My experiences so far

ARRIVING IN NICARAGUA

I would like to start by saying that nobody here knows what MacDonald is…pretty self-explanatory in terms of the vast differences between Nicaragua and Canada. I came with the idea that Nicaragua was going to be very much like my country of origin (Colombia). As soon as I stepped foot outside of the airport I realized that, Nicaragua is much more underdeveloped than I thought. Managua is the capital of Nicaragua; one would think that the capital is the biggest city of a given country, right? However, I did not see much of a city (as we, North Americans, know it); I did not see buildings, highways or large amounts of people walking down the streets; Bogota (the capital of Colombia, where I was born and raised) DOES have building and highways and many people walking around the main areas. I have also visited Colombian cities which are not as advanced as Toronto but they are getting close. In this way, I assumed that the capital of Nicaragua would look like a Caribbean city similar to the places I had seen back in Colombia. Nevertheless, Managua looks much more like a small Colombian town: opened spaces, old cars, poor children walking the streets by themselves, a lot of stray dogs running wild and A LOT of orange mud. In this way, when I came out of the airport, I was immediately surprised; it was then when it first hit me: I was going to live in a way I had never lived before, I was in a for a rough ride.

I had to take a bus from Managua to Nueva Guinea. The bus was old and hot, which is why I was surprised when they put on a Denzel Washington movie in a big portable DVD player; the a sound system was amazing, you could hear the movie loud and clear throughout the entire bus; it was particularly funny to watch Denzel talking in a Mexican voice. This was just an example of the relationship Nicaraguans have with technology; although all the places and people look poor they are all very attached to some technology. For instance, almost every person has a cell phone, even older ladies. People text all the time, just like we do (in Canada). It has made me think that even though there are so many other factors that separate the Nicaraguan lifestyles from ours (in Toronto/Canada), we also have many things in common.

NUEVA GUINEA: MY TEMPORARY HOME

I live in a small house with a very nice family. My room is extremely small and I share a bathroom with five other people. The first night in Nueva Guinea I saw a cockroach the size of my hand crawling on my bedroom wall, which was “a lot of fun”. The food is really good, mostly rice, beans and cheese; it sounds boring but it is so much better than you would think. This house is like the mother ship of the family, there are always people coming and going and it makes it a very fun environment in which I get to meet many people. I enjoy the children, they are fun and loving and it gives me a chance to watch cartoons without being judged.

URACCAN: MY JOB

I work in the University of URACCAN (Nueva Guinea Campus). My job is to enhance and improve the quality of the English courses in this university. I will be doing this by planning and implementing classes with the students and teachers who are involved with the English department; the main purpose is for these people, who aspire to learn English, to practice their conversational skills as well as their reading and writing skills.I am also working on some educational proposals that need to be updated; I have been chosen to help with this project because I have an outside outlook on life and education as well as control of the Spanish language.

I feel very blessed to be able to work within a developing community; I enjoy seeing how everyone is very dedicated and eager to better themselves. Nothing is taken for granted here, and I like seeing that in people.

My Culture

I like to think of culture as a mix. We are all affected by our experiences, our families, our communities, our homeland etc. We spend our lives learning from the people around us and the situations that come our way; by doing this, through time and experience we mold who we are. In this way, everyone´s identity and culture is unique because we all encounter different events and people.

My culture was affected by a significant change in my life. When I was sixteen-years old I moved from Bogota, Colombia to Whitby, Canada. My lifestyle changed dramatically and I know that the person I am now would not exist had I stayed in Colombia. For one, I have adopted the English language almost as my primary language; eight years ago I barely knew how to speak it. My circle of friends has changed completely and my family gatherings are not as large as they were when I lived in Colombia; I belong to a big family, we used to get together for birthdays and holidays and it was always a big party. Now I do not have many family members who live close to me but my dad´s sisters and their immediate families live in Toronto. We always get together in special occasions and it almost feels like back home.
Living in Canada has changed the way I live in many other ways. I have even changed physically, well, we all change physically as we grow up but I think that I changed more than most people. When I went back home after five years of living in Canada, my grandmother and my best friend did not recognize me. It was interesting to realize how much moving had changed me.
But I still keep many Spanish traits. For example, some Spanish people seem to be more relaxed when it comes to being punctual and for a long time I was always late to places I had to go to. It was a challenge to acquire better management skills that would better suit the Canadian society. Now I am working on my organizations skills. I still enjoy Spanish music very much, but I like listening to the songs and bands that were famous when I was younger. The new stuff does not appeal to me as much, I guess because it does not have the melancholic feeing attached to it. But I also take pleasure in listening to music that would be more characteristic of North American societies (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley etc.).
In general I enjoy living in Canada and I love the fact that I have a Colombian background. I think that because I experienced a different lifestyle during my childhood and adolescence, I have a different outlook on life than most people around me. I think that I am lucky to live in Canada, I like feeling safe and to be able to have hope for the future. I know how it feels to live in a place where there is a lot of violence and pessimism, which is why I feel lucky to have a home like Canada; I would not change not for the world.