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.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, July 14, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
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?
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?
Monday, June 16, 2008
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.
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
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.
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