Two Years

It turns out we do become experts!

Ok, so expert is a bit of an exaggeration, but it does feel good to have entered this school year with a better handle on how the year would go. Many asked me at the end of my first year if I wished the experience was over at that point. I contemplated, reflecting over the hardest part of my service between the one year mark in country and when I had completed one year in my service. It is true, there were a lot of bumps and bruises, many difficulties in various aspects of life: physical, emotional, and professional. But my answer was always the same: I am grateful to have another year to improve what I can about my job.

Now I understand even more about how important this second year is in terms of service. We began the school year in February and although I started over in some sense by choosing almost all new teachers to work with, I had a much better idea of how to explain my job, how to enter into the classroom, and what would work in terms of my classroom role. I certainly am no expert, but I feel much more prepared. Though many days I do feel like I’m still figuring it out, I have felt more equipped to respond to newer volunteers’ questions of advice.

The tough part is that this experience of two years makes me very critical not only of aid, but of shorter term volunteer work. I spent the first three months in site simply absorbing the culture around me, getting to know the school system, observing and quietly noting important aspects of the society in which I now live. The work came later and as I have said, many failures and learning experiences filled my first year of service. In my second year there will be failure, but maybe not quite as big. There will be challenges, but I may be better prepared to navigate those situations. There will be frustrations, but I hopefully now know what to spend my time worrying about and what to give up on. Being a part of this process has made me see how development work or any foreign work really cannot be done on a short term scale.

This is certainly not to say that short term volunteers have not made a positive impact in the work that they have done. I am simply grateful to have a chance to do it all again, to start my second year with experience under my belt and feeling more prepared.

For now, I am living day by day, planning my work over the next 7 months. For those who wonder what my next steps are, you will just have to wait a bit longer. This second year has given me the opportunity to complete many new projects and I need to fulfill my work to the best of my abilities before thinking about what my next moves are back in the U.S. Two months into the school year I am very optimistic about my work this year. Happy 2015!

Strawberry Delight

Nothing like a day of shopping to put some spunk back in my step. But for anyone who knows me, shopping is not exactly my favorite pastime. With my sister's wedding approaching, I was forced to hit the streets of Esteli, a nearby city, to search for a dress.

I did not give up early (as I often get discouraged) and my friend and I continued to walk in and out of stores on a deep hunt. The advantage we had was looking for certain colors. In a matter of two hours we had walked through the entire business area of the city and were left wondering where to go next.

Then, we saw them! Strawberries. Yes, Nicaragua has mangoes and pineapple, guayaba and passion fruit. Us Peace Corps volunteers anticipate each fruit season like a kid waiting for Santa Claus. However, when you have not eaten a strawberry for over a year and a half, that level of excitement grows. Apples, they're around. Pears I ate when I was at home. Biting into that strawberry was for me as if all of my worries suddenly dissipated and all I felt was happiness.

As my friend and I sat on a step eating strawberries, I felt like a child again. I realized that one of the advantages of dedicating two years of your life to this lifestyle is that very little things can make a huge difference in one's day. Maybe it also speaks to how much of an emotional roller coaster this experience is, one moment happy about something so minuscule as liquid hand soap, and the next angry at the man hissing at you on the street. Luckily, it is not only strawberries that make me smile...

Things that make me ridiculously happy:
-Liquid hand soap
-Washing my clothes in a washing machine
-A hot shower
-Strawberries
-Real ice cream
-A good latte
-Elizabeth's daily hugs and kisses
-Green beans at the market (50 cents)!!
-A head of green and purple lettuce (again 50 CENTS!)
-Laughing with my friends while walking aimlessly around the city
-Sitting on a stoop and having NO ONE look at me
-Red headed Nicaraguans
-My students greeting me with "Good morning teacher"
-A beer after a long week of work
-Air conditioning
-A comfortable bed
-Dancing to Latin music (without creepy men bothering me)
-Responding to catcalls with something clever/telling men off

And I could keep going...

I know this experience has helped me to identify the little things in life that make each day great, but I hope to continually identify these aspects of my life, no matter where I live. It's the little things in life that keep us going, the little things that keep me smiling.