Doña Selena
Daisy and Carolina
Jose
Friday, June 27, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
La Lluvia
For the past few months I was beginning to think life here wasn´t so physically hard as I imagined it to be. Sure, it gets hot and dusty, but that makes my afternoon bucket bath super sabrosa. Spent a lot of time swinging in my hammock. Sat on a lot of neighbors porches drinking mango frescos. Enjoyed several warm, starry nights sitting on my doorstep. Tranquilo, as we say here.
Then, it started raining.
In Nicaragua there are two seasons, summer and winter. Or better said, dry and wet. In the dry season (December to May) everything dissipates to dust and it gets hot as hell. In the wet season (the other 6 months of the year), which is just starting this week, it rains and rains and rains and floods and hurricanes sweep over the country and blows roofs off and takes out electricity and water for days. Just a week ago I was strolling around my community in my flip flops. Yesterday I was up to my knees in mud (and probably cow poo too, but it all looks the same at this point) just walking to the bus stop. As the bus approached the river, the driver went out and contemplated the gushing currents. People on the bus started telling me about last year when so and so´s pickup truck was swept away as he tried to drive through the river. Or the time everyone had to get out of the bus and cross the river, waist high in water. The bus driver decided the best thing to do was to floor it through the river (yeah..we don´t really do bridges here...), but not without stalling in the mud and me seriously thinking about how I could climb out the window if it came to that. We made it to Matagalpa City, but the bus driver decided we weren´t making the return trip because the river was too flooded to drive through. So I was stranded in the city for the night and there may or may not be a bus going back today.
Basically, what used to be an idyllic bus ride to the city is now a huge pain in the muddy ass. The good thing about all this is I think in the next few months I can entertain you all with more outrageous and interesting stories, you know, the ones that start with I-walked-10-miles.
Then, it started raining.
In Nicaragua there are two seasons, summer and winter. Or better said, dry and wet. In the dry season (December to May) everything dissipates to dust and it gets hot as hell. In the wet season (the other 6 months of the year), which is just starting this week, it rains and rains and rains and floods and hurricanes sweep over the country and blows roofs off and takes out electricity and water for days. Just a week ago I was strolling around my community in my flip flops. Yesterday I was up to my knees in mud (and probably cow poo too, but it all looks the same at this point) just walking to the bus stop. As the bus approached the river, the driver went out and contemplated the gushing currents. People on the bus started telling me about last year when so and so´s pickup truck was swept away as he tried to drive through the river. Or the time everyone had to get out of the bus and cross the river, waist high in water. The bus driver decided the best thing to do was to floor it through the river (yeah..we don´t really do bridges here...), but not without stalling in the mud and me seriously thinking about how I could climb out the window if it came to that. We made it to Matagalpa City, but the bus driver decided we weren´t making the return trip because the river was too flooded to drive through. So I was stranded in the city for the night and there may or may not be a bus going back today.
Basically, what used to be an idyllic bus ride to the city is now a huge pain in the muddy ass. The good thing about all this is I think in the next few months I can entertain you all with more outrageous and interesting stories, you know, the ones that start with I-walked-10-miles.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Matagalpa City
Matagalpa is the birthplace of Carlos Fonseca, the founder of Nicaragua´s Sandinista party. Accordingly, the city is a Sandinista stronghold and there are lots of cool murals glorifying Cuba that we´d never see in the U.S.
Typical Street and of course all the buses are yellow school buses from the U.S.
This is in another city, Sebaco, that I pass by when I leave Matagalpa and there are TONS of fruits and vegetables to buy year round. The best part is I don´t even have to leave the bus because the vendors will run up to the bus window to sell their goods.
This is the main Cathedral. Basically every major city in this country has a cathedral. I´ve seen lots and I still think Matagalpa´s is the prettiest especially on a day like this when the sky is deep blue.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A Small Side Project
I´ve been living in Jucuapa Occidental about 3 months. When I first arrived, people would stop in their tracks and stare, jaws dropping, and children would hide behind trees and stare, because I might as well be an alien. Now, people mostly know who I am but at times I still think that they can´t believe this random Asian girl is living here. Admittedly, I would be shocked too if I were a Nicaraguan who in the comfort of my home was watching a Jackie Chan movie on TV when one day this Asian girl walks into my house and starts talking in Spanish to me. (By the way, this really did happen..several times.)
Part of Peace Corps experience is sharing American culture with Nicaraguans. For me that means explaining that there are people of all nationalities who live in the U.S. In the proecess, I´ve found that Nicaraguans are generally very misinformed about Asians in so so so many ways. I have cringed so many times at these questions - Are Japan, Korea and China all the same country? Which is closer to us.. China or the U.S.? If you speak Chinese to a Korean he can understand you, right? Do you know kung fu? Are you related to Bruce Lee?
Therefore, I have hatched an important side project, non agriculture related but really super important. In the next two years I will properly school Nicaraguans on Asian culture. Sometimes I get frustrated like explaining for the millionth time that I don´t know kung fu. But other times I am pleasantly surprised. One day I was helping this kid with his English homework and at the end of the session we were chatting. He asked how to write my name in Chinese. I´ll use &&& to represent my name here. Then he said he was going to try and write it so he took my notebook and a minute later returned it, having written neatly on the page ¨THANK YOU &&&¨ It really made my day because here was this Nicaraguan out in the sticks who´s never in his life travelled outside a 20 mile radius from his home, and he made that connection.
Part of Peace Corps experience is sharing American culture with Nicaraguans. For me that means explaining that there are people of all nationalities who live in the U.S. In the proecess, I´ve found that Nicaraguans are generally very misinformed about Asians in so so so many ways. I have cringed so many times at these questions - Are Japan, Korea and China all the same country? Which is closer to us.. China or the U.S.? If you speak Chinese to a Korean he can understand you, right? Do you know kung fu? Are you related to Bruce Lee?
Therefore, I have hatched an important side project, non agriculture related but really super important. In the next two years I will properly school Nicaraguans on Asian culture. Sometimes I get frustrated like explaining for the millionth time that I don´t know kung fu. But other times I am pleasantly surprised. One day I was helping this kid with his English homework and at the end of the session we were chatting. He asked how to write my name in Chinese. I´ll use &&& to represent my name here. Then he said he was going to try and write it so he took my notebook and a minute later returned it, having written neatly on the page ¨THANK YOU &&&¨ It really made my day because here was this Nicaraguan out in the sticks who´s never in his life travelled outside a 20 mile radius from his home, and he made that connection.
What is a Community Bank
The basic idea is that in rural communities are huge needs for small loans (super small we´re talking like $5 to buy medicine) because at certain times of the year when there are no harvests the cash flow trickles dry. But, there are no banks out here. Therefore, I formed a community bank with about 10 women, complete with President, Secretary, Treasurer and Auditor.
Every moth each member deposites 40 cordobas, equivalent to about $2 in the bank. This creates a fund from which they can borrow money with 10% interest. At the closing of the bank in December, each member gains back all her deposits, plus earns a little extra with the interest that gets divided equally among all members.
The community bank is a project I´m really excited about because it doesn´t depend on outside organizations, it teaches women the habit of saving and it teaches leadership. All in all a really cool idea!
Every moth each member deposites 40 cordobas, equivalent to about $2 in the bank. This creates a fund from which they can borrow money with 10% interest. At the closing of the bank in December, each member gains back all her deposits, plus earns a little extra with the interest that gets divided equally among all members.
The community bank is a project I´m really excited about because it doesn´t depend on outside organizations, it teaches women the habit of saving and it teaches leadership. All in all a really cool idea!
Teaching English
Every week I teach English to 5th and 6th graders at the elementary school. At first, I proceeded to lay out the basic rules of grammar because I´m part of the school of proper grammar, but I quickly realized during the first class, as their eyes glazed over that I needed a new plan. Therefore all proper grammar as we know it was thrown out the window and I now write lists of basic English phrases like numbers, colors and days of the week, which they copy in their notebooks and repeat. Seems kinda dronelike to me, but at least they´re happy drones! And they get really excited because for them, it means they´re ¨speaking¨ English. Mob rule wins here.
I´m also going to start teaching a group of high school boys. They could use some work in pronuncation of basic words. Yet, somehow they have nearly perfect pronunciation in a variety of pick up lines, which I find amusing. The plan is to replace ¨Hey baby I love you¨with ¨Hi, how are you doing¨
I´m also going to start teaching a group of high school boys. They could use some work in pronuncation of basic words. Yet, somehow they have nearly perfect pronunciation in a variety of pick up lines, which I find amusing. The plan is to replace ¨Hey baby I love you¨with ¨Hi, how are you doing¨
Ketchup
One of the challenges of living in rural Nicaragua is lack of access to a variety of nutritious food throughout the whole year.
For me, that means for example I decide I want to eat chicken and carrots tonight because I haven´t eaten vegetables nor meat for a few days, so I walk to the nearest store to find neither are available. That means rice and beans (and a multivitamin!) for dinner...again! Luckily, I have access to Matagalpa, the nearest city, so the next time I make a tripI can bring back nutritious food to stock in my house.
For Nicaraguans who can´t afford the bus fare, it means rice and beans for dinner EVERY DAY. Sometimes there are bell peppers, onions and tomatoes at times of the year when they´re harvested. But you never know because the stores often bring them in from Matagalpa, which is an hour away by bus on a dirt road and the goods have to be put in sacks and carried on horseback.
We all know that variety in diet is extremely important, but it´s not common knowledge here. Even for those Nicaraguans who do understand, they might be too poor to buy vegetables and meat everyday, or as I mentioned, there just might not be any in the store that day. Therefore, one of the areas that I am working in is food security and sustainability. Local, affordable and accessible food for all!
Right now is the tomato harvest in my community, so my project has been showing people how take full advantage of the abundance of tomatoes, by workshops on how to preserve tomatoes in the form of ketchup.
I learned that after the tomato harvest every year, hundreds of pounds of tomatoes go to waste because they go bad before they can all be eaten. Trust me, for the past weeks, I´ve been eating about 10 tomatoes a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and they were still going bad because I wasn´t keeping up fast enough. I also learned that Nicaraguans loooooove ketchup. Like, if you buy a slice of pizza here, it´s smothered in ketchup. They also use ketchup in spaghetti, rice, and enchiladas.
Ketchup is super easy to make. First, we halve the tomatoes and discard the seeds and juices. Then we throw the tomatoes in a pot with onion, vinegar, sugar and salt and cook until the water evaporates. The, we put the ketchup in sterilized glass jars, which can sit for up to 3 months without refrigeration. Such a simple concept and so great because all the ingredients are in the community, it tastes and looks like store bought but much more affordable. And, people are really proud that they can make it themselves and are creative in the recipes. One day as I was doing a demonstration and putting a clove of garlic in the pot, someone remarked that they loved garlic and why not put in more and before I could stop them, they threw in like 5 more cloves. In my opinion, it ended up being delicious. Other people scrunched their faces and decided they´d go home and make their own version, with tomatoes and lots of sugar, hold the garlic. Either way, they now have a great source of Vitamin C stored safely for consumption later.
Next project...mango season is coming up which means mango jam!
For me, that means for example I decide I want to eat chicken and carrots tonight because I haven´t eaten vegetables nor meat for a few days, so I walk to the nearest store to find neither are available. That means rice and beans (and a multivitamin!) for dinner...again! Luckily, I have access to Matagalpa, the nearest city, so the next time I make a tripI can bring back nutritious food to stock in my house.
For Nicaraguans who can´t afford the bus fare, it means rice and beans for dinner EVERY DAY. Sometimes there are bell peppers, onions and tomatoes at times of the year when they´re harvested. But you never know because the stores often bring them in from Matagalpa, which is an hour away by bus on a dirt road and the goods have to be put in sacks and carried on horseback.
We all know that variety in diet is extremely important, but it´s not common knowledge here. Even for those Nicaraguans who do understand, they might be too poor to buy vegetables and meat everyday, or as I mentioned, there just might not be any in the store that day. Therefore, one of the areas that I am working in is food security and sustainability. Local, affordable and accessible food for all!
Right now is the tomato harvest in my community, so my project has been showing people how take full advantage of the abundance of tomatoes, by workshops on how to preserve tomatoes in the form of ketchup.
I learned that after the tomato harvest every year, hundreds of pounds of tomatoes go to waste because they go bad before they can all be eaten. Trust me, for the past weeks, I´ve been eating about 10 tomatoes a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner, and they were still going bad because I wasn´t keeping up fast enough. I also learned that Nicaraguans loooooove ketchup. Like, if you buy a slice of pizza here, it´s smothered in ketchup. They also use ketchup in spaghetti, rice, and enchiladas.
Ketchup is super easy to make. First, we halve the tomatoes and discard the seeds and juices. Then we throw the tomatoes in a pot with onion, vinegar, sugar and salt and cook until the water evaporates. The, we put the ketchup in sterilized glass jars, which can sit for up to 3 months without refrigeration. Such a simple concept and so great because all the ingredients are in the community, it tastes and looks like store bought but much more affordable. And, people are really proud that they can make it themselves and are creative in the recipes. One day as I was doing a demonstration and putting a clove of garlic in the pot, someone remarked that they loved garlic and why not put in more and before I could stop them, they threw in like 5 more cloves. In my opinion, it ended up being delicious. Other people scrunched their faces and decided they´d go home and make their own version, with tomatoes and lots of sugar, hold the garlic. Either way, they now have a great source of Vitamin C stored safely for consumption later.
Next project...mango season is coming up which means mango jam!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)