Sept 11, 2005

Kris and I have seen each other the past 3 days! We even got permission to spend the weekend together right away. We're starting to realize some of why we’re both having a rough tie, besides the separation. For Kris, it’s a combo of sickness and being an introvert in a gregarious society, in a job that expects a lot of close contact with people. And they speak much better Spanish than we do.  For me, I realized that I’ve been treating the whole thing as a short-term missions trip or extended vacation. I haven’t even unpacked my bags, yet. I’m realizing that I’ll never be comfortable or confident here until I can call Nicaragua home. So, I started getting creative with hos to organize my stuff and spruce up the place a little. It’s actually quite fun! I have a few interesting cultural factoids about life here:

• The people on the street say "¡Adiós!" as you pass by, not "¡Hola!". If you say "Hola" or "Buenas Tardes", they think you want to stop and talk.
• They love their plastic baggies here. They will even pour your Pepsi or Fanta out of the bottle and into a baggie for you to take with you. You rip the corner of the bag with your teeth and sip. I think it’s so that they can return the bottles for a refund.
• Estelí is teeming with internet cafes, sidewalk vendors, narrow roads, on-storey buildings, and small stores that resemble ramshackle mall stores, but open to the street.
• My first pair of really nice jeans cost me C$145, about $8.53 US. My second pair only cost C$140.
• It costs about $6.50/hour to call home from an internet café, and half that on Sundays. However, we only get paid the equivalent of about $18/week, so that can really cut into the savings. Using email is much cheaper, since it only costs about 60 cents/hour.
• There is cell coverage in much of Nicaragua, including Estelí, and several people, even the poor, have them, because incoming calls are free. Calling a cell phone costs double, since the initiator has to pay for the air time. It’s not as typical for rural families to have cell coverage, though.
• Learning a new language is REALLY hard and confusing.
• Everyone here believes in God and Jesus, but I haven’t been invited to a single church yet.
• I’ve been hiding the camera thus far, until I can find a place to develop digital photos. I don’t want to take people’s pictures unless I can give them a copy. I have snuck a few backyard views, though.
• Music here is a strange mix. There’s plenty of ranchero music, the type you might hear in a Mexican restaurant, but there is also a lot of regetón, a modern hip-hop/reggae mix that doesn’t have very much musical or lyrical value, but has a catchy beat. The most surreal thing is the 80s, 70s, and even 50s music, which seems to have a fairly popular following here. Some are even covered in Spanish.