Payaso Pipo, Pachangas, and Felizidades

Wow 6 extra people makes a huge difference in noise. As the Nicaraguans say "Que alboroto." They don't go back to the house they're staying at until late and come again early. I'm so ready to go home. I've been really out of it too. I feel like I have mono now more than ever :P
My uncle Chris ended up getting sick because he broke the golden rule of no ice and no salad at the Rosti Pollos. My stomach hasn´t been feeling so good as it is but I´m glad I don´t have what he has.
On Thursday my aunt wanted to celebrate my littlest cousin's 1st birthday so she got this restaurant to cater and a clown. We ate crapes and sat outside in the little rancho that's in my grandparent's backyard. The clown, Payaso Pipo, arrived in a car you would expect a clown to arrive in... a convertable punch buggy. He was amazing. Really funny, interacted really well, did magic, played games, made things out of balloons... everything a clown should be. But after 3 hours I was ready for something different. After he left we broke 2 piñatas, a birthday tradition. Even I got a turn lol. I think its funny how I get included in all the kids stuff even though some of the others are only 2 years older than me and they count as adults.
Friday we went to the Artisania which is the Market in Masaya. My mom and I spent at least $70. I tried to use my best spanish... I´m really getting into it now... but my terrible accent made it obvious that I deserved the ¨Gringo Price¨ so mom ended up doing all the talking. But they would take one look at me and charge us more anyway so I might as well have just spoken English the whole time. Luckily my mom is a good haggler. She doesn´t have much of a voice left though. It went somewhere and so whenever she´s trying to get people´s attentions it doesn´t work.
Friday night my mom´s cousin invited us over for dinner. It was a great party. Both the husband and the wife are doctors and have+- a lovely house. The party was in the backyard and the food was all really good. They had a marimba player and some of my mom´s relatives... I guess they were cousins... perfermormed folkloric Nicaraguan dances. And they were all dressed up and stuff. It was very cool. They also had fireworks and they did this thing I´ve never seen before and probably will never see again. It was this ¨bull¨ or a wooden frame that looked like one. and they put fireworks/firecrackers/sparklers on it. and then they lit it. and then this guy held up the wooden frame and ran around with it and there was smoke and sparks and it was amazing and funny and crazy all at the same time. I met 2 girls who were about my age and they were my mom´s cousin´s daughters so technically we were my cousin´s too. The younger one is studying political science and international relations at a college here where the classes are all in English. I liked talking to her because I could speak to her in English. My mom kept getting angry at me for not speaking in Spanish. She left though so I ended up talking to the other one who didn´t know that much English. She was about a year older than me and was studying architecture. I actually spoke to her in Spanish but my mom wouldn´t believe that I wasn´t speaking in English because she kept coming at the wrong time. I really liked talking to both of them.
And then last night is where things went completely wrong. I was going through the pictures I had taken and then I was just messing around with my camera when I stupidly erased all 510 pictures we´ve taken. and it wasn´t just an erase all it was like wipe the card clean. Hopefully we´ll be able to undo this stupidity. that thought is the only thing keeping me sane. I mean I bought the camera to take pictures of Nicaragua and now half of my trip no longer exists. I think enough people took pictures of the same things that its not completely lost but it still won´t be the same. In any case, I´ve been trying to make up for lost time.
Today was the reason we even came to Nicaragua in the first place. We celebrated my grandpa´s 80th birthday. It was exactly what I would want my wedding to look like. It was all very pretty but not over done--simple. We rented the bus again and drove to the hotel it was at in Managua. The food was SO good. It was half inside and half outside... outside was hot and inside was loud lol. There was a pool, but I had spent so much time getting ready I didn´t think I was going to want to swim so I didn´t bring my bathing suit. I sort of regretted it because it was so hot in Managua, but I ended up taking a nap in the shade... it was nice. The water was apparently really cold anyway which is surprising. The music was loud but good. You can´t have a party without some good latin music and dancing. I danced with my dad and my grandpa, it was a lot of fun but really wears you out if you aren´t used to it. The party was mostly boring but like I said the food was good. I really wanted to read but felt that my mom wouldn´t approve so thats why I ended up taking a nap instead lol.
I´m not sure what the plans for the next couple of days are. I know we´re going to kill and cook a pig so that should be fun. They got the pig today and it reminded me of Michelle´s show pigs. I want to go to the Chocoyero and to visit Mary, but I´m not sure how plausible these things are. It´s so hard to plan anything. My aunt is leaving tomorrow though and while that means I´ll have the bed to myself, the task of keeping the privacy of my room falls to me. I´m not quite sure how that´s going to work.
I just wish I could get rid of this feeling inside of me that wants to go home.

A Twelve Hour Tour

Christmas has come and gone. My uncle´s house was beautiful. If I ever lived in Nicaragua I would want my house to look like that. We ended up doing the talent show there. My mom told me I didn´t have to worry about having a talent but I jokingly suggested that we should do the soulja boy dance. Well turned out EVERYONE had a talent to share and there was no way I was going to make a fool of myself dancing soulja boy without even having the music to go along with it. But my mom kept pestering for me to do it. It just put me in a bad mood and made me feel like a failure for not having a talent to share. I mean... I consider myself talented, but they´re all rather boring talents. And if I knew ahead of time that I was going to be that pressured maybe I would have prepared something impressive. My grandma got sick. and we ate dominoes pizza... which tasted sadly nothing like it should have. Overall we had a good time as a family though.
Just my luck I got a bug bite on my face during the night. lame. The other ones are doing MUCH better. still itchy but not as massive. My nose has been giving me a lot of problems but I think if I was at home it would be much worse. Like stay in bed nasty gross worse.
So today was definitely and adventure. We rented this van/bus thing (for 12 hours) and went to Mombotombo! A volcano about an hour away near the city of Granada. It was a lot of fun going in the van thing. The driver basically had to drive like a drunk to try to miss as many of the holes in the road as possible. I think we took the worst possible route. It would have been better to not have driven on the road at all.
We went up to the top of the volcano first which is way way way up high. And you go on this crazy bus drive where at some points you could swear you were going vertical. It felt like if you didn´t keep driving we would fall backwards. We walked around and saw the view. They have like a hike around the crater (its dormant). It beat Bell Mountain by 10. I wanted to see more wildlife but all you could really see were the plants and these nasty black bug things that kept sticking to our clothes. It was pretty cold up there but once you were in the forest it wasn´t bad at all. The view was insanely beautiful.
And for all those who are strong supporters of organic, they certainly had the right idea about making the most out of a bathroom trip. They called them ¨Latrinos Organicos¨ and they were little shacks that were a good way off the ground. Basically they would use your waste to make organic fertilizer. Delicious. Needless to say it was so gross I couldn´t use it.
There was sort of a little town there... they grew and harvested lots and lots of coffee. It was cool to see where they dried it out. After an hour or so of walking around I was done with that and gladly welcomed the bus ride back down. We only went part way down and got off at the ¨Canopy¨ which is like zip lining from tree to tree hundreds of feet in the air (literally in the canopy.) Mostly just the kids went but my mom went too. The tour guide man took great pictures for us but because of that I didn´t get to take as many pictures from up high as I wanted to. It was scary and thrilling all at the same time. Even for my third time doing it, I still got that freaked out feeling. The guides are so used to being up there they make it seem so easy. After that was over we drove back down to the very bottom, and I was over joyed at getting to use a bathroom, which by that time, seemed heavenly. It had lights that worked, a lock that locked, the toilet flushed, there was toilet paper, and I wasn´t deathly afraid of catching some strange disease.
We drove to Granada which is a very cute town. Unfortunately it was already getting dark so I couldn´t really take pictures. The buildings all look very colonial and very very old. There are a bunch of enormous churches and the buildings are all beautiful colors.
We ate at this place called RostiPollos and I must say, it was better than chick-fil-a. It was a fast food type restaurant but sit down style if you wanted. It was very nice for fast food haha. The thing about eating out though is that you have to be careful with the whole water situation. You can´t just be like like ¨oh, well I just won´t drink the water.¨ you have to ask about the ice too. And then you can´t really get salad because they probablly wash it with water and then they don´t cook it so you can´t get rid of the bacteria.
By this point I was very much ready to come home. About 6 more people came today and I haven´t even seen them. The shower tonight felt amazing even though without a drought, I still have to shower like a marine lol. My back is pretty sore from the crazy roads we took but if my dad can survive, so can I. So far I´ve taken 400 something pictures :x
Well best be getting some sleep. Who knows what´s going on tomorrow.

So this is Christmas

¡Feliz Navidad!
December 25th. It´s Christmas. Really? that´s how i´ve been feeling and it kind of makes me sad. I didn´t really get that many presents but thats ok. I´ve felt hotter today than any other day. And all I did today was sleep.
Apparently I´m sick with some sort of sinus thing. Its so weird having a stuffy nose in 80 degree weather. It´s hard to tell yourself that yes, you´re sick; about as hard as trying to convince yourself it´s Christmas.
We ended up having delicious tacos for lunch yesterday and then we went to church. For some reason, I have a hard time understanding spanish when it´s at church. When we got back my gradma really wanted to go see this nativity set in Managua. So we piled into 3 cars, drove a good 20 or 30 minutes looked around for 10 minutes or so and left haha. It was very nicely done but it didn´t take long to look at. So we came back and did the Christmas play. That was interesting because my mom was narrating the story in spanish and the kids were acting in it... and 95% of them didn´t understand spanish. It went pretty good though... everyone was dressed up in costume. I was a cow lol-- just wait for the pictures. The best part about being in the play was that you could see everyone´s emotions and expressions up close and most of it was rather hillarious. We did it outside so it was kind of dark and hard to see from the audience.
The adults for some reason decided they wanted to eat at midnight but this was rediculous so we ate around 11 instead. It was a delicious turkey with gravy! yum. Then the kids exchanged gifts.... I had no idea what I had gotten my cousin Briana because my mom had bought it and wrapped it lol so that was fun being like ¨so... what did I get you?¨ She got me this adorably cute dog that was pink and white and super soft with an Itunes gift card. I loved it. And luckily she LOVED her littlest pet shop thing. Then we watched the adults play the white elephant game which was pretty funny. There was a battle over these hammocks.
Finally we ended the night with ¨globos¨ which are like hot air balloons made out of tissue paper. they were so pretty. and if you ever tried to do them in the US it would be illegal-- huge fire hazzard lol. Oh and one thing I forgot to mention. like 10 minutes before midnight it started... firework after firework. It seriously sounded like someone was making popcorn thats how many there were going off. and it lasted a good 30 minutes. When we went outside to do the globos we thought we were looking at clouds when we realized it was the smoke from the fireworks.
Since we did all that on Christmas Eve-- Noche Buena-- we didn´t do anything today. Its almost like we didn´t celebrate Christmas at all. And I kind of like it. It´s nice not having to make a big fuss and be all wrapped up in the presents and ¨holiday spirit.¨ I wonder what I would be doing if we hadn´t come to Nicaragua for Christmas.
I´ve had a lot of time to do nothing while I´ve been here... everyone is either too little or too old to hang out with. My cousin brought his wife and friend and they´re all in there 20s but after last night I found out how annoying they all are when together. His friend used the experession ¨so phat.¨ come again? who says that? Ok ok I´m being overly judgemental.
The amount of clothes I wear here at night is rediculous but it gets kind of cold and I don´t want to be eaten alive by mosquitos. The end result has been giant welt like bites on my wrists and hands where they decided to get me anyway. I just hope I don´t get any on my face.
Tonight we´re going to my uncle´s house for dinner and I think he lives pretty close to Managua. After tomorrow I have one more week to go but it feels like so much less. There´s so much I want to make sure I do. Its hard to get anything done with so many people though. It´s weird to think I´ve only been here for 3 days. I haven´t even gone exploring the whole farm.
Oh and some good news: I might actually get to see the Dawgs play at the sugar bowl! My uncle here has a satellite with Fox Sports and my dad thinks they´ll show the BCS bowls so awesomeness.
I think more family is getting here tomorrow. :x oh boy.

¡Que Plaito!

Plaito rymes with Plato... the great philosopher. And the phrase means WHAT A FIGHT! And thats basically what these last 24 hours have been lol. People are having a hard time getting a long. And its not the kids-- its the adults. At least we´ve had electricity for longer than 24 hours.
Last night we had a bon fire and roasted marshmellows. We went to the market yesterday too but we ended up not buying anything. I hate speaking at the market because if I speak in English I feel super out of place. And I just hate speaking in Spanish. Que Problema
It´s hotter today which really makes it weird when you remember it´s Christmas Eve. No white Christmas here lol. So we set up the ``Christmas tree`` today. Remember Charlie Brown´s Christmas tree? yeah it was like that but much taller. Putting the lights on was an adventure. I think they´re putting on the ornaments now. We had to put it in a bucket with rocks to get it to stand up and when ever a breeze would come it would fall over. I think they finally figured it out though. I´m documenting it with my camera because it´s hillarious. Unfortunately I´m not really sure how to upload pictures here so those might have to wait until I get home. I´ve taken about 60 pictures so far :X
The alarm went off again last night. It sucks when you´re peacefully dreaming and then all of a sudden JK! It´s SO loud.
I think they´re making my favorite for Lunch: Arroz con Gandoles (pigeon peas and rice). I haven´t been eating much just because it doesn´t really appeal to me. Plus the eating schedule is weird. The main meal is supposed to be lunch and thats usually something gross. Last night for dinner I had a bowl of Lucky charms, a bowl of honey bunches of oats and a tortilla with beans and cheese lol. and 3 smores. At least I´m not alone on the whole not liking the food thing.
Tonight there´s supposed to be a play... something about going to church too. Nobody really knows the plans lol.

I made it!

So the adventure begins. It´s weird to be here... talk about it being too hot for December. Well sometimes I feel hot and sometimes I feel cold. No happy medium really. It`s a lot hotter than I expected though. It´s funny to see the Christmas decorations up. They look so out of place.
We got to the airport around 7 yesterday (I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep) with NINE suitcases to check in. Talk about adventure. There were so so many lines but we made pretty good timing. It was almost like being in Disney World. The funny thing about airports is that you feel like you`re going to see someone you know. At one point it hit me, air ports are a scarey-- very susceptible to attack. But at the same time so safe-- so much security.
The plane ride was fun though as always. They showed Stardust which was reallly out there. The whole time you´re so confused as to what´s going on and then everyone ends up living happily ever after.
I ended up not sleeping at all so when I got to the house I crashed. But not before eating some tortillas and beans!
Apparently we have DSL so I´ll have more access to the internet than I was planning on.The computer is crazy hard to use though. Everything is in spanish and the keyboard is messed up. and by messed up I mean hard to use.
From what I´ve seen, Nicaragua is looking pretty good. Much better than I ever remember. We went to church in Town today and all the houses were looking nice and there was a road! can´t go wrong with that lol.
I´m kind of ready to go home though. The outside is already getting to me. I feel itchy. I can´t talk to mom because she throws a fit about me not speaking spanish. It gets kind of boring from time to time and we´re an hour behind so it feels like time goes by super slow. But I know that Matthew would love to be here in my place so I better enjoy it haha. And I´m sure I won´t be bored for long.
So my grandparents got this alarm system because people keep coming and taking whatever they find. Well it goes off at least twice every night. It sounds like a police alarm. Not fun at all.
Well time to go to the market!

So this is Goodbye

Wow. I'm leaving. tomorrow morning. and when I come back, it won't be 2007 anymore. I mean this has been the year I've been looking forward to for the past 5 or so year. And it was well worth it. This will be a sad goodbye...
Nicaragua promises to be an adventure. I'm not allowed to bring my computer, but I'm hoping to have internet access to update this and to check Facebook lol. And that all depends on whether or not we have electricity. I'll keep a hard copy journal and transfer it here whenever I get the chance. Ten days. Christmas AND New Years. Its our first time ever taking a direct flight and I'm SUPER excited. There might be a movie... and lunch! It's only supposed to take about 3 hours... leaving at 10 getting there around 1. But of course we have to leave the house by 6. The airport will be a mess and we have a lot of suitcases.
We got to open one present today. I actually opened two because I already knew what one was. But this one was like Chelsea's duck key chain flashlight. Except mine is a cow that moos very very loudly when you turn it on. I might just have found a better alternative to using my cell phone to see in the dark.
This week went by so fast. For 2 or 3 days I didn't even really get dressed. Got to hang out with some friends. Got see Coach Wall and Ms. Smith. Slept a lot. Ate out a lot lol. On Wednesday I went to Theresa's grandpa's funeral which was very beautifully done. I really wish I could have known him, he seemed like an amazing person. The priest said:

When you close the eyes of the dead, you open the eyes of those still living

And thats really how I feel about the whole funeral/death thing. My thoughts are extremely provoked at funerals. The only funerals I've ever been too, the people didn't become alive to me until after they were dead. I mean I knew of them, I knew they existed. But I had never met them, never seen them; I had no idea what they were like until I heard their loved ones talk about them. And when that happens you start wondering if you've lived a good enough life to have people talk about you like that.
And it really makes me think about all the times I wish I could just die. And how if I had died at that moment, all the things I would have missed out on. I do not fear death; I think the people who have died are very lucky. But I certainly do appreciate life. Well I appreciate the idea, but now I realize... I don't think I appreciate life to its fullest extent. I've wasted a lot of my life. There are things that I haven't done that I should have and I'm wondering what I'm waiting for. Why don't I have dreams and goals to get the most out of life? I need to stop being here for the ride and not be afraid to be outside the box, to sing out of key, or to question things. Maybe that's why I haven't died yet. I haven't done anything worthwhile.
So as a New Year's resolution, I will be more about life. All forward motion counts.

Death cannot be seen as the easy way out; life is the most exciting challenge to take on.

On the Way to Nicaragua in 2005

My Grandparents' House

LOL @ how short my brother is!

Climbing a giant tree to go "Canopying"

A Successful Start

I can officially say that I survived my first semester of UGA. I really am proud to go there and I love it. Finals week was a HUGE success... I ended up with an A in all of my classes; even Plant Biology, Food Science, and Pre Calc. I'm glad to put the semester behind me, but am not looking forward to what I have on my plate for next year.
I wasn't quite ready to go home Friday so I spent the weekend with Katie. I learned so much about cows and dairy work! I had a blast. Despite the cold and waking up before 7 every morning, it really was like being on vacation. I went to my first Methodist service, found out how amazing Carhartts are, bottle fed a baby calf, hung out with Katie's family, and got to enjoy the beauty of Morgan County. I really missed the cows once I left. Cows are fun.
And now for some highlights from this semester... because some of them are worth remembering. Alyssa was a great roommate :) we had so much fun wasting time, watching tv, staying up late, and enjoying college. From going to football games to saving her plant from mealy bugs, I wouldn't trade her for anyone.
Joining Sigma Alpha was one of the best things I did. It really expanded my "friend group" and I love all of the girls I pledged with. I also wouldn't trade Sigma Alpha for anything. It feels good to belong to something so amazing.
Georgia Football was 100 times better than I ever would have imagined. I was lucky enough to go to every home game except one. I'm really going to miss it during the spring. It really was like the 4th of July every weekend. Sure there was a lot of drunkenness... but that was half the fun. The Blackout was AWESOME. One of the best games ever. I'm so glad I was lucky enough to experience it. I only wish we were playing in the National Championships... maybe next year ;]
Being 19 hasn't hit me yet. I don't feel like I had a birthday is the problem. It makes me feel old so I pretend I'm still 18. It's not like I gained any special privileges from being 19 anyway.
It was a bit disappointing getting here and realizing that nothing could compare to how magical GHP was, but there were some moments that were close enough. Doing laundry of course was one of them. Going to a strings recital and Mr. Freshman were definitely comparable. I loved getting to hang out with Katie all the time. Tate theater was a close resemblance. And visiting Demostheneon hall was unforgettable. The food was MUCH better as was the freedom. And I wouldn't trade our RA, Mary Catherine, for anyone.
I even got to experience some of the Athens night life. It was really cool getting to see Patrick play, and I can't wait to see him again. I had the chance to "find" new artists like Allison Weiss and Modern Skirt. Downtown Athens at night is always an interesting experience even if you just go for coffee. I mean downtown during the day is interesting enough lol.
I got a job with Mr. Marable that seems to be working out alright. I mean... I actually enjoy working :O. Hopefully this way I can get my American Degree and keep money in my bank account.
I'm really enjoying the Catholic Center.... almost more than Transfig :X I enjoy being a lector almost too much haha. The Holiday party was great and I can't wait to do more stuff with CSA. I really want to start going to TNT.
I'm glad I was still able to keep in touch with people and see them every once and awhile when I came home. Taking a road trip to Young Harris was SO much fun, but nowhere near as crazy as my adventure to Marietta Square.Thanks to Emily,Clayton, Chris, and Kristen who came to visit :D I can't wait to see everyone at Lindsey's party.
I made a lot of great friends that I'm going to miss over the break: Whitney, Libby, Gena, Mark, Sarah, Grace and Anna. It makes it hard really because then you have people at home AND at college to miss. You all have opened me up to new things and share a lot of awesome memories with me. I'm so glad I met you guys!
I'm excited about everyone thats coming up next year. Then my life will practically be complete lol. Congrats to everyone who got accepted early to UGA and good luck to those who are still trying; don't give up! It's worth it, I promise.
Everyday was a new adventure and I can't wait to see what surprises await for me next semester. I just have to be patient and not get frustrated when things aren't going right :P