Thursday, December 30, 2010

holiday festivities

I wish I could say I’ve been bogged down with things to do which is why I haven’t written in a while but that would be a gigantic lie.  A week and a half ago the library closed until after the new year so I haven’t had youth group meetings.  But, the last meeting of 2010 was a huge success.  We read the Spanish version of “A Bear for Maddie” and the kids drew pictures of Santa and pasted cotton on his beard, hat, and coat.  They loved it. 


My one-on-one English lessons have been pretty consistent, meeting twice a week.  I’ll admit it’s pretty exhausting teaching English so I’m glad I’ve started out with just one student.  I’m going to try to arrange to borrow a classroom in the elementary school to hold bi-weekly night class starting in a couple weeks.  There’s definitely a lot of interest so I’m sure I won’t be lacking students.

Spending Christmas in Nicaragua was really nice, but I did miss acting out the 12 Days of Christmas at home.  Santa came to Nicaragua at midnight and brought two gifts (well 3, thanks to mom and dad) to each of the two little boys in the family.  The basketball sent from NJ to the 6 year old was a big hit as well as the PJs sent to the 1 year old.  He’s worn them every night since and has even adopted the new name of “Raya McQueen” due to the Cars theme on one set.  Neighbors came by to set off lots of mini fireworks and play the makeshift band out of tin cans, plastic containers, and a hose (serving the function of a tuba).  Let me tell you, creativity is at its max here.  Oh, and you might be jealous, but the 6 year old got a “Fun Station”… similar to Nintendo but I’d argue better because it has old-school Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on the same disk, along with 44 other games.  My host brother and I were in charge of installing it because the gringa knows all about technology apparently.  I gained some serious credibility after explaining all the ins and outs of Mario… the mushroom makes you big, the shiny mushroom gives you powers, the tunnels lead you to cool places… all the good stuff.  I also think I impressed them a little with my Duck Hunt skills.  Thanks, Al, for the practice.


Slightly off topic, but well worth mentioning--  I was on the bus going to visit a friend in Santa Lucia.  The 20 km ride from the city of Boaco takes about 1 hour due to the unpaved, hilly roads.  After two attempts to get up a hill, people started unloading to get rid of some weight.  Another try, more people got off.  One more try, more people off.  Finally, on the sixth attempt, we made it up the hill.  I didn’t get off because, quite frankly, I had no idea if I’d get picked up again.  The woman in front of me, however, had another reason for staying on the bus.  The rest of her family (who was standing) unloaded but she didn’t because she had a garbage bag full of baby chicks.  Later on during the ride, some escaped so her 5 or 6 year old son went fishing around the bus driver’s ankles to recollect them all.  I think they all made it safely back into the bag and we made it safely to Santa Lucia.

On the subject of chickens, my host brother rode up to the house the other day on his bike with a bag which I assumed had groceries or food.  But nope.  He pulled out a rooster he just picked up from the man who lives close to the highway.  Supposedly he’ll be a fighter in the ring. 

I won’t bore you anymore with the bird talk but I just might warn my host family that they shouldn’t be surprised if their parrots get sick.  I don’t think I can take too much more of the squalling at 4:00 in the morning.  No need to worry, though.  I’ll be moving to my own place as soon as we ring in 2011!  I’m really excited about it and now need to scrounge some furniture for the living room/kitchen.  

Happy New Year!!


Monday, December 13, 2010

activities and terms of endearment


I’m writing this blog in the internet cafĂ©, waiting for the internet to come back.  In the past two weeks, I had a few youth group meetings and we collected hundreds of chip bags off the street, cleaned them, then started making change purses and folders.  The kids, ages 9-14, absolutely love working with the trash, especially the boys.  I think a hidden incentive for them, though, is that they know I’ll play basketball with them after our meetings.  The first day, we played a game similar to knockout called sacarin and the next day they wanted to play a game.  I quickly realized it’s tough to teach 16 kids how to play organized basketball without knowing how to say “foul”, “guard your man”, and “you can’t punch another kid in the face when he’s shooting or dribbling” in Spanish.  Phrases to look up and memorize tomorrow… 


I went to the last graduation this week for the sixth graders in Aguas Calientes (the school about 5 km away).  I walked there with the vice principal and we arrived at about 10:00.  The mass started at 10:45 and because there were only 9 students graduating, everything was over at 12:00.  Of course we were fed afterwards so at about 12:30, I thought we’d be heading home but no, I didn’t get home until 5:30.  With the vice principal and one of the sixth grade teachers, we stopped at 5 houses on the way which meant a 30 minute pit stop at each.  Remember how I talked about Nicas being hospitable?  Well, at 3 of the 5 houses, we were each given a huge plate of food, sitting on plastic chairs or wooden benches in houses with dirt floors and tin walls.  They may not have much but they sure know how to warmly welcome guests.

This past week was the celebration of the Virgin Mary, called the Purisima.  It’s best described as trick-o-treating and Christmas caroling during summer.  Different houses put altars of the Virgin Mary in front of or in their house and after either a mass or a few songs, the house hands out candies, fruit, tupperware, etc.  Just like Halloween, there are the good houses and the not so good houses.  The good houses get swarms of people… pushing, shoving, flailing hands… while the not so good houses get civilized groups of people singing church songs then calmly walking to the front door to get their small gift.  In all seriousness, it’s a wonderful tradition because the kids from the small communities receive food they normally wouldn’t get in their homes.  As my neighbor so beautifully put it… Nicaragua es pobre pero bonito. 


A few days ago, I brought a touch of home to Teustepe when my two gringo friends came to visit and we made oatmeal raisin cookies.  Despite the burnt bottom (due to cooking them on a wood fire with help from my host sister), they were delicious and are requested for Christmas.  The highlight of these 2 weeks, though, was when my host nephew called me Meghancita.  There’s a good chance I’ll be mistaken for a true Nica after these two years.