Avocados and a Humming Bird

So I have these experiences here and I am always thinking how I can write about in my blog and I write all these great blogs in my head and never get around to doing it.

So one lovely Monday morning, about a month ago, I was sitting in my classroom during Virtue class. You would think having a once a week class on good virtues, these kids would behave better, but that's besides the point. This class I teach with a co-teacher and we switch off weeks because she doesn't speak english and I dont feel comfortable teaching in Spanish, so it would just be a mess to teach together.

So my co-teacher was teaching class, when a little, precious humming bird flew in. It was so cool to see it flying around and get a good look at it, since usually they come and go so quickly. But after awhile it couldnt seem to find its way back outside. It kept flying into the lights and every once in awhile would get get its long beak stuck in the medal borders of the ceiling tile, it would then stop flapping his wings and just be hanging by his beak until he would wiggle himself free and start flying again. I turned off the lights, hoping maybe he would try to fly toward the light outside, but it didnt seem to help. The co-teacher was upset by the children no longer paying attention, but didn't seem to want to do anything about it. So I went out and got one of the gardeners at the school and he came in and tried to catch it. For awhile the humming birds was perched on the crucifix (that are in each classroom) which would have been a great picture, but then it was finally caught and released by the gardener. In LA class I had the kids write a story about the whole thing and I got some really great and funny stories. I wish I still had some of them to share with you. Anyway, I felt it was one of life's small blessings to have that little humming bird fly into my classroom.

And avocados! Yesterday I was hanging clothes out on the line and I looked over toward the neighbor's yard and saw one tree, taller than the others and hanging off the top were, you guesses it, AVOCADOS! There is no one living in the house next door. There are mangos all over the backyard. So now I have to find a way to get those avocados....I will keep you updated.

Hipicas de Diriamba

A few weekends ago Ivan, Ali (Ivan's friend), Augusto (our neighbor) and I went to Diriamba for the Hipics. The town is famous for this festival which takes place in Managua in August. Ivan and I did not go to the one in Managua because it was just too crowded.

The Hipics is basically a big horse parade and a bunch of people that have pretty horses come and march them down the street. The horses look like they are dancing to the loud music that is playing on every corner, it is amusing and nice to see big, healthy horses here! i have gotten used to seeing the small, sad skinny ones that don't have a healthy, shiny coat.

I had never been to Diriamba before and I really liked it. It looks like a small Leon, only cooler temperature wise. There are lots of houses painted in bright colors and I found myself obsessed with taking photos of the houses with cars or people wearing the same color in front of them. I played around with lots of different functions of my camera, but none seemed to capture the colors as vividly as they really were.

We had a front row spot to view the parade, but it was a little scary at times. Some of the horses march to the side and seem to be out of control, while other horses march straight. Ali said it depends on their breed. There were a few times when we had to get out of the way very quickly. Ivan could not believe that I had never seen horses march. I said, I don't think they do that in the States...but I could be wrong. I never considered myself a big horse person, but I grew up in the country and have been around a lot of horses. So check out the pictures and videos below and horse people, let me know if this is strange to you or not.

Not So Super Market

So Ivan and I decided to spend our Friday night doing something super cool, grocery shopping! We were 2 of about 7 total people there including a couple and their young son, and two old men, because here in Managua, no matter how old you are, you go out dancing and drinking on the weekends. It is one of the nice things about here, going out to a club and seeing older couples dancing salsa among the younger crowd. There doesn't seem to be that generational dislike of each others music either. Salsa and merengue will never go out of style and the older folks don't even seem to cringe at the bass busting and sometimes indecent reggaeton.

Anyway, I am off topic, so we were at our local supermarket (again at 8 pm on Friday) and we needed a few basics: milk, bread, chicken, cheese, baking soda, brown sugar, etc. Well we were able to find most things, except for baking soda and brown sugar! Now brown sugar has been something I have been on the hunt for since Christmas, when we were unable to find it to make the beloved sticky buns for Christmas brunch. They had said they were out, but I haven't been unable to find it at any super market in Managua since that time! I mean, this is a super market in a capital city people! Brown sugar is a staple, something that should be found at any market, but certainly a SUPER one! Even dear, old Matthew in Anne of Green Gables was able to buy 20 lbs of brown sugar (and a puffed-sleeved dress to boot) at the local market in Avonlea at the turn of the 20th century!

"Twenty pounds of brown sugar!"

And baking soda...do I even have to explain how basic and necessary baking soda is? And not just that but the magnitude of its multi-purposefulness: its a baking ingredient, a cleaning agent, an odor absorber (which is what we needed it for in the fridge), its what you brush your teeth with if you run out of tooth paste, its what you put on a bee sting! If they don't have baking soda then they might as well not have tooth paste, or cleaning supplies or air fresheners! If interested click here for a link to 75 extraordinary uses for baking soda.

Although, two things they do have, which are quite delightful, are plain yogurt and mango nectar. Mix those together in your new Cuisinart™ blender, and you get a killer smoothie, which I am enjoying at this very moment :)

Creepy Critters

Since one of my fears is creepy critters and I seem to write a lot about them, I thought I would share some photos of those I have encountered here. They include: geckos (which I am not afraid of, but as my sister found out they can be startling at times)the geckos here come in all sizes, including very, very small, which is my favorite and there is even one that lives on Matt and Sabine's car and we seem to see it every time we are getting in or out. I named this particular gecko (in the photo) Fred; locust which I included a video of and luckily this locust came alone and not in a huge black cloud of other locusts; unknown weird flat bug which I saw crawling across the floor one night and Iva swiftly ended his life. We are not sure how it got into the house, as all of the windows have screens, but I guess as we learned with the tarantula, an open door will let just about anything in. The weird thing with this flat bug was that when it was killed a lot of goo came out, I am not sure from where; and lastly the tarantula, this was not the one we saw in our house, but I guess it could be, it was about the same size and color and Ivan spotted this one across the street as we were parking the car one night.

Thankfully there has not been any cockroaches or scorpions in the house (knock on wood), but in addition the big, scary and strange ones, the red ants are everywhere and super annoying, crawling into glasses you are drinking out of or left overs you are about to heat up. And there are also these gross little grey cocoon like things all over the house, which I have seen a little worm or larva in it once, but they seem impossible to get rid of.

The Holidays

Oh! Where to start!? Well Danielle arrived a day after I started my vacation and was greeted with a surprise! After we arrived home we were enjoying some fruit in the kitchen. We left the door open to let some of the cool night air in, when we returned to the living room I noticed a tiny little bug that I had never seen before and was pointing it out to Ivan when Danielle said something to the effect, "thats nothing compared to that huge spider" We looked up and saw a huge tarantula, just a few feet away from us standing in the doorway. Now just to be fair, maybe it wasnt HUGE as far as tarantulas are concerned, but it was a huge, black, hairy spider nonetheless!

So I ran into the kitchen (and stood on a chair, of course) while Ivan killed it with a broom (but not before he made a run for it around the living room). Needless to say it was difficult to fall asleep that night picturing that spider in the apt.

Danielle and I took it easy for a couple of days, she got to meet Sabine and Matt before they left on their honeymoon and we went to a concert at a famous live music venue here in Managua. Then we hung out at Laguana de Apoyo, a beautiful lake in a volcano crater.

A week after we picked up Danielle, we were back at the airport to pick up Mom and Dad! We saw Maura (a teacher at Lincoln) and her husband there again (we had seen them when picking up Danielle as well). Maura was busy going back and forth to the airport because she was having her wedding ceremony over the holiday break and all her friends and family were flying in!

Christmas Eve was the next day and Dad and Ivan went to find a rental car while Mom, Danielle and I went grocery shopping for our Christmas meal. We could find all the ingredients to make all of our favorites, but we were able to get almost everything. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner at Matt and Sabine's house (where my parents were staying while they were away) Ivan went to his mom's house to have dinner with his family. We watched Its a Wonderful Life, opened presents and listened to the firecrackers everyone set off around midnight. Ivan came back around 1 am. In Nicaragua Christmas Eve is the big day of celebration. Families go to church and then eat dinner close to midnight and then open presents after that.

On Christmas day we went to the Mirador Catarina overlooking Laguna de Apoyo and then drove a very, very steep decent down to a nice place on the lake and spent the day swimming, relaxing and eating. The next day we went to Leon and had lunch with Oscar and Eira and then headed to the beach. The road to the beach was under construction, so the driving again for Ivan was very treacherous. The waves at the beach were strong and fun to frolick in. After a lovely sunset we headed back toward Leon and then on to Chinandega where my Dad's friend is living. It was nice to see even a little bit of Chinandega, as I had never been there before. We had a nice dinner and a great time visiting with Mike, who reminded me and Ivan of our dear friend Corey :) The ride home was long and we stopped part way to look at the bright stars.

On Saturday we got up late and then headed to Volcan Mombacho to go zip lining. Their credit card machine was down so Ivan negotiated a discounted cash price and we headed up the volcano. We had a ton of fun and got some great pictures and videos! We then went into Granada, walked around the park for awhile and had some vigoron (a delicious dish that Granada is famous for that has yucca, pork rinds and a vinegar-y, spicy cabbage and carrot salad on top. Then we headed down to the pier for dinner with a lovely view of the lake (yes another lake, Nicaragua is the land of Lakes and Volcanos).




After dinner, as we were heading out to the car, Mom was holding a doggy bag with my left overs in it when a street kid came up and ask her to give it to him. When she said no, he grabbed it from her hands and ran away and started eating it. We were all pretty upset and Ivan went over to yell at them. They told him that she gave it to them and Ivan told them that they stole it and asked them how would they like it if someone had stole from them and then he took their basket full of gum and cookies that they sell and started to run away with it. The kids got very upset and he again tried to tell them that stealing was wrong. These children were very brazen and seemed to have no fear of authority, nor care about the fact that they did something wrong. The waiters then came out and began to scold the boys as well. I felt bad about the whole thing, they are poor and hungry and dont get the love and affection they deserve at home (I imagine), but my Mom and Ivan were right, they need to learn their lesson, because if they think nothing of stealing food now (and if people pardon their behavior because of their situation) then they wont think anything of mugging someone when they get older, or worse!

The next day we brought the parents to the airport super early and rested the rest of the day. We went to Volcan Masaya on Danielle's last day and enjoyed a short hike to the top and some lovely views. Then we went to a nearby restaurant that has a lovely view of another lake and got to watch the sunset behind Volcan Masaya while we had beer and ceviche.

Then sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Daniellie. So that in a nutshell, was the wonderful vacation I had with my family! I am of course enjoying the rest of my free time before school starts again next week. But I cant help but feel a little dread as each day brings my vacation closer to an end and the long 3rd quarter begins, with no long weekend holidays insight until Easter :( Oh my!

Pochomil and Purisima!

Last weekend Ivan and I went to Pochomil beach with Sabine and Matt. It was a wonderful and relaxing day! I made some fruit salad with fresh cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sabine and Matt brought some snacking treats from Trader Joes (sent by Sabine's mom) and of course we had lots of beer, limes and salt!

We were able to drive the car right up to our spot on the beach. There was a little hit with table and chairs and a few hammocks to lounge in. We spent the day snacking, drinking and chatting. The water was lovely, and we found a bunch of real sand dollars (I have never seen them alive before!) I will need to look up some information on them, because we have been to this beach before and never seen them, but this time they were everywhere, I wonder why.

Sabine and I took a nice walk down the beach and looked at all the pretty houses and discussed how we both like Nicaragua a lot more whenever we leave Managua. We got back in time for sunset and then it was time to hit the road, as it gets dark very quickly here and the road back is not the best to drive on at night (or any time) due to its poor conditions. Matt was great at avoiding the pot holes!

As we got closer to Managua we had a glimpse at the Purisima celebration. This is a very Nicaraguan holiday where they celebrate the emaculate conception of Mary. We had been celebrating it at school as well. Basically people make an alter to Mary outside their house with lights and flowers and a statue of Mary. Then people walk to these houses and stand outside and sing songs for Mary. After they have sung a couple of songs the people come out and give them treats like sweet lemons, traditional Nicaraguan candies and corn drinks. It is a little like trick o treating only with a different meaning. People also set off fire crackers at midnight and noon for a couple of days. It was kinda cool to hear the sounds of hundreds of fire crackers going off all at once for a few minutes, but it got old after awhile since people here are crazy for the Purisima, some could not wait until midnight or noon to set off their noise maker.

At school we had a Purisima assembly where they gave the students candy and whistles! The entire school was in the assembly hall and every child was blowing their whistle, it was the loudest, most horrible sound ever! When we got back to the classroom I closed all the windows and doors and did not allow any whistle-blowing in my classroom while they got their backpacks and left.

The Sandinistas continued their occupation of all the traffic circles and handed out rice, beans and oil to people lined up there. I thought it was nice at first but Ivan was very upset by it. He said they are ruining the very Nicaraguan tradition of Purisima. They are not handing out traditional treats, instead they are trying to buy the votes of these poor people by giving them a bag of food. the tax payers are the ones paying for all that food that is being passed out and it is not really helping the people by giving a hand out. We were watching people going through the lines on TV and people would show up with all their kids and they would give every person in line a bag of rice, beans and oil. And there didnt seem to be a system of making sure people didnt go through several times.

Anyway, we all enjoyed the extra day off of work whether we were celebrating Mary or not :)

My dog ate my homework!

Only at my school I hear, "My maid forgot to put my homework in my backpack!"

One of my students (the one with the family that practically owns Nica) tried to pay another student to clean his cubby. When I told him the world doesn't work like that and he has to clean his own cubby, he looked at me confused and said "Yes it does! When you don't want to do something, you pay someone else to do it for you, its business" I said well its not business in my classroom and here you need to do things for yourself.

Aww, only a few more days until Christmas break, so I better start correcting my exams!