Thursday, April 30, 2009

Adios, Mundo

The final post, as written on my flight back home...

As I write this last post, I have already left Nicaragua. In fact, I am currently on the plane, probably somewhere over Mexico en route to Houston. And that means that after a week of progressively more difficult goodbyes, yet another good thing has, in fact, come to an end.

After telling myself all week that I was ready to go home, it was much harder than I expected to finally leave our house in San Isidro once and for all. I think it finally hit me as I locked the door and waved goodbye to one last neighbor kid while saying ‘Adios, Mundo.’ I said that because the boy’s name is Mundo (short for Edmundo), but as I said it I realized the greater implications of that final goodbye. After all, in Spanish, ‘Adios Mundo’ means ‘Goodbye, World’, and I really was saying farewell to the little world that I’d been a part of over the last four months, a place I hadn’t realized existed half a year ago but will now miss so much.

For anyone who has studied or volunteered abroad, gone to college, moved to a new city, or just plain grown up, it’s a familiar story. Places once considered foreign and new – where you cried because you didn’t know anyone and you missed your old life – can, in even a very short time, turn into places that later make you cry when you have to leave them. In other words, they can turn into ‘home.’ At age 23, I have already experienced this phenomenon many times over, with ‘homes’ in Cedarburg, Milwaukee, New York, Chicago and now Nicaragua. And it is because of these other experiences of the changing definition of home that I leave Nicaragua momentarily sad but also confident that I will stay connected to this place well into the future. Already, my Skype buddy list has doubled in the last week as I’ve promised to ‘estar en contacto’ with all my friends from work. My suitcase is currently filled with jewelry made by the children of the NicaHope project which I plan to sell back in the States (prepare to be asked!) I have already begun discussions with Fabretto about ways to stay involved, such as through the Wisconsin-Nicaragua partnership I wrote about awhile back. Finally, every goodbye I said over the last week ended with me saying ‘I’ll be back in November’- and not just because it’s easier to say that than to say goodbye for good. I really do look forward to spending a week back here next fall/winter, as well as future trips for years to come.

In closing, thanks to all for reading this blog and sharing this amazing experience with me. While it does feel a bit sad to say goodbye to ‘Nica Nicky,’ 'Chi Nicky' is excited to be back with all of you very soon.

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Last pictures here and here

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A few thoughts from the last day...

Today was my last full day here in Nicaragua, and it's been a really good if bittersweet end to the 4 months here. Just thought I'd jot down a few thoughts from the day. Don't worry, blog readers...this will not be my last entry. I'm planning on posting one more from the airport tomorrow to close things out.

I started out the day going up to one of the San Isidro schools one last time. I had actually brought one of the cooks up there a camera from home, and I wanted to teach her how to use it. I was worried because she told me it 'didn't work' and that she'd need to buy a battery recharger to use it, which made me feel bad. However, I figured I'd give it a look and see if I could fix it. It was another one of those moments of realizing what we take for granted in the States. It turned out that she thought the camera was broken because she just has never used a camera and didn't know how to load the batteries, take pictures or access the photos to view them. Within 5 minutes of me looking at it, we were already using it. I think she was excited about it, and it was cute because she asked to take a picture of us together so that she'd have it as a memory.

I then rode back to the office with Roger, one of the Fabretto drivers who has taken really good care of me over the last four months. He was asking me about what I will do when I get back to the States and we were talking about where he lives and where I live. He told me he wanted to show me pictures of his family before I left, and then he said that he wanted to ask for one small gift from the States if/when I come back. I said sure, thinking he might ask about more 'dog food' (since I had shared puppy chow with him in the past). Instead, he said he'd like to see a picture of me and my home. I thought that was pretty cute...and since I actually have a lot of pictures on my computer, he and I did a little show and tell this afternoon (he showed me pictures of his family, and I shared pics of Chicago and my family).

This afternoon the receptionist here at the office, Dona Lucia (another person who has been a tremendous help to me) came by to give me a going away gift. They were two hand-embroidered pillow cases that say 'remember Nicaragua' that she had made for me by a relative. It was really sweet.

Other than that, there have just been a lot of goodbyes spread throughout the day. The big last hurrah will be tonight because we are having a little despedida happy hour with the office. After that, I'll probably say goodbye to the neighbors, do one last big ice cream run with the roommates, and hit the hay before my day of traveling tomorrow.

While it is really sad to say goodbye to everyone here, I am getting excited about heading home too (minus, perhaps, the part about flying to Houston amidst this crazy flu pandemic). There are a lot of fun things coming up this summer and I'm ready to get back to Chicago to see family and friends.

Off to happy hour I go...I'll be back tomorrow for the final entry, and then I'll see you all soon back in the States!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

So what did I accomplish?

Yesterday I had my final meeting at work to hand over my last output and plan for the future. It was a good time to reflect on what, exactly, I accomplished in four months volunteering for Fabretto.

As a first priority, I created an Excel workbook that compiled the nutritional content of various typical Nicaraguan foods. By entering the quantity, in grams, of each one of these ingredients, you could see what percent of daily nutritional requirements were covered in total, as well as how much it cost.

From this tool, I made a list of raw ingredients that would best provide 40-50% of all required calories, vitamins and minerals while keeping to our budget of $0.30 per kid per day. I used this list to then build a 2 week menu of 10 nutritious, typical Nicaraguan plates, including vegetable and chicken soup, scrambled eggs, burritos, Indio Viejo (a stew), and Arroz a la Valenciana (a rice dish with chicken and tomato).

Once we had our final menu, it was time to implement it. I created several files to support this process, including a recipe book, an Excel workbook with the quantities of ingredients needed based on the number of kids eating, and a sheet that pulled together all of these ingredients into a consolidated order.

More importantly, we held a series of orientations and training sessions with cooks, administrators, warehouse managers and other key nutrition program contributors to explain our goals, introduce them to the new menu and teach them how to prepare the meals.

In addition to ensuring a healthy daily meal, the standard menu is also a key first step to centralizing purchasing within the organization. Knowing what each school is serving each week and what ingredients go into those meals allows Fabretto to know, at a macro level, the total amount of each ingredient it uses weekly by region. This information will be critical as negotiations with suppliers continue, because Fabretto should use its high volume as a bargaining chip.

Finally, beyond the menu, I also helped put together some data to give Fabretto a comprehensive view of just how much its nutrition program costs annually. Beyond the $0.30 per child they spend to buy food weekly, there are also costs associated with warehousing and transporting donated food, running the kitchens and administrating the program. This information is important for two reasons. First, Fabretto has recently begun moving toward a school sponsorship model of fundraising where possible. This means that Fabretto looks for donors to sponsor all the costs associated with a whole school, including supplies, salaries, and the lunch program. To know how much it costs to run the nutrition portion of a school, then, Fabretto needs numbers like these. The second use of the cost data is for allocating restricted funding received. If Fabretto gets a donation to cover the nutrition program, it should be able to use those funds to cover the various aspects of the program – not just food but also transportation, labor, etc. Without a clear picture and explanation of those non-food costs, though, this kind of allocation is difficult.

Some people have asked me if I’ve accomplished all I had wanted to at Fabretto, and that’s a hard question to answer. I would say that the projects described above represent about 2/3 of what I set out to do on day one, and that was back when I was only supposed to be here 3 months. However, that was also back when I didn’t quite realize the extent of the task at hand or the [slow] pace at which it would move. Once I readjusted my expectations in light of certain hurdles here in Nicaragua (sometime around February), I would say that my goals were close to that which I actually accomplished. The one project that I would have liked to see further along, however, was that of centralized purchasing. The menu that we’ve created is solid and at a price per child that is close to the budget. However, it does not save Fabretto much if any money over the level they were spending before. The real cost saving opportunities lie in taking the next step and negotiating with a handful of large suppliers for better prices and volume discounts. I would have loved to push those negotiations further than I did, but it became apparent to me early on that composing a list of potential suppliers was no easy task. Without many connections here in Nicaragua, and with few suppliers online, it was hard for me or the other volunteer that I worked with to really make much progress on this front.

The good news on the purchasing, though, is that the new volunteer that is coming in May to work on nutrition will be able to focus on that more than I ever was. With another person pushing along the progress already made, I’m fairly confident that Fabretto will be buying at reduced prices from centralized providers sometime this year.

Monday, April 27, 2009

The Last Weekend

After some 15 blog posts on my various weekends here in Nicaragua, I have finally come upon the last. It goes without saying that the time has gone unbelievably quickly. However, I also find that, thinking back on weekends past, I’ve really done a lot. I’ve traveled to Granada, Leon, Laguna de Apoyo, Ometepe, Masaya and the beach. I’ve visited four of the five markets here in Managua, including the biggest in Central America. I’ve washed my clothes by hand on a washboard. I’ve had nights of going out and nights staying in and playing scrabble, crocheting, making dinner and eating Eskimo. In short, I’ve had a lot of fun weekends, and my last weekend no doubt continued this trend.

Friday night after making dinner at home, Kelly and I went to Caramanchel, the bar with the hammocks and wine, to see a concert with our friend Rosario and some of her other friends. We got there relatively early (since, to be honest, we had no idea when the show started) which was good since we got a table and got to see both of the opening acts. The main group finally came on around midnight, and it was a relatively young/new rock group that has become one of the most popular here in Nicaragua. They definitely put on a good, high energy show and we had fun dancing until pretty late.

Saturday was a big day for errands and cleaning in preparation for my despedida party that night. It actually worked out pretty well because our neighbor, who has a car and a PriceSmart card, helped us out with a bunch of it. Having direct transportation like that versus taking buses and hailing cabs probably cut a few hours off of our day and was well worth the $5 I paid him to do it.

First we went to PriceSmart on a hunt for, among other things, an ice cream cake. PriceSmart is a wholesaler much like Sam’s Club, and I have to admit that going there was like stepping back into the States momentarily. The set-up was exactly like a Sam’s Club at home, right down to the people with their sample tables in the aisles and the restaurant with greasy food and soft-serve beyond the check-out.

PriceSmart itself was kind of a disaster of a trip. We did score a huge 1.75L bottle of rum for a pretty good price, as well as 6 pounds of candy for the piñata, but beyond that it was all trouble. First, I couldn’t bring my bag into the store so our neighbor had to run it outside to some bag checking station. Then we realized they didn’t actually have ice cream cakes, just ‘cold cakes,’ which are easily confused with ice cream cakes because the words are the same in Spanish (queque helado). It was a bit of a maddening process to come to this realization too because I must have asked two or three people if they had ‘queques helados’ only to be led to the same place over and over where there were cakes kept in a fridge (not freezer) that were clearly not made of ice cream.

After we ruled out the cake, we went to the check out where I found out I couldn’t pay with my credit card, only cash, and also threw away the receipt that I would later realize was necessary for us to show at the door when we left. Then we got soft-serve (obviously) which gave me a brain freeze and made Kelly want to throw up. I also took out money at the ATM which, much to my dismay, came out in dollars instead of cordobas. In all my frustration over the mix up, I walked away from the ATM without taking my card back, which I only realized when our neighbor brought it to me after he took out cash. THAT would have been trouble if I’d left my only bank card/source of money sitting in the ATM. Then, just to really put the icing on the cold cake, we almost pulled away before realizing that my bag was still at the bag check. What a trip!

From PriceSmart things went a lot more smoothly – we got my piñata at the market and found a cake at the bakery chain in town. This cake, too, was a cold cake rather than an ice cream cake, but it ended up being the best cake I’ve had here in Nicaragua so that was okay.

When we got home, we finished getting ready for the party. By six we had about 15 of the neighborhood kids over anxiously awaiting the piñata. While we got it set up, they played with all the new games, which they LOVE, and which made me realize that Don’t Break the Ice, while a crowd favorite, is the most obnoxiously loud game ever created.

Soon enough it was piñata time, and the kids went CRAZY for it! I was literally beside myself watching the whole spectacle – from the kids begging for a turn to take a swing at it to the kids literally hurling themselves on the ground to scoop up the candy. It may have been one of the ten most dangerous things I’ve seen here in Nicaragua…and I’ve seen families of five riding on motorcycles. But, I guess that piñatas are dangerous by design, given that you have one kid swinging a stick near 15 others who are all gunning to get the candy out of the very target of the beating.

After an hour of the kids’ party, we were ready to clear them out and get ready for the adult party. My friend Rosario brought the pizza, Joe and I picked up the case of beer we bought for the occasion, and the people started coming pretty close to the 7:00 start time. There was a mix of neighbors, co-workers, and other volunteer friends, and it probably amounted to almost 20 people in all. We had a really good time hanging out and dancing…it was all I could have asked for in a despedida, and a great semi-last hurrah.

Sunday was basically spent doing work and packing around the house, though there was a glimmer of excitement when Kelly and I did Zumba (or rather, Kelly did Zumba and I showcased my inability to do any form of organized dance/work out). I also had my last Sunday night fritanga, which was good but made me nervous at the time since we had to go to a different place than usual. Joe described the experience as 'rolling the dice' because apparently they'd gotten parasites at this fritanga place before which, of course, made the food really appetizing. It's been 12 hours though and I feel fine so I think the dice landed in our favor.

Friday, April 24, 2009

The Kids are Back!

After two weeks of basically gathering dust (except for the one night when Kelly, Joe and I played), the new games at the house finally got some use last night when three of the neighbor boys came over. The kids were sitting outside on the porch, and I told them that we had some new games. They immediately jumped up and ran to the game shelf (below) to check out the new toys.



Not surprisingly, the first game they pulled out was Don’t Break the Ice, and they really got into that one since a) they are young boys and b) the game involves pounding/breaking things.

Next we played Chutes and Ladders, my personal favorite. We had some problems with this one though, which I blame partly on my inability to explain the game without knowing the word for chute/slide in Spanish. It took a long time for the kids to figure out that you can’t climb slides or slide down ladders. They eventually got the hang of it.

Kelly taught them the third game, which was the always classic Candy Land. I hadn’t opened the Candy Land box prior, so it really brought back some memories to see old friends like Lord Licorice and Grandma Nut.



While I'm on a picture kick, here are some random shots from Ometepe that I never posted.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

The Goodbyes Begin...

Here in Nicaragua, goodbye parties are called despedidas, and they are muy popular. I’ve been planning one such party for this weekend with my friends in Managua, but I got a little surprise in Cusmapa yesterday because the administrator and a few others had an impromptu goodbye party for me as well.

On Tuesday, when I was talking to her (Sabrina) on Skype about the meeting in Cusmapa yesterday, I mentioned that I was sad because it would be my last visit. She said “Oh no, we have to throw you a going away party.” I told her that wouldn’t be necessary, but then we kept teasing about it yesterday.

At one point yesterday afternoon, I had been working in a different part of the office and walked back into administration unexpectedly. When I did, a girl was carrying a vase with some fake flowers in it, and when I looked at it, everyone in the room made a face at me like I wasn’t supposed to see. I covered my eyes, laughed, and then promptly turned bright red. Over the course of the rest of the afternoon, I saw people occasionally bringing in treats and sodas, so it was pretty apparent some sort of party was going down.

At the end of the day a huge herd of people (about 50% of whom I’d never met, humorously enough) came into the office for a ‘meeting’ and, of course, when I went in I found, instead, a going away party for me.

The director gave a little speech, everyone sang me a Spanish goodbye song, I gave a little speech (which was a little hard on the fly and in Spanish!), they passed out the sweet bread and sugarlicious soda, and a good time was had by all. It was definitely a thoughtful send-off, and it made me excited for round two on Saturday!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Top 20 Things I'll Miss about Nicaragua

As I head into my last week here in Nicaragua, I thought it would be fitting to mirror the entry from one of my first weeks here about what I missed about the States and instead list off what I will miss about Nicaragua. I have to admit that some of the things on this list were not some of my favorite parts when I first got here.

20. Doing dishes? – There are some definite benefits of a dishwasher (not the least of which is sanitation), and this past Monday when I looked at the huge pile of dishes that hadn’t been washed because we ran out of water, it did make me sort of angry. Still, I have to say that in general, washing dishes with a little Simon and Garfunkel playing in the background at the end of the day has become pretty therapeutic for me.

19. Low prices – This one is pretty self explanatory…all my groceries for a week cost $10-15 dollars, and rum and diets are $1.50 at the bars every night of the week.

18. Pirated movies – Paying a dollar for all the latest releases from the States is awesome…even if you stumble across a dud now and then (like my copy of Confessions of a Shopaholic which is, inexplicably, dubbed in French) or have to watch on a laptop.

17. Endless summer – This is a mixed one for me – part of me will really miss having it be beach weather all the time…especially when it’s winter back at home. I still like the seasons though, and since I have the good fortune of coming back for summer and then fall (my two favorites), I don’t have to give this one up just yet.

16. Taxis without meters – Since you set the price of the cab ride at the beginning, it doesn’t matter how much traffic you sit in or how far you really end up going. I don’t look forward to watching the meter tick away back in Chicago…especially since the base fare is more than my average total fare here in Nica.

15. Cross country bus travel – I have to say that comparing work travel between home and here, I actually might prefer busing it in one of the Greyhound-style express buses over air travel. No security, no hassle, no early morning taxi rides. Only downside: no reimbursable $10 airport breakfasts and $5 airplane snacks.

14. People selling stuff everywhere – I still laugh every time someone passes selling fish, fruit, or rocks out of the back of their truck. It’s an essential part of my Saturday morning.

13. Kids/neighbors stopping in at random – As my roommates said the first few days I was in Nicaragua, it’s kind of like college the way the neighbors just float in and out of our open door. I’m sad to admit that I don’t even know most of my neighbors in Chicago, and I bet few of them would play ‘Don’t Break the Ice’ with me.

12. Cooking – I am going to try to do a lot more cooking once I get home, but the reality of my life as a traveling consultant still doesn’t permit much Monday through Thursday.

11. Market shopping – Even though the crowds, heat, and fly-attracting hanging meat can be a bit annoying at times, it’s still generally more fun to shop this way than at the Jewel.

10. Pulperias – Having about 8 tiny convenience stores within a block of our house comes in handy big time when you need eggs…or ice cream. That brings me to number 9…

9. Eskimo & Flor de Cana – There is both ice cream and rum in Chicago, but it is not as cheap or, dare I say, as good, as the Nicaraguan counterpart.

8. Speaking Spanish – I still continue to struggle with my Spanish in some contexts, finding it frustrating to communicate in the same way I can in English. Still, I am proud of how far I’ve come with my Spanish and will miss daily opportunities for practice and use.

7. Our porch – There’s nothing like waking up in the morning before it gets hot and sitting on our porch reading or watching the world go by.

6. Accessibility of the beach – It’s probably not surprising that the ability to hop a bus and be at the beach in 45 minutes makes my top ten.

5. Hobbies – At the risk of my Chicago life sounding quite boring, I have to say that before coming to Nicaragua, I did not read, draw, write or crochet nearly as much as I do now. Like cooking, I hope to keep these hobbies up, but realism tells me that when my free time begins to disappear, so will at least some of these hobbies (I am, however, hoping to be that consultant who crochets on the plane).

4. Having roommates – As someone who has always preferred to live alone in the States, this one even surprises me a little. I have remembered how fun it is to have someone to come home to and vent about your day, watch a movie with, eat dinner with, and so on.

3. Blackberry-free living – I have mentioned to a few people that recently, I have been hearing ghost blackberry vibrations as my mind turns to going back to work. I’ll think I can hear the vibrating sound (the one that tells me that I have an email from work), and then realize, to my relief, that my Blackberry is thousands of miles away. Not for much longer…

2. Sleep – Nine hours of sleep a day minimum is a luxury I haven’t had for years. I will miss this dearly.

1. The people – Not surprisingly, I have met some really fantastic people here – from neighbors to co-workers to other volunteers. And of course, as always seems to be the case with short experiences like this one, I feel like I am finally starting to get really close with people just as it is time to leave. Thank goodness for Skype to keep in touch in the interim and, with any luck, a trip back to visit later this year.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

My second-last weekend

It was a nice quiet weekend in Managua, which was a good change from all the traveling I've been doing as of late, but also bittersweet as I realize it is my second to last one here in Nicaragua. While I'm ready to go home in a lot of respects, it will still be hard to leave this place. I'm already thinking about when I'll be able to get back here for a week.

Friday I had my last meeting with the cooks and administrator in San Isidro. I'm going to miss that group since I've spent a lot of time working with them, my nearest neighbors. It was a good meeting too, so I feel pretty good about where things will be left when I'm gone.

Since I was up in San Isidro, I got to head home a little earlier than normal, and was also able to stop by Kelly's knitting class for a visit. They were dividing up the mounds of yarn that I brought back from the States, and they seemed excited to use it to start their new projects - booties, purses, flowers, and other crafts Kelly has taught them.

Friday night we went to an El Salvadorian restaurant for pupusas, which are tortillas stuffed with cheese, chicken, beans, and other goodies. We met our friend Jason there and had a good time hanging out until they just about kicked us out.

Saturday I made some french toast for us for breakfast (I think I have finally mastered most of our breakfast meals - pancakes, banana pancakes, french toast and gallo pinto). Then we went to an organic market just outside of town to get our groceries. They didn't have as much as we were expecting, but what we did buy there looks really good and fresh. Combining that with some other ingredients we'd purchased throughout the week - including a bottle of wine - we also had a killer dinner of BBQ chicken quesadillas with guacamole.

From there, Kelly and I had an impromptu girl's night (even though Joe was around too). First we attempted to make some premixed cookie mix I brought from the States without an oven. We pan fried some and made others in the crock pot. Neither really turned out like cookies, but it was processed goodness nonetheless. Then we made foot baths and did pedicures while sitting in our rocking chairs crocheting. It was quite the picture (we took a picture too, but I don't have it yet). I'm happy to report I learned a few new things about crocheting too. First, I found out that the knot I've been doing all along - which I thought was correct - was, in fact, my own misinterpretation/invention. I still like how it looks, so I'll call it the Knicky Knot (cheesy, I know) and keep going with it. I also learned how to crochet in circles, and I made a (sort of) hat. I'm hoping to learn how to make flowers before I go too...we shall see.

After girls night, we played some of the new games I brough from home, including Don't Break the Ice and Chutes and Ladders. We had some good laughs playing games made for ages 3 and up.

Today (Sunday) we were supposed to go on a trip to the beach with our neighborhood but it never ended up happening. Instead, Kelly and I came to a hotel where you can use the pool (and wireless internet!) for the day for a small fee. It's been a nice relaxing day of reading, emailing, swimming and tanning. I am definitely going to miss having a little piece of paradise like this within a few minutes of my house. Lake Michigan will have to work!

Since I'm doing my grand final tour of the north this week, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write before Friday. I'll be back with a few more entries before the end, though, no worries.

Friday, April 17, 2009

I think I'm ready to go back to the El

As you know, my morning commute here in Nicaragua is pretty different from what it was in Chicago. There's no El, no taxi, and no airplane...just me and 8 of my closest friends in the back of a pick-up truck.

There's always a little more adventure associated with my Nica commute than my Chicago commute, but today was really quite exceptional. Shortly after we got on the main highway heading for the office, we stopped at a stoplight. As we were waiting, a couple young kids came up and started begging for money. One of the boys, who was no more than 10 years old, had a plastic pistol, which I found a little disturbing. One of the guys in the truck was asking him something about the pistol and sort of teasing him. The boy's reaction was to pick up a rock the size of a baseball and hold it above his head, threatening to throw it at us in the truck. Great.

The man who originally taunted the boy was trying to talk him out of it and distract him while we waited for the light to change. He was fairly successful until the very end when the boy, seeing that we were moving, chucked the rock at the guy's back. Fortunately he couldn't throw very hard, and we were already on our way. Or so we thought.

Unfortunately, the light changed again before we could get out of the intersection. We turned around to see that the boy had recovered the big rock he'd thrown before, and was once again marching toward us with it held over his head. Fortunately, as he got close to us, one of the other guys in the truck grabbed it out of his hand. Unfortunately, that just prompted the kid to find other rocks, this time smaller, which he began firing at us in rapid succession. Again, thankfully, the other Nicas in the truck were able to catch or block them, so no one got hit and people even got a laugh out of the whole thing. Still, as we were pulling away, I thought "Only in Nicaragua would this happen and people find it funny. You can't make this stuff up."

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Into the Home Stretch

After another long day of traveling, I made it back to Managua late Monday ready to embark on the ‘home stretch’ of my Nicaragua experience. I came back bearing many gifts, almost all thanks to the generosity of family and friends back home. My suitcase was full of yarn for Kelly’s knitting group, spices for our kitchen, games and art supplies for the neighborhood kids, and a little bit of Easter candy…for me.

The roommates came to the airport to pick me up which was really nice because they helped me with my luggage and caught me up on the happenings from the week prior.

The biggest news story out of San Isidro was a bit of a disappointing one. Last week small amounts of money began disappearing on days when some of the neighborhood kids were over. Joe and Kelly finally isolated the culprits down to three, and it took until last night for them to find the guilty party, but the case has now been closed. Unfortunately the kids who were the troublemakers will have to earn their way back into the house and earn the ability to play all those fun new games.

The other big news was that Joe and Kelly broke down and bought a blender so that we no longer have to borrow the neighbor’s all the time. It’s been spaghetti sauce and milkshakes galore ever since. I think the blender usage has actually already surpassed the grill though, to be fair, one is a lot easier to use than the other!

Other than those two developments, though, I’ve basically just fallen back into the same routine as before I left. I was back at work yesterday and had a meeting with the Director and COO to discuss use of my last few weeks and plans for next steps. It sounds like there may be a ‘new Nicky’ coming down the pipeline too – but this woman has a nutrition degree from undergrad and an MBA from Kellogg, so she’ll probably put me to shame.

Last night I returned to bucket showers after a week of being spoiled with water pressure. The one point of good news, though, is that it’s gotten so hot here during the day that the water we save in buckets from the night before actually is still quite warm by the time I use it to bathe at night. How convenient!

At any rate, I know how quickly my last few weeks here will go, and, while part of me was ready to stay Stateside after my nice trip home, I know that I need to soak up all that Nicaragua has to offer – the good and the not-so-good – because I won’t have the opportunity for much longer.


P.S. Not to overkill on soliciting donations since I sent out an email to many of you already, but I just wanted to put out a reminder that I am trying to raise money for health and nutrition programs at Fabretto through Razoo pages that a co-worker and I created. Links are below - donate if you can. Thanks!


Nutrition:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/1f516f7d-1724-479c-9f09-bcb42dd62613

Health:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/39e7b7f1-9886-4303-91d1-3a35af327c5f

Friday, April 10, 2009

Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Managua to Cedarburg

It's been awhile since my last post, so I figured I should check in with an update. There is a fair bit to share, too, since it's been a whirlwind week. I started out last weekend in Managua, then traveled from Managua to the island of Ometepe via truck + ferry for a three day vacation, then flew from Managua to Chicago, spent a night in the city, then took a train to Milwaukee, and got a ride home to Cedarburg. Therefore, this post is technically coming from my parents' kitchen, and not Nicaragua, but I think that's okay just this one time.

The trip to Ometepe was really nice and relaxing. I went with my roommates and another one of our friends, and it was a good, laid back group to travel with. Our friend Jason had another volunteer's truck for the week, so we were able to drive from Managua to San Jorge, the port where you leave to go to Ometepe. We then brough the truck on the ferry and crossed Lake Nicaragua to the island.

Ometepe is a pretty interesting place. The lake that surrounds it is the largest freshwater lake in Central America - if I recall, it's the same size as Puerto Rico - and it's also the only freshwater lake with sharks. The island has two volcanos on it, one inactive called Maderas and one active one called Concepcion. The place where we were staying was closer to Maderas, and to get there we had to drive a good hour by dirt road. Suffice to say it was pretty remote, which ended up being a good thing since it was a peaceful trip in spite of the usual chaos associated with traveling during Semana Santa.

We did lots of relaxing on the trip - reading in the hammock at our cabana, swimming at the tiny beach down the road, eating and drinking at the hotel restaurant, and sleeping. However, on the last day there (Tuesday), I decided to be adventurous, so Kelly and I signed up for the horseback riding tour to see monkeys. It was about as wild as you'd expect for a morning riding horses in a place where helmets, safety waivers, etc. are not widely used. In fact, the lesson that they gave us at the beginning of the trek was "here's how you go left...here's how you go right...kick them to go...GO!" It turns out that the critical 4th component of that lesson - Stop! - would have come in handy because within seconds of getting down to the end of the hotel driveway, my horse decided to start galloping full-out for about 5 minutes. It was a little frightening, but eventually I got Ballo under control and it was actually a nice ride. Seeing the howler monkeys was especially cool - I think we spotted about 10 in all.

After Ometepe it was a quick turn around to get ready for the trip home. I had an early flight out the morning after we got back, so I finished the last of my packing, arranged for my neighbor who has a cab to pick me up early in the morning, and then tried desperately to sleep in spite of the heat that now stays around all night in Managua.

The trip home itself was pretty uneventful, with the one minor bummer of one of my bottles of rum breaking in my bag on its way to Miami and soaking all of my clothes in booze. Fortunately nothing was damaged though. Getting back was also a lot less shocking than I had expected. I think I'll be really glad I came home for a bit, because it's a good warm-up for the final return, plus I got to bring back all kinds of souvenirs now and can take some things from the States back to Nica too.

So far my mini vacation here in the States has been really nice and made me excited to come back to friends and family more permanently in May. I've also been doing quite the tour of my favorite foods that I've missed, including Ian's pizza in Chicago (in case you're not familiar, they make things like Mac N Cheese pizza, and it's amazing), Kopp's for a burger and Custard, all you can eat crab legs, and so much more!

Since the blog is not called Wisco Nicky, I suppose that's enough of my adventures at home. I'll be here until Monday, and I'm sure my return to Nicaragua early next week will be busy, but I'll be back with more stories (and pictures from Ometepe) soon!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Checking in...

For all the loyal blog checkers out there, I wanted to just quickly say that I'm alive. It's been another really busy week, so apologies for not writing more frequently. I think it's finally setting in for everyone that I only have a few weeks left (myself included), so the work is just getting piled on. Add that to the extreme heat here - probably well over 100 degrees daily - and I haven't been an extremely happy camper this week.

However, I do have LOTS to look forward to in the next week and a half. On Friday, we are supposed to have a party with some of the other volunteers and neighbors at our house. We've been talking about doing something like this for awhile, but it looks like we'll finally get it together this week. It should be good practice for my goodbye party, which is coming up soon as well!

This weekend is technically the start of the week of vacation for Semana Santa here, so I am heading off to Ometepe, which is an island in the Lake of Nicaragua with two volcanos on it. It's supposed to be really beautiful, and I'm staying in a place that is fairly remote, so I'm excited for some swimming, horseback riding, volcano climbing (maybe) and just relaxing in general. Still to be determined if a few friends from Managua will be joining or not - but hopefully that will work out for at least part of the visit.

I plan on getting back from Ometepe Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (bright and extremely early), I will be heading to the airport and then back to the States for Easter. I'll be stopping through Chicago Wednesday night (if you're around and want to grab a drink, let me know!). Then I'll be back home in the 'burg Thursday through early Monday. I'm really looking forward to being home for a bit, catching up with everyone, unloading one round of souvenirs to make room for more, and stocking up on some things to bring back to Nicaragua for the home stretch.

Because of all this excitement, I probably won't be posting much over the next week. Once I get home, I can put some pics from Ometepe up or, better yet, I can see many of you in person and share the stories!

Thanks, as always, for reading - looking forward to being back Stateside very soon.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Beach weekend...aka heaven

Our big volunteer trip to the beach finally arrived this weekend, and it was truly worth the wait. It was probably one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in awhile, and certainly a favorite from all my time here in Nicaragua. It was so generous of my friend Rosario to share her family's amazing beach house with us for the weekend!

The trip started on Friday night after work with the core group of people that stayed at the beach the whole weekend. It was Rosario, me, Kelly, and then two volunteers who are living in Cusmapa right now, Monica and Pablo. They are both from Spain and are here working on a project for a joint national park between Honduras and Nicaragua.

After grocery shopping and a few other stops, we didn't get to the beach until after dark. Then Kelly made some delicious pasta with alfredo sauce, and we played Uno and talked well into the early morning.

I'm really glad we got there Friday night, even if it was late, because waking up on the beach Saturday morning was awesome. We had plenty of time to read in the hammocks, swim in the ocean and the pool and just relax in general before the big group of Saturday visitors came. They were some of Rosario's friends from growing up, as well as visitors from Miami who work with an NGO called the American Nicaragua Fund. They stayed until sunset, and then it was back to the five of us. We had ambitions of going out to the disco nearby, Camacho's, but everyone was tired from the full day in the sun (and I was, surprise surprise, sunburned). We ended up just calling it an early night.

Sunday was generally more of the same - reading, lounging, swimming in the ocean, etc. Rough life, huh? One major highlight from Sunday, though, was that we walked over to the fishing boats near the house and bough some fresh fish for lunch. Per usual, Kelly worked some wonders in the kitchen and it turned out to be a really delicious lunch. We also had some other visitors for the day. A couple people that work at NicaHope, which is the Fabretto extension project in the dump, stopped by for a few hours, so that was fun too.

All in all, there's not too much to report on from the weekend because so much of it was just lounging and relaxing. That's what made it so great though! Also, I have lots and lots of pictures to share, which should fill in the gaps. Here are the ones from the beach, as well as some older ones from Cusmapa last week, as well as the dance party we had with the neighborhood kids awhile back that I stole from Kelly. Enjoy!

Friday, March 27, 2009

You're eating what??

Since I've gotten some complaints about my lack of blogging this week, here's one more post before the weekend.

Today was yet another one of those glorious days when I received a little slip of paper from the post office saying I got a package. Even though some of the excitement was lost because of the fact that I knew exactly what was in it (since I pried it out of my mom), that also ADDED to the excitement because I knew it was one of my favorite treats. Puppy chow!

Whenever I get things in the mail, I have made a point of sharing some of the sweets with all the people who help me get to the post office. I think this tradition is actually working in my favor, because I've been able to get there more and more easily the more cookies I give to the receptionist!

At any rate, when she told me I had a package and said she was wondering what kind of 'galletas' (cookies) would be inside, I said, "Actually, it's not cookies, it's..." and then I realized that I was about to tell her it was dog food, since I can't think of a better translation. She made a face, and I told her it wasn't really dog food, just that was the name. "Trust me, it's good."

When we got to the post office, I found my puppy chow and immediately opened it up. For better or worse, the Nicaraguan heat had melted it, so you couldn't see the powdered sugar any more and it was all stuck together. It was also coming out in sticky clumps, and generally didn't look that appetizing. I told the driver, "Since you helped me get my package, I want to share some of this with you. It's...puppy food." I'm sure that between looking at the melted goo and hearing me describe it as dog food, he was probably like "Gee thanks, I should have had someone else drive!"

Still, when he tried it he said it was very "rico" or delicious. The receptionist loved it too, though she had the same initial reaction as the driver. In fact, even when I told a few of the Americans that I got puppy chow, they had no idea what I was talking about. Must be a Wisconsin thing. Regardless of where it came from, though, it's one of my favorite inventions of all!

Thanks for sending, Mom!

Training in el Campo

Sorry that I’ve been MIA from the blog the second half of this week after starting so strong Monday and Tuesday. We had our menu training in the communities of Cusmapa Wednesday and Thursday, so I was up in the north from Monday night on. I’ll make up for it today though – a double entry, including this really long one about training in the campo.

Monday evening I took an express bus to Somoto, which was a pretty long 3.5 hour ride in an old school bus. I felt a little tricked too, since all the ‘express’ buses I’d taken in the past had been like Greyhounds until this curve ball. School buses were not made for distance travel.

Tuesday morning it was time for yet more fun in school buses, this time riding from Somoto up north to Cusmapa on those rocky mountain roads I love so much. The ride normally takes about 1 hour by truck, so I was quite stunned (and mildly alarmed) to find out that the bus trip was over two hours. It was a slow, hot, dusty ride which left all of us inside the bus torn between opening the windows to get some air moving and closing them to keep the dust clouds out.

Once in Cusmapa, it was time to start planning. Fortunately, the team there is really on top of things, and they somehow managed, in just a few days, to pull together 3 training sessions in the remote communities with nearly perfect attendance– no small feat when dealing with a rural crowd that has limited access to phone, internet, cars, etc.

That led into our first training session Wednesday, which was quite an experience. We packed up the truck around 9:00 am – bringing ingredients to do cooking demonstrations, the cook from Cusmapa, me, my teammate (Mike), the administrator (Sabrina), the doctor (Victor), and a few other miscellaneous helpers. Most everyone had to ride in the back of the truck standing, which I can tell you, after doing it yesterday, is not too much fun with all the bumping around we did. Then, we headed off toward the location of the training and, along the way, picked up teachers, warehouse admins, and a small sample of the various mothers who volunteer in the kitchens. In all, it would be a group of about 25 from 5 different communities, and some of the ones we picked up along the road had walked for over two hours just to get to the point where we met up with them. That’s some pretty incredible dedication, especially considering many of them were volunteers!

Once we arrived at the school, we did a quick overview of what we planned to accomplish, and then hit the kitchen. The ‘kitchen’ that I’m referring to actually ended up being in the home of someone that lived near the school. This generosity also impressed me – people in these communities have so little, yet this family opened their house to us and let us use their water, pots and pans, fire, salt, dishes, etc…for almost 6 hours!

At first it was a scramble to find the things we needed – there were forgotten ingredients (my bad), there was a lack of utensils, and the space felt cramped for the size of the group. However, thanks to the hard work of many people present, we were able to get everything flowing smoothly in no time, and it ended up being a really productive day. We taught all these people about 5 new dishes, fed them all lunch (sadly, there weren’t enough spoons, so we ate the rice and stewy mixture with our hands!), and had time to discuss how they would share what they learned with the other moms in their communities. After all, as I mentioned before, there is no single cook that works these kitchens – instead, there are about 40 mothers that volunteer each month. Therefore, for this new menu to work, it’s critical that the information from this training be transferred to the others. I’m fairly confident it will happen too, because those that attended were really excited about what they learned, and they each put forth a plan for how they would train the other mothers going forward.

There were a few other moments from the day that definitely stuck out to me. First, when we handed out the menus and the attendees saw the dishes we were going to make, they seemed really surprised and delighted to see things like chicken, bananas and flour as ingredients for the menu. At first they seemed doubtful that they would be able to receive these ingredients since they haven’t in the past, but when we assured them that, as part of the new menu, we’d be ordering these things for them, they were really happy. Such a simple change, but I think it will have a major impact.

Second, we bought sodas for the group for with the lunch, and I ended up stuck with the bottles. I was asking if there was somewhere I could get rid of them, thinking along the lines of recycling (or, let’s be serious, garbage, here in Nica). When I said “what should I do with these,” referring to the bottles, there were countless people that wanted them for some use or another. It’s sort of recycling of a different kind, and something that is very common here in Nicaragua.

Finally, at one point we visited a boy in one of the communities who has been sick for over a year with something that prevents him from moving most of his lower half. It was likely a stroke, though it’s not clear because whatever medical attention he has received in the past has been largely lost in translation through parents that haven’t understood, haven’t been able to read the doctor’s notes, etc. Plus, that medical attention has been extremely limited. Fortunately, Mike and others are trying to help this kid get to a doctor in Managua now, but I’m sure there are many others like him out there that are in the same position, unable to get help. Talking to his parents, who talked about the whole situation very matter-of-factly in spite of the gravity of their son’s year-plus condition, it made me realize that this kind of thing is probably just an accepted matter of life out here, where the closest medical specialists are countless hours – and dollars - away. Hard to imagine coming from the broken but still robust health care system we have in the States.

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Day 2 (yesterday) was a lot like the first day but with a longer ride. As I alluded to, this time I braved the ride in the back of the truck both ways, and let me tell you, I’m feeling pretty bruised and battered after the fact. I think we stood for about an hour an a half each way, bumping around on every turn while packed like sardines with, I’d guess, about 30 people plus chickens in the back at one point.

It was another really productive, encouraging training session. Just like the day before, I was amazed to see how engaged and hard-working the mothers were. They were taking notes, asking lots of questions, helping cook, cleaning up dishes, getting huge jugs of water that they carried on their heads, and so on. I couldn’t so much as start cutting a carrot before someone was begging to do it in my place. It was really incredible. I also felt like these mothers and teachers appreciated the fact that we were bringing training to them. They kept reading the recipes and menus we gave them over and over, and they told us multiple times how grateful they were. That was cool to see.

I also felt like this trip was a great capstone on my experience which, although not over yet, is undeniably drawing to a close. It was a really great team effort, with the doctor, administrators (who were just trained on this same menu less than a month ago), and the rest of the team chipping in to really support our messages, talk up the menus, and encourage implementation in some of the most remote communities in all of Nicaragua. I feel good about leaving because I know things are in good hands and while I’m sure some breakdown will be inevitable, I have a lot of confidence in the perpetuation of the menu and the coinciding messages of nutrition and cost savings in the majority of the schools.

In conclusion, after a week that, while productive and rewarding, was also hot, dusty, and exhausting, I couldn’t be more ready for my weekend at the beach.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Mini Vacation – León and Las Peñitas, Part 2

Sunday, after a nice breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel, I hit up mass at the Cathedral. Then I packed up, checked out, and headed for the beach. Opting to save myself the $25 the hotel wanted to charge me for transport to Las Peñitas, I instead opted for the bus. I would learn several times over why that $25 may have been a worthwhile investment.

While the beach only lies about 15 miles from León, the ride to get there ended up being over an hour because the road is all torn up on account of construction. It was unbearably hot, though there was a decent breeze on the way there. The bus was also packed, though as I learned, a bus being packed is a relative concept. On the way there, the bus seemed full but I did have my own reasonably-sized seat to myself. On the way back, however, we were in a normal school bus, and I have never seen one packed so full. We sat three to a seat on both sides (that’s right, the same seats which were full with two children in them when we rode these buses to school now had three adults plus bags). In addition to the rows of six people across, there were also two people per row in the aisle! I got a seat next to the aisle, which meant I had no breeze. I was also sandwiched between two winners. On my left, there was a girl who somehow, in spite of the zoo going on around her, was sound asleep, and kept nose diving into my back/shoulder as her head bobbed from side to side. On my right was some guy who had apparently been swimming in his jeans, so I had wet denim smushed up against me the whole time. Nice. Like I said, that $25 may have been well spent. Live and learn.

Still, even in spite of the bus ride that was like this:



With views like this the whole time:



It was still worth it for this:



And this:



And this:



Even with just a couple hours to spend at the beach, I was able to squeeze in an Oceanside cocktail, a heaping, delicious lunch of fresh shrimp (complete with heads), and a toe dip in the ocean. It was definitely a too short taste of the beach, especially for all the rigamaroll to get there, but I also like to think of it as a teaser for next weekend. A big group of us volunteers will be spending all of next weekend at one of our co-workers beach houses, and now more than ever, I am psyched to hit the waves!

Monday, March 23, 2009

Mini Vacation – León y las Peñitas, Part 1

OR

How I met Chepito Areas

I’ve gotten to the point in my trip where I’m frantically trying to check off my list of ‘Places to see in Nicaragua’ before it’s too late. Therefore, even though I couldn’t find any travel buddies to accompany me, I decided to take a trip this weekend to the colonial city of León and to the nearby beach area, Las Peñitas.

The journey began Saturday morning after yet another successful batch of panqueques made by yours truly. I took a microbus from the university, and it was a generally pleasant, if hot, hour ride, which, once it finally ended, left me realizing I didn’t have any plans for where to go upon arrival. I had assumed, incorrectly, that the bus would take me to the main part of town and I’d just hop out and start exploring. Instead, it took me to the market, so I quickly found another cab and asked them to take me to the Central Park – the only place I could think of off the top of my head.

Once I got to the Central Park, I began wandering. I found a cute little café overlooking the park and had lunch there. With a bit of time to gather my thoughts, I was also able to formulate a plan for the rest of the visit. First, I went to the museum of modern art that Joe and Kelly recommended, and it was a really pleasant surprise. Museums – especially art museums – can be pretty hit or miss for me, but I was really impressed with this one in León. The setting was beautiful. It appeared to be an old mansion complete with many gardens, pools and fountains. The art was also very cool, with lots of local pieces, a good mix of old and new, and even a couple big names (i.e. Picasso). Plus, since I was with my favorite and most like-minded travel companion – myself – I was able to go at my own (fast) pace.

After the museum, I went to check in at the hotel. It was yet another beautiful, refurbished old mansion, and the rooms were complete with a hot shower (which I used at every opportunity), air conditioning (which I used at every opportunity), cable and wireless internet. The price was also extremely reasonable, though after my sweaty walk to get there, I would have paid anything for the shower and A/C.

By now, you are probably wondering when I’m going to get to the part about how I met Chepito Areas. Some of you who are not ‘hip’ and ‘in the know’ may also be wondering who Chepito Areas is. Don’t worry…I’m getting there.

After perusing countless tour books and brochures, I found a great restaurant for dinner. Not only did it have an awesome outdoor patio with twinkle lights and candles, but it also had Italian food, which I’ve been craving for a long time but especially since I started reading a book about Italy this week. While the creamy shrimp pasta I had was basically to die for, the highlight of the visit was not the food, but the celebrity sighting. That’s right, at dinner I met Chepito Areas, the Nicaraguan percussionist who used to play with Santana! Initially I thought it was pretty cool, but the whole thing was also rather ridiculous. First, the way I met Mr. Areas was by him coming up to my table and saying “Hi, where are you from? … I’m from the States too – San Francisco. I was in Santana.” Then he handed me his business card which says he is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame percussionist and features the band’s logo. Sadly, the business card was previously used, because on the back, there was a long message that went something like this: “My love, I love you and I want you to call me. I love you forever. Chepito Areas, your love. Cell: 3326300.” After I got the business card, Chepito invited me to not one but two parties because, apparently, his post-Santana gig is being a promoter in León. The first party was called “Hot Bling Party” featuring D Money and Baby J and it was the cheesiest invite I’ve ever seen. I also got a personal invite to his birthday later in April – I just have to ‘call him’ to get the details. Maybe that message on the back of the business card was meant for me!

With all the Santana excitement, plus the three glasses of wine at dinner, I decided to call it an early night and just hang out in my hotel and watch some basketball/SNL before bed.

More on day two tomorrow. And in the meantime, pics from León here.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Tidbits from the Week

Okay, so I decided to make a feature of this Tidbits entry, though no promises how long it’s going to last. It’s harder to scrape together all these random thoughts in a week than you’d think…

Sweeping sweeping the nation

I’ve been aware, for some time, that people here in Nicaragua are pretty big fans of brooms and sweeping. Whenever I visit our schools, I’m sure to see a handful of students with the task of sweeping the common areas (mainly outdoors). I also will often see people sweeping piles of garbage together in the street (which is done before it’s burned – lovely). Finally, my personal favorite is when you drive by houses where people are outside sweeping their front yards – yards that are made out of dirt. I don’t even understand that last one, but I guess it fits with the nationwide sweeping obsession.

This week, I saw the love for sweeping taken to a new level when not one but two of our small neighbor girls came over and, while the boys were playing, decided to start sweeping our yard/house/garden. Even after we told them they didn’t have to do that and could stop, they just kept going. I guess it was helpful enough though…minus the fact that the dust they swept in the air promptly blew back into the house with the wind, just like always.

Honk if you’re Nicaraguan

One of my favorite parts of Nicaraguan driving is the use of the horn, which is not for any of the same reasons as in, say, Chicago. In Chicago, it’s commonplace to hear frustrated drivers honking in traffic jams and at stoplights because someone is not moving fast enough. You hardly ever see this kind of road rage-driven honking in Nicaragua, even though traffic is often a complete disaster. I’ve also never heard anyone do this in other situations I’d deem logical, such as when there is a herd of cows blocking the road and not moving. Most Nicas choose to just sit through this patiently rather than hitting that horn.

However, this is not to say that Nicaraguan drivers don’t use this fine feature of most automobiles. They do – quite frequently in fact – though for completely different reasons. First, one thing that I had to adjust to when I got here is the fact that EVERY cab driver honks at you when you’re standing on the street to get your attention. It gets to be pretty annoying car after car, since, to me, it should be obvious I’m not looking for a cab if I’m not hailing one and have ignored the previous six honking cabs to boot. It’s even more obnoxious when you are actually in the cab, though. The thing with cab drivers here is that they will frequently pick up multiple passengers en route to your destination. This generally bothers me since it ends up slowing down your own trip and packing the car full. However, it bothers me even more because when a cab driver is looking to fill the car, you have to listen to that same frequent honking from inside the vehicle.

While the cab honking really annoys me, the other frequent use of car horns here entertains me to no end. I haven’t quite put my finger on how to describe it yet, but I think the best explanation is that the honk seems to say “If you don’t watch out, I’m going to hit you, and I don’t want that to happen.” Here are a couple examples. If you’re driving down the road and there are people walking in it, you give a couple of honks to tell them you’re behind them and get them out of the way. If you’re passing a car on the highway, you honk to say that you’re doing it. You also honk to tell people in the other lane that you’re passing – which probably is not a bad idea. When I get back to the States…and I guess also when I have a car again…I might bring that one back with me.

Pictures from Cusmapa!

Here are some pictures from my trip up north, as well as a few other miscellaneous leftovers from earlier.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Challenge of the Week - Lunch in Rural Cusmapa

While it may not have been apparent from the frequent blog postings this week, I’ve been in the mountains (or mountains-ish) since Tuesday. I stopped in our schools in Esteli and Somoto heading up north to check on the lunch programs there, and then yesterday I finally got to Cusmapa where the real work still needs to be done. The rural communities of Cusmapa are the last schools where we need to implement the new menu, and we really saved the best, and probably toughest for last.

As I’ve learned throughout this process, each of the schools we have is a little different, and each has its own special circumstances. For that reason, when I get to a new school now, I generally just try to figure out what the challenges will be rather than being surprised by their existence. I also knew coming up to Cusmapa that it would be one of our most challenging sets of schools, running almost even with the dump in terms of special needs.

Cusmapa is unique because the outlying communities of the main school we serve have 36 different schools in all. They are all quite difficult to reach, requiring passage on rough mountain roads, generally by truck. As I learned yesterday, we also have a few schools that you can’t even reach by truck…and I learned this the hard way because we had to carry books and furniture to one of these schools as part of our rounds. As always, I assumed I was a lot stronger than reality and offered to carry an awkward medium sized box of books that probably weighed 40 pounds. I made this offer before I realized that to get to the school, we needed to walk about a quarter mile on a downward sloping, rocky mountain path and also across a river in 90 degree heat…and I realized mistake a bit too late. I got about 100 yards and basically gave up. Thankfully, the much stronger man behind me offered to trade me the books for a big bookcase (which was lighter and less awkward), so I was able to make it. Barely. When I got to the end of this journey, I realized that this was the same path that all my menu ingredients needed to take each week…absolutely crazy.

Another big challenge in these schools is the fact that there is no electricity. That means no lights and no fridges, which would also mean no chicken if it weren’t for the fact that we’ll be able to have them just make the chicken on the day of delivery. There is also no gas, so everything is cooked on a fire. Finally, and perhaps most challenging of all, all of the cooking is done by volunteer mothers – generally two of them per day. There is no constant, paid cook like at the other schools, which will make training on this new menu quite challenging. I’m still working out exactly how we will spread the learning to all those volunteers, but that’s a project for another day. Another day soon, I suppose, since we’re going to try to do the training next week.

Overall, I’m really excited about the implementation of the new menu in these schools because I think it has the potential to make the greatest impact over the current meals. Next week will probably be a challenge, but we have a good group of people from Cusmapa to help with the implementation, and I think everyone is pretty excited.

One other fun aspect of my trip to the mountains was that I got to stay at the big guest house with a group of high school students that were volunteering for the week. While I was, at first, pretty nervous to relive the awkwardness of high school, it was also really cool to see a bunch of other young people up here helping out. I think visiting the mountains for a week with a bunch of your classmates would be a really awesome experience.

If my narrative has not sufficiently captured the interesting reality that is Cusmapa, don’t worry – I’ll post some pictures soon.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Domestic Goddess

After my big day Sunday when I finally did my own laundry, I topped off my most domestic week ever on Monday by cooking my first full meal – by myself! – here in Nicaragua. This was a challenge/feat I promised myself I’d undertake before I left. However, after two months of ‘training’ under cooking masters Joe and Kelly, I felt I was ready now, even with a month and a half remaining of my trip.

The rules I set for myself were as follows – I would allow minor assistance with prep work like cutting, and I was able to ask questions about how to prepare the dishes as I went. However, all the actual cooking had to be done by yours truly.

The menu I selected was a pretty simple standby of ours, but also sort of gourmet if I do say so myself. I made Nica style rice, which involves frying it at the beginning, cooking it with water like normal, and then finishing it off by cooking with a plastic bag on top (something I’ve never fully understood, though I think it serves to steam it and possibly also add plasticides). I also cooked a type of squash called ayote with sage butter – made with sage from our garden – and onions. I finished it off with tostones, or fried plantains.

In general, the meal turned out pretty well, though as the eternal perfectionist, I was not satisfied with a few aspects. First, the rice ended up being a bit too oily, which was okay but kept it from turning out as fluffy as normal. Second, the tostones did not turn out as crispy as they should have, which was a real disappointment because as of the last dinner (the one where I burned myself on the oil), I had really perfected them. I blame it on the multitasking, something I never fully appreciated until I had to pull all the parts of the dinner together myself.

So where does that leave me in my quest to really learn how to cook before I get home? I have set a few more challenges for myself, the completion of which will, hopefully, really seal the deal. First, I will work on perfecting the rice over the next few weeks. We have it almost every night, so it will be easy to get some practice in. Second, I am going to do another self-created cooking challenge before I go where I prepare some new recipe that we’ve never done before (since the squash was, technically, pirated). Finally, I will attempt to make a Nica style meal for family (and friends if you’re lucky) when I get home. By ‘publishing’ that last line on my blog, I’m sure I’ll be held to that promise when I get back. Buen provecho!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Se compra bolsas plasticas usadas

We have a new cheap form of entertainment around the house. For her crocheting class, Kelly has been trying desperately to collect clean, colored plastic bags which she uses to make plastic yarn. For whatever reason, she hasn’t had much success getting the women in the class to bring plastic bags even though there certainly is no shortage of them around Nicaragua. Every time you buy anything, you get a bag. Just last week, I bought lunch, a soda, and two items from a bakery, and I got a bag for the lunch, a bag for the soda, a bag with cups for the soda, two bags for each baked item and a bag to hold the two baked items together. That’s six bags right there!

Kelly finally came up with an idea to get more bags – offer to buy them from people in the neighborhood for a small fee. On Sunday, she made a pretty sign that said “Used plastic bags bought here. All colors, no transparent” and hung it on our fence. Neither of us thought much of it at first, but it has turned into hours of entertainment.

Since there isn’t always a lot going on in the neighborhood, just the fact that there was this new sign hung on our fence has created quite a stir. EVERYONE passing by stopped to stare at it, and we watched all the initial reactions from our kitchen table. Some people just read it quickly and moved on. Others stood squarely in front of it and mouthed every word with squinted eyes and confused looks. A few have started to walk past and then backed up to check it again. Our personal favorite was one kid who read the whole sign, his face getting either angrier or more confused with every word. He got to the end and gave this look that said “Nice try – ain’t doin that” and walked away.

After about an hour of these mixed reactions, none of which produced any bags, Kelly and I were discussing options for what might increase awareness. I joked that we could stage a press event where I would bring a handful of the appropriate bags – big, clean, colorful, etc. – and she would hand me the payment of 2 cords ($0.10) every 10 bags. Then we’d shake hands, smile for photos, and the word would quickly spread around town. Not 10 minutes later, we got this chance without me having to act it out. One of the neighborhood kids came up with his 10 bags and Kelly paid him as a handful of other neighborhood kids watched. Then one of the other boys literally ran from our house back to his to collect bags. Some time later, another kid stopped by to get the details because he’d heard from the second kid that we were collecting them. Then that same second kid came back with another 10 bags. At this rate, Kelly should have plenty for her class by the end of the week…and we should get plenty more laughs in between.

Happy St. Patty's!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Another weekend - the countdown rolls on

Time here in Nicaragua continues to move quickly, with another weekend done and gone to prove it. We hung around Managua most of the weekend, but it was still relatively busy (hence the long post).

I left the office early on Friday afternoon to head over to one of our schools by the dump to do training with the cooks there. I brought one of the really talented and charismatic cooks from the other Managua neighborhood, Catia, and the two of us worked with another Fabretto volunteer, Jason, and the two cooks from la Chureca, Karla and Ide. Jason and I have worked together closely on the menu and he is on board with it, at least in theory. However, we both understand that there are many challenges that stand in the way of actual implementation, including lack of water, insufficient funding, too little help in the kitchen, space constraints, and so on. Still, we want to start making slow progress toward an eventual improvement and, as such, decided to begin using a modified version of the new menu in the schools for next week.

This plan was, unfortunately, met with a bit of resistance from the cook in Acahualinca. It’s understandable that she would feel overwhelmed – she is currently cooking for almost 800 kids a day, and there are days when she has virtually no help to do it. Adding another layer of challenge on top of the existing day-to-day difficulties would make me argumentative as well. Still, our intentions were good and we tried to communicate that we understand it will be a process that goes “poco a poco” or little by little. Also, some of the complaints that were expressed about how the kids will not eat certain kinds of food (especially the donated foods) are the same kind of complaints I’ve heard from other cooks in the past. However, it was good to have Catia there because she was able to vouch for the fact that, when prepared properly, the kids at her school eat just about everything she serves. After she whipped up some of her delicious creations, and after more encouragement from all of us, I think we got the cooks on board, more or less. There are still big challenges to address at those schools, but getting everyone on the same page and improving morale is probably a big step in the right direction.

Friday evening Kelly and Joe cooked up some deliciosa chili, which hit the spot even for someone who generally prefers her chili on 12 degree rather than 90 degree days. Then we had some adult beverages and did craft projects, two activities that are as much at odds with each other from a fine motor skills standpoint as it sounds. I made a pair of earrings to give a friend of mine at work for her birthday, and they turned out pretty well.

Saturday Kelly and I went to Masaya to do a handful of errands and to check out the big craft market they have there – the same one we visited last weekend but at a more leisurely pace this time around. There was a lot of really nice stuff for sale, so I was able to get most of my remaining souvenirs to bring home. I’m going to have one heavy suitcase to bring back with all the pottery, jewelry, baskets and rum.

After the market, we had lunch in the central park and managed to finally, after much hunting, find a copy of Slumdog Millionaire. Then we went to the other market in the town to buy our fruits and vegetables. I have to say it was one of the more miserable experiences I’ve had at a market here. All the fruit and vegetable vendors seemed to be located right across from the raw meat vendors, and in 95 degree heat, I can tell you that that is not a good place to be.

Since Kelly and I both failed on one of our missions for the day – replacing our missing watches – we ended up getting back to Managua later than planned. We had to quick shower and get ready, and then we were off again. We headed to one of the really upscale parts of Managua for a fundraising event for NicaHope, the outreach project of Fabretto that does all the work in the dump. It was at a really chill outdoor bar/restaurant that had great tiki and candle lighting. They had a band playing from the Andes – complete with a guitar, drum, and several different kinds of flutes – and they were selling all the jewelry they make. There was a decent number of other volunteers there, including our friends Rosario and Jason and two girls that were visiting from NYU who help sell the NicaHope jewelry. We all had a good time and went out after to yet another fancy part of town. All in all, it was a fun night, but a bit surreal seeing the really upscale, Americanized parts of the city that contrast so starkly with the rest of the country.

On Sunday I had intended to go with a big group from Joe’s school to help clean up a lake nearby. However, I just couldn’t quite stir when my 7am alarm went off, so I opted to sleep instead. I was then awoken at about 9 by what sounded like a herd of high schoolers in our living room. What a surprise – it WAS a herd of high schoolers in our living room, the very same ones that were just leaving to clean up the lake at 9 because the bus arrived 1.5 hours late. Typical.

Instead of cleaning up a lake, I decided to instead attempt to clean up my clothes. It would be my first time doing wash here, which I promise is not as unhygienic as it sounds. My clothes have been cleaned several times before, but only because I paid one of the neighbors to do it. It took me until now to work up the nerve to do it myself using the following state of the art equipment:






I have to admit it was not anywhere near as bad as I’d anticipated. I guess that by way of closing the washing machine at home and pushing a button, I had it in my head that a lot of magical stuff was going on inside there that would be quite difficult to replicate without the machine. It turns out, though, that washing clothes is really just a matter of swishing them around in some detergent, scrubbing and rinsing (who would have thought), so it was actually pretty easy. Also, since I promised myself I would do wash this way at least once during my time here in Managua, I’m happy that is off my list. Now I just need to cook one full dinner without assistance (which is on the calendar for tonight!), and I’ll feel pretty domestically complete.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Tidbits from the Week

I decided to put together this collection of random thoughts from the week, none of which were long enough to be a stand alone entry. Perhaps it will become a regular “feature” of my blog (though having a feature would make this blog sound much more professional than it really is).

Missing processed and/or American food

This tidbit is pretty self explanatory. In many ways, I have grown to really love many aspects of food culture here in Nicaragua, such as going to the market for fresh fruits and vegetables, eating a home-cooked meal every night, learning to cook and even eating rice with most every meal. However, eating this kind of food every day represents a major shift from my life in Chicago, where I ate out virtually every meal, had countless options representing food from around the world (or at least the American take on it), and had plenty of delicious, processed snacks at my disposal. And there are times when I really miss this stuff. Just reading the words Chipotle and Noodles on my friends blog (thanks Bourne!) has left me thinking about those two restaurants all week and craving a carnitas burrito. Also, the few times that I’ve gotten processed snacks from home like granola bars and cookies, I’ve literally eaten them handfuls at a time. I find this especially concerning because I hope I will have more restraint when I get home or I’m going to gain 50 pounds.

More adventures in teaching English

I guess word has gotten out on my AWESOME (read: horrible) English teaching ability, because the students are lining up…well, sort of. Okay, in reality it’s just two co-workers who are from my neighborhood that I’ve been helping out, but it still feels like a lot since I’ve had little sessions three times this week with mixed success. I think there are a lot of factors playing into why teaching English has proven so challenging for me - a native speaker, once model student and sometimes aspiring teacher. The biggest of all, though, might be the poorly structured and utterly confusing books. I asked Tania, one of the two women I’m helping, to use her book yesterday to prep, and I was baffled by the questions in it. For example, there was one section where you had to unscramble the question to understand question structure. However, instead of using normal, everyday questions, they used these:

partners/How/have/had/you/many
believe/life/you/Do/in/death/after
anything/ever/stolen/Have/you

What?? It seems like there are more useful questions you could be teaching beginning students than these, no? I wasn’t even sure I was unscrambling them right they seemed so absurd!

A good way to enforce rules

Today I did my big monthly trip to the bank (a little different than going to the Chase ATM in my office building once or twice a week). After I got money out of the ATM, I went in the lobby to wait for my friend to finish. The lobbies of banks here are pretty strange to me in general, because there are multiple armed doormen who control the entry, they are air conditioned to the point of being like an icebox (I guess that’s like home), and they are just generally very formal and orderly. Anyway, as I was standing and waiting, my phone rang. This always makes me very excited because I hardly ever get calls here. I picked it up and was staring down as I talked. As I was staring down, I noticed from the corner of my eye a large gun approaching my face (don’t worry, it wasn’t pointed at me). The armed security guard, in a not so friendly tone, asked me to stop talking on my phone. I guess it’s not allowed in the bank lobbies here. Needless to say, I literally ran out of the bank, apologizing profusely, and will never make that mistake again. I guess that’s one way to enforce even petty rules that works well around here.

St. Patty’s in Nicaragua

St. Patty’s Day is a pretty big holiday back in the States, especially when you are between the ages of 20 and 30. I’ve been talking to a lot of people about their plans for the big party, and I am really jealous of most. At the top of the list are those co-workers of mine currently working in Ireland who are both partying it up with colleagues from across Europe this weekend and then getting the day off on Tuesday to watch the parade. My sister will also be in Ireland for the big celebration, so she’s lucky too. Then you have Chicago, which is a pretty good party in and of itself for the States. The river will be green, parades and parties will be happening, and everyone will be drunk off green beer for at least 12 hours on Saturday. Last but not least, you have Nicaragua – a place that, based on my weak attempts to describe St. Patty’s day to a co-worker that were met with blank stares – does not seem to celebrate at all. That is, except for the two Irish bars in Managua that my roommates tried to hit up last year only to realize that the celebration had been moved from the real St. Patrick’s Day to the Saturday before. We’re going to be out and about on Saturday, so we might try to hit up those same bars for a little celebrating. Still, I a have a feeling it just won’t be the same…so have a few green beers in my honor, won’t you?

Thanks for reading!

I missed my chance at the 1,000 hits mark, but just wanted to thank all of you for checking in on me via this blog. I’ve gotten a lot of nice feedback, and I’m happy to be able to bring all of you along on this adventure with me, if only vicariously. Don’t forget to send emails too - even though you know every detail of what I’m up to, it’s still nice to hear from the homefront.

That’s all for now – have a great weekend, and happy St. Patty’s!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

It would have been so much easier with email...

My latest project here in Nicaragua relates to two of the schools that serve the dump communities. We are trying to improve their lunch program, since they are associated with Fabretto, but it will be more of an uphill battle there than in many of the other schools. There are several reasons for this. First, the schools are HUGE. They serve lunch to a combined total of 1,400 kids, with one serving 800 alone. The comedors (lunch rooms) for these schools are about the same size as the comedors in San Isidro, but for 2-3 times as many kids. The storage and cooking space in them is also equally tiny.

The second big problem there is help. The model for all of the school kitchens is typically to pay one cook and then enlist mothers of the students to help out each week. This system works well enough in most of the smaller communities, but for whatever reason - perhaps lack of accountability - it has not worked so well in the dump. Therefore, there is often a major shortage of people in the kitchen trying to turn out 600-800 plates of food a day.

Finally, the cooks have not been trained in the schools, so they don't always know how to work with some of the ingredients we use (namely some dehydrated beans and soup that we get donated and soy). Therefore, I would like to take one of the cooks from San Isidro to the schools at the dump to help teach them. However, the process to coordinate this, which I attempted this morning, was the inspiration for the title "It would have been so much easier with email."

Because the cooks, who I actually need to communicate with fairly regularly, do not have email or phones, most communication with them needs to be done in person. All I needed to do today was ask two people if they'd be available for training Saturday. To do that, I first took a bus to the furthest school. By bus, I mean the loaded high school bus that packs about 125 kids when capacity is probably 75. Then I ran into the first kitchen and asked the cook if she'd be available. From there, I took one of the moto taxis to the school closest to my house and ran in to talk to that cook. Finally, I waited for the bus driver to come by, this time on a motorcycle, and then got picked up by him and went in to the office. As an aside, this was my first motorcycle ride in Nicaragua, and it was fun, if a little nervewracking.

After all of that chasing this morning, it turns out we are changing the date of the training, so somehow I need to get in touch with the cooks all over again. I have no cell phone charge, and I'm at the office now. Should be interesting!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Nica Time

This weekend, I lost my watch. While I was swimming before breakfast on Sunday, I took it off and left it with all our stuff on the table. However, we ended up leaving the restaurant pretty abruptly because a group of about 30 Nicas invaded our quiet space, and in the shuffle, I managed to forget my little Timex.

I was pretty upset about the loss at first. I'm really reliant on having a watch in general, but it's especially important here in Nicaragua because there aren't clocks in many other places. Additionally, like many other things, watches are hard to come by here. I'll probably have to make a special trip to Mercado Oriental (the big one) just to find a replacement.

However I can't help but think that, after more than two months here in Nicaragua, it might be fitting for me to be watchless after all. I've come a long way in adjusting to the slower pace of life, or Nica time, from when I first arrived, and maybe I'm ready to make the next leap. After all, it's not like I can't figure out the time if I need to - I have my phone, my computer and my alarm clock with me about 70% of the day and can use them to figure out what time I need to wake up and when to wait outside for my ride to work. Beyond that, maybe checking my watch compulsively every 5 minutes while in line or waiting for a bus is something I could actually live without. I'm going to give it a week to see...

Monday, March 9, 2009

Laguna de Apoyo, Round 2

As the number of weekends I have left in Nicaragua dwindles (only 6 more!), I find myself trying to pack more and more into each one. This past weekend was no exception.

On Friday I left the office early to go to Kelly’s crocheting class. It was fun to see the group in general – about 25 very talented ladies that are making much more than uneven coasters after only a few classes. It was also a special day because, as I mentioned in my last post, we were celebrating the day of Nicaraguan women. Kelly bought a cake and soda for the occasion, and it was a nice little party.

Friday night we had a full house with several of Kelly and Joe’s friends in town from other parts of the country. I helped with cooking, and I’m proud to say that I single handedly made the tostones, which are fried plantains that are a staple here in Nicaragua. They turned out really well, and with only one minor casualty (I did, unfortunately, burn my hand pretty badly on the oil, but it was worth it).

On Saturday, Kelly, Joe and I embarked on an overnight trip with two of their other friends – Callie, another volunteer from Cusmapa in the north, and her boyfriend Oswaldo. First we headed to Masaya where we had a few musical errands. Callie bought a beautiful handmade guitar and needed to place an order for a small, ‘travel size’ marimba to bring to the States when she takes the Fabretto choir there in a few weeks. I also had the chance to go to the “Gringo Market,” which is the craft market with lots of nice, artsy souvenirs for tourists. At the market, I was on a mission – against my better judgment given the two days of traveling ahead of me, I was in search of a hammock. Fortunately and unfortunately, there were many to choose from. In fact, it was a dizzying assortment of almost-but-not-quite-identical options, each with slight differences in yarn thickness, color, price and acceptance of credit cards and none with the perfect combination. However, just when I was ready to give up, I found one that had most of what I was looking for. Without a second thought, I bought it. Immediately after, as I attempted to navigate the market while holding the hammock (which includes a three foot long wooden piece), I regretted my purchase.

From Masaya, we had plans to go to the Laguna de Apoyo which is the beautiful volcanic lake I visited a few weeks ago. To get there, we piled all five people plus a cab driver, a ukulele, a guitar, a hammock and five backpacks into some sort of dilapidated Geo Metro and we were off. We were headed for the “Proyecto Ecologico” – a place that was included in our guidebook without proper name or address. After a few failed attempts to find it, we landed on our best guess – a hostel that cost $5 per person and could best be described as ‘minimalist.’ The rooms themselves had nothing more than beds. There was a hammock hanging in front of the house that looked like it was made of dental floss or maybe from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” it was so worn out. Also, we got that $5 rate at a discount because the bathroom by our house was out of service. Not a problem, said the owner – we could just use the functioning bathrooms in the nearby main house. All we had to do was walk over – and walk past two of the biggest German Shepherds I’ve ever seen, the same ones that ‘greeted us’ when we’d first arrived in a way that almost made us run the opposite direction. It turned out that throughout the entire course of the weekend, every time we tried to pass, the dogs would bark with the same “I want to kill you” tone that they’d first used with us. It definitely added an element of adventure to every trip to the bathroom.

Jokes aside, though, the place ended up being pretty nice for $5 per person. Also, as a major added bonus, there was a hook hanging above the dental floss hammock that perfectly hung my brand new hammock, so I got two full days of use out of my new purchase. It almost made up for the hassle of carrying the thing around.

We also made good use of the new guitar – with such a musically talented group (myself excluded), we didn’t need an iPod because Callie played a bunch of classics (Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Denver, and various Nica artists) that we all sang along to.

After a good night on Saturday, we woke up Sunday and went out for breakfast. One of the best parts about the restaurants around the Laguna is that you can swim while you wait for your food because every restaurant is right on the water, so that’s exactly what we did. From there, we moved on to another more secluded area of the beach and swam, read and relaxed the rest of the day. It was really nice, though I got a lot of sun (again) and the swimming wore me out. By the time we made it home, we were thoroughly exhausted…I fell asleep right when my head hit the pillow.



The luxury suite



Contrasting my bright new hammock with the flossy old hammock



View from our 'porch' - not bad!






 

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