Boys II Men is Back!

Hellloooo United States! Maybe boys to men isn´t back, but they finally made it big here in Nicaragua. 10 years later!
The swearing-in ceremony was very exciting and I took some videos that I will be posting shortly. It was a great honor to be there representing the U.S. and even more so… Dela…where! I am one week into my service here in Posoltega and it has been a doozy. I hope that everyone is well in body, mind and spirit. I miss you all terribly, but I can already tell that two years here is going to fllllyyy by. This blog I am going to divide into days, because that is how I took notes this week. But first I will tell you a little about the swearing-in ceremony.
Por Paz
Ironically, as the days got closer to swearing-in I got closer to certain girls in the group. We definitely enjoyed the last few days together before we were all spread out around the country (my closest in proximity good friend is about 3.5 hours away and the furthest 16 hours). I did cry once during the course of the day when I was saying goodbye to my gordita (little chubby girl). I knew I would miss that comfort of seeing her after a long day and nearly breaking my back to pick her up. Ha. I know I will definitely return to see them soon (possibly when my parents come to visit!). For the remainder of the day I enjoyed air conditioning and good company until happy hour. It was definitely a great time, but I was incredibly exhausted after a long week of saying goodbye to Hana. We spent an insaaane amount of time together and definitely enjoyed some Flor de Caña (the rum they make here… and it is amazing) the last few days in El Rosario. I am going to miss her incredibly, but I am glad that we were in the same training towns and we’re able to become so close.
Day One –
Prior to leaving for Posoltega, I went to the PC office with my fellow Chinandegaens. I was surprisingly not nervous, and more just ready to start the two years. I arrived around 2:00pm to my new home and immediately went to the comedor, or the semi-restaurant to eat. I then promptly took a nap/slept in my sweat for about an hour and a half. I then decided to walk around for a little and perfectly planned I ran into Hilda (the 18 year old girl I had become friends with during my site visit) and her aunt. We went for a short walk and then I ended up at a bible study. Do not ask me how this happened, but basically they are all Evangelical, which is a very strict and popular religion here, and she was having a bible study at her house. I thought, ‘whatever…I will probably learn some new words in the book of God.’ It was pretty interesting and tranquila (chill) until they asked me, “Have you accepted God into your heart?” I was confused and pressured by talk of heaven and hell and ultimately all of these hands ended up on my head and people were praying for my sins. I did drink a decent amount of Flor de Caña a few days before, but Jesus. It was awkward for sure and I may or may not now be…Evangelical. I returned home pondering how religion is going to affect my service here and also my personal life considering they had already planned out my Thursday night and Friday night activities. It is a fine line to get to know people’s culture or religion without offending them by refusing it. You will hear a few more examples of this throughout this blog.
After returning to my home for the first two weeks, I entered my room and saw something out of the corner of my eye. As I got a closer look at this large crab-looking creature on my wall (about 4 inches long), I decided to ask one of the little girls what it was. She entered my room and then screamed something like ‘alacran’ and started running for her mother. I then realized I should probably be worried. The mom/my colleague came into the room and killed the creature with the pole that is used as my security system at night to secure the door. As I looked across the room I saw another, but this one was about 6 inches long. As liquid substances stained my brick wall from the dead animals, she then explained to me what the world in English, scorpions. Fab-u-loso. I never thought this would ever be a decision that would enter my life, but if faced with the choice of rats or scorpions – I would chose rats. Apparently here in Nicaragua scorpions are very large and scary – but not deadly. Occasionally people have allergic reactions to the stings (yea, I know) and if someone is pregnant it supposedly makes them have a miscarriage. Just because a doctor told me that here in Nicaragua does not mean that it is true – there are plenty of mitos here, or myths. So even though I had been saved by God that night, I did not sleep very well. I do have a mosquitera, which is a mosquito net that goes around my bed – but it was left in El Rosario by accident (don’t worry it is being brought to me). I woke up constantly throughout the night checking for my little spider/crab friends. Welcome back to Posoltga! Ha.
Day Two – Jornada
This was officially my first day of work and currently we are doing a Vaccination Campaign (nation-wide, or Jornada de Vacunaciones. Basically the point of this campaign is to vaccinate, provide vitamins and anti-parasite medication to all children in the entire municipality. Directly in the casco urbano or main part of town there are about 3000 people, but in the entire municipality there are over 17,000. So each day for over two weeks, teams go out to different communities and walk house-to-house. I was definitely not prepared for this on my first day, as my perception was that we would go to one place and everyone in the community would come to get vaccinated (this is how it is in 95% of the country). Due to this mal-perception I brought one pequanita (very small) bottle of water. We were out in the community until around 3:00pm. Needless to say I ended up drinking some tap water and a large quantity of Pepsi due to lack of resources.
It overall was a very good day and I learned a lot about the difference between where I will be living and the more rural communities. Several of the houses were made out of trash bags or other plastic material and held up by nailing in the tops of beer bottle tops. I also began to understand why they go house to house to vaccinate. One of the families told us there was a pregnant teenager a few houses down (and by a few houses I mean about a half mile, they are all so spread out!). When we arrived the girl would not come out of her house and said that there were no children in the house and no one was pregnant. Somehow my counterpart hoaxed her into coming out, and sure enough the 15 year old girl was about four months pregnant. I do not know whether it is fear of the injection or fear of judgment, but she did not want anyone to know. We returned around 4:00pm to the health center and I walked the mile and a half back to my host-house, exhaaausted. Still, I somehow ended up at bible study again – and I sat there made at myself for not being able to effectively communicate that this was not what I wanted to be doing. Ha. Language level or just me? Who knows.
After I returned home to go to sleep, I went to use the latrine quickly – and as I opened the door I saw at least 5 cockroaches on or in the latrine. I jumped back and closed the door. These four weeks in this house are going to teach me to hold my bladder like I never have.
Day Three – Meeting
My Program Manager, Pilar, scheduled a meeting this day with my counterparts, the director of the health center and also encouraged them to invite other key people in the community. Due to this meeting, I did not go out on the jornada and was able to wash some of my clothes. This is such a physical activity, I cannot even explain it – but I kind of enjoy it. Needless to say I took two showers before 9:30am due to the amount of sweating I did during my clothes washing session. Normal.
I went to the high school before the meeting to talk with the director of the school to see if he could come to the meeting, but he wasn’t there. I waited for almost an hour while I was hit on a guy that I thought was a student. He is at least 4 inches shorter than me – and I opened the conversation by asking him what grade he was in. His reply was, “I am a teacher here.” Smooth Amanda, real smooth. He proceeded to recite poems about my eyes and told me I look like Angelina Jolie as I waited for the director. I finally gave up/wasn’t entertained by my short friend – so I returned for some lunch prior to my meeting with Pilar. The meeting was jam packed with people interested in working with me…and by jam-packed I mean it was the director of the health center, Pilar and me. I definitely did not feel like the health center director made any effort to have anyone else come – but I also understood that it was bad timing with the joranda going on and everything. The health center director kind of reminds me of Ursula from the Little Mermaid. Anyway, I guess it went well – it is still very vague what my role will be in the health center. My main counterpart is the community educator – but it appears that she is bogged down with working with TB clients in other communities. There is no presence in the schools and I have yet to see one charla given. The good thing about this – is that it does give me a wide-open opportunity to do anything.
So my first few days in town, I was doing a very sub-par job at feeding myself. But I quickly learned that this town is going to take care of me. There are already two families who will feed me at the drop of a hat – unprovoked. I just show up to say hello and they invite me in and immediately start feeding me. This is such a comfort and I am so thankful for both families. One family is that of the driver of the Health Center vehicle, Will. It all started by them asking me if I was getting fed by my host-mom and I explained that it was not part of our deal. Then they started realizing how often I was buying eggs – and became concerned. That is all I have cooked so far here – Ha. This night they gave me gallo pinto, cheese, tortilla and tomato. This is something I would have cringed at in my training town to see for dinner; I literally had to stop myself to breathe a little while eating because it was so amazing. Just like my mom says, it’s all relative.
I got to talk to Paula, the volunteer closest to me, and she invited me to Chinandega the next day. I was super excited to go to Chinandega and spend some time with her. I ended the night by going to a ‘cult’ or an Evangelical service/celebration. It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life. I went because I had been watching the little kids practicing their dance for it all week and wanted to support them (this is their only opportunity to dance – as it is forbidden in this religion). It was almost two hours long and the kids dance was less than 5 minutes. The majority of the service was a pastor yelling into a microphone which was followed by asking anyone to come forward who would like to accept God into their heart. I felt like he and everyone else was staring at me during this ‘call’ for a new disciple. Needless to say I had already made up my mind that this would be my first and last Evangelical service. After no one was willing to go to the front to accept God for the first time – they had anyone come forward who needed God at this time. There were about eight people of the church who would put their hands on the people and rock them back and forth, until eventually they fell to the ground. This was supposed to represent that God had entered his/her heart. People were crying and falling. It was madness. I am surprised no one got hurt. Somehow I stuck it out and waited for the service to be over – mainly because the guy playing the keyboard and singing was the hottest Nicaraguan I have seen to date.
Day Four – the Dega
Off to Chinandega! I traveled by myself the 45 minute bus ride there and it was fabulous after traveling in a group of twenty for three full months. The guy who thought I was Angelina Jolie ended up sitting with me until the first stop, Chichigalpa. Shortly after, a young woman moved back one seat to sit with me. She immediately started asking me questions about where I was from, what I was doing in Posoltega, the usual. She is a 28 year old, essentially single mom of a 11 year old boy because her husband is in the U.S. She was super excited about me being in Posoltega and immediately invited me to her home and pointed out her favorite discoteca that we should go to. I love meeting new people! Ha. She wrote down her address and phone number prior to getting off the bus. I met Paula and another volunteer at the Gas Station right near the bus stop. The Gas Station is ‘On the Run’ there are only five in the entire country – one in Chinandega and four in Managua. Gas stations here are … golden. It is so opposite of our culture. The bathrooms are amazing – it is air conditioned, has great food. I could have stayed in there forever. Ha. Both of these girls are Environment volunteers – Paula is from Virginia and Olenka from California. I found out that Olenka was actually going to my training town house to stay during a language taller this week! Small world. I told her to give my fam a hug for me in El Rosario. We spent all day walking all through the town and they were showing me the important places (bank, post office, grocery stores, etc.). It was really helpful to have someone show me all of these places for the first time. Both of them have only been into service four months – but already were very familiar with the city of Chinandega. My new mailing address is:
Amanda Levering
A.P. 115
Chinandega, Chinandega
Nicaragua, Central America

It will be so much easier to get mail and packages now – I am super excited. Three volunteers from my group ended up being in Chinandega too and we hung out for a little as well. It became really clear to me how key my location is in Posoltega. I am so close to two of the biggest cities in Nicaragua and Chinandega has the most volunteers as well. The ease of transportation is something that I will definitely continue to appreciate throughout these two years. I spoke with one of my friends in Quiali aka the mountains – and she is having the opposite experience with transportation and isolation. We all will have our own barriers and obstacles throughout this experience, for sure. But I am already thankful for these two things.
After returning to Posoltega, I showered and got ready for the Hilda’s little sister’s birthday party. En route to the party, I was stopped by a guy who kindly asked in Spanish, “Are you with Peace Corps?”We ended up chatting for nearly a half hour on the street (it was mainly him talking frantically) about how he had worked with a previous PCV and what a great experience it was. He also went into some detail about a project he is working on to get funding to better the water in Posoltega (apparently a great number of people have died due to kidney failure). I briefly told him that I was currently looking for a house and where I was living for the next three weeks. We exchanged numbers and he promised to start looking for a house for me.
I finally arrived at the birthday party and it was…bumpin. Ha. The father of Hilda was visiting from Leon and he and some other men were drinking heavily some Flor de Caña in the backyard. I played a serious game of freeze tag with the kids – and ended up covered in sweat. Apparently this meant that I needed a drink…a real drink. Ha. One of the men (whose house I was at) kept insisting that I have just one drink. I eventually accepted and sipped on it for about an hour. It was essentially rum on the rocks. It was incredibly awkward as I sipped this drink and a dozen kids and my evangelical women friends were watching. I am probably not shunned from the bible study group. No – they love me, but it was my first weird drinking experience. They tried to give me more drinks and I declined – insisting that I didn’t really like to drink (lies). I just will probably never be comfortable drinking here – because I need to be seen as a professional. Plus – my location permits me to drink in neighboring towns if need be. Ha.
I returned home, slightly buzzed from my small cocktail – expecting to have a fabulous sleep. To my dismay, I woke up around 2:00am to evenly paced scratching sound above my bed. I ran and turned on the lights, and through my still sleeping eyes, I am pretty sure I saw two rats ‘haciendo amor’ or making love. Ha. I made a lot of noise and broke up their love fest (I think they were teenagers), if for no other reason than I do not want any more rats. I am strangely getting used to things like this and went back to bed quite easily.
April 19th – Corinto
I met Craig and Paula at the ‘On the Run’ in Chinandega to head off to Corinto a.k.a. the beach. I was super excited to have a relaxing day on the beach. We got there around 11am and packed some peanut butter and jelly and cucumber and tomato sandwiches. I had been in Corinto once before during HIV/AIDS week, but the heat was nothing like it was this day. You literally could not walk on the sand; you had to run as fast as you could. I literally thought my feet were going to blister up on the bottom. I took a little walk by myself and checked out some of Corinto and took some photos. I am hoping more and more that I will be able to take more photos. If I haven’t used my good camera by the time my parents get here in July, I decided I will have them take it home. In the mean time I am just trying to be as creative as I can be with my little camera. We did not get back home late from Corinto – around 4:30-5:00pm.
I went to Kenya’s house immediately (the family and 24 year old girl I met on my site visit a month ago) because I heard that she was back for the weekend. We both yelped a little when we saw each other and I spent the rest of the night at her house. She wanted to file my nails and toes – so I gladly let her as I am going through pedicure withdrawal. She told me that she was now going to be living in Leon during the week because there are more opportunities for her there and she is provided with housing by her grandmother. Although I was disappointed she would not be in Posoltega, I also was happy for her that she had this opportunity to study and find work in Leon. It is so interesting to think about how she is choosing to leave this place and I am choosing to live here. It is much different to accept it as two years of your life – and actually living it. I still hope to maintain this relationship with Kenya and we made plans for Saturday that I would come to Leon with her little sister, Amanda.
Quickly before going home – Kenya accompanied me to talk to the owner of the room for rent that I had fallen in love with at first site. When I had first gone – the rest of the family was talking as if I was already living there saying, “This patio is your patio too,” etc. But when I talked to the Doña, or mother of the house, this night she said that the room was not available for rent because she and her husband were sleeping there currently. It was a very bizarre ending to the situation – but I had hope that something better was to come and my parents reassured me that it was not meant to be. After returning home slightly disappointed, I changed into my pajamas when the little girl told me two people were looking for me. I went to the door and it was Kenya and her little brother. We walked to the side of the house and they said they had talked to their mom and that I should not be worried about housing because I can stay with them. Kenya went on to say that I could sleep in her bed and use her things – because she has other things in Leon. She shares a room with her sister and brother. I was almost brought to tears when I thought about how this family – who is not rich by any means – is so willing to take me and take care of me. Whatever they have – they are willing to share it with me. It is moments like this, that I am reminded that humanity can be so beautiful. I went to sleep that night without a care in the world.

4/20
My sinuses have not bothered me at all here in Nicaragua – that is until I moved to the desert. It has not been too bad, but I have been sneezing and having sinus headaches. It is just so dry and SO dusty. The jornada was pretty boring this day and we went to one of the pre-schools. It was a lot less physically tiring and shorter as well. We got back to the health center around 12:30pm and I walked back to the house. I think this day was the hottest since I arrived here in Posoltega, and the walk was nearly unbearable. When I finally arrived at the house, Abel (the guy I met on the street who is in love with PC) was waiting for me. He invited me to go to Chinandega and also said that he had found a potential house for me. I was overwhelmed/dehydrated and all I wanted to do was shower. I told him to come back in about an hour and I would let him know if I could go. After taking a refreshing shower, within ten minutes I could not tell whether I was wet from my shower or soaked again in sweat. I decided I should go because I should be ‘integrating’ into my culture and also I felt like he could potentially be a project partner in the future. I got myself together after calling my sister and headed off to Chinandega with Abel. He has a base knowledge of English and is really excited to use it. This is borderline annoying for me – as much as I don’t want to admit it. I should be flattered that people want to learn my language, but… I’m not. It is really difficult to be switching back and forth from English to Spanish when I am trying very hard to improve my Spanish.
We went to his godfather or padrino’s house in Chinandega. His godfather had wireless internet and within five minutes of getting there he asked me if I wanted to call anyone in the United States. What a silly question – umm yes, please. Apparently he has a landline that is listed to Florida and he can call the US for free. Weird. So I called my parents and talked for a little while for free, which was beautiful. His godfather then made me some fabulously strong black coffee and told me to come by whenever I was in Chinandega. Yes and yes. Abel and I headed back around 5:00pm and went on to look at the house he had found for me.
Her name is Alba (they like A names in the family apparently) and she lives by herself right near the Catholic Church (I know…my evangelical friends will not like this). The outside of her house is quite attractive and has beautiful mahogany like doors. The inside has a huge sala or living room area. The room that I would be renting is a decent size and has two doors, one to the sala and the other to the patio area. Which brings me to my favorite part – her patio is … zen-like. It is so gorgeous an filled with every type of tree you can imagine. There was avocado, mango and many other fruits/veggies unique to Nicaragua. She also has a little garden with tomatoes and onions. She is a very chill woman and I immediately could tell I would like her. She has a lot of things that are not that common to Nicaragua homes, such as: a microwave, a toilet, and a fridge. Oh. And a washing machine. What is that. Although a washing machine saves a lot of time- I really do enjoy washing by hand – it is just more gratifying. Needless to say, I was very happy with the house. I asked questions about when I have friends visit from the states and she said “I will stay in my room – we can put up hammocks here in the sala and you guys can have your privacy.” Love. Her. My only concerns were that the roof in my ceiling was very old and possibly may leak and also that there were not electrical outlets in my room. She immediately said that she would get two outlets in there. I also asked about rats and she said that she fumigates every 6 months or so. Loving her more. She also has a bed that I will be able to use. I would just have to buy a mattress and something for my clothes. The rent is 1000 cordobas a month, which sounds like a LOT but it is only 50 dollars, and it includes water and electric. I also am sure that she will share the veggies and fruit with me – as she gave me some gifts before I left that night. The amount of money it would save me to not to buy a stove or a fridge is unbelievable – and this was beginning to look like a great option for me.
I returned back to my side of town and went over to my pulperia or store to grab some eggs to cook for dinner –but when I got there, the little girl said, “Come in!” So I went on through and ended up having the most fabulous meal I have had since I have been in Posoltega and watched my favorite telenovela. I know you are going to judge me – and its okay – because I am judging myself about watching it. It is all about drugs and sex and it is the worst television show I have ever seen. I find myself laughing at times when someone dies. These prostitutes smuggle drugs into other countries through their fake breasts. Ha. Go ahead, laugh. After spending a few hours with the fam, I headed back to my house. ]
The way that people are so welcoming and giving here reminds me a lot of my parents – and how they were always willing to take someone in and help them. I am so lucky to have grown up in a house like that.
Shortly after, the guy I had been communicating with about another house came over to invite me to talk to the owner of the house (I had already seen the house earlier in the week). It is two large rooms, completely private and my own bathroom and shower. She said that the price would be 1000 cordobas as well, but not including water and electric. Also, she would throw in a bed, a dresser, a desk and two rocking chairs.
That night I made a list of positives and negatives between the two houses (blame my parents for this nerdy trait).

Hump-Day
I was exhausted after such a long day on Tuesday, but headed off to walk to work at 7:30am. We went to a community called Santa Maria for the jornada and it turned out to be an even longer day. We did not return back to the health center until around 6:00pm. Did I mention we were walking the entire day? I did make it clear to my counterpart that I needed a responsibility during the jornada as opposed to just observing like I had on the previous outings. I was assigned giving out the pills for parasites – it was invigorating. No really, it was nice to have an actual role instead of just standing there; I was glad that I spoke up. At the end of the day I ended up speaking with a bunch of the nursing students who had previously just stared and laughed at me. They were really sweet and interested in what I was doing there. One thing I am having a difficult time with in this culture is that they hate silence. They will continually ask you if you are bored, sad, tired, etc. if you are not chatting it up with them. This is difficult when sometimes all I want is a break from speaking/thinking in Spanish. Needless to say, I made another friend, Bia (Kimmy you know I thought of you when she told me this), and she invited me to come to her house on Sunday and also to live with her and her family. Ha.
I called my parents that night for some advice about making a decision about the house. In the end, I came to decision that the house with Alba is definitely a better option for me, even if it is less privacy, etc. I will be able to make my little room ‘my own’ and spend a lot less money on things for the house.

22nd April
This day we went to a school and it was generally pretty easy besides restraining some kids so they could take their shots. Reminded me of how my parents met – at the Terry Center restraining juvenile delinquents. I started walking back from the health center, when one of the drivers of another health center truck asked if I wanted a ride. It was much appreciated on another particularly hot day. We both were going to the same comedor and ate lunch with each other. I had a difficult time getting it down – because it was more oil than I could stomach. When I went to go pay – the nice older gentleman actually paid for me and offered to drive me the following two blocks back to my house. I declined because I had recently seen a pulperia that sold ‘Coca-Cola Lite’ and wanted to treat myself to my first one in Posoltega. Kindness is such a good feeling – whether it is being received or given.
I decided I needed to wash some clothes because I wear at least two outfits per day (14 outfits per week!!). It was an intense session of washing clothes and I was out there for over two hours. One of the little girls came to tell me that one of the disgusting men across the street was watching me. When I looked over he was blowing me a kiss, while sitting shirtless on the curb. I yelled ‘ew’ and quickly finished my laundry.
That night I went over to talk to Hilda and it happened to be the time of another ‘cult’. I had already made up my mind and quite explicitly explained that I would not be attending. They were disappointed but I knew it was time…to break away from the church. I had a nice talk with Hilda that night about Peace Corps and what exactly I would be doing for the two years. She talked a lot about how she wished she had an opportunity to do something like this and go be a lawyer in another area. I have made a decision to not ever feel guilty or sorry for where I come from or the opportunities I have. I have decided to only be thankful and also sensitive to the fact that these opportunities are far and few between for people in this country.

23rd – broke as a joke
Oops. So I had budgeted the week pretty well – but then the host mom that I am living with me told me that she could not feed her kids and that she needed the rent immediately. Therefore, I was broke by Thursday. I had about 20 cordobas to my name- which would have gotten me one bottle of water for the day and no money. I decided that I would not be going to work this day and that I had to go to Chinandega to go to the bank. It is a weird feeling to not have immediate access to the money that you have – and to plan well in advance since the nearest bank is about an hour away (some people in northern Chinandega are more than 4 hours from the closest bank).
I took the morning to do some reading and headed to Chinandega around 10am. The taxi driver that was my first driver when I got into town last week has been giving me free rides whenever he sees me walking. Which is nice except that he is a creepy, old, fat man. He gave me a ride to the front of town to catch a bus on the main road. En route he asked if he could kiss my hand and take me to his finca or farm. I decided this was the last free ride I would be taking.
Roaming around Chinandega by myself was a lot of fun, the best way to get to know a place is to get lost in it. I bought a market bag to put all of my fruits and veggie in and more importantly I bought…a FAN!!!! My first big purchase was very worth it. Putting it together was a different story…it took over an hour and I was drenched in sweat. In the end there is still something not quite right with it and if you knock into it – it will fall. But I am sleeping so fabulously now and it works! That’s all that matters.
I returned back around 2:00pm to Posoltega, put together the fan and read in front of it for the remainder of the day. I finished my first book – A Long Way Gone – Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. I finished it in less than 36 hours and it was excellent. I also attempted to straighten my room, aka but everything back into suitcases. Also, up until this point I thought it was very strange when I saw people sweeping their dirt floors. But after living in a dirt floor environment, I understand why they do it! Dirt floors really can get dirty. Ha.
Yesterday I went to a community that was very affected by Hurricaine Mitch and even went to the park that former President Clinton and former first lady Hilary Clinton funded, there is one tree for each person lost in the landslide. I will write more about that in the next blog because this is way too long!

But in closing – I have decieded to go with the house with the older woman, Alba. The security officer should be coming out next week to check it out and make sure it is suitable and passes all the regulations and what not. Wish me luck!
Also, I organized superlatives for the group and was voted Group Mom. Ha.
I hope everyone is well… I miss you all so much! I am headed off to Leon for the day.
LOVE YOU ALL <3
p.s. there are tornado´s here... of dirt. what.