My brakes are shot, and apparently my Nalgene is filled with Swero (which is not an alcoholic drink)

Striking a pose with 2 of my counterparts!

¿Qué Paso?:
The evacuation is over: After being evacuated from my site for about 2 weeks, I was finally able to return to my house. Things are a bit on the moldy side but it’s nice to be home.
Weather: Lately, it has been very sunny and the nights have been rather cool. The torrential rains have stopped and winter has set in…Deciembre is the coldest month of the year.
Knock Knock: Who’s at my door? Why a Jehovah’s Witness!! Trying to convert the gringa…Gracias a dios!
My bike: The local bike shop came to my rescue again and fixed my bike seat (woo hoo it no longer swivels left to right while I’m riding). The bike repair guy also feels sorry for me, which he should considering I tend to do more “bike walking” than “bike riding.” Therefore, if I have just a minor bike adjustment the bike repair man will fix it for free. Today, on my way back from a rural school I realized that as the weather gets hotter, the earth gets dryer, and the dust starts to swirl. I was so dirty after my 20k ride that I had to jump into the shower really quick before going to my next school (I was just glad that the water was still running that late in the day).

So I have been carrying a Nalgene bottle filled with water for the past few months. It is an essential part of my “pack,” because I ride my bike everywhere. Plus, there is a high probability that my bike will breakdown, and so, it is always good to have plenty of water and a snack for those occasions. Well, it wasn’t until recently that one of my counterparts asked me about my “kidney condition.” I was struck with confusion and responded “What kidney condition?” She responded, “Your water bottle is filled with Swero, right?” Now, until recently I didn’t know what “Swero” was and during this particular conversation I thought that Swero was some kind of alcoholic beverage. So I assumed that the teachers all thought I had some kind of kidney or more likely a liver problem because I was drinking hard alcohol throughout the day. I immediately asked my counterpart, “What is Swero?” And thank goodness she explained to me that it’s not liquor (as I had previously thought) but it is oral re-hydration salts. This made me feel a bit better; at least they didn’t think I was a drunk. Instead everyone thought that I was dehydrated. A big cultural difference is that Nicaraguans do not drink as much water as I do! I get at least the recommended 8 glasses a day…where my guess is that they drink maybe 2 glasses a day (mas o menos). Also, another Nicaraguan teacher at my school has a kidney problem and therefore she has to drink a lot of Swero to stay hydrated…so that’s why everyone thought I too must have a kidney problem. No worries, I am healthy (so to speak…minus the occasional parasite or bacterial infection).

I was recently sent a fabulous care package that included a large map of the United States. Naturally, I hung the map in my living room so that I could point out my home state of Colorado to all visitors. However, I was not prepared for the map to be such a big hit. A friend of mine came over to chat and caught site of my map. She rushed over to look and started tracing a route on the map. Next, she asked if she could go get her friend…pretty soon I had a group of people in my house all staring at the map. One hour later, people finally started to disperse but up until that time they all had been standing and simply staring. They all wanted to know where the Casa Blanca (Whitehouse) was located, New Orleans, and Colorado. To the right of my U.S. map I have a large map of Nicaragua. This map also fascinates people and I am happy to point out where our town is located. I never thought that I would be a geography teacher, now all I need is a World Map (that would blow peoples minds!)

This is the really big spider I have livig in my house!

I never enjoy visiting people late at night, because by that time I am exhausted and my Spanish comprehension diminishes by 60% when I am tired. Of course, people always ask me to visit at night and so I make my rounds…but as soon as I step out of my house I get bombarded with further visit requests. For example, yesterday I left my house at 5pm to make a quick run to a friend’s house and somehow I didn’t end up returning to my house until 11pm. I talked to everyone and was ready to crash when I finally got back home. I have learned that nothing is ever “quick.”

Last week I traveled a few hours south of my site to participate in a Spanish Taller (workshop). I got to stay with a different Nicaraguan host family for 1 week as I worked on the subjunctive tense. The family took in the back of their truck to a nearby tourist town, because they thought I would enjoy the mirador (view). In this town, there was a hotel (4 stories) that we stopped at to visit some of their Nicaraguan friends (who worked at the hotel). My host family wanted a tour of the hotel. We all got to walk around and check it out. Then we all went to the 4th floor to see the dinning room area. I was with 5 adults and 2 small children and once we all reached the 4th floor, I went over to the balcony to look at the view (a huge full moon hung in the night sky) but inadvertently I scared all the people I that brought me to the hotel. In small towns, tall buildings are few and far between (it is very rare to see a two story house). Therefore, this 4 story hotel was a colossal building for the Nicaraguans I was with and they were scarred for my safety (because I was much to close to the railing!) They pulled me back and wouldn’t let the kids get within 4 feet of the balcony. I could only imagine what they would think of a city like New York, with skyscrapers galore.

I had a brief moment of worry this morning as I biked out to catch a bus only to find out that the bus may not arrive at all! However, 40 minutes later the bus pulled up and I gratefully hopped on and had the conductor throw my bike on top. Twenty minutes into my bus ride, a guy on from the back of the bus tried to “put the moves on me.” In the U.S. a guy will usually buy a girl a drink at a bar when he is trying to hit on her but in Nicaragua it’s a different story…the guy in the back of the bus bought me an ear of corn to eat…that’s right, I accepted corn on the cob from a guy a didn’t know! Delicious. Next, I arrived at my school just in time to see prizes being given away to the students with the highest percentages. The prizes included brand new bikes, and in between the prizes being announced, my students preformed various dances. It was muy algre (very happy)! Afterwards, I had to wait for the bus to bring me home…but to my horror the bus that had brought me apparently broke down…and there was a good chance that I would have to bike 40k out (through some really rough terrain…in a dress). After waiting for 2 hours at a bus stop, a new bus arrived to take everyone out of the town to the main road (where I could easily bike back to my town).