back in full force

I am back in Nicaragua and have so much to say. The length of this will make up for the one I skipped while in the States.

"The Flight of the Conchords"
My flights last Tuesday were interesting. I flew from San Diego so I left the house at 9:50 for a 11:15 flight and everything was smooth as silk. When I got on the flight I, being the lovely person I am, offered to switch seats with this lady so she could sit by her son. This seat change sat me strategically in front of a yippy dog. I was wishing I had allergies so I would have an excuse to move but instead I fell asleep. My layover was short in Houston and I knew people on my flight so that was enjoyable. A small mishap occurred when the lady sitting next to me spilled her apple juice. Based on the amount that landed on me I think it missed her completely.

"Reading Rainbow"
Wednesday I had off and was able to re-acclimate to Nicaraguan life. It is slow here and hot. Pitaya is in season so there was amazing juice in the fridge. The electricity is out from 2pm to 7pm which isn't bad because that is only one hour of darkness and it gave me plenty of time to reorganize my bookshelf. In honor of this organizational process, I am now reading The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski. It is one of those books that doesn't have a description on the back cover because if it did, no one would ever read it. I guess it's about the history of the bookshelf. I am on page 43of 231. There is also a 20 page appendix that covers different methods of organizing books. I personally first divide by theme and then size. Maybe I will change them up some day and organize by price, publisher, or provenance. I mentioned that life is a little slow here, right?

"Schoolhouse Rock!"
Thursday I went back to school. It was a good day to ease in by helping in pre-school. Thi s one kid Hazzel/Gyser peed in the trash can. Friday was my first day back with regular classes. I was supposed to get picked up at 7:15 but Matthew called at 7:45 to tell me that he was running late. There was a robbery at the feeding program. I asked if they just took money or if the guy was injured. He was fine, the just took his money, shirt, and shoes. This is Nicaragua. The delay made it so I missed my entire first class but I went to the other 3 and they went smooth enough. After school as I was waiting to leave I wrote down my lesson, I think I was supposed to be doing that the whole time here. In the office one of the girls was reading the classified job ads. Although, I don't know why she would want to work anywhere else. One of the ads wanted a female, friendly, good-looking, thin, between ages of 18-23.

Real Women Have Curves
When I got home I ran some errands with my roommate and then took a nap. When I woke up I decided to go get things accomplished. I joined Curves. They let Cristina leave her membership to me so I don't have to pay the start up fee. I did not get any Curves dollars for tossing the keys on the Twister mat, and I think that shocked the girl that worked there. But whatever, those mats are slippery. Maybe next time.

"Friends"
So I've realized here that I need to be more purposeful in my socializing. Like actually call people and do things. It has already paid off, Saturday I went to Sambajuice for the first time. Their smoothies are good, just orange juice, ice, and your choice of 2 fruits. I went for the Strawberry, Raspberry combo. In the parking lot outside there was a man training a dog. It was the first well behaved dog I have seen in the country. Also in the parking lot this lady was walking around passing of fliers for cheesy bacon hot dogs at the gas station. Just looking at the picture made me gag. At night I went out with my Nicaraguan friend for dinner. In the States that usually means at 6 or 7 but here it was at 8:30. So I went to pre-dinner first with the Americans at someones house and then went out for buffalo wings. We ate Nica dinner outside and every time the giant Nica folk woman walked past us the car alarm went off.

"Full House"
On Saturday I also rearranged my bedroom. My new roommate moved in Sunday so I figured it was time to find places for all my valuables. How is it possible for me to accumulate so much stuff? I have a nightstand now so once again I got to organize books and find a place to store the extra buttons that come when you buy new clothes. All four of my roommates are back in Nicaragua now.

Revenge of the Nerds
Sunday I went to American church, It is quite a different experience than the Nicaraguan church that I normally go to. The American one starts a little after 8 and ends way before 10. That leaves the whole day free. I went on an hour long power walk with some girls here, which was totally an old lady thing to do but quite the work out. Then I went with my roommate to go pick up Kate, who I'll now be sharing a room with, from the airport. The late afternoon was filled with the normal procrastinating that comes when I should be thinking of lesson plans. At night my roommate said she would donate her big bookshelf for our house, so once again I got to organize books. I know if you made it this far in my e-mail you now know how much of a nerd I am. But also by this time I figured you will love me regardless.

"So You Think You Can Dance?"
Along with Mondays comes change in power schedules. This week 5pm to 10pm. But today was actually 5:15-9:45 so I guess they were in a good mood down at the power plant. I would love to complain about this but when it is on a schedule that you know it really isn't that bad. So tonight at 6:40 when it was pretty much dark we went to the mall. Most people were going to go to the movies but three of us girls brought books and laptops and hung out at a cafe chatting. On the way back as soon as I got in the car it smelled really bad so we were driving with the windows down and then finally realized it was my shoe. I had stepped in something not too pretty smelling. So I was content holding my shoe out the window for the rest of the drive but my roommate was laughing so hard she couldn't drive and pulled over in the video store parking lot for me to get cleaned up. It was quite the adventure. But at least I didn't have to watch Transformers.