Hello Hello! I am excited to be finally using this blog thing- i finally figured it out! Woohoo!

So I am officially in my site and I am trying desperately to improve my spanish and learn all the names of the people in my site. I am slowly learning both but have been forced to write down everyone´s name and where they live in a notebook, which most people find pretty commical. What can you do. My first week featured climbing the Cuapa rock, which is literally rock climbing without any of the saftey harnesses or guides that you would assume you would need for such a trip. The best part was that the volunteer I am replacing made it a field trip, so we had about 10 kids climbing this crazy rock with no shoes and no support. Only in Nicaragua! But it was a lot of fun and apparently the local English teacher really knows how to climb the rock and help others, so if you visit me, expect some rock climbing action! The next day I went with some of the locals to their farms. It took us a 30 minute bus ride, a 45 minute bumpy bumpy bumpy ride on a milk truck, and an hour of hiking to get to the first farm. We then proceeded to hike to the other guys farm which was another hour downhill on slippery rocks. I felt like such an idiot because I kept slipping and falling. What can I say, all those years of dance helped my gracefullness! haha. The farm was absolutely amazing though! It has this virgin forest in the middle of it with this beautiful waterfall. It was amazing to get down there and walk around. Apparently there is a group of monkeys that live there too, but sadly I didnt see them! And after this beautiful two hour hike, we rested right?? Oh no we did not! We continued to climb three small mountains (and when I say small, I dont mean like it was a walk in the park, merely it wasnt quite the size of the Rocky Mountains). It was the most intense day ever! We hiked uphill for like 6 hours straight. My legs were killing me by the end, but it was a fun day! An ouchy morning after, but a fun day!

Yesterday was my host sister´s graduation from high school so I went to my first graduation here in Nicaragua. It turns out they are also long and boring! There was also a fiesta at my host house that night. It was from 6-2am and the music could be heard from across the town. It was insane. I had no idea music could be played that loud! But I wowed the town with my white girl dancing, so overall the night was a success!

Overall I am doing well here in my site. I still have teh last volunteer here which is a huge help! She has really helped me get to know the community and is helping me find a house! I dont know what i will do when she leaves me, but we are having fun while it lasts! Other than that my host family is good, they are a bit overbearing at times, but they are really trying to make me feel at home. Oh funny story, one day I didnt want to shower, and then every other day I shower at random times, so my host family has this idea that I hate to shower and never do it. So today my host sister sat me down and explained the importance of showering and how I really should try to make an effort to shower more. It was hilarious and highly awkward. I was like yeah thanks, Ill try to shower more often for you! Haha! Anyway, thats all for now. Sorry this is kinda boring. I hope to have better stories soon!

Carolyn's First Visit to her Permanent Site

Hello hello! So I have returned from my site visit. The place is tiiiinnnyyyyy! haha! There are about 450 people in the town, so about 40 houses. I have one small little shop to buy things like oatmeal, i think pasta, little snacky foods, milk, eggs, and a very very limited amount of veggies. But there is a truck that brings in some veggies twice a week, but it looks like for fruits and if i want vegetables other than tomato, potatoes, or onion i will have to go into the big city 45 minutes from me. They also have a big supermarket, and I have a friend who lives somewhat close so we are planning on meeting in the city once a week for a shopping spree! My town is basically a really small circle. We dont have plumbing so I will be working a latrine for the next two years, and water comes for an hour once a day or every other day so I will be collecting. I had my first bucket bath experience....it was cold. And kinda hard to get out the shampoo, but I will become an expert in no time (or be really smelly, whichever comes first!) I do have electricity though! Thank goodness! But sadly I dont get cell phone reception unless I army crawl under a barbed wire fence and climb a little hill. The life of a PC volunteer! And rumor has it that the town has bought land to build a tower! So perhaps in my two years of service, I will have reception!

 

The people in my town are really really nice! They all know my name and when I got off the bus the school kids had made me a welcome sign and all crowded around me screaming my name. One little girl even carried my bag (which was bigger than her) to my host families house! Really sweet. Everyone calls my name as I pass and invites me in to their houses and force feeds me food. They are really excited that I am there! And luckily because I am a replacment volunteer, they all kinda know what my role is in the community and know why I am there so I dont have to continuously explain my purpose! And apparently the community was asking the old volunteer if I liked it, and if i liked them. They are really trying to make me welcome and happy! I also have a somewhat big city close by (like 20 minutes) and have met some nice people there in case I want to escape small city life for a while.

 

Its a lot different than I was picturing in my head, and I will be living a very low key, quiet lifestyle, but i really think i am going to like my site and the people in it! and there are always weekends to explore the cities of Nicaragua!

 

Hope you are all well! I love you and will talk to you soon!

Carolyn Learns Her Permanent Site!

Hey guys! Ok so here is a quick recap on my life so far....I would post it on the blog but i dont have time. Cathy you can do the  honors! I have officially received my site assignment and in three weeks I will be moving there permanetly! I cant state the place in case this gets posted on the blog, but there are roughly 450 ppl in my entire town. Its really out there in the country. I have lots of cows by me and apparently mountains. Woohoo! I will give you guys more info after I visit on TUESDAY!!! Woohoo! In other news, I found a random car here in Nicaragua with a Baylor sticker on it. Needless to say I freaked out and scared all the people within a block of me who were really confused on why the gringa was so excited, but non the less, I was excited! Training is going very slowly, but we have had some good times recently now that we are more confident with spanish and about leaving our training towns. We had a finca party last weekend where we went to a little tree nursery and played random games that one of the trainees host familys thought of. This included vollyball with water balloons and using large sacks to toss it over a string, eat a banana with no hands, and ended with a water balloon fight. It was a lot of fun. And we made a feast of VEGETABLES (shock horror! we all miss veggies in our lives so much!) So we made shis kabobs of chicken and lots of veggies, we made salsa, and had smores. It was a great great day! Really relaxed but lots of fun! The elections here in Nicaragua are approaching quickly, which means there are random parades at all times or days of the week with loud loud music blaring from cars and sometimes a band following on foot. Everyone has some sort of horn and blasts it at least 7 times every minute, and there are loud fireworks that are set off ever block. Its been interesting to say the least! And its really awkward when you get caught in the middle of the parade. OH! and awkward moment, my training group and i were going to give a class in the school and as we headed into the street there was a big parade complete with marching band for a funeral of one of the people in the town. They walk the casket around the entire pueblo while the band plays, and its a big procession. Unfortunately, we also got stuck in this procession. It was really awkward and everyone was looking at us trying to figure out what we were doing, but because we were also running late, we were weaving in and out of the people in the procession (we were not respecting the dead!) and we ended up having to run around and sprint past the funeral party. Needless to say, awkward! Anyway, nothing too exciting has happened recently, but i will keep you up to date on my site!

 

 

Carolyn

Carolyn's Second Email/ Post from 9/22/08

So i am glad that everyone is safe and sound! sorry to be sending emails, i promise i will try to use my blog as soon as cathy sends me the address so you guys wont be forced to read my long emails if you dont want to! So here it goes, the last week in a quick recap. Most excitingly, I found a scorpion on my skirt the other day. It tried to attack me and my host mom when we tried removing the little guy. And when i say little, he was big and according to my senora, 6 years old. so lots of experience at stinging. I might have had fleas in my bed the first week or so, so yay for the real PC expereince, but all is well now and i am bite free (apart from the mosquitos who cant seem to get enough of me!) Kinda gross, but you guys said you wanted all the dirty details! I miss cheese. I dream about it. The ambassador of Nica talked to my training group before we left DC and raved about their wonderful cheese and how it would really help the people of Nica if they started exporting it, needless to say i was stoked. WRONG! queso here is a hard white brick that tastes exactly like a salt lick. and they love to deep fry cheese, so sometimes i eat deep fried saltlicks. i feel like a deer, but i have slowly started sneaking it off my plate and back in the bag and my senora is starting to get the hint that i am not a fan of the queso. especially the deep fried queso. OH! my favorite! the other day, mid crave for cheese i  walked into the kitchen for lunch to find a plate of what appeared to be beef covered in alfredo sauce. I practically did a happy dance right there in front of the entire fam. I sat down and took a huge bite only to discover....it was mayo. Thats right! in Nica, mayo is not just a condiment, alas it is also a maranaide! and i have had it on chicken, beef, and a questionable hot dog. (i couldnt tell what the hot dog was made of...but it was good!) Also, this is the same for ketchup. also a marinade. and it is used for pasta sauce, on beef, on chicke, and i am pretty sure if i were to cover myself in ketchup, i would be exeptable to eat. I am really looking foward to the day i can start cooking for myself! I miss vegetables! alhtough they make sure to give me veggies, its not enough! i want more green in my life!! hah!

in other news, we started a youth group in training and we are supposed to build a garden with them. We have had 3 classes over how to start, care, and protect your garden, and we began ours this weekend! Woohoo! It was hard, and unfortunately the first place we tried to plant used to be a makeshift landfill (there is no trash collecting in nica. they just burn it in the street, or even better throw it in the street or in the school and dont deal with it at all) needless to say it was lovely. We found tons of chip bags, candy, and my personal favorite a pair of old underwear! But luckily we had a good group and they stuck it out so we could start the garden in another location, free of wrappers and underwear!

 

spanish is coming along. i have noticed i can speak more, although grammatically incorrect! but slowly i am able to say sorta what i want and am able to make my family laugh a lot when i flail around trying to express some word that i cant say in spanish. its a never ending game of scerades. ( i cant spell that!) But my host dad said my spanish was improving and that made me really really happy! even if only by a little bit!

 

my group plans to start exploring more now that we are getting to know how the crazy buses work and can speak a little more spanish! so hopefully i will have pictures soon! Especially of the buses! you guys have to see them! they are great! And the music they play is fantastic! its 80s jams all the time! 

 

I hope all is well with everyone!!! i love you all and miss you terribly!

 

Carolyn

Carolyn's First Email/ Posting

Ok so my blog thing isnt working cause i cant remember how to access it! but i am alive and well! (oh and let me know if you dont want this!) I am happy to report that Nicaragua is treating me well! I have a big host family and they are mostly in their 20s (the kids that is) and are a lot of fun! we went dancing last night- and i always love a good dance night! So here are some things i have learned about Nica that I thought you guys might be interested in: A.) whoever says that roosters start crowing at sun-up is a big fat liar. they start at 4, or 3. it doesnt matter. They frequently wake me up! B.) Nicaraguan jam sessions have nothing on American ones! Everyone plays their music loud and proud, in cars, their houses, and on the buses (which by the way are old american school buses that are painted crazy colors., sometimes with streamers, and have an amazing sound system- the personal preference it appears is classic 80s songs) Oh and they love Celine here, so clearly it cant all be too bad here in Nicaragua!!! C.) My host family talks to me like a mildly retarted (sorry cat but its true). I cant understand half the things they say so they talk really slowly and loudly at me. Its funny, but a little sad. I also am a terrible mime, because half of the things I act out dont turn out the way i want, and the whole fam just laughs at me. At least I am entertaining them! D.) i am officially old and go to bed at like 8:30 everynight cause i literally cant keep my eyes open E.) showering sucks even more than in the united states cause it is sooooooo Cold! you would think it would be nice since it gets kinda hot here, but not so much. Everytime I take a shower (which is pretty often for all of those who doubted my bathing habits!) i am miserable. I shampoo and condition at the same time!

 

My schedule as of now is that I go to school every morning, 4 days a week we have spanish class for 6 hours, its very low key and interactive so not as bad as it sounds! And then the other days of the week (including saturday) we wake up really early and go to another city were we learn composting, gardening, and the wonders of diareah, and other nasty common illnesses! Sundays are the day of rest, as it should be! I am about to start my training work with the youth with the other 3 people in my spanish class. we are having to teach 3 classes in spanish over the next month or so and set up a garden. I cant wait to grow my own food! (which brings me to the burning question i know everyone has: how is rice and beans for every meal...not so bad!!!) Basically this group of youth is our practice group for what we will be doing in the school! We are really excited to start working with them and practice our new found knowledge of natural fertilizer (suprisingly not made of manure!)

 

I hope this letter finds you all well! I love you all very much and look forward to hearing from you soon! I am hoping to check my email once a week or so, but an hour is really short when the computers are slow so I will try to answer back as soon as I can! Love you lots!

 

Carolyn, or Carolina as said in Nicaragua!