Well hello again! I just finished doing my first laundry in Nicaragua ... think that sounds simple? wrong. There aren't washing machines here - everyone washes their clothes on a "stone wash" which looks like a sink with ridges and it's made out of stone. and you scrub all your clothes with a bar of soap and then try to rinse them by pouring water out of a container. I'm pretty sure there is some technique that I'm missing, but at least some of my clothes don't smell quite as bad now... hopefully I will continue to gain skill in that area. I gained a ton of appreciation for Nica women who wash clothes for their ENTIRE FAMILY.... I will never again complain about having to carry my laundry down three flights of stairs to put it in the machine at school!
The last few days we have had a lot of Spanish class and some other cultural and geography classes. Yesterday night we went out for a walk and I got a "batido" or milkshake made with banana and pineapple... sooo good! It brought up an interesting point because I was going to order one with strawberry but Catherine pointed out that it is powdered strawberry flavor because strawberries aren't grown here. One of the amazing things about Nicaragua: if you buy fruit, you buy it from the person who grew it right here in Carazo (the province/county we're in). If it doesn't grow here, you don't see it. If you go to a restaurant, you're supporting someone's family business, not a chain company. It's much, much easier to eat locally and sustainably when you don't have strawberries right in your face when you go to the grocery store, or any other fruit that came from a long distance. That's just the way food is here - you go out and get it and support the local community and you know basically where it came from.
I'm not learning too much in Spanish class yet, but it should get more personalized after this week. I was able to practice a lot this afternoon because Leo and I walked to the school where I'm going to be volunteering to meet the teachers and see the school, and he made me talk in Spanish the entire walk out to the outskirts of Jinotepe. The school, Los Pipitos, is for children and teenagers with various disabilities. It's a beautiful, peaceful place with lots and lots of artwork all around. I also got to learn more about the orphanage I'll be working at, and I'm going to visit there on Thursday. I'm super excited for both! It's going to be really quiet around here after Jackie Chan leaves in a couple of days, so Rachelle is going to come to Los Pipitos with me after Spanish class for a while. It will be good to be busy... I brought five books with me and I am almost finished with the third. After five days. That probably won't surprise my parents... luckily there are a TON of other books here to read, so I won't be bored.
Brazil is playing I believe Paraguay in soccer right now and soccer is ALWAYS on TV.. it's like the Packers in Wisco but waaaay more intense and every day. I'll have to start watching it more!
Well it's almost 9, so I may start getting ready for bed... It gets dark by 5:45 every night so it always feels much later. And then it is light by 5:30 in the morning! We go running at 6 every morning, and I am always awake by 5:15, so I've been going to bed pretty early.
To all my friends at UPS, I hope classes are going wonderfully and to everyone in the Midwest please enjoy the fall colors extra for me because I miss them!
Adios,
Suzanne