A Taste of America... Chinese Food

I think it's a little sad how I excited I was to make lunch today. I mean, it was a spice packet mix from the USA that my friend Nick had brought down with him. It was amazing how good it tasted... General Tso's Chicken... a little spicy, a little sweet, and with brown rice it rocked my world.

This lunch on top of the great morning I had in San Ramon working with Taza Llena, a little cafe associated with the NGO Sembrando Esperanza, I will sleep well tonight feeling like I actually got something done.
I had a great meeting with Laura my friend who heads up operations at Taza Llena and we worked on a market study this morning, so we can design a marketing campaign. She has everything in place, she says, she just needs more people to come through the door. Story of every small business right?

Well keep making good choices, and I will work on updating the rest of my vacation in a blog later. Love you all!

Schools out for the semester!

We are currently on a one week vacation between semesters here in Nicaragua (the school year runs from February to December). As a result, I decided to take advantage of the free time and go visit a fellow volunteer, Matt, and see the famous El Castillo and Rio San Juan.

I took off on a Sunday morning, having to travel to Managua first in order to grab a direct bus to get to San Carlos, Rio San Juan. Luckily, a fellow PCV - Bob was heading back to his site (El Castillo) and we were able to get the last two seats on the bus together! It's always nicer to travel 5 hours on a bus with a buddy.

Bob and I on the bus to San Carlos, Rio San Juan

When we arrived, we saw that the sun had finally peaked through the clouds and it was actually going to be a beautiful sunset, so as soon as we met up with Matt we ran down to the Malecon (the pier) to watch the sun set. It was beautiful and a perfect end to a long day on buses.

Sunset over Rio San Juan and Lake Nicaragua

After the sunset, we headed to the local pizza joint owned by a German. And we have good pizza here in Matagalpa but man, was this good. It might be the best pizza in all of Nicaragua... in San Carlos none the less.

Matt with his pizza and beer

Bob with his pizza, yes he ate it all by himself.

Monday, we all headed to Bob's site El Castillo which is located about 1.5 hours from San Carlos in a fast boat, or 3 hours in a slow one, down the Rio San Juan (Yes its the name of the department and the river itself). Here is the story of El Castillo in case you are interested: El Castillo

A full boat!

Bob and I had to sit in the back of the boat, but no worries that's where the cool kids sit!

Matt and I on our way to El Castillo

Military shooting the breeze on the river

My two friends I made on the boat, a grandmother and her grandaughter, she gave me a banana and a hug when she left!

The River San Juan

El Castillo from a Distance

A view of the small town from the river with El Castillo on the hill

Downtown El Castillo

Me and the Rapids at El Castillo

We spent the afternoon wandering around the small town and visiting the fort. It was interesting to get to read about the pirate history that has affected Nicaragua and the Carribean. And it's not all like the movies project!

The hotel at El Castillo where we stayed

The famous Castillo

The umbrella was a suggestion by the Nicaraguan taking my picture :)

Me and the boys

Well that's enough for now... more to follow soon. I will try to update with the rest of the weeks adventures on Sunday! Make good choices!

The Dangers of Living Abroad

Oh the dangers of living abroad... Dengue, Malaria, Food/Water bourne illnesses. Nothing compares to the one I encountered yesterday.......


The discounted hamburger dill pickles at the fancy grocery store. Sure seems harmless enough. Well let me tell you, it's not all hamburgers and hot dogs.

So I bought the jar that was discounted from 120 cordobas to 29 cordobas (because they are going to expire this month). I brought them home. Harmless enough. I opened the jar. I ate one, then two, then three. and before I knew it... the whole jar was gone! No big deal, they are just pickles right? WRONG! They are little pieces of sodium waiting to give you a massive headache and make you wake up with a swollen eye.

So beware you international travellers and expats out there... There are somethings that we miss that are better just left alone... or rather to be consumed in moderation. And this is a mistake I will NEVER make again. SO PLEASE I BEG YOU, MAKE BETTER CHOICES THAN I DID and if you are going to eat the pickles, don't eat the jar in one day!


*** PS there is no picture of my eye because by the time I thought of posting this, my eye was already back to normal.

Back to Nicaragua back to reality...

I relaized that I spend most of my time blogging about the vacations I take, or the fun trips I do, or even the more exciting aspects of my job (protype presentations etc.)

I just want everyone to know, that my life is not like that all the time (just most of it ha ha). More often than not, my time is consumed by day-to-day activities that I need to accomplish either to keep my life here running, or to make sure that I/my counterpart teachers are prepared for work. So here is an example of a normal week for me:

Monday - Wake up at 6:00am to workout then head to my NGO for the morning. I am currently working on a diagnostic tool for them (well waiting on feedback actually). Monday afternoons, I normally spend doing laundry (by hand) or reading over what is going to be happening that week.

Tuesday - Wake up a little bit later and head to the gym. I normally do the shopping on the way home (sometimes I have meetings though so this whole morning gets changed). I leave for my classes around 12:30pm and spend the rest of the afternoon at one of my schools here in Matagalpa. I then plan with my counterpart for the next week's class.

Wednesday - Wake up for an early workout, then head to my rural community San Ramon to plan with both of the teachers I work with there. I also spend some time with a different NGO that I am working with on their small business to improve operations. I normally return from San Ramon around 3 and then head to my favorite coffee shop for my weekly skype date with my parents.

Thursday - Wake up for another early workout, then plan with my other counterpart for our class later that day (this sometimes changes to Tuesdays, it just depends upon the week). I then run home, make lunch, shower, and head to class that starts at 12:45pm. It appears that Thursday afternoons will become my shopping day, since a new Supergrocery store (Walmart run) will be opening up this week between my house and the school I teach at on Thursdays.

Friday - Wake up early to go to San Ramon to co-teach a class. Then head home to then hit the gym in the afternoon if I go :)  Sometimes I have to travel to Managua on Friday afternoons for meetings.

Saturday - It ranges from meetings to washing clothes, to cooking, working out, plan with a teacher if necessary, dinner out with friends, etc.

Sunday - Sleep in, work out, cook for the first few days of the week. etc.

So that's my exciting life. I actually enjoy it because although this is my typical day, things normally get cancelled, added, etc. to always keep me on my toes. I tend not to write about these activities because well if I told you about them all the time, you would just get bored.

Keep making good choices and stay cool!

I can't believe it's July 1st already!

I simple can not believe that it is July 1st. Granted my vacation to the US helped take up the majority of the month of June, but still, where has the time all gone? I have so much work to do, and so little time to do it in.

So, let's recap my trip to the states, my return, and review how I felt when I actually got there and when I came back.

I flew into Chicago to visit my best friend from high school. Unfortunately, she was not able to come up to the family cabin, but we did get to spend some time together and that was wonderful. The funny thing is when I arrived at O'Hare's baggage claim, there was a peace corps ad right there! I took it as a sign from God that I needed to take a picture.

Yes, I'm standing on the baggage claim

LBro and JDoe

  The next day, my bro, LBro and I woke up early and headed to Marshall, MI to meet up with my parents and puppy. We had lunch at Taco Bell (the first time in years for me) and then said goodbye to LBro then headed up to the family cabin in the UP with the rest of my family, and Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. We spent a week up there walking along the beach, shopping at Walmart (cause its one of the few stores around) and eating lots of good american food.

I then headed off to Boston to visit friends from college, attend a friends wedding in Vermont, and eat more great American/Indian/Korean food. It was all so incredible I gained 5 pounds while I was back. Oops.

As it turns out, a lot of my fears about returning to the US were unfounded or never came to light. Everyone was very understanding, curious about my experience, and incredibly supportive and loving. It was incredible to see all of you and get to spend what time we had together. I had such a great time on vacation, that it made coming back that much more difficult. But it's not because I don't like my job, or that I don't love Nicaragua, but it was so nice to get to be myself - in English! - and be with people who have known me for so long, that it was hard to say yet another see you later. But I am happy to be back, trying hard to get my life organized again, and back into the swing of things.

I love you all dearly and had a great time seeing you all. Keep making good choices!

Back to the US for the first time in over a year!

Anxious. Nervous. Excited. Poor. Tired. Privileged

These are all of the emotions I am feeling right now as I sit in the airport in Managua waiting for my American Airlines flight back to the US for the first time in over a year. 

Anxious. Nervous. As I have learned from previous travels, culture shock works both ways. It’s a shock when you arrive in a new country, and it’s a shock when you go back home. All of the in-your-face aspects of American Life, fast paced, advertisement filled, iphone carrying, gives me a minor panic attack. I have been enjoying my somewhat technology disconnected, cheap cell phone, and developing economy existence. It’s simple, it’s cheap, it’s underwhelming. And now the prospect of getting sucked back into the stream is a little nerve-racking. 

Excited. I have been through so many changes both personally and professionally that I am excited to introduce the new me to my family and friends in the US. I look different, I feel different, I think different. Look out America, here comes the new ME!

Poor. I just spent a third of what I make in a month as a Peace Corps Volunteer on one night at a hotel. Cringe. Ouch. Don’t forget to breathe. Not to mention the airfare is three times as much as I make in a month. As happy as I am working as a PCV, I have to admit it is not easy to be around people who have the ability to have an iphone, have a car (not even a nice one, just a car!), etc. I need to make it clear that while I am happy not having one in Nicaragua, it’s hard to be around it when in the states, especially when those that possess these objects have no real understanding how amazing and special it is to have one. 

Tired. I thought I was just going to hop on the bus to Managua this morning and get off at the airport, get on my flight and be back in the US. Well that was until I heard there was going to be a roadblock between where I live and Managua TODAY! So I literally threw things into my bag (luckily it was already mostly packed), blew kisses at my homestay family, left the pan of brownies I had made for a friend’s birthday cooling on the stove, and ran to catch the last express bus to Managua. On the way texted friends letting them know that I had to cancel our plans for last night due to the situation, and stayed the night at the hotel near the airport. But that’s not why I’m tired. I’m tired because it’s hard to be a Peace Corps Volunteer and be an overachiever at the same time. Haha. I say this half seriously, and half jokingly. I see so many things that I want to do, or help with, or just the constant running back and forth between schools, on foot or public transportation, the heat, the rain. It just eventually catches up to you, especially when you stop.

Privileged. As I sit here thinking about how nervous I am to go back, because I don’t have as much money as others, or that I am afraid to get sucked into the commercial stream, I also realize how incredibly blessed and privileged I am to even be sitting here worrying about this. Most of the people I live and work with here in Nicaragua can only dream about visiting the United States for two weeks. It’s hard to realize that as much as I am integrated into my Nicaraguan life, I am also just that easily removed from it and the hardships that it might imply. Crap… feeling an existential crisis coming on haha.

So that is my cathartic rant for the moment. I can now forget those fears and just be excited to see family and friends that I haven’t seen in over a year, celebrate a friend’s wedding, and relax with my puppy (who is a giant dog by now!). Holy cow. America! Here I come!

The Teacher Training that FINALLY Happened!

I had been working with the MINED office for the past three months to put together a training for my fellow OTV (the class that I help teach) teachers, and we had it all set for last month’s teacher workshop (TEPCE) where all the teachers in a municipality come together to either plan classes, or receive some sort of workshop in their teaching specialty. I was going to give the workshop for OTV, but a few days before, I received a phone call saying that ALL of the teachers were going to be receiving a different workshop and that we would have to put off mine once again. (yes this had happened before) We immediately chose a new date, and I am happy to report… it was a success. 

In fact, it was better that we put it off because we were able to have 30!!!! teachers attend the workshop instead of the normal 12 that show up to our group to plan! I had two of the Emprendedurismo teachers who have a few years teaching the course help me with the workshop and I was able to learn from their teaching experience and they were able to learn some tricks of mine. Even a teacher who had taught the class for 6 years was able to learn something new! We covered one of the more difficult topics: Market Study and were able to show the teachers how to teach the material while providing them with suggestions on how to make their classes more dynamic and interesting. We had lots of great feedback and I hope we will be able to do a few more in the somewhat near future! It was a great day over all!

Here are some pictures!

Fellow OTV Teacher Bismark helping with the session

Teachers presenting group work

More presensations

Not the best picture of me, but it is an action picture :)

Particpants

 

My Counterpart Lidia explaining how to analyze a Market Study

Group Work 1

Group Work 2

Make good choices!