The amount of long weekends I receieve seems very high, which is quite wonderful! I have Monday of next week off, which means I'm heading back to Jinotepe to help out at the elderly home!! (thought: I wonder if this is how it is year-round in Managua--if so, we really need to adopt this work policy in the states!) I don't really have much going on these days- we've been processing all the information we gathered on the island (and bonding- which is wonderful!) so work has been a little bit boring- but still very productive. And I'm enjoying the fact that I now work with friends instead of just coworkers! But, since everything is a little bit uneventful, I decided (per suggestion of my mommy- who I miss muchisimo) to make this a superlative blog post: outlining my bests and worsts of Nicaragua so far:
Best moment in general: the time I saw the rainbow while coming back from picking up t-shirts
Worst moment: When Panchita (98 year old woman at the elderly home) held my hand crying uncontrollably and started begging God to let her die.
clumsiest moment: when I walked into a cactus on the island- talk about embarassing!
Best experience: going to the volcano
Best new food experience: necatamales- love those little buggers (special Nicaraguan version of the tamale)
worst food experience: raw maduro (plantain)- fried plantains=incredible, raw plantains= one of the worst things I have ever eaten. and they are this horrible gray color after they sit in the air for a while. eeghhh
Favorite thing about being in Nicaragua: Definitely has been learning about and falling in love with the culture here. It amazes me how people with so little give so much, and strangers welcome you as if you're family. And for business- people aren't working to get rich here, they're working to help people- and it's really incredible to see that.
favorite songs here: "Es un secreto" by Plan B and "Dutty Love"- by Don Omar (I would reccomend youtubing them if you have time!)
favorite conversation I've had: So, if you've been keeping up with me, you know that I'm working with two girls from Barcelona. A characteristic of the Spanish culture is that they are very direct; if for instance you cook something and they dont like it- they would flat out say they don't like it. Or if you're wrong about something- they don't dance around it- they directly tell you you're wrong. So one day Cristina e-mailed Laura some documents. Laura asked where some specific information was, and Cristina told her it was in the second document. Laura told her she had only sent one document. Cristina simply said: "no. two". I thought it was funny and laughed and imitated her just saying "NO!". and then they had a conversation about how with the american culture, if someone is wrong or you don't like something you can't be so direct. About an hour later we were talking about music, movies, shows, etc. And I asked, "so do you guys like Selena Gomez?"...Laura:"NO." (I think I just had a blank stare on my face) Cristina: "Laura! You have to be more polite!...[turns to me to restate the answer on the Selena Gomez question] "I'm afraid not".
Best expression I've learned: "I'm sweating like a chicken"- hearing Laura say that in english the first time was quite funny. They loved learning the expression "I'm having a food baby"
Anyhow, hopefully reading my best/favorite moments is interesting for you, and you aren't just bored! Have a wonderful weekend!!
un abrazo,
Rachel
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