Muchos Cuentos

Ometepe
Last weekend Katharine, one of the other teachers at my school, Denia, and I went to the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. Overall it was very nice to get out of Managua, walk through banana fields, swim in the lake, eat of the fruit of the land, etc. The island it totally beautiful and tranqillo and the three of us had a lot of fun. But there was, as always, a fly in the ointment. Or in our case millions of flies in our $18 hotel room the second night. Maybe we should have splurged and got the $20 room. Plus that night we had been swimming in the lake and our shower was too dirty to get sufficient sand off of us which meant sand in the sheets. Maybe one week I'll send a quiz about me but one thing everyone should know is that I HATE sand outside of it's natural habitat. So in the morning when we got up from a fitful night of sleep the floor was covered with a mix of the dead fly/moth things and sand. Overall quite the island experience.

Amigas
I have a new friend, and even better she's Nicaraguan and she has a car. She just started going to church where I usually go and the past few weekends we've hung out. On Sunday we saw "El Buen Pastor" aka "The Good Shepherd," it was fine except we missed the beginning so were a little confused.

Sin Luz
The electricity has been out a lot lately. The new schedule is noon to 7:00 everyday. So far Monday noon to 7:30, Tuesday 9:30-4:30, Wednesday ?-8:30AM and 5:30PM to Midnight. This morning Leo came extra early to do laundry because it's been a while since she's been able to use the washing machine. I am obviously incapable of doing my laundry when there is any chance someone else will do it for me. On a grander scale Matthew was telling me that some of the garment factories are thinking about closing down because they can't run without consistent electricity. If they shut down over 20,000 people won't have jobs.

Visitando Mas del Pais
Since Tuesday was Katharine's last day in Nicaragua Julio took us to see more places. So we saw the Oriental Market and Matthew's feeding program, Volcan Masaya, a little pottery town called Catarina, and one of the first cities in Nicaragua, Granada. Then on the way home he drove around the outskirts of Managua so we could see some areas of former glory. During lunch two dogs got in a fight right next to our table. I guess Rocky doesn't like to share.

Esposa
Tuesday morning, before we painted the countryside red, we went to my school. It was during recess so Katharine played games with my students and I talked to Matthew. When we were walking back to the car one of my students asked if Matthew was my husband. I told Matthew that he obviously isn't at the school enough if the students have no clue who he is. Then yesterday I went to the market again and one of the guys asked the same thing. I guess we can attribute that to the life of drug use.

Problemas Sentimientas
This week in the car somehow we got into the topic of problems in Nicaragua like rape, and drugs, and child prostitution, and diseases that banana farmers get. I swear every day I end up hearing worse and worse things that happen in this country, so sometimes I'm not constantly peppy. Or sometimes I just don't have any Spanish conversations I feel like striking up. Yesterday was one such quiet day for me I mean there was some little things on my mind but nothing out of the ordinary. Julio thought I was depressed I guess so I was trying to explain myself. Evidently I wasn't doing a very good job and he was asking me if my problems were sentimientas and I asked him what that meant and he was like “you know, when you're so sad you kill yourself.” No I am not suicidal.

Saliendo
Tomorrow I am leaving for the States until July 24th. I hear there is electricity there all the time. I don't know if my mom knows how to make jugo de pina y melon like Leo but there is really good yogurt. I think it is a good trade off and I hope to see a fair amount of you.

Pobrecito Nicaragua

This morning my roommates painted one of our upstairs walls blue. It looks like the ocean.

There is a new restaurant (or something) in town called Hotter. If you change which letters are doubled you can guess what it is a knock-off of. If you can't figure it out wait until Cristina and I publish our book and you can see the picture.

The electricity has been off a lot lately. Today, eight hours. But in Bible Study we just finished reading the book How to Respond When You Feel Mistreated and we learned that the suffering the government makes us endure is an opportunity in itself to serve God.

Yesterday I went running and took the "Back Off" dog repellent that Kristen left me. I didn't have to use it. But it never ceases to amaze me how loudly the men here can make the kissing noises. Like it is easily heard over the sound of their motorcycles.

Katharine has been here visiting for a week now. When people come visit me Matthew gets super attentive. He's taken me to lunch twice this week and one day brought us bottled water to school. Plus he thinks Katharine and I should go see things so tomorrow he is sending us to Ometepe for the weekend with one of the Nicaraguan teachers. Ometepe is the highest lake island in the world and is formed by two volcanoes, I just looked on Wikipedia to get that info so I really don't have much to share. I told Matthew now that Jeremy and Cristina are gone he is responsible for me. He said I can't ride the bus anymore.

Katharine brought stuff to do crafts in my school. Last week we took pictures and made popsicle stick frames. We just got the pictures back this morning and they are so funny I don't know how I could ever be mad at my classes.

Speaking of school, I'm always a little about what is going on. But I think Monday is my last day and I have to turn in grades and then I'm on break (self imposed) until July 24th.

I wrote most of this out last night while lying on my bed watching mini-ants attack some other insect on my bedroom floor. Pretty intriguing.

It just started raining. Well "raining" is an understatement.

Te amo, Joy

17 days til I'm back in the states

To whom it may concern:

Kid's Day was a success last Friday. My group played musical chairs but we didn't have music so I brought a pot and a spoon. Thanks to their lives of deprivation no one thought it was a terrible idea or anything and the kids were eager to be the ones making the noise. It didn't rain so that made things nice. However, the combination of the sudden sunshine and my polo shirt left me with a red V on my neck.

Friday night Kristen and I wanted to go out to dinner but didn't have private transportation so opted for public. First we took the bus and then got a taxi, on the way home we stuck with all taxi. The buses here are really cool, ours had one of those flashing orange traffic lights hanging up inside so we had quite the disco atmosphere. We were no worse for the wear except we did both smell pretty bad by the time we got home.

Last week they sprayed our apartment complex for bugs. When we heard the truck coming we had run to shut all the windows since they spray a mix of ddt and diesel. I've still been ending up with bites and right now I have a fat left hand.

Tonight my roommate from college, Katharine, is coming to visit for two weeks. I am very excited especially since my roommate here, Kristen, is leaving me on Thursday to marry my brother.

Sincerely, Joy Christina Eklund