i´m backkkkk

hey everyone, i´m back in nica for a week with a class from Fairfield..today they´ve let me stay on my own in Managua so I could meet up with a few people and do an interview but I´m heading to Leon in a few hours to meet up with them again..we have free internet there so hopefully I can write more then! I just loooove being back here, there´s something about this country that just makes me happy and exactly the opposite of how stressed and busy i always feel at Fairfield...talk to you all sooon!

And of course I can't forget, all the beautiful colors on the day that we first met...

ya me voy...
i'm leaving.

nos vemos pronto...
see you soon.

"i will never know the right way to say thanks for all the nights and days spent hanging out cuz that's what this is about, how i, i am not into, the idea of living without you, and i, i am not into, the idea of being without you, oh no this is won't be a sad song, there's gonna be claps and singing along, cuz sads songs about now well that would just feel wrong"

time to turn in my last assignment then start cooking for the despedida...

side note for you magis peeps: i saw a hat at the mercado that i couldn't justify buying for any real reason so i didn't but it said "God is good all the time".....all the time God is good.

Two more weeks, my foot is in the door, I can't sleep...

less than 2 weeks...scaryyyy..in fact in almost exactly 11 days I will be landing at Logan Int'l Airport...CRAZYYY

To tell you the truth, I randomly have a lot of work to do recently on top of a bunch of last minute things to do like souvenir shopping which I wanted to get done the whole time but no one else seemed to worried about..now we're all freaking out...and trying to hit up all our fave places one last time..and plan a going away party so we can see everyone one last time next week...Monday is the celebration of the Immaculate Conception...the Nicas have celebrations in all the big, populated cities (Managua, Leon, Granada and Masaya) called Purísimas. We were originally going to Costa Rica this weekend but due to time and money constraints we decided to stay in Nica. We will probably go to one of the celebrations at least one day during the weekend because all of our different groups of friends have mentioned it at one time or another...we haven't done tooo many really out of the ordinary cultural things here (other than the show we saw at the theater a few weeks ago that I neglected to mention..sooo cool!) so this celebration should be really cool. Sorry I'm not making any sense, I am still exhausted from the weekend and have so much more work to do!

Speaking of the weekend, it was an amazing weekend "on an island in the sun". We survived the plane the 50 minute plane ride, 10 minute break and 20 minute rest of the plane ride in the tiniest plane I've ever seen, gracias a Dios. The first day (aka Thanksgiving), I was laying on a hammock reading a book, and then I went to catch up with the others in the water. On my way out to meet them, I just started smiling, it was that good. Absolutely beautiful and (almost) perfect weather and despite our few speedbumps on the last day which I'd rather not remember, it was a perfect, relaxing weekend to get away from all the crazy-ness that will be the last *11* days in Nicaragua. We did lots of swimming, readings, listening to music, picture taking (check out fb, i might get around to posting here), eating delicious food, and evening watching a few xmas movies while it was raining. One day we rented a golf cart and gave ourselves a little tour of the island, another day we took a small boat to little corn island...to give you an idea of how much a thrill that ride was in a small boat packed with too many people during a small storm as we held a tarp over our heads, Kristen turns to me after 5 minutes and screams over the roar of the ocean "Jennnn, did you say your prayer yet??" HAHAHA...gooood times. I'm sure I have a lot more to tell, but I'll be home soon and you guys won't be able to get me to shut up about it! <3

If we all don't take cover, then we're all gonna fall back in love again...

Nica Sensations (credit to Elyse Raby for this wonderful idea)

Nica looks like...
La tierra de lagos y volacnes (Lakes, Volanoes), children on the street, black & red fsln flags w/ pink signs, mortars, rotondas blocked by protests, iodine beaches, la pasarela-Miami & Gothic City, people strolling to class, stray dogs, malnourished horses/animals in general, sunsets (setting the world aflame!), geckos, clothes drying on the line, men sitting on the side of the road, green nature beautifulness everywhere, garbage,

Nica smells like...
burning garbage, city, exhaust, food on the street (fritanga), dirty bathrooms @ UCA, red pepper/onions/garlic (only because we load up on when given the chance due to the surprising lack of flavor in food),

Nica sounds like...
SPANISH/SPANGLISH, yet way more English that I ever imagined, car alarms, reggaeton, salsa, hip hop, "dame un pesito, necesito zapatos" (children saying "give me 1 cordoba (aka 5 cents) i need sneakers), "Ya chavalas" (as Alba calls us for dinner), "Granada, Granada, Granada" at the bus stations, honking, water running while chila scrubs clothes near our room at 6am, music from the political rallies, loud speakers/mega phones, fireworks, mortars, *muah* bye/adios, intense political debates, music at mass i've yet to learn, bells from the eskimo cart, whistles, geckos chirping

Nica feels like...
perpetually dirty & stiff clothes, freezing cold streamline showers and room temperature drinking water, bugs biting, crowded buses, excessive HEAT, sweat, Nica kisses, riding in a bumpy pick up truck @ walking speed through rock piles and rivers, parasites that never leave, perpetual stomach ache/nausea/weakness, fans, being locked in my room for 3 weeks during political violence

Nica tastes like...
rice & beans (gallo pinto), delicious fruits & juices (faves - pitahaya y arroz con pina), eskimo ice cream, hormigas (ants, yes under tastes like...), splurging for pizza, room temp. water, apples=delicacy, refried beans & french fries @ UCA


...probably add more before i leave :)
Corn Island Thursday (630am flight!) til Sunday afternoon
"If your idea of an perfect vacation is swaying in a hammock,
reading books, walking white sand beaches, enjoying
spectacular sunsets and snorkeling in clear turquoise waters,
this is a destination for you."
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Who do you carry that torch for my young man? Do you believe in anything? Or do you carry it around just to burn things down?

Don't know where to begin.

Yes, Alba returned a few days later, apparently she never changed her voting address so she had to go vote in a different city and then just stayed there because it was physically impossible to get back. Alba is hardcore Sandinista, no matter what, including this radical Danielista crap. Her son, not so much, but she doesn't know that. Interesting story how I came to find this out, but he earned a lot more respect in my book.

The blog about politics is coming, it's just very long and complicated and is probably going to include more corruption and / or violence than any of you care to read about while i'm still here.

Classes have been happening inconsistently at best.

Lots of rallies, mortars, fireworks, rocks. And road closings, that's the best, when you finally think it's okay to go to the mall and then it takes 40 minutes to get home because all the roads are closed. Or when you can't get out in the first place because the PLC is having a peace march but the Sandinistas find out and surround them at their starting place and hold them there by pointing mortars at the crowd and blocking off all the streets.

Regardless, I go home in 2.5 weeks, my friends live with this :( The other day, the lady here that coordinates int'l students, Kathe, cried in front of us. It was the saddest thing ever. They don't know what to do about their country anymore :(

Last week I went on a field trip to Granada...not too exciting. Thursday I went on one to Ticuantepe with Sustainable Development. We broke into groups and interviewed families about their lives / jobs / etc. It was reallllly cool.

On Thanksgiving I have a flight out to an island off the Caribbean coast for 4 days in the sun :) However, what I DON'T have is a bathing suit because apparently mine and my cover up got stolen off the clothesline AND they only sell bathing suits in Nicaragua around semana santa?

questions about anything - pregúntame because this is like the opposite of all my other blogs.

Let there be peace on earth...

apparently i never posted this from nov. 13...

Today, I woke up. I walked to Greisy's house by myself to do some homework. This took about 15 minutes through Managua, with nothing more than the usual disrespectful men and persistent taxi drivers yelling and honking horns. Good day so far. We walked back to UCA together and went to mass. It was packed live I've never seen. Everyone is really worried. Nicas contra Nicas. We ate lunch, we hung out, we went to class...for a little bit. Then UCA closed at 4pm...again. The fighting is in all the rotondas now, not just MetroCentro. Alba's work is already canceled for tomorrow. She told us to either stay in the house or get up really early and leave Managua. Esta muy feo en las calles. We can't leave because we tentatively have a field trip on Saturday, so looks like tomorrow is going to be another nice day in my room. I'm interested to know if anyone has heard anything about this over there because I'm starting to hear about the possibility of international observers and some possible conflict with the U.S. reminiscent of the 1990 elections and the whole 80s revolution when they backed the contras...

I just want to live. I want to get up in the morning and go to the gym. Then I want to go out to lunch with my friends and hang out at the mall or see a movie. But I can't. Everyone is on edge and no one goes out because they are afraid. I hate living like this, in fear, because I don't really feel like its living. But the thing is, that no matter what in 29 days, I will no longer have to worry about this. But that isn't always the case here in Nicaragua. Our government is anything but perfect, but everything kind of got put in perspective today when the priest during mass said, "They just had peaceful Presidential elections in the U.S. and here we have elections for mayor and we're practically at war."

At dinner, Lucia just asked me if I wanted to go back to my country. I surprised myself at how fast I answered no. Yes, I miss certain freedoms, but it's a really unique opportunity to be able to experience even if I have to forget about fun and be a little more cautious for a little bit. So sorry for all the jumbled thoughts, just wanted to check in and give you a small snapshot about my daily life post-election. Please keep the Nica people in your prayers this week as they try to come to a just solution to this violence and corruption.

Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for...

OBAMA/BIDEN!

our election party was a great success and filled with lots of American junk food...just the way we like it. The rest of the week consisted of well..nothing. Wednesday classes were canceled so that UCA could have some meeting regarding elections. Thursday Kristen's fam was already here so we left for Ome Tepe because we only have one class anyway. Friday and Monday (today) classes were canceled too because of elections, but we had to come home Saturday night in case it got too violent for traveling so the extra days off didn't do much good other than give me some more quality time in my sauna of a room. Another fun fact, from Saturday evening to Monday evening no alcohol was allowed to be served at all in Managua (maybe all of Nica, not sure), also due to elections. I could go on and on about elections but I'll save that for when there are more offical results...if there ever are any. Lots of manipulation, fraud and violence going on right now. Hopefully it calms down by tomorrow so classes can start again, I might actually go crazy if I spend one more day in this room.

So now for Ome Tepe...definitely beautiful, but after all the hype - not quite what we expected. We kept hearing "oh it should be one of the 7 wonders of the world" and "what you're only going for 2 nights? you need at least 5" and now granted we didn't climb any volcanoes which take a day in themselves but I don't really feel like we missed anything and we were kind of ready to go when it was time. Kristen's family was a blast - it was her Dad, Uncle Kathy, Uncle Scott, and her cousin Van. On the ferry from San Jorge to Moyagalpa, Ome Tepe, they showed a vianica video about different places to visit in Nica. Not only did we recognize just about every place from having visited, but our very own friend Don Yaro was in the Rio San Juan section...coooool! After our long journey to Ome Tepe (successfully avoiding the chicken buses!) we were greeted at the port by many cab drivers/tour agencies anxious to gain business from the gringos. We soon settled on Rodolfo who attacked Kristen's dad and won us over by speaking English. He's one of my favorite people I've met in Nica. He totally hooked us up all weekend with rides everywhere and we totally hooked him up by probably paying for him to take a week off. He was so sweet and modest. He drove to go kayaking and just waited while we did that and ate and wouldn't even get anything to eat when we offered it to him. Then he recommeded this cute swimming hole / natural spring with cold-ish water and it was greattt. He also took us back in 2 different waves when we wanted to go home on Saturday since her fam had to leave earlier than us. The hotel was excellent by Nica standards, but not quite what KVV's fam was looking for. The food was great though and they had (almost) enough booze to last her fam the whole weekend so I think they dealt with it just fine. I was randomly pretty sick again most of the weekend so I was kind of a bum at night and just sat in my room, but I still had a good time during the day.

Saturday morning after KVV and her family left, the other FU people went kayaking. I had already gone the day before with her fam so I just decided to watch. I ended up writing a ton in my journal and doing some of my best reflection (not related to being unhappy) yet on this trip. I'm not gonna get that into it here, but basically it was very calming and humbling experience to be sitting on the edge of Lake Nicaragua and feeling completely peaceful, relaxed and satisfied. I didn't want anything, I didn't need anything, I didn't have 1000 things racing through my head that I knew I should be doing. I was just being. And then I was thinking about what one really needs, and our discussion in Sustainable Development where things like a cell phone were included on our list of basic needs...in Nicaragua, a developing country when I always though that list only included food, water, shelter and arguably clothing. I recently added something else to my list and this all connects I promise, but it's just way too much for this blog, especially because every day I find out more people are reading my blog that I had no idea about..hint hint..say hi?

I picked the lyrics for this title because that song randomly played everytime we were in Rodolfo's car/van...also because there's a lot worth fighting for recently, and a lot of people who are fighting recently, and I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

I'd love to hear from people...even though I'll be home before you know it!

(side note: my "host mom" hasn't been home in over 48 hours...she never told us she was leaving and the slave/her aunt says she "doesn't know when alba will be home"...alba also works for the government...coincidence??)