Shifting Gears

Thursday came and went quickly. The “La Empresa Creativa” competition was a big success with over than 200 students, teachers, volunteers, and the general public participating in the event. I worked tirelessly during the 4 hour long event and unfortunately did not get to enjoy myself until the judges were tallying up the score. Still I had a great time announcing the winners of various categories and even did a little dance for some of my students. In the end, a group from Berta Pacheco (my rural school) won with the anti-flea dog shampoo and second place went to a group from Ticuantepe that has a product called piñmani (a jelly like substance that combined pineapple and peanuts, pretty tasty). I was completely surprised by the results given the fact that the winners had done little to no work on their business plan but that is life. Now I will be working with the group to get them ready for the national competition on November 12. After the competition I went to get a huge hamburger and reflected. I think I am still reflecting a bit and now just need to write thank you notes.

This past Saturday I moved into house number 4. Yep, thats right. Already on my fourth house in Granada. In this one, I am renting a room for 80 bucks a month….my budget exactly. The house is owned by a foreigner but he doesnt come back until December so it is just me and the permanent caretaker. The house is very big but VERY basic. And for the first time in five weeks, I do not have a washing machine so back to hand washing. Yay! Or I might pay someone to do it. I dont think I will stay in the house for a long time and I am still hoping to find something that I can call my home. Cross your fingers!

Honestly I did not have much time to rest after the competition and just had to move onto the next thing. School ends mid-November so I am trying to finish up with all my classes, communicate with my directors and counterparts, and wrap things up in the best way possible. I also now have to shift gears and start doing some other community work including working with my NGO that I have neglected during the past few weeks. I definitely keep busy here. I just started playing in another basketball league with a new team and we lost our first game (I played pretty poorly so I will have to fix that). I continue going to the gym although sporadically. I still have to shop and cook for myself. I am planning my family’s trip down to Nicaragua. Did I mention that they are coming between Dec 27 and Jan 7!?!?! I am totally pumped. I watched Jeopardy the past three days because my cousin Mathew was the reigning Jeopardy champion until he lost today. Who else has a cousin they can call Jeopardy champion? Didnt think so. I am making my first trip out of town this upcoming weekend as I head to Matagalpa for an unofficial Peace Corps Halloween party….still dont know what to do for the costume. Please send suggestions!

So yeah I am busy but as you can probably tell I am having fun. Until next time, estoy aqui a la orden.

I am going crazy

Yeah its been a while since I last wrote and that is because I have been running/biking/busing around the city like crazy trying to get everything just right for my upcoming regional competition where the best student business groups from Granada, Masaya, and Carazo (other departments in Nicaragua) will be competing for the opportunity to go to the national competition. I have had to find a place, judges, prizes, chairs, tables, powerpoint projector not to mention that I am trying to get the press involved, find someone to video, trying to make this thing big. And lets not forget the most important aspect is that the students are ready and well prepared. So yeah I have been stressed (in a good way) and running around uneducated in how to properly solicit prizes from Nicaraguan businesses and just how to put together an event in Granada. It has been a wonderful learning experience for me…..meaning that next year will be much much easier and smoother.

Anyway, Brent (a buddy of mine that I met in Israel) came to visit me this weekend from SFla. He came in on Thursday and left on Sunday and we had an amazing time. Visited some beautiful places, ate good food, drank good rum, and bought good cigars (but we never smoked them). Just ask him if you want to see how much you could have by visiting me down here.

I would write more but as the title says, I am actually going nuts right now. I just got another couchsurfer into my home (at least the one I am taking care of) and am trying to play a good host while trying to get all my work done. I do have my priorities right but there just isnt enough time in the day to complete the list! hahaha.

Competition is Thursday. Until Thursday afternoon, dont talk to me. I will put up lots of pics and stories afterwards.

Being Jewish in Nicaragua

While away from your normal setting, your normal community, your comfort zone, you may notice that you tend to long for some of those past comforts in a way that can be almost extreme. While abroad, you may actually become more American. You may think about peanut butter way too much, devour American chocolate even though it really isn’t that good, and think about all those fast food restaurants that at home you deemed unhealthy. It is true that you miss certain parts of your old life but I believe that many times you feel as if you are missing part of your identity, as in all those things in your old environment that have helped to define you, and now that you are left without them, you tend to search for those missing parts. Only once you understand that it is you, and not your environment, who defines your identity, can you actually leave your obsessions and thoughts behind and begin to live your life…..the way it should be lived….in the moment….enjoying yourself….not thinking too much outside of your personal reality.

While I am not entirely sure what that first paragraph has to do with being Jewish, I am still going to try to relate the two. Being Jewish is an amazing cultural experience that allows you to feel part of a community no matter where you are in the world. For me being Jewish is a huge part of my personal identity. I grew up being and feeling Jewish so when I enter situations in which it becomes more difficult for me to feel the Jewishness around me, I will seek it out. It helps me to keep my identity intact.

Ok so I know I did not do the best job relating those first two paragraphs but nonetheless we have arrived at paragraph number three. The part where I tell you all about the Jewish community in Nicaragua and how I spent the holidays. Before coming to country, I contacted the American Jewish World Service which does good work around the world and has an office in Central America. It turns out that the office is actually based in Managua and they forwarded me the email address of a member of the Nicaraguan Jewish community named Carlos Roman. After about a month and a half in country, I finally met up with Carlos and we went to a lecture he was giving on the history of the state of Israel. Carlos is born and bred Nicaraguan but has spent stints in Miami, New York, and Israel and thus speaks both English and Hebrew very well. He officially moved back to Nicaragua a few years ago to ensure that the Jewish community stays alive here. And as it currently stands, it is living, but I would be it on the endangered species list if there were lists for such a thing. In total, there are probably 60 active Jews in the country compared to its apparent height of 250 Jews back in the 1970s. And I am sure that there are more Jews in the country at any given moment but 60 seems about right as far as the number of Jews that one could mobilize or contact within some notice. For more of the Jewish history in Nicaragua, you can check out the Wikipedia article “Jewish Nicargua.”

After moving to Granada, the mother of Kurt, a member of the Jewish community, became very ill and a service was organized to pray for her health. It turns out that she died a week later and then a Jewish funeral was held in the tiny Jewish section of a Managua cemetery. Then the following week a memorial service was held at Kurt’s house. Through these get-togethers I was able to meet a vast majority of the community and eat A LOT of food. The people I met were all generally friendly and it was nice to see the familiarities that come with the Jewish culture.

So as the holidays approached the community organized a Rosh Hashana dinner. About 35 people showed up for the short service and the feast that followed. Guess who led this short service? Because Carlos was in New York for the high holidays, the job was left to ME! Yeah, so Avi Richman led the shortest, most incorrect, Rosh Hashana service out there. We did a few prayers including the amidah, shema, aleinu, kaddish, and then did all the blessings for Rosh Hashana. It was quite funny and I laughed to myself and out loud as I read the Hebrew during the service. It is unfortunate that I have no idea how to lead a Rosh Hashana service but the people there seemed to appreciate the effort and all congratulated me afterwards.

Rosh Hashana! Look who’s at the head of the table!

Some Israeli kids hanging out…

L’Chaim!

Lots of delicious food.

Let’s just say I was full after this meal.

Peace Corps Nicaragua does apples n’ honey

Just Jews chillin’

More Jews.

Second night of Rosh Hashana. I made matza ball soup.

At the dinner there were Nicaraguans, other Latinos, Americans (mostly retired), Peace Corps Volunteers, an Israeli family, and then scattered other people. As you may imagine, it is a very mixed, bizarre community with people speaking all different languages. Spanish is obviously the primary language but there are a few Americans who cannot speak Spanish and thus English is used as a secondary language. I led the “service” in both Spanish and English and then obviously spoke some Hebrew even though I don’t know what anything means. After the service, Rafael (Guatemalan Jew married to a Costa Rican and they are my favorite couple here) and I had some L’chaims to properly celebrate the occasion and it was my first taste of whiskey in months. Oh how I missed you, whisky. We then ate a tremendous amount of food and I took home an entire round challah, lots of rice, and salads as leftovers. It was definitely a great time!

For Yom Kippur, nothing was really organized so I made a few calls in the days leading up to it to see what was going on and finally on the morning of the fast, I was told that there would be a small get-together at the house of the Israeli family in Managua. Obviously, I wanted to be with other Jews on Yom Kippur and not just by myself so I packed an overnight bag and headed to Managua eating my last meal of two slices of pizza on the bus ride there. I stayed at Rafael and Elizabeth’s house for the night and along with them and a few other people we did what we could in celebrating Yom Kippur. We actually listened to Kol Nidre on Youtube and then listened to a live webcast of Yom Kippur services during the evening and the following day. How funny is that! This world truly is advancing….I had noooo idea that they did webcasts of Jewish high holiday services. We then broke the fast with an incredible meal of breads, cookies, cheeses, alcohol, and meats. It was a very peaceful, relaxing Yom Kippur and actually a lot better than spending all day in a synagogue in Jacksonville. Although I will admit that I did miss the familiarity and comfort of the Jacksonville Jewish Center and hope that my presence was not missed too much over there.

So there you have it….more or less…that is a picture of the Nicaraguan Jewish community. There are some great people, some weird ones, and I am just thankful that the community does, in fact, exist. And guess what? There is going to be a Jewish wedding on December 14 and I am invited!

Have an Easy Fast

As noted in my previous post, I wanted to have a few things posted before the start of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, today at sundown, but unfortunately I will not be able to accomplish this task. I meant to write a lot last night and instead got caught up in the unbelievable repetiveness of the debate. C’mon Tom Brokaw, debate organizers, you just gave the two chachalacas (in Nicaragua, it means chatterboxes) a forum to repeat all of their previous campaign speeches. Anyway, I still dont really understand how anyone can vote for McCain over Obama given the perception of the US in the world, the lack of respect, the lack of credibility, and also the wrong path that this country has been going on for at least the past 8 years. Sometimes I wish I could step into the shoes of a dumb, ignorant American voter to really understand how someone could vote for McCain…..not that he is a bad man, he is probably a great man. But people the choice between the two just seems so obvious.

I am headed to teach my last classes of the day at 1pm, then am going to leave early and head to Managua to stay at the house of a member of the Jewish community for the holiday. My bet is there will be some really bad, abridged versions of Kol Nidre and the services tomorrow followed by some good eats. At least I will get to spend the fast with others who truly understand the significance of the holiday.

With that, I ask forgiveness from all of you for anything I may have done to hurt you during this past year (I actually think I have been pretty good and I have only been in the country for two months but still). I also would like to wish you all an easy fast, a peaceful holiday, and a great start to a new year full of potential to achieve greatness.

Sneak Preview, Moving, Jags :(

On Sunday I moved out of the palace and into another extranjero’s house. Not nearly as well done but still a very nice place. The woman will be in Peru for two weeks so I will be once again taking advantage of the free rent, cooking/food supplies, cable, and nice setup. In the other house, there was just one little cute dog. In this house, there is a dog, a cat, and a parrot. The parrot’s wings are clipped so it just freely roams the house like any other pet. I will tell you that the parrot already annoys me. He yells at the top of his lungs, tries to bite me, and claws my feet. However, I still do think it is cool to be living with a free roaming parrot…kinda makes me feel like I am living in Nicaragua.

Moving sucks by the way. I am fine with it for now but I am seeing that it is going to get old real fast. I am hoping to secure a more permanent place (six months or so) by December 1. Some have asked me what happened to the house I saw 10 days ago (from the blog)….well it is still on the table as far as I know. But the house was a great one bedroom place but with REALLY low ceilings…as in I had to duck to get out the back door…so it made me uncomfortable. Anyway, I told the owner that the most I could pay was 80 dollars and havent heard back from him. I am not in a rush to call him due to the ceiling so we will see what happens.

Watched the Jags game on Sunday night. I was pretty excited about it and could seriously feel the energy from the stadium. As you can imagine I ended the game very but hey life will go on. There is always next Sunday. Still it is pretty bad that we are now 1-2 at home. Bad Jaguars, bad.

I have been very busy this past week and in the next post will write about that as well as my experiences with the Jewish community here which have been many. So expect two pre-Yom Kippur postings that should be able to hold you over while you fast. Hey, here’s an idea, print them out, and bring them to services!!

In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of this Saturday’s column for the Mandarin Sun section of the Florida Times Union:

As the heavy, unrelenting rains of October fill Granada’s skies, life inside the classroom continues at a furious pace reaching its annual climax. It is competition season. It is the time to evaluate the year’s work and see which student group has the best business idea and most comprehensive business plan.

Since my arrival in Granada, I have been co-teaching a class called in translation “The Creative Business” with the objective of teaching 4^th year high school students basic business skills and improving their creativity so that they may become successful entrepreneurs. Throughout the year long course the students must create their own businesses and compete in local, regional, and national competitions against the more than 600 other student groups around Nicaragua.

Before telling you about the actual competitions, allow me to share some basic statistics and thoughts about the economic/educational situation in Nicaragua in order to demonstrate the importance of entrepreneurship in this country. In 2007 it was estimated that there are around 800,000 youth between the ages of 13-18 in Nicaragua. Only about 56 percent are enrolled in school, just 272,000 finished high school and around 163,000 went onto higher education. In most of my high schools there are five or six sections of first year while in fifth year (final year) only one section remains. The drop out rate is evident. Most of these “drop-outs” are busy working in the house (especially girls) or venture out to the streets and markets trying to make ends meet. Some try to make their way to Costa Rica or the United States in hopes of making more money. Even with an alarming number of people without a high school education, the unemployment rate is hovers around five percent. However, the underemployment rate is incredibly high, meaning that there are many college graduates working as cab drivers or selling food on the streets as well paying, white-collar jobs are scarce.

My point in sharing this information is to highlight the fact that there are literally hundreds of thousand of young people working in this country, without high school degrees, trying to make money in an environment where many university-educated people struggle. Keep this fact in mind as your read forward.

During this past week, there were competitions at three of my four high schools. All the students arrived with the hopes of classifying to the regional competition. Many of the students came up to me before the competitions to tell me how nervous they were but afterwards all I saw were self-assured, smiling faces (possibly from relief). The students started out the year having little to no business understanding and were able to confidently present and elaborate their business plans to a panel of judges, explaining their fixed and variable costs, break-even point, and marketing plan. They knew their stuff….most of them at least. There were definitely those students that got it while others struggled but overall I was left very impressed by the results. In the end, the three winners of the competitions were a low cost anti-flea pet shampoo, an all woman car wash, and an artisan group that made beautiful wooden crafts. While some of the students were disappointed that they did not win, most of them still understood that the knowledge they now hold far surpasses anything gained from the competition. With the economic and job situation being what it is in Nicaragua, the idea that you can start your own business, raise capital, and make your own money gives the students options and hope in their future lives. And unfortunately for some of my students, the future is now. They will not return to school for fifth year or they will return only to enter the workforce after high school graduation. My only hope is that the students remember the message of the class: that they are creative, they are entrepreneurs, they can secure their own future, and that they have the power to build a better Nicaragua.