Bob Barker is gone

Once again I find myself with loads of stuff to say. I guess because there aren't a ton of people here to talk to (although that's changing) I have all sorts of stuff stored up in my head and you unsuspecting people become my outlet. And without seeing your face I can tell myself that you are captivated by my wit.

Last week a new girl, Liz, came down from LA for two months to help out at school. It is nice to look at her and to think that is where I was this time last year. She sees the classrooms and still has the perspective that everything is abnormally crazy. Fortunately for my sanity, my standards have lowered and to some extent I can see thing through Nicaraguan colored glasses.

So one funny thing. Hopefully Liz will soon live closer to me but now she's living with Matthew's family on the other side of town. So last week she was new and if she went home right after school she would have nothing to do for at least four hours when the rest of the people got home (another thing I've gotten used to). So the solution to this is for us is to hang out for a few hours after school before we go our separate ways. Since we don't have cars this gets a little complicated. But Matthew has this car that the school treasurer Roberto uses to run school related errands. So if we want to do things after school, like go to the mall, we have him take us and drop us off and have him come back in a few hours. Basically it's like we're in Jr. high again but instead of our parents driving us around we have a twenty-year-old Nicaraguan boy. So to make ourselves feel better we buy him snacks.

Speaking of food, Friday at school the college students that usually come to give health demonstrations threw a party instead. There were pinatas, games, and free lunch for everyone. Free lunch is a huge deal for my students and co-workers. I, however, still have managed to maintain some standards as to what I eat. Cold over-cooked pasta with thousand island dressing, nica cheese, and a half slice of white bread is a little below those standards. Actually it makes me nauseous. Fortunately, years of being force fed mashed potatoes and split pea soup has taught me some tricks on home to make it look like I'm eating a lot more than I am.

What else, Friday I went to the movies with my friend and her mom, I was really tired so I missed most of the plot, I think. Saturday I had really good french toast for breakfast then in the afternoon a group of us went swimming at Lagua de Apoyo. It's this volcano that is closed up and is now a gorgeous lagoon. You should have been there.

Every Saturday night the newest local coffee shop, Esperanza, has live music. On Saturday I went there with my friend Lori and a bunch of other people that don't sit around talking about problems in their preppy rich school. It is really refreshing to be out of that bubble.

Sunday night I went to a Nicaraguan ballet with Lori, again, and some other people. It was mostly traditional Nicaraguan dances and I'm glad we splurged and bought the eleven dollar balcony seats because the ground floor had audience interaction. Here's a picture of the group of us and I left the red-eye in honor of Halloween.




Monday school was long. I was really tired and fell asleep in the office. But Monday's redeeming factor is that I have the next day off.

Tuesday was a great day off. I talked on the phone, watched The Price is Right (with Drew Carey now), made dinner, went out to lunch, went swimming, went to a cheap Tuesday movie (cheap as in seven dollars for two tickets, snacks, and a drink), had BFF Lori over for dinner, played cards, made sample Jack-O-Lanterns to use in class today, wrote most of this blog out in a note book, etc.

And that brings us to Wednesday. This morning I was running up the stairs to put stuff away real quick before my ride came and I fell. My left foot is now swollen. Not just anyone can fall like that. Friday is Day of the Dead, a national holiday, and I don't have to work. That makes this week only three days. How do people expect me to get a job in the States?
Love, joy