Georgina update: Georgina Passed her exam!

On February 7th I found out that Georgina passed her exam! We were all so happy, jumping around hugging each other!

Georgina and I would like to say a big thank you to all of you who have donated. 

She had her first class this Saturday and was showing me all the things they had done in class. Even though she is technically studying nursing she also takes classes in all the basics, including English, so I am hoping she will continue to improve, the studies her and I started, when she was originally applying for a scholarship in the United States. English is a very utile tool here, regardless of what area  you work in!

Some of you have emailed me questions...I hope this answers the majority!

1. Are we still accepting donations?

YES, of course we are still accepting donations, especially now that we know she passed her exams!

2. How will the process go?

This is a bit more complicated. It is all a work in progress, here is what I have so far.
-Require recipets for everything
-Require all her report cards
-have a monthly 'meeting' where we discuss how it is going and what there is to report.
The way we have agreed to do it up until now is that her dad loans her the money, she pays for things and then brings me copies of all the receipts, I in-turn pay her back. We had made a budget before she started, for a monthly total of twenty dollars. I am not sure whether I will give her that money monthly, or whether I will wait for receipts every month, assuming that costs will fluctuate depending on the materials she needs and the courses she takes. I would like to have a set system in place that is independent of me, so that when I leave it will require minimal interaction.Do any of you donors have a preference or idea?

I am thinking about designing a separate blog so that those of you who are interested can check that out, but those who are not, do not need to read about it all the time! However, right now the idea of designing a blog or website is super overwhelming and honestly I have been avoiding it!

Below are some questions I had Georgina answer (in Spanish) about her studies...it was my version of an application process :) 

Georgina’s Scholarship information

Education

Graduated High school November 25^th 2005
6 months of Business classes in a University in Managua 2006
Computer Class certificate 2007


Experiences

Worked in Managua as a house keeper

Supports her parents household by cleaning, cooking, washing, ironing, ect.

Makes and sells hand made crocheted items

Is my counterpart in the kid’s saving bank I started in January

1. What would you be able to achieve with a degree in Nursing?

First of all I would have a degree, I would also be able to help people, a way to give back what has been given to me by others. I would also acquire knowledge while working in my profession, gaining experience as I go.

2. What would you be able to earn your first year of work?

While I am doing my practical I would earn half of a normal salary about 2 thousand cordobas ($ 90.00 a month). Later my full earning potential as newly certified nurse would be between 5-6 thousand cordobas ($230.00-$270.00) a month

3. Would you be able to continue studying after this degree?

I could choose to specialize in something in medicine if I wanted to continue studying, but I am not sure yet.

4. What grades would you need to study in the best university in Nicaragua for nursing, UNAN, Leon.

I would need an average of 91%

5. Why do you hope to study nursing?

In my life I have had experiences that I think support this study, I have taken care of family members after they have had operations or during times of serious illness or complicated pregnancies. I have always felt capable to help the greater population when it is necessary.

6. What are your long term goals?

Get my degree and work in the field of nursing, thereby establishing my own economic security and independence.

Happy Valentines Day everyone! Lots of love and more updates soon on both Georgina and I! 

“Se Va a cansar”

There is a marathon held in a nearby town in May, I really want to participate to motivate me to get up and exercise, and also to test my ankle and make sure it is back to normal. There are a couple things you should know before I continue.

1. No one in my town ‘intentionaly’ exercises or sees the point in it.
2. If you are crazy enough to go running, you have to go in the morning, most people recommend 5am (I will give you a second to be shocked and appalled). The reason for going in the morning is the drunks are not awake yet and neither are the rude men who shout comments at you as you go by (most often they are one in the same).
3. There are lots of guard dogs everywhere and if they see a person running, they assume it is a threat.
4. I got a puppy last week

So I had been talking about running for the whole month of January, not a new years resolution but more of “its about time to get my butt in gear” type of resolution. I had been making excuses as well and as I was rather nervous about going running in my town for the above reasons. There are so many cultural cues for women about where not to be, what not to do, what not to wear if you don’t want negative attention, also I am not a member of this community yet (though I am trying) and my community is pretty big, I felt I did not know enough people to get out there and wave “adios” to as I ran by, I was not sure if I had enough people ’watching out’ for me.

So I set to work on research, which basically involves a lot of talking! I have found this to be the best way to be successful at anything I do here. Even though you all know I am a great talker, it is rather different in Spanish and I sometimes I lack the patience it involves!

I walk everywhere I go and saw a lot of potential routes, but most of them are really rocky and muddy and looked like great places for me to sprain my other ankle! In December I walked with one of my counterparts to the lake, where the government is helping build an area for tourism with food and drink stands. It is along the main flat road, lots of hills, and ends at a beautiful point. I thought it would be perfect, but it is really far away from where I live, and I don’t know anyone. Partially by coincidence I started meeting people along the route. Through my kids bank I met some of their parents that live there. Through my biodigestor group I met some people who live right on the lake. So it went on like this for the months of December and January.

I kept saying I was going to go every evening. 5am would come, I would hear my neighbors wake up with the rest of the town and I would roll over and go to back to sleep for another couple hours.. But! Last week I was home and I really wanted to go for a run, and my host sister was hanging around looking bored, so I asked her if she wanted to go, and we ended up going for a “nica jog” which involved stopping at two different corner stores to buy phone minutes to recharge your phone. We turned around after we had finished our errands…not sure if it was bad communication or she just had errands and thought she might as well have company and do them running!

However, it did get the ball rolling, and I went the next morning by myself. I think the biggest reason I went is because my new (adorable) puppy woke me up at 5am, biting at my feet, peeing in the house, just wanting to be awake! So I took him outside fed him and then left him in the house for some much needed alone time (that puppy kept me up all night)!

The run was beautiful. I felt so empowered and fit and healthy it was wonderful, until the way back. I turned around at the top of the hill and as I ran past the first house, a woman ran across the road repeatedly, screaming “the power of Christ is more powerful” and when she had reached the door of her house she started slamming the door screaming “the blood of Christ” over and over again, until I could not hear her anymore. I obviously, did not stop running but I was pretty tweaked out!

Naturally, I told everyone I could think of about it. Some answered it by saying “oh, those crazy evangelicals…” others said she might have just been scared and not known what I WAS, this weird foreign girl with red hair all dressed in black running past her house in the morning. I told as many people as I could, intentionally, I asked if that family was evangelical, if I was offending their religious beliefs, if there was a mentally insane person near that area, I repeated the story and questions, in hope that it would get back to them- and that for whatever reason it had been that she thought I was the devil, that she would learn to understand I mean no harm, religious or otherwise.

It appears, that I had created kind of a fad- two mornings in a row I had gone running. Another young 14 year old girl, the daughter of a corner shop owner, wanted to go with me- which I encouraged because I wanted to point out the house to her so she could give me more information on the ‘crazy’ family.

She also did not have the desire to run the whole way, when we started to run, she sprinted, tired herself out and walked and later threw up, and then we walked and talked (I doubt she will come again, but I tried to give her tips on not eating before hand, going at your own pace, breathing correctly- all the things my mom taught me when I had to run the mile in gym class) The best part of it all was, when I went with her, the crazy woman looked at us but did not shout!

I did not run Monday because Sunday is the day the drunks get really drunk and sleep naked on the streets…I thought it would dampen my whole independent women attitude to have to deal with drunk naked men. Tuesday morning, my puppy woke me up at the reasonable hour of 6am. I let him out, fed him and then went for my run! 6am here is a lot different then 5am, there are a lot of people out and about, people were greeting me, my counterpart was out taking his cows to pasture and shouted from the top of the hill “That’s it! Your running!” Everyone who saw me, had this shocked look on their faces, and did a delayed smile and wave! It was so fun running by everyone, I felt so integrated saying good morning to everyone, I think it is a good way for me to have a reason to get up in the morning and get outside. People see me in the morning and know I am home and come by in the afternoon for a visit. I braced myself as I saw the ‘crazy’ woman standing outside her house, but as I ran by she shouted “You will tire yourself out like that!” and then told me to “travel well!” I shouted back “thank you but I am not tired” and went happily on my way. At the lake I saw some elderly fishermen who go to the chapel, I greeted them asked how they slept, and confirmed their attendance to a meeting for Wednesday. There was no need to stand awkwardly and look at each other (which usually is the case), because it was the morning! People had things to do they had to fish, I had to run! As I ran back past the ‘crazy’ lady’s house she smiled at me and repeated “you will tire yourself out like that!” I shouted back “ I am already tired!- Adios!” Kids walking to the mill with their mom’s amusingly watched me and shouted the same “You will tire yourself out like that!”  I had never heard anyone say this to me before, sometimes they tell me I will make myself sick in various different ways- but like I said the purpose of exercise is lost on the majority here- I guess they think it is better to conserve energy and not look for ways to expend it, if I look at it from their perspective- going for a 5am (or even 6am) run does not make very much sense when you know you are going to be working all day, walking from home to field, home to river, whatever it may be. Why would you by choice- go on a run with no purpose but to tire yourself out!?

I realized the ‘crazy’ lady probably tells these same stories to her family, only I am the crazy ‘running’ lady! J

Adios!

VAST GOALS in la VIDA RICA

In my head I have this running list of things that I had previously taken for granted. Here a few examples of the benefits many of us have as Americans that we are so accustomed to we may not even recognize as privileges anymore! I think the biggest for me is, I have grown up being encouraged to set goals and achieve them; which has made me the person I am and will affect the person I want to be become.

VAST GOALS

Variety in food, religion, transport options, ect.

Access to visas and travel volunteer opportunities

Sports and after school programs

Television and radio programs that range in topics and opinions

Good work ethic and entrepreneurship

Optimal medical services

Achieving is Available

Loans and Debt(?!) as an option

Sexual identity and expression

I still have a lot to learn from my Nicaraguan friends, that I think is often missing in the fore-mentioned life style of VAST GOALS. I often feel like many of the people I know here, stress out less about money, even though they have very little, they enjoy what they have and love and support their family through anything.

La VIDA RICA- The rich life

Vacation a little bit everyday

Innocent lying does exist!

Don’t sweat the small stuff!

Appreciate your family

Repairing things instead of replacing them

Inconveniences are a part of life

Costs are relative

Accept your body shape, skin color, and yourself.

That is it for this entry! I am on my way to go visit my training host family, it is the little Gladicita’s birthday party so we are going to get our dance on!

Love to all may you all enjoy VAST GOALS and live La VIDA RICA! J

Send Georgina to Nursing school!

Dear Friends and Family,

As many of you know I have been trying to get a girl in my community a scholarship to study in the United States for two years.  A month ago we received the devastating news that she was rejected for that scholarship.   She says she is bored, needs a goal, a challenge, and that she wants to study to pursue these things. Unfortunately, this is the case for a majority of youth here; bored and without options.

Her parents are wonderful people, they have taught both their children everything they know, and have encouraged them to seek other means of income. To earn allowance as children they each were allowed to sell the eggs of the household and sell them at whatever price they thought fit (a great lesson in business and bargaining if you ask me). Georgina’s father earns an equivalent of $ 125.00 a month for their family of four and can not afford to send Georgina, nor her brother, Christian, to school. Christian has managed to attend school by taking weekend courses and working during the week. Georgina, unfortunately can not do this, because there are very few opportunities for women to earn income in the countryside. 

There are many young women in her position; who finished high school, but did not go further with their studies because there were no other opportunities. However, Georgina is unique in that she is still single and without children at the age of 23. This is an incredible achievement here, as the majority of women are pregnant in their teens, even those with financial means. Georgina is also very talented in the area of crafts and has started a small business, selling her crocheted items through her aunt’s home.

There are very few scholarship programs that apply to her, because she is 23 years old and has average grades.  The family's political views are opposite of the current government, and therefore any available financial aid is closed off to them.

So, why am I telling all of you this? I have been looking and looking for scholarship opportunities for her, and I have not been able to find one that suits her, so I have decided to create one! Georgina would like to study nursing, which has a very high post graduate employment rate and medicine is something she has grown up with as her grandmother is the community's wet nurse and prepares herbal remedies for sick children who can't afford medical care.

The study is 3 years, with class on the weekends. One month of studies here costs about $20.00 a month including. They pay every month for all 12 months of the year.

I am writing to see who would be willing to contribute to this scholarship fund? For example to cover one year, I would need 12 volunteers for the year to donate $20.00 one time! You do not have to sign up for repeated donations, it can just be a one time donation for one month (obviously if you feel like giving more, I have no problem with that!) For those of you sending me packages, you are probably spending this much on shipping, so I would ask you to do this instead, although I do love the packages, this is more meaningful to me.  Right now, this fund is solely focused on Georgina, but if it is successful, who knows what it could turn into!

Let me know what you think! This is my first time doing this and I would love any comments, tips, suggestions or advice. Also some donations would be very welcome!  I would also like to say NO PRESSURE I love you all regardless, and if you do not feel comfortable doing this I will understand.

I would appreciate you forwarding this email on to people you think may be able to contribute. Please don't blindly forward it to your whole contact list because it has my mom's address in it. If you yourself would like to contribute please send your donation in a cash or check format to 

Erika Harvey

11008 Dreamy Way dr. NW

Albuquerque, NM 87114

USA

I will then get a list of the contributors and keep you updated on her progress in school, her grades, and all of that good stuff!

Thank You! Much Love

 Georgina is on the right, her dad Jorge, her mom Candida and her brother Christian on the far right!

not a great picture of any of us, but you at least get the idea! Me on the left, then Christian her brother , and Georgina on the far right. We had just gotten out of the lake after swimming!

Merry Christmas!

Since many of you heard my Christmas plans and stories over the phone because you were kind enough to call, I am not going to bore you with it all over again! But here are some pictures of the process, along with the assignment the volunteers got from our local Peace Corps News paper called "Va Pue" which means "go well" and is a common Nica phrase. The assignment was to write a 500 word article about nacatamales and speed bumps...this is what I wrote

For me as a new comer to the process, making Nacatamales was like going 45 MPH in a 30 MPH zone, with a speed bump every block, never realizing the ride would have been more pleasant if you had just slowed down. In my family, Christmas dinner takes days to prepare, the pie dough is two days before, the desserts and breads the day before, and the meat starts cooking in the morning. We eat promptly at 5pm and are all in a food coma by the time Santa arrives. For this reason, I rose early on the morning of the 24^th  and went over to the house of my favorite family friends, thinking we would need to start this process bright and early, and as usual, they were not thinking along the same lines. When I arrived Cristian was in his work clothes, and Georgina was painting her nails. When I saw the fire was not even ‘encendido’, I knew I had gotten something wrong. I said, “Merry Christmas!” They said “Merry Christmas…pause…why are you here so early?” “I am here to start the nacatamales!” They said “oh well…mom is at the chapel, she will be delayed a while because there are 4 baptisms and 8 communions a long with the Christmas church service, and we can’t start without her…Speed Bump # 1... “Well can’t we start chopping vegetables or something” I ask? “We don’t have the vegetables yet, dad went to go sell the coffee harvest this morning so he can buy the ingredients” Speed bump #2.So we sit, watching Peter Pan, and painting our nails!

Finally, at 4pm I come back to the house and Candida is back from church…they are eating lunch and ask me if I want some, I say “NO! I want to save room for nacatamales” They all look at each other and laugh “those will not be ready for awhile” they say. I answer, “Well how long can they possibly take, we have all the ingredients now right?” Well,yes but Cristian, has to go to the mountains to get the platano leaves…we still have to kill the duck and get the pig lard…bump bump bump. After lunch they do kill the duck, and I am counting my lucky stars I declined lunch, I help pluck the feathers, which takes about an hour and half, then clean it, and chop it. These ‘steps’ are not bumps for them, they knew the process was tedious, as usual it was just me, bumping my head on the roof of the car, trying to drive too fast, in a slow zone! The whole family came over to help make the nacatamales and it we zoomed right along, assembling the nacatamales, layering all the goodies, wrapping them in the leaves and tying them up like presents. By 9pm the lavandero was clean and the nacatamales were snuggled into the great big pot. Like an impatient kid on Christmas I asked again, “so what time will they be ready”? Candida causally answered me, “oh we can check on them around midnight!” BAM, my head smashes against the roof, Final speed bump! My eyes nearly popped out of my head! “MIDNIGHT?” This final bumps, knocks me in line with them. I accept the rice they offer me to tide me over and we sit around eating rice, drinking rum and chatting. I put myself in the drivers hands, who seem to have had the journey planned out all along, because when midnight did role around we opened the steaming pot of nacatamales wrapped up like little presents, and we all hugged eachother, said Merry Christmas and I forgot all about the bumpy road and felt blessed to have been a part of the journey.

 The oven where I made Christmas cakes. This is an improved oven that the volunteer before me built.

 The duck happily splashing around in the mud, he has no idea what is coming! :(

 Jorge showing me the duck right before he goes to the corral to slit it's throat. Tarzan the dog is watching closely.

 The duck...ready to be put in the nacatamales

 Midnight, Jorge lighting the big pot of nacatamales so Candida can see if they are ready.

 My Nacatamale, finally ready to eat and soooo delicious. We made 35 of them but with the huge family they have, some people had to share.

 Jorge and I after celebrating christmas (they were also so amused by how tired I was!)

Candida serving up the nacatamales and my good friend Douglas in the background.

On the 25th I laid in bed all day sleeping, quilting, and watching movies on my lap top, I was so exhausted from the day before! I also spent a lot of time talking to all of you on the phone, and eating part of a cake I had made!

Yesterday I went out cutting coffee and I took some pictures to show all of you the process! This is a big part of the season here, Cutting coffee is often what allows them to celebrate at all because they get paid a lot! This is the time of year when there is the most money and people go for weeks and sometimes months out into the big coffee plantation cutting for 10-12 hours a day. I was not that hard core by any means, and unlike most of them, I got a hot meal mid day from my "Nica grandmother" where as most of them have to eat cold beans, rice and coffee.

 My friend Douglas and I cutting coffee, sorry about the finger on the lens there! To cut coffee you work in rows, so when you get into the field you shout "who finished the last row? Then someone answers you and that is where you start, however they are not straight rows by any means, and I still cannot see the rows clearly, Douglas seemed to see it though!

 The tin closest to the tree was my "basket" it has to holes, with a belt running through it that you tie around your waist, Douglas had to big basket tied around his waist, then you empty your basket into the white sack. This is our harvest (the sack has coffee grains in it as well), I was so proud of it. But it turns out it was very unimpressive, We cut 1 bucket and 3/4's between the two of us. The women who were working next to us, cut between 4 and 5 buckets each. But in our deference I was just learning, and also trying to teach Douglas some English, while picking coffee in the rain!

 Here they are measuring the coffee, they do it by bucket, the big red sacks are those of the women who were picking. The older man is my "Nica Grandfather" he is in his 80's and still wakes up every day at 3am to mill the corn and start the fire. Today they will be running the coffee through a dispulpar to remove the grain from the berry. Then they will set it out to dry.

 This is my counterpart for the biodigestors, he is making the drying boxes for the coffee.

This is the corn harvest, from last season, the kids and I sometimes do summer saults down them, it is much more impressive in person! 

Much love to all and a very Merry Christmas!

Alicia

Yesterday

The yesterday's all kind of link together for me here. I think it was about a week ago where I had come up with a blog theme- that was going to be titled "yesterday"; the idea was  to explain how much the outlooks of my days can change from yesterday to today. However, now many "yesterday's have passed so I feel the need to give a bit of a summary of all my yesterdays.

One of the more unexpected things about my service here, is how many different places I can be in one work week. On my way to meet up with dad and the family at the airport, I spent a night in Managua to go to the physical therapist and get a check up on my ankle. The Physical 's office was some kind of mansion in Manauga. Sitting in that office waiting to be seen, with fancy shiny cars parked outside, I remember thinking "yesterday, I was in the campo watching the baby calves pass by my house, I can't believe I am in the same country!"

The top picture is the physical therapist office, the bottom picture is the baby calves who pass by my house every day around noon. This picture was taken while I was talking to my mom on the phone and could barely hear her because of the mooing and dogs barking at the calves.

I had this same out of place feeling  on the trip to Corn Island. The Atlantic coast alone is a world apart,  it is a different culture, a different language (where the main language is Creole in most parts) and it felt like i had travelled to a different country. I found myself feeling very un-equiped to steer Dad and the family through taxi, tipping and food orders as all of it is very different, from where I live.

The trip with dad was such a treat and I had such a good time. Something, that I did not expect however, was how hard it would be to change life styles so abruptly. Going from the countryside here to the biggest tourist destination in Nicaragua, is almost a bigger culture shock then when I got here. It took me awhile to get into the vacation groove, and similarly it has proven difficult to re-adujst to living here. When I got back to my house the little things that i had adjusted to re-shocked and re-surprised me. the bat poop on the floor of my house, where a bat has decided to spend it's nights on my laundry line, or people being late and cancelling appointments at the last minute without any warning. I am not sure I will ever really have a "normal" here. There is such an extreme contrast between the community lifestyle of a peace corps volunteer and the expat life style of a Peace Corps volunteer, hopefully someday my body and mind will become more able to quickly adapt to those changes.

The above picture is our resort on little corn island, and us (Dad, Ira, Evan Kira and Megan) sitting at the restaurant of the hotel playing cards and drinking.

Within a one week period I had been in the campo of Nicaragua working in my community groups where everyone understands or pretends to understand me, to the big city of Managua nervously going to medical appointments by "safe taxis" and to American looking malls with other volunteers who are in the city for one reason or another, speaking English and struggled Spanish (because no one seems to understand my Western/Countryside accent in the city), then to the airport and corn island where when I speak Spanish they reply in perfect English and i find myself feeling incredibly useless and unsure of what to do with all my free time and all the luxury and relaxation offered to me. Going from gorging on delicious American Bacon burgers to traditional gallo pinto but with an Caribbean twist of coconut oil, instead of vegetable oil. Then just when I am getting into the vacation groove of laying on the perfect white beaches tanning, reading books, not worried of what "my community may think of me?" I have to go to my In Service Training (IST) where all the agriculture volunteers from my group and the previous group are re-united and we learn about how we can improve projects, start new projects, monitor our attitudes and those of community members. When I got to the meeting, I was late because I decided to stay with the family an extra  night in the hotel and enjoy one more night of tourist luxury.

When I came into the meeting all the volunteers look drained and there is a presentation going on about how to solicit funding for specific projects, such as improved ovens, stoves, and biodigestors ( I had to pay attention because I am in the midst of this same application process) but man! What a brain crunch! I sat down and tried to focus in the dimly lit conference room with yellowing walls, and fluorescent lighting running my hand through my salty hair and touching my slightly pink chest, remembering that... Yesterday, I was jumping of the dock of corn island before getting into the long boat to take us to the main island's airport, which was an incredibly small boat and there were giant towering waves of the rough ocean, we were all laughing at the roller coaster ride which was our transport to the airport- and when I got to the airport I had to rip open my back pack and quickly change into different clothes (that weren't soaking wet from the ocean). I my community I could never be so spontaneous nor so free- because it would be considered very inappropriate and unprofessional, also no one in my community can swim even though it is on a great big lake!" Yesterday, I was free as a bird and now I am sitting in a conference room trying to focus on budgets and grant applications, with salt in my hair and a giant duffle bag full of goodies from the states.

Above, my little sisters playing in the Hammock and below us all hanging out in the motel where we stayed for the conference.

During the day of the conference you had to be professional and focused but at night all the volunteers would get together and we would all laugh and chat IN ENGLISH! When the conference ended and I got back to site, it was just a real change 180 degrees. People were so shocked by my quantity of bags, and the new fridge I bought from a volunteer and had transported in taxi- everyone wanted to know what had my dad brought me, how much did it cost? How much did the fridge cost? How much did the taxi cost? would I give it to them when I was done with it after my two years of service? Basically, privacy was gone, and with all my gifts I felt very spoiled and guilty for my week of luxury coming back to my community where most of them won't spend in a year what we did in a few days...There is no magic solution to these feelings, the reality is I live every day with one foot in yesterday's luxuries and the other in a poorer reality, but wanting both groups to accept me and to connect those world's some how.

Believe it or not, the above was an attempt at a summary, the real blog entry I wanted to make was about Yesterday, where everything felt like it was going wrong, but I ended up getting to do and see things that i had not planned, and waking up the next day remember how negative I had felt yesterday but how good it seemed looking back on it.

So yesterday, I had a meeting to go see a biodigestor with my counterpart. I had seen him in the morning to confirm and he said for sure yes! When I went to his house he was not there and we did not end up leaving until two hours later. I was so annoyed and felt like the day was a total loss, but it ended up working out better than i could of imagined! He took me to a part of town I didn't even know existed and I met a family I did not know, who not only already has a biodigestor but had paid for the whole project themselves, and would like my support in getting it back up and running. We had to walk there and it was a beautiful walk, coming up on the huge lake of Apanas which turns out is only about a 30 min walk from my house, and a great place to go running, when my ankle heels up! He showed me around to the new look out they are building there and introduced me to some families that live near the lake. All of this is still considered part of my community, sisle, and a part I did not even know about! The whole walk we discussed different project ideas he had, he showed me different types of coffee and how you can tell when it is ready to harvest or when it is already past its optimal harvest time! Basically, it was just one of those really awesome moments, where I felt like I was living the dream and getting to experience something very few people would! And to think I started the say all frustrated because my Women's group cancelled on me at the last minute and I had to call the Peace Corps office and tell them that even though the reservations had already been made the women were not going to show up to the trade fair, and then I thought my community counterpart for the biodigestor project had blown me off- I had just felt so deflated and hopeless, but by the time I went to bed I was glowing from a nice healthy walk in a beautiful area, with great conversation!

above my community counterpart, and the view of the lake from the look out they just built is below

my battery is out i cant finish editing sorry i hope you all get it!
So you never do know what tomorrow will bring!
Lots of love to all
Alicia

pictures of the past few weeks

At the end of October, right after my birthday I had my language taller- which is where we all get together again and have a week of language classes to help our Spanish continue to improve. We had classes near my first host family, so I went there and visited with them! It was soooo wonderful to see them again. I may go back in January for little Gladicita's Brithday. Above is Nelson and I, and below is Mari and I, they are brother and sister.

Last week I had my third Kids group meeting where we discussed opening a community bank together, to fund some of the craft projects they would like to do. Here are some pictures of that day, this meeting actually went really well, and I felt really happy afterwards (which is not always the case!). The older girl in the orange T-Shirt is my friend Georgina, I am always at her house, every Sunday we make chicken soup together and her parents take really good care of me.

This week I had a meeting with the two women's groups who don't get along, it was supposed to be all day and I knew I had to provide food to keep them from getting even grumpier! I asked Georgina and her mom to help me with the food and they ended up making the food for me, when they realized I was paying for out of pocket, they wouldn't even let me pay them for their work! They are wonderful!

I was a really tough meeting and I ended up walking home in the rain crying, feeling so alone and very unsuccesful, I had to stop by their house to drop off thier dishes (So when I got their house I kept trying to hold back the tears), but the second they hugged me, it all just came out. When I apologized they told me not to worry, they loved me like a daughter and a sister and that I should cry if I need to cry. They cheered me up and we ended up eating rice with milk! It is sooo good, kind of tastes like tapoica pudding!

Anyway, Georgina is the one I am trying to get a scholarship for, she is 23 years old, really bright, but they can't afford to send her to school and she has no source of income. She agreed to help me with the kids group, which has been an incredible help! In the first pictures she is telling them to settle down and make a line ( for some reason they listen to her a lot better than me! :) )

Here is the demonstration we did. The tin can is their bank and the amount they will have if they all save together, the other red thing is a mini house, that is the amount of money they will have if they just save by themselves. It is 5 cordobas every month (there are 23 cordobas in 1 dollar). I also explained the importance of saving your money and we did math sums of how much we would have if there were 20 kids saving 5 corodobas every month for 2 months or 6 months or 1 year. Then we talked about reinvesting our money in activities that earn such as raffles or selling food. They go into it even if they are very rowdy!

Here are some pictures of the kids as a group, the ones with name tags on their shirts (if you can see that) are the group leaders! I assigned 6 kids in the group to help me with the meeting. They all had task names like "the Sticker" (this kid helped me stick up flip charts) , we had the "mail person" who had to go around collecting all the pieces of paper, we also had a "silence maker" (very important!)

This last picture below is a picture of a cabbage field. I just thought it was neat. Cabbage has a high price here because it has to be watered, unlike corn and beans- the main staple here.