My semester in NICARAGUA.: la cara=the face

Well, these past 4 days have been long! I was so nervous to meet my host family on Sunday, and it was a struggle at first. Luckily I had Derek there to help me with introductions and initial conversations, he was a student that went to Dordt who knew my host family and is working in Nicaragua so he had lunch with us that afternoon at la fiesta a la Iglesia (the party at the church). All of the families were there to greet us when we got there and a member of each family got up and said a few words about who their host student was and how they welcomed all of us to their homes whenever we wanted. It was so sweet of them, they were all SO excited to have us, you could just tell. That was helpful, but when we left from the churches with our families I was so nervous to begin everything. Mostly, because it was a LOT to get used to at one time. My family was so understanding about me not knowing Spanish that well though and it has been fun to have conversations with them using the words I know. My papa, Jaimie is taking English class every Wednesday and so has been talking some English to me already, although he is not that good yet! He already had me translate a Bible verse to English from Spanish that was for his homework, haha. I tried to teach him as I did it. It will be fun teaching each other the languages. My mama is good at explaining things with actions when I don’t get it and wanting to help me learn all the Spanish I can. She taught me some body parts the other day and said she was going to quiz me on them later, haha, so cute of her!

Their house is a cute smaller home, with a store in the front where they have essential items that people come to buy throughout the day. Mi mama y papa run that every day. So it has been interesting to hear people come into the house often (the store is blocked off from the living area, but you can still hear conversations that happen in the store) and say, “bueno” or “buenas” which just signals they are there and wanting to purchase something.

The weather has been very consistently hot and humid with rain about every other day. It only rains for like 10 minutes at a time though, so not much. I have been impressed at how hot it has been, so different in the midwest where it is very inconsistent and it can be super hot and humid the next day and then in the 50s the next. I like it so far though. Walking does get tiring though. Our Spanish class is at the church about 8 blocks away so it is a good walk going there and back. All of us 6 live pretty close to each other too so we walk together on the way to and from class which is nice. There is a big market right before the church and its so fun to see what they sell around there: just about everything! From fruit (so many different kinds!), veggies, juice in bags, meat, rice and beans, to dog food, clothing, cell phones, and random toiletries. Everything is so cheap, so sometimes we go out during our breaks from class to get fruit or candy.

Our Spanish classes have been interesting. Monday was the first day of our 4 hour class, from 8 am to noon and it was interesting to say the least. Our Professora for Curtis, Rachel and I speaks only in Spanish as she is a native Nicaraguan. Mallory, Megan, and Lisa have a native Spanish speaker as well. We are split up into two classes, ours being the beginner level. The first day was very overwhelming but once we got going, it wasn’t too bad, just a lot to learn on the first day. It has been an interesting way to learn Spanish being taught in the language, but it is probably the best way to do it, having to understand it and learn to speak it at the same time. It is going well, we have 2 more weeks of it. So as our class ends at noon every day, we have the rest of the day to ourselves, to study and hang out with our families.

Interesting fact: la cara means face in Español so when I introduce my name they have to ask me a couple times to make sure I am saying it right. Ha. Mi mama has taken to calling me Carita, and now I have just started to introduce myself as that!

At least one of my host parents has been home everyday when I get back in the afternoons from class because they have to run their store (which is open from 4 am to 10 pm!), and my cousin, Alejandra gets done with school around the same time. She is 14 and her mom works in Managua, so she lives at their house during the weeks. Also her brother Alan, is 21 and lives with them as well. Their brother Nestor lives here also and is a Doctor in Leon. They have 1 son, Christian, and he is my age. Mi mama is pregnant and is due in February, so I am sad I won’t get to see the baby but they are all very excited for that! It’s a full house, but at the same time they aren’t always home at the same time. Their meals are not eaten together as well, which is interesting to me, not even supper. For breakfast everyone leaves at different times, for lunch not everyone is home and then for supper everyone just eats whenever they are hungry. Usually they serve me first and then come and eat after me, which sometimes is around 8 pm. Their table is in the same room as the living room, and so they just eat around there, not necessarily at the table. Also, they feed me so much at meals! The portions are huge. They don’t necessarily eat that much, but they sure give me the biggest plate and fill it up. I always TRY to finish the food, but rarely ever do. I have had to tell mi mama, “menos” (which means less) so many times and still have so much on my plate! They are very gracious with their food and I understand that. I am going to have to think of a nice way to say I never eat that much and hopefully they will start to give me smaller portions!

It has been interesting walking around the city. The houses are all pretty close together, with most of them being pretty run down and small. Most all of the houses are open to the outside somehow too. This gets ventilation going in the houses because they do not have air conditioning. It is interesting though when it rains because the hallway that my room is off of in their house is open halfway to the outside and so it rains and you can watch it from the living room. The houses are all much the same in the insides, at least the ones that I’ve seen, in that they have one living room/kitchen area and then a hallway with bedrooms off of it. There is also sometimes a laundry/sink area in the way back of the house. It is different to get used to, but not bad at all.

Another thing that has been different to get used to has been sticking out as white North Americans (they are Americans too, so we have to be careful to call ourselves North Americans). There are no other white skinned people here AT all, and we very obviously have white skin and light colored hair. So, walking throughout the city people take notice of us and sometimes stare as if they’ve never seen white people before. Lol. They often will refer to us as “chelles” or “chellitas” when they notice us passing by or when they want us to buy something from them. I don’t understand why they feel the need to call us out, but we are different to them so they do.

We are sitting at this here café called Café la Rosita (la rosita is little rose) and it is super adorable. The coffee, drinks and pasteries are super cheap here so this is our second time coming here this week. We came here for lunch today and I had a BLT. Yes, they have BLT's here, it made me feel right at home! We also get internet here, which we don’t get at our homes, so that is a plus. Well I am off to do some studying Spanish, and tomorrow is Friday! We have a scavenger hunt of Leon tomorrow, and then on Saturday us 6 plan to go to the beach, which is only about 20 minutes away. SCORE!

Some picturesssss..us 6 on our way to León to meet our host families, 2 volcanos in the background...