Rainy Days

When my house turns into a giant fort made of sheets,

and it looks like we might be having a weirdly arranged estate sale,

and the clothes are on the line, but only on the half that is under the roof, 

I know it's rainy season.

Not that the large quantity of rain, loud thunderstorms, and mud puddles (er, rivers) don't give it away...

♪ rain, rain, go away ♪

Celebrating Nicaragua

Today is Independence Day in Nicaragua. Yesterday was our big celebration at school, and like every year, things can get a little interesting as we prepare to celebrate.

"Does everyone have their machete?" Not something I normally hear a teacher yell down the hallway, but it happened this week. Some dances require a machete, and you must be prepared.

"Please just come into the classroom. No one is wearing a shirt today." After those words came out of my mouth, I had to pause and laugh at the situation. My students were going to give a presentation on the pre-Columbian period of Nicaragua, and had to dress like native Nicaraguans. The girls were embarrassed by their little woven dresses and the boys would have rather been anywhere else than in front of their peers. One of my students was so embarrassed I had to drag him into the classroom. I personally thought my students looked pretty adorable. Later they rocked their presentation as they taught the audience about what Nicaragua was like hundreds of years ago

.

Independence Day is when I put aside my role as a teacher and become a hairdresser and costume fixer. After their presentation, my students needed to change into their dance outfits. I found myself doing hair, tying bandannas, buttoning shirts, fixing skirts, and looking for lost shoes. The finished product was quite impressive, and also a little hilarious.
"Miss Eberly, do I look like a biker dude about to get married?" one student asked. I gave him a quick look up and down and replied with a chuckle and a resounding yes.

"Is that a pig on the soccer field? Is that 7th grader wearing a wedding dress? Why do they have guns?" Those were just a couple of the questions my students asked as we watched the highschool presentations. This year's theme was focused on Nicaraguan theater, so things got pretty interesting.

This year was exciting for the whole school because we had our first performance in the Eagle Center, which is our new gym/stage/multi-purpose building. Before, PE happened on the soccer field and every performance required hundreds of people to squeeze into our very tiny lunch room. This year, we finally had room to breathe. When you are wearing a very large and poofy dress, this is a good thing.

Next, dancing. Normally I ask my students to my calm and sit still, but not on Independence Day. The more arm waving and feet shuffling, the better.

At the end of the day, to the extreme delight of the students, the teachers celebrated Nicaragua in style.

Si pequeña es la Patria, uno grande la sueña.
If the country is little, big is the dream. 
- Nicaraguan poet, Rubén Darío

A Tour: Part Two

Up next we explore the world of grocery stores. You have some options here. Side of the road stands, markets, low scale grocery stores, normal grocery stores, and some import stores. Normally I go to the regular grocery store, which looks like this:

Pros:

• convenient location
• carries most normal things I eat 

Cons:

• poor cereal selection (I looovvvee cereal) 
• no non-sweetened instant ice tea
• the food sometimes tastes like the grocery store (hard to explain, but just take my word for it)
• anything imported is super expensive
• food that is in the store one week might disappear the next

Things to note:
You can chose your own meat from a nice uncovered cart
In general, I have found a lot of very sugary candy products here. Marshmallows covered in sugar, sugar fluff ball on top of a graham cracker, and things that make my teeth rot just looking at them.
Sour cream comes in a bag, as does mayonnaise, milk, and other things you never imagined in a bag.

If you happen to be on a certain street on a certain side of the road, you can dangerously pull over and purchase some delicious fruit. Shout your order out the window, the nice man gets your fruit, hand him some money, and there you go. He always gives you a free banana for the ride home.

If you want to get more than fruit on the go, just drive about anywhere. Some common items close to my house include:

All these supplies on the side of the road are handy. I mean, who doesn't need a dog house on the way home from work? However, it makes driving a nightmare. People pull over on the side of the road when there is no side of the road to pull over on.

Semis can also cause a ruckus. There isn't much room for them, but they try to squeeze in. This particular semi was backing onto the highway and blocking four lanes of traffic, all during rush hour.

Thankfully, there is always someone willing to help you back out or into a parking spot or wherever you are trying to squeeze in to. This could be random people on the street, or guards at the grocery store. Sometimes things get hectic and whistles and hand motions come into play.

In closing, I will show you a couple of sights that I love.

It takes about ten minutes to walk there from my house, and about 45 seconds to drive there. It's my lovely school, NCA.

I live right outside the capital city of Managua, so to get just about anywhere, I have to drive by the population sign. I love that I can call Nicaragua home.

Every weekend, I head to this lovely place to grade papers and work on lesson plans. As far as I know, it is one of the only places around that has a drive-thru (besides the auto-mac at McDonald's). It also has air conditioning and EXCELLENT coffee.

My goal this year is to capture more common Nica sights and share them with you.

I leave you with this: a family of five on one motorcycle.

A Tour: Part One

Sometimes when I visit the States I get asked how I like living in Africa. I explain that Nicaragua is not the same as Nigeria, and that it is located in Central America, and not in the big continent across the Atlantic Ocean. Another popular question is if I live or teach in a hut. No and no. While electricity, internet, plumbing, and other modern conveniences are not 100% reliable, and certainly not up to U.S. standards, I am thankfully not sleeping on a dirt floor or hiding under a mosquito net.

My mom has informed me that I have never shown her pictures of where I live. I realized I didn't have any to show her. "What does it look like when you look outside your door? What does your street look like?" she asked. Good questions, Mom. 

Today I will take you on a picture tour of my day-to-day surroundings.

Quinta Allyson

A gated community home to gringos, Nicas, and a smattering of other ethnicities. Many NCA teachers live here, and some students do too. I live in a townhouse with two other teachers.

When I open my door, I see this:

Take a little stroll and here he is:

The rest of Quinta Allyson:

We have some other animal friends who live near by. Not shown are the oxen that sometimes try to jump in the swimming pool:

Exiting and entering Quinta Allyson:

View directly outside the gates:

The roads
Driving anywhere here is always an experience. You have to drive aggressively and be very observant to survive. You share the road with all manner of men, animals, and vehicles, most of whom follow no normal driving rules.

All the following pictures were taken this past week from my car. Not the best quality pictures, but they were taken on my main driving routes and show what I normally see as I travel to school, the store, etc.

Motorcycles:
These are a popular choice. Did you know you can squeeze a family of four on one motorcycle? Or that during rush hour motorcycles can zoom in and out of lanes and squeeze in between buses and cars?

Some of my favorite moto sightings:
Three grown men on one moto
A clown going through the rotunda on his moto
A man riding his moto with a large dog sitting on his lap like a human would
A man driving with one hand while balancing a very large sheet cake on his head with the other hand

Buses:
No matter where you go, you will get stuck behind a very slow moving bus. It might look like a school bus, but it is a regular transportation bus. They usually get a colorful makeover. The most important bus rule: a bus is never too full. You can always add more people in, even if you have to open the doors and spill out the backside.

Trucks:
Benefits include, but are not limited to: fresh air, cool breeze, you can work on your sun tan, room to move around, and you can add some plastic chairs for comfort.

Horse cart:
Not quite as fast as other forms of transportation, but you can carry all sorts of goods on top. Horse carts are common on the main roads and highways, not just the back roads.

By foot:
The roads are always filled with people. Some walk, some run, some carry things on their heads. Many like to walk slowly across the street or dart in between cars. Imagine real life Mario Kart.

Tomorrow the tour continues! Look forward to a tour of the grocery store and what you can buy on the side of the road.