jinotega (site visit reflection- july 17, 2009)

so you get the pre and post-analysis all in one today…lucky (so read the entry before this first). So as I said, never would I have imagined that I’d be in such a well serviced environment during my time is a PCV. To add to that, never would I have imagined that I’d be in such a wintry atmosphere during my time in Nicaragua. Now you might say, wintry? Daina, be real now, are you already jaded by the oppressive heat of Managua and Masaya? You’re near the equator, how cold could it really be? Well. Not that cold. BUT, chilly enough up in the mountains that I needed a sweater every day, slept under a sheet and a heavy blanket, and almost cried during the ice cold showers I took every morning. And yes I know it is winter in Nicaragua and rainy season, but gosh does it rain a ton in Jinotega. And we all know that dirt roads + heavy rain = mud! So I’ve packed entirely inappropriately with not nearly enough long pants or rainwear, and as my minor weight loss is accentuated by expanding hand-washed-line-dried clothes, I believe I will be needing an entire wardrobe overhaul in the next month or so. We’ll see how far my monthly living allowance helps with that. I have a feeling I’ll be put in the predicament of choosing between buying rain boots and paying rent. So I guess what I’m trying to say is it is best not to have expectations. For as much as I tried to avoid them as I entered this new phase of my life, my few, generic speculations have been shattered to pieces and burnt with the rest of the garbage here.
So Jinotega is BEAUTIFUL. Situated in a valley, surrounded by mountains, it is small and quaint…best known for being the most war-torn part of the country during the times when Augusto Cesar Sandino gained his fame. For the first six weeks I have a room in a house of an older woman and her dog named traviesa (English translation: naughty/misbehaved). Two other Nicaraguan women rent out the remaining rooms, and it is my goal to make them my first friends in Jinotega. The older woman is sweet, but bless her little heart I can’t understand a damned thing that woman says. She punctuates every phrase with ¡OIGA! which I know means listen, or excuse me, or hey I need your attention (or any phrase in English with the same such sentiment), but I’m not exactly sure why she uses it so liberally. I’m listening to her, carefully, minutely (as she speaks quickly, curtly, in true Nica form) yet when she barks ¡OIGA! I paradoxically lose all concentration and stare like a fool until she acts it out for me. She’s quite a spitfire. I like her. I will take it as a true achievement when I can have a fluid conversation with her.
My counterparts are lovely and warm and have tons of enthusiasm for the program. What more can I ask for? I hope I don’t let them down. I can understand them when they speak, and we’re working on an “intercambio program” which would help them with their English as I improve my Spanish. Unfortunately (maybe) it is assumed that anyone who can speak English can teach English. I will do my best to uphold the integrity of my native tongue while helping those interested parties, though I don’t think I know how to explain verb conjugation in English, and I feel it might be a bit condescending to start with numbers, colors, and days of the week with the director of the school I will be working at.
Training will be over in two weeks and everything will change. and i will settle, hopefully into what life is really like here in nicaragua.