Thursday, February 24, 2011

Another week has come and gone

I was sick this past weekend and it carried through Monday so I missed school that day, and then Tuesday morning as well, so no classes.  I managed to get to the school Tuesday afternoon to meet with one of my counterparts to plan for Wednesday and she was very excited to have me working with her.  I didn't see my other counterpart and found out he hadn't come to school Monday or Tuesday either--glad I didn't try going to his classes if he wasn't there anyway (P.S. nobody calls to tell me any of this...).  So, I met with another counterpart Wednesday afternoon to plan for the next week.  I asked him what he had planned for Thursday because I would be coming to observe.  Then he told me he wasn't going to be there because he had a dr. appt.  I told him thank you for telling me because I had been planning on going and he hadn't told me before that he wasn't going to be there.  He laughed and said, "oh you didn't ask me".  Hmmm...shouldn't he be telling me?  Well, he never has saldo (credit) on his phone to call/text, so he doesn't respond to my messages or call me back.  So that's a little frustrating...

Anyway, I was excited to finally start teaching so I headed off to the instituto but as I arrived, some students told me that the teacher wasn't there and so they were leaving... Ok, so I went and talked to the director (principal) and he confirmed that my counterpart didn't show up that day.   I waited a little while because it wasn't quite 4:30pm and I didn't want to leave before the class time started just in case she was running late.  Well, she never showed.  I was disappointed because I really wanted to teach that day. 

Apparently I should call my counterparts before their classes to make sure they're going to be there...one of my counterparts doesn't have a phone though so this should be interesting.  Just something I have to be flexible with.  I'm not as much frustrated with people that aren't able to make it to things because we all have personal things that come up, but it would be nice to get a phone call or a text message letting me know they won't be there so I'm not left wondering what's going on. 

Monday, February 21, 2011

Pinche

Pinche (peen-chay) is a common word among us PCVs because it means “cheap” as to say a person is pinche when they don’t want to spend very much. Well, with our PC budget, we usually end up being pretty “pinche”. It’s funny because things are really inexpesive here for the most part (unless you’re in super touristy areas). I’ve noticed this as I’ve had visitors pass through and hung out with other gringos on short term visits here. They’re always saying, “wow, that’s so cheap!” and I’m thinking “wow, buy me one then” ;) Haha No, not really… If I was here for vacation I know I would be saying the same thing. Just to give you a feel for how inexpensive things are, I’m going to make a list of my recent grocery store purchases. FYI: the local grocery store in Boaco, which is also a chain throughout Nicaragua, is called Palί and is owned by Wal-Mart.

These prices have been converted from Nicaraguan Córdobas to US dollars:
3 Bananas: $0.27
Bag of tortillas (10 small): $0.67
Yellow onion (½ lb): $0.37
3 Roma sized tomatoes: $0.20 (yes, that’s total, not each)
Cucumber: $0.23
Salad sized bag of spinach: $0.35
Green bell pepper: $0.45
Head of broccoli: $0.77
Yogurt: $0.39 (there aren’t as many flavors and the nonfat is a little more expensive)
½ lb of carrots: $0.30
Loaf of wheat bread: $1.15 (not so cheap)

The items that are most expensive are canned vegetables and fresh fruits that are imported: apples, strawberries, and grapes. Bacon is usually pretty expensive as well.

Now, I haven’t been in the States for about 6 months so I’m not sure exactly what the prices are for these things back home, but I’m pretty sure it’s a lot cheaper here. Correct me if I’m wrong. I know when I get back home I’m going to be so pinche and wonder why everything is so expensive.

Just for fun…
Things I miss from the grocery store back home: Honey Bunches of Oats cereal (along with many other cereals), apples (for less than a dollar a piece), strawberries (Oregon grown or at least ripe and decent priced), frozen foods (veggies, fruits, and the occasional pizza), cottage cheese, cream cheese, cheddar cheese (Tillamook is my fav), shredded mixed cheese, string cheese (I pretty much don’t like the cheeses they have here—too salty, spongy, or dry), deli meat (that doesn’t look like bologna or something fake), overwhelming amounts of yogurt flavors, flowers (I loved to buy fresh flowers to have on my kitchen table back home), and snacks (crackers, nuts, rice cakes, granola bars, etc.).

I think the thing I miss the most is having a more varied diet and a better selection of food. I just don’t like eating the same thing over and over, which is pretty common for Nicas. I’ve been trying to be creative, but it’s hard when I don’t have an oven. It’s definitely a challenge.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Uneventful Weekend

I was thinking of visiting some friends this weekend, but those plans changed Friday morning when I developed stomach cramps and yes, diarrhea. I went to the lab to do the test and had to come home and wait for a couple hours for the results. I hate that process—while feeling miserable, you have to go down to the lab and drop off the specimen, then wait anxiously at home for 2 hours to get the results (while still feeling miserable), then get the results and call the PC doctors to ask them what’s wrong. Well, my results came back negative for bacteria, but something about bad digestion…I’m still not exactly sure what it said as it was in Spanish and that was the best definition I could get from several people. Obviously it was some sort of bad digestion otherwise I would not be feeling so crappy. With no real diagnosis, I was left to “wait it out” with instructions to drink rehydration salts to keep hydrated. Ugh! I hate that stuff and it just reminds me of drinking those for 4 days when I had that horrible bacterial infection before.

The stomach cramps and (um) diarrhea continued through the next day so I went to the lab again and then got the same results. So frustrating! I called the PC doctor and talked to a different one this time and he pretty much had the same response, but I asked if there was anything that could help because I had stomach cramps and very low energy because I couldn’t really eat much besides crackers and a piece of toast. He told me I could get some pills that regulate bacteria…so it was off to the pharmacy for me!

I still don’t feel 100% but I have been able to eat more :) However, every time I start to eat something, even though I feel really hungry, my stomach tells me “No!” So, I’ve been taking it easy and eating small portions every few hours. It’s difficult too because I can’t eat any dairy products because those react badly with any bacteria related issues. So many things have milk in them…like my ice cream in the freezer that’s been calling my name since Thursday night :(

Well, what was supposed to be a fun-filled weekend with friends turned into a weekend of bed-surfing, endless TV sessions, and long naps (with frequent trips to the bathroom). Not what I wanted, but it could be worse, right?

I’m not sure yet if I’ll be going to school tomorrow since my stomach just doesn’t feel right and my energy is low. I think that 7am bus will come too early. I hate missing things, but I want to feel better before getting on that bus and being in a classroom full of students only to feel miserable and leave early.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Miscommunication

Today has been a day of a lot of miscommunication…I took the school bus and arrived to the instituto on time so that was fine. However, when I got to the school, my counterpart and I went to the classroom that he was supposed to be teaching, but he realized there was an error with his schedule (the one he copied from the master copy). So, he left the classroom and told to talk to the students for awhile. Hmmm. So, I introduced myself and asked them a couple of questions and told them they could chat amongst themselves. Several students came in and asked me if they could take some chairs for their classroom so I said yes since we had extras and then there was a flood of students coming in and taking chairs and our students were saying they couldn’t take them all because we were missing some students…All of this and my counterpart was nowhere to be found. I stood outside the classroom for a couple of minutes to watch for my counterpart and to prohibit other chair stealers from entering. Another teacher walked up and asked if I was teaching the class and I told her I was with my counterpart. Then, another lady (I think the secretary) came over and said there was an error with the schedule and that this teacher was teaching this class and my counterpart had another section. She looked it up on her schedule and showed me where his real classroom was. Oh, and guess what? My counterpart was there sitting in his desk. Apparently he thought I would figure it out on my own that he wasn’t coming back to tell me where he was. Nice.

Well, once I got into that class, they did the national anthem and then he left and told me to talk to the students while he was gone. Ok, why was he leaving this time? He came back a few minutes later with another chair so I could have a desk and he could have a chair. He got started by writing the verb “to be” on the board with all of the conjugations (I am, you are…) and told the class to copy it. I was a little upset because he had told me that he wasn’t really going to teach anything, but now he started into a lesson that we could have planned together and developed better. He had the students copying and repeating things after him. He wasted so much class time going around and checking EACH student’s notebook to see if they had copied everything and there were probably 40 students. I gave him suggestions while the students were copying and he just dismissed these and continued on with what he was doing. This made me very upset because he wanted me to be there in class, but didn’t involve me in any of the process. I tried talking to him at the end of the class to explain what my suggestions were in case he didn’t understand them during class, but he was in a hurry to get off to the next class so he wasn’t really listening and therefore I don’t think he understood me either. Ugh! This was very frustrating!

I already arranged a time to meet and plan with both of my counterparts tomorrow afternoon for the next week, so hopefully we can get things straightened out. I’m just afraid that this counterpart in particular won’t listen to my ideas and let me participate in the planning and teaching process. Vamos a ver (we’ll see).

There was something good I wanted to share though…last night I had dinner with the visiting doctors and they told me more about what they are doing here. They are performing surgeries for women to be sterilized. Apparently it’s what a lot of women want here, but are unable to afford the surgery and/or travel. They are also teaching the doctors here the new method of performing this surgery in a safer way. It’s interesting. They were very nice people and they treated Veronica and me to dinner :) They asked me about other restaurants in town and I told them about my favorite—pupusas. It’s Salvadorian, but they have Nica food too. So, we have plans for dinner tonight too. It should be fun! I got to do some translating for them last night which was fun and they said they’ll be coming back in September and could use some more translators. I’m excited!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

English!

Well the first week of school does not actually mean there are classes here. Unfortunately, things are still a little unorganized. I went to the Instituto yesterday for the ´´official`` first day, but it was basically a large assembly introducing all the teachers and reading out loud what classes they will be teaching. There were speeches from the superintendent, principal, and vice principals. A priest also came and prayed. Fortunately I got to leave around 10am when they had a break. It was pretty boring.

I finally found out my counterparts´schedules today and we were able to talk about which classes I would be working with. I´m still trying to figure it all out because I´m not sure how many hours I should take. I was planning on just teaching 7th and 8th grade, but one of my counterparts teaches 7th and 8th, but the other teaches 8th and 9th (among other classes), so I will be working with 7th, 8th, and 9th grade. There are several sections of these classes though, so I need to work out my schedule to see which ones I´ll be teaching. It´s kind of weird the way they set up the sections here. They actually separate the students by their ability levels (not sure exactly how this is done). So, there is a 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, and 7E. 5 sections of 7th grade and I bet you can just imagine how the 7E class is with all of the ´´low`` students together… I don´t like how they do this, but it´s country-wide. Anyway, I´m just glad to finally have the schedule so I can figure out what I´ll be doing. I arranged to meet with my counterparts Friday afternoon to plan with them for next week because they aren´t teaching this week. One of my counterparts said he was improvising and laughed. Hmm, I´m not sure that´s funny, but that´s just the way it goes.

On the better things…

Last night there was a concert in the central park and it was a group of gringos from Missouri on a mission trip. It was so fun to hear some familiar music (in English). I talked to some people in their group before the concert and I guess they´ve been coming to Nicaragua for a couple years now and they travel around and do concerts. It was neat and I´m glad they came to Boaco because not very many gringos come out here. As I sat down to listen to the music, a Nica asked me (in English) if I was going to sing, and I said no as I laughed a little. I guess it would make sense for him to assume that because I´m a gringa and there was a group of gringos here. We started talking and he realized that I spoke Spanish. He has a mariachi band and they travel around Nicaragua and he also spent 5 years travelling around the U.S. with his band so he speaks a pretty good amount of English. He was very friendly and introduced me to his family there. He said that his son wants to learn English too and he´s taking courses in the university. I told him that I would be starting a community English group and that I would contact them to let them know when that would be. He then invited me and Veronica (my counterpart´s daughter who was with me at the concert) to sit at a table at the restaurant in the park with him and his family. He bought us coffee and rosquillos (a cheese7corn biscuit type thing). They were so nice and it was getting pretty chilly so the coffee was perfect.

At the end of the concert, I was waiting around to talk to the gringos again and I saw some other white folks standing on the side. I went over and asked them if they were part of the group, but they were actually part of a group of doctors from Canada on a medical mission. They were very friendly and invited us to their hotel for some ice cream. They´re staying at the big hotel in Boaco on the side of a cliff that has a nightclub/bar on top with a great view. The other members of their group had already gone to bed, but we chatted with 5 of them and they invited us to come back tonight to go out to dinner with them. I´m excited! It was so nice to meet so many new people yesterday and I felt so good sharing what I´m doing and hearing about what the others are doing to serve Nicaraguans.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

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.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Peace

I just started reading a book called “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. It’s really interesting and philosophical. It’s one of those books that really makes you think—or as the author here says, it makes you go beyond thought… It’s intriguing and has kept me reading. It’s also about seeking peace and finding your inner self. Anyway, at the end of one of the chapters, the author is talking about in a tragic situation (or any tough situation really) you have two ways to react: resist or yield. Resisting leads to bitterness, but yielding accepts whatever it is for what it is. I especially like the last few lines: “If no action is possible, you rest in the peace and inner stillness that come with surrender. You rest in God.”

This reminded me of a quote that I like from Tony Dungy (former NFL football coach), "You can't always control circumstances. However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response. Your options are to complain or to look ahead and figure out how to make the situation better.”

Monday, February 7, 2011

Baby Shower

The day finally came for Ruth’s baby shower and what a celebration it was! The day began very early as I woke up to music, TV, and people calling out to each other around 7:30am. I’m certainly not a morning person…ugh! I was surprised that everyone was up and prepping for the party when it was 11 hours away, but I guess they had a lot to do. I got up to have breakfast and the kitchen was crowded. Then they told me that they had to move my clothes that were hanging up outside because they were cooking something on the fire out there. Unfortunately all of my clothes smelt like smoke already and they had piled them up on the washer when they were still damp. This was a little frustrating. Then, I was making some poached eggs in the microwave in between trying to bring my clothes inside and find places to hang them up and spray them with febreeze, but my sister was trying to take my eggs out because the microwave beeped. They needed to cook a little longer so I punched in some numbers and walked away as she hovered near. I finally got my breakfast and moved some clothes inside and snuck back into my room to hide from all of the commotion. My saving grace was Friends; my favorite TV show was on (in English) so I watched it as I ate breakfast and my worries slowly melted away.

After breakfast and a little “cool down”, I went into the kitchen and chatted with Jasser as he was making yet another craft for the baby shower. I asked him what I could do and said I could get the cake. Well, I didn’t remember exactly where that was and I didn’t really want to go by myself because it still had to be paid for, so he recruited Hazell to go with me. We walked to Boaco arriba and found the cake place and carried the cake out of the shop. A weird thing here with cakes is that they don’t come covered. There is no top part that the bakery gives you to cover your cake to protect it from you know, dust, dirt, lingering fingers tempted by frosting, etc. So, we walked a little trying to find a taxi to pick us up. I was carrying the cake and man, this thing was heavy! I also was worried that I was going to trip or drop the cake. These thoughts kept flying through my mind as Hazell tried to guide me down the cobblestone street because I couldn’t see all that well around the cake and yes, I was wearing flip flops. We finally found a taxi and I’m not entirely sure if that was much better. The roads aren’t in that great of condition and the taxis drive around like they have a death wish. We stopped quickly one time and the cake almost slammed into the dashboard, or almost the alternative: my face slamming into the cake. We got home and everybody oooed and awed over the cake and I finally got some rest for my arms.


I joined in cutting out glittery stars for Jasser’s next project, as cooking was taking place in the kitchen, chairs and tables were delivered, and everybody else rushed around completing tasks. Jasser then had Diner, Hazell, and I help him clean and decorate the living room for the party and put the chairs together.




We all ate some of the food before the party started so we wouldn’t have to worry about that when we were serving the guests. This was great because I was tired and hungry! They had tons of food which was arroz valenciana (white rice mixed with small pieces of veggies, chicken, and of course cut up hotdogs…) and tropical fruit fresco (yes, with rum). It was delicious :)

The party started around 6:15pm. The guests actually arrived closer to 6pm than I expected, as Nica culture usually starts things late. People trickled in, put gifts on the table, and we passed out drinks. Jasser got started on the games and played music on the stereo in between. The first game was a contest to eat baby food the fastest. Little did the participants know, Jasser and I had chosen the flavor “chicken with vegetables” and removed the labels for this reason. Jasser counted to three and they each took a big bite…and then they all made faces like they had something rotten in their mouths. It was hilarious, and not much of a contest after that because no one really wanted to finish the jar to win.

They also did a game where two women who had children came up and had to “feed” two other guests milk from a bottle. They had to race to finish the bottle first.


Then, it was time for dinner and I helped serve the food.


They played pin the bow on the stork and did a little dancing before it was time to cut the cake. After the cake was served, the guests left pretty quickly. I have come to find out that usually at parties here, they wait for awhile to serve the food and dessert because once people eat, they leave. There’s not much socializing that goes on after.


My favorite part of the night was after all the guests had left, after we danced a little and ate some more cake, Ruth, Diner, Carmen (my host mom), Hazell, Jasser, and I sat in a circle of chairs and brought the presents over. They handed out presents to each of us and we went around the circle opening them one by one. This was really special and made me feel like part of the family. Even though none of the gifts were for me, it was exciting to participate in this experience and open the gifts and show Ruth and Diner what they received.


We were all exhausted after that but we did some cleaning because we knew it would be too overwhelming in the morning, and I’m a night owl so I’d much rather stay up late to clean then get up early. Plus, I knew I was going to need to sleep in after that long day.

White Lies

On Saturday, Andrea and I went to Juigalpa, Chontales (the department south of Boaco). Andrea has been there before and I wanted to go and check it out and we planned to explore what it had to offer. We found some interesting things including a museum of bizarre and unusual animals with deformities. They weren’t alive, but their skins were there. It was gross. We decided to look at the other things that didn’t make us sick which included some totem pole rock structures and other carvings from hundreds of years ago.



Then we were on a mission to find some lunch. We walked back to the central park and someone called out “hey!” We turned and found a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, chele (light skinned person). He said he hadn’t seen a white person in a week and asked where we were from and what we were doing there. We made small talk and found of that he was Romanian but grew up in Canada, but traveling through Central America. He invited us to join him and his Nica friend for a beer, among a lot of other Nica men with crowded tables of empty beer bottles, but we told a little white lie saying we were meeting friends for lunch so we couldn’t, but maybe we would see him later. It got us out of what could have been an uncomfortable situation.

We finally found a place for lunch and it had AC! This made up for the slightly pricey menu. I had a chicken sandwich with fries—don’t know the last time I had that! It was great. After that we headed back to the park (avoiding the bar/restaurant) and got ice cream. We then checked out the other park that claimed to have an awesome view. It was beautiful and there was a great breeze :)


As we walked around the town that day, we got many piropos (catcalls) which we kindly ignored or politely said “hi” or “goodbye” to the people that only said “hi” or “goodbye” and not “honey” or “baby”. There were two young guys that said some things in English, which is pretty common for Nicas because they learn some words/phrases in school or from TV and think it’s fun to try them out on us. They asked where we live and we said Nicaragua, but they didn’t believe us because we’re white. Little do they know…haha

Anyway, later we went to the supermarket and picked out some items and a man started talking to Andrea while we were in line. He asked if she was married (which is also very common for Nicas to ask personal questions of people they barely know) and she said yes (a little white lie). This quickly ended the conversation.

It was time for me to leave as Andrea went off to the cyber to talk to her “husband” on Skype (or her boyfriend back home) so we said our goodbyes and I walked to the bus stop. I ran into the two young guys again who stopped on the corner to say “goodbye”. Side note: Nicas say “adios” to people in the street as a greeting, so their direct translation is “goodbye” or “bye” and it drives me crazy when guys call out to me saying “bye”. I always want to tell them to say “hi” instead, but then I would be giving the attention that I shouldn’t be. Anyway, I passed by them and waited for the bus, where they happened to be as well.

The bus finally came and I got on the crowded bus and who happened to be standing next to me, the two guys. They kept looking at me but I didn’t say anything and tried to look away. About 30 minutes into the trip one of them mustered up enough courage to say something to me and he asked where Andrea was. I told her she lived in Juigalpa (white lie), but only to protect her because she lives in a small town that would be easy to find her, while Juigalpa is large and she only goes there every other weekend or so. He asked about me and I told the truth that I was a Peace Corps volunteer and he told me about some volunteers he has met. Then, he asked if I was married. I followed Andrea and said yes, but he tried to catch me in my little white lie. He asked where my ring was, but I shot back with the fact that I don’t wear rings here because it’s dangerous (true!). We made small talk and I had to make a few more white lies when he asked me how long I’ve been married and if I miss my husband back home, but I don’t feel bad about it.

I talked to Andrea later on after I got home and we decided we need to make up fake names and short stories to use on the buses when people try to get too personal, all to protect ourselves. So, I don’t think lying is a good thing, but a few little white lies aren’t so bad…especially when you need to protect yourself in vulnerable situations. Sometimes it can be dangerous to be honest, especially as a young woman in a foreign country.

Friday, February 4, 2011

And we danced

I’ve been bugging my family about getting buñuelos which is basically deep fried deliciousness. They keep saying the neighbor sells them but she hasn’t been making them. Well, my host sister’s husband told me today that he knows how to make them so he offered to make some :)

We bought yucca at the market and brought it home to start the process. Ruth (my host sis) and Diner (her husband) peeled the yucca which is not exactly an easy thing to do.



Then, Diner washed the pieces and cut them up to be mashed up. I can’t think of the right word in English so hopefully the picture will help you see. He added cheese and some rice, which apparently my host mom and neighbor thought was weird haha I guess they make them in different ways in different parts of the country.



We took the yucca over to the neighbor’s house to be “mashed up”.


Then brought it back and rolled the mixture into balls.



He then put them in a pan of oil (yum!) to deep fry them.



Diner made a simple syrup with sugar, water, and cinnamon sticks to put on the buñuelos.  Then we drenched them in the syrup and delighted in the fried goodness.



Oh yeah, everybody was in the kitchen during the process listening to music and we danced.

Running Errands

I’m the kind of person that likes to have someone come with me when I run errands so I can browse and not look lost or confused. Jasser is good about coming with me whenever I need to go somewhere and I go with him because I try to find any excuse I can to get out of the house and breathe fresh air. Lately though, I’ve realized that when Jasser asks me to go somewhere and I ask him where, he doesn’t tell me everywhere he wants to go, just one or two places or he’s not very specific. For example, the other day he asked me to go with him to deliver the last few invitations for the baby shower and I said sure. After we were out of the house and walking down the street, he asked me if I knew where we were going with a smirk on his face. I asked where and he said, remember that house we went to with Veronica (my counterpart’s daughter). I stopped and whined a little because this house is so far away and up and down some very large hills! Are you kidding me?! Fortunately though, we found the family in the market on the way to their house :)

I’ve also noticed that Nicas in general are not very specific about distances. They either exaggerate how far away something is, like when I asked a lady in Masaya how far away the central park was from where we were and she started with “Oh! It is way down there! So many blocks—just keep walking for awhile.” It really wasn’t that long. Or, Nicas will underestimate how far away things are, usually on purpose to trick you into keep going, like Jasser ;) Whenever we’re running errands and I feel like we’ve been walking for awhile, I ask where we are going, and his reply is usually along the lines of oh, just down the street…then we walk down the street, turn the corner, and walk down to the end of that street. My favorite is when he asks me to go with him to pick something up and I ask where and he says “arriba”, which is not at all specific. I guess I like to have a plan in mind and picture where we’re going and it drives me crazy when he’s not specific because I usually keep walking straight as he turns the corner and I look silly. I’m positive he does it on purpose haha I know I’m gonna miss having him to run errands with me when he leaves for Managua to start school though.


P.S. After I wrote this blog, Jasser took me on another wild goose chase and I gave him a hard time about telling me we weren’t going very far and my flip flops were ok as we walked out through a dried river bed with lots of little rocks and trash. Nice.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Guacamole

I’ve never really been that into avocado, ever since I worked at Big Town Hero and had to make sandwiches with avocado and the green mush got all over my hands.  However, it’s getting into avocado season here and everyone is just so excited.  I’ve been given a half of an avocado to just eat plain.  While many people crave for this, I just don’t care for avocado by itself.  My host mom made “guacamol” which is chopped up avocado and hardboiled egg.  It was different, but pretty good.  I have tried guacamole a few times in the states and it’s been hit or miss.  So, I decided to make my own here.  I’ve only liked guacamole when there are chunks of tomatoes and onions to break up the avocado mush.  Well, I made some and my family thought it was really good.  I guess I make some mighty fine guacamole and I was excited to introduce it to my host family here.  Avocados are a little spendy, especially now because it’s not quite the beginning of the season so they are hard to find.  They do go a long way though when making guacamole.  I told Jasser that I could make it for the baby shower if they wanted me to.  We’ll be on the lookout for avocados this weekend…

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Positive Outlook

I met the principal of our high school today.  Everything was low key, laid back.  My counterpart was wearing jeans and a t-shirt so I wasn't too worried.  The new principal is really nice and even tried out some English words.  He really made me feel welcomed, unlike the last principal who started off the meeting complaining about not being notified I was coming...

Anyway, I also met another English professor that will be covering some sections that my counterparts cannot, so I might be working with her too.  They don´t have the schedule yet, just what grades each of them will be teaching.  So, when they do get the schedule worked out, we´re going to get together and talk about what classes I will be helping out with.  They want me to work with the first few grades (7th, 8th, and maybe 9th) so we can begin with students as they begin their high school career.  This will hopefully ensure that they will have a good foundation to build off of for the next years.  I'm excited because I wanted to work with the younger students :)  I was a little nervous thinking about starting, but now I'm just really excited to make the schedule (part of my obsession with organizing) and get to work! 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

5 Months!

Wow…it’s the 5 month mark! There are just 2 more weeks until school starts. Speaking of which, I got a text message from one of my counterpart teachers this morning at 10 asking me “when are you coming?” to which I replied “to what?” and he said “work”. Um, well since you never told me about anything (after I asked him to let me know when I need to be at the school) I didn’t know I was supposed to be there. I had to tell him that he needs to tell me before about these things because I don’t know the schedule. Not a great way to start out. Apparently, it’s not a big deal, but I’m supposed to meet the new principal, but I’m planning on going tomorrow morning. Things are really confusing and I hope to get some clarification tomorrow. I was warned though that it is pretty hectic especially in the beginning of the school year.


Besides that, Jasser is still working hard on more baby shower stuff and it makes me feel exhausted just looking at all of it. I’ve helped with some, but I’m afraid I’m going to mess things up. I did help write the invitation cards though.