Wow, how time has flown....
Well, tomorrow is my last day officially living in Esteli. Now its off to Managua for a couple weeks (swearing in, AVC, and Thanksgiving) and then off to Chinandega to begin service!
I see that I never updated you all on my site, sorry it took so long I've had a lot on my plate with training winding to a close. My site is small (really small) and hot (really hot), but the people are wonderful and definately ready to work with me. Im about a 20 minute bus ride and then a half hour on horseback from the city of El Viejo for those of you that want to try and find my site on a map (good luck). Unfortunately I dont have any pictures because I lost my camera sometime over the last month or so, hopefully I'll be able to find one in Managua because they arent easy to come by here in Esteli.
Anyways, the farmers at my site pretty much solely work in corn and beans but want to start to produce some other crops that arent quite as common to sell in the markets and hopefully make some more money off them. A couple of producers also want to try and start a project with lambs/sheep, which I am pretty excited about (never really expected to be working with them here in Nicaragua, but hey... Peace Corps is full of surprises).
There is already a youth group in the town called "4S"which I believe was formed by INTA a while back. Right now they dont really do a whole lot of anything but they're organized very well (which makes me have to do a lot less work trying to round up the youth of the town and try and get them excited about a youth group). So I think I'll be able to start working with them as soon as I get to site, maybe making some huertos or a seed bank or something along those lines.
Well hopefully I will continue to be able to update the blog semi-regularly once I get out to site, but its hard to say (Im thinking I'll be getting to El Viejo every other week or so, so I should be able to update without a problem). Im hopeing that I'll be able to steal some pictures from other trainies and our tech trainer when Im in Managua and I'll definately post them here if I can.
Now Im off to Managua to become a real PC volunteer!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Hato Grande
Thats ¨the big herd, or flock¨for those of you that arent spanish speakers... but more importantly, its the name of my future site! It is a small town in the middle of Chinindega (not quite sure on the exact location yet, but I know its a little north of the city El Viejo). It is a town of 450 people and the main crops are corn, rice, and beans. It sounds like there is a lot of milk and egg production as well. I will have electricity (at least sometimes), no running water (although I havent really missed that yet), and a cell phone signal (Im told my current phone will work there so those who have my number can assume that it will be staying the same... those who still want it can email me to get it). Im fairly excited about being somewhat close to the beach, at least in weekend trip range.
Unfortunately thats about all I know about the site as of right now, but I will be in site this coming weekend (from friday to next thursday) so I´ll be able to give a better update and hopefully some pictures next time.
Hope all is well back in the states
Unfortunately thats about all I know about the site as of right now, but I will be in site this coming weekend (from friday to next thursday) so I´ll be able to give a better update and hopefully some pictures next time.
Hope all is well back in the states
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Best Western... Round Two
Well its been a pretty busy week, so I guess I will start from the begining... As stated in my last post, I had tech week at one of the other volunteers site earlier this week to learn various useful bits of knowledge... like how to make Chicken Feed or an Improved Stove (improved in the sense that it uses less wood and doesnt fill the house with smoke). I thought it was a great trip, I think I learned a lot and seeing an actual Peace Corps site was really cool, gives me a clue on what to expect as this week unfolds and I hopefully recieve my site assignment this coming Friday.
Then it started to rain, and rain some more... and rain a lot more. The last tech day was a lot less productive as we had to cross what then was a pretty big river every time we wanted to work or eat, but this really wasnt bothering me too much because I spent most of the day in the lab with my first Nica Illness anyways (bacteria infection of the intestinal track for anyone who is wondering... not too much fun). But I spent the next day or so doing pretty much nothing and I feel a lot better now (Im sure the super antibiotics they have me on are having an impact as well).
With the rain that almost washed away the tail end of tech week came more rain, when we got back to Esteli it wasnt long before we all got word that the volunteers in the north half of the country were all being evacuated to the capital until the weather passed. So now Im in the same hotel that we had our welcome retreat at, watching football (what happened to the Bears defense... I leave and all the sudden they cant do anything right), enjoying the pool, and waiting for word to head back North.
Then it started to rain, and rain some more... and rain a lot more. The last tech day was a lot less productive as we had to cross what then was a pretty big river every time we wanted to work or eat, but this really wasnt bothering me too much because I spent most of the day in the lab with my first Nica Illness anyways (bacteria infection of the intestinal track for anyone who is wondering... not too much fun). But I spent the next day or so doing pretty much nothing and I feel a lot better now (Im sure the super antibiotics they have me on are having an impact as well).
With the rain that almost washed away the tail end of tech week came more rain, when we got back to Esteli it wasnt long before we all got word that the volunteers in the north half of the country were all being evacuated to the capital until the weather passed. So now Im in the same hotel that we had our welcome retreat at, watching football (what happened to the Bears defense... I leave and all the sudden they cant do anything right), enjoying the pool, and waiting for word to head back North.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
More Pictures!
Well, I headed down to Esteli after class today to finish putting up the pictures that i was trying to last weekend, so here they are! sorry Im not going to have time to answer emails this time, so dont feel left out.
Me, after a long hike up to visit some caves with the youth group
A fairly common scene here
My town
Part of the youth group and other aspirantes after doing out first square meter garden
On an unrelated note, This week I´ll be heading out to a volunteers site for ¨tech week¨. Im pretty excited about getting my first experience on a real peace corps site. Then next weekend is the site fair where I will be looking at all the availible sites in country and putting in my word on which ones I am most interested in, also very exciting. Anyways, hopefully I´ll be able to update sometime during all of that to keep everyong posted.
hope all is well
Me, after a long hike up to visit some caves with the youth group
A fairly common scene here
My town
Part of the youth group and other aspirantes after doing out first square meter gardenOn an unrelated note, This week I´ll be heading out to a volunteers site for ¨tech week¨. Im pretty excited about getting my first experience on a real peace corps site. Then next weekend is the site fair where I will be looking at all the availible sites in country and putting in my word on which ones I am most interested in, also very exciting. Anyways, hopefully I´ll be able to update sometime during all of that to keep everyong posted.
hope all is well
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Pictures!
Hola,
I figured since nothing really interesting happened this week i'd spend some time uploading pictures! Anyways, here it goes...
mi familia
Nica 45!
okay, so i only got to upload two in the time that i was here (it takes just this side of a year to upload them). hopefully i will put some more up next week sometime.
I figured since nothing really interesting happened this week i'd spend some time uploading pictures! Anyways, here it goes...
mi familia 
Nica 45!okay, so i only got to upload two in the time that i was here (it takes just this side of a year to upload them). hopefully i will put some more up next week sometime.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Independence Day
I noticed that I took my 4th installment of Chloroquine this week, which means that Ive been in country for a month now! (only 26 more, for those keeping track... haha). Its amazing how time travels in the Peace Corps, two days ago seems like years but I cant believe that its already been an entire month.
Anyways, last weekend was Nicaraguan Independence day. It was really interesting to see how another culture celebrates their independence (although it was pretty similar - just more dancing, less BBQ). We went into Esteli and watched the parade, all the students from the local schools were marching and the drum lines were playing (they were really good). On friday we all watched the "running of the torch", which is a torch that is carried through all of the Central American countries to celebrate together. After it passed we all jumped on my nica-dad's bus and followed the flag for a while, honking and waiving at everyone that had flags out.
After all the Indepence day festivities were finished, all the PCTs hiked up to a waterfall for some swimming (highly recomended) and a sack lunch - which was a great change from class/work routine they have us in here. Later we headed off to an organic farm to learn some more about safe chemicals that can be used when farming that wont harm the environment or the community's health. And finally, I learned how to vacinate a chicken! (so much fun) So if anyone has an chickens that are in need of some vaccinations, Im your guy.
Not a whole lot worth mentioning went on this week. I had Spanish class, some more Spanish class, oh... and then some more Spanish. But its good as Im still learning a ton. We dont have any activities planned for this weekend, and I just bought a guitar... so I plan on making good use of the extra time.
Hope all is well in the States!
PS: I was going to put some pictures up this week... but unfortunately I forgot my cords back in my house, so it'll have to wait until next weekend probably.
Anyways, last weekend was Nicaraguan Independence day. It was really interesting to see how another culture celebrates their independence (although it was pretty similar - just more dancing, less BBQ). We went into Esteli and watched the parade, all the students from the local schools were marching and the drum lines were playing (they were really good). On friday we all watched the "running of the torch", which is a torch that is carried through all of the Central American countries to celebrate together. After it passed we all jumped on my nica-dad's bus and followed the flag for a while, honking and waiving at everyone that had flags out.
After all the Indepence day festivities were finished, all the PCTs hiked up to a waterfall for some swimming (highly recomended) and a sack lunch - which was a great change from class/work routine they have us in here. Later we headed off to an organic farm to learn some more about safe chemicals that can be used when farming that wont harm the environment or the community's health. And finally, I learned how to vacinate a chicken! (so much fun) So if anyone has an chickens that are in need of some vaccinations, Im your guy.
Not a whole lot worth mentioning went on this week. I had Spanish class, some more Spanish class, oh... and then some more Spanish. But its good as Im still learning a ton. We dont have any activities planned for this weekend, and I just bought a guitar... so I plan on making good use of the extra time.
Hope all is well in the States!
PS: I was going to put some pictures up this week... but unfortunately I forgot my cords back in my house, so it'll have to wait until next weekend probably.
Friday, September 14, 2007
The life of a PCT
Hola everyone!
So I´ve been in country for about two weeks now... sorry it took so long to give an update, they keep us really really busy during this first part of service. Its amazing how much has already happened, I feel like I already have about a years worth of Nica under my belt. Anyways, lets start with good old Felix. I only took 3 days on site for me to get my first hurricane scare, luckily thats all it turned out to be. The was a lot of talk about whether we´d be taken to managua or stay in esteli... in the end we stayed on site and waited, then waited some more... eventually everything just passeed by with nothing more than a good rain. It wasnt till later that I herd how big it really was (class 5!), but in case any of you were still wondering we didnt get hit here in Esteli. I did hear that some towns got hit pretty hard on the east coast though, the news said that how crop cycles were washed away, I feel really bad for those effected.
Okay, on to something else, I currently live in a small town just south of Esteli. My host family is wonderful (two kids, soynia y christian, my nica madre ulda and papa fermin). The kids tend to keep me pretty busy any time im not in class or studying, but we have a lot of fun. They all have been really helpful with the whole learning spanish thing (which is coming along faster than i could have imagined). By week 11 Im quite sure I will be ready to hit the campo for my service.
I also already know more about farming than I ever thought I would (glen would be proud). They are teaching me all kinds of ways to productively farm without the use of chemicals that have really hurt the environment and water here in Nica. I have found it extremely interesting how plants can work together to help the overall health of a garden (with natural repellents, fertilizors, and protection). And althought they are one of the biggest enemies to my future gardens... I find leaf cutter ants facinating (until they bite, then they suck).
I was fairly surprised to learn a great deal of my service will deal with youth, but i guess it makes sense... if you want to have a lasting impact you have to look to the youth.
On a slightly less postitive note, ive decided choloquine is the most vile tasting thing on the planet... although its better than getting a horrible case of malaria.
Anyways, sorry if I jumped around a little... Im running out of time here at the cafe before the indepence day festivities start up! hope all is well up north,
steve
So I´ve been in country for about two weeks now... sorry it took so long to give an update, they keep us really really busy during this first part of service. Its amazing how much has already happened, I feel like I already have about a years worth of Nica under my belt. Anyways, lets start with good old Felix. I only took 3 days on site for me to get my first hurricane scare, luckily thats all it turned out to be. The was a lot of talk about whether we´d be taken to managua or stay in esteli... in the end we stayed on site and waited, then waited some more... eventually everything just passeed by with nothing more than a good rain. It wasnt till later that I herd how big it really was (class 5!), but in case any of you were still wondering we didnt get hit here in Esteli. I did hear that some towns got hit pretty hard on the east coast though, the news said that how crop cycles were washed away, I feel really bad for those effected.
Okay, on to something else, I currently live in a small town just south of Esteli. My host family is wonderful (two kids, soynia y christian, my nica madre ulda and papa fermin). The kids tend to keep me pretty busy any time im not in class or studying, but we have a lot of fun. They all have been really helpful with the whole learning spanish thing (which is coming along faster than i could have imagined). By week 11 Im quite sure I will be ready to hit the campo for my service.
I also already know more about farming than I ever thought I would (glen would be proud). They are teaching me all kinds of ways to productively farm without the use of chemicals that have really hurt the environment and water here in Nica. I have found it extremely interesting how plants can work together to help the overall health of a garden (with natural repellents, fertilizors, and protection). And althought they are one of the biggest enemies to my future gardens... I find leaf cutter ants facinating (until they bite, then they suck).
I was fairly surprised to learn a great deal of my service will deal with youth, but i guess it makes sense... if you want to have a lasting impact you have to look to the youth.
On a slightly less postitive note, ive decided choloquine is the most vile tasting thing on the planet... although its better than getting a horrible case of malaria.
Anyways, sorry if I jumped around a little... Im running out of time here at the cafe before the indepence day festivities start up! hope all is well up north,
steve
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Pre Service Retreat
Hello all!
I write from Managua (the capital city) where I have spent the last couple days in a really, really nice resort going through more orientation and introductions to country staff. The weather has been extremely nice (last night there was quite a lightning show, but no rain... today we had a pretty hard downpour but it didnt last too long). On another note, before I came here I always heard that they had "rolling brown outs" all over the state to try and combat their massive energy crises, well, Ive been here two days and had two brownouts, its not really that bad... just something that will take getting used to Im sure. I do wonder how it will be when Im in the country side though.
Saturday will be the first day that I spend with my host family. Which Im pretty excited about, but at the same time also pretty nervous. I think that my group is great, lots of fun people (Im sure that has and will continue to help with the transition from US life to Nicaragua).
Unfortunately, I dont really have a whole lot of interesting stuff to say as Ive been pretty much locked in a room all day in "peace corps class". But I wanted to post an update so everyone knew that I got down here alright and that things have been going well thus far.
Hope all is well up north! and hopefully I will be able to write again soon when I get up to Esteli, Im sure I will be much more intersting then.
I write from Managua (the capital city) where I have spent the last couple days in a really, really nice resort going through more orientation and introductions to country staff. The weather has been extremely nice (last night there was quite a lightning show, but no rain... today we had a pretty hard downpour but it didnt last too long). On another note, before I came here I always heard that they had "rolling brown outs" all over the state to try and combat their massive energy crises, well, Ive been here two days and had two brownouts, its not really that bad... just something that will take getting used to Im sure. I do wonder how it will be when Im in the country side though.
Saturday will be the first day that I spend with my host family. Which Im pretty excited about, but at the same time also pretty nervous. I think that my group is great, lots of fun people (Im sure that has and will continue to help with the transition from US life to Nicaragua).
Unfortunately, I dont really have a whole lot of interesting stuff to say as Ive been pretty much locked in a room all day in "peace corps class". But I wanted to post an update so everyone knew that I got down here alright and that things have been going well thus far.
Hope all is well up north! and hopefully I will be able to write again soon when I get up to Esteli, Im sure I will be much more intersting then.
Friday, August 17, 2007
A Couple of FAQs that have been coming up
So it seems about everyone that I talk to ask a couple of the same questions... So I figured I'd post them here in case anyone forgot to ask them before I leave.
Where will you be in Nicaragua?
Unfortunately I cant really give an exact answer here. I know that I will be training in the Northwest part of the country and it is likely that I will be serving somewhere in the same area, however, the Peace Corps doesn't actually "place" me until my training is complete. This gives them a chance to see how I am adjusting to the new language, customs, and how well I can integrate into my community before deciding where to put me.
Can I send anything to you?
Of course you can. letters and small packages are best (If you send me a large package I will have to travel in order to get it... small packages and letters get delivered much closer to me). It also can take a long period of time for things to reach me, so don't plan on sending anything that will go bad with age, or anything that you would be upset if it gets "lost" or stolen in route (as these are both real possibilities). In order to get my mailing address, feel free to contact me via email or my mom at my home phone number (I'm not going to post either of these here as it isn't information I really want to attach to a public blog).
Can I come visit you?
Yes! As far as international travel goes... Nicaragua is pretty cheap and easy to get to (and I'll definitely be able to show you a side of the country / culture that you wont get any other way). So feel free to make some vacation plans to come and visit me. If you're interested, email me when you're starting to think about planning a trip and we can work out any details.
Where will you be in Nicaragua?
Unfortunately I cant really give an exact answer here. I know that I will be training in the Northwest part of the country and it is likely that I will be serving somewhere in the same area, however, the Peace Corps doesn't actually "place" me until my training is complete. This gives them a chance to see how I am adjusting to the new language, customs, and how well I can integrate into my community before deciding where to put me.
Can I send anything to you?
Of course you can. letters and small packages are best (If you send me a large package I will have to travel in order to get it... small packages and letters get delivered much closer to me). It also can take a long period of time for things to reach me, so don't plan on sending anything that will go bad with age, or anything that you would be upset if it gets "lost" or stolen in route (as these are both real possibilities). In order to get my mailing address, feel free to contact me via email or my mom at my home phone number (I'm not going to post either of these here as it isn't information I really want to attach to a public blog).
Can I come visit you?
Yes! As far as international travel goes... Nicaragua is pretty cheap and easy to get to (and I'll definitely be able to show you a side of the country / culture that you wont get any other way). So feel free to make some vacation plans to come and visit me. If you're interested, email me when you're starting to think about planning a trip and we can work out any details.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Nicaragua!
Hello Friends, family, Internet wanderers...
Getting tired of asking me where the Peace Corps is sending me later this fall? Well, good news! I officially have word that I will be going to Nicaragua on August 27th (so everyone still has about 2 months to get as much Steve as they possibly can). For those of you who might not be geographically gifted, here are a couple of maps to show you exactly where Nicaragua is:
You might ask... So Steve, what will you be doing while you're in Nicaragua? Well, I have an answer for that too! (sort of) I'm going to be working as a Rural Development / Agriculture volunteer. This means that I will be working to raise the standard of living in rural communities through increasing food security and creating other income opportunities. Unfortunately this could mean about a million different things... I could go into some extensive explanation of what food security is and the ways in which I might be working to improve it in Nicaragua, but instead I think I'll leave everyone in suspense until I actually start working and can tell you exactly what I'm doing.
Anyways, I hope to use this blog to keep everyone updated on the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. Feel free to leave comments here (it'll let me know if people are actually reading this thing or not - just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of every post) or email me if you want a more direct, personal line of communication (I dont know exactly how much access I will have to the Internet until I get there, so I can't make any promises about how quickly I'll be able to respond or for that matter update the blog). I hope everyone is doing well and enjoys reading about my adventure!
- Steve -
Getting tired of asking me where the Peace Corps is sending me later this fall? Well, good news! I officially have word that I will be going to Nicaragua on August 27th (so everyone still has about 2 months to get as much Steve as they possibly can). For those of you who might not be geographically gifted, here are a couple of maps to show you exactly where Nicaragua is:
You might ask... So Steve, what will you be doing while you're in Nicaragua? Well, I have an answer for that too! (sort of) I'm going to be working as a Rural Development / Agriculture volunteer. This means that I will be working to raise the standard of living in rural communities through increasing food security and creating other income opportunities. Unfortunately this could mean about a million different things... I could go into some extensive explanation of what food security is and the ways in which I might be working to improve it in Nicaragua, but instead I think I'll leave everyone in suspense until I actually start working and can tell you exactly what I'm doing.
Anyways, I hope to use this blog to keep everyone updated on the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. Feel free to leave comments here (it'll let me know if people are actually reading this thing or not - just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of every post) or email me if you want a more direct, personal line of communication (I dont know exactly how much access I will have to the Internet until I get there, so I can't make any promises about how quickly I'll be able to respond or for that matter update the blog). I hope everyone is doing well and enjoys reading about my adventure!
- Steve -
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
