The Ins and Outs of Living on Your Own – Nica Style

So I've officially lived a week in my new house!! (Well actually tomorrow will really be my two week anniversary haha, but most of this past week was spent in In Service Training in the mountains of Matagalpa, a department located in the center of Nicaragua, which was unbelievably gorgeous and green and required us to wear LONG SLEEVES almost the whole time! I got to sleep under a blanket at night and slept better than I have in weeks! See album labeled In Service Training in Matagalpa.)

Where was I...oh yes...living on my own here in Nicaragua! Well obviously, the shock of going from a house where everything is cooked and cleaned for you, to living alone is substantial – especially when one is moving from a house that's basically built to suburban America's housing standards to a house made of bricks, adobe, and cement floors, with an outdoor latrine. So what's the verdict then? Well...I absolutely love it!!

Regardless of all the work that goes along with it, nothing compares to the freedom that comes from living alone. I can come and go as I please without being worried about being locked out when I get back, I can cook or not cook, I can have visitors, I can be a hermit on Sundays if I want to, and perhaps the most exciting thing of all, I was able to accept my student's gift of a kitten last weekend!!!!

So what are the responsibilities that come with living in a house such as mine on a block such as mine?

1. Collect water! I'm lucky enough to have a house with a water spigot out back, but that means that I don't have a well to rely on for the days when we don't have running water. Therefore, I have to wake up bright and early to start collecting! Three 5 gallon buckets are more than enough for two showers, dishes for the day, and floor watering – it even gives me a little left over for small laundry jobs. I also keep two 2L soda bottles full of water to drink. The problem comes in when I use all of the collected water assuming that the following day we'll have better luck – eh, I'm learning as I go. (Interesting Aside: I can tell if it's a water day or not from laying in bed in the morning. If there is water, I can hear my neighbors filling their buckets sometimes as early as 4:30am because lately, we never have it past 8am and they have way more clothes and dishes to wash than I do.)

2. Sweep cement floor at least two times daily to prevent the accumulation of inches of the dust that hangs in the “dry season” air.

3. Water cement floor because it's new and needs to be watered daily, also to keep the house cool. (This of course is easy to do on the days when we have water – which is about 50% of the time – the other days, if I fail to accomplish responsibility number 1, my floor's out of luck.)

4. Sweep the front porch, front steps, and street out front because living on the same street as the school means that EVERYONE passes by in the morning and afternoon, and I can't be known as the sloppy gringa that doesn't keep the house presentable.

5. Sweep and water the “patio” (aka back yard) because it touches the back yards of 3 other families, and therefore must also be kept presentable at all times. (I've learned to use the bucket that collects the water from my sink drain [aka the hole in my sink bottom] to water the patio – yay for being green!)

6. Handwash laundry at least 3 times a week because no one here just lets their laundry sit all week. Therefore, I must find time during my insanely busy week to at least hang out a few shirts for good measure.

7. Always have coffee to offer to the many visitors that bless me with home cooked meals, ice cold frescos, furniture, and company. =)

8. Learn to cook Nica so as to not seem incompetent if someone stops by around lunch time.

Did I mention that I work 43 hour weeks on top of all that and I still have to co-plan with 6 teachers and be available for social events at the drop of a dime?? Yeah...Peace Corps is NOT a vacation.

Weekly challenge for those of you bold enough to try: Get through a day with just 15 gallons of water.   

Blessings

I have to write right now, just to acknowledge the amazing amount of selfless kindness I've received in the last hour.  I honestly believe that Dona Lidia is an angel that's just here watching over me and making me smile at the times when I need her most.  

Today I literally ran from dawn til dusk, and therefore was starving when I got out of English class at 8pm. [Sidenote: I now have 3 different levels of English classes because having 44 students with different levels was just not working for me or for them. My intermediate class met today, and I didn't speak a word of Spanish to them!! LOVE IT!]  Anyway, I had to walk to the director's house (aka my old host house) before going home to leave her school keys with her.  As I made my way outside, the neighbors, Dona Lidia and Don Dolores, were outside across the street on their front porch and immediately pulled out an extra chair for me.  They then asked me if I had already eaten dinner, and when I said no, they immediately prepared me a plate. “Que barbaridad” to think that I was going to cook for myself at 8 o'clock at night!  So I ate some amazing gallo pinto, complete with green plantain, (which I've grown to love) and avocado <3.  They even had a ginger fresco for me! 

So I ate way more than I  would have even thought about preparing for myself (I was thinking oatmeal or a banana), and then I sat with them for almost an hour, just talking about life.  After chatting, I decided I should probably head home because 9pm is really late here and I didn't want to overstay my welcome.  Of course Dona Lidia offered to walk me home (half a block and around the corner) because she's just awesome like that.  While we walked, she reminded me again how I could call on them for any and everything.  Then, like a true mother (and like every other neighbor/friend I have here), she told me to be sure to lock up tight at night, and not to open my door to anyone.  After giving her a quick tour of the new house, I said goodnight and locked up tight. 

As I re-entered my house from the back door after using the latrine, I heard a knock on my door.  I was almost “asustada” (scared), but I looked out my front window to see Don Dolores sitting on my front porch on a wooden rocking chair!  He and Dona Lidia walked me over two of their wooden rocking chairs, insisting that I use them because they had plenty.  They said that when I have company, I'll need to have seats for them.  Dona Lidia told me that they may not have a lot, but that they have more than enough to share. <3 That statement right there, sums her up completely.  I'm so thankful for the people like her that I've come to know here. =)

Officially in My House!!

Well here I am in my new house. So this is what it feels like to live alone in Nicaragua. I have to start by saying I'm obviously ecstatic to be out of my host family's house...but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit freaked out by this whole living in my own house thing. Everything seems different here. Sure I've lived alone before, and I had just about as much space as I have now...a living room, a “kitchen,” 2 bedrooms, a place to wash clothes, a “bathroom.” But regardless of how ready I thought I was for this, it really is a huge undertaking. In the 4 hours I've been here, I've seen two giant roaches on my brick walls, two little mice scurrying along my newly cemented floor, and a colony of ants living in the corner of my bedroom. I've chosen to “ubicarme” in the inner bedroom – for security since my front window is just bars and has no shutters or glass or anything – but unfortunately, choosing the jail cell room with no windows means it's about 10 degrees hotter, which is painfully close to unbearable.

Of course, there are also all the other Nicaraguan rules I have to follow. Like I'm pretty sure I'm expected to wake up before 6 tomorrow (on Sunday mind you) and sweep the leaves into a pile in my yard. Then I have to sweep and water my front porch to keep it clean and “fresco.” After that, I have to “clean” aka sweep the street in front of my house, because I don't want to be known for having the dirty part of the street. Negative attention is the last thing I need, especially with folks already questioning why one girl would want to live alone in such a big house. I don't even want to go into the fact that I have no idea how to properly care for a latrine. Well I guess you live and learn!

So here I am, laying on my cheap foam mattress, which I'm already thinking was a mistake. I have to pee but I don't want to go outside to the latrine because I'm being a baby and it's dark out. I know I'm gonna love it here as soon as I feel more at home, but right now it feels like I just moved into a dust bowl to be a roommate to all the critters that were here first. I say dust bowl because the newly laid cement (which they mixed by shovel from sand, rocks, dirt, and water right in the house) smells like dirt and all the walls are pretty much caked in dust now.

Well before I go to sleep, I shall reflect on all the good that's come of this so far. My next door neighbors came over to bring me a table cloth, then after realizing I didn't have a table, she proceeded to walk straight back to her house to bring me one of hers! I was also given a baggie of rosquillas (Nica pastries), and the owner of the house left me her bed frame, blender, some buckets (to save water for the days when there isn't any...aka every other day now that it's dry season), and two sets of plates, cups, and silverware. All the neighbors have stopped by to welcome me/wish me well etc, so in that sense, I do feel at home. =)

I know I'm gonna love it here. Let's just see if I can sleep tonight.