February: a summary

This isn't nearly all that I want to say, but it's been a month and I haven't written anything about Nicaragua. So here's a little about what I've been doing. I'll catch up with Antigua and write about Nicaragua in more detail eventually. 

Expectations can be misleading. Our professor told us to pack four months worth of feminine hygiene products, a drug store, a small fortune in spending money, and to kiss wifi goodbye. It turns out she's the over-prepared type. I live in the capital city and as such my home in equipped with cable, wifi, and safe drinking water. Oddly enough, living 4,200 miles away from home is perfectly comfortable (minus the 90 degree weather and the mosquito bites).

A brief summary of the program: I'm here through the Central America Service Program (CASP), and “here” is Nicaragua, which is not a country in Africa (that's Nigeria), is not the same as Mexico, and does not spell certain mugging and malaria for tourists. I have a host family, an internship five days a week, and homework which my professors at Whitworth are eager to assign. The goals are to be immersed in Spanish and the Nicaraguan culture, and to gain work experience pertinent to my future career. That's my life for February, March, and April.

As for the two CASP goals: my host family is from El Salvador, and I'm an intern in the English department of a private school. Immersion? Salvadorans complaining about Nicaraguan food and weather, co-workers who teach and communicate largely in English. Relevant work experience? How fun it is to be an English major when the whole world assumes that means “teaching.” Expectation of a perfect semester abroad? Unrealistic.

First the bad: the day I went to meet my boss, the principal of Nicaragua Christian Academy (NCA), he didn't have time to do more than shake my hand. I was sent off to find my supervisor, Mitch, who busy principal had neglected to tell was getting an intern. An intern who lacks any ability or interest in teaching, no less. As the days passed, Mitch and I talked about all of the possible projects I could be a part of. Some of these sound really cool – I am especially looking forward to when the secondary students have their English writing workshop – but so far most of these ideas haven't manifested themselves as physical work. The problem isn't a lack of work to be done, but a lack of people who can tell me what to do. NCA suffers from a severe case of faculty disorganization.

The biggest challenge, well really it's a disappointing lack of a challenge, is that the English team all speak English. They're the people I have the most contact with. Today, for example, I had a conversation with one teacher about books. I started out asking her questions in Spanish but she kept responding in English, after the third try I gave up.

Each day is getting better. I just have to get over my pessimistic ways and see it. The folk at NCA are open and friendly; surely I can compensate for the time spent speaking English by seeking out conversations with people outside the department. I enjoy grading homework, something the teachers loathe to do. As long as they keep assigning homework I won't be completely devoid of tasks to do. The writing workshop is happening soon, and a certain elusive professor with tasks for me can't hide forever.

Now the good: my host-mom and aunt sell Salvadoran papusas! Papusas are thick corn tortillas with cheese, meat, and beans inside them. They're fun to make and even more fun to eat. Typical Nicaraguan food is bland and loaded with queso seco, a boring cheese. The perks of having a Salvadoran family is that their food is better and their accent is clearer. Nicaraguans have a habit of dropping the S's from the ends of words – dos becomes “doh” and so on – which can be a real pain for someone who's learning the language.

My two little host-brothers are five and seven years old, they love dinosaurs and Plants vs. Zombies. The older one likes goats but the younger one is scared of them. I am continually in awe of their parents' endless patience. They're not particularly difficult kids, but I would have strangled them by now. I see my host-cousins almost every day. Entertainment improved drastically after I bought a deck of cards, but now I need to think of more games to teach them.

If there's anything I've learned from my family and my internship, it's that all kids are crazy. So go, thank your parents for not killing you, and give teachers a higher salary.