normal week

From lying in a horizontal position for two weeks to suddenly hauling myself around the city, things have definitely picked up pace. So much so that I now have business cards and a sign off on my emails with my name, position, and contact, what I have always considered a warning sign of adult life. What’s even more surprising, however, is how much I have been enjoying working this week. Bureaucracy aside, which left me waiting many days to get simple things done, I now feel I have the resources I’ve been needing to get the ball rolling. Currently what my job entails is updating the international webpage that we have, meeting with our medics who will be the principle surgeons for international patients, networking with hotels and tourist agencies, and then marketing abroad! Starting on Thursday I began my meetings, having people come to my office as well as driving around the city to meet with hotels, essentially negotiating to see who will give us the best deal; makes me feel important and powerful.

Once we have things organized here locally, then comes the international marketing for which we will be targeting Miami, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This of course if very exciting for me as it may mean some “business traveling” since this work is very personalized and social. First opportunity is coming up November the 12th – 14th in Miami where I am pretty sure they are sending me with the soon to be new marketing manager. First, never been to Miami, and while im sure it will mostly be just work hopefully I’ll get to enjoy a little as well. Second, it’s the weekend after my birthday so a further reason to make it a celebration. Third, my soon to be boss is actually a friend of mine who is the president of the Aproquen Jr. board (now called Los Amigos de Aproquen) and from Miami, so assuredly a good time! A lot of work to be done, but I’m sure once we have a manager it’s going to help get things organized and give us more specific direction. I swear, never in a million years did I think I would be doing some sort of job like this.. or like it for that matter. Life is full of fun surprises.

Along with work I have also been adjusting to my new living situation! Well, its not much of an adjustment really, I love living here. Although I usually get back late every night so I don’t end up spending too much time with the family. But my younger brother Gerald, who is 19, a I get along great. I’ve always wanted to play the older sister role, smack ‘em into shape a lil bit, so it’s fun, giving him advice on the girlies and school, he’s a cool kid. They have been doing some reconstruction and moving around of things so once I get my things organized I’ll post some pictures of my new home, with the family as well of course.

Lastly, its been amazing having a set of wheels! Not only do I help out driving the little one to kindergarten in the morning, but just getting to work and doing things afterwards is so much easier. Furthermore, with my work now its pretty much an essential. It’s been causing me a few problems recently in terms of its functioning but nothing that could be avoided or unexpected in a used car in Nicaragua. Have yet to name it as I’m still trying to get a feel for it.

Yesterday was Dra. Icaza’s son Claudio’s 13th birthday. I spent all day over there where ‘we’ cooked, organized, hung out, danced, and eventually feasted on arroz a la valenciana, frijoles molidos, pollo frito, ensalada, tostones, and cake! Here are some of the pictures:



(Claudio y Ivette)



(my dance partner)



(rocking out to Jay-sean...of course)



(me, Ivette, Catarina)



(it took way too many tries to get this little guy to smile..best he would give)



(the little dancer)



(what happens when you give a camera to a six year old)



(bday smothering)



(Claudio and the Piñata)


Lots of love! Feel mooooore than welcome to leave comments, I love reading them.

Besos

Alana

tropical torment

Saturday October 16, 2010

Its incredible how often we take our health for grated, yet at some points its can make it or break it our experiences and momentarily shatter the world around us. I'm constantly floored by the complexities on human emotions that tag along to our physical state, often worsening our condition. At least all this is what i recently experienced the past two weeks when i fell victim to some dengue-like sickness. Things had being going along pretty smoothly, just getting into the rhythm of work, in the process of negotiating a car, and perhaps most exciting was the arrival of my wonderful sunshine nature goddess friend Gillian who i had the good fortune of meeting this summer in Israel on my Birthright trip. She came in the middle of the week and stayed a few days in Managua with me. Then on the weekend a group of us drove here about 30 mins from here to a small pueblo called La Concha where she is staying with a host family for the month taking spanish classes and working on an organic farm.
So after dropping her off that sunday night i came home and started to feel just a little under the weather. The next day at work it only got progressively worse but i assumed it was just a cold. That was of course until I started having fevers for the next three days, headaches, chills, the whole nine yards. I got tested for dengue twice but the results came back negative. But seeing that tests dont always catch it and i had pretty much all the symptoms i assume it was something similar, some kind of horrible tropical virus that is. The weird part is that after the painful ended, I was left the next 5 days or so with the strangest sensations. Aside from the dizziness, nausea, and fatigue, I felt totally drugged and although i was in the alternate state. It was totally bizarre and frustrating as i couldn't really think properly or interact normally with the world around me. Granted, maybe people opt for and actively seek out this state of mind, but i suppose it's really only fun for a few hours, then you are ready to come back to normal.
So with that said, the worst part of it all was being alone the whole time in my house. When you are sick, especially in a different country, the only thing you really want is the comfort of family and someone to take care of you. Not finding that here I started to get really down, and thinking way to much, which we all know can be a very dangerous thing. Cuz what's a woman with time? A time-bomb, correcto.
However, in light of everything, my own reflections did give me some interesting perspective on my time here, what I am doing, and the changes I need/want to be making in my life here. First and foremost was my living situation. I realized the fact that I pretty much live alone (my housemate and I are rarely home at the same time) does not do me good. One, because I thrive off interpersonal relationships and am very family oriented. Two, I feel like I was becoming quite disillusioned with being here. Originally I came back because i feel in love with the country, the people, the culture in my brief visit here in May. Yet since I've been back, it seems i haven't had any contact with Nicaragua life here, feeling relegated to the gringo-expat community, which is pretty self-isolating in my own opinion, and not having a community sense at my job that really is just a work/office environment. As luck would have it, beginning monday night there was a great change of events.
My father has a close friend here named Arturo, a doctor who works half the week in Leon (about an hour away) and half the week here in Managua with his family: a lovely woman named Rosa and their 6 year old son Diego. As Arturo has had the pleasure of getting dengue 3 times, they all came over that night to see how I was fairing and to bring me gatorade and food. Upon my less than optimistic telling of my condition they told me that i needed to get out of my house and be with people, that i should come over the next day for lunch, for the afternoon, for however long i wanted.. literally.. as in moving in with them. So the next day, totally drugged out, in my own world, and hardly able to hold i conversation, I was picked up and taking to their house for lunch afterwhich i passed out in Rosa's bed for a good 3 hours. I then spent the rest of the afternoon in a rocking chair on the porch watching the little cousins play together and having half-sensible conversations with Rosa and her other 19 year old son Gerald who is beyond sweet. Long story short, I went over there every day until thursday when i finally returned to normalcy, and by wednesday was decided that I was going to move in with them. It's a lovely humble house in Barrio La Luz, a working class neighborhood with people always hanging out in the street, families spanning the whole block, and the community looking after the children. They have a large extra room separated from the house that they have offered me as my own and are doing more than their fair share of making me feel like part of the family. With all that said, I've spent tonight packing up for the third time, all my belongings and getting ready to move out tomorrow.
That is of course after I get back from a day full of salsa dancing. This weekend there is a Salsa Congress here in Managua, today being the first day. From 9 to 5 the group of maybe 100 participants spent the day taking hour long lessons back to back with different dance instructors from here, costa rica, guatemala, holland, and canada. While i can follow relatively well and catch the rhythm, I have never taking an actual Salsa class, so the whole experience is a bit overwhelming. But I am doing it with my friend David who is an amazing dancer, which makes the whole thing much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I find a lot of dance communities tend be exclusive and adopt an air of self-importance that doesn't make new comers feel too invited. All that aside, I'm going to learn, dance, move my hips, and get flung about by the multitude of sweaty men whose scarcity in number makes them a preciously sought after commodity among the eager female dancers. In light of my recent escape from death, Im trying to take it easy this evening, just packing things up and going to get a good nights rest from some more good dancing tomorrow and moving to my new home afterwards!

buenas noches

some random assortment of photos over the past few weeks...


(Rosario, Me, Miryam) My wonderful Nica and Spanish friends, that latter who has recently left us and is dearly missed.



(Catarina Lookout, a lake created in a volcano crater)



(Nacatamales. Traditional Nicaraguan food, typically eaten on the Sunday's. A large tamale-type made from corn masa and filled with rice, tomato, potato, and pork... sorry jews.. i said it.)



(Me, Gillian, and Cristiana at the Colombian Festival put on by the embassy. A day of good people, food, music, and dancing!)



(Pretty landscape filled with Pineapple fields)



(Pacific beach from my friend Rosario's beach house.. weekend get away so I could get some fresh air for healing. Although honestly I was so delirious I can scarcely remember it. Luckily here are photos for proof)



(Searching for shells for mama...)

working girl

saturday September 18

almost 6 weeks since i moved here and 2 weeks into my new job and i still feel like im in the beginning phases of figuring things out. Today is Yom Kippur and unfortunately since the jewish community is so small that i dont actually know of anyone this is my first year not doing anything.. including fasting since i just got back with my housemate from a delicious nicaraguan breakfast of eggs, gallo pinto, platanos and tortillas. whoops. I was hoping to find some services at a synagogue in Granada, but the one phone number i found online didnt connect me to anything so that obviously didnt work out. Aside from that, the past two weeks have been new and exciting. Work is slow and i haven't really been doing too much, which can be frustrating since i feel like a waste of space, but apparently they want me observing and 'soaking it all in'. Ive been working with the guy, Don Augusto, who is in charge of sales for the hospital's health plans and costumer service, so i've gotten to see the mishmosh of oddballs who come in. Quite a few characters and rando expats who have found their way to this country.

In other news, I had the most incredible 5 day weekend last week! Tues and wednesday were national holidays, so hardly anyone goes on monday, including myself. A friend of a friend had invited me to go on a trip up north, the details of which she couldn't really give me since we ended up winging the whole trip and planning it on the go. So on sunday afternoon (in typical Nica fashion, many hours after we had originally planned to leave) my friend Rosario showed up with her brother Berto, sister Natalia, her sis' boyfriend Ramon, an awesome spanish chick named Miryam, and these two canadians that were vacationing, one who lived in my house a year ago and his friend. Splitting up into to cars we were off like herd of turtles! It was incredible getting out of Managua. I realized that i hadn't really left since I got here and the minute i did it reminded me of why i decided to move back here. Managua is nothing like the rest of the country; granted it's not a city really as most of us in the states know it, but comparatively here is much more urban. Once you head out, the you find much more of the small town, campesino feel that dominates the rest of the country's terrain.
The northern part of the country is madeup of incredible mountain ranges, bring down the temperature, at points even requiring a sweater. Especially now in rainy season all you see is green green green. It's incredibly lush this time of year and absolutely breathtaking. It was such a freeing feeling driving through the countryside as we wound our way up the mountains.
A breath of fresh air and a reminder that my main desire was to get to see as much of the country as possible this year.

We were supposed to make it to a place called Somoto, but given that we left so late that didnt happen. Instead we spent the night in Matagalpa, in a lodge area called Selva Negra, which oddly enough is exactly the same place i visited with my mom and sister 3 years back.
We rented this large cabin right on a little lake that could have fit a group of 20. Arriving around dinner time, we followed our designated tour guide, Ramon, to a delicious steak restaurant and then to a little local bar to cheer to our adventure with more Flor de Cana and Coca cola (im beginning to realize that this friend of mine, Flor de Cana, seems to get mentioned in each of my entries... hmm). It was a fun chill scene where we all just hung out, chatted, and headed home early to supposedly wake up early and head out. I should have known better. As i got up way before most people, I walked around the place, following a little path up to a chapel where many weddings take place apparently. Walking inside i went to the altar and found drops of a bloodlike substance staining the marble.. sacrifice anyone? I'd like to think so. So i sauntered through the trees and paths, it is a coffee plantation so very lush vegetation. Of course i ended up taking pictures of trees with their little signs posted on them to send to my mother, because no matter how much I try to avoid it, I somehow become more and more like her.
Eventually we all got on the road and went to a little house of the side of the road that Ramon knew of, where a few women had made a restaurant. Sitting at a table outside they brought us coffee from the area, rice,beans, cheese, eggs, the largest handmade tortillas ive ever seen.
Their kitchen was a beautifully arranged large dirt floor room, lit by the natural light coming in, a handmade wood-burning stove, which seemed to give everything a more earthy, motherly mademade flavor of deliciousness! Well fed we ended up spending the rest of the day driving the supposed "three hour" journey up to Cusmapa. We went through Jinotega, Esteli (where we bought amazing Rosquilla--a typical cracker/biscuit made out of cor. a good blend of sweet and salty and excellent with coffee), stopped in Somoto, which is the last 'big' town before our trek up to Cusmapa. We bought two days worth of groceries and braced ourselves for the long windy and bumpy two hour drive up the mountains.

Cusmapa is the highest pueblo in Nicaragua and not an easy place to get to. It was our destination because Rosario worked with an NGO called the FABRETTO Foundation that has locations throughout the country, one of them being in Cusmapa. It is an organization that works to provide educational opportunities and economic opportunities to disenfranchised communities in NIcaragua... or so is my understanding. During her year working with them Rosario visited Cusmapa about 6 times and hadn't been back since. Its made up of a few small roads and inserted into an amazing landscape of hills and mountains that offer indescribable lookouts over the country's landscape.
By the time we got there we had missed the sunset (a few wrong turns up the dirt roads, getting stuck behind the one bus weigthed down by the overflow of people, small women's bladders that need do not get along with the bumps in the road) sadly cuz it is apparently unlike anything else. Nevertheless, we unloaded everything at the volunteer house where we got to stay for free, and cooked up a meal, had some drinks and went to bed... again to wake up early...?? Nope, just me Rosario and Miryam, self-designated adventureres of the group. We walked to a lookout point although blankets of fog dug themselves in between the mountainranges so we couldn't see very far out. Then we walked to the Fabretto office to visit, took a tour of the wood workshop they have and the local garden where we received a plant of oregano that i have yet to plant. On our way back to the house to pick up the late risers we were accompanied by some stray dogs and stray village drunks, one old man coming up to the patio and 'singing' for an extended period of time while holding a saw in his wobbling hand. Somewhat alarming, sad, and entertaining at the same time.. some people finally arrived to fetch him.

We all wandered up to the basket-weaving co-op and bought some beautiful baskets made out of pine by some of the local women. then spent the rest of the afternoon looking to rent horses by asking anyone we saw with a horse. by around 4 pm we had come up with 4 horses so the adventurous of us rode down to one of the nearby communities, holding on for dear life when the boy who was taking us smacked my horse's rear to send it galloping like a mad beast and the entire lower half of my body getting bruised in the process. Went back afterwards to cook dinner with the rest, play my childhood boardgame the Amazing Labyrinth, and have me get into a heated 2 hr conversation with one of the canadian dudes that started with sexism and feminism, and then moved on to racism, judaism, white privilege, and the works.. made me break out the academic terminology i have been getting rusty with.

Next morning Miryam and I woke up at 5 to catch the sunrise... we walked down to the lookout and waited amongst the dew covered rocks for the sun to reach up over the mountain and warm our bodies.. We sat for about an hour watching as the sunlight crept up to light the valley and people walked up and down the mountain coming and going to their respective communities. It was an excellent setting to have heart to heart conversation, discussing the meaning of life, ya know, the usual..

The rest of the day was marked by one of the most terrifying and exhilarating experiences i have ever had. and will probably never have again unless someone were to pay me an obscenely large amount of money. We left Cusmapa and drove to the Cañon of Somoto, where 5 of us took the medium length tour of about 3.5 hours with 3 local guides who were from the canyon and knew it like the back on their hand.. it was maybe the only thing that reassured me since we were trekking through strong currents, scrambling on nearly vertical rocks, plunging into rapids, without so much of an explanation really of what we were doing.. They would be like, 'ok, just follow me one by one' and then jump and yell at you to go. But after being slapped around by the water (high and strong this time of year because it is rainy season) it spits you out into the middle of the canyon where you are starring up at the narrow high canyon walls.



breathtaking really.. in part because you get the wind literally knocked out of you and also because its just an incredibly beautiful experience. after jumping 20 ft over a waterfall, floating down the river about 15 min, trekking through the muddy banks and wading through the strong current holding hands, we finally made it out of there alive, bruised and slightly broken and hungry enough to eat every cow we passed by.. which we satisfied by going to a great cuban meal in Esteli.. sorry to offend all my fellow jews, but Pork is awesome!!

Had a great two day week, and chill and relaxing weekend and hopefully today will be learning to drive some stickshift which is a good skill to have here...

changes

Sunday September 5, 2010


It’s astonishing how much things can change in such a short period of time.
It all began on Monday when I went to work, like I said, excited to figure out what my new position at the school would consist of and figure out the details. While I was waiting to meet with the directors (for over an hour, very typical, helps me learn patience) I received a phone call that turned everything upside-down, only in the best way possible. It was the director of the Metropolitan Hospital—one of the best private hospital’s in Central if not also Latin America, I should check on that—Mr. Guzman, who I had met last Wednesday at the cocktail party during the conference. I don’t know what I or anyone else said, but right when I met him he told me that he wanted me to work in the hospital. While he said that I didn’t actually think he was serious or that I would hear from him so soon. On the phone he told me he wanted me to come at 5pm that day and meet with him to discuss possible job options. Given what happened next I feel it was some strange stroke of luck that things happened as they did. As I went into my meeting, the directors told me that they had one of the options available that we had previously discussed.. as one of the preschool teacher. Ok, so first of all I honestly don’t remember that being part of the conversation, second of all, how is that supposed to be better than first graders if the whole point is that I have no pedagogical training, particularly for that age range, and third of all, to top it all off, they were going to reduce to salary to almost half… Trying to not make any rash decisions I said I thought it would be best for me to spend the rest of the day watching one of the classrooms before I made a decision. Given that the classes are smaller and the days are shorter I saw that it was doable, but because I had an interview that evening I knew I couldn’t yet make a decision. The tricky part was that they told me that they needed a definitive answer by the following morning. So after getting home I rushed to the hospital and a pretty informal interview with Guzman, learning that he was looking for someone to replace his personal assistant. Answering his questions, I had to tell him honestly the amount of experience I have in that area: less than I had in teaching. Nonetheless, he seemed determined to incorporate me into the hospital’s employee pool. He introduced me to a young woman who works in HR and told me to come for an interview in the morning. Given my time crunch of having to make a decision by the next day they scheduled me for 8am so that they could get back to me with an answer asap.
Heading home to unload all my anxieties on Matthew and a new housemate Amy who moved in that day, we decided that no matter what the outcome, I couldn’t say with the job at the school as it would be impossible to support myself. So throwing all my eggs in one basket I woke up bright and early for my interview. It was relatively easy and short and I left feeling the odds were pretty good. Next trudged over to the school and spoke with one of the directors, telling her my decision in the best, most sensitive way I knew how. I am happy I was able to leave things on good terms, especially since I am so appreciative of how compassionate and understanding they were with me. I sauntered around to say some goodbyes and do some unfinished business until I ran into the Lucia, the first grade teacher who took my spot, who was taking the class to their first swimming class. I went along for the ride, to help her with attempting to keep everyone somewhat in order, and to update her on the present happenings. While we were at the pool, probably two hours after my interview I got a phonecall from the woman who interviewed me, Vania, telling me that they wanted to offer me a job. Taking into account that I do not have much administrative experience, they decided it was best not to throw me into that position right away. Instead they offered me an opportunity for the first two months to spend as training, working in different parts of the hospital such as public relations (particularly internationally trying to expand the client market in the states), client relations, administrative stuff, etc. Honestly, since she was telling me all this over the phone it was a little unclear, but basically I get to jump around to different parts and then after the two months of training they will decide where I can be most helpful. I start on Monday and am so excited. I know the first few weeks will be hard since ill have to be like a sponge and soak up so much information, but I know that I’ll learn a lot and wherever it takes me I feel certain that I will gain many skills from my experience. Hours will for suuuure be a change of routine for me, 8-6 but open to be later in certain situations, since I’m still in the post-college transition and used to having a flexible schedule. In fact, ever since I moved here (almost a month ago!!) I think there was only like 2 days that I slept past 8 am, usually up between 6-7. For me, that is mostly just because of work, but it’s the norm for most of the country, which rises and sets with the sun. Could be that there isn’t much to do here at night, but more likely related to the fact that electricity is so expensive here and its and its an extremely impoverished country.
Anywho, that brings us up to Tuesday afternoon after which I went to the FIMI office to talk more about volunteer work. After meeting everyone in the office, I told them that I wasn’t starting my new job until Monday and that the rest of the week I could come to the office and volunteer, mostly so that I wouldn’t be bumming around since now I’m so used to working everyday. So the rest of the week I spent working on some documents for them, right now I’m in the process of translating this fatty legal document, their constitution in order to be registered with some public notary. Having had a few months break from anything academic, each page is a prescribed headache especially since my Spanish is much better on the streets than a legal setting. Regardless, I really like the environment of the office, the people that work there, and the work they do. Unfortunately, with my new job’s hours I wont be able to go work with them, but I plan on continuing doing work from home and meeting with them every month. I also finally got to start doing some more dancing, it’s nice cuz since I know everyone at Ilusiones—the dance studio and gym—I just kinda go, take classes, use the gym, without having to pay…whoooooops! Still in the process of figuring out dance classes, the guy in charge is so hard to get in touch with kinda flakey unfortunately, but he cannot escape me.
Friday night was Mirna’s birthday, the mother in the house I was at before, and I got to join the whole family for dinner. I cant even put into words how much I adore that family, they are so goofy and sweet, I call her mi mamcita (mama, I know you’re reading this… don’t worry, you’re the one and only, she is like a surrogate ). Plus they give me avocados from their tree, but I’m deathly afraid that the season is ending soon! And I’m just counting down the months for the mango and tangerine season to start again, namnamnam..
Saturday morning I woke up bright and early and waited for a woman named Xiomara—she was the costume designer for the Peter Pan show in June—to come pick me up and take me to the Mercado Oriental. It is the largest market in all Central America, really cheap, and assuredly dangerous, so you just go with some money stuffed in here and there, and most importantly for a gringa like myself, you go with someone like Xiomara who know the place like the back of her hand. Since I will now be working in a more professional environment where everyone looks so well put together, I’m realized that my laid-back California attire wont fly, especially if I want to be taken seriously since I will undoubtedly be the youngest person there and some people still think I’m 17.. with that said, Xiomara was the best person to go with, in fact I cant imagine doing it with anyone else. There are tons of chaotic shops surrounding the market, but once you enter it’s like a whole different world. Its made up of small narrow passageways with people pushing their way through while simultaneously trying to take in the unimaginable amount of visual stimulation, others push heavy wagons filled with their wares for sale, from plantains, fresh juices, electronic parts, anything… I held on close to Xiomara as she wove her way through the stalls, people, impromptu kitchens with women cooking, occasionally slapping away the hands of men who reached out in our general direction.. best to keep all body parts tightly together as any loose ends are a means for grabbing onto. All in all, however, the men behaved themselves quite well, as she and I later discussed, and it was not the terrifying experience that most people describe it to be. Although I must admit that we barely even touched the whole market since it is about 6 km and we kept to the clothing area since it is “organized” into sections. So I had an amazing time, aside from successful shopping it was just an experience to be had…and to be had again quite soon…
In the evening I went to an outdoors concert that a friend had won free tickets to and invited me. Olga Tañon was playing for the 10 year anniversary of some big store here called Gallo mas Gallo where they sell furniture, electronics, houseware, etc. Pretty random actually but regardless. The opening band was a Nicaraguan group that played a myriad of latin styles, during which of course the rain started its evening routine and started falling at a hefty speed. Luckily my friend is a great dancer so we kept warm dancing salsa, meringue and a traditional dance from the atlantic coast. Afterwards however, when we were waiting for Olga to come on it started pouring, I mean inteeeense. Surprisingly most people stayed and we waited over an hour in the rain attempting to find refuge packed under a tarp with the other drenched concert-goers. Eventually I got way too cold and couldn’t handle them saying ‘5 more minutes’ for over an hour so we left and warmed ourselves with some Flor de Cana. Best way to ward of getting a cold.

Anyways, that’s the update!! I start work tomorrow morning so I’m sure there are many more stories to come. Make sure you check out my photos now that I FINALLY figured out how to put them up..

besos

Working world

Sunday August 29th

What a tumultuous adventure the past two weeks have been. After setting up my classroom and working as best as I knew how, I found I was totally unprepared for the start of the school year. Luckily the first week was only three days and half days at that. I had different teachers helping each day, but honestly, first grade is by far the hardest grade to teach. As they are all coming from preschool, it is a huge transition for them as the days are four hours longer and they have to learn how to read, write and think in a different way, all of which requires a great deal of concentration, which none of them have. That is to say, more than doing any teaching, games or projects like I was excited about, I had to spend every moment trying to discipline them, trying being the key since everything I tried seemed to fail miserably. The first few days were so trying as I felt like everything was way over my head and that the job was more that I could handle.. Taking into account many different reasons and factors that I will spare you the boredom of explaining; I am switching from my job. Still a little up in the air, but the last few days of last week I worked as an assistant with the new first grade teacher who moved from pre-school. Not only does she have a lot of experience, but she also had many of the students before. So its been interesting seeing how she works, and how to run the classroom. If all works out as planned I will be working as the teacher of “nivelación”, which means I would be the English tutor for students who are behind in their class, since almost all the materials are taught in English, it’s essential that students are all on the same level. This way I would work in small groups with the various grade levels and not have to be in charge of being responsible for an entire classroom of 20 crazy 6 yr olds. Buuuut things are still kinda up in the air so hopefully ill figure it all out early this week. Im also trying to get some dance classes up and running as soon as I can. I have the OK but I need to figure out the logistics of it.
In other news three very exciting things have happened. Number one was that I just had a lovely visit from my father! Well technically he was here for the ninth regional conference for burn medicine that was hosted by Aproquen. So while I was working during the day he was busy with meetings and lectures. On Thursday I escaped from work early showed up as a surprise at his lecture, which both in Spanish and in biology language I was surprisingly able to follow about half of. I also took advantage of his staying a nice hotel here, going to the cocktail parties they hosted for everyone at the conference, and sleeping each night at the hotel. Since the conference was only Thursday and Friday, on Saturday there was a planned excursion for everyone. We drove to Masaya, about 45 min away and went to the artisans market there. I went there when I was here in May, but there are so many beautiful things that it’s hard not to buy something every time you go. We left with some lovely cloth bags, a hammock, and someother little presents for people. The trip continued on to Granada, a colonial town that runs up against lake Nicaragua and has become one of the largest tourist cities here. The cars dropped us off at the water and we took a boat to one of the isletas. The lake is one of largest lakes in the world (I want to say 19th??) and has about 300 hundred tiny islands in it that are the results of a volcanic eruption many many maaaany years ago. Many of the islands have been bought by individuals who construct houses or whatever on them. All 57 of us jumped out of the boats onto a dreamlike lump of land surrounded by warm fresh water that is owned by the parents of Carlos Pellas (he and his wife are the founders of Aproquen). There was live music, endless refills of fresh coconuts, macuas (national drink of guava, orange juice and white rum), rum-and-cokes–since the Pellas’ are the owners of nicaragua’s national rum, Flor de Caña—a swimming pool, and an incredible meal of meats, tortillas, beans, and typical sweets from here. After about four drinks I somehow found myself taking a nap on a concrete bench, as most other people danced, sang, talked business, and the unfortunate few who were pushed into the pool without warning by one mischievous guest. Around 4 pm we headed back to the hotel and arrived just in time for the daily rainstorm. In the evening my dad, his girlfriend Susan, and I met up with the parents from the house I’ve been staying at (they became friends with my dad immediately) across the street at a famous restaurant here. I had bought tickets a few weeks ago from the swimming teacher at my school who told me that there was going to be a concert as a fundraiser to send the school’s swim team to Panama later on this year. For some reason I assumed there would be some typical Nicaraguan music or something of the sort. Instead we were presented with an unfortunate surprise of having young teenage rock bands make up the lineup, which could only be justified by the fact that most of them are students at the school. Let’s just say that after a piña colada and some sweet plantains, the group of us was sneaking out the back to make it an early night of good sleep. I hope they don’t ask me any questions at work tomorrow… This morning my dad and susan left in the weeeemorning while I caught up on the sleep I’ve been missing. Then comes part 2 of my exciting news! I spent all day moving into my new home!!
I met an American last time I was here, named Matthew, who has been here for about 6 months working with an NGO and more recently started working part time at Aproquen as well. He was gone these two weeks that I’ve been here so he’s been off my radar, but when he came back for the cocktail party last Wednesday and I told him I was still looking for a place to move, he asked me why I didn’t move in with him, as though it was the obvious solution, which it ends up being. His work provided him with a house in Altamira, a much more centrically located area. The two other people who were living with him this summer left and so the house has more than enough space. I have my own room with lots of space, a big window, a fan, a bathroom, plus the house has a large living room, huuuuge kitchen which im going to take full advantage of, a porch and a little garden out back. In other words, PLENTY of space for guests to come stay with me! So I spent today setting up my room, walked to the grocery store near by, and got home just in time before it started pouring…which it has been doing all afternoon. We were going to go to the softball league’s final game (its become this new craze here of having lots of softball teams, maybe 7?, that all compete against each other.. kinda weird and random) but it got rained out so we’ll go tomorrow.
Lastly, third exciting thing is that I visited an NGO here on Friday and will beginning working some with them. They are called FIMI—International Indigenous Woemn’s Forum—and are a sister organization to MADRE, where I worked as an intern in New York two summers ago. MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that actually began as a partnership between American and Nicaraguan women who worked together in solidarity during the war in the 80s. Before moving here, I got in touch with them to see about continuing some work with their sister organizations here and FIMI is who they put me in touch with. Hopefully they will be paying me, but if not then I will just do some volunteer work since I am very passionate about the issues they deal with, just wont be able to do as much.
In sum, Im feeling much more optimistic about things, still have much to figure out but am feeling more grounded, especially having a new home I feel comfortable in and an awesome roommate. I hope this upcoming week will be busy and will help me work out some kinks I’ve been needing to do…

Lots of love!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

head first

Its incredible that it has not even been a week since I’ve been here and I feel like so much has happened. After a nightmarish episode of catching 3 planes to get here, all of which I nearly missed, I arrived exhausted Tuesday morning to the Managua airport. A friend from work, Dennis, picked me up (without my luggage, which of course got lost amongst the craze of my transfers) and brought me to the house I am staying at. A lot of details of unfortunate events such as not having a room ready for me, or a bed, or clean clothes, so long story short I found a little sofa and passed out for the majority of the day. Aside from these preliminary complications, I adore the family I am staying with. The woman, Mirna, is a dentist along with her 23 year-old daughter Pamela and they work together in their own private clinic. The husband, Pablo, works with some security company and an avid reader (Schopenhauer over breakfast? Not my favorite way of starting the day). And then there is their son Pablito who’s 25 and does something, hasn’t really given me the time of day and seems too serious. Despite liking the family and the convenient location of being about a 15 min walk from the school I am working at, I am looking for a new place for next month. The room I have barely has a window, horrible light, tiny with plaster walls, and no air circulation.. not somewhere I can call home for a year. Plus I’ll need a place where all my friends and family can come stay with me!
The day after arriving, Wednesday, I went to my first day of work. Of course, a la Nicaraguan, I hadn’t hear anything from the woman who hired me regarding the where or when of the day, so I just showed up and hoped for the best. Upon arriving, the new teachers, a group of 6 of us, were given a tour of the school in which we saw our classrooms to-be. The rest of the day was dedicated to a meeting with all the teachers where we learned more about the school, the upcoming changes, and did introductory games. One of the women invited me to her house for lunch where I met her son who will hopefully be in my class. Then I found out my bags arrived so with a lot of difficulty of finding a ride, arriving after the airline’s pickup hours, running all over the airport, by some miracle I finally got my bags. By the time I got home I had to run to my first Junior Board meeting at APROQUEN. Basically I was feeling totally overwhelmed and on day one hit the “Oh Shit!” part of my trip when I seriously beginning to question why it was I had come back here given the fact that nothing in my trip had yet gone as I expected or hoped for. With that said, it was such a relief to arrive at the office and see familiar faces of friends/co-workers who were the one’s who inspired my return. The meeting itself was rather uneventful, my understanding is that we will just be planning a bunch of monthly social events to fundraise and spread awareness about APROQUEN. I suppose another avenue for meeting people and getting involved.
Thursday and Friday I spent at the school roaming around without too much direction/instruction. The classrooms are beautiful, the majority have an open garden in them. While mine doesn’t, it is huge with lots of wall space. So I got to work decorating with the materials left over from the previous teacher, working with the other first grade teacher to decorate the wall outside. She is also new so we are both on the same page of being in over our heads and just having to jump right in first. While at some level I feel like I have no idea what I am doing, it’s a friendly environment where I feel comfortable asking anyone for help or a question. The main part that will take some getting used to is being addressed as “Profesora Alana”.
By Friday night I was exhausted and conked out in order to wake up early and go with the parents to el Huembe, a huge and chaotic market place where you buy pretty much anything you need, from fans, pots, shoes, hair producats, piñatas, fruits and vegetable, freshly cut cow and other farmhouse goodies. Definitely an experience in and of itself, useful to where to get things for cheap, but totally overwhelming and an easy spot to get ripped off as a tourist. After that I went to a beginning Salsa class that a co-worker of mine was teaching at the dance study I spent all of my time at last trip. While the class was seeeeeeriously for beginners and a few unnamed people who cannot hear or hold a beat to save their life, it was great to be back in the familiar environment and see some friends. Afterwards my friend/surrogate mother (don’t worry mama! You’re not getting replaced!) la Dra. Ivete Icaza, her 13 year-old son Claudio who is the younger brother I always wanted, and her brother picked me up and we drove to Leon, a city about 1.5 hrs from Managua. It was one of the many days spent in honor of the Virgin Maria. The story is that there is a volcano near Leon that used to spew ash and sand over the city, which would destroy not only people’s health but also their houses and the city’s infrastructure. So one day (some time in the 40s) the city’s priest prayed to the virgin for her protection. Since then the volcano has not erupted..or so they say. So the 14th is a day of celebration in honor of the virgin. At 6pm there are fireworks that go off by the cathedral with someone ringing the bell and las Gigantonas dancing. The rest of the night is some version of Halloween with kids (and some adults including myself) going to different houses and asking “quien causa tanta alegria?” the people respond “la asuncion de la virgin maria!” “Que viva la virgin!” “Que viva!” and then you get candy! Or rice, or coffee or matches, etc.. For most people the night is spent sitting on their doorsteps chatting, watching the procession of people, or for people like us, scurrying inside when you hear someone has a knife… meh. I guess some teenager got really overprotective of his candy or something.
After that episode we wound ourway to a little discoteca where a band from the north coast was playing live music interspersed with some bachata and reggaeton, danced a couple hours, some Nicaraguan rum and then went to bed… since we brought a 13 yr old in with us who wasn’t quite used to the nightlife scene…whoops.
This morning we woke up and went to the beach where Ivete’s mom has a restaurant on the beach. Spend about 4 hrs hanging out, chatting, eating delicious sea food and then hit the road back to Managua…
So here I am and gonna start my first full week tomorrow with the students coming on Wednesday! Feeling pretty uprooted and missing home and family which I guess is normal, but since I don’t think ive gotten homesick since I was in middle school, it’s a bit weird… anyways, I know once I get up on my feet and get into the rhythm of things ill be fine…. Besos!!!!!! Please send updates this way!!

Beginning

It's a 4 day countdown until i embark on my voyage to Nicaragua. For those who dont know what I'm doing, I will be teaching 1st grade at a k-12 international school called The Pierre and Marie Curie school. Unlike most private institutions attended by the Nicaraguan elite, this school extends itself more towards the small middle/upper-middle class that exists creating a slightly more diverse group of students. Furthermore, an aspect that I am extremely excited by, is that the school promotes an integrative and experimental approach to education, sort of montessori-esque. With that said, I have absolutely no experience teaching but decided when i was there earlier this summer that i wanted to find a way to go back and stay for an extended period of time. Like many recent college graduates, i figured teaching english would be the most convenient way to make this happen. Walking out of a barely 5 min interview with the school's director my last day (during which she did not seem to be worried about my lack of pedagogical skills but rather ecstatically pleased by the simple fact that I was a young, nice, and energetic native speaker who had just graduated college) I somehow spotted a full-time job. As I have found out since then, I am not teaching english exactly, but various subjects for 1st graders..in english.
Along with this, I will be working part-time with a non-profit that I was working with earlier this summer called APROQUEN (Association for Burn Children in Nicaragua). As of now all I know is that I will be one of the members on the Junior Board, which will consist of a small group of 20 and 30-year-olds working to plan social outreach through events...at least this is the understanding i have. This is all to be clarified once I get there. I will also hopefully be helping out with their annual fundraiser that I got to attend this June that is a large dance/theatrical production in the Teatro Municipal in the capital. This year they performed Peter Pan. Since I was only there two weeks before the show went up, there wasn't too much work I could do.. but this year I will have a more hands-on involvement with the choice of show, the choreography, etc.
Lastly, the woman who originally invited me down this summer, Vivian Pellas, who is the founder and president of APROQUEN, also began a dance studio where I spent all my afternoons. During last couple of days some of the instructors of this "Ritmo Latino" dance class they offer, let me teach some portions... and my last day I got a whole hour to myself. I did a mix of Brazilian dance--some samba, pagode, axe, afro-brazilian--and had a great response from everyone so I am looking forward to the possibility of giving regular class (... especially since no one has idea previous experience so I can pretty much do whatever I want and they will never know!)

As of now, I will be staying for the month of August in a room that I will be renting from a family that my father's friend got me in contact with. Not only is it a bargain find but i will also be a few blocks from the school which will make transportation really an issue.. I may eventually, however, want to find a place with little more room so i dont feel i'm impeding on their family dynamic.

So these are the basic details, just setting the ground work for what i'm going to get myself into..... more stories/updates soon to come!