Happy New Year friends and family! Hope it was memorable and spent with loved ones. While I did surprise my parents by showing up at the house and staying for 10 days over the Christmas holiday, I was back in Jinotega for New Years and celebrated with Victor and his family. Let’s do the highpoints of both holidays starting with Hillsdale:

 

• My Mom’s face when she saw me
• Getting snowed in
• Working with my sister on a multi-faceted Excel spreadsheet for a  project I’m directing and learning that I’m NOT financially-challenged, as I’ve always thoughtJ
• Christmas Eve at Grandma’s with my mom’s side of the family
• Sitting in my parents’ jacuzzi under the full moon and surrounded by snow
• Beer, wine, cheese, and chocolate croissants in no particular order
• Doing self-assessing, career development activities from What Color is Your Parachute? with my sister
• Discovering my unknown interest in leadership styles and emotional intelligence and loading up on resources (articles and books). Ask me about it!
• A day in Iowa City with two close friends

New Year’s in Jinotega:

• Becoming a Godmother to Victor’s 4-month-old son, Joshua
• Teaching the kids to play Bop It!
•  Watching “Sleepless in Seattle” (in Spanish) with Mayra, Victor’s wife
• Going to bed at 11pm :)
• Eating some of my favorite Nica foods (gallo pinto and tajadas)
• Sharing Grandma’s cookies that I brought back with me from the states

A little more about the “Godmother thing” which came as something of a surprise though in hindsight it’s starting to make more sense. Victor and I became close friends instead of just colleagues. His family has taken me in from the moment of my arrival here in Jinotega. I am invited to all of their celebrations and outings but I think there was one thing in particular that swung the Godmother vote in my favor. When I went to the farm for the pig roast Mayra and I got to talking on the porch while we watched the kids play baseball. I told her that I had offered to help Victor get his son, Brandon, to baseball practice. Victor does so much for so many other kids at his English center and through his counseling work at the high school. He does so much he can’t make the time commitment so that Brandon can be on a baseball team. The only thing I could think to do was help Victor by taking Brandon at least until Victor realizes that he doesn’t have to be everything for everybody. Apparently that struck a chord with Mayra. She’d been telling Victor the same thing—she’s worried that Brandon won’t have any good childhood memories of his father. She said something like, “La luz de la calle es la oscuridad de su casa.” You can understand that in a couple of ways—either that the house is left dark when Victor gives his time and energy to the outside world or that Victor is so bright and energetic outside of the house that when he is home he is “out” and has to recharge.

Mayra also asked about my parents. I told her my dad worked at a factory called John Deere. It wasn’t a glamorous job but he could almost always come to my after-school activities and weekend games. I told her my mom was a teacher and she too attended the vast majority of my extra-curricular activities not to mention the countless practices someone had to take me to before I could drive. Boy, did she love hearing that!

Victor has asked me several times why I came to Nicaragua and why I stayed longer. He knows I could be pursuing opportunities and making more money elsewhere. He asked me when I’ll get back to my life, as if it’s on hold in some way. The thing is Peace Corps is only a great sacrifice if you think you’ve put your life on hold. Otherwise it is a great adventure where you make a lot of your own rules, learn to adapt, study another language, develop a tremendous range of life skills, and broaden your worldview. Ah, this is a good time for a favorite quote I came across in J. Patrick Murphy’s “Theories of Nonprofit and Organizational Leadership” (that’s my Uncle Pat, by the way):

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”     –Gandhi

There’s a lot of truth in that notion but back to my point. In hindsight, it all adds up—my work, my friendship with Victor, that conversation with Mayra, my surprise trip home for Christmas—I know why they asked me to be the Godmother. It’s because I’ve been taught to value family and to help others and it shows. Furthermore, Victor and Mayra share those values.

I never anticipated being a godparent to a little boy living in a developing country. This third year sure is full of surprises.