Attention Yogis!

Greetings! As most of you know by now, I work mostly with small business development, and I am primarily teaching Entrepreneurship in the public high schools. However, from the get-go, I realized that I was very interested in working with local women in the community as well. A current project in the community is creating a common space for women that can focus on health and education for local women. This project has been inspiring as it has been a grassroots effort, dreamed up and started entirely by a Nicaraguan woman in the community, which will greatly attribute to the overall sustainability of the project.

In my town, there is an incredible woman named Karla. Some in town call her the “Psycholoca” of my town..or crazy psychologist. However, this strong woman has been at the forefront of any and every effort for women’s work in a community... And this is a breath of fresh air. 

Karla began talking one day about creating a gym in town. We all thought she was pretty crazy. Then one day, she ran down the street yelling that everyone should come a check out her gym as her dream started coming true. I walked next door to find four dinky pieces of exercise equipment circa 1980. Maybe I didn’t necessarily give her the benefit of the doubt. But, the people started exercising. Over time and little by little, the gym has gone from free weights made from cement in baby formula cans to an actual weight or two. You can walk down the street of my town on any given evening past the once abandoned house that has become a gym and hear the reggaeton music blaring. And as you peer in, you see a solid presence--especially of women.

The women have now begun asking for yoga classes and even aerobics classes. I have held basic yoga classes focusing on the importance of breath, stretching, and knowing their body--which can be a new concept for these women.

This gym has been an amazing community development project to witness. Eventually, a fellow health volunteer and I may start to look for grant opportunities to expand the current building and create more opportunities for the women including business classes, art classes, pilates classes, access sexual and reproductive health information, etc. More than anything it is important for the women to have a safe and comfortable common space in a town that traditionally has not had many women’s programs. But for now it is best to start small. We have been using old towels and blankets as yoga mats. But, sometimes it is hard for the women to find an extra towel in their house, and currently, there is only one torn yoga mat in the gym. 

I am collecting donations of spare or old yoga mats that may be hanging around the house and just collecting dust. I think there are probably enough old mats out there before we focus on getting ahold of new mats. I am asking yoga studios in my home state to announce in their classes that if any students have any spare or old yoga mats that the would be willing to donate, please bring them into the studio so that I may collect them for the community center in Nicaragua. 

I will be back in the States until July 20 and would be willing to coordinate how to meet up with anyone interested in donating a mat, especially in the Charleston/ Hilton Head, South Carolina area.

Any questions what so ever.. Please feel free to contact me at london.noelle@gmail.com. I really appreciate your support in announcing this opportunity and for helping to make this project a reality.

The (unconventional) Packing List

Looking back over the last (almost!) year I have been a Peace Corps volunteer, I realize that I have learned to live a heck of a lot simpler. Goodbye red wine and cheese..no, I wouldn’t consider Nica “queso” cheese. But, I have been very lucky to have had some excellent care packages sent along the way. Thank you everyone for thoughtfully taking the time to send me surprises and once in a blue moon a body bag of goodies to keep me going.

While this experience has yet to improve my staying in touch skills, know that your letters, emails and news of the new in life  absolutely make my days and sometimes weeks.

It is hard to imagine that the next group of business volunteers come May 9^th and somehow, I am now supposed to be one of the old and wise ones.

I think back on those last couple of months in the States and the frequent question of my Mom being, “well how many pairs of shoes are you going to take?”  I remember reading and re-reading the packing lists on other Peace Corps blogs reassuring me that I’m not camping for two years (at least not the entire time). I thought I would try to help out the incoming group with a list of the 15 things that I’m most grateful I brought (or eventually figured out I missed and had sent). It does sound a little ridiculous I’ll admit, but you have to remember you will be here for two years and need to be as happy as possible. These are unconventional suggestions and perhaps frivolous but made the cut:

1. Music, music, music.. without it I don’t know where I would be.
2. my Bunny. He is much more than a stuffed animal but I guess I will describe him as that to those that haven't had the pleasure to meet him.
3. French Press
4. Headlamp
5. Sriacha
6. Day pack (backpack)
7. Stuff for hobbies (jewelry making for me)
8. Spring roll wrappers and vermicelli noodles
9. Tea (chai, green, earl grey) and hot chocolate, damn is that 2 things?
10. Baby wipes when there is no water.
11. Spices (thyme, sage, powdered ginger, curry paste)
12. Face sunscreen. Get something that you like so that you will actually where it and age 5 instead of 10 years here.
13. Incense
14. Dr. Bronners all in one soap.. For everything.
15. Vegetable peeler

The first, annual Ometepe University Fair 2012.

Event planning is stressful in the United States, now remember folks that I live in Nicaragua. And, we can just say things run a little bit differently here. This is a culture that when you ask someone to confirm their presence they respond with “si Dios quiere” or “Dios primero” which means if God wants it, it will happen. Or telling someone to arrive at 8:00 am means within the hour of eight o’clock if they show up at all. These aren’t exactly the circumstances you hope for when trying put on an event of some caliber.

After hearing “si Dios quiere” a few too many times, it obviously meant that, in fact, God did not want to donate to my university fair. So, I headed out as a gringa (white girl) to ask Nicaraguans for money. Now based on the blank stares I received, I am pretty sure they were wondering why I as the white girl was asking them for money. Humiliating. 

To put the past two months of work into perspective, some days were kind of hellish. For example, I tried for a three weeks every other day to talk to someone in the Mayor’s office about supporting the project. Well it just so happens that on this particular day, I decided if I needed to sit there all day long and wait, I would. I really needed a response. I was the first to arrive at 7:30 and soon a large group filtered in to support a local woman.  As I sat in the rocking chair next to the woman for two hours, wailing her heart out like I have never in my life heard and holding her dead baby in her arms, I began to question what I was doing. 

Two days later, exhausted and feeling pretty fragile, I was challenged by a nasty business owner (who is in fact an ex-patriot himself) as a young North American pretending to understand my terrain and coming here just to impose my ideas on others. He not only was speaking very poorly of my culture but then went on to say very cruel things about the motivation of locals to better their lives. The poor, old bitter man in fact doesn’t realize that 1. he is profiting off of this island from the North Americans tourists he speaks so poorly of 2. I still can’t believe that for as long as he has lived here and tried to claim this island as home, how could he be so out of touch? Excuse me for trying. I’ve always been a little bit hard headed, so noone is going to tell me that I am not going to be able to do something. This unnamed gentleman went further to complain to the Peace Corps Nicaragua office about a review that went on a travel website after someone heard the conversation. At this point, buddy, there is no way I would even have the time or energy to write such a review.

Disenchanted, this same day, I went home my plan being to try and and sleep it off. Stepping into my latrine I heard a crack. As I felt myself falling farther and farther down on an already broken tailbone, I couldn’t believe that things had gotten to this point. When I tried to climb up the sides of the wall, the dirt broke, I was too far down to pull myself out, noone heard my yells, and I was scared to death of what kinds of creatures were down there. Eventually I found a way finding a way to shimmy my way out. Pardon my french but talk about a day of literally being shit on.

Before I knew it, it was fair day. And kids were showing up.. all 100 of them.

The 10 best students from each of the 10 high schools on the island were invited to attend the first University Fair on the island. The event was held at the local university. At the fair, we started with a review of a vocational exam, and then brought in representatives from 10 universities around the country, organizations to talk about available scholarships, and 5 professionals from the island to speak as role models to the kids. 

After two months of being a crazy workaholic, I can say that I have honestly never done anything like that. I have never fully put myself out there like that and been the sole one responsible for an event of that scale. I continued to think, crap, if I screwed up.. I will have ruined my reputation on the entire island. It’s not like I can pick up and leave to work in another community. Everyone would know. Also, the community had invested their money hoping to see something come from it. I can say it was almost entirely community supported which I am, in fact, very proud of. This means that mean Mr. Unnamed business owner is completely wrong. This is something that members of the community wanted and because they are “the owners” of the project more or less in their funding it is more likely to be continued.

At the beginning of the day when the mass of students started to arrive, I swore that I would never plan an event in Nicaragua again.  This was going to be a disaster. However, as the day wound down and everyone began to leave, I found overcome my emotion as four students approached me to tell me how thankful they were for the opportunity to attend and how the event had opened doors that they’d never known existed.

There are few memorable times in my life that I have truly felt tears of absolute joy. Something happened to me following the event. I discovered a new feeling, a sense of love almost, coming from a place I had never known before. This job can be so hard sometimes when their are breakdowns in communication between cultures, an overwhelming sense of vulnerability, and sometimes you might even get trapped in the bottom of a latrine. But, it is absolutely worth it and I can honestly say that I love my job. It has brought a sense of meaning and purpose to my life that I have never known. Many days that I am here and question what I am doing here at all. However, if I can walk away from this experience having inspired 100 kids from around this island and ask them for the first time ever what they really want to be when they grow up, I think I can walk away content. I may not do everything, but I have at least done something.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

This New Year’s Eve I realized just how much happened in 2011 and how drastically different it was from the previous year. December 31, 2010 was an odd night to say the least. Seven days previously I received my invitation to come to Nicaragua. I panicked as I slowly began to realize that while the idea of joining to Peace Corps seemed sweet, the reality was that I hadn’t really processed (at all) what I was getting myself into. The following months were spent packing my allowed 80 lb. bag and imagining what Nicaraguan life would bring.

This year during the holidays I was fortunate to have my family (minus Lima Bean) visit, and I was able to see them for the first time in almost eight months. It means a lot that they took the time to come to Nicaragua and more than anything try to understand what Nica life is like. It is quite a bit different here- in good ways and sometimes bad. But, it was comforting to be around any sort of familiarity for the holidays.

What didn’t we see and where didn’t we go during their trip? My parents and Jamie were able to visit the island and meet the host family and community. Christmas day was spent sipping coffee and looking at the volcanoes followed by bull fighting, a lovely fish dinner and perhaps a little too much rum mixed with a long game of UNO under the stars. We packed up and headed down to Costa Rica visiting the Guanacaste coast complete with scuba diving and then we were able to witness my mother’s amazing form while zip lining through Monteverde. New Year’s eve was filled with homemade entertainment and the celebrations went well into the early morning complements of the hotel casino. And then the dream was over. They had to go home and I had to start readjusting back to real life.

Oh 2011. I learned a whole bunch last year. Much of which I am sure I have yet to process. I do know that I am pretty damn flexible and can adapt to almost anything. I’ve witnessed some very sad and scary situations as well as over joyous moments in Nicaragua. In the past year, I have become fluent in Spanish, am now called “professora” around town, and moved to a tropical island. I am now accustomed to showering with a five gallon bucket of water and when I can’t get water I ride a bike to the lake to “bathe”. I now love to sleep under my mosquito net and realize how many of life’s little luxuries I can do without. I’ve killed my first tarantulas of many to come, had to adapt personally and professionally to a machismo (male dominated) culture, and battled my first case of Giardia. I have slowly started believing Nicaraguan myths and like a true Nica don’t even walk around the house without shoes on. My usually casually late timing has gotten even worse, and I sometimes now show up after the Nicaraguans. I have learned the importance of community and hate the town gossip. And yeah, it is really “real” here.

This year brought me more challenges that I could have imagined. I left friends, family and a significant other to embark on the unknown. And as tough as it has been at times, I know poco a poco (slowly but surely) I am becoming the person that I hope to be because of taking this leap.

I hope 2012 will bring more blogs and skype dates (sorry Mom), exciting and meaningful work, new friendships, time to reflect, and of course adventures. Happy New Year todos y todas. I wish for only the best to come.

A new update- I am moving into my own house complete with my very own latrine and an outdoor shower..just like the beach, right? I even have my own creative room that can easily host my next visitor ;)

Pictures from the past few months are on their way soon.

Nicaraguan Classroom

 

View from the Port

Taking a Spin

Just a Jot

Realizing that I’ve almost been in Nicaragua now for five months has been kind of weird. Around this time, I was starting to pack up and head home from Argentina. That experience felt like a long time, but I have about a year and a half left in my service. Que barbaro that here I am just starting to get around to getting in touch with some of you..  I am really sorry for that.

Some of those mind blowing daily occurrences in Nicaragua are starting to become normal as I notice that my jaw drops are starting to turn into shoulder shrugs. Although, I wish I could have written down some of those first reactions to laugh at later.. I will never forget the horror of seeing a 250 pound pig tied to the top of a school bus and dismounted by rope beside my window.. But I am sure I’ll recollect some of those memories over time which will allow me to randomly laugh in an inappropriate situation.

Before I become completely accustomed to everything, I thought I would share a “top ten” list I jotted down the other day of things I have decided that I have been enjoying about Nicaragua over the last five months.

10. Machetes serve a purpose for everything. Locked out of your room? Need to open that coconut? Want to kill that snake that just fell from the roof into the house? No worries, just grab the machete. The best part is that they are cheap. You can land yourself a fancy one for 85 cordobas.. About $4.00.

9. The platano tree. I still haven’t figured out my attachment to this one. But, they are just so damn beautiful. You can forget you are on the island sometimes especially when the kids in your classes forget their isleño, tranquilo attitudes. Remember that thing Leo used in Deception to remind himself that he is in a dream?  For some reason, the platano tree seems to remind me that I am pretty lucky to wake up everyday and call this place home.

8. My mode of transport here are old school buses that have been retrofitted. It seems that Barcelona futbol club stickers and some kind of saying about the Virgin de Guadaloupe are a requirement. Can we call these things flair?  The buses usually blast reggaeton or if you are lucky, they have somehow affixed a TV to the ceiling that plays all too exaggerated music videos for love songs in Spanish.

7. If I miss my normal mode of transport (which happens a lot) I have a back-up. Hitchhiking or asking for what Nicas call a “ride” is perfectly acceptable. Who knows, you might even be offered a ride on the back of your Vice Principal’s motorcycle after he slyly sprayed on cologne.
 
6. Everyone knows everyone.. And everything about everyone.
This could also be called town “chisme” or rumors, and yes sometimes it is really annoying. But, they don’t have addresses or street names here. So, getting directions usually translates into “por alla” or “over there.” Because everyone knows where everyone lives, you never have to. You just ask.

5. They love fiestas even more than I do. I will never forget the first time I met one of my principals. He had three questions for me. How old are you? Are you Catholic? And most importantly.. Do you like to dance? There are usually fiestas held in my town on Saturdays for the beauty pageants with seven year olds or any other excuse that comes to mind. Starting in November I hear there are marching bands in the streets starting at 4 am every single morning. Early right? Still haven’t figured this one out. As a side note, you can also get a custom piñata designed as literally anything you could ever think of.

4. Pulperias. These are little corner stores run out of people’s houses that sell your basic necessities like eggs, laundry soap, powdered milk, rice, beans, etc. They usually all sell the same things and sometimes there are four of them lining one block. As a small business volunteer, this is probably what I am trying to change and technically shouldn’t make the list..Besides the point, they are extremely convenient.

3. Front Stoop Service. Even more convenient than a Pulperia. You can literally sit in your house all day long and have everything you would even need without ever to get out of your rocking chair.. or hammock. A woman comes by every morning with fresh milk, a man can come shine your shoes,  and a cart carried by bulls comes by to sell watermelons. The list goes on.

2. Rocking chairs. Everyone has got beautiful, handmade, wooden furniture. Too bad the shipping is pricey.. My host family right now  literally has ten of them in their living room. I haven’t purchased one yet, but I’d at least like to come back off the plane to the States with a hammock in one hand and a rocking chair in the other.

1. Hammocks are everywhere. My first big Peace Corps purchase figuring it would play a large part in the experience. Unfortunately, I do work here, so I haven’t been able to spend as much time in the hammock as I’d hoped so far.

Ten Years Later

Sunday was the 10^th anniversary of September 11^th, and I still remember sitting in my 8^th grade composition class in what we called the “dungeon” room in the locker pit. We were presenting our writing portfolios and I think I was doing a report on St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Someone from the office ran to the door and told us to turn on the television quickly. The next thing I remember was a boy in my class yelling “boom” as a plane crashed into the second building of the World Trade Center. This boy was 13 years old, what was he supposed to know about what this would mean for our country and our stance in the world? Over the next couple of days I remember being worried about the significance of the event. Everything seems to be exaggerated and rumor spreads like fire in a middle school, so I remember overhearing talks of wars and a draft. I had nightmares that my brother or dad would be headed off to war. The following New Years my family visited New York City as it was still trying to cope with the shock three months later. An eerie feeling surrounded Ground Zero as the flowers placed after the tragedy started to droop. However, everywhere you looked American flags adorned the fence that separated the outside world, us, from the rubble.

Thirteen years old is an influential time, you tend to observe and soak up pretty much everything. While some tended to take the victim stance which is understandable, I just wanted to understand why someone would do something so horrible.  As a 13 year old, I can promise you that I was not able to articulate US foreign policy. But, I do think this event is what began to shape my perception of my country in relation to the rest of the world that wasn’t always the most forgiving.

Looking over the last four months here in Nicaragua, I have developed a stronger sense of identity in and for the States. I guess you could call this patriotism. For instance, I have really learned to appreciate the diversity of our people and amount of access to other cultures. I think we forget how unique that makes us sometimes. Nicaraguans love to talk about food. They talk very endearingly about the rice and beans that they eat three times a day...  but I love that I can’t easily answer what food is most typical to the US. We have choices and access that I will never be able to justly explain in this culture.

While I might have thought of the United States at one time as the buff big brother, I now believe that we actually do have a lot to offer communities in the developing world as well as a responsibility to do so. Right before leaving for Nicaragua, I visited a physician that had returned from Iraq as a doctor on the front lines with the Marine Corps. I remember her emphasizing to me, “Serving your country really is like nothing else. You’ll see.” Standing with my hand on my heart and singing the national anthem during our swearing in ceremony to become volunteers, I genuinely felt proud to be a part of the Peace Corps and a representative of the United States. Months earlier when we were invited to the Peace Corps there was an letter included in our packets from President Obama in which he said, “serving abroad will allow you to be a unique ambassador of the American Spirit, reinforce our ties with other countries, and recognize our current destiny.” I really do think the initiatives of the Peace Corps embody the best things about us as Americans, and I have come to believe that by creating a sense of understanding  through cross-cultural exchange we can hopefully help to restore the image of the United States around the world.