Last night was not all
that restful of a sleep for a multitude of reasons. First off: it was raining
pretty hard (which was relaxing) but the rain decided to make friends with the
electricity somewhere and knock out the power about when I was falling asleep.
The fan turning off woke me up and the heat that rushed into the room certainly
did not help me sleep any better. So I know I got less than 8 hours (probably
closer to 7 hours if that) and combined with waking up at 5:45 AM (as per usual
for some reason), I did not sleep well. I will stop complaining about that
though. Anyways, breakfast and a cold shower managed to wake me up a bit.
Breakfast consisted of B&R, a ham (?) and cheese omelet and the oddest
milk/liquid rice I’ve ever had. Let me try to explain this drink: it was off
white in color, grainy, thick and tasted like a mixture of four different
flavored soymilks (and perhaps powdered milk thrown in too). Our homestay
mother poured us like 18 oz glasses of the liquid and I felt obliged to drink
it all (and not disrespect her). While consuming this liquid I felt like Kenny
Rodgers doing the milk chug on the MadTV Jacka$$ sketch (which I recommend
watching if you like funny videos and are not scared of Kenny Rodgers). Also
this grainy patch of a thick substance would pool at the bottom of the glass
and refused to mix into the drink (so I avoided drinking that part). I made the
challenge and kept my breakfast down too. I apologize if my blogging today
sounds like a rant/collection of complaints. I don’t intend as such.
At school we had the
typical: work on pronunciation, speaking and vocab for the first two hours and
then work on verbs for the second half. The first half was actually pretty
interesting today as we talked about Chinandega (the town where several people
will be going). The teacher (Jorge) was talking about how Chinandega has the
second strongest and largest economy in Nicaragua besides Managua. He was also
talking about how Chinandega is a big tourist city as it is so close to
Honduras and is on the coast and has beautiful beaches. He also described how
there is an active volcano in the area that draws tourists, but the volcano is
a cursed blessing (because it attracts tourists, but also spews out acidic
gases that make the roofs of the town oxidize more quickly (and cause problems
for asthma etc)). Jorge was also saying how the town is more active because
Chinandega has a monopoly on all of the trade traffic that enters Nicaragua
(imports). This includes imports bound for Managua. Anyways, we also heard how
the army of Honduras, Nicaragua and one other place were warring in the gulfo
de Fonseca (a luxurious and well stocked fishing area next to Chinandega)
except that they essentially declared the area DMZ because it was freaking out
tourists. It must have been like “¡Bienvenidos a Chinandega! ¡Por favor no
mires los ejercitos en el mar!” Naw, but seriously Chinandega sounds like a
hopping place! It has beautiful beaches, a strong economy, tourism, clubs, good
roads, good food (frutas, maiz (corn), sugar cane (caño de azúcar) (grown locally
of course) and all the other standards including pollos, gallo pinto and
verduras!), a dry tropical climate (about 70 to 80 ish during the winter of
North America (November/December). The only problems are the acid rain and the
incredibly hot temperatures (sometimes upwards of 40oC (104oF!!!))
the rest of the year (December through April or May and then maybe a bit milder
weather (like 21 or 30o C) May to October). Apparently there was
also this famous baseball player that played on the San Francisco (maybe
another team?) Pirates and became a huge philanthropist for the area. He taught
others how to play and helped the area quite a bit. He also had the record for
the most bases stolen. Tragically he died on the route to Nicaragua one time
when there was an earthquake and now he is revered as a hero. Jorge also talked
about how there is a fútbol league here. Jorge even plays in the league in the
Masters class and makes 300 Cordobas a match! We also talked about how the
government has tried to help the poor with such things as new roof projects and
with relief efforts, but Managua is still in a bad position for those located
around the lake when it rains. The healthcare system here is also completely
free which is nice because they will even treat foreigners for free. There are
also private hospitals that are not free and are a tad more advanced due to
larger funding. The doctors are the same quality in both hospital types as
these doctors change between the two. The problem with the free healthcare and
other governmental efforts is that some of the Nicaraguans have become heavily
dependent on the government for support. An interesting note here is that
Nicaragua has an agreement with Cuba where aspiring doctors can go to Cuba and
study with a scholarship (for dorms, education etc) if the doctors return to
Nicaragua to work for 2 years. This is agreement is because Cuba and Nicaragua
want to retain good relations. Cuba has also been working to educate rural
farmers in Nicaragua with literacy programs since the farmers were uneducated
back in the 1960s and 1970s under Samoza’s rule. Cuba has also provided medical
supplies and education to Nicaragua to further enhance relations. At one point
in 1998 when hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua, Cuba sent over a plane of supplies,
but the president at the time refused to let the plane land. Hurricane Mitch
hurt quite a few areas of Nicaragua including Léon, Chinandega and Pozoltega.
Pozoltega was an exceptionally tragic case as the city was near the Volcán
Casita (a volcano made of a giant mound of sand). When the hurricane struck
with its long intense rain, the sand dislodged and essentially buried Pozoltega
in sand (talk about freaky!). Another interesting fact about Nicaraguan
education is that teachers (in their junior year of college) have to go out and
volunteer 8 hours a week teaching the illiterate as a graduation requirement.
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Lunch after all of that
was substantially less interesting (B&R), chicken, plantains and lettuce.
The chicken was quite good though! Anyways, I got to talk to some new people at
lunch, so that was quite enjoyable! Lecture was on NIBPs (non-invansive blood
pressure units that are automated with just a cuff), IBPs (invasive blood
pressure units that require a needle in an artery O.o -> X.x) and good ‘ole
fashioned pressure cuffs (the word is sphygmanometer). We learned about the
type of signal that the cuffs accept and how this signal is converted the
pressure in a mercury column to give a reading of the systolic (peak BP) and
the diasystolic (valley BP). We then learned how to repair the mercury columns
(remove oxidation) and how to do some testing on the equipment and change a
pressure dial needle if necessary (calibration). The lab after this was a continuation
of the soldering lab. Today we spliced wires together using wrapping
techniques, some solder and some heatshrink. The solid core was formed into
conjoined eyehooks and soldered. The stranded wire was wrapped in Western Union
style with the strands being twisted in opposite directions to form a tight
braiding. The wires were then soldered and heat shrunk and withstood all the
pressure we could apply to them! I briefly stopped at the Euro Café to check
internet type things and people were reading my blog and wondering if they were
mentioned. Note to anyone reading this:
If(something.equals("crazy") |
something.equals("hilarious") | something.equals("weird")) {
blog.addMention(something);
}
It was Mother’s Day in
Nicaragua and this alone should signal celebration (and that is exactly what we
did. Dan and I had agreed to buy to split the cost of some flowers for our
host-mother. He was invited to dine with his old host family and traveled off
into Granada after class. I walked home and stopped at a florist. The first florist
wanted like 250 cordobas for like 3 roses in a bowl and I thought no way. So I
said “un momento” and walked to the adjacent florist and asked how much the
roses were. The prices here were much better (150 cordobas for a vase with 3
roses and a pleasant floral display). So naturally I bought them for 140
(because that’s all the paper money I had in cordobas in my wallet) and did not
return to the first florists (I hope they can forgive me for using capitalism).
The walk back from there was about 6 blocks and it was super awkward. The
reason for this was because the people along the way kept judging me and giving
me weird looks when I had the flowers. At one point I walked past some guys
seated in wooden rocking chairs who muttered that I had spent 150 cordobas
(about $6) on the flowers (and that I must be crazy probably). I suppose that
$6 is almost a day’s wage for some here, so it’s reasonable they probably
thought I wasted my money. Anyways, needless to say Adrianna absolutely loved
the roses! I arrived back at about 5:30 PM because Adrianna said we would be
going to the neighbors at 6 PM for dinner. I changed into a nice shirt (a slick
new REI shirt that cost way too much, but is quite comfortable) and got ready.
At home I met a guy named Francisco who was helping cook. After we left for the
neighbors I never saw him again (secret agent undercover helping to cook to
keep his identity confidential?).
The neighbors’ house is quite spacious. The front room
has a high ceiling and the room is perhaps 50ftx90ft and I was given a rocking
chair to recline in and wait for dinner. Shortly thereafter a music man showed
up (he had a bass drum on his chest and was carrying around crash cymbals and
was asking what the occasion for the people sitting around was for (as there
was maybe 10 of us sitting around in the room open to the street with two huge
wooden doors). He was wondering if it was a birthday or something, but the
mother in the house told him it was mother’s day. I thought he left, but turns
out he brought the rest of his band there (with a trombone player and a snare
drum person) and they started jamming and blasting this crazy music. I don’t
even know how to describe the music except for it was definitely party music
that featured a blaring trombone (and was incredibly loud). I was sitting right
next to the door too, so that certainly helped to amplify the sound (as did the
nice acoustic room). Anyways, the younger neighbor girl started dancing a bit
(dancing that resembled clubbing) and got a few of the other people there to
dance a bit. I was just content to sit there for a while. Even Adrianna got up
and danced a bit with her. It kinda was a roaring party there for a bit (with
dancing and music). I got asked to dance a bit, but declined. Until Adrianna pulled
me up there, I was just sitting and trying not to lose my hearing. I started
dancing a bit like the women up there had been (just sorta grooving to the
music and not really doing all that much). I had a good time there and had most
of the people gathered laughing and taking photos of me (so check Facebook,
Tumblr and Twitter as I may be on there somewhere or perhaps even TMZ?) While
the trombone player was wailing away on his piece, the neighbors’ dog was
barking every time the trombonist played a note (and was trying to chase the
trombonist off). This dog is a small poodle type dog that is not fearsome at
all. The most hilarious part was that the band would finish playing a song and
the dog would go in the other room until the band started up again and the dog
would come tearing through to back at the trombonist. The trombonist would turn
his instrument down towards the dog to scare the dog back (and the cold war
continued). Anyways, further along in the night at maybe like 6:30 PM the band
started playing more upbeat songs and I got pulled up again by the younger
neighbor girl (who is in high school I think) to have a dance competition
between us I think). I started throwing down some crazy dance moves (keep in
mind crazy for me is just doing shuffling, maybe some fancy footwork or some
backwards “falls” and some shoot-the-duck-esque style Russian kicking). These
made the family laugh even harder and take even more photos. I was having a
blast and was getting into the music while she was clubbing and doing the shake
one’s body thing. Unfortunately the song ended soon after. I thanked everyone
and sat down (I heard Adrianna say that I won so I laughed a bit to myself).
Anyways, that wasn’t the best part. The best was that Salvador Jr. decided to
go back to the house to grab his iPod so I went and grabbed my Flip video
camera. I took some video of the house and the group when I got back (the
neighbor’s house that is). Salvador Jr. grabbed his iPod because he wanted to
DJ a bit to the stereo system that was in the front room. He told me that I
should do Gangnam Style (by the way Word says Gangnam is spelled incorrectly)
and put the song on. I decided to oblige the request and do my best if he would
video it. Thus I found myself in front of like 12 Nicaraguas with Gangnam style
playing and expecting me to dance and that’s what I did. A quick note is that I
DO NOT know all of Gangnam style so I just kept doing the hand motions and then
started throwing in my own shuffling etc to fill time. It wasn’t the greatest, but
it had the people taking photos and videos probably (and some of the fathers
sitting outside the house smiling at least. On video I look like the whitest
person ever dancing. Literally I am the biggest Gringo ever on that film, but
it’s hilarious (I think when I was actually doing the dance I was trying not to
offend anyone and trying to not think too hard about anything). I only did this
for about 2 minutes because I saw this one grandma sitting in her chair
frowning at me so I was like “aight that’s a good place to stop and leave
before she freaks out.” I sat down and they all liked it. Salvador Jr. then
said I should do LMFAO’s “Sexy and I know,” but I wasn’t going to do it alone,
so he said that I would start and he would join in. I went out there again for
the beginning of the song. I started doing what I could remember from the video
and got the “gurl look a dat body ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh gurl look at dat body ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
part when Salvador Jr. enters into frame. At this point we both continued to
the “wiggle wiggle wiggle” part and then we started just throwing down crazy
moves (he starts spongebob-ing at one point and I cannot spongebob either, so I
just end up looking like a fail on camera, but it was all good). I then shuffle
for a while to the rest of the song and have so much fun. After that I sat down
and was sweating so profusely. The only other dancing I did was attempting the
Macarena and getting my butt kicked so I sat down (on video). It seemed like an
eternity until dinner at this point, but finally I got some dinner consisting
of B&R, plantains, coleslaw, a chicken wing and this really good beef that
had spices that made it incredibly tasty (and chewy). To wash this down I even
got some red drank. Before diner I was able to have some vanilla ice cream in a
dish with a blackberry on top and some jello on top as well (the jello was a
weird combo with ice cream). Anyways all of that was so much fun and I had the
best time with the neighbors. I waited a bit longer and got to see some more
funny occurrences. Namely the neighbor girl started playing Ke$ha’s song
“C’mon” while all the parents, older grandmas and young kids were in the room.
For those that do not know this song, it’s basically about Ke$ha talking about
picking up dudes and doing other Ke$ha trademarked activities (think super
classy Ke$ha + consumption of certain
alcoholic beverages + late nights + WTF = “C’mon”). Basically I was laughing
the whole time to myself. I also heard some Pitbull (DALE! –Pitbull at
Shadowbrook (shoutout to Liz there)) and his song “Feel This Moment.” Basically
the place was rocking! I left not too much after dinner because I wanted to
meet people in town at 8:30 PM.
The
night from that point on was much less enjoyable, but was still quite fun, as
basically we just went to different bars and I had water and a really sugary
drink called fresca (apparently a product of Nicaragua). Anyways Other members
of the group were in various states of drinks consumed and more or less we were
all having a pretty good time. Despite that started feeling funky toward the
end of the night, the night was good. We even got to see some drunk people
dancing to a street band and two members of our group got pulled onto the train
those people started. Also got ripped off by the last bar we went to as they
charged 24 cordobas for bottled water, which isn’t too bad. When the check came
they “calculated” 10% tip at being 4 cordobas. For any people with a calculator
or mental math abilities can clearly see that 4 is not 10% but rather 16% (for
the tip or for tax, dunno). Next time, we’ll skip that place.
The
night was a ton of fun despite having to walk back on the sketchy streets at
like 11 PM and being called on by some chick I think, but we kept walking and
ignored the call. Talk to y’all later, but until then, peace and as always,
don’t die.
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