2007 is officially over. It was the craziest New Yars Eve I have ever had. They had bought a pig, killed it, and roasted it for a New Years Eve feast and it was pretty good. Cooking it was an adventure because it rained and they had to run to get it covered. then they tried hooking it up to an engine so it would turn by itself but it would go waaaay to fast. the pig was flopping everywhere apparently. So then they just would turn it on and off really fast so that it would turn little by little.
I went on adventure around the farm to take pictures. It was good to be by myself. I finished all the books I brought so now all I have left to do is knitting. I didn´t think I´d be running out of stuff to do! We ended up going to Managua to go to the market there. We stuffed 11 people in one car. My 2 uncles sat in the front and then my mom sat on a cushion in between them. Then my aunt, my cousin, and my cousin´s mother in law sat in the back seat. Then my 2 cousins, my cousin´s friend, my cousin´s wife, and me all sat in the trunk. When we got there it was closing in 30 minutes so we had to shop kind of fast but I wasn´t looking for much. There was this little kid who kept following us around asking for money and when you´d give him money hoping he´d go away, he just clung on even more. Trying to leave was terrible. On the way back we decided to stop on the side of the road a couple of times to buy fireworks.... the last time they turned the car off and when they got back in to turn it on it wouldn´t start. So the guys got out and started pushing the car and trying to turn it on as they went but they just ended up causing a huge traffic jam. We weren´t to far away from the house but it was too far to walk. By some stroke of luck they finall got the car started, we all hopped back in all smushed, and then made it home lol.
At night, the party really began. It´s a Nicaraguan tradition or something to get dressed up so it´s sort of like Halloween. Everyone had wigs or masks... my Uncle was Frankenstein and my Aunt was Charlie Chaplin lol. Then we had a crazy dance party. And I got Melisa to do the Soulja Boy dance with me which I was surprised that no one else knew it. Then we decided to do fireworks which was a bad idea because two of my littlest boy cousins are too crazy and it was scary to be around them. Even putting a sparkler into their hands was risking your life... or at least your eye. The adults had bigger fireworks but they kept doing them wrong so that they would explode in the ground instead of the air which was essentially creating a bomb. They had really loud fire crackers too. No where outside was safe because in front of you there were bombs and behind you there were flying fire things. I wanted to go inside but they had some more globos to do so I wanted to see that. We counted down to 12 midnight eastern time (according to my watch). It was weird not watching any sort of ball drop. And then it was annoying to realize we still had one more hour to go. Everyone was ready to go to sleep too. And then finally it was OUR midnight but the way we celebrated it felt so unofficial. Like which clock are you supposed to go by if the you don´t have the tv to tell you? Most of the clocks still had 4 minutes to go and we were like whaaat? but once everyone started wishing eachother a happy new year, there was no stopping. Then just like for Christmas the torrential sound of fireworks began. And then it was over. 2008. I never wanted 2007 to end. I guess it was only right to end an eventful year in an eventful way.
And as far as a New Year´s resolution... I´ve never been one to make them because they seem pointless. But this time I resolve to hate boys. And be suspicious towards every single one. Its not permanant, but its a good idea for now. I´ve found that making eye contact can be dangerous. And I realize that it´s silly to try to get others to like you... you should make them work for it.
My aunt left and instantly there was war on my room. It makes me so angry that everyone feels like they can treat my room like the living room just because it has the tv and the computer. We went to my uncle´s house in Managua and practically spent the whole day there. We had really good soup and shared lots of stories. I got a lot of knitting done but I´m running out of yarn so I won´t be able to finish until I get back.
I´m going home tomorrow and I´m so excited. I´m not sure how we´re all getting to the airport because pretty much everyone is leaving, but I can´t wait to be on an airplane back to my own room, my own computer, and even yes-- cold weather. Dad says that when we get back we are SO going out for a good dinner at a restaurant. The only thing I´m sad about is the fact that I don´t have much of a break left. I´m excited about the reunion party and getting to see everyone and hopefully getting to Matthew sometime this week too.
The UGA game is going down today and I am pumped. At 7:30 you better bet the tv is going to be on trying to find which channel the game is on. I´m wearing my favorite UGA shirt today in honor of the occassion. I just have to find myself something to do until then lol.
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicaragua. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Friday, December 28, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, December 24, 2007
¡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.
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.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
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!
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!
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