Before we went to the meeting to find out where were are going to live, we decided to play with fate a little bit, and have everyone throw in 10 cords (50 cents) and guess where everyone would be sent to, and the winner would keep the pot. The total got up to 120 cords, and the winner was Lara with an unbelievable 4 correct guesses. Way to go Lara! You still have a way to go before you can call yourself a psychic, but that 120 cords sure helped pay for your beer at the bar. (And of course when I say beer and bar, a rough Spanish translation would be coffee and and coffee house, respectively.) I have been told that some of the TEFLers out there are not telling where they are going but, I'm going to let you in on a little secret where the people from Dolores are going. I will be going to Masaya, Masaya; Elizabeth is going to Chinandega, Chinandega. Lara and her hubby are going to Leon, Leon and Ryan is going to **ahhem** Villa el Carmen, Managua. We are all going to capital cities except for Ryan. (see Ryan, I told you by giving them money, they would send us to nice places...you should have listened to me!) It was a great surprise to everyone where they are being sent, but when I got my name called, I was excited and could do nothing more than an enthusiastic fist pump! Below are a few pictures of us when they called our names, just so you can see how happy we were.... well most of us.
The last few days, Elizabeth and I have been talking about how when we move to our new sites, how said it will be that she wont be able to see me. Oh yeah and that I wont be able to see her either. So we decided to jump on the Nicaraguan bandwagon (yes, they have them here too) and buy a picture of us printed on a piece of wood. But these are not like any ordinary pictures, you see, they carry the picture of the person superimposed on a wonderful background such as a garden, or a waterfall; they also have butterflies (also superimposed) and about the size of the person's head flying in the background. We were so excited to see them man walking around our city today we took a picture to him. On Monday Elizabeth and I will join the ranks of the elite, by becoming owners of said picture. Oooh I cant wait. I will take a picture of it and put it on just as soon as I can, so I can share it with the world. Until then, I will share the pictures that we gave the man. You will notice that we are not smiling, but rather are carrying somewhat of a serious face. We decided that we want to be able to look at the picture an laugh our asses off when we are alone, without each other.
**************** a few days later***********************************
Well, I went on my site visit, and it was somewhat of an awakening. I really realized that I should enjoy the time I spend with my friends here in Dolores because in about 2 weeks, I will not have them in close proximity for the next two years and that is very disheartening to think about. The first night was very uncomfortable. I came there very late at night, and the meeting we at the meeting beforehand in Managua we were supposed to be served dinner, but that never happened; I arrived at the house and my counterpart told the family that we did not eat so they busted out some food and made me dinner. The entire next day, and the following half day, I didn't converse with my family much, and when I did, it seemed very weird. But that passed like a horrid B.M. The third day, they brought me to the Laguna de Apoyo on the outskirts of Managua, which used to be a volcano, but for some reason is now filled with water and is an awesome lake/ excellent place of rest. From then on, my family and I spoke a lot more and I felt a LOT better about the whole situation. I suppose it was a little weird for them as well, as I was the first PC volunteer that has stayed with them, so I'm sure they didn't know what do do/expect.
On my site visit, I met with all of the English teachers and also met the chief of police of Masaya. She seems very nice, and as a matter of fact, she has family that lives in Madison, Wisconsin so we had something to talk about. She told me that if I ever need any help or just want to talk around the city with her (so that everyone knows that I am friends with the chief of police so they don't “F” with me) she was willing and happy to do so. She even gave me her personal cell phone number, so we are like BFF's now.
I thought that I was going to have a very sad and uneventful day on the 4th of July, but it turned out otherwise. There is a group of American Legion people from the states (St. Louis I believe) and they hosted a party with free beer, hot dogs, and hamburgers for all American and British people in Granada. I guess the Brits were included because it's sad they lost the war. The first thing Liz said to everyone after opening her first beer was, “Way to win the war guys!” I thought it was funny... because war is something to laugh about. Totally kidding. Either way, we met a lot of American who live in Granada who are in charge of NGO's and great people to get to know. They were great!! THANKS AMERICAN LEGION GRANADA POST #1 for a great time on my first 4th of July out of the country!!
When I came home it was great to see my family! I was welcomed home with a big bowl of Albondiga soup! MMMMMmmmmm. I love that soup. My host mom also let me know that when the man came to deliver our pictures to us, she gave him a piece of her mind! The man had told us that the pictures were going to cost us 250 cords, and when he came to the door my mom started the conversation, “How do you think that you are going to charge these people 250 cords for these pictures, that is ridiculous.” The man (red in the face) answered, “Well, I never told them a price, but I'll give it to them for 200 cords.” My mom answered that with, “well it looks like you made those pictures in vain because I will not let them buy those pictures for 200 cords either, you are without shame sir, trying to steal the money of volunteers. They don't even get paid enough money to survive here, let alone buy frivolous things like the pictures. Looks like you lose a sale.” He then offered to sell them for 170 cords and she accepted the offer. LOL. She is a great bargainer.
Well, for now that is all I can think of, so I will leave it here. ADIOS
4 comments:
omg...ur mom sounds almost as feisty as ur real mom! :) never thought you would have a bff that's a cop...wow...we're getting old! i hope you have a great time getting aclimated to ur new surroundings and i'll be looking forward to ur next blog! miss you!
John- Nice to see another blog and more pictures. The 4th of July sounded like a good time in Granada. Now how can you get more American that Beer, hot dogs and hamburgers? Did they forget the apple pie? It's a good idea to have a BFF that's a Chief of Police, you never know when you might need her.
I love Ryan's picture, you can tell by the BIG smile how happy he is to be going to Villa el Carmen. I hope you get to spend some time with you Dolores friends before you leave. I'm happy that things got more comfortable in your new city. It will be hard to beat your first two Mom's.
I want to wish you a Happy Birthday on July 22nd. I think your friends forgot my address because I haven't found any large checks or bags of money in the mail for you yet. I think you better find richer friends!!! Keep up the good blogging. Love Mom
Well good times all around! I dl'd google earth last night, to check out your city. It look a lot like the blocks from the city you worked at in Spain. Pretty cool! So if I find your house on the map, are you going to wave. Congrats on commencement in a couple days.. You volunteer you! Hope all is well and I will talk to you laters.
Good lord child. You have lost soooooo much weight. I need to go on the Peace Corps diet. Bet it's cheaper than Jenny Craig! How exiciting about your kick ass host mom! I need to do some research about were you are cause---I have no idea where any of these places are. Sad isn't it? Hope you are doing well! Miss you.
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