Archive for the ‘Maria’ Category
August 1, 2009
Holy cow, July flew by!
Picking up from last time….
Satrurday we went to the club, nothing to exciting there… Sunday we went to watch one of our Nicaraguan coworkers play baseball, then went to a place about a 1/2 hour bus ride away from here that has waterfalls and the water is said to be holy and very good for your health.
This whole week we had 20 elementary school teachers at the Solar Center. In the morning they would go and help at the school and then in the afternoon they would come to the Center. They had a lot of activities for them this week. We had a traditional Nicaraguan dance lesson for two songs.
This past week we also had a history lesson on Nicaragua. It is so interesting because they had a Civil War not that long ago. People in their 50´s fought in it. Like for us Vietnam was recent, but for Nicaragua, not only were the men affected by it, the wives and children were also involved because it was fought in their backyard!
Last night we also had a ´despedida´ -going away party- for the teachers and also for Edwin. Edwin is a Civil Engineer and lives in Sabana Grande and his contract at the Solar Center ended. He helped in the production of Solar panels, but now he wants to get back into Civil Engineering. They had many games to play and food to eat. It really was a lot of fun because most of the Solar Women and their families came. It was a great opportunity to hang out with everyone.
I am starting to have mixed feelings about the end of my trip. I have gotten to a point where I can kid around with everyone and have some really good friends here, volunteers and locals included. The guys that work at the Solar Center full time are basically like my big brothers. Thursday they were putting up a trellice type of thing to support some type of fruit trees they just planted. I was their little helper and I gave them wrenches and drills, it reminded me of home! A lot of the women will come up and rub your back and are super sweet and we are now comfortable with each other. A lot of the kids I can pretend fight with and joke around with. I walked home with my family last night from the party because it was dark and I held my little sister´s hand while we were walking. I really love the people here, they are very welcoming. Looking back on my first days until now, I am surprised that I have managed to have relationships with soo many people soo fast here. Even my Spanish has grown. I still do not understand everything by any means, but I am getting to the point that somedays I can actually have conversations and communicate with people. It is just kind of crazy, in retrospect, how fast time flew by! The first couple days seemed to be too long and now the weeks are feeling a little too short!
Today we are planning going to a patron saint festival near here. Tomorrow I am planning on going to church, watching a little baseball, and then go to town with my little sister and treating her to ice cream.
It should be a good weekend, but it will probably fly by once again!
- Maria
July 25, 2009
Last Sunday we went zip lining through a canopy tour on volcano Mombacho. It was amazing. I think I may have incurred some head trama when we were riding up the mountain because basically no one drives on the ´road´ and it is very rocky. The tour itself was just the right mix of an adrenaline rush and beautiful scenery. I rammed my leg into one of the platforms and have a little bit of a shiner on my leg now, but it doesn´t hurt.
We went to Managua Sunday afternoon and suprisingly enough it was pretty quiet. Sunday was Nicaragua´s 30th anniversary of the Revolution, a pretty big day in their history. There were a couple more policemen out with huge guns, but otherwise everything was the same.
Monday morning we rode back to Sabana Grande in the back of a truck. It was a 3 hour ride and I loved it. I don´t think there is a better way to see Nicaragua than on the back of a truck. I watched the sunrise over the mountains in a truck bed…priceless!
Tim and Jim, other UD students, are here for the week and we also had 5 high school boys, so the Solar Center was full with people this week. Next week we are having 20 teachers from California come down for about a week as part of their masters program.
Wednesday Erin and I set out to try to buy a Daq Pro, which logs temperature because the one we currently have is not working correctly. We had no luck, so we decided to go to Matagalpa to a ´Chocolate Castle´. Sounds pretty easy to find right? …How many chocolate castles can be in this city? We got a taxi and told the driver where we needed to go. He wasn´t overly sure but he assured us that we would find it. The driver asked ´So you want to buy chocolate there´ and we said yes. He dropped us off in front of a supermarket that sold Hersheys chocolate. I laughed for a good 10 minutes here. This taxi driver had to think we were crazy… Two gringo girls that want to buy chocolate from a mysterious chocolate castle. The next taxi with some help from the post office got us there. Their chocolate making process was short but it was interesting to see.
Saturday, today, we went on a hike in Sabana Grande. We went back into a woods and there were a bunch of rocks to climb and small waterfalls. It was really beautiful. Tonight we are staying in Ocatol for the night and going out to eat then going to a local club. Tomorrow we are planning on going to a local baseball game, a couple of the local guys at the Solar Center play.
It is crazy how time is flying by! I really think I am going to miss it here. It has been fun to play big sister and be able to play freeze tag and Jenga.
July 18, 2009
On Monday a new volunteer arrived, Rebekah, she is from the U.K. and seems really nice.
On Tuesday the Solar Center was closed for a staff meeting, so all the volunteers took an hour bus ride to Estelli. In Estelli we went to an Nicaraguan art store, renewable energy farm, and toured a cigar factory. The cigar factory was probably the most interesting because there were about 200 people sitting there rolling cigars. It was kind of ironic because some of the men were smoking a cigar as they were rolling them.
On Tuesday night Erin and I spent the night in Estelli and went shopping for supplies for informational plaques at the Solar Center. We found all our supplies but ran into a few problems… We needed poles for the plaques and we could only buy them in 6 meter lengths, which we thought we would be able to get the place to cut them into 5 foot lengths that we needed – however this was not the case, they would not cut them. So between the two of us we had 3 – 6 meter long poles and 8 pieces of wood 1″x11¨x24¨, a lot to manage between the two of us. We were looking for a truck Taxi, but a man with hand cart approached us and told us he could take everything we had to the bus station. We doubted him, but he actually pulled it off pretty nicely and went through busy traffic to cross the road twice. Once we got to the bus station we waited 45 minutes with our stuff and then got a bus. The bus attendant helped load all our goods and then we were on our way. The bus stopped right in front of the Solar Center and dropped off all our goods. Looking back on it things went rather smoothly, but on that day it was a little stressful trying to plan out how much we could carry and how to get all our supplies from point A to point B.
Friday Erin and I took of for Masaya to do some touristy shopping and then went to Granada. Today 6 other volunteers joined us in Granada for a relaxing weekend. Tomorrow we are planning on going zip linning, which involves a harness and cable and you hanging on for your dear life, we´ll see how that goes! Tomorrow is also the 30th anniversary of the revolution here in Nicaragua, so hopefully it doesn´t get too crazy here! Monday we are taking off from Managua and riding on the back of a truck for 3 1-2 hours back to the Solar Center with some student from UNI (their University here) that are interested in testing the solar autoclave for us. I am pretty excited I really like truck bed rides, they are the most scenic. Also this week we are having 4 high school boys at the solar center to help do grunt work. Tim and Jim, the other UD kids, are also visiting the solar center this week and helping us on our projects.
It seems like this week will be pretty busy!
Take care!
July 11, 2009
This week Dan and Nathan left for home, so now it is me and Erin left from UD.
This week on Thursday and Friday I went to Managua (Nicaragua´s capitol) for a couple meetings with Salud del Sol (the non-profit who created the solar autoclave). Our first meeting was actually right outside of the city limits. It was with a group called the Jubillee House. Apparently 15 years ago 4 families from North Carolina moved down to Nicaragua into an area that has an unemployment of about 80%. They saw a need for health care and they wanted to make a difference. I have to applaude them because it would be soooo hard to relocate your family and hope that what you are doing is worth all the risks. We talked with one of the Gringo founders and she said that the little village we visited has a lot of women who work the street and she would not be surprised if in a couple years there is an AIDS outbreak in that area if this keeps up. Basically the way their clinic works is that you can pay for your doctor or dentist visit one of two ways: you can either make a donation or you can work in the clinic for a day to pay off your debt. This is a really good option considering the unemployment rates. The lady really seemed interested in the solar autoclave if we get it to work. She also mentioned that she was taking a group of people to a smaller clinic without electricity up in the mountains at the end of July, and I think it would be really neat to see an actual clinic that would benefit from the solar autoclave.
The next meeting we had in Managua was with UNI (the private university in Managua). They gave us suggestions and told us that they have three engineering students who want to test and work on the solar autoclave as their project. So that was pretty exciting that the research will not stop when Erin and I leave for the summer.
Erin and I went shopping for supplies in Managua and it is soooo unbelievably hard to find copper tubing here for the pressure release valve for the autoclave. We decided that their plumbing isn´t very developed. Most houses, if they have running water, only have cold water. So there is not a need for copper tubing. We ended up spending $10 on taxis around the city and don´t have anything to show for it…..I am about to send an S.O.S. to Lowes…. 
Have a good week!
July 1, 2009
This weekend I went to church with my host family. Last weekend it was an hour long, but this weekend it was 2 hours long. Apparently the last Sunday of the month they have an hour preaching session and then an hour of mass, I didn´t realize I signed up for 2 hours of church going in so I was a little confused. Last weekend they sang the song that goes ¨Everything I had I left by the sand there…close to you…I will find other seas¨…It was in Spanish, but at least I recognized the tune, it made me smile. There are a lot of women that go to church and everyone sings out really loud. It is really neat that there are not as many people as church at home, but the singing is so much louder. There is this little old lady at church too that doesn´t have any shoes and can barely see, but she always is really sweet, it makes me smile because she doesn´t have a lot and can barely see but she still is sweet and smiles. This weekend there was a dog running lose in the church too. It really makes me have an appreciation for church at home that I can actually understand what the priest is talking about and I am looking forward to being able to sing along with songs again at home.
This week we are supposed to be getting 2 more volunteers at the Solar Center, so I am kind of excited for more people to come.
Have a good week and a happy 4th of July…enjoy the fireworks for me!
June 24, 2009
I am starting to get use to everything in ways but am still confused and get my bearings mixed up when I go into the city because there are no street signs. I am not sure if I will ever get use to the outhouse or shower though!
I machetted grass for a little bit yesterday to help out the solar women and I now have a water blister on my thumb and a new appreciation for lawnmowers.
This weekend we are planning on going to Granda, which is supposed to be really touristy so that will be fun. We are stoping in Managua to meet up with other Dayton students and then we are going to go out to eat at Papa John´s. I am really excited for it because most meals here contain rice, beans, or tortillas, and this will be a nice change of pace. Then we will go to Granda and it sounds like it is a really neat place.
This week I have been working on plaques for the Solar Center. The center has many visitors and many renewable energy sources, but there are no plaques to inform visitors on what things are. We are writing these in Spanish and in English to hopefully excite and encourage locals to learn about and use these different technologies and to be more inviting to travelers. We are also continuing to test the autoclave, but are not reaching the temperatures we need.
June 16, 2009
Hello all!
I made it in one peice. The first internet cafe I went to the elerctric went out after 10 minutes of being there, so I will try to type fast…
The flight was good and many things here are very interesting. I learned how bad my spanish is, but I am taking spanish lessons from Francisco at the solar center for any hour Monday thru Friday. It costs 5 dollars per hour, but given the situation I figure it is well worth my money to be able to communicate with people.
My host family is very nice. Jesus is my dad, Myra is my mom, Adaly is my brother…I think he is about 12, and Graciella is my sister and she is 10. We smile at each other a lot and try to talk to each other.
The driving here is similar to at home, but they are much more risky and pass in very tight situations.
My family has an outhouse behind their house. They have solar power and are on the grid. They have a refrigerator, T.V., and lights…much to my surprise. I think my family is a little bit more so well off than others, not many people have refrigerators. My host mom is the president of the solar women´s group at the solar center. My host dad goes to Ocotal…the city 15 minutes away…to work. So far all I have figured out is he works at a bank…I think..and he left Monday morning and came back Tuesday morning…so I haven´t quiet figured out what is going on. My sister and I played a Looney Toons card matching game..I can handle matching two cards…works very well for my Spanish speaking level right now…hehe
So many stories…lots to take in all at once! There are about 6 people working at the solar center…one from Canada…one from Greece…one from Colorado… There are more volunteers in the city too. It sounds like we are going to try to meet up sometime and go to Hondorus.
Going over basics for work still and it seems like there are many opportunities for projects.
June 12, 2009
Me and my niece at my sister's wedding
I am Maria Fullenkamp a mechanical engineering student at Wright State Univ. I am 15 hours away till I am officially on the plane and starting my journey to Sabana Grande, Nicaragua. Life has been pretty crazy lately, all in the past month I have completed final exams for classes, had my sister’s wedding, and became an aunt again for the fourth time. I am excited for the experience but at the same time scared. I know things will be fine, but I will just need to stay busy in order to keep my mind off of everyone at home. It will be interesting to come back and see how big my nephews and nieces will be in two months…and to see who is walking by then…. J
I think that is it for now and it is time for my last night’s sleep in the U.S.
Take care,
Maria