Pedro: As all great
days start out, yesterday we took a morning trip to the grocery store! Impressed by a Nicaraguan supermarket?
Madre: Few things
make a mother happier than buying food for her starving third world son. Don’t think I didn’t notice, though, that
while I was pondering the slim options in the Soups and Canned Vegetables aisle
that you and your father were busy filling up our cart in the Alcoholic Beverages
aisle.
Pedro: And successful
we were! After we checked out we drove
up to Condega so the padres could meet my counterparts and watch me teach a
class. Unfortunately, as is a regular occurrence,
class was canceled for the day. What did
you think of the high school and my fellow teachers?
Madre: Frankly,
seeing the ‘bare bones’ condition of the high school was depressing. It was really little more than a collection
of simple classrooms with a teacher’s lounge, an office and a small area for
sports. I didn’t see any books, maps,
computers, musical instruments, or science lab equipment and certainly no
cafeteria or auditorium. My impression
was that any grade school in the US is better-equipped than the high schools
here.
Pedro: That is mostly
true. The main high school in my site
does have a computer lab so conditions do vary slightly. How were the English teachers that you spoke
to?
Madre: I thought you
were trying to make me feel better when you said that my Spanish-speaking
skills were better than the English teachers’ English-speaking skills but now I
know that you were serious. Ricardo, the
instructor you introduced us to, was a friendly and sincere person who immediately
spoke English to us to welcome us, but he clearly had problems both understanding
and speaking simple phrases. I guess
that explains why very few people here speak English?
Pedro: Exactly. After some sightseeing and a quick lunch of
tacos and cold cervezas we went from Condega to Palacaguina to unpack the food
and do some organizing in my house. So,
now does my Nica casita receive a reluctant seal of approval from mother?
 |
| The parents at the shot down warplane |
Madre: I still think
you need more Tupperware to hermetically seal everything in your kitchen and
keep it away from the Speedy Gonzalez mouse family who lives with you, so don’t
even let me get started about the nightmares I’m going to have about the
diseases you may be getting. However, I did feel good about the house
projects you and your father worked on.
Pedro: Dad and I
installed a showerhead (the two months prior I’d been using the equivalent of a
hose) and hung up my new hammock! With
the improvements complete, I took you guys around town to introduce you to
friends and co-workers. Nice people,
right?
Madre: Nice doesn’t
even begin to describe it. We met the
family who runs the post office and several shopkeepers, besides your
co-workers and former host family. Everywhere
we went, your friends and co-workers greeted us enthusiastically and invited us
to come in and sit down to talk. Many of
them also insisted on giving us something to eat and drink or a small gift to
take home. They all spoke warmly about
you and seemed genuinely happy to meet us.
The homes we visited in Palacaguina varied widely, from tiny abodes with
cement walls and floors and simple furniture (uncomfortable wooden or flimsy
plastic chairs) to slightly larger homes with painted walls, tile floors and
upholstered furniture. Since you kept
finding people for us to meet until it was starting to get dark and we had to
head back to Esteli, I’d say you’re doing a good job at the Peace Corps mission
of promoting relationships between our countries.
Pedro: It’s a rough
job but somebody has to do it.
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