World Wise Schools Entry #1

Hello Mrs. Lyttle’s Class!

Thanks for the great letters. It’s great to learn about all of you and the adventures you’ve been on. Hopefully we can continue to share our experiences with all of you while we’re in Nicaragua. Below are the answers to the most popular questions you wrote to us. After that, please look for a special assignment we’d like the class to complete. Thanks again, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Why did you choose Nicaragua?
In fact, we had no role in the choosing of Nicaragua. With Peace Corps the volunteer can give a geographic preference in the world (for us it was Latin America) but the final decision comes down to the staff at Peace Corps. They make their choices based on previous language experience, technical skills, and needs of the in-country programs.

Is the island of Omotepe an extinct volcano?
Yes….and no. Let’s put it this way: the volcano of Omotepe is not on the list of potentially dangerous volcanoes in Nicaragua, which means they aren’t expecting it to erupt any time soon. On the other hand, the Peace Corps volunteer that lives on the island has come out of his house a few times to find 2 or 3 inches of ash covering everything, almost like a snowstorm. So, Omotepe is not necessarily active, but it’s definitely not extinct.

What are some other Peace Corps sites in Nicaragua?
There are currently more than 160 Peace Corps volunteers in Nicaragua and we’re working in pretty much every department, except the two autonomous regions on the Eastern Coast. Our volunteers are in the biggest cities and villages of 200 people…and everywhere in between!

What do you eat?
Food is very expensive in Nicaragua right now. Therefore, the majority of the people here only eat rice, beans, and corn tortillas. Occasionally they supplement with eggs. It’s sad to here, but the majority of people living in the country only eat 1 or 2 vegetables or fruits a week. There are a ton of organizations working in Nicaragua to improve that horrible statistic, but the reality is farms need to export all of their products to countries like the US to make enough money to survive and really can’t afford to keep much of their products in country. We’re very fortunate to have lived with families with incomes large enough to eat a healthier diet, something more similar to what we eat in the States, but that is definitely not the norm. More on food later…

What’s the deal with the LEGO piece?
Honestly, that’s the only one we’ve seen in Nicaragua. We haven’t ever seen a child playing with LEGO pieces. Sadly, we left the LEGO piece at the dump. Sorry, everybody…

Why did you join the Peace Corps in the first place?
Before we met each other, the two of us independently wanted to do something like the Peace Corps. When we realized it was a common dream, we started working towards getting in, and here we are today! We both wanted to experience another part of the world, and more than on a superficial level. We both wanted to learn another language. We both wanted to learn to live a simpler lifestyle. Mostly, we both know we want to spend our lives helping people, and this is a great way to jumpstart that career.

How is your Spanish? Did you forget English?
Our Spanish is coming along just fine. When we came in to Peace Corps we had a language ability of 3 (out of 10). At the end of training we were both 5’s. We are learning more everyday by reading newspapers, watching TV in Spanish, and just chatting with our family and co-workers. Our goal is to both be level 9’s or 10’s when we leave. No, we haven’t forgotten English, but we try to speak it as little as possible to improve our Spanish.

What kinds of fruits and vegetables are available?
If you live in a place with plenty of water it’s not uncommon to see avocado, lemon, banana, or mango trees. For instance, our family in Somoto has both a lemon tree and an avocado tree in their backyard. Basically, any of those tropical fruits that are really expensive in the supermarket in the States are just falling off the trees down here. It works the other way, too, however. Apples are very hard to find here, and they are easily twice as expensive as avocadoes.

How’s the weather?
Hot and dry. Right now it’s considered Summer in Nicaragua. There is virtually no rain and daily temperatures are in the 90’s. In May “winter” starts. That means rain everyday for about 2 hours and temperatures in the 80’s. That’s really all there is to it.

OK, that’s all we have time for right now, but if we missed a really important question feel free to send it to us again! On to the assignment:

We would like to start a section of our blog called “Nica Profile.” In this section we plan to interview a Nicaraguan every few weeks and post their responses and a photo on the blog. We would like Mrs. Lyttle’s class to come up 10 interview questions we can use. The questions should cover personal likes and dislike, family life, work stuff, and Nicaraguan culture. We’d like the class to vote on the best questions and then email them to us in both English and Spanish. Think you can do it?! Well, then get to work!

This weekend´s project: hanging up the basketball hoop!