Insectos y murales

Anyone know what this insect is?  100 points to the first
person who can correctly identify it!
There are tons of insects in Nicaragua.  It's one of the main
things I will NOT miss when I get back to the U.S.

Today is my last full day of classes here in Nicaragua.  It is strange how quickly the time has flown.  Yet two weeks really isn't that much time.  I feel like I've learned a lot, seen a lot, experienced a lot.  And all experiences like this make us a better person, I think, if we let it.  Nicaragua wasn't even a bleep on my radar before, and now I feel comfortable here.  I have friends here and I've shared a small portion of their lives.  This is one of the only bad things about traveling in this way . . . when you share in the culture, is that you eventually leave.  But this is the life I've chosen.  Each time I leave a place, I leave behind a piece of me.  All I can hope is that that piece has made a difference for someone, or at the very least that it hasn't done any harm.
But enough of reflection.  I still have a full day in Nicaragua.

A wasp (we think) making a nest in our
doorway.  50 points to anyone who can
verify or disprove that this is a wasp.

Today, during class I listened to my first traditional Nicaraguan music.  It was interesting.  One song was about Esteli, another about Nicaragua, and a third about the revolution.  In return, I played some of the music that I have from different places in the world.  It was fun.
After lunch, I walked to the store to see if there was anything else I wanted to get.  They were closed, so I walked all the way over there for nothing.  It was rather disappointing.  Instead, I came back and relaxed a little before going to the school for our final excursion.
For this excursion, only two of us went.  I'm not sure what the others were doing or why they didn't want to go, but it was interesting.  We saw one of the first murals in Esteli.  It is a mural dedicated to the children who fought and died during the Revolution.  I guess they made homemade bombs and used them.  But they weren't any safer in their homes, so they figured they might as well help.
Children from every age died during the war, many pregnant women were killed.  Snipers shot at anyone that moved.  The plane that we saw earlier was part of that revolution, but flown by the government of the dictator, supported by the U.S.  But the U.S.'s support didn't have anything to do with the dictator or actually support of his government.  Instead, the U.S. supported him because the opposition was the communists.  During the Cold War, the U.S. always opposed anything and anyone related to communism.

Mural for the children whose lives were cut short in the
prime of their lives.

We saw several murals depicting the war, and people who gave their lives for the liberty of Nicaragua.  It was interesting.  I hadn't ever heard anything about Nicaragua before coming here.  It'll be interesting to see what the future holds for Nicaragua.  The professor that came with me was telling me that she thinks Nicaragua has lost two if not three generations because of the war.  But the women have always been the ones to keep working through everything.  The women I've met here are amazing.  They work hard both in and outside of the home, and have to put up with so much.  It makes me sad, but also makes me very glad that as a woman, I was born in the United States.  And hopefully it'll get better for them, and for all the other women in the world soon.

To be normal is not what is important.  What is important is to
accept our differences.

I assume these are leaf-cutter ants, 25 points to anyone who
can verify or disprove my theory.  It was amazing how
quickly they could go with these leaves!

Mural about the initial insurrection, everyone has different
weapons, some with homemade bombs.

You have to take your rights, you don't ask
for them.  You snatch, not beg.

The faces of those who died in the war, mixed together.

Centro para ninos

Squished on the bus

I've been feeling a little off today. I think it's a combination of poor nutrition, poor rest, and the heat. Anyway, I wasn't feeling well during class today, but I'm feeling better now. I'm not sure why.

For our excursion today, we went to a center for children. It is located in a poor neighborhood on the North West side of Esteli. (By the way, it has started raining. It's a good thing I came home when I did because I washed my skirt this morning and it would just have gotten soaked if I hadn't brought it in. Though I was wanting to go for a walk . . . maybe the rain won't last long). We took a bus to get to the center . . . my first Nicaraguan bus experience. It wasn't too bad and only cost 3 Cordobas (22 Cordobas to a dollar) for each direction.

The center was established in the seventies by an Italian Catholic priest and was originally a refuge for children. Since then it has expanded into a center where children can go when they're not in school. They get food and lessons in things that they don't necessarily learn at school, such as English, computers, and music.

Center for children

The kids seemed really happy there, so it must be working. They have 600 students in that school. 300 in the morning (the kids who have school in the afternoon) and 300 in the afternoon (the kids who have school in the morning). But they don't have room for all the kids in the neighborhood and they focus mainly on the most vulnerable of the kids.

Everyone there started talking to us in Spanish then stopped and asked, do they understand Spanish? It was kind of interesting. But maybe they're not used to foreigners being able to understand Spanish.

Children dancing in the center

We met one of the English teachers. He is Nicaraguan, learned English in the university and has never been to the U.S. or England. It is always hardest to learn a language when you never have the chance to use it regularly. But considering that, he spoke very well, at least he spoke well the little he said to us in English. He mainly spoke to us in Spanish, but we heard him conducting an English class as we were leaving. It was fun to hear the kids trying to pronounce English words. You never realize how difficult some things can be to say until you hear other people trying. For example, my name is apparently REALLY hard for people to say. Even when I say it slowly, they just give me a blank stare. Now I understand why so many of my professors just call me Raquel. Even if they get the sound right, they don't ever get the accent right. It ends up sounding like a combination of Raquel and Rachel. But it doesn't bother me which is odd because my brother used to call me Raquel when I was younger to make me mad.
We took a bus back as well, and now I am sitting in my room, watching the news in Spanish, and listening to the heavy downpour on my tin roof. It always sounds so much worse in this room. The rain is refreshing, but I don't like the mosquitoes and other insects that come with it.

Art projects that the children do at the center.

Computer center for learning technology.

The neighborhood around the center.

The English teacher.

Alcaldia y lagartijas

As usual, fruit for breakfast, but with a water pear. . .

Three more days of my immersion trip. . . As much as I hate to admit it, I'm actually glad the immersion trip is not longer than two weeks, at least under these circumstances.  I am starting to feel really worn out.  I'm not really sure what the reason for that is.  Perhaps its the fact that I wake up early every morning, or the lack of control or variety in my diet (fruit every morning, gallo pinto which is rice and beans for lunch, and fried plantains for dinner - it's not really as bad as that, but we do seem to be eating a lot of the same foods).  Or perhaps it is the long hours of class, especially since I've really only felt worn out the past couple of days.  On the other hand, I felt tired yesterday before my classes.  It may be from all the sun I got this weekend.  Maybe that was just too much.

Center for Infant Development

Today I went to the CDI (Centro de Desarollo Infantil) with my teacher.  I talked to the director about the programs that they have for underprivileged children.  They care for children ages 0-6, but only children from families that are more vulnerable.  They provide breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack for the kids.  In the morning they have classes for kids 3-6, but also have developmental activities for children age 3 months and older.  Basically it's like an early childhood learning center with an emphasis on at-risk children.  It was interesting.
After that, we went to the store of my teacher's boyfriend.  He was busy, but I talked with all the people in the store.  It was interesting.  They complemented me on my Spanish, so that made me feel good.  Sometimes I feel inadequate, but at times like that, I realize how much I can communicate and how much I understand.  There was this old guy with hardly any teeth that was very hard to understand.

Inside the center they had this cute little wall decoration
that says all the things kids have a right to, like to life,
health, family, education, and food.

In the afternoon I had an individual reading session again, but I also had to do some reading beforehand.  I feel pretty good about my reading.  I still need to work on my vocabulary, but I generally get what is going on, and get the hidden meanings in things, too.
We had a shorter excursion today where we went to the Alcaldia, which is like the town hall.  There we talked to a women in the agency for the local promotion of the economy.  She told us about some of what they do to help people start their own businesses.  They have a business course that they offer.  Right now there is one course going on, which we saw briefly, but it is the last due to lack of funds.  They also have courses for people who already have a business, and they do a little work with the unemployed who don't want to start their own business.  I'm sure there are other programs, those are just the ones that we talked about.

The mural on the outside of the center.

After that I had another one-on-one, but this time I did presentations.  I really need to work on those more.  So today wasn't quite as bad as yesterday.  Today I only had class from 7:30 until 6:00, with an hour lunch break and two hours to work on my reading by myself.
Hopefully I won't feel so exhausted tomorrow. Oh, and I now know what a gecko sounds like.  It's definitely not like they show on those car insurance commercials :)

Municipal Government Building

The garden inside the Alcaldia

The last business class until who knows when.

La fabrica de puro, y un dia largo

The courtyard of the tobacco factory.

I am so tired right now. I've had a really long day. My schedule was flipped because my teacher had a training for her other job. That means that I had classes in the afternoon instead of in the morning. In the morning, I had class for two and a half hours with the professor that came with us from the U.S. Then we went to the tobacco factory.
That was interesting. I had no idea how much labor goes into making a cigar. They have to ferment the tobaccos leaves, then dry them out. The outer leaf is kept moist so that it is easy to work with. Then they roll the leaves which then have to go through another process to make sure they are pressed correctly after which the outer layer is rolled on. The people who do that part work by production, so the more they do, the more they get paid, but they also have people watching and checking the quality. They do a lot of different brands of cigars there, lots of different shapes and sizes. The difference in quality isn't in the production, it's in the quality of the tobacco leaf itself.

Making the boxes for the cigars

After the cigars are rolled, they have to sit until they are completely dry, then they are selected based on color (meaning they are grouped into a package so that they are the same color), the band is put on it and they are placed in individual plastic wrappings before being put in to a box or other package.
Oh, we also saw them making the boxes. In short, they do everything in this one factory.
The factory also had some "pets." It was really sad. They are just kept in these cages, and one monkey was tied with a collar on. That is no way to live, especially for those kinds of animals. I think that's one of the reasons I don't like fish, hamsters, gerbils, or those kinds of pets. I don't want a pet that only lives in a cage. I would take my rats out of their cages, but I prefer an animal like a cat or dog that doesn't need a cage.

The leaves in their fermenting stage.

After that, I had lunch before heading back to the school for class. Class was from 1:30 until 6:00. Then I headed back for dinner, having to be back at the school at 7:00 for an individual reading session. I got home, and was told dinner would be at 6:30, then was asked if I wanted to have dinner at 7:00. I told her I needed to be back at the school at 7:00, so dinner was at 6:30.
That didn't give me much time to eat before I had to leave. I was surprised that my individual reading session went as well as it did. I rocked those readings, even getting the underlining meaning. I was impressed with myself. I guess my reading is getting better! But now I have homework . . .

Spreading the tobacco leaves and pulling the
veins.

Spreading the cover leaves.  The veins are
also removed from these leaves.  They
are then used in fertilizer.

Everything is used.  This box has the pieces
from the cigars that are cut off in the process
of making them the right size.  They are
then used for second round cigars which
aren't as good of quality as the ones with
the full leaves.

The puma . . . in it's "natural" environment.

Rolling the tobacco leaves.

The outer covering of the cigar.

Cigars in a store room drying completely.

Packaging the cigars.

The finished product.

A lion statue smoking a cigar.

Poor monkey, seemed terrified.  I would hate to be tied up
like that, too.  I'm not sure if this or the cage is better.

The birds.  Their cages didn't seem too bad.

A la iglesia y recorrido

The church grounds

It is really hot today.  I feel so lethargic.  It was much nicer this morning, after it rained.  Last night I realized that the church is really close to the house where I'm staying, literally three blocks east.  So after breakfast, I walked to church.  The building is really pretty, and so are the grounds.
I felt a little out of place.  There weren't a lot of people at the church, and only one American missionary.  I'm not sure where his companion is from,  but he definitely is a native Spanish speaker.  Anyway, the real reason I felt out of place is because I sat by myself during sacrament meeting (everyone else was sitting grouped together, but there wasn't really room for me), didn't have a song book, so I just hummed along, and didn't have scriptures in Spanish, either.  It was still good, though.  I saw the second ward that meets there, and they had a lot more people.  I'm not sure why the ward that I went to is so small.

The church building in Esteli

After sacrament meeting, everyone was really friendly, though.  They came up to me and welcomed me, showed me where to go and were interested in why I was here and how much longer I would be there.  I actually wish I would be here a little longer.  They seemed so sad that I was only going to be there for one week.
I left right after church was over, though I wish I would have stayed at talked to people.  I just felt a little bad because I had left my colleague at the house by herself.  So I didn't want to stay away longer than I had to.  As I was walking back, one lady walked with me and we talked.  It was nice.
After lunch, my colleague and I went for a walk.  We walked north on our street.  We had never walked on that street before.  It was a nice walk.
Since then, I've been studying Spanish . . . or taking a nap . . . or talking.  But at least part of the talking was about Spanish, so it wasn't a waste of time.  I'm not sure if we're going to do anything tonight.  We may be going out for ice cream after dinner.  I wonder how our friends are doing who stayed in the hotel last night!

Another cat on a hot tin roof.

An interesting view while walking through the city

A horse . . . looks bored, poor thing.