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 50th anniversary AND its operations in Nica 30th 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.
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| I'm the 2nd to last at the table! |
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