Cultural Differences

I expected to be confronted with cultural differences when coming to live in Nicaragua for a month, embedded in a community where the only other gringa was a Peace Corp volunteer. I just didn't expect it to be with my fellow gringos.

I'm traveling with our two co-founders, our newest board member and her husband. Wes, International Director, orchestrated an incredibly soft landing for us. We spent the first two days mostly ensconced with other gringos, whether meeting with potential partners or hanging out on the beach with friends.

And yet, I'm having some culture shock.

I had already gotten the sense that EOS International was not like any other nonprofit I had ever worked with. It was started by some Midwestern engineering students. The board is comprised of young professionals in engineering and finance at some of the largest companies in the United States.

This lefty New Yorker who lives on an ecovillage comes from a pretty different subculture.

I learned about Toña (Nica beer) and Flor de Caña (Nica rum). We talked about sports a lot (basketball, I think).  Their jokes came from movies I never saw and their slang took a fair amount of study for me to decode.

And they have devoted a huge amount of their time and energy to helping Nicaraguans from remote communities get access to technologies that improve their lives. They are incredibly nice. And they seem tolerant of this strange creature in their midst. OK, even more than that, they seem to respect and appreciate me.

We have now set up shop in the EOS office in San Isidro, which will be my home for the next 3+ weeks. Tomorrow we meet the Nicaraguan team and start our work in earnest.

I'm ready for culture shock Nicaraguense.