An Important Article

One of the most important things I've learned in Peace Corps is the importance and richness of inter-generational relationships. Many of the people who I've become closest with are much older and much younger than me and it opens your mind to different. perspectives. This article provides a fascinating look at age segregation and its impacts.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/08/30/what-age-segregation-does-america/o568E8xoAQ7VG6F4grjLxH/story.html?event=event25%3Fevent%3Devent25

Miscelania

Ingenious lawn mowing strategy

My host sister's baby is getting so big!!

Coloring club!!

• Crazy overanalytical theory: I wonder if Nicaraguan men's to "compliment" aka (street) harrass women by calling them princess has anything to do with Ruben Dario's poetry/prose, which is overflowing with beautiful princesses wearing things with complicated names in Spanish. 
• On the subject, not a fan of Latin American modernismo poetry. Although it was on my reading list, I don't think I will ever actually make it through Dario's Azul. Or the bible or War and Peace, but you never know. 
• Funkytown is the best work out song of all time. No, actually.
• Our town park is getting an upgrade. There are now fancy lights, tree bushes (conifers oldly) and weird cement structure that basically looks like a space ship. Supposedly it will be an homage to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. 
• There are a lot of Chinese people (by which I mean like 10) in San Miguelito, presumably on canal related ventures. It was pretty weird to be on the street and hear Mandarin. They mostly travel around with armed military escort in white trucks. This has greatly increased the military presence in town, but surprisingly I have not had to yell at a single one for being creepy. Simple pleasures.
• We finally finished the mural at the school in El Tule. If you ignore the part where are bunch of misbehaving youth spray painted "I will fuck you" on the wall, along with their names. Subtle/ Classy. 
• I went back to check how our oven project at the Casa Materna is being used and noticed that they had a small garden going, perhaps inspired by last year's garden project. It's something!! Also, a baker lady apparently wants an oven. 
• We had our (probably) last English teachers training about pronunciation. It was glorious because we got to do it in an air- conditioned computer lab.  
• The expression "pee like a racehorse" is no joke. My host mom borrowed a horse to cut the grass, and uh...it's quite impressive. Also, the host baby tried to grab the horse by the eyes when they were showing it to him. Bold move.
• Literally 10 neighbor children came over to color today. It was chaotic. 
• We've reached the part of rainy season that is peak mosquito/ jungle cockroach time. I can catch mosquitoes one handed now. If that isn't a resume worthy skill, I don't know what is. 
• They just installed a street light on my street! Fachenteando.
• 
  
  
  I'm really going to miss ice cream in bags 
  
   Adding a little bit of paint to the mix
  
  
  

   Extremely safe

  
  
  
   10th grade students throw a birthday party for the science teacher
  
• Putting finishing touches on the mural

Layers of Landscape and Community

"I saw the crescent, you saw the whole of the moon."- The Waterboys

I was sitting watching a spectacular sunset at the dock in San Miguelito the other day when i began to think about the obvious parallels between seeing a landscape and knowing a community.
San Miguel's sunsets really are out of this world. But there's always a little bit hidden, by clouds, smoke or rain. The light is always a little bit different, depending on the season, sometimes leaving everything blue and sometimes lending an orange, pink or purple to the occasion. Sometimes the Solentiname archipelago is visible, sometimes the volcanoes in Costa Rica, and on a really clear day, you can see across to Ometepe Islands and the department of Rivas. Sometimes white egrets fly across the sky and hundreds congregate in a tree at the water's edge. Some days there's a beautiful storm, with lightning invigorating the scene. But invariably, at least one of these beautiful features remains obscured or absent. If you only witnessed one San Miguel sunset, you would think you saw the most beautiful thing ever, not knowing there's so much more there.

This is exactly how I feel about the process of getting to know a community, especially a small one. After a few days, you think you know where stuff is. After a few months, you start seeing interconnections and webs that completely change your initial observations. After two years, you realize you've only been able to capture a fraction of the big picture. It's a little saddening to reflect on missed connections, feeble friendships that could have been solidified, projects that could have been beneficial. But in the end, you will always be  an outsider and it is what it is.

Edge of the Map Feeling

"No se puede montar dos caballos a la misma vez."- Can't ride two horses at the same time

"You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."-Our staff guy for volunteer support Pete brillantly quoting Semisonic, at our "Close of Service" Conference

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up feeling freezing cold the other day, in San Mig of all places. It was probably only 55 or 60, but that counts for chilly here. Still half asleep, it completely threw me for a loop as to where I was, because I swear, there was same the leafy rich smell of September back home, which instantly gave me an unexpected rush of nostalgia for home this time of year. Fall is my favorite season without a doubt and this is the third that I'm missing in this adventure. I'd kind of forgotten about the effect the seasons have on you until the smell brought me back. 

The last couple months of Peace Corps are a ludicrous carnival sideshow of feelings. Should I stay or should I go? O, I'm sad I'm leaving. O, actually screw these last months, I want to go home immediately, it's fall. O, but things to do still! O, but I love Nicaragua!!!!!!!!! I have gotten too emotional and cried at basically everyone in the Peace Corps office and definitely all my Peace Corps friends. I've come to a bit of equilibrium and peace (jaja) now that my health seems to have improved (si Dios quiere) and I've got some endorphins in my system from working out again. However, I'm still self conscious about how indecisive am I and the uncharacteristic lack of passion I feel for everything. 

 In a completely non-suicidal thought experiment way, it would be so much easier if I could just stop existing after December 18th, the day I'm going home. Like if the rapture were to happen, it would be very convenient.  I just can't picture myself inhabiting any space in the world or doing anything in particular. I've spent the last three or four years being or banking on being a PCV and I while I am really to move on, a lot of -wh questions loom. The devil's in the details.  

I term this failure of imagination "edge of the map feeling." Think of the flat world model of the Middle Ages and then reaching the end of the known. I've felt this feeling before, and I'll be the first to admit: in my case it's a feeling of privilege, of too many options, of too much mobility, while for many, it is rooted in the desperation of narrow options. Not too get too wrapped up in rich country guilt. I've felt this feeling before: when I came here, when I studied in Chile, and when I went to Guatemala, the first time I left the country. It's a mixture of excitement and dread, an inability to conjure up what it will be like on the other side, what the daily routines will be like, even just what it will look like. What I find interesting is that I'm getting this feeling about going home. I can picture the structures (sorta) and people that comprise home, but I can't convincingly fit myself into the picture. The only thing I can picture myself doing in America is going to the gym in my home town, where I am not a member and in which I have never worked out, apart from high school swim team. The mind is a slightly absurd fantasy land. 

Anyway, these are some weird times BUT if I happen to be real neurotic and unnecessarily existential at you, please call me out on it. No coddling!! 

Adventures in Camoapa

 A spot of pig

 Mombachito as seen from a cornfield

Mombachito 

Hikers! 

Delicious Guirilas

Last week, I went to visit my fellow Peace Corps volunteer Natalie in Camoapa, a relatively wealthy but very cowboy town in the department of Boaco. I got to hang out with Natalie and her boyfriend Rob at "Finca de los Gringos," go on one of the best hikes I've done in Nicaragua, and watch Natalie in action at her girl's youth group. It's always awesome to visit other people's sites, see the relationships they've built and see micro-differences in culture and climate. A few things I noticed during my trip:
-It was deliciously freezing cold (like 60 probably) at night. Slept like a newborn.
-Many people in Camoapa were gato, having green or blue eyes, but also so many people had light brown eyes, which isn't as common in other parts of Nicaragua.
-Many people are beekeepers, and a few lucky people have worked in this industry in Canada, bringing their families to a much higher standard of living.
-There are many two story concrete houses, practically unheard of in my town. Cattle herding can pay pretty well, apparently.
-Corn snacks (hornadas) are sold in every store. I bought 10 million of them because they are delicious and in San Miguelito, you can only find them if the vendor women go past selling them.
-It's common to kiss people on the cheek as a greeting. It's not a very common greeting where I live, but the Camoapans were really into it.
-Camoapa is the only place in Nicaragua where I've seen more graffiti for the opposition parties (PLI, PLC,etc) than for the FSLN.

A Week's Worth of Salty Poems

Why does everyone involved in development always drive a white trucks?
Symbolism?
Or mere coincidence?
China may not be particularly interested in human rights or the environment
But apparently they respect this global norm.

Teaching a class on emotions
The girls all say they are happy
The boys all say they are in love
Success?

Boy catcalls female student outside class
I'm feeling mischevious so I challenge him instead of just finger wagging
"Do you think that works to get girls?"
Oooooooooo yeah teacher, let me tell you....
Really? I saw, in ingles, and then have to explain what that means
Let me tell you a secret
The real way to get girls is to be respectful to them
No, teacher, you're wrong, they say
And return to wolf whistlin'
Teacher gives up

On the subject, I wish there was a gendered term in Spanish
for boys who haven't done it yet
If we're gonna go around sex shaming
and distinguishing between senorita and senora
shouldn't we add senorito and senor into the mix
Senoritos, leave those girls alone for the time being, porfaaaaaaaaaa

Career ideas:
Teacher (formal), non-formal education, non-profit staffer, writer, doing something about climate change, rambling bicycle enthusiast, corporate sellout with secret agenda, waitress, bartender,
Or if all else fails
Evil gringa with strong accent actress in Telemundo Telenovelas

The First and Last Time I Will Be Inspired By Celine Dion

San Miguelito's Annual English Song Festival was in August, and it was an unexpectedly moving experience for me. The students sang the usual mixture of classic ballads, current pop music, and Christian music although we did have a surprising guest performance by San Miguelito's only (as far as I know) heavy metal rocker. I got to be on the jury again, alongside teacher Kleydy and an English teacher visiting from the town near Barcelona with which San Miguelito has a sister city arrangement.

As an educator, it's so easy to fall into the trap of putting students in boxes and not realizing the potential they have in areas that lie outside class. That's what's been so great about the mural projects this year: it's been a way to get to know students in their own language outside of the classroom structure, and to see them excel at hands on, artistic pursuits. It's also very easy to underestimate what they are capable of.

This year, the song competition was a similarly revealing experience for me. The students surprised me with their singing talent, their dancing ability, and their braveness in getting up in front of a`large crowd of people to sing in a language that is not their own. Two girls particularly surprised me, both, coincidentally who happened to sing Celion Dion songs. The winner, Escarlet, belted out the ballad "The Power of Love" with an artistry and volume that I had no idea she was capable of. She's a a great student, but usually very quiet in class. But she put it all out there. The third place winner, Ismenia, beautifully sang "My Heart Will Go On," more commonly referred to in Nicaragua as "The Titanic Song."(O, and yes, there is a great Spanish version). The song really moved me. Ismenia survived a tragic bus accident last year; coming from her, the song became what it truly is: an anthem to survival and perseverance. All the students sang really well though, and I'm proud of and impressed by each and every one of them.