Weekend Update with Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon

Friday- day after Thanksgiving-ate leftovers (although we bought the 11 pounder thinking there would be turkey for weeks, it was so delicious, we ate almost all of it that day) …headed to the beach with Tony (another fellow 55er) We sat on the rocks watching the tide come and go, while waiting for the beautifully designed crabs to show themselves, but unfortunately they never did. We took a dip in the warm water and watched a massive ship pull out of the Corinto port-the NYK Line. I wonder what they just dropped off? After pondering this for a while, we headed to a great seaside restaurant called Costa Azul for chilled white wine, spicy shrimp ceviche and raw mussels, complimented perfectly by a view of the fishing boats coming and going underneath a pink and orange sun setting sky. Wow. I was joined that night by Ashley, Lindsey, Tony and Nelson for home cooked (by Nelson) Thai meal and my delicious food coma continued. What a day.

Saturday- slept late and headed back to the beach. While floating over the waves like starfish, we talked about life and watched a boat come into the Corinto port-just as big as the one leaving the day before and just as mysterious. PC friends left and I called my Dad and relaxed…that is until 7 pm when I went to a friend’s house. Our plan was to celebrate Xiomara and Ignacios’ birthdays on the beach with a bonfire, star gazing and ice cream. (Many many photos were taken and I am sure they will be on facebook before you know it) We talked, danced (I taught them the running man/woman-they laughed, but complied and tried to do this legendary dance move with me), we joked about how tiny our BONFIRE ended up being…it was a great night. It was nice to spend some time with my Nica friends on this weekend of giving thanks.

Sunday- more sleeping late, cleaning, relaxing and watching the PATS destroy the Eagles. Awesome way to end a fantastic weekend!

Thanksgiving: Turkey and Water Balloons…yum

Definition of Thanksgiving (according to the 10^th anniversary edition of the internationally celebrated dictionary, “Words and Wonders from the Brain of Kate H. Lena”): a holiday celebrated by many on the last Thursday of November- it is a time to be spent with family and/or friends-you, with these loved people, eat a lot; it usually involves turkey and a number of sides, courses and pies (you will probably eat too much, but this is part of Thanksgiving, so do not worry about it. You can go back to the gym tomorrow.) While there are many TV programs that are associated with this day (football, Macy’s Day parade, dog show, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving), the day is not spent around the TV, rather around the table. At the table, you give thanks, be it out loud or in your head, for the riches that you have. It is a warm fuzzy feeling kind of holiday and one of my favorites.

So…you may be wondering (or you may not, but I will tell you anyway) how I spent this fantastic holiday away from home. Well, it all started on the 23^rd of November, the day before Thanksgiving. My friend, Lindsey and I, went food shopping at this fancy food store in Chinandega, for the turkey and other non-thanksgiving ingredients (but very important ingredients to keep a mind and soul sane and happy- for example: cheddar cheese). In my mind, I had thought that I had heard that you buy about half a pound of turkey per person that will be at your celebration. Well, we were planning on being about 8, but I wanted to have leftovers, so I was planning on a 6 pound turkey. (what was I thinking….? I have no idea.) A 6 pound turkey is actually quite tiny…the size of a small new born baby. And they did not even sell turkeys that small, so we went for an 11 pounder and planned to eat turkey for the next month. Fine by me. Anyway…the 24^th rolls around and I woke up very excited and happy…a little sad to not be with family, but happy to have a good group of friends coming over. After spending a stressful morning running around Corinto doing errands for work, Lindsey came over to help stuff and rub down the turkey. After bringing the bird in a salt water bath, Turkey was ready for a deep tissue massage of oil, oregano, parsley, cilantro, pepper, salt, garlic and onion. (What a way to go, huh?) We stuffed Turkey and carried him over to the borrowed oven. After a brief moment of panic, worrying about singeing off my eyebrows, we lit the stove and Turkey entered his tanning booth. Shortly after Turkey started to bake, John (my sitemate) and Gabe (fellow Nica 55er) came over and we started off the day right with football, wine and veggies with ranch dressing. The table was beautifully set by Lindsey and I complete by homemade coasters, compliments of Lindsey. We are an extremely classy bunch of people. After about 3 hours of cooking Turkey and the addition of 3 more friends: Tony, Caryn and Ryan, Turkey was ready to be eaten. It smelled INCREDIBLE. The meat was extremely tender and juicy. You always worry about it drying out, but this was not even close to being dry. For our first ever solo cooked turkey, done during PC service, I was more than impressed. Our spread included this 11 lb beautiful beast of a bird, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole-ish dish, cornbread, cranberry sauce, tuna pasta salad and cake. Although we were not with family and the food was not exactly the same as at home, we had a great Thanksgiving meal.

Our Thanksgiving did not end there. After eating, we noticed a group of high school students (seniors-that day was their last day of school) with a bunch of water balloons-well plastic bags filled with water. A couple people approached them and the challenge was thrown. Water balloon war. The only rules are do not throw water in the house. We started filling our bags and talked strategy. We spread out on the street and waited for the GO. Right away those children threw all of their balloons and we thought we had them. They had used up all of their balloons on the first attack and we, adults, had saved ours. We were ready for the kill….or so we thought…we lead our attack and realized that they had many many many many many many more balloons than we did. We resorted to throwing water out of buckets. WE still got beat so badly. I was soaked…my entire body. Defeated, we shook hands, signed their senior t-shirts and vowed that next year, would be different. We would be ready. Thanksgiving ended with a phone call from home-shoutout to the fam- so nice to talk to everyone!

World AIDS Day

In honor of Worlds AIDS Day, here are a couple of interesting websites. To show your support, please look into local WAD activities going on in your area on and around December 1st. And if you do not have time to attend an event, pin a red ribbon to your shirt and do some research on what HIV looks like around the world.

http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/global_health/aids/Countries/lac/nicaragua_profile.pdf

This first website talks about the status of HIV here in Nicaragua. The most interesting and terrifying part about the number of cases here (and around the world) is that MINSA reports 3,602 confirmed cases of HIV while World Health Organization and USAID report 7,700. That means that there are about 4,098 people here in Nicaragua not knowing that they have HIV. This is why getting tested is so incredibly important. The embarrassment and overall fear of getting tested has decreased somewhat, but it is definitely still an issue.

http://www.unfpa.org/aids_clock/

This second website is a clock that keeps count of the people in the world living with HIV. Their stats show that every 12 seconds another person in the world contracts HIV and that every 16 seconds another person in the world dies from AIDS. I first looked at this page at 10:52 am on Tuesday Nov. 29th and the count was at 37,631,520. What does it say now as you are reading it?

Quick Update

I hope you all had a fantastically full Thanksgiving filled with the important holiday F's- family, fun, friends, football, fall foliage, french fried onions and fturkey (turkey spelled with an F to make it fit into my F list). I will write soon with an update on my first ever Thanksgiving away from home-the similarities and the many differences between the celebrations.

I will give you a couple of things that happened during my fantastic thanksgiving weekend: massive water balloon war with some high school students (we got beat...badly), beach, chilled white wine drunk while watching the fishing boats pull in and out of the harbor underneath a sun setting sky, football and friends and a beautifully cooked turkey.

Today is a beautiful November day here in Corinto, being spent at work preparing for the many events we have going on this week and preparing for a visit from some friendly good looking friends. Today and tomorrow we are hosting more Movie Nights, focusing on the theme of HIV, since Thursday is World AIDS Day(WAD). Thursday we will be "running" a "marathon" in honor of WAD. You may have noticed that there are quotation marks around both of those words. People keep saying that we will be running, but I'm pretty sure it'll be closer to a slow jog or walk (I'll wear my gym clothes and stretch out ahead of time just in case). And by marathon I mean take that 26.2 miles and subtract 24 of them. That will leave you with a 2 mile ish marathon. Apparently there is a WAD march done from El Salvador to Nicaragua (pretty salvaje if you ask me) and we will be participating in the end part of that. Photos and more info to come next week.

Friendly good looking friends (well one of them is good looking...sorry scott you didn't quite make the cut...you are friendly though.)-Alyson and Scott- will be traveling to Nica to visit! My first visitors from home. I am overly excited to see them and for them to see where and how I'm living here. We have a couple of small trips planned in order to see some of Nica and will spend a few days in my site as well. Also more good looking stories and photos to come later.

Election Year: Bright Colors, Catchy Songs and Political Rallies

November 6, 2011- Election day here in Nicaragua. The politics here are so different than the politics at home. (By the way-I just want to emphasize the fact that this blog has been written and posted by me and can in no way be tied to the US government as an official statement. These are merely my observations of pre-election activity. I will try to be as neutral as possible.) Anyway, back at home, a politician will travel around from state to state making speechs, giving interviews and digging up dirt of her or his fellow candidates in order to make great but dirty TV ads. Here in Nicaragua, campaigns are built on bright fun colors (which make for great t-shirts and billboards); popular and extremely catchy songs being played over and over again until everyone knows every single word and even if you’re not Nicaraguan or not attached to that specific party-you find yourself singing along (otra otra…doo da da da…Nicaragua….) and as you can imagine from the previous two points, the focus is placed on getting the youth vote. This is made obvious through massive youth clubs who attend and lead rallies and marches, put on beauty pageants in honor of their political party and sport their political t-shirts whenever and wherever possible. TV commercials do point out the flaws of the other candidates, but more so are focused on blasted their song or slogan over and over again. Massive political rallies are held-it seems like for a while, once a week. These rallies are widely attended by babies, groups of children and teenagers, adults and senior citizens. In my community, the population seems pretty split. There are a large amount of Sandinistas who are extremely passionate and wear their red and black very proudly, but there are also a huge number of Liberals, who are also very committed to their party. I honestly am not sure what will happen tomorrow. I guess we will just have to wait and see who wins and how this affects the country (if it changes anything at all). All this being said, I am extremely excited and interested to see what happens and very glad to be able to experience what could be an extremely important moment in Nicaraguan history.

Cruisin' Through Corinto

I wrote part of a blog about a somewhat strange and awkward experience of Nicas taking pictures of me and fellow gringos. Very often, I find myself the topic of discussion in what they think are hushed voices or the center of a photo or the focus of a staring contest. I realize that this is because I’m kind of white-ish (although yesterday someone mistook me to be Mexican…even after I kept speaking Spanish with my not-so-perfect accent). After all this time though, I’ve gotten used to it and even have noticed that people were not staring at me when I came home to visit this past May. It’s interesting how fast we can adapt to certain things. Anyway, apparently I have gotten so used to being stared at and so used to only seeing Nicaraguans here in Corinto, that I do the same thing they do to me. When the cruise ships come through Corinto, I stare. I stare at the white old couples as they walk past my house in their cruise clothing: sneakers, cargo shorts, white button ups and wide-brimmed visors. They stand out so much. It is not an intentional thing; it’s out of curiosity. Where else have they been and where else will they go? Do they have a single son or grandson around the age of 25? Where are they from? I wonder what they think I am doing here…or maybe they think I’m just a light-skinned Nica (although I doubt that is the case). Que se yo. By also staring, this allows me to almost see myself through the eyes of a Nica (without the cruise clothing, of course). I’m just someone new in the neighborhood who does not look like everyone else. People are interesting to look at and I dig it.

A Series of Haikus (inspired by Lindsey Leslie and Lauren Spiegel-haiku masters)

The clients line up

I sit spying on my stoop

Front row for the show

The smoke drifts closer

Prompting me to rise up

And place my order

Pollo Asado

Tejadas con Repollo

Y Gallo Pinto

As I sit and eat

Strange piropos fill my ears

What did you call me?

Baby, I love you

Chelita, Gringa, White girl

That is not my name

On bicycles ride

Legs like grasshoppers they fly

Faster and faster

Too fast to catch them

Instead, I focus on me

Life is fantastic

These sights pass by me

On the streets of Corinto

2 years: this is home

A New Me

In the 9 months that I have been here in Nicaragua, I have learned a lot. Some of the things listed below are skills that I have acquired, while others are just things that I have gotten used to. Some are helpful skills that I will be able to continue to use when back in the states and some are pretty much just relevant to being here!

-Killing Cockroaches (well…almost)

-Watching Boston sports via the score updates on the bottom of ESPN (They have played all of the Pats games though on live TV!)

-Bathing using the bucket bath method

-Waiting more than an hour for a meeting to start

-Riding a bike in 2 inch white leather-looking heels

-Wearing 2 inch white leather heels and feeling okay with it

-Commanding a room of anywhere from 5 to 80 people...in Spanish...usually I talk about sex.

-Cooking on a one burner camp stove-recent cooking triumph: vegetable soup (which is called Stone Soup here) and tabouli.

-Dancing (I’m still perfecting my salsa and bachata, but I’m getting there.)

Next Edition of I’m An Awkward Gringa (well…almost…it was a really close call)

I have these great sandals. They are black strappy super comfortable flats that go with every single outfit I own. I bought them from a store in Leon for 60 cordobas. Because they were so cheap, 2 of my friends bought the same exact shoes. I mean, who can say no to a 3 dollar great (or so I thought) pair of sandals? I wear them very often…so often in fact, that the bottom has started to wear away. Because of that, they have become rather slippery, which of course does not help my case of awkward-gringa-ness.

Anyway, on Monday, I was about to walk into the food store. I was feeling great with my cool sunglasses and confidence building outfit, so I was walking pretty tall. That is, until I slipped and came extremely close to face planting. I picked up my dignity from the grey cement Pali walkway and smiled and gave a “ha wow that was a close one” face to the security guard. He looks at me like I’m crazy and tells me to be careful. I’m okay. I continue walking into the store and head to the vegetable and pasta section of the store, which is pretty close to the front of the store. That being said, the security guard had another clear view of my next close call. Same thing happened- I almost slipped, this time almost falling flat on my back. I did that move where your legs are spread, almost like you’re about to do a split. Your arms instantly go out to either side to balance yourself and you make an extremely attractive panic face. If I had been out at a dance club or maybe at the gym, I could have pulled this off as a new starfish looking dance move….but I was not. I was at the food store…in Nicaragua. And as before, only one person commented, while the rest just looked. Thank you sir security guard for being worried about me (and for watching my bike every time I visit your store).

Oh, the life of being an almost awkward gringa.

Rainy Days and Movie Night Updates

Today it rained for 12 hours. It started early morning around 2 am and kept raining-hard- until about 2 pm. This was definitely the hardest rain I have seen here in Nicaragua so far. Someone said that right now we are being hit with a small hurricane, which will be followed by Tropical Storm Irwin. They’re expecting a lot of rain this week…remember- this week marks my 7 movie nights in a row…hmmm.

Update So Far:

Movie Night #1: It was scheduled to go from 6pm to 8pm. It rained from 4 until about 5:45 pm. 6:15 pm- we started the first movie. 2 out of the 3 movies and the projector worked perfectly. We had a great crowd and they were very participatory. 8pm- we finish and I head home. 8:30 pm- the electricity goes out until 3 am. Maybe my luck is changing?

Movie Night #2: It rains for 12 hours and is supposed to rain on and off for the whole week. Maybe last night was a fluke.

I will keep you updated with how the rest of the week goes.

Invent Yourself

Back in 4^th grade, we had a group project to invent something. It could have been anything-no need for it to be realistic. My group and I designed a sneaker that could do anything and everything- you could travel to far away places in seconds, it could make you hot chocolate etc… It was a fantastic idea. Not realistic at all, but fantastic. (And come on, honestly, who would want to drink hot chocolate that came from a show you’d been wearing all day?) Here, the Peace Corps small business sector has an annual entrepreneurial competition in the high schools. Each Small Business volunteer runs a local competition. The winner of this is sent to a departmental competition. The winner of this is sent onto the National Competition, which is held in Managua. It’s a pretty cool event. All of the students who are a part of this business class have learned how to come up with an original product, make the product, write a business plan, present it and sell it. Broken up into groups, this is what they must do for the competition. Today I was a judge for the event in Corinto. We had the task of judging painted and decorated tortillas (being sold as a tourist product); a new local healthier bird food; a chocolate dish made of cocoa, dulce de leche, dried fruits and peanuts (absolutely delicious!); a calendar/agenda with pictures of Nicaragua and Corinto; and a jewelry business (very creative with their ribbon bracelets). I was honestly very impressed with all of the groups- it was obvious that they all worked extremely hard to organize their presentations, actually make and sell their product and write a detailed business plan. At the end of the month, the department wide competition will be held in Chinandega. I’ll be very excited to see how the rest of Chin did and to see if a representative from Corinto can continue on to Managua!

Family Ties

As I close my eyes, I think of my family. I had no idea how much I would miss them. One of Peace Corps’ slogans is “(it’s) One of the toughest jobs you’ll ever love”. It is true. I really do love my life here- I love my job, I work with some really great people, have some good friends and am learning so much, but it can be difficult. The highs are so incredibly high and the lows are terribly low. Your highs and lows can come and go in a span of an hour or two. Never in my life had I ever woken up feeling so positive to stepping out of the shower, having washed away all of my positivity, leaving behind only dark negative thoughts. I’m not sure why this happens. I do want to reassure you that this is not something that happens very often, but it does happen. Not always being able to have direct, instantaneous contact with a friend or family member after of these extremes definitely makes it difficult. Living with Mom, I could come home and have her there to talk to or I would encounter my Dad on the bus ride home. I miss the small things-arriving home in JP after work to roommates with bottles of wine and smiles waiting for me; spending Sundays watching football with Mom and Scarlett followed by Youth Group and more football at Main St with sugar rimmed pumpkin beer and friends; checking out new parts of Boston with Dad, paid for by Groupons that he bought; and a impromptu sisters outing, even if it was just to Marshalls or to a movie. You honestly do not think about what your life would be like without someone there until they’re not (or at least not a close by kind of “there”). Peace Corps prepares you to learn Spanish, to give charlas, to speak in front large groups, to form youth groups and to adapt and integrate into Nicaraguan culture. I honestly do not know if there is a way to prepare for the longing for someone familiar that one can feel when they are not close by. It can be a tough job.

Lights Action Camera...Movie Night

Health promoters here use movies a lot as a tool to teach people about health topics. There are films on everything from gender roles to HIV to domestic violence...really any health topic (especially sexual and reproductive health) you could think of-there is probably a video. Being a health promoters, myself, Xiomara and Estefan (new German volunteer), we have used and will be using movie nights a lot. When I first arrived, Christian (old German vol.) and Evan (PC volunteer who I replaced), RAVED about movie nights. They described them as being one of the easiest activities to organize. As long as you have all of the equipment, you should have a successful event. To begin, you arrive at the neighborhood where you will be putting on the movie. You go to the house of a community leader, hoping that they will lend you some electricity and possibly a sound system. From the Casa y Clinica, we bring the movie, a laptop, a projector and a screen. As soon as everything is set up and working correctly (which should be an easy process), you go house to house inviting people. This is the fun part. Next, everyone shows up half an hour later and you begin the movie. To end the night, you give a short charla on the theme that the movie discussed and thank everyone for coming.

Now...these are the steps, in order, that one must go through, if we lived in a perfect world (or if I were a luckier person). For me, I have had some difficulties arranging these events. The first time I attempted to put on a movie night, we arrived and told the people we would begin around 7. At 6:59, the lights go out. We now have no electricity to plug anything in. The event is postponed. Movie night number 2- it pours and the event is postponed. Movie night number 3- the wire we bring to connect the sound system to the computer is not compatible. The event is postponed. Movie night number 4- it pours....the event is postponed...again. Movie night number 5- my computer does not have the correct program to connect the projector to my computer. We borrow a computer and FINALLY are able to put on the show. We show a film on gender roles and domestic violence and give a brief charla on the theme. It goes well...finally.

Anyway, today my counterpart-Xiomara- tells me that her boss wants us to do a series of movie nights- the series being 7 movie nights in 7 nights. What?! Are you serious? Dead serious. The theme is domestic violence, HIV and teen pregnancy. The week long movie night will begin Monday October 10th and will end on Sunday October 16th. We will be putting on these activities for 15 youth per neighborhood here in Corinto. If all goes well, it will not rain for a week, the lights will not go out and we will all be technologically inclined. (This being Nicaragua and me being me...I'm not too optimistic!)

But being in Peace Corps and being a person who likes to learn, I'm hoping to have at least a few of the movie nights go well. And if not, as my Dad always says, at least "it's an opportunity to make new friends"!

Another Edition of “I’m an Awkward Gringa…Why Don’t You Stare At Me Some More?”

8 am Thursday morning- one of the cooks from the Comedor Infantil, Paula, and I go shopping to buy a fish for Friday’s lunch. The best place to buy fresh fish here in Corinto is in the Barrio de los Pescadores (Neighborhood of the Fishermen). It’s a neighborhood located right on the ocean- it has amazing views of the islands, fantastic sunsets and great access to the beach. The fish stores or markets are set up in front of or inside of someone’s house or garage. The place we go to is a wide open garage type building filled with bins, buckets, scales and of course, the smell of fish. The bins and buckets have tiny fish, child-size fish, urel, eel, manta rays and shark. It’s a busy place, but because it’s still early in the day, there are many people sitting around drinking their morning coffee. The men fishing in the boats have just come in from an early morning expedition. Some use the spear fishing method, while others use massive nets. You do not see many fishing poles here, at least not in Corinto.

Paula and I choose a fish of about a foot and a half in length- we need enough fish to feed 30 children. The man gives me the fish in one black plastic bag and I give him 50 cordobas (about 2 US dollars). I then put the bag with the fish on my bike handle bars and begin to head home.

Because I am white, I get stared at- even though I have been here for 6 months. I do not have to make a fool of myself and do anything extra to draw attention. Just by being white, people notice me. But, being the awkward-at-times-person that I am, I sometimes draw attention for other reasons.

Anyway, Paula and I bike back to my house. We are right around the corner from my place when the fish bag breaks. The fish slips out through the hole in the bag and flops onto the street. People are staring. The breaks on my bike are broken right now(I promise to get them fixed right away!), so the only way I can stop is to use the Fred Flintstone method. I slow down and start dragging my foot on the ground. As I am attempting to stop my bike in a most comedic manner, the fish is still just lying in the middle of the street. I finally stop and I turn my bike around. There are many many people staring now. Some are laughing; some just stare. Not one single person comes over to help. They just sit and enjoy the strange gringa show.

Eventually Paula takes the fish from me and we make it back to my house. We stuff the fish into my freezer and sit down to rest after our fish flopping fiasco. What a way to start a Thursday!

Stay tuned for more awkward situations to come!

Freedom!

"The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." -Thucydides

(I apologize-I have some great pictures and I wanted to upload them here, but my internet was being extremely slow...instead you can find pictures from Independence Day and more!)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.801635888160.2288425.6900939

We usually celebrate our Independence Day alla in the US with BBQs, red, white and blue dyed foods and drinks, and fireworks. We play football on the beach, eat hot dogs, watch baseball and decorate the country with millions of flags. On July 4th, I'm usually down the Cape camping with my mom, aunt and sisters and honestly its not a huge holiday for us. For us it means another beach day followed by fireworks on the beach at night while eating an ice cream treat from the ice cream truck. Even though it's not a big holiday, it's always very relaxing!

Here Independence Day is a bit different. The preparations begin many months in advance. Each school has their own marching band/drum corps, flag holders and dance group. They practice from May until September, most days after school. As it gets closer to September, practice is held everyday- weekends included. The dancers must move in complete unison, the drummers must beat as hard and loud as they possibly can and the flag bearers must walk with strong straight arms. And the costumes- the costumes are everything! One school dressed as cowboys and cowgirls- all in jeans and plaid shirts- the girls in high heeled black suede boots. Another school chose a military inspired costume adorned with feathers, beads and of course, high heels. Everything must be perfect! 7 am on Setptember 14th, the schools begin to march , stopping every 10-15 minutes to perform their dance. This 7 am march is just practice before the 830 am actual procession begins. The bands continue passing by for a few hours- they end at the central park for a big presentation celebration. They announce the name of each school, while the school continues to dance and drum. It's definitely a different way to celebrate, but I enjoyed it!

Visitation Rights!

December 4th- Scott Long arrives in Costa Rica and makes his way up to Nicaragua!! He'll be here until Dec. 11th-no plans as of now, but Im thinking a quick trip to Costa Rica with a possible stopover in the Rivas area on our way up to Corinto will be part of our itinerary.

December 23rd- My mom, 2 sisters and aunt come to visit!!!!!!!!!!! WAHOO! They would like to see Granada and Corinto. I am beyond excited for people to come visit...It's one thing to read blogs, talk on the phone and see pictures, but you will not get the actual real feel of what my life is down here until you make it here!
Cannot wait for my beautiful visitors to arrive (not that I'm counting down or anything...)
Scott- 78 days!
FAM- 97 days!

Sopa de Res/Beef Soup

In the Comedor Infantil today, we cooked Sopa de Res- a Beef Stew. Here is the recipe for this delicious meal- no numbers are included because we always make our lunches for 30 kids...that's a lot of res. This is a dish that is very commonly made for birthday parties or other celebrations. I will attempt to translate all of the ingredients....but some of them may not exist in English- for that I apologize.


Sopa de Res By Doña Coco

-Beef Bones
-Yuca
-Tomato
-Mint leaves
-Green Beans
-Salt
-Cabbage
-Onion
-Peppers-green or red
-Cilantro
-Ayote and Chayote- both squash type vegetables
-Carrots
-Taro root (in Spanish known as Quequisque-similar to yuca and very tasty!)
-Baby Sweetcorn (Chilote in Spanish)
-Can also add platano-green or ripe ones

You basically start out by boiling the bones in water to make a stock and just continue to add all of the ingredients that you would like to add. It's a pretty basic recipe-lots of ingredients, but easy to make! For us, it usually cooks for 2 hours, but the flavor is better developed the more you cook everything together for-it brings out more of the flavor from the bones.
In order to serve the soup you usually take out all of the ingredients once they are cooked and divide them into the bowls of however many people will be eating. This makes sure that each person is allotted a little bit of each ingredient. You would then pour the stock over the vegetables and bones. It is usually eaten with rice and/or tortilla.

September Oddities

- When it rains here, it RAINS...and that rain sometime will bring lots of thunder, lightning and heavy winds. Last night was one of those nights. In front of my house, there is a small patio type area that is covered by a roof- when it rains, the patio usually fills up with people trying to escape the storm. Last night a family of 3- a mom and her 2 kids-came to stand under the covered patio and happened to stand right in front of my door. The storm had not hit us at full strength at this point, so it was not too dangerous or wet. 5 minutes later, the storm hit us. As I am chopping up vegetables for my friend and I's dinner, I hear someone say, "Discupla muchacha...podriamos entrar?" (excuse me, could we come in?) The 3 year old little boy and his mother were terrified of the thunder and lightning. I of course let them in and serve them some gaseosa to calm the little boy down(I know giving a child soda to calm him down would not make sense in the US,especially an hour or so before bedtime, but here it works). We chat as the electricity comes and goes for about half an hour while the storm is in its strongest moment and then they leave and make their way back home. Interactions like these make me smile.

--My PCV friend from up north-Sarah- and I went to the local casino one day to watch soccer and play bananagrams. There is a great small usually empty room in the back with a big tv and a couples of very powerful fans-great spot to hang out. We arrive and the room, as usual, is empty. Perfect! We find the Man U game and set up our table for Bananagrams-who needs to play gambling money eating games, when you can play words games! Anyway, about 10-15 minutes after us being there, stumble in 5 on-their-way-to-drunk men. They grab the table next to us. 10 minutes later, a similar looking group of 4 more men walk in...followed 5 minutes later....yes, another group of almost drunk men. Our perfectly secluded soccer viewing word making game room is not infested by drunk men. They are being polite though and we make pleasant enough conversation. Next thing we know, someone is trying to change the channel and put on music videos-you should know- there already is music BLASTING from the front of the casino and we are still watching soccer. The men keep talking about wanting to stop watching soccer and put on music videos. So to sum up why this story is actually interesting- Sarah and I are surrounded by about 15 men, in a gender roles driven culture and the only two women in the room are the ones who want to watch sports. All of the men and looking to watch old cheesy 1970s disco music videos...strange.

---I was on my way to work this morning when I passed by, on the side of the road, an old man with a very curly mullet-like hair do. He only had one boot on and was hopping up and down on one foot, while banging his shoe on the sidewalk and yelling. In the middle of this hilariously weird scene, he stopped what he was doing and yelled out to me, "Hola mi bonita chelita!" (Hello my pretty little white girl!) For some strange reason, the scene just did not seem as funny anymore.

----Sometimes what you ask for, you do receive. And sometimes what you receive is not exactly what you were asking for (or maybe it was, but you did not actually want to receive it.) For example >>> Yesterday I was visiting the local beach in Corinto with Sarah and my Nica friend Muriel, sitting at a rancho (thatched roof hut restaurants), drinking a Tona and enjoying the beautiful ocean breeze. In the middle of our conversation, we notice that a little girl and her family are snapping a foto of us with her phone. Now I understand the need to take a picture of a beautiful landscape, of a famous person or of your family and friends, but to take pictures of random white people whom you've never met? I just do not get it. Neither does Sarah. The three of us begin to discuss this idea of taking pictures of people without asking them first. We come to the conclusion that if people want to take pictures of us, they should at least ask first-our discussion is in Spanish. We are speaking in a normal tone of voice, not particularly loud, but not extremely quiet. The tables are not too far apart from each other, but listening in on other people's conversations over the music, is not the easiest of tasks. 5 minutes after we finish this conversation, a man walks up to our table and says (in Spanish), "Excuse me, but would you mind, please, if I took a picture with you?" Was it coincidence or did he overhear our conversation...we may never know.

La Mini Griteria

Here in Nicaragua, August 14th marks the date of the mini Griteria (literally translated to-the mini Yelling), which is the baby sister holiday to the Griteria and the Purisima which take place on December 7th and 8th. Here is a description of the holiday from ViaNica.com:

During the Griteria, Virgen Mary is also venerated. It is a celebration used by people to thank the Virgen for miracles and it takes place before the official day. Faithful people decorate altars in their houses in the place where it can be seen from the street. In some neighborhoods, you can find more than 3 altars in just one block. Not only Catholics and religious people participate in this tradition. It is interesting to hear how people who do not know the song lyrics make up the whole song or just sing the end of each verse.

The Griteria is celebrated by Nicaraguan families building these massive altars-they range from John and my small, but impressive cross-cultural altar:

to tables covered with lights, flowers and Virgen Mary statues reaching 5 feet tall! (Unfortunately I do not have pictures of these amazing statues but promise to be more touristy in December.) Apparently these 5 foot tall altars are nothing in comparison to what happens during the actual Griteria in December. I cannot wait to see what the big one will bring. Anyway, how do you celebrate this holiday? You go door to door, mainly kids, but really everyone participates ( we had a few old women come by on their own), and things are passed out to them- similar to Halloween, you may be thinking. You are not completely wrong- it is similar, but at the same time totally and completely different. You may walk around by yourself or in groups, approaching the houses that are hosting altars. When the people come to your front door, they yell, "Quien causa tanta la alegria?" (who causes all of this happiness?) And you will then answer "La asuncion de la virgen!" (the assumption of the virgen(mary)). They then sing a song about the virgen mary and how great she is, while holding out their hands.

We gave out candy, but when John and I went Griteria-ing at the house next door, we were handed a small decorative bowl filled with 2 matchboxes, a bag of soap, 3 lollipops and a bag of M&M type candies.

The rumors of the December Griteria that I have heard promise pots, pans, full plates of food, shampoos, random kitchen supplies and more candy...wow. We are planning on having a Peace Corps sponsored altar next time, but it would be great to go home with new pots and pans, a blender or even a chicken!

I'm Quitting Peace Corps to Become a Professional Surfer!!

Or...Maybe Not...That second picture is most definitely NOT me...Baby steps may be the wiser choice for me...the first picture and the one below are me (see what I mean about taking it slow?)

It is a fun new sport though! My Chinandega friends and I took a weekend trip to this really great Eco surf and yoga lodge about an hour and a half north of Corinto. The weekend was spent swimming (the waves were HUGE!), doing yoga, eating delicious fresh healthy food, boogie boarding, surfing/learning to surf/falling off of my surfboard...and all of these activities were spent with great friends. The place is called Coco Loco and is owned by a couple of Canadiens and an American. It is frequented by and has surf lessons and camps taught by professional surfer, Holly Beck. All of the people who work and hang out there are very chill, very tranquilo people. The lodge itself is also host to (and the owners run) a non-profit called, Waves of Hope. They work with the local community; teaching a youth surf camp, growing a community garden, saving sea turtles, vocational training and more. And the place itself is BEAUTIFUL! The first night we watched a huge storm roll in over the ocean- I tried over and over again to catch the lightning on my camera, but was very unsuccessful. After many attempts, I decided it was not worth missing and settled back with my deliciously cold Tona cerveza and enjoyed the show. The lightning shot not only from sky to ground, but zig zagged sideways...it was almost moving in circles. I had never seen this before- it was absolutely incredible. The combination of the lightning, making new friends, deep conversations with old friends, the smell of the downpouring rain and the relaxing just hanging around that we were doing...truly made for an excellent evening.
One last picture- here I am Mom! You requested a picture of me- have I changed over the past 3 months since I last saw you?
While I may not quit my day job to become a professional surfer...I can definitely lay on the beach...really well. This may be the hobby that I quit working for.

If You´re Just Tuning in With Us Here At "True Life: I´m a Peace COrps Volunteer"

As some of you know, I spent the year after college serving with an Americorps program called the Massachusetts Promise Fellowship (www.masspromisefellows.org)- it was a really amazing year. I served at America SCORES New England (http://www.americascores.org/affiliates/new-england) which is an afterschool soccer and creative writing program. This is an article that I wrote for their newsletter! Enjoy!

Hey fellows and fellow lovers!

My name is Kate Lena and I am a class X Promise Fellow Alum. I served as a Youth Leadership Fellow at America SCORES New England. During my year as a fellow, I learned a lot and met the most incredible people-who, I have to say, have changed my life and helped me to grow as a person. Through a variety of ways, the Promise Fellowship has led me to what I am currently doing with my life: serving as a Healthy Lifestyles Peace Corps (PC) volunteer in Corinto, Nicaragua.

In addition to battling cockroaches, perfecting my ability to tell jokes in Spanish, learning to make gallo pinto, forming great new friendships and working on my backstroke, I am working in a Youth Center and Health Clinic. This clinic, built by a previous PC volunteer, is here to provide the youth of Corinto with a safe space to have all of their health and lifestyle questions, answered. As sustainability is so important, we use the clinic as a space to provide trainings to youth, sex workers and community health workers, so that they in turn are able to train their peers. We provide sessions on all sexual and reproductive health topics, as well as seasonal illnesses, personal hygiene and how to start your own youth group. These sessions are given in schools, community centers, parks, homes etc... We even gave classes on HIV/AIDS and STIs to a few circuses that came to town. Explaining how to use a condom, in Spanish, to a group of clowns and acrobats, really is an amazing thing.

While the work I do is interesting, fun and takes up the majority of my time here, I also have time to learn about Nicaraguan culture. I have become accustomed to washing my clothing by hand (I’m going to hand HUGE arm muscles when I come back), not having running water and electricity 24/7, and maneuvering my way through fruit and vegetable markets. If you came to Corinto, you should not be surprised to see me weaving in and out of traffic, on my bike, from the market to my office with pounds of chicken, fruits, vegetables and plantains on my back (we have a youth soup kitchen 3 times a week), while shouting out “Adios” to my friends. While I do really miss my friends and family at home, I am beginning to sculpt somewhat of a life here in Nicaragua. It really is an amazing country full of the friendliest people.

If you are trying to decide what to do next with your life, I totally recommend looking into Peace Corps- feel free to drop me a line (klena225@gmail.com), read my blog (katalinalena.blogspot.com) or swing by Corinto, Chinandega, Nicaragua!

Through the Looking Glass: Friends and Travels

Cooks- Paula and JOhanna

Herman

Carlos

Herman

Carlos

Drawing at the Casa y Clinica

Leon

Leon

Leon

Leon

Celebrating birthdays in Leon- Ricky and Lucas

My Chinandega girls! Ashley and Lindsey

Youth Soccer Tourney

Sports Day with the Casa y Clinica

Corinto's beauty pageant girl

Nicaraguan Beauty Pageant-my view from the judge's table

Political Floats

small dancing rally

northern Chinandega

Ashley's new house!

My Nicaraguan Dish Wish List

While my gallo pinto came out fairly decent, this is only one of the many Nicaraguan dishes that I hope to make while living here. A few other tasty bites that are on my list of things to try to make are:

1. Cuajada- a type of cheese made with milk and a pill (yes, like the medicinal type of pill…)
2. Arroz Valenciana- basically fried rice with carrots, chicken and other veggies
3. Pupusas- similar to a quesadilla but the tortilla is made of corn flour
4. Tortillas
5. Coffee- I am still trying to perfect making coffee here. Today I got extremely close- our safety and security officer told us that there are some things that we should be willing to spend money on in order to keep our sanity. For me, a few of those things are coffee and the proper fixings. This morning I ate a slice of watermelon, some oatmeal and had a delicious cup of coffee with powdered creamer (while the powdered stuff is not my favorite…it does do the trick) and a few dashes of sugar.
6. Nacatamales- a typical Nicaraguan dish- steamed while wrapped in a plantain leaf…the nacatamale…I am actually not exactly positive what it holds inside…
7. Chancleta- baked chayote (green vegetable) stuffed with mozzarella chees
8. Churros- I’ve made the Argentine kind of churros, but these here are filled with cheese and are more of a savory dish, than a sweet one.
9. Soy Milk- homemade soy milk to add to my coffee
10. Manuelitas- large sweet pancakes wrapped and filled with either cheese or meat- they are delicious!

Tasty Bites and More Thoughts on Food

The phrase “comfort food” exists for a reason. Food is comforting. It really is that simple. Or is it? Perhaps I should rephrase that; food can be comforting. It depends on what you are eating. For example: fish eye balls…for some strange reason just does not do it for me. They just are not comforting. Neither are chicken hearts nor livers nor any innards really, in my opinion. I know that they are supposed to be a delicacy and many people may find them to be comforting. They may remind you of your family, friends, a certain holiday or restaurant…but for me…they just sort of make me cringe. My mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese, on the other hand; definitely comfort food. I feel the same for her pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, my grandmothers homemade meatballs and fucili, my other grandmothers Christmas tree cookies, my aunts’ chicken wings and ice box cake, my dads coffee (a simple dish, but so delicious and really not the same when anyone else makes it). All of these dishes bring up memories for me-holidays, birthdays, late night homework in high school, family…the mere smell of certain ingredients can bring me home. The smell of cinnamon, for some reason always reminds me of winter break from college; being at home on a snowy day with a fire going in the fire place, my mom baking. When I lived on my own in Boston, I used to cook cinnamon sticks- just cinnamon sticks and water in order to infuse that smell into my kitchen. It actually works really well and even on the coldest of cold days, can make me feel cozier and warmer. Here in Nicaragua, though, I would define comfort food a little differently. Here my comfort food is my host mother’s gallo pinto and my other host mother’s baked chayote and mozzarella cheese. It’s a good cup of coffee that is not over-sweetened and a meal that is not over-salted or over-fried. While I could try to recreate recipes from home, in order to have the same definition of comfort food, I think one of the reasons why those foods are comforting, is because of who is making them. I could try to make them, but it just would not be the same. Also, the ingredients are extremely different here and I cook on a 2 burner camp stove, which has 1 broken burner and no oven.

Now that I live on my own, though, I must make my own comfort food. I started with an attempt at making gallo pinto. I think it actually turned out pretty well...I ate it for lunch with a tomato and pipian (a squash type vegetable) salad. It was delicious! Before actually trying gallo pinto, I thought it was just rice and beans...and it basically is, but the technique to cook it is different than you may think. The rice is first washed- you must pick out any rocks, bugs etc... that may be inside. The rice I buy does not have to be washed too carefully, but I do find rocks in there every once in a while. While you are washing the rice, you fry chopped onions (and I like to add garlic as well), in oil (I use soy oil). Next you fry the uncooked rice (sounds strange I know...) After frying the rice for about 2 minutes, you add water and allow the rice to cook the same way that we would cook the rice at home. After the rice is done, you fry the beans (which are already cooked-I buy mine pre-cooked from my host family) for a couple of minutes. Next you mix the fried rice with the fried beans and yes, you fry them both together. This dish may not be one of the healthier dishes in Nicaragua, but it definitely is delicious and I think when I leave here in 2 years, I will miss it. This dish may just become one of the recipes I bring home with me to add to my list of comfort foods.

The Wheels on the Bus

First- I'd like to offer an apology. It has been a month since my last blog post and a lot has happened in the past month. I will attempt to update you all on everything that has happened, this week. As I do not have a lot of time today, I will leave you with one story and some photos and will get back to you with the rest.

Our bus steams down the highway; bus in actuality being an extra large 20 passenger van, which usually takes no less than twenty-five passengers. The bus helper stuffs us all in, making sure that every possible spot that could fit a body, does. Some days the heat is completely unbearable, but today, with all of the windows open, we actually have a decent breeze running through. This allows me to relax enough to enjoy the scenery that we are passing by. Leaving the island, we cross the Paso Caballo bridge that was constructed fairly recently. I think I read somewhere that they are trying to claim this bridge as the longest bridge in Nicaragua…if you have seen this bridge, you will understand where my doubt comes from. In the distance the San Cristobal volcano watches over us, its crevices filled with smoke and clouds, its cliffs and ledges outlined in a dark forest type green that you would expect from the fir trees of the Northeastern states. Even though volcanoes are not typical in Massachusetts, this one somehow reminds me of home. And then I look out the window again, and realize I am most definitely in Nicaragua. We pass by herds of cows with their shepherds and men leading horses attached to carriages towing wood, scrap metal and other random things. We pass by large rich farms enclosed by ornately decorated gates and gardens. Brown and white spotted horses eating their grassy breakfasts; small family owned restaurants with a 2 or 3 option menu. I usually enjoy riding the busses here (unless it means I am squished up against a large sweaty man or having my body contorted in ways I thought impossible). Otherwise I like it. I like that the busses take routes that allow me to see parts of the city I may not have the opportunity to travel to on my own. It’s also great people watching-I see old women who remind me of one of my grandmothers-they tote around grandchildren while gossiping with friends. ..young girls with tattooed eyebrows, heavily painted faced, wearing brightly colored dresses and shirts…groups of students in their matching colors, the same as their matching schools, symbolizing the colors of their matching country’s flag…men wearing knitted winter hats confuse me in this always hot weather country…people lounging on the streets sipping on their Caballito-a very cheap and very local liquor…shops with bike parts, car parts, toy cars, colored buckets, cups, rope, household appliances and other random metal pieces mix with the fruit and vegetable venders to give the street character. At times, I feel like Im on a bus on my way to work heading into Boston...but then i open my eyes. All of these people and things passing by remind me that I am living a pretty sweet and interesting life.

9 de Junio: A Day in the Life

7:40 am- Alarm goes off.

7:50-8:20 am- Bucket shower, which consists of me throwing cold water on my body, hoping most of it gets clean and at least will help wake me up; Getting dressed-semi professional dress is required…flip flops sometimes make an appearance; contacts and minimal make up with earrings and daily face lotion with SPF= my beauty routine.

8:20 ish-9 am- Breakfast- Today is gallo pinto (rice n beans) with cream, cheese, bread and coffee-eaten while watching CSI Miami or The Dead Zone.

9am- Bike to a meeting in the house of someone who I do not know and where I do not know. Luckily I run into a neighbor, who shows me the way. Yay! (but not yay for long) I arrive at the house to find myself the only one here, standing in front of the nurse, who lives there, still in her bathrobe. The meeting, apparently, has been postponed until tomorrow.
-I bike to the Casa y Clinica(CCA), where I catch up with Xiomara and Christian.
-I go to print something, to realize that in my 1 minute walk from the CCA to the hospital, the electricity has gone out. Brilliant. I head back to the CCA and the lights come back on 5 minutes later.

10:30 am- Bike to the Gertrudis school to give an hour long charla on Domestic Violence to a great 6th grade class. Charla goes very well and I am greeted by a huge applause and shorts-my self-esteem and happiness is very high right now!

11:30 am- On my way back to the CCA, I stop for lunch at the comedor of Dona Teresa-it’s a small food stand with 2 counter seats and 2 tables located outside on the main street in between the bus station and food store. We talk about my trip home and cultural differences while I sip on homemade beet juice (which is actually one of my favorite juices here!)and eat chicken with rice, beans, tortilla and salad. Great company and great meal all for 30 cordobas ($1.50)

1pm- Head back to the CCA, where Xiomara and I discuss our 2 governments and how the education systems differ. For example, there are free universities here- FREE college…wow. But you have to pass a difficult exam to get in, so most of the people who go to school end up paying.

2pm- Bike back to the Gertrudis for my 2nd charla of the day only to find that the afternoon 6th grade does not meet on Thursdays…who knew? Not me.

2:15pm- lots of biking! Back to the CCA…Vago around for a little bit, read up on breast cancer etc..

3pm- Xiomara and I take a taxi to another health center in Corinto to drop things off. We drop by the houses of 2 brigadistas (community volunteer health workers) to get their info for a training. We are only about a 20 minute bike ride from my house, but the climate here is totally different- much more tropical. The front yards of their house and the surrounding houses have a well-kept rainforest feel with bright green leafy plants growing next to hot magenta flowers. The bugs are more pesky here and I am sweating more, but it is beautiful.
-Next we visit the house of a youth health promoter and make plans for me to visit his youth club next week to present myself and play soccer. After recruiting a group of boys to come to a few events, we hop on a big yellow school bus back to the CCA.

4:30pm- done with work for the day, I take my final bike trip back to my house.
-chat with my host family a little then head to the internet cafe

6:30pm- show my host sister pictures from home and of the wedding.

7pm- Telenovela numero 1- Pasion de Galivanes- great country novella complete with beautiful mountains, horses and of course: murder, husband and wife stealing and all around drama.

8pm- Telenovela numero 2- Cuna de Gato- very suspenseful story- tonight Deborah and her boyfriend find out that they cannot date because they are brother and sister, only to about 10 minutes later, find out that they are actually not related at all because Deborah’s father is actually not here father. He is only the father of her boyfriend. Very intriguing.

9pm- read, bedtime and sleep so that I can wake up and do it all over again tomorrow!