Hola,
Well, when we last left off, our hero was just beginning to understand his role vis-a-vis his female sidekicks, something he will likely never fully understand. He needs much more super in his super-hero.
So, we went to Matagalpa. That doesn't sound very exciting, but perhaps it is not. Actually, Matagalpa is the coffee area of the country. Cool and refreshing climate, very green. Nothing like Managua and the Pacific coast, dry and hot. It is a nice change. It is even cold in the night, I needed extra sheets - 3. But, there was nothing to protect me from the mosquitos. Jerks. Oh well.
It was my first workshop in the new job. My job in the workshops, near as I can tell, is secretary. I write the memoria or memory of the workshop, trying to capture all the pertinent details. The previous examples I had to work with were about 25 pages for a 2-day workshops. So, there is a lot!
The workshop was the first one for the Matagalpa group. Our workshops are based on many things but in a large part on a book called: "Trauma: Healing and Transformation" - the idea being that people need to make personal changes before organizational and societal changes can occur, and also the idea that people need to deal with traumas they have experienced, like Hurricane Mitch, the war and/or domestic violence in the cases we are dealing with. It is very interesting. Our first workshop focused on the Nicaragua of our dreams (i.e. the goal people want to reach), some stretching and body work, the difference between healing and curing, family histories, and things like that. I took part, but when it came time to share difficult times in my life, it was uncomfortable a little, since my stories are nothing compared to losing a brother in the war, or struggles just to be able to finish high school because of poverty and because of being a woman, fighting in the war, actually killing someone, etc.
Powerful stuff.
Well, on a lighter note, we went to beach. Richard and Vlad, as introduced in the last episode, and I went to Casares, a beach to the southwest of Managua. It is super quiet, in terms of people, although the beach has strong waves. It is fun, getting thrown around in the waves a bit. In any case, we went and at lunch, we discovered that Richard's car alarm key chain thingy had gotten wet in the surf in the morning. Oops. Soon we discovered that it was not turning off the alarm. Oops.
So, we put it to dry out in the sun and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon, playing chess of all things. (Vlad has become addicted since then, he is determined to beat me) Well, by 4pm, the dried out thingy still didn't work, so we decided we would try to drive back to Managua with the alarm on. Then we discovered the alarm stopped if the door was closed. Great we thought. We climbed in, waited for it to stop and tried to start to car. Silence. Oops. The alarm also prevents one from starting the car. Oops.
So, some locals took pity on us and opened the hood and suggested pulling fuses, to no avail, then to cut the wire from the alarm. So, we cut it, but then there was no power in the car at all. Oops. On connecting it again, we discovered that the starter was going. Seems in the 30 minutes or so that we were fiddling with wires, Richard somehow made the thingy work. But, the battery was dead by this point. So, the nice locals gave us a push and off we went, vowing not to stop for anything until we got home...
Well, since the time I thought to write a bit about my home, my home has changed. I moved from my former cat-filled home (the cat had 4 kittens, but we gave them all away) to a new house. My friend returned from the US and we decided to try out living together. Within a few days it became obvious that it wasn't going to work, so on the fifth day she was back, Thursday night in fact, I decided to move out. Looked for a place on Fri and Sat morning and took the second place I found on Sat. I moved on last Tuesday. I have now been here 2 weeks.
I was in a rush, so I agreed with the owner that she would paint and clean it on Mon and I would move in on Tues. OK. So, I picked up the keys on Tues, but mysteriously, it was still dirty and unpainted. Oh well, I thought, that's ok. I talked to the owner, Nidia, a nice, 70 year old woman, former NGO type and she said that she was disappointed in the previous tenant (Mauricio) for leaving it dirty after he promised to clean it. Oh well. Eventually, on the next Monday, it got done, but I got suckered into helping...
I also have no furniture, so as I moved in I bought a mattress and a fridge. I brought the mattress with me and the fridge (medium sized, with a free iron) was to be delivered on Tues at 2pm. So, 2pm came and went, still no fridge. 3pm. 4pm. 5pm. I called. They said, it's on the way. 6pm. 6:45pm. I called again. Oh, the truck broke down. Oh well. So, much for buying groceries that day. Finally it did arrive at 11am on Wed after they guaranteed it would arrive by 10. Oh well. I still had no place to sit though. Finally I bought a table and 4 chairs from a neighbour here for about $70US. Nice wood too. So since Saturday I have had a place to sit...
Next was to get a stove. Nidia promised to leave me the cylinders of propane (100 liters) for me, so I just needed a small stove. I bought a 3 burner stove for $30US and I was off. Except, mysteriously, the cylinders were not left for me. Nidia promised to bring them on Monday. So, I had to eat out for a week. Oh well. On Monday, she brought them and asked me for the keys for the cylinder storage. Turns out that Mauricio took them with him. Oh well. We tried to call him to drop them off and to pay for some outstanding bills he had here. Talking to him on his cell, he said he would come on Monday at 4pm. Then he was delayed, maybe at 8pm. No luck, 10:30am on Tues for sure. Nope. Eventually, I got the impression he wasn't going to come. Finally, I convinced Nidia and she came on Thursday and broke the lock and put on a new one. Thursday night, I cooked my first meal! Not a very exciting one, tofu and pasta (I had no vegetables bought yet), but something.
Friday morning was also fun. I woke up early to check email, and got a weird message. I checked the phone and it turned out the phone had been disconnected since Mauricio hadn't paid his last 2 bills. I was very annoyed that morning. I still am, as it is. Nidia had promised to pay the outstanding bills but didn't. I am the one who has to suffer. Anyway, she has lent me her cell phone until they reconnect it someday. We'll see.
Still to do here: more painting and some plumbing and minor repairs someday (she promised yesterday, but now it is next week), get my phone back and maybe I'll have a livable place by sometime next week...
Life is never dull at least.
.... Well, I don't want to even think about work, I am so far behind with moving and all. It was a frustrating day with the phone and then at work the power went out, delaying my work even more. I hope to finish the memorias and get on with a database that we need. At least I got to sing a bit in the Purisima this weekend and picked up some good loot - candy, lemons, sugar cane, some bowls, plastic cups, etc. Not as good as other years of Purisima, but still fun had by all.
Perhaps a more positive note: my boss was on the front page of the Nuevo Diario on Fri. You can see her picture on El Nuevo Diario. It is the number 2 paper in the country. She was complaining about some machista comments from Tomas Borge, one of the Sandinista leaders. They are a little radical where I work. I like it. :)
Take care, talk to you soon,
Rob