"Katarin, ¡es la hora!" Time to get going! Thankfully I had opened my eyes about two seconds before I heard Jenifer calling, so I ran around getting ready for the day and got to throw back a special treat my mama had bought for me: posol. It is mentioned in the song "Hijos del Maiz" that I posted yesterday, and is a drink made out of corn and honey. The texture was slightly gritty, but it was quite sweet and settled nicely in my stomach. I went off with Jessica and Paul so Jenifer could take the kids to school, and got to snap a picture of one of Chris's host family members making tortillas to sell this morning.
Chris said he has gotten quite used to the smacking sounds of the women shaping tortillas at hours such as 3am, preparing them to sell throughout the day.
Our crew took off for Calasanz to experience another side of Nicaraguan education: a private secondary school, one of the best in León. We filed up the stairs to the second level of the huge main complex to watch an asamblea, assembly, from above. Here we learned that today they were celebrating the day it was founded!
The swarms of students in their uniforms were separated into blocks based on class, and many of them were simply goofing off as kids do. We found it curious that the actual Founder's Day was a couple weeks away, and while they still probably would have had an asamblea to tout the school's history, Meredith gave us the strong hint that they knew we were coming and perhaps wanted to show their stuff a little bit... Oh! We'd better behave ourselves then and be gracious for what they put together for us!
The two student MCs led the asamblea in both Spanish and English, which was pretty incredible of them to do. They opened with a prayer, especially in thanksgiving for the life of José Calasanz and his recognition of the needs of this community. Just before they were done speaking, though, cannons went off on the
nearby basketball courts, which presumably were for the commemoration
but it seem like they jumped the gun a bit.
They also gave a list of special dates coming up, including August 9th, International Day of Indigenous Peoples. As they do often in their everyday lives, that day they would especially celebrate el mestizaje, "the mixture" (of mainly Spanish and indigenous heritage) because "That's who we are." Part of their treat for us was a group of seniors danced a traditional number to a song called "El Mestizaje." As the assembly went on, we gazed out into the sea of kids below us, noticing not the same extent of skin tone variation that I had seen in Brazil with more Portuguese and African heritage, but there really is a variety of skin tones here. We even spotted a couple blondies, debunking a stereotype that all Central Americans are mestizo with brown or black hair.
After this performance, they did something that I would probably feel uncomfortable with if it had happened in my education career. They gave out academic awards by calling up the recipients by grade and section and announced their GPA to the entire student body. I tried to work hard for my grades of course but any academic awards were usually presented with the GPA range, and I would rather not have had my entire school know my GPA... But perhaps that is just me and my experience, or perhaps this is just Calasanz, not representative of the Nicaraguan education system as a whole.
Following the awards, the dance group also did a routine to "Hijos del Maiz," making it the third time we had heard that song in two days (see my previous post). Told you it was famous. The asamblea had gone on for too long to keep the kids' attention, though, so the MCs were speaking to the sea without much listening in return. They were finally by dismissed by section to go to their classes, and as students passed us to get to their classrooms, we heard a few whistles and it reeked of hair gel. Mmm, high school.
We were to go into classrooms and observe, and we split into girls and guys to do so. One of the MCs, Christopher, accompanied us girls as we went to see an English teacher in action first. She starts with the youngest grade and then moves around to different rooms. The first thing that was so obvious in comparison to our Gotitas experience yesterday was that the kids were so much better at sitting and listening here! And the teacher could use a firm tone but not have to raise her voice hardly at all. We all sat on the floor with the kids as they did first did a repaso, a review, of what they learned in their last English class.
The teacher later explained it is really hard to get things to sink into their memory as they are learning basic colors, shapes, animals, etc., but she only has fifteen minutes with them every Tuesday and Wednesday and they are only five years old. So she always starts with a review and then goes over a new list of words. Today they learned some parts of the body, so...
...the St. Luke ladies then led the kids in "Head, shoulders, knees, and feet."
They then broke up into groups to sit and work on their new vocabulary in their workbooks, so we sat at the tables around the room with them. I tried asking some of the kids questions about colors in English and had to do a mix of Spanish and English to see how soon they would get it, and it seemed a few of them had their colors down but vocab is indeed difficult like the teacher said. It is a slow process, and with my love of languages, I definitely understand how vocabulary can just fall out of your brain if you do not use it. We all still bonded over crayons and colors, even if I had to use more Spanish than English in their English class, and then we moved on to more of the upper grades.
Though this class had gotten out, there was a break between periods so
we also got to learn more about Chris, and Laurie being the pro at
connecting with people and finding out more of their story even with
limited Spanish, seemed to have a really great conversation with him in
that time.
Laurie simply asked him, "What do you dream of doing?" There is an important exam that high schoolers must take and do well on if they want to have even the slimmest shot at going to college, and he said he scored well on this and has good grades but still does not know if he can get into the university in Managua. It is very hard to get into, and he wants to study economics but public universities are not such good quality, and private universities are very expensive, so he would need a scholarship. He seemed intimidated by the system and his prospects, but she put it well, "You do not have to be the best. You just have to work hard." His English is great and he seems so bright, we all hope the best for him!
Our next class visit was to the room of the lovely Lissette, another PML board member and a science and history teacher here. We youths (I guess I am kind of a youth today!) split up to sit with different groups of students to see what they were working on and talk with them a bit.
Joy talking with the student she sat down with.
Lissette put me with a group of four, and their task was to color maps of the terreno, terrain, of the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas, but my group was more into talking with me and amongst themselves than doing that project... They multi-tasked and joked they would rather learn about sports and Minnesota than Latin American history.
They also asked if I had Facebook and said they all did, and they all had their own laptops as well. This struck me that while this is the poorest country in Central America, these high schoolers have many of the habits and technological conveniences that your typical student in the U.S. may. Many of the families who can send their kids here are doing okay financially, but the school does offer scholarships as well.
After we left that class, Christopher said the economy is still hard because first, you do not know if you can get into college, and after you graduate you do not know if you will get a job for one to two years - "It's sad!" he said. We noted a similar trend in the U.S., where many college grads (like me!) are finding it hard to get a job in their field right away. But our system gets more kids into college even if we are still waiting somewhat on the economy to keep improving to have jobs for those educated and qualified. I do not know what the options are for Nicas who graduate from college and cannot find work straight out of the gate though because in the U.S. there are still opportunities with your local coffee shop, an unpaid internship, or service work, etc.
Calasanz is not just providing solid education to those who can afford it though. We got to see more of the large complex that had several buildings, nice athletic facilities, and a snack bar where many of the older kids were hanging out. This place is set up! But they also have a center for at-risk youth, where there are about 120 primary school kids that come after their normal classes for educational reinforcement. "No hay que pagar," they do not have to pay, and the padres, Catholic fathers, from Calasanz go to different countries to raise money for materials and uniforms for these students. There is also a civic education class that many Calasanz students take, and to continue their learning to share with those who have less outside the classroom, a few decide to sponsor a student in this program. Lissette said this is more in line with the beliefs of founder Jose Calasanz who worked with poor children in Rome, and the best students from this program showing interest and ability may get becas, scholarships, to then become students at Calasanz.
The center also keeps getting donations of books and games, so their shelves are overflowing! They have their own little library, but the kids cannot take books home because the teachers help them read here, and many of them go home to parents who cannot read. It is nice to see the sense of social responsibility here, especially members of more privileged classes giving some of their time and money to give second chances to those who need and want them.
The last stop on our tour was a fair set up just for us! The oldest students had split up into groups to give us information on different facets of Nicaraguan culture. The first station let us taste-test some traditional dishes - yum!
Other stations gave us candy and brochures on holidays and myths, with some students speaking mainly in Spanish and others attempting English for us. Here these boys talked about traditional trajes, traditional attire.
Geography of Nicaragua and its departments, the Nica version of our states.
One station talked about the national tree, the tamarind, national bird, the guardabarraco, and national flower, which Kira and I put in our hair! Apparently doing so is to "celebrate the natural beauty of a woman."
A couple groups of students asked to take pictures with us gringos, and then a last group did a dance performance for us featuring the Gigantona and El Cabezón from the Nica legend. With the gigantic characters running around, the other group members in Spanish used rhyming phrases about other myths and traditions, and they even included a couple about Minnesota and León!
After the show, they gave a few of us bags full of fruit pulp as presents, and Meredith reassured us, "Your host moms will know what to do with this." Make fresco! We took our goodies to the bus and heard about our impact at the school - the girls got some whistles, but our boys stole the show! Many chicas today were enamoradas, enamored, after hanging out with Cody, Leif, and Chris with all of their charm for a short while.
On the bus we also learned more of Christopher's amazing story. Only two years ago, he was caught up in the wrong crowd, his parents had split, and his dad was a manual laborer in the fields so he went with the city to live with his mom. He failed nine out of ten classes, and his family gave him one last chance so he decided to clean up his act when they sent him to Calasanz. You would never have guessed, based on his bright, charming, and smart persona he carries now. He is actually a brilliant kid. Lissette herself worked with him and he invested himself, so now he gets to be concerned about college. He set himself on a better path, and he was lucky to have the support that he did because many in his situation may not.
And the amazing Lissette who provides such a strong educator and mentor role at Calasanz joined us for lunch at a gorgeous Cuban place that nobody not looking for it would find. There was a sign about the size of your hand off the side of the highway.
They served a basic, preset meal to our large group, with variations for the vegetarians. We slurped a sweet, pulpy fruit juice and after a salad, scarfed down basically a repocheta (a tortilla with cheese inside, folded over and fried) with frijoles and beef. Lissette sat next to me and chatted with Laurie, Paul, and Don some as well. She has a down-to-earth kind of elegance, with stunning eyes and just a teeny gold sliver on her left front tooth, and while stern in the classroom, she was so warm talking to us. Paul and I helped translate for the conversation as we talked about how tough it would be the only one in Meredith's position (and what a great job she is doing!) as well as more about the education system, and she also asked what I was thinking of doing with my life now that I have graduated. Since I love traveling and serving others, she suggested getting involved with Operation Smile, a well-known organization that does cleft lip and palate repair surgeries around the world (see here: Operation_Smile). Lissette said many young people work for the organization to piece together medical teams to go on delegations to countries like Colombia and it would be something I should think about for my near future - we'll see!
Mainly because we had the chance to relax at a lovely Cuban restaurant, Laurie wonderfully bought a round of mojitos for some of us (no underage drinking or drinking on the job...), and it was nice to just sit and converse for a while. We then went back to the PML office for piñata judging by Carolina and Lissette, and they picked the winners from the clown face teams and the tomato teams to use for the despedida, our going-away party with our families. Leif and Cody's ninja clown was pretty awesome, but Paul and Jennifer's Charlie Chaplin clown came away the winner, so they were awarded suckers shaped like beer mugs. Dad's/Francisco's and my tomato was also chosen to represent our group's piñata efforts, and we were given coconut suckers which I shared with the group and brought some home to my host family.
Next we drove to Gotitas for our craft fair there, with many of our host families bringing their Gotitas-enrolled kids too! Some of our group had forgotten to bring their crafts with them in the morning because we did not have a chance to go home before the fair, but our microbus was able to take a couple home, providing they, uhh, remembered where their home was. Joy in particular had a little bit of a tough time finding her house, and we also had to make a stop at a house to fill three buckets of water because the water has been cut in the neighborhood today and you do not know when it will come back... Later my host mom said it came back after a few hours, but today was her laundry day so it was extra hard. Apparently it is only once a year when the government cuts the water in each locality to clean the wells, but it happened to be when we sort of needed water to run Laurie and Luci's tie-dye station - we made it work though!
With these extra errands, we got to Gotitas about fifteen minutes after we told our families to be there, but we still had a little setup time. On the left, Leif demonstrates his ninja star origami to his host sister Katya, and on the right, Joy hangs out with a family at her face painting station.
Don and my host brothers (who did a great job of smiling for the camera...!).
Busy busy.
It seemed like the other crafts went well for the most part, and Jessica dove right in to make tie-dye shirts for her family and for my host family, even though my little brothers were being snots most of the time (sorry, I do not have another way to describe their behavior!). But they perked up when we got to take a couple of the extra ninja stars home because they were a little too young to follow the complicated steps, but thankfully we had demo versions.
On the way home, Diddier's chimbomba, balloon, broke so he had a fit, but we were all cheered up by Diederich's antics when he saw a man peddling out of his bread cart and pretended to be selling bread too!
Jessica and Paul bought huge bags to take home with them and snack a little on their walk home, with Jessica I think poking fun at Paul's hungriness and happiness with the sweet breads she perhaps intended for breakfast.
I got to carry Diederich home most of the way so he would not run off as he did when I tried to get him to leave the bread cart, and we all got home eventually! Jenifer had had a tough day, and I was tired too, so I took a little siesta for my unhappy stomach too. The boys played crazily outside with a couple of their neighbors, and Jeni said she likes to have a "casa llena de niños," a house full of kids.
I joined them when they came in, and I really like Bryan, one of the older ones, because he is bien tranquilo, very chill. It was also the first I have seen my brothers play with a girl, a four year-old neighbor who Diddier claimed was his girlfriend too! So I joked with him about him having two girlfriends and how I was jealous, and also how he should make sure to treat the other girl well if he wants her to stick around. That little boy is four and already a casanova, oh boy!
My brothers wanted to play monitos before dinner, and I was feeling a little bit better, so we went to my room to go play and Bryan asked if he could join us for the piggyback rides. He really is a sweetheart and had a good time too. I was pretty lucky that Jeni called us for dinner right after I spun so many times with the three of them that I felt like I was going to eruptar, vomit... But I shooed the boys into the kitchen and we settled our stomachs with some rice and beans and maduros, fried sweet bananas.
It looked like it was going to rain overnight, so we left the dish washing to the boys as they had been such good helpers with that chore, and Jenifer and I took down the dry laundry and hang more of the still mojada, wet, ropa under the roof so it would not get wet. While she was cooking, she had asked me if I was getting aburrida, bored, of Nicaragua yet. Of course not! Even if the kids are a little malportados a veces, a little naughty at times, I love seeing and experiencing here, living and learning with her, and I asked her if she was sick of me yet, to which she replied, "¡No, no, te voy a extrañar!" No, I'm going to miss you. Me too! We plan to stay in touch, send each other photos, and hopefully visit each other. She hopes to come to the U.S. with some English too.
At this point I wanted to see what her experience with estadounidenses, United Statesians, before our delegation showed up was like. She said she did not have an imagen, a preconceived image, of what we would be like, but now that she has met us, she says we are "gente muy linda," very beautiful people. To hear that given all our country has done to meddle even in Nicaragua's recent history is exactly why cross-cultural trips like these are so important, just to learn from each other and understand each other better. I said there are good people in the U.S. and of course there are others that maybe do not make the best decisions, but that is like anywhere. I do love the Nicaraguan people from what I have learned and those I have met. They are muy bonita y alegre, beautiful and happy, and there is especially so much natural belleza, natural beauty like I see in women with skin the color of café and twinkly eyes and in my host mom with her long curly hair and pestañas, eyelashes, that extend forever. Jenifer said growing up, especially in high school, she had to always tie up her long hair so boys would not try to play with it!
And she did, after all, get her man while she was in high school, and he came home relatively early tonight with snacks for the kids and time to help put them to bed. I took a shower and shaved in the dark, which was pointed out as necessary by my host brother who exclaimed, "¡Los pelos, me pican!" when he was standing on my legs earlier. Thanks, bud. Sorry my prickly legs "bite" you. It was a pretty early night for me after I cleaned up, but Jenifer was still washing some clothing and making dinner for Douglas while I sat watching the titulares, headline news, on TV and writing. Off to sleep and hopefully feel better in the morning!
No comments:
Post a Comment