The last two weeks in my new site have been
pretty interesting. It’s had its
ups and downs, which I’m sure will continue throughout the rest of my
service. I have, however, done a
lot of really cool things. Rather
than bore you with all the details, I just want to say one serious thing, then
I’ll get on to my normal bullet points go over some highlights to add to last
week’s post.
Living
in a small Central American mountain community has been a pretty humbling
experience, and I’ve only been here for two weeks. Before joining Peace Corps, I had many preconceptions of
poverty and pretty much thought that anyone who lived in “shacks” must be
miserable and live with a sort of resentment towards others. While this may sometimes be the case, I
have yet to encounter this in my town.
My host brother (Reynaldo) has been taking me around town to introduce
me to family friends and other people to help with my integration. Many of these community members live in
what I would have previously referred to as “shacks”. Wood siding with large gaps in between, tin roofs, poor
lighting, small, and often black plastic filling in some gaps. Not exactly waterproof, and often containing
a TV. Already I have come to
realize that these are not shacks, not houses, but homes. Everyone Reynaldo introduced me to has
welcomed me into their homes and have been incredibly friendly, giving, funny,
and overall proud to be a Nicaraguan and live where they do. And they have every right to be
proud. Their community is
incredibly beautiful, there is sense of community, they have persevered through
some pretty hard times (in the 70’s and 80’s especially), etc. I’m going to stop myself before I get
all preachy, but I just wanted to say that not everything is black and
white. Alright, now to the bullet
points…
Things
I find myself saying around the house (translated into English):
- Well the pig’s in the house again….
- GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL!!! (got to love living room fútbol).
- That has too much sugar (ha, who am I kidding, I’ll never say that).
- I’m headed to the bus stop boulder to send a text
- Sure, I’d love to color/play with you
- I’m too tired to play with you
- Yeah…. I don’t know that word in Spanish
- Looks like it’s going to rain again…
- I love the climate/ it’s beautiful here
- It’s cold! (meaning it’s about 70 degrees)
- Well that’s an interesting bug…?
Things I’ve done or do
here that I probably wouldn’t be doing in the states:
- Go on sunrise runs on a dirt/mud mountain road
- Bathe/wash my clothes in the river when we don’t have water for 3 days (actually a pretty interesting experience)
- Douse myself in bug spray every time I have to use the latrine
- Drink coffee with community members in their homes even further up the mountain (or drinking coffee at all for that matter)
- Start an organic garden in my backyard (in November none the less)
- Pick a coffee bean in my backyard
- Take old school buses down a muddy mountain road for half an hour one way to use the internet (it’s such a beautiful drive)
- Eat an average of 4-5 homemade corn tortillas and my weight in rice and beans daily (I have actually gotten to the point of craving them)
- Drink pure orange juice from oranges that I helped pick in the backyard five minutes beforehand
- Regularly go to bed before 9pm
- Watch a Russian war movie subtitled in Spanish with a Nicaraguan Army veteran from the contra war.
- Learning another language….well at least trying to.
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