Remember Me? The kid living in Granada.

It has been a long time. I know. Guilty as charged. There really is no proper defense for myself in this case considering I have had pretty regular internet access for the past week. All I can say is that I would much rather be spending my time hanging out with folks, meeting new people, working, or having fun than sitting in my room or a cafe writing and thinking. Sometimes writing and reflecting can be a bit depressing although it is always worth it as a time for review and reflection. Entonces (spanish for so, then, well), let’s get right to the thick of it, the meat, the good stuff.

I am writing to you from the office of Opportunity International located in Granada, Granada. Opportunity International is an international non-profit that works with the poor in order to help bring them out of poverty using training, micro-loans, and technical assistance. Peace Corps has decided that I will be working with them during my service as I should prove to be a great resource for their operations and they already have a network of small business owners with whom I can work with, train, and advise their businesses. Feel free to look up info on Opportunity International and when you do, you may realize that they are a religious-based org. Peace Corps seems to be working with a decent number of religious based organizations which to me is a little contrary to the message of Peace Corps. You know….that whole government, separation of church and state thing. However, I do understand that if OI does good work and if I stay out of the religious element, I could make a much bigger impact on the community that working alone. Maybe this will be a discussion for another day….but lets just say I went from working to a Jewish non-profit to a religious based non-profit (more or less Christian but religious in the general sense).

Did I mention that I was sitting in their office in Granada?!? Yes, I did. So if you are a thinker like I am, you would already realized that I made the big move. This past Sunday at 4pm Nica Time, I boarded a bus at the UCA in Managua with all of my bags and made another big move in my life. This seems to be a recurring them. Let’s see….after graduation from UF (shout out for being named the #1 party school; it was ALL Louis Richman), I moved back home to Jax, then moved 12 hours north to DC to my cousins house, then to my own apt in DC, then back to Jax, then to Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, then to Antigua, then back to Jax, then to Masatepe, Nicaragua, and finally I have landed in Granada. So if you are counting that is 9 official moves (change of locations bringing a lot of stuff) in two years. I napped on this last move, waking up in time to see the beautiful church in the central park of Granada. The central part of the city is very pretty and I am pleased to be living here for the next two years in comparison to some other ugly, boring place. I am a bit jealous of those living in the mountains, greenery, and cooler climates of Nicaragua but hey, this is where I am. Granada in all its fame, glory, and notoriety.

After dropping my stuff off at my new host family’s house, I proceeded back to the park in order to help Dianne take her HEAVY bags to her new digs. Then after a short “I cannot believe we have finally moved and are really starting to work and for two years” discussion, I went back home and passed out. I officially slept for 12 hours Sunday night and then followed it up with an 11 hour performance on Monday night. Why was I so tired? In due time, my friend…in due time. So on Monday, I basically just visited OI (Opp International) to say hi, introduce myself to the staff, and try to make friends. I also went to one of my four schools in order to set up an appointment for the next day, Tuesday. Tuesday came and so did my boss, la jefa, Georgia to Granada. She, along with Eric, the small business project specialist, are visiting all of us PCVs during the first two weeks in order to meet with our directors and counterparts and just make sure everything is clear. Along with Georgia and her air-conditioned car, I went to all 4 of my schools, met with the directors and counterparts, and helped firm up my schedule and job expectations. She also bought me lunch!! It was a great day and really helped me to establish a base schedule to begin my real, actual job.

This morning, Wednesday, I did, in fact, go to my first class, introduced myself to a relatively attentive group of about 45 students, and then sat down to politely observe the rest of the period. My role in teaching this entrepreneurship course is really just to help support the REAL Nicaraguan teachers, not to teach myself. And 2 of my 4 counterparts have already been teaching the course for at least a year, so I just need to plan with them and reemphasize the methodology. In many ways, the support role is tougher than actually teaching the class myself. It definitely is going to be challenging trying to plan and meet with 4 different teachers every single week, but it is necessary for the sustainability of the project.

So for you patient ones, I will now tell you why I was sooo tired on Sunday night. The story begins all the way back on Monday, the 21st. I woke up at…lets say 2am…with a tummy ache. And stomaches in Central America never end up being pretty especially in the middle of the night. The tummy ache turned into an all night vomiting and diarrhea session where my host mother had to literally help me walk to my bed and the toilet because I did not have the strength. Good times. Anyways, I obviously missed the SBD field trip to Matagalpa on Monday but did manage to fester up enough strength to go to the training sessions on Tuesday. Then do to my continuing sickness, I went into Managua Tuesday night to sleep in a hotel while the rest of the group came Wednesday morning. During all of these nights, my sleep was limited and then once the whole group got to Managua, it was more or less party time.

Partying was limited to some drinks and card playing on Wednesday and Thursday night, as we all still attending training sessions during the day (i.e. a visit from the ambassador, USAID, training evaluations, final rules review), but beginning with Friday around 3pm, it was on. Friday morning was the official swearing in ceremony attended by a director from MINED (Ministry of Education), the US Ambassador to Nicaragua (in his last function as he is peacing out this week), all the PC Nicaragua staff, and our host families. It was held at Nicaragua’s finest hotel, the Intercontinental, and in my opinion, was a very nice, respectable ceremony. Although you didnt know this, I was chosen to give a speech to all the host familes on behalf of my fellow SBD volunteers. You can look at the Spanish transcript here…peace-corps-family-speech-in-spanish. I would have given you an English version but I ended up making all the final changes in Spanish and not in English, hence it is not a finished speech. Anyways, the speech went wonderfully, although I was a little nervous, and I was able to embarrass my family the appropriate amount. Moving on, we took an oath to defend the US from all enemies foreign and domestic, sang the Nicaraguan and US anthems, and did the whole Peace Corps oath/handshake bit. The biggest news is that we made it onto tv and youtube. For a glimpse of my fame, feel free clicking anywhere in this link. It was definitely sad to see my family for the “last” time for at least another six weeks and it was the end of an era, the training period, but on the otherhand we were finally official volunteers (38 made it, 20 in English, and 18 in SBD, although one English volunteer is back in the States with a medical condition and may not return). And as volunteers we decided to party like official volunteers. Cheaply yet loudly at the same time. In Managua on Friday and Saturday, it basically just was one big party. Everyone was relaxed, excited, and nervous for the big move. We ate meals together and danced, a lot. We enjoyed the last few nights in a hotel and the last meals of comforting American food like Subway and Burger King. Honestly how did it get to be that all the fast food restaurants are the staple of American food. It is kinda sad when you think about it. So I went to sleep at 3am and 5am respectively and enjoyed every second that I wasnt sleeping

So that’s where we stand right now…remember that I am still writing for the Mandarin section of the Florida Times Union so you can read some articles on the website and for a more detailed description of my last two weeks, you can still check www.thegoggins.com. However, as Goggins has now officially moved, I guess I will have to do a better job keeping up on the details.

My first four days in Granada have been hectic, stressful, fun, and exciting. Definitely still not used to this place and honestly not too sure if I like it. The city is fun but it also feels kinda fake. I hate fake. I like to keep it real. But the work so far seems great and of course that is the most important of all. I will keep you updated on my work, my adjustment to Granada, and all my funny experiences so stay tuned… And pictures from training will be up soon.

Busy me

I am sorry all for not doing a good job keeping up lately. Life here has just been crazy…im running around everyday trying to hang out with my fellow PCVs, my family, and traveling around for different charlas. I took a dance class yesterday with a Nica friend I made and then put the dancing skills into practice by going out to a pretty fun club in Catarina. Today I made a banana cake and went to Laguna de Apoyo with some buddies and my little sister. so much more to talk about but just want to say the my spanish was tested and I am now at advanced-mid which is pretty damn good. Still have some work to do but I am feeling a bit more like I live here everyday.

Hugs and handpounds all around. peace.

Pics

So one week to go in Masatepe. Everything is slowly wrapping up around here and I am anxious to get to my site and start working! Just wanted to share some pics before the next post. Expect a long one (or three) on Saturday! Congrats to my cousin Joel Kaiman and his fiancee Beth on their engagement! Hugs and handpounds all around.

My Beautiful City. Granada.

4th of Julying in Granada. Free Burgers, Hot Dogs, and Beer. Thank you very much.

Sorry that this is sideways but its worth it. priceless.

One of the gorgeous views from Flor de Pachote (near Masatepe)

Family at Flor de Pachote.

Biggest Pig I have ever seen. Pay special attention to the huevos (Spanish for balls).

Minnie and her pups. She definitely does not like to breast-feed.

Proud Mother

The married couple. my sis Valery and the next door neighbor David.

Site Visit to Granada

Tuesday, July 1

My first glimpse of the city that would be my home was through a friendly rain and a quickly approaching darkness. The director, Coco, of one of my rural schools (Berta Pacheco) where I will teach accompanied me on the ride from Managua to Granada (1 dollar, 45 min-1 hour) and proved her worth in gold later the next day. We got off the bus in Granada’s famous and beautiful central park and then began the journey to my new host family and new house. As always in Nicaragua, the address was more of a direction than an actual address. Go three blocks from the mayor’s office toward the lake and then 1 block south. Look for the mamon (cream) and brown colored house. This is typical of ALL addresses in Nicaragua. Two blocks south of the gasolinera. Three blocks west of the pulperia Nica. I have realized why the Spanish word for address is actually dirección.

Anyways with the direcciones, Coco and I began walking three blocks toward the lake. It was probably raining because this was the point when I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella on the bus from Managua. I cursed aloud in English and then let Coco know what had happened. Finally after some time and not too much effort, we arrived to meet my new host family.

My first impressions of that night have been solidified in my mind. I was a bit depressed and a bit shocked. For the first time in a long time, I was on my own with a new family who I did not know in a brand new place. I had grown completely comfortable to my current host family, come to really love them, my room, and my home and now I was starting anew. My host family Granada seemed very sweet and quickly learned that the family consisted of a 23 year old son, a 13 year old son, a mother and a father. Who ever said that Nicaraguans have big families?!?! Still, I was a bit overcome with shock at first as my room seemed a bit smaller, the house a bit darker, and the bathroom a bit uglier than my comfortable Masatepe house. After eating a pretty decent dinner, I went to my room to relax and reflect a bit. I then received a call from one of my sitemates, Dianne, (another PCV who will live in Granada) and I remember the call distinctly. While Dianna was enthusiastic over her new digs (a hot shower, her own bathroom, a real bed, a toilet) I was far less excited. I probably sounded a bit depressed to her. She asked me how I liked the new place and I said it was okay and then said I was going to want to move out soon. Don’t get me wrong, the house is actually not too bad. It is just that I have been spoiled in my house in Masatepe and my expectations were set higher. I am going to have to share a bathroom with everyone else in the family. My room has a window that lead to the living room that is uncovered and unfiltered meaning that I hear everything. I have a twin bed. The last time I slept on a twin bed was at university and that was extra long! Seriously, I don’t even fit on a twin bed. So anyways, I recall being not too happy that evening as I went to bed early but trying to keep everything in perspective as I know that first impressions fade as I quickly adjust.

Wednesday

We will call this day, Nick and Toni day. Nick and Toni are married, PCVs, and I am replacing them in Granada after their two years of hard work. Today, Wednesday, was there last day in Granada before returning to the United States and they were nice enough to spend the day with us visiting the schools, the community, and giving us all the info possible. Who is us exactly? Us are the three PCVs from Nica 47 that will be living in Granada. I am the only small business volunteer while Dianne and Liz will be English volunteers. I hardly even knew them before this site visit to Granada and was not sure how much time I would spending with them, but looking back now, they are really cool girls and we will enjoy the two years together. We might even live together (totally against Peace Corps rules by the way but given the prices in Granada, one must learn to be creative and sneaky). We met Nick and Toni at a café called Euro Café that is owned by a South Florida Jewish guy and has bagels, Dr. Pepper (one of the few places in Nicaragua), and lots of other American goodies. Nick and Toni spent a lot of time there using the wireless internet while sipping on a Dr. Pepper and making good use of the Peace Corps salary. The Jewish owner already joked with us (but in a half serious manner) as we left the café to begin our busy day that next time we should buy something. Then he looked at me and with a half-smile said that a Jewish Peace Corps volunteer is a deadly combination for his business (meaning that not only do I not have money to spend due to Peace Corps but that I am probably cheap because I am Jewish). I could have taken offense to his comment but given that he is Jewish and that he is right, I will let it slide.

So…during the morning I visited three of the four schools where I will be teaching, conveniently located on completely different sides of the city and met a few of my teaching counterparts and directors. Nothing to much to report as I honestly spent a couple of minutes in each school but I will talk more about the schools after the big move and I actually start my job.

We all went back to Nick and Toni’s pad to eat some lunch as well as figure out a way to divide and move all their stuff to our three respective houses. After some initial discussions about methodology, prices, and merchandise, the decision was made to have a draft. Our names would be picked out of a hat to determine the drafting order and then we would start picking items from the house. The top three items were the fridge, tv, and gas stove. First to pick was Liz. In a stunning move, she picked the gas stove. Next up was Dianne. Predictably, she picked the fridge. Lastly, I ended up with the tv even though to be frankly honest, I am not sure I will even want a tv. Anyways by the end of the draft, I had selected, in addition to the tv, a folding cot, nice, soft sleeping mattress (not for a bed but for the floor), a broom and dustpan, some dishes, a pepper grinder, trashcan, water dispenser (think Zephyrhills machine but a little less refined), chewed up yoga mat, and a hammer. I am still waiting on the results of Nick and Toni’s draft analysis but I give myself a B+.

After resting up from the exhilarating draft, I went with Nick and Toni to my rural school to see the place, meet my counterpart, etc. Remember, Coco, the director, who would prove her weight in gold. Well as soon as I arrived at the school, she handed me my umbrella that I had left on the bus the night before! She actually went back to the bus terminal, found the bus, and reacquired my umbrella. How amazing is that! Anyways, she is very, very nice, seems to know a lot of people in Granada, and I am sure that I will rely on her a lot during my service. After arriving at the school, I was introduced to all the 4^th and 5^th grade students and then to every single teacher regardless of whether they were in the middle of a class or not. I really loved the school and am very excited to teach there! The only thing not so exciting is my counterpart but I will wait to rush judgement until later on.

In the late afternoon, with trucks borrowed from two very nice American women, we were able to move all the stuff from Nick and Toni’s house to our own respective houses, and rooms. My family did not seem to mind the invasion of stuff but Dianne’s family was a bit shocked when we unloaded the fridge into her room. After a bit of sweet talk, all was smoothed over and everyone in the host families understood what was going on. Then the rain came….. When the rain comes, all is stopped. When it rains, it pours. You just need to find shelter and wait it out. So wait it out we did. About an hour later, it let up a bit, and we traveled out to my last destination of the day, El Fortin, a very poor neighborhood, 5-10 km outside of Granada. Nick and Toni have been working with a group of women there, teaching them about business, and helping them set up their very own business. They just started selling soup on Sunday to their neighborhood and had made a profit the first two weeks. Anyways, my job will be to continue working with them, improving the business, and take the soup company global. All you doubters….just wait…soon you will be going to your neighborhood branch of El Fortin Soup. I really should describe the wretched conditions of the roads that lead out to El Fortin and how poor this neighborhood is but I just would not do it justice right now so in time, I will describe in detail the rural poverty surrounding Granada.

We ended the night by eating out at a bar/restaurant that had pretty good burritos at great prices for Granada. I also met another Jewish woman there who is living with her husband in Granada. This brings the number of Jews I have met to 10. Not too bad. Seriously, you may think that Jews aren’t everywhere, but we are….you can never escape us.

Thursday

Today, we will call, Opportunity International Day. Why? Because I spent the entire day with an NGO Opportunity International, with whom I will work as a volunteer helping them in their work with entrepreneurs around Granada and in various other capacities. OI (as I will call it) is a religious based org which makes me uneasy but I talked to them about it and they say they are just founded on the principles of Jesus and do not promote any particular religion. Still they do not promote spirituality in general which I am all for, but it may be a conflict of interest with Peace Corps to work with them. However, this is a lengthy discussion and I am happy to share my personal views with anyone who wants them. Moving on….I loved OI. The current director is an American but is just there on a short term basis training a Nicaraguan to take over the operations. She seems very, very smart and seems to really get it. The rest of the office is Nicaraguan and I am really excited to be working with a group of people who at my first impression seem very motivated and intelligent. OI partners with local micro-financing groups to help work with the poor and with dual efforts bring individuals, families, and communities out of poverty. For more info on OI as a whole, I am sure you can look them up on the net.

During the morning, I talked with the director and two sub-directors with whom I will be working closely, as they briefed me on all that OI does and where I would be able to help out. Then we broke for lunch and following lunch went out to visit some rural communities. Absolutely fascinating. I observed a community meeting that discussed how they were going to fund a project to build a community library and cyber and saw microfinance in action as I went to a man’s house who began his own chicken farm with micro-loans. I loved the day, loved the communities, and I am really looking forward to working in these rural areas. Once again, the roads were poor, houses not so great, and living conditions so-so but I will go into greater detail as I begin my actual work in this area.

Friday

With Coco as my guide, I was able to meet Granada’s mayor (a woman), talk to the police station about the security situation in the city, and meet the supervisor of schools for the department of Granada. On the surface, everyone was really nice, offered their future help in my projects, and I left with lots of business cards. By the way, I don’t know how many PCVs have their own business cards but I am 100% going to get some of my own. OI already offered to make them for me and I need them in a city like Granada with its foreign influence and influx of NGOs.

Oh yeah, Happy 4^th of July!! You may have thought that I forgot about this glorious day where we officially said screw you to the British but you would be wrong. Actually, Dianne discovered that from 3pm-6pm there were going to be free hamburgers, hot dogs, and beer to all American and British (don’t ask me to explain about the British) citizens at Kathy’s Waffle House, a very good breakfast place. So at 3pm, with some other nearby PCVs in tow, we all headed over to Kathy’s for some red, white, and blue. The party was awesome. I downed two giant hamburgers, a hot dog, and 5 or 6 beers (who is counting) while meeting a whole bunch of other Americans living in Granada. Some were weird, some seemed helpful, and others were just travelers passing through the city. Anyways, more business cards were received and I found myself already getting mad at some of the Americans (especially old men married to young Nica women) for their lack of Spanish and cultural understanding. Still I had a great time and I recognize how useful some of the Americans could be in helping with my projects during my service.

Friday night was just spent messing around town, calling the parents, and playing cards in a nearby hotel with some PCVs who just happened to be staying there that night. It is worth noting that Dianne (I am definitely about to just call her out on this one) thought that the card game “Go Fish” was called “Goldfish” and her only defense to this was that English was not her native language (Korean). She then got mad over my mocking and made fun of my Jewfro (which is beginning to form into a sexy beast). Still her new nickname is Goldie.

Saturday

My first free day during the site visit and I took advantage of it by sleeping a bit later, lounging around during my breakfast, and watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the cartoon). It is still just as amazing as I remember it from my childhood and even in Spanish, I am obsessed. However, I did not remember how small and scary Splinter looked and I am actually a little freaked out about his appearance. After taking a quick morning nap following TMNT I went for a walk down to the lake. The area is very pretty but could be soooo much more beautiful if it was just cleaned up a bit and developed. Lots of potential there.

In the afternoon, Dianne, aka Goldie, Liz, and I just sat around the park and observed people. I talked to a guy who was selling hot coffee and we had an interesting discussion about why in the world he would sell hot coffee while it was 100 degrees outside. Anyways, he said business wasn’t too good but was not sure why. Hmmm…..I wonder. I also saw some amazing, old American tshirts worn by Nicaraguans. The winner of the afternoon was worn by a 40 year old Nicaraguan man and said “Danger, Educated Black Woman.” Honestly, people does it get better than that. Anyways, looking at all the tshirts worn here has become my favorite activity. I would say that a good 85 percent of Nicaraguans do not understand what the shirts say and obviously don’t do any research into this subject. This leads to some amazing photos. Oh and any shirt you have ever donated in the past is probably down here in Nicaragua. I saw a Beth El basketball jersey the other day and one of my buddies saw a New England Super Bowl Championship shirt from this year a few days ago. Another reason to visit me, I dare say!

Saturday night came and the three of us went to a young American couple’s house (who we met on July 4^th) for a couple of beers and then out to sing karaoke. I sang Sweet Caroline and it brought down the house. Enough said.

Sunday

Breakfast at Kathy’s Waffle House. It was actually worth the 4 dollar price even though I was skeptical beforehand. A big vegetable omelet, hashbrowns, toast, and coffee, and it was really good (so yeah it was worth 4 bucks). I will probably make this a monthly ritual even though I did get incredibly annoyed at the kids shooting off firecrackers literally next door to the restaurant for the duration of the entire meal. Thanks losers!

I briskly walked back to my house, gathered my bag, and headed to the bus terminal on the southern side of the city. My site visit was officially over. In the end, every single day in Granada was better than the previous one and I grew to become more comfortable with my host family even in the short amount of time. Still I doubt, I will be living with them longer than the required six weeks. Granada is a beautiful city with loads of potential for growth especially in the small business area. I think that I have the ability to accomplish a lot during my service there. I will have to avoid the gringo crowd and perfect my Spanish but I don’t think it will be too hard considering all my work is done in Spanish. I will also have to learn how to manage my money well as Granada is the most expensive city in Nicaragua due to the tourist market. Basically, I will learn to be creative. Exchanging services for goods, making deals with business owners, finding group housing, whatever it takes. I will learn to live a bit like the urban poor….lots of great things around them but constantly on the outside looking in. However, I will have the advantage of a little extra money, English skills, and a good education to guide me. Still, when you are poorer than the community around you, you are forced to be creative. This is what the real poor have had to do their entire lives and why I am so excited to use this creativity to help the poor devise ways to climb up the ladder.

The Unfiltered Version of “Judgement Day: Which Site is Mine?”

Editors’ Note: I realize that I am now two weeks behind on my writing so I apologize but enjoy the following posts and I promise I will catch up soon. As always feel free to write me directly if you want to know what is going on down in Nica land.

Here is the latest of my articles that have been running bi-weekly in the Mandarin Sun section of the Florida Times Union. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/070508/ner_299774444.shtml Below is just an expanded, unfiltered version of the same.

I had spent the last few nights in a restless state, waking up at odd hours, and not being able to put my mind at ease. In fact, my mind had been constantly thinking and analyzing for an entire week. Only one week ago, my Peace Corps group had received THE list; the list that would determine our next two years; the list that included all of the 19 sites in Nicaragua where each of us would be working and living for the duration of our service. After a week of reading the list over and over, doing internet research on all the sites and projects, and evaluating and reevaluating my personal interests and goals, the moment of all moments was upon me, and my 37 other PCVs including the English kids. At 1:30pm on a rainy Friday afternoon, my program director, Georgia (awesome woman from Bluefields, on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua) stepped to the front of the meeting room, placed an empty map of Nicaragua on the board, and set down a stack of post-it notes that would soon fill up the map by marking the places we would call home for the next two years.

The entire Friday up to this point was spent in a state of excitement and anxiety. We received a few different charlas (lessons) during the morning that surprisingly held my interest. One was appropriately about the Peace Corps Nicaragua Peer Support Network and how to be an active listener and good support to your friends. The lesson just so happened to coincide with the day that we would receive our sites. Would some people need peer support in just a few hours? Would I be one of them? Time will tell. Anyways the other charla was about how to work and plan with our counterparts (teachers in the schools) which would be very appropriate for the upcoming site visit. By lunchtime, no one could concentrate and I was getting really excited and jumpy. For whatever reason, all the nerves that were probably in my body at that point, actually just made me happy and ready to receive the news. I also played the role of peer supporter as I helped some others calm down and relax. The 19 English volunteers arrived as lunch was wrapping up and I quickly learned that they, in fact, had already put together a site pool (10 cordobas to enter, winner selected by the number of correct matches of person to site), a concept that I had been trying to organize during lunch. With this added bit of motivation (the English volunteers cannot be better than my group), I rapidly redoubled my efforts and got at least half of the group to participate. At this point, I really had no idea where I was going to end up but my money was on Leon, Ocotal, and El Viejo. The only site that I thought I might get and really did not want was Somotillo. So with our pools in hand, the program directors gathered in the front of the room to give the news.

It would be an understatement to say that emotions filled the air as if they were the Florida humidity on an August afternoon. Some of us were on the verge of tears, others literally shaking with nerves, and some sat silently and pensively. I, on the other hand, was overly excited, busily moving around the room from person to person, doing a pre-site interview on my video camera. The interviews were hysterical (well you may have had to be there) and will be awesome to look at later on during service. Meanwhile, a traditional Nicaraguan band played upbeat music in one corner of the room, obviously to lighten the dense air. But as the George Baldino, PC Nicaragua’s Director, began to speak signaling the commencement of the program, the music stopped and all was silent.

Following George, a few other PC higher ups spoke, and then it all began. I could not believe that just 7 weeks ago, this was all just beginning. The names were read off in alphabetical order based on last names. Richman. Why was my last name Richman instead of Arnold or Baker? I silently cursed my parents (not really…I was too busy videotaping everybody’s reactions). So while all the sub-R last names were given their sites, I anxiously waited and mentally crossed off all the sites that could no longer be mine. Finally, my name was announced, I jumped to the front of my room, looked directly into Georgia’s big brown eyes, and heard the name of my new home… Granada, Granada (city, department).

My first emotion was what I expected it to be. Acceptance. I knew that I wouldn’t be overly happy or upset although I had secretly rooted for Leon or Ocotal, my top two choices. After Georgia finished giving out the last few sites, she asked me why I was upset and although I didn’t notice, I assume I had a worried look on my face. I was happy and worried at the same time.

Granada, the city that everyone should have wanted but really nobody did. The Spanish colonial style city frequented by tourists around the world where real estate is prime, restaurants are international, and infrastructure is decent.

I was excited for the fact that Granada was by most accounts a pretty city with generally great access to communication, transportation, and basic necessities. I had specifically wrote down on my preference sheet that I wanted a big city, a pretty city, a diverse city, a busy life, and a place with positive, energetic people. I also did not really want to teach all that much and preferred working with small business owners and doing micro-finance. Granada honestly fits that description almost to a tee.

Terrified that I get to live in a big, touristy city where after two years people will still think that I am just another tourist. I have already decided that on my first day on the job, I am going to wear a shirt that says “Yo Vivo Aqui” so everyone knows that I am not just another stupid tourist.

Thankful for the opportunity to work with some amazing organizations helping to improve the lives of many Nicaraguans and meet interesting people from all over the world. I am working with a NGO called Opportunity International that supposedly does some really cool work around the city and the rural areas in community development and micro-finance. There are also tons of other social projects going on in Granada that I will get to be a part of and wont have to work as hard at creating my own projects. I will also most likely get to meet some cool Gringos and foreigners. I really just want to have more facebook friends.

Nervous for the great task of making a measurable, concrete impact on a city like Granada that stares directly towards me. I also feel a bit guilty that my Peace Corps experience will not be the typical “live in the middle of nowhere, bathe with a bucket experience.”

During this upcoming week, I will get to spend five days in Granada learning about my new home, my new host family, the schools where I will be teaching, and the work that lies ahead of me. After that, only three weeks remain in my training and I will be officially moving to start my new life. In the meantime, I will be going to share a few rum and cokes with the rest of Nica 47 celebrating our sites and our next two years. Don’t wait up!