Back to the Grind

Last night, Gizmo was drooling again, so I did a little research today. I guess some cats drool when they get really nervous or stressed. I think that must be the case with Gizmo. It's like all the pent up stress that he was feeling while I was gone comes out in the form of drool dripping from his mouth.
Anyway, an interesting thing happened at work today. I started a new class, and one of my classmates is from North Dakota, too! There is also a North Dakotan in the Spanish office. She was the one who told me about this class on Friday, and I remember now that she had mentioned there was another student from ND in this class, but I didn't remember it until she found out I was from ND and got excited. She's from Fargo, though. But still, what are the odds that there would be two people from ND in the same Spanish class in Arlington, VA?
We also had an interesting conversation in class. There was this study done that showed that people were really optimistic (I'm not sure the point of the study cause I didn't read about it) and my teacher asked, was the study done with only Americans as test subjects? It was, and she said that optimism is a cultural thing. That reminded me of this part in Reading Lolita in Tehran (I'm reading that book right now) where the author was talking about the American dream.  She mentioned that this is one of the biggest differences between the U.S. and the rest of the world.  We look towards the future with hope and certainty that the future will be better.  Everyone else lives in the past.  They look to their history for answers on how to solve the problems of today.  This means that they spend their efforts trying to return things to the way that they used to be, with the idea that since things were better once, they just have to undo what has been done until they get things back to the way that they were.  I'm not sure if I agree completely, but I do think that a lot of cultures in the world are very focused on the past.  They don't want to let go of the past, so they can't ever move forward.  The difference may be partly because the U.S. has such a short history, we don't have anything like that to cling to.  I think the main reason, though, is because since the beginning, the U.S. has attracted people who looked toward the future.  That's why they moved here.  And now people have this idea that it is the land itself that brings the opportunities.  That's not true.  It is the culture.  It is the attitude of the people here, this idea that you can do anything, and the willingness to work hard to achieve it.  But, as I mentioned before, imagine how quickly things would change, how much better things would become if that belief was a part of every culture on the earth.  I'm not saying everyone needs to become American, but if everyone looked toward the future and worked towards the future, that would make such a difference.
P.S. I'm not anti-immigrant, I just would like every country in the world to provide the same opportunities as can be found so easily in the U.S.  But someone's gotta do the work to get them there :)

Home Again

Wyoming, proof of our excursion.

16 hours, 5 modes of transportation, 3 time zones, and 5 states later I am finally back home.  This has been a really long day, and all I can say is that I think everything was conspiring against me this trip.  I think my Memorial Day trips are cursed.  Last year (which was my first ever) a pheasant flew into my car.  This year the misfortune has multiplied ten fold.  You already know the first half of the story, the trip there.  Now is time for the second half of the story, the trip back home.
Today began better than I hoped for.  We were supposed to leave at 6:00 in the morning for ND.  I was expecting us to not leave on time, so I was really planning on getting to ND at 1pm.  If we were to leave at 6am, we would actually arrive at noon.  Much to my surprise and happiness, we left on time!  We got gas, and headed out of town.

Elizabeth getting her present, a magnet
(she collects magnets)

The road was really foggy, but otherwise the weather was fine.  After about 40 minutes, Heather said, I don't remember this road being 4 lanes for so long!  We knew we got on the right road, so we were confused because it seemed like we were no longer on the right road.  The fog had obscured the road for a while, but we were certain there had not been a sign telling us to turn off.  A little later we realized we were driving west (Erin's car has a compass in it).  That started us worrying that maybe, somehow, in the fog we had missed the sign, or that at one time when we were passing a semi-truck that we had missed the sign.  But we didn't know where we were.  We pulled out Erin's little atlas, and soon realized that we were in Wyoming, and about 60 miles in, too!  We pulled over at a rest stop to get a map and see if there was a shortcut back rather than just going back the way we came.  They didn't have any maps to take, but I did find a map pinned up in a display.  From that we could see that our best option was to retrace most of our steps, then head north just before crossing back into South Dakota.
I took over driving, and ended up driving the whole way back to North Dakota.  It turns out that our short cut only saved us 6 miles.  We ended up taking 2 hours and 139 miles just to end up less than 13 miles north of where we had started.

Ceramic earrings for Colette.

Anyway, we made it to Bowman where we dropped Heather off at her car.  From there we headed east to Bismarck.  By that time I could tell that we were going to make it back to Bismarck only an hour late or less (good thing I planned for us to be delayed an hour).  I let Colette know when I would be back.  After I hung up the phone, it started raining really hard!  I could hardly see in front of me.  Erin wanted me to  pull over, but I just slowed down.  There was no way I was going to let rain make me miss out on spending time in Bismarck.

And wood earrings, too!

We made it back by 2pm.  I went to the Shaw's where my sister was, with no clue that I was in North Dakota.  She was really surprised to see me, to say the least.  Colette arrived soon after and we had lunch.  We also started watching a movie.  We got maybe half way through before I needed to leave.  Colette took me to see her condo, and her new cat!  Then we went to the airport.  We had to drive a round-about way because Bismarck Expressway was closed for a long distance.  But we made it with about 45 minutes before my plane was supposed to leave.  I already had my boarding pass, and wasn't checking any luggage, so I didn't need anymore time than that.
I sat down and checked the monitors (Bismarck's airport is so small that it doesn't matter where you sit, you're in easy reach of everything: the gates, the restrooms, etc.).  According to the monitors the incoming flight was delayed, but my flight was on time.  I got a little suspicious of the monitors when it said my flight was boarding even though there was no plane at the gate.  I got onto the internet and saw that the incoming flight hadn't even landed yet.  By this time, according to the monitors, my flight was final call.  The plane landed a few minutes later, and soon they started boarding.  But, I knew that I would be cutting it close to get my connection in Minneapolis.

Waiting for the metro, airport in the background.

A little over an hour later, we landed in Minneapolis.  I looked at the time, and as we were taxiing  to the gate, I had 20 minutes before my flight was scheduled to take off.  But, since the flight between Minneapolis and Bismarck is a small plane, I had had to gate check one of my bags.  That meant that not only did I have to wait to get off my plane (my seat was in the back) but I also had to wait to get my bag back.  By that time, I had ten minutes before my flight was supposed to take off.  There were a lot of people in the same boat as me on that flight.  It's amazing how many different flights were leaving at basically the same time.  As a result, they had some carts waiting.  I got on one with a few others all headed to G concourse.  It wasn't as fast as I was hoping for, or rather it seemed slower than I expected.  The first guy was dropped off, then the second, and the cart driver stood there.  I said, I'm at G13.  He said, yeah, that's right there.  I looked, it was G15.  I said, no that's G15, I'm at G13.  So he started off again and let me off at G13.  By this time, there wasn't any time left.

9 minutes for my train, after already waiting 4 minutes.

I ran to the desk, but was told that I was too late, they had already closed the door.  I said, are you serious?  I was really annoyed.  I did NOT want to spend the night in Minneapolis and that was the last flight.  A few moments later, the phone rang.  The lady at the desk was told that they needed to do some maintenance, so she told them she had one more passenger.  I had to check my suitcase, and run down the walkway (or was it a runway in this instance?).  I made it on!
We made it to DC on time, despite the slightly late take off.  Since I had to check my suitcase, I couldn't just leave.  I had to wait at baggage claim.  That was really annoying.  And that is also the reason for my very late arrival home, though it didn't really delay me by that much.  After I got my bag, I got on the metro, though I had more waiting to do there.  Finally, I arrived at my home station, and walked home.
So, in case you didn't catch it: 16 hours (starting at 6 am until midnight, but with two hours time difference), 5 modes of transportation (car, airplane, cart, metro, foot), 3 time zones (Mountain, Central, Eastern), and 5 states (South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota, Virginia).

7 minutes for my next train after already waiting 2.

Deadwood, South Dakota

Playbill from Ford's Theater the night Lincoln was
assassinated.

Our time in Deadwood is now over.  We leave early tomorrow morning to head back to Bismarck.  This has been a really quick trip, even quicker since 12 hours was wasted in Minneapolis.  But 't is life.
Anyway, it has been really cold this whole trip, and it rained all day, which made it even colder.  Despite that, we had a great time.
This morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and drove down to Deadwood.  Deadwood is just 12 miles or so south of Spearfish, where we are staying.  We weren't sure what we wanted to do, so we stopped at the information center.  We decided on the things we wanted to do during the day and set out.

Old fashioned fire hydrant with me and Erin.

First we went to the Adams Museum.  We didn't expect it to be as interesting as it was.  It is a really tiny museum, but despite that, they have a lot jammed into it.  Deadwood is technically considered a ghost town.  It was big during the gold rush (getting up to 15,000 people) but dropped significantly after the gold rush died down.  They turned it into a tourist attraction to save the town.  So the museum went through a lot of that history.  One interesting thing that we saw was a Native American breastplate that had swastika's all over it.

It's raining, it's pouring!

Then we went over to the Adams' House.  It was originally built by the Franklins, who sold it to their son for a dollar, who sold it to Adams.  His second wife left it after Adams passed away, with all of their things in place as if she was coming back, but she never did.  It was empty for 50 years until it was sold to a couple and turned into a bed and breakfast.  That only lasted 6 years before the couple couldn't do it anymore and it was restored back.  All of the household items were still there, so they didn't have to do much to fill it up.  It was really interesting.
Next we went to lunch at Wild Bill's.  The food was pretty good.  They gave me free french fries because I asked if the soup was gluten free (and it wasn't).  Not sure why they felt like they needed to give me free french fries, but it was nice anyway.  Maybe I should do that at every restaurant :)
After lunch, we walked to Nelson's Car Museum.  They had more than just cars in there, they had lots of props from different movies.  It was pretty cool, and admission was free.  That is my favorite kind of tourist attraction . . . FREE.

The Adam's Museum, from the outside of course.

While we were walking back to where we were parked, Erin saw a leg lamp and wanted to take a picture of it.  She said that she wanted to out loud.  There was this older guy who then moved over.  She thought he wanted to be in the picture with it, I thought maybe he was getting a picture of his own and we happened to walk through it at that moment.  Anyway, then he moved over completely in front of the picture and even looked behind him to make sure he was covering it completely.  At least that's how it seemed to us.

Erin peeking around an old brothel door.

Our final stop for the afternoon was Broken Boot Mine.  Broken Boot Mine used to be called Saim's Mine when it was an operating gold mine.  The funny thing is, it was never very successful as a gold mine.  In it's operating years it averaged about 1.5 oz of gold per day.  But it was very productive in other minerals.  It made more money off it's pyrite (aka Fools Gold) then it ever did with gold.  But pyrite is used to make sulfuric acid which is used in processing real gold, so in a gold rush town, that was also an important mineral.  During WWI it was mined for minerals for gunpowder.  After that it was shut down, until it was reopened decades later as a tourist attraction.  It has had more success and been open longer as a tourist attraction.

Wire money from Africa.  Women wore these in their
hair, too.

We went on a tour of the mine, which was interesting.  It included a demonstration of what it would have been like to work by candlelight.  Then we saw what it was like in complete darkness.  I'm not sure where the following information comes from, but this is what we were told.  In a couple hours, you  would start hallucinating, in a month you would go blind, another couple months you would lose your sense of humor, and some time after that you would lose your mind.
At the end of our tour, we panned for gold.  That was pretty fun.  And we got to keep the gold, though it was seeded, so we were guaranteed to get gold.

The Ugly Horse Pub - me and Heather being Vanna White.

After that we came back to our hotel.  We were pretty frozen by that time from walking in the wet and cold.  When we got back to the hotel, we couldn't get the heater to work.  Luckily the manager came and took care of that.  We got dressed up in formal dresses, did our hair and then went back to Deadwood.
I caught the end of the shootout/capture of the man accused of killing Wild Bill, then met up with Heather and Erin to go to dinner.  We went to a restaurant called Jake's, which is somehow connected to Kevin Costner.  I think he may own it.  It was pretty nice atmosphere, expensive food, and limited choices.  But it was still fun.  There was also live entertainment, piano music.  During the night there was a guy who asked to play the piano, and ended up playing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid.  It was pretty cool.  Also, while we were eating a man came up to us and said, "Excuse me, I just wanted to say that you ladies look ravishing tonight."  It was a nice compliment.

That was pretty much my day.  It was a good day.

The streets of Deadwood

Saloon No.10 - old fashioned saloon with
a sawdust floor.  The shootout occurs
right in front of this spot.

The door handles of Buffalo Bill's Steakhouse.

Herbie the love bug!

Broken Boot Mine

Waiting to enter the mine

They would dig until they reached water.

The mine has a steep downgrade from when
the ore was carted out by hand.  It's much
easier to push a heavy cart down rather
than up or even straight.

Panning for gold!

Ready for a fancy night out!

Capturing the man who killed Buffalo Bill

Erin with her drink, something with
cranberry juice in it.

Me with my Apricot Push-Up.  This was actually really good.

Heather got something with rose water.

Snails anyone?  And yes, they branded the pita . . .
This was my second time trying escargot, and I
have to say I liked it better this time around,
though I don't think I would say that I actually
like escargot.

A night out on the town.

I Made It!

Cashwise, a grocery store in Bismarck had water damage
after the floods in 2009, so they're not taking any chances
this year!

First, I want to say thank you to the two people who actually read my posts.  You know who you are :)  Though its a little embarrassing that you are both related to me.  Oh well, it's a good thing I can get past things like that and go on to pretending that I am relevant in the world.
I finally made it.  This trip has been long, but I am where I intended to be.  This morning I woke up early to go to the airport.  I was worried there were going to be delays, but there weren't, thank heavens.  I made it to Bismarck on time, as well, but my ride was a little late :)  We drove by the river to see the flooding.  The flooding is pretty bad in North Dakota right now.  They are having to release water from the dam due to the excessive precipitation from Montana that is flooding the north part of the river.  Releasing the water from the dam is causing flooding in the south.  I think they're just trying to mitigate the flooding in the whole state by controlling the water release.

The river is swollen past its banks.

Then we stopped by Erin's house to pick up some shoes.  It was a good thing we went back because Erin forgot something important.  Plus I got to see her kids.
Then we got on the rode.  We were late meeting up with Heather because we had to go to Erin's house.  But Heather had time to see the flooding in Medora, which she wanted to see.  When we finally met up, we ate at the Trapper's Kettle in Belfield.  The decor was fun, but the food wasn't so great.  They had borsch for soup, but it wasn't good.

Erin with her present from Nicaragua.

We drove south towards Belle Fourche (pronounced Bell Foosh) and just beyond to a little town called Spearfish.  While we were driving, Erin shifted in her seat and all of a sudden lost power to everything.  It was crazy, and kind of creepy.  She just stared at the gauges perplexed as to what happened.  After we pulled over to the side, we realized that the key had been turned to off.  It was weird.  But at least there wasn't a problem with the car.  What with everything else that has gone wrong this trip, it was a relief to not have THAT problem.
After getting settled in to our hotel room, we went to get dinner.  We went to this authentic Mexican restaurant called Guadalajara.  It was really nice.  I talked to our server in Spanish, and because of that ended up talking to her husband in Spanish, too.  It made me feel good because they asked how long I had been studying Spanish.  I told them 5 months.  They asked again.  I insisted 5 months, so the wife asked, no, how many years have you been studying Spanish.  I said, I started in January.  Finally they understood.  You should have seen the look on their faces!  It was utter astonishment.  It made me feel good though.  Plus we had an interesting conversation about language learning that followed.
I am really beat.  It has been a long trip so far.  And I want to have a full day tomorrow since it is really the only day I have.  Then we head back to Bismarck early Monday morning before I have to go back to the grind of Washington DC.

Heather with her present.

The women's bathroom at the Trapper's Kettle.
Two stalls out of order.

An old cop car parked to scare travelers into slowing
down.

Our hotel room.

Inside the Guadalajara

Not sure what this giant ape is for, but we decided to get
a picture with it anyway.

Yum, and very nice family, too.

Not My Final Destination, Yet Here I Am!

Oh the joys of traveling! And that is completely sarcastic in case any of you needed that disclaimer.  For as much as I love going places, I really hate traveling.  The long flights, layovers, delays, going through security, none of that is fun.  But once you get there . . . and up until you leave . . . now that is a different story.  THAT is what I love.

I may be spoiled after the Hilton.  But this is my room
here at the Comfort Inn.

So, the flight was delayed leaving DC, but I already mentioned that.  We boarded the plane just after 7:00, and that was the time that we were supposed to be leaving . . . yeah, exactly.  Then we spent the next 40 minutes waiting until finally someone told us that there were a lot of planes trying to leave and we were waiting our turn.  We were just about to take off when lightning hit the ramp and the airport was shut down.  While we were on the plane.  We waited . . . and waited . . . and waited some more.  Around 8:30 they said we could possibly leave soon.  They opened up the plane for those people who wanted to get off since they were going to miss their connecting flight.  I decided to stay on, just in case.  Plus I figured in any event I would get to Bismarck sooner by staying on the plane.

And the bathroom is definitely not
as nice.

We didn't leave until around 9:15, which was 8:15 Minneapolis time.  It's a two-hour flight, so of course we didn't get to Minneapolis until 10:10.  My flight was supposed to leave at 9:30.  Do you think they waited?  Of course not.  But then again, there were some people whose flight left at 9:50.  They didn't even hold that flight for those getting in.  There were over 140 people on that flight and over half of them missed their connections.  I was one of that lucky half.  I heard that some of the people didn't get vouchers.  I'm not really sure how that was decided, but I at least am not staying in the airport tonight.  I'm not sure what I would have done if they hadn't given me that.
I'm on the first flight out tomorrow morning which is still only at 9am.  So it totally screws up my plans for the weekend.  Well, I've learned my lesson well.  No more traveling on Memorial Day weekend, and if I do, I'm not planning on flying somewhere just to drive somewhere else.  There's just way to much depending on an undependable industry.  And why do we put up with this?  Seriously, they could have held the final flight of the evening for those coming in late.  But no.  Delta doesn't care about its customers.  After all, it is consistently ranked last in customer satisfaction.  Yet I am complicit because I continue to fly Delta.  And everyone else who flies Delta despite the poor service and absolute disregard for the needs of their customers is complicit, too.  But yet, I wouldn't fly Delta if there were more options going to Bismarck.  The other option is United.  I'm not so sure United is better.  I guess I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Or I'll have to create my own third option.  I suppose I could buy my own plane, right?

Just Another Crazy Airport

At FSI they put up fake predators to scare the geese away.
Most of them are cardboard cutouts, but I was surprised
to see this one the other day that looks good except
for the missing legs.  But at least this is 3D.

I am back at the airport . . . this time headed to Bismarck, though not for long.  In fact, I have so little time that I'm not even going to be able to see everyone.  And those I will be seeing will be for a short time, too.  All except Heather and Erin, that is.  We are headed to South Dakota (that is why there is so little time in Bismarck) for the weekend.  I had heard others say how difficult it is to juggle time when you go home, but I had no idea how hard it could be.
I also think I am never going to travel on Memorial Day weekend again.  This is crazy!  The airport is so packed that for a time I had to sit on the floor.  Plus they postponed my flight by nearly an hour.  Luckily I had a long enough layover that that didn't affect my connection.  I also had to do the body scan for the first time.  It wasn't so bad.  Heck, I had to get patted down before I left Nicaragua.  It was just a little weird because after I heard the guy say the woman is clean as if it was a big surprise.  I wonder if I look like someone who would try and do something illegal . . .  Nah, usually people don't suspect me of anything :) Of course that might be because I am a carrot (I just learned today in class that at least in Venezuela they say zanahoria for a person who is straight-laced/straight as an arrow).

And these are some of the baby geese running around the
campus.  You can see how well those fake predators
keep the geese away, right? :)

Anyway, so it looks like I'm going to be moving to the early schedule again.  I'm excited about that.  I really do like that schedule better.  There's just one problem.  I had a follow-up appointment for my LASIK yesterday and they said that some cells got in under my lens.  They may just die on their own, but if they multiply, they'll have to go in there and get rid of them.  So I have to go back in two weeks.  I made the appointment not knowing that I would be in the later class, so I made it for 8:00 in the morning.  I called today to try and change it, but it doesn't work.  I already had to miss class yesterday because of it.  Now I guess I'll have to miss class again.

Murals in DC

I promised myself I would be better about writing after I got back from Nicaragua.  It's hard to feel like I have anything interesting to say when my days are the same.  Well, except they haven't been the same since I got back.  The way the Spanish section works is that there are two different schedules.  We have class for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, alternating.  That way the classrooms are used for two different classes.

Mural.  It says September 11, 2001

I've always been on the early schedule, and I like it that way because I don't like to eat lunch at FSI.  Instead, I wait until after I'm done to go home, eat, take a break from studying Spanish before I get back in.  It works really well for me.  Well Saturday night I got an email telling me I had been put in a later class.  Even though I start and end 2 hours earlier, it just doesn't fit as nicely with me.
I guess I only have a month left, but I would rather not have this schedule.  I got moved into a new class in the afternoon on Monday, but still with the late schedule.  My consultant did say she'll keep her eye open for the opportunity to switch me back.  So far I like the class I'm in, I like the teacher and the students.  It's just the schedule I don't like.  Plus, they're still in the book and I finished it.  I want to just use Spanish where right now we're still spending time on learning the grammar I already technically learned.
Oh well, you can't have everything, right?  And today was a short day, so I walked from work to the bank.  As I was walking, I was surprised to see a couple of murals!  I only took a picture of the second one, though.  The funny thing is, I've made that walk before and didn't notice a thing.  Perhaps this is a demonstration of the change that going to Nicaragua has already had over me.  Now I notice murals.
This week is also a busy week in other regards.  Last night I went to dinner with some friends to celebrate a birthday.  Tonight is Anime night (though we're no longer watching anime), and tomorrow I'm having dinner with some other friends.  But I like having social activities.  I am definitely NOT a work-a-holic.

Back in the U.S. of A.

It feels so weird to be back.  Today has been such a long and exhausting day.  It's weird to think that I was in Managua this morning and am back in my apartment . . . with a very happy/angry cat.  Happy because I am back, angry because I was gone for so long.  He is so moody.  But I'll get to that.

On the way to the aeropuerto

This morning was nice and rather leisurely, other than the fact that I couldn't sleep past 5:30.  I'm not sure why I woke up then because I've been waking up at 6.  But maybe it's because it was the most restful sleep I've had in two weeks, so my body wasn't quite sure what to do about it.  There is something to be said for luxury hotels.  We went to the gym.  The heat was on, so I don't think many people use that gym.  Then after showering, we went to the grocery store to get breakfast and spend the rest of our cordobas.  I got this really good yogurt.  Yum!
We still had time before the shuttle to the airport, so we got ready, packed, and then talked about life.  The shuttle to the airport was much more comfortable than a taxi would have been.  And possibly safer as the shuttle driver didn't seem to drive quite as fast.

Gizmo going insane trying to rub up against me.

The security was kind of a pain.  Not only did we have to do the usual metal detector and whatever they do to the bags, but after we were already at our gate and right before boarding, we had to go through security again!  This time they searched our carry-ons and patted us down.  I guess they must have a big problem with drug smuggling.  But I would have preferred they do that at the beginning.  Because of the second wave, I had to dump out my water bottle.  I get so dehydrated on planes, and they never give enough to drink.
Anyway, that kind of put me in a foul mood and having to sit through a 4 hour flight didn't make me feel any better.  To top it off, I had to go through customs in Atlanta, recheck my suitcase, and get to my gate.  I finally sat down only to discover that although the internet was free in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, it was not free in Atlanta.  I'm afraid I sent them a snotty email.  It is really lame that they charge for internet like that, but I wouldn't have sent an email if it wasn't for the fact that I was annoyed by the process all along the way.  For someone who loves to travel, I sure HATE the actual travel.

Next second angry Gizmo.

My friend picked me up from the airport, though she accidentally went to the drop off instead of the pick-up area.  It was all good, though.  But then we basically immediately went to a party.  I dropped my stuff off and Gizmo was basically freaking out.  He was meowing constantly, drooling (not sure what that was about), rubbing against my legs, and even trying to climb up my leg.
He acted the same way when I got back from the party until he finally got really angry at me.  Sometimes I swear he is bipolar!

El fin

Ivania and me.  This woman is amazing.  She built and runs
this hostal by herself and raised several children with a
husband who just sits around watching tv all the time.
She is a testament to what people can accomplish with
little to nothing when they are willing to work hard.
And she shows that it is possible to do so in your own
country.  I'm not trying to say anything against immigration,
I'm just trying to say that imagine how quickly developing
countries could become developed if they had more
people like THIS.

This will be my last post in Nicaragua.  It has been an interesting two weeks.  I've enjoyed it, despite the occasional bumpy ride.
First, I went to the Feria (fair/market) this morning with my teacher.  We got tamales, and some other food.  It was good.  We also bought some things for our secret friends, whom we were supposed to be discovering later that day.  Rosa had me help her pick out the gift for her secret friend.  We also went in to the cultural center where they had traditional costumes and props for dancing.  It was interesting.

Something other than avocados being sold in the morning.

Oh, I also got hit on by this guy (worse than the usual calling out to me, generally "chelita" - meaning whitey, which is a compliment here, "adios" - not sure why they say this, or "bye" - again not sure on that the reason for that one).  He started off by asking me if I was from Spain.  I didn't realize that I could pass for Spanish.  This was before I said anything, so it couldn't be by my accent.  Then when he found out I was a "gringa" he asked me what my name was.  I told him my name is really hard to pronounce.  He insisted, and since my teacher was looking at some things nearby, I didn't want to just walk away.  I figured, what harm would it do to tell him my first name when he wouldn't be able to say it or most likely remember it.  He couldn't pronounce it (who knew Rachel was such a hard name?) and asked me what nationality it was.  I told him it is from the Bible.  Then he wanted to know how old I was.  I told him old.  He said he was 37 (he looked older), so I said, I'm not THAT old.  By that time, my teacher was done, so we walked away.
Then when we got back to the school, my classroom was taken apart to get ready for the going away party, and for the big reveal of secret friends.

Me eating a tamale at the feria, with my teacher, Rosa.
Here is another of the amazing women I have met since
coming to Nicaragua.  She works as a Spanish teacher,
and as a preschool teacher.  She and her conjugal (more
than a boyfriend but not quite a husband) are both working
hard to improve their lives, paying off their debts, going
to be trying to get assistance to build their own house.

They had cake and snack food for us.  It was pretty nice.  Pretty much everyone had gotten their secret friend a final gift.  Mine turned out to be my teacher!  The little sneak had me pick out my own present.  But it was nice.
Then we had a short time in class before it was over.  We headed to the bus station with our stuff, I with my lunch that my house mom had brought to the school.  When we arrived, the others had purchased out tickets.  That was good because it meant we were all sitting together.
We had a short wait before we got on the bus.  It was actually a lot nicer than I was anticipating.  They didn't use air conditioning, but it started to rain as we were leaving, so it wasn't too hot.  Then the wind kept the heat down.
When we arrived in Managua, we split up.  Three of us got in a taxi to head to the Hilton (me included), the others got in a taxi to head to the Don Pantaleon (the hotel where I stayed the first two nights: nice, but without hot water).

Inside the cultural center.  The symbol in
the center of the waterfall is the symbol
of Esteli.

Our rooms are so nice.  I'm sharing, but that means it was only $50, the same price I would have paid at the Don Pantaleon.  Breakfast is NOT included here at the Hilton, but the fact that I have hot water more than makes up for that.  That was basically the first thing that I did when I got here, stepped into the hot shower.  Then the three of us went swimming, which was awesome.
After swimming and getting ready, we ran to the store, and then waited for our colleagues to show up so we could go to dinner.  We went to this pizza place nearby.  The pizza was good, but I stuffed myself.  I probably shouldn't have done that because of my whole possible wheat intolerance (which is looking more and more likely because the only time I've felt like crap this trip was after eating something with wheat), but it was good.  I had two pieces left over as leftovers, but as we were walking to the Hilton, this little girl kept pushing on my arm to get my attention.  She wanted the food.  She must have been really hungry because she followed me across the street.  So I gave it to her.  At least with giving her food, I know that it won't be used for some other purpose such as buying alcohol for the parents.

Traditional costumes in the Cultural Center (Casazul)

Well, that is nearly the end of my trip.  My this time tomorrow I will be in my apartment.  Now, I'm actually curious as to how many people really read my blog.  I'm not just talking about looking at the pictures, but how many people read through one of my blog entries.  So, if you have read up to this point and are going to read through to the end, comment on this blog in the affirmative (whatever word you choose: affirmative, yes, yay, or any version in another language, but if its a less common language that I wouldn't recognize, put the language name in parenthesis).  This way I can get a better feel for whether I should be writing less and putting more pictures, or if this is good.  I probably won't change how I do my blog, but I might! :)

Part of some of the traditional dances, women dance with
these pots on their heads.  They also dance with baskets.
I wish I could have seen a performance.  I guess I'll have
to come back to Nicaragua to be able to do that. :)

So, to kind of close I would like to make a list, or rather a couple of lists.

First, what I will NOT miss from Nicaragua:
1. The insects, everywhere and every kind, each day discovering a new one where you don't want them to be.
2. The heat bearing down on you even in the morning.
3. The humidity making you drip with sweat.
4. The cold showers dripping out with little water pressure.
5. The repetitive breakfast, fruit nearly everyday!
6. The sun rising so early in the morning and setting so early in the day.
7. The sounds early in the morning that pierce through earplugs.
8. The men calling out to me/hitting on me/staring at me.

The feria.  Lots of fresh produce, ready-made food, jewelry
and other such items.  It was pretty awesome.

9. Seeing how the women struggle while the men sit around doing nothing/treating the women horribly.

What I WILL miss from Nicaragua:
1. The people, generally kind and generous, willing to give even what they don't have.
2. The language.  Nothing beats being able to speak to someone in their native tongue.
3. The long walks, being able to walk everywhere.
4. The home cooked meals (with the exception of the tripe and the pork rinds, I liked everything that my host mother cooked.
5. The interesting murals, connected with so much of the history of Nicaragua.
6. The excursions to see more of Esteli and the near communities.
7. Being able to use the internet on my computer AND my iPod at the same time (but I just need to buy a router).

Some chips of all varieties: yuca, plantain,
potato, and probably others.

8. Being done with classes at noon.
9. The sounds of the streets: birds and people.
10. The sound of a gecko, even though it woke me up in the middle of the night several times.
11. The fruit, really fresh and really good, even though I don't want to eat just fruit for breakfast.
12. One on one instruction, totally focused on me.
There's probably more that I could list in each category, but that's it for the most part.  And really, I think the good definitely outweighs the not so good.  Just saying for those who may be thinking of traveling to Nicaragua in the future.

This was supposed to be ice cream (or at least
that's what I said I wanted) but it wasn't.  Oh
well.

Our party spread.

Getting food at the party.

The bus station.  Pretty nice, right?

The lunch Ivania made and brought to the school for me.

Here's an interesting thing, the different buses
are owned by different people.  Here you
can see who owns the bus you are taking.
If anything happens, you can hold the owner
responsible.

Our bus, the orange one that says EXPRESO.

Rice is really big around here.  Here is one of the many
rice farms along the way to Managua.

It is starting to get green now that the rain has started.

My awesome hotel room.

Good pizza, and pretty cheap, too, but beware, they'll
charge you for a to-go box!

Valenti's Pizza

Not sure who this boxer is, but its one
of the many statues in Managua.

Hilton Princess Managua