What do you do Nigel?

A question I hear from home and from many here as well.

And I suppose the trouble with all organizational roles is that no-one really realizes what you do until you stop doing it and things start to go wrong.

Inherently I have two roles here, one as normal volunteer and one as Volunteer/School Coordinator.

As normal volunteer I have started work again in a school and work 8-12 (more or less), Tuesday to Friday at Elba Zamora tutoring 2nd grade and generally trying to keep the peace.

The rest of my week is then taken up as Volunteer/Schools coordinator either in the office or out and about. The role came about last year when LEG went through a period of very rapid growth both in terms of volunteers (15 when I was here last year, approx. 40 now) and in donations received. As with any company, with growth comes much more responsibility and the need for more organization.

Once volunteers arrive after having corresponded beforehand with our Operations Director it is my responsibility to ensure their time is put to the best use. I assign the teams in which they are to work and every Monday I hold an orientation for new volunteers explaining what we do, what they will do, taking them out in the jeep to visit the projects (trying to avoid arrest!), giving basic training etc. Tuesdays evening I chair the team leaders meeting and am responsible for scheduling and reporting the goings on (in Spanish of course). I attend parent teacher meetings when I can to be the spokesperson of LEG (now better prepared with the knowledge I might have to address the room) and visit each school as often as I can to talk with the directors/teachers to see what’s going on and ensure our work with them is going to plan. A current project I have at the moment is to organize school trips for 100 second graders, 75 forth graders and 50 sixth graders and this being Nicaragua is taking a ridiculous amount of time. This morning (Sunday) at 9.00 I was meeting our child psychologist and a grade teacher of a troubled child to sort out with his parents what we can do with him.

I could go on but think you get the picture that each day is a little different and overall I am here to make sure things just run a bit smoother.

I hope it is the case.

And you know what, its shattering, but thankfully in a good way.

Food 3: Sunday Fish

Sunday is fish day at my local fritanga (restaurant) and I was up at 5.30 this morning to accompany my new friend Roberto, the owner, and his son Eduardo to go by fish.

A few hours later said fish was well fried and served up with all the trimmings (rice tortillas, salad) and formed a truly good meal.

Lunch is served in the family’s front room which on Sunday doubles as a restaurant. What made today’s meal slightly more eventful was that prior to serving Roberto asked his son to put on a DVD to entertain the lunchtime customers. The DVD chosen was Cock Fighting (still popular here), blood, feathers and all, overplayed with bad Mexican ranchero music. Not my first choice of lunch time entertainment but the other guests and children seemed to enjoy the spectacle!

The Haves and Have Nots

Most of our volunteers work with 1st and 2nd grade children which in theory should be between ages 6 and 8 but can go anywhere up to 14. I have had an interesting experience this past week giving private classes to the 8 year old son of two prominent Granadino doctors. Silvio goes to a private American College in the capital and whist in my morning classes I have been struggling with 12 year olds who still cannot read a basic sentance I have then been working in the afternoons on science projects on The Solar System and details of the American Constitution with an 8 year old, in perfectly fluent English!

The division here between those few who have and those many who do not is cavernous and only goes to reinforce the work done by groups such as those that are here, trying to improve, if just slightly, the lives of those around us.

Food 2: Tacos de León

These are one of my favourites that Nicaragua has to offer and every time I go to León I gorge on them. Maize tortillas rolled and stuffed with spicy pork and naturally, being in Nicaragua, deep fried. Served with cabbage salad and if you want just a bit more added to the waist line, sour cream.

Pictured here, the best taco stand in Leon and the little beauties themselves.

Birthday

I celebrated 34 last Wednesday and threw a mighty fiesta.

Join me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW57gNZBMo4


(you may need to increase the brightness of your screen)

House

I have had a few housing adventures since being here.

For the first month and a half I lived in the house of the very welcoming a well-to-do Mongalo family in central Granada and whist there slowly looked for a place of my own.

I found somewhere, small and basic, which unfortunately didn’t work out. On moving in, basic turned out to be somewhat of an understatement.

I have since moved for a third and who knows final time into another slightly more salubrious abode. Click on the following link for more information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caGkHOgPpRc

Food 1 - Gallo Pinto

Gallo Pinto

Without a doubt, the national dish of Nicaragua is Gallo Pinto, you cannot be in Nicaragua and avoid eating Gallo Pinto at some point. A simple and quite tasty mixture of rice and frijoles (beans), it uses easily accessible and more importantly cheap ingredients and for that reason forms the staple part of many a Nica meal, in many poorer communities being eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Semana Santa

Nicaragua returned to work on Monday after the Semana Santa festivities of last week. Whist schools closed for the whole week general holidays for the majority fall on Holy Thursday and Friday and thes ubsequent weekend. The streets for the most part fell silent as Nicaraguans headed in droves to the beach.

Being a devoutly catholic country however the streets weren’t short of a religious parade or two, the most significant on Friday in Leon.

Leon is famous for its Easter street art and homeowners spend hours creating amazing art displays in the road, all made from coloured sawdust. These remain just for a few short hours to be viewed by the Easter pilgrims before being brushed away and forgotten until next year.

FOOD

Many of you have asked what what the food is like here. When asked back in England I may have painted a rather unfair picture of Nicaraguan cuisine, based on my previous time here. Although it doesn´t compare in anyway to the cuisines of Asia or its closer near neighbour Mexico it does still have quite a lot to offer and I have been eating well.

Too well in fact, so much so I think I am growing a panchito (little belly) . Nicaraguan food shall we say comes heavy of the fried or sugary side and at times isn´t the most healthy but hey.

Bit by bit I will add entries explaining what Nicaragua has to offer.