About the internship...
The past two weeks have
been full of interviews. There are a total of 75 loan applicants and
over the past two weeks, we've interviewed almost all of them. The
interviews themselves were fairly straight forward, although, at times, I had
to repeat my questions and repeat the loan applicants answers to make
sure I was understanding correctly and getting all the information we
need.
The most difficult part
of the interview process was finding where each applicant lives.
There are no formal addresses in Nicaragua, especially not in the
communities on the outskirts of Granada where we work. Addresses are
described by distances and directions from major landmarks, such as a school, a church, the health center, the statue, or the old water tank. The first
few days of interviews we spent a lot of time trying to figure out
where people lived. There was one group that was particularly hard
to find. The directions to their house (translated to English) said
'From the health center, 3 blocks to the west and one to the east.' We asked a woman who lives in that vicinity and she did not know any of the women we were looking for. We found the group of women eventually, but it took a lot of asking
around.
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| The meeting with new loan applicants at Dona Nora's house |
We set a meeting time for about twenty of the new loan applicants for Tuesday at 3 pm. On our way to Marcela's house, Phoebe, Alex, Emma, and I got caught in the rain. When we finally got to Marcela's we waited for a while for the rain to die out and for Gilberts (who also got caught in the rain on his motorbike) to arrive. Because of the rain, we assumed the loan applicants would not show up for the meeting, but Gilberts drove to Dona Nora's house, where the meeting was supposed to take place, just to check anyway. When he came back, we were all surprised to hear that nearly everyone was there! The fact that the loan applicants were waiting for us in the rain is truly a testament to how much they want a loan from PHPG! We set to work interviewing each new applicant and finished the interviews in about an hour.
About life in Nicaragua...
I love living in
Granada! We walk through the market every time we go to Pantanal for
loan repayments or interviews, and Phoebe and I usually stop on the
way back to get fresh, delicious, and cheap produce at the market.
Living with Phoebe is awesome! We've experimented with several new
recipes: black bean burgers, chile, tomato sauce & pasta, falafel
and yogurt sauce (with fresh tortillas as our 'pita'), brownies,
salsa and guacamole, lots of curry, and daily smoothies with mango,
pineapple, banana, or some combination of them. The constant
cat-calling, I could live without. But once in a while, it can be
amusing. Today when Phoebe and I were leaving the market, several
men started yelling after us in English with thick accents saying things like, 'Hey
baby!' or 'So beautiful, baby!' We immediately burst into laughter and
kept laughing the whole way home.
One of the best parts
of living and working in Granada is getting to know Marcela and
Gilberts, the PHPG employees. We meet at Marcela's house before
going out for loan repayment meetings or interviews and usually have some time to chat before everyone gets there. Phoebe and I met Marcela's boyfriend (he recently became her fiancée!), who was very quiet but very nice. We've also met her parents, aunts, uncles, siblings, grandmother, and numerous cousins. Her aunt's stall in the market has become our favorite source of refresco de cacao- a chocolate drink sold in a baggie with a straw. There are several types of refrescos, but they tend to be overly sweet (with the exception of cacao). Last weekend we went to a dance club, Cesar, with Marcela and Gilberts. The bartender was one of the guys I had interviewed that week for a loan, which was a bit awkward. Even more awkward, is me dancing. My dance skills definitely need some work, but I am such a slow learner when it comes to dancing that I don't have high hopes. I will try though.
It's impossible not to make embarrassing mistakes when learning another language and it's not nearly as fun if you don't make mistakes. I've made my fair share. Usually, I realize my mistake as soon as I say it. One of our neighbors, Rafael, stops to talk to us when he walks by. The first time he stopped to talk to us he asked us a bunch of questions including 'Do you have any kids?' I responded with 'No, pero quizas cuando estoy cansada' instead of 'No, pero quizas cuando estoy casada.' For all you non-Spanish speakers, I told him 'No, but maybe when I'm tired' instead of 'No, but maybe when I'm married.' I started laughing as soon as the wrong word came out. Another good one was when I was talking to Gilberts after an afternoon in Pantanal. I was trying to tell him how I wouldn't meet Alex or Isabel, the founders of PHPG, because I'll be leaving Nicaragua before they get back mid-August. Instead of using the verb 'conocer' (to know), I used 'cocinar' (to cook). I will not be meeting (or cooking) Alex and Isabel this summer. I've definitely gotten used to laughing at myself. More embarrassing than mixing up words in Spanish, I have been mixing up words in English. As my Spanish improves, my English is getting worse! Phoebe can attest to this.
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| Horse and cart a block from our house |
Two more things I love about Granada- the colorful buildings and the horse and carts! Horses and carriages line up near Parque Central. I haven't taken a ride yet, but I plan on it before I leave. Maybe a day when I'm feeling rather touristy or when I'm showing my sister around Granada. She gets to Nicaragua in a little over 2 weeks!
Stay tuned!
