Thursday, November 25, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Snapshots of Life
I have neglected writing. There's so much else to do, and so little time! Ironically, this is probably the time when I have the most to write about as well. So, I will catch up a bit. Life has been going very well, with one adventure after another. The last time I wrote, we went to the beach on a packed bus.
After a week of commuting to and from the Nehemiah Center, Friday I stayed in León. I attended the final presentation of the Spanish class participants - Alex, Hannah, and Hannah. They did a play of Little Red Riding Hood in Spanish. In this snapshot, the wolf is chasing Little Red, and the hunter is chasing the Wolf. During one act, they did a musical, so they were singing, "no!" and "sí" as they ran. It was quite humorous.
Saturday, I was a campesina, a country girl. I went out to Roberto's house on the outskirts of town to learn how to make tortillas and use a machete. If you don't remember, Roberto is my friend with whom I commute to the Nehemiah Center. He is our second-in-command for the program, and if we have a problem in León, we go to him. He's the Nicaraguan link, like Alicia is the director. We are friends. Here, you see me making a tortilla. I learned how to pat it out, stick it on the fire, take it off, etc. I can do it myself now.
That's the short version of life lately. Tomorrow I hope to learn how to make tacos and gallo pinto with Hannah Ponstein, and Sunday we are having a birthday party for Evan at Roberto's house. It should be a fun weekend. I hope I can get some homework done too!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Do you have enough space?
Lately, I've been riding some pretty crowded buses. Instead of the American bubble, I'm getting smashed from all sides. Example: On Saturday, a bunch of us went to the beach, and we sat three to a seat, and there were three people in the aisle - across. Granted, it was brief because it was the guy collecting money going through, but it was still impressive. Today I came on an expresso bus from León to Managua, and although I got a seat, it was on the aisle, which means I was smashed against the lady in the window seat, and there were men smashed up against me on the aisle side. At one point, the guy was practically embracing me as he had one arm along the seat in front of me, and the other along the seat behind me. Let's just say, they know how to pack on the people here in Nicaragua.