Friday, July 23, 2004
DEspedida de Martin y Llegada de Annie
Hey all
So to continue my fun filled weekend of high adventures and rip roaring good times, Jane tells me on Saturday that there is a despedida, or going away party for another English teacher, Martin, in Coyolitos, which is in the lower drier area of Miraflor. So we all head off on the 1pm bus loaded up with rum, soda, foodstuff, and a giant pinata, and candy.
Martin taught mostly young kids, and they all line up sitting down on the benches and chairs on the patio, all super shy and giving him a group hug, and he was very touched. I think it was an odd experience for Martin to teach children. He{s an older man, and quiet, and thoughtful, and very literary and writes poetry. He was very British in his reactions
But then for awhile evryone just sat there, and was quiet. And then began the pinata.
Nelson (another Nelson, who is married to Lorena and lives in Coyolitos, and has a band that played at the wedding party previously mentioned in this blog, and Martin lived at their house), elected me to pick the kids for the pinata and blindfold them. And they were all supershy and were like, no didnt want to go, but as the pinata started to break up, they started getting crazy and really wanted to go (there were like 30 of them). and as soon as one of them hit the pinata when it was starting to break up, they would rip the blindfold off, and look for candy like starving animals, and if some candy started to fall, they all dived into the zone even while the kid was still swiging away with the wooden pinata stick. I am surprised no one got hurt. One adult was trying to hold some of them back, very unsuccesfully, but they would have none of it. That candy was worth risking life and limb for apparently.
And then Nelsons band played music all into the night, and it was great, and some of the younger girls got over their shyness, and the little girls here, when they get over being shy, get quite cuddly, and love just snuggling up to you and asking you questions, and telling stories, and I had 4 huddled all around me on this bench for warmth, and they kept telling me how pretty my name was and how my hair smelled so good, and they just love to hold you hand when you are walking, and look at you with these big curous eyes.
If I ever feel like having kids, Im adopting some Nicaraguan ones. Paul should laugh now if he is reading. Or be scared.
So anyway, I think its just when you come from big families, you just get less of that kind of attention, and you are always haivng to watch over younger siblings, it must be nice to feel like the baby again and get all the attention.
BTW, my mom claims I never talk about Paul on this site, which is true, because it is about where I am and what I am doing, and he is not here. But just so you all dont think I am doing fine without him, everything I do and write here, and things I dont write here because there is not enough time, I would rather be doing with him than by myself. And yes, it is hard to be apart, but it would be harder not to have him in my life at all, so I am grateful to even know him
Now disregard that mushy stuff
Oh, one of my good friends from NY cam by after her OTS class, and I wish she could stay forever, and I have more stories, but I am running out of internet time, so I must go. I will tell you all about our adventures after she leaves, but just to whet your appetite, theres a bit that involves a police man, some camo pants she lent me, a digital camera, and an old M16 from the 80s. Dont worry, its a funny story, not a scary one.
So to continue my fun filled weekend of high adventures and rip roaring good times, Jane tells me on Saturday that there is a despedida, or going away party for another English teacher, Martin, in Coyolitos, which is in the lower drier area of Miraflor. So we all head off on the 1pm bus loaded up with rum, soda, foodstuff, and a giant pinata, and candy.
Martin taught mostly young kids, and they all line up sitting down on the benches and chairs on the patio, all super shy and giving him a group hug, and he was very touched. I think it was an odd experience for Martin to teach children. He{s an older man, and quiet, and thoughtful, and very literary and writes poetry. He was very British in his reactions
But then for awhile evryone just sat there, and was quiet. And then began the pinata.
Nelson (another Nelson, who is married to Lorena and lives in Coyolitos, and has a band that played at the wedding party previously mentioned in this blog, and Martin lived at their house), elected me to pick the kids for the pinata and blindfold them. And they were all supershy and were like, no didnt want to go, but as the pinata started to break up, they started getting crazy and really wanted to go (there were like 30 of them). and as soon as one of them hit the pinata when it was starting to break up, they would rip the blindfold off, and look for candy like starving animals, and if some candy started to fall, they all dived into the zone even while the kid was still swiging away with the wooden pinata stick. I am surprised no one got hurt. One adult was trying to hold some of them back, very unsuccesfully, but they would have none of it. That candy was worth risking life and limb for apparently.
And then Nelsons band played music all into the night, and it was great, and some of the younger girls got over their shyness, and the little girls here, when they get over being shy, get quite cuddly, and love just snuggling up to you and asking you questions, and telling stories, and I had 4 huddled all around me on this bench for warmth, and they kept telling me how pretty my name was and how my hair smelled so good, and they just love to hold you hand when you are walking, and look at you with these big curous eyes.
If I ever feel like having kids, Im adopting some Nicaraguan ones. Paul should laugh now if he is reading. Or be scared.
So anyway, I think its just when you come from big families, you just get less of that kind of attention, and you are always haivng to watch over younger siblings, it must be nice to feel like the baby again and get all the attention.
BTW, my mom claims I never talk about Paul on this site, which is true, because it is about where I am and what I am doing, and he is not here. But just so you all dont think I am doing fine without him, everything I do and write here, and things I dont write here because there is not enough time, I would rather be doing with him than by myself. And yes, it is hard to be apart, but it would be harder not to have him in my life at all, so I am grateful to even know him
Now disregard that mushy stuff
Oh, one of my good friends from NY cam by after her OTS class, and I wish she could stay forever, and I have more stories, but I am running out of internet time, so I must go. I will tell you all about our adventures after she leaves, but just to whet your appetite, theres a bit that involves a police man, some camo pants she lent me, a digital camera, and an old M16 from the 80s. Dont worry, its a funny story, not a scary one.
25th Aniversario de la Revolucion
Ok, its been a long time since I have written, and a lot has happened. First of all, this canadian girl named Robyn came to work with me for about a week, which was great, because I am terminally short handed. She was awesome and now that I am in a new site with more birds, I wsh I had switched sites earlier, because I need her help more now than I did before.
Anyway, I met her when I was in Cebollal at Dona Corinas where she was visting as a tourist. We got done and headed to Esteli on the 15th, a Thursday for the celebration of the anniversary of the revolution, which is a HUGE deal here. This department, town, and Miraflor, are Sandinista strongholds, and although the national day of celebration is the 19th, Esteli was liberated first, and so they celebrate here on the 16th. We got here, she lost her wallet in a taxi, got all upset, but then it worked out ok, becuase once she calmed down, it was really only a litle bit of money, and one credit cards, and she had others, and I lent her some money.
So we all got cleaned up and dressed up, Robyn, the english teacher Jane/Juanita, and a woman Clare she had met traveling, and went off to the Centro Recreativo to see local groups perfom, and dance, which was nice enough. BUT THEN, we ran into Chico Javier, Marlon, and his brother Ivan, and headed to the local Sandinista communist bar/restaurant hangout Rincon Legal to see a trad music group, and it ROCKED. The group was amazing, and sang trad songs, and songs from the revolution, and eveyone has red and black bandanas on, and they are all singing and pounding on the tables, and hugging each other and swaying back and forth, and its standing room only. During the breaks, they played film footage from the war which was tre interesante.
This bar has picturtes of all the great revolutionaries on the walls, Che, Sandino, Fonesca, Ortega, and other pictures and flags and propoganda posters from the FSLN(Sandinista political party Frente Sandinista Liberacion Nacional), and old weapons. There was a HUGE black and red flag hanging out front.
So we got home at 3am, and my stupid bird internal clock woke me up at 5am, and couldnt get back to sleep, so andaba muy cansada en la celebracion!
We get to where the parade people congregate at 10am, and its fantastic, tons of campesinos on horseback, and tons of truck and cars with people all hanging out the back with flags flying, and everyone is in red and black, and then we walk into town, and then the parade goes by, but not like a parade in the states, its a march, and everyone just goes, and then Daniel Ortega shows up, the leader of the FSLN, and he is on horseback, and surrounded by other guys on horseback and people are all running up to him and all crowding and reaching up to touch him and shouting ´´Daniel, Daniel!´´
And we all end up near the soccer stadium in a giant vacant lots and on the street, and people eventually get up and talk and talk and talk, and more speeches, and I am now really hot and tired and go home and sleep.
So we go out to Rincon Legal again, but it is much more mellow this time.
I was SO inclined to go to the 19th anniversario in Managua, because EVERYONE from all over Nicaragua goes to the capital on this day and a sort of symbolic overtaking of the capital again, and Daniel gave like a 4hr speech, and there were representatives from many different countries, like Mexico and Cuba, who gave good speeches I heard on the radio, but I did not go because I woke up and Sunday and felt all crappy and sick.
Oh, and I was so covered with btes and scabs, I went shopping for long sleeved shirts because I looked HORRIBLE, and my whole body was covered, especially the belt line, and my breasts, and armpits, and bikini line and whole back, and it SUCKED. no, wait, it still sucks, because it is still like that.
Anyway, I met her when I was in Cebollal at Dona Corinas where she was visting as a tourist. We got done and headed to Esteli on the 15th, a Thursday for the celebration of the anniversary of the revolution, which is a HUGE deal here. This department, town, and Miraflor, are Sandinista strongholds, and although the national day of celebration is the 19th, Esteli was liberated first, and so they celebrate here on the 16th. We got here, she lost her wallet in a taxi, got all upset, but then it worked out ok, becuase once she calmed down, it was really only a litle bit of money, and one credit cards, and she had others, and I lent her some money.
So we all got cleaned up and dressed up, Robyn, the english teacher Jane/Juanita, and a woman Clare she had met traveling, and went off to the Centro Recreativo to see local groups perfom, and dance, which was nice enough. BUT THEN, we ran into Chico Javier, Marlon, and his brother Ivan, and headed to the local Sandinista communist bar/restaurant hangout Rincon Legal to see a trad music group, and it ROCKED. The group was amazing, and sang trad songs, and songs from the revolution, and eveyone has red and black bandanas on, and they are all singing and pounding on the tables, and hugging each other and swaying back and forth, and its standing room only. During the breaks, they played film footage from the war which was tre interesante.
This bar has picturtes of all the great revolutionaries on the walls, Che, Sandino, Fonesca, Ortega, and other pictures and flags and propoganda posters from the FSLN(Sandinista political party Frente Sandinista Liberacion Nacional), and old weapons. There was a HUGE black and red flag hanging out front.
So we got home at 3am, and my stupid bird internal clock woke me up at 5am, and couldnt get back to sleep, so andaba muy cansada en la celebracion!
We get to where the parade people congregate at 10am, and its fantastic, tons of campesinos on horseback, and tons of truck and cars with people all hanging out the back with flags flying, and everyone is in red and black, and then we walk into town, and then the parade goes by, but not like a parade in the states, its a march, and everyone just goes, and then Daniel Ortega shows up, the leader of the FSLN, and he is on horseback, and surrounded by other guys on horseback and people are all running up to him and all crowding and reaching up to touch him and shouting ´´Daniel, Daniel!´´
And we all end up near the soccer stadium in a giant vacant lots and on the street, and people eventually get up and talk and talk and talk, and more speeches, and I am now really hot and tired and go home and sleep.
So we go out to Rincon Legal again, but it is much more mellow this time.
I was SO inclined to go to the 19th anniversario in Managua, because EVERYONE from all over Nicaragua goes to the capital on this day and a sort of symbolic overtaking of the capital again, and Daniel gave like a 4hr speech, and there were representatives from many different countries, like Mexico and Cuba, who gave good speeches I heard on the radio, but I did not go because I woke up and Sunday and felt all crappy and sick.
Oh, and I was so covered with btes and scabs, I went shopping for long sleeved shirts because I looked HORRIBLE, and my whole body was covered, especially the belt line, and my breasts, and armpits, and bikini line and whole back, and it SUCKED. no, wait, it still sucks, because it is still like that.
Monday, July 05, 2004
Story of the pig
On saturday Chico Munoz and Ariel came to help me out, and left at 4pm, they went back to the house to get their horses, and were walked down the hill by Francisco (Fran) and Letvia. During this short amount of time, the pig that was tied up managed to trip and strangle itself. Fran saw it and ran and tried to cut it free but it was dead. And he was so upset , and they were all upset because they had bought that pig for 300cordova 15 days ago to fatten up for december because two of the kids were graduating from secondario (high school) and they normally have a big celebration. Isabel is quite proud of her kids because almost all have been educated and quite a few have graduted secondario and two have started university.
So yesterday when I got back they were all in a panic and had to clean, chop and smoke the pig superfast so they could sell the meat the next day. It was quite pleasant.
In all, the managed to sell the meat for 200c, so the loss was not too great, but still, 100c is about 8 dollars,which is a lot when you dont have very much. And more than anything, it was about the celebration, but they are probably going to buy another pig, but much smaller.
So yesterday when I got back they were all in a panic and had to clean, chop and smoke the pig superfast so they could sell the meat the next day. It was quite pleasant.
In all, the managed to sell the meat for 200c, so the loss was not too great, but still, 100c is about 8 dollars,which is a lot when you dont have very much. And more than anything, it was about the celebration, but they are probably going to buy another pig, but much smaller.
Sontule
Hey all
So on the 22 I moved to my new home in Sontule, the community where I will be workng. Lets just say its alittle more rustic than Dona Corinas, and the food a bit more standard al campo. Meaning lots of beans and no produce, and I feel pretty bloated gross all the time and sweat beans. For those of you who dont know, I often say I am alll beany when I am sweaty, and this came from working in the field and smelling like beans all the time. I know, isnt it pleasant?
Anyways, I have had mondo problems with assistants, and am pretty mad at this one girl Sandra. So when I got here, Salvadora hooked me up to work with this guy named Diego. Then when I left for Miraflor, he sent me an email saying he couldn{t work. I emailed Salvadora nd she hooked me up with Sandra, who told me that she would LOVE to work, but couldn{t come until june 20th. SO I thought, fine. Then june 19th I get an email, saying that because shes working on her thesis project, she has to go to the field, and so she'll come later. Great. SO I wait for her until the 28th, then she shows up, and tell me she cant stay and Miraflor and work, and could only come down on weekends because she talked to her prof and he said her thesis is more important and she cant do both jobs!
I mean what the hell?! She TOLD me she could stay and work here, and I wasted almost two weeks waiting for her to get here, and then either she doesn{t talk to her prof until late, or doesn't tell me, and then tells me when she gets here, and now what am I supposed to do? I am training some guides, but they cant work all the time, amd some CURN students (CURN is a university here) and coming in middle of Julio, and god help me if they decide they cant work every day either, because I NEED someone to work every day, and if this stupid girl had told me earlier, then I could have made arrangements for someone else, but now it feels like its too late, I should just wait for the students, and I want someone experience so I can run 10 nets, because alone I can only run 2-3 and with inexperienced help maybe 5.
So I am pissed. And I am losing time, and wont get good data, and wont get any grants and wont be able to come back here.
Blah
On the plus side, I really like the family I am staying with, everyone is really nice, and noone wants me to work alone, so everyone like the guides and all are switching their schedules around to come work with me, although one day I worked alone because 4 said they were coming and then noone showed up. Funny thing is, I think they got into trouble with Dona Isabel and Dona Lucia because these two women worry about me out there all alone, although its not even that isolated.
People refresher: Lucia and Rogelio are the parents of MArlon, who is a guide and current president of the Sontule cooperative Oro Verde. He is married to Mayra and they hava 14mo son, Marlon Mauricio. Lucia and Rogelio have tons of kids, but the other that lives in Sontule is Ivan, who is married to Daniela and they have a son Ivancito. Daniela is the only sister of Nelson, who loves to go out with me and look and birds and actually carries a notebook and writes down things I say. He could never go to school, but loves to learn. Mayra is finishing secondary, and Marlon is in university. (Side note, for those who have to work during the week, you can go to school on Saturdays, but it costs money,while diario is free, meaning people with the least money pay the most to go to school)
Dona Isabel is married to Don Francisco, who's the brother of Lucia. They have a mountain of kids as well, and their son Francisco lives with them with his wife Letvia(19 now, was 17 when they got married), and their son of 1 yr Brian. Isabel also has a 12yr daughter Araceli at home and a 3yr old son who I am pretty sure has mild autism or some other disorder because he is 3 and only knows 5 words, and gets mad a lot and hits people and can be very unresponsive.
So on the 22 I moved to my new home in Sontule, the community where I will be workng. Lets just say its alittle more rustic than Dona Corinas, and the food a bit more standard al campo. Meaning lots of beans and no produce, and I feel pretty bloated gross all the time and sweat beans. For those of you who dont know, I often say I am alll beany when I am sweaty, and this came from working in the field and smelling like beans all the time. I know, isnt it pleasant?
Anyways, I have had mondo problems with assistants, and am pretty mad at this one girl Sandra. So when I got here, Salvadora hooked me up to work with this guy named Diego. Then when I left for Miraflor, he sent me an email saying he couldn{t work. I emailed Salvadora nd she hooked me up with Sandra, who told me that she would LOVE to work, but couldn{t come until june 20th. SO I thought, fine. Then june 19th I get an email, saying that because shes working on her thesis project, she has to go to the field, and so she'll come later. Great. SO I wait for her until the 28th, then she shows up, and tell me she cant stay and Miraflor and work, and could only come down on weekends because she talked to her prof and he said her thesis is more important and she cant do both jobs!
I mean what the hell?! She TOLD me she could stay and work here, and I wasted almost two weeks waiting for her to get here, and then either she doesn{t talk to her prof until late, or doesn't tell me, and then tells me when she gets here, and now what am I supposed to do? I am training some guides, but they cant work all the time, amd some CURN students (CURN is a university here) and coming in middle of Julio, and god help me if they decide they cant work every day either, because I NEED someone to work every day, and if this stupid girl had told me earlier, then I could have made arrangements for someone else, but now it feels like its too late, I should just wait for the students, and I want someone experience so I can run 10 nets, because alone I can only run 2-3 and with inexperienced help maybe 5.
So I am pissed. And I am losing time, and wont get good data, and wont get any grants and wont be able to come back here.
Blah
On the plus side, I really like the family I am staying with, everyone is really nice, and noone wants me to work alone, so everyone like the guides and all are switching their schedules around to come work with me, although one day I worked alone because 4 said they were coming and then noone showed up. Funny thing is, I think they got into trouble with Dona Isabel and Dona Lucia because these two women worry about me out there all alone, although its not even that isolated.
People refresher: Lucia and Rogelio are the parents of MArlon, who is a guide and current president of the Sontule cooperative Oro Verde. He is married to Mayra and they hava 14mo son, Marlon Mauricio. Lucia and Rogelio have tons of kids, but the other that lives in Sontule is Ivan, who is married to Daniela and they have a son Ivancito. Daniela is the only sister of Nelson, who loves to go out with me and look and birds and actually carries a notebook and writes down things I say. He could never go to school, but loves to learn. Mayra is finishing secondary, and Marlon is in university. (Side note, for those who have to work during the week, you can go to school on Saturdays, but it costs money,while diario is free, meaning people with the least money pay the most to go to school)
Dona Isabel is married to Don Francisco, who's the brother of Lucia. They have a mountain of kids as well, and their son Francisco lives with them with his wife Letvia(19 now, was 17 when they got married), and their son of 1 yr Brian. Isabel also has a 12yr daughter Araceli at home and a 3yr old son who I am pretty sure has mild autism or some other disorder because he is 3 and only knows 5 words, and gets mad a lot and hits people and can be very unresponsive.
