#50 Happy Holidays!

Home sweet home

I think the 20 volunteers in my small business group are a truly exceptional group of individuals. This entire Peace Corps experience, while at times challenging, has genuinely been so much easier to handle with the volunteers in my group and in Nicaragua in general. I can’t express how much of a burden has been lifted from my shoulders just being surrounded by such wonderful people. As the holiday season comes, the strain of not being surrounded by family has been far easier just because of the wonderful volunteers here in Nicaragua.

Sunset from the port

Time continues to fly by and the holiday season has already came and (almost) went, but the only thing I’m celebrating is a reunion with my friends and family in the coming weeks. New Year’s Eve will be celebrated with my closest Peace Corps friends in Nicaragua’s backpacker’s central, San Juan del Sur, where we have rented an apartment for a few nights and expect things to get wild.

Then the following Tuesday, I make my way towards the airport where I have an early flight Wednesday morning to go home! I’ll be home in Trumbull on Jan 4^th and 6^th, Philly area for the 5^th, then a nice fluffy week with my parents on the island of Turks and Caicos. Tropical island to tropical island… life could be worse.

Besides, of course, seeing all my family, the things I’m most excited for are (in no order):

Hot showers

That little pup Riley

No mosquitoes

No bugs in general (especially in my bed/bathroom)

Feeling genuinely clean and staying clean

Carpeting and bare feet

A week free from religious bombardment

Sushi

No deep fried food, rice, or beans

English

Wireless Internet from my bed

Sofas and television

Well lit mirrors

Reeses peanut butter cups

#49 Picking Up Speed!

My training host family celebrating Orlandito's pre-school graduation

After two weeks of Spanish and technical training out of site, I was eager to get back and more eager to get busy! I wasted no time and, therefore, have made huge strides in just the past few days…

I came back on a Friday and worked with the owner of the hotel/restaurant place I live at to begin using some basic accounting over the weekend. This meant just tallying the sales of chicken/steak/pig/other meat. It was by no means perfect seeing as, at times, they forgot to mark down sales or were ‘too busy’ to do so. However, all in all, I would say she managed to mark down 75% of her sales. When compared to 0%, that is a huge improvement.

But just wait, it gets more interesting.

Monday came around and the owner, a Mrs. Chilo, and myself sat down for a solid three hours to discuss the problems she was facing: a lack of quality control, inefficiency, speed and getting orders out on time, customer service lacks when busy or the staff chats with customers instead of preparing orders, zero marketing, and no record of accounting whatsoever – prices being decided upon with complete arbitrariness.

Sam and myself in Leon's central park for their biggest yearly party

I was quick to realize that she was not oblivious to the problems whatsoever, but was, however, blind to the solutions. At first she had been referring to her restaurant as a mere food stand, so the first step was to realize that she had a real, functioning restaurant and needed to be treated it as such. We talked about ways to improve efficiency, marketing strategies and promotions, and – the part she loved the most – using accounting to find various the various costs of the plates she offered.

Holding my kin :)
New baby boy from the aunt of my host family named Zac after yours truly

The next day, I woke up to find her and two women who work for her, changing the kitchen around to the changes we had discussed the day prior. I was absolutely delighted to actually see her making the little changes we had discussed yesterday. I have no doubt that this is just the beginning and her business will be a big success in my Peace Corps experience. (Since typing this originally, she has successfully been recording every single one of her sales)

The same day, I got invited to work on grant writing with an organization seeking over $400,000 from the Inter-American Development Bank. I was handed a 15 page grant proposal in Spanish to help edit and am finding it extremely challenging, but thoroughly enjoying the process. I’ll keep you posted!

Pre-school graduation

Lastly, I have made plans to start working with a group of men making a tourist map for the Island of Ometepe where I live. They have made these maps for other tourist locations around Nicaragua and Ometepe was next on their list. This works out perfectly because just last week I had decided I would make this a main project of mine, only to find out that a professional experienced business had the same plans. Things couldn’t be working out any better.

#48 Mix Tape

Check out this blank CD my Nica friend (23 y/o male) had me make for him. This may give you a little insight to the type of music I hear on a consistent basis.

1. Sing For The Moment - Eminem
2. Till I Collapse - Eminem
3. The Way I Am - Eminem
4. Forgot About Dre - Dr. Dre
5. All The Small Things - Blink 182
6. Vertigo - U2
7. Original Of The Species – U2
8. Butterfly - Crazy Town
9. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Fortune Faded - Red Hot Chili Peppers
11. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & The Wailers
12. The Next Episode - Dr. Dre
13. Lose Yourself - Eminem
14. Ride Wit Me - Nelly        
15. I Want You Back - 'N Sync
16. Gettin' Over (ft. Chris Willis) - David Guetta   
17. Shot Through the Heart - Jon Bon Jovi
18. Uptown Girl - Billy Joel
19. Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas

#47 An Ometepe Vacation

Thanksgiving Day Crew :)

Just a few days after the marathon ended, I was to have my first visitors to the island for a nice long weekend vacation. Matt and Jake came for Thanksgiving weekend and the three of us, along with our friend Julian and his parents who flew in for a week’s vacation, went out for a filling Thanksgiving brunch at the one and only Cornerhouse Bed and Breakfast where we feasted on delicious sandwiches, salads, and breakfast foods. Being the first Thanksgiving away from home, it was as nice of a meal as I could have asked for, being surrounded by my new close friends and even meeting one of their parents.

Soon after, I hopped on Skype and got to video chat with all my family members enjoying my mom’s award winning Thanksgiving meal. I felt myself on a high after Skyping with them, reminding myself just how thankful and lucky I really am to have such a wonderful family :D

This weekend would continue with just Matt, Jake, and myself and it would amount to be, far and away, the best weekend I’ve had in my 7 months being in Nicaragua. We slept at this awesome hostel where the dorms and buildings are all built in a tree-fort style- some up to three stories high, that, from the top story, you can see a beautiful panorama of the two volcanoes that make up this bizarre majestic island on which I live.

On Thanksgiving night, at the hostel, the kitchen cooked a freshly killed turkey, roasted some tasty stuffing and, my favorite, .mashed.potatoes.  The night got better and better as we made lots of friends, got rowdy dancing, singing, and just acting like goofs for we finally were able to let our guard down and truly enjoy the present.

Little Morgans for Thanksgiving

No Mercy Mateo

In the same weekend we managed to hike to a coffee farm and through the woods behind it seeing ancient artifacts scattered around, enjoy the Ojo de Agua (natural spring pool), meet more fun travelers, had some great talks, and reflected on our experience thus far in the Peace Corps. It was during this talk that I had my biggest revelation.

Mateo, facing his fears, a girly screech followed very soon after this photo was taken

This would be the first moment in my life that I felt a real sense of pride and accomplishment in myself. Talking with my new friends (it’s true that you do meet awesome people in the Peace Corps), who I now really consider family, I realized all that I’ve been through in just 7 months. I have left all my friends and family to volunteer abroad in order to use my years of education to help those less fortunate, while all at the same time, having to learn and embrace a foreign culture and language. The wave of pride that crashed down on me in that moment was that feeling that I imagined a high school or college graduation to feel like, but for me never came. Those felt to me, things that were expected of me, that I knew I would accomplish without difficulty, but this experience was/is something new, something in retrospect I now realize has challenged me in new and unique ways and I now feel an immense sense of satisfaction and pride in myself for being here doing all that I am doing :)

Last, but certainly not least, we woke up early the following Saturday to finally conquer the big Volcano Concepcion. Jake, Matt, my two sitemates Andrew and John, and myself took nearly the whole day to climb up to the top and back down. It was an extremely grueling and, at times, dangerous trek, especially near the top where you are steeply climbing up gravel to the crater in very heavy and cold winds and then close to the end on the way down when your legs have turned to jelly, your blisters are killing you and the jagged stones threaten your life at every step. No matter what, if/when you visit me here, you must make the climb for the view was incredible and the sense of accomplishment I now feel every time I look at the towering volcano made it all worth it. Also, Andrew’s 7 pounds of delectable spaghetti we ate right before the final stretch to the crater definitely didn’t hurt.

Incredible views the whole way up

#46 Marathon Weekend

On Friday after that ridiculous party below, several PC volunteers came to Ometepe to enjoy the weekend prior to the race I had helped plan with my youth group that would occur on Sunday. Putting my hangover aside, I bounced around all over doing last minute errands as visitors began popping in.

That afternoon, my good buddy Julian and I went to one of my schools to give a class only to find out that the students left early after receiving their exam grades. Looks like this guy just entered Summer vacation!!! No school until February 13th, sounds good to me. Julian and I then were solicited by the Red Cross to donate blood, to which we gladly accepted. Strangely enough, after visiting Costa Rica when I was younger, I couldn’t give blood for a few years because of my time in Central America, now there I was in Nicaragua (a country whose entire budget makes up just the educational budget of Costa Rica) donating my blood.

Soon thereafter, we traveled to the other side of the island, put our stuff down at a hostel, and now with a group 15 or so strong, made our way back to the party from the night before. Unfortunately for us, there was hardly anyone there, the festivities from the night before had vanished, the lights and stage had been dismantled and we proceeded to eat dinner and pass around some litros of that fine Nicaragua brew, Tonya.

Splitting up into different groups on Saturday morning, Julian, Pedro, and I took a bus to a coffee farm and spent the day hiking through the forest among pre-Columbian artifacts, snakes and spiders, and howling monkeys.

After a tasty lunch, everyone eventually made their way to the port city, checked in at Saturday night’s hostel, and prepared for the run the next morning.

Summarizing the days events, the race started about 2 hours late (or on-time by Nica time), and besides a 2^nd place by Hooper Jones in the main 18 km category, all the trophies and prizes were earned by local Nicas. All in all, there were about 40 participants (12 Peace Corps Volunteers), and a huge turnout by the community to participate in all the side activities and sports. Most stayed an extra night, had Cornerhouse breakfast and left soon thereafter. 

#45 The Ultimate Nica Party

Every year on November 17^th, a town on the opposite side of the Island has Ometepe’s biggest party of the year. As I’ve been to my share of Nica parties, I was completely unprepared for just how huge this party was. This party, with its packed dancefloor, cock fights, both DJs and live music, bull riding, carnival rides, and 50 cent drinks put Miami’s Ultra Music Festival to shame. This was also the Thursday prior to the marathon I had helped plan with my youth group, so a few other volunteers came down early to partake in the festivities also : )

Turtle eggs and fried plantains 

Some highlights from the night:

• Eating huevos de Tortuga (turtle eggs) – not very good, don’t intend to eat them again
• Getting my dance on with the cute girl that works at my new house for the whole night
• Watching my new host parents out dance every young 20 year old on the dance floor
• Seeing a Nica boy band perform, and pumping up with the crowd with the question “Who here’s got Facebook!?!?” and following it with a song all about Facebook and relationships
• As mentioned before, the 50 cent rum and cokes

For this event next year, I will be pressuring my friends and family from The States to attend, so be prepared or just mark your calendars now. 

New host parents killing it on the dance floor

Nothing to see here

Incredible.

Cock fighting

#44 Halloween and Elections

Another apology for not keeping up with my blog recently. It seems to have a snowball effect for as soon a week is skipped, others follow.

Over the past few weeks a whole lot has happened, of which, I’ll do my best to remember and share, but am sure that I will be missing several stories.

We can start with Halloween. In many parts of Nicaragua, Halloween isn’t celebrated and is seen as a witch’s event. According to many other volunteers (no Nicas shared this with me), many of their Nica friends and family believe that Halloween in the USA consists of kidnapping and murdering children as they travel from house to house collecting candy. Bizarre. Anyways, my Halloween was celebrated at the discoteca in my town with some of my friends from my youth group and neighbors. As I was sitting in the bar, I remember thinking about how things have changed since this exact time last year.

One year ago to the hour, I was at the University of Maryland at Bentley’s (bar), surrounded by my close friends and half naked college girls partying and dancing to house music. There I was sitting in a bar, at the foot of a volcano in the middle of a lake in Nicaragua, speaking Spanish with the transsexual to my left, listening to meringue/salsa music, and sipping on the national beer - Tonya. Funny where my choices have led me.

A few days later were the presidential elections, a day of much importance to nearly every Nicaraguan. Presumably, the current President won with 65% of the vote… Since, the newspapers’ titles here continue to read about the lack of transparency during the voting process leading many to believe that fraud or corruption may have been involved during election day. A few days before, I had been called to the PC office in the capital for meetings and ended up staying in a hotel for the week or so surrounding the elections due to protests and violence blocking my route home. I got to pass the time with another small business volunteer and her sitemate as they were forced out of their site due to violent clashes in the street between opposing parties.

A few days after my return to the beautiful island of Ometepe, I said goodbye to my air conditioning, hot water, flat screen TV, and hammock (for now) and moved my things to a new home around the corner. I am now living in a motel-type/restaurant/family home. It is very difficult to describe, so I’ll post a video sooner or later, but I am very happy with the family, conditions, and, most of all, the food! Mmm… 

#43 This Too Shall Pass

This is a real job and some days do, in fact, suck just like they would back in the US. Except here, when you have those bad days, you can’t go out for your favorite comfort food for dinner or even pick up your phone/laptop and contact your family for support.

I’ve only had just a couple of these days in Nicaragua, but I’ve seemed to pick up their pattern. The majority of the time it’s when you have nothing to do that day and, therefore, have little reason to leave the house keeping you bored and running laps in your own head. The negativity will usually be triggered by a passing comment or little action that just hits a nerve.

Yesterday's? I was sitting in my family’s little corner store early this morning when the family’s grandma walked in and, skipping all introductions, said, “you going to treat me to what I want?” To which I just laughed off, but then heard her say to my host sister, “it’s true all Americans are cheap.” I tried said I was a volunteer and don’t make any money, “but you’re American, you have money.”

While yes, I could have just said okay and bought her whatever it was that she came to buy (probably costing no more than a dollar), I do not want to start a trend of ‘ask the gringo’ nor do I feel it’s any of my responsibility to buy someone’s errands or snacks. Little things continued to upset me further in the day, which I can pin down to my lack of fluency in Spanish, but I know that little by little my [lack of] Spanish will become less of a problem...

I learned this phrase about a year ago – This too shall pass – and I’ve adopted it as a sort of motto since then. Whenever I’m having a bad moment/day/anything I just remember that whatever it is that is bothering me will, probably soon, pass. The phrase encourages me to react to those difficult moments with peace of mind and, because of those simple words, I can now move on from most low times rather quickly.

I feel better now. Thanks for reading :) 

#42 Cocktail Party

Long time no see boys

This past Friday night, the Small Business sector (my sector) had a 'Cocktail Party' fundraiser in the majestic Holiday Inn in Nicaragua’s Capital  to raise money for an annual National Entrepreneurship Competition. All sans one volunteer from the newest business group attended as did about 100 more Peace Corps volunteers and dozens more volunteers from other organizations and, of course, local Nicaraguans. It was great to see everyone in our group as we are especially close compared to the other PC groups before us.

The night kicked off with a delicious catered dinner, not even one flake of rice or a single bean, followed by a group of intense Nicaraguan dancers and musicians in bright costumes performing forcefully. Dinner was followed by raffles for dinners, hotel stays, and a trip to Panama. My luck has been off the charts recently and this night was no exception seeing as I luckily won the Panama trip (valued at $600). The only drawback was it was for one person, so I’m now looking for anyone to join me within the next three months, or I’ll be going solo. By the way, Panama is supposed to be very similar to the beautiful Miami, Florida but far cheaper. Any takers??? Seriously…

Winning my Panama trip!

The night continued with hours of dancing and late night pool parties enjoyed by an abundance of oversexed 20-somethings. Managua is the closest thing many volunteers get to being back at home in a modern culture, therefore the rest of the weekend consisted of enjoying the luxuries of life: unlimited wireless internet, clean bathrooms with hot and high pressure showers, carpeting and bare feet, relaxing by the pool, and, of course, the food (Quiznos, pizza, sushi, McDonald’s breakfast…)

Poolside :)

Sushi dinner mmm

Other stories since my last blog post include:

• A weekend with the other Island volunteers where we cooked some tasty curry dish for dinner and relaxed at the Ojo de Agua the following day. 
• Going out to the discos in my town with some friends and Frosting the locals (Same as ‘Icing’ but done with a Victoria Frost beer). 
• Some more successful English classes. 
• The usual combination of successful/failed/canceled high school business classes. And lastly, continued progress being made on the Marathon/Home Run Derby planning with my youth group – November 20, mark the calendar, see you there!

Ojo de Agua

Nica Frosting

My English class

The President of my youth group came back from a trip to the Capital – Managua – and explained with such passion and emotion how incredible new 3-D movies are. Not one of the other members in my youth group had seen one, and jaws were dropped as the President dramatically explained with entire body gestures as things flew towards him, scared him, and frankly amazed him. Mind you, I have met very few people here that have even been to a movie theater as the trip (Boat, bus, taxi, food, tickets…) can usually add up to a few weeks pay. 

#41 It's About Time

It’s taken a little more than two months at my site, but finally things have picked up and everything is going fantastic. This blog has also been viewed more than 5000 times! Thanks for your support!

I am continuing to co-teach at the schools, which, depending on the school can be quite satisfying and rewarding. A teacher from a school that I am not working at who is teaching the same class has come to me asking for a workshop type session regarding the course because students from my class have told him how much they are enjoying my classes. Not trying to sound conceited or anything, but for all the trouble I go through with some of my schools, it’s very complementing when I hear that at least one of my schools is appreciating my effort in their class. Meanwhile, after more than two months, I still have yet to teach a class at one of my schools because school on Fridays has been cancelled every week since my arrival.

Secondary projects.

The marathon project I’m working on with a youth group is progressing and we have upped our weekly meetings to now meet twice per week. I was in charge of making the flyers, and VOILA (click that).

In addition, I have now taken on the project od recruiting participants from across the Peace Corps in Nicargua and other organizations and potential groups that may have interest.

I am teaching my first English class this Sunday evening to a group of 20 community members. These classes, from what I hear, usually end up with a quarter of the number of students they started with due to people quickly realizing that English is much more of a commitment than they had expected. No worries, it is just good to know that before starting.

All the little kinks and headaches surrounding these projects and everyday life here are just working out. I think I just realized that I finally feel integrated into my community. Hmph.

Standing awkwardly at Chaco Verde

My social life is now existent as I now have a growing network of colleagues and friends. This means that I will be enjoying more Friday and Saturday nights from now on and will be able to do more cool things around the Island. For example, a friend and I went on a hike the other day to my new favorite place on the island called Chaco Verde, a natural reserve filled with very funky flora and fauna and even cooler monkeys.  

Also, there is a local beach bar and discoteca around the corner from my house that are supposed to be bumpin’ on the weekends so now I get to enjoy those too.

"God flies in Nica"

Changing the subject, I constantly get bombarded with religious questions here and I finally explained to the family that I don’t go to church with them because I’m not a religious person and, in general, don’t hold any religious beliefs nor do I believe in God/The Devil/Hell/Jesus... This was a mistake. The next day at school my principal sat me down and drilled me about God. In a small town word travels fast. Now I feel like a ninja dodging religious questions, answering only with I have no opinion.

Last but certainly not least, a January vacation is now booked to go back to Connecticut for a couple of days followed by a nice week long vacation in Turks and Caicos with my parents. I didn’t think I’d travel back home for at least a year if I did at all, but now that it’s been decided, I’m so excited and cannot wait!

Oh also, this season of Breaking Bad is about to end on Sunday and I’ll need your support as I’m going to be withdrawing harshly the week following.

#40 Leon Reunion

For weeks now, the small business group had been planning a trip to Leon – a big city about 5 hours north from me here in the southern area for a reunion and celebration of Ben’s birthday. I originally couldn’t make it because we had been planning to have class this Friday, making it my first class at one school and second at another, but then I received notice on Thursday evening that class was cancelled the next day so my plans changed for the better immediately. 

After our meeting Friday morning, Noelle and I were on our way to Leon to reconnect with all our close friends who we hadn’t seen since training ended 2 months ago. After 7 hours of various busses, boats, and taxis, we arrived at our hostel in Leon. Everyone was in such great spirits and so happy to see each other again, making us completely forget about the uncomfortable journey. It was wonderful to be with the other volunteers again and when we finally were able to reconnect, I was reminded how close we really have become in just a few months.

The night continued with watching a parade in the central square in front of the largest cathedral in Central America for Leon’s Fiesta Patronales (yearly religious party/holiday of the town – same thing as the fiesta in my training town with the bull penis fighting if you remember that), followed by a huge dinner, and concluded with some fun and dancing discotecas.

A hungover Saturday morning breakfast burrito, Julian arriving from Masaya to a surprise Frost at 9am, and an 11am shuttle to the beach. Hot weather, big waves, cheap everything. Spent the day relaxing on the beach, tossing back some Toñas, beach football (Americano), etc…

Matt Wood  

Do you see that character on the far right on the bottom on his knees? That is 23 year old Matt Wood. This picture is absolutely hilarious and essentially summarizes Matt Wood to the tee. Over the past few weeks, our business group has been secretly photoshopping this photo of Matt into awkward situations.

That night, we finally shared with Matt what we had been doing. All of a sudden, Chalin surprises everyone and brings out a piñata he had made of Matt’s pose. 

We all absolutely died of laughter. Tears streaming from our faces. I can’t describe how absolutely hilarious these were.

Mateo has now lost more than 30 pounds and isn’t the only one. The Peace Corps seems to be a great way to lose those unwanted pounds or get in shape. Several volunteers have lost over 20 pounds for both the better and, unfortunately, one for the worse. Poor Pedro has spent the majority of the last 5 months fighting parasite after parasite making him join this weight loss group. He remains in good spirits and has my props for being quite tough, never once complaining. I too came in quite scrawny after months of taking the gym lightly and now have been going to the gym routinely and have noticed huge improvements. Goes to show you how much the Peace Corps really helps everyone (except Pedro, sorry bud).