For the elections in November, there were three major candidates: one on the far left, one on the far right and one in-between. The one on the far left has been president before, is a communist and was not good for the country (as some people have told me). The one on the far right is very friendly with the U.S., who have done very little but ( Read more... )

After crying for an hour, talking it out with my teacher AND posting on Wednesday, I went home, had dinner and had a great night laughing and joking with the women of the house I live in. My Spanish isn´t great, but I don´t feel so freaked out anymore - I just try, screw it up, get corrected and continue. What an odd feeling ( Read more... )

"My life is nothing but words ( Read more... )

This morning was weird: Everything kept coming out in Spanglish... sometime part of the sentence, sometimes a word. I actually said "cousa" - which would be part "house" and part "casa". I didn´t know that I could mess it up THAT badly! I told my teacher (mi meastra) that I thought my brain is melting... she laughed and laughed ( Read more... )

I had an iron clad stomach... So, Friday morning, I walked out of my room and was greeted with "Buenos Dias" by my host mom, what you would expect in Nicaragua, right? My brain actually had the thought "Oh, you mean we´re still doing that?!" So not a good sign. I guess it´s normal to go through a period of being a bit frustrated that everything ( Read more... )

I´ve been dancing a few times since I got to Nicaragua and some people can really shake their money makers. However, I had great daydreams of learning how to twirl around the dance floor like Vanessa Williams before I got here. It turns out that this will not be the case - actually, I am already a pretty decent dancer here. My fellow student and ( Read more... )

1.) There is no flushing the toilet paper in the toilet because the Nicaraguan system can´t handle it. That´s why there is a trash can next to EVERY toilet here. And, the toilet paper SUCKS! Especially when you have to go frequently ( Read more... )

Yesterday, we went to a waterfall that is about 5 km outside of town here... the waterfall was very nice and I had a good time swimming in it. But, there were two things: 1.) people say it is dirty from the town. And, 2.) it was completely trumped by the amazing butterflies that were just everywhere!!! Purple, blue, red and black, lots of solid ( Read more... )

So, this weekend was wonderful: peaceful, quiet, and fun. I got to talk quite a bit with Shannon and get to just relax with her. My stomach is getting better poco a poco. The amoebas aren´t completely gone and I worry that they will come back because I can´t get away from tap water in my host family´s house (i.e., the ice, the salad being ( Read more... )

With the toilet - I have amoebas!!! It's so exciting!!! :/ Yesterday, I got to poop into a baby-food jar and carry it back to the clinic. Yesterday actually kinda sucked because I had gone out on Thursday night and had a couple of beers and 4 cigarettes, which is how many I am now having in an entire day. I think that these two things ( Read more... )