The Story of How We Lost Our Surfboard

The following blog contains two stories recounting two different views of the way that we lost our surfboard.

Tara’s Version

www.creatureonthecouch.wordpress.com

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Thanks, Tara, for that lovely version…although it really just sounded to me like an odd mix between Life of Pi, Blue Crush, and some Nicaragua names and events…. But anyway…moving forward with the second version.
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Jana’s Version

A few months into my time here in Nicaragua I discovered that we have a surfboard in our house. Even though I hadn’t seen the actual surfboard, I knew of her presence by the large, surfboard-shaped case half shoved into our “attic” (aka a hole in between our ceiling and roof where some rats and a few dust bunnies have made their homes) and also through the telling of a few stories about some JVs riding her in past years. Apparently she (the surfboard) had come to reside in our house a few years back when some German guy left her here, saying that he would come back later. Well, he never came back.
She was ours.

Apart from Thomas and Sean using her a couple years ago, really the surfboard just stayed there in her bag collecting dust and not calling any attention to herself. She had been forgotten, neglected, uncared for. (In our defense, trying to get a surfboard on a bus to go anywhere in Nicaragua wouldn’t be exactly the easiest task…)

But then suddenly her opportunity came!...in the form of a US delegation from Kentucky that was here for a week doing work with Hand in Hand Ministries. We were invited to go along with them in their large bus to the beach for a day.

 That morning before being picked up, we were all hurrying around trying to get ready.
 Sunscreen. Check. Hat. Check. Towel. Check. Dry clothes to change into. Check.
I was standing there ready—or so I thought. As I stood there, I started thinking, “Now if only I had something to float on…” I knew we didn’t have a boogie board…and our air mattress has a hole in it so that wouldn’t work either... Then suddenly I remembered the surf board! My middle-of-Texas-born-and-raised self had never ridden (much less touched) a surf board before, but ni modo. I was sure I could learn. I skipped back to the half-showing, half-forgotten surfboard and pulled her down…and along with her, at least 2 years-worth of dust. After I brushed the case off with a broom and could finally breathe again, I opened it up. And there she was, a bright yellow color with quite a lot of wax and sand still left on from her last usage.

Everyone else in our house looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re really going to take that!?” Chelsea questioned. “You should call first to make sure there is enough room,” Eva stated. “You do you,” Tara chimed.  “Awesome!!”  Cynthia exclaimed.  So following their advice, I called to make sure it was fine. Ed said they’d see what they could do, and when the moment of truth came, she easily slid between the rows of seats. And we were off. 

When we arrived at the beach, I was eager to try out this surfing thing. I had already enlisted Tara with her infinite surfing experience (1.5 surf lessons in New Jersey) to teach me all I needed to know. I unzipped the bag, pulled out our yellow surfboard, and we walked her out to the beach (Tara showing me the correct way to walk with a surfboard). Once out there, Tara said we needed to clean off a lot of the old sand and wax that had basically melted in the heat of Managua days into a thick coat covering the top of the board. We had nothing with which to scrape it away so we tried our best with pieces of seashells. Then Tara told me what mas o menos I needed to know in order to move myself from the laying down to standing up positions. I tried a couple times, already realizing that this was going to be way harder than I had expected.  We then screwed the fins in (again, something I didn’t know about surfboards), and started to head out to the water. But right then there was a snap, and we realized that her poor old and brittle leash had broken. Lame….But I was determined. 

This determination lasted for about 20 more minutes… Tara and I got into the water and she tried to teach me how to duck under the unwanted waves…although according to her none of them were really ideal that day. I tried what she said and mostly just ended up getting a lot of water up my nose and having my contacts swish around on my eyeballs. Also, en general I was having a hard time balancing on top of the board, falling every which way even when there were no waves. A few times the board flew out of my hands, and since she was not connected to my body, she went sailing away from me, causing me to have to chase after her.  I decided to give it a rest for a while. Maybe the waves would be better later. Maybe I would suddenly find some inner source of balance later. Besides, Tara was getting out for now and she could take the board back to shore with her.

Chelsea, Eva, and I were frolicking in the water when we suddenly see Tara waving her arms at us as if we needed to get out. We move towards her thinking maybe there was a shark or something, but she instead informs us that there was a 6.6 level earthquake that had just happened a few miles down from where we were, and that now the whole beach was on a Tsunami watch. We packed up our things and got ready to evacuate. I slid the still wet and sandy board hurriedly back in her case and we walked to the parking lot. They told us that we only had to drive up to a hill a few miles away and wait 15 minutes to see if the offshore buoys detected tsunami activity. If no, we could return back to the beach. I assumed we would be back soon enough. This was the reason (along with the fact that we had to fit a few extra beach-goers into our bus) that I left our priceless, antique surfboard near the bathrooms on the beach.  We would be right back…no big deal. 

Well, I was wrong. We got up to the safe point and we let off our extra passengers, and the leader of the delegation decided that we should just go ahead and leave now. It wasn’t worth our time sitting around for who knows how long until someone decided it was potentially safe.  So in the overly concerned delegation fashion we continued driving…away from the water…away from the beach…away from the 13 inch “Tsunami” wave that we later found out was the final result of the earthquake…and finally away from our surfboard.

So in the end…. I never learned to surf,
                              we now have no surfboard,
and we are left with a gaping empty hole in our “attic” for even more rats and dust bunnies to fill.

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So, which story do you prefer to believe?

You are free to decide. We like both….and so it is with God.

Food

This year I am living with a couple girls that are big into eating healthily. They understand that what we eat can have horrible consequences for our bodies (now and later) and that consuming healthy and nutritious food is one of the most important and responsible things we can do to care for ourselves.

A little while ago, Eva handed me a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollen. I started reading it, and in the first few pages I found $100 Córdobas! Educating myself about food was already paying off! : ) But really…in the book he tries to answer the questions what is it that we are really eating and what is it that we should be eating. His book includes research that he has done on everything from the large subsidized corn and soybean monocrop fields to the sickening conditions of cattle and chicken raising to even the problems that exist in ¨organic¨ products.

Pollen starts off by criticizing the way we as a society view and consume food. He writes that U.S. Americans spend less of a percentage of their budget on food than other countries. Is this because food is cheaper in the U.S. than other countries or is it because we value food and nutrition less than other things like material objects? If it is the former, is this cheaper food actually good food? If it is the latter, how can we fail to see that the food we consume must be more important than buying the latest iPhone? Pollen seems to feel that we in the U.S. chose the latter. We consume food as fast as possible—from microwaves, in cars, and on the go. We do not think about what it is we are eating. And when we do stop to ask the questions, we get confused by all the different and latest diets and crazes, moving quickly from one to the other.

Also, he believes that we don´t seem to have a very good idea of where it is that our food comes from or the processing, preservatives, and additives that go into making it shelf-ready. Should we care more about whom it was that raised the chicken we are eating and how they raised those chickens? Should we really avoid eating foods that have so many strange extra things added to them? Pollen says yes. He writes that the more processing our food undergoes, the more energy and petroleum we waste in that process (something which is obviously more costly for the environment than non-processed, non-packaged foods, fresh foods). He argues the same for foods that are shipped across the U.S. or even imported, stating that even organic foods can be seen as harmful to the environment if you just look at how much petroleum it took to move them from one side of the country to the other.

In the end, Pollen seems to stress that we should look for seasonal, locally grown, organically produced, un-modified foods. And when it comes to animals, we should search for the healthier, less fatty meat of those that were pasture fed. By eating this way, we can ensure that we are doing the best to care for our precious bodies and the world we live in.

This is all good and great, and I learned this and so much more from the book, but I found myself having difficulties practicing it all—especially in light of being here in Nicaragua. Some of it is easy—they have quite a lot of fruits, veggie, beans, and rice that were produced here in Nicaragua and brought to the market with minimal shipping. However, there is really no organic option whatsoever. But even if there were an organic option, would we have enough money in our small food budget to buy it? How far do we go with food solidarity? Can we justify spending so much more money on a bottle of olive oil or real butter because that would be healthier than the cheaper vegetable oil or margarine that our coworkers would have to buy on their small salaries?

I am coming to learn that the topic of food justice is more complicated than simply keeping someone from starving. Even while the organic market is getting bigger in the U.S., who is it that has the privileged access to this healthier, better food? If what we consume is one of the most important things we can do for our bodies, our health, and our quality of life, we must make good, healthy food more accessible.

Tara, my housemate, has been talking with me about a program she worked with last year in Spokane, WA through Catholic Charities that was working to set up Farmers Markets in poorer neighborhoods nearby. They even set up an agreement with the government as to allow SNAP or food stamps to be accepted there! Pretty cool!

Anyway, I am very open to hearing any thoughts you have or reading recommendations. If anyone knows of other programs like the one Tara worked with, I would be interested in seeing what they are all about, too! Thanks!

Foco

One of my housemates, Cynthia, has quite an interesting (and also very hard) job. She works with a program through the Managuan Christian Base Communities called Casa Samaritanas. This program does quite a lot in the social work realm, including work with sex workers (primarily women) to get them various services that they need, spreading awareness of and trying to prevent sex slavery, and giving empowering workshops to children and adolescents of these women.

A couple weeks ago, I went with Cynthia and her coworkers on a Foco. This means that we loaded ourselves and a couple hundred condoms in a truck and drove around Managua, stopping to talk with sex workers on the street and hand out previously mentioned condoms. We left at about 9:00 PM, and we first drove up Carratera Norte. They have been doing this twice a week for a few years now so they not only have an idea of the places where women will be waiting, but they even knew the names and lives of quite a few of them. After Carratera Norte, we went down Carratera Masaya. Since this area is a bit safer with more traffic and lights, we were actually able to get out of the truck and stand around talking with the women for a bit. (I mostly just stood there silently as I really had no freaking clue what to say.) At the end of the conversations, we offered the condoms, and they always accepted.

We saw all shapes, sizes, and ages of women (and even a few dressed up men). Some women were very full-figured; others closer to skin and bones. Some were outgoing and talkative, while others hardly even made eye contact. Most were dressed very nicely. On one corner we found a bunch of girls smelling glue, and upon seeing us, they ran up to the truck and thrust their hands through the windows asking for condoms. They all looked about 15 years-old. In another area we met a woman who admitted to having given birth fifteen days before. Another woman was very pregnant. We saw women negotiating with stopped taxi drivers and getting into cars with people. 

The whole experience was completely eye-opening. I had never seen prostitution in real life like this before. It made me so sad and frustrated. I know I need more experience and information before I start making judgments and conclusions, but I just refuse to believe those that say sex workers choose that type of work because they want to do it. MAYBE in select cases this occurs, but in general, I saw what looked like unhappy women and girls.

The human body is a precious living temple, the physical manifestation of all that we individually are. We must recognize this and treat them as such. Both the buyer and seller sides of prostitution are not only disrespecting the beauty and sacredness of sex, but also of the body and really the entire human being. Women are not inanimate, purchasable objects. Men are not soulless, greedy consumers.

Les Miserables

A couple weekends ago our In Country Coordinator, Joe Mulligan, invited us to go see Les Miserables in a nearby movie theater. I saw the play a really long time ago with Kelly, but I hardly remembered any of it. This time I found it much more impactful. This movie is amazing in so many ways—the actors, the music, the history…pretty much all of it. I also couldn’t believe how many different themes it touches on that I deeply connect with. It brings up the topics of the disillusionment with the government, the plight of women, justice versus forgiveness, the value of human life, the need for spirituality coupled with action, and the higher purposes in life.

 And, yes, while I realize that Les Miserables is based off French history that happened in the 1800s, I seriously could not help but think of the current reality of the world during the movie. Here are some of the themes that affected me and their connection to the world I know and see today.

Disillusionment with the Government
In Le Mis the failures of the government are obvious. The system sets up a society in which only small percentage of the French population holds a vast majority of the money, there are no social services offered to those that are struggling to survive, and the justice system incarcerates petty thefts for many years.
       These same failures still occur today all over the world, including the United States and Nicaragua. Due to lack of regulation, exploitation flourishes in the workplace, causing the rich to get richer and the poor to become even poorer. Due to lack of transparency, money that should be used for social programs ends up in the pockets of government officials and their friends. Due to corruption of the legal system, only those with money that can afford to pay the high fines and a good lawyer are able to get out of jail.

 Plight of Women
In the movie, Fontine is just a another woman in need of work to help feed her daughter. When she is unrightfully fired from her job, she turns to many different methods to earn an income. Eventually in desperation she turns to prostitution.
      Are women objects, property, slaves, sinful, weak and lower human life-forms? Definitely not. Are they still treated this way? It angers me to say that in almost every society of the world these sentiments either blatantly or subtly still manifest themselves. Here is Nicaragua, it tends to be very blatant. So many men do not treat women with the respect they need and deserve. They yell out objectifying comments in the streets about female bodies. They pay women on the street sometimes as low as 30 Cordobas for sex…the better streets pay 100 (4 US$). They cheat on wives with younger girls and then later hit them when asked where they’ve been and where all the family money has gone. They threaten to kill their women if they ever leave them. They tell the woman that her place is enclosed within the walls of the house, cooking every meal over a wood burning stove, washing everyone’s clothes by hand, giving birth to multiple children, and obeying. Once I asked a woman in the bank if she could be anyone for a month who would she choose. She said her husband because he gets to leave the house and do whatever he wants.
To be poor in this world is one thing, but to be poor and a woman can be a complete loss of dignity.

Justice vs. ForgivenessThe movie contrasts the two main characters Jean Valljean and Jacque and their views on justice and forgiveness. Jean Valljean, a former prisoner, is moved by a strict code of right action with a base of humility, mercy, forgiveness, and love. He understands that people make mistakes but they can grow and change. He sees that forgiveness is more life-giving than justice. Jacque, the head of police, is bound up more in unrelenting justice and punishment for sinners. He follows man-made laws and sees it as his duty to carry out this law without mercy or concern for the human situation.
        Personally I think this topic is very difficult. What really is more important justice or forgiveness? Justice makes people accountable for their actions and tries to move towards making things equal, but forgiveness allows us to let go, heal, and move forward.
         There is a need for both. Por ejemplo, there is still much justice to which the US needs to answer in regards to its past actions toward Nicaragua and many other Central and Latin American countries. I want the US to answer for these actions. I don’t want them to be swept under the rug like nothing happened. Yet at the same time, how can we move forward and try to form better, peaceful relations if we are all continually denouncing and hating each other? There must be some level of forgiveness and healing here. (Although maybe it’s just not possible to forgive when the United States CONTINUES to do unjust things to these countries…)

Value of Human Life
The way Le Mis depicts human life in the movie is heart wrenching--so many people living impoverished, cold, hungry, sick, forgotten, homeless, and generally oppressed lives.  
      Do people still live this way? Yes!! Every day I see people being treated as less than human, their right to a human equality taken away. I see 17 people being crammed into one tiny house with a roof that leaks. I see people suffering from curable or manageable illnesses that can’t access the necessary medicine. I see men drunk out of their mind passed out in the dust at 7:45am as I walk to work. I see kids selling bags of water or cleaning car windows for a few Cordobas on busy streets when they should be in school. I see the way people react when I tell them that I am friends with people in Barrio Dimitrov, (the notoriously most dangerous neighborhood in Managua) as they assume that all people from that area are horrible and not to be bothered with.
       All of these problems stem from the fact that we have such a hard time recognizing the inherent worth of people in this world. There are so many things that could focus on in order to fix this world, but I don’t think anything is going to change until we start with the basics of seeing and recognizing the individual human worth and dignity of ourselves and each person that we meet.

Our Purpose
The movie’s characters Jean Valljean and Jacque feel very different about their purposes in life. Jean sees God in the face of humans and sees it as his duty to better the horrible circumstances of those around him. Jacque sees God as a higher being that cannot be found among the low lives of human creatures. He works rather to cleanse the world of sinners and punish them for their sins.
      I think it is important to side ourselves with Jean. We must remember that the Spirit of Life exists here and now in each one of us. Like Jean we must also remember that it is our duty in the world to cultivate and love this sacred spirit within ourselves and others. I am learning that the way we do this can take on so many forms as there are so many different ways to be a loving, life-giving person in this world.

Anyway…by the end of this movie I felt so emotionally drained. I’m not sure if this blog can fully express all the emotions that I felt and all of the thoughts that flew through my head, but at least I gave it a shot. I encourage everyone to go see the movie or rent it later or look up the songs on Youtube...if you can even do that. Thanks for reading my ramblings once again!

Music

It’s been a long time since my last blog…I’ve been pretty busy.
I also wasn’t really feeling very inspired by anything. Then today I was listening to some music, and I felt that feeling. I don’t know what it is about music that is so powerful, but it moves me in a distinct way.
So this blog is dedicated to a few Spanish songs that awake in me a longing for right action and justice in this world. While the lyrics are sometimes fuerte and hard to swallow, I love the fact that there are other people in this world that feel similar to me. Their music and lyrics water my seedling of hope for the world and its community of people.  So I decided that I would share a few of these songs with you!

Latinoamerica by Calle 13 Featuring  Susana Baca y Maria Rita
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkFJE8ZdeG8

This song is pure genius both musically and lyrically. Even the music video is amazing. It describes the Latin American land and people, stressing the pride and power that exists within them despite all the difficulties that have and still are occurring in this part of the world. The words are haunting but contain so much truth. Here are samples of some lyrics accompanied by my translations. (Side note: my translations unfortunately do not contain the beauty of the original rhyming and rhythm.)

“Soy lo que dejaron, soy toda la sobra de lo que se robaron. Un pueblo escondido en la cima, mi piel es de cuero por eso aguanta cualquier clima…Soy América latina, un pueblo sin piernas pero que camina.”

“I am what they left, I am all the leftover from what they robbed. A people hidden on the summit, my skin is leather that’s why I can deal with any climate…I am Latin America, a people without legs but that walks.”
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“Tú no puedes comprar el viento. Tú no puedes comprar el sol. Tú no puedes comprar la lluvia. Tú no puedes comprar las nubes. Tú no puedes comprar los colores. Tú no puedes comprar mi alegría. Tú no puedes comprar mis dolores.”

“You can’t buy the wind. You can’t buy the sun. You can’t buy the rain. You can’t buy the clouds. You can’t buy the colors. You can’t buy my happiness. You can’t buy my pains.”

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Días de Amar byGuardabarranco
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_s0xraZHo

This song was written by a Nicaraguan brother and sister duo. The brother has since died, but I was able to see the woman (Katia Cardanal) at a free concert last year. Quite a few of their songs touch on topics of treating other people with love, respect, and equality, but Días de Amar calls to me specifically because of the way it talks about the relationship between humans and the Earth.Here are thelyrics:

“Vienen ya días de amar la casa que  habitas, días de amar la tierra vegetal flor y animal.
Vienen ya ríos con agua sin envenenar, aguas que beben los que tienen sed igual que usted.
Vienen ya bosques pulmones de la gran ciudad, selvas que aroman en la oscuridad, noches de paz.”

“The days are coming when you will love the house in which you live, the days of loving the earth´s vegetables, flowers, and animals. They are coming, rivers with water free of poison, water that thirsty people drink, just like you. They are coming, forests the lungs of the great cities, jungles that perfume in the darkness, peaceful nights.”

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Milonga de un Moro Judio by Jorge Drexler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZqnTBEvSxQ

Drexler is from Uruguay, and his lyrics are fascinating.  This song, especially, many times moves me to tears with its beauty. I love the radical nonviolent stance that he takes, and the fact that he sees the great importance of respecting individual human life and dignity. But despite the worth of each individual life, he also looks at the world as something of one inclusive community that must work to live together in harmony.Hereissomesamples of his genius.

“Yo soy un moro judio que vive con los cristianos. No sé que dios es el mío ni cuales son mis hermanos.”
“I am a jewishmuslimthatliveswithchristians. I don´t know what god is mine nor who are my brothers.”
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“La guerra es muy mal escuela, no importa el disfraz que viste. Perdonen que no me aliste bajo ninguna bandera.”
“War is horrible schooling, it doesn´t matter the disguise it wears. Excuse me that I won´t enlist myself under any flag.¨
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¨Y a nadie le dí permiso para matar en mi nombre. Un hombre no es más que un hombre, y si hay dios así lo quiso …Y no hay pueblo que no se haya creído el pueblo elegido.¨

¨And I never gave permission to anyone to kill in my name. One man is no more than another man, and if there is a god, that´s how he/she wanted it…And there is not a people that has been created as a chosen people.¨

Well…that’s a few songs for you all. What an amazing combination of strength to speak out and the creativity to do it through music, right!? If anyone else finds any great songs, please let me know!

Conclusions of a year

As we scrub and sweep and dust our whole house in preparation for the newbies that are going to be here in 2 days, the realization that I have been here a year begins to really hit me. As different moments from the last 12 months come floating back through the dust-filled air, I realize how much this year has taught me. Never in my life have I failed so badly at something and kept going. Never have I been so humbled. Never have I been forced to have so much patience. 

Until now I have only really done things at which I knew I could succeed. Failure is my biggest fear in this world, so I would generally only choose activities and situations where I had a certain level of control and certainty of quick success. (Maybe the one major exception to this would be working as a server at Silver Fox---a job I still have nightmares from. Ha) Personal success was my #1 goal, and if I happened to find myself in a difficult situation in which I was not succeeding easily, I would beat myself up. Suddenly I’m stupid, inadequate, and a disappointment. I transferred these feelings into others too, fearing that everyone else was seeing me as an idiot and therefore not worthy of love.

This year has forced me to confront all of these things. I have learned that it is okay to fail. I’ve learned how to pick myself back up and push forward despite more looming failure.  I’ve learned to give up this desire to play God and have control over everything. I’ve realized that I don’t have to be perfect, and that certain people will still be there to love me when I stumble. And perhaps most important, I’ve learned to practice love and patience with myself despite these mistakes. My love for the God inside me has grown exponentially this year.

But this year has not only been difficult times. There have been many beautiful, real, and joyous moments as well. So much so that I am highly considering staying longer than the original amount of time. 

Anyway, I would like to dedicate this blog to all the people this year that have helped me dare to leave my comfort zone, love myself deeper, and grow into a better person.

Random Pieces that Make Up the Whole

Amazing Quote

On the way to work recently I have been repeating the following quote to help center myself before I start the day. I think it is beautiful! I first read the whole thing, and then I try to concentrate on each individual line.

“I now open my mind

to receive my good.

From this day forward

I give freely and fearlessly into life,

and life gives back to me in abundance.

I am indeed grateful,

and I let it be so.”

ReOrientation

We recently just had Re-Orientation, a retreat in the mountains of Nicaragua with a US JV staff member named Dan. We were all asked to deeply reflect on this past almost year as well as prepare ourselves for the future changes that soon await us. The time to breathe and reflect was needed, and I left feeling much more centered. We were asked to write mission statements for this next year, filled with our desires for this next year. Mine is as follows:

~I dare to:

Grow into myself

Give all that I can

Love each person I meet

Find Balance in a world of extremes

Search for truth

Smile with joy and thanksgiving

Be.~

Already a couple weeks out of retreat I’m finding this mission statement so challenging, but I have to keep trying.

Scary Bus Incident

This week as Heather and I were on the bus back from work, I was standing there trying to process my day when I saw a man very close to me holding a machete in the face of a guy sitting down. My first thought was that the guy was showing his new purchase to a friend, and in the next second I realized the guy with the machete was no friend—he was trying to rob him. People started screaming and we all ran to the back of the bus yelling for the driver to open the door. I looked around and couldn’t find Heather. The doors opened, and we all pushed out in chaos. Neither Heather nor I got hurt or robbed, but we were very shaken up. That marked the first time that I’ve felt unsafe in this country, and it was a good wake up call to the reality of violence that happens around us here.  

Giving

The idea of giving and being selfless is a constant theme throughout my time here. I feel like I am always questioning how I spend my stipend. What should I do with this money? Do I spend this abundance on myself or on others? How much do I save for myself before I start becoming selfish? In general, the thoughts have all tended towards feeling anxious and negative. Even when I did use my stipend selflessly, I was still wracked with doubts about whether it was the right choice. Then suddenly I had a conversation with a Nicaraguan friend who had the complete opposite perspective. She said now that she has a good job and makes a decent paycheck, she genuinely enjoys inviting other people to treats or doing things for other with her extra money. I realized that I had taken something so beautiful and turned it into something horrible and stressful. I don’t think I should stop being intentional about where my stipend goes, but I think I was overlooking the essential joy that there is to be found in having a little extra and loving someone else enough to give.

Strangers vs. Acquaintances

One day someone said to me, ¨I used to be rude to cab drivers when they honk and try to get my attention, but then I realized that a lot them are parents of the kids I have in school. Now I try to be nice just in case.¨ A similar thing happened to me once in the US. Once I was driving to work behind this car that was going rather slow. I almost sped around and cut him off because I was running a little late. I remember feeling grateful that I didn´t, though, when I realized the car was going to my work too, and it was a parent of one of the kids at day camp. I found this mentality to be intriguing. Am I only nice to people that I know or potentially might come into contact with later? What makes someone I know deserve more patience or love than someone I won´t ever see again?

Presidential debates

We watched the presidential debate a couple weeks ago on international affairs. The moment it came on the TV, I suddenly felt stressed. I thought, This is my country. This is how we talk and interact with each other. I think just the nature of debate in general makes me feel uneasy--Lots of talking loudly. No one listening. Lack of Respect. Stubbornness. One person right, the other wrong. All or Nothing. The Need to Defend Oneself Against an Enemy. How can we expect our leaders to work to achieve life and dignity for the human beings in our country if they can´t even treat each other that way? It makes me frustrated that the people can´t just have a conversation. 

IPone5 Convo with Silvia

Awhile ago one of my co-workers told me that she saw on TV that the new iPhone5 just came out, and that some people were camped out in front of the store for 3 days prior in order to insure that they were able to buy this new product. She then said, “Es un pecado!” (It’s a sin!). She said that so many people just think that because they aren’t killing people (or things like that), that they aren’t doing anything bad. They don’t see what it is they really do (or don’t do). She said that those people are sinning because they are putting this THING before PEOPLE. I also wondered in my head how many of those people already had perfectly good working phones.

Playing in the rain day

Last week as Heather and I were ending aerobics class, it started pouring rain. Even though Nicaraguans have this dire fear of the rain, I had this major urge to go play in it. I tried to convince the little girls from our class to go out with me, but in the end I was alone. I ran out, jumped in the hugest puddle I could find, slipped, and immediately fell down. I didn’t let that stop me. I laid down in the middle of the basketball court and made water angels. Then the girls told me I should go down the slide. AWESOME IDEA!, I thought. But that metal slide was so slick that I shot right off, skidding two feet past the end. For the next week I couldn’t sleep on the left side of my body. I’m still trying to decide if it was vale la pena (worth the pain). haha

So those are a few random parts of my life here. Hope you are all doing well!!