I like rice and beans...

a year later...

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:40:20 GMT

So much has happened since the last post. For one thing, I've completed my two years of Peace Corps service. (hooray!!) It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but well worth the time and effort. I would never trade my two years in Nicaragua for two years in the United States. Peace Corps has been a truly unique experience.

And now, I'm busy getting healthy again and looking for a job. I really expected a harder time with reverse culture shock, but the transition home has been surprisingly smooth.

Things I'm enjoying again, State-side:
- hot showers
- not sweating 24/7
- daily trips to the gym
- fluffy bed
- fruits and veggies galore
- public library (magazines! books! for freeee!)
- customer service

Things I realized I don't miss at all, State-side:
- television

Things I'm missing from Nicaragua:
- greeting everyone on the street with "adios"
- the cheek-to-cheek kiss greeting
- randomly visiting people in their houses
- seeing rolling hills for miles and miles
- the other Peace Corps volunteers

Things I don't miss from Nicaragua:
- piropos (cat calls)
- being stared-at 24/7
- washing jeans by hand
- chicken poop, cow poop

Wish me luck on the job search. More updates later!

runner's high

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:38:23 GMT

You know how some people feel this indescribable ecstasy when running, AKA runner´s high?
Well, that`s kinda how I feel right now. I guess we could call it... Peace Corps high.

I´d been feeling pretty low for the past couple of months: my pace of work slowing down partly due to factors outside my control, being out of my site often because of training newby Peace Corps trainees, doubts about the effectiveness of my work here as a volunteer. All of these things compounded and created an abyss of desultory inanition that I could not escape. It got pretty grim.

But then something happened... maybe you have to hit bottom before rising again... maybe it was seeing the work of other volunteers from the viewpoint of the new trainees... but something injected me with a renewed sense of motivation. I went to the Health Center, suggested new projects, followed up on previous ones and hounded people to make sure they followed through. This is what I´m up to now:

HIV/AIDS Billiards Tournament to target the male population in my municipality
Outfitting all schools in municipality with first aid kits, training teachers in first aid
Outfitting all primary schools in municipality with fluoride, training teachers in weekly application of fluoride rinses for kids
Outfitting all casas bases (one house per community) with first aid kits, training health brigades in first aid
Capacitations on Sexual Repro Health in farthest comarcas in my municipality and a neighboring municip.
Coordinating more with Ministry of Education (target parents of students, incorporate sex. and repro health in curriculum, etc)
Working with Spanish NGO Medicos del Mundo to build casa materna / renovate casa de adolescentes, revitalize youth group, and focus on male population.
Strengthen health brigade network (create brigadista appreciation days and give regular capacitations etc)
Math tutoring
English lessons

This is the most exciting period of time, when everything is still full of possibility, when things are being newly discussed. We´ll see how many of these things actually work out. But for now, at least, I feel like I have direction in my work, I feel more involved in my community, and I am excited about all of these projects. I remember why it is that I am here, that there is value in this work, that there is so much work to be done. And for the first time, I´m realizing that two years really is not enough time. That maybe there is Never enough time for this perpetual, on-going, long-term work. That I have to take full, FULL advantage of my precious two years here. That perhaps, after all this vacillation, I will decide to continue this work after my two years of Peace Corps. Next item in long-term to-do list? International Development grad school!

the faint of heart

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:48:20 GMT

PC is not for the faint of heart.

Often, you get zero support from your country counterparts. You care more than do the people themselves. You try your best but things still don`t work out. And what little that does work out is critized and taken apart.

This week I went to a different outlying community every day to give charlas on HIV/AIDS.. I must have walked something like 20+ miles. The first day was to Carrizal. Only one person showed up at the charla but we gave it anyway, to educate at least that one person, and get some practice in for the youth health promoters.

The second day was El Cerro. The doctor in charge of the HIV/AIDS program at the health center was supposed to accompany me, but she didn`t show up. And didn`t bother telling me that she wasn`t going to show up. So I waited an hour, then went alone. I met up with the promoters that live in the community. Nobody showed up to attend the charla. Finally, we rounded up some random kids and gave it to them. Because we started later than planned, by the time we finished, it was getting dark. I ran all the way home down the mountain, maybe 2 miles, debating whether walking quietly and unnoticed would protect me better against rapists and thieves. By the time I got back safely into town and my adrenaline stopped flooding my system, I noticed that my legs were jelly and I couldn`t tell whether it was out of fear or exertion.

The third day was Las Pozas. I woke up with legs so sore I could hardly get to the latrine. The HIV/AIDS doctor doesn`t show up, again. To get to the community was twenty minutes in a bus, then 50min walking. We get there and nobody shows up. Either the doctor who told me he invited didn`t invite, or he invited and nobody could/wanted to come. Also, we find out that the high school in the community just changed their schedule from morning to afternoon, so all the youth was in school. We left.

The fourth day (today) was La Honda. One of the promoters that was supposed to give the charla with me didn`t show up. Rather, I saw him in the street and he acted dumb and said he thought the charla was Tomorrow. Thankfully, I had the foresight to sign up two other promoters, knowing in advance that he was irresponsible. I limp my way to the community, about a 40 min walk. The uphills were much kinder than the down, since none of the muscles that allow me to go down stairs or down a slope were functioning. My knees buckled randomly and my hips ached as my unnatural gait placed undue pressure on them. When we finally get there, we discover that the health brigade worker that was supposed to invite the youth did not invite. Again, we round up random kids on the street and give them the charla. I didn`t buy refreshments because I couldn`t walk and because the two youth giving the charla with me were in a rush to another activity. (refreshments help ensure that youth will return to your charlas, hence their importance). Being the perfectionist that I am, I got upset that we didn`t give refreshments, but there was no time. There was the painful walk back to embark upon! All I wanted to do then was call my sitemate or fellow volunteer and VENT, but of Course there was no cellphone signal in the community where we were. So I limped back, reminding myself that I am only human, I tried my best, and that`s that. At least we educated Some youth, no?

Tomorrow my sitemate and I will head to León for a weekend vacation to the beach. I cannot wait, it is just what I need.

I just hope I´ll physically be able to get out of bed and board that bus!

fishbowl beach

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:12:23 GMT

I got back to country and site almost a month a go, on exactly the same date as when I first arrived for Peace Corps, exactly one year later. This means that I´v been in country for a year already! And the end of March will mark one year in site! I can´t say that time has flown, but thinking about the fact that I only have a year left in PC does make me want to take more advantage of the year.

This week will be crazy busy, going out to the communities with my youth health promoters to give charlas on HIV/AIDS. We´re finishing up the series of charlas in these communities, from Sexual and Repro Rights to Contraceptive Methods to HIV/AIDS.

I´ll be working all the way into the weekend, including Saturday, but with a reward at the end of the tunnel: I´m heading to the beach in León with my site mate, the volunteer in St. Tomas, and some youth and adults from St. T. It´s technically a youth club excursion, but my sitemate and I are treating it as a vacation since no youth from our site is going so we´re not responsible for Anything but enjoying ourselves. I plan to bring a good book or two, my ipod, big towel, and lots of sunscreen.

Then Monday and Tuesday are the Fiestas Patronales of Cinco Pinos. Being a Catholic country, each town has its patron saint and celebrate the saint once a year in multi-day bacchanales. There will be cotton candy, crafts and jewelry, live music with Dimensión Costeña (a great band from the Atlantic Coast), and people from all over the country, even Costa Rica and Honduras. This will be my first time seeing the Fiestas of Cinco Pinos so I´m excited. Megan and Liz (volunteers from sites close to mine) are gonna be here too!

After a few more weeks of studying, I´ll be taking the GRE on Feb 21, so everyone send me good luck vibes on that day! I´ll be in Managua on the 19th and 20th anyway to plan and give charlas on Adolescent Pregnancy Risks and Diversity to the new health volunteers (the newbies came in a coupla weeks ago!), which works out nicely. I´m looking forward to meeting the newbies, eating some good food, taking warm showers, fluffy beds, air conditioning, and finally taking the GRE!

THEN on the 22nd to 25th of Feb, one of the newbies will be visiting me for his/her volunteer visit! Remember when I went to Telpaneca, Madriz and picked coffee for my volunteer visit? Well, I´ll be the volunteer this time, hosting a trainee! If everything works out, he/she will go to one of the communities with me and my youth to give an HIV/AIDS charla and maybe participate in some salida at the health center.

So, a very busy month indeed. And somewhere buried in there is my birthday! I´m not quite sure what I want to do yet, but definitely something chill. Just as good meal with friends and maybe watching a video on my laptop will be enough, haha. Gone are my crazy party days and ways. I enjoy a good dance party every once in a while, but most of the time I prefer chillaxing. Is this a sign of old age? Hmm... How bout we think of it as a sign of maturity!

That´s what February looks like for me. Then we´ll be steamrolling it into March, full speed ahead! And boy are there goodies to look forward to in March! (plans for visiting Laguna de Apoyo, a lake in a volcano crater, and lobster-champaign brunch at the Intercontinental Hotel!)

home sweet home

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:47:20 GMT

America is so beautiful.

Arriving at the Houston airport was a complete reverse culture shock. Spanish kept on trying to escape from my lips. And I experienced such a sensory overload that at one point all I could do was just sit down and look around. I haven't been around so many people in such a long time, and so many people that look so completely different from one another! and who speak so many different languages! Never before have I appreciated this country's beautiful diversity as I do now.

Today has been a long and draining day. I woke up at 5:00am to try to fly standby on the 7:30am plane, but they wouldn't let me without a $600 fee. So, I had to leave on my original flight, which was Supposed to be at 1:07pm but due to bad weather, didn't leave until 3:50pm. The delay made it impossible for me to catch my next Two connecting flights, such that the only way I could get home Today was to buy an additional round trip ticket and change my itinerary. Add in another delay on the [new] second leg of my trip and you have mom and I getting home at 1am. :P I am so exhausted, physically and emotionally (several times I thought I wouldn't be able to make it home today), but am as happy as a clam.

Things making me happy:

MY MOM!!!
HOT SHOWER!!!
CARPET!!!!!
nice smelling shampoo and body wash
my room
our apartment
mom's chocolate butter cookies
mom's wonton soup
mom's love and hugs
feeling absolutely, 110% CLEAN!
Barack Obama commemorative edition Newsweek (made me cry and feel so proud to be an American)
Dwell interior design architecture magazine
my computer!
did I mention my mom's love and hugs?

Every fiber of my being is soaking up every sight smell sound touch taste and texture :D Eating at our dining room table felt so surreal that I was going to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, except I didn't because I didn't want to risk waking up. I'm looking forward to feeling pretty again, and stuffing myself with every vegetable, sea creature, and "ethnic" dish I can get my hands on hahaha

Perhaps the most significant realization is how absolutely fortunate I am to have so much and live so comfortably. Living in Nicaragua for so long had made me forget just how much I have here in the States. Coming back, seeing and remembering stirs up a complex amalgam of emotions, each inadequate and superficial on its own but combined make something like gratitude-guilt-bliss-relief-remorse(?) I'm not sure any of what I'm writing makes any sense... I'm so exhausted. I think it's time to get some sleep.

G'night all!

hip hip hooray!

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:21:58 GMT

THERE IS FINALLY INTERNET AT MY SITE!!!!! *skips a happy skip*

although.. this might be dangerous...for my pocketbook... at 12 córdobas an hour... but OH WELL!

In other news, Thanksgiving day will be sad. I will not be celebrating it because it´s not a holiday here and I can´t join one of the other Peace Corps gatherings because we´ll be busy planning a despedida for an NGO that´s leaving. BUT, my sitemate and I are trying to plan something that following Saturday with the other volunteers in the department. Maybe a nice meal with friends in the big city. :)

I am coming home 21st of December and it will be a beautiful day.

Workwise, I´m starting to work with MINED (Ministry of Education), capacitating teachers and youth on everything from sexual and repro health to nutrition. Still working on the SPA grant to finish up the youth house. Ah, a new thing I´ve begun doing is tutoring kids on math in preparation for the Nica equivalent of the SAT´s (to get into university). It takes a TON of patience, especially when these 18 year-olds can´t do long division or tell me what a quarter of 100 is... but I think the sessions are helping them.

On the books front, Middlesex is original and imaginative, one of those epic novels that follows a family story through generations. My Sister´s Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a page turning tear jerking ride of a novel. I enjoyed the mixed media (prose and comics) of The Tenth Circle, also by Picoult, but wasn´t quite as enthralled. My Friend Leonard, the sequel to A Million Little Pieces, was good until the end when it became too forced and contrived. In But Inside I´m Screaming, a novel about clinical depression, the protagonist´s voice/ author´s writing style was juvenile bordering annoying. Currently reading Lake Wobegon Days (yep, Garrison Keillor!) which is HilArious, as one would expect. Also finishing up Botany of Desire (v. interesting premise, can get a bit repetitive, which is why I´m kinda struggling through it) and The Wisdom of Crowds (Really interesting read). Perpetually working on Blood of Brothers, Nicaraguan political history.

*does another happy dance for the new cyber in cinco pinos* :D

Hope everyone´s happy and healthy!

MIA

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 19:00:31 GMT

It has been such a long time since Ive posted in this journal. Every time I have something to post, I´m never within reaching distance of a cyber. Everytime I´m at a cyber, I forget what it was I wanted to post.

Just wanted to let people know that I´m still alive. No major health problems recently. Beginning to settle into a routine, although there´s really not much routine about my life here. We´re forming a group of pregnant women in my municipality at the health center, to give them charlas about danger signs during pregnancy and nutrition etc. My youth group is semi-disintegrating, or maybe we´re just sloughing off the slackers and distilling down to the really motivated ones. We continue to give charlas in the comarcas. I continue to give English lessons. The youth house is almost completely done. Still working on SPA grant to install the electrical and water systems.

It´s difficult to live in the moment instead of perpetually daydreaming about xmas time when I´ll be coming home for vacation. There really is so much to do here... and nobody to hold your hand.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those moments that just makes everything worth it. One of our charlas went Really well in a comarca. You could see all the little lightbulbs going off in all the adolescents´heads, blasting misconceptions out of the water, replacing them with truth and knowledge. It was such a rewarding moment, especially since this type of work (behavior change, education) rarely produces such visible results.

And then yesterday I discovered that my absentee ballot envelope had sealed itself in the tropical climate of this country. Before I had voted on it. Before I even got a chance to handle the ballot. In order to open the envelope, I had to tear it apart (it was beyond salvageable by delicate handling), clearly they won´t accept it as it looks like it was tampered. I was so angry I was shaking. It is my RIGHT and RESPONSIBILITY to vote. I will have my mom call my voting clerk and see what other options exist. Maybe they can DHL it to me to get here faster and beat the heat´s grasp on the sealant.

In the evenings and any other free time that I have, I read. I have read more than I have ever read before in my life. All the time I used to spend on the internet or in front of the television have been replaced by trips to Indonesia, peeks into foster homes, nights in rehab centers. Reading here is my entertainment and my escape, along with any form of chocolate I can get my hands on. Some highlights: I recommend Eat Pray Love for those who are seeking happiness. The day and a half after I finished the book were the happiest I had been in the three months previous. White Oleander is beautiful to get lost in. Just don´t read it if you´re far away from family and home, because it will make you too sad. The Working Poor is insightful and revealing, definitely one of those books you should read at least twice. Dry didn´t live up to my expectations, but Naked did. Maybe I´m more a Sedaris fan than a Burroughs fan. I just wished Million Little Pieces were 100% true. Also threw in some little chick flick books, fluffy mindless fun. Currently working on some Samuel Beckett and finishing up some others I´ve started. That´s one of my bad habits- starting but not finishing books. I´m glad I´m somewhere conducive to breaking that habit. Looking forward to getting some new ones from Megan.

Next weekend I go to Masaya to give a diversity training charla to one of the newly incoming PC groups, environment 48. I hope it goes well. It feels so weird to not be the newbies anymore.

*Daydreams about coming home for xmas time, from the moment I get on the airplane, to the strawberry banana milkshake I´ll buy in the layover airport, to the drive home with my mom, walking into my room, after my first shower at home, to having coffee with my friends, seeing a movie, shopping with mom at northpark, going to whole foods, eating sushi greek vietnamese thai my mom´s chinese home dishes. I have seen in my mind´s eye down to the last detail. I am not looking forward to having to leave all that in January. It´s not that I´m wretchedly miserable at my site. It´s just that I wretchedly miss my family friends and the us of a.*

work hard play hard

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:50:27 GMT

So I´ve been super busy this month.

Construction on the youth house has already begun!! It´s on a plot of land right in
front of the health center, which is a little bit far from the town center- I´m a little concerned about the location
because it´s a bit far, but it´ll be good for the
youth house/clinic to be close to the centro de salud. An NGO, Xochiquetzal, donated
some money and i´m applying for a SPA grant (SPA is a collaboration between Peace Corps and USAID) and we´ll solicit the
mayor and maybe some other NGO´s.

We have a new girls soccer team, Las Aguilas Azules (Blue Eagles), and we´re
joining a girls soccer league with a nearby town! We´ve also already gotten many requests from other towns to play! There are so many opportunities for boys soccer here but rarely any for girls and there´s so much interest, so I thought it´d be good to have one, even though I personally couldn´t care less about soccer.

We´re also collaborating with Santo
Tomas, Somotillo, San Pedro, San Francisco, y Villa Nueva for an
encuentro at a river in San Pedro, and trying to figure out
transportation etc for it.

Teaching an English class, LASI (my youth health promoters group) still giving
charlas in the communities, collaborating with other community action groups... SO much going on! And we have a Peace Corps workshop at the end of this month
and then In-Service Training next month. It´s good to keep busy, but some times I
just need some time alone, for myself. Which maybe why I´ve been
staying up way too late at night reading, because I crave that time.
At least I have lots of really good books- hopefully by the end of my
service, if nothing else, I´ll be a much better read person :)

Here in Somotillo for Fiestas Patronales, patron saint festivals. Using the internet, grocery shopping, seeing friends. With so much stress every hour of every day, you gotta unwind somehow, no? It´s so good to use the cyber and catch up with everyone. Miss everyone lots, coming home December 21st ´til Janurary 9ish. Can´t wait! :D

P.S. I have a new sitemate! A small business volunteer named Lindsay and she´s awesome!

updates from Nica

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:55:59 GMT

While waiting for the bus today in the stifling sun of Chinandega, I went into a little pulpería (shop) to buy a bolsicle (frozen juice in a baggie, a homemade Nica popsicle). As I was walking out, the little old lady who sold me the bolsicle called me back and told me to wait. I went back in and she took out a little cookie out of a bag and gave it to me for free, ¨to eat with my bolsicle.¨ It was such a sweet gesture, small but so sweet. I´ll definitely be going back there to visit her and buy snacks from her :)

Next week I'm going to Managua (capital of Nicaragua) for a few days for Diverity Committee training. I applied to the committee and got in! We'll see how it goes, I'm pretty excited about it. It's at least something else to do during my service here. It'll be fun meeting some of the new trainees too, when times comes for us to give them charlas.

In the same trip, I'll get my hand checked out and some other med tests. My hand still hasn't recuperated 100% and my fingers have yet to regain their full range of motion. I think it just needs some more time to heal but it Has been about a month already and better safe than sorry.

The language taller last week was so great- I didn't realize how much I missed my original host family. They are just so much fun, so spirited, animated, warm and welcoming. I ate the best and most varied foods I have eaten in three months. Fruits and vegetables and meat, and even fish! Just thinking about those meals makes my mouth water, my original host mom is such a good cook. The little girls, who were 9 months and 2 yrs when I left, have both grown so much. It was so sad the littler one didn't remember me... and she used to Love me! Aw well, can't fault a baby's short term memory. The family told me that I'm on the very short list of their favorite volunteers that they've hosted. The favorites list is 4 long and they've had 13 volunteers! It just felt really nice to be a "liked" one, given that I'm always being compared to the volunteer before me at my site, who was so loved and well-known that throughout the entire department her name is known. I learned a ton of the more difficult grammar and got answers to many questions I've had for the past three months.

Then the trip to the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua that weekend was so relaxing. The trip there took FORever, but once we got there, we just chilled out on the dock on the Lake, searched outwards for sharks (it's the only lake in the world with sharks!), jumped in to cool off, chatted, laughed, tanned, listened to music, read. It was Great. Just what we all needed.

So things are going alright here. My youth group is recuperating this month. I'm giving them a month off from giving charlas in the communities because they seemed to be wearing thin. We're also running out of money (rather, are in the negative... with me having spent my own money to buy all the refreshments culturally required in our charlas in the communities), so we're taking time to do some fundraising. Last Wednesday we held a round robin type soccer match to raise funds. Eight teams came and although we didn't raise too much money, it was fun and better than zero. Next Monday is another. Let's hope it's a success!

off to catch my bus!

weekend update

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:13:10 GMT

So the biggest piece of news this good saturday is that about three hours ago i was bitten in the hand and leg by a giant dog. He belongs to the family with whom my friend and fellow volunteer, Liz, lives. The back of my hand has a swelling the size of a golfball and my leg looks like.. well like it's been bitten by a dog. But thankgoodness he had gotten all his shots, including rabies vaccine. Other than a limpy leg and throbbing hand, I'm okay. De todos modos, I'm never going to try to pet a Nica dog again, even if he does belong to a friend's family.

In other news, work with the youth is still going well, albeit getting a bit monotonous. The newest project on the line is building a youth activity center slash adolescent clinic. An NGO in my department has agreed (we think...) to give us some money. I'll begin applying to a grant co-funded by Peace Corps and USAID. We'll also have to solicit other NGOs and maybe the town mayor.

For fourth of July weekend other Volunteers and I will try to go to Ometepe, a supposedly beautiful island on Lake Nicaragua. It has two volcanoes, which made the island itself. It's currently being nominated as one of the seven natural wonders of the world! I'm very excited! In two weeks is also this weeklong language workshop - I'll be returning to my original training town to stay with my original training family! Soo excited to see them again, to have a bit of a vacation away from my site, and to see the other volunteers again!

Can't type much more and need to go grocery shopping so signing off from land of the mean dogs...

roller coaster

Sat, 10 May 2008 15:41:55 GMT

so this week has been a roller-coaster ride

monday- a sick girl at the health center drank out of my water bottle and gave me her cold

tuesday- youth health promoter meeting and nobody shows up because they claim i gave them too little notice. this was because the girl who was supposed to deliver the invitations didn{t get them until the day of the meeting because the person i gave them to (to give to her) forgot to give them to her. ahh. Then we go to an NGO to deliver a letter soliciting funds to pay for refreshments for the charlas we'll
give in the communities. The person in charge a the NGO looks at our letter and tells us to make it more formal by adding the date and
getting the director of the health center to sign and stamp it. So we run around for TWO HOURS looking for a computer and printer with ink
and the health center director. Finally, we return to the NGO and it only takes the guy there 5 minutes to give us C$300 cordobas. omg. So
basically he made us run around just to exercise his power. ughs. But at least we got some money, no? (btw, C$300 cords is around $15
dollars)

wednesday- first charla on sexual and reproductive rights, given by the youth health promoters in one of the outlying communities in my
municipality. Went fairly well! One of our promoters is a very dynamic leader and teacher, she did a great job. The others were kinda newbies but they still did it. I was impressed. Except for the part where it took us 40 minutes for them to answer a THREE question quiz to measure their knowledge before the charla, because they either didnt understand the concept of multiple choice or true/false questions
..or...they didn{t understand the concept of writing the number of the question and their answer of choice. hmm

thursday- two of the most disgusting cat calls ive gotten yet. consecutively. The first guy said "Adios Chinita, oooo" with a disgusting tone of voice and pursed lips. I thought I was going to throw up right there and then in the middle of the street it was so gross. Then on the next street, the (second) guy made the loudest kissing sound at me. I couldnt respond fast enough to the first guy because he was riding his bike in the opposite direction of the way I was walking, but I stopped and chewed the second guy out:
"Why did you just do that?"
"Because I like you. You like it when I do that, don't you?
"NO! You need to treat me with respect. I am not an object, I am a person. I treat you with respect if you treat me with respect. Are we in agreement?"
"Sure"
"Thank you"
Then as soon I turned around to walk away, he did it again. I had to turn around and tell him again that that´s just not acceptable. Ughs. I was so mad that I was shaking. Sure, my skin´s gotten thicker since arriving here, but nobody should have to stand this.

friday- So, the day before, I gave the health center director two solicitation letters to sign and stamp with his seal. He said he´d sign and seal them, then give them to the nurses on night duty to hand to me on friday. Friday morning I walk there and Nobody had received the letters or knew anything about them. He had completely forgotten. The thing is though, that I gave him the letters when he was on his way back to the health center on his motorcycle. I knew he tends to be on the forgetful side but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking he wouldnt forget in the course of the seven minutes it takes to get there on a motorcycle. I was so frustrated because I needed these letters for a 10AM meeting with the town mayor where I planned to give him the solicitation letter. THank goodness I had another copy of the letter, albeit without the director´s signature but was better than nothing. I went to one of the youth health promoter´s houses for him to accompany me to the meeting, and whom do I find there? The mayor sitting on the hammock eating watermelon. He wasn´t even in his office five minutes before the meeting. So I got lucky (I guess) in finding him there, explained to him the situation and gave him the letter.

Then

bugs and foods

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 20:16:05 GMT

So I found a scorpion in my room last night. I moved my suitcase to the side and found it underneath. I thought it was dead so decided to leave it until the morning to sweep it out of my room. Then I heard something and looked at where it was, except it wasn't there anymore. Which was when I decided to change into my close-toed shoes and get to bed asap.

My Spanish feels like it's not advancing... it feels like it's regressing. and I'm sad. I think maybe it's because I'm not talking 24-7... It's difficult finding friends to chat with in my town, especially since my host mother is so anti-social. She sat me down one day and told me that it's not good to socialize because other people can start rumours about you and it's just not worth it. It was such a strange little chat... I'm thinking maybe she had a bad experience with rumours in the past. But this means that she basically doesn't have many friends over, and she's older too, so all of her friends are middle-aged ladies. Hopefully this friend situation will improve...

What definitely has improved is my cooking. I've realized that I'm a damned good cook. I made this asparagus-cucumber-pasta soup last night and it was So delicious. I also make a badass spinach dish.

This week, the thing I miss the most from the States is WHOLE FOODS grocery store! I miss driving there at night after work, oogling the million and one types of cheeses, apples, lettuce, pestos/olive spreads, artisan breads, organic ice creams, sodas from around the world, pre-prepared veggies and little boxes of overpriced sushi. Oh man how I misses it...

apples here cost a dollar each. for the same amount of money, you can buy an entire lunch here. so sad. but i splurge on them anyway.

first week at cinco pinos

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:16:29 GMT

yay i´m finally at the internet cafe- it feels so good to be connected again

The first week has been pretty hard, but good. But hard. haha

It´s difficult not having a set schedule to follow such that I never know if I´m doing too little or too much. Or if I´m doing things ¨right¨, whatever that means. So I´ve been going to the Health Center daily and trying to figure things out. I had a first meeting with the youth health promotors of CInco Pinos, am planning things with the librarian, made contact with a Catholic youth group who´s working with a Canadian company to put in an internet cafe in my town, made contact with the pine needle artisans in my town, and am going to be introduced to one of the NGOs in my town next week. I want to get started giving charlas (health chats) in the schools and health center, and youth groups. We´ll see... right now it seems like there´s just so much to do but I¨m not quite sure how to get things started. It´s like things are moving too fast and too slow at the same time. It´s just going to take time to figure things out and get a schedule going.

Here´s my new mailing address-

my name
Voluntaria de Cuerpo de Paz
Correo de Somotillo
Somotillo, Chinandega
Nicaragua, Centro America

signing off for now,

z

look, i'm a real boy now!

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:32:43 GMT

We officially swear in as Peace Corps volunteers this coming friday. I really cannot believe how fast time has flown. I'm going to be sad leaving my host family and being dispersed so far away from the other Nica46 volunteers in my group. As a going away present, I'm giving my family a photo collage of me and them. I hope they like it and that I can return to visit them often.

It's just going to be difficult starting completely anew. A new family, town, neighbors, coworkers, life rhythm, food, job, climate, Everything. Especially when I've gotten so comfortable and content with my current family and quotidian. But challenge is what I asked for when signing up for the Peace Corps, so here we go! Ready or not, just gotta power through, take it one day at a time, cut myself some slack once in a while, and hopefully things will fall into place.

Now it's time to pack up all my things and hope that maybe my suitcase will magically expand to whatever size is required of it. I'll be at my site this Sunday and begin work on Monday. Wish me the best of luck and see yall on the other side.

P.S. For those of you devoted fans of the little Napolean ice cream looking piggy in my yard, sad news is that my grandmother sold it and the family who bought it killed it and ate it in a nacatamale. Nacatamales are one of the most delicious foods you'll ever taste so I guess that's the silver lining in this tragedy? Also, we got a new piggy, one even smaller than Napoleon. But I secretly dont think hes as cute.

P.P.S. For those of you interested in my future living conditions, we have a million chickens, 15 pigs, 10 cows, 3 cats, 2 dogs, and a partridge in a pear tree. We have electricity (yessssssss) but no running water (rats!) so we take bucket baths and scrub bucket clothes and wash bucket hands. There is a small store with a few vegetables but if I want to get anything more than tomatoes and green peppers, I'll have to go 1.5hours by giant yellow school bus painted rainbow colors to the nearest big town's market. For internet, I have to go 30 minutes by another giant school bus in the opposite direction. My host family consists of one old lady who is supposedly one of the sweetest people you will meet. My room is cute with rose colored walls and I can't wait to decorate it. My town has dirt and cobble stoney streets, with outlying communities that will take me up to 4 hours to reach on foot. This is all that I can recount but more details to come later.

miss yalll

cinco pinos, here i come!

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:54:21 GMT

exciting news!

Last week we went to Corinto, Chinandega, a port town in northwestern Nicaragua for our volunteer experience. We received tons of charlas on HIV-AIDS and met a lot of different amazing non profit organizations. Then on Friday we found out our volunteer sites!

I will be living in Cinco Pinos, Chinandega, for the next two years of my life! :D

So, Cinco Pinos is basically right on the Honduran border. It´s a municipality made up of 14 communities with a population of 7,404. Only 21.3% of the population live in the urban area, so I´ll be traveling often to the outlying communities for work. With 26.1% of the population unemployed, it is one of the poorest areas in Nicaragua. The most common illnesses are diarrhea, respiratory infections, malnutrition, STDs and chronic diseases. Chinandega is the hottest department in Nicaragua, but because Cinco Pinos is 400 mts. above sea level (it´s in the mountains and is supposedly Beautiful), it is relatively cooler than the rest of the department. I´ll have to travel a half hour by bus to get to the nearest internet cafe although there is cellphone service in the town.

This is a followup site, meaning there is currently a health volunteer there who is finishing up her service. She is an awesome volunteer whom we´ve already met. I got to talk to her some about the site and when she was explaing to me her host family, coworkers and community, she was about to cry she loves them so much. So I feel very good about this site. The type of work seems great- there are tons of NGOs and also many other peace corps volunteers in other sectors (ie small business, english, agriculture, environment) with whom i could do joint projects. Two other people in my training group, Liz and Megan, are also going to Chinandega, which is totally awesome because I love those girlies.

Next weekend we actually get to meet our project partners in our sites with whom we´ll be working for the next two years. We´ll live in our sites for a few days and familiarize ourselves with our sites a bit more. I´m excited and nervous. But mostly excited. and nervous. hahaha.

That´s going to be all for now... everything else is going well. The weather is heating up slowly but surely. I´ve stayed healthy so far (knock on wood). The piggy in my yard is getting big but still too cute for its own good. I´m learning dichos like ¨qué barbaridad!¨, "a la púchica" and "se asustó los frijoles" hahaha i love dichos. hopefully i´ll be able to incorporate more into my daily speech. My Spanish is improving, slowly but surely. I´m definitely feeling much more comfortable than ever communicating in Spanish. I have faith that as long as I keep on working hard, I´ll have it down pat by the end of my service.

Can´t really believe that we´ll all be dispersed throughout the country in just a few weeks. My training class has been so close- it´s a really great group. I think we´re all so lucky to have been placed in the same group. I think the small size helps too (we´re eighteen, now). It´s just strange to go through training and see one another multiple times every week, and then to be so far from one another, scattered. We´ll still meet up for in-service training etc. but still. But I think we´ll all be ready for the next stage of our Peace Corps service as real volunteers, not just Trainees. Well, ready or not, we´ll have to take the leap! :D

So, How are YOU doing? Please update me on your lives, dear friends.

Loves and misses,

Z

humongous update

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:29:06 GMT

eep so much to update! here we go!

Yesterday when I returned from my trip to Madriz, I didn´t remind my host family that my birthday is today, so I thought they would have forgotten. So I got up this morning just expecting it to be a regular old day (a little bummed), but when I walked into the dining room-kitchen, I found two hostess cupcakes each with a candle lit with dancing flame and my host family singing in both English and Spanish "Happy Birthday to you, Feliz cumpleaños a ti¨. Everybody gave me a hug and I almost cried I was so touched. We shared one of the cakes and I brought the other to Spanish class to share with my teacher and other trainees. Then during Spanish class, my teacher surprised us with the Yummiest Creamiest cookies and cream ice cream EVer. It was just right :) Then my host mom made a yummy chicken and veggie dish for lunch. I think I might be going over to my host sister´s friend´s house tonight to celebrate some more, and hopefully this weekend we (the trainees) can all go dancing or something.

The trip to Telpaneca, Madriz was great. Haha, on the way up there, we had a few transportation glitches but it was good to experience them sooner than later. First, the taxi from our town (El Rosario) to the nearest city (Jinotepe) stalled several times but I guess it wasn´t meant to strand us because it finally worked after much fanangling (word?). Then the bus we took from Estelí to Telpaneca overheated and broke down completely, Despite much fanangling and emitting of burnt-rubber smoke. We waited for over an hour on the side of the Panamerican Highway nowhere near any city, and finally boarded another bus. Having successfully passed the two cities on route before my city, Telpaneca, we approached a very steep climb (we were driving up the mountains), and the poor bus just whimpered and gave up. The driver backed up in what I thought was an effort to get a running start. But after sitting still for fifteen minutes, I realized that the engine lid was open once again with smoke streaming out. After another hour-long wait and much more fanangling, the bus reluctantly picked up its feet and crawled the rest of the way to my town, all the while snorting out that menacing burnt rubber smell. But if you think I had it bad, the other trainee with me that needed to go to the town After my town had even worse luck. After the bus dropped me off, one of its tires popped and she had to wait another hour or two for them to change the tire. She arrived after dark. :(

But the good thing about a sad start is that it can only get better from there on out. And so it did! The volunteer I visited, Angela, was so incredibly sweet. Having had only a small breakfast at 6:30am and a piece of bread in my backpack for lunch, I was starving when dinner time rolled around. Angela showed me how to make this amazing dish with lentils, tomatoes, carrots, and curry. We ate with fluffy white rice and it was the best meal ever. We chatted for a while, I showered and went to bed exhausted.

We woke up at 6am the next day to catch the 7am bus to Santo Domingo, an isolated but nearby town in the mountains. We packed some pb&j sandwiches (oh i missed thee, pb&j!) and off we went! I thought longingly of the jacket I had left behind in Angela´s house as I shivered in the cold morning wind and hung on for dear life as we traversed up the mountain on what was essentially a wooden bench nailed to the back of a huge pickup truck. When we arrived, we watched a youth promoter give a charla on violence in the town´s primary school. The boy was part of a group of youth health promoters that Angela had helped to train. It´s one of the ways that she´s making her work more sustainable.

After the charla, we climbed up the mountains to some coffee fincas (=fields) that one of the town nurse´s family owned. The climb was Gorgeous: we crossed bumbling brooks and found a waterfall tucked away in the mountain. Everything was so green, palm trees, fruiting orange trees from which we picked and savored fresh oranges, ripened plantains from which we later made plantain chips. But the climb was scary because it was sooo steep. Plus, it didn´t help that the light rain that day had transformed the dirt paths into a giant muddy slip-n-slide. And it would have been nice if the wire that sometimes lined the side of the path wasn´t barbed wire. But thankfully, no bones were broken and no gashes made in hands and we all made it to the fincas in one piece. There, we watched farmers pick coffee and then we strapped on the baskets and gave it a try! It was so much fun and I took pictures and will try to post them soon.

Other cool things during the trip included crossing the Rio Coco on a loooong suspension bridge, watching Angela give a charla to pregnant and nursing mothers at the Health Center, and helping her with her youth reading club by reading along with kiddos and encouraging them to believe in their own ability to draw. There was this one little girl I was working with that wanted to draw a picture that was in one of the books she just read. She pointed to the picture and said "I want to draw this but I can´t draw" and I was like, ¨of course you can! just try! i believe you can do it!" She looked at me dubiously but then proceeded to do a GReat job. Then she pointed to something else and said, "I like this picture but I can´t do it" but after some encouragement, she did it, very well! She kept on wanting to trace it, afraid to make a mistake, but in the end, with just a little encouragement, she did it all on her own, without tracing, and did a great job. She was so happy that she wanted to come over to our house that night to draw some more, but in the end, she didn´t come. But still it was just really cool being able to be a good influence in someone´s life, in such a definite way. If you know me, you know that some of my family members always made disparaging remarks about my drawing abilities when I was little, such that it´s taken me until just recently to realize that I´m actually a pretty good drawer. It´s such a blessing to have the opportunity now to turn it around and be a Positive influence in kids´lives.

Well, I´m running out of time on the internet ´cuz I don´t have too much cash on me right now. Just enough time to write this entry. Thanks so much to all for the lovely birthday wishes, I feel so loved and lucky.

And Happy Valentine´s Day to all of you!

From Nica con amor y un abrazo

i need a GPS installed... in my head

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:23:28 GMT

hi yall

so yesterday i found out where i´m going for my volunteer visit. We´re each visiting a different volunteer from this Sunday to next Wednesday to see how life can be like for a real volunteer. I´m going to Telpaneca, Madriz! Madriz is a department in northern Nicaragua...close to where the mountains are! Very excited to travel up there. I´ll take a microbus to Managua, then a big bus to Esteli, then another bus to Madriz. I think the entire trip will take around 6 or 7 hours, not too bad. But i´m also very bad with numbers, so maybe it´s longer than that. I´m also very bad with directions, as all of the other Peace Corps trainees here (and anybody who knows me, at all) can attest to. So... let´s hope I don´t get lost. Thankfully, there will be seven other trainees going to the same department but in different cities within in department, so I won´t have to be alone the entire way. :)

Today was a low day, just kinda woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And then it just seemed like one bad thing after another. Nothing hugely disastrous happened, but it was just kinda like nothing good happened either. And all the little bad things just added up. Mostly just when I think I´m starting to improve in my language, I talk to someone and understand absolutely Nothing. I am improving, slowly. I can tell because I sometimes catch bits of conversations of passersby on the street and I can understand them. And I can watch a soap opera and understand some of what they´re saying. But it´s easy to forget that it is a long and slow process. It´s just kind of a blow when you think you´ve taken two steps forward and realize that you´ve only taken a half step forward. But i know things will get better. I think it´s also because I´ve been very tired lately. I stayed up late two nights ago working on my charla (see below), so I´m still catching up on the lost sleep. I´m already starting to feel a little better, having spent some quiet time on the internet :)

Yesterday was pretty good- I gave my first ¨charla¨ (chat or presentation) in the Health Center in my town. It was in front of about 12 patients who were waiting for the doctor in the morning. I talked about personal hygiene, particularly hand washing and tooth brushing. I was afraid the subject, although important, was too simple and therefore patronizing. But the people there were actually very receptive and responsive. They participated in the discussion and smiled and nodded as I spoke. I think they were sympathetic to the fact that I´m still learning Spanish. :) I also made a poster with pretty pictures about handwashing. I´m very proud of it and will unabashedly say that it is, in fact, badass. I will laminate it (using clear packing tape, hehe, ´cuz that´s how lamination is done here) so that i can reuse it later!

It´s gotten dark outside and now I have to walk home, which is on the other side of town (it´s only about a ten minute walk because the town isnt very big at all), but I still don´t enjoy being outside alone after dark. It´s common to see people walking down the street holding yard-long machetes here. Those are mostly farmers who use machetes to chop crops, but still a bit disconcerting, although I´ve gotten used to the sight.

Well I should try to get back before it becomes pitch dark and so my host family doesnt worry :)

still alive

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:42:18 GMT

still alive, havent posted in a while because the internet in the internet cafe in our town breaks down often, and i Have to use the internet during the daytime because i dont want to walk home alone in the dark at night.

it´s so nice to hear from friends and family. i find myself getting homesick sometimes. it comes and goes - i have days where i just miss my family, my friends, my house, my room, the car, the U.S. And other days I´m completely fine and don´t even think about it. I just wish that I had brought more photos with me, because it´s helpful to look at them when I´m feeling blue :) Listening to music also helps. But ironically (or maybe not so ironic), sometimes the thing that helps the most is to hang out with my host family, because it distracts me and makes me realize how much I enjoy their company. :)

i was sitting in training today and looked up at the lights above our heads. They were mini-chandeliers and reminded me of ones that you would see in restaurants in China. And for some reason, I started to miss China aLot. I think it´s because many things here actually remind me of China so my brain gets confused: things I see feel like China but I can´t understand the language as well or innately as I do Chinese, I can´t communicate as well as in China, and I just don´t feel as comfortable and at home as I do in China. It´s so bazaar. Plus, I stand out here instead of blending in. And people see me as only Chinese and completely disregard the fact that I´m also American. That´s something that I´m struggling with here (haha, I also struggled with this in China...). And again, some days it´s not a big issue for me but other days it just wears away at me without me really realizing what´s been bothering me.

yesterday our training group had our first early termination. one lady left early beacuse of multiple reasons... it´s a huge shock for all of us and kinda made everything seem a little more real. mixed emotions.

well, I´m off to hanging out with the other trainees tonight :) looking forward to it. hopefully will be able to update more often

goods and bads

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:08:44 GMT

good things:

*finally changed blog settings so that people without livejournal accounts can post comments. just be sure to add your name so i know who´s commenting. :) comments and love welcomed!

1. la bebida de avena helada - the cold oatmeal drink with sugar. sounds gross. it´s amazing.

2. fairly successful first meeting with our youth group in the town health center (Centro de Salud). we played lots of games and they seemed engaged. *knocks on wood* will have second meeting with them this Saturday, hope they will return and the group will thrive. one of our major projects during this three month training is to form a youth group, have them complete a miniproject on an issue that´s important to them, and give charlas or talks about health issues pertinent to youth

3. the piggy in my backyard. he´s so cute. he looks like a napoleon ice cream (pink with a big brown stripe in the middle). and he makes these cute little piggy sounds, which wake me up in the morning, but i cant really get mad, ´cuz he´s too cute.

4. my host family is great. my host mom is Such a mom: she asks me if I have homework and helps me with it. My sisters are 22 and 24 and take me out to party and hang with their friends. My host dad is so laid back: he plays the guitar, watches baseball games on tv, talks to me about Nica politics, and how he farms.

5. last Saturday, I went to my host-niece´s one year old birthday party. She is The CUTEST little girl EVER created in the history of the universe. Her name is Alexa and you just want to take her home with you. She´s so well behaved and sweet. There was a pinata that all her little buddies hit. And they played musical chairs. And there was pizza, ice cream, coconut-icing-caramel cake (amAzing!!), baloons, awesome party favors, and good fun all around. I took lotsa pics but havent figured out the best way to post them yet. Will try soon.

6. last sunday was a huge dance party in our pueblo. went with sisters and their friends and had great fun. learned some new dance moves but still have yet to figure out how they dance to this Really fast music. legs still sore from dancing.

bad things:

1. ants and worms on my just-washed clothes because we leave them outside to dry. and invariably, bugs and smoke from trash burning in the backyard will get on the clothes. but i´m really not complaining - my host mom washes my clothes by hand in a concrete sink and i love her for it. i will have to learn how to do it so that i can do my own laundry during my service after this three month training.

2. hearing "chinita chinita! china linda! *cat call*" almost everyday while walking to my Spanish class. as you can probably guess, "chinita" means "little chinese girl" and "china linda" is "pretty chinese girl." I´ve talked to my host family, my teacher and other volunteers here about it. I know that they don´t mean it as an insult. They are curious about me because I´m an "extranjero" or outsider. They dont know my name yet, so they call me that to get my attention and some sort of response out of me. Also, for people here, calling someone Chinese or Whitey or Black is very common, simply their way to describe somebody and isnt usually meant as derrogatory. But it´s definitely hard to get used to. I´m still learning to cope with it.

3. bugs. and dead rats and birds on the ground. and dogs with tumors the size of hearts hanging from their chests. and dogs so famished that you can see every bone in their body. and what looks like intestines of a small animal covered with ants...in my room. but i´m dealing and it´s going to be okay :)

4. cold showers. there´s no hot running water here. and even simple running water is spotty.

5. havent figured out best way to post pictures yet. might have to rely on old school prose to paint pictures for yall :)

tsall for now. love from nica!

hola amigos

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:22:46 GMT

Here´s a ¨typical¨ day here in Nica for me!

7am wake up, brush teeth, eat breakfast of fresh pineapple, bananas, coffee and bread
8am Spanish language class at other Trainee´s host family house.
10am meet with town mayor to introduce selves, get to know mayor and the history and social programs in the town
12pm walk back to my host family home, eat huge lunch (rice, bean soup, fried plantain, chilled oatmeal drink, banana-sugar candy)
1pm continue Spanish class
3:30pm-ish, finish Spanish class, get ice cream with other Trainees, hang out and chat
5pm walk back home, chat with family while host mom makes dinner.
6pm eat lighter dinner of rice, beans, boiled banana, chicken with squash, carrot and potato, corn-based drink
7pm chat with family, watch tv with family, have famly help me with my homework, walk around town with awesome host sister
9pm shower, brush teeth
10pm sit on patio talking with family, play with 4month old baby, write in diary, pass out in bed

mornings are cool, middays are hot but not humid, nights are brisk to the point of needing to sleep in sweater.

for the past few days, it´s felt like my Spanish is getting Worse, because often I´d have difficulty even Pronouncing words that I used to be able to just roll of my tongue. I´ve found this to be true for some other Trainees I´ve talked to, which is comforting, kinda. haha. I think what´s happening is that our brains are just so overloaded with new language and information every moment that they are literally fried. Like our plantains for lunch. But I had a sort of break through today when we met with the town mayor. For some reason, his accent or voice or Something was just so easy for me to understand. And he was talking normal speed too! (normal, read: catlike speed). And I actually could understand nearly Everything he said! Like, every word, almost the entire time! I mean, it took so much concentration and brain power, but it was so great. And he talked, like, nonstop for more than a half hour!

So strange how certain voices and accents are easier to understand for some people and harder for others. One of the other trainees here had a harder time with the mayor but totally understood everything earlier when we met with a doctor, but I had the hardest time understanding the doctor! Anyway, I hope today wasnt just a hoax and that I really am improving. I´m hoping that as long as I keep trying to improve, I will improve. Día por día, I guess.

Health is good so far. No dengue fever, malaria, or stomach problems, yet. (knock on wood!). One of the other Trainees fell ill with amoebas in her system last night, but she´s taking antibiotics and hopefully that will go away soon. I´m hoping that I secretly have an iron stomach strong enough to avoid major problems. We´ll see...

Celebrations in our town last week and for the next few weeks, purely to celebrate the awesomeness of our town. Last weekend was this amazing performance by a dance group here. They are all 15 to 20 years old but the talent is unbelievable. It was so beautiful and I wish that I had brought my camera with me. I left it at home for fear of it being stolen in the crowds. I should just throw caution to the wind once in a while, to record these experiences. But there will be more cultural and dance performances in the next few weeks so def hope to capture some of those.

Hope everyone is well!

Love from Nica,

arrived safely and very happy!

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:34:39 GMT

Hi everyone!

I arrived in Managua, Nicaragua yesterday and am currently doing our three day orientation retreat. I am feeling more and more confident about my decision to do the Peace Corps as I learn more about everything (not that I wasnt confident before, hehe)

Everyone that I´ve met has been so amazingly sweet and smart. All the directors, teachers, administrators, nurses, everybody! There are so many good people here, that really embody the value and quality of the Peace Corps´s work. I´ve very excited about this new stage of my life and feel ready for the challenges and successes ahead. I feel ready to grow personally and professionally, to stretch myself to be out of my comfort zone. I´m feeling very optimistic right now. It´ll be important to start off running, because I know that there will be low days amongst the high days and I´ll need to start off high :)

Sometimes it still doesnt seem real that I´m actually here. I go to sleep at night and in my sleep, still think that I´m still in my own bed in Texas. Then I wake up, remove my earplugs, and hear all songs of birds that I have never heard before. And open my eyes and realize that Dorothy, we aint in no Texas no more! :D And then we do more training and I talk to current Nica volunteers and feel more and more confident not only that I am here, but that I am meant to be here and do this work.

I should get to breakfast- another full day of training ahead! We actually meet and start living with our host families This Saturday!! Eep! I hope they like me and that I like them, hehe. and that I know enough Spanish to communicate in some way with them. Well, there´s always hand motions and charades! :D Nicaragua´s three month training is community based, which means that we´ll be emersed into a community while we receive our language, cultural, health and safety, and technical training. This is a fairly new method and has been found to be more effective at helping volunteers integrate into a new culture (compared to an isolated three month training where volunteers are exposed more to each other than to people in the new culture).

with love from nica!

ready or not, here i go!

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 07:22:12 GMT

alright kiddos, i'm shipping out today! first to DC for two days, then off to nicaragua!

here's my mailing address (effective until early april '08):

Zimo Zheng, PCT
Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
Apartado Postal 3256
Managua, Nicaragua
Central America

The "PCT" stands for Peace Corps Trainee, in case you were curious

That's where I'll be for my three-month training! :)

Wish me luck and send me happy thoughts!

cold feets

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 07:25:52 GMT

Wow, I can't believe I leave in five days. I really can't believe it. Knowing that I'm supposed to leave on a Monday, I think I've been avoiding looking at the calendar to see what day of the week it is already. In fact, I turned on my computer tonight just to check and make sure Monday isn't tomorrow, and was surprised to see how close it is to the weekend! It's not that I don't want to go - I really do. I know that this will be an amazing experience - very difficult but just the push that I need to achieve the next level of personal & professional growth. Unfortunately, knowing this doesn't make the unknown any less scary.

And I'm not quite sure what it is that scares me. Maybe it's just the unknown. Or maybe failure? Failure to make a meaningful contribution, failure to live up to my community and the Peace Corps's expectations. Or maybe failure to live up to my own expectations: the failure of having spent two years and three months there with nothing to show at the end. But again, all these things are speculative. Maybe it's just the unknown that I'm afraid of. The lack of guarantee that this will be a "successful" and "worthwhile" venture.

And I know I'll have to define "success" and "worth" some time soon - I know because I saw it in the itinerary of our pre-departure workshops in Washington D.C. ;) And maybe I'll have done a good job as long as I try my hardest and help at least one person. But how will I know that I've truly helped anybody in the end? I know that most times informal health education is a thankless job where you just don't know how you're doing unless a thorough statistical study is done on a program's effectiveness. But studies take time, and effects take time to manifest. But I've only got two years to do something! Sure, two years seem like a loooong time now but I know that it will swoosh by. I'm hoping that at some point during my time there, I'll get Some sort of feedback that can assure me that I've helped improve Somebody's life in Some way.

I also need to remember that "helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women" is only one of the three goals of the Peace Corps. The other two are:

Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

And I know that as long as I communicate with the people there and keep an open mind ready to learn at all times, that I'll be able to achieve the other two goals. I hope that I'll be a good model of an American. :)

Well, it's late and I should sleep - another long day lies ahead - shopping for essentials and packing. It's really helped writing these thoughts down. Have a good night,

Z

Testing testing one two three?

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 05:29:59 GMT

Hello all!

Welcome to my online journal, where, if I find internet access, I will post stories, thoughts, and pictures of the next two years and three months of my life in Nicaragua!

I am about to embark upon my Peace Corps adventure, where I will serve as a Community Health Promotor for two years in tropical Central America. Collaborating with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health and NGO's, I will work with community groups to encourage safe sex practices, improve child and maternal health, and spread knowledge about STDs & HIV/AIDS. Or at least that's what my assignment placement booklet says :)

Some staggering statistics for Nicaragua:*

In 2001, 31 infants out of 1000 live births died before reaching one year of age.

Forty children per thousand died before reaching 5 years of age.

One in five children is malnourished.

One in four adolescents gets pregnant before the age of 19. Half the population of Nicaragua is under 18.

The number of cases of HIV/AIDS more than doubles each year due to many factors, including migration patterns and social stigma.

And of course, the usual suspects are at the heart of these statistics: Poverty. Lack of education. Lack of access to jobs and resources. And so much more... that I hope I will learn and understand. And try to help.

and now, for an idea of where I'll be:

*stats from my p.c. placement booklet