Saturday, June 26, 2010
A Walk Around Masaya and a Trip to the Laguna
San Jeronimo, a famous church in Masaya
Bus station in the morning. The bus station of Masaya is always a reminder of how much different it is here in Nicaragua. Not one of Masaya's pretty spots, but fascinating to observe.
At sunset
A church on my way home
About 2 weeks ago my group spent a day at the Masaya Laguna. I have never seen a body of water so pristine in my entire life. You could open your eyes under the water and see someone who was 20 yards away.
Took out a kayak into the middle of the Laguna.
Got some really cool underwater shots with the new camera.
After a beautiful day a major rainstorm is upon us. Within 30 minutes the weather changed from perfect to pouring, typical for the rainy season in Nicaragua.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Teaching in the Developing World
“Hello, class my name is Chris Rhodenbaugh, I am a new intern at MASINFA and I am going to help in all of the English classes here.” I wrote my name on the board every time I first met a class to the astonishment of the students who had never seen a combination of letters similar to my last name.
The experience really made me evaluate the German heritage of my name, until recently the origin of my last name had been irrelevant. I think people from the U.S. often take their heritage for granted, identifying simply as people of the United States, a cultural phenomenon in a nation of immigrants. Possibly an origin of conflict between the Irish, English, German, Nordic, Polish, and other ethnicities in existence today that came from waves of immigration in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the new wave of immigration from Latin America. What I think is important to understand is that someone who has immigrated, or whose parents immigrated to the U.S. can be proud of their heritage whether it be from Nicaragua, England, or Mexico and still be entirely committed to the United States. With any transition there are rough edges, and unfortunately the negatives too often outshine the many benefits. Today our memories are conveniently short, I am sure that European immigrants brought their languages and their flags to the United States. It just took time to transition to a new country and a new language. A Mexican flag at an immigration protest is not Mexico taking over, but people trying to retain their identity as they assimilate into a new environment. To people here in Nicaragua heritage matters, it helps people understand what to think of you, where to store the information about you in their brains.
Outside of the MASINFA school.
My first day I was taken to each classroom by a MASINFA employee introduced to the teacher and I waved at all of the kids. Everywhere I walked kids stared, the students are generally high school aged so inside I identified more with them than I do the teachers and the older staff. An interesting feeling to say the least, caught in between being a teacher and the new kid (who is at least 6 inches taller than everyone else, and the only gringo). My first morning there were not any English classes so I sat outside of the Admin office and read La Prensa (Nicaragua’s best newspaper), and started to work on my ever present notebook of Spanish vocab words with my Spanish/English dictionary.
The main plaza of MASINFA.
However, I couldn’t be alone for more than 2 or 3 minutes without a student, or a group of students, coming over to me and introducing themselves and making conversation. Of course I was given a lot of attention because I was something new and exciting to happen on a Monday morning, but I was very pleasantly surprised to not have any kids giving me a hard time. There were the groups of guys who barely acknowledged my existence to keep the cool image, but not a single student young or old to this day has been rude to me (after 2.5 weeks).
So each English class I introduced myself to, my first activity was to exchange in a question and answer. Students practiced their question words, by trying to figure out my life story. In about 15 different classes, about 90% of the questions were the same. My favorite sports and the world cup were common as well as my taste in music, my personality, and questions about my family. In nearly every class, a girl worked up the courage to ask if I am married, and the follow up question am I single. My favorite part of every exchange was the questions about Nicaragua, “Do you like Nicaragua? What like Nicaraguan food? What is your favorite Nicaraguan meal? What cities have you visited in Nicaragua? Which one is your favorite?” Every time a question about Nicaragua was asked the whole class perked up, tightened their facial expressions and widened their eyes, anxiously awaiting my thoughts on their country. I was honest about my developing affection for Nicaragua after just one week, and the students loved it. I cannot effectively put into words the pride Nicaraguans feel for their country, and their excitement to show me all their favorite parts of their country and their culture. It is a unifying force for the people, and part of what makes the country such a welcoming place for me, the 6’3” gringo summer intern. “A la orden” is an extremely common Nicaraguan expression that is a beautiful description of the selflessness of people here and the hospitality for guests. It is a way of saying at your service.
In about 75% of the classes I was asked my opinion about the new immigration law in Arizona. A clear indication of how all of Latin America has its finger on the pulse of U.S. immigration policy. A considerable number of my students (probably 25%) have divided families, with aunts, uncles, a parent or grandparents living in the United States. My professors would teach them the word contradiction every time the Arizona question came up in conversation was asked in the context, “Isn’t it a contradiction that a nation of immigrants would create a law like the one in Arizona?” Each time the question was asked I was simultaneously embarrassed of my country and anxious to inform the students that there are people in the United States fighting against the xenophobia and racism of the reactionary sector of the right wing. In 2 or 3 of my classes we got into a more advanced discussion (mixed in Spanish and English). They asked what I would like to see. I said we need to prioritize human rights for the immigrants currently undocumented in my country, and develop a new system that tightens border security and provides legitimate legal avenues to citizenship or worker visas. When I said that it is important to many people in my country, myself included, that people work to learn English in order to become citizens or acquire worker visas, everyone nodded their heads like “well, yea of course.” The reactions shed some new light on the issue for me, because I was not sure how everyone would react to that, I said it with a little hesitancy. When there are opportunities to be documented, and participate in a legal exchange of work and commitment to the United States for citizenship or a worker visa, it is a mutually beneficial situation for all. I am not advocating an open door policy, but the only way to stop illegal immigration is by creating a realistic and legal path for people to immigrate.
MASINFA is a small private school (probably 150 students) for ages 12-20 every morning from 7:30 to 1:15 PM. Then in the afternoons and on weekends MASINFA becomes a technical school for people of all ages to take classes primarily to learn English, but also computation, and accounting. In total around 300-400 different students probably take classes in a typical week.
I work Mondays -> 1:15-5, Tuesdays -> 10-5, Wednesdays -> 10-5, Thursdays -> 10-7
And either Saturday from 8-5 or Sunday from 8-12.
The semesters here are from February to the end of June, a week break, and from July to December. The 2 month break is given from December to February. My day to day work is teaching alongside an English teacher in different classes throughout the day. I do not have my own official classes because I will only be here for such a short time. I find myself most effective being a supplement to a traditional grammatical lesson. A future post will better detail my work plan, but my goal is to create something that will be used at MASINFA long after I am gone. As of right now, I am working with all the teachers to create a master list of common expressions and idioms that are actually used in the US today (a lot of expressions taught in non-native speaking environments are outdated or awkward). Also, I am developing supplemental material for teachers to use in addition to the current textbook activities. I want the students to learn English by being excited about the material they do in class, by replacing generic stories, and boring articles with articles more relevant to their lives and interests. I will be working on the organizations website (translating), and hopefully starting an anti-litter campaign at MASINFA. When students finish a snack or a drink they throw their trash on the ground, this behavior is mirrored all over Nicaragua. Litter is an enormous problem across the country.
I have two distinctly different experiences teaching at MASINFA with students from the traditional school, and the technical students who come in the afternoons and on weekends. I spend each day with students of all ages, but mostly basic levels. On weekends there are more advanced conversational students who are on the level in English that I am in Spanish. However, during the week there are few students who can communicate beyond basic how are you type of questions. These students have on average taken 1 or 2 English classes in the past. Specialization based on ability is severely lacking. At MASINFA during the traditional morning classes there are no advanced courses for students whose ability in English clearly surpasses their peers in class. Also, the students who are really behind tend to remain quiet in class, and in a class of 40 or 50 it is nearly impossible to reach them. They do not have the confidence or ability to speak up because they are clearly behind. When the teacher tries to involve them it only makes the problem worse because they are unable to participate.
One of the largest classes at MASINFA.
On Tuesdays I have an English class from 10:45 to 12:15 with 53 students between the ages of 14 and 17. The students only have the class once a week. The only realistic goal for English classes at the primary, or secondary level is to provide basic skills that can be built upon if the student chooses to commit to English by taking classes in the evenings or weekends. Extra classes on weekends or in the evenings are at private schools which the student must be able to afford. Based on my experience in high school I was able to take 3 classes with 30 or less students and only test into Beginner II in college. However, for those students that wanted to enter college at a more advanced level, there were honor classes available, or they could have worked much harder than I did and retained a lot more. However, a classroom of 50 students does not provide any opportunity for an advanced student to work effectively. With 50 students in one room, even if every student was highly interested in the material, middle and high school aged children are incapable of functioning successfully. Not to mention the class at MASINFA is in the building near the road so every time a truck drives by the students in the back cannot hear a thing. The most unsettling part of this is that I am working at a private school. 50 students in the classroom is rare, usually it is between 15-30. However, I talked to the English teacher after class and he said public school classes are almost always larger than 50, sometimes with students standing during class. In classes of that size even the best of students cannot refuse the temptation to talk or not pay attention. With 5 or 6 conversations always going on classroom noise is to the point that the teacher cannot hear students trying to participate and the students cannot hear the teacher effectively.
Simple, but very important lesson learned: Reading on the World Bank website that Nicaragua has free public compulsory primary education, does not mean children are actually getting an opportunity to learn. Also, students even at public schools have to pay for their uniforms and textbooks.
Solving education problems cannot be done only with money, but funding is needed to break up such enormous classes. Even the most quality of teachers are crippled by such gargantuan class sizes. One aspect of the public system I was impressed by is that there are 2 school days at many public schools. Students who have to work during the day for their family are not robbed of the opportunity to attend classes, and school facilities double their usage, instead of having to build new schools. However, after a days work it is hard for me to imagine that students have the ability to work effectively in the classroom. So avoiding one evil, students missing class to work, creates another, that students are likely too exhausted to be productive. Education is certainly a difficult issue.
My first and most overwhelming reaction to my job is that even I am surprised at how much I am enjoying teaching. Even though it is much more difficult in the mornings with the larger classes and younger (and more distracted) students, there is an excitement in spreading knowledge. When I am working one on one with a student and he or she grasps a concept it is very rewarding. Also, being in front of a class and challenging myself to be concise and put concepts into as few words as possible is an entertaining challenge. The best part of working at MASINFA is undoubtedly interacting with, and helping the students in the afternoon and on weekends who are driven to succeed and learn English. Most of these students work 6 or 7 days a week and go to school in the evenings or once a week on the weekends. One of my greatest inhibitions before leaving for Nicaragua was that I was not going to be able to help very much in my time. I was nervous I would leave Nicaragua with an unforgettable experience, improved Spanish, and a more well-rounded world view, but that I wouldn’t have made a meaningful contribution to the lives of the people here.
After just 3 weeks in working at MASINFA, I already feel useful. My ability as a native speaker is a valuable resource for people in Nicaragua trying to learn English. No one here has the resources, teachers or students, to get an education in the U.S. or even from native speakers, so there is a lot of improvement to be made on pronunciation and word and phrase usage. These students are exceptionally aware of the opportunities that become available as they become more educated. It is inspiring to be around motivated students who want to work hard. The kind of stuff that keeps me going while I am dehydrated and my body is desperately trying to acquire nutrients from the meat, bread, and sugar that is my diet here in Nicaragua. No offense to all of my friends and family, but the thing I miss most and find myself daydreaming about multiple times a day is a fresh spinach salad garnished with a raw food vegan’s assortment of vegetables.
-Chris
The experience really made me evaluate the German heritage of my name, until recently the origin of my last name had been irrelevant. I think people from the U.S. often take their heritage for granted, identifying simply as people of the United States, a cultural phenomenon in a nation of immigrants. Possibly an origin of conflict between the Irish, English, German, Nordic, Polish, and other ethnicities in existence today that came from waves of immigration in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the new wave of immigration from Latin America. What I think is important to understand is that someone who has immigrated, or whose parents immigrated to the U.S. can be proud of their heritage whether it be from Nicaragua, England, or Mexico and still be entirely committed to the United States. With any transition there are rough edges, and unfortunately the negatives too often outshine the many benefits. Today our memories are conveniently short, I am sure that European immigrants brought their languages and their flags to the United States. It just took time to transition to a new country and a new language. A Mexican flag at an immigration protest is not Mexico taking over, but people trying to retain their identity as they assimilate into a new environment. To people here in Nicaragua heritage matters, it helps people understand what to think of you, where to store the information about you in their brains.
Outside of the MASINFA school.
My first day I was taken to each classroom by a MASINFA employee introduced to the teacher and I waved at all of the kids. Everywhere I walked kids stared, the students are generally high school aged so inside I identified more with them than I do the teachers and the older staff. An interesting feeling to say the least, caught in between being a teacher and the new kid (who is at least 6 inches taller than everyone else, and the only gringo). My first morning there were not any English classes so I sat outside of the Admin office and read La Prensa (Nicaragua’s best newspaper), and started to work on my ever present notebook of Spanish vocab words with my Spanish/English dictionary.
The main plaza of MASINFA.
However, I couldn’t be alone for more than 2 or 3 minutes without a student, or a group of students, coming over to me and introducing themselves and making conversation. Of course I was given a lot of attention because I was something new and exciting to happen on a Monday morning, but I was very pleasantly surprised to not have any kids giving me a hard time. There were the groups of guys who barely acknowledged my existence to keep the cool image, but not a single student young or old to this day has been rude to me (after 2.5 weeks).
So each English class I introduced myself to, my first activity was to exchange in a question and answer. Students practiced their question words, by trying to figure out my life story. In about 15 different classes, about 90% of the questions were the same. My favorite sports and the world cup were common as well as my taste in music, my personality, and questions about my family. In nearly every class, a girl worked up the courage to ask if I am married, and the follow up question am I single. My favorite part of every exchange was the questions about Nicaragua, “Do you like Nicaragua? What like Nicaraguan food? What is your favorite Nicaraguan meal? What cities have you visited in Nicaragua? Which one is your favorite?” Every time a question about Nicaragua was asked the whole class perked up, tightened their facial expressions and widened their eyes, anxiously awaiting my thoughts on their country. I was honest about my developing affection for Nicaragua after just one week, and the students loved it. I cannot effectively put into words the pride Nicaraguans feel for their country, and their excitement to show me all their favorite parts of their country and their culture. It is a unifying force for the people, and part of what makes the country such a welcoming place for me, the 6’3” gringo summer intern. “A la orden” is an extremely common Nicaraguan expression that is a beautiful description of the selflessness of people here and the hospitality for guests. It is a way of saying at your service.
In about 75% of the classes I was asked my opinion about the new immigration law in Arizona. A clear indication of how all of Latin America has its finger on the pulse of U.S. immigration policy. A considerable number of my students (probably 25%) have divided families, with aunts, uncles, a parent or grandparents living in the United States. My professors would teach them the word contradiction every time the Arizona question came up in conversation was asked in the context, “Isn’t it a contradiction that a nation of immigrants would create a law like the one in Arizona?” Each time the question was asked I was simultaneously embarrassed of my country and anxious to inform the students that there are people in the United States fighting against the xenophobia and racism of the reactionary sector of the right wing. In 2 or 3 of my classes we got into a more advanced discussion (mixed in Spanish and English). They asked what I would like to see. I said we need to prioritize human rights for the immigrants currently undocumented in my country, and develop a new system that tightens border security and provides legitimate legal avenues to citizenship or worker visas. When I said that it is important to many people in my country, myself included, that people work to learn English in order to become citizens or acquire worker visas, everyone nodded their heads like “well, yea of course.” The reactions shed some new light on the issue for me, because I was not sure how everyone would react to that, I said it with a little hesitancy. When there are opportunities to be documented, and participate in a legal exchange of work and commitment to the United States for citizenship or a worker visa, it is a mutually beneficial situation for all. I am not advocating an open door policy, but the only way to stop illegal immigration is by creating a realistic and legal path for people to immigrate.
MASINFA is a small private school (probably 150 students) for ages 12-20 every morning from 7:30 to 1:15 PM. Then in the afternoons and on weekends MASINFA becomes a technical school for people of all ages to take classes primarily to learn English, but also computation, and accounting. In total around 300-400 different students probably take classes in a typical week.
I work Mondays -> 1:15-5, Tuesdays -> 10-5, Wednesdays -> 10-5, Thursdays -> 10-7
And either Saturday from 8-5 or Sunday from 8-12.
The semesters here are from February to the end of June, a week break, and from July to December. The 2 month break is given from December to February. My day to day work is teaching alongside an English teacher in different classes throughout the day. I do not have my own official classes because I will only be here for such a short time. I find myself most effective being a supplement to a traditional grammatical lesson. A future post will better detail my work plan, but my goal is to create something that will be used at MASINFA long after I am gone. As of right now, I am working with all the teachers to create a master list of common expressions and idioms that are actually used in the US today (a lot of expressions taught in non-native speaking environments are outdated or awkward). Also, I am developing supplemental material for teachers to use in addition to the current textbook activities. I want the students to learn English by being excited about the material they do in class, by replacing generic stories, and boring articles with articles more relevant to their lives and interests. I will be working on the organizations website (translating), and hopefully starting an anti-litter campaign at MASINFA. When students finish a snack or a drink they throw their trash on the ground, this behavior is mirrored all over Nicaragua. Litter is an enormous problem across the country.
I have two distinctly different experiences teaching at MASINFA with students from the traditional school, and the technical students who come in the afternoons and on weekends. I spend each day with students of all ages, but mostly basic levels. On weekends there are more advanced conversational students who are on the level in English that I am in Spanish. However, during the week there are few students who can communicate beyond basic how are you type of questions. These students have on average taken 1 or 2 English classes in the past. Specialization based on ability is severely lacking. At MASINFA during the traditional morning classes there are no advanced courses for students whose ability in English clearly surpasses their peers in class. Also, the students who are really behind tend to remain quiet in class, and in a class of 40 or 50 it is nearly impossible to reach them. They do not have the confidence or ability to speak up because they are clearly behind. When the teacher tries to involve them it only makes the problem worse because they are unable to participate.
One of the largest classes at MASINFA.
On Tuesdays I have an English class from 10:45 to 12:15 with 53 students between the ages of 14 and 17. The students only have the class once a week. The only realistic goal for English classes at the primary, or secondary level is to provide basic skills that can be built upon if the student chooses to commit to English by taking classes in the evenings or weekends. Extra classes on weekends or in the evenings are at private schools which the student must be able to afford. Based on my experience in high school I was able to take 3 classes with 30 or less students and only test into Beginner II in college. However, for those students that wanted to enter college at a more advanced level, there were honor classes available, or they could have worked much harder than I did and retained a lot more. However, a classroom of 50 students does not provide any opportunity for an advanced student to work effectively. With 50 students in one room, even if every student was highly interested in the material, middle and high school aged children are incapable of functioning successfully. Not to mention the class at MASINFA is in the building near the road so every time a truck drives by the students in the back cannot hear a thing. The most unsettling part of this is that I am working at a private school. 50 students in the classroom is rare, usually it is between 15-30. However, I talked to the English teacher after class and he said public school classes are almost always larger than 50, sometimes with students standing during class. In classes of that size even the best of students cannot refuse the temptation to talk or not pay attention. With 5 or 6 conversations always going on classroom noise is to the point that the teacher cannot hear students trying to participate and the students cannot hear the teacher effectively.
Simple, but very important lesson learned: Reading on the World Bank website that Nicaragua has free public compulsory primary education, does not mean children are actually getting an opportunity to learn. Also, students even at public schools have to pay for their uniforms and textbooks.
Solving education problems cannot be done only with money, but funding is needed to break up such enormous classes. Even the most quality of teachers are crippled by such gargantuan class sizes. One aspect of the public system I was impressed by is that there are 2 school days at many public schools. Students who have to work during the day for their family are not robbed of the opportunity to attend classes, and school facilities double their usage, instead of having to build new schools. However, after a days work it is hard for me to imagine that students have the ability to work effectively in the classroom. So avoiding one evil, students missing class to work, creates another, that students are likely too exhausted to be productive. Education is certainly a difficult issue.
My first and most overwhelming reaction to my job is that even I am surprised at how much I am enjoying teaching. Even though it is much more difficult in the mornings with the larger classes and younger (and more distracted) students, there is an excitement in spreading knowledge. When I am working one on one with a student and he or she grasps a concept it is very rewarding. Also, being in front of a class and challenging myself to be concise and put concepts into as few words as possible is an entertaining challenge. The best part of working at MASINFA is undoubtedly interacting with, and helping the students in the afternoon and on weekends who are driven to succeed and learn English. Most of these students work 6 or 7 days a week and go to school in the evenings or once a week on the weekends. One of my greatest inhibitions before leaving for Nicaragua was that I was not going to be able to help very much in my time. I was nervous I would leave Nicaragua with an unforgettable experience, improved Spanish, and a more well-rounded world view, but that I wouldn’t have made a meaningful contribution to the lives of the people here.
After just 3 weeks in working at MASINFA, I already feel useful. My ability as a native speaker is a valuable resource for people in Nicaragua trying to learn English. No one here has the resources, teachers or students, to get an education in the U.S. or even from native speakers, so there is a lot of improvement to be made on pronunciation and word and phrase usage. These students are exceptionally aware of the opportunities that become available as they become more educated. It is inspiring to be around motivated students who want to work hard. The kind of stuff that keeps me going while I am dehydrated and my body is desperately trying to acquire nutrients from the meat, bread, and sugar that is my diet here in Nicaragua. No offense to all of my friends and family, but the thing I miss most and find myself daydreaming about multiple times a day is a fresh spinach salad garnished with a raw food vegan’s assortment of vegetables.
-Chris
Monday, June 21, 2010
A Different View of the World Cup
Ok, so it took 2 weeks but it finally occurred. I had a little run in with some bad bacteria and was sick for 4 days this week, missing 2 days of work. However, I am back in good health and good spirits, jamming out to Waving Flag by K’Naan (World Cup Theme Song) and letting my thoughts loose on my computer (expect a long post soon on my job and other activity in the next day or two).
I cannot get enough of that song. The official song is in English, but there have been different guest singers and mixes in different languages. K’Naan who wrote the English part of the song, is a Somalian emigrant who lives in Canada. Quite an interesting story that adds meaning to the song and its role as one of the themes of the first ever World Cup hosted in Africa. Please do me a favor though and do not allow yourself to associate all of the positive feelings from the song with the name brand placement of Coca-Cola throughout the video. I am furious at Coke for advertising itself like a health drink here during the World Cup. Their brand presence in Nicaragua is really unbelievable. It may just stand out more because I am not constantly inundated with marketing here like in the United States, but every 5 minutes you are reminded that Coca-Cola is “deliciosa” and thanks to posters everywhere you know that when it is hot out you should buy one (and yes, its always hot here). Enough Coke hating for one post, there will be a future post entirely inspired by the sugar high madness here.
In the meantime, I have been joyously sucked into World Cup pandemonium!! Soccer, I feel ignorant for calling it that, is really a blast to watch. The U.S. and Slovenia game had me acting like it was the Cubs in the playoffs on Friday. Unfortunately, the U.S. team fell victim to a Chicago Cubs like incident. In the final minutes of the game on a beautiful free kick by Landon Donovan the U.S. scored with a header to go up 3 – 2, only to have it immediately negated by the referee for no clear reason. I have confirmed with all of my soccer-obsessed students here that it was a terrible call, but this article also does a good job -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-gude/usa-robbed-mystery-call-r_b_617553.html. The Everton Manager David Moyes said on BBC,
Today I watched the Brazil and Ivory Coast game at a bar with some of my friends/students from MASINFA. The bar was packed, people are crazy for Brazil here. So naturally, the bar was full of bright yellow shirts and jerseys and each time Brazil scored, 3-1 final, the place went crazy. There is a general feeling of support for all the teams in the World Cup from the Americas in the World Cup. So people here are pulling for the United States, but Brazil and Argentina are the main attractions.
Every day here during the Cup is like the Super Bowl in the U.S. Sports Center (from Mexico) is 98% World Cup. Hours and hours of discussion between "experts" analyzing the days events, predicting tomorrows games, and of course the obligatory 5 minutes of footage every hour of Mexico's team doing basic drills or just jogging around. Every morning when I walk to work every store or house that I pass with a TV on is blasting a game. I have to hope that eventually the U.S. will catch on to the excitement of the World Cup. The lack of U.S. success in the World Cup is likely part of the reason there is not as much interest in the games in the United States as around the world. Hopefully, even if our team takes an early exit this year we can accept a healthy dose of humility and rejoice in an event that has captivated every corner of the world.
I cannot get enough of that song. The official song is in English, but there have been different guest singers and mixes in different languages. K’Naan who wrote the English part of the song, is a Somalian emigrant who lives in Canada. Quite an interesting story that adds meaning to the song and its role as one of the themes of the first ever World Cup hosted in Africa. Please do me a favor though and do not allow yourself to associate all of the positive feelings from the song with the name brand placement of Coca-Cola throughout the video. I am furious at Coke for advertising itself like a health drink here during the World Cup. Their brand presence in Nicaragua is really unbelievable. It may just stand out more because I am not constantly inundated with marketing here like in the United States, but every 5 minutes you are reminded that Coca-Cola is “deliciosa” and thanks to posters everywhere you know that when it is hot out you should buy one (and yes, its always hot here). Enough Coke hating for one post, there will be a future post entirely inspired by the sugar high madness here.
In the meantime, I have been joyously sucked into World Cup pandemonium!! Soccer, I feel ignorant for calling it that, is really a blast to watch. The U.S. and Slovenia game had me acting like it was the Cubs in the playoffs on Friday. Unfortunately, the U.S. team fell victim to a Chicago Cubs like incident. In the final minutes of the game on a beautiful free kick by Landon Donovan the U.S. scored with a header to go up 3 – 2, only to have it immediately negated by the referee for no clear reason. I have confirmed with all of my soccer-obsessed students here that it was a terrible call, but this article also does a good job -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-gude/usa-robbed-mystery-call-r_b_617553.html. The Everton Manager David Moyes said on BBC,
"I've just seen that disallowed goal for the US again - and not only was there no foul by a US player, there are probably two penalty-kick offences being committed by the Slovenian defenders. Shocking decision."Regardless, the U.S. still has a chance to advance to the next round if we defeat Algeria in the morning of Wednesday the 23rd.
Today I watched the Brazil and Ivory Coast game at a bar with some of my friends/students from MASINFA. The bar was packed, people are crazy for Brazil here. So naturally, the bar was full of bright yellow shirts and jerseys and each time Brazil scored, 3-1 final, the place went crazy. There is a general feeling of support for all the teams in the World Cup from the Americas in the World Cup. So people here are pulling for the United States, but Brazil and Argentina are the main attractions.
Every day here during the Cup is like the Super Bowl in the U.S. Sports Center (from Mexico) is 98% World Cup. Hours and hours of discussion between "experts" analyzing the days events, predicting tomorrows games, and of course the obligatory 5 minutes of footage every hour of Mexico's team doing basic drills or just jogging around. Every morning when I walk to work every store or house that I pass with a TV on is blasting a game. I have to hope that eventually the U.S. will catch on to the excitement of the World Cup. The lack of U.S. success in the World Cup is likely part of the reason there is not as much interest in the games in the United States as around the world. Hopefully, even if our team takes an early exit this year we can accept a healthy dose of humility and rejoice in an event that has captivated every corner of the world.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Notes...
1. I find myself starting to write a post and not being able to finish it in one night. Therefore, I am going to post and change the date to the day I began writing. So even though I just posted about Masaya, I changed the date to June 6th because that is when I started writing that post.
2. I took my camera with me for my long walk, but I did not take pictures in any of the most exciting or impoverished places. I wanted to avoid being outed as a naive tourist. Don't get me wrong, being 6'2" and white makes me stand out, but the camera would have been too much. There is a photo contest with my organization that I am hoping to participate in, so in the future I will have my camera with me to capture some of the best moments.
3. GO BLACKHAWKS!!! I am upset that I am not able to watch the games here, but I will be following tomorrow night online.
-Chris
2. I took my camera with me for my long walk, but I did not take pictures in any of the most exciting or impoverished places. I wanted to avoid being outed as a naive tourist. Don't get me wrong, being 6'2" and white makes me stand out, but the camera would have been too much. There is a photo contest with my organization that I am hoping to participate in, so in the future I will have my camera with me to capture some of the best moments.
3. GO BLACKHAWKS!!! I am upset that I am not able to watch the games here, but I will be following tomorrow night online.
-Chris
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Getting to Know Masaya, and Swimming in a Volcano
6 de Junio, 2010
My street in Masaya, my house is a half a block and on the right from this spot.
It has officially been one week since I arrived in Managua airport. On Friday my week of orientation came to a close and I took a taxi to Masaya and moved into my new home for the summer! I am living with a family of four, a grandma (my house mom), her son, her son’s wife, and their two year old daughter. There is also a very nice woman who works 6 days a week as a maid and a cook (this is common in households that can afford it), and a girl from Honduras who is working and going to school at a University in Masaya rents a room in the house (I haven’t met her yet). I have my own room, that is very small but it has everything I need and more: a bed, dresser, a desk, and even a TV! The TV will be a great way for me to practice my Spanish comprehension, I get CNN Español. I am not sure yet if CNN Español is significantly less annoying than CNN in the U.S. or if it is just because I am not comprehending 100%. At least one thing is for sure, twitter users don’t serve as policy analysts, how refreshing. Also, at this point it appears the plague of pundits telling viewers what to think in the United States has not spread to Latin America.
Another street in Masaya.
I have clearly won the lottery of placements in Nicaragua. My house is in a safe area of town that is largely Nicaraguan middle class. From what I have seen of the country so far and what I have learned, there is very little middle class here. My drive to Masaya took me from one of the poorest urban areas, Ciudad Sandino, through the higher elevated areas of Managua where wealth is highly concentrated. Gorgeous houses on the hilltop felt pretty divided from the poverty at lower altitudes. However, one only has to find a stop light even in the wealthy areas of Managua to see poverty, because street children will be trying to sell drivers drinks or wash their windows. An FSD employee came with me in the taxi and pointed out a bar along our drive that he said would rarely allow dark skinned Nicaraguans to enter. Apparently, this was a result of a subliminal marketing technique attempting to portray an image of a “hip spot” for the upper class. That was certainly a glimpse into the ugliness of divisions that accompany wealth in poor countries. I find myself constantly thinking of the morality of living comfortably in a world with such extreme hardship (I will write a future blog post entirely devoted to this topic, for now Ill stick mostly to descriptions!)
Swimming in the volcano near Ciudad Sandino!
On Thursday after orientation workshops my group went out to a laguna in Ciudad Sandino. In order to get there you leave the urban area and take a turn off the highway and pass through a couple of miles of agriculture. I cannot say enough about the beauty of the landscapes in Nicaragua. The pictures can only do so much! Unfortunately, due to free trade zones, a lack of adequate environmental regulations, and poorly designed drainage systems a lot of fresh water in Nicaragua is too polluted for people to swim or use. However, the laguna near Ciudad Sandino, which is a volcano that has filled up with water (I have no idea the science of that), is clean enough to swim in so we spent an afternoon there, a wonderful experience. The last morning in Ciudad Sandino I woke up with 3 other interns and went for a run at 6 AM. We ran out towards the laguna. On our way there we passed many Nicaraguans fascinated to see 3 gringos running through the city (we ran with an FSD employee). The streets were already busy at that time, so we passed all sorts of activity. Many people were catching a ride to work which generally consisted of piling in the back of a friend’s pick up truck or taking the bus. Every time I see a public bus in Nicaragua I laugh to myself because it is never more apparent that I am in a totally different country and culture. Public buses are old school buses (which I assume were purchased used from other countries, because it is unlikely there was ever a widespread school busing scheme here). The school buses would appear to a person from the United States as decorated as if it was the inside of a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo. Confetti, spray paint, all sorts of strainers and designs, loud music blaring all the time, and in addition to all that, add a significant amount of religious imagery and declarations of the bus’s loyalty to God, Jesus, and Mary – quite a sight!
Central park in Masaya.
My first full day in Masaya I took a 4 hour walk through the city. There are not many things I find more liberating and exhilarating than being in a new city and taking a walk without plans. Just following whatever interests me or catches my eye, controlling my own destiny. All of the normal feelings are exponentially better in a new culture and a new country. I set out a goal of finding the organization where I am going to work MASINFA (about a 30 minute walk from my house), on my way I spent an hour or so touring through the “non-tourist” Mercado in Masaya. There were some parts in which I had to duck to avoid the hanging clothes or backpacks, while dodging running children and aggressive but friendly salespeople, other parts I was outside, extremely hot, and amazed at how people spend every day of their lives at a stand swatting flies off of raw meat. The rest of my walk was a tour of the downtown area of Masaya, there is a beautiful central park that includes a historic church, as well as various drink and food vendors. I bought a newspaper and spent time reading and soaking in a typical day in the park for residents in Masaya. My medal on the wall with my new family is that I am the only intern/house resident to not get lost on my first walk through Masaya! They were all very impressed and told me some pretty funny stories about past interns.
So rest assured, I am loving life in Nicaragua!! I will post again this week :)
-Chris
My street in Masaya, my house is a half a block and on the right from this spot.
It has officially been one week since I arrived in Managua airport. On Friday my week of orientation came to a close and I took a taxi to Masaya and moved into my new home for the summer! I am living with a family of four, a grandma (my house mom), her son, her son’s wife, and their two year old daughter. There is also a very nice woman who works 6 days a week as a maid and a cook (this is common in households that can afford it), and a girl from Honduras who is working and going to school at a University in Masaya rents a room in the house (I haven’t met her yet). I have my own room, that is very small but it has everything I need and more: a bed, dresser, a desk, and even a TV! The TV will be a great way for me to practice my Spanish comprehension, I get CNN Español. I am not sure yet if CNN Español is significantly less annoying than CNN in the U.S. or if it is just because I am not comprehending 100%. At least one thing is for sure, twitter users don’t serve as policy analysts, how refreshing. Also, at this point it appears the plague of pundits telling viewers what to think in the United States has not spread to Latin America.
Another street in Masaya.
I have clearly won the lottery of placements in Nicaragua. My house is in a safe area of town that is largely Nicaraguan middle class. From what I have seen of the country so far and what I have learned, there is very little middle class here. My drive to Masaya took me from one of the poorest urban areas, Ciudad Sandino, through the higher elevated areas of Managua where wealth is highly concentrated. Gorgeous houses on the hilltop felt pretty divided from the poverty at lower altitudes. However, one only has to find a stop light even in the wealthy areas of Managua to see poverty, because street children will be trying to sell drivers drinks or wash their windows. An FSD employee came with me in the taxi and pointed out a bar along our drive that he said would rarely allow dark skinned Nicaraguans to enter. Apparently, this was a result of a subliminal marketing technique attempting to portray an image of a “hip spot” for the upper class. That was certainly a glimpse into the ugliness of divisions that accompany wealth in poor countries. I find myself constantly thinking of the morality of living comfortably in a world with such extreme hardship (I will write a future blog post entirely devoted to this topic, for now Ill stick mostly to descriptions!)
Swimming in the volcano near Ciudad Sandino!
On Thursday after orientation workshops my group went out to a laguna in Ciudad Sandino. In order to get there you leave the urban area and take a turn off the highway and pass through a couple of miles of agriculture. I cannot say enough about the beauty of the landscapes in Nicaragua. The pictures can only do so much! Unfortunately, due to free trade zones, a lack of adequate environmental regulations, and poorly designed drainage systems a lot of fresh water in Nicaragua is too polluted for people to swim or use. However, the laguna near Ciudad Sandino, which is a volcano that has filled up with water (I have no idea the science of that), is clean enough to swim in so we spent an afternoon there, a wonderful experience. The last morning in Ciudad Sandino I woke up with 3 other interns and went for a run at 6 AM. We ran out towards the laguna. On our way there we passed many Nicaraguans fascinated to see 3 gringos running through the city (we ran with an FSD employee). The streets were already busy at that time, so we passed all sorts of activity. Many people were catching a ride to work which generally consisted of piling in the back of a friend’s pick up truck or taking the bus. Every time I see a public bus in Nicaragua I laugh to myself because it is never more apparent that I am in a totally different country and culture. Public buses are old school buses (which I assume were purchased used from other countries, because it is unlikely there was ever a widespread school busing scheme here). The school buses would appear to a person from the United States as decorated as if it was the inside of a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo. Confetti, spray paint, all sorts of strainers and designs, loud music blaring all the time, and in addition to all that, add a significant amount of religious imagery and declarations of the bus’s loyalty to God, Jesus, and Mary – quite a sight!
Central park in Masaya.
My first full day in Masaya I took a 4 hour walk through the city. There are not many things I find more liberating and exhilarating than being in a new city and taking a walk without plans. Just following whatever interests me or catches my eye, controlling my own destiny. All of the normal feelings are exponentially better in a new culture and a new country. I set out a goal of finding the organization where I am going to work MASINFA (about a 30 minute walk from my house), on my way I spent an hour or so touring through the “non-tourist” Mercado in Masaya. There were some parts in which I had to duck to avoid the hanging clothes or backpacks, while dodging running children and aggressive but friendly salespeople, other parts I was outside, extremely hot, and amazed at how people spend every day of their lives at a stand swatting flies off of raw meat. The rest of my walk was a tour of the downtown area of Masaya, there is a beautiful central park that includes a historic church, as well as various drink and food vendors. I bought a newspaper and spent time reading and soaking in a typical day in the park for residents in Masaya. My medal on the wall with my new family is that I am the only intern/house resident to not get lost on my first walk through Masaya! They were all very impressed and told me some pretty funny stories about past interns.
So rest assured, I am loving life in Nicaragua!! I will post again this week :)
-Chris
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Internet
¡Buenas noticias!
My family in Masaya has internet access! So I will be able to do a better job of staying in touch. Only planning on using it a couple of times a week however. Part of me is enjoying the freedom of being without all of my electronic dependencies :)
-Chris
My family in Masaya has internet access! So I will be able to do a better job of staying in touch. Only planning on using it a couple of times a week however. Part of me is enjoying the freedom of being without all of my electronic dependencies :)
-Chris
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
My First Post from Nicaragua
The six interns in my group, and one of our FSD directors.
Hola de Nicaragua!
It is Tuesday and I am finishing my 3rd day in Nicaragua. I am spending my first week in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua. There are a total of six interns in the Ciudad Sandino region of Nicaragua beginning their summer session this week. Each intern is a student, four from California (University of San Francisco), one from a school in Ohio. It is good to have company to share my experiences with for the first week. Out of this group I am the only one going to Masaya, but there are two college students from the U.S. interning there now.
I am writing this from the kitchen table of a wonderful family. It is a young couple with a 9 year old son. The hospitality here is truly on a different level.
The family has been extraordinarily welcoming, and the food incredible! * I will do a future post about the food* It has been fun connecting with their son Jose Angel. We have played soccer in the back patio the last two nights. Both nights I have redefined sweating. While a thermostat may say 80-90, the humidity is more than I have ever felt before. The rainy season is generally from May to November, so there has been some rain, and I expect a lot more.
The street outside the house for my first week in the rain.
In my first night in Nicaragua I left Ciudad Sandino to have dinner with a very good friend from Notre Dame who is from Managua. It was a bit of an adventure finding her, an early indication of how different it is here than the U.S. Nicaragua does not have official addresses. So on fully paved streets an address is still given based on landmarks and descriptions of the general area. For example, my address in Masaya is “3 and a half blocks south of where the courts (judicial) used to be.” One of the FSD employees set me up with a cab and before we left I sat there and listened while my friend Alejandra kept giving different landmarks until he recognized one. The first song in the cab was “poker face” by Lady Gaga, oohhh how U.S. culture spreads to the world. Certainly provided for a moment of reflection, listening to a song I would hear in a cab in South Bend, while I am in such a foreign place. In conversation with my cab driver I discovered that soccer is extremely popular here, but baseball is the heart of Nicaragua!! I will be sure to catch a couple of games here during the summer, and hopefully I will be able to play once I get comfortable in Masaya. Seeing Alejandra in Managua was a blast. Unfortunately, she left on Monday for New York for the summer. But maybe it is a blessing that will keep me stretching my comfort zone! Her family was persistent in letting me know that if I ever needed ANYTHING to let them know. Thank you Notre Dame for allowing me to meet such quality people!
I can already tell that my experience with Spanish this summer will be an inexhaustible tug of war. In my first three days I have found myself all across the emotional spectrum with the language. Each day we have had a series of speakers explaining their expertise on a particular element of life and culture in Nicaragua. We have learned about the economy, the health care system, politics, and various elements of the culture. Today I was excited to have understood nearly all of the doctor’s explanation of the health care system here, only to be severely let down by my inability to comprehend a long and vivacious presentation on Nicaraguan politics, by a local (feminist) activist. I understood her passion and frustration, but failed to comprehend a lot of the details of her explanations -- missed opportunity. When I am talking with native speakers I find myself desperately searching for alternative ways to verbalize my thoughts, the struggle of a 21 year old brain and 1st grade vocabulary. My frustration motivates me to learn, but the incredible feeling of being able to successfully communicate at times is driving me to be persistent in learning vocabulary.
View from the pier in Managua.
The best experiences so far have been without a doubt our daily “habla nica” activities. We take breaks from presentations and get an assignment that we have to carry out in the “mercadito.” The market is made up of roughly 100 small shops and street vendors. Our assignments have been to discover elements of Nicaraguan life and culture, like Nica words that are different than traditional Spanish, or popular meals and drinks. Yesterday, we were given 2$ to represent the daily wage of a person at the poverty line according to the World Bank (roughly 40% of Nicaragua), and asked to buy food for a family and make economic choices based on hypothetical family needs. Lesson learned: 2$ a day is not enough for anyone to be able to break the cycle of poverty, the family can be fed but any other expenses mean little or no food for a day.
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