Tidbits from the Week

I decided to put together this collection of random thoughts from the week, none of which were long enough to be a stand alone entry. Perhaps it will become a regular “feature” of my blog (though having a feature would make this blog sound much more professional than it really is).

Missing processed and/or American food

This tidbit is pretty self explanatory. In many ways, I have grown to really love many aspects of food culture here in Nicaragua, such as going to the market for fresh fruits and vegetables, eating a home-cooked meal every night, learning to cook and even eating rice with most every meal. However, eating this kind of food every day represents a major shift from my life in Chicago, where I ate out virtually every meal, had countless options representing food from around the world (or at least the American take on it), and had plenty of delicious, processed snacks at my disposal. And there are times when I really miss this stuff. Just reading the words Chipotle and Noodles on my friends blog (thanks Bourne!) has left me thinking about those two restaurants all week and craving a carnitas burrito. Also, the few times that I’ve gotten processed snacks from home like granola bars and cookies, I’ve literally eaten them handfuls at a time. I find this especially concerning because I hope I will have more restraint when I get home or I’m going to gain 50 pounds.

More adventures in teaching English

I guess word has gotten out on my AWESOME (read: horrible) English teaching ability, because the students are lining up…well, sort of. Okay, in reality it’s just two co-workers who are from my neighborhood that I’ve been helping out, but it still feels like a lot since I’ve had little sessions three times this week with mixed success. I think there are a lot of factors playing into why teaching English has proven so challenging for me - a native speaker, once model student and sometimes aspiring teacher. The biggest of all, though, might be the poorly structured and utterly confusing books. I asked Tania, one of the two women I’m helping, to use her book yesterday to prep, and I was baffled by the questions in it. For example, there was one section where you had to unscramble the question to understand question structure. However, instead of using normal, everyday questions, they used these:

partners/How/have/had/you/many
believe/life/you/Do/in/death/after
anything/ever/stolen/Have/you

What?? It seems like there are more useful questions you could be teaching beginning students than these, no? I wasn’t even sure I was unscrambling them right they seemed so absurd!

A good way to enforce rules

Today I did my big monthly trip to the bank (a little different than going to the Chase ATM in my office building once or twice a week). After I got money out of the ATM, I went in the lobby to wait for my friend to finish. The lobbies of banks here are pretty strange to me in general, because there are multiple armed doormen who control the entry, they are air conditioned to the point of being like an icebox (I guess that’s like home), and they are just generally very formal and orderly. Anyway, as I was standing and waiting, my phone rang. This always makes me very excited because I hardly ever get calls here. I picked it up and was staring down as I talked. As I was staring down, I noticed from the corner of my eye a large gun approaching my face (don’t worry, it wasn’t pointed at me). The armed security guard, in a not so friendly tone, asked me to stop talking on my phone. I guess it’s not allowed in the bank lobbies here. Needless to say, I literally ran out of the bank, apologizing profusely, and will never make that mistake again. I guess that’s one way to enforce even petty rules that works well around here.

St. Patty’s in Nicaragua

St. Patty’s Day is a pretty big holiday back in the States, especially when you are between the ages of 20 and 30. I’ve been talking to a lot of people about their plans for the big party, and I am really jealous of most. At the top of the list are those co-workers of mine currently working in Ireland who are both partying it up with colleagues from across Europe this weekend and then getting the day off on Tuesday to watch the parade. My sister will also be in Ireland for the big celebration, so she’s lucky too. Then you have Chicago, which is a pretty good party in and of itself for the States. The river will be green, parades and parties will be happening, and everyone will be drunk off green beer for at least 12 hours on Saturday. Last but not least, you have Nicaragua – a place that, based on my weak attempts to describe St. Patty’s day to a co-worker that were met with blank stares – does not seem to celebrate at all. That is, except for the two Irish bars in Managua that my roommates tried to hit up last year only to realize that the celebration had been moved from the real St. Patrick’s Day to the Saturday before. We’re going to be out and about on Saturday, so we might try to hit up those same bars for a little celebrating. Still, I a have a feeling it just won’t be the same…so have a few green beers in my honor, won’t you?

Thanks for reading!

I missed my chance at the 1,000 hits mark, but just wanted to thank all of you for checking in on me via this blog. I’ve gotten a lot of nice feedback, and I’m happy to be able to bring all of you along on this adventure with me, if only vicariously. Don’t forget to send emails too - even though you know every detail of what I’m up to, it’s still nice to hear from the homefront.

That’s all for now – have a great weekend, and happy St. Patty’s!