And the plot thickens . . .

As I finished my second week here (and first week of classes) the political landscape, my place in Nicaragua, and the limitations of my language became clearer.

My class schedule is that I have Spanish every morning for three hours and then Revolution, Transformation, and Civil Society (RTCS) Seminar every afternoon except Monday, when I have Field Study Seminar (FSS). The RTCS classes are normally run by guest lecturers, but also by Aynn and Gullermo from time to time. The guest lecturers they bring in are pretty intense, and this being the first week, we got a few days of intro from Aynn and Guillermo, followed by two guest lecturers. The first was Dora Maria Tellez, one of the military commanders during the Revolution and former FSLN (Frente Sandanista de la Liberacion Nacional) leader, now one of the major members of the MRS (Movimiento de Renovación Sandanista). She lectured on Augusto Sandino, the military leader responsible for ending the 25-year US occupation of Nicaragua in 1934 and the histroical figure whom inspired the Sandanistas. As you can imagine, the lecture was really intense, and I felt bad that my Spanish isn't better than it is so I could have understood more of it. The second lecturer was Enrique Seinz, who is a former World Bank (I think) economist and current politico who gave us an overview of Nicaraguan economic history. As you can imagine, I got even less of that lecture, but it was equally impressive in recap.


It´s been interesting just walking around Managua, too, outside of classes. Managua is not much of a tourist destination, and it´s clear that people here are not used to seeing "cheles" (white folks. 14 of the 18 students are white and we really stick out when we walk in groups. ) We have all been welcomed into Maximo Jerez, and everyone in the colonia is very friendly and helpful to us. Our host families are great, and I´ll write about more about my host family after I return from the campo next week (more on that in a second.)

Last night I had a bit of a surreal experience. A young boy in Maximo is ill and his family didn´t have the money for the very expensive medical treatment he required. A few folks in the neighborhood organized a benefit concert to raise the money necessary for his medication and a few of the other students volunteered me to play at said concert. It was a little uncomfortable because of the language barrier, but I played two songs in front of a crowd of several hundred people, all cheering in Spanish. One of the stranger experiences of my life.

Well, I have to go do my homework, and I won´t be posting for at least a week because we´re going to do another homestay in the campo for a week and I won´t have electricity, so definitely no internet. But when I get back, I´ll talk about my host family, Spanish class, helping to facilitate a 90 minute discussion on anti-oppression work in my Feild Study Seminar (which was rough), and more about living, learning, and growing in a revolutionary country!