I had intended to write in here yesterday but I was too exhausted to even type! Quite a bit is new, over the weekend Rachelle and I went to Leon to meet Jackie Chan and his friend April. It was definitely a fun weekend and we also ran into a couple of Israeli guys that we had met on a bus in southern Nicaragua the weekend before, which was pretty random. It was quite the culture shock because Leon has a lot of foreigners and a lot of foreign influence. There is an enormous cathedral that does not look much different than ones I saw in Vienna and there are even international restaurants although they all certainly have their Nicaraguan influence. We stayed in a very relaxing hostel full of trees and turtles... and backpackers. I have a few words to say about what the traveling community refers to as the backpacker crowd. usually nice people, but frustrating to me. I have little patience with people in their twenties, and even thirties who go to other countries and then proceed to spend all of their time and money getting drunk because they don´t want to deal with responsibilties or their own countries. I just want to say to them, stop drinking and DO something with your life! It was a fun weekend, though. Very beautiful city and lots of good food, I ate so much!!
Also a note, had the smoothest and easiest public transportation experience so far this past weekend, even though Leon is the farthest away I have gone. The buses between Managua and Leon have semi functional air conditioning, and the two different routes between Managua and Jinotepe have absolutely stunning mountain views. It was great.
We have three new housemates, Megan, Uzair and Brett. All from Canada of course, and all are nice although Uzair is crazy. It is funny to see their new perspectives, for example, they are convinced they will get sick from drinking any tap water and Uzair tried to convince me that we were going to get mugged while walking to the supermarket this evening. I did have a very nice conversation while at dinner with Megan and Brett the other night. Every other foreigner I have met while here has basically tried to make me feel guilty for being from the U.S., but I had a great conversation with these two just about comparing our countries politically and socially and they were very interested to hear about what it was like to be in college when Barack Obama was elected which is always something I am willing to talk about! So that was nice.
Yesterday was my first day at the orphanage, which is called Tierra de Juda (Land of Judas). On the first day I woke up at 4:30 a.m. not feeling well, but that was the only rough start. It has been fun, but tiring, especially since yesterday my friend Silvia and I decided to walk back to Jinotepe (over an hour and a half, but a very beautiful walk on dirt roads). My main job during the mornings is caring for a girl named Abigail who has cerebral palsy. Unfortunately, she did not really receive proper care before she came to the orphanage last year so she has no communication abilities because she can´t speak. One of my jobs is to try to teach her basic communcation by pointing at pictures of food, drink, emotions, etc. I´m definitely hoping to get somewhere with that as right now she just thinks the pictures are hilarious ...... anyone who has any expertise in this area, I´d love some pointers! Otherwise, I will just be taking care of her basic needs and reading to her and hanging out and stuff like that. In the afternoons I am helping to teach English class, which is just pure chaos and mostly I just cause a major distraction and act as an involuntary climbing post. I will also be sometimes shadowing the psychologist who works there. It is a fun place to be and a very nice facility on a beautiful land in a rural area. It is definitely an adjustment getting up at 5:45 in order to make breakfast and walk 20 minutes to meet my ride after a month of relative laziness, but at least it´s light out.
I am getting used to almost every aspect of Nicaragua, I think, and yesterday I saw the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life outside of the tarantula exhibit at the zoo (and yes, it beats the one that hangs out on the seawall at camp) and this morning I was quite proud of myself when a cockroach the size of my thumb almost ran over me in the bathroom and I did not even flinch! (although I did jump about a foot five minutes later when a gum wrapper fell on my foot and I was sure it was a cockroach....) All in all adjusting to living here has been quite easy for me, and it is only the lack of home that is the challenging part. Oh yes, and when I get home I am making a meal that is entirely spinach and peanut butter and bagels and just eating that, I´ve already decided. I´m not going to say that I want to stay here forever, because I think that in six and a half weeks I definitely will want to come home, but I feel as if I´ve definitely been living here for a while.
Well... that is all. It is too far past my bedtime! More to come about the 29 kiddos consuming my life and about sleeping on top of a volcano this weekend.
Adios,
Suzanne