La Familia

I have a lot to write about to catch you all up to speed about my life here. So first things first: mi familia.

Before they picked me up at the Hotel Ticomo where everyone in the program spent the first two nights for orientation, I was terrified. Like, paralyzing fear. You know, butterflies-in-the stomach sort of feeling? Except if those butterflies were piranhas. Yeah.

I’m not sure what I was scared of. That I would be living with these people for 5 months? That a 3-year-old here speaks better spanish then I do? A combination, I think. Many people have told me that I am really brave for doing this program, but as were we riding in the car back to the house, man, not even the Wizard of Oz could have convinced me that I had an ounce of courage in my bones. 

And was I right to be scared! These people that I live with are crazy. CRAZY! Like I said before, they like to teach me swear words (thats what they did the first hour I was here!). My host sister, Laura Mariela, and brother, Armando, like to talk really fast to confuse me (which isn’t hard to do at all). They also try to convince me that I’m eating horse or iguana or monkey when I ask what dinner is. Even the dog, Bruno, harasses me with a morning hello of trying to wrestle my flip flop off my foot. And they treat him like a prince. Everyone makes fun of me and use words I don’t understand, and my only comeback is to stick my tongue out (which Armando threatened to cut off the next time, “with love”, he said). They yell and fight and make fun of each other all the time. And in no way am I spared for being the younger, confused foreign exchange student. They treat me just like family. 

And I do mean just like family. My madre Doña Laura cooks delicious meals for us everyday, and explains food, holidays, history, and new words to me. Armando rode the bus with me to class to teach me how, and goes with me other places to make sure I’m safe. Laura Mariela teaches me new things too (not all PG friendly, but necessary if I’m gonna be able to chat with a college level vocabulary :). They both invite me out with them, which is always super fun. Rudy, Laura Mariela’s husband, is taking English class and helps explains things to me when I don’t understand. Or he tells me the truth when Laura tells me we’re eating monkey for dinner. He also fixed my computer so I can blog! And Bruno greets me at the door when I come in and hangs out with me while I do my homework. They really have made me feel right at home, and now it’s hard to even imagine why I ever felt like piranhas were eating my insides that first day I moved in. I sure haven’t felt that way since. 

And now that I feel at home, I’ve started to fight back a bit too. I bang on Armando’s door and wake him up with a lovely “BUENOS DIAS!” which I know he enjoys. I fight and joke with Laura Mariela using the little vocabulary I have, and slowly I have learned enough to let my sarcasm shine through. I make faces and fall and basically act like myself, including the fact that I can’t speak correctly (english or spanish).

Rudy said that I’m just as crazy as the rest of them. And, well, he’s totally right. I feel right at home, and I am absolutely loving it :)

¡Bienvenidos!

Hola! Hace casi dos semanas desde llegue a Nicaragua y ya he aprendido mucho! Its been almost two weeks since I arrived in Nicaragua and I have already learned a lot! (or at least thats what I hope I wrote)

For those of you who know me, hola :). For those of you who happened to stumble upon this, were shown this by a friend of mine, are stalking me, or for some other reason are reading this but don’t really know me, hola tambien! My name is Cali and I am junior in college studying sociology and Spanish. In order to deepen my understanding of social justice, inequalities, consumerism, and other social structures, as well as learn a little bit of spanish along the way, I decided to study abroad in Managua, Nicaragua, for this fall semester 2011. I am living with a host family and studying at a university here. Since this is the internet and all, I’m not gonna post super specific details (I did learn something in cyber-safety workshops), so if you have a question, shoot me an email/comment/owl/wallpost. 

So like I mentioned, I arrived in the beautiful country of Nicaragua a while ago. Its been quite the whirlwind of new food, millions of words, heat, food, meeting friends, noise, food, dancing, dogs, and food as well. Its been fun, frustrating, overwhelming, invigorating, and raining everyday. 

Now that my computer has been fixed, I can finally make a blog! There is a ton ton ton of stuff I want to share, but for now I thought I’d just write a little bit about what I’ve learned...

• No matter where you are and what language you speak, when someone falls, its pretty funny
• I’m pretty sure that they don’t have mosquitos here but rather microscopic vampires because I think I’ve lost half my blood already
• It’s socially acceptable to swear at the dinner table (at least with my host family)
• When it comes to swearing, Americans got nothing on the Nicas. Quite the colorful bunch.
• There are different levels of “bitches” when you want to say “son of a bitch”
• Obviously, all I’ve learned so far are swears
• I don’t think I’m going to feel dry til I’m home. Rain, humidity :P 
• People like to dance. A lot. And la musica... que buena :)
• The dog (Bruno) knows Spanish better then I do.
• I’m pretty sure there are no safety codes here because I almost fell out the door of the bus (which are ridiculously old US yellow school buses painted all sorts of different colors with half the seats either broken or missing). Most of them have sayings like “Dios, me guarda” and now I understand why. 
• I like to eat. So do the Nicas. Match made in heaven.
• There are more varieties of fruit here then there are people who live here. Fact. (not really, but still)
• I should have kept my wardrobe from middle school because all anyone wears are jeans and American Eagle or Hollister branded shirts.
• There is a lot of poverty here. Kids begging in the streets. But there is also a ton of social activism. Slowly I’ll figure out what all of it means. 

Thats all for now. I’ll keep learning and I’ll keep posting :)