Kate Lena: Owner of International Shipping Company

I´ve had a decent week...the usual ups and downs, but overall it has been good. We had the inauguration for our Youth Health Promoter Training School and 28 students showed up! This year instead of one school, we have 3 promoter schools with 18-24 students in each group coming from all 10 primary schools in Corinto. The group seemed really excited and enthusiastic to be part of it. On a sad note, I had to say goodbye to 2 of my favorite soup kitchen kids, as they will be moving to Costa Rica today. Although I am excited for their journey to CR and hoping that their life will be good their, I will definitely miss them.
So with these events at work plus normal comedor activities, health fairs etc... its been a good wekk. And then it got better...I got to enter the port! I´ve been wanting to get into check out the port basically for the entire time that I have been here in COrinto, but since they are so strict, it just hasnt happened. Luckily I have a friend who works with customs for the port checking containers coming in. Last night it actually happened. It was a long process, but totally worth it. First we had to go back to my house so I could change. YOu must be wearing pants and close toed shoes. The shoes was a bit of a dilemma, seeing as the only close toed shoes that I have here are sneakers, bright green and yellow crocs or heels. I ended up in heels (not stilettos or anything too high, but still heels). Then we went to her office to write a letter to ask permission that I could enter. She wrote on the letter that I was a visitor. After a walk to the port and getting rejected by the Bossman, we returned to her office to rewrite the letter. ¨We´ll just make something up!¨ she says. I read the letter over her shoulder as she is writing realizing that she has just made me the owner of an international shipping company and that we are entering the port at 9:30 pm to check up on one of my garlic containers. I immediately get a bit nervous wondering if they are going to ask me questions about my ship, my containers, my company. I never realized how strict they were there, but it makes sense. I totally could have been smuggling in drugs or guns or who knows what. Anyway, this time Bossman says Yes, of course I can enter, so we do. I put on my hardhat and my orange bright glow in the dark vest.

How cool. Right now there are 4 ships here-one from LA unloading containers, one from China who is delivering sugar to somewhere else and the other 2 we did not get to see. I honestly could have sat there and watched them load sugar for another hour. For someone, like my friend, who has been inside the port many times, it was old news. But for me, it was so interesting! I have no idea why...it shouldn´t be really. There is not too much to see, especially at night. But I found myself wondering where they came from, who the workers were and where they were going. Anyway, it was a fun field trip for the night and I´m hoping the opportunity will present itself another time to explore...maybe during the day and maybe we´ll get to board a ship!
Signing off,
Kate Lena International Shipping Company Owner

Dating: An Intercultural Experience

Dating: a magic word; a confusing concept; can bring out the best, worst and the most awkward sides of us. It’s even more confusing here as a Peace Corps volunteer living in a different country. I admit, at home, I did not have much success dating. I tried online dating which left me more disappointed with men than before. I have a friend who met her now-fiancé at a bar...we went on a double date with one of his friends….it didn’t work out as well for me. At home we go out, we go online, we join teams, gyms, clubs, social groups, we dress nicely to go food shopping; hoping that we will meet that special someone, or at least we’ll meet someone. In the US, while unsuccessful, I at least understood what I was looking for and who was socially acceptable for me to date. High schools students and old hairy toothless smelly men were usually a no-go. Now that I have integrated into Nicaraguan culture and have become accustomed to the culture here, my whole dating world has been thrown into a volcano, spun around and spit back up. When it comes to dating Nicas, I have no idea which way is up. Here I actually considered dating an 18 year old boy (emphasis on the word boy). This is socially acceptable and even encouraged (18 plus of course). At least he was a working boy (a full time circus clown counts as a job…right?) Anyway, that was a short lived nothing that went absolutely nowhere- he, at the age of 18, was ready for children and I, on the slightly older end, was and still am not. So here is one example of my Nica man spectrum: a hot-bodied, long haired teenage angst-filled circus clown. The other end of the spectrum holds a few men of the more mature age group including a priest, a doctor and a homeless-looking man with one shoe. To be very clear, I did not date any of these viejos, nor did I actually date the 18 year old. Our interactions range from a fly by cat call (thrown while jumping up and down on one foot banging his other shoe on the side walk, his hair looking all kinds of crazy) to late night one-sided text messages to a request for a private English lesson. I unfortunately turned them all down. I will admit. I did go on one date that seemed to go well. Normal guy, good looking, nice, my age. He is a fantastic dancer, which is very attractive. We had fun…and then I got to know him. He is a Yankees fan, a Lakers fan and a Heat fan. As a born and raised Bostonian and huge sports addict, I was hugely offended by these likes. I knew it would never work out.
So here, you meet people at the local high school (stick to the teachers), at fish markets and at churches (he may be the one giving the sermon). While dating can be complicated, awkward and downright strange, it can be really fun and you will usually at least end up with some interesting stories. A lot of volunteers date Nicas and have great experiences. You have someone who knows Nicaragua to show you around, a constant person to practice your Spanish with and a romantic someone to share your time with. My recommendating for all of you readers: find someone in the middle of that spectrum with no more than 2 obvious teeth missing and is old enough to have been able to vote in the US for a couple of years. And if he tells you, “I love you baby chelita bonita” the first time you meet, you may want to keep looking. And if you need a wingwoman, call me up, because I’m in the matchmaking business.