21.7.08

Description of where I Live Work and Play:

I live in a small four bedroom two bathroom house, but we only use three bedrooms and one bathroom. We have a living room and a room that is more or less designated for my host mom’s salon, nail painting and hair cutting. We have a small kitchen that has a refrigerator, stove and countertop. We have a back porch area that has a table that we sometimes eat at on the weekends when there is nothing good on television. Past the porch there is the patio that has a concrete floor but has two trees growing also. There in the left corner is the only sink in the house where we do all the washing of dishes and clothes. To the right on the patio are clothes lines where we hang our clothes to dry.

I work in the nicest building in Ciudad Sandino. There are actually two buildings both have two floors and are connected by a walkway on the second floor. It’s protected by a gate and a guard station but anyone can walk in and out. The environmental office is on the second floor in the right hand corner. This office consists of three cubicles and there is another desk/office in the main open part of the office. The walls are white and the trim of the cubicles is a dark wood.

Since I’m working on this absorption tank project part of my job site is in Oro Verde which is a community on a hill side across from the entrance of Ciudad Sandino. They mainly have dirt streets but there are two main streets that are “paved” with cement blocks. Generally it’s a mixture of home types. There are nicer ones with tile entrances and then there are ones with dirt floors. These two homes could be found right next to each other, I’m not sure how this happens. All the homes are close together and the people of the community are generally friendly.

Where I play? Well most weekends we take trips to other cities like Granada, San Juan del Sur, Masaya, Jinotega, Leon, etc. That’s where I do most of my playing. But I also have some downtime and special experiences here in Ciudad Sandino. My neighbor, Paola, is 13 and one of my host sister’s friends. She is super mature for a 13 yr old and I enjoy hanging out with her…plus her dad works for an import company so he brings home boxes of samples like snikers, twix, juices ….you know “good ole USA” stuff. She invited me and my sister to the opera in the National Theatre in Managua the other night. That was quite an event. She had free tickets because her music teacher was playing in the orchestra. The show was Madame Butterfly and it was pretty amazing to say the least and my first opera experience ever…I know Signe would be jealous. I’m pretty sure we were the only people from Ciudad Sandino as there were famous new casters there and other rich and famous Nicaraguans. My host sister dressed me again and they some how found 5 inch heals that fit my big foot and I WORE them, I almost fell…a lot. But it was fun none the less.

Where else do I play? Usually once a week two other interns here in C.S. and I go out to ice cream and talk about our week. I took my sister and Paola out to a fair the other night and they convinced me to get on a mechanical bull where 100s of Nicaraguans were watching as I almost fell on my face…but my sister promised to do it if I did it, so she got on it too, but rode it more gracefully. I also went with Paola and my host sister’s choir to a town outside of Managua to attend a special mass and enjoy the concert my sister’s choir was giving. That was super fun and I got to meet some more people who live around my area. I basically take any opportunity I’m given because I know the other option is to sit at home and be a tasty feast for some zancudos…which is another word for mosquitoes in Spanish. I wrote an ode to them:

Los Zancudos

You bite
You suck
I’m out of luck

I see you
Hordes of you
Hovering
Landing
Playing tag

I’m watching you
You can’t get me
Covered by the net that protects war torn skin
You’re out of luck

So that’s how I play…

Maybe I’m just lost in translation…

I complained about their work ethic and then I come back after winning the grant proposal while being on vacation with my mom and aunt and half of what we agreed to do next week was done while I wasn’t there...So they, or at least my supervisor, does get down to business, which I did know but it’s in spurts. I could look at this situation of things being done when I wasn’t there in several ways…1. It is a more sustainable project because it’s being implemented Nicaraguans 2. Do they really know what’s best for this project? 3. Do I really know what’s best for this project?

I try to outweigh any doubts about any project, especially this one, with hope and faith: everything WILL work out. So I jumped on that train of thought from day one when I was given this project to work on. After talking to my mom and aunt who have lots more life experience and are a bit more mechanical they were raising questions that I had tried to answer but couldn’t so I banked on hope and faith…again. But I do have to face these issues my supervisor sometimes seems to ignore. These issues include: 1.What happens when the tank is full? 2. What happens to the waste material being poured down the drain?

Well my questions got answered by an unexpected source. On the last day of vacation with my mom and aunt we got WAY off the beaten path and back in the rainforest of Nica we met a professor and eight students from University of Portland who for two weeks had been traveling around Nica and visiting a variety of development projects. They were spending these last three days writing a collaborative paper about their findings, which were more sustainable etc. First off, I wanted to be in their class. Secondly we caught this professor at just the right moment and he was super excited to learn about my absorption tank project. AND HE KNEW ABOUT THE TANKS. He answered all my questions and doubts and told me how the materials and design worked. He gave me his unconditional support and I felt good. He also had two student aids for translation etc. who were prior Peace Corps volunteers. One of them had also done a similar project in Guatemala and willingly gave me contact information to learn more about a simple device that can built to strain out food materials. To say the very least it was a very productive conversation that included a side of grad school possibilities…of course.

So I get back to Ciudad Sandino and we aren’t following the work plan laid out and agreed upon while writing the grant. That’s annoying but I shouldn’t get caught up in that. (Hopefully this happens a lot) Instead let’s concentrate on the people, why I’m here: relationships, bettering and empowering people’s lives. I don’t doubt that it will happen, because I’ve already seen it happen, but let’s do more…

I’m excited about the last three weeks, I have a focus. I get to watch change in progress. I get to be behind and on the scenes.

As for this weekend though my colors are black and red…it’s a celebration of sorts and you can google it if you really want to know…

9.7.08

A typical week in the office

I sit at work in my second story office cubicle (oh
yes they have cubicles in Nicaragua) typing this. My days in the Environmental Department of the Mayor’s office are quite interesting and always a little different.

Some of the most entertaining days were a few days ago when I started writing my grant. (I may combine events from different days into one day just to make this a more enjoyable story.) I was pretty serious about getting the grant proposal done and my supervisor was a little more lax about the subject, which I understand now because we were starting it a week and a half in advance which is almost unheard of in Nica. Anyways I hardly had more than 2 minutes of her attention at a time because she kept getting called out of the cubicle or receiving a visitor or painting her nails or getting a phone call or text messaging or chatting or gossiping or the best one is when she calls multiple reunions in her office to sell Avon products to her fellow building members. Needless to say the first few days of grant writing showed little fruit.

It’s hard to work with someone in Spanish on a proposal that they will have a large role in but you’re writing it for a group of funders who want to see certain things. Basically I’m the middle man. Therefore I have to talk my supervisor, Jazmina, into doing certain things and hoping we actually complete them if the grant is accepted. Just imagine a group partner who thinks in a completely different way than you do, sometimes doesn’t listen to what you say and there is a language barrier. It’s rough.

One day we had a visitor, a friend who often drives us around in his truck or car. He is in his 50s and is also an engineer for the Mayor’s office. I’m not sure what the main purpose of the visit was but he ended up explaining to Jazmina and me how one can run their shower water into the absorption tank in the ground. He draws a picture to better explain his description and he goes as far as to draw a very voluptuous woman in the shower. He did it out of humor, of course, so we all had a good laugh. I think I laughed the hardest because of the awkwardness of it all, a colleague of mine drawing a naked woman…that would never happen in the US…I don’t think…

And that basically sums a day in the life of Jackie, but more so my last week of work.