chase in nicaragua

(via staree)

haha makes me think of nica

closing thoughts

the following blog chronicles my 27 days in nicaragua with manna project international.

if you have any questions, please check out www.mannaproject.org or email me at chaseblood@gmail.com

and here’s my bad spanish translation:

este blog conta de los 27 dias que yo fue en nicaragua con el grupo de manna proyecto. si tiene preguntas, por fa vaya a www.mannaproject.org o enviame un correo electrónico a chaseblood@gmail.com

Thank you (gracias) and (y) peace (paz),

chase

some photos from the best month of my life. love manna, love nica, love life.

day 27: shaped up and shipped out

The fine line between where yesterday ended and today began was extremely blurred. The guys finished packing and then woke up- or stayed up- to see the early flight girls off. At 4:30am we said our second batch of goodbyes and see ya laters, and then we napped until our 6:45 wake up call. I took a quick shower to wake up— still very cold— and then started getting dressed before i realized that a lot of my clothing is still dirty from playing with a reckless abandon with our kids. Despite the possibility of a favorite shirt being stained, i love the fact that everything I own is stamped with evidence of love and fun. We said goodbyes to the incredibly awesome PD’s and then Nikki drove us to the airport by means of picking up Amira in the micro as well. We got to the airport at around 8:45 I think. Time is more of a concept that I still cannot grasp; a lack of sleep and desire to stay in the house has severely augmented my reality.

Robert and I waited in the continental line, talley and andrew in American, and molly and Amira in taca. It turns out that the former two airlines had no one working the check in, so the four of us watched Amira and Molly’s long line sail by our stagnant ones. We finally got our bags checked in, and went to the gate to have coffee and breakfast. The four of us- everyone but the taca flight- chilled until it was time to board. I write this update flying over central America—mostly jungles and volcanoes. I remember as a kid always loving the mystery and wonder of the rainforest and central American jungle. Flying over the land has reawakened my interest and I’d love to parachute out into the green sea of trees and rivers. We’ve already passed by two active volcanoes, and I gotta say they look so so cool from a mile high. Steaming cones— make me really miss our fieldtrip to masaya with our kids. I still can’t believe my time is done and that I’m about to return to an American life.

We just flew over some large body of water- I think it’s the carribbean but I don’t really know. The water was clear and crisp, and the bold islands that erupted from the blue were cocooned by blankets of white and teal. Too cool. Over the yucatan peninsula, there were too many clouds to see the jungle, but I imagine we passed some ancient temples full of secrets just as much they are full of legend.

I ended up sleeping for the rest of flight one, waking up at the end of Mall Cop (made me think of Lindsay) and I tried to sit next to Robert. That didn’t go too hot though because I was sitting next to a toolbag who kept snoring to clear his nose/throat/face. Oh well.

I landed in Houston right on time and Robbie and I went through the miles of check-in and customs and baggage check. We separated and I kept on truckin through the airport, knowing that my second flight started boarding five minutes en el pasado. Holy tamale.

I got to my gate and very rapidly went to the bathroom when it hit me: I’m in America. We have hot water and you can flush toilet paper. It was weird but within a minute I was hit by another realization- America has a lot of selfish people. I saw the first guy on the first flight- the toolbag- and the second on my second flight, when an ederly couple had the aisle and window seats, and a corporate tool would not get off his phone to let them sit down. Without offering his seat or apologizing or even acknowledging the couple, he got in the aisle and then quickly returned, the entire time on his cell phone. Anyway, I found my seat and read a few wam fuzzies—our letters to our volunteers and leaders. I miss them all dearly- for the past month these people were my family and best friends; my support and comedic relief. We baked, bled, sweated (swat?), cried, laughed, served, and loved everyday, together. Being without my fellow volunteers or being without the PD’s is awkward and makes me miss being with the people, much less being in an environment where everyone is so good at loving. Bah I miss manna project: real world, third world.

The flight to Denver was definitely the most boring three hours of the month and probably the most boring flight I’ve ever been on. Enveloped in a cloud for what seemed like months as I listened to Harry Potter 6 on my iPod. After a very grateful landing, I got my bags and breathed in some high-and-dry American air. My parents picked me up, along with the dog (Angel… Angel Blood. I know, my family is really bad with naming things). I was shocked that she was so lazy and furry and fat, compared to every other dog I’d seen for the past month. We arrived at home and I had a beast salad. Everything from here on out is normal life, I guess, save the few moments of culture shock and bad english that now plagues me.

day 26: sundays and long goodbyes

church. it’s a beautiful thing. however, this morning we went to a nica church that was 2.5 hours long. i loved it, but since the sermon (like the rest of the service) was in spanish. my attention span maxed out a few minutes into the sermon but i still really enjoyed the church. they’ve done some beautiful things within the community (like starting a school that is now part of compassion international or something) and have a large congregation.

after church, we made lunch and hit up the market. with 30 minutes, we frantically ran around the open air market looking for several souvenirs. i got a really cool bracelet for a dollar and some gifts for the family (sorry mom, you’re hard to shop for…). we then dropped lindsay off at the airport so she could get picked up by her church group. it was muy triste and very much of an eye opening experience to realize that this trip is finally over. after a month of incredible memories and experiences and relationships, we will all go our separate ways tomorrow, splitting up across the world once again to go fix something… like poverty or children’s health or (for me) architecture.

we made our last POPS run and then went to our community’s houses to say goodbye. i can’t really take it all in because EVERYONE was genuinely so kind to us and so sad to see us leave. we were met at each house with a chorus of “thank you”s and blessings. it was sad, but also cool to see how deep our group penetrated the community we work in. we did not simply float; we got dirty and messy with the people we work with. we shared their burdens and pains and joys and triumphs. in teaching kids math and literacy we become part of the landscape of the beautiful jungle we work in. the best goodbye definitely goes to the house “compound” of kilometre 13.5, a cluster of a few houses full of children. twenty or so kids ranging from 1 to 15 ran out to see us off, and literally held us back and did not want us to leave. even as we drove off, the entire “family” stood at the street, waving and cheering us off. pictures to come later.

we came back to the house and made dinner while preparing for amira’s (the manna boss lady- she’s awesome) birthday party thing. we had great food (cooked by michael) and awesome laughs as we recapped the past weeks. it’s going to be hard to be without these people for the rest of my life, but thankfully, my relationships with them will not die upon entering america- they will (hopefully) continue to thrive and bring a lot of joy and laughter to my life.

nicayuda people came over (shout out to aldo, fabricio, gabriel, and adrianna) and hung out while we all wrote goodbye notes and stuffed our faces with the remnants (como posos, a los personas que hablar espanol) of birthday cake and seven layer dip.

to lindsay- your presence is deeply missed.

to everyone else here- i’m glad to be in one room as we all hang out. my extroverted side is loving it, and it knows that come tomorrow, it will not rear its head for a very long time.

paz,

nica fun fact: i don’t ever ever want to leave. this is the best group ever to spend a month with, give or take.

day 25: independence and celebrations thereof

laguna de apoyo is one of the most beautiful places in nicaragua. it’s a crater lake that is formed on a collapsed volcano. not unlike a hot springs, the lake is naturally heated and supplied with fresh minerals, apparently really good for “skin and hair,” whatever that means. anyway, we left for the lake at around 9:30 and got there around 11ish? quien sabe… we took a few minutes to soak in the beauty and then swim out to the floating dock. we hung out there until lunch time, reflecting and talking about the past month. it’s crazy to think how fast the time has gone.

lunch was super interesting: beans, beets, fried yellow things (not bananas or plantains), and some weird nica cheese, salsa and guac. i think i said “for a meal that doesn’t have meat and that isn’t a salad, this is pretty good.” and that basically sums it up. because they ran out of rice and meat, our meal was as good as it could have been, but still wasn’t top of the line.

we spent the rest of the 4th of july hanging out, reading, swimming, and kayaking. me and lindsay kayaked for a bit, and then lisa and lauren took the two ocean kayaks after us. i really miss kayaking so it was a blast.

before we left the lake, we talked for a bit about what needs to improve and what needs to continue within manna project, and then we hit the road. on the way out of the crater, we found two people who needed a ride. they looked european, so we picked them up. speaking broken spanish, we assumed they were swiss or something. frustrated by a language barrier, he started speaking english… it turns out they were american. we think he asked us “where we went” as opposed to “where are you going” but w/e… it was funny. we made it back for the big fourth of july party just in time.

the celebration consisted of all sorts of amazing american food: hamburgers, seven layer dip, chips, cake… bah, so good. we made some sort of punch that contained a lot of juices and some rum— i’ve never had any sort of rum drink before, despite flor de cana being an insanely popular nican drink. it was good, but it separated from the juice too fast, so you got all sorts of strong alcohol tastes when you least expected it. possibly one of the funniest and most fun meals. it was one part american patriotism, one part american memories and heritage and tradition, and 20 parts manna people being awesome. we all wore red, white, and blue to add to the already decked out pool house.

we came back in and started the two days worth of closing activities- mostly “warm fuzzies,” where you leave notes for each person. on top of all that, we sat around and bonded some more, reflecting on what we’ve enjoyed and laughed about so much over the past month.

many of us have realized that this month (or in laura’s case, two months) has been one of the greatest of our lives. for sure one of the best summer months ever. with working hard during the day and relaxing and bonding at night, loving the kids and volunteers nonstop, manna breeds an environment that is like summer camp mixed with the peace corps. you serve and get served and love and get love, several times over every day. we are not wholly selfless we have a pool, a house mom, and electricity despite our third world conditions. we are not selfish, either- we don’t have a tv set (to the disgust of many nicas who watch telenovelas nightly) or air conditioning or a dishwasher. but what we’ve learned down here, among many other things, is that life is so much more than what you have (or what you don’t). and on the fourth of july, a day where we wonder why americans are so blessed (even the poor and hungry) and so fortunate, we can take a step back and just be thankful for it all. our elections, while political and emotionally involved, are free from bloodshed or assassination. our job market, while unsteady and chaotic, is at least able to provide for the majority of americans and continues to provide a life above the world poverty line—unlike the workers in chureca who live on less than $1 a day (called extreme poverty, and half of the world lives in that label). our faith, while seemingly divided more and more each year with the onset of religions from scientology to kaballah to the church of people like fred phelps, at least allows the peaceful coexistence, unlike israeli/palesitne judaic/muslim conflict.

all in all, an amazing day. none of us want to leave, but unfortunately, day 27 is approaching way too fast. nicaragua, take off your coat and stay a while… we have a lot of talking to do.

paz,

day 24: threads and kicks

despite my already long adeiu to chureca, we went back this morning for something a lot more hopeful: a clothing drive. in an effort to redignify and help establish the importance of money in chureca, manna brought over dozens of suitcases and bags full of clothing for men, women, children, and babies. allowing 15 people in the store at once, for 15 minutes, they could shop for 15 items and two pair of shoes- most priced at 2 cord (ten cents). men, women, and children. but children weren’t allowed in the area to ensure that adults have a few minutes away from their stressful job as raising a child in a terrible environment. it went over reall well. about 150 people came through, all appreciating the ability to buy something they want, as opposed to just getting it for free. they finally had something to show for their hard work and labors.

the downside of the clothing sale (aka threads sale) is that we had to get up at 7am. not too early, but early enough to make waking up a very long process (without coffee… yikes!). we came back to the house around 12:30 and i ate lunch and crashed. hard. until 2:45. then we went to the land for our month’s community activity: kickball tournament. totally chaotic but awesome. we played guys vs. girls and the kids stopped keeping score after 2 innings. overall, a lot better of a success than i thought.

we hung out at the land for a bit and then molly and i walked back (lindsay aka limsey flaked out on us). we ended up finding the micro and hopped in. we came back to the house for dinner and laughed, ate a lot. pasta (i added spinach and tomatoes and cheese) and then brownies made with chocolate from the chocolate castle. incredible God’s gift to man. we got plans for july 4th all settled- we’re all going to laguna de apollo. so tight.

after talking about how incredible some of the manna students are, nicayuda came over for a while. norman, fabricio, aldo, gabriel, and adrianna kicked it for a while while the volunteers and PD’s joined us. as i write this, norman is playing guitar and aldo is being a rock star. (they know i write about them, so a shout out to them when they finally get around to reading my blog… hope the english isn’t too hard. and sorry for the bad grammar.) norman is really really good at guitar and singing. he should probably get a recording contract and then come to nashville to make a CD. just a personal input. now aldo is rocking out, which let me see the guitar (i don’t know whose it is… someone in nicayuda) a bit closer. they have punk stickers all over it, a cross, and a hogwarts sticker. if i lived in nicaragua for reals, i think i’d be best friends with these fools. haha they’re legit.

nica fun fact: according to emily, if vandy is short for vanderbilt, candy is short for canderbilt. also, i really want some brownies when i get home… mom…

day 23: goodbyes and compulsive eating

for some reason, the guys couldn’t wake up this morning. maybe it was the fact that we weren’t sweaty and hot from the night before, or maybe it was the fact that we all dreamed of being harry potter last night and didn’t want to wake up. regardless, we quickly ate breakfast (for me, cereal and iced coffee. seriously, when did i start eating primo bistro food all the time?) and left for chureca.

at juntos, none of the regular kids were there except carlos. so we wrote the alphabet on the dry erase board and drew and sang songs. after that, we played card games and left. leaving chureca is bittersweet- all the people there are incredible and have so much to teach me, but i honestly hope i never see it again. the spanish government wants to build a recycling plant in place of chureca within two years. the plant would close the dump, displace the churequeros into government provided houses, create jobs, and fix the terrible health hazards and living conditions that plague chureca. so to chureca, the place that captured my heart and broke it at the same time- good riddance. i will always hate the place, but love the people.

i came back to the house for lunch and took a nap. i woke up after kids left for comedor. a little bit confused, and not aware of really who was in the house still, i ate lunch and helped the girls set up for their charla (a talk) about sexuality and health. emily (PD) came back and we went to creative arts, where a break dancer came again to teach the kiddos how to break it down.

after, the guys (me, robert, andrew) went to the land to hang out with kids and pass out flyers for the kickball tournament tomorrow. not a whole lot of people were there, but there was a volleyball tournament and some nicayuda people (gabe and aldo). we kicked it for a bit, and then we got picked up to come home. also, i got a mango from the tree at the land. if it sounds like i’m speaking broken english, it’s because i am. as my spanish is getting better and better, my english is gettng worse and worse. it’s like my brain can only hold one language at a time. holler.

dinner was funny because as soon as i sat down, michael told us it was time to go to english class. i said, “en serio?” and i got a few stares. yes, he was serious and i didn’t realize how late it was. luckily, mose was late with the car so i had a great dinner of mashed potatoes and chicken.

a note about eating down here: there is something wrong with a few of us in the group, myself included. we eat almost constantly when in the house. for example, the other night i made another batch of cookies at 11pm. they didn’t make it 24 hours despite the fact that no one really knew about them aside from a select few observers. another example: we made guacamole tonight… and then a second batch a few hours later. since we were out of chips, we decided to fry our own. this is after a full serving of dinner, and a few ice cream sandwiches and snacks. i had a few packs of peanut butter and crackers, too. basically, it’s not that we’re starving. it’s the fact that a good number of the volunteers are obsessed with how good the food is down here. while i would enjoy some great soup, or a good steak, or a nice waffle and bacon sometime in the near future (parents…. i’m looking at you), the food down here keeps us happy, healthy, and energized. we’ve had a surprising lack of illness and i bet it’s because we’re too busy eating to get sick.

english was great- i sat with emilio, a great english speaker because he’s a MK and he’s lived in america for more than a year. he’s super funny but also a lot quirky. on several occasions the other english speakers would shoot each other looks and laugh even harder at how funny emilio was.

but unfortunately, today was our last day of class with all the kids. maycol and erick, mayquelin and dayana, armando and ulises—and the other dozen or so kids will no longer have 20 gringos as teachers, but just 10 (until the new PD’s get here next week). hopefully we’ll see them all tomorrow at the kickball tournament. saying goodbye to the nicayuda folk isn’t quite as sad because i feel like i’m going to stay in touch with all of them through email, facebook, and when they’re famous and saving the world, i can hear updates from them on oprah or something.

fun fact: nicas are legit. through and through.

paz,

day 22: volcanoes and flags

While the girls had a soccer game this morning, the boys of the house kicked back and did stuff needing to be done- I made a sweet breakfast of coffee and toast while doing laundry and making a flyer for our kickball tournament on Friday.

Instead of class, we had our last class—and the last class of the month— by taking our students to a volcano about 45 minutes south of Managua called Volcan Masaya. None of our students and the majority of our group had never been there before. We got all 15 or so students and the 10 volunteers in our two cars (thereinlies the magic of a microbus) and drove to Masaya.

The volcano was far less smoky than in march, and you could see a lot further down. Looking more like a mouth of a cave- with smoke coming out. The kids loved seeing how far they could throw rocks… As did I. We walked to the top to see the cross that just a few hundred years ago as used for real crucifixions. Creepy for sure. After the top of the volcano, we drove down to the museum to see the science behind the magic and also see stuffed animals that are in the wild around Nicaragua. We came back to El Farito for ice cream and a debrief.

After the field trip, beginners English worked more on questions. I had an all star table and for some reason my Spanish was spot on tonight. I gave the entire lesson in spanish to my table— which was ridiculously cool. I then taught them a bit about America and our flag, and in return they taught me about the Nica flag.

We had community dinner at one of our student’s houses- laura, age 29, in the microfinance program. It was awesome: gallo pinto and chicken and fried plantains with carrot juice.

We came back to the house, made frappiccinos, and watched harry potter 5.

I have been thinking a lot about how hard it would be to stay here for a year. I have so much respect for the PD’s for giving up a year of American comfort and style to live down here. While Manna is definitely awesome through and through, I can’t imagine doing what they do. True, our program for summer volunteers is designed so we have maximum contact with every aspect of MPI, so we’re busier than if we were here for a full year. But a year down here requires a very special type of person. Nevertheless, MPI is one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done while not feeling like I’m sacrificing everything, including comfort. Yes, manna requires sacrifice and determination but also we follow the motto serving in style. From our awesome micro to our pool and house mom, this month has been extremely demanding but equally relaxing while being surrounded by 20 incredible people. i think today is the typical example: you wake up and from the get go are greeted by insanely awesome people but you also have to be proactive with your schedule for the day. then comes class and interacting with the community until dinner time (or on tues/thurs, after), and then finally you can relax and hang out—if you don’t have any logistics meetings (at least once a week) or lessons to plan for. molly, for example, just got done with her lesson plan for tomorrow. emily, up until the movie tonight, was learning more spanish for her talk tomorrow night to women about sexuality and being safe- mentally, physically, emotionally, etc. more to come on that subject later.

today marked our last full day of “class” for the monday/wednesday set. no more math, literacy, or english lessons. tomorrow wraps up comedor, homework help, creative arts, women’s exercise, and advanced english. yikes. this month has blown by. i can’t believe that this weekend is our last weekend, and even moreso, i can’t believe i’m leaving this ridiculously awesome place called nicaragua on monday.

nica fun fact: the flag has a band of blue, then white, and blue- for the oceans on either side of nica and the land in the middle. there are 5 triangles representing the volcanoes of nicaragua. i still don’t understand what the meaning of the sun and rainbow are. any ideas?

day 21: kites

a normal tuesday morning starts off with us going to chureca— but this morning, the chureca girls group came to us for a pool party. we picked them up and the girls hung out with the for a while. i chilled in the den working on creative arts lesson plans.

comedor (eating program) was definitely overstaffed today, so i walked around and hung out with the kids. and for some reason, a lot of the kids didn’t have much homework, so we played soccer for like an hour or something outside. i was a lot better today, but the kids decided to act pretty badly. one of the kids from the group of guys that we call “the gang” came and played with us, which instantly added a lot of drama in the group. some of the kids started to fight, and it was the first time i was reminded that these kids are still in elementary school despite the fact they’re learning english and have several “adult” responsibilities. some of the guys didn’t play nice with the girls, so in my broken spanish, i told them no fighting and everything (and everyone) is going to be alright. i guess hanging out with these kids for a month and becoming their friends has its perks, because more or less i commanded their attention. i took the ball away for a few minutes while each side pleaded to the neighborhood judge aka a very wise old grandma to see who is guilty in the case of gang-boy vs. girl-who-got-hit-in-the-face-with-a-soccer-ball. it mellowed down to “don’t kick the ball at girls” and “girls shouldn’t be in the way of soccer” so everything worked out ok. we played some more and then it was time for creative arts!

in CA today we made kites out of sheets of paper, string, and tape. we let the kids color on their kites so it was really funny to see what came out. surprisingly, the kites were artistic and clever, and more surprisingly, the kids got them to fly. so huge success all around.

after CA we came back to the house. i made nutella/peanut butter (gluten free) no bake cookies for the house because (a) i was hungry and (b) i was bored. put the two together, and you’ll find me in the kitchen. three cups of oats and two cups of sugar later, the women’s excersize class came back and we had dinner (hamburger meat and mashed potatoes. solid) before heading out to advanced english to have the nicas learn phrases pertaining to michael jackson.

(more updates to come later, unless we watch a movie on my computer tonight)