SWEAR-IN

I’M A VOLUNTEER!  So the break down.  Swear-in: was at the Holiday Inn (big deal in mangaua).  Why so Monumental?  Because is our class of business and agriculture awesome BUT it’s the Peace Corps 50^th anniversary AND its operations in Nica 30^th anniversary.  So the vice minister of education showed up and the vice ambassador of the USA came too.  The ceremony was uneventful minus two things.  First, remember how in a couple posts ago I joked about having to take the same oath as the president of United States?  Well, we did the “Peace Corps Oath” (in Spanish) with the vice minister of education and then we did the “Presidential Oath” with the vice ambassador!  I kid you not, I held my right hand and swore to “protect the constitution of the United States from enemies both foreign and domestic”!  So cool.  Oh also there was a returned volunteer who was in the class of Nica 1, the very first group to begin working in Nica.

#2:  Everyone and their primo was there from the media.  Canal 2, 4, 12 and 14 were all taking interview and writing reports.  If you google Cuerpo de Paz or Peace Corps or something, articles will pop up.  We’re celebrities, no big deal.

Then we went the Country Director’s house for a pasta lunch.  There we received the official news that the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, invited all of us to his personal residence!  This is a HUGE deal.  In the 30 year of Peace Corps operations, never have they met with the president.  So around 5pm, we made the trip to President Ortega’s yellow house (white house is SO much cooler).  Interesting tidbit #1 of many, ZERO security.  Yes, there were a ton of security guards but we didn’t have to go through a medal doctor or show identification or anything.  Therefore, going to the DMV is more difficult than meeting the president of Nicaragua (maybe not that big of a surprise).  So we walk in and I was one of the last ones and there was enough chairs set up on the spectator side of the conference room.  What do they do?  Let’s just sit him AT the table IN the official cabinet/minister chair ONLY EIGHT SEATS TO THE RIGHT OF PRESIDENT ORTEGA!   Yes, I may as well have been Ortega’s secretary of state.  I, unlike the other peon/volunteers, was served coffee and giving water.  So I can official say I took coffee with a President.  Boom.  Continuing.  Ortega and his wife come in after 30 minutes and the first lady shakes hands with the dozen or so of us on Ortega’s side of the table.  Then Ortega walks ALL the way around the room and shakes hands with EVERYONE!  Drank coffee and shook hands with President and First Lady of Nicaragua, check!  Soon, it became obvious that President Ortega was not briefed on the meeting.  He was given a list of everyone in attendance and started greeting/conversing with our bosses.  Then he turned the page and asked if the alphabetically first volunteer was in attendance.  Of course she was and she stood up.  After a few question he said “Gracias” and then called on the second person alphabetically.  We began to wonder in President Ortega was going to interview every one of us new volunteers…AND HE DID!  This is the conversation as best as I remember it:

Ortega: “Peter Stefan?”

I stand up.

Me: “Good evening.  How are you sir?

Ortega: “Good, y vos?” (HE REFERED TO ME IN THE INFORMAL FORM!  DANNY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!”

Me: “Good.”

Ortega: “Where were you born?”

Me: “The city of Chicago”

Ortega: “Oh yes?”

Me: “Yes, a large city.”

Ortega: “Ah, like Bluefields.” (Crowd chuckles, I stand awkward and try my hardest to refrain from going on a “Why Chicago is infinitely better than lowly Bluefields)

Ortega: “What did you study?”

Me: “I studied Spanish and Business Administration.”

Ortega: “Ah, and how many schools are you going to work at?”

Me: “I’m going to work in four different schools in Palacaguina.”

Ortega: (muttering with someone because he could not understand my poor pronunciation of Palacaguina)

Me: “Yes, the town that where Jesus was born.”

(Laughter.  There’s a FAMOUS song about Jesus being born in Palacaguina but instead of becoming a carpenter, he went off to join the revolution.)

Ortega: “Oh, you know the song?” (He signs some lyrics.)

Me: “Yes the song is very famous.”

Ortega: “Good, good.  And you’re going to work by capacitating…?”

Me: “Yes the same.  I will be working with the four principals and teachers in the highschools.”

Ortega: “Good, well thanks.”

Me: “Thank you sir.”

NAILED IT!  Not only did I only have a conversation with a president of a foreign country in front of all my bosses but I did it in SPANISH!  PLUS, all the tv stations and reporters we there so I did it in the limelight as well!  If this process seems like it would take a while, it did.  The whole meeting lasted about three hours.

I'm the 2nd to last at the table!

Sunday I head back up to my site and Monday I start teaching classes, AH!

Live like a PCV Challenge!

Since I’m officially became a volunteer TODAY (more on that tomorrow….), I need to give a shout out to some of my supporters.  Next week, a dozen of my friends are giving up first world amenities to experience what it feels to be a peace corps volunteer.  Things that they will be doing include not using debit/credit cards, microwaves or air conditioning.  They will also be living in reduced living space (only using their kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms) and showering every other day.  More information can be found at http://www.livelikeapcv.org and feel free to participate too!  There should be some coverage in the local newspapers thanks to my personal PR executive so keep your eyes open!

Last week as a trainee!

Yup you read correctly.  This week I join the ranks as a Peace Corps VOLUNTEER.  Cool things that I’m doing:

Moving out of Nandasmo today into a HOTEL.  Real bed, internet and possibly hot water here I come!

Meeting the ambassador!  Maybe.  Rumor has it his term is ending now-ish.  So we may just be meeting the vice ambassador.  Either way, cool.

Having a going away party.  My Nica friends threw me a little going away party.  Super nice of them.  I think I’m actually going to be sad to say good bye to Nandasmo and its lack of indoor plumbing.

Jadder, Irma y yo!

SWEARING IN!  Or as those of us who did greek life call it, initiation (hopefully without the hell week and hazing…).  Friday morning I have to take an oath to swear to protect the United States from all enemies both foreign and domestic.  Kidding, here’s the actual oath:

“In the name of God and for the understanding and friendship among people and Nations, I solemnly promise to work with dedication and enthusiasm in the tasks that are assigned to me, during two years, or during the time that I may stay in the country.

I promise to strive to secure bonds of affection and solidarity with the Nicaraguan people through mutual respect and sincere vocation of service.

For God, for Country, for Peace.”

Pretty cool huh?  It also happens to be the 50^th anniversary of the Peace Corps so there will be much celebration to be had.

-Almost PCV Pedro

Transportation

My parents (the real ones.  Hi Tim and Donna!) inquired about how I get around.  So if my (very early!) middle aged CPA parents find something interesting, I can only assume you followers will too (I promise it doesn’t have to do with financial statements.  This time.)!

How do I get around?  Three options: walking, private transportation and public transportation.

Walking: the cheapest option, duh.  I will walk just about everywhere (in hopes of then using that money for more “important” things…)  The last couple of weeks, our language class was at trainee Noelle’s house which is about 1 click away ([that’s kilometers for those of you who aren’t secret agents like me] that’s just over a half a mile for those of you who aren’t so international like me).  So with having to return to my casa for lunch, I would walk the journey 4 times (about 2.5 miles) a day because the Peace Corps did not want to pay me for transport.  So long story short, I walk A LOT, EVERYWHERE.

Private transportation: MOTOS!  I love motos.  In fact, I will go so far as to say they may be the thing I will miss most about training (motos are illegal/impractical everywhere else).  Motos, short for mototaxis, are awesome.  First let’s start with the obvious, foto:

Kelli and I on one of countless moto adventures

As you can see, the driver sits up front and three people can sit (rather uncomfortably) in back.  Of course that’s the “recommendations according to the operating manual”.  We have successfully crammed 8 (including the driver).  Why is this stupid?  Because it’s obviously dangerous?  Hah, incorrect my naïve reader.  Because culture here dictates that you pay by the person.  Friggin’ obnoxious.  So example, if you want to Masatepe, total cost is 10 cords.  But is me and my closest 7 friends want to tag along, the total is now 70 cords for the EXACT same distance!  I’ve tried to explain this to numerous drivers and to my chagrin (or perhaps poor Spanish) refuse to see the errors in their ways.  It pretty much discourages carpooling.  But back to the point, why do I love motos?  Haggling!  Sure there are “generally agreed upon prices” but those are for Nicas.  Us stingy (or unsuspecting tourists) trainees can finagle prices left and right.  Which brings me to why motos are awesome point number two.  THEY’RE EVERYWHERE.  Maybe second only to the disturbingly copious quantity of mangos, there are THOUSANDS of motos for a relatively small number of people.  So if a moto doesn’t agree on you price, there are 452984 more who are willing to take it.  To give you an idea, the most expensive moto ride I’ve ever taken was at night, in the rain (the arbitrary factors that affect pricing) for 6kms was 35 cords (about $1.50).

Public transportation: microbuses and school buses.  Micros are vans that should normally seat around 9 people which are Nica-fied to fit as many as 24 (it was like driving a can of sardines).  Buses are the standard yellow America school buses which now have been decommissioned.  Instead of going to the big highway in the sky, they go south to be pimped out with horrible paint jobs and poorly wired speaker systems.  Both have fixed destinations and prices and go everywhere but will stop every couple of minutes to cram more people in them.  Clearly micros are more expensive than buses because you generally are guaranteed a “seat” (a very fluid concept in this country).

That’s it for now.  Stay tuned for the next tales of my LAST week as a trainee!

Somos los Ganadadores!

Well the youth group competition was on Friday and we didn’t get third place like I was hoping/thinking.  WE GOT SECOND, BOOYAH!  And we sold three of our products of a total income of 300 cords!  The girls in our groups were SO happy.  As in, this is an event that they will remember for the rest of their lives.  We were proud too.  And I promise it’s not just because we beat the five other business groups.  Here’s a foto of Nandaluz (hybrid of our town Nandasmo and luz = light in Spanish).

The tres amigas

Second place!

Tomorrow we’re going to celebrate our victory and say adios!

Youth Competition

Dear followers who have undoubtedly been hanging on my every word, I apologize for my absence.  I know I talk about going to rodeos and watching chickens get decapitated a lot but I DO have a job to do.  And it’s been this job that has kept me away from my recently neglected blog for this long.  Also it’s been raining so much that I’ve been afraid that if I leave my casa I’ll be swept away by raging rains.  Anyway, I have updates!

This Friday is the youth group competition.  We (and the 11 other training groups) have been working with youth groups since mid-May.  Last time I updated you, readers, we were struggling with what our final product would be for the business plan competition.  We had decided on repujado, an art that involves imprinting on aluminum but didn’t know what to do with it.  Well, as our genius would have it (aka luck) we made friends with a glass maker and we’re using his scrap glass to make candleholders.  Here’s one of the five that our team created:

It doesn't have the candle in it right now but bonito huh?

 More on our team.  It’s clearly the four of us trainees and three women who live in Nandasmo.  They’re all good friends and two of them are 24 years old which is ironic because we’re supposed to be working with “youth”.  Luckily the Peace Corps considers people under 30, youth.  So no big deal.  Anyway, we performed a market study and analyzed costs and prices and things are looking promising.  The selling price is 100 cords which is a little less than $5.  I don’t know if we’re in the running to win the competition but I’m hoping that someone will buy our product because the muchachas have worked really hard and deserve some earnings.  So the competition is Friday morning so wish us luck!

Pedro the Panadero

This week I took a break from my usual job as un explorador to try my hand at making bread.  We made friends with the town’s (overly) enthusiastic break maker.  Instead of our (painstakingly dull) Spanish class, we decided to apply our Spanish in the “business” setting and made bread.  My job was to use the electric bread roller.  Imagine reader, if you will, two rolling pins parallel to each other with only a centimeter in-between.  Now add four horsepower and zero safety equipment and voila, electric bread kneed-er.   After running the bread through this “machine” 60 times successfully without suffering a crush injury, we got to make the bread of our choosing.  We made picos (triangle treats with brown sugar on top and cheese inside) and quesadillas (which much to our dismay are not the tasty tortilla snacks south of the boarder).  All in all, it was a lot of fun and we got to eat everything we made for free!

I’ve officially been living in Nandasmo for more than 2 months.  This means I’ve only got 2 weeks left!  A week from Friday is our youth group competition and then off to Managua to become volunteers!  Next time, I’ll fill you in on the progress with our prospective youth group business!

Dale pues,

Pedro