i´ve been to (with the exception of Mrs. Foster´s class of course ;) who i miss dearly!)<br />sunday i go on my volunteer visit, and return on wednesday. will finally get a chance to see what its really like and what i´ve really signed myself up for. i´m actually going to an area that they say gets fairly cool at night, so should be interesting. i have a good 6 hrs to spend on a bus, so plenty of time to think. lol<br />will write again when i return!<br /></span></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-90481297541878872952007-09-26T20:18:00.000-07:002007-09-26T20:21:48.757-07:001 month today!<span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: bold;">One month today! Don´t have much time. But wanted to say happy B-Day thomas! love and miss you of course. hope you got my voicemail! Also, today marks the 4 week point that i have been here. crazy. i teach a class tomorrow! can you believe that, i can´t. I really hope i don´t screw up and end up cursing at the kids instead of telling them to raise their hands before they speak. lol wish me luck.<br />So far things are going well. really really busy this week with planning my lesson and our meeting and preparing for my volunteer visit! will write again soon! love you all!<br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-11178876146081646312007-09-21T19:05:00.000-07:002007-09-21T19:22:51.167-07:00Attempting to be Nica<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 255, 255);">Felt like writing in this color b-c i feel that it describes my mood! hahahahah today was long, and busy. and i definately went through some different moods. but all in all the day ended so positively. We had training all day. Which is good b-c we get to meet current volunteers and pick their brains apart about every possible scenario that could happen in the schools or at our sites in general. the meetings (charlas) always run long, i´m sure they love us! hahahaha. I also met the volunteer that I am going to be visiting in a week! YAY! I could not be more excited to see how things are at a site. It is definately really really far from where i am now, but hopefully i´ll be able to travel most of the way (4 hr bus ride) with another aspirante and then she will meet me in the department capital and we will ride another 2 hrs by bus to her site! That is definately going to be an adventure! hahahha. I am really hoping to go shopping tomorrow! hahahahha yeah im defintely roughing it huh. hahhaaha actually i have not been yet, and its not like i am going to be going to a mall. definately some outdoor markets. Hasler, you would definately appreciate it when i say that i times i feel like i am living in the Suzanna y Javier book. hahahhaha<br />All in all i have no complaints. I just hope that my spanish is improving more than i can tell. As my facilitator (spanish teacher más o menos) told me, we are each our toughest critic. But i know that i speak easier than before (out of necessity as well as practice) but i am wondering how much vocab i am really truley remembering and how much just comes in one ear and gets lots in translation. <br />This is week has been the longest by far, and from what i can tell they just get busier. I am slowly but surely gaining confianza with my new family, i truly do love them all dearly. I have one mom (her husband passed away 5 years ago, but was dearly loved, and i wish i could have met him, he was an agriculture engineer and new everything about the environment from what they tell me) I have two older sisters. One is in her late 20s and the other only a few years older than i am but has 2 children. So I have two neices, ages 8 and 2 1/2, that i absolutely adore! And all of her friends as well. But they are great, have a great sense of humor, and are extremely patient with me - and love to talk with me which is extremely important.<br />Nica people are definately some of the most hospitable i have ever met! Its amazing how i can walk up, introduce myself and they will invite me to sit in a rocking chair with them (b-c everybody has at least 4 in their home) for hours literally and are all patient with my broken spanish. It rains at night, which reminds me of the rain in florida and tends to get me missing the beach and my family at moments, but then i wake up in the morning to a new day, some coffee and pinapple and look out the front door at the street and realize that this is where i am supposed to be!<br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-23820506084907231152007-09-18T14:46:00.000-07:002007-09-18T15:02:42.300-07:00Week 3!<span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);">So i´m in my third week! wow this is going by fast. In like 1 week i´m going to be doing my volunteer site visit! that´s just crazy!<br />K, sad thing, i totally forget the really funny story i was going to tell in my last blog. hahaha, typical huh. no worries, i´m sure it wouldn´t have been nearly as funny for you all to read as it was for me. But lots has happened since my last post. I am totally loving my new family, not that i didn´t totally love the last one as well, and i still talk to my sister from my other family so that is great :) But yes, things are going well at home, i am starting to wonder how much weight i am going to gain considering 75% of my meals are fried, hahaha. gotta love that. at least i get fruit for breakfast everyday, which i totally love! And i went on a hike with some of my fellow aspirantes that live in the surrounding pueblos. we hiked all the way down to Laguna de Apoyo. OMG was that long, it took us 30 min to get down there, and it is one steep hike, and a good hour and 20 min to get up. I thought i was going to lose my legs they were so tired. But i´m totally stoked b-c i learned that there is a place to rent kayaks on the laguna!!!!!!!!! A friend and i are hoping to go soon! Oh i miss kayaking soo much. And the laguna is beautiful. Crystal clear and deep blue. Its really deep too, but calm and beautiful. After the hike, we went to the Mirador in Catarina, which is a huge tourist spot and i totally understand why. You can see the city of Granada from the mirador and lake nicaragua! It´s amazing! The three days of body pains is totally worth the swim in the lake. It was so refreshing! And i definately recommend that if you come to visit me you have to see this!<br />We also had our first meeting with our grupo de jóvenes last night. oh the joy, actually it was fun. we made a community map and talked about this saturday when we get to make our Vivero! Going to be soo exciting, i can´t wait! We had all the kids volunteer to bring tools, i couldn´t believe how many kids were like, i´ll bring a machete! I was just standing there thinking, guess its better you than me considering i have never even held one of those things before! Guess that will be changing soon tho! Wish me luck b-c next week i am giving my first charla to a classroom in the elementary school! ahhhhhhh i hardly feel like i am capable of doing that, but i guess i´ll find out soon. Well i think we are going to go get some icecream tonight! which i am totally stoked about!<br />hope you are all doing well and enjoying the beginning of fall! the weather is still the same here, hotter than you can imagine or cool and rainy. Keep up the comments, i love them!!<br /></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-81733786443124000332007-09-15T14:02:00.000-07:002007-09-15T14:12:37.603-07:00El día de independencia<span style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 51, 255);"> <span style="font-family: arial;">Today is independence day for Nicaragua. And this is a new thing for me, obviously. Yesterday was a celebration of winning a battle, can´t remember the name b/c i am horrible, but from what i learned it was against what i believe were american marines, and the Nicas won. (they were out numbered and fought by throwing rocks, so that´s kinda of a big deal, i´d probably celebrate too). But yesterday was huge, parades in everytown, traditional dances and the works. Today, nothing.No parades, no festivals, no fiestas, nada. And i wwas really hoping to get to go to a fiesta or two. Guess I´ll just have to wait :)<br />Anyways, life is going well with the new family. They are very kind and hospitable. They are always home and spend lots of time talking with me (well more like talking and i try to catch what they are saying so that i can say something in return.) Its actually not that bad, just the different accent is hard to get. i need to talk with lots of different ppl so that i get used to it. Oh, but i have a huge room! seriously think it is bigger than the last one, and definately bigger than my room in my last apartment! Crazy. I have an inodoro, so in that since i have very lucky that i do not have to use a latrine. It doesn´t flush, I have to poor a huge bucket of water into the bowl to flush it each time, and this my friends is a science. You have to raise the bolde high enough in the air that it has enough force to flush the water, but not so high that you splatter the water all over yourself and the entire bathroom. lol, which of course it has taken me many attempts, along with an instructional lesson from my sister. oh the joys! it´s a good thing i´m not shy. hahha. oh and i finally get to take bucket baths. i actually prefer them. i can take my time and not feel that i am wasting water. and its honestly not as cold. I wish i had more time b-c i have an hilarious story. but i will have to wait until next time.<br />love and miss you all!<br /></span></span></span></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3566331051116684378.post-67832889018535100132007-09-13T13:51:00.000-07:002007-09-13T13:54:22.539-07:00Buenos!<span style="color: rgb(204, 102, 204);">Hey fam and friends, sorry this is short. Don´t have much time, have to go to an interview. I just wanted to let ppl know that i have changed to a different house. I´ll explain more later, nothing wrong or bad happened, just found a family that would have more time to spend with my during the day which is uber important especially when practicing spanish is my job right now. Anyways, don´t call the old number i gave you. I will let you know when or if i get a new one. i hope to buy a cell this weekend or next week ;)<br />love and miss you all!<br />p.s. i´m doing great. love the new family' it´s bigger than my last one, and i love nica!<br /></span>Emaleehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05356680321051467996noreply@blogger.com0