Adios Leon!

Soooo I haven't written in a while. Last weekend was La Griteria - it's a holiday that only takes place in Leon where people set up alters to the Virgin Mary in their houses and at 6:00 PM, people begin going around to different houses and gritando (yelling). It's kind of like Halloween, but totally different. haha The people go to a house and say, "Quien causa tanta alegria?" and the people in the houses say, "La asuncion de Maria!" and they give them candy or sweets, or some people ask for clothes. It was very interesting to see, and I spent the holiday in Eira's mom's house, which is where Maria Denisse and Merlui live (with their grandma).

Today I went to Maria Denisse's house because she was supposed to come with me to change some money, but she had gone somewhere with her mom, and while I was waiting for her, I sat with her grandma (Eira's mom) and her great grandma who today turned 94 years old! for about an hour and a half. This woman is really amazing. She walks around on her own and is completely sane. She knows exactly who everyone is and everything that is going on around her. Eira's mom is sooooo nice! This was the first time I actually talked to her even though I have been in her house several times. She told me that whenever I want, I am welcome to come back and stay with them, and she said she wishes Maria Denisse knew me when she studied in the United States because she was so close to Chicago and we could have spent time together. (She told me that during Christmas when the University closed, Maria Denisse had no where to go and she was only 16! and she wanted to come home and it was a really hard time.) I wish I would have known her then too because we have just started to get to know each other and now I am already leaving. She is a really smart and independent girl. I really like her a lot. In their house, I really feel like I belong. Maria Denisse and Merlui would definitely be my friends back home. They are so sweet :) I hope that in the future I can return to Nicaragua and see these people again and see the progress that Alianza is sure to make. They have great ideas and great possibilities and I am really lucky to have taken a part in its evolution.

Last night, the "supervisor" from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut held a meeting with the members of the Albert Schweitzer club at Alianza. These are students studying English that want to be leaders. They are all very intelligent individuals with certain talents and ideas. This man is really inspriring. He served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, and now works in several countries funding relief efforts and projects. He sends students from Quinnipiac to Nicaragua to study Spanish and volunteer. He wanted to hear about the club and the projects they are doing (which is none at the moment) they are in the process of establishing a board and getting organized. But we ate dinner at his hotel. It was amazing. Part of me feels like 6 weeks was not enough time. I am just getting over my home sickness and getting used to a very different environment. Now that I know the school and its needs, I feel like I could do so much more to help. I would really love to come back in the future. The people here are so welcoming and really have very big hearts. Family is so important, and I truly did feel like a part of the family. Even though I am excited to be coming home to everyone I miss and to be starting my senior year, I am going miss Leon and all the people I have met here.

Granada

Helloooo!!! First of all, my flight has been changed to Friday, August 20, so that I will not have to miss class, and everything will be less stressful.

Thursday it rained very hard again, and Miguel, the other Intermediate teacher, did not show up, so I had to take his class. We somehow squeezed like 27 adults into our classroom from 4-6. It was very interesting. haha Then, I walked home in shin-high water because I was starving. I was in the middle of changing out of soaking wet clothes when Glenda called me to come back to the school and teach Miguel's other class from 6-8! :( I didn't have anything prepared and it was very frustrating, but we practiced phrasal verbs (this is always my go to when I don't have more material because they have so many questions about them!) Then, Julia and I went to the casino. We were playing roulette, and I told her that if it landed on 0, you would win a million dollars (speaking figuratively). She put one of her chips on 0 and sure enough the ball landed on 0!!!! I thought it was crazy, but she almost fell on the floor. She was freaking out and shaking and we were both laughing. I didn't realize she really thought that she was going to win a million dollars!!! And when she only got 30, she was confused about when she was going to get the rest! haha it was hilarious!

Friday, the family, the girls, and I went to Granada. The ride was about 3 hours long, and it was a tight squeeze in the car, but it was worth it! When we arrived, we went straight to the volcano called Mombacho, and we went zip lining through the canopy! You should check out my pictures. It was amazing!! Then we drove in this large truck up the mountain and walked through the beautiful forest at its peak. By the time this was finished, it was 5:30! Then we went to this beautiful look-out point called el Mirador de Catarina. There was a huge lake and Mombacho in the background. It was amazing. We drank this hot drink that is famous in Nicaragua called atol. It has milk, eggs, and cinnamon. There were beautiful pots and clothing everywhere, and we did some shopping before heading back to Leon. On the way, we stopped in Managua at the only mall in Nicaragua, and we were so hungry, we ate at the first place we saw - Sbarro's!! haha When we went to the bathroom, there was one for little kids called the Pipi Room (it had small sinks, toilets, and everything). You saw that bathroom first, and if you kept walking, you got to the adult women's and men's bathrooms. When Julia and I got back to the table, we told Sarah about the bathroom and how cool it was, and when she went alone, she didn't see the adult bathrooms, so she used the kids' one! When she got back to the table, she looked confused, and we could not stop laughing!!!!!

Agua

So yesterday Sarah, Julia, and I went to this hotel that had a pool to ask them if we could pay to use it, and they let us! It was a great relief from the heat. It has been so bad lately that I have been very very tired. Today while we were in class, it rained so hard that water was flooding Alianza, and we couldn´t leave because the streets were flooded with water. We had to wait at the school until it went down a little. It was crazy. I have been thinking a lot, and I am going to look into changing my flight to the week before I am supposed to come home so I won´t have to miss school, and it will be much less stressful. It depends how much it costs and everything, but I am just so homesick and I am really anxious to come home because I have so much to do before school starts. (My OPI, buy books, etc.) This weekend is the girls´ last weekend so it should be pretty eventful. Miss youuu!!

Poneloya

Last Wednesday, we went to the beach! It was about a half hour drive, but it took a little longer because we had to stop a lot and wait for cows to get off the road. It was absolutely beautiful. The first thing we saw was a huge orange rock that's called La Peña del Tigre, or Tiger Rock, because a tiger used to live underneath in in a cave a long time ago. There was also a cross at the top of one of the large rocks. When I asked Maria Denise why it was there, she said it was low tide and perfectly safe and normal to sit up there, and a boy was studying when all of a sudden a huge wave came and knocked him off the rock and he was killed :( The waves were beautiful but extremely dangerous. After lunch, which was amazing, we sat in the water right at the edge and a few times I was nearly taken away by the strength of the waves! It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen at the beach. We could barely go into the water past our calves without having the waves crashing into us and pulling us under. Oscarcito and Irelita stayed up by the sand, and one of us always had one of their hands just in case! It was very beautiful and relaxing, and I finally got some color from the Nicaraguan sun! Being there made me really realize the hardships of city life here. I find myself yearning for clean air. Everything is really crowded. There is terrible air pollution from all of the old vehicles. They definitely don't have emission tests here, and now I see why they are so important! Streets are very narrow and littered with garbage. Being at the beach was a little break where I could breathe and admire beauty, and it was very much needed. I didn't want to leave.

Thursday, the gringas (the other American girls who are living at the house) and I went to see Robin Hood. It was really really good. The girls are going back to the states Monday, and even though it is really convenient to have people in the house to talk to and go places with, it will be better that I am forced to get out and speak Spanish again the way it was the first week before they came. Saturday was Glenda's birthday, and we went to a different disco called Oxigeno. It was a lot of fun, and the next day, I slept till 1:00 AM. The girls and I went to this awesome vegetarian restaurant called Cocinarte, and I got falafel which I have been craving since before I left the states! After that we bought a bootleg DVD of Sex and the City 2 which are seriously sold EVERYWHERE right in the open, and we watched it. It was terrible in every aspect - the quality of the movie as well as the movie itself! Yesterday, we went and saw Date Night at the movies which I already saw in the states, but I was bored and it was really funny even the second time around. I am feeling pretty homesick at this point, and I am halfway through my trip. I know there are definitely so many things I am going to appreciate when I get home.

El Cerro Negro

Hey everyone!! So this has yet again been an exciting weekend. Sorry I haven't written in a while. During the week, I pretty much have the same routine. In the morning, I have class from 7:00-8:30 AM. This class is about the 5 S's. It's some sort of Japanese strategy to make the workplace more effective and efficient. It's really boring for me because it's about organization and stuff that seems pretty obvious, but La Alianza needs an expert's help on their way to becoming a university. Then I come to Cafe Latino, my favorite air conditioned cafe that has coffee and muffins and stuff. This is where I use my computer to prepare class and everything. Then I go home and eat lunch, sometimes take a nap or walk around, and then I have class from 4-6 where I teach 10-12 college students and adults English. I have been making worksheets to practice grammar and incorporating a lot of US music to develop true listening comprehension skills. It's going well so far. Then I go to the movies or dinner or something. A few nights ago I had chinese food. It wasn't the same as #1 Chop Suey, but it was a nice change.

Saturday night, I went with two of Eira's neices to the discoteca called Bohemio - it was a small club where you paid 5 dollars at the door and got open bar. There were tons of people there, and it was a lot of fun. I learned a lot of new dances and we didn't get home till around 3:00 AM! The next morning, I had a lot in store for me.

Sunday morning, around 10:45, Sarah, Julia, and I left for el Cerro Negro with the guide we hired, Hector. The ride was about an hour and 15 minutes into the country along dirt roads filled with cows and pigs. Along the way, Hector pointed out the chain of volcanoes called los Maribios and told us about each one. El Cerro Negro is the most active volcano in Nicaragua, and it erupted 3 times in the 90s. It is also the youngest volcano in Central America, and it is 728 meters (or 2,388 ft) tall. We were given a backpack and a board, and we began our hike. I'm not really sure if it was the fatigue from the previous night out, or the altitude, or a combination of the two, but I was dizzy and tired, and it was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. It is extremely steep, and we climbed the rocky side. The rocks were charcoal and they were very lightweight which caused my feet to slip often. Carrying the wooden board we would use to slide down it made it a million times harder. It probably weighed about 10 lbs. and was pretty long. It was hard to keep my balance and pretty scary. After about 10 minutes, the path disappeared, and we were literally just scaling the rocks. It took us about an hour and a half to reach the first small crater that was emitting steam. It was sooooo hot, and there were crazy bees everywhere. People were getting stung left and right. Thank God I didn't. We continued up to the biggest crater where the stench of sulfur was almost overpowering and the hot air was stifling. After taking a little rest and putting on our knee pads, shoulder pads, and large suits, we began our descent down the sandy side of the volcano. We used our boards as sleds. It took us not even a minute to slide down the entire volcano. It was so steep!!! I fell off my board 3 or 4 times and at one point, had to run down the volcano to retrieve my board which had flipped over my head. Good thing I was wearing so much protective gear, but the next day I definitely had some bruises and scrapes. It was a very interesting experience to say the least. We went back to the office where we ate mangos, washed the black sand covering our entire bodies off in a sink, and saw some animals they housed on this little ranch. My whole body is still pretty sore, but I joined a gym, so hopefully by the time I get home, I will be in better shape!!! :) miss youuuu!

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Helloooo! So, I am feeling much better, and I am eating like a normal person again! :) 2 nights ago, Ligia, Jairo, and I were walking around, and it started to rain really hard. We happened to be next to this huge hotel that has a casino in it, so we went in to seek shelter and, of course, ended up gambling. It is still hard for me to fathom how cheap everything is!!! The slot machines take 50 cent cordoba or 1 cordoba which is so cheap! So me speding 20 cordoba is spending 1 dollar and can last a pretty long time on the slots especially if I win. So anyway, we just hung out and played slots until it stopped raining, and then we went home. Then last night, Ligia wanted to go back! So we went, and I got bored of the slots really fast. I wanted to play roulette, but there was never anyone else playing or an attendant even standing there for that matter. Finally, I saw a guy at the table with a bunch of chips on it, and I asked him if he was betting dollars or cordoba. He said he really wasn't playing, he was taking a picture, and he asked me to be in it. I said no and walked away dissapointed. A half hour later, I was still eyeing the table, and an attendant asked me if I wanted to play. I said YES! and asked what the minimum was. It was 10 dollars and you had to bet 3 dollars each time. So I played with 10 dollars and ended up winning 80 bucks! I was gonna stop after I won 20, but when I started playing, every single person in the casino came to crowd around the table. No one knew how to play!!!! They were all asking me!! haha And here I am playing for only the second time in my life. So anyway I played longer to keep everyone entertained. People were actually saying "Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!" haha It was hilarious!!! Afterwards, I played some blackjack and lost of course! We left and went to a very nice restaurant/bar and ordered seriously so many drinks and so much food. I thought I was going to spend everything I won, and when the bill came, it was less than 20 dollars!!! Life is good :)

SICKKKKK!!!

So this has been a pretty eventful weekend. Friday after class, I went to the movies with Ligia and Jairo. We saw Shrek 4, and it was pretty good - it's hard sometimes for me to understand humor in Spanish. I got home from the movie around 9:30 and all of the doors to all of the bedrooms in the house were closed so I assumed the family was sleeping. (I hadn't seen or talked to anyone in a few days because they had been in Managua and Chinandega for business) I locked the front door with a chain and everything and went to bed. I always sleep with my IPod to avoid hearing bugs and what not, so I did not hear them when they arrived at 11:45 at night and were knocking and ringing the doorbell. Finally, around 12:45, I heard something and was really freaked out that someone was banging on the door in the middle of the night - I was expecting to find Oscar going to open it, and just as I was getting really scared, I heard Oscarcito calling my name from outside. I opened the door (still half-asleep) and there was the family all dressed up waiting outside. At the time, I didn't know they had been out there for an hour so I just said sorry! and went back to bed. The next day, I went to teach my class at 8:00 which is another story entirely haha and when I turned on my cell phone, I had 6 missed calls and 2 texts saying they had been waiting outside for an hour and were going to sleep in a hotel for the night. I felt terrible!!!! At 12, I went home to talk to them and they weren't there. They had gone to Chinandega again. So I waited and waited and waited. Esperanza made me lunch, and since I told her I didn't eat much meat, she made me an overeasy egg instead. I never eat my eggs like this, but I just held my tongue and ate it, grateful for the lack of meat on my plate.

Finally, around 7:00 PM, I called Ligia and took a taxi to her house because Esperanza had left hours ago, and I was tired of being home alone. It was storming and dark, and I had no idea when the family was going to get home. Ligia's house is absolutely beautiful!!!!! And she has three dogs and a parrot. I want a miniature doberman pinscher!!!! I met Ligia's mom and brother who are soo sooo nice - Her mom told me I was always welcome in their house and to tell her if I needed anything, etc, etc. She was full of compliments and very happy in general. Everything was great and fine. Jairo, Ligia, her brother, and I went to get some kind of food (lol I forget what it's called) for dinner. While we were walking, I had a terrible pain in my stomach. I brushed it off, but when we got back to her house, I didn't want to eat antyhing. Of course her mom started fussing and I was feeling worse and worse by the second, so I asked Ligia to call the taxi to take me home. I went into the living room to wait, and everyone was asking me a million questions a minute and all of a sudden I was running to the bathroom and throwing up. At one point, Ligia, her mom and Jairo were all in the bathroom cheering me on and trying to make me feel better. It was horrible and kind of nice at the same time. Anyway, I couldn't stop even after there was nothing left in my stomach. Any water I drank came right back up, so Ligia's mom called her husband who is a doctor and was asking him what to do. He told her if I couldn't stop, I should go to the hospital and get an injection to make me stop and an IV to keep me hydrated. Of course soon after I heard that, I refused to take anything in for fear that I would have to go to the hospital, and I insisted on going home. They wouldn't let me of course until they found out if Eira and Oscar were home to take care of me. I laid down on my stomach which was the only thing that made the pain go away. An hour later, Oscar showed up to take me home. I had to stop once on the way home to throw up and the water I drank afterwards came up when we got home. Eira and Oscar were asking me questions, and I was finally able to go to bed. Sunday, I didn't wake up until 1:00 PM and came out to the family waiting for me. They took me to a cafe with air conditioning and free Wi-Fi which is where I am now. Then we went to a little arcade for Oscarcito to play and then to a Chinese restaurant where I didn't eat a thing. I sipped water all day, and they told me how sorry they were for not paying enough attention to me and being home and whatnot. I really didn't expect them to alter their lives for me, and I really think I got sick from the egg, but I am still very hesitant to eat anything!!!! I have eaten a granola bar and a muffin in the past two days :/

I went to a movie last night with Oscar, Eira, and Irelita so it was a nice long day with the fam :) I am finally feeling better, and I really hope it doesn't happen again. Today is a holiday, so there is not school or work. It is a celebration of the start of the revolution to overthrow the government in the 70s, and I guess it is supposed to be pretty dangerous with a lot of people on the streets, so I am going to go home now! I'll write again soon!