11 months in Nicaragua! 11 months of giving classes, speaking in Spanish, getting filled with dirt one too many times, building more gardens than I could handle, exploring the country, getting bit by countless mosquitoes, losing control of my bowels (woops, TMI there), and making beautiful memories. Yes, even when I almost pooped my pants in the middle of giving a class, I can say that that is one of the most memorable memories I have. Not a very fun memory, but gets laughs every time. So yes, I do have my downs (and boy are they down there), but the highs are so worth it. These past couple of months have been filled with gardens, basketball courts, graduations, Disneyland and too many weird sicknesses.
As a word of advice to incoming environment volunteers (or even future Michelle), never make four gardens in the same week. Your body will thank you physically and mentally. I can at least say now that I am a boss at making school gardens! And doing them together with my students made it easier to get through that intense week. Going home that weekend, I felt defeated in every possible manner. Until I went back to work and found one of my students holding a small tree in his hands. He is one of my favorite students from the ecological brigade; despite living in one of the orphanages of my community, h has never used his circumstance as an excuse to be a bad student. In fact, he is a marvelous student, excelling in every subject, being s role model for the class, a natural born leader, and an environmentalist at heart. He has definitely won a special place in my life. So back to the tree, he goes on to explain to me how he had so much fun making a school nursery, that he felt the orphanage needed one too, and began to grow his own. Not only that, after the school garden practicum, he began to grow his own fruits and vegetables at the orphanage as well, and since May I have been providing him with seeds and guidance as too how to properly grow and care for each plant. Paco* (as I will be calling him), is one of many students that give me the strength to get up in the morning when my body hurts too much to get out of bed. It moments like this that let me know that the future of Nicaragua's environment is in good hands, when there are people like Paco*
As a word of advice to incoming environment volunteers (or even future Michelle), never make four gardens in the same week. Your body will thank you physically and mentally. I can at least say now that I am a boss at making school gardens! And doing them together with my students made it easier to get through that intense week. Going home that weekend, I felt defeated in every possible manner. Until I went back to work and found one of my students holding a small tree in his hands. He is one of my favorite students from the ecological brigade; despite living in one of the orphanages of my community, h has never used his circumstance as an excuse to be a bad student. In fact, he is a marvelous student, excelling in every subject, being s role model for the class, a natural born leader, and an environmentalist at heart. He has definitely won a special place in my life. So back to the tree, he goes on to explain to me how he had so much fun making a school nursery, that he felt the orphanage needed one too, and began to grow his own. Not only that, after the school garden practicum, he began to grow his own fruits and vegetables at the orphanage as well, and since May I have been providing him with seeds and guidance as too how to properly grow and care for each plant. Paco* (as I will be calling him), is one of many students that give me the strength to get up in the morning when my body hurts too much to get out of bed. It moments like this that let me know that the future of Nicaragua's environment is in good hands, when there are people like Paco*
In June I was blessed to go home for 10 awesome days! Those days away from Nicaragua were a time to relax with my dearly missed family and friends, indulge in way too much cheese and get the necessary time away from my site to miss it and get excited about new projects. Peace Corps is a tough experience for everyone; and a different shade of difficulty for everyone. Mine usually comes from feeling inadequate in my community, which happens to the PCVs who live in large communities like mine. Being home, I was able to step back and realize that no one is against me but myself; I am by biggest critic, but I can also be my biggest cheerleader. It just took being away from it all to realize that it's the little accomplishments that count, like all the friendships I have made. Despite beign excited to go back to Nicaragua while away, California was so dear to me and cannot express how much that trip back home was needed. Not everyone goes home during their service, but don't feel like it is not an option. If you are a perspective PCV and are thinking that being a volunteer means suffering all the time and never heading home because others won't, don't let that stop you. Go home and take care of yourself. Being in Peace Corps does not mean you have too miss every special moment going on back home. I got to see my only brother graduate from college, and got a well deserved vacation to D-Land, as well as reunited with all my dear friends and family. I can tell you this, I got to enjoy being very clean for 10 days since joining Peace Corps. Hot showers FOR THE WIN!
Another thing I learned these past couple of months is the importance of respecting others perspectives and services. Even though I am one of many 120+ PCVs in Nicaragua, all of our services are drastically different from each other. Yes we share many similarities, but the differences are what make each of our services special to each other. I hear time and time again, "It depends on your site", and that statement could not be truer. I was fortunate enough these past months to share some time at different volunteers communities, and share their ups and downs. First was my boyfriend Tom's site, which in comparison to mine is itty bitty. His site consists of no more than 7 blocks, but most of his schools are over an hour away WALKING, uphill on a dirt road with very little shade. While in my site due to it's size, we have 4 different public bus lines that takes around the entire city, as well as many taxis more than willing to take me to my destination. And the funny thing is, that the day I visited, we got a ride from a very nice man that took us half way. While I teach pure grade classes in the city, he teaches small multi-grade classes out in the middle of no-where! Despite the difficulties, he loves his schools and the students love him. Being a PCV in a smaller community, he knows everyone and everyone knows him. Even if I lived 10 years in my site, I'd never know everyone!
Then I was off to the Atlantic Coast. For those who don't know much about Nicaragua, it is pretty much divided into the Pacific and the Atlantic side. And let me tell you, the Atlantic side is nothing like the pacific side. From the culture, to the food to the music to the houses. Every time I go over there, it is like I am in a totally different country! Never fails to surprise me, from being fed turtle to finding people who speak five different languages but English is not one of them. The coast is a magical place, every time I am there it's like I enter the twilight zone. The volunteers who live there, hardly ever leave, because why would you ever want to leave that paradise. Many have to ride what are called pangas just to get back to their site, and a trip to the capital is more than 10 hours on public transportation! It makes my 2.5 air conditioned bus ride seem like nothing! And yet I still manage to get bags of stuff dropped on my head every time I leave my site, must be a sign.
This time, my trip to the coast came with a purpose. I went to help a fellow PCV and an international NGO work on a basketball court at one of her schools. I thought it was going to be easy, hard work but nothing like what we experienced! Everyday brought on a new twist, from crazy rain, to dengue, to mystery bacterial infections! We got it ALL! Despite that, working with that wonderful NGO for a week was exactly what I needed as I am nearing my one year mark. Seeing the young and excited faces of all the volunteers, helped rejuvenate in me my love for international development. Courts for Kids is an NGO that is doing is RIGHT! Their mission and projects are on the money when it comes to bringing both a much needed service to an international community, but also works hard on community integration among all participants. They wanted to be right there in the middle of it all. No fancy hotels or meals for them. We slept on hard wet mattresses and they couldn't have it any other way! It was tough work; we didn't spend a single day dry and free of dirt or cement. We took cold bucket baths in the school restroom every night, and were back at it the next morning. Getting to help on this project along with other fellow PCVs has definitely been one of the highlights of my entire service so far!
This time, my trip to the coast came with a purpose. I went to help a fellow PCV and an international NGO work on a basketball court at one of her schools. I thought it was going to be easy, hard work but nothing like what we experienced! Everyday brought on a new twist, from crazy rain, to dengue, to mystery bacterial infections! We got it ALL! Despite that, working with that wonderful NGO for a week was exactly what I needed as I am nearing my one year mark. Seeing the young and excited faces of all the volunteers, helped rejuvenate in me my love for international development. Courts for Kids is an NGO that is doing is RIGHT! Their mission and projects are on the money when it comes to bringing both a much needed service to an international community, but also works hard on community integration among all participants. They wanted to be right there in the middle of it all. No fancy hotels or meals for them. We slept on hard wet mattresses and they couldn't have it any other way! It was tough work; we didn't spend a single day dry and free of dirt or cement. We took cold bucket baths in the school restroom every night, and were back at it the next morning. Getting to help on this project along with other fellow PCVs has definitely been one of the highlights of my entire service so far!