The 12 Faces of Peace Corps Joe

1) “My first official night as a Peace Corps Volunteer” Joe

2) “Stay away from my Hamburger” Joe

 3) “Return of the Molestache” Joe

4) “I wish they used that egg to make me a birthday cake instead” Joe

5) “Wanna be Hippie” Joe

6) “I’ve had better days” Joe 

7) “What a year in the Peace Corps has turned me into” Joe

8) “Too much hair gel and cologne” Joe 

9) “Did I really do that?!” Joe

10) “Face covered in fake blood” Joe

11) “Face covered in real blood less than two weeks later” Joe

12) “I really shouldn’t be laughing while sucking on 12 cacao seeds with my luck” Joe

Look on the bright side!

          While I may make it seem like life is super great here and that I’m never upset about anything, that isn’t always the case.  I definitely have my rough days, and feel like I live on a roller coaster of emotions a lot of the time.  As I figure more out about life here the roller coaster has luckily been turning a bit more into a Kiddy Land ride as opposed to one at Six Flags, but I still just have those days when nothing seems to go right.  It is problems at school, nobody showing up to an English class or soccer practice, issues with communication and public transportation, or getting pick pocketed without feeling anything twice within two weeks (I got my stuff back the first time, only for it to be stolen for good the second).  There’s always something.

            Yeah, life sucks sometimes.  We all know that.  Sometimes we all just have “those days.”   But what keeps me going is all of the great stuff.   While I may feel like I have a lot more of “those days” than I used to, I also have a lot more awesome things to help me bounce back or keep me from getting too low.  So here’s a list of some of the things that make me happy here:

1. When my students actually listen to me
2. When I have at least 4 days in a row that I am able to teach as scheduled without classes being cancelled for whatever reason.
3. Being told I do something as good, or even better than the previous Peace Corps Volunteer in my site.  It doesn’t happen very often (especially not from my host mom), but after a year of constant comparison, I feel great when it does!
4. Playing soccer or other games with my students
5. Hanging out and talking with the neighbors I’ve built ovens for and getting free baked goods with fresh homemade/homegrown/home toasted coffee. 
6. Going up to the Finca Esperanza Verde ecolodge, which is a 45-minute walk up the mountain from my site.  I’ve been too busy to go up there as much as I used to, but I helped start a small garden at the school on their property to give me an excuse to go up there.  That and the teacher had been asking me to help him plant one for several months.  A win/win!

An overlook at the ecolodge

     7. Going on runs in the mountains at sunrise or sunset.  It’s absolutely beautiful watching the sun rise or set over the mountains and there are so many beautiful overlooks on the road overlooking the valley!

    8. Having a howler monkey occasionally be my alarm clock in the morning.  A bit earlier that I’d like, but when else will I have THAT as a wake up call?!

     9. Not knowing exactly what my day will be when I wake up.  Here’s an example of one of my days this week.  I planned on taking the bus to my satellite school, co-teach 2 classes in the morning, play soccer with my students, and go tutor a friend in English.  This is what actually happened... I could only teach one class because my teachers got out at 10am for some work meeting.  My second school is within walking distance of town and Internet, so I walked half an hour into town on a beautiful mountain road to do some work stuff, and naturally, to use facebook.  On the walk back I came across a family of 9-10 howler monkeys hanging out in the tree.  There were even a few little ones!  I usually change into my clothes for soccer at a teacher’s house, but because she was gone I went into the forest to change near the town’s waterfall.  Per usual my students showed up super late for soccer practice, but we still had a good time.  Afterwards I asked my friend if we could hike up the mountain to an overlook to practice English in route and up there because it was such a beautiful day.  And on the way home I got off the bus a bit early to hang out at a community member’s house where I drank some of her coffee and ate some fresh cake.  Not my average day, but I love how days like this can just happen out of the blue!

 10. While I may live in a super small mountain village, I can still take occasional weekend trips to the beach, to hike volcanoes, and just spend time with other Peace Corps friends.  When in the States was I ever able to go to a places like this for a weekend with less than a week’s planning?!

Hiking Volcán Telica

Las Peñitas, León

  11. The cold season only requires a sweater.  I may yelp a bit more than usual after I pour the first bowl of cold water over myself while “showering,” but it’s so much better than having to go through a Chicago winter!

  12. I at least have a few people (aka you!) who care about me enough to have actually read this far into the blogpost J

A Tornado and Halloween!

            I didn’t believe it at first, but after a few community members successfully described something that has never hit this region, I finally admitted that it was possible that a tornado did in fact hit my small mountain village while I was in town getting lunch with friends.  The damage wasn’t too bad, and other than a few roofs ripped off, damage to a power pole or two, and several large trees uprooted, everything else was fine.  So while crazy climate change may allow for tornados to hit in the mountains of Nicaragua, I doubt we’ll be getting any EF-5’s anytime soon!  Funny thing is 3 days beforehand I specifically used tornados and an example in class of a natural disaster that we are not vulnerable to in the mountains of Nicaragua.  (As a side note, the tropical storm that was predicted to drop up to 10 inches of rain on us just 3-4 days after the tornado hit moved north last minute, giving us a bit of a break.  An earthquake, tornado, and flood would have been a bit much for a 2-week span). 

            The day after it I finally decided to stop being cheap and spent the C$110 (about $4.10) to buy a machete and help one of my neighborhood friends cut up some of the trees that were uprooted in his backyard.  Soon after getting started I realized that one of the branches was “bleeding.”  A few of the particularly “juicier” branches even squirted a few drops of what looked like blood onto my arm and face.  It was the creepiest, and yet coolest tree ever.  Its sap is literally the same consistency and color of blood, and the tree’s name in Spanish is “Palo Sangregado,” which pretty much translates to Bleeding Tree.  So I naturally turned into a 10 year old when everyone went to eat lunch (or just wasn’t looking) and covered myself in it. 

            The night the tornado hit I was invited to a going away/Halloween party, but was having a hard time thinking of costumes.  I had one or two mediocre ideas, but nothing to write home about.  There aren’t exactly Halloween stores to buy fake blood and other materials like in the States, and while cheap secondhand clothing is super easy to come by in the city, I had just gotten back and did not have plans to go back until the day of the party.  So when this mysterious fallen tree started squirting blood sap on me the following day I was pretty excited!  I was first thinking machete murderer, but just decided to just fall back on something that would most likely not need an explanation…a zombie.  So I covered myself with “blood,” and gathered up some in a baggie to apply before the party.  Even though I knew this tree existed beforehand, I had honestly forgotten about it.  And even if I hadn’t, as an environmentalist I would never have machete hacked the bark of a living tree.  The tornado came through and knocked over several trees, but not one on anyone’s houses, didn’t hurt anyone, and gave me my Halloween costume idea :).

Halloween night