Teacher Training #1

Yesterday I gave a presentation to my counterpart entrepreneurship teachers.  It went really well!  We covered the material that they’ll be teaching while I’m in the USA and a couple other hard topics.  I broke it down into 4 parts:

My 6 counterpart professor from 4 different schools

Introducing the business plan.  We talked about how a recipe is the cooking version of a business plan.  There’s many steps to make gallo pinto and you need to follow all the steps in order or it won’t turn out well.  Then I made them do a jigsaw puzzle where marketing, costs, production etc. are all interconnected.  One team did it super quickly (and received a prize of peanut M&M’s) while the others struggle mightily.

Ricardo and Alba dominated the puzzle

Presentation of the prototype.  Didn’t spend too much time on this.  All of the students have to present their prototype to the class.  So we made a list of do’s and don’ts of presenting.

Market study.  Defining what a market is in business terms is hard to do in Nicaragua.  So we discussed characteristics of buyers (age, sex, income, profession etc) and how they relate to certain goods and services.

Design of a Market Study.  Since our students struggle with creating good questions for their surveys, I played 20 questions with the teachers.  It was funny how much they struggled because they’ve never played before.  But it was a good exercise and then we discussed the do’s and don’ts of survey making.

Next one scheduled for May 28^th, woohoo!

Bad Conversation Topics

As I prepare to come back to the greatest, bestest, awesomest country in the whole wide world, I’m reminded of a couple conversation faux pas that people should try to avoid.  While I know you, my dear readers, are culturally apt and therefore, not the target audience I still think it’s worth mentioning to get the word out.

“Oh you’re in the Peace Corps.  That’s cool.  I totally thought about doing that…”

You totally thought about doing Peace Corps but…?  BUT…?  But what?  That you had a busy week and wanted to catch up on the TV shows you missed?  That you finally got Book of Mormon tickets?  Ok, I understand and that’s cool.  Switching from 2% to skim milk is something you THINK about doing.  Contributing more money into your 401(k) is something that you THINK about doing.  Dedicating 2+ years of your life helping the less fortunate in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and living conditions are difficult all while leaving everyone and everything you know behind, is NOT something you just happen to THINK about doing.  How I feel about that is best summed up with a recent ad campaign:

I agree and love that I never have to say "I should've done the Peace Corps".

Another popular question is “Oh you’re in the Peace Corps.  That’s cool.  Do you like it?”

I’m quickly approaching my 2 year “nicaversary”.  During these past 24 months I’ve had incredible experiences that I’ll never forget and I’ve also had moments that were soul crushingly horrible.  Knowing that, how do you expect me to answer that question?  It’s the equivalent of me asking, “Hey friend who got a job right out of college, how have your past 730 days been?”  It’s impossible to answer.  And what’s worse, if we haven’t stayed in contact, there’s no way I can even begin to accurately convey how the experience has been before your eyes start glazing over after the first minute.

In short, I’m exciting to come home and catch up with long lost friends.  But please for my sake, stay away from those 2 statements!

Comparison of the USA and Nicaragua

Here is an interesting info-graphic directly contrasting facts and figures between my host and home countries.  I’ll take you through line by line.  Nicaragua:

3.9 higher infant mortality rate

Thankfully, my time spent in hospitals here has been limited so I can’t speak for this statistic.  I can say that the only places fully equipped for giving birth are hospitals (maybe 20 in the entire country) and casas maternas (maternity homes; more than 40 across the country).  Obviously this means many births are occurring without medical oversight or in centros de salud (heath centers) or at home.

Uses 96.57% less electricity

This strikes me as a staggering statistic.  Currently in my entire house, only 3 things are plugged into outlets: my laptop, fan and refrigerator.  At night, my electricity consumption jumps up to turning on any or my 6 light bulbs.  And that’s only when I have electricity, which has been disturbingly frequent as of late…  Anyway, my monthly electricity bill is about $5.

Earn 93.97% less money

As I’ve mentioned in the past, Peace Corps Volunteers salaries are pegged to our local counterparts.  What they earn, we earn.  I know it’s a little bit of a faux pas for Americans to discuss incomes but I think it will help you understand how little that figure if I share my current pay with you.  Adjusted into American dollars, I make less than $190/month – less than $2280 annually.  Again, I’m stating this not out of pity (though I do love care packages!) but to explain that it is a livable salary in Nicaragua.

Consume 92.3% less oil

This is makes sense considering the previous statistic.  If you don’t earn much money, owning a vehicle is unlikely.  Nearly all of my traveling is done by public transportation on chicken buses with 140 of my brand new physically closest friends.

Have 64.64% more babies

With a higher instance of infant mortality it only makes sense that Nicaragua would have a right birthrate.  Thankfully, both of those numbers are moving closer to Western levels but they’re not without their exceptions.  Last week, I met a Nica (age 20) who’s father is 86 years old has 26 children (with multiple women).

Spend 96.5% less on healthcare

Universal healthcare will do that to you.  Remember this is for personal expenditure, not government or where Nicas’ tax dollars are going and mentions nothing about the quality of care.  Anyway, they fixed my gallbladder so I’m impressed.

36.56% MORE chance of being employed

Well as a small business development volunteer I guess this means my work is done and I can come home!  Or, and more likely, that it’s incredible hard to obtain reliable data on such topics.  Whatever the cause may be, I don’t recommending coming to the land of lakes and volcanoes because your job prospects in the USA aren’t working out.

Die 6.46 years sooner

Uh oh.  I guess the pollution, access to healthcare and the general lack of regulation means most Nicas won’t live to see their 72 birthday.  I hear this statistic has zero effect on PCVs (source: my intuition, date: this present moment).

66.67% less likely to contract AIDS

I guess health PCVs can call it quits and head home too.  But unfortunately I believe AIDS is highly underreported due to stigma not dissimilar to the one in the United States faced in the 80s.

4.22% closer to the mean of income equality

This statistic was a little harder to comprehend but I believe it boils down to income distribution.  Whatever your opinion is on the topic, it is a little alarming.  I live in the northern part of Nicaragua where poverty is the most rampant.  In my town, there are children selling sodas and begging for $0.02 instead of going to school.  Conversely in Managua, there are families going to the movie theaters, shopping centers and fancy restaurants.  Despite these vastly different life styles, according to the statistic, income is distributed more equally in Nicaragua than in America.  Definitely something to ponder.  An interesting viral video that came out recently about the same topic can be watched here (disclaimer: it's left leaning).

Anyways that’s it.  How many electronics/appliances do you have plugged in at the moment or how much do you spend on electricity?

COS, trainings and despedidas

Since I haven’t written in quite a few days, I thought you readers would like a review of what I’ve been up to this past week.

Sunday I traveled to Managua so I could go to a training Monday at 8:30.  Ate Subway and use real internet to watch my favorite show Breaking Bad.

Monday I went to my old training town Nandasmo to observe a class by two trainees that landed in Nica March 9^th.  Then we went to another town I lived in for a few days called Pio XII.  There, I co-planed with them about market studies so they can teach the material to their youth groups this week.  After a quick lunch in Masatepe, I did the same thing with a training group in a town called Niquinohomo.  Around 4, I returned to Managua and picked up Quiznos for dinner and watched the blackhawks.  I also took advantage of the internet to video chat my parents and the Nuechterleins out in their fancy new pad in Colorado.

Tuesday I had nothing to do in the morning so I laid by the pool and read The Return of the King in Spanish.  After a delicious double Whopper, I did one final training with the 2 trainees in San Juan de Oriente.  I passed the evening with some other volunteers I haven’t seen in forever and watched a great Seinfeld episode (Jerry dating a Native American and Kramer’s coffee table book about coffee tables).

Wednesday morning I had my final language interview to assess my abilities.  I don’t feel I did well, oh well.  Bought some pizza hut and cocktails for dinner and played a Nicaragua based board game created by a fellow PCV.

Thursday and Friday were similar and included a lot of presentations about feedback and job stuff.  The main takeaway is the earliest that I’m contractually allowed to leave Nica is…

…JULY 11^th!  That was earlier than I expected.  I plan to take the extra time to visit the Atlantic coast and hopefully travel south.

Today, 12 of us hung out to celebrate two of our fellow PCVs that are leaving early for grad school.  We enjoyed a happy hour and are going to head out to dinner soon.  Hasta pronto!

Hotel Palacagüina

For my dedicated readers, I’ve been working with a local coffee cooperative about marketing their coffee domestically.  After months of researching and writing a marketing plan, they have decided to pursue a different direction.  While this is INCREDIBLY frustrating, I left them a clear document with easy steps they can do to improve their market share through distribution and advertising.

On the other hand, this change in direction takes me in the direction I wanted to go in the first place, their hotel.  On their expansive property, they have a reasonably nice hotel.  Each of the 7 rooms has air-conditioning, internet and flat screen TVs.  I’m hoping to do a couple things.  First, they should spruce up their website (or at least make it grammatically correct).  Then create an informal “press release” for travel guides and brochures.  Any other recommendations or people with graphic design abilities are appreciated!

Training the rookies

Sunday I go to Managua to do my second training with Nica 61, the group that will replace us.  Monday morning I travel to the training towns in Masaya to instruct each training group on market studies.  The hope is to teach them the course materials so they can then in turn teach it to their youth groups and eventually to students in the highschools after the become volunteers next month.  We get started reasonably early Monday hence why I’m traveling to Managua Sunday.  It also means that combined with the COS conference, Pedro is going to have hot water, air-conditioning and access to e coli free food for 6 straight days!  In the evenings I’ll be available for phone and video calls so let me know if you’re interested!

COS (Close of Service)

Wednesday is my group’s COS conference.  On that day, we all travel to Managua to take out language exams and then get put up in a hotel with hot water and internet!  About language exams, it’s a tiered system of Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced.  Each tier has a sub-level of Low, Medium and High.  For example, in November 2011 I was classified as Intermediate-High.  While I find these tests completely subjective and silly (I can obviously speak Spanish, why do we need to qualify it?), I still hope to improve to Advanced-Low.

Thursday morning, we travel to Granada and check into an even nicer French style hotel.  Then it’s non-stop presentations until Friday afternoon about work sustainability, reverse culture shock, job searching and grad school applications.  We will also receive a mountain of paperwork and assignments to complete before we can leave on the date that they’ll tell us.  Right now that date is July 26^th but we’re all hoping that it’ll be sooner.

I’m sure that it’ll be exciting and bittersweet.  Yesterday marked our 23^rd month in country and 19/21 of us are still here (the other two left with honorable discharge even though they didn’t want to go).  Between the marathon sessions of presentations hopefully there will be talk of future plans and reunions.  Biz Na$ty 56 fo life!