I have been toiling over the thought of missing my best friends wedding (Sean McC) for months since I learned he was engaged and planned the wedding for while Jenny and I are in Nica. How dare him not to check with me before proposing! I wasn´t expecting it until early next year. But seriously he is getting married to a beautiful young lady named Kate and Jenny and I could tell from the very beginning that they were a great match. So to my point, we are coming home to attend the wedding, and I even get to be a groomsman!
We will be coming home late on Nov. 6th into DCA (Washington Reagan), then returning on Nov. 12th afternoon out of DCA. It will be only 5 full days at home but I am sure we will cherish every minute of it. I just couldn´t miss Sean´s, Seany Bawny´s, Bon McMarfney´s wedding. Oh yeah, I think its Kate´s too.
I did a last minute flight check and found $100 each way/person tickets with Spirit airlines out of Managua. So we got a crazy deal and I said if I get a crazy deal, I am there, so here we come. You know me, there is no way I could do it with out a crazy deal. I can´t believe I found one this late in the game, damn I am good!
We also get to be home for Katie K´s birthday and hopefully we will see our adorable neice and nephew too. I can´t wait to be taking a real shower and stuffing up toilets again. I also am already dreaming about Mom´s cooking, and maybe even a night cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie (with Jenny of course). I´ll also be stocking up on all kinds of supplies and donations to bring back to the community with us so we will be posting some needs to give you all a heads up when we have some details.
Sorry for all you C.J. Colavito fans who won´t be in NOVA during this time, the chances that Jenny and I will travel anywhere else are about zero. I still love you all and appreciate your support.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Hermanos Locos
A couple weeks ago our brothers and sister took us on a hike to the mountain top behind our house. We knew it was going to be an adventure when Marcel and Jeni showed up for the trek with a sweat towel and a water bottle. Usually, they just have their flip flops and nothing more! The hike was a lot of fun, but definately tiring - even Van Dam was tired by the time we got to the top. It was worth the hike though; we were rewarded with amazing views of the village. The kids also had a lot of fun hanging out at the top of the mountain. Above is a clip of Harold jumping off a cliff. Enjoy!!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Sometimes it’s hard to pay attention
It’s Hard to pay attention in la iglesia (church) to be specific. Mom, you will be happy to hear that Jenny and I have been good Catholics here and we have been going to the local service on Sundays. It is sometimes very hard to pay attention though. Of course the obvious reason is that it is all in Spanish and I easily get lost, especially during the homily, but there is a lot more going on there than just a guy rattling off God’s message in Nicañol. First of all it seems like the women of the village use church as their forum for the weekly breast feeding contest. I don’t think there is a week that goes by where less than 7 or 8 women breast feed during mass. I am not just talking infants here either, there are kids that barely fit in mom’s lap who are chowing down. Also, last time I checked, it wasn’t necessary to breast feed your baby more than once an hour, but some of the women will go a few rounds during one service. The only explanation that I could come up with is that it must be the weekly contest.
The breast feeding is a little weird and I guess just a cultural difference, but all in all not that distracting. What is distracting is what some of the kids do during mass. So I know that sometimes there is a stray kid or two back home at church that gets loose and makes a dash up the aisle, but that is more the exception than the rule. In Sabana Grande it seems like everyone just lets their kids have free roam around the church. Most people just focus right on the service as if there is nothing going on, unless one of them jumps in their lap. The community here is so small and close knit that all the kids feel comfortable with everyone. Sometimes I can’t tell who the parents are because the kids have bounced between so many laps. The other week there was this one little boy that must have been about 2 ½ was bouncing between his grandmother in the seat directly in front of me and his family, a few aisles back. He started off by just switching back and forth like 10 times during the readings. Then he returned once with a small bag of chips that was torn open so carelessly that it was torn all down the middle and the chips were precariously balancing in a little pocket. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, just waiting for the chips to spill all over the floor. Sure enough he crashed into grandma’s lap and left a pile of chips in her skirt with out her knowing. Grandma noticed the chips in her lap and was thoroughly ticked about it, then gathered them up as carefully as possible and put them back into his broken bag and sent him on his way. Just as I was thinking what was going to happen to all the chips on the floor underneath the seat and in the aisle, a stray dog roamed in and took care of the mess for us—how convenient. Then a few minutes later the boy returned, this time chewing something that I figured was gum. Then grandma suddenly got really mad and upset and tried to wrestle the gum out of his mouth. Then a lady one aisle ahead joined in and shoved her finger in his mouth. The little rascal wiggled free and ran away laughing, still chewing the gum. I then realized why they were so upset; none of them had given him gum. He must have found it on the floor or stuck to the bottom of another seat. At this point I just couldn’t contain myself and I started laughing, which got Jenny laughing and it took all I had to keep quiet and not draw attention. Imagine all that this one boy was doing, then add 3 or 4 other kids acting the same in a small church of about 100-150 people. It’s hard to pay attention. Add to that a bat or two hanging from the rafters trying to sleep, but stirring every so often, just enough to keep Jenny worrying that one might dive bomb her.
Another thing that makes it hard to keep up is that even though they say you can always find familiarity in catholic mass around the world because the same readings are used every where, I doesn’t seem like mass is the same each week here. There is always something a little different. For example, many times I definitely notice that they never consecrate the Eucharist and we sometimes skip the Our Father. Some weeks we say the Creed, others we don’t. A couple weeks ago mass went on for over 2 hours and we spent a chunk of 30 minutes straight kneeling on hard stone floor alternating between prayers and singing. We learned that its hard to tell when mass has officially ended because most people don’t get up and leave. They just chat amongst each other for a while, then sometimes start back up into singing and praying for another hour. Since the week of kneeling Jenny always tries to get us out before we get pulled into “extra innings”. I never know what to expect each week.
Aside from all the distractions the mass is beautiful. They don’t have a normal preist anymore because in our second week here he actually passed away from a heart attack at 4am on a Sunday morning. Mass was pretty sad that week, though I didn’t realize why until Alejandra explained it to me afterwards. Usually they have one of about 6 different guys take over as the “MC” who reads the gospel and gives the homily. It keeps it interesting with different styles each week and new faces. They also have a lively music group, which includes an electric guitar, and a couple acoustic guitars. The congregation is very active and there is even a Southern Baptist feel with Amens and responses during the homily. Most people sing too, though I haven’t figured out the words to their most common songs yet. I think I am slowly understanding more and more of it each week. I hope by the end of the year I’ll actually know a few of the songs.
The breast feeding is a little weird and I guess just a cultural difference, but all in all not that distracting. What is distracting is what some of the kids do during mass. So I know that sometimes there is a stray kid or two back home at church that gets loose and makes a dash up the aisle, but that is more the exception than the rule. In Sabana Grande it seems like everyone just lets their kids have free roam around the church. Most people just focus right on the service as if there is nothing going on, unless one of them jumps in their lap. The community here is so small and close knit that all the kids feel comfortable with everyone. Sometimes I can’t tell who the parents are because the kids have bounced between so many laps. The other week there was this one little boy that must have been about 2 ½ was bouncing between his grandmother in the seat directly in front of me and his family, a few aisles back. He started off by just switching back and forth like 10 times during the readings. Then he returned once with a small bag of chips that was torn open so carelessly that it was torn all down the middle and the chips were precariously balancing in a little pocket. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it, just waiting for the chips to spill all over the floor. Sure enough he crashed into grandma’s lap and left a pile of chips in her skirt with out her knowing. Grandma noticed the chips in her lap and was thoroughly ticked about it, then gathered them up as carefully as possible and put them back into his broken bag and sent him on his way. Just as I was thinking what was going to happen to all the chips on the floor underneath the seat and in the aisle, a stray dog roamed in and took care of the mess for us—how convenient. Then a few minutes later the boy returned, this time chewing something that I figured was gum. Then grandma suddenly got really mad and upset and tried to wrestle the gum out of his mouth. Then a lady one aisle ahead joined in and shoved her finger in his mouth. The little rascal wiggled free and ran away laughing, still chewing the gum. I then realized why they were so upset; none of them had given him gum. He must have found it on the floor or stuck to the bottom of another seat. At this point I just couldn’t contain myself and I started laughing, which got Jenny laughing and it took all I had to keep quiet and not draw attention. Imagine all that this one boy was doing, then add 3 or 4 other kids acting the same in a small church of about 100-150 people. It’s hard to pay attention. Add to that a bat or two hanging from the rafters trying to sleep, but stirring every so often, just enough to keep Jenny worrying that one might dive bomb her.
Another thing that makes it hard to keep up is that even though they say you can always find familiarity in catholic mass around the world because the same readings are used every where, I doesn’t seem like mass is the same each week here. There is always something a little different. For example, many times I definitely notice that they never consecrate the Eucharist and we sometimes skip the Our Father. Some weeks we say the Creed, others we don’t. A couple weeks ago mass went on for over 2 hours and we spent a chunk of 30 minutes straight kneeling on hard stone floor alternating between prayers and singing. We learned that its hard to tell when mass has officially ended because most people don’t get up and leave. They just chat amongst each other for a while, then sometimes start back up into singing and praying for another hour. Since the week of kneeling Jenny always tries to get us out before we get pulled into “extra innings”. I never know what to expect each week.
Aside from all the distractions the mass is beautiful. They don’t have a normal preist anymore because in our second week here he actually passed away from a heart attack at 4am on a Sunday morning. Mass was pretty sad that week, though I didn’t realize why until Alejandra explained it to me afterwards. Usually they have one of about 6 different guys take over as the “MC” who reads the gospel and gives the homily. It keeps it interesting with different styles each week and new faces. They also have a lively music group, which includes an electric guitar, and a couple acoustic guitars. The congregation is very active and there is even a Southern Baptist feel with Amens and responses during the homily. Most people sing too, though I haven’t figured out the words to their most common songs yet. I think I am slowly understanding more and more of it each week. I hope by the end of the year I’ll actually know a few of the songs.
A place to chill
At the beginning of football season Jenny and I found our favorite post game spot. There happens to be a pretty decent sports bar in Ocotal that serves an awesome steak, beers at temperatures below freezing, and delicious fries. Finally, a retreat where we can eat some American style food and watch sports! They even have ESPN and ESPN2. Unfortunately, ESPN here runs different programming than the one in the states. Uncle Dan, you would love it, they seem to have a Yankees game on nearly every time we go there. Baseball is the big sport of Nica, everyone around here is always wearing MLB hats. Sometimes I wonder if some of them even know what it means. It’s just the cool thing to wear so many people just randomly have an Atlanta Braves hat or Marlins, but most commonly the Yankees. The bar owner is a Yankees fan too and he’s all about it. The great thing is that a little American culture can be found in a pinch when we really need it. The best part is ESPN2 runs the same program as the states, including college football highlights and everything is in English! Heck yeah! The agenda for every Saturday is hit up the internet café to catch the game on yahoo radio, then the good ‘ol Deportivo for a steak, chicken strips, and some Hokie highlights. I have to say, thank God for Tyrod Taylor. Hokie Nation can look forward to a bunch more offensive highlights this year.
Another place worth noting is that we found an Italian Pizzeria in Ocotal!! Yes, that’s right, after 2 months of no pizza we found a place that knows how to find cheese that melts. I don’t think I have mentioned the stuff they call cheese here. It’s awful. It is sooooo salty that you need a whole glass of water with every bite. It’s chunky and crumbly like feta but doesn’t really taste anything like it. It tastes like salt, funky moldy salt. It also doesn’t melt. I didn’t know it was possible, but there is such a thing a cheese that doesn’t melt. I would say that I miss cheese a lot, or should I say missed cheese a lot. Now we have our pizza place. Cos, if you ever have to make a tech service call to Ocotal, you are in luck, they have pizza with chicken. They also have Hawaiian style and salami and others that I haven’t tried yet. The only bad thing is that it’s not at those loveable dirt cheap Nica prices; it costs about 3 nights stay in a crappy dorm-like hotel for a pizza pie ($8).
Another place worth noting is that we found an Italian Pizzeria in Ocotal!! Yes, that’s right, after 2 months of no pizza we found a place that knows how to find cheese that melts. I don’t think I have mentioned the stuff they call cheese here. It’s awful. It is sooooo salty that you need a whole glass of water with every bite. It’s chunky and crumbly like feta but doesn’t really taste anything like it. It tastes like salt, funky moldy salt. It also doesn’t melt. I didn’t know it was possible, but there is such a thing a cheese that doesn’t melt. I would say that I miss cheese a lot, or should I say missed cheese a lot. Now we have our pizza place. Cos, if you ever have to make a tech service call to Ocotal, you are in luck, they have pizza with chicken. They also have Hawaiian style and salami and others that I haven’t tried yet. The only bad thing is that it’s not at those loveable dirt cheap Nica prices; it costs about 3 nights stay in a crappy dorm-like hotel for a pizza pie ($8).
Business trip to Estelí
This week I got to travel with some of the women from the Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa to help out with the 1 day training session that accompanied the delivery of the 22 solar cookers for the mayor of Estelí.
Let me start off with saying that business trips with Grupo Fenix are quite a bit different from the business trips I used to take with Printpack. With Printpack I would usually fly with a preferred airline, and because I used them so much I would get special treatment like upgrades, exit row seats, priority security line and all kinds of little perks like that. Then I would stay in a pretty nice hotel like Holiday Inn or something and they would also give me special treatment for being a frequent guest. I would get the nice big room with the fridge, couch, mini-bar, and of course the king size bed with a decent TV to catch some ESPN highlights before bed, even sometimes a candy on my pillow. Don’t get me wrong, business travel with Printpack was often really stressful and had long hours of work and travel, but at least you were treated well.
“Business travel” with a non-profit NGO is a totally different experience. With my travel experience I started off with carrying my bag and my back pack (heavy because they were full of painting and cooking supplies) about a mile walk to the bus stop. Then I took the public bus to Ocotal and waited for my transfer to Esteli. It’s nothing like waiting for your connecting flight in the airport. There is no fighting for a seat next to an outlet so you can charge the cell and plug in the laptop. You just fight for a seat that doesn’t have soda spilled all over it or a stray dog sitting next to you. Of course while I waited I got all kinds of attention from vendors. I started getting self conscious about my shoes when a third guy offered to shine them for me.
Next we got onto the “Expresso” bus to Esteli. There are two types of buses, the “Expresso” and the “Routeado”. The Routeado is basically the version that stops at every bus stop and makes a one hour ride into 2.5 hours. If you accidentally get on a routeado and intended to take the expresso, you are in for a ride. The expresso surprisingly has assigned seats just like the airlines, except instead of a lighted placard to tell you the number, it is scribbled in sharpie on the wall. Also, if you thought the plane seats were cramped, try riding the same bus you used to take to elementary school as an adult. Yeah, so I remember not being able to fit my legs into the seats when I was in 6th grade, they really don’t fit now. The expresso isn’t really that bad beyond the tiny seats; we ride with the windows down taking in the fresh mountain air and some of the best landscape views you can see.
The hotel is by far the best part. A reasonable deal on a room while traveling in the States is about 100 bucks. Our budget for this trip: $6 each. We found a “hotel” for $2.50. Yes, that’s right $2.50 a night can buy you a place to sleep. Amazing. Unfortunately, I have learned being wise beyond my years is that price isn’t everything—unless you are a non-profit NGO. There were 3 middle-aged women and 2 señoritas with us, and at first the hospedaje owner wanted to put us all in one room. We finally talked him down to a room for the women, one for the señoritas and a closet sized thing for me. My room was pretty small. We had to wiggle the door to get it open because the bed was partially in the way. The room was about 3 single beds wide and had 2 single beds in it. There was an isle in the middle exactly the width of the door. The length of the room was exactly the length of the twin beds. Unfortunately, I am longer than the room was, so I curled up for the night. There was no mint on the pillow; actually there was no pillow case on the pillow, or sheets on the bed. The bathroom was in the hallway. There was one bath room for the whole hospedaje with one toilet and one shower and a sink outside in the hallway. I asked for some sheets and a towel and he promptly brought me something that looks like the rag for drying your car that I used as a towel and a top sheet, nothing else. I also asked if I could turn on my fan so that I could try to dry my clothes, which were soaking wet from walking 6 blocks in the pouring rain to get there. He said “no problemo Senor!”, and quickly returned with a piece of cord with a plug on one end and nothing on the other. He stripped with wire with his teeth, twisted them together with the wires of the fan, and then taped them up with masking tape. The real problem was when he went to plug it in the plug was one of those safety ones that had one fat prong and one skinny one, which didn’t fit. He tried his hardest to jam it in, and then left and returned with a grinding stone. He made the plug fit. He didn’t have much to work with, but darn good service! I had the fan on all night, which dried my clothes and provided a little white noise so I could sleep. I actually slept pretty well and the bed was more comfortable than the one I have in Sabana Grande.
The next morning I was relatively refreshed and ready for our solar cooker training class. Teaching about solar cookers is pretty cool. It’s a technology that has been around for a long time but not a lot of people know about it or understand it. It’s kind of feels analogous to spreading the word that Jesus came from heaven to save us. We’re telling these women, look, you don’t have to spend 15 hours a week looking for wood anymore, you don’t have to drop 15% of your income on gas; these things can fully cook chicken on a cloudy day! It’s a cultural shift because you have to prepare lunch by 9:30 or 10 am and get it in the oven, but if they are willing to make a change these wooden boxes can actually cook just about anything. So we gave our class with demonstration and food tasting to about 30 people who come from 13 different area schools where the 22 cookers will be distributed. The cool thing is that these schools are starting their own programs to teach the students and even bring in their parents to show them how solar cookers work. If this catches Grupo Fenix could be making a lot more solar ovens. Apparently the mayor of Esteli is known for being pretty liberal and on the cutting edge of these types of social movements.
After the training we took a taxi to the bus stop. We took the first bus that came by that was headed back to Ocotal. It was a routeado, but no big deal; I’d say it was all worth it. I didn’t even feel stressed for one minute the whole time.
Let me start off with saying that business trips with Grupo Fenix are quite a bit different from the business trips I used to take with Printpack. With Printpack I would usually fly with a preferred airline, and because I used them so much I would get special treatment like upgrades, exit row seats, priority security line and all kinds of little perks like that. Then I would stay in a pretty nice hotel like Holiday Inn or something and they would also give me special treatment for being a frequent guest. I would get the nice big room with the fridge, couch, mini-bar, and of course the king size bed with a decent TV to catch some ESPN highlights before bed, even sometimes a candy on my pillow. Don’t get me wrong, business travel with Printpack was often really stressful and had long hours of work and travel, but at least you were treated well.
“Business travel” with a non-profit NGO is a totally different experience. With my travel experience I started off with carrying my bag and my back pack (heavy because they were full of painting and cooking supplies) about a mile walk to the bus stop. Then I took the public bus to Ocotal and waited for my transfer to Esteli. It’s nothing like waiting for your connecting flight in the airport. There is no fighting for a seat next to an outlet so you can charge the cell and plug in the laptop. You just fight for a seat that doesn’t have soda spilled all over it or a stray dog sitting next to you. Of course while I waited I got all kinds of attention from vendors. I started getting self conscious about my shoes when a third guy offered to shine them for me.
Next we got onto the “Expresso” bus to Esteli. There are two types of buses, the “Expresso” and the “Routeado”. The Routeado is basically the version that stops at every bus stop and makes a one hour ride into 2.5 hours. If you accidentally get on a routeado and intended to take the expresso, you are in for a ride. The expresso surprisingly has assigned seats just like the airlines, except instead of a lighted placard to tell you the number, it is scribbled in sharpie on the wall. Also, if you thought the plane seats were cramped, try riding the same bus you used to take to elementary school as an adult. Yeah, so I remember not being able to fit my legs into the seats when I was in 6th grade, they really don’t fit now. The expresso isn’t really that bad beyond the tiny seats; we ride with the windows down taking in the fresh mountain air and some of the best landscape views you can see.
The hotel is by far the best part. A reasonable deal on a room while traveling in the States is about 100 bucks. Our budget for this trip: $6 each. We found a “hotel” for $2.50. Yes, that’s right $2.50 a night can buy you a place to sleep. Amazing. Unfortunately, I have learned being wise beyond my years is that price isn’t everything—unless you are a non-profit NGO. There were 3 middle-aged women and 2 señoritas with us, and at first the hospedaje owner wanted to put us all in one room. We finally talked him down to a room for the women, one for the señoritas and a closet sized thing for me. My room was pretty small. We had to wiggle the door to get it open because the bed was partially in the way. The room was about 3 single beds wide and had 2 single beds in it. There was an isle in the middle exactly the width of the door. The length of the room was exactly the length of the twin beds. Unfortunately, I am longer than the room was, so I curled up for the night. There was no mint on the pillow; actually there was no pillow case on the pillow, or sheets on the bed. The bathroom was in the hallway. There was one bath room for the whole hospedaje with one toilet and one shower and a sink outside in the hallway. I asked for some sheets and a towel and he promptly brought me something that looks like the rag for drying your car that I used as a towel and a top sheet, nothing else. I also asked if I could turn on my fan so that I could try to dry my clothes, which were soaking wet from walking 6 blocks in the pouring rain to get there. He said “no problemo Senor!”, and quickly returned with a piece of cord with a plug on one end and nothing on the other. He stripped with wire with his teeth, twisted them together with the wires of the fan, and then taped them up with masking tape. The real problem was when he went to plug it in the plug was one of those safety ones that had one fat prong and one skinny one, which didn’t fit. He tried his hardest to jam it in, and then left and returned with a grinding stone. He made the plug fit. He didn’t have much to work with, but darn good service! I had the fan on all night, which dried my clothes and provided a little white noise so I could sleep. I actually slept pretty well and the bed was more comfortable than the one I have in Sabana Grande.
The next morning I was relatively refreshed and ready for our solar cooker training class. Teaching about solar cookers is pretty cool. It’s a technology that has been around for a long time but not a lot of people know about it or understand it. It’s kind of feels analogous to spreading the word that Jesus came from heaven to save us. We’re telling these women, look, you don’t have to spend 15 hours a week looking for wood anymore, you don’t have to drop 15% of your income on gas; these things can fully cook chicken on a cloudy day! It’s a cultural shift because you have to prepare lunch by 9:30 or 10 am and get it in the oven, but if they are willing to make a change these wooden boxes can actually cook just about anything. So we gave our class with demonstration and food tasting to about 30 people who come from 13 different area schools where the 22 cookers will be distributed. The cool thing is that these schools are starting their own programs to teach the students and even bring in their parents to show them how solar cookers work. If this catches Grupo Fenix could be making a lot more solar ovens. Apparently the mayor of Esteli is known for being pretty liberal and on the cutting edge of these types of social movements.
After the training we took a taxi to the bus stop. We took the first bus that came by that was headed back to Ocotal. It was a routeado, but no big deal; I’d say it was all worth it. I didn’t even feel stressed for one minute the whole time.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
More Pictures
Two links to more photo albums.
They include pictures from the pulsa, my wild solar panel installation, and the secondary school parade for the Nica independence day. The second album is pictures from a solar cooker training course done in Sabana Grande for the local women. enjoy!
view photos
second album
They include pictures from the pulsa, my wild solar panel installation, and the secondary school parade for the Nica independence day. The second album is pictures from a solar cooker training course done in Sabana Grande for the local women. enjoy!
view photos
second album
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