Patron Saint Festival

Jeff
The patron saint festival of Saint Raymond (aka San Ramon) has distinguished (or marred) the past week depending on one's perspective. Our town is named for Saint Raymond Nonnatus who is the patron saint of child birth. He was born by caesarian section in 1204, hence the name, no natus. Saint Raymond was captured by the Moors who bored a hole through his lips with a hot iron, and padlocked his mouth to prevent him from preaching. Despite his radical piercings, Ray still managed to convert some of his guards - much respect to this total bad-ass.

Celebrating Saint Raymond in San Ramon, Nicaragua apparently requires one to be a bad ass, just like the man himself.  It all started at 4am on August 21st with a bunch of rowdies walking around town playing music, setting off firecrackers and yelling via a loudspeaker. For some, celebrating Saint Raymond means ten days of non-stop drinking. For others it involves climbing a greased pole for monetary prizes, chasing a greased pig or goat so you can catch it and eat it, riding bulls, fighting roosters, a death defying bicycle race and of course the high volume karaoke competition that went on way past our bedtime. During the past eight days we have heard about stabbings (one resulting in death), broken bones, a gorging by a bull and multiple arrests. All of this excitement and there are still two more days left! It is just like I said – bad ass.

Our friend's team pole climbing toward victory

All of my politically incorrect joking aside, this is an important celebration for our town. It is essentially a county fair rooted in a religious tradition that has morphed over time (kind of like Christmas). It creates some great recreational opportunities for the citizens of San Ramon as well as a much needed economic boost. There have been some lovely religious celebrations, parades, concerts, activities for the children and a general coming together in the community. We have gotten to see some cool stuff and bonded with our neighbors through shared experiences and gossip. While there are certainly some very ridiculous aspects of this ten day fiesta, there are just as many ridiculous aspects of our American traditions. I would gripe about those too in order to be an equal opportunity curmudgeon but this blog is about Nicaragua.

Luckily Raymond is not the patron saint of education. During the past six weeks of elementary school there has not been one complete week of classes and this week was of course no exception. We have decided to take advantage of the four day vacation and get out of town.  We will miss the last two days of the festival but the events we are going to miss are either a repeat of what we have seen, too religious for us or likely to be too rowdy for the kids. Besides all that, the noise and excitement have worn us down a bit and we could use some R and R. Tomorrow we are heading to Laguna de Apoyo (a lake in an old volcanic crater) to do some swimming and hiking. We will have someone watch our home while we are gone as the celebration of Saint Raymond sets off a mini crime wave each year. Viva San Ramon.

Emma
I do not want to talk about the patron saint festival. I want to talk about chickens. We now have two chickens and their names are Estrella and Luna. Mommy and Daddy’s friend Evaristo had to drive a long way to find chickens. We built a chicken coop but it took us a whole week to find chickens to put in it. We finally got them on Friday.  Our chickens are fat because they had lots of food before. They are very afraid of everybody because it is a new place for them. They got dumped into a truck and taken to a new place and they were very scared in the beginning but they seem to know us better now. My chores in the morning are getting new water, cleaning their bowls and getting the chicken food. The food is called millon (sorghum). I let them into the chicken run in the morning. At night I feed them again and chase them with a stick to get them inside their coop. They have not laid eggs yet and we think it is because they are still scared.

Hannah

We went to a horse contest with our neighbors.  They rode a fake horse and had to grab a ribbon.  Most people could not get ribbons.  My friend Osnan got one.  He did not win because the winner got three.  He won a prize and had to kiss one of the princesses.  He used our broom for his horse.  The adults will do the same thing but with real horses.

Osnan riding to glory

Aileen

Jeff already provided too much information regarding the patron saint festival so I will keep this short.  I really enjoyed attending a little fair a few nights ago because many of the local kids (including ours) were running around enjoying themselves. Below is a picture of Hannah on a carousel.  No consumer safety advocates around here, no way.  That thing was flying!  For those of you who know Hannah, it must have been going pretty fast to get her upset.  After she got off, she was uncharacteristically grumpy, and we realized she had a low-grade fever.  Even though her temperature wasn't that high, we decided to keep her home from school the next day.  When people realized she wasn't at school, everyone agreed that her fever was because of the carousel ride the day before.  Nicaraguans have some pretty interesting ideas about cause and effect!

Hannah and Friends on the Saint Raymond-Go-Round

Closing

The careful reader will notice that the children seem very well adjusted and the adults appear to be suffering from culture shock charecterized by irrational cynicism. Nevertheless, we are totally thrilled to be here and are really enjoying our time together.  The girls still marvel at everything they see but the honeymoon period is over for the adults.  Overall, this is a good thing because we are now settling down to a more "normal" life.  San Ramon now feels more like home rather than just a vacation spot.  On the plus side, this means deepening relationships and a sense of belonging.  However, it also means that the rose colored glasses are gone and we must now face the challenges and adventures of everyday life in Nicaragua.

Dos Cosas

The Bad and the Good - by Aileen

The Bad: INSANE Bureaucracy. After hundreds of dollars and hours (literally) of waiting in lines, going from the Nicaraguan consulate in downtown San Francisco to City Hall and back again three times, doctors’ appointments for medical clearances, going to the SFPD for police clearances, getting school records, getting documents notarized, verified, authenticated, translated, and notarized again, going from San Ramon to Managua (about 3 hours) and back again, twice, all in order to stay in Nicaragua for one year legally, I have officially given up. On Tuesday morning at the Immigration office (“Office” being a VERY generous description) in Managua I found out that the penalty for overstaying our visa doesn’t even come close to the cost (never mind the hassle) of getting the rest of the documents we need to get residency for one year. Erghhh.

The Good: Today I went up to Santa Isabel, the community where SOL, the organization I work for, is financing the construction of the school. SOL provides the tools, materials and a construction supervisor, and the community provides the labor. One cool thing about this project was that all the men in the community work on a nearby coffee plantation, so most of the work (digging the foundation, mixing mortar, laying bricks, applying stucco) was done by the women and the older kids in the community. Anyway, I was just there last week to deliver the paint. I can’t believe what a difference a fresh coat of paint can make. Here’s a picture of the old school (on a rainy day), and a picture of the new school. All we have left now is the doors and windows, the floors, and the latrines. Pretty exciting stuff.

Old School

New School

Baton and Guitar - by Emma
I am going to be in the Nicaraguan independence parade in September. I will be using batons. I am really excited to do this with all my friends from school. We practice at 11am almost every day. I get to leave school one hour early. Today was our first big practice and we actually marched one block around town. We marched right past our house. Hannah and Daddy and Flaca (our helper) all watched me and so did our neighbors across the street. I have lots to learn because this is new to me but it is really fun learning.

Guitar lessons have been very good. I have learned so much. I have learned do rae mi fa sol la and si. I am trying to learn notas agudas which are higher than the ones I just said. At the end of the agudas there is do sobre agudo. I am also learning how to play the flute. It is not just so I can get good at it; it helps me hear the notes better. My teacher Melvin is really, really good and my playing is getting better. I am learning to read music and do my chords perfect. Es muy twany para aprender guitara en espanol (it is really cool guitar learning guitar in Spanish).

Chickens and Cows - by Hannah
There are lots of chickens in Nicaragua.  I really want pets and my Daddy and Mommy said we can get chickens.  My Daddy and his friend built a chicken coop.  It is really nice and all the chickens in our neighborhood want to go in.  The problem is we have no chickens yet.  We are still trying to buy chickens.  It is hard.  One person tried to sell us a chicken for like two hundred bucks and it was almost dying; no, we did not buy that because daddy knew it was about to die.  I am very excited to get chickens.

There are also a ton of cows in Nicaragua.  Our friend Rene has like thirty-one cows.  I got to nurse one, I mean milk it.  The lady Maria was really good at milking cows.  She showed me how to do it and I could.  I also want to say to my friends and teachers that I miss you a LOT.  That's it!

Aylin y Jefri - by Jeff

Last Friday we went to the city of Esteli where Aileen and I lived right after we got married. The main purpose of this trip was to visit our namesakes, Aylin and Jefri who live in a rural community we worked at ten years ago. We got up very early Saturday morning and made the long bumpy drive to Salale Montanita, the home of our good friend Rene Valle. Though Rene is a poor farmer and evangelical Christian and I am a Jew from Philadelphia, we have very deep connection that defies explanation. I was honored to learn that Rene and his wife named their children Aylin and Jefri. I had never seen our namesakes and was buzzing with excitement and emotion. However, as we approached the last leg of our journey, we were shocked to see a raging river where a creek used to be and it was clear we could not cross the river in our truck. After standing around for thirty minutes deciding whether or not to try and cross the river on foot, someone came by on a horse and told us he would let Rene know we were here. After another hour or so, I turned around and saw Rene walking toward us with a horse. After tearful embraces it was like we just saw one another a few days ago. Rene led us across the river on his horse and we then made the long walk to his community.

Aylin, Emma, Hannah and Rene after crossing the river

We spent the afternoon with Rene, his wife Maria and their children Jerry, Aylin and Jefri. The adults told tales of the last ten years and the children played with the cows and chickens. The ease at which our families related was almost surreal. At some point, the kids walked out with a photo that Rene had photo-shopped and hung in his home; the sentiment behind the photo blew us away (not to mention meeting our namesakes).  I am really looking forward to visiting Rene and his family again soon.

Jeri, Jeff, Emma, Aileen, Hannah, Aylin, and Jefri in front of our mansion

The Inevitable Top Ten List

Life in San Ramon, Matagalpa has been exciting, interesting and challenging. We spent the last month getting settled and were not focused on keeping our journals or updating this blog.  In order to give you some idea of what our life in Nicaragua is like, we will each share our ten most notable or memorable experiences so far (in no particular order).

Aileen
1.  One of the activities at the girls' school health fair was a speed eating contest. The winner was whoever ate 5 bananas the fastest. The prize was a box of Cocoa Krispies.

2.  I've seen 3 ambulances that actually have functioning sirens and flashing lights speeding down the road. In the almost 5 years that I lived in Nicaragua before, I NEVER saw this once.

3.  The day we met them, the kids across the street gave marbles to Emma and Hannah. The family is made up of a single mother, 5 kids, and two elderly grandparents living in a tiny shack. Though they have very little, these children were eager to share with their new neighbors.

4.  There's a place where I can get a pedicure in San Ramon!!

5.  To be able to stay in Nicaragua for one year, we need 29 different documents, about half of which have to be notarized, and half of those have to be verified and authenticated. Another half of the 29 have to be translated (and of course the translations have to be verified). By the time this gets straightened out we will be leaving.

6.  For the patron saint festival parade, Hannah needs three costumes, one of which is a bathing suit???

7.  Four people get held up at knifepoint while hiking (not us) and the police claim they can't do anything because there were no witnesses. (They were victims, and the witnesses have to be someone else.)

8.  Cell phones have transformed rural life. Instead of spending a lot of money to bring their crops on a 10+ hour bus ride to sell at whatever happens to be the price that day, farmers can call the market in the morning and instantaneously find out what the prices are. For me, I can schedule meetings with rural communities, and check on material deliveries and construction progress by phone rather than making a long drive and hoping folks are around when I get there.

9.  The house we're renting was actually ready the day the owner said it would be.

10.  I awed by how great Emma and Hannah are doing with all of this. They are AMAZING!

Emma
1.  Mommy drove her truck into a huge ditch and it took us a long time to get out with the help of a nice truck driver who knew what he was doing.

2.  The first day of school was one of the best things. School is really loud especially when it rains. I love my teacher Carmen. I really like studying and learning multiplication and other things.

3.  We went to El Chile which means the hot pepper. I learned how to weave purses.

4.  I went to the City of Granada and had a really good time there because it was pretty and we saw lots of dancing.

5.  We went to my parent’s favorite beach called Las Penitas. We went for a walk on the beach while it was raining. I learned how to go body surfing with my Daddy in a place called the boca where the tide was not too strong.

6.  I have lots of new friends and I think my best friend is Lescania in my class. My friends always come to my house and we play ball in the street and do other things.

7.  My new guitar teacher is Melvin. I really love him and he is really nice. Melvin broke his leg at another job and I have to go to his house for class. His cast is on his whole leg and he cannot really leave his house.

8.  I really like my new bed. It is comfy and I share it with Hannah. We sleep under a mosquito net.

9.  Before we moved to our house we stayed at a hotel called Sueno de la Campana which means dream of the bell. It is called that because it is on a hill that looks like a bell. It is really pretty with lots of flowers and butterflies and certain butterflies like certain flowers. My favorite butterfly has red dots that look like paint and you cannot see unless you get really close.

10.  I love learning Spanish and learning about Nicaragua.

Hannah
1.  There are dogs running around all over the place and I saw a cat in the restaurant with a blue eye and a green eye.

2.  We went on a hike and there was sloppy mud.

3.  We have a new house where I can do cartwheels but when it rains it is very loud.  I made hurry-up cake for my friends in our kitchen.

4.  Our neighbors are very poor and their house is made of paper, wood and garbage.

5.  There is lots of coffee for my Daddy and I saw where it came from.

6.  A long time ago America tried to take over Nicaragua with guns but they couldn’t.

7.  I chased a chicken and caught it by its tummy and then fed them corn.

8.  There are no strawberries here but we still have a computer and some books and toys.

9.  I caught a macho (huge bugs), baby lizard, frog, moth, butterfly and other things.  I saw monkeys and other animals too.

10.  My friends had a piñata and I got lots of candy. Me and Emma and Daddy stayed at my friend's house for one week when we studied Spanish in Matagalpa before we moved to San Ramon with Mommy.

Jeff
1.  Sitting in a café with Emma and Hannah during a major rainstorm and watching the water cover the entire street, enter the restaurant and almost make its way to our table. Speaking of rain, we almost missed the first day of school because we could not cross a bridge as it was swallowed up by a river that looked like melted chocolate (turns out this is because there is no sewage system here, yuck).

2.  Attending my first parent meeting at the girl’s school and volunteering for everything including fixing a water tank, cooking a meal for the class, buying toilet paper, buying office supplies and cleaning out a closet in Hannah’s classroom. I felt like Marsha Brady (pardon the obscure pop-culture reference).

3.  Cooking, cleaning and caring for my family, Nicaraguan style (describing what this means would be a blog unto itself involving constant power outages, water shortages, etc).

4.  Breaking all US traffic laws and ignoring common sense by letting the girls ride in the bed of Aileen’s pick-up truck. They now jump into the bed of the truck every time we go somewhere and we have to chase them around to get them in their seats.

5.  Hiking from our front door to a beautiful waterfall with a new friend who has a long list of other places we can hike to with the kids.

6.  Watching the girls thrive: playing with their new friends; walking to school in their adorable uniforms; discovering new natural wonders; learning Spanish; going to the store themselves to buy tortillas; and enjoying the freedom that comes with living in a small town.

7.  Seeing dozens of GIANT worms on a tree; they were as big as my arm (seriously). I was told they were some form of caterpillar; if that is so the butterflies must be the size of airplanes. I did not have my camera so you will have to take my word for it.

8.  Meeting our gringo neighbor named Giff.  He came by because he lost his keys and needed help breaking into his home, which we did by tearing a section of zinc off his roof and jumping in. This was a very Nicaraguan way to meet.

9.  Playing wiffle ball with the neighborhood kids. When the bat cracked, we just kept playing. When the ball fell apart, we got some tape. When it got dark we just gave it our best shot. So much joy from a $2 bat and ball!

10.  Having more time than I thought existed. I can listen to music, going on outings, watch thunderstorms, do nothing, chat with friends, take each day as it comes, and most importantly spend time with my family every single day. All of my plans to volunteer at a local nonprofit, study Spanish, write a novel and think deep thoughts have apparently been melted by the heat (at least for now).

How Does This Thing Work

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For those of you who have not seen this photo on Facebook, this fellow stopped and helped us get our truck out of a ditch.  The shirt was particularly appropriate and led to a very funny discussion in which I tried to explain what Mitzvot meant and he kept telling me over and over again he was Catholic, not Jewish.

While I am at it, here is a photo of the girls on a zip line from a little trip we took a few weeks ago.