HOLA! Como Estas???

Well, I've officially stepped onto Nicaragua soil. This is how I feel about it. In other words, relaxed... very relaxed.
















I spent Sunday afternoon and evening at Christinas house playing with her new baby. At least 'playing' as much as you can really play with a 4 week old without breaking it. CUTIE! Then my old uni friend, Paul, picked me up and I stayed at his parents house for the night. I wasn't sure I was up for crying babies all night and poopy diapers. I'm just not quite at that life stage yet. I owe Paul big time (THANK YOU!) for getting up at 5:30am and driving me to the airport. You're awesome!

TEXAS::

I left Toronto at 8:30 am on Monday morning (27th). I had a 2 hour flight to Texas, followed by a pretty long layover until 5:45 pm. I rushed out of the airport right away and caught the city bus to downtown Houston. Four words pretty much explain Texas in my eyes after the few hours I spent in it: Friendly, Mexican, Southern drawl. Yup, that sums it up. The first (and really) only thing I did was visit the Houston Aquarium. I never realized how little I was intersted in fish. I was told I could get through it in an hour. I finished in ten minutes. The only fascinating thing they had was the random white tiger at the end who lived in this crazy monk house and got stared at all day by strange people. It's an akward little world we live in. After that I wandered into the underground shopping area which was very lame. I ended up getting some lunch, cracking out my laptop and talking to people from home on msn. But, I'm sure Texas has a lot of cool stuff to offer too. Hopefully next time I'll find it.

NICARAGUA VIA AIRPLANE::

Here's what the capital city of Nicaragua (Managua) looks like if you are a) on crack or b) flying over it at night.

Of course, I was flying over it at night!!!!

MY NEW HOME::

I arrived in Nicaragua at 8:45 pm. I was met by Veronique and a driver for OXFAM. Veronique is here on a two year contract and has finished 14 months. She's fluent (so I think, not speaking any myself) in Spanish but with your first language being French I think that makes it a lot easier. As I'm sitting in the OXFAM office right now I still feel like I'm with foreigners because the handful of Montreal'ers speak French to each other. Hence, my constant spaced out "what the heck is going on" look. We drove for almost 2 hours until we reached Esteli at 11:30pm (de la noche). They immediately dropped me off at my new home and left. I was first greeted by my new mother, Adriana, followed by her husband Julio (Hoo-lio) and 19 year old son Julio. Then of course there is also their daughter who I met the day after, also named Adriana. Makes for getting to know names pretty easy. There seems to be a handful of very common names around here and apparently all over Spanish land so I figure I can throw any one out there at any time and someone will answer. Maria, Julio, Carlos, Roberto, Carmen.
The next thing I did was unpack. It was late and my brain was not about to start looking up words in my dictionary so that I could talk to my new family. "Buenas noches" (good night) worked well at that point. I can't settle with packed bags. I just hate it, I don't know why. I could have not slept for a week and would still have had to unpack and feel like it was MY place. So, I unpacked. And here's my new pad!





MY BEDROOM!!!
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MY 'SITTING ROOM'... It's empty right now but I've got big plans for it!..
VERONIQUE AND MY BOSS, ALAIN STANDING IN FRONT OF THE OXFAM OFFICE.

THE OXFAM OFFICE.

This is the view from my bedroom window. I love living around mountains. The temperature stays between 18 and 22 here all the time. So far, I've been mostly cold, but I did spend last winter in 40 degree Kenya.







I had planned to sleep and sleep and sleep all morning but I was up at 6am. I guess the excitement that I couldn't really feel for this place before was in me somewhere. I managed to fall in and out of sleep until 8:30 before testing out my new, COLD, shower. But, who am I to complain. At least I have running water, right? Africa didn't treat me this nicely! I had breakfast with Adriana in the morning around 9. The kids were gone to school (Julio to University) and Julio (husband) to work. This is also when I met their adorable, helpless little dog, Peggy, who got run over a month ago... Awweee Peggy! We had beans with cream, tortillas, coffee, toast... nothing to0 abnormal. I'm glad I got a good taste brewed up for beans in Africa because to date, I've had beans at every meal. This is the first, and only time I will praise the food in Kenya for having NO flavour. It made me LOVE beans for their flavour even though I wouldn't have touched them with a ten foot pole before I went there. All morning I sat at the table with Adriana flipping through my Spanish phrase book and dictionary... and her with her pen and notepad in hand. We laughed a lot at how little we could communicate. And, I will say now - that I really like her. In the afternoon Veronique came to get me. She has a Nicaraguan boyfriend and had borrowed his VERY nice car. Some people definetely have money here. I told her that it was already bad enough that we were white, but driving this car was just screaming attention. I really feel like I fit in here more than I did in Africa. Not because I necessarily like it more - but because my skin colour isn't so far off. But, it doesn't seem to matter. Even with my sunglasses hiding my blue eyes I can't fool them. One thing I did appreciate Africa for was the lack of sexual attention I got from men - and the respect they had. I don't want to judge the culture here too fast but the nice young men sitting on the streets certainly let you know that they want to know who you are. I'd tell you what they say when I pass - if I had a clue. So, we roamed around (after picking up Miguel, Veroniques boyfriend) trying to find a new SIM card for my Kenyan cell phone. It looks like I'll be buying a new phone which really is crappy for me being totally broke. At least I'll be getting a decent living allowance here. After that I expressed my fascination with dirtbikes (they are all over the place here) to Veronique, who then expressed it to Miguel, who then brought me to his Uncle's house to see his bike. I had no idea what I would get (if I even get one) but I'm pleasanty surprised to know that I can get a 2007, 200cc for only a thousand dollars. That's a good deal, right? It would save me busing to the coast on the weekends and I could easily take it all over Central America over 3 months when I finish my contract mid-February. I think a 200cc should be perfect. The one I rented on Zanzibar Island was a 250 and although I definetely manged... sometimes I really struggled with holding its weight up and kickstarting it at the same time. The next stop was the showroom where Miguels Uncle had bought his red bike. They have the same one, but in black which I like much better anyways. I think I'm in love. It's going on sale, less 15%, on Setember 11th so I just might have to jump on that opportunity. Over the next 2 weeks I'll be dreaming about it.

That evening we had a good-bye party (and I suppose a welcome party for me) for Carlos. He has been here for 1.5 years but apparently didn't like it that much. Maybe I have the story wrong here but either way, he left today and is headed for Lebanon. We bought some Nicaraguan beer and pizza and sat around chatting for a few hours. I was still home at 11:30 though.


I failed to mention that the other thing I did inbetween awing over black dirtbikes was meeting the teacher of the spanish school. I am convinced that she has starred in some sort of horror film but she is definetely a good teacher. I was late today because I messed up the time on my alarm but I think she'll forgive me. I will be taking lessons every Monday through Friday from 8:30am till 12:30pm. I had the option to do them all day but I don't know if my brain could handle that. I never wanted to lose my Swahilli from Kenya but right now I just wish it would vamos (go away) because it's all that I come up with on the streets when I want to ask something. Spanish is definetely going to be a lot easier to learn though and I am so thankful for these lessons. It's not like Kenya where English was a national language where a 10 year old that had been in school could speak to you pretty good. NOBODY knows ANY English. So, I have my work cut out for me. My boss here at OXFAM (Allain) says that I am to focus solely on Spanish for the next month. And spend the afternoons on the streets meeting people and practicing before I get into the work. Gosh, life is rough.

So... that's me and Nicaragua in a nutshell. I'm very content here. I feel so relaxed and the culture as a whole is just really really chill. That's the best word for it. Enjoy the pictures. I promise to post one of me with my new family as soon as possible!

AMANDA :)