Returned and been back for a while. I'm settling in to life at the University of Dayton once again.
Thanks for all of your comments, for your concern, and for following my blog!
If you'd like to hear more, email me at kolispea@notes.udayton.edu or at kolispea@gmail.com. I've got innumerable stories that I'd love to tell!
Yours,
Pete
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Peresozo
It´s really been a while.
I haven´t done anything terribly exciting since I last wrote. I was excited to make a trip to Estelí for lunch with Lori, Anna, Jessica, and the Solar Culture Course and then return home alone by taxi and bus. I´ve never flagged a taxi down before. It was a powerful feeling. Until we got to what looked like a shopping center and the taxi driver told me ¨yeah, the bus terminal´s inside there.¨ I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that it really was.
Summer laziness has hit me pretty hard. I´m still showing up at the Solar Center to help and testing the autoclave, but I find myself lacking the energy to do much more. Like write. I hope you will forgive me as I head off to find some fresco.
Pete
I haven´t done anything terribly exciting since I last wrote. I was excited to make a trip to Estelí for lunch with Lori, Anna, Jessica, and the Solar Culture Course and then return home alone by taxi and bus. I´ve never flagged a taxi down before. It was a powerful feeling. Until we got to what looked like a shopping center and the taxi driver told me ¨yeah, the bus terminal´s inside there.¨ I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that it really was.
Summer laziness has hit me pretty hard. I´m still showing up at the Solar Center to help and testing the autoclave, but I find myself lacking the energy to do much more. Like write. I hope you will forgive me as I head off to find some fresco.
Pete
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Los Cereales
It´s time to return to my staple food.
See if this phrase sounds familiar: ¨Siempre precios bajos. Siempre.¨
Roughly translated, it becomes ¨Always low prices. Always.¨
Don´t cry. Wal-Mart has infiltrated Nicaragua. They use the name Palí here.
How could we tell that it actually is Wal-Mart? Besides the slogan, ignoring the words ¨Wal-Mart Nicaragua¨ on some unopened boxes of merchandise, and discounting the ¨Wal-Mart¨ logo at the bottom of the Customers´Rights poster, I think it was the ¨Wal-Mart!¨ emblazoned on every employee´s nametag. Globalization strikes again, thinly veiled.
Pero a mí, no me importa. I need cereal with cold milk.
Globalization = path to Fruity Pebbles.
Frederlinda´s beside me in the Cyber, writing emails to past volunteers and friends. I´m the foreign Tech Support guy now. It´s pretty difficult. Fortunately, I´m right beside her and not in a foreign country. I can say ¨close the window¨ without waiting while curtains rustle.
Lori´s testing the solar autoclave today. It´s a nice day for it; the sun is shining and few clouds are in sight. I´ll be back to work this Monday, investigating retained heat cooking and testing the autoclave with Dan and Lori.
But now it´s time to buy Corn Flakes at Palí.
Yes, globalization has failed me; Fruity Pebbles never made it past the border.
Ciao!
Pete
See if this phrase sounds familiar: ¨Siempre precios bajos. Siempre.¨
Roughly translated, it becomes ¨Always low prices. Always.¨
Don´t cry. Wal-Mart has infiltrated Nicaragua. They use the name Palí here.
How could we tell that it actually is Wal-Mart? Besides the slogan, ignoring the words ¨Wal-Mart Nicaragua¨ on some unopened boxes of merchandise, and discounting the ¨Wal-Mart¨ logo at the bottom of the Customers´Rights poster, I think it was the ¨Wal-Mart!¨ emblazoned on every employee´s nametag. Globalization strikes again, thinly veiled.
Pero a mí, no me importa. I need cereal with cold milk.
Globalization = path to Fruity Pebbles.
Frederlinda´s beside me in the Cyber, writing emails to past volunteers and friends. I´m the foreign Tech Support guy now. It´s pretty difficult. Fortunately, I´m right beside her and not in a foreign country. I can say ¨close the window¨ without waiting while curtains rustle.
Lori´s testing the solar autoclave today. It´s a nice day for it; the sun is shining and few clouds are in sight. I´ll be back to work this Monday, investigating retained heat cooking and testing the autoclave with Dan and Lori.
But now it´s time to buy Corn Flakes at Palí.
Yes, globalization has failed me; Fruity Pebbles never made it past the border.
Ciao!
Pete
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
La Pila
Somewhat curious -- I can´t view my own blog from down here. I suppose there´ll be time to figure that out later.
Spanish class is continuing on Tuesdays & Thursdays and I´m already getting sentimental about it. It´s been enjoyable. Our professor doesn´t pile on homework, and he´ll discuss a point for as much time as we need to understand it. I´ve never had a private tutor, but I imagine that it´s somewhat similar. I don´t want to give it up and return to classes of thirty.
Matt´s worked a lot on the gutters, and they´re finally going up. The PVC gutters are suspended on bent rebar right now, but they´ll soon be attached with attractive and non-rusting plastic supports. Matt, with some help, dug a ditch to run the rainwater from the gutters to a cistern out in the field.
The cistern, with a barbed wire ¨shirt of strength¨, began to rise from the ground yesterday and stands about five feet tall today. I´ve been helping to haul sand and mix cement. The plans are from Matt, CJ, and the Solar Center staff. Camilo, a local handyman/contractor/jack-of-all-trades, attached the rebar supports for the gutters and has been constructing the cistern from stones, bricks, barbed wire, and cement. It is a piece of art.
In the meantime, solar autoclave testing goes on.
Please pardon me for not responding to comments -- I can´t open the page to see them.
Try my email if you don´t like talking to a wall. Or feel free to post, secure in the knowledge that I shall not see the post for some time. Your choice!
Yours,
Pete
P.S. I shan´t mention your age, but happy birthday Aunt Sharon!
Spanish class is continuing on Tuesdays & Thursdays and I´m already getting sentimental about it. It´s been enjoyable. Our professor doesn´t pile on homework, and he´ll discuss a point for as much time as we need to understand it. I´ve never had a private tutor, but I imagine that it´s somewhat similar. I don´t want to give it up and return to classes of thirty.
Matt´s worked a lot on the gutters, and they´re finally going up. The PVC gutters are suspended on bent rebar right now, but they´ll soon be attached with attractive and non-rusting plastic supports. Matt, with some help, dug a ditch to run the rainwater from the gutters to a cistern out in the field.
The cistern, with a barbed wire ¨shirt of strength¨, began to rise from the ground yesterday and stands about five feet tall today. I´ve been helping to haul sand and mix cement. The plans are from Matt, CJ, and the Solar Center staff. Camilo, a local handyman/contractor/jack-of-all-trades, attached the rebar supports for the gutters and has been constructing the cistern from stones, bricks, barbed wire, and cement. It is a piece of art.
In the meantime, solar autoclave testing goes on.
Please pardon me for not responding to comments -- I can´t open the page to see them.
Try my email if you don´t like talking to a wall. Or feel free to post, secure in the knowledge that I shall not see the post for some time. Your choice!
Yours,
Pete
P.S. I shan´t mention your age, but happy birthday Aunt Sharon!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
La Computadora
We gave a computer class in the Solar Center yesterday, and I discovered something about learning and teaching. With twelve students, seven computers, and six teachers, we introduced people to touchpads, mice, double-clicking, shift buttons, click-and-dragging, word processing, powerpoint presentations, and excel spreadsheets.
Many of the ¨students¨ had already used computers, fortunately, and used the hour to practice typing and work in powerpoint. Others were learning to use touchpads by moving the cursor over a picture until it was visible and by clicking and double-clicking to destroy cartoon fish. A different game had letters (both uppercase and lowercase!) falling until they were typed. I´ve gotten quite good at that game. Curse the lack of an ¨ñ¨ on my American keyboard.
Well, after playing the mouse and keyboard games for a while, I opened up the Spanish version of Open Office and said ¨Check it out, you can write stuff!¨ Only to realize how boring and pointless that was. Look, the tab button can do indents. Woo-hoo.
But wait!
All of my time spent playing (pointless) computer games and creating (pointless) powerpoints about friends for my Communications class rushed to mind. All of my time in Spanish classes here and at UD talking through (pointless) situations came back to me! Oh, all of the (pointless) creating and destroying of folders and documents and pictures that I had done, at home and in computer classes! Why, the best way to teach might be to give a (perhaps pointless) assignment and be around to help!
Anyway, that was how the other volunteers were doing it, so I followed suit :-) I like the method, as long as the assignment is reasonably enjoyable.
On that note, I´m looking forward to helping Frederlinda create a powerpoint about her family. Anna suggested it to Frederlinda during the class, and Frederlinda´s excited to learn more about Powerpoint, Excel, Word, and everything else from Anna.
Wicked sweet!
Hasta luego,
Pete
Many of the ¨students¨ had already used computers, fortunately, and used the hour to practice typing and work in powerpoint. Others were learning to use touchpads by moving the cursor over a picture until it was visible and by clicking and double-clicking to destroy cartoon fish. A different game had letters (both uppercase and lowercase!) falling until they were typed. I´ve gotten quite good at that game. Curse the lack of an ¨ñ¨ on my American keyboard.
Well, after playing the mouse and keyboard games for a while, I opened up the Spanish version of Open Office and said ¨Check it out, you can write stuff!¨ Only to realize how boring and pointless that was. Look, the tab button can do indents. Woo-hoo.
But wait!
All of my time spent playing (pointless) computer games and creating (pointless) powerpoints about friends for my Communications class rushed to mind. All of my time in Spanish classes here and at UD talking through (pointless) situations came back to me! Oh, all of the (pointless) creating and destroying of folders and documents and pictures that I had done, at home and in computer classes! Why, the best way to teach might be to give a (perhaps pointless) assignment and be around to help!
Anyway, that was how the other volunteers were doing it, so I followed suit :-) I like the method, as long as the assignment is reasonably enjoyable.
On that note, I´m looking forward to helping Frederlinda create a powerpoint about her family. Anna suggested it to Frederlinda during the class, and Frederlinda´s excited to learn more about Powerpoint, Excel, Word, and everything else from Anna.
Wicked sweet!
Hasta luego,
Pete
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Las Clases
Spanish classes every morning with Prof Chico are going well. I have nearly mastered the past tense. The imperfect, present perfect, and future tenses will be the next ones to fall. I see them, waiting with bated breath, wary of their approaching conjugation.
I´m really curious to see how much my Spanish has improved since I´ve arrived. After a while, we´ll have oral interviews to be officially ranked as Intermediate-Low, Intermediate-High, Advanced-Low, or wherever we land. Wish me luck in a few weeks.
Work is progressing with the solar autoclave (more about the projects soon!) and I´m wicked excited that Vince and Lori are here--Vince for the weekend and Lori until the cows come home...
Hasta muy pronto,
Pete
I´m really curious to see how much my Spanish has improved since I´ve arrived. After a while, we´ll have oral interviews to be officially ranked as Intermediate-Low, Intermediate-High, Advanced-Low, or wherever we land. Wish me luck in a few weeks.
Work is progressing with the solar autoclave (more about the projects soon!) and I´m wicked excited that Vince and Lori are here--Vince for the weekend and Lori until the cows come home...
Hasta muy pronto,
Pete
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Granada
I spent last night sipping piping hot sweet tea, relaxing in a hammock under the stars in Granada, full and content after a chicken quesadilla and a chilled mojito from a nearby bar.
Just wanted to let you know that it´s vacation weekend.
I would write more, but Vince, Anna, and Dan are in the pool, and I have my swimsuit on.
Later!
Pete
Just wanted to let you know that it´s vacation weekend.
I would write more, but Vince, Anna, and Dan are in the pool, and I have my swimsuit on.
Later!
Pete
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