Friday, September 16, 2011

well

obviously i've returned back to the states since (got back early august,) so no more sst things to report.

so here is just a plug for my soundcloud acocunt: k thnx bye
http://soundcloud.com/nathanieltann

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Laguna de apoyo - the final week

Well, as of this friday (tomorrow) I will have been at laguna de apoyo for 5 weeks now, and in the country of nicaragua for just about 11 weeks soon. its crazy to think about how some of the things that I´ve done (like going to the east coast, matagalpa and esteli, even leaving from the united states back in may) were months ago. crazy!

As for this last week, we are mostly focusing on working on things such as our final project, an 8-12 page paper about a subject related to the country of nicaragua in some way, whether it be historical, political, economical, social, etc. I am doing my paper about the role of developmental workers from the states who worked in the country of nicargaua during the contra war of the 80s. In a more simplified, less nebulous terms, this basically is saying is that I am writing my final project about how United States citizens worked in the country of Nicargua during the contra war, a war sponsored by the united states government in the 80s, and how these people in the country protested the war, and worked to help improve the situations of the people of Nicargaua durig the time of the war, and those who were affected by the outcome of fighting and war. We also additionally have a village study paper, which we have to write a 5 page paper about the town that we live in, and the history of the area, and the various political social or economic factors that are associated with the place that we live and work. To say that it is a tortorous task for the most part, is an axiomatic statement.

We are heading out to managua tonight, to visit the city and enjoy some night life, and then will be heading back here to finish up with a week of potentially planting trees (assuming that the rain decides not to be too troublesome and interfering with our work) and probably puttering around, hoping to get these projects finsished (which are admitedly quite a pain to do).

On the 29th, the three of us here at Laguna de Apoyo will be heading back to the city of Jinotepe to meet up with the rest of the group (who also will be returning from their various service assignments all over the country), and then we will spend a few days together before flying back to the states on August 2nd.

Sunday, July 17, 2011

on the final stretch

welp, we are here on the last 2 weeks of service. that means that it is time to frantically start working on those final projects, and maybe do some work on the village study as well. I mean, being studious is of course, an excellent virtue .

We went out to the jungle this week, and slept out in hammocks under the pouring rain (under plastic of course), and were catching birds and butterflies. we were supposed to also catch bats, but that got rained out during the night. With this project, you catch the animals by putting out a large net, and then taking them out of the net, noting the species, measuring various features of the birds, and then letting them go free. it is basically just a simple system of monitoring what birds are in what area, although I am not entirely sure of the exact nature of the project considering that we are only voluteers who are not really sure what we are doing, and the person in charge of course, speaks a language that I really do not understand

Anyways, we are down to less than 2 weeks, and should be heading home sometime soon in august. Nothing particularly new to report, other than that we are still doing a lot of hiking, and a lot of swimming during the afternoons. There is lot of rain right now, which is a good cure to the lots of heat that was present earlier. Hope to hear from you all sometime soon.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Service is continuing to occur

For those following this, the lack of updates has mostly been based upon the lack of a regular and steady access to the internet ,but so far things have been going well at the biological research station here at laguna de apoyo (for more information about the facility and the area that we are working at, visit this website www.lagunadeapoyonicaragua.com/ )

So far we have mostly been doing work involving working in the compost piles that we have here at the station, recycling the organic food waste and turning it into dirt that can be used for planting trees and stuff. We have recently begun a project that involves moving some trees that have been planted in bags to various locations on the side of the crater. This involves taking the saplings and carrying them up a 25 or 30 minute hike up the side of the crater, which is generally very steep for the majority of the trip up the sides. We also have been doing work at night with a German volunteer who works here with catching and measuring the bats of the laguna, at different locations, and identifying the speices, and measuring various features of the animals, etc. So far the work has been fun, although it is a bit physical at times, but a nice dip in the lake for a swim takes care of that after lunch and that is just dandy.

Host family situations have been good so far. The kids in the community are nice, and altough the facitlities are far different from what you would be used to in the states, let alone in our previous location of Dalores, (we lack things such as running water, have dirt floors, etc) I am really enjoying the location and the commmunity, and really trying to get to understand the people, and enjoy the sort of lifestlye, and living with fewer things etc.

Anyways, we should be getting a service visit one of these days soon from our leaders, so any of you who are watching the goshen blog about this trip to nicaragua should expect to see a few photos and such within the next week or so about our location, along with the rest of the locations of the other students. until then, toodles.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Service in Laguna De Apollo

Well at lot has happened between now and the previous entry, most of it revolving around study term ending, not having very much internet access, and my service term starting.

Here is a summary of the events that have happened between now and then, for a more detailed report with pictures and the such, go to the goshen website blog at goshen.edu/sst

Study term has ended, that means final exams and oral presentations were given, and the farwell party has occured, and the lot of us students have been sent to our service locations for the next six weeks.

I am currently doing my service at Laguna De Apollo, with a biological research organization called FUNDECI/GAIA, (I believe that they have a website somewhere, perhaps you could google it and find out), and I am with 2 other students Brian and Amanda for the remainder of the 6 weeks that I am in Nicaragua. The station works with LAgauna de Apollo, a lake at the bottom of a volcanic crater that was created by a vocalnic eruption a buncha years ago. We are working with projecst related to reforestation, compositing, monitoring the animals and such around the rainforests surrounding the lake, etc.

My host family lives in a community at the top of the crater (in a commune of about 5 families, the livnig conditions are dirt floors and barely electric. there is no running water or computers, or anything like that sort), and I have a 45 minute walk with Brian every morning (although we have done it under 30 minutes most days) down and up the side of the crater to the research station located at the bottom . There we have done work such as digging holes and filtering compost (aka not doing very much at all) and swimming in the lake. It is gorgeous location, and I wish I had my camera (still being repaired in Managua apparently) to document it as such.

Overall we haven´t done much, and will continue to be here at the station for another 5 weeks. We are nearby to 2 other cities, Masaya (which is where I am now, using a cybre cafe to use the internet for the first time in a very long while) and Granada. I have 2 host brothers, Carlos 8 and Noel 14, and they are very friendly. They also own 2 dogs and 2 ducks that are interesting to deal with in the mornings or during the nights.

If you have sent me messages over the last few weeks, I will try to respond, but my time on the internet is limited, so make a note of that if I do not respond, or do only very hastily!

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

still here

Still here. Still hot and all that. Still gross bugs and a lot of trash and poop.

Went to the Pacific Ocean for the first time on Sunday, which was a lot of fun. The current seemed to really strong at the beach we went to, not to mention that the beach itself mostly consisted of plastic wrappers and tires. When we were leaving in the afternoon, a bunch of wild pigs and dogs wandered on to the beach.

Host famlies are host families, my family especially seems to have a knack for not wanting to do anything other than watch television. This has mostly stayed the same for the duration of this trip so far. In other news, I think I have developed a rather strong relationship with the family birds. Especially the green parakeet like ones, who know continue to chirp at me whenever they see me. They also try and bite me, but they do the same for more well known members of the family.

Having a guitar in my room is nice, although I wish I had a pick, and that it was a steel string guitar most of the time. Time to work on the fingerpicking techniques that I neglected in favor of things that were more intresting at the time. I have been relearning songs that I learned a long time ago but have since forgotten, mostly beacuse of boredom, and having nothing else to do (well, there are journal entries, but really, who works on those)

Hoping to hear more about service in the next coming days. We are going to Esteli, and Matagalpa this weekend, which are two cities north of here, towards the center of the country. Not sure what all we are doing there, we will find out tomorrow after spanish classes.

Also, I find it interesting that most of the resturants are closed during the lunch hour. This is especially frustrating when the group only has about an hour and a half to eat and walk across the city to get to the other location. On the plus side, any person who travels to Jinotepe needs to check out Terry´s Diner. It is one of the few places in the city where the service doesn´t absolutely suck. (On Saturday, it took me an hour and half to get a grilled piece of chicken and rice. Others ordered things that were never even received.)

Still very few cats in the city.

Have not figured out how to make a question mark symbol on the computer yet. This could take years to figure out.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

ho hum

first of all, for those who do not know, you can find pictures and a more detailed report of the activities that have been accomplished so far on the trip at the goshen website, specifically at www.goshen.edu/sst/ under the nicaragua blog (make sure you click summer 2011 if for some reason that boggles your mind).

We went to the atlantic coast this last weekend. It was really fun, the landscape is beautiful, and it is a lot quieter and nicer than the pacific coast where we are stationed for the rest of the trip. People speak in Creole, which is basically just english, so it is also easier to get to know the people who live out there and such. If it were up to me, we would have just stayed out there, because even though it was a lot more impovished than the pacific coast, the people were nicer, and the atomosphere was a lot more chill. It is basically like living in Jamica, except you are on a mainland rather than an island. Also, it smells like dead fish a lot of the time outside when you are near the town (we specifically were at the town of pearl lagoon), but it is much cleaner than Jinotepe, and there are less drunken perverts and trash on the ground.

For the rest of this week then, we have been back to the normal classes and lectures and stuff. Today our lecture ended up getting rained out, which was a sweet relief from having to take copious notes via our translator, and attempting to dissect the one question out of 2 and a half hours of material everyday that our leaders decide to test us on. ridiculous!

Also, apparently they do not have mint chocolate chip ice cream down here. Travesty! The things that I would offiically state that I miss so far are Pop Tarts, anything cheese related, and Ice Cream that is not Eskimo brand. Its cheap, but its not so great.

We are going back to Managua tomorrow for a day trip to the US Embassy, and some MCC thing. Not sure what that is going to be like, but it is in Managua, so it will likely be superbly hot. The heat of Nicaragua is practically unliveable, so its a good thing that we are getting more into the Rainy season now.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

well

Nothing too much new to report. A lot of bugs. A lot of drunk people in the streets, and a lot of trash. a lot of really hot weather, although it has been clearing up and been cooler as a result of the rainy season coming.

study classes are underway, and that´s the major thing that is happening right now. We are heading to the caribaen cost tomorrow for the next couple days, and that should be interesting. Some beach time and so off time from study term I suppose.

My host family is okay, they seem to be kind of into their own things most of the time, which is okay when i need to do homework and read and stuff like that. My host brother came to my room with a guitar a few days ago. I have never seen it before in the house, and i have no idea where it came from, but my host mom insisted that it was mine for the duration of my stay down here. Interesting.

I have managed to read through a few random novels already, including the silence of lambs so far. There is a lot of down, boring, alone time here. Having an ipod on SST is a lifesaver, and keeps you sane during the nights. Make sure you have some good songs on their though. I´ve been listening to a lot of music that really makes me wish it was august already.

out.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

this computr suckes

THe computer that i am using in the cyber cafe in Dolores circa Jinotepe (the city we are doing our study term in) is super sucky, so pardon this one being short, to the point, or with numerous spelling mistakes that i have not bothered to care about.

ÇWe arrivd in Jinotepe on sunday, after 2 days of service in barrio grenada, a very poor neighborhood of about 800 some people, where we helped build two houses with an ngo group in managua. So far, we have done little other than studying, reading for classes, and awkward interactions with our host families. It is kind of strange, and very hot down here. you cannot go anywhere without sweating, and the houses of course, when the fans are not running, which is often because of the price of electricity and such, it is very hot.

I have two host siblings at my house in dolores (where 4 other ssters are staying as well, which is a 20 minutes walk to jinotepe), hector age 10, and thelma 23. Hector is very shy and Thelma is eithrer never home or with her rather large novio Roberto. I will probably write more, but the c omputer sucks.

For details of what we have been doing or stuff like that, go to the SST blog.

personally, my feelings so far are very mixed. I really dislike the heat down here, and the language barrier is very tough. the showers are super miserable in the morning, and i have already gotten lost in the city once. Don´t ask. Food is decent though, and the variety of juice sand fruits are very good and large. People are nice, but there is a lot of random drunk people, or very grabby folks who seem like they are not of good will.

finally. most everything is really awkward. I really miss things like music without spanish autotune vocals, and things such as the ability to wikipedia random things. also people back at home.

Oh, and there are seriously like no cats here. Everyone either has birds or dogs. I do not approve.

tune in.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Managua

Hello everybody.
We are currently staying in Managua with some host families. We are currently undergoing various orientation activities via companeros, a social justice and community development organization that is within Nicaragua, based in Managua. So far we have arrived, met host families for the next few days (we will be leaving for jinotepe on sunday, which is where we will be for the next 6 weeks during the study part of our sst) and have mostly just been in either meetings, or with our host families, (attempting to) conversing in spanish.

For things that are interesting so far
- it is super hot in managua, everybody uses a fan because the humidity is really high and its been about 90 or higher degrees F around here
- there are a lot of geckos
- I have played both Oasis and the Red Hot Chili Peppers for my host mom on the guitar so far.

Anywho, nothing so much has happened. Here is a summary of how the traveling to get to this point was

- We left goshen at a ridiculously early hour of 4 in the morning, and despite a certain student arriving late to the send off (well, not showing up at all and having to meet us at the chicago airport) things went relatively smooth. The SST office lied to us about being able to take 2 bags in check in for free, (dirty lies) and Kaleb almost got detained for attempting to smuggle sunscreen in his carry on bag. After about 16 hours of traveling (mostly waiting at the chicago airport because our flight did not leave till 11am, but we had to be there early because of the peru folk) we touched down in managua, and met with host families, etc.

this is the story thus far.

drop out.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Nicaragua SST

For those of you who are aware or are not aware, I will be leaving for SST Nicaragua this summer from May 4th to August 2nd. I will be using this blog as a primary means for sending information to people (this would be of course, replacing the whole email signup list and such, although I can make sure to send posts that I would make to this page to people's email instead if they do not want to check, or would like to be notified about updates and such).

Anyways, stay tuned. Drop in, drop out.