Hey Everyone!
So I have been living in my site for about a week now! It has been an interesting transition. I went from every minute of my day being planned by training staff to living by my own schedule. Right now, I am getting to know my town, other organizations, my new family and all the teachers and schools that I will be working with. They are all really excited for the work that is ahead when school starts February 4th.
I say it has been a transition because, just like many Americans, we are always "on the go." This is not how things work in Nicaragua. First you have to take time to get to know people personally before developing a working relationship. There has to be confianza, or trust. So right now when I am not in meetings, my time is spent sitting on my porch, or someone else's porch, and making conversation. I am also working really hard at improving my spanish but after knowing all the basics, this is a slow process.
My new host family has been great! I live on the second floor and there is actually a bathroom with running water!! My mouth dropped when I saw this! Of course still cold showers only but this is definitely an unexpected upgrade in living conditions. My host mom is about 80 years old and such a sweet heart. She is a great grandmother and has seven kids of her own so it is a big family to say the least. She is a pretty good cook but no matter how well a person can cook, I look forward to anything but beans and rice.
I am in the process of looking for my own place to live as I will only be living with this family until Jan. 6th. As much as I love my family right now, it will be nice to have my own space and cook my own food. I also want to get a dog and have my eye on a puppy right now (:
Also, I have a site mate. This is another volunteer from the English sector of Peace Corps. She lives about two blocks away and teaches at the institute in town. Her name is also Nicole...go figure...so it has been interesting when introducing myself to others. So most people call me Nicole Maria.
So there is not too much to report as of now, but everything is going well! Stay healthy, stay warm and drive safely in the winter weather.
Lots of Love,
Nicole Maria
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
My new postal address!
So I have a new mailbox that you can send letters etc...
Nicole Hedquist
Apartado Postal #290
Matagalpa, Nicaragua
Central America
It is about 2hrs away from me but I will be checking about every two weeks since I will be going there for groceries and internet as well! Look forward to hearing from everyone!
Nicole Hedquist
Apartado Postal #290
Matagalpa, Nicaragua
Central America
It is about 2hrs away from me but I will be checking about every two weeks since I will be going there for groceries and internet as well! Look forward to hearing from everyone!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Ready to start my service!
Wow...things have been hectic lately! We are fastly approaching the very last week of our training and, in less then a week, I will be taking the oath of a Peace Corps volunteer!
This last week, we had a our final youth group meeting where we gave a charla on AIDS and threw a small thank you party for the kids with gaseosa (pop), galletas (cookies) and musica. They loved it! Later in the week, all the youth groups presented their projects and received certificates for all their hard work. In addition, we had our last language interview. It is amazing how much Spanish I have learned but there is still a lot of room for improvement. However, I feel confident in being able to find my way around and get my ideas across. We also gave our last enviromental class in our training towns. My lesson was over biotic and abiotic things in an ecosystem. I will really miss working with the class and their teacher.
Me teaching a charla with a fifth grade class. We played a game categorizing things that are abiotic and biotic to test their understanding of the lesson. Here they are waiting to see which team won!
The visit to my site in Matagalpa went very well! I am in the mountains and it is absolutely goregeous! It is still very hot durning the day but the nights cool off substantially. I will be returning there for good on November 23rd. It is a fairly small town of 3,000 people. I will be working in three rural schools outside my town in smaller communities. One of my schools is about 6km away without transportation. Most likely I will be loaning a horse to use for traveling as the hills and rocky road make bicycling near impossible...unless your Nicaraguan!
To answer peoples´question about the electricity, there is no electricity during the day in many towns because the company turns it off. It is their way of conserving as it is not possible to have continuous electricity all day for everyone with the electricity shortage. There is a huge problem with water in my community after Hurricane Mitch destroyed a waterfall, a well and a ton of trees along the river. I will be working with many organizations to create tree nurseries and gardens in the school yards. The trees from the nursery will be used to reforest areas along the river and the gardens will provide additional food for breakfast in the schools. With the huge water shortage during the summer months, I will be bathing and washing my clothes in the river as running water only comes about every 14 to 20 days. This water problem is a potential secondary project for my service as my town has plans to reroute the water from a nearby waterfall. However, there are many obstacles and challenges in this project that will need to be sorted out beforehand. ¨Vamos haber¨...well will see.
Life has been so different here that sometimes it is sureal. It is a rollercoaster. Some days better than others but that is life no matter where you are living. I have meet so many amazing and motivated people, as well as, experienced so many things for the first time...drinking pop and juice out of plastic bags, seeing my first volcano, living with a host family, teaching a class...in spanish nevertheless, leading a youth group, trying many different foods, learning how to make soy products from soy beans, riding in a bus standing up, taking bucket baths, creating a tree nursery, talking to the mayor, and really, just living out of the US for 11 weeks.
People in our group walking up a path by Volcan Masaya.
Cooking the soy over an wood stove....in a very large pan!
I am really going to miss my host family. They have been so great to me and I truly feel like part of the family. Tomorrow, I am going to make them an American breakfast of french toast and bacon. Yes, you can buy things like that here in the grocery stores, they are just a little expensive.
My mom cooking rice in the dark during a power outage...I let her borrow my head lamp as she was cooking the beans outside over the wood stove. They thought it was hilarious!
My sister, Vilma, and her son, Kevin (6 years old).
My host family´s house from the back. The door on the left leads to my room.
My back yard. We wash our dishes and clothes in the ¨levendero¨ (stone thing on the left). The concrete room on the left is where we take bucket baths. We dry all of our clothes on the clothes lines. The thing with the black door in the back is the ¨letrina¨(outhouse).
So hopefully these pictures give you a visual of my life. Sometimes I feel it is so hard to explain things or even know where to begin. As soon as I get a chance, I will take some pictures of my new site so you can see how absolutely gorgeous it really is! Miss you all!
Adios
This last week, we had a our final youth group meeting where we gave a charla on AIDS and threw a small thank you party for the kids with gaseosa (pop), galletas (cookies) and musica. They loved it! Later in the week, all the youth groups presented their projects and received certificates for all their hard work. In addition, we had our last language interview. It is amazing how much Spanish I have learned but there is still a lot of room for improvement. However, I feel confident in being able to find my way around and get my ideas across. We also gave our last enviromental class in our training towns. My lesson was over biotic and abiotic things in an ecosystem. I will really miss working with the class and their teacher.
Me teaching a charla with a fifth grade class. We played a game categorizing things that are abiotic and biotic to test their understanding of the lesson. Here they are waiting to see which team won!
The visit to my site in Matagalpa went very well! I am in the mountains and it is absolutely goregeous! It is still very hot durning the day but the nights cool off substantially. I will be returning there for good on November 23rd. It is a fairly small town of 3,000 people. I will be working in three rural schools outside my town in smaller communities. One of my schools is about 6km away without transportation. Most likely I will be loaning a horse to use for traveling as the hills and rocky road make bicycling near impossible...unless your Nicaraguan!
To answer peoples´question about the electricity, there is no electricity during the day in many towns because the company turns it off. It is their way of conserving as it is not possible to have continuous electricity all day for everyone with the electricity shortage. There is a huge problem with water in my community after Hurricane Mitch destroyed a waterfall, a well and a ton of trees along the river. I will be working with many organizations to create tree nurseries and gardens in the school yards. The trees from the nursery will be used to reforest areas along the river and the gardens will provide additional food for breakfast in the schools. With the huge water shortage during the summer months, I will be bathing and washing my clothes in the river as running water only comes about every 14 to 20 days. This water problem is a potential secondary project for my service as my town has plans to reroute the water from a nearby waterfall. However, there are many obstacles and challenges in this project that will need to be sorted out beforehand. ¨Vamos haber¨...well will see.
Life has been so different here that sometimes it is sureal. It is a rollercoaster. Some days better than others but that is life no matter where you are living. I have meet so many amazing and motivated people, as well as, experienced so many things for the first time...drinking pop and juice out of plastic bags, seeing my first volcano, living with a host family, teaching a class...in spanish nevertheless, leading a youth group, trying many different foods, learning how to make soy products from soy beans, riding in a bus standing up, taking bucket baths, creating a tree nursery, talking to the mayor, and really, just living out of the US for 11 weeks.
People in our group walking up a path by Volcan Masaya.
Cooking the soy over an wood stove....in a very large pan!
I am really going to miss my host family. They have been so great to me and I truly feel like part of the family. Tomorrow, I am going to make them an American breakfast of french toast and bacon. Yes, you can buy things like that here in the grocery stores, they are just a little expensive.
My mom cooking rice in the dark during a power outage...I let her borrow my head lamp as she was cooking the beans outside over the wood stove. They thought it was hilarious!
My sister, Vilma, and her son, Kevin (6 years old).
My host family´s house from the back. The door on the left leads to my room.
My back yard. We wash our dishes and clothes in the ¨levendero¨ (stone thing on the left). The concrete room on the left is where we take bucket baths. We dry all of our clothes on the clothes lines. The thing with the black door in the back is the ¨letrina¨(outhouse).
So hopefully these pictures give you a visual of my life. Sometimes I feel it is so hard to explain things or even know where to begin. As soon as I get a chance, I will take some pictures of my new site so you can see how absolutely gorgeous it really is! Miss you all!
Adios
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