Water problems, breaking laws, meetings, and larger than life avocados

So, I’ll begin with the first thing mentioned: water problems. On Tuesday, our water pila ran out of water. What does this mean? Well, there is a large supply of water kept above the house in a large tank, which runs through all of our pipes and provides us with running water and allows our toilets to flush. So, since Tuesday (5 days now) we haven’t been able to use any water from the sinks (because nothing comes out) and haven’t been able to flush the toilets without pouring water in the tanks first to fill them up. We have a large bucket of water for drinking and several buckets of water lining the countertop to use for washing dishes, etc. Needless to say, the kitchen is a mess because the dishes have been piling up since there wasn’t much water the days before to wash and there has been food left out, counters not cleaned, etc. So, it’s been pretty inconvenient. I’m trying to keep a good attitude about it and realize that many places do not have running water. My house in San Juan de Oriente did not have running water, but they were used to that and things were set up to keep things running. I just don’t like when things are messy, like piles of dirty dishes and stuff all over the counters. Last night, after everybody went to bed, I washed several dishes by pouring water from a bucket over them, scrubbing with the sponge, and then rinsing. It was much more difficult to use one hand to wash and one to pour, but I felt better afterwards that many things were clean :)

The next thing on the list…oh yeah, breaking laws. So I went to Managua with my family on Thursday because they needed to run errands and take the grandma to a doctor’s appointment and I wanted to go to the PC office to get some things done. Anyway, on the way into Managua, we got pulled over by the police. Basically, the police stand on the side of the road and when they see something wrong, they direct you over to the side of the road. My family has a pick-up truck with a double cab that sits 2 people in front and 3 in the back, but we had 4 people in the back. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but we fit just fine. I thought this was a pretty ridiculous law for Nicaragua as we sat there while other pick-up trucks passed by with more than 10 people in the bed. Really? Is that really safer than one extra person in the cab? Later on I saw a man on his motorcycle and he was actually wearing a helmet and the correct way, which is rare here. However, he also had a small child sitting in front of him, one behind him, and then his wife behind that child. This is not rare to see in Nicaragua. Somehow it’s ok to have 4 people on a motorcycle, and only one wearing a helmet. Not quite sure about the laws here… I guess I know why there are always so many people in the bed of trucks instead of inside the cab.

After a very long day in Managua, I had to go to the Instituto (high school) the next morning for their monthly TEPCE (meetings with all teachers in the district to plan for the month). They are usually pretty boring and the teachers often say this themselves. It was boring, but it was neat because I got to meet the other English teachers in the area. They were a little jealous of my counterparts to find out that I would only be working at the one Instituto and not joining them, but I told them I would be doing talleres (workshops) to help all of them. They then decided that for their next TEPCE, I would do their teacher capacitacion (training) and they told me what they wanted me to teach them. All right, I have some planning to do…

Today, Andrea came into town to hang out and run some errands. We went to the market and I was hoping to find some avocados, which have been difficult to locate. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Although they were a little expensive, these avocados were the largest ones I’ve ever seen! Take a look for yourself.