Movin' Forward

I won't go into the specifics of the various parasites and bacteria that have been our companions these last couple months, but suffice to say, there has been little actual "work" accomplished. That is, unless you count reading books as work. Kris has topped 44, now, and Jason over 20. But that's not as bad as it sounds, since people generally don't like to work outside during the hot months of March, April, and May.

However, the first rains of the year seemed to signal to everyone that they should get back to work, so we're starting to see less and less reluctance to get things done. First, there was President Bolaños. He's definitely getting things done. Apparently, he didn't hear all the grumbling the last time he enacted Daylight Savings Time, so he went ahead and changed all our clocks again. Of course, with the exception of the buses, nobody actually changes when they do things, they only change what time they call it.

The next strange thing that started happening was our local community leaders started coming up to us and expressing their desires to get working on some projects that we've been promoting. Our next-door neighbors just started a home garden and worm compost pit, with little prompting from us. Soon, they'll be starting an intensive Marango production garden and building a goat house with a non-Profit ranch called Rancho Ebenezer (pronounced, Eh-ben-eh-sayr) that promotes integrated yard agriculture. Our host mom has taken over a nursery of Marango trees for transplanting, and is now investigating how to raise ducks for food. Our host dad is organizing a campaign to plant live barriers on various agricultural hillsides in the community in order to prevent erosion and conserve water by preventing surface runoff. Our INTA counterpart technician is all over the community encouraging people to plant trees to combat deforestation.

Meanwhile, just as everyone else is ready to start working with us, we’re planning a little vacation to the land where time means what the clock says, hot water showers come standard, and the people can usually understand exactly what we’re saying. Yes, we’re visiting the good old U.S. of A., and soon, we’ll be navigating the wonderfully overpopulated and fully-paved highways of the northwest Chicago suburbs! In one week’s time, we’ll be enjoying scenic vistas of those chain store facades they have to build three stories tall in order to be seen over the bountiful acres of four-wheel drive SUVs and outlet restaurants. Despite this unfortunate fact, we can hardly wait! We’re so homesick that we could just burst!

Just try to imagine. Nine months since we last looked into the eyes of any family member or non-Peace Corps, American friend. Nine months since tasting barbeque sauce, root beer floats, apple pie, chicken egg foo yung, or reuben sandwiches. Nine months since surfing a wireless internet network or even typing on a laptop. Nine months since driving anything except for a bicycle. Nine months since feeling carpet beneath our bare toes. All that is about to change, my friends!

The plan is to get home and immediately dig into a peanut butter silk pie from Baker’s Square with Kris’s parents. Then, we’ll get the packing our bags for the return trip out of the way, since we’re bringing back a ton of books, gadgets, and art supplies, now that we have a better idea of the sorts of things we could use. We’re going to get some computer maintenance done for the family and then go shopping for food and more supplies. You should see our list of restaurants and food items we’re dying to eat. Wednesday, we’re all going out for German food in Milwaukee, and then Jason’s parents and sister are coming down to stay with the rest of us in the Chicago suburbs. Thursday is a birthday party for Kris’s brother’s fiancée, complete with stuffed Chicago-style deep dish pizza! Friday, we cram in as much of the Chicago botanical gardens as we can. Then the next few days, we just hang out and eat, eat and hang out! Cook out, baby! USDA certified beef! Bacon! Cheese! Oh, bliss! Oh, heaven! OH, WE CANNOT WAIT!

28 March, 2006

Cultura Comica

Adjusting to Nicaraguan food challenges even the best Peace Corps volunteers. It's not that the food doesn't taste good. It's actually quite delicious. You just have to get used to a very different diet, based on a completely different system of nutrition. In the US, we have the food pyramid to guide us in the six basic food groups: oil/sugar, meat/fish, bread/cereals, fruits and vegetables, and milk/dairy. Nicaragua has its own major food groups, which are outlined below.

The beans/tortillas/rice/curds group

Sure, these are all very different foods, but I include them as one group here because they make up the main sources of protein in the Nica diet. A typical breakfast consists of gallo pinto, a salty boiled-then-fried rice and beans dish, with a fried egg and a hunk of cuajada (salty curds) on the side. For lunch: more beans and rice; perhaps some veggie soup if you're lucky. For dinner: oh look, more beans and rice!

The sugar group

A helpful adage for volunteers trying to come up with recipes that Nicas will like is, "if it's sweet, they'll like it." One part sugar to one part coffee is pretty much the standard Nica drink, and most fruit juices have sugar added as well. Once, a PC volunteer running a mini-marathon was offered a red Fanta soft drink with extra sugar floating in the bottom!

The oil group

One of my Nica friends from the office says that Nicaragua is the only country where even the salad is fried, and that's not far from the truth. Many traditional Mexican entreés like tacos and encheladas appear in the Nicaraguan diet as well, only here they are all deep-fried. Other commonly fried items include chicken, pork, bananas, potatoes, and a white and purple tuber called malanga.

The salt group

Hunger might be the best seasoning, but a close second in Nicaragua would have to be salt. Salad, rice, beans, curds, eggs, and tortillas all bring an excess of salt.!

We can hardly believe that we left home for the Peace Corps over seven months ago. While training seemed to never end, our time in-site has really flown. Projects are starting to coallesce and take form before our eyes. Our 275 students have finished planting their fourteen school gardens and are now waiting eagerly to see the first greens start to poke out of the ground. We're starting a tree nursery and garden of our own in the front yard as well, so the community can identify us as the people to go to for home garden info.

One of our pet projects is promoting a particular kind of Asian tree called Morango. It's basically a miracle food, with the leaves offering calcium, protein, and vitamins A and C. It grows really quickly - 4 meters tall in just the first year - and is resistant to drought. It regrows even if you cut it all the way to the ground, which makes it perfect for intensive leaf production in small spaces. You can plant a 4 meter by 1 meter plot of ground with 400 plants, and harvest half of each plant when it reaches 60 cm tall, ensuring a steady stream of nutrition to an entire family. Right now we're putting the finishing touches on a promotional pamphlet and waiting for the seeds to come. The people we've talked to thus far seem enthusiastic about the project, and we already have promises to plant from four families.

Soon, we should be meeting with our local 4H club to meet the kids and get started on some home gardens in the community. In the past, they have done lots of community service projects with our Ministry of Agriculture partner, so the prospects for practical education with the group seem promising.

Some somewhat unrelated news is that we now have a functional email notification service for our Photo Blog. Just enter in your email to the field next to the picture at the top of the page and press the subscribe button. For those who haven't been keeping up with the stream of photos, we last uploaded new pictures just a week ago.

March 8, 2006

Cultura Comica

Contrary to popular belief, just because a nation is designated third-world doesn't mean that the people don't enjoy some of the benefits of modern technology. Even adobe houses with dirt floors, no latrine, and wood-burning stoves have televisions and flipping huge stereos. In the remote areas, people still watch their prime time soap operas religiously, and if you don't have a stereo, it doesn't really matter, since the person next door is probably playing theirs loudly enough for the entire block to enjoy. House doesn't have power? Not a problem. We'll still power that TV and stereo with car batteries.

Cell phones are still a relatively new phenomenon, but they are catching on as well. For as little as $23 one-time cost for the phone, as well as a $1 phone card, you can be up and running with a cell phone. Text messaging is especially popular, since each message only costs around $0.07.

Just spent the day in rest and relaxation, getting my sanity back after a week-and-a-half of mental and physical overexertion. Two weeks ago this last Thursday, we entered the secondary school located in a nearby small city in order to me the faculty for the first time and express our interest in teaching. Lacking a class schedule at the time, we were kindly told to come back on the following Monday to see if they could fit us in. (What they were teaching the first three weeks with no schedule still puzzles me.) Monday, the schedules still weren't out, so we came back on Wednesday. We found out that yes, indeed, we would be teaching two practical agriculture classes per week, as well as tutoring English for all of 1st year (equivalent to 7th grade in the U.S. Oh, and by the way, can you start tomorrow?

So after Kris giving me a crash course in lesson planning, and after staying up late writing our first class on seed saving techniques and buying tomatoes and peppers for the students to practice on, the next day, we successfully delivered our first practical workshop of our Peace Corps careers to a group of 37 white shirt and blue slacks uniformed teenagers, completely in Spanish. It was a big success, with lots of happy class participation! I big encouragement for my first full-length teaching experience.

Later that morning, Kris wasn't feeling so hot, so I biked back by myself at 11am to tutor students in English, during their so-called free hour. The moment I arrived, before even getting to the classroom building, I was accosted by my entire class of indignant-looking students, demanding to know where I'd been and why I never showed up at 10am to "give them English class". Utterly bewildered, I referenced the schedule and confirmed that it indeed said 11am, not 10am. Thankfully, the teacher let the kids out of their phys. ed. class to come learn English right then and there.

So, I was ushered into the free hour expecting to sit in a corner and answer questions while others worked on homework, like an office hours during study hall in the U.S. How surprised I was when the teacher left the room with me standing up front and every single expectant face staring not at their homework, but at me, awaiting a brilliantly prepared full-length English lesson! Thankfully, being first years, all I had to do for them was practice a bit of pronunciation, numbers, and colors, in my own language. It was a lot harder for them than for me. Most people don't realize why Hispanic immigrants have the accent that they have, but it's because English has about 10 sounds that are just never produced in Spanish. So it was interesting, to say the least, trying to get everyone to pronounce the "R" as in "rebel", "A" as in "apple" and "V" as in "vehicle", amongst others.

The next morning, we arrived early to try and get to the bottom of when the free hours actually were supposed to be taking place, since the schedule said one thing, the students said another, and the teachers had no clue. After our first hour practical agriculture class, which seemed to start about 40 minutes early, we went to meet with the head professor in the main office to try and get another look at the one official printed copy of the schedule. That's when we received our first shock. On the way there, we were told that they wanted us to teach a third section of practical ag., for the second years, that very afternoon (for which we didn't have the tomatoes and peppers). Surprised, we asked the head professor, "so, there are three sections you want us to teach?" Blinking, she stared us a moment and then replied, "no, no. There are five sections. No wait. Three for first year, three for second year, two for third year ... eight sections."

"What?" and, "Are you kidding?" were the first things to shoot through my head, shortly after accompanied by cold sweats, rapid heart beat, and a distinctly nauseous sensation in the pit of my stomach. Panicked looks darted from Kris' eyes to mine and back as she shook her head and muttered quietly to me, "we can't do this," which was exactly what I was thinking. Eight sections per week, plus English classes, lesson planning, and getting all the materials we needed for each week? That would consume our entire Peace Corps service! At least until we ran out of money for materials, or lessons to teach, energy to plan, or all three.

At the same time, I couldn’t help thinking of what an ideal opportunity this was. Over half of Nicaragua is under the age of 25, and if we don't work with the community youth, we're not going to make a very sustainable impact. And here was an opportunity to reach 270 young people from all over the area, including our own site. How could we just pass this up? I figured, impossible as it seemed, we had to at least try to do this, even if maybe we scale back the rate. Maybe every other week or half the sections now, half later?

Our second surprise came as we were trying to puzzle through the scheduling idiosyncrasies. We noticed as we were looking over the official schedule that one of the sections had all the hours crossed out and replaced with an hour earlier than had previously been printed. So this one section was starting at 7am when all the rest started at 8pm? That seemed a bit strange. When we inquired about the discrepancy, the head professor got this look of dawning comprehension on her face and exclaimed, "oh no. All those other schedules start an hour earlier too. They are all still in the 'new hour'. We've changed back to 'old hour', now."

Apparently, in a genius attempt to conserve electricity on a national level like the United States, the Nicaraguan president had enacted a daylight savings time last year called "new hour". Let’s pretend for a moment that this actually made sense for a tropical country with non-variable day length. The main problem with this policy is that the system was never fully explained to the people. Instead of changing their clocks and changing what hour they got up in the morning, everyone kept exactly the same daily routine and rescheduled appointment and meeting to happen an hour "later" on "new hour", and at the exact same time of day on "old hour". Dumblaws.com, we have a candidate.

So last October, it was announced that we were going back to "old hour". Whether this change remains permanent, or is only part of an exercise in futility to be repeated in future years, remains to be seen. What we do know is that the school district forgot to change the times on the new schedules before printing them off. To correct this oversight, they fixed the times on the topmost sheet of paper in the stack and assumed people would get the hint. Problem was, nobody told the new guys, and in the shuffle to share one set of schedules for the different sections with all the teachers, all the papers were mixed up, passed out, and otherwise separated from that corrected top sheet of paper. At this moment we realized what had happened. I wonder what all those teachers thought. "Man. An hour late to every class the first day. They said these gringos were punctual."

However, the important thing is that the students loved the classes, and my confidence as a new teacher started to increase. This is a good thing, since I had ten classes to teach by myself the next week, with Kris attending an active listening Peer Support Network training all week. To make the lesson planning easier, we decided to just have the kids prepare the earth for our class gardens. We didn't realize at the time that this would involve four hours hunched over in the hot sun collecting 16 large bags full of dry cow manure from a neighboring pasture. Nor did we realize that the ground was super dry and compacted from the summer sun and needed hours of watering. Nor did we realize the intensity of just demonstrating the process of preparing the ground eight times and the effect it would have on my body.

Thankfully, we only have to do this backbreaking work once, since from here on it's just planting, playing with worms, and more seed saving. My blisters have started to heal, and my muscles are no longer cramped and sore. But looking back, I love it. They were right. Peace Corps really is the toughest job you'll ever love.

Starting Work

Well, after our first 3 months in our site, things are starting to pick up speed. We were told that volunteers usually spend their first three months doing nothing (besides just getting to know people and getting aquainted with the area) and then things just naturally pick up. I didn't quite believe it, but it's true. We went from having maybe two things in our schedule every week in addition to working on our house and hanging out with our host family, to having several community meetings set up with our counterpart, 8 sections (about 170 students) of agriculture classes to teach at the local high school every other week, 3 informal English classes a week at the high school, a grant proposal to write, family gardens to start with local producers and their families, and at least one week long Peace Corps sponsored workshop a month for the next three months! Yikes! I was actually beginning to enjoy sleeping in and reading in my hammock. It doesn't look like we'll have much time for that anymore.

February 18, 2006

Cultura Comica

It is perfectly acceptable in Nicaragua for men to unzip and urinate on the side of the road in broad daylight. See-through blouses and public breast-feeding (without any sort of a cover) are also commonplace. However, don't get caught talking alone with a friend of the opposite sex in your living room over coffee unless you want to be accused of having an affair with him or her.

Yikes! Talk about a stale blog. Been kind of busy every visit into Ocotal, so the blog has kind of taken a back seat to more pressing errands.

Anyways, here we are, three months into our service. We are settled into our new house and have made friends with most of our neighbors. Our adorable new cat, Nico (the Nicaraguan gato) provides us with endless hours of entertainment and comfort. Spanish is still flippin' hard, but we can at least understand most of what people say now, even if we aren't very comfortable taking the initiative in conversations.

Most of December and January were spent fixing up the house, being sick, and generally avoiding the indigenous population. February has been much better, since both of us have yet to get sick this month, and we've finally made contact with our counterpart from the Ministry of Agriculture. She's super motivated and enthusiastic, so our work relationship should be a good one.

We're starting to pursue the possibility of teaching part time in the local high school in a nearby town. We really want to teach practical agriculture, horticulture, and environmental protection, and the teacher we've met from the school really wants us to take some classes in these areas, but we probably won't be able to squeeze into the already packed schedule. We'll probably end up tutoring 7th- through 9th-grade students in English during study halls. Maybe if the classes don't work out, we'll end up starting a 4H club for after school.

There's already a 4H club in our own town that our Ministry of Agriculture counterpart started a bit ago, so we can probably start teaching there, too, as soon as we meet the club.

As far as teaching English goes, we've been giving one-on-one lessons to a couple of motivated individuals that have sought us out. We enjoy the teaching, and it fits with the Peace Corps' work in Nicaragua, since a new English as a Second Language program is starting up here this Fall.

So, all in all, things are going much better. Life in the country, close to the land, is so much more enjoyable than the hectic pace of suburban Chicago. And it feels good to be somewhat proficient at another language.

The thing we miss most besides our families and friends is mostly just a sense of feeling normal. Here, we are always noticed everywhere we go. We are called cheles and gringos quite often. It's not meant disrespectfully, but coming from a culture that stresses the value of individuals, regardless of skin color, race, or creed, we can find ourselves offended every once in awhile. Mainly, we just don't want to be the "white people" that stick out. We want to walk down the street without everyone's eyes following us.

Of course, sticking out does have its advantages. We never have to worry about strangers being able to find us for an appointment.

November 18, 2005

So, today was a good day. We've taken our oath of office, sung the national hymn of Nicaragua, become Peace Corps volunteers, gotten our bank accounts and settling-in allowance, and celebrated with a bit of sushi and tempora shrimp at this place down by the Carretera Masaya.

Managua is a bit of a strange place. Some parts are dumpy, and other parts are just as modern or newer than a US suburb. Example: last night, one of our friends, Kris, and I all went to see the Legend of Zorro at this three storey Inter Mall, had Pepsi and a large popcorn, and were treated to a nearly-empty showing in a brand new theater with cozier chairs than are in the former Nicaraguan President's mansion. Tonight, we go out for sushi, and on the ride there, pass a TGI Friday's, a McDonalds, a Burger King, several Subways, and several supermarkets. There are tons of SUVs on that end of town, as well as the brand new hospital. Yet not two miles away lie dirt road neighborhoods with adobe houses, no running water, and kids running around with age-stained, torn clothing: a more typical example of the rest of Nicaragua.

style="float:right" class="post-photo">Enough about Managua. What I want to do now is teach everyone the Nicaraguan national anthem. It's kind of catchy, and I've been practicing it for the swearing-in ceremony for two days now, so it's on my brain. And the third mission point of the Peace Corps is PC volunteers teaching estadounidenses about the country in which they serve, so this will be a fun cultural experience for everyone and contribute to my job success at the same time!

• First, the words and sheet music for those that can read music:
  http://library.thinkquest.org/17749/media/national1.jpg
  http://library.thinkquest.org/17749/media/national2.jpg
  http://library.thinkquest.org/17749/media/national3.jpg
  
  

  Nicaraguan National Hymn

  by SALOMÓN IBARRA MAYORGA
  
  ¡Salve a tí, Nicaragua! En tu suelo
  ya no ruge la voz del cañón
  ni se tiñe con sangre de hermanos
  tu glorioso pendón bicolor.
  ni se tiñe con sangre de hermanos
  tu glorioso pendón bicolor.
  
  Brille hermosa la paz en tu cielo
  nada empañe tu gloria inmortal
  que el trabajo es tu digno laurel
  y el honor (honor) echo
  es tu enseña triunfal (triunfal) echo.
  es tu enseña triunfal!
• Next, the actual tune to sing along to:
  http://www.radioestrelladelmar.com/MP3/
  himno_Nicaragua.mp3

Enjoy!

Nica 39 Training Pics

Okay folks. The latest bunch of pictures is up:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carterjk/sets/1008714

Note: The previous link was incorrect. Sorry for the confusion. The current link now points to the new pictures.

The End of Training

A week full of activity and emotion. We've had more free time on our hands, which means I've spent some time learning Nica home chores: how to wash my own laundry on the stone wash table, how to cook gallo pinto, tostones, rosquillas, rosquetes, etc. Earlier this week, we built another improved stove model, this one with an oven. It was more complex, technically, but I think it's easier to build. I poked my feet on rocks while mixing mud and horse manure for the cement mix with my feet. They still hurt, three days later.

The weather has been terrific. Sunny days and clear nights, never getting over 95 degrees F. At night the almost-full moon is so bright it creates a halo-effect in the sky.

Thursday, our training group went to this mountain to the southwest of Estelí and climbed to the top. We could see for hundreds of miles, all the way to Managua in the South and the volcanos of the East. To the North, we could just barely make out the mountains of our future home in Nueva Segovia. It's quite breathtaking to see your home from above, all-at-once. It reminded me just how small Nicaragua really is.

That afternoon, after a great lunch of chicken cordon bleu at an organic farming demonstration center, we hiked down and then up another mountain to one of the most amazing displays of modern-day artistry I've ever experienced. This Gutierrez guy has spent the last twenty years carving animals, buildings, people, and history into the side of the mountains in his free time. The display is as big as several houses and overlooks a spectacularly beautiful panorama of mountains and valleys. The artist himself is a farmer, and his greatest joy seems to be just doing what he does and showing it to others. He gave us a tour of the whole mountainside by himself, offering fresh bananas and oranges in abundance and never mentioning a single charge. He could totally turn it into a very successful tourist trap, but that's not what he's about. By-and-far the most perfect day of training. I can't believe we get to do this as part of our JOBS!

This weekend is being spent hanging out with our host families and packing, since it's the last weekend before we head to Managua to swear in as official volunteers. Last night, my family and I spent an hour or so testing my new cell phone. They enjoy gadgets like that, even though they own a better one themselves. This morning, I pretty much packed my room up. After lunch, I'm heading over to Kris' place to learn to make rosquetes and rosquillas, these tasty Nica corn cookie/scone things. I'm going to miss living here. Our host families have provided a stable, familiar place to call home during training. It's scary to leave and start fresh with a new home, new town, etc., but it's also really exciting to be out of training and finally "working".

November 4, 2004

We're back! Yes, we rested a bit, but not nearly enough. My bronchitis is better, but still here, thanks to the cold snap we just had.

Our site visit was marvelous. It is quite possibly the most beautiful place in Nicaragua. They have PINE TREES!!!! It makes me think of home. :) A short hike up the hill next to our house reveals one of the most spectacular views of the entire countryside of low, rolling mountains covered with a mix of pine, cedar, cypress, citrus, bananas, pasture, corn, beans, sugar cane, palms, and a random assortment of other tropical trees.

Our host family is great, and they have a fixer-upper house right next door that they hope we will be able to use. The community is fairly large to walk around on foot, but the land is gorgeous, the houses are fairly well spaced out, and there's a lot of agricultural activity.

We visited all around the community the last couple days and feel pretty well-oriented now. We visited the primary school, where there is a lot of interest concerning a school garden, learning English, and learning to maintain computers. It should be a great place to start.

We also met with the director of the community board, and he's super excited to start working together, especially in teaching people how to grow a bunch of stuff in the small yards they all have. He's going to arrange a community-wide meeting (all 2000 people invited) for the first week in December to introduce us to the people and give us an opportunity to explain who we are, what Peace Corps is, and how we can help.

Last night we went to one of the most tiring church services I've ever been to. The whole service was a jumble of "A su nombre, GLORIA", "ALELUJAH", top-of-your voice singing while clapping your hands non-stop (songs which we didn't know any words to), impromptu everybody get down on both knees and pray loudly between random songs, and a sermon given by a screaming preacher that paced back-and-forth with a little spring to his step every time he closed his eyes and pointed to the sky, with a continuous flow of words that seemed to mean something about being a serious Christian and something about an inferno and heaven. Very different from what we are used to, but they seemed pretty exited about God, which made us feel strangely at home. Not the style of church we would necessarily choose in the States, but a good one nonetheless.

Kind of bummed to find out the reports of a cyber cafe in our nearest city were exaggerated, but encouraged to find the reports of cell phone coverage were not. We might not be able to quite get a signal in our house, but we definitely will be able to at the top of the hill a 3 minute walk away.

Our Spanish seems sufficient to get us by, but people still seem pretty frustrated by the fact that we can't understand much of what they say. Eventually, after working with us for a bit, they realize how to enunciate, but it can be pretty challenging. It is exhausting speaking just one day in all Spanish. We can't imagine how hard it will be once we are in site.

We've been making a really strong effort to note and remember everybody's names, though. They seem really impressed and flattered when we remember their names after the first time, so I hope the effort pays off. It's pretty nerve-racking, so many new faces.

Sorry, but no pictures for now. There was a miscommunication and the camera got left at our training site. We'll be back up there in a little over three weeks, though, so don't fear. They will get there eventually.

Elated

Elated, excited, in-awe, enchanted, tired, fatigued, overwhelmed, grateful, uncomfortable, flattered, embarrased, anxious, hopeful, expectant. Can one person feel all of these emotions at once? Here we are, nestling into our foam bed for the second night in Nueva Segovia, and we are feeling all of this and then some.

Our new home, located near El Jicaro, Nueva Segovia, couldn't be more perfect. Our hose is right off the hightway at the base of a hill used for grazing cattle. The landscape of low, rolling mountains resembles the perfect, idilic scenes that dreams are made of. A small pine forest, with a little stream and a pond, lies just around the bend. A blend of fruit trees, palms, bananas, pines, cyprus, cedar, and tropical deciduous share the hillsides with fields of pasture, corn, beans, and sugar cane. The highway to El Jicaro is receiving a face-lift, with thousands of concrete bricks in the shap of fat, little crosses, waiting on the sides, ready to pave the was for decades to come.

Our host family is even nicer than the last, if at all possible. Our host father is in his mid-30s, with a youthful, soft, rectagular face. Not tall, he has a trimmed, dark mustache and muscular arms, with gentle, kind eyes. Our host mother is also youthful in appearance, with fair skin and bright, gentle eyes. She is pretty and has a rounded face, but isn't overweight. She is, however, very strong-looking. Both are apt to smile and do so often, a trait they have passed on to their children.

The eldest daughter is eleven, skinny, fair-skinned, very pretty, with ears a little too big for her face. She's in second grade, loves to play, smile, and laugh, and often has a few friends over. She almost always includes yer excitable younger brother in the fun, in which he is only too happy to partake. 6-years-old, He is still in preschool and can't yet read. However, he has the most enthusiasm to do anything and everything, including learning English, which delights him to no end.

The last two days, Kris and I have been taken around the delightful little city of El Jicaro multiple times by our host father. He is a diligent guide, showing us all the important places and introducing us to all we meet. He has a 1978 Toyota Land Cruiser, which makes getting to El Jicaro a breeze. We visited the cemetary for the Nica "Memorial Day" (called Día de Los Defunctos, or simply Día de Los Muertos). We also took a tour of the city, made a call from the Enitel station to test our Emergency Action Plan, and then walked for hours around our sprawling rural community, meeting everyone we could and constructing a rough map on our little 3" x 5" notebook as we walked. We were exhausted by the end, but still had enough energy for a climb up our hill to take in the panoramic scenery. It took our breath away, with the golden rays of the setting sun gleaming off miles and miles of rolling countryside as far as the eye could see. Afterwards, the kids and their friends grabbed us to kick around a ball a while, which sucked away all remaining energy, yet was more fun than the whole time in Managua with cable TV.

So, tomorrow´s another day, and we need rest. Until then, peace.