A Culture Connected to the Cosmos

These days, the hillsides that circle the San Nicolas basin grow lusher every day, drinking in the rains that are finally feeding us. The papaya tree in our back yard has grown at least three feet in the last month, and when we look up to the bowl of mountains that surround us, everything is emerald.

In a place like this, so bursting with life just waiting for expression, the earth itself sometimes seems alive. Everything – people, animals, plants – seem to be connected by tiny veins of life. And as we are learning, this sort of belief in a cosmic world is something of a tradition here. Many people in this area strongly believe that humans can attune themselves to the natural world and, in doing so, can work with nature for their mutual benefit. Here are a few of the ways that people do this.

Planting

According to several local farmers, crops planted under a new moon or luna tierna (tender moon) will be less successful. The danger period is from the day before the new moon begins until three days after it begins. Crops planted during this time, many farmers claim, won't flourish like crops planted at any other time. One friend of ours, Toño, believes that this is only true for leafy crops like lettuce. Another friend, Marlon (who is a highly educated farmer and veterinarian), always postpones planting until at least three days after the new moon.

Water

During the drought earlier this year, one of the most common topics of conversation was water. Everyone wanted to know whether you had it, and if so, how you got it. One way that people find water around here is with a divining wire. Not everyone has the touch, but people who have a strong connection to the earth can use this wire to find wells under the ground. Padre Patricio, the Italian Catholic priest for this municipality, is one such person. Padre Patricio holds the u-shaped wire at his waist, with a hand on each end of the wire, his hands poised at his hips. He slowly turns in a circle, asking at each turn, “Is the water in this direction?” When the wire floats up of its own accord, you know that the water source is in that direction. With subsequent questions you can find out depth, gallons per second, and size.

Medicine

Doña Victoria, the woman who used to work in the natural medicine clinic in front of our house, has the closest ties to nature of almost anyone else we've met here. Walking along a dirt road, she can point out the names and medicinal uses of almost every plant that lines the road. She also has a special technique for diagnosing ailments, using bio-energy analysis. We visited her last week with some friends who were visiting us. We sat in her living room while she showed us the shelves of natural remedies covering one wall, with herbs for coughs and kidney infections and almost any other kind of ailment you can think of.

To diagnose what medicine our friend Elise needed, Doña Victoria put a bag of some kind of herbs in her lap. She told Elise to put her thumb and forefinger together and try not to let Doña Victoria pry them apart. When she wasn't able to pry them apart, this meant that those herbs were not the medicine Elise needed. Next she put a natural lotion in Elise's lap, and this time, when she tried to separate Elise's fingers, she could do it. Elise needed the lotion, she said, for her mosquito bites. Somehow, Doña Victoria claims, the body instinctively knows what remedies it needs and unconsciously receives the natural energies from those remedies when presented with them.

While we're not totally convinced that these cosmic techniques are always completely accurate, there is an undeniable beauty in these ideas. The fact that these kinds of beliefs have existed in traditional societies all over the world for hundreds of years also lends them a certain amount of credibility and respect. We're interested to know more about these ideas though; if you know anything about any of them, leave us a comment!

Fiestas Patrias, or Happy Birthday Nicaragua

After several months of unannounced marching sessions in school, loud band drumming for the whole town to hear, and much planning, San Nicolas celebrated Independence Day last weekend along with Nicaragua and the rest of Central America. All of the modern Central American countries achieved independence from Spain in 1821, so they all celebrate the same independence day; it wasn't until 1838 that Nicaragua actually became its own country.

For some reason the celebrations in San Nicolas took place on September 14^th instead of the official day of independence of September 15^th. On Sunday, San Nicolas swelled with people from all over the municipality seeking to enjoy the festivities. Folks here really know how to make an event spectacular without hot dogs, hamburgers, or fireworks.

In San Nicolas they created a river of people making noise, dancing, and marching in sync, slowly moving through town to the beat of boom-boo-pack-boom. At the head of the human tide was the mayor and her husband, smiling and waving. Next came several queens of the festivities (the academic queen, the municipal queen, and the crowd favorite queen). They were followed by preschool students, primary school students, the band, and high school students. The procession was so long that if I were at the front chatting with the mayor or at the very end talking to the long-winded town character Don Alejandro, I would not have been able to clearly make out the sounds of 15 snare drums, 6 noise makers, 2 cymbals, 2 bass drums, and many other assorted drums, all combining to make a cacophony of sound.

Marching – left, left, left, right, left – this long procession slowly snaked through the streets busy with onlookers. Sarita and I were able to go up and down the river taking pictures and admiring the costumes and marching techniques. It was so much fun seeing our students smiling and laughing enthusiastically, even though marching can be tiring.

One of the most surprising things for me was that this small town of about 1000 people managed to march about 500 students through town in one of the most exciting events this whole year.

Footnote: Maydorcito, the neighbor's baby boy, was born on September 15^th, 2013.

- David

Happy Nicaversary to Us!

Today we celebrate our one-year anniversary of being in Nicaragua and the half-way mark in our two-year term here in San Nicolas.

We like to measure our time here with the growth of our neighbor-baby, Maydorcito, who was born on September 15, 2013, just six days after we got to Nicaragua. According to this measurement, we have been on Nicaraguan soil long enough for a brand-new human being to start learning how to walk. While Maydorcito has been learning how to turn over and then crawl and then start eating real food and then start walking, we have been learning how to speak Spanish and cook beans and wash our clothes by hand and chop down banana trees.

The Maydorcito measurement is also an apt one because when we first got here, Maydorcito would shriek in terror every time he saw Davie. Men around here don't really have beards, and Davie's bushy red beard just freaked him out. But just within the last month or two, Maydorcito's 11-year-old cousin Isa has been bringing him over to our house every day. And maybe it's because Davie gives Maydorcito his heart-shaped key chain to play with, or maybe it's just because he sees Davie more often, but Maydorcito isn't scared of Davie anymore. So it is that over the last year, people in San Nicolas have gradually become more accustomed to the gringos in town (most people don't even stare at us anymore), and we have gradually become more accustomed to them.

Today we celebrate all that we have accomplished here in San Nicolas this year. Here are some of those accomplishments:

- We have co-taught about 450 hours of English classes with the Nicaraguan English teacher, Vilma, at the only public high school anywhere around San Nicolas. On Monday-Wednesday mornings, I (Sarah) co-teach 7^th through 9^th grades and Davie co-teaches 10^th and 11^th grades. We help Vilma (whose English isn't great) teach correct English pronunciation and discipline the students. When Vilma doesn't show up to teach (which happens not infrequently), we fill in to teach her English classes, attempting to bring more games and activities into our lessons. This is tough and often discouraging work in a community where so few students will ever actually use English, but there are moments of inspiration. Last week, for instance, Davie carried on a conversation for several minutes totally in English with one apathetic-seeming senior boy, who had obviously learned something in his five years of English classes.

- We've planned and taught 90 hours of our own after-school English class for students who are really enthusiastic about learning English. We hold these classes on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons in our house, and have about five students who attend semi-regularly. This class goes at a much faster pace than the normal public-school English class, and with such a small group, we're able to incorporate lots of games, movies, and field trips into our lesson plans. The students who attend this class are all notably better at English than the rest of our students.

- Together we've worked a total of 320 hours at a local organic farm. On Thursday mornings, we ride our bikes to La Garnacha, a nearby organic farm and ecotourist center, where we help clean and bag carrots and other vegetables. We try to support this association in whatever ways we can; La Garnacha is very unique in this area for its organic methods, local art, and community orientation. Weird-shaped carrots and gossip from our coworkers keep us entertained on these Thursday mornings, and in the afternoon we often help package coffee or solve technological mysteries that our coworkers encounter.

- Davie has spent 160 hours hawking organic produce and local art at the farmers market in Esteli on Fridays. La Garnacha has a stand at this weekly market, where they sell a collection of organic produce, their own renowned Tilcit cheese, earrings made from pine needles, and other locally-crafted food and art. Lots of gringos pass through this market, so La Garnacha likes to have a fluent English-speaker like Davie on hand.

- I have intensively tutored two women in English. These women, Maria and Nidia, are both much more advanced English-speakers than anyone else in San Nicolas, and at this point they just need regular practice to feel confident speaking in English. I enjoy being able to speak in English with someone besides Davie, and Maria and Nidia have become two of my best friends here.

- We've hosted or participated in at least 30 cooking “classes” with various community members. Most of our social gatherings here center around cooking; people are always telling us they want to learn how to make pizza or cupcakes, and we've asked them to teach us how to make various Nicaraguan dishes in return. Our most frequent cooking companions are a group of elementary-school kids, who whenever they see us invariably ask, “When are we going to cook next?”

- Davie has typed up at least 70 letters and documents for the school. Since no other teacher has ever taken a typing class or had much experience with computers, Davie has become the unofficial school secretary. Davie has also attempted to make computer navigation and document-writing easier by organizing all of the 'My Documents' folders and creating templates for grading purposes.

- I have helped the local library organize its books by the Dewey Decimal System. In the small, unlit, and frankly uncreative library you can find me on Friday mornings working away with pen, stickers, and tape. The collection of books is small, but at least now you can easily find a book you're looking for.

- Davie has raised funds to buy seven new balls for the school sports program. Thanks to our supporters, the school now has three new basketballs, three new volleyballs, and a new soccer ball, all of which the P.E. teacher, Reynaldo, has been using every day to teach sports. It is really exciting to see the P.E. program be able to get more kids involved in the activities.

- I have started a book club with four high school students, who have begun to read The Hunger Games. Books are scarce here, so most people have never read any books for fun before. We'll see what happens, but I'm hoping to get these four students hooked on reading.

Of course, not all of our accomplishments are significant – much of our work is just the normal, day-to-day work of any person working in the Nicaraguan campo. What has been most significant in our year in San Nicolas is the connections we've developed with people whose lives have been so different from our own. Connecting with someone from a different cultural background is the surest way to broaden and enrich your world, I believe. And if this is true, our worlds, along with the worlds of our fellow San Nicolaseños, have certainly been broadened and enriched significantly this year.

The San Nicolas Times

If San Nicolas had a daily newspaper, this is what today's issue would look like.

News: Local Teenager Elopes

Etni with her father

When English teacher David Wiegner took attendance in his 10^th grade class on Monday morning, one student, 15-year-old Etni Salas, was absent. Normally, this would have passed unnoticed. But as Etni's friends Katherine and Keyla told it, this absence wasn't a normal one: over the weekend, Etni had eloped.

No one knew about Etni's plans to get married – not her teachers, not her parents, not even her best friend Katherine. And as of Monday morning, none of these people know where she is either. “I really hope police are investigating her disappearance,” says Wiegner. “It sounds a little shady.”

Five months earlier, Etni's family had celebrated her quinceañera, a big party that traditionally marks a girl becoming a woman. Though she has never been a top student, Etni is a sociable young woman, enthusiastic about singing and cooking, who just a few weeks ago led her group to win the school's English song competition.

In rural San Nicolas and surrounding communities, getting married at 14 or 15 years old is certainly not unheard of. Every year, young women drop out of school because they've gotten married and are now required to stay at home and take care of a husband. But Etni's sudden marriage and subsequent disappearance seem to be a different case altogether. “I just hope she is safe,” says Wiegner.

Weather: Torrential Rains Finally Flood Streets

After months of drought, “la niña” finally decided to make an appearance last Saturday. Many farmers had all but given up on planting anything this year, having lost four months of the normal rainy season to drought. But on Saturday, everything changed.

All day, rain dumped from the clouds that had enveloped San Nicolas for the past week. The streets became rivers and people's yards became lakes. The rain pounding on tin roofs made all conversation impossible. “I have never seen such huge rain drops,” said local gringa, Sarah Rich. (Though admittedly, this is her first rainy season in Nicaragua.) “We thought we had fixed all of the holes in our roof, but on Saturday we had eight buckets out, collecting drips in our room.”

Farmers are unsure whether the rain is here to stay (in which case they can finally plant the crops they have held off on for so long), or whether it was a one-day fluke. For vegetables like pumpkins that need at least five months to grow, it's already too late; the rainy season is scheduled to end, as usual, in November.

Sports: Women Play a Fierce Match in First All-Women's Soccer League

The Barcelona-San Nicolas women's soccer team

For the first time ever, women have their own official soccer league in San Nicolas. On Sunday afternoons it has always been typical to see men out on the field in town, kicking a soccer ball around or playing baseball. But finally women are in on the soccer action too, and they are taking it very seriously.

The two San Nicolas women's teams played a heated match on Sunday, ultimately tying 1-1. The first goal was scored during the first half by the Manchester United team, launching an amazing ball into the upper corner of the goal. At the end of a scrappy second half with lots of injuries, Carmen Noelia of the Barcelona team scored the second goal.

“I hope that this women's league will be really good for women in San Nicolas,” said gringa Sarah Rich of the Barcelona team. “It is the first athletic outlet of its kind for women here, and I hope that it can start to change some of the very traditional ideas people have about what is a woman's domain and what is a man's domain.”