Traveling the World in a Few Hundred Words

Friday, September 16, 2011

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.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

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.

Monday, August 8, 2011

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!