2010 update

the new year has really just begun for me, I’ll call December and January a “lull” in my peace corps service, as it is summer vacation at the schools and at best I can say I was bored, at worst it was nearing melancholy. The transition from 2009 to 2010 has really been pulling at all of my emotional and irrational strings. It ended and began in saying adios to my students, a wild trip to the beach, a bittersweet trip back to New York, a final upheaval of our entrepreneurship curriculum, the end of a tumultuous relationship and now finally the dust is starting to settle.
In talking business, January brought lots news for the small business program here in Nicaragua. The ministry of education has finally adapted peace corps’ entrepreneurship course (formerly called “la empresa creativa”) into the national curriculum. This means that every senior in every high school in Nicaragua will be required to pass a course entitled entrepreneurship in order to graduate. It has been the goal of the small business program since the inception of La Empresa Creativa, so we all feel the excitement. It doesn’t really impact my work, aside from the fact that I am working with older students (which after 2 weeks of classes is proving to be a blessing; seems that the extra two years of school bring with them a maturity that any teacher can be thankful for…ie. I don’t want smash my head against a wall after each class). Fortunately I am working with my same counterpart from last year. We haven’t really gotten into the swing of things as she was out of town for a workshop during the first week of actual classes, but that just gave me some quality time with the kids.
Also, at the end of January Peace Corps held a 3-day leadership and entrepreneurship camp for our students. Each small business volunteer got to bring 2 students to Selva Negra, a hotel/nature reserve/organic farm about 15 miles south of my city. I co-facilitated 2 sessions, one on Leadership and what defines a leader, and the other on good listening skills and maintaining a positive attitude. All of the kids seemed to have a great time. For many it was the first time they were away from their parents overnight, or away from their hometown in general. There was even a campfire complete with s’mores ingredients on hand.
This was the first week of classes at the adult school I work at, so we are just working on introductions at this point. No updates there, aside from the fact that I am happy to be back.
I have laid the groundwork of what could be a really fun side project for me. At the end of January one of my bosses came up to Jinotega for me second site visit. While she was here she wanted to observe a class/workshop/training, and since my classes at the high school hadn’t begun, I worked with a local NGO and had a session with a group of high school and college girls. A few girls approached me after the session expressing their interest in continuing, so now I am working on making it a series of marketing workshops.
The weather is getting HOT here in Jinotega, and supposedly just going to get hotter as the summer wears on. I guess the cool mountain air couldn’t stick around forever, I am in central America and should probably get used to the heat, though the browning mountainsides aren’t nearly as comforting a sight as the lush green of November. I used to go for walks when I was stressed or needed to clear my head, but now the outdoors just aren’t as appealing. Rumor has it there is a pool in Jinotega, so I am on a mission to check that out.

be on the lookout for a video tour of jinotega, i'll be posting it soon.

Did I forget to blog?

No, i just havent had anything interesting to say really. I’m facing what I’d call my three month slump…well, plateau more so than slump. I’ve settled in. I’ve met people. things are familiar, but still foreign. I’ve stopped being any sort of novelty, most people don’t realize im a gringa anyway. people have stopped reaching out. I’m used to life. im succumbing to the lonely side of living in a “city”, and I felt this way while living in boston, the ol’ lots-of-people-around-but-I’m-still-alone feeling, and I really don’t like it. so I am on the hunt for new projects. I have a few organizations that I am looking to speak with in the near future. especially as the school year is ending here, if I don’t make something new happen, December and January will not only be boring, but I’d be letting down myself and Peace Corps. and I need to do something to get myself out of my own head! which is where I am trapped. which is where the lack of blogging stems. all of my thoughts are stuck, or blurry, or manifest themselves in the really absurd dreams I’ve been having lately, full of giant psychedelic millipedes, where the settings are almost always airports, restaurants or hotels, and strangers, that is, mostly new and imagined faces populate the stories. I wont delve much further into my own scary grey matter. My love life is just about the only interesting, or at least ever-changing, I dare say complicated situation. and while it does a good job at occupying my thoughts, I’d much rather be focusing my energy into my work than trying to translate text messages and untangle the thoughts and intentions of Nicaraguan guys. three months is too soon for the banality to sink in, right? I know there is more to discover, and I know my own disposition to laziness has added to this slump. plateau? whatever. it is something I am trying to work on here. I’ve also recently felt first hand the wrath of projects falling apart. and it is terribly disappointing. my aspiring business owner has seemingly disappeared. ballet class has been delayed. I expected it, they told us to during training, projects fall apart, people lose interest, priorities shift, it happens more often than not. so I am not surprised or heartbroken, just disappointed, and trying to figure out what to do differently next time.

So I am on my way to niquinohomo tomorrow for a weeklong peace corps language workshop. I think it will help bring some me back to some sort of “sensicality”(did you know that though nonsensical is a word, sensical is not? and I think that should change); the closest thing to going home as I can find here. I can escape for a little bit from the inanity, from this feeling of being used, and do something productive. I cant wait to see my nica family. They have called me every month since I moved to Jinotega, just to check in. I am so thankful for them.

I think I will make stuffed peppers for dinner tonight. Oh, I guess since my last blog I have moved. I now rent a room with a different old lady. I can use the kitchen to make my own food, which has improved my QOL immensely. The woman is just precious, little, and has this sweet little voice resulting from her dentures that don’t quite fit her correctly. Among the other tenants are two teachers; a girl about my age with her 3 year old daughter who has the most hilarious laugh and spends all day calling at her mom, “¡Mamiiii! ¡Mamiiii!....te amo,” it really couldn’t be more adorable; a young guy who works at the gym and lets me go for free; and Beau from the Bronx, a retired guy who I can get my Yankees updates from in between talks with me parents. I feel a lot less lonely here, it’s very comfortable. And I have my own bathroom. I would upload photos of the new place, but I cant seem to locate my memory card reader, so those pictures will stay stuck on my camera for a while longer. You’ll also get to see my room flooded with about 1 inch of water after a torrential downpour that just overloaded the drains here (fortunately I was home and nothing but my floor got wet). Oh, and a giant caterpillar, look forward to that too.