What a day to be an estadounidense!

Happy Election Day everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this extraordinarily historical day. Here is a quick update on what I have been doing lately, as well as a little bit about the political atmosphere down here in the belly button of the Americas.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their comments and emails regarding my last couple posts - I truly love getting your feedback and hearing from you, so thank you again, and keep ´em comin´!

Since last week, life has been a bit of a rollercoaster, but I try to tell myself that this is a good thing. On Saturday, we had a sort of "vacation" day, and a whole group of us went to the Tren Cultural in Masaya to learn about Nicaragua´s post-war literacy campaign in 1980. It was incredible - teenage kids signed up to be part of a literacy brigade and went out to the campo to teach the population to read. Anywhere between 50 and 70 percent of many of the municipalities in Nicaragua were illiterate at that time, and these kids did amazing things to help their people. It was so crazy and inspiring to watch videos of adolescent kids teaching middle aged and older people how to read and write. Like Doctor Seuss said, "A person´s a person, no matter how small"...that just shows what kids CAN do! After the Tren, we went to Laguna de Apoyo, a lake in the crater of a volcano. It was wonderful - a great touristy break to eat a sandwich and enjoy the warm water. Gotta love it.

Yesterday was our last day of classes. We had a debate about the Culture of Peace and our last ISP prep, in which we were given our stipend, then set free. I seriously almost freaked out. Me? Alone? In Managua? Surviving? I guess we´ll see!

This morning, Chelsea and I made and ate banana chocolate chip pancakes as if it was going to be our last meal. Below are a few pictures of our process, and my mom devouring some of the magic as well (¡Que rico!).
the professional pancake flipper!
sorry it´s sideways (I don´t know why), but don´t they look delicious?
then we enjoyed them...mmm...
and my mamá loved them too!

At 9AM, after stuffing myself, I made my way to Xochiquetzal for my first day of ISP. I was absolutely terrified - and really, I still am. I waited for two hours for my advisor, then read a bunch of stuff, then talked to her about my schedule for the next month, took a break, and finally went to meet briefly with the board members of ANICP+VIDA. It was quite a stressful day, between trying to find my way to the organizations (taxis, buses, etc.) and actually trying to understand their ridiculously fast speech in a Nicaraguan accent...I don´t know how I got back here in one piece; but really, I probably survived it due to the fact that I ate a completely melted yet completely worth it Snickers bar during my lunch break.

Anyhoo, the current plan is to go off at 6:30AM tomorrow to Chinandega to meet with another organization called ASONVIHSIDA, spend time other days with ANICP+VIDA, visit homes and hospitals, attend support groups, and take part in whatever else occurs in the next month in the Nicaraguan HIV world. I am excited but really hoping that I will succeed - my advisor said that I am super important because no one has ever written down or reported on support for people living with HIV in Nicaragua, and my work will really advance their progress in supporting people living with this disease...I really hope I don´t let them down!

And finally, the ultimate stressor...ELECTIONS...and I am not just talking about US elections, I mean Nicaraguan elections, too. Nicaragua has municipal elections this Sunday, and there has been a history of violence in the past. Even my little 11 year old sister went to a rally for the FSLN yesterday, and there are posters all over the place and people protesting everywhere from all over the political spectrum. In addition, a couple people were stabbed in a rotunda a few days ago. For reals...this is what elections can be like in other countries.

Considering, however, that they have their own elections to worry about, the Nicaraguan people are very interested and informed about our elections as well. I woke up this morning at 6:30 to news radio reporting the latest US election headlines, and every channel on the TV was reporting even the most mundane election news. The way that the Nicaraguans talk about the elections, they really know their stuff, and they really care about what happens in our country because it affects them pretty directly. I guess I used to be a cynic about US politics, but now I feel like my vote actually means something because I am just lucky to have some sort of say in the future of the United States government.

I guess we will see what happens, because in my opinion, this election will say a lot about our country and world. A bunch of us will be watching the elections in the office tonight (a lot of people chose to leave tomorrow for their projects just so they could be here for the election), as well as a group of American Jesuit workers, and another study abroad program that is spending time in Managua.

Below is what I saw on the white board when I came into the office this morning. Who knows what tonight is going to be like...


Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you! Stay safe, warm, and happy, and perhaps you will hear from me when we have a new president!

Love,
Nicole