The guy driving a motorcycle while holding crutches

He's got somewhere to go.  And walking there on crutches is going to take forever. 


Yesterday I was elected to go find the town welder.  No one knew his name or number but a guy we know told us that the guy who owns one of the bars along the beach has been woken in the morning recently by people doing work on a nearby business and they are definitely having some welding done so go to that place and see if you can find him. 

Where is it?

Do you know where the restaurant ChaChaCha is?  Go to that block (I think it is parallel to the street along the ocean, about 3 blocks back) then look east at the corner and look for someone doing some welding.

I am fantastic at directions but manage to find the corner but not the welder so I go back to bar owner and ask him specifics.  I get the name of the business.  At the same time I also decide to find out the word for welding. I had the forethought of looking up "steel", "iron", and "holes" but had forgotten to look up weld/welder. 

I find the business. At first it seems I am going to be turned away but then I get across that I am not trying to take the welder away from the job he is on now and the owner allows me to speak to the guy and get his name and number.  I check with him that he can weld steel and/or iron and he looks at me as if  I am crazy.  Duh. What else does a welder weld? 

So we've got ourselves a welder.  He starts next Wednesday. But that may mean next month.  Why do we need a welder?  That's another post. 

The rooster crows at dawn and other myths...

We decided to try living in the town of San Juan del Sur instead of in the quiet outskirts.  This is our new view.  The inside of this place is not much to look at but who needs to be inside???  The seal on the fridge is terrible, there is not counter space, we don't currently have a broom or any hand towels and dogs bark and roosters crow periodically at night.  But it is wonderfully breezy, we have a view of the ocean and we can walk anywhere we need to.  Of course, it takes a while because we have a 3 year old to prod along  But it was so nice to go to the beach in town in the afternoon and walk home at dusk-  we ran into to a family whose boy is in Ari's class, some guy just handed us a few mangos and we generally just felt more a part of the town,

Have I mentioned that going to school is a bit of a crapshoot?  I never know who will actually be attending school (and until what hour) until I drop them off.  The 'regular' hours are 8-11am for Calhoun and 8-12 for Ari.  But AT LEAST once a week one of them does not have class.  And at least once a week each of them needs to be picked up early.  Usually at 10am or 10:30am.  So that's handy.

It's beautiful here.

RAIN

It rained tonight. This is remarkable because it has only rained ONCE before in the 2 months plus that we've been here. I had mentioned to a friend at the library that it seemed like it was going to rain and asked if she thought it would. She said no, that the thickness of the air and the fact that it was overcast had to do with fire. But it did. And what a relief. I love heat but it has been pretty unbearable the last couple of days with unrelenting heat and no wind. It feels a little like NOLA or the Philippines- I was sweaty after the effort of... brushing Ari's hair at 7:30 this morning.

But back to the sweaty present:

Almost immediately after the rain started, the power went off. This is not particularly unusual. But then I saw light in the distance and showers of sparks. Visible from at least a mile. So... just for good measure, I shut off the breakers too. But now the rain is gone and although I can see clearly now (except for it being pitch black) it is hot hot hot and there's no power for the fans fans fans.

Trucks, Scorpions and Woman

I stepped on a scorpion last night. It REALLY hurt.  I was glad the kids were asleep so I didn't have to put on a brave face.   But after a few minutes the pain had almost completely subsided.  A neighbor had told me it was like stepping on glass.  That is a very good description.  I thought that is what had happened until I realized that the chances of someone breaking a glass in the bathroom when no one was awake but me was pretty small.  I never even saw the perpetrator. 

Someone pointed out to me that I pitch my voice higher when I speak Spanish and ever since they pointed it out I have been noticing it.  I know that when I was learning Czech I tended (and frankly enjoyed) copying other female native speakers that were fairly nasal in their speech.  I am not even sure how common it was since I was never that great at it-  but I am aware that I was a mimic. I don't think I did so in Swedish- probably too young and I don't recall trying to sound like anyone in Ilonggo.  In Spanish, I know that a big part of pitching it higher is because I am unsure if I am saying it correctly or perhaps unsure even if what I am asking makes sense (who doesn't know how to cook field corn, right?) But because I have spent some time trying to get my female younger cousin NOT to sound as if everything is a question, I am frustrated that I am doing it in Spanish.  Granted, I do not want to sound as if I am COMMANDING everything either.  I am a bit averse to that after hearing so many gringos sound brusque in their Spanish.  Perhaps I can find something in between. 

Commanding a truck.  We now own a large double-cab, diesel 4x4 truck.  Because of rough roads it is fairly necessary here.  It felt pretty weird to drive it (or even just to be the owner of it) but let me clarify that the weirdness of it all stems from me as a person, me as a short person driving that big of a thing.  The other day, I was driving someone around and HE mentioned that he found it amusing to watch a woman drive a 4x4 truck. I like to think of myself as amusing but just because I am a woman driving a truck.

Is a woman wielding a scalpel amusing?   I met a surgeon on the beach with her family.  We ended up hanging out and the kids had fun together and I had a nice time talking to them.  And then, as we were calculating the bill, the husband (not a surgeon) made a series of comments to his wife including, "Do you think you're better in math than me?", "Have a drink and dumb it down a little." It was so awkward. I am glad I don't hear that sort of thing from the people surrounding me but it is sad people still feel weird about a woman being smart. 

Sonatinas and Sandinistas

The neatest thing happened with Ari today. She chose a book from the library here. I let her know it was in Spanish but promised I would do my best to translate. She was sure she wanted it. While Calhoun napped, we looked at it. It turned out to be a poem by (Nicaraguan) Ruben Dario, illustrated in a really fun way by Carmela Mayor. The illustrations were mixed media- cut paper mixed with sketches and watercolor and Ari loved it. I loved the poem. I had to look up a couple words on most pages but most of them were such fun words; ivory, sovereign, fairy, dragonfly. Ari was so patient. 

There was something magical about the poem slowly unfolding to us together.

 

 

I also briefly tried to explain how presidents are not solely responsible for a country, why some countries are poor, who the Sandinistas were/are and other light and uncontroversial topics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cliché but true

It is really amazing how few toys you need.  We brought a few toys and the kids almost never play with them.  Ari does use the art supplies we took with us (and some we've bought since) but they spend most of their time:

Playing with the rocks down by the pool (they make us a lot of milkshakes and pizzas with those rocks)
Playing various pretend games in the pool (there are often sea lions and sharks)
throwing shingle pieces at trees
making art out of old boxes
Reading the same books
Building (and razing) sand castles

I keep asking Ari why she likes Nicaragua better than New York.  I think it's because in a way I find it so hard to believe that she doesn't miss her friends, her school, the vast array of food/toys/you-name-it.  But as free-spirited as I consider myself to be, it's me who misses that stuff more than she does.  She has swimming every day, beaches, more time with her parents, stars in the sky and all the mango she can eat.

What else does she need? 

Shoes here!

Ari read "shoes here" in Spanish today.  I have been explaining that reading Spanish is easier than reading English but today was the first time we tried it.  We were at the fast food chain Tip-Top (heavenly refried beans) and she was reading the sign above the shoe rack by the indoor playground.  She was probably aided by context but it was pretty exciting nonetheless. 

For those of you wondering if I ever showed up to the school again after being shamed, I did.  Ari started attending there too.  I made clear to Ari's teacher that I would need very clear directions on any food that I was expected to make.  Calhoun's teacher and I seem to be on OK terms although it seems like we are expected to send him with a juice box and I do not want to send him with a juice box daily.  We will have to take it up with her on Monday.