Talents I´ve learned and some I have yet to conquer

The end of the school year is quickly approaching and I’m preparing myself for the “summer” vacation. Only a month left of classes and then it’ll be a lot of time for me to spend with Rupert, maybe I’ll train her to do some pretty awesome tricks. The weather is getting chilly here, although not comparable to the Midwestern winters I’m cold enough to wear a fleece – and you’re probably rolling your eyes because it’s a low in the 50s or 60s. It’s orange season; so instead of an apple for the teacher, my students have been giving me enough oranges that my vitamin C levels are sufficient. I do like oranges, but I’m waiting for mangos and avocados to come back into season.

My 6^th grade students are learning to sing “Imagine” by John Lennon in English and Spanish for their graduation. I’m very excited because it’s coming along very well. They should be prepared for their first year in high school, with a little advantage of this year of English.

I’m already dreaming about the Thanksgiving food that I’ll be missing again. I’m really craving pumpkin anything right now; pie, muffin, latte. I’m torturing myself, which is leading to my compulsive eating disorder. I recently received a couple of packages from my Grandma (thank you so much!) and they had some little snacks. Note: I normally share everything; I even brought back with me nearly 10 pounds of candy to share with my students, neighbors, anyone who comes to my house. But, over time I’ve missed things from home more and more, and noticed that they like the candy, but don’t appreciate it like I do. Obviously, they’re going to like it, the candy here sucks…it is all hard candy filled with gum, and it’s not good. I love it and it brings me happiness; therefore, I hide it. It’s not that I’m greedy, but if they see it, then I have to give it to them and then they tell their friends and then it’s gone. So I hid the snacks that I got in the packages and then ate it until it was gone. For example, one day all I ate was Goldfish and Starbursts; then the next day, cashews and Goldfish and on and on until my supplies were depleted. Hindsight is 20/20, I probably shouldn’t have done that, I could have shown some self-discipline and spread it out a bit more maybe even shared a little, but will I repeat this with my next shipment….probably! Hey, at least it’s junk food and not drugs that I’m talking about. And, can you blame me?! My diet pretty much consists of rice, beans and tortilla.

Finally, this year has gone by so quickly I can hardly believe it. I’ve learned a lot and considering how fast it’s gone by I’ve created a list of some things I still need to accomplish or not….

Talents that I’ve learned during my year:

• Cooking. I can make arroz, the Nicaraguan way; gallo pinto, tajadas, maduros, chilero…
• Speaking Spanish – much better than when I arrived, but still quite a few errors are made
• Learning to listen and tell when the bus is coming before seeing it
• Hand washing my clothes
• Using a machete
• Making arts and crafts from trash
• Slowing down my life and accepting a lot of down time to lay in my hammock
• Tasting the difference between Pepsi and Coca Cola and preferring Coca Cola
• Drinking Tona, (beer)

Traits of Nicaraguans I have yet to learn:

• Speaking Spanish perfectly
• Saying “tuani” (cool) and having the conversation continue without laughter
• Predicting the arrival of rain with near 100% accuracy
• Whistling and creating a system of call and response whistles with my friends and family
• “Painting” my face with more makeup than I would wear in a whole year
• Dancing (my Norwegian ancestry didn’t really help with the dance/rhythm department)
• Being able to eat rice, beans, tortilla and cuajada daily without complaining
• Finding rodents and reptiles in/around my house without fear/screaming/crying
• Drinking Rojita (soda)

Obviously, there’s more, but these are the easiest to express into words and some of the least pressing matters to deal with.

It´s true, you have a really long neck?!?

Being a gringa in the Nicaland, is like living in a fishbowl or under a microscope (whichever metaphor you prefer) I´ve gotten pretty used to it. People always know where I´ve been and at times even where I´m going before I know; but every now and then I get a curve ball, like when I went to plan with one of my teachers. I go over there every week to plan and her grandkids are always there and wanting to tell me about there day and play. I was chatting with Sol, the 4 year old, asking about her day in preschool, etc and out of the blue she says, It´s true, you really do have a long neck.....PAUSE....I guess thank you. Yes, I´m a giant compared to everyone else here and I know that, but I didn´t realize that my neck was resembling a giraffe´s as well. And it also made me wonder what else are they saying about me? Are my ears too big too? Kids do say what they want to say, but she said it like before she was in disbelief, but now after observation it´s true!

That´s my only funny antecdote for this entry....but here´s what´s going on in my life:

I recently gave a charla to the new group of trainees and it felt kind of weird. I couldn´t believe that I´ve been in site for a year already and now am giving advice to the new volunteers when most of the time I still don´t quite know what I´m doing myself. And during this whole time I was in and out of the PC office and seeing all the volunteers that are preparing to leave as their 2 years comes to an end and I was able to really visualize the life cycle of a PCV and it made me anxious for my last year to finish up so that I could share the joy of those that are leaving. It wasn´t that long ago I was in training and hopefully not much longer and I´ll be signing my papers to go home. 

The life cycle of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

1) Super long application process

2) Training for 3 months

3) Volunteer for 2 years

4) Close of service and you´re free!

Whiile in Managua for the charla I was able to indulge in American food, wireless internet, air conditioning, comfortable bed and pillow and it was wonderful, but like always it makes coming home and eating rice and beans and sleeping under a mosquito net that much harder.

Things are going well here. Classes are going to be finishing up in the next couple of months and I´m trying to prepare some activities to take place during the vacations so that I don´t die of boredom. I want to have some English classes and some Environmental activities.

First World vs. Third World Problems

 I recently had my mid-service doctor and dentist appointments. I don’t mind doctors or dentists but I dread going to Managua. Again just when I’m thinking that I can handle anything Nicaragua throws at me, the gods decide to throw me a curve ball (I’m not sure if it’s in spite or just to keep me on my toes). As I was waiting for the bus on Monday morning, I immediately regretted my decision to schedule my appointment for a Monday…it’s a bad travel day because everyone is traveling. I ended up hopping on a packed bus in which I was lucky enough to stand for the whole three hour trip on a terrible excuse for a road. Within the first ten minutes I almost fell and another passenger reached his arms out (instinctively, kind of like when you slam on the brakes and reach your arm out to protect your front seat passenger). Here comes the curve ball, there was a guy who was drunk or hung over and roaming around the cramped aisles even though he wasn’t getting off anytime soon. Luckily I have this magnet that attracts freaks like this and he stood by me; as he stood way too close for my comfort levels and not sure but seemed like he was trying to reach into my pocket and steal the ten cords I had. I kept my eyes on him and then he starts mumbling sweet nothings, which I hate and then kissed my arm that was grasping onto the handrail. Why?!?! I’m a good foot taller than the guy and as long as no weapons are involved I felt very confident that I could kick his ass. But instead of causing a scene I gently pushed him away and told him not to touch me. He got off shortly after that and I was able to successfully reach Managua without any more problems.

1^st World – Most people drive their personal cars and don’t need to deal with public transportation; and if they do elect to participate in public transportation the buses are not old school buses in danger of breaking down at any moment, not ever crammed with so many people you’re on the verge of a panic attack and can usually sit in your own solitude while listening to an Ipod or reading.

3^rd World – You rely on the buses and if you miss the bus there’s not another one coming in 5 minutes, you’ll be waiting much longer. You’re constantly alert of your belongings and the people around you, and you’re getting a great workout while you grasp the handrail and hope your core muscles will support you while the bus is launched over pot holes the size of small lakes and going way too fast around those curves.

I had my doctor’s appointment and all is well. I’m losing weight but nothing too drastic. I had my dentist appointment and surprise! I’ve got a cavity. I’m not surprised with the extreme amount of sugar and soda that I’m consuming here which is way higher than my normal US consumption rates. My appointments ran long and I had to stay in Managua because I couldn’t catch any more buses for the day and my cell was dead. I don’t mind staying in Managua – I get to sleep in a comfortable bed, eat food that doesn’t include rice or beans, take a hot shower and watch cable TV; but I don’t like staying when I’m not prepared. I didn’t think it was a possibility that I would stay, so I didn’t bring anything, toothbrush, change of clothes, nothing. So it’s not really that enjoyable to shower and then put on the same dirty clothes and then sleep in those clothes too. My clothes did not smell good the next day and I felt sorry for the woman I sat next to on the bus, Sorry! I was lucky enough to sit, but I took that worst bus ever…looking at it I’m thinking please let me arrive safely; I arrived safely but after six or seven stops where they had to fix or pretend to fix various mechanical problems.

1^st World – People’s response to my weight loss is “Wow! That’s great!” “You’re getting so skinny,” etc. It’s super interesting to me because we have an over abundance of food available to us each day and we’re overly obsessed with body image and being skinny or muscular to be beautiful.

3^rd World – People are telling me that I’m getting too skinny and need to eat more. People are actually inviting me to eat at their houses because they don’t think I’m eating enough. (P.S. I’m eating, but apparently rice and beans are a good diet if you’re looking to lose weight). Some people don’t have enough food to feed their families or themselves, therefore in my opinion, it seems that if you have money you show that by being a little bigger to show that you’re eating and that you have the money to buy food. Here and in other countries that I’ve visited big is beautiful; they want me to be hermosa not flacita.

            There are many more differences between the problems 1^st world societies face and 3^rd world societies face, but these were experiences that I recently had and reflected over and find very interesting.

Not my prince charming

I apologize for my lack of updates, but I would rather post funny antecdotes than bore you with my mundane tasks in life.
Rupert is getting bigger by the day and is a terror. It´s a good thing she´s cute because there have been moments where I would like to kill her. She´s no longer allowed to be indoors unsupervised because she´s destroyed 2 pairs of flip flops, pulled the tablecloth off the table along with my dishes, pots, pans, etc, somehow got into her food which was on the kitchen table (about waist high) and just general destruction of everything.
My wish of living in a rodent free house has been crushed; but the score is Lindsey 2, mice, not rats 0. I had one mouse living under my refridgerator. I´m not sure how long he was there for, but for a decent amount of time judging by the stock of dog food he had hidden. He was a bit mysterious and difficult to catch. After chasing him around the house, while screaming of course he would literally disappear into thin air. I was not alone, my friend who was wielding a machete (yes a machete) to kill a mouse can vouch for the witch mouse.   He luckily fled the house but was unlucky and lucky for me to be pummeled my a rock and killed instantly. The other mouse, I hope is burning in hell, was living in my clothes. One morning I was rummaging through trying to find the least stretched out and best smelling shirt when he scurried out, nearly up my arm causing a near heart attack for me. Again, he luckily fled the house through the many open doors and crevices and was later found dead near my backdoor. I´m hoping that those are the only unwanted visitors that enter my home and if more trepass they should be warned of their fateful future.
Drum roll please.....
This is the story you are all waiting for. I sleep under a mosquito net to prevent such diseases as malaria and dengue from infecting me, but also it´s my shield of armour, without it I don´t know if I would every sleep soundly. Unfortunately, it´s failed me. I was peacefully sleeping when something small and moist fell unto my lips. Of course, I shrieked and busted out my cell to give what little light it can provide to find the culprit. It took quite a bit of frantic searching but I found the little guy, it was a small tree frog. Luckily, it wasn´t poisonous and I didn´t obtain any warts from him; but nor was he my prince charming. I´ve literally kissed one frog, hopefully my only and it didn´t turn out like the fairy tales. DAMN! I guess that´s why Maroon 5 sings that fairy tales are full of shit...that´s right I was in the US and can make references to pop culture, probably not for much longer but for now I can.

Back in Nicaragua a year older and a little weirder

It was so nice having that little vacation time to see family and friends and to eat foods other than rice and beans! Thank you to everyone for everything.

I’m finally caught up on popular culture, news, TV, music and movies. I am satisfied to have watched the season of Glee that I missed. I’ve learned the new songs that are overplayed on all mainstream radio stations. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to stop singing “Call Me Maybe” since I’ve heard it and sadly downloaded it into my iTunes! It’s quite catchy! Maybe I’ll add to YouTube collections of the video and do a Nicaraguan version…

Coming back wasn’t too tough of a readjustment. Although there are those days when I wish I could just hop in a car and drive to the store, or eat those comfort foods from home, or watch TV. Rupert, my puppy is growing more and more each day and is quite the biter *I’ve got the battle wounds to prove it; my flip flops too are scarred by her little teeth.

The best surprise was I recently celebrated my birthday, and the students at one of my schools planned a party. I thought something was a little fishy when almost every student asked me how old I was and then what’s my birthday. At recess, after I had taught my classes they all came together, sang to me the longest version of happy birthday I’ve every heard, gave me a cake and perfume. It was really sweet! That was on Wednesday. On Friday, my actual birthday, the occasion was announced on the radio and lots of people wished me felicidades.

That’s all the positives of turning 25, the downside is according to Nicaraguan standards I’m an old maid. The questions haven’t stopped since I arrived but now with another year under my belt the frequency has increased. When am I going to have babies? Why don’t I have one now!?! Do I want kids? My response is “yes I want kids eventually, but not now” but that just isn’t acceptable to most people. In their eyes, I should have at least a husband and one child by now and I have neither…and to top it off I live alone…WHAT?!? And I take Rupert on walks, use a leash, pet her and she sleeps inside. I’m a true freak to the people observing me in my town.

Home Again, Home Again

That's right...the countdown has ended and I've safely made it back to my home state. I really love you folks here at home because I went through a lot to get here. First of all, I woke up at 4 am to take a bus at 5 am to Managua. I stood on the side of the highway and watched the sunrise while I waited, waited and waited until the bus finally arrived at 6 am. I made it to the airport, dodging four lanes of traffic with my huge suitcase to go from the bus stop to the airport. I was already tired and hungry and then I was met by an uncooperative employee who didn't want to check in my luggage because I was 5 minutes early...I tell ya. But, all was well and I safely arrived in Houston, that's where the trouble began. The line for customs was about a mile long, no exaggeration and only three windows were open to help people. I only had an hour to get through and make it to my connecting flight, so it's no surprise that I missed it. After choosing the wrong line to stand in (the slowest one) and seeing people that were behind me pass through before, just about brought me to tears. Of course, I was thinking worst case scenarios, I'd be stuck there overnight and it would throw a wrench into all of my plans; but the nice lady at the ticketing counter booked me a flight an hour later, but when I saw the line for security my heart sank just a little bit. I didn't think I would make it through, but someone must have been praying for me because I made it through in the nick of time and even better there was a bit of delay, so I had time to eat something, the first thing for the day because I only have Nicaraguan cordobas - FYI they don't work in the US. Finally, I touched down in Chicago and practically ran to baggage claim. As I was approaching I saw a woman that looked like my mom, but was too blonde to  be true, wrong! It was her - I almost didn't recognize her. We picked up my bag and drove for home.
And that's my story. I'll be zipping about the US, visiting family and friends; eating anything that isn't rice and/or beans; enjoying the joys of home that I don't quite get in my Nicaraguan home.
A bit of an update on the Nicaraguan home front:
My dear, dear friend and fellow volunteer decided to leave early and ditch me to survive alone; but as a consolation she gave me her puppy. It's a girl! and her name is Rupert, I like to call her Rue. She's adorable and I've fallen in love with her, except when she poops and pees in the house and bites me. I've had her for two weeks and was sad to leave her behind and am really trusting that they're taking good care of her back in Nicaragua. I bought her a collar and leash, I was so excited to have a dog to go walking with, but Rue had other thoughts. I saddled her up and she dug her paws into the ground and refused to move. I tried again the next day, we were able to walk through the house to my front yard before she lost interest again. Finally, third time is a charm, we successfully walked up and down my street. Little by little, we'll get there.
I feel like I'm slowly becoming a Nicaraguan housewife minus the husband part and with a dog as my child. My days are becoming more and more routine. I have acquired an internal alarm clock which is set for about 5 am and Rue has the same one. I have my classes, I clean the house about ten times a day due to Rue, I sort beans (picking out stones, bad beans), I cook, I wash clothes if there's an ounce of sunshine (lately it's been lots and lots of rain and my laundry basket is quite full, a nice little treat for when I return), and I visit neighbors to watch my telenovelas and go to bed pretty consistently around 9 pm.
Other than my new addition of Rue I don't really have anything exciting to share. I'm glad to be home and to blend in a little more with the crowd and to not feel like a giant in a sea of munchkins. Hopefully I won't lose all of my Spanish skills, and right now I'm rocking a pretty awesome Spanglish dialect when chatting about everything. Well, I've got places to go and people to see, my next update will be when I'm back in Nicaragua. Adios!

Not the Next Top Chef, Not Even Close

I finally caved and bought my own Nica food supplies (rice, beans, tortilla, oil and salt). Up until now I’ve been eating at other people’s homes or cooking myself a diet of eggs, oatmeal, sandwiches and other low maintenance items.

I was really proud of myself. I spent the day picking at beans and throwing out the bad ones, washing rice, and chopping tomatoes, onions, and chiltoma (similar to green pepper). Of course, I had observers watching my every move and telling me I wasn’t chopping small enough or not big enough. But the big faux pas was how I prepared my rice. Instead of frying my rice for 15 minutes and then adding a little water every 5 minutes until it’s ready like everyone does here, I just boiled the rice – the way I’m accustomed to preparing rice. With the reactions from my observers you would have thought I killed someone and more observers were called into see what I was doing. Well, thankfully I didn’t ruin it and proved them wrong when they tried it and what?!? Enjoyed it! Now they’re actually asking me to teach them how to make MY rice. HAHA GLORY!

I was quite proud of myself, thinking back I probably should have taken a picture to mark this momentous occasion. Now before you all stop reading this because you can’t handle any more of my extreme bragging; I’ll humble myself a bit and share with you my day from hell.

The next morning I used the leftovers to make the infamous, gallo pinto. It tasted fine and all was well. I was getting ready to go to class and was suddenly overcome by extreme nausea….that’s right I had food poisoning and what’s worse is I gave it to myself! I spent the entire morning vomiting and pretty much wanted to die. All of this occurred within 30 minutes of eating the gallo pinto. At 9AM it started and after I felt a bit better at around 1PM I tried to eat some crackers and after 30 minutes passed I was vomiting again.

I’m a bit guy shy of making my own food again, and so are my neighbors because I was invited to lunch with one family today. No worries though, I’ve discovered the culprit was the rice and from now on I’m only going to make enough for the meal and toss the rest. I never want to experience the vomit fest again, and won’t be taking any risks with rice.

In other news, only 15 days until I’m in the USA! I will be avoiding rice there as well….unless it’s with sushi!

Nothing too exciting in my life, but a few updates.
I planted some watermelon in my gravel pit of a backyard and surprisingly I´ve got some luck! All of the seeds sprouted and they are about 6 inches tall-long, I´m hoping that nothing destroys them before I can enjoy the fruit. I have only 2 plants of chiltoma growing after some chickens came through and destroyed the rest of the sprouts. I planted some flower seeds to try and bring some color and beauty to my yard, but unfortunately they haven´t done so well....I tried.
My neighbor has two dogs that both have puppies, so they have 10 puppies in total. I´ve fallen in love with one and I keep talking to Normancito, my 3 year old neighbor who often comes wandering into my house barefoot and sometimes only in his underwear. I´ve been hinting that I want to keep the little puppy and he´s caught on to my not so subtle hints, so much so that he refers to the puppy as mine and sometimes carries it into my house and tells me to keep it (which I can´t because it is only a few weeks old). Hopefully all will work out and I´ll get to keep the fellow.
Funny little story: the other day I was showering, I was all covered in soap when suddenly no more water! I had to walk back to my house all covered in soap to retrieve my gallon of water to rinse with, I´m sure I was a sight to see.
Sorry I don´t have more to say....only 30 days until I´m home for a visit.

The Ups and Downs of PC Life

Obviously life isn't all care bears and rainbows and the last couple of weeks I've had some difficulties. I don't think I'm suffering hormonal problems, but the past couple of weeks my tear ducts have been on overdrive. I think that I'm more than ready to see all you folks at home and am a bit homesick, and without classes for the last couple of weeks I had nothing to keep me busy. I cried for various reasons, for example one day I watched My Girl and I was a complete mess - Why did Thomas J have to step on that bee hive? Other times I've been looking at my photo wall and wondering how different everyone is going to be when I come back and the waterworks begin. Also, my problem is the cyclical/wave process of adjustment. Just as I think, "I've got this! I'm ready for anything that Nicaragua can throw at me." and then the next day I'm like, "Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Not happening, what am I doing here?!"
I've got a perfect example of just this.... One day last week, there was a giant, ugly beetle trying to crawl into my house without thinking I killed it and tossed it into my backyard. I was pretty proud of myself, well it was pretty short lived because the next day as I was showering I spotted a huge spider (like the size of my hand with legs and all), I was terrified. Being mid-shower there's little I could do, so I whipped off my flip flop and swatted it a few times; not quite sure if it was completely dead I gingerly pushed it towards my shower drain. Mind you my shower drain is a large hole with a diameter of about 3 inches, just as the spider reached the edge of the abyss, a giant frog jumped out and ate the spider. I let out a blood curdling scream and quickly ended my shower. I should be grateful for the frog and grateful that it was a frog coming out of the drain and not my least favorite critter on Earth, the rat; but I still don't appreciate the fact that I've got a giant frog living in my shower drain. I went from being completely fine with the insects that co-exist with me to being terrified of a frog living in my bathroom and wishing that I had an indoor, frog-free bathroom.
So before you feel really sorry for me and think that I'm having a terrible experience. You need to know that it's only some days where I could easily hop on a plane and go home, but there are other days that I love. Like working with my students and teaching them the little that I know about gardening. Or the other day I gave a class on responsible parenting, yes it's part of the science curriculum, a sub-topic of the reproductive system. Well, it came at a perfect time because the week before on of my 5th grade, 12 year old students left with her 20 year old boyfriend; if you're gasping in shock and shaking your head,  I had the same reaction; and unfortunately it's more common here than I would like to think about. My lesson consisted of them brainstorming characteristics and responsibilities of responsible moms and dads. After generating a good list and discussing the differences between the responsibilities of moms and dads and having a conversation that not all families have an equal balance between males and females but for the future fathers they could change that in the future. Luckily, we all agreed (including me) that parenthood is a big responsibility that none of us is ready for, just yet.
Even though I have good days and bad days, I'm having a good time overall and today couldn't get any better since I'm sitting in a coffee shop, listening to 89.3 The Current MPR live stream and enjoying WiFi, coffee and an escape from my cowboy territory that I normally live in.
Hope you're all doing well and have the countdown going with me...62 days!!

Las Fiestas

The last 2 weeks of April is when Muy Muy celebrates their fiesta patronales and honors San Benito. For those of you at home I´m comparing it to the local hometown festivals (CG Fireman´s Festival) and St. Patrick´s Day but for the span of 2 weeks!! If you´re thinking OMG! you´re absolutely right! The celebrations consist of multiple rodeos, lots of bombas (fireworks, but not pretty fireworks just loud booms), hipica (horse parade), processions where the saint is carried throughout the streets and a gaggle of people follow, music and lots and lots of drinking.
It is an interesting cultural experience, but once is enough for me. Over the course of the celebrations, my phone was lost, my pictures on my camera were erased and no I didn´t have them backed up on my computer, I was stared at and touched more than usual since people from other towns came and aren´t accostumed to seeing a blondie, and I was constantly told to change clothes because my clothes were not ¨pretty¨ enough to go to the rodeo or party. I ended up buying a pair of jeans that are bedazzled beyond my liking and I bought a plaid shirt to ¨fit¨in to the cowboy culture I´m living in. The overall consensus was my outfit was finally approved and now I´ll probably be expected to wear that to every event from here on out.
It was fun and I´m glad that I was here to experience it, but I´m also glad it´s over and hopefully life can continue on it´s normal schedule. It´s such a big event that classes were cancelled for the whole week, so I had plenty of time on my hands, too much time. I spent most of my time reading and laying in my hammock and have a couple experiments going with my garden and seeds. I´m hoping they will be successful. And I´ve started to create my lists of things to do while I´m home - get ready people because it´s going to be a long list and I´ve only got 2 weeks to check everything off.
72 days!
I´m sorry I don´t have more to say but words wouldn´t do it justice. If you want to experience it for yourself, you´re more than welcome to visit me next year at this time. And I have a few videos that I´ll be posting to Facebook of the rodeo, so you can get a taste.

Planes, trains and automobiles....wait - taxis, buses and pangas

It´s my voice once again. Justin has returned home to the US and I hope you enjoyed reading his perspectives on Nicaragua and his experiences. Now some of you who thought I was exaggerating will know I´m telling the truth.
After dropping Justin off at the airport, I went on my own vacation to the Atlantic Coast to celebrate Semana Santa. Semana Santa is holy week leading up to Easter and in the US it´s acknowledged by church services and family celebrations for Easter, here is a week long party. Entonces, when in (Nicaragua) do as the (Nicas) do. The journey out the the coast is not quite easy. It includes a 7 hour bus ride to Rama, followed by a 2 hour panga, boat, ride to Bluefields and another hour panga ride to Pearl Lagoon. Somehow while Justin was here the travel gods were on his side, unfortunately I lost all of that luck for this trip. It included long periods of waiting, extreme fatigue and dehydration. But it ended up being well worth it.
The coast is like a completely different world when compared to the rest of Nicaragua. It´s got the relaxed vibe of a Carribbean island and it´s a paradise. I will be posting pictures soon. Most of the time was spent relaxing on the beach and soaking in the sun; unfortunately I soaked in a bit too much sun and am returning a little more red than I would like. While there we visited the Laguna keys and it´s literally private island paradises. The views look like some of the screen savers and backgrounds that Windows supplies users with. I´m really not doing the coast justice with this post, but it´s just something you need to see and experience for yourself. I absolutely love the coast and want to go back again, but I may have to fly next time. I enjoyed every minute of the trip up until the night before we had to leave because I was dreading the journey home.
Coming home was the longest day of my life. I was exhausted from a lack of sleep during the week and dehydrated for the entire week. A 7 hour bus ride is not fun, especially if you have to use the bathroom and can´t so I started off the week with a lack of water and no matter how much water I drank while there it wasn´t enough since I sweat most of it out. We successfully made it to Bluefields, but had to wait for a few hours until the panga filled up. Then we made it to Rama to find out that no buses were running. Good Friday is a big party day here and no one seems to work. Rama was like a ghost town, minus the 20 or so passengers looking for a way to Managua. After waiting, again, for hours the bus finally agreed to drive us to Managua, but for twice the price. I could barely keep my eyes open for more than 5 minutes at a time and when finally arriving to Managua, I somehow lost my desire to sleep. I stayed up much longer than I should have and today will finally be making my way back home. Once home I will hopefully sleep for a complete day to rejuvenate myself before classes start up again.
Hopefully I won´t find any critters, like the scorpion Justin and I encountered, waiting for me when I get home.

I didn't know horses could speak Spanish.

After a very long - hot climb up the side of the mountain (600 meters high), we stopped and our tour guide gave us a little bit of information at various spots. One stop took us to what used to be the center of the volcano before it blew up the whole side of the mountain in the 70's. We were able to go over to see the fumers where sulfur and steam were coming out -- we could also stomp our foot on the ground and it was hollow! From the very top you could see the chain of volcanos that spanned across the horizon. Sledding down the volcano was so much fun!! It was scary at first, but after a while we got used to the feel of it. Lindsey went down first and only went about 15km/hr and I was going about 30km/hr. Near the bottom, I got the high speed wobbles and wiped out, sliding down the rocky sandy volcano. I got a little bit of road rash on my arm and a nice cut on my leg, so hopefully I don't bring back some Nicaraguan plague when I come home tomorrow!! We looked like dalmatians when we came back, we were covered in black dust -- very similar to Grandpa Kamp after he started the vacuum on fire in the garage!

We took another bus back to Managua from Leon and a different bus from Managua to Muy Muy. The bus had us packed in there like cattle. There was hardly any space to move. It was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour bus ride, but it turned into a 4 1/2 hour ride. We came across a road block on the main highway and Nicaraguans are so impatient, drivers just started driving down in the ditches to get around it. Our bus driver was the same way. We just started off roading in a yellow school bus -- down dirt roads, through tall grasses and trees, before finally popping back out on the main road to finish the trek. Several times, it felt like we were going to tip over. After driving on the main road for a while, we had to stop yet again, this time because we broke a belt on the bus - it took another 45 min for them to get the bus up and running. There was also a man on the bus that was very fond of Lindsey -- he thanked both of us for visiting the country - but really probably could have cared less about me!

In Muy Muy, all the neighbor kids flock to Lindsey's house - every single day. They seem to have forgotten that Lindsey even lives there because they come outside calling for Justin, not Lindsey anymore!! We play soccer, tag, and hide and seek in the street. They are also amazed with my many talents of noises that I can make (whistling in my hands, popping my mouth). I met some of Lindsey's local friends that are her age - they serenaded us with some songs and dancing. We did some "gardening" in Lindsey's backyard -- it is basically a gravel pit. We made an attempt at making a compost pile -- but I'm sure that it was a very sad, pathetic attempt!! I went to some of Lindsey's classes and watched her babble in spanish and then teach an english class -- FINALLY something I could understand! haha! We went horseback riding down to a river - it was really pretty, unfortunately, I got really sunburnt.

Today, we are in Matagalpa - to buy some coffee, cigars, and rum for me to take back home. Lindsey has skype all set up on her computer now, so now we can all skype with her when she has internet access!!

Sadly, I am leaving tomorrow morning to take another crowded bus back to Managua so I can catch my flight back home. I wish I could stay longer - perhaps I'll be able to come for another visit before Lindsey leaves.

It's still so DAMN hot!!

After catching up with sleep in the Best Western in Managua (I was comatose), Lindz and I took a very long taxi ride to drop off the suitcase filled with food at the Peace Corp Office, the smell of exhaust was overwhelming. Then we took another ride to the bus depot to catch a bus for Leon. Lindsey had briefed me on the size and the amount of people prior to getting on the bus...we missed the first one because the lack of speed and dexterity Lindsey and I had fighting our way to the bus. We grabbed the second one though. We arrived in Leon which in Lindsey's sense of direction is Southwest....but in reality, it is Northwest. We got to our hostel -- BigFoot, on the way, we ran across several Festiva's (I really miss mine) and a possible DeLorean -- it looked just like the one Doc Brown had in the 80's!! Then we went off to Poneloya beach on the Pacific Ocean on a yellow school bus that was packed full! When I say full, I mean everyone was touching -- the front and back doors were open, and people were on the top of the bus! After a long ride on the hot bus, we arrived at the beach. It was beautiful! It was extremely windy while we were there so the waves were crashing in. I went out for a swim, surprisingly the water wasn't cold at all! It was quite nice. The undertow was so strong, I couldn't believe it. I met a lot of Lindsey's fellow volunteers while we were there, they are all very nice. We attempted to hitchhike back to Leon, but to no avail, we took the yellow school bus again.

Today, Lindsey and I are off the Cerro Negro for Volcano Boarding. It is basically sledding down a hill at a 40 degree slope, the only difference is no snow, only sand a rocks. You can go to YouTube and see a video about it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ij0HUw350 Hopefully Lindsey and I don't end up with road rash all over the place!

"IT'S SO DAMN HOT!! MILK WAS A BAD CHOICE!"

*Note to readers while Justin is here visiting he will be guest blogging for me, so here's his views and opinions......

"IT'S SO DAMN HOT!! MILK WAS A BAD CHOICE!" to quote Anchorman. I arrived in Nicaragua tonight at 7pm after an extremely long day of traveling, I left Whitewater at midnight and had a 7 hour layover in New Orleans. After I met up with The Lindsey at the airport I had a very nice man carry my luggage out to the car -- apparently it made me look like I was an unaccompanied minor. HAHA! I walked outside wearing jeans and a track jacket and I felt as if I was melting. It was hotter then Hades out there! As soon as we got to the hotel I quickly changed into shorts and tshirt! Much more comfortable! Lindsey and I are eating Cheetos and Pizza Hut pizza right now. She says, "I'm livin' large since I have a visitor!" It is also my last day of American food. I will probably dwindle away to nothing! Tomorrow we are off to Leon for sun bathing (burning in my case) and swimming.

Lindsey and I are already having fun as I attempt to speak spanish -- it is really quite good in my defense, but she thinks otherwise. I guess you don't need to pronounce every single letter you see with a Wisconsin accent?!

Let the games begin!!

The Lindsey says, "thanks for all the contributers for the goodies and snacks!"

Green Eggs and Ham: Nica Style

I do not like rice and bean
I do not like them, Dean
You're mean
I do not like them at every meal
I did not sign up for that deal
I do not like them cold
They lack a flavor bold
I do not like them in a haste
I do not like what they do to my waist
I do not like rice and bean
I do not like them Dean
Why are you so mean?
I will cook soon
and might change my tune
but right now
they make me feel like a cow

I wrote this little diddity a while ago and just found it now. I'm quite proud of my work and now that I'm living on my own....I would actually enjoy some gallo pinto right about now. I've been eating lots of PB & J sandwiches, oatmeal and fruit. I'm eating worse than a college student and if you look inside of my refrigerator you'll find: raisins, sugar, water and mayonnaise. Pathetic I know. So I'm going to break my descansa (break) from gallo pinto and attempt to cook some on Sunday, the only day that I actually have time. I'm sure it will not be as good as if a Nicaraguan made it and it won't prove that I can cook, but hopefully it will be edible. Also, I'll probably make enough for the week and just eat that for the week. HAHA.
Only 20 more days until Justin comes to visit and I'll have a supply of goodies from the US! I can't wait for all the stuff he's going to bring to me.

I have a problem with saying No

School has finally started and I went from having way too much time on my hands to really not having any time on my hands. I´m working in two schools that have been assigned by Peace Corps, giving classes and working on the school gardens in the mornings. Then I´ve been asked to help with English classes in a Catholic school in town, my understanding of the word help differs from their understanding of the word. I was under the impression that I would be helping, assisting, aiding, supporting another teacher with classes; no....I´m the teacher. I keep trying to tell them that I really can´t be the teacher because Peace Corps is my first priority and I`m not a licensed Nicaraguan English teacher, but they still are having me teach secondary classes every afternoon. I could just stop showing up, I guess; but that won`t look very good. So I`m giving classes from 7 AM to 7 PM because I also am giving English classes to students at my house. And manualidades (arts and crafts) on Sundays. Dios Mio!

What else? I really haven´t got anything else to share because all of my time has been spent in classrooms. My best friend is a nine year old girl who comes over to my house every day to play cards with me. Old Maid is still a huge hit with all the neighborhood kids; and even though I try to explain that it`s really no fun between two people we still play anyways.

Luckily, I haven´t had any critters in my house, besides my host family`s two dogs which spend more time at my house than at their house. I`m still trying to figure out why because I don`t feed them or anything but their always there and sleep on my front porch at night. The other day I did kill a rather large beetle, which was kind of gross...but much better than any type of rodent.

This is a really lame post, sorry. Hopefully the next one will be more exciting.

Ups and downs

So everything has been going pretty well. I'm settled into my new house and I have visitors pretty much constantly. I broke out a deck of cards, which were new, and we've been playing with them for about 3 weeks and they now look like a deck of cards that is 10 years old. I've taught them how to play spoons, B.S. and old maid. They're all quite popular, but Old maid is my favorite because the kids are constantly cheating. They've memorized the flaws of the Old maid card, so they carefully analyze your cards before drawing one. Also since I only have a small table that fits 4 people, the rule is that if you lose the game, you lose your spot at the table; that way everyone gets a chance to play.
People are concerned about me being able to cook for myself and want to ensure that I'm eating, so I'm often invited over for dinner or sometimes food is brought to me. I keep trying to tell them that I know how to cook, but no one believes me and I'm not doing a good job of trying to prove them wrong since I haven't filled my gas tank yet. I tell them I'm taking a break from gallo pinto and have been enjoying cereal and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the last couple of weeks; but that's just not acceptable for them. I guess I'm going to have to fill my gas tank and actually cook one of these days and I'm sure it will be with someone looking over my shoulder and criticizing everything that I'm doing because I'm not doing it Nica style.
I'm really enjoying living in my house, but I hate cleaning! I don't know how Nica women do it, honestly. Right now, I've got quite a bit of time on my hands and it's only me living in the house and I still find it bothersome and difficult to complete all my chores, so I don't understand how they do it while caring for children, husbands and actually cooking 3 meals a day.
School is starting up soon, which I'm excited about because I'm hoping it will keep me busy and hopefully I'll be able to stay out of the gossip mill, which I've unfortunately been thrown into recently. It's already hard enough sticking out and constantly drawing attention just because I'm different; but then to have people talking about me all the time makes it even more so. Sometimes I wish I could go back to the States where I'm able to blend in more and live in a city where people don't know what I do every hour of the day. As much as I'm enjoying my time here, there are definitely downs to every up.

Home Sweet Home

I've been quite busy the last few weeks.....finally. I have a lot of updates, so bear with me.
I just moved into my own house and am super excited to finally settle in and really unpack and make it my own. I will be using the Christmas ornaments and many pictures that you all sent me to decorate.
I slept on my new bed last night and it was heavenly. The first time I've slept on a real mattress in the past 5 months and my back is thanking me today. I'm slowly acquiring all the furnishings of my house because let me tell you it's pretty darn expensive to furnish a house, especially on a Peace Corps budget. I splurged and bought two beds, so anyone that would like to visit will have their own room and bed....hint hint. Luckily, my host family and neighbors are extremely generous and are lending me lots of things to furnish my house. Each day I'm amazed by the hospitality and generosity of everyone I've met here in Nicaragua. People may not have much, but that doesn't mean that they're not willing to share what they do have with others. For example, every time you visit someone you're guaranteed to be given food and/or drink - which I'm thankful for, but also means that I'm going to have to make sure that I have something on hand at all times for my visitors. And the other day when I was moving, my host mom told me what's hers is mine and it's very true. The tables, chairs and other furniture in my house all belong to her. I will never be able to thank her enough.
I'll keep you posted on how living on my own goes because even though I'm pretty sure I'm capable of it; everyone here has quite a few doubts. I'm quite far from the standards of a Nica woman. They're convinced I don't know how to cook and occasionally drill me with questions on how to prepare rice or beans; and I'm sure they will be dropping in on me to see what I'm cooking and how I'm cooking it. The other day I was helping my host mom prepare dinner and I was informed that I cut tomatoes incorrectly, I didn't know that was possible but apparently it is. I try to tell them that I can cook, but I can't cook Nicaraguan style. Maybe I'll just survive off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oatmeal for the next two years, I can't mess those up, can I?
Besides moving, I've been keeping myself busy by having manualidades (arts and crafts) classes and English classes with kids every day. They all love coming to the classes and I'm grateful because otherwise I would still be sitting around doing nothing. At first I was only offering manualidades twice a week in the mornings and all the kids wanted to have classes all day, every day. At first I was a little hesitant, but they don't have anything to do when school's not in session, nor do I...so I gave in. The attendance has been really strong and they even want to continue having classes in the evening when school starts. I can't tell you how much I love it! I taught them to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" the other day while learning body vocabulary. I'll have to take a video of it to show all of you how quickly they're all learning. There are a few moments where I can't help but laugh because the pronunciation sometimes leads to a completely different word. For example, we were learning animal vocabulary and bear sometimes sounds like beer for some of them; and even better (not better, but funnier) is the word beach sometimes sounds like bitch - I had to emphasize the precaution with that word and if pronounced differently it results in a bad word which only lead to questions about more bad words. AY! They all want to have quizzes each week, so I give them little quizzes and told them that for their test they have to talk to my brother in English when he visits because I don't want to translate for him for a whole week! HA!
I've finally started running daily. I held off for a bit because I wanted to get to know more people in town before they see me running around; unfortunately I held off a bit too long because my endurance wasn't where it used to be. I try to run around town, but I can't go very far without someone stopping me to talk or by having herds of children come out and start running with me. So sometimes I resort to running laps around the baseball field (which is really boring) and then sometimes get talked into practicing with the baseball team. That's a spectacle.
My host family got a new puppy. It's adorable, but I've been reprimanded because I pay attention to it and hold it and let it fall asleep on my lap. Unfortunately, it likes me more than them. To prove their point, the other day they told me to get up and walk around the house and the puppy followed me and then jumps around my feet until I pet it. Oops! I'm secretly hoping that it will follow me to my house and end up living with me, their other dogs ended up sleeping on my porch last night.
I'm really starting to feel comfortable in town. More and more people now know who I am and use my name instead of chelita, gringa, muneca, etc. I have friends even though most of them are either kids ages 6 - 15 years old or members of the baseball team. It's really looking up and I'm excited that school will be starting soon!
Thank you everyone for all the cards and packages! The packages that were intended for Christmas are finally rolling in and I love it! Miss you and love you!

2012

Sorry for the delay between posts, but you know how the holiday season goes....actually I really have no excuse because unlike back at home I didn´t have to do Christmas shopping, I didn´t decorate a tree, I didn´t even really listen to Christmas music.

Christmas was a bit of a bummer for me since I was without my family and friends, but I really appreciated the phone calls, cards and packages that I received from everyone back at home. My waistline doesn´t necessary appreciate it since I devoured many of the goodies within a short time span, and don´t worry I did do some sharing with my host family and the neighborhood kids in my English class; but I did selfishly keep my favorites all to myself, like the peanut butter M&Ms (thank you Nick and Emily).

After Christmas I traveled to the beach to celebrate New Year´s in style, especially since if this really is the end of the world what´s better than a beach celebration?! It was lots of fun and even more fun since I didn´t suffer any sunburns while I was there. After 24 years, I´m finally learning I need to apply sunscreen practically every hour to avoid redness or gaining any color at all since the first thing my host mom said when I returned was that I didn´t have much color. Another downside to the trip, I was terrible in the sense that I didn´t take my camera out once to take a picture, at least we have Facebook where you´ll be able to see some pictures from the weekend (that is if people ever post the pictures).

Everything was going really well I was ready to come back to my site, but as I was getting off the bus I literally tumbled down the stairs and fell onto the pavement in the middle of the crowd of people waiting to load the bus. I suffered a scraped knee and some embarassment, but I´m also wondering is that a sign I shouldn´t have returned? I could have easily stayed on the beach skipped a sunscreen reapplication or two, maybe gained some color and enjoyed some more delicious ceviche; but no I´m back in the mountains where it´s much, much cooler than the beach and I´m wearing jeans and long sleeves. I´m slowly getting back into my routine of manualidades classes and English classes and more reading in the park. Just waiting for one more month until classes start up again and I shouldn´t complain because time is surprisingly going by rather quickly. Instead of 27 months of service, I´m down to 23....

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Thank you all for the warm wishes, cards, calls and packages. Miss you and love you all!