León, Nicaragua 2007

After it all...

2007-08-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

And, I'm back! I've been burned, busted, robbed and sick. I've been elated, fluent, questioned and accepted.

What an experience! My last few weeks down in Nicaragua I was 100% everything; running around (and oh, the biking!) everywhere, eating everything, teaching with all my heart, getting to know my fellow artists... I almost don't know where to begin with this final post. I say almost because, well, I'm writing the damn post, so I've jumped in head first...and that's a start of sorts.

Firstly, I'd like to acknowledge my two favorite fruits from Nicaragua.

Number One, Mamones.

Mamones are small, round fruit with smooth skins. The skins pop off in a manner similar to oranges, but the way in which you eat the fruit is quite different. The word "Mamon" means to suck, and that is literally what you do with it. You suck it. The flesh is attached pretty strongly to the large seed in the middle, so you no choice but it suck it all off. Delicious, and easier then it seems.

Moving on..

Number two, Pitalla.

Pitalla can be eaten by hand, sure, but what they're most commonly used in is juice. The inside is pulpy, delightfully so, and I cannot compare it to a fruit here. It's very unique, and can be easily juiced by hand if the power is out and you've got a plethora of thirsty kids running around.

And oh, how I miss these and more! I found a nice site, http://www.vianica.com/sp/go/specials/14-frutas-de-nicaragua.html that has decent photos and descriptions of a lot of the basic fruits there. The descriptions are in Spanish, but I'd still check out the photos.

What else? My classes ended with a bang, or rather a final presentation for the parents and artists. I had the older kids (ages 11-16) perform solo or in duos, while a few of the smaller children sang Mary Had A Little Lamb...I wish I had a video of it... they're a riot.

Speaking of videos, I've uploaded all of mine onto http://www.youtube.com/luciahawley . Even the two second videos the robber took unknowningly are up there.. all, 15?

The robber took my camera and wallet when I was at the beach for a day. I had left my bag on the back porch of the house (Soany's father's...absolutely beautiful, five steps away from the beach, cows included) while I went inside to eat lunch. We decided that it was a 14-16 year old kid, because he took the flashy camera and wallet, but did not take my semi-old looking phone, or just the whole bag. Anyway, I thought both items were long are gone, never to be seen again. That all happened on a Wednesday. Sunday morning Soany comes to my house at 7 am telling me that a neighbor of her father has my camera, and bought it back (for me) for 500 cordoba (roughly 27 bucks). We went to the beach, went to the neighbor's and I paid him back. Then we went to the police office to fill out a notice.

I cannot believe my camera is still here... it's insane. The robber also took some photos, but the videos are more or less the same. So, take a look! I've also got videos that I took while there. If you don't like sunburns, DO NOT watch "Lucia the Snake." I mean that.

I dearly miss all of the artists in the Taller Artistico Xuchialt, and only have fond memories of them. Did I say I got sick my last night there? Rough luck, huh? I felt amazing, ate everything, did everything for eight weeks (excluding my intial illness, but that's fairly typical) and then --BOOM-- got sick my last day there. So, I left without much fanfare. But I feel bad because that last day I was there was "La griteria chiquita," which is more or less their version of Halloween. So we stayed in the Taller and they took turns playing some sort of shoot 'em up game. They say I shouldn't, but I do feel guilty about that.

Last post, eh? I've enjoyed writing in this blog, and thanks to all who have checked it out. Strange, now the trip really feels over. I am so happy I did what I did, I've learned loads about the world, people--I include myself in that generalization--and life this summer. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world, ever.

Love,
Lucia

???

2007-08-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

What?? Two weeks left? How did that happen?

I hope you're all well my lovely friends and family, because I am splendid. I'm not ready! A real update soon,

Always,
Lucia

Leon, the City of Concerts

2007-07-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

I think by the end of this trip I'll have been to more concerts here then I have in my whole life. There are concerts every night around the city, and the music and vibes are so good, it's hard not to go. Right now I'm uploading some videos, so be sure to check my youtube account (http://www.youtube.com/luciahawley) and watch them!

Tuesday I was working in the office when Susie, the PML coordinator, asked me if I wanted to go to Managua to pick up suitcases full of medical supplies brought down by a delegation from Augsburg college. Hell yes! Anything to change up my routine. We went in a van, along with Ernesto, the translator for the delegation when they get here. The delegation will be spending this week in Managua and will come here to Leon this Monday. Anyway, we drove for about and hour and a half to Managua to pick up the suitcases, got to the airport and after a bit of searching, found the group of 16 white girls with all their luggage. They amazingly brought down 31 suitcases of just the medical supplies, which would have been great, if the airport hadn't decided to hold 11 for no apparent reason. So we took what we could, drove to the Medical Center so that Susie could get a bunch of papers to sign in the hopes of retriving our missing 11 bags. Today is Friday and we still don't have them, as the hospital here in Leon (that needs to sign papers for Susie) has been closed since yesterday, due to a national holiday yesterday.

Life flows differently here. It'd be so easy to get frustrated, and we sure did, but it's just not worth the effort. Wednesday was spent checking what was in the bags we do have, making lists of stuff with Exel in a cyber cafe, burning the file onto a cd, doing other stuff, then later going to a different cyber cafe that couldn't read the file type and finally having to type it all out, again. So, frustration happens, but you can't let it get you down.

Besides the stress of office work, life has been very nice. Another concert tonight, baking an apple tart on Sunday, recorder classes are going well. Plus, last night was awesome because of Foosball: My Guilty Pleasure.

...and then later last night another ride on the Bus Pelon, but this time with salted mangos. Rico, rico.

Oh! Yesterday I also made tortillas with Gladys at her house (which is a bit out of the city.) Mine weren't... pretty, but they tasted great! I brought my camera to take videos, but of course my battery was left charging in the house. So that sucks, but my other videos will make up for it.

I've gotten rather close to Esmerelda, the little toddler in my house, and she now enjoys slapping my butt and poking my boobs and telling me that they're hers. Ah, kids. I retaliate by taking her sandals and somehow manage to stuff them onto my toes and prance around in them.

Speaking of sandals, I have yet to buy another pair and feel my current sandals wearing away into nothingness. There just aren't sandals here that are made for tall women.

So, I'm off to search in the market for sandals. Wish me luck! And check out my vids!

Lucia

Week....5?

2007-07-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

I´ve been here for a full month now! I´m feeling 100% better, and am now eating way too much...the food is so good here, I can´t help myself. My classes have been going really well with the older kids. The younger kids don´t have much of an attention span, and their fingers are really small, which makes it a bit harder to play the notes clearly...

I´ve uploaded two more videos onto my youtube account (youtube.com/luciahawley). I have a TON of videos, but it takes forever to upload them, and I forgot my to bring my camera today...

Thursday night I went to a concert with the Taller group. It was at the Casa Cultural, and was very interesting, because there was a bagpipe! In Nicaragua! Fucking sweet, to say the least. The guy who played it is French, and he played a few traditional bagpipe songs before the grand finale: A duet with a Nicaraguan guitarist, playing a traditional Nicaraguan song. With a bagpipe. And that drone it has.

So neat. BUT of course I didn´t take my camera that night, silly as I am.

It rained a ton on Saturday, enough to make a big hole in the street in front of our house. And only our house! No where else. And of course, I have a video of the rain, but...time limits...so typical.

I´m not sure what I´ll be doing this week, besides my classes and working in the PML office. I´m hoping to get to the beach sometime soon. I´ll also be making two apple tarts in the near future, one for the birthday of the little boy in our house, and the other for the birthday of William, one of the artist in the Taller. Apples here are a BIG deal because they´re the exotic, rare fruit here, so I figure it´ll be a lot of fun for them to eat the tart, plus it´s way delicious in general.

I have also taken a ride on the Bus Pelon (the Bald Bus). The top is cut off, there´s a string of colored lights on it and it blasts loud music while driving around the outskirts of the city. It´s a really nice way to cool off after a hot day!

That´s all for now, thanks to all who comment and read,
Love Lucia

2007-06-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

So I´m back. I missed the internet too much, what can I say, me being the American I am. I am feeling much better after eating yesterday. Not just any food, but it was really geat to get some protein (in the form of fried chicken thigh). I´ve noticed that Nicaraguans don´t tend to eat much of it. Their diet is based much more heavily on carbs than anything else. I´ve found a local store that carries some yogurt, and though the stuff is prune flavored, I am not complaining. It´s delish.

My energy is back up and I´m able to walk around. I´ll be teaching my class today! I´m looking forward to it, and feel more at ease with the kids then last week. The only thing I´m worried about is Sunday, because there will be an art exhibition of not only the kid´s work, but but the teachers´ as well... which means I may have to play recorder for 70 people... and ah, well, the only song I feel kind of, sort of comfortable playing is Ode to Joy. Which isn´t very impressive or pretty. Yikes!

It´s awfully hot today! Yesterday there were clouds, but today, nada.

MAS

2007-06-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

Alright! I´m alive! It´s only been a week since my last post. I got really sick on Sunday and have been in bed up until now. I won´t go into details, but I went to the doctor and he RXed me a bunch of pills, mainly antibiotics. I have a baterial infection in my stomach. All the pills, doctor visit and powerade I´ve been drinking (not to mention the rather gross rehydration salts) equals a grand total of...22 dollars. American. Not bad, not bad at all.

Anyway, while my body was in its weakened state, my mind reverted to thinking about two things.

1. Bad tv shows, such as S club 7 and that one Nickelodeon show about the teen puppet who lived with real-life people.
2. American food.

Now, I understand why I´d think about American food, because I haven´t eaten in four days now. Actually, they were more cravings than thoughts. Foods I thought the most about included Annie´s Mac and cheese, fried rice with PEAS, risotto and coco krispies. I would still go for any of those right now. Comfort food.

Also, because I was sick I had to cancel my class on Tuesday. But my two classes over the weekend went well. The kids are super excited to learn new notes, so far I´ve only taught them A and B.

Because I´ve been sick, not much has happened during the past week. A proper post will occur when I start doing stuff! Friday night at the Taller we´re having a surprise birthday party for Marvin (who is also bringing his new girlfriend for all of us to meet, Ay joyiyo!)

I´m so glad the videos worked out! I´ve got more, but man, they take forever to upload.

Until later, love,
Lucia

Enfermidad

2007-06-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I just wrote a post but it got deleted due to my crazy fingers pushing the power button on the keyboard.

Anyway, I had my first class with the older kids on Tuesday and things went really well. It started over an hour late, but that was because the kids had forgotten about the class because of the intensive finals going down in the schools. After the recorder class Sawany, one of the artists at the Taller taught me how to paint, primative Nicaraguan style. That was way cool.

Tuesday was by far my busiest day so far. I planned my class, went vegetable shopping with Angelica, tried to eat some hot soup for lunch (I still don´t get how they do it) taught the class, went to the mercado with Doña Nubia for more stuff and THEN went to concert with the boys. All of it was so much fun (the concert was awesome!!) but doing all of that in one day made me sick as a dog by the end of the night. I think what pushed me over the edge were the insane lights and dancing like the white fool I am at the concert. I don´t regret anything though. So Wednesday I was supposed to work in the PML office in the morning, but I talked with Susie and she let me sleep and hang out there all day. What a slice of heaven! That helped so much. Oh also, a cold (my family is calling it gripe, the flu, but I don´t think so) has been going around the, well, city. So it makes sense that I´m sick. PLUS (the list goes on!) I ate a chocobanano from a street vendor.

Today I organized the books in the office and then napped for the rest of the day. It is so hot here. In my last post I stated that the pace of life is different here and that you shouldn´t push it. Well, I did on Tuesday! And have learned my lesson, so moving onward...

Tomorrow I teach my second class with the older kids, which should go smoothly. Also, I somehow got roped into making a cake for the girls at my house. And thanks to mom (thank you for the email!!) I have a recipe! Yes! We´ll see how that goes. Also tomorrow there´s another concert. Uh, I won´t dance and will bring lots of water.

So, yes! here is the link to my youtube site. LINK: www.youtube.com/luciahawley . So far I have two videos of life here.

I thought that the little girl, Esmerelda was going to be living in our house permanently. Turns out she, her brother and Mom were just temporary. I don´t know why.

That´s all for now! I´m going back to the house for...potato salad? Hah! I doubt it´s anything like ours!

OH ALSO, Thank you for the fantastic comments! It´s been so fun reading them. Keep them coming yeah? Also, I have a cell here that can receive texts...hint hint... the number is 011-505-607-1911 .

I hope all is well,
Lucia

Alla aça!

2007-06-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Estoy aqui amigos! So far everything has been great. I got in Friday at 12 noon, with no problems. Well, except for my flight from Atlanta, I had less then half a seat due to a very large woman. Who kinda smelled. BUT I´m not complaing, because I am here. I taught my first lesson on Saturday, and I think all the kids liked it. Also, turns out I´m teaching two classes. The first is with kids ages 6-10 which is on Saturdays. The second is on Sunday, Tuesday and Fridays with kids ages 11-15. I didn´t know that coming down, seems like it was a last minute thing. Which is cool because that´s Nicaragua. You move with the flow. The change in pace of life is strange, even though I expected it. Naps are good things, walking in the sun isn´t.

As soon as I got off the plane things became real. I smelled Nicaragua, I felt it in the air. I plunged into spanish head first and now it´s odd that I couldn´t remember the word for Sunday earlier in this post. It hit me even more when I stepped inside my home here. That´s when I really felt the memories flood back. I think it was the smell of bar laundry soap. Susie, her boyfriend, Marlon and Angelica came to pick me up from the airport. Roadside food here is a quesilla. Delicious! Like quesadillas, but in a bag with a lot of creamy sauce and onions. Speaking of food, the Gallo Pinto here is as good as I remember. And the fruit! Doña Nuvia (my host mom) will be taking me to the market soon to buy more fruit. My favorite so far are Mamones, which have a thin skin you bit off in order to suck the flesh off of a large pit. Mamone means to suck. It´s fun. I´m going to try and upload pictures as well. I´ve got a few videos, too.

I love how things are so different here. You sweep and sweep the floors, all day long to no avail. You sweat loads and it´s ok, not gross because everyone does it. You take a few showers a day if you´re hot, and the bugs are part of your house. Speaking of houses, my family is in a new one and it´s really similar to the old one, I don´t feel as if they have moved. Only difference is that we have an aunt living in the house with her two children, one being two year old Esmerelda, and she is crazy in the best way possible. She enjoys sneaking up on me and nabbing my sunglasses to parade around the house in. Anyway, I have so much to say but I need to see if I can upload these fotos. OH also, I´ll be working in the PML office three days a week. Organizing books and working on the website! Perfecto.

Entonces,
con cuida Lucia

UPDATE: ok so the internet here is wicked slow, I´ll post LINKS to my videos next time.

Four Days

2007-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

That's right, four teeny tiny little days until I go. I have that sort of excitement right now where the trip is on my mind so much that it's strange to have other thoughts such as "What should I eat for lunch?" or "Man, I wonder if the mail is here" float by. Plus, every night is a different dream about Nicaragua. It's kind of cool. And kind of nerve-wracking. I still need to get my bags out for packing, but I've been sorting my crap into various piles. It's funny how much stuff I have, we have.

That's all, really. I don't want to bore, so I think the pre-trip posts are over. See you there!

Love,
Luc

Summing up

2007-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

Lesson plan is DONE! That's a relief. Here are the first two days, for a feel of my program:

Día Uno:
Introduciones
Baila con la canción:
-Cómo se siente sobre la canción?
-Se mueve rápido o lento dependemente de la música
-Los partes tranquilos se debe estar pequeño con su cuerpo
-partes ruidos se debe grande con su cuerpo
Juego de un círculo:
-Yo: toco ritmos simples, y los niños aplauden...
-Durante diferentes ritmos, ellos hacen diferentes cosas.

Día Dos:
Las Flautas:
-Darlos a ellos, explico un poco
-Dar los cuadernos, lapices
-Ellos pueden jugar con las flautas
-Toco una nota, miro si ellos pueden replicarla.
-Dibujo una flauta (con el tabluero blanco?)
-Los nombres de las notas
-Donde los manos deben estar
-Otros

And, plan has been approved by the wonderful Marlon. The class size will be twenty, should be fun!

I was able to go out tonight and get a few toys for the kids in my host family... now I just need something for los padres. Y mis amigos. Y otros...

I'll post again when something happens (only 10 days left!),
Luc

Off subject?

2007-05-25T11:41:00.001-07:00

I'm going to plug this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uabWkN2THc8 .

I found it fascinating, and have never had my interest held for a full twenty minutes on the subject of statistics. I think it's great that Hans Rosling is being positive about these subjects, when so often everything is put in a negative light. Maybe you don't agree with him, maybe you do. I don't know. I'm not here to judge. Hell, to some degree I'm not sure where I stand on these global issues. Instead, I'm simply commending Hans Rosling for what he, his daughter and son-in-law are doing.

If you don't know much about him, simply watching that video will give you a pretty good idea where he's coming from. Also, if this subject and video interests you, click the google user link for other videos from Zeitgeist Eupore 2007. If I'm not being specific about all this and it's bugging you, it's only because I want you to check these things out for yourself!

Back on track--I'm continuing to plan out my lesson plan for the kids in Leon. More soon!

Luc

I'M GOING

2007-05-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

I'M GOING GUYS! I just bought a plane ticket which makes the trip THAT MUCH MORE REAL. I'm leaving the 15th of June, and will be back on the 15th of August. 62 days!!! And that's nine weekends, too. I'll be teaching once a weekend. Oh, I am so excited. The plane ride will be hell with all the anticipation. Either the coordinator Susie or the Xuchialt bus driver Victor will pick me up at the Managua Airport. The drive from Managua to Leon is a bit over an hour and a half.

I had my first May term class at the U today. It's 8am to 10:30am, five days a week. Eh. The teacher is a bit nutty, to say the least. However, the topic still seems interesting! Anyway, I tell you all of this because I now have loads of homework. LOADS.

PEACE guys,

Lucia

VIDEO!

2007-05-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, check the awesome video to the right of the page!

El Duo de Color is the musical group of Marlon and Lenin, two of the artists in the Taller Xuchialt.

Props for the video go to Katie Rojas-Jahn, she works with PML. I can't wait to go down there! And this time, I'll be able to speak Spanish with 'em.

Ok, I've got homework now,

Lucia

It's REAL?

2007-05-19T16:35:00.000-07:00

This blog is a bit lackluster stylewise, I need to fix that. Anyway, a bit has happened in the past few days, and things are feeling real!

1. I IMed my host sister from last year, Angelica. She, and her mom Nuvia, want me to stay at their house again this year. That takes a load off my shoulders! I'm real excited about staying with them again (I kinda sorta loved them all), AND they moved into a new house. That'll be neat to see.

2. Friday night I spoke with Marlon, one of the artists of Xuchialt. We IMed for a bit, but then we SPOKE guys! Microphones, and Marlon had a webcam! I know MacLean has one floating around the house here, but didn't have it handy. So, that was way neat. We discussed and confirmed some things. I'll be teaching kids ages 6 to 10, and they will receive recorders, courtesy of Project Minnesota/León, PML, (http://www.mn-leon.org/) I have also prepared notebooks with musical staff lines for the kids, as well as those nifty "egg shakers" that really, no one can resist. C'mon!

All I really need to do now is continue working on little things. I e-mailed Susie, the PML co-coordinator, about traveling logistics. We Americans are really so privileged, it's insane. All I need to do once I'm in the Managua Airport there is buy a tourist card for five bucks. Lemme give you a link to what most people have to do to come to America, even if only for tourism... http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/

I'm signing off now, LOVE to all!

Luc

Summer nights, flies and all.

2007-05-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

May has arrived! And we're already half-way through it, how'd that happen?

First I'd like to shout out a very happy birthday to my dearest Dad; said birthday occurred Saturday. And Sunday? Cut to Mother's Day! A glorious weekend, full of love, flowers and too much food. Now then...

A bit of e-mailing has happened between the artists and me. In fact, we're using yahoo! messenger with BT communication. This instant messaging program allows one to plug in a microphone and talk via old-fashioned spoken words and whatnot! It's neat! You can even leave a voicemail on your recipient's computer if they're not there, which has been handy as that's all I've been able to accomplish so far in talking to Marlon (one of the artists.) He left me a nice message on Saturday that included a hello from my host mom, Nuvia! It was awesome, to say the least. I sent a message back, hopefully we'll soon be able to find a time to speak live and get a few trip details ironed out. Such as when I'm going, you know, little things like that...

That's all I've got right now. Classes start on the 21st, next Monday at 8am bright and early. Three weeks of, ah, "learning" and then I'll be off to the real stuff! But really, the class at the U should be neat, titled "Moral Problems of Contemporary Society." Not bad, eh?

Early Stages

2007-04-21T21:22:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

I've just e-mailed las artistas. I told them that I'd really like to teach music, but if it's too much for both them and me (but I hope not!!) I'll be willing to intern with painting or drawing. I have had classes in both and feel confident about the two visual arts. The thing about teaching music down there is that I'd be doing it completely solo. The artists know painting, drawing and dance but nothing about music and wouldn't be able to help during my classes. that means I'd be teaching 10-15 little kids by myself! Exciting for sure, and quite the experience no matter what ends up happening.

Seems as if this internship is a waiting game as of right now, I can't say much more than I have already. On a really great note, my Spanish has definately improved! I can read their e-mails easily, and can write more easily everyday. Just need to work on my vocab, and how to form adjectives. Schoolwise, the Language Proficieny Exams (LPEs) are starting this week. That should kick me into high study gear!

Well, it's a bit late and I've got a paper to start. Hasta pronto! (Until soon!)

xoxoLucia

Formulating Ideas

2007-04-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

I've been e-mailing back and forth with las artistas, trying to figure out what exactly I'll be doing with them this summer. More information soon to come, I hope!

xoxoLucia