Allright, well the long awaited first blog entry from Catarina, Nicaragua is here! I have told many of you that internet connections are really slow here. That information is true, but naturally I was waiting for the anticipation go grow so that when I finally released the first blog entry we would have somethings to really get excited about. The photograph above is a picture of the nearby volcanoe and laguna where me and my friends pass time on the weekends. The school that I am teaching in sits at the top of a hill and the photograph was taken from that very spot. My family here in Catarina is a traditional catholic family with strong values and great love for one another. They have taken me in as one of there own, and although I'm sure at times they are second guessing their decision, for the most part they seem pretty happy to have me around.
Pictures have a tough time telling the story of what my days are like here. In the mornings at around 5:30 or 6:00 I wake up to a refreshing bucket shower. Within minutes of bathing I usually have a wonderful breakfast of beans, rice, eggs, and several cups of instant coffee. At 8 oclock I start class, but I usually spend an hour or so trying to finish up the homework I put off from the night before. After four hours of learning spanish in a 1 on 2 setting I return home for lunch. The afternoon consists of either talking with community business owners, or giving lessons in the secondary school, IN SPANISH! I can only try to paint the picture of an open air classroom with 50 students ranging in age between 15 and 18 years old trying to listen to the cocky american give his first 45 minute lesson in Spanish. Let's just say their is plenty of room to grow...
The weekends never come to soon because I'm usually exhausted and looking forward to the break. I have managed to join the local basketball team in Catarina which plays in a competitive league in a local city. When I say competitive I mean referees, fouls, 4 quarter times basketball. The excitement level in these games is like nothing I've ever experienced in all my years of competitive sports. OK, maybe there have been a few moments that exceed the Masaya Basketball League, but as far as I'm concerned this is ACC hoops at it's best, and let me tell you I hold my own out there.
On Sunday I was given the opportunity to know the source of my food a little more intimately. I knew something was up when a chicken had been tied up to a bench outside my room for two days but I didn't think much of it. I made the mistake a few weeks ago of joking with my mama that I'd like to learn to prepare Arroz y Pollo at some point. Well, what I didn't realize is that this would involve first killing the chicken. So naturally after I had slept in until about 9 oclock Sunday morning the entire family was gathered outside of my room awaiting what would be my next lesson in how different things are in Nicaragua. My intitial reaction when confronted with this opportunity was to back down, but with my little nephew Alex staring up at me and gesturing with his arms as though he himself were ringing the neck of the chicken I just couldn't say NO! So after the legs of this poor animal had been tied together I was shown how to hold the neck. Without thinking of what was really going on here I closed my eyes, squinted in fear, and let loose slinging the chicken into a wind up that I'm sure only prolonged the suffering of what would become in three hours my lunch. Of course after all that I assumed the hard part was over, but I was sadly mistaken. The process had only begun, we had to of course remove all of the feathers after bathing the dead chicken in boiling water, and then the slicing and dicing began. Intestines were removed and it turns out that the stomach is actually a fine piece of meat once you've separated the lining from the eatable section. So after about an hour of prep the chicken was finally ready to go into the stew of vegetables and rice that would feed our entire family for just one simple meal.
It is experiences like this that I am starting to really enjoy. The beauty of the simple things that happen every day is starting to win me over, and the people albeit difficult to understand at times have really stolen my heart.
