One would think that spending your 20th birthday in a foreign country without your family and close friends would be a lamentable situation. However, my birthday here was unforgettable because of all of the incredible people in my life here. I spent all of Saturday afternoon with David, and he gave me a tour of the National Plaza and the Port of Salvador Allende. The tour was more of a refresher from my time here in March, but it was far more interesting to hear about the history behind the buildings from someone Nicaraguan who holds incredible pride for his country and his people. (Added bonus: he told me a great story about how he took his first steps in front of the monument to Carlos Fonseca in the plaza. I later was shown a picture so it’s legit!) Little to my knowledge, my time downtown was part of a clever ploy to keep me out of Batahola. My family had told me that the 24th was a day to celebrate grandparents in Nicaragua (Why wouldn’t I believe that?) and that we were going to take a taxi to another neighborhood and go to a party to dance with the elderly friends of Gerardo. I don’t know why, but I had 100% belief in the fact that this “Fiesta de Abuelos” was the plan for my Saturday night. (I’m pretty sure it was the excited text message-“Are you pumped to dance with old men???” in Spanish of course- from my host sister that sealed the deal. ) I didn’t want to change my outfit for this party, but I was coaxed by Maria Eugenia (though I didn’t feel the need to bathe after a day in the dusty streets of Managua- yeah great). Gerardo, Sarita, and I left to go get a taxi (which is in the same direction as Amanda and Greta’s house so there was no reason for me to suspect anything). Gerardo said he had to ask Amanda a question and after being led into the house and into the Salón de Belleza I still did not suspect a thing (no joke).
Then: ¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Yes, there was a surprise party for me and Ciro (one of the muchachos from the neighborhood who turned 23)! The room was full of my new friends in Batahola: and there was cake, and food, and dancing, and music- all of the basic ingredients for a good party. Amanda, Greta, and the muchachos had planned the whole thing. I got to wear a sparkly tiara that said Happy Birthday on it and everything. It was a great night! (followed by an early morning)
Gerardo, Sarita, Me, and Greta at the Surprise Party
The actual day of my birthday (July 25th) was the “Día de Deportivas” (Day of Sports). Amanda planned this day in order to utilize my history with volleyball in some way after the plan to start a sports league for girls did not take form. The games started a little after 9 and I was the referee of the volleyball tournament (Of course I wore my tiara again because it’s not like I don’t get enough attention already for being a tall gringa.) There were only three teams, but the athletes were passionate and very comical at points. (Fights over calls are easily won when you have a whistle. haha) After volleyball there was a soccer tournament, and because of a lack of teams and combined with the heat we decided it was best to cancel basketball. Danza- the group of folkloric dancers- ended up winning both tournaments with certificates and medals as prizes. The “Day of Sports”, even with the few problems that occurred with teams, was very successful.
The Intensity of Competition
Miss Referee
Me and Amanda
After the tournament, I got to have a special birthday lunch with Gerardo full of vegetables and pitalla juice (my favorite!). He was supposed to go with MariaEugenia and Sarita to a birthday party for my cousin Javier (previously planned to be another dual birthday party, but I had my duties as a referee to attend to. I felt awful because apparently a “Go Diego, Go” piñata was bought for me.) but that morning when he found out that I was just going to eat tortillas by myself in the kitchen he said he couldn’t stand the thought of me being alone for lunch on my birthday. I honestly cannot express how much Gerardo and his family mean to me. They constantly tell me how much of a pleasure it is to spend time with me, but the feeling is more than mutual. I thank God every day that I have chances to spend time with them.
An excellent lunch was followed with my second session with the scholarship students. The second session was entitled “The Basic Elements of Public Speech”. The goals were:
- To continue the process of making the scholarship students comfortable when speaking in public
- To introduce the students to the basic elements of public speech
- To continue to reflect upon personal narratives
- To review the history of the CCBN
I gave the students 5 minutes to review the personal narratives of their imaginary creatures, and then they made 2 minutes presentations about their creatures while I recorded video. After the presentations, Greta presented her personal narrative in a manner opposite to which a person should present themselves in public. I asked the students to tell me what they thought was odd about Greta’s presentation and we discussed the 10 basics of public speaking: 1) Body Language 2) Articulation 3) Pronunciation 4) Tone of Voice 5) Rhythm of Words 6) Pauses 7) Volume 8) Quality 9) Changing Elements of Voice 10) Emotion. Then, we reviewed the videos of the students on my laptop and analyzed the presentations of each student with a +/Δ list. (This is something I learned in PSP 101. When analyzing something you don’t do a list of positives and negatives you do a list of positives and things that might need to be changed, because negatives don’t accomplish anything positive.) The students analyzed and critiqued each other openly and told me that seeing themselves was incredibly helpful. We didn’t follow the agenda exactly, and I hadn’t planned to take video of the students and show them but at the last second I realized how much Sarita videotaping me while I practiced my presentation about personal narratives had helped me. The session ended with half of the mural tour in the center. Melvin and Rigo did great jobs, and served as examples as how to present yourself in front of an audience. The students were even asking questions about the murals! Overall, it was an excellent second session.
I got to have a really nice birthday phone call with my real family (because there is no internet in my house) before I left for mass at 6, and when I returned my family had a birthday dinner for me including a delicious homemade chocolate cake. This was the first birthday I’ve had where I never actually received a material object as a gift, but I think for the first time in my life (yes I’ve had selfish and materialistic tendencies during my life) I felt that I received far more than I could have asked for or deserved. My entire experience here has been incredible, and that is because of all of the people who have come into my life here. Scratch that, that is because of the people who have let me come into their lives. It’s going to be so hard to leave in two weeks.
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