8/1: Getting Schooled Again

"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.

Working with Leif at our tricky origami. It was easier to make the stars along with the kid learning rather than try to explain it without all the Spanish vocab, so we churned out a solid number of ninja stars.

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!

7/31: Little Drops of Awesome

I am a little thankful I have graduated preschool today so 1) I could sleep a little and stay home to watch the baby while Jenifer took the older two to Gotitas (I have gotten a little more acostumbrada, accustomed, to playing with babies on this trip!), and 2) I, along with the other St. Lukers, get to play with the kids today instead of getting schooled. Our task for today is to entertain the kids of Gotitas with engaging and constructive activities and simultaneously learn about the work this school is doing in its at-risk neighborhood.

Jennifer always comes with a new gorgeous braid that her host mama did for her - Luci is admiring today's version!

We drove to Gotitas de Esperanza, "Drops of Hope," the preschool and daycare in the Carlos Nuñez community, and as Meredith went in to make sure things were ready for us, a group of kids stood at the door staring at our group of gringos while we waited in the bus for a few minutes. We began our day with some background on Gotitas, the center of care and protection for kids one to five years old that was itself born four years ago.

Here, left to right, are Don Martín, a community leader; Deysi, one of the PML board members; Meredith, our coordinator; Francisco, Meredith's delegation assistant; Jessica, Paul's host mom and my host tía, aunt; and Jessica's son Derek, as Don Martín spoke to us about the center. 

We learned Gotitas focuses especially on high-risk kids, high-risk on the streets and in their homes. There are 37 kids and 28 families at this time, and they want to have the center full of kids and work with a lot of families, but there are strict requirements to be part of the program. Gotitas is supported by an NGO, non-governmental organization, which helps hold trainings on family skills as well, and the center is very community-run and community-driven. For example, Joy's host mom is a nutritionist here, and many of the teachers are moms from the community with their children here.

This was actually built because women in the community were recognizing the need for communal childcare support, especially for at-risk kids, and many started running programs and caring for community kids in their own homes. They realized it is important to have strong community education, giving kids opportunities to learn and keeping them out of trouble. Now the moms who work here are given a small symbolic payment. They usually have their kids here, and they are not profesoras, but they are trained by the NGO that also has a network of supervisors and teachers that go around and teach at the different schools in that network.
 
This community center strives to provide structure for the kids as well as educate their parents on the importance of that kind of structure. Gotitas provides breakfast, lunch, and two snacks throughout the day and they also get the kids accustomed to napping in the afternoon. It is not traditional for kids to nap, but the latest trends are encouraging it, and it is important to get that knowledge to less well-off communities as well. My host mama herself testifies to how important of a resource Gotitas is for her family, especially as for just 30 Cordobas a month (which comes out to about $1.40) the kids get all of those meals, families receive that daycare and education, and the center pays for a person to guard the center at night.

Gotitas' next goal is to have a safe place for kids to recrearse, play, outside, so they want to build a wall so kids from Gotitas can run outside to play but still be within the safe limits of the center. They also hope to keep working with the NGO to fund more educational programs here.

Now for the fun part! This teacher, one of the moms, gets the kids ready with some handwashing. Diddier, my oldest host brother, is the one in the white shirt.

 

We divided the children and ourselves into three groups, with the youngest staying in one room and the bigger kids divided into two sections for songs and games. St. Lukers came prepared with ideas for songs and games, similar to how we began our day at the school in Talolinga, but we learned very quickly how much energy, resolve, and quick thinking we all needed to use all of the kids' insanity constructively. They may look all sweet and innocent in these pictures, but Laurie and Jennifer put it this way, "This was a serious lesson in birth control for the adolescents." Stay tuned for more reflections.

Jennifer, Laurie, and Cody leading a circle game.

Leif, Chris, and Paul got the other group of big kids playing a game we learned in the neighborhood where you walk or around in the circle until a moderator gives a signal to freeze, and then the first kid to move is out and the circle gets smaller until there is a winner! As the circle kept shrinking though, they had to think of ways to keep the other kids excited about it too. 

Kira hanging out with Don and the other girls with the littlest kids.

Joy and Don hanging out.

Luci and the new girl on her first day at Gotitas!

Meredith joins the group in the middle room, and with a stern voice she was able to regain control of a classroom that was getting a bit out of hand with kids running crazily everywhere if they did not feel like participating.

After a couple games, St. Lukers kept improvising and found London Bridge to be a good one to keep everyone moving and having fun. 

 

I moved around from room to room with my camera, and we eventually got all the kids into the main room for some curriculum-based exercises for things like balance, focus, counting, etc. Kids saw me snapping pictures and posed for me, and a few grabbed at my camera to see, and a couple I even let take some photos with it. I am fortunate my camera is pretty hardy, and small children fingerprints can always be washed off the screen. I made that call to show a couple of the older kids who I had observed as more responsible, and we were all pretty entertained!

We were all amazed by the blond ringlets on the boy to the left, and further amazed to learn that he was one of the hair pulling masterminds in the bunch. 

I think Joy bonded pretty well with this girl, she's pretty adorable too!

Seriously, the women who do this every day are amazing. They have to deal with hair pulling contests, physical force, kids wetting themselves, and toddlers crying every two seconds. Ay! We had some serious group reflection time following this experience, and I think the main thing we were amazed about was the cultural difference in terms of the concept of discipline. If you use a calmer, softer tone here, kids will not take you seriously. When trying to get a group of rambunctious four to five year-olds to stop running around the room to listen to directions and play whatever game you think they will enjoy, apparently a firmer tone is needed. Another thing we found hard was because we were a temporary presence, we did not know any of the kids' names, which made it all the more difficult if you wanted to call one out on something.

Physicality, listening, and taking others' things plays out differently than what we are used to, simply because there are differences in cultural practices and boundaries in terms of space and respect. The teachers on our program, Paul and Jennifer, definitely had some gears turning in their heads as they took in this classroom experience, and Laurie as a medical professional noted current research on the psychological effects of corporal punishment that is enacted often here. Studies have shown corporal punishment can lead to more anxiety and depression when kids get older, and the results are cross-cultural (Writer's note: I have seen how this plays out in person and make my judgement based on my experiences. This is a controversial parenting topic and I suggest you do your own research and draw your own conclusions). What was hard for her was wondering about how well that information is disseminated at this socio-economic status, especially what kids learn at home. Here it is evident that you cannot force a different type of discipline than what kids have at home, and you cannot just put a kid in "timeout" because that concept simply does not exist here. Here is where we see how Gotitas is trying to provide structure for kids to learn to follow directions, have better manners, share, respect each other, etc., and how important it is for schools and families to work together to provide the best opportunities for these children.

For me, it made me come back to issues our own country is facing with our education system and fighting for social inclusion of lower socio-economic classes. This is why after-school programs and community involvement are so crucial, why kids in our own communities need constructive time while poorer parents are working, and social programs really are for the benefit of all. The political questions of course are who is going to provide those resources and who is going to run those programs, but I am all the more grateful to those who do this for a living, in Nicaragua, and at home. A few of my friends who have also just graduated are taking a year or two before grad school, or perhaps dedicating their lives, to serving and teaching at-risk youth, and I hope they will keep finding the drive within themselves to understand their students' circumstances and be positive, encouraging forces when they need it.

Paul and I had to slip out of the group reflection time because Jessica had said she would pick us up at Gotitas at 11:40 instead of noon so we would have enough time to eat at home, but we actually ended up waiting for a while outside, talking to Deysi about the importance of socialization for children. She gets it. Anyways, my host mama instead came for us at 12:20 and brought us home for tortillas, chicken nuggets, chicken-flavored rice, gallo pinto, te de limón (lemon tea), and a tomato-cabbage salad. We had a few minutes to chill and talk as the community moved around us. We would see a few vehicles here and there, but mostly bicycles or people on foot. Jenifer commented that transportation is very difficult here because the bus is cheap and convenient, until it's not convenient. Rutas, routes, come less often on weekends and they are less dependable, and on weekdays they stop at 7 pm. If you want or need to go out at night, you'd best have money for a cab, but they are even more expensive at night. This is another prime factor in why the neighborhood is so tight-knit, as many families get to know the folks who are close, socialize with them, and feel safe.

We then wandered back out of our dynamic house on the corner to Don Martin's house so we could go to the central market! Before we would be set loose to do our own shopping though, we split into teams and were given a scavenger hunt. We were charged to find items such as "a fruit we have never seen before" and ask the stall owner what it is and how to eat it. My teammates were Don and Laurie, and together we were "Gotitas de Awesome," Little Drops of Awesome. My favorite part was talking to a little old woman in probably her eighties who was selling wooden spoons and ceramics. She told us she is here at her stall seven days a week. But she is sick, something with her heart, but she looks forward to her sister, who lives in Germany, visiting her in February. She still told us not to worry about her and bid us "Que les vaya bien" - well wishes.

 As I have mentioned in prior posts, I usually refrain from taking photos in markets because it is people's livelihoods, even though they are one of my favorite things in foreign places because they are so dynamic and show the spirit of the people. So I unfortunately do not have pictures of the market or workers, but I rather did like the brilliance of these lovely tiny chilis!

Once we completed our scavenger hunt, we were set free to roam and shop until a designated time. I had my eyes on a caramelo, a small fudge square, that I wanted to try, and when I looked up from my purchase, only Meredith was there! Whoops. Marketplaces are generally not good places to get lost in general or lost from your people. But Meredith called Francisco who was with Paul and Chris to find good hammocks, and as I was hoping to find and fall in love with a hammock too, we found them and I tagged along with the hamaca crew. Paul had already found one he liked, but he wanted to check out another place to see about their selection and prices. We went back and forth a couple times, but we both ended up feeling successful! One place we went I promised I would be back after I had seen what the other had to offer, and when we went back to the first place, they promptly lowered the price for me. Good bargaining tactic if anyone is interested. It is woven, sturdy, and beautiful blue, and I got a decent price so I am pleased. Chris also wanted shoes, and after a few styles of not exactly what he wanted, he ended up with a sweet pair of real, yes real, Nikes for a steal! 

Purchases in hand, we all boarded the microbus after all the sheep made it to our designated meeting point. We were to head back to Gotitas for a special "Noche Cultural," Cultural Night, which was supposed to start at 5 but didn't until about 5:40, and the crowd swelled as the night went on. The main act was a dance troupe from Nagarote, the birthplace of the quesillo and our stopping point between Managua and León on our second day. PML paid for their transport, and they came to perform a number of traditional folk dance routines for us, sandwiching a few by the local artist collective Xuchialt in the middle.

I sat next to Leif's host sister, Katya, who is nine, awesome, smart, and down-to-earth, and she took an interest in my camera. She said her family does not own one, but when I gave her my camera to try out a few shots, I discovered she had a pretty good eye! We put it on sports mode and took turns taking pictures of the dances throughout the night, which got trickier as the natural light faded, but it was fun to bring a new photographer on board and I encouraged her to keep taking pictures if she can.

The dances themselves all invoked cultural themes from white representing pureza, purity, to a dance about the quesillo, to a dance to one of Nicaragua's most well-known folk songs, "Hijos del Maiz," "Children of Corn." What is more fundamental to Nica society than corn? "Hijos del Maiz" rattles off a whole list of traditional foods and beverages made with corn in Nicaragua, in addition to its place in everyday life. We even got to hear that song twice that night with two different versions of dance! If you have a hankering to learn some Nicaraguan folk dance, I found a YouTube video of the song here: Hijos_del_Maiz, and lyrics here: Lyrics.

Here are a few pictures from the night: 

Following the dancers, Xuchialt had two of their musicians sing and play guitar for us..

...and then Marlon, leader of Xuchialt played and sang for us, and after his first song he called up our own Francisco (who had been an inspiring MC the whole night) to do an impromptu duet!

The final act of the night came from Lenon, our lead painting instructor, one of the calmest and most chill guys there is, and he just walked out there and started swinging fire around! We were all pretty amazed.

Lights out, and Lenon came alive!

Xuchialt concluded the night with some Pitbull music as we helped move chairs and take down the set, and Diddier took my hand on the way home. He still felt like walking silly and goofing off, to which I responded with a reminder that if he wanted to play monitos and be a crazy monkey on my back later, he may want to walk like a human en la calle, on the street, for now until we got home. 

Since Noche Cultural had gotten off to a late start, the boys were starving when we got home, so Jeni dropped me off and took the older two to get muñuelos for a snack. She got one for me to try too - it is kind of a ball of fried masa, corn flour, with air bubbles and covered in honey - that is the best I can explain it! Basically because it was covered in honey, I was going to like it. While Jenifer cooked, I played monitos with the boys and also managed to get them to focus on their pastelina, silly putty, and she came up with frijoles y crema, beans and sour cream that is not sour, and fried plantains. Satisfying as always.

Jenifer loved seeing the photos of her boys from our morning at Gotitas, and we got to talking about how that center has impacted her life. When her firstborn Diddier was two months to a year, she brought him to her university classes every single day. Imagine trying to learn in class with a baby by your side. After that, Jenifer was able to bring him to daycare at one of the moms' houses before Gotitas became a center with a physical space. She trusted that woman because that woman had also taken care of Jenifer when she was young! Not long after, Gotitas was built and it is awesome for her and her family. There is apparently another place closer that purports to have a similar mission, but she has heard that they "descuidar niños," neglect children. Jenifer said she loves Gotitas and the only thing it is missing is that wall for it to have a safe courtyard outside. 

Having a resource like Gotitas has made a difference for her education as well, especially since as soon as her youngest turns one year old, she can also enroll him there and she will be able to finish her final year of university to become a lawyer. She said she really wants to learn English as well, and she did start taking a course a while back, but it was on Sundays and sometimes she could not find anyone to watch the boys... And the maestra moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to catch up after she missed a week. What is hard for her is the pronunciation, which I can definitely understand because unlike in Spanish where there are set rules and patterns of pronunciation for vowels and consonants, in English you can not necessarily look at a word and know how to pronounce it. Improving her English is another of her aspirations that Gotitas will make easier, and she even hopes to enroll her kids in some English classes because they are bien inteligentes, very smart, and they just need more ways to learn and fill their brains. My brains were wracked today to think quickly on my feet at Gotitas, but my spirit has been filled with reflections and rewarding quality time, and our bodies were ready for rest.

7/30: Pasos Upon Pasos

Good morning, folks! I'm thankful I woke up a tiempo, on time, this morning, especially since Jenifer had fallen asleep as Douglas bounced the colicky baby. She woke up about when I did, but her boys were not up yet, begging their mom for a few more minutes of sleep. Because they were running behind, Jenifer walked me to the corner to meet Paul and Jessica so she could go home and get the kids ready for school. If Paul and I had to have host families a bit further from the central community, at least we could rely on Jenifer and Jessica to take care of us and each other!

I speed-walked (sped-walked?) with Paul and Jessica to Don Martin's house, glad that we were not late to school, learning that there is a loud beep warning to alert everyone they should be in class, and if you are a cuadra, a block, away, run! Otherwise doors close and you would not be able to get in. Jessica noted this used to be a five-minute warning when she was in school, but now it is a less-panic-inducing 15 minute warning, which is beneficial for families whose children have to walk a ways to get to school. Hopefully Jenifer not having to take me to Don Martin's herself gave her enough time to get her boys to Gotitas on time, even if they would not face the dreaded warning bell until they got to primary school.

As our group gathered, it was evident we had all been re-energized from our Sunday Family Day. Whether that meant a little extra sleep, trips to the market, relaxation on the beach, or visits to more evangelical churches than we were accustomed to, we all excitedly shared our stories. A few of our group members even complained that they wanted more days to spend solely with their family, instead of all the delegation stuff! I just wish we had more time for everything. Today would be a good mix of tourist activities, time with our families, and cultural experiences though. And as we have certainly taken many pasos, steps, already on our delegation, from our hike to Talolinga, to time in the market, to sports and walks home with our families, our pasos today would include moonbouncing, a bit of walking, and our Nicaraguan dance steps!

The first half of the day we journeyed about an hour in our microbus to Cerro Negro, literally Black Hill, an active volcano. The road was extremely bumpy, and as we got further outside of León, Meredith warned us that it would only get worse. So even though it was an early morning, it was a little rough to try and sleep. Needless to say, I enjoyed some job advice from Meredith our wonderful coordinadora, as well as staring out the window at the beautiful countryside.

Sugarcane fields.

 

This farmer is returning with his wife and oxen from collecting wood near the volcano.

This road was actually not wide enough for both the oxcart and our microbus. Somehow we squeezed around each other, and the farmers continued their journey home with our day just beginning.

Jose, our driver, did a wonderful job, given even though many people flock to this volcano as tourists, there are zero signs and the route is incredibly complicated. He stopped at a few farms along the way to make sure he was going the right way, and Meredith commented that the Nicaraguan government should really start to recognize it needs improvement in the tourism infrastructure sector. Especially when all you really need to help bring more people and revenue to Cerro Negro is a few signs posted in the volcanic ash roads. Cerro Negro even has a welcome lodge with decent bathrooms. But we made it! Once we got to the volcano itself, Meredith grabs a jug to help prepare us for the hike.

Doesn't look so bad, right?

And so the hike begins!

The hiking bunch - Laurie and Paul decided to save their knees and take a walkabout closer to sea level.

 

Tired before we really even got going, Leif?

Hair already getting whipped by the wind, Meredith, along with PML board member Ruben joining us for the day, educated us on Cerro Negro safety precautions. These included taking note of the wind and leaning into the volcano itself, being aware that the volcanic rocks are basically like pumice stones people use to slough off calluses so don't get scrapes (and umm perhaps take a couple stones home as free pumice stones!), making sure to test each rock you step on before you put your entire weight down in case it was not firmly lodged in the pile of ash.

After we had been thoroughly educated and precautioned, Ruben asked if we wanted a challenge and took off running up the volcano! This is my favorite kind of hiking, whipping up an exhilarating pace and then taking breathers. Oxygen was in shorter supply and [most of us] were dashing up potentially unstable rocks, what a rush! Word to the wise, challenge yourself, but don't be stupid. Here Jennifer, Luci, and Meredith navigate trickier passes.

 

Whoo! We made it to the top ridge and we are still smiling!

Nature forcibly rearranging Leif and Cody's hairstyles for the moment.

Meredith fighting winds from both the side of the volcano and up from the crater.

See that squiggly line down there? That is the path we began on. And the group of little multicolored dots along the path? (Click the picture to see it larger if you need to). That is Paul, Laurie, and Francisco waving to us while we trudged against the wind on the ridge!

At one point I turned around and found Luci, Jennifer, and Meredith just doubled over in a mixture of laughter and tears, trying not to fall over or panic. We all conquered some fears today!

Up here was purely volcanic sand held together by force, with the crater here sloping off to the right as we walked around it to get to the other crater.

Looking into this crater was simply spectacular.

Wind is not often something you can see. But there is proof of it here with so much biting force coming off that ridge.

Another group photo at the end of our ridge hike.

Testing how far they could lean into the wind.

We had to backtrack slightly, but we found the "running route." While some tourists opt for toboggan-like sleds to glide down, our vote was to "moonbounce," as Meredith would describe it. You just take off running, and as your momentum picks up, the mounds of volcanic ash have just enough give to trampoline you down the rest of the way.

Meredith took off first to show us how it's done, and a couple of the kids took off after her, with about ten seconds of leeway in between. I paused about halfway down to grab pictures, and it was also rather convenient that it was about that point where I had gotten so excited bounding through the sinking sand that I had let my momentum get the best of me and took a spill... And perhaps a second one later... I was hugging my bag as I ran down so I was not really ready to steady myself when I got going too fast, so I slid a few feet on my bum when I wiped out. But really, I just got some pumiced knees and a little more dusty than I anticipated, but no regrets!

The rest of the crew making their way down behind me.

Somehow, with all of the bounding through montones of volcanic ash (I love that the Spanish equivalent for saying "tons of ___" is "mountains of ___"!), I managed to get some black sand in my shoes. We all dumped out our shoes and socks, and I must admit I was proud admiring how the ash made its mark. Then again, I could not see my own face until we got back to the welcome center, but thankfully I think Jennifer pointed out the ash had turned my teeth black too so I could scrub them on our drive back to the center. That was a little gross.

We all got to wash up a bit and relax for a few minutes as we collected ourselves. Luci and Laurie found this double hammock the center had both gorgeous and comfortable, and they were hoping to make an offer to buy it, but the price proposed by the center was a bit steep. A few of us were still in the market for hammocks, so we were keeping our eyes peeled and making mental notes of prices we heard wherever we went.

Another thing that was cool about the center was they randomly had a large pen of iguanas out back! We learned the natural population of iguanas is far below where it should be, so Cerro Negro is breeding iguanas and releasing them into the wild. Cool animals.

Though we had been filled by our incredible experience of traipsing up a volcano and bouncing (and tumbling...) down, our bellies were quite empty. Meredith and Francisco had the usual stash of crackers on the bus for us, but today's lunch was a special occasion in that we got to go home to eat with our families in the middle of the day.

Unos pasos más, a few steps more, and Jenifer had lunch waiting for me at home, while Jessica had also prepared food for her and Paul that she left with Jenifer when she came to pick us up. Jenifer's house was closer than Jessica's, so it was convenient and nice to hang out together. Jessica had made Paul fish and rice and brought unaa gaseosa, a soda, while my mom made me her favorite meal: arroz a la valenciana, Valencian rice. It is a version of chicken and rice that she typically eats with bread, but since I cannot eat wheat, she got tortillas for me so I could make taquitos with the rice. All to be washed down with dragonfruit fresco!

I was thankful my house was the closer one so I could excuse myself to shower quickly because let's face it, volcano-running is awesome, but I was pretty gross. After a nice meal and a refreshing bucket bath, which was I think my first time in the daylight because I am a night showerer, Jessica and Jenifer walked Paul and me back to Don Martin's house. Joy and Chris were talking about enjoying spending time with their families, but it was hard not really being able to converse with them, so they would typically go to bed when the kids did. I remarked to Jenifer that I truly felt lucky that I can understand and speak enough that I can talk with her after the kids go to bed. The host family experience is a challenge for everybody, becoming accustomed to rituals, cultural practices, and just being in someone else's home, but language is another beast completely. You can of course communicate a great deal through body language and just commonality of being human, but communicating more on a language level really brings in another dimension to the experience. Jenifer gave me a hug and played with my hair, such a sweet host mama even though she is my age! I still cannot believe that sometimes. We all said goodbye to our families, but then we learned there was something wrong with the bus, so we hung around for a few minutes.

We peered over to see Ruben, Francisco (smiling), and Jose all working on it and giving their own assessments of what the problem was.

Two young girls saw me snap the photo of the guys working on our microbus and came over to ask if they could see the pictures I had taken. They especially wanted to see photos from our Cerro Negro climb, leaning in and pointing out who was who from our delegation. They also asked me what time we would get back and if I wanted to play with them, which was super sweet. That was one of the moments I wished my host family did not live so far from the main cluster of houses because I would have to head home with my family for dinner.

Our expert crew got the bus working well enough to at least get us to the PML office, where we arrived a little late but Jose could then take the bus into a shop to get it fixed. Carolina was ready to show us the second half to piñata-making, and Papa had left me with a decent shape for our tomato.  She showed the clown-face teams the basics of decorating theirs with different colors of tissue paper and then the tomato teams the strategy to encircle the tomato with mainly red fringe. Francisco helped cut the fringe so I could the tissue paper down inch by inch with the yucca glue and try to not let any white show through.

It was a tedious task, which most teams were devoted to, and I am not going to name any names, but a couple were more interested in getting done quickly so they could get a few minutes at the cyber down the street. Here's my tomato progress with Francisco's help!

Ruben eyes Leif and Cody's creative ninja clown.

Don and Laurie work on their final touches.

Still have the green top to put on the tomato, but here you go!

And we even finished with enough time for me to hop on the PML office computer to check emails and make sure my dad had gotten back to the U.S. alive and well. Next up: dance class! Francisco was now my partner since Dad left, so we had a grand time especially as he did the moves taking his pretend hat on and off. We finally finished all of our routine and tried to rehearse for the show, but we can't quite do it without counting along as musical elements repeat, but we had to remember choreography changes after eight counts and sometimes four counts. Our final practice would be our dress rehearsal on Thursday night, just before we would perform for our host families. Ahh!

I believe it was Jose's diagnosis of the bus issue that was spot-on, so he picked us up after our lessons and proudly drove us home.

Here are few of the girls from the community, with the two on the left being the ones who looked through my photos with me earlier.

Axel, Chris's host brother, helped us take this picture!

After the fourth and final leg between Don Martin's casa and my host family's, I apparently still had more energy to be spent because the boys were rambunctious and begged to play "monitos" until dinner. Enoc, Jenifer's cousin, came over to hang out a bit too, and Jenifer made us all repochetas, which are similar to what we would know as cheese quesadillas, except Nica tortillas are thicker and their cheese is more pungent. Plus, because they are thicker, you do not cut them into pieces but pick up the folded, melty, fried tortilla and just bite into it. She saved a couple for Douglas that inevitably got semi-munched on by her kids before he got home, but she also filled us with gallo pinto (beans and rice with spices, Nica-style), bananos fritos (fried bananas), and homemade limonada (lemonade).

While I was washing the dishes, aided by the boys and learning more about parenting, it started to sprinkle. Jenifer ran out in the middle of cleaning up the kitchen from dinner and picked up the puppies from behind the shed, one by one, to effectively make a puppy pile under the tin roof. They still have not opened their eyes yet, so we just watched in adoration as they all floundered and flopped over their siblings.

Aww.

Tonight Douglas got home a while before the boys had to go to bed, and Jenifer said, "You don't have any pictures of Douglas!" Oh, you're right! I in fact have not really talked with him much at all because he is always exhausted when he gets home from work and I want to give him time to hang out with Jenifer too, but it is nice to see him home before 9, play with his kids, and get a family photo!

After such a full day, I was pretty dead by 10 and I think Jenifer and I both fell asleep in our chairs for a second or two. But we both woke up and kept talking after our brief naps, and she asked me about steps a Nicaraguan would have to take to get a visa to the U.S. and what other kinds of documents she would need if she could come visit me someday. She first would have to recorrer dinero, save some money, to get a passport in Managua, but that would allow her also to visit her mom in Costa Rica and me whenever she could. Her mom always visits them for the month of December, but the wheels were spinning in Jenifer's head, thinking of the possibility of taking the boys to go visit Costa Rica this year instead. With other conversation topics we had I further made connections of why many poor Nicas migrate to Costa Rica for work. As the clima (climate) in the northern region of Nicaragua is más fresco (more fresh, or cooler) than the southern region, so people are able to produce more fruit and milk and make more money, so poor southern Nicas either try their hand moving north within their country or just go further south where they find more work opportunities as migrant labor in their neighbor country to the south. While Jenifer's mom falls into that second category, Jenifer herself may very well fall into the first in a couple year's time after she completes her law degree and searches for work in the more prosperous north.

After a long and fruitful day of walking, running, climbing, falling, dancing, and horseplaying, my brain is spent. ¡Buenas noches!