Orientating

I’m in Nicaragua! Any trepidation or borderline regret I may have had before arriving has vanished, and I am totally confident that joining the Peace Corps was the right decision for me. It’s all about the incredible people, just like I knew it would be, but it was tough to really believe it when I hadn’t met said people yet. Even knowing that the people I was about to meet would probably become lifelong friends, walking into the 12:30 meeting at our hotel in Washington, DC was still really intimidating. We were all put at ease somewhat by Maureen, a former Peace Corps volunteer who was leading the staging event. She was all smiles and happiness and enthusiasm for our upcoming service. Then as I stood in line to hand in (still more) paperwork, I began chatting with the people around me. Then in the meeting room we did an ice breaker activity, a standard “find someone who…” activity. The only one I missed was “find someone who is from the same state as you”. I’m surprised I’m the only one from Massachusetts, I feel like I usually find fellow “Massholes” everywhere I go. Anyways, this was a good opportunity to chat with everyone and find out a little about their background…though of course it’s impossible to remember details for 27 people, so we’ve all asked and re-asked the same questions. I do know everyone’s names now, after less than 36 hours together, and could say where almost everyone is from. It’s fun for me because there are a bunch of southerners in the group, and as I haven’t spent a lot of time with people from that part of the country, I am enjoying hearing the southern drawl. There are several people who have spent time in China, and one who studied abroad in Santiago. Overall it’s an incredibly well-traveled group, and each person is fun to talk to and grill about past experiences. We’re a young group; I think the youngest is 22 and the oldest is 29. We have two birthdays to celebrate this Friday. It’s amazing to think how short the actual time we’ve known each other is, but I already feel like we’ve known each other forever, and I know we’ll only grow closer as the time passes.

But back to the narrative. Staging was boring. We spent like 5 hours going over some general logistics. Honestly, I don’t even remember what we talked about. We got our new special Peace Corps passports (why they decided to put the photo on the second page instead of the inside cover is beyond me) and a debit card with $120 to cover our staging expenses such as food, transport to hotel, etc. It’s good because the US dollar is used in Nicaragua, along with the Nicaraguan cordoba, so we don’t need to worry about changing any extra money. We were also informed that we would be checking out of our hotel at 2:30 IN THE MORNING for our 7:15 flight. This still seems incredibly dumb to me, but we did it and I slept in the waiting room and on the planes (my companions were impressed). This early departure was a shame, since the hotel was far and away the nicest I’d ever stayed in, and the beds were awesome. Some parts were excessive, like the fact that half the bed was covered in pillows and I needed to fling 4 of them on the floor before I could even enter my bed. Oh well, I guess that’s how the other side lives on the road. Before bed we wandered around en masse to find a place for dinner, then split up for logistical purposes. I had Mexican, and I couldn’t have asked for a better last meal: mushroom tacos and a huge bowl of house guacamole, plus a tasty margarita of sorts.

So fast forward past departure at an ungodly hour, two plane trips, and many naps later, and we were in Nicaragua. Everyone’s excitement was both palpable and contagious; we all exchanged huge grins, cheers, and some happy dances when our plane touched down in Managua. 

Nicaragua and China could not be more different (duh); I don’t think any building in Managua is over two stories high. Actually, the level of driving is probably comparable, so there’s one thing they have in common. Also, props to Snickers (what company is that, Mars?) for having colonized the entire world. This is very fortunate for me, as I am comforted by knowing that no matter where I go in the world, I will never have to go without Snickers for too long. If only Reeses would catch up…

We were met outside customs by a group of people holding large signs saying “Welcome to Peace Corps Nicaragua!” etc, and they cheered loudly when they saw us coming. There were 4 current volunteers and our orientation leader, a sizeable welcoming committee to be sure. They took our things, loaded us into a van, and brought us to the center where we would eat and have our afternoon welcome/training session. We met Naomi, our friendly orientation leader with a wonderfully crazy head of curls, and Carol, our country director, and Ashley, the training supervisor. One thing we have learned is that the Peace Corps, probably due to its affiliation with the government, absolutely loves acronyms. It makes your head spin at times, particularly after back-to-back days of sleep deprivation. So the PCV’s and the COD talked to us PCVs about various logistical things…again, I can’t recall exactly what, but I’m sure it was important and I responded appropriately. Tomorrow we will have our Spanish assessment, the results of which will be used to divide us into groups of about 4 for our 11 weeks of training. I forgot to mention that there are two types of volunteers in our groups: the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) group, which I of course am a part of, and the environmental education group. So I won’t be seeing very much of the environmental people once we split on Saturday, which is too bad, though it will be nice to have a smaller group; getting to know 27 people is a little overwhelming.  

Day 2 brought a more formal introduction (which we were much more awake for), the Spanish assessment, more info on our respective projects, handing in of health forms, 2 shots, the distribution of mosquito nets and med kits, and a safety presentation. We learned how common theft and pickpocketing is, and what we need to do to prevent it, such as: no sleeping on buses, tying our backpack zippers together with twist ties, and locking our possessions in our suitcases when we left them in our homes. I’m pretty sure I will be a victim of this at some point, since I’m usually way too trusting.

So I guess I just wanted to share some stuff I’ve been learning about the Peace Corps. First is this poem by Lao Tsu of China, written in 700 BC and used by the Peace Corps as emblematic of their mission:

Go in search of your People;

Love Them;

Learn from Them;

Plan with Them;

Serve Them;

Begin with what They have;

Build on what They know.

But of the best Leaders

When their task is accomplished,

their work is done,

The People all remark:

“We have done this Ourselves.”

I really like this idea of empowering people to the point that they almost don’t realize you’ve done it. I hope it’s something I can achieve. I’ve enjoyed talking to the current volunteers at our orientation about their work and the side projects they’ve done, such as organizing events to teach high school students skills like writing resumes and interviewing, and introducing them to universities in the area and the programs they offered. The leaders of the TEFL program also told us about camps that past volunteers have organized, and told us that materials for these camps are available if we’re interested. Past TEFL volunteers have also compiled collections of activities to use in the classroom, that apparently has been endorsed by the government and distributed to all English teachers.

So the plan is to receive our host family assignments tomorrow. Everyone is super excited for this…it’s so cool to be with a group of people who feel the same way I do about everything. The trainers put a lot of effort into matching us with the best family for our personality and wants, so I think it will be a pretty good match.