Saving the World or Changing It

AMEN to this article by Brian Swarts from the Micah Challenge. It pretty much hits my spiritual beliefs right on the head. :) It also has a lot to do with Liberation Theology, which was very popular here in Nica, and says that Salvation Theology was used by the Catholic Church to keep the powerful in power and the poor underneath. So, I would love to copy the entire article for you, but I imagine that would involve plagiarism lol, so I am copying a very long excerpt from it, and including the link to the full article. Enjoy! (Italics are mine).

"Even though nearly every nation on earth, including the US, committed to the Millennium Development Goals to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015, poverty in places like sub-Saharan Africa has actually increased over the last several years while foreign aid to fight poverty has decreased.

The greatest victories of the Church have often been victories over our own moral failings, like the abolition of slavery. Today, one of the greatest moral failures for US churches is that while Christian growth in places like Africa has fast outpaced church growth in America, the gap between rich Americans and impoverished Africans has also grown. The question we have to ask ourselves is that, in trying to save Africa, have we begun to lose our own souls? How we deal with this issue is the great moral calling of the new generation of Christian leaders.

The reality is that while U.S. churches have been very generous in giving to global mission or humanitarian efforts over the last 30 years, there has been no organized Christian movement against global poverty in the way William Wilberforce mobilized Christians against slavery in the British Empire or churches stood as the moral force behind the sweeping social change of the civil rights movement. In a world where the difference between poor and rich is often as arbitrary as one’s skin color or nationality, and where poverty is a form of bondage or death for millions, it cannot be that extreme poverty isn’t worthy of the same moral outrage as slavery or segregation.

Ironically, it is our own religiosity that has been our biggest stumbling block. We have let the evangelical mission to save the world get in the way of our ability to actually change it. The Great Commission, the call to disciple all nations, has overshadowed the Greatest Commandment, the call to love both God and neighbor. This is the result of a generation of Christian mission that has put spiritual conversion, or evangelism, in competition with social change. What we need today is a new, missional generation led by what might be called “The Greatest Commission,” or the belief that true spiritual conversion cannot be separated from social change. Greatest Commission evangelicals would believe that planting churches is important, but also insist that these churches must play a role in creating communities that are more just, prosperous and compassionate."

Here's the link:
http://www.neueministry.com/2008/09/the-greatest-commission

Also, you have until midnight tonight to donate $30 or more to the Barack campaign and receive your special limited edition Election Day tee-shirt! https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/electionshirt

Cool Blog!

I love Tania Ku. And I love her even more because she said that I am one of her favorite people in the world. She is one of mine. That is why you should read her blog! (Well, one of the many reasons why :)

I met Ms. Ku onboard the MV Explorer while studying abroad with Semester at Sea. We spent several hours discussing how we would solve the problems of the world (and our love for trashy celebrity gossip :). I find it thus pretty amazing that I am now in Nicaragua and she is in Japan, teaching English! Her blog about her time in Japan is hilarious and insightful, just like her :) SO CHECK IT OUT. NOW!

http://www.taniaislost.blogspot.com

La Vida Luja (The Luxurious Life :)

So I am getting quite comfortable having hot water and frequent massages :) This is a problem, right?

Our hotel in Costa Rica was balla (I had fun explaining the meaning of that word to everyone here in Nica!). It was the Marriot--Los Suenos (The Dreams), and it was. I fake played golf with my family in the rainforest (I putted in all my mom´s shots and drove the golf cart lol), as well as received a facial, French mani-pedi, and ate lots of food at their swim up bar. I also took about 7 baths, no joke. I felt semi-bad that we spent more than most people´s salaries in Nicaragua, but I can´t lie, I really enjoyed it lol. Oh, and we also took a 24-passenger bus back and forth from the airport, catered for the 4 of us lol. I think that may have been the epitome of the Luja-ness.

Then my parents and I headed over to Nicaragua! We are now staying at a sweet hotel in Granada called Hotel Colonial, which, coincidentally also has a swim up bar (I promise I didn´t plan that!). We took a tour of the isles of Granada--there are about 370 of them, formed by the nearby Volcano Mombacho. You can own one of them (about half an acre) for $70,000 undeveloped, and 3/4 of a million developed. To think--you can own a semi-nice house in Bethesda or your own island, replete with baller house and boat, in Nicaragua. :) I want one. I know this makes me a horrible, selfish person, but I believe owning an island is an investment. Plus, of course I would be generous and invite all of my friends (to my own island!) and cook lots of yummy desserts for them (You know what I´m talkin, Connie and Scootboot). I told my dad I would invite all of the campesinos that I work with as well, and he said that would make them feel bad, but I think it would make them feel pretty good lol.

Anyway, for now we are headed off to eat chocolate cookies with ice cream, which is almost as good :)

Happy Peace Day!

My trip here in Costa Rica has been great! I promise to write more on it asap. But, for now, I wanted to wish everyone a happy peace day! Yes, that´s right folks. I know, I know, I am becoming more of a hippie every day (you don´t have to tell me twice, Miguelito). But, I thought I would share this info with you, as well as post a link to a pretty cool card.

DID YOU KNOW? The United Nations' International Day of Peace - marked every year on September 21 - is a global holiday when individuals, communities, nations and governments highlight efforts to end conflict and promote peace. Established by U.N. resolution in 1982, "Peace Day" has grown to include millions of people around the world who participate in all kinds of events, large and small.

Peace Card!

"Peace has to be created, in order to be maintained. It is the product of faith, strength, energy, will, sympathy, justice, imagination, and the triumph of principle. It will never be achieved by passivity and quietism." -Dorothy Thompson

Buenas Noches, Damas y Caballeros

Thank you DC friends for weighing in at the last minute on the poll! heehe I feel loved. And I am returning for New Year´s, so get ready!! We´re gonna part like it´s 889 (A or D) haha.

Hmmm, let´s see, what else is new with me? Well, I head to Costa Rica tomorrow morning to meet up with the rents and Miguelito. I have spent all day today trying to upload stupid photos to cvs.com lol. Gaby was like, why are you so agitated? But it feels silly to say you´re mad at a computer. But I was!

In other noticias, I also took a pretty bad spill down the stairs lol. I feel like such a klutz here! I was like, I´m not like this in the U.S., I promise. I was really lucky though because I hit just to the left of my lower back and bruised up my arm, instead of hurting any bones. I have a feeling the Costa Rica beaches might help me convalesce ;)

What else? What else? Well, I am realizing how fast my time is going by here now. Only 3 months til Christmas, and then only 6 months after that. Craziness! OK, that´s all for now. As always, if anyone has any poll ideas...

Cuban Theater Festival

Last Thursday we went to see a play called Delirio Habanero (Havana/Havanic? Delirium). I really enjoyed it, though I understood about 50% of it. (Lessons in humility, right?) The theater reminded me of a spiffier version of Theater 2 at JMU :)

So, I definitely got that the one guy was crazy, and that the 3 main characters wanted to open a bar, as well as making references to Celia Cruz. But, it wasn't until I read the pamphlet after that I discovered that it was 3 crazies, one of which thought she was Celia Cruz, another Benny More, and the 3rd, the legendary Cuban barman Varilla. Kind of makes me wish I had read the pamphlet before the play. Oh well. I enjoyed the singing, dancing, and probably 1/3 of the jokes. :) By now, all of my false pretentions about Spanish have gone out the window anyway, and I've realized that you have to listen, speak, and submit yourself to humiliating sitches as much as possible to keep getting better.

Also, cool sidenote, the local celebs were all in attendance there. The richest woman in the country, who owns just about everything in Nicaragua from a bank chain to sugar and rum companies, was in attendance, as well as many other high-profilers. I felt cool lol.

Seven Years Later

This pretty much sums it up. I saw it in a Sojourners email I got today. It´s referring to Afghanistan, but I think it´s applicable in just about any context:

We cannot kill our way to victory.
- Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testifying before a congressional committee about the U.S. war in Afghanistan.


ps Thank you for the vote to return to Nicaragua, whoever you are (Conrad or Michael lol)

pps There is a dad with his 3 year old son in the Cyber Cafe showing him educational cartoons on Youtube. It´s really cute. :) There is hope for humanity yet!

Life is Funny

Sorry for not writing for a while. It appears I go thru phases lol. Anyway, thought I would share this funny little tidbit with you from the other day at work...

A woman came by to look at the Center. I was on my way out, and only Don Luis was left at the Center. She was Chela (White), but began by speaking to me in Spanish, so I responded to her in Spanish. Meanwhile, I went back to get Luis, and then responded to her quickly in English, saying he was coming to meet her at the other door. She asked me in Spanish, what? And I replied (albeit a bit slower :) in Spanish.

Turns out she was French and didn´t speak a word of English (or, if she did, was not interested in using it). I should have known--she was driving an oh-so-Euro Peugeot (The brand that looks like Ferrari and that I have no idea how to pronounce!) Anyway, she had offered me a ride to the bus stop, and I happily accepted (Since she did not appear to be a mass murderer, Mom and Dad).

Anyway, so she explained to me in the car that she had married a Nicaraguan and had been living here for about 20 years. She lived pretty close to where I did, but apologized profusely that she wasn´t headed in that direction right now. She was also amazed that I took the buses here...she said she had never taken one in her 20 years here. She also said that she and her husband were interested in renting out the Kairos pavillion because it was reasonably priced and in a cool location, unlike many of the areas in Managua. All the while, I was thinking what a crazy, funny world this is--here is a Frenchwoman speaking to me in Spanish and little gringa me is responding and having a conversation with her in Spanish about the Nicaraguan bus system.

So, even though I pulled an ¨Amurrican¨ and assumed that because she was white she spoke English, I recovered nicely and we had a good convo and I got a free ride to the bus stop. Life is good :)

The Social Music Revolution

So I wanted to share with you all something cool I found today--Last.fm. You can join and stream music to listen to online for free. It´s really great for me because other streaming services like AOLMusic and Rhapsody don´t work outside of the U.S. It lets you create a library of music with playlists and info about all of the artists. You can also type in an artist and receive a playlist of artists you might like because they have a similar sound. It even told me who is popular in Nicaragua this week!

So, just thought I would recommend it and pass it along, since, as their slogan says, they are starting the Social Music Revolution :) I spent my afternoon listening to Dispatch, 98 Degrees, Katy Perry, and Eva Cassidy while working on the comp heehe. You can also post comments about songs and artists, see what other people are listening to, etc. It may become my new obsession to replace Facebook haha, we´ll see.

Also, the poll was a trick question last week, sorry! The answer is any/all of the above lol.

Viva Leon, Jodido!

Greetings once again! As for the title of this post, it is the title of a famous song here, and also the city that we went to visit last weekend. As for what it means, I tend to translate it as: Long live Leon, bitches! I´m sure there is a better translation, but I prefer mine :)

I am still celebrating the fact that Miguelito, my brother, came to visit me this weekend from Costa Rica. We had a good time, hitting up the beach and touring the landmarks of the famous old city. Unfortch, his bus got in a little late so we missed celebrating the Mini Purisima, or as I like to call it: ¨Trick or Treating for the Virgin Mary.¨

Now, what in the world is this, one might ask? The holiday celebrates the sacred conception of Mary by giving out candy. I´m not kidding. People put up altars to Mary in their homes, including a statue of her and lots of flowers and hoopla (of course it´s a white Mary to accompany the blond haired, blue eyed baby Jesus, because this is what Middle Easterners obviously looked like in Biblical times). Anyway, so people come around to the houses with altars, and they used to have to sing, but now there´s just a chant. Instead of saying Trick or Treat!, they say: Quien causa tanta alegria? (Who causes this much joy?) Response from people in the house: La concepcion de Maria! (The conception of Maria!). And then the people in the house proceed to give them candy, or fruit, or other small trinkets. I love NICARAGUA. Imagine if everyone getting knocked up caused that much joy--the world would be like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Also, in other news, I have a new housemate. She is from Canada and her name is Rachel, but my sister/aunt/whatever she is calls her Richie. I can´t tell if she is making a nickname for her or not, or if this is just how she says it. I think it might be a nickname tho, because Maria is very funny, plus all of the people in my house have nicknames: Abuela Josefa goes by Chepita, Maria by Chilo, Veronica by Vero, and Sarah by Negrita. Don´t ask about the last one. Anyway, I am getting lots of practice translating, because she speaks about 4 words of Spanish. I told my family that I am now working for my supper and they laughed and said, Now translate that! Or you don´t eat! Jodida! (WEll, really they just said the first sentence, but you probably already guessed that).

OK, lots of love gente. Missing you all tremendously. (But a little less because now I get to speak English with someone else lol jk).

My Passport

I had to go to receive more pages in my passport this weekend. Yes folks, that's right, I get around (the world!). I know that I am entirely too proud of this, but I just love the way my passport looks, what with all of the crazy visa and immigration stamps (many from places/countries that the U.S. is not BFFs with :). I'm slightly terrified that I'm going to lose it now, because it's such a cool memento. But it's not like I have a history of losing things or anything. :)

I counted up the new blank spaces that I have now with the inset pages--there are 90. This means I must visit 45 countries before Oct. 26, 2014. :) Or travel back and forth between Nica and the U.S. a lot lol.

Also, funny side note--the new pages look very much like watercolors, depicting scenes of the Wild West, Philly during the Declaration of Independence, etc. And at the top of each page there are ¨inspiring¨ quotes about democracy and the good ole US of A. It´s as if they are subtly saying, ¨Now, don´t get any crazy ideas like leaving/moving out of the country or anything. Remember how good you have it in Cowboy/Statue of Liberty/Mayflower Pilgrim Ship/Palm Tree/Cactus/Mountain land.¨ Heehe

A Dying Art?

Call me loca, but it recently occurred to me that, in Nicaragua at least, the number of people begging in the street has diminished. Rather, people are becoming micro-entrepreneurs--selling gum in small packs, homemade bracelets of rope and shells, or Oreos in 4-cookie packets. Many even clean your car windows instead, using a water bottle and squeegee, albeit it is oftentimes unasked for. Sure, there are still the mothers with hollowed-out faces, or the children telling you to ¨Dame un peso¨ because you´re a gringo, but I also feel like people are starting to catch on that begging may not be the best way to make money on the street anymore.

Call me loca again, but I have mixed feelings about what this means. On the one hand, of course it´s frickin fantastic that people are working for an income instead of looking for handouts. And, the resourcefulness of selling individual packets of things also impresses me. But, to some extent, I also think it represents the gross overcommercialization of our world. Look at how much crap we are buying.

The cynicist in me asks: Is Nicaragua just on their way to becoming another commercialized culture? It´s been a topic that´s been coming up a lot in the small groups I have been translating for, the idea that now everyone here must have cell phones and tvs and refrigerators and microwaves as well, etc etc. And, getting back to the idea of buying things on the street, it pains me to see a mom spending 5 cordobas on a bag of Ranchitos (Nicaragua´s version of Doritos) for their kids instead of saving up to buy milk or some kind of meat for them.

Maybe I´m reading too much into all of this, and maybe it isn´t my place to judge if people here want the same level of comfort as in the U.S. But, at the same time, I´ve also really appreciated the simplification of my life here, and I hope I´m not simply taking advantage of people´s lives here, but I am learning a lot from them.

In short, if anyone has an easy, 1 or 2 sentence answer to this rant, please leave it in the comments section. :)

Mochaccino Supremo

So, as I sit here at Cafe Latino, I thought I´d offer up a little ode for my latest coffee obession...the Mochaccino Supremo lol. It is a frozen coffee drink that they make in a machine like they make daquiris and margaritas. Then they mix in Oreo cookies, and complete it with whipped cream and Oreo cookies sprinkled on top. I´m pretty sure it´s fat free. Well, maybe not, but at a little over $1.50, it is a much more affordable habit than my Icey Spice´s from Panera or my Caramel Macchiato´s from Starbucks, as some of you may remember. Plus, Cafe Latino offers free Internet, so I get to write cool blog posts like this while getting my caffeine and chocolate fix.

Also, if any of you have new poll suggestions, let me know! I would love to hear from everyone back home, and I´ve found a pretty cheap place to make international phone calls, so shoot me your cell number if you´d like a call from your Nica friend! Love you all...

Pura Vida

So Ana Francis and I had a great time celebrating Michael´s bday in Costa Rica! The first day we ended up wandering San Jose like homeless bums, due to a communication snafu, but after that it was pretty stellar. On Friday Ana and I got highlights in our hair. At first I was worried I was going to look like a skunk, but I ended up pretty satisfied with them.

Friday evening we headed for the beach. The first night we stayed in a quaint little place, but the ceiling fan felt like it might fall on us and chop off our heads when it got going too fast, so we headed to a hostel. It felt like The Real World Costa Rica...all the rooms were brightly colored, one of the windows was a giant peace sign, the kitchen chairs were swings at a bar, and there was a roof-top bar built out of Imperial beer cans lol. What´s even better is that the place was run by a Hungarian couple. He was like, you know, the country in Eastern Europe? Lol I was thinking yes, I know, but how in the world did you get here? Anyway, so then we met up with a group comprised of a Costa Rican, Argentinian, and French. After singing national songs with them and talking in a mixture of Spanish, English, and French, we headed out for a night of dancing. I also did not get burnt, which I was very proud of. I think Ana actually got more sun than me lol. So, after a long bus ride back, we are now back home in Nicaragua, Nicaraguita!

Another Mini Update

Hey all,

So I had a great last week with the Damascus delegation. Though this week has been a struggle, I am now in Costa Rica celebrating my brother Michael´s bday with him and Ana Francis. I´m sure I will come home with plenty of stories. Love and miss you all, and thanks for your support.

Little Update

Hi Folks!

Just checking in again, and thought I'd update you all a little bit. First off, the Damascus delegation gets in today, so I am uber-excited. DUMC delegations rock. Secondly, due to popular demand, I have now made my Latina superstar photo my profile pic, so check it out :) (it's on the bottom right).

In other updates, I have been doing pretty well with my budget--I'm at about $3.50 a day now, which isn't too horrible, verdad?

Other funny shirt sightings--an older woman wearing a shirt that read PERVERT in all caps, and a very pregnant woman wearing a Malibu Rum shirt.

My Nica fam is doing well. One of the sisters, Veronica, just had eye surgery, so she has been laying low. There have been no suitors as of late lol. We also discovered that my 79-year-old Grandmother, Chepita, is a feminist, so that rocks lol. Also, it turns out that my sisters/aunts/whatever they would be to me love Sex and the City. Katherine very generously loaned me her 6th Season, so we have been watching it together with Spanish voices dubbed over. I am learning lots of new Spanish vocab lol, though I should probably not be learning anymore as my co-workers have been telling me I have already learned too much "language of the street."

OK, so I'll be in the campo next week, but tomorrow we head to the plaza to celebrate the overthrow of the dictator Somoza in 1979. Viva la Revolucion!

Teustepe on my Mind

OK, sorry for the long hiatus again...I thought my blog was malfunctioning, but apparently it´s working again, joy to the world. =) The children´s program in the campo was great...we painted, sang, read, and even picked up trash together on the way to the river together (the hippie inside me rejoiced until I realized that there was nothing to do with it except burn it.)Anyway, without further ado, here is my Teustepe story that will probably not be so funny now that there has been almost a month of build up for it lol.

So, my week in Teustepe in April was basically spent stuffing my face in people´s houses and generating that awkward initial getting-to-know-you conversation. For the most part, it ended up being fine, and I could at least talk about how especially delish their maduros and gallo pinto were. With one particular family, however, I knew their would be trouble when they didn´t arrive until an hour after they were supposed to. I had already eaten lunch and I began to freak out because, well, what was I going to do at their house, if not eat? Nonetheless, I hopped in the bicycle riksha that would take me there, praying for a miracle.

Upon arriving at her house, I realized that she could understand none of my gringa-accented Spanish. Nor could any of her family. And I was stuffed, so I couldn´t even eat anything that she had prepared for me for lunch. It was probably a couple of the most awkward hours of my life, sitting in a rocking chair, desparately trying to think of words that were easy to pronounce. Finally, the neighbors began cutting wood with a chainsaw, so we all went out back to watch.

That´s when the fight broke out. The pig that was chained to the tree got loose and began chasing around the ducks there. In the ensuing craziness, one of the ducks necks broke. I´m not actually sure if one of the little boys accidently did it trying to save the duck from the pig, or if the pig was the culprit. BUT, so then the little boy keeps trying to help support the duck´s neck, holding it up as it keeps flopping down. It was a painful process to watch. You would then it was dead, and then its head would flop up again and the boy would rejoice, only to see it go again.

Then, we go inside and watch some shoot ´em up U.S. movies, which they ask me to translate, which at least gives me something to do. As I am getting ready to leave, they hand me an invitation for the father´s birthday party that weekend. Glorious.

So, we go back for the party that weekend. Ivania, the fifteen year old girl I am staying with, has taken a beauty course and decides to use me as her mannequin, making me into a Latina superstar, complete with heavy makeup and hair parted very much to one side. She, who is a stick, also decides that I should wear her clothes, so I am crammed into her skinny jeans and tanktop. Email me if you need a laugh and would like to see pics.

So we get there and guess what we are served to eat? Yep, you guessed it. Duck. Ivania tried to convince me that it was not, but I am almost entirely positive that it was. On top of this, the dad is drunk. Wasted, actually, and dancing around like a looney. He is also huge, which means you have to watch out for him falling on you. Then, someone gets the idea that it would be funny to watch the chela dance with him. I am forced to try salsa-ing with him, but it turns into me backing away from him and he charging at me. It is the closest thing to a bull fight I have seen this side of the Atlantic Ocean. The only thing that keeps me going at this point is the scrumptious looking 3 level cake sitting on the table.

In order to get this cake, however, I knew we would have to stay until the end. In the meantime, I am also forced to dance with his son, who is married and whose wife is also sitting right there glaring at me like this is what I want. By this point, the dad can barely stand, and we are all trying to throw other people in front of him to dance, in order to avoid having to do it ourselves. We run and escape into the kitchen for a little bit, where I am offered my second glass of Coke. As most of you know, I hate Coke, so I passed it off to my fifteen year old sister. Turns out it was spiked with rum. So now I am also guilty of feeding alcohol to minors. We return to the dance floor, and Ivania asks me if I want to leave, but I am so desperate for the cake at this point that I tell her we should stay. That´s when I began dancing with the drunken aunt, because it ended up being a much better alternative. BUT, then they start cutting the cake and everyone is getting a piece except me, who can´t get rid of the drunken aunt. Finally, I pass her off to the dad, they end up serving us the cake, and we eat it on our way home. And that, my friends, is my Teustepe story.

I Only Had Twenty Minutes to Write This Post, and It´s Pretty Obvious

So the answer to the poll is baby showers. They are really starting to become popular here. The thing is, people here say exactly that--baby shower, or ¨baybee chower.¨ It´s one of the many Spanish words, such as ¨MacDonol¨ or ¨fool¨for full, where I´m not sure if I should try to imitate them or not, because it sounds like I´m making fun of their accent, even though to them I sound like I have an accent when I say it in my English way. For some reason, I just always picture Keri Fulton cracking up either way. She haunts me even from afar.

I also had a massage today that was gloooorious. Elena gave all of the women at the Center massages because we worked so hard in May (except that I was at home for most of May!) Nonetheless, with the inundation of U.S. delegations beginning tomorrow, I´m sure I will earn that hour back ten fold. But, so everything was great except that she began to knead my butt about halfway thru, which was just awkward. And then she massaged my feet and it tickled, but she kept asking if it hurt, but I couldn´t think of the word for tickle, so I just had to grin it bear it. The majority of the hour really was lovely though. At one point I tried to lift my head to help her and she told me literally not to move a muscle, that she would move my whole body for me, because my job was to enjoy and sleep. Then later on Elena told me she was thinking about making them a monthly perk for all the women, and she was like, do you think that´s a good idea? And I was like, that´s like asking kids if they think Santa Claus stopping by every month is a good idea. Not really what I told her, but you get the point.

OK, I have to go but I promise I am crafting an award-winning tale about one of the families I visited in Teustepe. It involves a dead duck, a drunken gentleman charging at me like a bull, and cake. All the makings of Oliver Twist, or at least Jerry Springer, right?

My Brother is Cool, Too

And lives in Costa Rica. And has his own blog.

www.mycostaricaadventures.blogspot.com

You know you want to check it out.

Money, Money, Money, Money, Mon-ah!

So I am trying this new thing out. Some of you may have heard of this wacky thing before. It´s called a budget.

In all seriousness though, I am trying to limit myself to $2 of spending money a day. That, plus my approximately $8 a day that I pay for housing and food, will bring me to a grand total of $10 a day. I figure that´s what the average Managuan is living off of daily, and though I probably won´t ever fully understand what it means to have this kind of income, I want to come closer to understanding.

Already I have run across a couple thoughts...for example, I will probably have to cheat when you lovely folks come down to visit, and there have been moments when I am scared of running late and have thoughts of just flagging down a taxi instead of waiting for who knows how long for the next bus. BUT, I haven´t cheated yet, and I really am enjoying more fully immersing myself in the life here.

I know eventually the novelty will wear off, but it´s presenting some interesting challenges for now..for example, the women where I live have a woman come in to wash their clothes every couple days, so I have to think, will that fit in my budget? Do I cheat to help give a Nicaraguan more income? Or do I stick to my guns? And, when I go to church, do I put in more than everyone else because I can, or do I stick to what fits in my budget? Also, you figure that with my health insurance at home, I am technically spending more than $10 a day.

So far, I have been doing pretty well, though. The first week I spent 345 Cordobas, or $17.25 dollars, which comes out to $2.46 per day. This last week I spent half a cordoba more (approximately 2.5 cents), so as you can imagine, right around the same amount. I may have to make my budget $10.50 or $11 per day, though it doesn´t sound as good lol.

Opinions? Suggestions? I would love to hear what you think about this, and all the innate questions that come along with it. Please share!

Funny Tidbit

So this morning I hop on the second bus to go to work and all of the sudden I feel someone reaching into my pocket. I freak out, not sure how to respond. As I reach down to swat the hand away, I hear someone giggling. It was Yamilette, one of the women who works with me at the Center (and the same one who asked me point blank why I had not brought her anything from the U.S. I had to scramble to find an extra Bath and Body Works soap that I'd brought.) Ah, la vida Nica.

You Know You Missed Me

Hola mi gente,

APOLOGIES for the rather long sabbatical…I was having too much fun in the U.S., what with being able to see again and all =) I promise to be a more faithful writer again, now that my friend and family pool has once again been drastically reduced lol. But, before you start feeling sorry for me, let me share with you some of the funny little things I am once again enjoying about life here in Nicaragua, Nicaraguita…(it’s a song)

1. I saw a guy walking down the street sporting a white shirt with the word “Bride” sprawled across it in fancy-schmancy gold cursive lettering. This amused me because I’m sure he probably thought it said something cool, like “Pimp” or “Playa.” Adam reminded me, however, that maybe he was a bride, and that I should not be so judgmental.

2. I take two school buses to work. Though I am still mastering the art of getting on and off while the bus is moving (it practically tore my arm off the other day, but pride would not allow me to show this), the grand total for my round trip voyage each day is 25 cents, slightly cheaper than the Metro.

3. I love the family I am living with. It is a 78-year-old grandmother, Dona Chepita, with her two single daughters and a niece from another daughter that lives there on the weekends. We sat in rocking chairs the other night and the grandmother starts recounting how they had a male U.S. volunteer who lived with them, and who ended up falling in love with her oldest daughter, proposing to her, and whisking her away to the U.S. Sitting there with the other two daughters, I started to feel slightly like I was in a Nicaraguan version of Pride & Prejudice. I am still waiting for Darcy to walk through the door.

3a. Also, the family that I live with is Evangelical Mennonite. I have never heard of such a preposterous combination, but it seems to work. I went to church with them this morning, only knowing that they were Mennonite, and they began singing new age Christian songs, so I thought, okay, maybe they just like the more contemporary stuff. Then the children started singing about telling the Devil to go away because they had Jesus in their heart. This is when I began to suspect that perhaps there was some kind of Evangelical influence. Finally, the pastor got up and started yelling at the congregation and then I knew. A glimpse at one of their hymnals confirmed it: La Iglesia Evangelica Mennonita. This is not to say it was a completely bad thing; the pastor had a good message about how we need to show more conviction in our daily lives and not just pray at night when we are tired and cranky. It is only to say that I was expecting white people in bonnets and traditional dress who had “converted” the people and instead it was an all Nicaraguan crowd breaking it down with praise and Amens, Aleluyias, etc. I am convinced that God has a sense of humor.

OK, I won’t completely bombard you. But, I promise to share in the following posts some of my oh-so only-in-Nicaragua stories about Teustepe and about my new plan for a budget that I hope will make me feel more connected here (I want to hear what you think about it). Anyway, I love you for continuing to follow my blog, even though I suck =), and I will write more soon!

Sorry!

Hi all,
So sorry I haven't written in a month! I promise to update again soon. I am enjoying my 3 weeks in the U.S., but I still have lots of funny stories to share from my last week in Nica, so look forward to those soon :)

Quick Update

I am alive, contrary to how it appears in email form. It´s extrememly hard to get to internet right now, so I´m sorry if I haven´t gotten back to your lovely bday emails, etc. I promise to make it up with a personalized visit in May and arroz con leche or chocolate cake or something lol. So, hopefully you still love me and hopefully I can write a lil somethin somethin with some substance soon! In the meantime, thank you to everyone who voted to say I was old. Just remember, that makes you old too...

Party Time!

Feliz cumpleanos a mi! heehe Soy la princesa hoy. =) I am now the ripe old age of 24, but it´s been a great day so I haven´t freaked out about being an "adult for real" yet. For starters, Gabi cooked me breakfast and cafe (so sweet!) and then we went to the market, which is always fun and crazy, and then they had a special lunch for me in the rancho, complete with chicken (which everyone knows is my fav), freedom fries (as they were making fun of here), chocolate cake (my fav thing to make AND eat, as many of you know too well lol) and ice cream. They also had quinceaneros music playing, which is appropriate since most people still think I am 15. AND I got a card with Barack on the front wishing me happy birthday, my man crush heehe. They know me too well. We had fun taking pics, too, so I will try and get those posted on Facebook soon (if we ever have internet again at the center!)

I was excited today too that my cell phone has been blowing up the spot with local and international calls, and I´ve gotten lots of sweet emails. So, gracias to everyone for making it so special...I am overwhelmed. (If you haven´t wished me happy bday yet and are feeling wracked by guilt, we are two hours behind here, so you still have 6 and a half left lol) And tonight Adam comes! It´s a good life, folks =)

Also, HAPPY BDAY to my birthday twin Katherine! She rocks my world =)

I Have Friends!

The majority of them are just not here in Nicaragua unfortunately lol. But in all seriousness, I am now going to recommend that you stalk the following people as much as I do! In no particular order, here they some of my very fav blogs:

-Wuhan, got you all in check
Lee is hilarious. He is also teaching English in China. He writes raps to teach the kids English, which makes me wish I were as cool as him. Plus, his vignettes on life in the town of Wuhan are so funny that if I tried to recapture them here, it wouldn't be as funny. So check him out. Now!

-Far From Home
Krista is a SASer.(Semester at Sea student) So, you know her stories are amazing, and on top of that, she is quite the witty one. Warning to SASers though, it will make you jealous and sad, because, like me, you will probably start thinking, did I really do that, too, or was it all just an amazing dream?

-Picassonica
Memo is a co-worker and friend here in Managua. He describes his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua (his childhood, daily sights, etc) much more poetically/eloquently than my rough and tumble blog. For those of you looking to practice your Spanish, this is the place!

-Perpetually Peregrine
Every 20-something female will relate to this blog, I promise. Whether it´s searching for the right couch, posting awesome photography or discovering Glamour´s political blog, Xarissa is on the up and up like nobody´s business! And you know she has to be cool, just look at her name. =)

-Kendal´s MySpace Blog
You´ve probably heard me singing my praises for Mr. Chispas. Here´s one more: he´s an amazing writer, too! I find myself saying Amen to pretty much everything he professes on his blog about his 20 month stint in Nica. So, dale, dale (go, go) to his site! =)

Update on Speedy Gonzalez

The mouse and I are in a fight. This is not an April Fool's joke. I have a bunk bed in my room with a storage compartment right next to the head of it, and somehow the little sucker managed to climb up there and start nibbling away at the wood. Our little escapade began at 1 a.m., when I went to go to sleep. About every half hour after that, I would turn on the light for 5 minutes, he would get scared and would shut up, and I would return to my tormented sleep and have more crazy dreams while feeling like things were crawling through my hair. Around 3 a.m. I couldn't take it anymore, so I got up to get water and weighed my options. 1) I could move my sheets up to the top bunk and sleep further away from him...but, I am obvi too lazy for that. 2) I could go get the night guardsman and try and get him to remove it...again, too lazy. Then a moment of genius struck and I realized that if I turned on the fan I could drown him out. It worked, but I still had weird dreams for the rest of the night.

Apologies for not updating more...our internet is on the fritz (joy to the world), which also means getting AKF website work done and communicating in general has been pretty much impossible! BUT, belated birthday shout out to the Turkish Delight, Mizz Ayshe Tayfun! College would not have been the same without your amazing and terrifying drill sargeant ways...love you! :) And a thank you to Lee for his shoutout to me on his blog. In my next post, I will brag about all my cool blogger friends in tre chic places :)

Holla

In case some of you were worried that the art of "hollering" was lost after the early to mid 90's, fear not, for it is alive and kickin' in Nica. On my 5 minute walk to buy a phone card today, I received all of the following "hollers," if you will: Chelita linda, Princesa, Guapa, and Chela, Chela. This comes from all sorts of men, young and old, walking, driving, watching in general. I still am trying to formulate an appropriate response. What I would really like to say is that calling me pale is not going to get them anywhere quick, but I don't think this would translate, and I think by the time I spit the phrase out, the moment would be lost and they would be long gone. Sometimes I say gracias, just to be a smartass, but that gets old quickly and my language school friends didn't really appreciate it. I have also thought about saying "Donde?" or "Where is the chela?" but haven't gotten the guts to use it yet. Usually I just joke with whoever is with me that they are talking to them instead. Perhaps I just need to learn how to take a compliment, however ridiculous or uncomplimentary it may seem to me. I imagine, however, it must get old for Elena, who has lived here for 25 years and still gets holla'ed at pretty frequently.

And this, my friends, concludes my thought of the day, sponsored by this guy: http://www.myspace.com/e603...make sure to listen to Money and Girls in the top right corner and check out the last Youtube video, which I had during childhood! (Shout out to the awesome Lee, who shared this with me! :)

I'm Alive, Gracias a Dios!

So lightning struck twice, but by the grace of God I am still here to bring you this glorious blog! hah Anyway, I was very grateful not to be included in the 67 deaths last week (31 drownings, 27 by violence and 9 by transit accidents, according to El Nuevo Diario...slightly closer to Elena's estimates than the guy on the bus). But, I did have a near death experience...one that closely resembled a similar one from last summer...we shall call it "casi muerte por bicicleta," or "almost death by bike."

We decided to rent bikes on the island (which was gorgeous and exotic, with two volcanoes and fresh water beaches...I started feeling slightly guilty, being as this was my third vacation in 3 weeks...I work hard the rest of the time, I promise! Anyway, back to the story.). This is the point where I should have politely declined in quiet reverence or out of pure common sense, remembering my spill on the bike path in Georgetown last year that resulted in a large gash in my left knee and hand and thankfully nothing else. I'm assuming you already know my response, though.

"SI! Let's go!"

All was fine for the first couple kilometers (for me anyway...one of Reyna's friends who didn't know how to ride a bike rode on the crossbar of another friend's bike, and they crashed into a ditch, so she had to hitch a ride to get where we were going...she made sure to put a giant rock in her purse first for protection though, lol. As she says..."You just never know, Amanda!")

Then we hit the hills. My breaks were slightly squeaky and sporadic, so that scared me slightly. Finally, going down one of the larger ones, I bit it. Big time. My towel got caught in the spokes of the front wheel, but I luckily went down the same way as last year, hitting my knee and elbow instead of my head. Blood was gushing, my sunglasses went flying and of course I ended up in front of a church with open doors that was having their Good Friday service. So Reyna comes flying down the hill screaming, are you okay? And I'm trying to reassure her in Spanish that everything is fine, it doesn't hurt, despite the fact that there my knee is a dark blob of evidence to the contrary. On the bright side, the wounds were large enough that they didn't dry over the next 4 or so kilometers riding to the beach, so it didn't hurt too bad. There I was able to wash it in the lake, and then clean it using my Purell and travel toilet paper lol. We also had drinks at a beachside bar there, so you know Facebook pics are coming of the wound lol.

I have found three positives in this experience:

1) It was on a gorgeous island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, so I really have nothing to complain about.

2) The scar, though slightly bigger than the one from last year, is in the same exact place as the one before, so I will not have any more new scars on my already battered legs.

3) I didn't have to find out how emergency transport works on the beach. As we were leaving the island on the ferry, we saw two gravely ill people being lifted by relatives into a tiny motorboat, their IVs being held by other family members and shielded from the hot sun only by putting a shirt over their heads. I was trying to picture what would have happened if I had flown over the handlebars: For instance, how they would have secured a head wound for transport, but, as Reyna put it, "It would be better just to go right there on the island!"


OK, enough of this crazy rambling lol. Hope everyone had a great Easter! I went with Reyna to a service in Batahola Norte, where I may be living in the future, right in Central Managua, and the priest had a great message about taking responsibility for your life and making the changes you want to see in it. I think this was God's way of telling me that next time I should wear a helmet...

El Raton, El Serpiente y el Ropero (The Mouse, The Snake, and The Wardrobe)

So today was my first free half day in quite some time, and although I would really like to be sleeping right now, the Red Bull that I thought was a good idea to drink at 10 am has better plans for me, like writing this blog entry.

The tale I would like to share with you today begins perhaps two or three days ago, when I started noticing a rank, rancid smell in my closet. At the time there was a couple using my room at the Center, so I whiffed my towel to make sure it wasn't moldy, then shut the door and resolved to look for the source later. I went back in the room yesterday and the smell had multiplied like baby rabbits. Feeling embarrassed because there was another woman that I was now sharing the room with, I sprayed some of my body spray and prayed she wouldn't notice. Finally, this morning, which was the first day that I had my room to myself, I brought Ana Francis in to smell it and make sure I wasn't crazy.

Taking one look in the armoire (which resembled a compressed version of how my room normally looks, which I'm sure will warrant cringes from many of you who remember my various disasters of rooms at home, Silver Spring, and in college), Ana used her best indignant voice and scolded me, saying, ¨Amanda, clean this!¨ We determined that the smell was most likely coming from the bottom half of the closet, and that that was where I should start. At that point I started worrying, because I had seen a tiny baby mouse scurrying around my shoes a couple of weeks ago, and thinking that perhaps the mountain of clothes I hadn't washed in nearly a month had somehow suffocated the poor thing.

So, I began throwing all my clothes in wash buckets, desperately searching for a sock that I had left since the beginning of the trip, or the baby mouse, or some pile of moldy tortillas in a bag, anything that would have caused the catostrophic smell that had begun filling my room. In the meantime, I had also decided that I would make this a pampering, spa day, or as much of one as you can have in Nica. I used the trial size Face Masque that my mom had given me before leaving, making my face a goopy white mess while I continued smelling all of the items I was pulling out of my closet. (I was also searching for my nail clippers, which had also somehow been ¨misplaced¨ lol.)

And then, horror of all horrors I came upon it: a reddish, purple garden snake, with its decaying face in a tiny hiss position. I could exaggerate and tell you that the thing was 3 feet long, because that would make this storry better, but I'll stick to boring reality: it was probably about the size of a shoelace, and the baby raton (mouse) might have even been the one who killed it and brought it in. Nonetheless, the point of my story is that there are reasons for everything, including the perpetual chaos I wreak in every room I dwell in, because it looks like the mountain of things I had dropped on top of it was what killed it. Unfortunately, this also meant its little intestines had exploded on my bookbag. Remember, however, that the thing was the size of two pencils put together, and so the excrement only amounted to about a teaspoon. Gross nonetheless, I tell you.

I thought about screaming for the guardsmen to come get it, but then I remembered I still had my face mask on, as well as my booty shorts, which I also haven't gotten to wear in quite some time, so I sucked it up and went to get something to píck it up with, having made sure it was not moving and really dead. I then remembered that I was in Nicaragua, so there are no such things as paper towels, and so I elected to wind up a hunk of toilet paper that was probably the same size as the original roll itself.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to pick up the little bugger, then freaked out and dropped it back upon the backpack, taking the entire backpack outside and flinging the thing into the brush. I tried to wash my backpack a little bit afterwards with another wad of toilet paper, but that turned into pulpy goop, so my backpack is now lying outside my room and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Hallelujah that there is a fan in my room, because I now have it on full blast and the closet doors open, trying to forget that I have now found both a baby mouse (which I originally thought was a rat because of the word in spanish--raton) and baby snake in there. I don't even want to think about where their parents are...

Anyway, I finished cleaning my closet, whereupon I found my nail clippers (yay!) and painted my nails with the lovely nail polish that my lovely mother brought to Costa Rica for me, during which I listened to All I Want for Christmas is You by Miss Mariah Carey. Slightly out of season I know, but it felt girly and appropriate, as I'm sure Ayshe can appreciate. (We used to drive around with the top down in Harrisonburg about this same time of the year, spreading Christmas cheer in March.)

Also, Memo's sister Reyna invited me to go to the beach with her and her friends tomorrow to Saturday (yay!), so pray for me, kids! I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but I promise if I drink, I'll stay far from the shore!! Can't wait to come back and share the stories with you all, because I'm positive there will be some =) I'm off now to continue my spa day, by boiling water on the stove to wash my hair with hot water in preparation for the trip. Don't be too jealous =)

The Lost and Found

So, I just got done washing clothes. Two and a half hours. And I'm not talking a washer and dryer, kids. Every speck of dirt (which obviously there is none of in Nicaragua) painstakingly destroyed by my pobrecita little fingertips on a concrete washboard. This is not to make you feel sorry for me...well, maybe a little bit. Sometimes I actually enjoy it, when there is a good rap song on my I-Pod and I can scrub my passive agressiveness right down the drain. And sometimes, when I am feeling especially peppy, I even try to rap, which is worth the $550 ticket down here to see, I promise! Today, however, my I-Pod died and it was 110 degrees (probably) and I had about 30 pieces of clothing to wash (cue the tiny violin here). I made it through, though, and was very proud of myself and actually began singing the Glory, Glory Hallelujah song on my second-to-last tee shirt.

I should not be complaining too much however, because this is Holy Week (Semana Santa) here in Nicaragua, which basically means Mardi Gras for the entire country. I'm not kidding. The govt gives the entire country a week off to get wasted...for Easter, of course. I think it's like when people use "Dios Mio!" here, because at some point the phrase held meaning, but now it's just a free for all for anyone who is upset/angry/terrified/or wildly excited.

Moving on, it is the middle of summer here (referenced above by the 110 degree temperature, which I am not complaining about because I would rather bathe in my own sweat than wear a winter jacket), and so everyone and their mother (seriously, the entire extended family) celebrates Semana Santa by going to the beach. Hotels are jam packed, so people sleep in buses, pass out on the beach, and celebrate the Sanctity/Santidad of it all with the national gem known as Flor de Cana rum (you might remember this from my drinking with a priest post, which funnily enough also references religion and whetting your whistle).

Adam was talking to a guy on the bus last week who said that Nicaragua is known for having the highest amount of drownings in Central America during this week, at somewhere around 600. Many of the drownings, he also happened to mention, take place near the shore, in water that is less than two feet deep, simply because people are just that drunk. Adam called this natural selection/survival of the fittest, until I pointed out that many children are also probably being created on a whim during this week. Anyway, Elena assures me that the number of drownings is less than people say, at somewhere around 25 or 50 people. Nonetheless, I am not allowed to travel on my own this week. I hear that Managua knows how to party, too, though, so I am not too worried.

As for all of this taking place on Holy Week? As Memo so eloquently put it, "The Messiah came to save the lost, the very lost. And you have to be lost before you can be found." I can only imagine how many glasses will be clinking together to celebrate this thought this week before Mass on Sunday.

11 Year Olds Driving Cars

Hola amigos y amigas! My time in Costa Rica was great--it was a lot of fun seeing the crazies from Damascus! (Everytime someone did something good, they started in on the Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole song.) It was also great to see my dad in action, working with the construction head there, Martin, to get the top floor of the guest center/educational building rebuilt--the old one had termites that had eaten thru the wood so they were reconstructing the frame using metal. Cindy and Cindi headed up a Vacation Bible School that was lots of fun, and I helped translate, so I felt like I actually knew Spanish. They also donated lots of supplies for me to use during the children's program here in Nicaragua, so that was sweet! (Or dulce, as the guys on the trip kept saying and neither Reyna or I could translate.) Kate (my mom) was in all of her glory as well, managing everything and translating. It was also fun being with Adam and Michael, my brother, whom I immensely enjoyed calling Miguelito, or little Michael, in front of all of the guys. On our last day there we went zip lining and swimming in the hot springs near a volcano...it was a rough week :)

I thought I had seen it all in Nicaragua, but there was something in Costa Rica that trumped all of that craziness: an 11 year old driving. The first time I saw Jonathan (the 11 year old) pulling out of the grassy area, I ran to go find someone responsible that could actually yell something cohesive in Spanish at him, only to find that it was actually not a problem at all. Martin, the construction head, who is his dad and who my mom also has a crush on (apparently it's ok because my dad knows about it, along with her obsession with Gilbert Arenas from the Wizards), taught him to drive--it's a stick shift--so that when he's not around Jonathan can tote the rest of the family around--his mom and his one a half year old brother Leandro. Jonathan's mom Natalia, who is 2 months pregnant, is also learning to drive, Martin tells me. I jokingly asked if Jonathan was teaching her, but of course I should have known--he is. Jonathan says that she has too much fear of getting on the main road and that she just needs to get over it!

So, one night Jonathan's friend comes in with a bruise the size of a baseball on his forehead (I'm not even kidding--it was literally half a baseball planted underneath his forehead..I had to stop eating). First of all, no one was really freaking out about it and finally Martin gets up from the dinner table to go look at it. He tells us that the kid is going to go to the hospital/clinic, and so we are thinking, good finally he'll get taken care of. Then we look out the window and see Jonathan peeling out with his friend in the front seat. Apparently all you need is a parent signature to get treated when you're under 18 in Costa Rica. The friend came to the gathering an hour later with a slightly less enlarged bump, so it was good to see that neither Jonathan nor the bump killed him.

To tie this all together, like any good story does, I was sitting inside with Leandro, Jonathan's one and a half year old brother, on the last day of Vacation Bible School. The kids were making bracelets using pony beads, and per usual, spilling them all of the floor. So Leandro, like any other 1 and a half year old that I have known, starts trying to stick them in his orifices, beginning with his ear and proceeding to his mouth. I was able to use my command form of Spanish to get him to look at me in bewilderment and in the process drop the beads. I pick him up and walk with him outside, where we are fine for a few minutes until the welding starts. Sparks are raining down over the side of the building, and Hallelujah for Kendal's last name being Sparks, so I begin screaming Chispas, Chispas! Again, he looks at me in bewilderment and waddles over and as I pick him up I wonder what I should do with him--take him back into the room where he can eat beads, put him in the front yard where he can get hit in the head with the soccer ball all of the kids are roughly playing with, or leave him here with the flying sparks. I decide to leave it in God's hands, so I put him down and Adam comes along a few minutes later, scooping him up and teaching him to play with a drill bit. Then I begin thinking about how in 7 or 8 years this baby will be learning to drive, and I say a little prayer for him and his unborn sibling!

OK, Adam and I are headed off to Esteli...see you folks in a couple days! :)

Tica Time

Hi all,
Just a quick update to let you know I'll be in Costa Rica for the next week! My mom, dad, brother and A-dawg will all be there so I am super excited! I'm sure I'll have lots of fun stories to share once I return...leave some love!

Flashbacks to Little Feet

Sorry I haven´t written more lately...the comps are being a little screwy here, but I was able to spend last weekend at a beautiful resort in San Juan del Sur with Elena and her fam (pics to come on Facebook).

I thought I would write today about something I´ve secretly enjoyed here in Nica...the popularity of 80´s and early 90´s love ballads, dance jams and other ¨what were we thinking?¨ songs from the U.S. (Little Feet, from the title of this post, was the dance class I attended in elementary school that involved the running man, the grape vine, and lots of other too-cool-for-school moves.) You can find these songs on most radio stations here, and once you are spotted as a chela (pale skinned one) in a bus or restaurant, these songs and sometimes even music videos (some buses have tvs!) are sure to follow. So here is my David Letterman Top 10 Gringotastic and Currently Popular in Nicaragua Songs that I have been blessed to hear frequently during my time here:

Top 10 Songs

10. The Greatest Love of All—Whitney Houston
9. Come Baby Come—k7
8. Remember the Time—Michael Jackson
7. My Heart Will Go On—Celine Dion
6. Man I Feel Like a Woman—Shania Twain (The Brazilian dancers two-stepped to this at Noche de las Damas! hah)
5. End of the Road—Boyz II Men
4. Total Eclipse of the Heart—Bonnie Tyler
3. The Search is Over—Survivor
2. Ice, Ice Baby—Vanilla Ice

And drumroll, please............

1. Ebony and Ivory—Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder...Yes, this little gem of a song is a frequent hit on local Managua stations. Though I can´t for the life of me figure out why, it also happens that BBC 6 Music listeners named it the worst duet in history in October 2007.

Hope you enjoyed the list and the totally rad videos from Youtube! lol

On a side note, one of the translators here, Julieta, gave me her extra cell phone to use while I am here, and Ana just sent me my first text message lol, so I am feeling very cool right now. Also, I am now taking salsa and meringue classes with Elena and Ana, so hopefully I´ll have some fun moves to bring back to the 889 Fam...

Also, please leave in the comments section which 80´s-early 90´s song you hope I hear while I´m down here =) I´m going now, because I´ve spent entirely too much time on this post, but I just couldn´t resist the opportunity to ¨pump up the jams¨ and put up visuals for these songs, so you can get the full effect of the glory of a bumpin´ Nicaraguan bus... =)

Drinking with a Priest

Tonight I drank Flor de Cana (Nicaragua's national rum) with Father John and 2 of his church members from Kentucky who are staying at the Center. It was great! It was made even better by the fact that he was bashing on another priest from the community they went to visit. Father Victor, as can be surmised from the summary, does not want anyone else in the community having power, so the delegation of 3 from Kentucky spent five-hour long meetings listening to the Father ramble on about stealing "back" members from the Evangelical church. Meanwhile the other Nicaraguans, some of whom had ridden 2 to 3 hours on horses or the bus to be there, sat around and listened. At lunch they were finally able to talk to the community members a little bit, sitting around a table that had plastic chairs for everyone except Father Victor, who had the throne of a wooden chair at the head.

Then he took them out for a tour down a bumpy road for the afternoon. As they were just getting ready to pull into the driveway, Father John made the mistake of asking how enviromental issues in the area were being handled. "Horrible!" screamed Father John. "Here, I'll show you," then proceded to drive them 20 minutes away so that they could see the tree that was killed because someone made a fire beside it to burn their trash. While there, David, one of the church members, made the mistake of asking about the bells that had been donated to the church. "They're too short!" Father John exclaimed, then drove them clear across town to the church, so that they, in fact, could see that the tower was only 25 feet high, when it clearly needed to be 35 feet high to produce the right tones. By the time they got back to their house, their free time had dwindled from an hour and a half to 15 minutes, during which Father John went into a discourse about how he had no idea how the community would survive if he was assigned anywhere else.

To top it all off, Nicaragua has a largely Catholic-backed law that says women are not allowed to have abortions, even in life-saving situations for the mother. "It's a good law," said Father Victor. "Here, let me give you an example." Apparently his mother was warned that her pregnancy was very complicated, but that she went ahead with it anyway and that the world was so lucky because he could be born. When asked what happened to his mother, he added, "Oh, she died shortly afterward." Minor details apparently.

The men are going to attempt to call Pablo tomorrow, one of the "subversive" community members who is too empowered for Father Victor's tastes, to see if they can arrange a meeting without the head honcho, or at least hear how the situation really is. Apparently Pablo actually gives detailed, itemized reports about the community's work. I hope they are successful in reaching him!

La Vida Loca

WHAT!?!? So after 49 years Castro is resigning? Hmmm....I wonder what his motivation was and I will be interested to see how this will affect Nicaragua, as well as the U.S., or if things are going to pretty much remain the same if they put lil bro bro and sidekick Raul in charge...We´ll see...Here´s a link to the Post article: Fidel Castro Stepping Down as Cuba´s President

A Scorpion, a Wedding Invite and Sherbert with Mixed Canned Fruit on Top

Q: Has Amanda finally lost it?
A: No. (At least not completely.) Amanda experienced these 3 cosas/things (and many more!) during her final night in Esteli.

I knew it was going to be one of those "Twilight Zone" days from the beginning, when our section of town lost all electricity and water. Businesses were closed, there was no Cybercafe, and, horror of all horrors, the kids, Diana, Dona Alicia and I had to find a way to entertain ourselves without television. Dona Alicia and the kids gave me a tour of her patio (backyard), which Diana not-so-lovingly referred to as "The Farm," but I really enjoyed it. In it we encountered a lemon tree, a mango tree, a banana tree, cacti, begonias, roses, and even a coffee tree, as well as some haphazard gallinas (roosters) running about. After going inside, Luisito and I played Hide and/or Catch the Lemon for about half an hour while Diana and Michelle bucket showered. We got power back around 2 pm (but not water--you can't ask for too much), so everyone else got their daily intake of Rosalinda (which, by the way, has a very catchy theme song that repeats her name over and over) while I bucket showered. It's amazing how good dumping cold water on yourself can feel, even though it feels a bit like bathing a toddler when you have to tip your head back and use the bowl to get the soap out of your hair. The kids were very excited that they would not have to miss Patito Feo at 5 pm, which also has a very catchy theme song and opening dance number reminiscent of First-Album, innocent-but-destined-for-something-not-so-innocent-in-the-very-near-future Britney Spears. During the show Diana re-French manicured my nails and painstakingly put a flower on each (not entirely my style but I do feel bien elegante when I catch a glimpse of them now).

Then Diana's very talkative and fun friend Giovanni and her fiancee stopped by while Diana is in the process of painstakingly straightening and curling every piece of my hair (which, as you probably already know, is thicker than some small countries). Giovanni is my age and is getting married in April, and, I won't lie, I really want to go to the wedding. So I shamelessly sucked up to her for a little bit (I really like her anyway, so I didn't feel THAT bad), and she and Diana then said how I should come to the wedding if I could and I feigned surprise and said that I of course would love to come. I gave her all of my information--which at this point is the office number at AKF, my email address, and a jumbled mess of words that somehow qualifies where the AKF office is located. She gave me her correo y numeros de celular y convencional--e-mail, home and cell #s--and I'm hoping one of our modes of Spanglish will work (Me being the only one speaking Spanglish, of course). She is always very eager to talk to anyone, myself included, so I think this might actually work.

Then I told Dona Alicia that I wanted to get pizza for our last night and the floodgates of party-town broke loose. She ran five streets over to get ice cream (which we will encounter later) and then we called to order Hawaiian (yes, that's right) pizza for delivery (yes, that's right as well--the address for their house, from what I heard, involved a school, lots of cuadras, gold doors, and a tree, as you may remember from one of my first posts about addresses here). They told us 35 minutes (and amazingly it was right on U.S. time and not on Nica time), and more drama unfolded as we heard Diana scream from the bathroom. "Mama, Michelle, vengan/come here now!" she was screaming, and, as you may remember, she is 8 months pregnant, so I'm thinking her water broke. Of course then I start thinking about the stupid little things that shouldn't matter at that time, like, what are we going to do about the pizza? But then we go in the bathroom, and it was there that I witnessed my first alacran/scorpion. There are 2 things I am very glad I know now:

1) They are easy to kill (I thought they had a hard shell, but evidently you can just smack them with a shoe to knock them off)

2) They will not kill you (They can paralyze you and leave you in severe pain for a day or so, but in comparison to dying I can tell you this was pretty exciting news to me)

I also found out that the number of links they have in their tail indicates how old they are...Alden, the 11-year-old nephew that lives there, wanted very much to show me exactly how many years this one had, but I took his word that he was either 4 or 5 years old. Meanwhile, the pizza guy shows up and we all enjoy the pizza (except Michelle, who only wanted her pizza with soda, and couldn't for the life of her understand why I did not like soda, which Dona Alicia used to set the example that if I wasn't drinking it, they shouldn't be either). Then I had to run, because a group of us from the Spanish school had decided to meet at 8 to go to an Art Gallery opening. Sharon and I took a taxi and met up with Jess, his Nica girlfriend/friend for the evening, and a couple from the hostel he was staying at. The guy was from Michigan, the girl was from England, and they met while being camp counselors in California, and were spending 6 months traveling thru Latin America before counseling again this summer. I really love international couples (aka guy and girl are from different countries), and they were no exception. Together we all listened to a mariachi band and checked out the artwork from local artists...very cool! Flor de Cana sponsors the majority of the events here (including several Nocha de las Damas nights and a Mass service?? if I read the sign correctly, which I probably didn't), so there was free rum flowing, as well as appetizers, which was also nice.

We headed home around 11, and upon getting back Diana pointed out that we forgot to eat the ice cream. (I felt horrible because I knew they wouldn't dream of eating it without me, and it's a fairly special commodity.) So, ONLY to make them feel better, I suggested we eat it right then. Watching some strangly dubbed movie about cloning that had Sandy from the O.C. in it, Diana and I sat around in our pjs and ate the tutti frutti sherbet, complete with canned mixed fruit on top, which I would never have thought to do, but now highly recommend! I was a bit nervous beforehand watching my 8-month-pregnant host mom and 74-year-old host grandma open the mixed fruit can with a carving knife, but, though unconventional to me, it worked, as do most things in Nicaragua!

In closing, I loved my host family and will miss their warmth and affection, but I'm hoping that Adam and I can go back in March and visit with the new baby! Sorry for the rambling, I worked in the kitchen today for 12 hours, so I needed some decompression, but writing may not have been the smartest/most logical outlet lol...you are a saint if you have borne it til the end, and I will now provide you with the answer to my poll: A telenovela star. Love you all!

The Passing of the Children

So, Miraflor was fab-o, as you will see on Facebook hopefully next week. I took 431 pictures and then my memory was full, so it was a hard choice deciding which photos of crazy looking flowers or animals to erase. We stayed at this awesome cabana in the middle of nowhere, and on Saturday swam in a little cascade and climbed inside a hollowed-out 250-year-old tree using its vines. I stayed with 2 women in their sixties, Nancy and Sharon, who were very sweet, but guaranteed entertainment on the bus ride back to Esteli.

To begin with, Sharon bit it butt-first into a creek we were crossing. It was one of those moments where you can´t stop laughing, precisely because you know you shouldn´t be. It didn´t help that she fell in once, then went deeper as she tried to get up. Luckily she had an extra pair of pants with her that she was able to change into in the brush as Nancy, a Nicaraguan teenage boy we met up with on the walk, and I tried not to watch.

Then, the bus shows up (half an hour late, of course/claro) and it is jammed packed. You have probably seen it on the Discovery Channel, or some travel channel--the bus is a recycled US school bus from the 70s, painted in rainbow colors and literally dripping with people. Ours already had about 12 men seated on the top. So, they open up the exit door, but there are already about 10 men crowded behind the seats and they are screaming at us to Dale, dale! Go, go! and Nancy is like oh, hell no, but really there is no choice because this is the last bus of the day, and there are certainly no taxis around.

So, Sharon runs up to the front of the bus to try and cram in there, and Nancy and I are shoved into the back. Nancy is screaming to me thru another guy´s armpits about how she has no place to put her head, and of course I just can´t stop laughing and keep erupting in fits of giggles, which of course makes me look even more strange. Eventually I find a way to perch myself on the side of a seat that already has 2 women and 3 kids in it, and Nancy quiets down. Of course then I have to pee, so everytime we hit a bump I am in agony and then my water bottle that I am gripping up on the top pole starts leaking on the family of 4 to the other side of me, so I have to find a way to shove that in the bag under my feet as well. We load up about 3 more times at different points along the mountainous path, because no one else wants to ride on the roof. Nancy at this point is screaming that there is no space and I want to scream that they don´t understand English and are not going to listen to her anyway, but instead I try and pretend I´m not with her lol. This works until she tries to speak English with the boy we walked the path with who speaks a little English. I am feeling good helping her translate certain words, until she asks me, Amanda, what does hallido mean? And I ask the boy what he is saying and he says, Como estas? And I am like Oh, lord, I have to tell her that he is saying How are you with an accent haha. So that was fun.

We finally make it into the outer limits of Esteli, and this is my favorite part--the passing of the children. When the women have to get off they kind of wiggle their way into the center aisle holding their kids and then the men grab the babies from their arms and start an assembly line to get the children out the back door. It is a very quick process, because the bus will take off in mid-passing if you are not fast enough. So, the men are literally tossing the kids into some other strangers arms below, who then receive the luggage in the same fashion, and, miracurasly, it all works out and the mothers climb down the exit and are reunited with their children and luggage.

If you come visit me in Nicaragua, I will have you ride the city bus with me, so that you, too, may be blessed enough to see the awesomeness that will inevitably ensue.

Ramblings and other Assorted Nonsense

Hi all! So I am headed out this weekend to Miraflor, a natural reserve with waterfalls in the mountains outside of Esteli, where my language school is located. I have decided that Managua is like the LA of Nicaragua, and Esteli is more like the Denver, Colorado--cool weather, laid back people, nestled in the mountains. Also, I was having lots of zen-like thoughts running thru my head this afternoon while reading The Road Less Traveled. In it, it talks about how it took the author 37 years to realize that often we think we´re not good at things because we don´t take adequate time to learn how to do them. For example, the author, M. Scott Peck, was talking about how he could never do mechanical things or assemble anything from an instruction booklet. He was talking to a neighbor about how great it was that his neighbor could fix his own lawn mower, saying gee, I wish I could do that...I wonder why I can´t. And his neighbor responded by saying, you can, you just haven´t taken the time to learn. And it was true: when he took the time to try and fix a simple problem with someone else´s car, he discovered he could do it.

This got me thinking about Kendal and my conversation with him in October.
Me: It´s so awesome you´re volunteering here in Nicaragua. I wish I could do something like that.
Kendal: You can.
Me: Yeah, but I have a lease and a dog and people I love in the U.S. and...
Kendal; Yeah, but if you don´t do it now, you´re just going to keep having more of those responsibilities and things that pull you farther away from doing it.
Me: Yeah, but...
Kendal: AND, you can only avoid doing what you´re supposed to be doing for so long. Eventually IT WILL catch up with you.
Me: OK, I´m coming.
So maybe this isn´t exactly how it went, but it was something like this, and it worked, and I am grateful! Thank you, Kendalario! I don´t think we realize how much we affect one another´s lives, but I´m beginning to understand...

Also, another thing I am getting used to is never being alone lol. I was reading my book in the room they gave me, which I basically only use to sleep in, and my host grandmom walks in (and catches me cramming down a Zone bar, of course lol) and was like are you lonely? Do you miss your family? And I was like, yeah I wasn´t thinking about it but I do! How did you know? And she was like, well because you are solita (alone). Here, that´s about one of the strangest things you can be caught doing lol. And I think I am growing as a person and in my interactions with others because of this consistant togetherness. The warmth of the people here is shocking, and I´m appreciating it more every day. OK, that´s it! :)

Language, Schmanguage

OK so I am halfway thru my first week of language school! I am loving my host family (whom I´ll describe later), but the actual language school part of it feels a little like a ridiculous 2 week cram session of my past 4 years of college! My teacher (whom I´ll also describe later!) is a bit of an old school drill sargeant and isn´t so much interested in talking as having me read entire short stories aloud, or completing, oh like 20 worksheets a day. Worse still, Elena called and talked to the director to be like she needs to practice talking more, so now my teacher´s like, but isn´t this helping? and drilling me at twice the speed to MAKE me understand why I need to have grammar drilled into my brain first. So, that´s that! Here´s a little bit more about my life at the moment:

1) My host fam: Diana, the mom, is awesome. She is 8 months preggers with a very active baby boy, and yet has time to introduce me to all her friends and paint my nails in a French manicure with flowers! Straightening hair is also a big thing to do here, which I am very grateful for lol. She really understands my Spanish as well, so that´s a big relief. Her husband is currently working in New Jersey in construction until April, but she lives with her mom Alicia, who is also very sweet and always make sure that I am eating enough. Diana has 2 children: Michelle (who at first I thought she was saying ¨My chela¨ or ¨chele¨ like my light skinned one lol but it is just a coincidence that her name is Michelle and she is light skinned) and Luisito, a very rambunctious 3 year old. Michelle, who doesn´t have much interest in talking to me, loves the show Patito Feo (The Ugly Duckling) which seems to be the Spanish version of Hannah Montana, only with more girl fights. Luisito only eats Cornflakes, likes his bottled milk with sugar, and drives his toy cars over everything. I am interested to see how he will fare as a middle child!

2) I am very excited that they have re-runs of Third Watch and the OC here lol. Only Third Watch is called Urban Emergencies and The OC is called Youth Beyond our Control lol. I am also surprised that I didn´t see Eddie Cibrian in any of the preview commercials--I figured they would have him plastered all over like a Latin American billboard. Oh well.

3) My teacher--her name is Sandra Lopez and she is very sweet. She wanted to be a journalist but when she went to college in 1990, it was right after the war so her mom basically told her she wouldn´t pay for her to go into a profession that she would more than likely be assassinated for. So, when I told her I was a journalism student, (and this happens frequently) it´s kind of like, oh well you´re lucky. And then I´m like yeah but I´m not really doing anything with that at the moment and they are like, Oh. Ok. (Followed by a look that basically translates to, Oh these ridiculous gringos.) She is also a teacher at the high school and so I think her style of teaching just emanates from that. The majority of my practice actually speaking Spanish comes from being with my family and translating for Shannon, a woman here thru AKF that is learning the language, but her difficulties are compounded because she has a Spanish accent and doesn´t pronounce her ¨r¨s in English, so the double ¨r¨s in Spanish are pretty much out.

4) For Lent, I am giving up speaking English lol. We´ll see how it actually goes. Writing in English and talking on the phone are going to be my guilty pleasures, but I really want to be able to speak with ease, so I´m hoping this helps! It´s do or die time, kids. Sink or swim. Mas o menos. (OK the last one doesn´t really make sense, but I can pronounce it really well, dropping the ¨s¨ like a Nicaraguan pro lol) I am also excited because they use the Spanish Vosotros, or vos, here in place of tu, so maybe when I travel to other countries they will think I´m from Spain! I´m crazy, I know lol. OK, Hasta luego!

Go Barack!

A) Noche de las damas did pay off with free entry, drinks, and crazy Brazilian Backstreet Boy like dancers lol.

B) Kelly, I hope your bday was great!

AND C) On this, the eve of Super Tuesday, I thought I´d get a little political and post the link to an awesome Obama video that Keri passed on to me. Enjoy! AND VOTE!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1yq0tMYPDJQ

Hello?

SHOUT OUT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADAM!!!

And now, on to the rest of the post:

Answering the phone here terrifies me. This is in part because people in Nicaragua answer the phone by saying “Alo,” or “Hello” with a Spanish accent. So, imagine me trying to imitate a Nicaraguan trying to imitate someone from the U.S. Thoughts running thru my head include—Are they going to think I’m mocking them? What else can I say? Should I just say hello in my regular voice? Ahhhh? Then, on top of that, I must take a message for the center if it’s not someone calling for me. So—if someone doesn’t understand my “Quien es?” I and the center are screwed. Thus my hesitation for picking up the phone,

Tonight Gabi and Ana (two people who work at AKF that are 2 of my new BFF’s :)) are going to a club for Ladies Night, or Noche de las Damas. So, they keep calling here like every 5 minutes, Gabi in Spanish and Ana in 80 percent English to be like, “You know Gabi is coming to pick you up right?” “You know Ana is going to meet us there right?” So, it’s basically them saying, “We are going to come pick you up, entendiste (you understand)? Repeatedly. And I’m like yes, but then I’m like, Wait, what if I’m not getting it and I’m supposed to be getting in a cab at this very moment and going to who knows where? So then I say, Uno vez, mas (One more time) and they repeat even slower if humanly possible, ask for my confirmation again, and hang up gingerly. The moral of this story is that I am conquering my fear of answering this phone and it will hopefully pay off with lots of free drinks at Noche de las Damas, entendiste? Adios! 

Happy Birthday/Feliz Cumpleaños Adam and Kelly!

In honor of Adam's birthday on the 31st and Kelly's on the 1st, I am posting the lyrics to Nicaragua's version of Happy Birthday...I would say to imagine me singing it, but maybe you should imagine Enrique Iglesias or Shakira (aka someone with a better voice that doesn't trip over multi-syllable Spanish words) instead. :)

Las Mañanitas Lyrics:

Estas son las mañanitas, que cantaba el Rey David,
Hoy por ser día de tu santo, te las cantamos a ti,
Despierta, mi bien, despierta, mira que ya amaneció,
Ya los pajarillos cantan, la luna ya se metió.

Que linda está la mañana en que vengo a saludarte,
Venimos todos con gusto y placer a felicitarte,
Ya viene amaneciendo, ya la luz del día nos dio,
Levántate de mañana, mira que ya amaneció.


Translation:

This is the morning song that King David sang
Because today is your saint's day we're singing it for you
Wake up, my dear, wake up, look it is already dawn
The birds are already singing and the moon has set

How lovely is the morning in which I come to greet you
We all came with joy and pleasure to congratulate you
The morning is coming now, the sun is giving us its light
Get up in the morning, look it is already dawn.

A little more poetic than Happy Birthday, eh?

This, however, is followed by:
Ya queremos torta… ya queremos torta… aunque sea un cubilete (o champurrada) pero queremos comer!
Which basically means: And now we want cake...even though we've had something to drink, we want something to eat! (Perhaps our cultures aren't that different...)

Love you guys! Happy birthday!

Some Things are Better Left Untranslated

I’m sure you can pretty much imagine the Spanish vocabulary that a group of college students wants to learn. (Hint: Dónde esta el baño? took a backseat to learning the names of body parts that are in use during your visit to the baño). To begin with, they learned useful Spanglish phrases such as “Que sexy!” or “Mister Músculos.” “Puchica!” (wow) and “Twane” (cool) were popular with the students simply because they liked the way it sounded rolling off their tongues, so I think their host families were a bit confused as to why they were so excited about everything. "Tengo hambre" (I’m hungry) and "Tengo hombre" (I have a man) were often mixed up, so that was a big hit with girls and guys alike. My personal favorite: the Williams group somehow managed to translate “Ballin” into “Boliche,” which literally means bowling instead of balling, but they still continued to say it in the same ridiculous tone of voice that one must use when shouting Ballin’ or Bowling or whatever it was that ended up being said. In short, I love college students.

Alive 'n Kickin

Hey everyone! I just wanted to put up a post and let you all know my time in Nicaragua so far has been GREAT. I've spent time in the small farming community of Dulce Nombre de Jesus (yes, it means Sweet Name of Jesus, but don't worry Ray I won't be drinking any kool aid or giving a Tom Cruise-like rant anytime soon) and with coffee farmers in Matagalpa. I have also had the pleasure of spending the past couple weeks with a group of students from Williams College who are awesome and quirky in that New England way :) I will write more soon, but I miss you all immensely! Ciao!

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

I leave tomorrow!!!! Crazy :) Adam said my last post was too bitter, so hopefully this one will be a little more upbeat lol.

Before I go, I would like to share a very sweet message I recently received from a dear friend:

"Whatever...go feed them rice and be content! Jesus freak. You better not come back with some revelation that wearing sandles and not putting product in your hair is OK because it isn't. Don't go off and find yourself and come back someone who doesn't drink and doesn't get highlights...that is my only request! Mmmmmm k?!"

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the incomparable Mr. Ray Bracken. I don't know what I would do without people like him in my life to keep me on the straight and narrow. Please feel free to add your own caring messages and advice in the comments section!

Love and miss you all already!

No Thank You, I'm Leaving the Country

Hi Folks,

Sorry I haven't updated more lately! I leave this Saturday, so things have been a little loco. First of all, thanks to everyone who came out Saturday night!! It was a fab-o time, complete with lots of dancing that, upon photographic evidence, looks like a bad 80's wedding? BUT, back to the point of this posting...

I LOVE telling people I can't buy or renew something because, oh, I will be living in a third-world country come next week. My gym pass, my Barnes and Noble member card, even (I'm sad to admit) my tanning membership--I get to say, "No thank you, I will not be renewing BECAUSE I'M LEAVING THE COUNTRY." It's so effective. I should have been saying this for years. They can't guilt you into buying anything because there are no Barnes and Nobles, LA Fitnesses, and DEFINITELY no Palm Beach Tans in Nicaragua. My favorite (aka the worst) is when people ask me where the hell Nicaragua is. Granted, I'm sure there are countries that I would sound like Miss Teen South Carolina trying to identify, but COME ON people, where were your history classes about Reagan and the 80's and trying to obliterate anything the country stood for? (Sorry, I am trying very hard not to turn this blog political). So, back to my point--if some stupid person at Bally's or American Eagle is trying to get you to buy a card so you can buy more of their crap, you can politely say, "Gee, I would love to, but I'm moving to a country where I can live off of $30 for a month instead, but thanks!"