May 12, 2012

Today was a pretty great first day in Nica. Alvaro, Ubania, and their daughter came to pick me up at the office at 8am. Ubania brought me some sweet bread and coffee for breakfast. However, I do not like coffee and I sincerely hope I did not offend her by not drinking it since she is so nice. We then drove to the next town over and dropped Ubania off at school and picked up Alvaro’s cousin, Milton.

Milton speaks English very well and helped Alvaro serve as a tour guide for the rest of the day. It was really great to have him along, but I noticed that I wasn’t trying to speak much Spanish with all the English speakers around. When I discovered this, I attempted to make it a point to practice my Spanish. They took me to Estelí, which is the large town nearby, and showed me around. It was really great. We even ate authentic tamales at a restaurant for lunch. We went shopping to buy a few things like bottled water and cleaning supplies, plus the shower shoes that I forgot at home. While in Esteli, we took the opportunity to visit Evelyn. She is the secretary of EOS, who I talked with extensively via Skype from October to March in order to practice my Spanish. It was great to meet her in person.

Then, we drove back to drop Milton off. Alvaro took every opportunity possible to introduce me to people he knew or volunteers/employees of EOS. We visited a lot of people along the way. Near the end of the day, we drove to Alvaro’s brothers because he has a drip irrigation and solar panel system installed on his farm land. Alvaro showed it to me and explained it the best he could. I also saw the crops and hogs that were on the property. It was really great to see the differences in farming styles.

Then, Alvaro dropped me off at the office and encouraged me to take a nap. However, the power had gone out at some point, so it was incredibly hot without a fan in my room. The water was also not working so a shower was out of the question. I dozed off and on until I gave up and headed down the block for a bite to eat. I found San Isidro’s restaurant and ordered chicken, rice, beans, and tomatoes for supper. It was really good, and it only cost $2.50 USD. By the time I got home, the power was back on, which was nice.

Alvaro stopped back in to check on me around 7 and then left. I then packed for next week. I will be leaving tomorrow at 6am to go to Hijos del Maiz, which means “Children of the Corn”. It is a Spanish school. I am struggling with conversational Spanish and could use the practice. I can read and write Spanish well but speaking is hard for me as well as understanding native Spanish speakers. I am very excited about it. However, where I will be going is very rural, so there will be no internet access. Therefore, I will be out of contact until next Saturday when I return to San Isidro. No worries , I will update everyone when I return J