some highlights

I mentioned earlier that I had serendipitiously ( is that a word ?) come into to contact with some folks from the University of Nebraska who were working with Universario Nacional a Nicaragua ( UNAN) to put to gether a special education advanced degree.  Well, I met with the prime mover, Ann Coyne, who is a phd professor at U of Nebraska at Omaha ( she's about 75) and three professors of English at UNAN who will be involved somehow.  Later this month, the special ed professor from Uof N is coming down and I will get to meet her too.  Turns out they are going to focus on deaf education to start which is wonderful but not really my cup of tea so I don't know how much help I could be with that major.  But, I did learn that the indicence of deafness is 5 times higher here than in the US because the folks here can buy some cheap antibiotic over the counter which has the side effect of killing the tiny hairs that grow in the ear and are part of the hearing process.  So, that diversion continues to develop and may be fun to be associated with it in some way.

Ann is a very special woman.  She has been coming down here every year for 25-30 years to work with the school of social work, she being the Dean of that school at Uof Nebraska.  She has also orchestrated the adoption of 18 Nicaraguan special needs kids by people in Omaha, one of whom was adopted by her daughter.  There is a large orphanage in Managua where many of the special needs kids end up whether or not they have bio parents available.  It is run by a church of some sort.

One way that my hanging around Leon has paid off is that while in Leon last time, I saw a b ulletin that the dance group from UNAN was putting on a performance last Friday night.  So, Ann Coyne and I went and it was spectacular.  The theater was wonderful ( even air conditioned) and the dancers and the music were totally fantastic.  I am trying to think of a way to bring the show, or at least part of it, to my little pueblo.  I have emailed with the director of the group and he gave me some things to think about so I am on that trail, too.  The dancers and musicians are all students from various majors....there is no dance or theater or music major.  These are just young people who love to have fun.    The admission cost was 40 cordobas  ...less than .50 cents.

Another highlight of my return to Malpaisillo was going to a baseball game at the local estadio.  I now live very close to it.    I took my counterpart, Adalayda, and it turns out it was her husband's first game since he returned from working 5 years in the US.  He had been a super star with a professional team down here, he was a catcher, but injuries ended his career.  So, he went to work in the US, without documents of course, for 5 years in construction, and just got back to Malpaisillo about the same time I got here, around last December.  Anyhow, he is 48 and still playing on the local team and did OK.  I will attach a photo I took of them in the stadium.  Well, he is a local hero as the announcer mentioned his name continually during the game and he was a great sport about it.  As we were walking back to their house, where I had left my bicycle, she thanked me for inviting her and said she would not have gone if I had not invited her.  It was the opening day of the season and the mayor threw out the ball and all the teams from Malpaisillo were there even tho only two of them played that day.  They use a lot of our terms but say them with a Spanish accent, e.g. peetcher, owt, streekay, etc.   Adalayda did not know they were English words...she was surprised.  Baseball is very very big down here.   I learned thru my reading that Somosa, who was educated in the US, is the guy responsible for bringing baseball to Nicaragua...I guess he did one good thing !!!!

The schools are still on vaca due to the national holiday on July 19 which is a special day in the Sandinista revolucion of the late 70s.   Ortega, the current president who is wanting to be reelected despite the constitution prohibiting his succeeding himself, is paying people to come to Manauga from all the departments ( we call them counties) on the 19th and he is providing buses, food and drink, etc.  Of course, Peace Corps has forbidden us from coming to Managua until after the 20th when all the festivities should be over.

I took my dirty clothes to Leon today to a laundromat...first time for that.  We have decided that washing clothes by hand is one of the things that contributed to my shoulder problems so an accomodation is to use a laundramat.  I think lugging them to Leon was almost as bad as doing the washing...not really.

I am still having delightful bus experiences but nothing noteworthy at this time.  Its just such a great opportunity to sit next to and share sweat with all kinds of people, all of whom speak better Spanish than I, and who are all interested in looking at my eyes or hearing me speak.( or petting my hair) So, its a trip.

My gardens were growing when I got back , among some weeds, so I was very happy to see that and have been working in them with a few earnest kids early in the morning before it gets too hot.  We'll continue that once school starts too.  I'll add a photo of our single tomatoe so far.  Its still very green but I am told that as soon as it shows any sign of pink, neighbors will sneak in during the night and snatch it, so I took a photo for posterity and to prove to the kids that it was there if it disappears before they come back to school.  Our squash plants are thriving and we have blossoms so there ought to be some pepian soon.



Can you believe I am sending you a pic of a tomato from Nicaragua.....





Adalayda and Mario after his first baseball game of the 2011 season



I  just looked at my photos and see that I have one of a painting that is hanging in the Casa de Cultura in Leon of  President Reagan sitting atop an indigenous woman who has slit her wrists.  I 'll include that, for sure.

I think the two little jesters are two of the Somozas.

The grounds of Hotel Convento in Leon.

Lobby of the Hotel Convento in Leon. 

The last two photos were taken in the Hotel Convento which, of course, is a converted convent.  So there is a small catholic church attached and the owner of the hotel also has a foundation that has opened two large art galleries nearby that I am told are very nice.  He is the owner of the largest bank in Nicaragua so I am sure he is some awful oppressive capitalist, but...the hotel is nice. :)

Thats all for now,
Love to all, PaTreesha ( in Spanish, for Ellen)



weather update

Just want to let you all know we have had a break in the weather. We got a great rain storm last night and the temp. is much cooler this morning.  Not so fast tho...at 6 am. I was able to easily ride my bike down to the school in a short sleeve shirt, so not exactly "cool."  However, some local people were out this morning wearing their jackets.  I guess perception is everything after all. 

I have returned to Malpaisillo

Hello All,


I last posted on this blog around May 16 which is when I left Nicaragua, bound for my sister’s house in Arnold from which I went to an orthopedic surgeon in Baltimore for a second opinion on my shoulder.

He basically said the same thing the Peace Corps doc said, which was that surgery would be needed to correct the problem. There was no real difference between what the two of them said, so I felt pretty confident in the diagnosis. But, their prognosis was what blew me away. Both of them said I only had a 60 % chance of having a successful surgery. That sounds an awful lot like 50-50 to me which is random chance, or something like that. That was not much of an incentive to go under the knife, even if it was an arthroscopic knife.

So, I did a lot more internet searching and reading and consulting my learned friends and family and  decided to do Physical Therapy for 6 weeks before even thinking further of surgery, and boy am I glad I did. It has been very successful and I am back in Malpaisillo, Nicaragua, starting to get reoriented and back into the projects I had to leave behind . Both the docs said I would probably need a shoulder replacement surgery sometime down the line, but, hey, I am going to need a whole lot  of things somewhere down the line, and shoulder surgery can just get in line behind a facelift and a tummy tuck !!! ( Just kidding !!)

And, tho the therapy  was good and attained its desired goals, the best part was that I got to be in the US with my sister, brother, nieces, nephew, kids, grandkids and all my BFFs for 6 weeks !!!! My sister’s was like staying at the Ritz Carlton and we did lots of fun things together and ate lots of great food. ( I’d give it 5 stars) She and her friend, Kenneth, took me to Williamsburg for 3 days ( it was wonderful, you should all go if you have not been lately or ever) then I spent about 3 days with my brother in NY at his new house which he is fixing up to be very very charming. Then I went out to Utah to see my precious family out there and while there, two of my granddaughters drove with me down to Vail ( 7 hours each way) to see Rich and his band in a sort of festival performance. We spent the night with him and Wren in a condo of a friend of theirs and had a lot of fun hanging out, chatting and eating more great food.

So, it was a wonderful 6 weeks in all respects. I have exercises I have to do on my own which I will do religiously. I can tell that my arms are both a lot stronger but I can also sense pain and weakness when I do something I shouldn’t or get them too high over my head. I was simply wiping off some windows today , those awful jaulosy ( I know that is not spelled right) glass slats, and got some little twinges of pain….so I stopped…that is easy for me to do, the stopping part.

I am going to hire someone to wash my clothes and clean the floors, walls, ceiling ( mucho cobwebs and dust) and windows for me once a week. I hope I don’t run out of money protecting my arms !!

As for my projects, both my gardens seem to be blooming – one better than the other – but neither is a total disaster and that is very good news. The recycling project has not gone any further, but I think I can get that going again. The school kids are on vaca until July 20 so I’ll have time to reestablish contact with the mayor and his chief of municipal waste. I also will get back in contact with the Health dept. as one of Peace Corps’ big pushes is to educate young people about HIV/AIDS/STDS. I would not want to lead one of those sessions on my own, but I would like to work with the health dept. to pull it together.

Plus, Peace Corps emphasizes that we do thing that are “sustainable,” i.e. that will continue long after we are gone. So, I interpret that to mean we should buddy up with local agencies and lend them our resources and energy but let them take the lead. So, that is what I am doing whenever I can.

One last thing, I have reestablished contact with that professor from U. of Nebraska who is working down here with the Univ. of Nicaragua to develop a master’s program in Special Ed. I am hoping to meet with her next week while the kids are out of school to determine what I can do to be involved in that process. It sounds like a lot of fun to me.

It has been great walking thru town and seeing the reaction of the kids when they see me. That is what I was really looking forward to and it has come true. It is so inspiring !!!! Actually, even a guy who was down in a ditch, digging up some pipes or something, called up to me as I walked by and said something about my returning to Malpaisillo. I was so shocked but I stopped and tried to speak with him….I think I said, “yes I came back, I am very happy to be here, and I love Nicaragua !!!” I think he was pleased. Actually, what I love is the people of Malpaisillo but that was too many words and way too nuanced to try to convey in my Spanglish. So, I went with loving Nicaragua.

My life has returned to normal, the new normal. It is the beginning of the rainy season, it runs from May thru November, so we are getting a lot of rain, the dust is minimal, but it is still unbelievably hot. As I recall, it was cool when I got here last November so I guess I should be expecting to sweat profusely until then. I think of it as a daily cleansing and that makes it tolerable, but only barely !!

I think that covers everything….hope you are all well and taking care of your rotator cuffs !!!

Thank you for all your generosity and hospitality while I was there these past 6 weeks.   It was the best vaca ever !!!!!

Love,

Pat