Another half-week has come and gone. Unfortunately, I am not finished constructing the autoclave yet. Classes take up much of the morning, there are usually a few meetings in the afternoon, and the center (where we work) closes in the evenings and on weekends. We are close, though. We have created the frame, put in the insulation, and attached the reflective material. So, essentially, the main part of the body is done. There is still much to do, however.
Tons of other progress has been made in its place. Friday, I was not able to work on construction because we were all asked to help dig a ditch behind the solar center. When it rains, which is a lot for a few hours every day, a large ¨river¨tends to form right next to the center, ruining some of the gardens. To combat this, we dug a very large, very deep ditch that diverts the water into a natural runoff. It was a long, hot day of difficult work. But, no sooner than were we done digging the last little bit of it than did it start to rain, and rain hard. We ran for cover under an overhang of the center, and then just sat outside because there was nowhere esle to go. So we chatted and watched the rain. After about 5 minutes, Matt went to investigate our ditch, and yells ¨whoah!¨. We all went to check, and, sure enough, a very large, fast river had formed in our ditch and was flowing exactly where we wanted it to go, and was diverting the water exactly where we wanted it to stay away from. We whooped and hollered around in the rain for awhile, and the girls next door were watching us crazy gringos. What can we say, it was a long day.
It was a success, and now my back hurts.
Another success this weekend has been teaching the computer class to some of the local girls. Every Saturday, we take some people up to Ocotal and teach them how to use the internet. This Saturday was a particular breakthrough because now most of the girls have an email account and are emailing each other and other volunteers. We have even taken them up to more advanced stuff, like using Wikipedia and YouTube. We try to show them things that are important and useful to know, and they can even use these to find things they like. For example, some of the teenage girls were looking up boybands on YouTube. What´s important, though, is that they understand the premise that the internet has a wealth of information, and great educational potential. Next Saturday, I am going to make it a point to show them information on Nicaragua, United States, and The World from Wikipedia; my goal is to show them how to find maps.
This afternoon Matt and I went to watch Sabana Grande play... some other team... in soccer. Sabana Grande has apparently been doing quite well, and made it pretty far in the tournament against the other cities. Today, however, they lost. I am not sure, but I believe that means that they are now out of the running. If so, they did at least make it into the top 8, out of 16.
So, I realized that I´ve been writing posts for a while now, but have never really described what life is like here. I did describe the shower, houses, bathrooms, families, and so on, but not so much the daily activity. I think this could be of interest, so here goes:
It starts when the roosters crow at 3AM. As I´ve mentioned before, I´m lucky enough to have the animals right outside of my room, so I wake up just about every time. However, the only time people really wake up this is early is to kill an animal, gut it, and take the meat to the market first thing in the morning. They did attempt to kill a pig last week early in the morning, but must have had some trouble because the pig was complaining for quite a while. Eventually they got to it, though, and Robert was nice enough to explain to me, during dinner, EXACTLY how a pig is killed and gutted, and what parts we were eating that night for dinner. Such is the hunter-gatherer world.
Anyway, so the sun rises really, really early. Around 5AM. This is when Dona Carmen wakes up, gathers water from the well, and starts to prepare breakfast. Robert, Scarlett and I wake up in between 6 and 7, and breakfast is everyday at 7. By now, the men are usually at the fields, tilling or picking or leaning up against a fence. All the young girls and boys head off to school, which starts at 8, in their white shirts, navy-blue skirts/pants, navy-blue socks, and navy-blue shoes. They schools here are highly catholic, not incredibly challenging, and usually has some reason why there is no school today at least a few times a month.
I try to be at the Solar Center, which is a 20-minute walk away, a little before 8. Then Anna, Matt, Pete and I have Spanish class from 8 to 10. Afterwards, we work. Lately, I have been working very hard on trying to get the construction done. We have to leave around 11:40 to make it back for lunch at 12. Then, everybody seems to take an hour-and-a-half lunch, because I try to be back at the center a little after 1, but usually no one gets there to open it until 1:30. Then, there is more work mixed in with various meetings (such as the Las Mujeras Solares meetings on Mondays at 3). I work until 5. Afterwards is some free time, which lasts until dinner at 7. Lately, I have been spending my before-dinner free time talking with Dayana, one of the local girls, which really helps me to practice my Spanish. After dinner, Scarlett, Robert and I will usually play a game or watch a movie together. Depending on which, sometimes I will study Spanish for an hour, then I always read my liesure book before going to bed. Bedtime is the same as it was when I was 7-years-old, which is 9PM.
Hey, when it gets dark at 6 and light at 5, and when you´re digging a ditch all day in an equator-lined country, you´d be lucky to stay up past 9. Am I right?
The only times we stay up past 9 are on Saturday nights, when all us volunteers (Anna, Matt, Peter, CJ, Jenny, Roberto, Emily, and myself) get together for Movie Night. Capitalized, because Movie Night is a big deal. This is a time and place when no Spanish is allowed. (Otherwise, we all try to speak Spanish to each other). We all go over to CJ and Jenny´s, who have their own place, every Saturday night and debate on a movie to watch. The movies are copied DVD´s which come from town and are bought for about $1 each. Most of them are surprisingly great quality, usually even the real DVD´s with menus and everything. Anyway, so we all end up watching a movie, and then talking about it afterwards, laughing together and sharing our feelings and everything. It´s pretty great.
Whew! Quite a post! It is now Sunday night and I was just here at the internet cafe in Ocotal with CJ, Jenny, and Matt, who have just now left. I told them I would meet them in a few minutes because I had to write to my adoring fans first. We are going to La Yunta, a restaurant bar, to watch the Celtics play in LA for the first NBA finals game. How about that... I´m in Nicaragua and we are still going to catch the game.
Keep checking in,
-Daniel
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