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

Some more easy to read bullet points

• Last night I wasn't really sure what the conversation was going on around me but then one of my roommates said "Joy probably doesn't appreciate us talking about this." For some reason they all have it in their heads that I don't like bathroom humor. I mean hello, what's not to like? Then this other girl was like I don't get it you have brothers. And I said yes, but in my family the girls wear dresses and stay in the kitchen.
• Earlier in the afternoon our neighbor Anna was over, she is in second grade and was telling us a story about what we do. Like there is a girl named Rachel, she teaches health and another girl named Miss. Portanga, she teaches 5th grade, and Aimee who teaches 4th grade. When she got to me she said there is another girl that lives there named Joy, she doesn't have a job, she stays at home all day. So yes, the truth is out, I am a stay at home mom. I guess that makes sense financially, really my pay is just allowance.
• It has been raining a lot lately, I think there is a hurricane in the Atlantic. While raining, and at night, it is cooler now. During the day, when it isn't raining, it is hot and humid and muddy.
• Today in pre-school I got hit in the shoulder by a giant lego. I think I am going to have a bruise.
• In the mornings I get driven to school by a man named Oscar, he doesn't ever understand my Spanish. So after two failed attempts at conversation this morning I think I am going to quit trying to make small talk and just use that 20 minutes to sleep.
• On Sunday night I was frustrated because I was trying to sleep and my roommate was still reading so her light was on. The next two nights the electricity was out from 5 until 10:40. I think it was God's way of reinforcing that I shouldn't complain. It brings to mind the verse "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean; but much increase comes by the strength of the ox." Proverbs 14:4. I mean the correlation is so obvious I'm not even going to expound.
• Last Sunday I went to a different Church with my roommate Aimee. I was confused for the majority of the time. Then during the interactive message this lady started walking around with a satin pouch on the end of a stick to collect the offering. If you gave enough she would sit down and write a receipt. Even in my love for multitasking I thought that was a little much.
• My HSFA is over i think but has been replaced by SGIT (Shards of Glass In my Throat). I know, seriously, what the heck? I guess I should pick a talent besides eating glass to make it into the circus.
• I've been trying to watch the news lately. Is it really that important that kids don't play with toys painted with lead based paint? I mean didn't everything used to be lead based? And maybe kids shouldn't eat their Barbies anyways.

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.