viernes, 26 de febrero de 2010

Nicaragua's dark side OR the housewife with the university degree

During the last days I've been truly busy: I finished the analysis of the research I’ve been doing since I came to Nicaragua; I started the validation of those results (which means verifying if the people I interviewed agree with my conclusions) and I’ve been organising an event for 100 people which will take place next Thursday, exactly 20 hours before my flight departs.

But all this situations are peanuts compared to what I experienced this week, it was this year’s biggest disappointment: the wonderful picture I had of Nicaragua quickly vanished.
It all started at a Karaoke-bar in Estelí. It was the perfect night, I sang a norteña love-song (a norteña is a folksong from Mexico’s northwest and it's played in ¾, like a fast waltz; the common instruments are a guitar, an accordion and a bass, but if you get lucky you will also hear drums and a tuba).

Just after singing my first song, a guy in our group showed me his wife and told me how lucky he was to have such a good and beautiful woman as life-companion (the Latin-American concept of beauty often means to have pale skin and blond or blond-dyed hair). I agreed with him just to be nice, but I personally don’t think his wife is attractive at all.

The things got worst when he asked me if Austrian girls cooked well. I immediately knew where his conversation was heading to, and answered by telling him that in central Europe many educated couples (with higher education) had a simple, but useful housekeeping deal: the first to get home was the one cooking. This guy (who have just turned into a macho-beast to my eyes)laughed out loud at my comment and told me “Oscar, that shit doesn’t work down here, Nicaraguan women always cook, it doesn’t matter if they went to university or not, they all cook for their men and only party with their husbands. If their men don't want to go out with them during the weekend, they simply stay home...alone”.

He even tried to impress me by telling that sometimes he is physically harsh to his wife, but he made it clear that he “doesn’t punch her in the face”. He also told me Nicaraguan women liked oppression and he even tried to convince me that by being cruel with them, women could fell in love with you.

This was the worst conversation of my entire life. He later offered me to keep on partying at his place, but with his mistresses.

I quickly finished our conversation by asking him if he would like his own daughter to be hit by her husband; this stupid macho was of course not prepared to think about such a situation. I left immediately and sang my second song the Spanish hit “Colgando en tus manos”.

The following day I met a beautiful 19 year old girl who studies business administration but stays home during the weekends because her father doesn’t allow her to go out late (or even having a boyfriend). He says she has to finish University first. If this is not awkward enough, she irons his father’s clothes for the week every Sunday.

By thinking about this weird situation, I came to my own conclusions: her father wants a well prepared and responsible daughter, but what he may not know is that he’s making a housewife out of his daughter, but a housewife with a university degree on business administration.

P.S. These were only two isolated experiences I've had in Nicaragua and I truly hope this situations are not common among husband/wife fathers/daughters, but if it is, I sincerely hope this changes soon...

viernes, 19 de febrero de 2010

Revolutionary song

It’s midnight and I just came back home. I went out for a drink with José Lorenzo, he is the former director of the SOS Village in Managua and since 2002 he works at the national office of SOS Nicaragua as the coordinator for all issues regarding education and care of children in all the Nicaraguan villages. We work in the same office.

Tonight we first went to the “Maria Bonita”, a restaurant which resembles a Mexican Patio. We sat outside and enjoyed the incredible weather in Managua; at the moment it reminds me of a September night in Chihuahua, but it also feels like a May afternoon in Barcelona or Vienna, or a warm evening in August in Innsbruck. To be more precise: 24°C, which is for me, the best weather that one can experience after sunset.
After drinking a Michelada and having loads of nachos with pico de gallo (fresh tomatoes, onions and jalapeños with lime juice and coriander), we headed up to “El Güegüense” (Yes, we have umlauts in Spanish!).
At the Güegüene (pronounced wue wuense) we had two grilled sweet corn and banana chips topped with beans and fried cheese. By the way, the corn tasted like lamb, surely because it was grilled along with lamb-chops. This situation led me to the following question: Is grilled corn still vegan if it tastes like lamb? If yes, this is good news for veggies or vegans who miss meat. For those of you who have finally realised that tofu sucks, have lamb-flavoured corn!

While we ate, there was band playing Nicaraguan folk music, by hearing to it, I realised how strong the link is between Nicaraguan songwriter music from the 70’s and Mexican popular songs from the 1920’s. Nicaragua has experienced one of the longest and bloodiest dictatorships in Latin-America, and after the dictator fled to Miami in 1979, Mr. Ronald Reagan financed a civil war which lasted until the end of the 80’s.
Listening to the music tonight recalled me of an important part of Mexican Folk-music. Nicaraguans sing with their hearts to their nation, revolution and the rifles they carried on in the 70’s. We Mexicans sing also revolution-songs, but they differentiate from the Nicaraguan ones because they are not always focused on the battlefield.

In Nicaragua and Mexico songs written during war times are very popular and people sing them when happy, drunk of sad. However, I have the feeling that Nicaraguans are more loyal and maintain their political ideology in the songs; on the other hand, we Mexicans love to sing revolutionary songs, but some of these songs are about a lost love (La Adelita) or about a women smoking a joint to stay strong when loading rifles (La Cucaracha).

If you want to experience a genuine Mexican revolutionary song hear “El son de la negra”, this song embraces the revolutionary ideals perfectly. It includes a passive start which slowly accelerates and evolves into the search of a better future for all mankind. “El son de la negra” is a song entirely based on a locomotive - industrialisation, hope, wealth. Everything from its rhythm to its structure and melody clearly sounds like a train. Got curious? Search it in youtube!

sábado, 13 de febrero de 2010

The final countdown

Towards the end of the 80’s, a Chinese restaurant called Yang Tse caused furore in Chihuahua; the reason for this “uproar” was a simple architectural idea: A small pool was built around the restaurant, a pool in which Koi fish lived (Koi are the typical orange fish we know from Chinese or Japanese films or restaurants).
Even though I was only 7 or 8 when the Yang Tse opened, I clearly remember ordering my food as quick as I could just to run outside the restaurant and see the fish with Carla, my cousin and childhood sidekick.
In that restaurant my sister always had Cantonese chicken wings (fried with ginger and soy sauce) which she loved dipping in a red sweet-sour sauce.

The Yang Tse, as many Chihuahuan Restaurants in the 80’s and 90’s, offered live music on Sundays, this meant a pianist playing cover songs from 1 until 4 p.m.
One Sunday, the whole Castro family (the maternal fraction of my extended family) went there to have lunch, and while eating, my granny (mamá Bertha) asked me to deliver a message to the pianist: He should play “Ballade pour Adeline”, this is the oldest memory I have from that song.

I love picturing these moments; situations in which the best elements in one's life are included: People I love, places which no longer exist and food. Yes, I adore nostalgia, maybe that’s one of the reasons I no longer live in Mexico, to love it and recall it as an old, romantic memory.

In the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío, I saw the man who sold 22 million copies of "Adeline"; the concert was amazing, although I have to admit that at the beginning I was slightly disappointed when I saw Mr Clayderman on stage playing a black piano wearing black trousers and a blue blazer; however, my frustration vanished instantaneously when I hear the magnificent playback coming out of the speakers. Imagine my situation: I was sitting with my mom in one of Latin America’s best theatres (the acoustic elements are German/Austrian). We were on the 12th row, the curtains opened as esoteric tones were played, synthesizers, wind instruments and harps. Then, the best came: a deep male English voice announced that Richard Clayderman was going to play variations of Titanic. The entire theatre was on seventh heaven.

Through the entire concert there were several incredible moments, all of them unforgettable: He performed a disco version of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (only comparable to the one featured in Family Guy, know that one?), he also played a medley of “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, “Love story” and “Chariots of fire”. If we exclude the best piece of that evening “Ballade pour Adeline”, the evening’s crown was Ricky Martin’s “Living la vida loca”.

People, believe Wikipedia! Richard Clayderman IS the most important pop pianist alive. The Rolling Stones did creative and good stuff, but 50 years ago, however they are still important, they are a “living” legend and they have influenced more than one generation with their music; Richard Clayderman did a similar thing with the perfect blend of pop-music-covers and kitsch arrangements all this on a grand piano. Richard Clayderman rocks.

My mom’s visit lasted only a week, and it went by very fast, I wish she could have stayed longer, but I’m pleased she came; it was great having her and Helena as guests. I am already looking forward to see the entire family in eight weeks, at Tita’s wedding in April.

About my work? Yesterday I had one of my last project presentations, I was well prepared and the presentation was good received. From now on, the countdown to leave Nicaragua has started, in less than four weeks I will be back in Innsbruck.

P.S. I will upload videos and pics from the concert this summer!

jueves, 4 de febrero de 2010

a summary of my two lifes

Currently, my life in Managua consists of mainly two things: Interviewing people and cooking with the children from the SOS village. The first one is the reason I came to Managua; the second is an activity I choose because of a number reasons: I love cooking; I love kids; and the most important one: I want to be part of the SOS Village. I prefer to be called by my name rather than being the Mexican guy who lives at the guest house.
One of the best things I’ve experienced at the village is when a child or an SOS aunt or walks by and say ¡Hola!

On weekdays after work I often play and cook with the children and each night, Felicia, the village director, and I talk for hours about the funny, the weird and the difficult things from each other's work.

In Managua I spend my time either at the office, chatting with Felicia or playing/cooking with children; while in Innsbruck I live a completely different life: After work I go home, cook and dine with Marina (my flatmate) and one or two of our usual dinner guests (Hannes, Verena or Isabella). At night I work a while on the los gurkos activities, which is mainly organizing electro-pop gigs and a yearly short-film festival. I also attend several concerts, about 2 or 3 a week; actually, I don’t care much about the music style as long as it’s good, but I have to say that I can’t stand salsa and funky jazz, not to mention music involving the most hippie instrument of all time: didgeridoo.

In Innsbruck I am more involved in cultural activities and have a considerable social network, but in Managua I live a more quiet life, which I truly enjoy. I love the evenings on the porch, the nights zapping on cable-TV (I don’t have a TV in Innsbruck) and the fact that I have ninety cheeky and funny neighbours.

My calm lifestyle will change within the next 24 hours: My mom is coming along with two friends and will stay for a week. It may sound awkward, but I really enjoy being with her; it is surely different as when I’m with Tita and Tomás, but it’s still cool. The best part of her visit will be Richard Clayderman’s concert this Saturday. I can’t wait to see his half-long blond hair waiving besides the red roses over his piano...

…I just received a phone call from a not-identified number and they hang up before saying anything. I hope that was no warning call from the jealous boyfriend. Today I saw Ericka, she was in the village and I said “hello” to her, maybe this triggered the macho-beast inside his fiancee…or are they already married?

P.S. Noticed the new pic? That's me with my best friend under 5, Martin and two other guys from the village in Estelí