10 pounds of Christmas Cookies

Shoveling with my Dad

To celebrate Christmas and New Years I headed back state-side for two weeks. It was a big change in terms of weather, but surprisingly I adapted really quickly.

Exciting Happenings in Small Town Nicaragua

I wanted to share a couple fun things that happened lately. 

 

The crowd that gathered to see the helicopter.

About two weeks ago a helicopter came to town! As the soccer season was winding down I decided to go watch the semi-finals and cheer on my team (I haven´t been as enthusiastic lately about actually playing, but I´m all about being supportive). It just so happens that the only helicopter landing area is the soccer field.

Event Planning and My Most Embarrassing Moment So Far

The marcha stretched for blocks and blocks (cuadras)!

This week I had two semi-large events. The first was a march for world AIDS day (Dec 1^st) and the second was a youth group meeting, supported by a local NGO. Both events ended up going well, but that’s not how it seemed in the days and hours leading up to them. I have learned a lot through my work here and some of the most useful skills I have acquired are flexibility, and not getting too attached to my own ideas or initial plans. 

Thanksgiving: Día de Acción de Gracias

I know this is a little bit after-the-fact… but I wanted to share a little bit about my Thanksgiving here in Nicaragua.

First of all, I dedicated the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving to making pumpkin pie.

Winter means… Nacatamales

This weekend I learned how to make nacatamales! (Pronounced nak-a-tam-a-lays) It is a traditional food in Nicaragua, eaten year round, but especially in November and December. I made them with my host mom and new site-mate! To honor this tasty food, I wanted to do a “step-by-step how to make nacatamales” blog. Although I missed the first few steps, here is what I did learn:

Mixed Feelings

Yesterday I attended the closing ceremony for “Buena salud para todos,” a large multi-faceted public health project. It was a project completed by several different organizations, including NGOs and governmental organizations. “Buena salud para todos”…. Aka “good health for all,” lived up to its name with a wide scope, and an education centered approach community health improvement.

It's a Small World After All

There is a small group of Peace Corps Nicaragua health volunteers that are spearheading a nation-wide study on Coffee-Cutters as a migrant worker population, and their knowledge and behaviors related to HIV. I am lucky enough to live in northern Nicaragua… aka coffee country. So I volunteered to help with the study in any way that I could, knowing my location was an asset. My first task was this week. I had to figure out where the big coffee farms were in San Juan del Rio Coco, another municipality in Madriz.

Balancing Work and Life

Here in Nicaragua, the general consensus is that work is important so that one can live and enjoy life. On the contrary, the generalization made about the United States is that we live to work. In other words, work to live versus live to work.

Breakthroughs

One of the views from my daily walk (hike).

I know it’s been a while since I last wrote, and a lot has happened. I would love to give you all the play by play, but that would be ridiculously long. A few highlights have been my 3 month in-service training, working a lot in the high school teaching sex-ed, getting dengue fever and staying in Managua for 2 weeks, and a gala fundraiser for the small business sector aka Peace Corps Prom. In the last month, my various experiences have lead to a few breakthroughs for me….

Quick Update

A quick reference of Nicaraguan cities for those of you
back home. My site is 1 hour east of Palacaguina.

I have spent most of my weekends this month traveling around the country, and I am now totally broke. I went to Managua at the beginning of the month for medical appointments, but made the most of it and enjoyed an amazing Italian dinner, played pool in a billiards hall, found a new cribbage partner SO to Aaron, and spent some much needed time with fellow volunteers.