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!