Nothing much going on here....

Well things haven’t been too exciting down here lately. Actually it has been pretty downright boring! It’s impossible to form a youth group because everyone is “on vacation”. So that has to wait until February which is when classes start. I can’t do a garden or compost because my family doesn’t have a yard or any space. There is only so much visiting you can do. I have been going to the baseball field every morning to run and walk with Princesa since she has unending energy. Well now I have a group of kids that come and play after I am done exercising. We play kickball and have a blast. It’s funny because the entire game of baseball as Nicaraguans play is in English. Un out, primer base, strike, foul, inning, pretty much all of it! (except with Spanish vowels and accent of course) I usually end playing with them around 8:30, come back home, eat, clean my room, and by 9:30 I am tired and take a nap until 11:00. At 11 I get up and start reading a new book for the day out on the porch so I can chit chat with everyone that comes to the little store my family owns. The bus drivers come in their shifts to eat lunch, and then I eat after them at 1. After lunch I continue reading until my niece and nephew beg me to play cards so then we play some Uno for about an hour. Around 4 I usually go for a walk with Princesa and visit a friend. Around 6 we usually play Monopolio (which I got them for Christmas and they love) If we don’t play that I continue reading. (yes I read a lot, and average about a book every two days and am running out!) I eat around 7:30 or 8:00 and then finish the day off with whatever movie is on the Disney movie. So far I have watched, Babe a Pig in the City, The Pacifier, 101 Dalmations, Parent Trap with Lindsey Lohan all in Spanish. And then I snuggle up with Princesa and go to sleep…after reading a few more chapters of course. So basically, I CANT wait for school to start, and to move into my house!

The other interesting information I have is that I have been absolutely freezing down here! Who would have thought right? Well, granted it isn’t a Wisconsin cold but it is still pretty chilly! I would say at night it gets down in the 50s. So imagine a cold October windy day. Now imagine no windows to stop the wind (we only have screens and open bars), dumping freezing buckets of water on you to shower ( I wash my hair about every 5 days when absolutely necessary so I don’t die of hypothermia), no heat, and no warm fluffy comforters. I sleep with basically a double ply sheet type blanket that is not sufficient for the nights here. I have to put on a pair of socks, then soccer socks over that up to my knees, sweats, T-shirt, sweatshirt and then cuddle up with Princesa in the fetal position for body heat. Although I really shouldn’t complain because once March and April get here and Nicaragua is hotter than an oven it will be slightly cooler here in the mountains and I will be eternally grateful for that. I also can’t complain because when I get up in the mornings to the brisk air and go for my walks I really feel like I’m on a stroll up north and I couldn’t be happier.

More dog talk since I am in love with Princesa. First of all she isn’t your typical dog. She is TERRIFIED of dog toys I have tried 2 different ones and she runs away everytime I try to give them to her. But she needs something to chew on because she is always biting my hand, not hard but it’s getting annoying. She wakes me up every morning trying to eat my hair. Granted it’s all over the place but it hurts when she is pulling it! I even bought her a rawhide bone which dogs go nuts over and she wouldn’t even come in the same room as me when I had it in my hand…even when it was covered in peanut butter…she’s crazy. So my family suggested giving her chicken feet. I guess when I was gone she got hold of a chicken leg/foot and was chewing on it contently for 2 hours which I believed cause I saw her with one in Fatima. So the truck that brings chicken to my families store came and my little brother told me they sold chicken feet. I decided to buy some. Well I was imagining like a dry, normal chicken foot for her to chew on like a bone. Instead it came frozen in a bag. Yes, I know confusing. Well it turns out it isn’t just the feet, but the head and beak as well! I told my family there was no way I was giving it to her because first of all she might get salmonella if I give her a frozen block of dead chicken. My little brother insisted it was fine and very nutritious, and my mom said she would cook it for her. So she did, and my Princesa ate a huge bowl of chicken, heads, beaks, and legs. I threw up a little in my mouth and told them I’m never letting her eat that again…even though she did love it. And the kicker is, she didn’t even chew on the feet, she must have just swallowed them whole because she ate the whole bowl in under a minute….grrrrrroooooooosssssss. Anyways, enough of that. Princesa is literally famous in my town. I go on walks and everyone yells Princesa, Princesa, Princesa. Everyone that comes to the little store knows her. All the bus drivers talk about how she has to find her principe (prince) Even though she has way to many boyfriends right now, and I have to get her fixed before she gets too old. It’s nice that everyone knows her and loves her, but at the same time everyone harasses her. They all yell her name and put their hands in her face to mess with her and get her all riled up. On the bus the bus guys pretend to throw her out the door. Granted they are all trying to get my attention but there are other ways to go about it than messing with my puppers. I bathe her about twice a week since she smells yet insists sleeping with me…and when I bathe her, you would think I was killing the poor girl with the noises she makes. She definitely is not a water dog, and then she shakes for about 20 minutes afterwards because she is cold…not sure if she can handle Wisconsin. Which is everyone’s question “Are you taking her back with you?” Good question :)

So since things are pretty slow here and I don’t have much to update on here are some interesting facts about Nicaragua/my life here:

1. As volunteers we are OBSSESED with grocery stores! In the states I dreaded going grocery stores and would get in and out as quick as I could. Here, they have a couple grocery store chains called La Colonia and Union. We step in and get mesmerized by all the aisles of goodies. We literally go in just to walk up and down the aisles for an hour to look at everything, even if we aren’t going to buy anything. Even better they opened a store La Colonia in Matagalpa…how lucky am I?
2. You know what kids favorite candy is here? Halls cough drops!! I remember dreading having to suck on those, and here it is a treat to get a big bag of cough drops. All the little kids give them to me as presents. They eat them one after another and I tell them I’ll save them for later and put them in my pocket. I tried explaining that it is for a sore throat but they just laugh at me. Is bad if you eat 10 cough drops in an hour???
3. Granted I didn’t have great table manners before I came here, but now…they are out the door! First of all the majority of families eat everything with spoons which can be difficult with certain foods (forks are WAY more expensive than spoons) Second of all they rarely use spoons. If you have any piece of meat on your plate it’s hands only. Chicken, beef, fish, you just pick it up and mow down!
4. Nicaraguans LOVE and I mean LOVE soda. I think it is the most purchased item in the country. They sell soda in huge 3 liter bottles and my families little store needs the big soda truck to drop off a new delivery every week (and there are only 2,500 people in my town) There are always soda trucks driving around making deliveries. At least the smaller bottles are glass and then are picked up and reused.
5. All males here wear gel in their hair. It is an extreme rarity to find a boy, teen, or man without gel in their hair. There are mowhawks, spiky hair, slicked back, tons of different styles…but always gelled!
6. Pizza, it’s hard to find a good pizza place here. There are a lot of pizza places, but to find a place that has sauce on their pizza is quite an undertaking. Here pizza is cheese and toppings on the crust and then a bottle or packets of ketchup to squeeze on top. I’m actually growing fond of it surprisingly.
7. Christmas or birthday presents. I am not sure if I mentioned this in my Christmas blog but they never open their presents in front of the giver. They put presents almost always in a bag and then staple shut so you cant see in. Then for example when we did Secret Santa we all exchanged and then ate with our unopened presents in front of us. Everyone opens them later. When I give a gift I make them open it right away. There could be different reasons for this, but I think it may be to not embarrass the giver it isn’t something grand…not sure?
8. Here it isn’t taboo to call people fat, skinny, black or white. They constantly give people nicknames based on their physical characteristics. And one doesn’t take offense to it either. For example, my brother’s nickname is Flaco which means skinny. If someone has light eyes, which is rare ,they are called Gato which means cat (cat eyes). If someone is heavier they are called Gordita or Gordo which means fat (with love), if someone has lighter skin they are called Chele or Chela which means whitey. If someone has darker skin they are called Morena or Moreno which means brown or black. If someone has skinny eyes they are called Chino which means Chinese. It’s an interesting cultural difference.

Well tonight I am staying with my friend Jamie at her house, then leaving early to Esquipulas to visit Icia for her towns anniversary party. Then on Saturday we are going to the beach in Leon to celebrate all the January birthdays….last weekend to see everyone since teachers need to be back in school on Jan 18th! Can’t wait!

SAN JUAN DEL SUR

Group shot before heading back to our towns



Dancing on the beach at New Years!




The group...HAPPY NEW YEARS







Pretty sunsets!



Little boys that came up to us on the beach to play the drums using cardboard boxes and sticks...they were adorable, we gave them food!



Sports Illustrated attempt = covered in sand



Me, Rachel, and Jamie on the beach!




So custom in nicaragua is to stuff old clothes to make an old man to burn at midnight...the best part is they stuff him with whatever they have such as bottles and plastic, I guess thats why im here...to help save the environment.



Beach shot!


What a New Years! After battling between whether to go on the New Years trip was difficult. I really wanted to, but I felt bad leaving my puppy with my family. Not only leaving Princesa with them (including my brother and nephew that love harassing and scaring her), but leaving them having to care for her. In the end the Karen we all know and love that likes to have a little fun won out over the care of my new dog. My rational was that when I come back in three days she will love me and forget I even left her and that this is probably the only New Years I will spend in Nica considering I want to visit he states next year…so off I went to San Juan del Sur.

I met up with Jamie and Clint in Matagalpa early on the 31st for our travel all the way down to Rivas. The bus from Matagapla to Managua was fine, got an hour of sleep. Then we had to take a cab from the bus station, Mayoreo, to a different bus station, Huembes, to catch the bus to Rivas (where the beach is located). While we were waiting for our bus I turn around and guess who was there! My friend Otto from the coast that I met last year!! How random that in all of Nicargua I run into him at the bus station. So we were able to catch up and wish each other a Happy New Years before we loaded on the bus to Rivas. As Jamie put it, we were stuck on the bus that Lucifer himself created. The ride took extra long because we were in traffic, the window in front of us wouldn’t open so we could barely breath, and the seat that Jamie and I were on was I think only meant to fit one person…but we were two…with our bags. The positive side was that there were TVs, so we were hoping for a good movie. Instead we got Land of the Lost, probably the worst movie ever…in Spanish. Will Ferrell isn’t quite as funny with his Spanish voice. The only that that was slightly amusing yet still adding slightly to the discomfort of the trip is that it seems that Nicas LOVE horrible movies. The man in front of us would NOT stop laughing throughout the entire movie and not only was he laughing he had to turn around every 5 seconds to see if we understood and were laughing as well. In the end I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all and the man.

So we finally made it to Rivas and took a cab about 20 minutes to get to the beach and as soon as we got there and saw San Juan del Sur in all it’s gloriousness everything else was forgotten. The beach is absolutely beautiful. Plus our friend Jess that lives in Rivas made connections with a semi-creepy older American man that owns a hostel. Since he creepily loves Jess so much he gave us a deal on the hostel which was only a couple blocks to the beach. We only paid 10 dollars a night. The downside was, was that we were 10 volunteers and there were only 2 double beds that sleep 2 comfortably, 3 semi-comfortably and 4, very uncomfortably. I lucked out and got the bed one night with just two others so I slept fine. The second night we came home later so I ended up on some sort of yoga mat on the floor with my sweatshirt as a blanket. Anyways, back to our arrival at the beach. We found all our friends which were great to see because many of them live in other parts of Nicaragua and we haven’t seen each other since the end of November. They had been at the beach enjoying cold beers all morning so Jamie and I had a little catching up to do. Since I haven’t drank in a few months and hadn’t eaten lunch it really only took me 1 beer to get tipsy. Before you know it I wanted to take Sports Illustrated swimsuit pictures which didn’t end up looking to Sports Illustrated and instead I ended up completely covered in sand. Also during this time I decided to call my family from my cell phone on the beach. After I was done I set my phone on my towel and not a second later a huge wave came in (the only one that reached our towels that day) I hear Clint say “Oh that was close” and then I realize crap my phone and sure enough it was getting carried back out to the ocean. Luckily I chased it down so I can still use my SIM card but I have to buy a new phone :( After that I realized it was time to eat. Jamie and I found a great pizza place and she had the brilliant idea to order a large and save it for bar time which I’m pretty sure was the best idea after. So after lunch/dinner we headed back to the hotel to shower and nap. Little did we realize that all 10 of us were sharing a bathroom with an older couple. I didn’t find out until later the next day. I still feel bad that they had to put up with our mess of wet swimsuits, toothbrushes, clothes, and sand EVERYWHERE. Luckily they were a pretty cool older couple that actually wanted their picture with us at the end of our trip.

After naps we all got ready for New Years Eve! Our night wasn’t too eventful but still a lot of fun. We barhopped along the beach but couldn’t find a place that we all liked. In the end a bunch of the guys paid 250 cords (13) dollars to enter a club that looked a little spring break style. The rest of us are too pinche (cheap) to pay that much so we stayed outside the club on the beach dancing to the same music for free until New Years. Sometimes it’s hard to think in American dollar terms. In our minds 250 cords is a heck of a lot of money to spend as a cover charge. Yet back in the states I would have spent at least 75 dollars for a new years eve outfit and new pair of shoes and then at least another 50 at the bar. Yet here I am now angry if beers cost 25 cords instead of 20. (25 cents more). Then we all layed on the beach and sat and watched the fireworks until we decided to head home.

The next day I got up at 8 (since I can’t sleep in anymore here in Nicaragua) and headed to the beach. We stayed at the beach all day until sunset. My favorite thing is to play in the waves. They can get pretty big in San Juan del Sur too so it was fun until you get hit pretty hard and don’t know which way is up! Both days at the beach we camped out in front of a little cantina and made friends with the cute waiter, Roberto, and owner Estrella (which means Star in English) They told us that they were having a big karaoke night later and to arrive early to get a spot. We didn’t arrive early because we choose a BAD place to eat at. When the 12 of us walked in and the waitress looked terrified we should have took the cue and left. Instead we stayed and waited 2 hours for all of us to receive our food since there was only two worked and a tiny grill. They could only cook one order at a time. And half of us got the wrong order (luckily not me). So after that we finally made our way to our little cantina and sure enough it was pretty crowded. Luckily we arrived right when a table left so we snatched it up even though there were only 5 chairs. The place was packed with older Nicas singing Ranchera music (worst music ever). So pretty quickly the majority of the group decided to leave. Me, Jamie, Chris, Jess, and Jason decided to stay and have a beer since we promised Estrella we would come. Well it turned out to be the best night ever! After everyone else left they had this dance competition that unfortunately we couldn’t enter because it started early and it was the final elimination. It consisted of three people. A gringo (white) guy that could hardly dance, and two Nicaraguan girls that could shake it pretty good. So obviously the guy got eliminated right away and the two girls competed for a good 15 minutes. I don’t think I laughed so hard since I have been in Nicaragua. Not only watching the dancers compete by seeing who could hump the ground better (that move got the most cheers) but watching the crowd. There was one drunk man that was in love with one of the dancers and hated the other. So he decided to plop down right in front of the dance floor so he could get a front row view. Every time the one he loved came in front of him he would make this crazy face and just sit and stare at her booty. But then if they switched sides and the other one came he would cover his face in horror trying to back away. It was quite the competition and after that we all knew we would be staying the whole night. After the competition they continued with their Ranchera karaoke while we decided to play 2 on 2 flip cup sitting at our table. It was a blast and we actually had to Nicas come and ask if they could play too so it was a quite a few rousing games of 3 on 3 flippy cup. After a few litros of beer Jamie and I decided it was time to sing so we picked Mariah Carey Always be My Baby to start the night off….and we completely butchered it. Then we decided we needed to sing a song they know so we went with Celine Dion My Heart Will Go On since they love Celine down here. I thought we sounded great, Jamie begs to differ. Well they were starting to love us more and more, so it basically came down to Estrella just picking any song in English and making us sing. By the end of the night we sang Hotel California, a few Michael Jackson songs (the love him), Hot Stuff, and a few Spanish ones. Jamie had us all cracking up because she was singing a song and didn’t know the words well so she just started singing her own words to the tune things like “You don’t understand what I am singing because you don’t speak English, and I hope you should all know Ranchera music sucks” haha After everyone sings the computer rates everyone on a scale of 0-99. If you get a 99 you get a free beer. After I sang Hot Stuff I got a 98 and asked on the microphone if I get a half of beer for that score. Estrella took over the microphone and was like “Nope, your prize is a kiss from Roberto (the cute waiter)” So I let him peck me on the cheek. Estrella was like “No, no, no, no you have to do that again in front of everyone and on the lips” So basically I wasn’t only forced to sing English songs I didn’t know I also had to publicly kiss the waiter. (buy hey at least he was cute right?) By 1:30 and most of the crowd left we convinced them to stop doing karaoke and just have a dance party. So we stayed for about another hour dancing with Estrella and a few other Nicas. Chris and I surprised them all with our palo de mayo dance. Chris Jamie and I got home later than everyone else and decided to terrorize a few people. So we started giving wet willies and doing the earthquake test to some of our friends that fell asleep on the hammocks before we finally fell asleep on our yoga mats on the floor.

The next day we had a pretty slow start but eventually got packed up, cleaned up the room a bit, said our goodbyes to the owner and older couple, and prepared ourselves for the 5 hour bus ride home (which wasn’t as bad as the ride there) And guess what Princesa was super excited to see me and has already forgotten that I left her. I think I made a good choice to take the trip :)