Around the World with Dartmouth Soccer: Melisa Krnjaic, Nicaragua

2010 Around the World Main Page

Throughout the winter term, Dartmouth women's soccer players will be sending in updates from their travels around the globe. Team members are currently studying and volunteering abroad in a variety of countries thanks to the college's four-quarter Dartmouth plan system.

Melisa Krnjaic (Washington, D.C.), JR, B
Granada, Nicaragua - Foreign Service

Junior Melisa Krnjaic is following in the footsteps of her teammates by spending the winter term volunteering for Soccer Without Borders in Granada, Nicaragua. The program in Granada was founded by assistant coach Mary McVeigh '03 and former players Becky Poskin '09, Ali Hubbard '10 and Myra Sack '10 spent last winter there as the program's first full-time volunteers.

Krnjaic shared some of her early experiences with a Soccer Without Borders Blog:

"I must admit, its nice to finally have the time to sit down and collect my thoughts on everything I've been doing down here. It has been such a whirlwind experience so far that I've barely had time to reflect on everything I've seen and done since arriving in Nicaragua. And although I've been instructed by Mary not to give a play by play of last week's TEAM camp, it might be hard to keep my thoughts concise because literally everything from the past week was memorable. Basically, I want to start out by saying that Soccer Without Borders or FUTBOL SIN FRONTERAS as its called here is THE MOST INCREDIBLE organization EVER and I'm in constant awe and admiration about everything that has been organized down here.

Granada is incredible and I seriously feel like being here for even just a week has changed my perspective on so many things. The barrio where I live is basically this unpaved and really uneven dirt road scattered with rocks and weeds and trash that's lined with shack like houses that are half open-air, half covered by tin roofs, some of them have linoleum tile floors, some are cement, and others are dirt. Even though the living situation is completely different from anything I've ever experienced its comfortable and makes me realize that there are so many extravagancies to living in the US which are completely unnecessary.

It's also nice to constantly be surrounded by family, right now I'm living with my host family: my abuela, Dona Leticia, her daughter, Monica, her son Tito and his wife and their three kids: Carlos, Ariana, and Pedro. Ariana spends her days playing jacks on the stoop and practicing for her first communion, which is next Sunday and Pedro, who is about 4 just likes to cause trouble. Today he actually climbed in the sink while I was washing my laundry and started washing his pajamas….while wearing them. I think its safe to say I'm slowly but surely mastering the art of doing my laundry by hand but I still have to learn the ins and out of Nicaraguan cooking, which I think will come next on the list of things to learn with my familia. I've witnessed the art of Monica and Dona Leticia making Nacatamales, and gallo pinto, but still have yet to try making them for myself. Needless to say I feel right at home with my nueva familia and I called my mom last week only to inform her that I actually have a new madre that is taking excellent care of me.

Last week when we ran camp we would have practices in the morning and activities in the afternoon. I don't think I can pinpoint a specific morning practice that stands out in my mind because everyday was so fun. The kids arrive every morning excited to play and learn and are all constantly smiling, hanging on my arms, and laughing. Their energy, excitement, and happiness are contagious and turn even the simplest of soccer drills into something fun and entertaining. Practices would then be followed by probably one of my favorite things in life, EATING. Everyday we go to the market to buy lunch and pay 25 córdobas (aka $1.25) for the biggest meal you've ever had in your life. Every meal consists of gallo pinto (RICE AND BEANS….SO GOOD), fried plantains, salad, and something from a chicken. I kid you not, I eat this for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner but I have yet to get sick of it so that's probably a good sign.

I think my favorite afternoon session of the week was the first day when we did the AMAZING RACE. Some might claim that I only liked this activity because my team won, but I would like to claim otherwise. The Race, which was basically a scavenger hunt, consisted of 5 teams each led by 2 volunteers that were given a list of things within Granada to take pictures with. For example, each group needed a picture by a national symbol of Nicaragua (the flag that is prominently displayed in the central square), an old American tourist, someone in a red shirt, someone drinking a fresco (juice in a bag), and a blue coche (a horse drawn carriage)….to name a few. While each team was evaluated by their quality of pictures, arrival time back at the oficina and other bonus points, I think what really helped my team to victory was the picture where you got an a point for each person you could fit on a bicycle. While it is common to see 2 people to a bicycle riding around here, my group was able to fit 9 people on a single bike which, I'm guessing was the deciding factor in the final tally. Then we play pickup everyday at 4 on a field down the street in the barrio which is basically this brown dirt field with 2 goalposts that we'd end up playing with up to 15 vs. 15 on depending on the turnout.

Since the start of this week we've had our first regular week practice where I ran the juggling station by myself and had to instruct and demonstrate to all of the kids what we were going to be doing in Spanish sooooooo, needless my Spanish has been forced to get so much better already! While it's fine communicating with the kids, I still have trouble keeping up with the pace and vocabulary of the youth leaders (the Nicaraguans my age) that I hang out with. Kay and Zoe mentioned taking Spanish classes while here which I definately think I'm going to look into so that I'll have a better idea of what's going on all the time and hopefully be able to tell when people are making fun of me and maybe even be able to think of a comeback….we shall see. Last night was my first Noche de Niñas where we split the group into grandes and pequeñas and each did a separate activity. I was with Kay and Cindy with the pequeñas and Kay led all of us through a meditation/visualization exercise where we listened to soothing music and visualized ourselves growing up, going to school, playing soccer, and thought of our goals for the next year. We deemed the exercise a success after 2 kids fell asleep (Kay's alternate agenda for the session) and the others shared what they had seen while visualizing. It's really cool being involved in the planning and organization of each practice and session in the office and it's fun to compare and exchange different ideas and activities with Kay, Zoey, Dani, and the Nicaraguan coaches.

Until next time…..ADIOS!

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