Another great day at work!

Can I tell you my favorite type of workday? That would be the workday which starts at 10:00 instead of 8:00 because we have to do all sorts of errands before going to work. It would be the day that ends with sitting in a pharmacy sipping coffee and conversing about random things. It would be the day that I realize that me and my coworker are becoming more than coworkers, we’re become friends, and I’m pretty sure we’re become connected in the way that God intended all human beings to be connected to eachother. Connected in the way that even though we come from different worlds, that our hearts break over the same things. The way that we recognize we are different, and yet know we’re the same.

Every day my heart breaks a little bit. I learn a little bit more about life here, and it’s hard to take it all in. But there’s so much love and joy in this elderly home too, and the combination of joy and heartbreak is what inspires me to want to make a difference here. Today Zoila told me more in more detail why some of the residents are here. She told me about  my English-speaking friend who spent all his money on alcohol about 10 years ago, and his family got so fed up that they abandoned him here, and they never come to visit. She told me about the woman who comes and sits at the doorway every single day waiting for her family to come, even though they never do. She told me how that woman used to sleep under the bed because she was terrified at night. There’s lots of stories of abandonment, and there are a lot of broken hearts living here at this elderly home.

Zoila asked me how much someone who works at an elderly home makes in the states. I told her I wasn’t sure and she insisted that I guess. So I told her I would guess about $30,000 dollars a year. She was in awe. I don’t like answering questions about money or anything related to it- I think that tit kind of raises this feeling of jealousy. I mean I’ll tell you- I make more in one day substitute teaching than Zoila makes in an entire week. And that’s not fair. She works 6 days a week, receives no benefits, and doesn’t have any paid vacation time. If they take a day off, they don’t earn wages for that day- and because they can’t afford to do that, it means 6 days a week of hard labor, 52 weeks a year. But these are the things I can’t change. The things that I know deep down are wrong, and I can’t do diddly-squat to make a difference. I hate that feeling. But I intend to keep doing my best to at least make a difference here at this little elderly home. Maybe I can’t save the world- but I can certainly make a difference.

Until next time,

Rachel

The Birthday that keeps on going :)

So Alma ended up taking me to a place called Catarina which overlooks this beautiful lagoon which formed in the crater of a dormant volcano. It was so amazing. And…I rode a horse! (thereby checking off another bucket list item!). It seriously just looks like paradise. You look out and see this amazing clear lake, with another huge lake behind it, a volcano to the right, and just woods and mountains to the left. Nicaragua looks like paradise (at least the natural parts of Nicaragua do). After riding the horses, we had another traditional Nicaraguan food, which I can’t actually remember the name, but it was a cheese-filled tortilla. (Not a quesadilla- the tortilla in itself was filled with cheese…yummm).

Next up we went to Masaya (you may remember Masaya from my post about going to the volcano). In addition to the volcano, Masaya is famous for being the folklore center of Nicaragua. Which means- it’s the craft capital of Nica!! All kinds of handmade goods; boxes, jars, pots, purses, clothes, hammocks, and jewelry (to name just some of the offerings). Alma surprised me with birthday presents here. She bought me a shirt with a hand-sewn design and she bought me a hand-carved jewelry box. In case you don’t know this about me, I LOVE jewelry boxes. (That was my big purchase in Spain- a hand-crafted Granadan jewelry Box) It’s like these people all knew me before I even got here. The people who I’m getting to know just really never cease to amaze me. The generosity and love that the people here show is really incredible.

Anyhow, that’s all I got for now!!

Hasta Pronto!

Rachel

The big 2-1

Yesterday was one of the coolest birthdays I ever had. I’m not gonna lie; initially the idea of turning 21 on a day that I had to work (a Saturday, mind you), in a country without my friends or family wasn’t really my idea of an awesome birthday. (I mean, I wasn’t being a downer, I just figured it would kind of be like any other day, and wouldn’t really feel like a birthday). Boy oh boy, was I wrong. Zoila came to pick me up for work and had a wonderful card that she made for me. Then at work she made a wonderful lunch of steak and rice. (We ate the steak with our hands…that is a out-of-comfort-zone experience right there!) Then Guillermo (my english-speaking friend) gave me a hard candy and asked me to help with English a little bit. The elderly home workers give him labels and things when they’re in English- so he had one that I think was for a vacuum belt and he was asking me to explain different things on the label, for example how you say ‘performance’ and then what ‘high-performance’ means. It was really fun. Then, after work, I went to Alma’s mom’s house and watched a wedding- what?!?!?! (okay, technically it was a ‘civil ceremony’ because it was a legal ceremony and not like in a church with a priest or anything- but it was still sooo cool—hearing vows in Spanish, wow).

Then we had a traditional Nicaraguan dinner, which I think is called caballo vallo (no it’s not horse…) which was UHHH-MAZE-ING!!! Then since it was my birthday, the groom (who is a dance instructor) taught me how to salsa…while all the other 30-40 people watched. I love learning dances, but the whole having an audience who isn’t dancing thing made me feel slightly awkward… now I feel like I need to learn a bunch of traditional dances so that in case this sort of situation should arise again I can just blow everyone away with my advanced abilities.

The night’s not over yet- because next they came out with a cake with a candle in it for me and they sang happy birthday (first in English) and then 2 happy birthday songs in Spanish. (I almost accidentally blew out the candle prematurely- my bad). (I felt kind of guilty, like I was stealing the thunder of the wedding, but Alma assured me that it wasn’t a big deal since it was a civil ceremony- and a lot of the guests left (and so did the Bride and Groom) before the birthday cake part).

[Note- I will eventually try to upload pics, but my internet connection here is slow, so uploading isn't overly plausible in this moment]

Today Alma is going to pick me up and take me somewhere. (I don’t know where yet- I think it’s going to be a surprise). But today is also a bad day, a sad and disgusting day. The two guys who were staying here left this morning, and on the way out the Nicaraguan boy stole my host-mom’s phone. (which was a pretty good, and very expensive phone). My heart kind of sank- I mean the guys, and myself, all stay here for free. She provides our meals, lets us use her internet, we shower, and sleep here, and her maid even did their laundry (and will do mine in the future). And she doesn’t ask for anything. She isn’t paid back in any way- she just hosts us because she wants to; she wants to help out, and so she does so at her own expense. How someone can come and stay and eat and be friendly with someone and then steal from them is just beyond me. I know that times are tough for a lot of people, but I just can’t imagine stealing from someone who opens their heart and home and is nothing but kind and generous to me. So that’s the rain cloud over the day.

Anyhow, I must be off! I hope you have a most beautiful day!

<3 Rachel

Meeting #1 is a success!!

Thank you to all who have maintained crossed fingers since reading the last post! The meeting with my boss went delightfully well. I was awfully nervous before hand, but alas, a sigh of relief. She had no complaints with what I have been doing so far, she just had lots and lots of ideas for what I will be doing in coming weeks. I’m gonna be a busy-bee, that’s for sure! (But that’s much better than killing time and having nothing to do…) My current to-do list is 15 items long, and unfortunately they aren’t exactly easy tasks- it will involve lots of going through past records and trying to decipher different information, but rest assured, I will prevail!!! (I’ll update you on progress too!) Tomorrow I intend to start with the categorization of customers and product purchase. I also need to research what products customers want but aren’t being offered here so that we can stock those items. So that’s what I’ll be up to the next two days! I only will be here for two more full weeks after Saturday. (But I will return for one last week in early August). I can’t believe that. I mean, I have only been here for one and a half weeks so far, but it’s so weird to think that in two weeks I’ll be off to a different destination, and I’ll be working on a whole different project.

Something I’ve really been loving: guess who gets to lead coloring time with the residents in the afternoons? If you guessed me, then you guessed right! What does coloring time consist of? Well for usually about 1.5-2 hours any residents who are interested come sit at a table with me and we draw pictures until they don’t want to draw anymore. I’m not sure it gets better than that J And I kind of wish coloring time could be instituted at Wake. I think it would really do wonders for stress management.

Well, that’s all for now!

Hasta Pronto!

<3 Rachel

Blondie's a graphic designer

Obviously, this title doesn’t make sense to anyone other than me. So explanation: when I had my initial meeting after landing in Managua, the people I met with informed me of the various names that they will most likely be referring to me as. (Rachel is hard to pronounce- but when I told them they can call me Raquel they were very resistant- I think they think its rude or offensive to change someones name…I tried to explain that people call me that, and I respond to it, but we weren’t having success). I was told that I will be called, “blanquita” (young white girl), “Chiquita/chiquitita” (young girl), “chilita”(or something that sounds similar...i never quite catch it) (blondie), “gringa” (white girl) and a few other things that are currently escaping me. When they say my actual name it comes out usually like “rahhhshell”, but other than that I get called blondie a lot. I tried to explain that I’m not blonde; they tried to explain that I’m white- which to them is synonymous with blond. (weird)

Anyhow back to me being a graphic designer…today I showed them my three different fliers that I have created, and they adored them. The pharmacy technician told me she wants me to teach her how to do that so she can keep making handouts after I leave (it was Microsoft word, so hopefully I can do that). I’m glad that they like them. Sometimes I feel like the pharmacy technician and the administrator aren’t thrilled that I’m here, so the positive reinforcement is great. Something else that was great, of all three fliers, there were I think 2-3 grammar changes that the pharmacy tech made when she edited them, and that’s it!! How amazing is that, people?!?!? Part of me wants to send them to all my professors in Spain just to show them that I can be grammatical.

Tomorrow I check in with my boss. Keren, from JFR foundation, is coming to the elderly home and we will be meeting to go over everything I have done, what I have observed, and what I will be doing in coming weeks. I really hope that she is impressed. I’m trying my best, so I hope that that is evident and will please her. (Keep your fingers crossed for me, okay?)

That’s all for now!

~Rachel~

System Shock

I am such a mix of emotions these days. I think Nicaragua is kind of a shock to my system, in both positive and negative ways. The people are so welcoming and so loving and generous- which is really unique. I mean, I kind of think of the south as being very welcoming and people are more friendly and all. But this is in a different way. These people welcome you as if you’re a long lost family member, and they really really treat you as if you’re their kid. It’s been really touching- and yet makes me feel really guilty. For instance let me tell you about my Saturday: My Saturday was absolutely incredible! Alma, who is on the board of directors for the elderly home, took me with her family to go to Masaya and see this active volcano!! Talk about awesome! Then she took me to Granada, the first city of Nicaragua, and we toured around. Alma paid for all the entrance fees, and lunch. I kept offering, and she wouldn’t accept money. Money things here make me really uncomfortable. Alma also took me out to dinner my first night in Jinotepe and has brought me to her mom’s house for dinner twice. Her whole family (children, cousins, aunts, uncles etc) want to know me, so we just sit for hours talking and talking. So basically, she’s investing a lot in me being here, simply because she wants to. That generosity is so amazing to witness, but I can’t help but feel bad about it.

The subject of money has come up a few times, and when it does, my stomach just knots.  Alma’s nephew was telling me about how he works for an American money exchange company call-center, which outsources to Nicaragua, the Philippines, and India. He works for $500/month (which comes out to about $2/hr)…he also works 6 days a week (as do most Nicaraguans) instead of 5. He started talking about how much an American doing the same job makes- but thinks he’s lucky that the US is providing him a job. Oh the ethics of outsourcing…

Today I was walking to work with Zoila and we had to stop at her son’s school so that she could pay the monthly tuition. She told me how her friend who lives in San Fransisco sends her 10$/month so that she can afford to send her son to school.  My stomach twisted when I thought about the fact that I waste more than that every month on things like coffee or stupid things I don’t need.

Seeing the poverty every day is taking a toll on me too. It really hits you hard to be in the middle of such a needy place and not being able to help as much as you would want to.  But things can’t change overnight. So all I can do is keep doing my best here at the elderly home.  I’ll keep you posted!

~Rachel~

First Day on the Job

I was expecting there to be cultural differences in Nicaragua- I was expecting some social norms to perhaps be different, or to witness unique social/cultural traditions—I was expecting things to look different (like the buildings, the landscape, etc)- but for some reason, when it came to the way companies work, in my head it was exactly the same as in the states. I had the fear that I was under qualified to be offering advice on marketing plans for the pharmacy. They actually kept calling me the “marketing expert”- which made me especially nervous, because I don’t think I can be considered an expert in anything. But it hit me like walking face-first into a brick wall today, that I am the ‘marketing expert’ for this pharmacy. Tomorrow I’m meeting with the board, but today two of the women from the board were asking me what some of my ideas were after being here two days. I told them they would have to tell me about how marketing/publicity is done here, because I know they have some unique ways that I don’t know about (such as speak out cars---cars with giant speakers that play a recording of an advertisement). But I told them about how really the best way to market is mouth-to-mouth,  and so I think it would be good to start with creating some fliers to give to the current customers who can pass them to their friends. I then suggested talking to the pastors of local churches and the doctors at local offices/hospitals who could pass on information about getting low-cost medications at this pharmacy. Their jaws dropped—at the idea of fliers. They started gawking over this concept. I was expecting to have to be innovative and really figure out how to reach the greater Jinotepe population, but I realized today that I just have to be practical. Business here is at such a basic level, that I think I will fare best simply by being logical.

Tomorrow I meet with the board. I hope it goes well J And tomorrow I think I get to lead necklace making as an afternoon activity with the residents. So I’m feeling pretty pumped about that! At least if I fall flat on my face with board, there’s a great bead set and some ribbon serving as my light at the end of the tunnel.

The dynamics amongst the residents are so interesting. There are some people who seem to be best friends, some indifferent, there’s a married couple, there’s one trouble maker who starts fights…today he wheeled over (in his wheel chair) to a man who was sitting down and tried to steal the seated man’s cane…There are some chatter boxes, and then there are some who keep to themselves. The combination is really great. There’s also a man who speaks English (kind of) and he is sooo precious. He came up to me today and said, “Hello Miss. How is the weather in New Hampshire?” When I gave my answer he didn’t respond to it…so Im not sure whether he understood me or not. Then at lunch I was initially sitting alone (the two women were on their way) and so he went to his room and brought me his radio. He plugged it in and turned on a music station for me.

So all in all, I’d say day 1 was a success!! I hope all the rest go just as well J

Abrazos,

Rachel

My first couple days

Yesterday I met with the people from the JFR Foundation (that's the one in Oregon who I'm technically working for), people from the Board at the elderly home in Jinotepe, and people from the Board of the AQB (the childrens' organization). We went over the details of what my time down here will be looking like. Side note: my favorite moment of this entire meeting was when someone asked one woman to explain to me what I would be doing at the elderly home. The woman asked someone to translate for her, and this other woman, Carmen said, "no, I don't need to translate for her, she speaks perfect Spanish!". (cue Rachel's goofy grin and brightened eyes). The other woman thinks I don't understand, but it's just because she speaks faster in spanish than I do in english...so that's really saying something. I guess I'll just have to ask people to speak very very slowly, and hopefully all will be well.

Anyhow, back to what I'll be doing. As the plan stands, today I am being picked up and heading to Jinotepe. I will be living with a woman named Norma and her housmaid right in Jinotepe for about a month, and during this time I will be working with the Hogar de Ancianos (elderly home). Initially, my work is dedicated to gathering information on what they are doing with their pharmacy. I am supposed to observe if they are properly using the software to enter the inventories each month, and also just observe their practices in general. Then  we will be talking about how to market their service. (They sell medications much cheaper than pharmacies to low-income individuals, and then offer a delivery service). So our goal is to reach more people. The profits then come back to support the running of the Hogar.

So that's the work I'll be starting off doing. But so far my two days here have just been play time. Yesterday I wandered around Managua a little bit with Dylan. We bought some fruit (mystery fruit) from a stand in the street (that's legit- there are people selling fruit everywhere!). I don't know what this fruit is called, but I'm positive they don't have it in the states. I'll have to buy it again and take pics, because it is some odd-looking stuff. It's a little bit smaller than a walnut, and has a really thin green skin. you cut that and pop out this ball, which is like a giant pit covered in goopy pinkish orangish material. You pop that into your mouth and kind of just chew until the goop is all gone. then you spit out the pit. It sounds kind of nasty (it looks kind of nasty too) but that is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. It's a darn shame that customs would probably arrest me if I tried to smuggle in fruit- sighh. (On the bright side it leaves more room for all the artesania (handcrafts) that I'm gonna bring back!!)

My night concluded with a dinner of champions (pictured below) and a *warm* shower!! (night one I showered in ice cold water...come to find out that the heat control is on the shower head instead of the water knob...so night 2 was a much warmer shower experience) and then 10 glorious hours of shut-eye! :)  (Random other note about showering: they told me to make sure to shower with my mouth closed because of the tap water situation. I'm wondering if that's the issue, or if they just are trying to spare people from shower singing...hmmm)

Cena de Campeones!! (Dinner of champions)- V8, water, apple, and plantain chips. Yummmmm

Note the Disney Channel...did I watch Princess Diaries in Spanish last night? yes, yes I did.

Hotel room in Managua

I don't know what my internet access will be like after today. I leave in an hour or two and won't most likely have wireless where I'm going, so posts might be less frequent (or there might be internet cafes everywhere, and posts might be just as frequent!!) I don't know. 

In any case, I'll be keeping you posted the best I can! 

With Love, 

Rachel

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

Today was quite possibly the simultaneously best and worst travel experience of my life. (Not exaggerating). I left the house at 3:30 AM to get to Boston for my flight to Atlanta- flight was fine. (Although the middle seat- I usually don’t mind it, but after an all-nighter, when you literally can’t keep your head up, the middle seat is a rough one to have!) But then my flight from Atlanta to Nicaragua was amazing!! I was able to check off an item from my bucket list- ‘have a deep conversation with a complete stranger’. The guy sitting next to me asked me why I was going to Nicaragua and so I told him that I was interning down here this summer, and then I returned the question and found out that he’s down here with a missions group. (if that’s not the right way to say that, my bad) Anyhow long story short, we ended up talking for probably about an hour on all kinds of things related to religion and missions and relationships with Christ. It was just so cool. (I never really talk to my seat partners at all- but this was way cool)

Unfortunately the following 3 hours were not so cool. I landed in Managua (which the airport is tiny, I wasn’t expecting that) and my worst travel nightmare came true. There was no one waiting for me. I panicked. So I first made rounds through the huge group of people with signs of names, but after about half an hour I was confident that there was no one there for me. The logical thing to do at this point would be to call one of your contacts- but oh snap, the person you were expecting to pick you up is the one lending you a phone for the summer. So maybe the next logical thing would be to e-mail one of the people in Nicaragua and find out what you’re supposed to do. I couldn’t find wifi in the airport. So then I start asking random people if they’ve heard of the hotel I’m staying in. No one- not a single person of about 5-8 random surveyed individuals had heard of it (because its like half an hour away from the airport…). At this point I’m sure there are much better alternatives in how to proceed than crying, but that’s what my mind and body decided to put their efforts into. A stranger tried to comfort me and started asking what the problem was, and God bless her soul, she listened to my whole broken-spanish story and then brought me to a cell phone kiosk. They let me make a call (which I paid for), and I found out that the person who was supposed to pick me up had car troubles but was driving and asked me to call him back in 10 minutes. The cell phone kiosk wouldn’t let me call back. (I don’t understand—I mean I paid for the call, so I’m not sure why they wouldn’t let me do it again) So I started asking where I could go to get wi-fi. I needed to contact people to find out if I was supposed to keep waiting at the airport, or if I should take a taxi to the hotel, or what. In the post office in the airport they had an “internet café”—aka 3 computers- and oh boy was I happy to see them. Long story short, Mary Simms basically saved the day for me by calling people at wake who called people in Nicaragua and figured it all out. So all I had to do was wait at the computer and talk to Mary.

A man named Daniel picked me up (he drives the other people from the Foundation I’m here with when they come down) and I just wanted to fling myself at him and give him a hug. Instead I wiped the tears of my face and said hello as he apologized over and over (even though it wasn’t his fault). Let me tell you about Daniel- he is amazing. He is fluent in English (and Spanish, in case that wasn’t assumed) because he went to college for teaching English as a second language (or this was part of his degree…I got a little confused because later he said that he went to college for Business Management, so idk…).  He thought originally that I didn’t speak Spanish at all, and so when he found out I did, we instantly transitioned to this half and half Spanish to English to mixed language exchange. It was sooo cool. We talked the whole way to the hotel (which was probably a good 25 minutes).  He gave me some information about Nicaragua and Managua and actually talked about how a ton of Nicaraguans immigrate to Spain—and then we went on a tangent about Spain. It was just really awesome.

I haven’t left the hotel since then (at 2:30) except for when I went across the street and bought a bottle of water. I took a 3 hour nap earlier, and am about to hit the sack now. Game plan= to sleep about 10 hours then wake up have a delightful Nicaraguan breakfast with coffee and then I’m meeting with people from the foundation who I think are going to guide me around the city and give me information about my internship day-to-day schedule.

I think my body and mind are seriously exhausted. But it’s pretty amazing that even when the worst happens, we manage to overcome.  9 hours ago I was crying in an airport feeling overcome with helplessness and fear of being somewhere so unfamiliar and not knowing what to do. And here I am now safely in my hotel room. And I’m counting my blessings for wonderful friends who will drop what they’re doing to call strangers for me to get me out of trouble, and also for Daniel- who I’m considering my first Nicaraguan friend. J

Goodnight!

<3 Rachel

Preparing for take-off!

If I fell asleep right this minute, then I could sleep for 38 minutes before having to get up to leave for the airport...somehow my nerves and procrastination always pair up when it's time for me to leave home, and really get the best of me. And so the culmination is always (quite predictably) a marathon of frantic packing and finishing up of to-do lists, a late night walmart run (gotta love 24-hour walmart!!) and then a big mug off coffee to fight of the all-nighter. You'd think at some point, I'd want to change this sick pattern- but really, why fix a working system? Plus, I think somehow, that frantic feeling that maybe I'm forgetting something- that temporary OCD that kicks in when I pack- it seems to ease the underlying nerves associated with venturing into something unknown.

In less than 12 hours I will be in a Central American country and will be starting something very exciting and new. I am brimming with excitement! I've never felt so empowered and so capable of making a difference. And yet I find this nagging fear and anxiety somehow coexisting and sharing space with my joy.

I was reading a book a couple weeks ago in which the author said that we don't fear that we're inadequate, rather we fear because we know that we are capable of everything- we are fearful because we are powerful. At first I kind of dismissed this thought, because it just seemed wrong. If I know how capable I am, if I truly think I have no limitations- If I truly feel empowered- then I have NOTHING to fear. That was my initial thought. Until I realized that the author is completely correct. We are fully capable, fully empowered individuals. But we also are completely fallible. Just as easy as it is to build up, to create, to improve so it is to deconstuct, to destroy, to worsen. And so when we desire to do good, even with the best intentions we can fail- we can make things worse, we can fail to progress. That's my biggest fear with Nicaragua. Whenever I was/am asked what I want to do when I grow up I responded/respond, "I want to help people" or "I want to change the world". And for the first time I'm in a position where I can make a difference to a lot of people through use of my interest in and knowledge of business. Through the application of the knowledge that I have attained. And I'm brimming with joy because I can't stop thinking about just how cool that is. But the fear that creeps in comes from something inside me that says maybe I'm underqualified. Maybe I don't know enough about business plan writing, maybe I don't know enough about how an organization functions, maybe I don't know enough about the world--or perhaps the worst thought of all; maybe I know enough, but I'll fail anyhow- maybe I'll let people down despite my best efforts. Maybe my best won't be good enough. Or maybe it will.

What I do know, is that one thing you can count on is that I will give it my absolute best effort. And if I find I'm not being successful, then I will change everything I can to make sure to do my best. I think that even if I fall flat on my face, I'm going to learn so much from this experience that it's going to be completely worth it. I'm going to utilize business skills and knowledge- and I'm going to learn about a new culture and a new place. And I'm thinking I'm probably even going to learn a thing or two about myself. But first, I'm going to close my eyes for 9 minutes until its time to get ready for the airport!

<3 Rachel