My urge to lie on floors is not fulfilled here.
I do not know what Nicaragua means because I haven't felt her yet,
because I haven't sunk into the lowest part of her, because
I haven't felt her heartbeat with the soft part of my fingers,
because I haven't tripped on a quiet truth that cements her all together, haven't stood beneath her alone and found myself still living, still breathing.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
sickness
I am officially the first student of the semester to have visited the doctor. Not exactly a title I am proud of, but I am so glad to have gotten sick today instead of in two days from now, when we are supposed to be heading out for the campo! I´ve got a throat infection, but thankfully I now have medicine, and there is an Eskimo (ice cream) shop right next door, and te de manzanilla (chamomile tea) at the farmacia right down the street. Not all, but at least some of the comforts of home.
I promised an explanation of daily life, so here goes (as briefly as possible, because what I REALLY want to do is go back home and rest):
I usually start waking up around 5:30, when the roosters start crowing and people start selling things on the street (selling things requires shouting about what you are selling every 5 feet you walk. it is fascinating). I usually doze until 6:30, when my alarm goes off. I get up, get dressed and ready for school, and go downstairs to use the bathroom. My host mom or my host sister (who I guess is technically my host cousin) usually lays out a great breakfast for me of cereal or pancakes or eggs and fruit and juice and cafe con leche (which is hot milk with a little instant espresso. it's so funny, they grow such great coffee, but everyone drinks instant!).
I want to the study center (about 5 minutes away tops) at 7:45 and meet up with some other students, and then we all walk to the UCA, which is a university about 30 to 40 minutes away. its a really nice walk, because we dont get much else exercise.
I have spanish with Ramon (our professor) and 3 other girls. we´re in the middle group. Spanish class lasts from 8 30 til noon, by which time we are usually STARVING. luckily, there is a vegetarian restaurant right outside the UCA! lunch costs about 40 cords (2 bucks). I am going to be so cheap when I get back to the states!
our afternoon seminar usually starts at 3, so we´ve got a couple hours to walk back, work on homework, or hang out at the office. the class is at the CIES, which is another campus right down the street from La Maximo. In that class, we usually get lectures from famous, important people in Nicaraguan history that we feel we don't deserve to meet, especially becuase we cant always understand their spanish. but it´s interesting, and there is always coffee and air conditioning!
At 5, class is over and we wander back in to town. Usually I hang out at hte office or go to a cyber to do homework, and when I´m done, I head back home for dinner. Usuallyt the family has already eaten, so Doña Olga warms up some extra food for me and sits with me while I eat. After, I take a shower or write letters or finish homework or watch the novelas with my family: at 8 every night is "Sin los senos no hay paraiso", and at 9 is "siete picados". They are as cheesy and inappropriate as they sound, but my family can't get enough!
I´m usually completely exhausted by 9, so I go to bed.
and there is a dia tipica en mi vida nicaraguense!
tomorrow, we are going to the international poetry festival in granada, so please keep your fingers crossed that I´m well enough to go! I´d hate to miss it. Then thursday, we leave for the CAMPO, our first excursion, which we are all thoroughly terrified for. 5 days with a rural family with a latrine and a one room house and they've likely never met a gringa before. this equals what our academic director laughingly calls 5 of the most uncomfortable, socially and physically awkward days of our lives. but I am still excited.
love to everyone!
I promised an explanation of daily life, so here goes (as briefly as possible, because what I REALLY want to do is go back home and rest):
I usually start waking up around 5:30, when the roosters start crowing and people start selling things on the street (selling things requires shouting about what you are selling every 5 feet you walk. it is fascinating). I usually doze until 6:30, when my alarm goes off. I get up, get dressed and ready for school, and go downstairs to use the bathroom. My host mom or my host sister (who I guess is technically my host cousin) usually lays out a great breakfast for me of cereal or pancakes or eggs and fruit and juice and cafe con leche (which is hot milk with a little instant espresso. it's so funny, they grow such great coffee, but everyone drinks instant!).
I want to the study center (about 5 minutes away tops) at 7:45 and meet up with some other students, and then we all walk to the UCA, which is a university about 30 to 40 minutes away. its a really nice walk, because we dont get much else exercise.
I have spanish with Ramon (our professor) and 3 other girls. we´re in the middle group. Spanish class lasts from 8 30 til noon, by which time we are usually STARVING. luckily, there is a vegetarian restaurant right outside the UCA! lunch costs about 40 cords (2 bucks). I am going to be so cheap when I get back to the states!
our afternoon seminar usually starts at 3, so we´ve got a couple hours to walk back, work on homework, or hang out at the office. the class is at the CIES, which is another campus right down the street from La Maximo. In that class, we usually get lectures from famous, important people in Nicaraguan history that we feel we don't deserve to meet, especially becuase we cant always understand their spanish. but it´s interesting, and there is always coffee and air conditioning!
At 5, class is over and we wander back in to town. Usually I hang out at hte office or go to a cyber to do homework, and when I´m done, I head back home for dinner. Usuallyt the family has already eaten, so Doña Olga warms up some extra food for me and sits with me while I eat. After, I take a shower or write letters or finish homework or watch the novelas with my family: at 8 every night is "Sin los senos no hay paraiso", and at 9 is "siete picados". They are as cheesy and inappropriate as they sound, but my family can't get enough!
I´m usually completely exhausted by 9, so I go to bed.
and there is a dia tipica en mi vida nicaraguense!
tomorrow, we are going to the international poetry festival in granada, so please keep your fingers crossed that I´m well enough to go! I´d hate to miss it. Then thursday, we leave for the CAMPO, our first excursion, which we are all thoroughly terrified for. 5 days with a rural family with a latrine and a one room house and they've likely never met a gringa before. this equals what our academic director laughingly calls 5 of the most uncomfortable, socially and physically awkward days of our lives. but I am still excited.
love to everyone!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Esteli!
I am writing from an internet cafe in Esteli, a beautiful, granola-eating (sort of) mountain town about 2 hours from Managua. A few of the other girls and I decided to take advantage of our first full weekend and escape the crazy city for a little peace. we definitely found it here!
Today we ate breakfast at this awesome little cafe hidden behind a big wall, with a huge empty pool in the middle and tons of flowers, and refrescos SIN azucar! que magical! Then we trekked around the city for a while. Along with granola, this city is famopus for alternative medicine, cigars, cowboys, and murals. I know, it is a strange combination, but that is Nicaragua for you! We ate lunch at this AMAZING little place outside the city named casitas, where there is hummus and fresh baked whole grain bread and a beautiful, meandering walk through flowers, herbal gardens and a little park. I think tonight we´re going to eat at a soy reatuarant! I know, can you believe I am in Nicaragua?
I haven´t written yet about classes or my homestay or La Maximo... there is so much to say! First of all, I think I was placed with one of the wealthiest families in La Maximo. They have a water tank, so we have running water all day long! I can take showers at night! I also live upstairs, which is practially unheard of. It is nice becuase it is a little more quiet, so it´s easier to sleep in (until 6:45... the rest of the family gets up at least an hour earlier!). They run a puleria out of their front porch, selling things like rum and soda and snacks. I live with my mom, Doña Olga, her two grown sons, Ivan (37) and Aldo (26), and her neice, Oleyla (16).
Okay, we´re going to go find some dinner, so next entry I will explain a little more about daily life.
Love to all!
Today we ate breakfast at this awesome little cafe hidden behind a big wall, with a huge empty pool in the middle and tons of flowers, and refrescos SIN azucar! que magical! Then we trekked around the city for a while. Along with granola, this city is famopus for alternative medicine, cigars, cowboys, and murals. I know, it is a strange combination, but that is Nicaragua for you! We ate lunch at this AMAZING little place outside the city named casitas, where there is hummus and fresh baked whole grain bread and a beautiful, meandering walk through flowers, herbal gardens and a little park. I think tonight we´re going to eat at a soy reatuarant! I know, can you believe I am in Nicaragua?
I haven´t written yet about classes or my homestay or La Maximo... there is so much to say! First of all, I think I was placed with one of the wealthiest families in La Maximo. They have a water tank, so we have running water all day long! I can take showers at night! I also live upstairs, which is practially unheard of. It is nice becuase it is a little more quiet, so it´s easier to sleep in (until 6:45... the rest of the family gets up at least an hour earlier!). They run a puleria out of their front porch, selling things like rum and soda and snacks. I live with my mom, Doña Olga, her two grown sons, Ivan (37) and Aldo (26), and her neice, Oleyla (16).
Okay, we´re going to go find some dinner, so next entry I will explain a little more about daily life.
Love to all!
Monday, February 2, 2009
el dolor de nacimiento
-Guillermo, our somewhat mystical, very poetic academic director on our current state
I am sitting in the SWELTERING computer room of the hotel on our last night here before we get assigned homestay families tomorrow, and start school on wednesday! I can't believe it has only been 3 full days that I've been here. Nica is enveloping me quickly!
Yesterday I was placed into the middle spanish class, technically called Advanced I, which is perfecto en mi opinion. I'm not sure how to add acentos quickly yet, I'll have to work on that. We also got to go to Aynn and Guillermo's house for dinner, which was so, so wonderful! Some of their musician friends came and gave us a concert. Nicaraguans really like playing "guantanamera" for the cheles because we all sing along. The 6 year old daughter of the lead singer gave us a very emotional rendition of "Zombies" by the Cranberries. Jess, if you are reading, you might have some competition!
It is so fascinating to see signs of the political universe EVERYWHERE. there are handpainted signs and billboards with the new FSLN advertising on every street - pink, with hearts and a big picture of Ortega and some heartwarming slogan adorned with yellow and ligh blue, two of the other new colors. And then lining the streets are trees and lighpoles painted with the more traditional red and black, to combat the new image and try to hold on to the old.
TOday we went to Leon for our cultural drop-off. A friend and I wandered the city and learned about our assigned topic, which was the indigenious history of the city. With a group later we found our way to the barrio that maintains the tradition, Subtiava, and found the church, which was having new roofing slats put in and so was letting in these glorious slits of light. it was beautiful. in the center of the ceiling is a big sun, representative of one of the indigenous gods, which was put in by the Spanish to convince the locals to come to the same building to worship their gods as the christians did for their own.
I have so much more to write, but I think I might melt! plus I need sleep desperately. I will hopefully write more in the next couple days. Buenas!
I am sitting in the SWELTERING computer room of the hotel on our last night here before we get assigned homestay families tomorrow, and start school on wednesday! I can't believe it has only been 3 full days that I've been here. Nica is enveloping me quickly!
Yesterday I was placed into the middle spanish class, technically called Advanced I, which is perfecto en mi opinion. I'm not sure how to add acentos quickly yet, I'll have to work on that. We also got to go to Aynn and Guillermo's house for dinner, which was so, so wonderful! Some of their musician friends came and gave us a concert. Nicaraguans really like playing "guantanamera" for the cheles because we all sing along. The 6 year old daughter of the lead singer gave us a very emotional rendition of "Zombies" by the Cranberries. Jess, if you are reading, you might have some competition!
It is so fascinating to see signs of the political universe EVERYWHERE. there are handpainted signs and billboards with the new FSLN advertising on every street - pink, with hearts and a big picture of Ortega and some heartwarming slogan adorned with yellow and ligh blue, two of the other new colors. And then lining the streets are trees and lighpoles painted with the more traditional red and black, to combat the new image and try to hold on to the old.
TOday we went to Leon for our cultural drop-off. A friend and I wandered the city and learned about our assigned topic, which was the indigenious history of the city. With a group later we found our way to the barrio that maintains the tradition, Subtiava, and found the church, which was having new roofing slats put in and so was letting in these glorious slits of light. it was beautiful. in the center of the ceiling is a big sun, representative of one of the indigenous gods, which was put in by the Spanish to convince the locals to come to the same building to worship their gods as the christians did for their own.
I have so much more to write, but I think I might melt! plus I need sleep desperately. I will hopefully write more in the next couple days. Buenas!
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