March 2017 - STEPHANIE MORK

First Impressions

March 29, 2017 2 Comments

Managua is ~~just a little~~ VERY different than Minneapolis. I have been here for one week today and its been a whirlwind. Today I found a little taste of comfort in an air-conditioned mall with some blessed coffee, wifi and yummy baked goods. But the past week has been a tornado of activities, new things, acclimating to new places, languages, and mindsets.

The culture shock is pretty real, but I am starting to feel more comfortable going out and about on my own, asking questions and speaking in Spanish.

Here are 6 words to describe my first impressions:

1. Hot
2. Noises
3. Kind
4. Fresh
5. Water
6. Open

My first morning in Nicaragua, I was woken up around 4 am to a cock-a-doodle-dooooo (!) and I could hear the city begin to wake up with the sounds of motorcycles, dogs barking, buses revving, horses clapping on the cobblestone, people talking, babies crying, music, and the smell of cooking meat. I somehow slept for a few more hours until I had to use the loo only to find that the water was turned off and I had my first lesson on how to flush the toilet with a bucket of water.

I spent my first 24 hours sweating through my clothes, being spoken to in a language I don’t really know, and wondering what the heck I am doing here. It was a lot to take in and the learning curve for this gringa is very steep. Its crazy how quickly things like seeing lizards and cockroaches, constant intake of water, never going anywhere without hand sani, and using a bucket to flush the toilet have become the norm.

To go into further detail of my 6 words – hot is pretty self explanatory. Its literally always hot. I guess I came during the summer (whoops), and its pretty normal for the high to be around 95 and lows in the mid 70’s at night – which is actually pretty comfortable for sleeping. I have literally never in my life drank so much water or juices or smoothies just to prevent being dehydrated without really doing anything!

My first description of Nica describes pretty well what I mean by noises. There is just a lot going on and it’s crazy how early the Nicaraguan people get up and out and start moving in the day – probably because the best hours of the day are about 7 am to 11 am. 1 – 4 pm are the death hours.

Kind is to describe all of the people that I have interacted with thus far. My host family is so patient with my bad Spanish, and willing to help me learn. They share their food, answer my stupid questions and have shown me the ways of the bus (more on that later). They are easy to be around and I am so thankful for them. I have also spent some time with the staff of Comamos Juntos and other volunteers and they again are all so patient with helping me learn Spanish, showing me the ways of the Nicas, and inviting me to go on trips or hang out with them.

Fresh is for the fruits and many of the foods I have tried here. But mostly the fruits, fruit smoothies and frescas. My host mom literally makes the best frescas in Managua (even though I haven’t tried many others I can tell you they are the best). They are these juices made from exotic fruits that I have never heard of – the fruits are cooked, strained and mashed and blended up and then put in the fridge. The family actually runs a little business selling these and I plan to learn how to make them.

There is a thing about water in Managua where sometimes they shut it off – but the good news for me is that the tap water is safe to drink. Mostly water is constantly on my mind, whether its that I need to drink some, or use some to flush my poo, or dump on my head so I don’t have a heat stroke lol.

Open is for a) my mindset and b) how the spaces in Nicaragua are laid out. My room doesn’t actually have windows, more like grates with a curtain to cover it in the night. But it seems that doors and windows are always open, many restaurants are open aired, the people are open, the windows on the bus are open – its just a very open place!

My mindset going into this was one of openness and its been a challenging first week – many new experiences, frustrations and acclimations – BUT I am feeling excited to continue learning and growing and keeping my mind open. And I have really enjoyed the volunteer work and just watching life happen here.

I have done some volunteering already, received a few social media projects for Comamos Juntos and went to a forest reserve in the mountains last weekend, so it’s been busy! I have a feeling it will continue to be busy, but I don’t have much time and I hope to fill it with more explorations and experiences.

This is very long so stay tuned for my next posts about life in the market and my trip to the cloud forest! With photos! Adios for now 🙂

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Are you ready?

March 20, 2017 No Comments

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I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten this question in the past week – and how many times I have answered with “Um, I don’t really know.. hopefully!”

I mean I have things in my pack, I have started taking my malaria pills, I quit one of my jobs, said goodbye to my loved ones… does that make me ready? How do you really know when you’re ready for something?

Right now life is really good. I am just starting to adjust (and love) having a new roommate in the house, having just one job, and spending time with people that make me feel more alive and a bit freer and a bit less stressed. I am part of a team of employees that are also friends that care about each other, I am part of a family that is supportive and big hearted, and I have people in my life that are excited for me and that I have the honor of missing while I am away.

There is one part of me that is a little sad to leave my lovely little life right now – mostly because I have the anticipation and the fear of not knowing what my experience is going to be like. But the other part of me is so thirsty for this experience.

Something happened to me during my three months in Italy that gave me a zest for new experiences and a confidence to do things alone. I became more comfortable making a fool of myself speaking a language I don’t know. I became good at getting lost and asking questions. I became good at seeing the positive in a challenging situation.

With my various previous travel experiences under my belt, this experience only seems natural. In all reality, six weeks is not that long. You could do anything for six weeks. Things at home, more or less, will stay the same in 6 weeks time.

Whatever this experience may hold for me I welcome the challenges, I am feeling the fear and sitting in my nerves, but I am also ready to embrace a new culture, and dive into relationships and experiences that will give me perspective and change me for the better. I am going there to volunteer, but honestly I see it as a learning experience. I am going as a student, not a rescuer or hero.

A year ago, while I was working at HoneyRock, visiting Comamos Juntos crept its way into my dreams and landed on my bucket list. A week from today, I will have already been to the cloud forest and swam in waterfalls and started doing some volunteer work. Hard to believe that after months and weeks of planning and dreaming, it’s actually here. Funny how a date can sneak up on you like that.

I will be arriving in Managua in t-minus 48 hours. Stay tuned for first experiences and first impressions of Nicaragua in the next week or so!

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Nevertheless

March 12, 2017 1 Comment

Well folks, one week until I am hanging out in Nicaragua, covered in sweat and racking my brain for any Spanish that might still be lying around and prepping for a trip to the jungle. So many thoughts going through my head but first, I’ve been thinking about International Women’s Day and what the significance is for me in my life.

I know I’m a little late, but I have a lot of amazing women in my life. Both of my grandmothers are women that I would be lucky to be anything like. They have faced hardships that I will never understand but yet their attitude towards living is something I have marveled at in both of their lives.

My grandma Mork will always be remembered as a kind woman with quiet strength. My grandma Robertson on the other hand, is a courageous woman with loud strength. Both of these women have set the precedent for me to see what true strength is in the face of adversity and how to have an attitude towards life that is positive and refreshing for those around them.

My mom has also set an amazing example for me – she has raised three children that she did not bear and created a family with my father that is tight knit and genuine. She knows what it is to work hard, but also to let herself relax and as they say, treatyoself. My mama has instilled in me an appreciation for adventure and travel and is one of my favorite people to trot the globe with.

My sisters and girlfriends continually show me what it is to be a woman every day. I watch them grow in their marriages and relationships, grow as a mother, student or friend, and work hard for what they want in this life. I am truly lucky to be surrounded by such inspirational and powerful women.

Last week I went to St. Kate’s for a seminar, which was special to me for multiple reasons. It made me SO excited to be a Katie. It feels very right to be going to this school for my MPH – the values and goals of the university very accurately align with my own. It also inspired me very honestly, to keep going.

The speaker was Annie Griffiths, one of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic. She inspired me in a lot of ways as I assume she inspired most of the people in the room. One quote that I remember writing down was: “Most of the limitations we put on ourselves are fear based.”

I must have wrote it down for a reason – probably because it resonated with me on a lot of levels. I think about the things that I want to do, but I don’t – and then I think about why I am not doing them and the real reason behind my hesitation or staying in the background.

Overcoming fear is one of the hardest things but also one of the most satisfying things. Think about how you feel when you succeed at something you were scared to do! Maybe, probably, one of the best, most empowering feelings in the world. The flip side isn’t so fun but also how good does it feel to know you at least tried?

Annie Griffiths also talked about the ripple effect of helping each other. If you help one person, they will go on to help others and countless people will be helped. I want to keep working to overcome my fears because hopefully by being brave, I can help someone else be brave. By being vulnerable and exposed, I am inviting someone to come in and help me when I need it the most so I will know how to help the next person.

I really love being comfortable. Sitting at home on my couch with my cat and some peanut butter cups, but who or what will change if I keep sitting here? I think of all the women in my life who inspire me because nevertheless, they persisted.

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Transitions

March 1, 2017 No Comments

This week I had my last day at my first in-the-city-big-girl-job-that-isn’t-camp job. Which means I leave for Nicaragua three weeks from today and I am freaking out a little bit.

Since my life seems to be continuously going through transitions, I have been thinking about what prompts us to change. What are the reasons for moving on, or moving up or moving out?
… unhappiness?
… the search for satisfaction?
… thirst for adventure?
… boredom?
… drive to be better?

It would be easy to overlook all of the underlying reasons for change, and just say its time for a change – but I can say with some confidence that any individual in question is usually searching for something. A search for passion, for yourself, for adventure, for love. The term “finding yourself” isn’t far from the truth.

So why can’t we find ourselves in the normal day to day of living? Why does there need to be change or transition to ‘find ourselves’?

In my very humble opinion, the whole of life is about finding ourselves, challenging ourselves and growing into ourselves. Who says you can’t find new passions at 80? From previous experience going abroad and living in community and experiencing many cultures and living situations – as well as living and working and doing normal daily and weekly routines that have become my life – each one has shaped me into who I am and how I view the world.

My life would be very wonderful and full without these experiences, but I truly believe each one of my experiences have helped me to fully be who I am. They have helped me to learn to listen to my gut and to be my own fish instead of swimming mindlessly along with what society tells me I should do.

Change helps us to have perspective on life. Whether it’s a permanent change like moving across the country, getting married, or (like me) just a quick 2 month jaunt to a foreign country – it’s bound to have some impact on how we interact with the world. Perspective allows us to see things from both sides of the fence. Sitting on the top – one side is green and blooming, the other side is brown and gross. Even though the top of the fence isn’t great, you can see that things could be better – but they could also be worse.

I can’t say for sure what all my reasons for jetting off to Nicaragua are, but I do know that I am searching for new perspective. I am searching for a new experience that will grow me and teach me. I have fallen in love with experiencing things both fun and uncomfortable and learning lessons that are challenging but freeing.

Three weeks baby. Three weeks.