Just a Few Blog-able Moments

There have been so many shall we say “blog-able” moments this week, but I've been so incredibly busy with Spanish classes; gardening, composting, and organic pesticide practicums; medical talks about dengue and malaria; rabies and typhoid vaccinations; lesson planning discussions; and youth group meetings, that I haven't had time to write any of them down. I guess we'll see what highlights come to mind right now for those of you who have requested to hear about my day-to-day experiences here. Excuse the format though, since I don't have much time. In my youth group we had to have the “jovenes,” or kids ages 13-22, create a “lluvia de ideas,” or a rain of ideas, about recycled materials projects they would like to try out. (Similar to “brainstorming” in English I suppose.) Given my lack of cyber time at the moment, I shall now present you with my “lluvia de momentias blogables.”

*Watching chickens climb the mango tree while brushing my teeth in the backyard the other morning.* There's a ladder there that the chickens and roosters like to climb! They actually sit up really high in the branches of the tree! Pretty bizarre sight if you ask me.

*Sneaking food to my host dog when nobody's looking, only to find out he doesn't eat boiled plantains...boo!!* Dogs here are treated simply as pest control and guard animals, and are therefore not played with or fed very well at all. Generally the food is pretty good here, but one can only take so many tortillas and beans before one is willing to share with the sad eyed, hungry dog. He and I have a decent system worked out where he'll only come into the kitchen if I'm eating alone and have some scraps to spare; but the other day, to my dismay, I found out he hates boiled green plantains just as much as I do! Either he's not as hungry as I thought, or they're just that bad. I'm going with the latter in this case.

*Waking up at 4am to the sound of fighting dogs and roosters, sure that there was a bat in my room again.* Luckily, when I mustered up the guts to turn my light on (which I can thankfully reach from my bed without opening my mosquito net), I realized that it was only a HUGE toad (or frog?) that came in to escape the monsoon. The light scared him and I rustled around in my bed enough to convince him I was a threat. He decided to chill just outside my door instead. My host fam was quite amused by “mi amigo, zapo” as they called him.

*Getting poured on last night while brushing my teeth and admiring the sleeping chocoyos.* My family here has 3 small green parrots. It's sad since they used to live wild here in the rain forests in Nicaragua. Luckily laws have been put in place to stop the selling of wild animals such as them, but they are hardly ever enforced. Anyway, while I was watching them sleep and brushing my teeth, I could hear the rain starting up down the street. Within 3 seconds, it hit my “patio,” or backyard, HARD! I was soaked before I had time to rinse hahaha. Yet another moment for my host sisters and I to laugh about.

*Last but not least: Getting woken up by a mariachi band at 3:45 this morning!!* Apparently in Nicaragua, it is customary for a girl who is turning 15 to get serenaded the morning/night of her birthday! They were right on the corner of my block and sounded like they were in my bedroom! I´m headed to the quinceañera later on today, so that should be fun!

More to come soon, ¨si Dios quiere.¨ (If God wishes), as they say here all the time.