Hola

Hi! So I'm coming home to visit! First I get to go to my cousin's wedding in Tennessee and then I'm coming home and relaxing. They say that reverse culture shock can be worse than original culture shock. People say that they go home to visit the USA and are surprised by how clean it is, how polite and considerate other people are, and how quiet it is. I'm thoroughly ready to experience this. I've had a lot of down time lately now that school's not in session. A lot of time to visit friends, go to the beach, etc. A little too much time. I mean, I did finish a grant proposal and I've had a chance to brainstorm some ideas for projects, but really, I have no routine whatsoever. Yesterday and today I went walking for about 2 hours. I made ceviche. I cleaned my house. I read. But I feel like I need some structure in my life. I know I'll miss some free time when school starts again, but I think I'll be ready when it comes. As for now, I'll have a nice break in the USA. :)

Duke Before, Duke After

So, here we've got my next door neighbor's pet pig hanging out in the back yard with the dog. In the next photo, we've got that same pig, but wrapped in a banana leaf and ready to be eaten.

Neat, huh? It was about 6 or 7 months old when it was killed. They had timed it so that it would be ready for the daughter's graduation. The only tricky part about eating this thing was that for 3 months, I watched this thing eat garbage, literally, anything they threw it's way. If it's true that you are what you eat and the pig ate garbage, then I ate the pig, well, nevermind. It tasted ok, but I will definitely not get in the habit of raising pet pigs for food.

The graduation was nice though. There were only about 21 kids in the class, so I thought it would go quickly, but no. Lots of speeches, lots of praying, lots of singing, and of course, lots of cheezy American 80's music. It always seems to be a favorite. Example : MIDI version of "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. Download it.

Oh yeah, so Thanksgiving. I went to Leon to visit the married couple. Since they actually acquired an oven, we had a better chance of being able to bake things. (duh)

Here's the final product of HOURS AND HOURS. We had pre-cooked and re-stuffed rotisserie chickens, green bean casserole, salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, and orange-squash wannabe pumpkin pie. Lara stuffed the chickens, I made the mashed potatoes with a mortar/pestle type set up, and Adam rolled the pie crust with a Nalgene water bottle (we thought about using a can of Raid but decided against it for obvious reasons), and we drank homemade pitaya (fruit) wine that the married couple had made a few weeks earlier. It tasted great, and no one got bacterial infections!

It was definitely nice to be with volunteers for this holiday. Even though it was a great meal, I think everybody appreciated each others company just as much, if not more than the food.


Moving right along, last night was a huge holiday! The "Purisima" is a week long celebration of the conception of the Virgin Mary celebrated by the Catholics (obviously). Here's a little description of it that I found on the internet.

During colonial times, the Spanish brought their religious catholic fervor to Nicaragua, which was embraced in an incredible way by the natives (obviously after being imposed), with a mystical character and intense piety. This is how the popular religious Nicaraguan festivities were born, and in December ‘La Purísima’ is celebrated, one of the most widespread celebrations.

Imagine ‘La Purísima’ like this: a richly decorated altar is placed in a corner of a family house, with a statue of the Virgin Mary‘s image. In front of this altar, a lot of chairs are arranged, that will be occupied by family members, friends, and neighbors invited by the house owners to celebrate its ‘Purísima’. Once all the guests arrive, the celebration starts with prayers to the virgin, but these are alternated with traditional songs. All the assistants accompany with whistles, tambourines and other instruments. While this takes place inside the house, outside some family members fire rockets and the so called ‘caraga cerrada’, (firecrackers) that contribute a lot to the boisterous celebration. Meanwhile the singings and prayers take place, the host distributes to his/her guests fruits, traditional sweets, caramels, traditional drinks, sugar-cane and many other gifts.

‘La Purísima’ is a celebration to the ‘purest conception of Virgin Mary’, taking place on December 8th, according to the catholic calendar. ‘La Purísima’ is a tradition celebrated in all parts of Nicaragua by thousands of Nicaraguan families. These celebrations take place at the end of November and during almost all of December.

Now...moving on to yesterday's celebration... THE GRITERIA!! (The "Shouting!")

Directly related to ‘La Purísima’, this other tradition, called ‘La Gritería, is more boisterous and more massive.

At 6PM every December 7th, a common yell is heard in different cathedrals and churches: Quién causa tanta alegría? (Who causes so much happiness?). This is how another ancient tradition starts along with the massive response ‘La Concepción de María’ (Mary’s Conception).

At that time, in cities and towns people start exploding fireworks and firecrackers. In the biggest cities, it gets so noisy that any uninformed tourist might think that a war has just started in Nicaragua. At midnight, firecrackers explode once again (the same happens at 6AM and 12PM, but on a smaller scale).

During ‘La Gritería’ Virgen Mary is also venerated. It is a celebration used by people to thank the virgin for miracles and it takes place before the official day. Faithful people decorate altars in their houses in a place were it can be seen from the street. In some neighborhoods you can find more than three altars in just one block.

Then, at 6PM sharp, thousands of Nicaraguans go to the streets to ‘shout’ to the virgin (the word gritería could be translated as ‘shouting’), which means visiting each altar and singing to the virgin Maria. This is basically how it is done: people hang around in groups, stop at an altar, intone traditional songs (the same as in ‘La Purísima’), house owners give fruits, candies, toys, instruments to make noise, natural drinks, and other type of gifts; finally, they move on to another altar. House owners who have placed altars wait until another group comes to sing. This is how ‘La Gritería’ is celebrated, lasting until the house owners have no more gifts to give away or until streets have no more singers.

Not only Catholics and religious people participate in this tradition. It is interesting to hear how people who do not know the songs’ lyrics make up the whole song or just sing the end of each phrase. This is a good opportunity for poor people to collect items, and it is interesting to see how people from different social classes participate in ‘La Gritería’

............that's the end of the official article I found. Very informative, huh? One thing's for sure, I can definitely vouch for the loudness factor. I thought that the gangs were at it again outside my house at midnight last night but it was just fireworks and roman candles and cherry bombs. There actually were fireworks at 6 pm, 12 am, and 6 am. It was deafening. Glad it's over. But, I did go out last night with a few friends and "shout" - or sing songs about the Virgin. It's like trick-or-treating. I got all kinds of stuff. I got a plastic plate, a bag of sugar, a stick of sugar cane, limes, cookies made of sesame seeds and cacao, candy, a rosary, a hair scrunchie, a Virgin Mary bracelet, fried banana chips, and who knows what else. And I didn't even have to dress up! Only one person went as far to ask me if I was Catholic (I'm pretty sure I was the only white person around)...but I sang the little song perfectly and I think for the most part people were impressed. QUIEN CAUSA TANTA ALEGRIA!!! LA CONCEPCION DE LA VIRGEN MARIA!!!

Phew, OK. Well, I'm officially on vacation now that school is out, so a couple of English teachers and I are getting together this week to draft a letter asking for money to make materials to use in the classroom. Simple stuff, like scissors, construction paper, laminate, markers, glue, paint, etc. First we're going to write to a really big sugar mill here that has an equally big human resources department. If that doesn't work, it'll be time to hit the mayor's office. Eek. Gotta try to stay a little bit busy though.

Well, I think I'm going to go home and knit for a while (thanks Aunt Sarah!)

Love,
Elizabeth

p.s. thanks to the people from the website where i stole the article and pictures about la purisima. please don't sue me.

Good night!

Hey everybody! So tonight I got to go to the circus! It was called "Renato's Circus" or something like that, and it was based out of Mexico. They had elephants, camels, zebras, horses, llamas, and lots of trapeze artists and gymnasts. It was pretty neat! It only cost like 5 dollars to get in and to tell you the truth it was a pretty good show. Right now I'm at my friend's house and we're getting ready to go salsa dancing. That'll be my exercise for the day for sure.

I got a pet kitten! Last weekend I went to Granada to visit some other volunteers and ended up taking home a kitty cat. He's a boy and he's about 5 weeks old. I've decided to name him "Chelito" which means "little white guy" in Nicaraguan slang because he is orange and white with blue eyes. The poor cat has parasites right now but I've started giving him medicine to get rid of them. I can tell he doesn't feel very good, but he still loves to play and likes to try to wake me up at 5 am every morning to play. This morning he attacked my face with claws and all. I swatted him off the bed hoping he would get the picture. This is kind of what it's like: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q <------check it out

Well, my apartment/house is coming along. I'll be putting pictures up soon. Now, not only do I have a big comfortable bed and a double burner stove top, I've acquired a table and chairs and a refrigerator, along with a double-bed sized cot for when people come to visit. I also bought a 14 inch television and a hammock. It's pretty comfortable! It was hard to get by without a fridge because not only did I not have access to cold water during 95 degree days, every time I wanted to cook, I had to eat all of it or it would go to waste! I feel pretty spoiled now, to tell you the truth. The married couple from Chinandega finished their service, so Danica and I "inherited" a lot of their things. The refrigerator and table/chairs were theirs, and I also got a bunch of forks, spoons, knives, buckets, Raid (for scorpions), a fan, etc.

Well, I think we're about to head out. Take care!

Elizabeth

 

Parade in the Sun

For the record, today was the first time in 22 years that I´ve ever had to put on SPF 55+ sunscreen (that I know of, at least since I was an infant). And I STILL got cooked. Today, I got up at 5 am to go to the Chinandega high school band parade. It lasted from 6 am to 12 pm. It was pretty fun except it was LOUD. And really hot, of course, and there was no shade. I got a tan though, thats for sure. I feel like a slow roasted rotisserie chicken. A deaf slow roasted rotisserie chicken... I took lots of pictures, so be sure to check out my flickr website (flickr.com/epsnica).

This is me with my counterpart from Instituto Tomas Ruiz. Her name is Olga. She´s great.

Gotta run some errands.

Elizabeth

This is my buddy Wilmer from Ninos Angeles, the orphanage I was talking about. We blow eachother kisses all the time. I´m trying to teach him how to catch them, too, but he prefers to be on the giving end rather than the receiving. He´s very generous. I´m not sure what condition he has, but he´s a lot more with it than a lot of the other kids. He can´t speak or walk but he knows a fair amount of sign language.

News from Chinandega

So, I finally figured out how to change the setting on my blog so that anyone can post comments. Before, you could only post a comment if you were a registered user of blogspot, which I didn't realize, which I wish I had because I was sad that no one posted comments. Oops. My fault.

So, not much as been going on. I moved out of my host mom's house in Chinandega. I have my own little place now. I say little by American standards, but in Nicaragua it's huge for one person. It's basically a long, rectangular room that is divided into 3 rooms (living room, bedroom, and kitchen) by two big bureaus placed perpindicular to the wall. It's cute, minus the bugs. The walls are painted yellow and I actually have a tile floor, which is super classy here. I bought a "kitchen" which consists of a portable double burner stove top and a tank of propane gas to cook with. I've been eating lots of pasta, cereal, salad, and drinking lots of water (tap water!) and tea. One of the nice things about this house is that it's about a 3 minute walk from a big market where I can easily buy cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, limes, pineapples, mangos, etc. REALLY cheap. I made a huge salad of onion, tomato, cucumber, lime juice, and salt for about 50 cents.

As far as safety and security is concerned, I feel pretty good. I bought two masterlocks the other day for the iron gates in front of my front and back door and there are bars in front of my window that looks out onto the street. But I think the trick to staying safe is just not to go out at night by yourself, especially on foot. Even when I walk around during the day I don't like to carry more than five or ten dollars or my cell phone. That explains the lack on pictures I've put up on the internet - I don't ever carry my camera! I am trying to get into the routine of getting my errands done during the day to be home by 6 pm when it starts getting dark. It's a lifestyle change...I've never really had to worry about being "street smart" before. Ha! In Charleston, WV? Not so much. But I'm learning.

My classes are going ok. I'm in the schools on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday co-teaching with my Nicaraguan counterparts. The classrooms are SO HOT!!! And noisy. And the worst part about it is probably that the school bands practice RIGHT outside the classroom. So, I can barely hear myself scream over top of the drums. I know for sure that the students are distracted, and if I can't hear myself, how can they hear me, or much less understand my English or even my gringo Spanish. But there's a huge parade coming up on Sept. 14th where all of the high schools in the area compete in a dance/band competition. I have to march with one of my schools (I teach in two different schools) and I don't know who to go with! They both want me to go with them. This thing starts at 6 am in the morning and lasts for hours and hours rain or shine.

I'm also going every Friday morning to an orphanage for disabled children to help with physical therapy. After Danica and I get a little more acclimated, we're going to start reading to them (in Spanish of course) and doing other activities because neither one of us have a lot of experience with physical therapy. This Friday we're bringing nail polish to paint the girls' toenails! :)

I'm also looking into volunteering with an organization here called Xochiquetzal which focuses on educating the public about the realities of sex trafficking (huge problem in Chinandega because there is an international port as well as the border with Honduras) , as well as AIDS and STDs and responsible sex.

On a lighter note, September is mine and Danica's birthday month! Hers was on the third and mine is on the 25th. So our friend Dianne, who lives in Granada, came up last weekend to celebrate with us. Here's a pic.

We're at a dance club called Dilectus. We love to dance. And everyone loves to watch us dance. Apparently it looks pretty funny. But we have fun.

Dianne stayed with me on Saturday night on Sunday morning we made a nice breakfast and went to the beach. She helped me line my drawers and get my kitchen set up a little bit because I had just moved in a day or two before she got there!

What else...it's still hot. I don't know why but it hasn't rained at all the last couple of days. That's good in the sense that clothes will dry nicely outside on the line, but the rain really does cool things down a lot.

Well, I'm going to go try to find some lunch. Miss you guys!

Elizabeth

HOT

Hey there...just though I´d check in real quick. It´s a little after 3 pm this Saturday afternoon. It is SO hot outside I don´t even know what to do. Luckily I found this little internet cafe that´s semi-airconditioned.
So, my host mom killed a giant scorpion in my bedroom last night. This thing was so creepy. It was bigger than any cockroach I´ve seen down here (which is saying something). I had my umbrella opened in my room so it could dry out and the scorpion had somehow gotten trapped inside it...YUCK. So of course I took lots of pictures of it, then called John and Danica to see what I should do, then sat down and stared at it a little bit more, then finally went and got my host mom. I didn´t know what I was dealing with.
What else...I´ve got another cold/sinus infection. I´m back to using a sweat/snot rag on a regular basis. But I´ve been taking ibuprofen and sudafed to try to get it under control so I can go out tonight. I think we´re going to try to go dancing, so I need to rest up.
I think I´m going to head to the market to do a little shopping. I need some shampoo and conditioner...my 3 month supply finally ran out.

Elizabeth