Nicaragua: Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

Let me start by saying that you should lower your expectations for this blog. I don’t currently have constant internet access, I don’t plan on posting here on any regular schedule, and, as I have clearly stated in the URL, I hate writing. It may be days, weeks, or maybe even over a month between posts. I really have no idea. The purpose of this blog is to accomplish the third goal of the Peace Corps: "To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans". This first post is a general background post, so I’ve labelled the sections for the sake of simplicity.

Where I am:
I can’t tell you. Well, I can tell you that I’m currently in a training town in Carazo, but I’m not supposed to say publicly which town I’m in. If you want more specifics, send me an email or a Facebook message.

What I'm doing:
I'm currently in training, which lasts almost three months. My job will primarily consist of co-teaching science classes in an elementary school with a Nicaraguan elementary school teacher, which basically means teaching a version of environmental science that elementary schoolers can understand. I have to co-teach six lessons during training as practice. My first lesson was on the importance of the environment, a very vague and broad topic that I basically taught by asking the class why it’s important.

Living conditions:
I'm living with a host family here. It's a pretty drastic change from living in the US. It's always hot (80s-90s during the day and 60s-70s at night, though I don’t have a thermometer so that’s really just a guess), somebody is always playing music waaaaay too loud in my house or somewhere nearby, usually starting at about 7 AM, and my family’s rooster usually starts going off at about 5 AM. Also the water isn't always running. It usually starts working in the evening and stops working in the early morning or mid-day, but sometimes it seems to just randomly turn on and off. Because of this, my host family has multiple large barrels that they fill up with water whenever they can. When the water isn't running in the morning, I have to take a bucket shower. Yes, that's basically what it sounds like: There's a large trash can full of water in the shower, and you use a bowl to scoop water out and pour it over your head. When the water is running in the morning, I take a cold shower. I’ve started exercising most mornings so that taking a cold shower now feels refreshing. I’ve also started rinsing off in the evening after particularly hot days just to cool myself down.

Bucket shower

 

Food:
The food is pretty good here. Except for the meat; I hate meat, I've tried to like it, I really have, but it's just disgusting (anywhere in the world). The primary meal is called gallo pinto, and it's a mixture of rice, beans, and a couple spices. Gallo is Spanish for rooster, but there's no rooster in gallo pinto, so I'm not sure why it's called that. I think it might have to do with the fact that the mixture of rice and red beans kind of looks like a rooster, but I'm not sure.