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.