Finally!

I finally got a nice weekend with my man!  He had an appointment in Managua Thursday and was able to make it to my place that night and my class was canceled Friday morning so we got a lot of time to hang out and just be together.  We exercised and he taught me this circuit sort of thing with a deck of cards that you assign a different exercise to each suit (so 4 different exercises) and you draw one card at a time, and whatever the number, that's how many "reps" you do of the exercise that matches the suit.  Then jacks are supposed to be a 2 minute rest.  It as pretty fun, but Frank hasn't been working out in awhile since he's been sick, but since I'm a month in on my exercise regime, I was able to keep going.  Poor guy.  He's lost about 5 or so more pounds just from being sick and on meds.  He's on a strict diet right now so they can figure out what he might have been allergic to.  Good news though, his rash is completely gone and his sinuses are doing better.  He has another check up for his sinuses this week because they weren't able to fit it in this past week, so hopefully he can get that cleared up quickly.  I miss healthy Frank haha  This way of life does so serious work on your body.  Thankfully, I haven't been sick in awhile and I was able to take care of Frank.  He tested my patience, but I had to sympathize with him since he has been sick for so long and it's just wearing him down. 

We did get to enjoy our weekend together though.  We cooked some delicious meals with veggies, chicken, rice, and beans (pretty much all he can eat) and then oatmeal for breakfast every day.  I snuck in a yogurt here and there and maybe a piece of chocolate or two, but for the most part I stayed to his diet even though all of my other delicious food on my shelf was calling my name.  It's crazy what your body does to you when you "can't" eat certain things.  We both craved pizza and ice cream (not that we eat these very often anyway--ok I eat ice cream occasionally...), but we couldn't even look at the signs when we walked by the shops because we knew we'd fall into the temptation. 

I bought a little bag of popcorn and we shared that but we figured that was ok to eat because Frank had been eating corn tortillas.  That was a nice little treat.  I didn't suffer too much, but I was just bummed because I wanted to make all these special things for him, but we stuck to the basics.  It will just make the next time even more special I guess.

To keep ourselves busy and not thinking about food too much, we played some card games--found a new one for us, "Spite and Malice".  It was pretty fun--seems kinda confusing to set up, but once you get going, it's pretty interesting and competitive (something we both love).  Also, we played Speed this morning.  Frank taught me how to weave baskets with newspaper--something a Nica recycling organization taught the environment PCVs.  I'm not sure why we don't get any of those trainings just because we're English PCVs.  There's still environment units in our high school curriculum and we're leaders in our community.  I've been collecting plastic for a bottle classroom project that some other PCVs are doing up north and I've been having my family save their plastic (and bottles) too in order to help and teach them about waste and recycling/reusing. 

This weekend was very much needed and very much appreciated.  It was so nice to be with Frank and not have to worry about classes, planning things, etc.  It's hard being in a relationship here because there are so many other demands AND the 2 1/2-3 1/2 hour bus ride separating us doesn't make it any easier.  It's hard to believe that we've been together almost a year, but then at the same time, it feels so right.  We've been through a lot together (and apart), and there have been many challenges for us as a couple and as individuals.  This experience being here in Nicaragua has helped us to grow, open our eyes, and appreciate different things, and we've helped each other become better versions of ourselves.  Sorry if this post is a little too mushy gushy love stuff, but it's my blog so I can write what I want haha  Hope you enjoyed! ;)