[Vision2020] Very first impressions after a day or so in Villa El Carmen, from Dave Barber

[Louise Barber]

>From Dave Barber, in Villa El Carmen, Nicaragua, Moscow’s Sister City, who
is “writing on this rickety machine with a Spanish keyboard, students all
around me, and the school day to end in half an hour.”  [The keyboard was so
contentious that Dave had to dispense with capitalization, so it’s been
reintroduced.]

 

There are about 20 machines [computers] here.  That´s the good news.  The
classrooms are built in a row, with two sides open, with class sizes of
45-60.  Acoustically it´s a zoo.  Not enough chairs.  Absolutely beautiful
children.  Amazingly friendly children, who love to use their English as
they pass:  HELLO, HI, BYE, GOODBY, GOOOD MORRNING.  They hate to use their
English in class--they´re afraid of me, says Ruby the English teacher, but
it´s a game--they smile to light up the room.  Earlier this week Í was with
younger students, observing and participating at intervals.  Today I met the
seniors, ages 11 to 21; they are in their 5th year of study, and they are
really afraid to commit themselves.  Besides, I think their level of English
skill is really low, and all my ideas of having them read and write are out
the window.  Have to regroup for the next time I see them (next Tuesday).
Tomorrow I am to visit another school -- probably the same thing will happen
to me as happened last Monday:  at the end of the day the students all
assembled, in straight lines before a platform; I was introduced, and asked
to explain myself and why I was there, in Spanish, of course, to 500 kids.
It was sort of fun, whatever I may have said, and 50 kids went by afterward
and said BYE, or GOOODBYE.

 

The family of Ana Julia and Mario (in their mid-thirties) -- their niece
Aura, Ana´s mother Yamanda, Mario´s mother Aura, and Ana´s nephew Roberto --
have all been wonderful, and all basic needs are met.  I have a small
bedroom -- no window, but a fan.  They have lots of life´s modern
conveniences--washing machine, frig, gas stove, TV and CD player.  At the
same time, they have a by-hand-scrubbing structure outside, which at least
Aura uses, and though they have a shower the water pressure does not allow
it.  A shower is a large pail of cool water, with a bowl, in the shower
stall.

 

This is the only time of the day I have felt cool.  The heat is relentless;
this is SUMMER here.  I know, this flies in the face of astronomy, Nicaragua
being in the northern hemisphere, but febrero y marzo are the hottest months
of the year.  I guess that´s because when the rains come in may they cool
things off.  Astronomy buffs will also be happy to know that the sun really
does set FAST in the tropics.  And when I look up in a very bright starry
sky, around 9pm, I see Orion overhead but to the NORTH.

 

Because of the heat I haven´t really been hungry since I got here.  The food
is fine if bland -- we´ve had varieties of beef, chicken, fish, and lots or
rice, beans, and platanos.  Last night Mario, who does the cooking and
washing, etc., because Ana gets up at 4am to take the bus to Managua and
returns around 8pm, made corn tortillas from scratch.  (Platanos are not
bananas, by the way, but a related sickly sweet fruit that is hard for me to
like, unless they’re green and fried.)  I have been drinking water and juice
and gaseosos [carbonated drinks] and today I discovered Gaterade in a store;
I drink pretty much nonstop.  Montezuma lurks but has not struck.  The
family drinks no coffee, so my last cup was last Friday [2/2].

 

So much to say.  I love this family, which will be no surprise to those of
you who knew Ana Julia [who studied in Moscow for a semester in 1998].  They
are so helpful, including Aura, who is 13 and a darling child.  We almost
never talk in English--only Ana can, really, but they slow down and rephrase
their Spanish when necessary.  I am teaching Mario and Aura English, un
poco.  It´s pretty relentless trying to think and talk in Spanish all day,
but I love it, mostly.

 

Only a little time left, I think.  What to tell?  It is not true that their
house fences out the animals.  They compost by throwing garbage into the
small back yard -- to the delight of dogs, pigs, and chickens.  Lots of
these, but few cats.  The dogs are small and scrawny. they seem very sweet,
but nobody touches them and I hesitate to do so.  The house has lizards, 2 -
6 inches long, to eat the insects.  The pigs are OK, they mind their own
business.  There are lots of cars around here -- almost all of them used-up
taxis.  And pickups.  But also people riding horses, wagons drawn by cows,
bicycles.  The cows have wide horns, long folds of skin down from the neck,
and wide ears like cartoons of Dubya, only more horizontal.

 

Speaking of Dubya, I have not seen a newspaper in any language, though there
is a periodista [journalist] who works at the alcalde´s [mayor] office and
took lots of photos of the welcome dinner [for me] last Saturday.  I saw the
pictures this morning and I´ll try to send some sometime.  I know nothing of
the US, except by chance that the Colts won the Superbowl.  I assume that
the world is continuing to go to hell-in-a-hand basket.  Gotta go.  I love
you all.  If this gets through, please let Ana know.

 

Dave

 

 

 


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