I apologize for my laziness at updating my blog lately. I
have been pretty busy, but I am going to try much harder to update it every few
days. I only have a little time left and a lot left to do. I want to keep
everyone updated.
Tuesday
Since Monday was so crazy with everyone being in Managua and
running errands, the weekly planning meeting was pushed back to Tuesday. The
whole team planned for the week in the morning and then was on their own for
the afternoon. I ended up being pretty unproductive because I had to unpack
from the weekend trip and repack to go back to the host family for the week. I
hate bringing four days’ worth of dirty clothes back for my host mom to wash. Therefore,
I strategically picked out the articles of clothing that would be the most
difficult for me to wash (like jeans and shirts with stains) to take back. They
are much more skilled at washing clothes by hand than I am. I have already
decided that most of my clothes will not be making the journey back to the US
due to my poor washing skills.
Wednesday
I finally completed my final biodigestor stove test after
nearly 6 weeks! There were only three but with so many “learning experiences”
(ie failures), it took MUCH longer than what I had expected. However, I am
happy with the data that I have gotten out of the tests. I have only done the
simple calculations, but I believe I have been successful. I had to make so
many alterations to the standard testing procedure that my results will never
be accepted into a scientific journal (such as using a lid on the pot), but the
data is definitely good enough to be used for grants and promotion for EOS
after more analysis has been run. This is the real goal of the team here, so I
am incredibly happy to have success in the end!
Thursday
This was a day that ended up getting away from me. I got up
in the morning and helped my host family make tortillas in the morning. It is
actually very difficult. They mill the corn to make a flour and make a dough
from it. Then, without ever measuring, manage tto pull out the exact amount of
dough to make a perfectly sized tortilla. Then, they use their hands to form
the round flat shape, which I found to be very difficult. I made three. The
first was a disaster and my host mom totally re-did it for me. The second one was
better but the amount of dough was not consistent across it, so she had to fix
it so it would cook evenly. The third one was better but the edges had to be
cleaned up. I chatted with a lot of the employees quite a bit about their
families, Nicaragua, etc., so I didn’t actually get a lot accomplished. I learned
a lot about a lot of different topics but have nothing tangible to show.
Friday
Friday was a pretty big day for me. I completed my final
wood stove test in the morning. It went very smoothly with very little smoke
like last time. I also walked away with no burns and having inhaled very little
smoke. My host family said I did a much better job with handling the fire. It
really takes experience. Even though I have been around camp fires and such and
understand fire, it means nearly nothing. Wood stoves are very difficult to
work with, and I have a lot of respect for all the women all around the world
who have to work with one every day. I should also add that I never actually
started the fire due since I wanted consistency in the results. I had to handle
and weigh hot coals and burning wood at several points during the test. It
creates a lot of excess smoke and makes it difficult to see and breath.
There was a death in my host family early in the week. In the
Nicaraguan Catholic culture there is a ten day wake culminating in a celebration
of life “party”. I was unable to determine exactly who in the family died. It
was a distant relative, but they lived in Sabana Larga, where most of the town
is related. The death put me in an awkward position. My family was
participating in church services every day, and since there were a lot of
people coming and going through the house every day in order to carry the cross
and candles from my family’s home alter to the church in the morning and night.
It is kind of like a parade where everyone sings while carrying everything. It
is awkward because my family is not used to having a foreigner in their house,
and I felt like a gawker.
Therefore, since I finished my testing and had already
overstayed my intended 4 weeks by at least 2 weeks, I told my family I would be
moving back to the office. What I did not was how upset my host mother became
by this. She started to cry and didn’t want me leave. She told me that they
would keep my room and bed, so that I could come back whenever I wanted to stay
the night. Then, when I attempted to pay her (since she had cooked for me every
day, provided me with my own room, and done my laundry), she downright refused.
Only when I told her how important it was to me did she finally take it.
The whole thing was very emotional. I was also crying and
second guessing my decision. I thought that they would be somewhat relieved to
see me go since they were so busy, and even though I try, I am zero help. I had
also well overstayed my intended 4 weeks there. It really made me realize how
deep Nicaraguan hospitality goes. I was always given the most amount of food
even though I told them there was no way I could finish it all. They also
always gave me the best cuts of meat and fresh fruit drinks. Greg had a great analogy.
In the United States, if I showed up at
someone’s house to get ready to go to a party, but didn’t have anything to wear;
I would be given a shirt that my friend barely wears. However, in Nicaragua, I
would be given their best shirt. They would want me to show up in their best
shirt; probably the one that they were going to wear.
After a very tearful goodbye, with promises to visit before
I leave, I grabbed a bus for San Isidro. All I did was enter data into my
computer for the final water boiling test. Then, we threw together a “family
dinner” of sorts. Denis (with a little help from me) made some pasta with sauce
made from tomatoes, ketchup, and random spice with some boiled eggs stuffed
with guacamole. We also had some cooked banana on the side. For $2 (it was the
food we had laying around in the kitchen), the dinner fed the 8 people who were
still in the office at around 7pm. It was really great.
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