Training is over! Last Friday 11/1, 40 of us trainees all
swore in, officially becoming Peace Corps Volunteers. We’re the real deal now.
Greg, our APCD (Program Director of TEFL), and Karen, our Program Specialist. Basically, our two bosses.
All 21 TEFLeros, Greg, Karen, Donald, our training specialist, and Miguel, the Country Director of Nicaragua - the main man in charge!
Peace Corps teaches you a lot of things. During training,
they taught us that we are not in Kansas anymore. We learned how to integrate
into a Nicaraguan community, the cultural norms, how to use the public
transportation, order food, and that 30 hours of Spanish class and 10 hours of
charlas (Peace Corps technical training classes) every week can try but
actually can’t kill you.
At swear-in, they taught us that we have a responsibility as
ambassadors of the United States to uphold the tradition of excellence,
professionalism and all aspects of the fine reputation the Peace Corps has, to
accomplish our objectives as an organization and realize the goals of
Nicaragua.
After swear in, they taught us how to say goodbye. Well, we
didn’t actually get a charla on that, but it would have been nice. Instead,
there we were, 40 volunteers and the host families –you know, the families that
sheltered us, fed us, took care of us, and loved us for three months— left on
our own to say goodbye. First we said goodbye to our families, then to each
other. Man that sucked. I mean really
sucked.
You pack up your stuff, fly to a third world country, put
your life in the hands of a government organization, and you wonder what in the
world you’re getting yourself into. But then you meet the other volunteers, you
realize you’re not alone, and with the relationships you have with them and the
support they give you, this insurmountable task becomes much more doable.
I had to say goodbye way too many times on Saturday. I know
it’s not goodbye, but “see you later,”
but I mean, come on! I had to say “see you later” to all of you back home over
the course of weeks! How much more of this can one person take? Haha, needless
to say it was a rough weekend. While there are real positives of officially
being a Peace Corps Volunteer at site and ready to begin my service, I’m
feeling a little low right now. This rollercoaster is real guys. I’m looking
forward to the next uphill part – I feel like it’s coming soon.
I think that’s a good transition into the next part of my
post. Now that training is over, I’d like to expand a bit on what have actually
been the “ups” and “downs” of my experience here in Nicaragua so far. Life here
has not just been a bed of roses, trust me. I want to mention this disclaimer
again:
This blog is neither an official publication of
the Peace Corps nor the US government; it
is simply a personal testament of my experience in Nicaragua. It is never my intention to observe this culture through an
ethnocentric lens, however there have been and will always be certain aspects
of life here that are more challenging for me to assimilate into than others.
Therefore, I will not always focus entirely on all of the good parts of my
experience here, because that is not how life goes. Peace Corps is like a
rollercoaster, and knowing that you guys are along for the ride, I feel obliged
to share with you as much as possible; including the bad parts. However, it is
important to note that I never wish to reflect poorly onto the Nicaraguan
people nor their country. I am only sharing my ups, downs, successes, and
struggles, none of which are the fault of any part of Nicaragua, but rather the
difficulty at times to adjust to this new, yet exciting, lifestyle.
With that, let’s get into it. I’m going to start with the
downs, so that way we can end on a positive note.
Downs:
1.) Sickness. I’ve been sick more than a few times these
past few months. When I first got here I had some digestive issues getting used
to the food. As a fellow volunteer here said once, “the river is flowing dark
this week.” Too much info? Get used to it, that’s how Peace Corps rolls! Aside
from that I’ve had “gripe” (the flu) twice, one of my toes was infected, I
puked my guts out a couple of weeks ago when I came to Chinandega for site
visit – I spent the entire first night with my new host family throwing up in
the room next to my host parents. Great first impression huh? – and a week ago
I had dengue. Look that one up. Technically, although my blood tests had
abnormal platelet levels, they were not low enough to actually give me the
label of having “dengue,” but all of my symptoms were the same. I had terrible
migraines and back aches, I was completely worn down with no energy, and I had
a fever so bad I alternated between pouring sweat and getting the chills.
Basically, last Monday was one of the worst days of my life. But alas, we press
on!
It’s
just hard when you get sick here. When I’m sick I completely lose motivation to
do anything productive, and as I lay around with nothing to do feeling like
complete hell, that’s when my mind goes back home. As much as I love and miss
you guys, that’s not where my mind needs to be. It gets tough. I hope I’ve
gotten most of this out of the way, so that I have a nice healthy two years at
site! ….Yeah right haha.
2.) Weight. I’ve lost a total of 15 pounds here - coming
from a guy who did not have 15 pounds to lose. This could be credited to being
sick a lot, but aside from that I have no idea what I’ve done to lose all of
this weight. As I mentioned on one of the earlier posts: I eat like a king.
Rice, beans, eggs, rice, beans, chicken, fruit, rice, beans, veggies, rice,
beans… you get the idea. Carbs! Lots and lots of carbs! How have I lost 15
pounds????
3.) Staring. People stare here. A lot. Like a lot, a lot.
Anywhere, everywhere, they stare and stare and stare. It is completely normal
to be having a conversation with someone and then all of a sudden some young
kid or even adult walks right up to within a foot of you and intently watches
as you’re having the conversation. I’ll be teaching at the instituto and other
students who aren’t in class at that time will line up in the windows and just
watch our class, staring at us, watching me teach.
Honestly, it’s completely a
cultural thing; they’re not being rude, they’re just curious. It’s most likely
because the majority of these kids have never seen someone from the United
States before. I’m a very interesting human being to them. Still, it takes some
getting used to. Sometimes I just want to stare back so hard and see who is the
first to look away.
That last one seems kind of lame compared to the other
two, but seriously, some of the cultural norms here get to you. I have found
myself getting angry over the absolute dumbest things. The important part is
that I don’t lose my cool in front of anyone. I’m in their country; I will always respect their way of life. Still, that doesn’t mean I don’t get to
vent every once and a while though, right?
Ok enough bad stuff, time for the ups. Let’s end this on a
positive note!
Ups:
1.) Nica ’62. No this does not mean Nicaragua 1962, we’re
the 62nd group of volunteers to serve here in Nicaragua. More
specifically our group is divided into Environment ’62, and my sector: TEFL
’62. We’re a pretty tight group as I alluded to earlier. I’ve realized how
similar we all are and how we all have a bit of crazy in us in order to join
Peace Corps in the first place. Everyone is so interesting and cool, I feel
like I’ve been able to truly be my self, get to know and rock out with the
other volunteers and Nicas these past few months.
2.) Guys, I don’t get shushed here. My loud voice is a good
thing. My energy is beneficial to my work here. I can be as loud and crazy as I
want, and it’s all completely acceptable. Haha honestly you have no idea how
refreshing that is.
3.) Adventures. You’ve seen pictures. I have taken quite a
few little trips here and there around the departments of Masaya and Carazo and
enjoyed every minute of it. La Laguna de Apoyo, La Boquita (the beach in
Carazo), Paso Caballos (the beach in Chinandega), various markets like Jinotepe
and Masaya, and horseback riding in la selva (the jungle)! I have still yet to
see a single wild monkey, though we heard them on our last trip to the lagoon…
one day, I swear, one day.
Laguna de Apoyo
La Boquita
Horseback riding in Nandasmo
4.) Brandon and Hannah’s café. The famous café of Masatepe
where the coffee flows golden brown, the waffles dance into our mouths steaming
with sugary goodness, and the internet is free and in abundance. Yes, Café
Pueblos Blancos, our safe haven. This café is owned by the kindest American
couple from Indiana who have embarked on a two-year mission here in Nicaragua,
renting a house in Masatepe, and running a coffee shop in the front half of the
house with a Laundromat in the back. They have been our “home away from home,”
not only with their smiles, support, and good English conversation, but they
also invited us over for a home-cooked dinner (meatloaf, mashed potatoes,
homemade mac and cheese… I’m drooling), and threw us a going away party before
we left for site. Also, Brandon and Hannah have been very helpful in allowing
me to continue my Cleveland Browns addiction by providing me the venue to
stream the games online every single Sunday.
For that I am forever indebted :)
It
has been such a treat getting to know them and their incredibly friendly
Nicaraguan staff, as well as Emily, a friend of theirs who visited for a few
weeks. Brandon and Hannah’s mission will take them into 2015, so we will
definitely be visiting plenty of times throughout these next couple years!
5.) Baseball. I played baseball with the drunks of my town
who at the time I did not know were the drunks of the town because they were
relatively sober when we played. It wasn’t until later when I ran into a group
of them stumbling and muttering my name and how we needed to play again the
next week that I came to that realization. Regardless, I played baseball!
They
were playing for money (also didn’t realize until later) and so they shortened
each game to two innings. The team with the most runs after two innings wins,
the losing team pays up, and then repeat the process. The first thing I told them before we played was "Ando palmado" which means "I'm completely broke,"so I didn't pay a cent. That didn't stop them from betting away though! My team won every single
game. Whether that had anything to do with me, I can’t say, but what was funny
was that when I arrived, everyone called me “gringo.” After I batted a few
times – one of which I hit an in-the-park home run (I was flying, running as
fast as I could) – I graduated from “gringo” and got the name “Zacarias.” One
of the drunks would say “hey the Gringo’s up” and then immediately a teammate
of mine would say “hey man, his name is Zacarias.” I earned my name!
On
a side note, I’m already signed up to play for a baseball team here in
Chinandega – no drunks or betting involved! I get my uniform tomorrow and my first game is
Saturday. Wish me luck!
6.) Language. I’m going to end with this one. One of my
major goals here in Nicaragua, and arguably one of my strongest motivations for
joining Peace Corps, was to improve my fluency in Spanish. I’m happy to report
that my fluency is coming along very well. I came into Peace Corps and tested
into the Intermediate-High level. At the end of training, we had a final
interview, and I scored Advanced-High. I jumped an entire proficiency level
since the beginning of training, and I have to say that feels pretty cool. I’m
looking forward to 100% fluency (called the Superior level in Peace Corps),
which I have more than enough time to reach.
Well guys, that’s about all I have in me right now. Yes,
it’s been a rollercoaster. However, I knew that coming in, so it’s important to
note that this is all part of the process. Don’t worry, we did get a charla on
that ;)
As always I love and miss you guys like crazy. I’ll give you
all an update on my site and how I’m doing after I settle in a bit. We’ll talk
soon.
Peace, love, Chinandega,
Z
