More Peace Corps Specifics

We have a lot of stuff packed up already. The shelves and photos are off the walls. Spackle already fills the nail holes in the walls. We're making some good progress.

We thought you all might enjoy more specifics on what serving in the Peace Corps will look like, so here are some things we've recently learned about:

1. Geography and climate. We will be serving in the northwest of Nicaragua, in one of three regions, I, II, or VI. Temperatures in the Central Highlands (Regions I and VI) are typically moderate, with rainfall year-round. Towards the Pacific coast (Region II), it is more hot and tropical, with distinct seasons of tropical wet (May through November) and tropical dry (December through April). We may be allowed to have some say in where we are assigned, but I suspect being married will limit our choices, since it there will be fewer host families able to entertain two people for several months.
2. The pre-service training lasts 12 weeks, starting August 31. It's located in six or seven small rural communities (population 200-5000) around the northern city of Estelí (population 150,000). Kris and I will be staying in separate towns with native host families, but we should be able to see each other frequently, since we are both in Agriculture.
3. Training consists of several components, including Spanish language, technical skills, cross-cultural awareness, the role of volunteers in development, and heath and safety issues. We will attend Spanish classes and carry out technical and cross-cultural tasks in our community Monday through Friday. On Wednesday and Friday afternoons, and on Saturday mornings, the entire training group usually will come together for more formal training sessions. We will be regularly evaluated on our language, technical, cross-cultural, and safety skills.
4. After the first three months of training, we are sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers and we are assigned to a particular project in a community somewhere in the northwest of the country. For the first six weeks at least, we will be staying with another host family in the community in which we will serve, to help us acclimate to the local culture and people. After that, we are encouraged to continue to stay with a host family, but we are free to find our own housing.
5. Health care relies primarily on preventive medicine, such as boiling/filtering water; washing fruits and vegetables thoroughly; vaccination against hepatitis A and B, tetanus/diphtheria, polio, typhoid, and rabies; weekly anti-malarial medication; sleeping under mosquito nets; wearing long pants and long sleeved shirts; and using insect repellent.
6. Mail. Relatively dependable. Airmail to/from the US takes about two weeks, surface mail can take months. Packages sometimes mysteriously disappear, so it is best to stick with envelopes under 2 pounds. Green customs stickers are required on all packages. It is often better to just buy items in-country however, as there are well-stocked stores and supermarkets in the capital city of Managua, just a 2 hour bus ride away. While in training, our mailing address will be:

   PCT "Your Name"
   Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz
   Apartado Postal 3256
   Managua, Nicaragua
   Central America

7. Phones and Internet. Some cell coverage, but it rarely reaches remote areas. Most cities have a branch of ENITEL, but international calls are expensive. Most volunteers either call collect, or use international phone cards from AT&T, MCI, or Sprint. Internet cafes are fairly prevalent in major cities, but home service is expensive and rare.
8. Electricity. 110v, just like the US, but there is no ground wire, so we will need to bring a two pronged adaptor. The system isn't very reliable, though, so we won't be using many electronics. We will be bringing our digital camera and a stand-alone CompactFlash CD burner to dump our pictures onto CDs. We will also be bringing a low-power MP3 cd player to listen to teachings from Church and former Ignite conferences. We purchased a lightweight Travel Safe to keep our stuff locked up in our room.
9. Food and diet. Mainly rice and beans with vegetable oil and salt (gallo pinto). Also other fruits and vegetables and tons of corn products, like tamales and pinolillo, a beverage made with ground corn and cocoa. Beef, pork, and chicken are also available, although not as high of quality as US meat. Nicaragua also produces a good deal of salty cheese.
   
10. Transportation. Walking, small commercial buses, and taxis, for the most part. We're not allowed to drive, but the Peace Corps may offer to purchase us bicycles.
11. Currency. Nicaragua uses the córdoba (NIO). The exchange rate is about 16.37 NIO to $1.00 US.
12. Online resources:
    • Map of Nicaragua (PDF)
    • U of Texas directory of links to information about Nicaragua
    • Laprensa, Nicaragua's largest daily newspaper (Spanish)
    • Weather in Estelí (mountains)
    • Weather in Chinandega (Pacific coast)
    • Nicaragua Pictures

Honest Abe

This weekend, Kris' parents came down to our place to visit. We talked at length about Nicaragua facts and figures, and with the help of Kris' father, Ed, we got several legal forms regarding finances and health taken care of.

Saturday afternoon, Kris; Kris' mom, Jeanne; and I visited Springfield, IL to see the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum that just opened this April. Though situated within a short distance of such historical landmarks as the old Lincoln Home, and the Old State Capitol of Illinois, the museum itself is less a historical centerpiece and more an educational performance, aimed at giving an in-depth look into the life of our 16th President to a generation raised by televisions.

Having a somewhat Disney World feel at times, the exhibits incorporate creative multimedia messages in an effort to guide the visitor through the massive amounts of events, artifacts, politics, emotions, vices, and virtues surrounding the life and history of Abraham Lincoln. The different exhibits have varying degrees of power as well.

By far the best exhibit is the Journey II: The White House Years. The best chapters of this "journey" include: The Whispering Gallery, a scathing display of the criticism Lincoln received by opponents and media while in office; The War Gallery, a collection of stories, pictures, and animations from the Civil War; and the Gettysburg Gallery, a powerful display of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg Address, reminding the visitor of terrible price of the war, and the tremendously beautiful vision of human dignity and value, regardless or race or color, that it inspired.

I discovered the crown jewel of the entire experience in our final ten minutes in the museum. There is a temporary exhibit entitled Blood on the Moon that covers the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln, and in that exhibit are the gloves and a piece of the shirt that Lincoln wore when he was killed. Both are still stained with Lincoln's actual blood. Very sad, but at the same time, it gave me an incredible feeling to be staring at the life blood of Abraham Lincoln himself. On that shirt was Lincoln's very own DNA! It brought the history and tragedy of Lincoln's story to life like no presentation or book ever can.

That awed excitement I felt, the realization of the mythic, could it be just a small hint of what we will all feel when Christ returns and we see our God face-to-face? I hope so.

September in Estelí­

We have a little more information about where we will be going and what we will be doing in Nicaragua. The training is in Estelí, a small city in the northwest region of the country. If you click on the image to the right, you can view a satellite map centered on Estelí. The training begins August 31, and lasts for three months.

One disappointing fact we read in the trainee handbook is that Kris and I will probably be living with different host families in completely different towns for the three months of training. We are guessing that this is so that we don't use each other as crutches during the training. It takes away opportunities to speak English, so we will learn Spanish faster. But it is probably going to be the most lonely three months I have experienced in a long time. But God will be with us.

The good news is that Estelí is situated at an elevation of 2,700 feet above sea level, so the climate is relatively cool.

Our job descriptions are basically to help people to have a reliable, sustainable source of food, as well as train them to use the agricultural resources they already have. Poverty and malnutrition are common in Nicaragua. Half the population is under the poverty level. We'll be working with individual families, training them to squeeze as much agricultural productivity out of the land surrounding their small houses as they can without damaging the environment or denuding the land. Sounds like fun to me!

The Invitation

Our invitation came! We're off to Nicaragua, and much sooner than expected. I'm guessing that the original assignment they had for us fell through, so we've been bumped up by three weeks! Now we leave August 29 for orientation, and then August 31, we will be in country. Yikes. That's in six weeks!

I don't really know much about Nicaragua, except that it's hot, they speak Spanish, and they, like Honduras, got hit hard by hurricane Mitch last decade, and that the country has been a relatively peaceful democracy ever since the late 1980s. I also know about some "contra" revolution they had in the early 1980s and something about the CIA and Reagan supporting the revolution because the leadership at the time was Marxist. Not exactly a great history, but the Peace Corps doesn't go where there isn't a dire need for help.

Developing....

Clear for Departure

Oh my goodness!!! The Peace Corps already completed our Medical Review! It must be a record. It only took two weeks! The status was just updated online this morning. Now, we just need to wait for the placement office to give us an invitation.

Yay! We're going.

A Time to Reap

Today, I learned several important lessons. First, harvesting vegetables from the home garden takes a certain knack that I haven't quite figured out. We've learned how to grow really good plants, but learning when to harvest is a different matter entirely. We waited too long on the spinach and lettuce, so they were practically inedible. The cabbage is past gone, and we missed our window to get sweet, tender peas. Now we have somewhat bitter, tough peas.

There's about a one week window with which to catch vegetables before they start getting bitter. We missed it this year, with the exception of the beans. Those are looking good.

The second lesson I learned is that I take too much personal pride in my work. Whether it be ministry, my job, or my hobbies, I tie up too much personal worth in success or failure. There are about a thousand rootworm beetles attacking our corn plants right now. They chew the tassels and ear silks so that the kernels won't grow. I got so mad at the brainless swarms of pests, not so much because I really wanted some corn, but because they were ruining all MY hard work. Thank you, Lord, for humbling me.

My sunburn seems to be gone now, but in its wake it left me a bunch of peeling, dry skin. I'm putting tons of aloe lotion on it, just waiting for it to take its course.

Our Peace Corps medical review is still out, but our online status was updated this morning to reflect that we passed our placement review. I guess that means that the placement officer has looked at our applications and is now just waiting for our medical clearance to give us the offer. Ooooooo. I can't wait, I can't wait!

Mr. Lobster

Last Friday, the Peace Corps updated our Medical Review status. The dental review is complete, and they are currently processing our physical results. They should be getting back to us within a few weeks with a formal invitation to a specific country in Latin America, if all goes well.

Saturday, Kris and I awoke bright and early, jumped in the car, and headed off to Turkey Run state park in Indiana to kayak Sugar Creek. It was incredibly fun! The boats themselves were molded plastic with a spot for your butt and legs. They weren't like the pro ones that have a hole in the top and your legs are encapsulated by the boat. Unfortunately for us, we didn't read the directions on the "waterproof" sunscreen, otherwise we would have realized that it is only waterproof for about 80 minutes. We didn't bother to re-apply, and we got pretty wet, so we've been pretty miserable the last couple of nights as we try to sleep with our sunburns. Kris is pretty much healed at this point, but I'm still Mr. Lobster.

Sunday, Kris and I went to a party in the country, hung out with a lot of nerds, and watched them shoot off some mostly illigal fireworks. I won't mention any names, of course.

July 4th: Kris' birthday! Kris' present included a little game of clues I scattered about the house that she had to solve before she could find her present. I think she got a little annoyed at me, but I had tons of fun. ;) I'm going to pay when my birthday comes around in a couple weeks. After Kris found her present, I picked up the fixings for our favorite shrimp recipe! We got a really good deal, too: 2 pounds of jumbo shrimp for $11. Can't beat that with a stick.

Lunch was delicious. We were both very happy. Then, at around 5:00 PM, we got in the car to go to Kris' former advisor's 4th of July party, but the car wouldn't start. We ended up just riding our bikes.

After staying awhile at that party, we went to the I-life BBQ at Al's house. We talked a little, and ate a little, and everyone sang Happy Birthday to Kris. Afterwards, Al, the wonderful guy that he is, threw our bikes in the back of his truck, gave us a lift back home, and jumped our car. Too bad the battery wasn't working. After three jumps, the thing just wouldn't hold a charge. We were imagining a $600 alternator bill, so we weren't happy.

This morning, I biked to Wal-mart with the battery on my bike (an interesting feat, to be sure), and they tested it. It was perfectly fine. The guy suggested that I clean the terminals. So, I biked back home, cleaned the terminals, stuck the battery back in, and walah! The car starts. Yay! Thanks God!