Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Sorry I didn’t get to write to you before vacation.  I don’t get notifications when there are new posts—maybe you can help me out with that Mrs. Proudfit? :)

I hope that you all enjoyed your break from school, but didn’t forget too much!  Thank you for all of your questions and stories.  I will try my best to answer your questions and tell you a little bit about the holiday celebrations I experienced.  I had a wonderful time in Boaco while my family was in Hawaii and I’m feeling much better after being sick in the beginning of December.  I wasn’t mad about my family going to Hawaii because I’m having a great time here in Nicaragua so they deserve something fun :)

Christmas here in Nicaragua is celebrated on December 24^th.  The houses are decorated and Christmas trees are put up in living rooms, similar to the U.S.  The trees are all artificial though because they don’t have those kinds of trees here and it would be very expensive to ship them, like they do to other places.  They don’t put up stockings here, but I was sent one from my aunt back home.  Some people have piñatas for their parties too.  Families here get together on the 24^th and celebrate by having dinner around midnight, which is chicken, vegetables, and rice, and then they set off fireworks and drink sparkling cider.  To me, it felt more like New Year’s Eve, but it was Christmas.  I stayed up until 2am with my host family from San Juan de Oriente and then I had to go to bed! 

Little girls in my house in San Juan de Oriente

There wasn’t anything for December 25^th, so I celebrated with some of the other volunteers.  We got together at my host family’s house and watched a Christmas movie, drank hot chocolate, and ate cookies :)  We tried to make it feel like Christmas, even though it was pretty warm and sunny that day.

I decided to spend Christmas with my old host family in San Juan de Oriente but after that I returned to Boaco and gave some presents to my family there.  They don’t give out many presents here, and they usually don’t put any under the tree, so that was different. 

Decorating the tree in Boaco

I received several packages in the mail from my parents, grandparents, aunt & uncle, and friends so those were fun to open for Christmas.  It didn’t feel too much like Christmas to me here because I wasn’t with my family and it was warm, not cold and snowy.  I didn’t feel too sad about it though because it sort of felt like just another day. 

In Oregon for Christmas, my family puts up a tree with lights, and all different kinds of ornaments.  Then we put an angel on top.  I love listening to Christmas music while decorating the tree and house.  We watch Christmas movies on Christmas Eve and we get to open one present.  On Christmas day, my brother and I race down the stairs and run to the tree to check out our stockings.  Before opening presents, we have a search for the pickle ornament (like Twyla mentioned).  Whoever finds the pickle gets a few dollars.  We then open presents as a family (mom, dad, brother, and me).  My dad usually makes a special breakfast like cinnamon rolls and then we stay in our pajamas and watch the Christmas parades on TV.  Later we visit grandparents and have lunch or dinner with them and exchange gifts.  Christmas is my favorite holiday and it was a little sad not being able to share these traditions with my family. 

New Year’s is celebrated like it is in the U.S.  I was in Boaco with my host brother, but the rest of our family was at their finca (farm).  I cooked dinner and we ate some snacks later while staying up for the celebration.  We had some friends over, listened to music, hung out, and set off fireworks at midnight.  Pretty much the same thing I do in the States.  Last year I spent New Year’s in Florida with my family—we played games and stayed up late with relatives and watched the celebration in New York on TV. 

I have been here in Boaco for about a month and a half now (Nicaragua for 4 months) and things are going really well.  Because Boaco is a much bigger town than San Juan de Oriente, there are a lot more people and things to do.  At my house, we have water all the time, which is definitely nice!  We have a grocery store, lots of little shops, internet cafes, and a few restaurants.

I haven’t been doing that much because the students are still on vacation, but we are going to have a conference with the volunteers in my group.  We will be meeting at a hotel on the beach, so I’m excited about that.  I hope we won’t have too many meetings and get to play on the beach a little :)  I’m not sure what grade I will be teaching this year because I have to talk to my teaching counterparts to see where they need help. 

I do miss my family, but I don’t feel sad being here.  My parents might visit me in April because we have a week off from school.  That should be fun to show them around Nicaragua.

Wishing you a good rest of the schoolyear in 2011!  Do your best and be nice to your teachers--they work really hard to help you :)

Christmas Wishes

Merry Christmas

Thinking of you this holiday season. I hope that you have a wonderful time exploring Christmas tradtions in your new home. The Christmas lights are all on in Keizer and people are starting to drive through the neighborhood. Lindsey is heading down to the Rogue River with me next week for our annual trip. We will be working on wedding invitations and favors. I'll have to start making some of the christmas goodies soon. Do you remember the ugly christmas sweater party? I miss seeing you kids loving life and living with such joy. I know your family will be missing you this year and you will be missing them. You are in our thoughts.
Blessings,
Carol

Boaco experience

I had a great time in Boaco this past week.  I was a little nervous to go to a new place by myself, without knowing anyone in the town, but I made it there safely.  One of the teachers I will be working with picked me up at the bus terminal and we took a taxi to my house to meet my new family.  I have a mom, Carmen, a dad, Alfonso, and a sister, Hazzel.  I also have a brother, Yasser, but he goes to a university in Managua and only comes to Boaco on the weekends.  I got to meet him on the weekend.

I went to my new high school to meet the principal and look around.  It was all a little overwhelming because there were so many new things to see and learn.  I’m excited to go back to Boaco and do my service there, but it’s going to be a little difficult in the beginning because I will have to start everything over again—meet new people, make new friends, meet new students, form a new youth group, etc. 

I toured the city with my counterpart and with my host brother and sister.  There are a lot of hills in Boaco and many parts have a lot of stairs to climb.  It’s good exercise :)  It takes me 20 minutes to walk to my high school and that includes a lot of going up and down hills.  It’s not too bad of a walk and of course, good exercise :)

 One day I went for a walk with my host brother, sister, and a friend through the country outside of the city.  We walked to a friend’s house and had lunch there, then walked to the hospital to see where it was, and then we walked back home along the highway.  We were gone for 5 hours!  I was really tired by the time we got home, and we made sure to buy some ice cream to celebrate our journey.  

My host brother also showed me the lighthouse in the upper part of Boaco.  It’s very strange that there is a lighthouse here because there are no large bodies of water near our town.  It is nice to go there and look out at the city because it is really high and pretty to see everything.

Boaco is much bigger than San Juan de Oriente—there are about 60,000 people there and San Juan only has about 6,000 people.  There are a lot more ice cream shops (Eskimos), ciberes (internet cafes), shops, pharmacies, and there is a grocery store!  There is also a post office, which is nice because then I can check my mail more often. 

I came back to San Juan de Oriente on Tuesday after riding the bus from Boaco to Managua and meeting up with some other volunteers.  We then road a bus back to San Juan and it felt nice to be back in our little town.  We have less than 2 weeks left in San Juan de Oriente and I’m really going to miss it, but I’m excited to start my service in Boaco.

Wordle Word Cloud

Things we learned about you!

General response to comments and questions

First of all, thank you for your interest in my adventures!  It's great to hear your stories as well as your comments and questions. Because there was such a variety of questions and some were repeated, I decided to write a blog with some general topics that will hopefully answer your questions :)

Weather: It is pretty hot and humid here and we are getting near the end of our “winter”.  Summer begins in the end of November/early December.  It’s supposed to be a little warmer, but dry instead of humid, so it won’t feel as bad I think :)  My new site is supposed to have a little cooler weather, so I’m looking forward to that.  Here in Nicaragua we basically have two seasons, the winter is the rainy season and it’s in the 80’s and humid.  The summer is the dry season and it is still in the 80’s but dry, so I probably won’t sweat as much.  Nicaragua does not get snow, and I haven’t seen any hail before, but we do get strong rains, and some cool thunder and lightning storms.  

Houses: The houses here are usually made of cement for the exterior walls, and wood or carton for the interior walls.  The inside walls usually do not extend to the top of the roof and they are not insulated so noise travels throughout the house.  The roofs are made of tin and echo.  When it rains, I can’t hear much because it is so loud, but it does sound pretty cool when I’m in bed getting ready for bed.  Most of the trainees here love listening to rain on the tin roofs; it’s a comforting sound.  The exterior walls are not completely closed to the roof so it is a like an open-air house, so bugs can get in pretty easily.  We have a lot of lizards that are always climbing on the walls, but I don’t mind them because they eat bugs :)

Here's a little lizard in my room.

This is our living room.

This is our kitchen.

TV:  Most homes here have TV’s, but not everybody has dvd players.  My family has a few TV’s and a dvd player.  We watch TV a lot in the evenings and there are some English channels, but I try to watch Spanish shows to practice.  I haven’t seen Survivor Nicaragua on TV here and I can’t get it online either.  They are filming Survivor near San Juan del Sur, which is about 3 ½ hours south of where I live.  I have not been there yet, but I really want to because I’ve heard they have nice beaches.

Food: My favorite foods here are gallo pinto (cooked beans and rice, fried with onions), platanos maduros (plantain bananas cooked or fried), tajadas (thin slices of bananas that have been dried fried so they taste like chips but look like strips of bananas, flautas/tacos (chicken and vegetables rolled up in dough that has been fried), and Eskimo ice cream :)

Holidays: Nicaragua has a lot of holidays and celebrations.  Because there are a lot of Catholic people here, they celebrate the Catholic holidays, which include a lot of days for saints.  The schools also follow this schedule and are closed for a lot of these celebrations.  They have a holiday similar to Halloween here called Aguizotes, where people dress up as dead people or zombies and parade down the streets of bigger towns.  I went to see the parade in Masaya and it was pretty cool.  A lot of people also celebrate Halloween here, but they don’t go trick-or-treating.  They just dress up and have parties.  They celebrate Christmas here, but I’m not sure if it’s similar to how we celebrate in the U.S., but it’s coming up soon.  I have seen some Christmas tree displays in malls.  I don’t think they celebrate Thanksgiving here, but that’s a U.S. holiday anyway. 

Animals: I haven’t seen many new animals, just animals in places I wouldn’t expect them to be.  For example, I have seen goats, cows, roosters, and chickens walking down the street.  I have seen monkeys in the jungle area when I went hiking to the lagoon.  There are dogs everywhere and they’re all really skinny and dirty.  Most of the dogs here do not live inside people’s homes; they live outside and search for scraps of food anywhere they can.

Trips: I have been to Granada for 3 days in the very beginning of my time here.  We went on a boat ride on Lake Nicaragua and saw monkeys on that trip.  I have visited the capital of Managua several times and it’s pretty big and there are a lot of people.  I’ve seen some familiar restaurants there, such as: McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Papa John’s pizza, Quizno’s, and Burger King.  I haven’t gone to any of these, but Peace Corps has bought us pizza a couple times.  I have been to Masaya a lot to visit my counterpart teacher, to go shopping because they have a large market there, and to hike the volcano one time.  I have been to Matagalpa where I stayed for a week in a hostel and taught 7^th grade English classes.  I have visited friends in Niquinohomo (this is pronounced without the “h”, so <knee-key-no-mo>), Masatepe, and  I go to Catarina a lot because there are other trainees there and it’s a good place to get ice cream or check out the shops.  Catarina is very close to San Juan de Oriente, where I have been living for 2 months now.

Clothing: The clothing here is very similar to the U.S.  Most people where jeans and t-shirts.  There are a lot of second-hand stores with used clothes from the U.S. that people buy.  Not many adults where shorts, but some kids do.  I’m surprised that more people don’t wear shorts because it’s so hot here!  A lot of people wear sandals and flip flops.  They also use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun because the sun is a lot more intense here as we are much closer to the Equator. 

Internet access: Not many people have internet at their house—only a couple people have those cards that you can plug into a laptop to get internet, but most people use the cybers.  These are buildings that have computers for people to use and they pay by the hour.  I usually take my laptop to the cyber to use the internet and talk to my friends and family on Skype.  Most of the time I type up blogs or emails at my house because I can still use Microsoft Word, and then when I go to the cyber, I copy and paste them onto the webpages.

Teaching:  I am working in an Instituto (high school) which has 7^th-11^th grade.  There are two seventh grade classes because there are a lot of seventh graders, and I teach one of those classes.  There is only one English teacher in the school, so she teaches all of the levels of English classes here.  She lives in Masaya and travels to San Juan everyday to teach.  Masaya is only about 15 minutes away.  I really enjoy teaching English and sometimes it is challenging, but I just need to make sure that my students understand what I’m teaching, or I need to explain things in a different way.  I sometimes use Spanish to translate directions for assignments or activities.

Transportation: I ride buses to get to different towns almost every week.  We take mototaxis too which are a little more fun and you don’t have to squish against people you don’t know.  Mototaxis are like a combination between a motorcycle and a small car.  

The little car that is red with a black top is a mototaxi.  They have one wheel in the front and two wheels in the back.

Language: Here in Nicaragua, the majority of the people speak Spanish, but on the east coast, English is the main language.  I have studied Spanish before, so I knew a lot before I came here, but I am still learning and it is of course challenging.  To say Nicaragua is Spanish, it is like this: <knee-car-og-wa>.

Water and electricity: The water here is on a schedule because we don’t have main water lines going through our town.  So, when there is water, my family fills up large, plastic barrels to store the water.  If there is running water, then I can take a real shower, but if there isn’t, I have to take a bucket shower.  A bucket shower consists of filling up a big bucket of water and taking it into the shower.  Then, you use a small bowl to scoop water out of the bucket and pour it on yourself.  Oh yeah, and the water is cold!  Sometimes the electricity goes out because of storms and it might stay off until the next day.  It hasn’t gone out that many times since I’ve been here though, but more than it the U.S.

Family: My family here is very different from my family, mainly because there are so many people that live in our house.  My host mom has 3 daughters and 2 sons, but not all of them live here.  Two of her daughters live in Costa Rica, and one of her sons lives in Texas.  Her son that lives here lives in a separate house, but it shares the same yard as us.  He lives in a small house with his wife and 2 little girls (2 years old and 5 years old).  My host mom’s daughter that lives with us has a 3 year old girl.  My host mom has a daughter-in-law who also lives here with her 7 year old son and 5 year old daughter.  My host mom’s sister lives in our house with her daughter too.  Then, I have my own bedroom with a bed (and mosquito net), a rocking chair, table, bookshelf/dresser, and shoe rack.  We have a dog and cat that come in and out of our house, but they’re not supposed to be there because they get into things, such as the trash!

My family in the U.S. is just my mom, dad, and my twin brother.  My parents live in Keizer and we have a dog, 2 cats, and lots of fish.  My brother is in graduate school in Tennessee.  He is doing research to study cancer.  My grandparents live in Salem and Albany, most of my mom’s family lives in Salem.  I have an aunt, uncle, and cousin in Florida, some cousins in New York, and an aunt, uncle, and many cousins in Arizona.  My parents and brother are planning to visit me in March and then maybe next Christmas—maybe you can write letters and give them to your teacher to send with my family.  We’re not allowed to have visitors until March because we have been in training and then we need to spend time with our new families and counterparts for the first 3 months in our new sites.  My family also plans on visiting me for Christmas next year.  I hope some of my friends will visit too.  I don’t plan on going back to the U.S. during my two year service because I want to really get to know Nicaragua and the people here, but who knows what might happen.

More about me: I am 23 years old. My favorite color is pink.  I like to read, write, exercise, watch movies, hang out with my friends here, dance, explore new places, and meet new people.  My favorite foods back home are mashed potatoes, pizza, and garlic bread.  Why Peace Corps? I love to travel and I love to teach.  I have my Oregon teaching license, but I wanted to get my Masters degree before I started my teaching career.  I also love to serve people (volunteer experiences, church activities, tutoring students, etc.).  So, my friend was telling me about Peace Corps and the opportunity to travel somewhere in the world and help people in other countries who are less fortunate than I am.  I then found a program called Peace Corps Masters International (PCMI).  This is what I am doing now.  I took Masters classes for a year at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington last year and now I am serving in Nicaragua to complete my degree.  Here I am getting teaching practice for my degree.  I am so happy that I was able to find something to combine the things I love.  I hope that you will all consider the many options you have when you are finishing high school and looking at universities.  I believe that you can do anything if you work hard and focus on your dreams.

My Site!

I just found out my site yesterday afternoon...for the next two years starting November 24th (approximately) I will be in Boaco, Boaco.  This is known as the city of two floors because part of the city is on the hill and the other part is below the hill.  I've heard it's a bit cooler than other places in Nicaragua, which will be nice :)  Next week I'm going to visit my site so I'll get to meet my new host family and my teaching counterparts.  I'm going to be gone for a week on the visit so it might be awhile before I get to post again.  So, don't worry; I'll be back soon!