Crrrkkk--Bing!

Cows.  Why don't we have cows wandering the streets of the city?  And horse-drawn carriages.  What happened to those?

I'm just saying...

I like it here with the cows and horses.  It's cozy.

sshhhrrrrp--bing!  Next topic...

Today we went up to one of the volcanos and took a tour called the Canopy Tour.  We climbed up into the trees, were hooked to wires, and then zipped from one tree to another. It was thrilling!  And then, at the end, we rappelled down the last tree.  Really fast.  It actually startled me, but it was so fun.  I love it when my stomach jumps up into my throat.  The road up the volcano was extremely bumpy...I can't believe their cars make that trek twice a day.  When we were ready to go back down, we discovered that the truck had two flat tires.  So rather than drive all the way back down, we walked for a little while, and then drove the rest of the way when another truck met us.  I'm sure they weren't thrilled to have flat tires, but it worked out well for us, because we got a little walking tour of the forests there.  There were these really cool birds with hanging nests and yellow tails, both of which they're named for.  We saw a monkey too!  Don't worry, didn't bite us.  He was alone, and we think he was sulking because he was all alone hunched over on a branch.  It was quite a pleasant walk, and I'll admit, much as I enjoy Granada, it was nice to get out of the city and hike a little.

ssshhrrrp---clnkfrglbrrrrr----bing!

OoPs, better have that looked at...

Yesterday afternoon we had a little party at the school with some of the old and new students, and of course, the professors.  We got Mojitos (Mother, do we still have our mint bush?  Don't get rid of it, mmkay?), kebabs (you buy kebab!), and dancing.  Pablo, the guy who taught us some dancing at the school the other day, made sure we were invited to a bar that evening with the group...and since I'm not big on going out and hoping I'll meet complete strangers at a bar (I'm boring, I know), I was happy to have the opportunity to go with a group of people I knew.  We left the party a little early to accompany our landlady/hostess/friend to a church service.  Later that evening we went to a bar with the group from school.  It was an interesting evening.  We started walking, and then they decided we would go somewhere a little farther away, so they hailed a taxi.  There nine of us.  It was a normal sized taxi.  And what do you think?  We all fit in.  It was...how shall I say...a bit crowded.  When we got to the bar, it was open, but no one was there, so we walked farther down the road to another place and sat down.  I really have to mention that I was quite the bell of the ball, and it was a very strange experience.  I danced quite a bit.  The guys at our table kept asking me, and then a man from another party asked me...and raved about me afterwards.  I find it a bit ironic, because when I go dancing at home, I never get asked.  I usually either sit on the side, dance by myself, or dance with the other girls who aren't getting asked.  So this made for a nice change, I suppose.  We turned in a little earlier than everyone else did, since we had a fairly early morning the next morning (this morning).  But it was fun.

Okay, that's all for now, I suppose.

Did ew know...?

Everyone needs a healthy level of crunchiness in their life.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Charitys:  I'm very pleased you found me.  I hate being lost!  And I'm very glad we've been reunited.

SaraBee:  Cruncy Zac...I approve.  And no, dear, I'm afraid I'm not...afraid.  Hmmm...perhaps that was poor wording on my part...

Things That Make Me Feel Crunchy

-Having people bring me things I want instead of making me get it-
We went to Laguna Apoyo with Uncle Gerard, and hung out again with his wonderfully diverse group friends (a few of which we already knew from a few weeks ago, which was nice). When we went down to swim in the lake, someone was sent to bring us lifejackets while we just waited down by the water. Not that we knew where the lifejackets were anyway...but meh. Of course, we didn´t wear our jackets...that´s totally uncool...and uncomfortable...but we did enjoy floating on them and riding the waves. I also managed not to get burned, which is a definite plus. So in that sense (and that sense only) I am not crunchy, as I was not burned to a crisp this time.

On a side note...I suppose I should mention that when I was burned before on the way to Uncle Gerard´s island, my legs grew a sense of humour. Whereas I used to burn, peel, and go back to being white, they decided to tan a little this time. The result? I now have a very splotchy and uneven tan on only one side of each leg, and a clear cut-off line just below my knee. Little scamps.

-Sitting in a pool drinking coke and whisky-
Farther back from the lake, they had a covered patio with food and drinks, and right next to that was a sort of private pool with a little water fall, and then a small corridor of water that led to another small pool with a stone bench built into. So Elizabeth and I sat in the little pool with our drinks feeling very crunchy indeed.

-Understanding conversations in Spanish-
Sometimes I´m completely lost, but if I pick up on the context and I listen really closely, I can actually follow the vein of some conversations. It´s very exciting. It helps when they pronounce their ´s´s. Here in Nicaragua, they have a tendency to drop a lot of their ´s´s, which makes it difficult to follow. So I´ve just started mentally adding an ´s´to every other word and it usually makes more sense. It´s so silly, really. I mean, i´´s no´like I´d ever drop-r-slur ledders in English. Psh.

-Being a VIP
Well, okay, that might be overstating it a little...but some bratty little part of me enjoys the fact that when that group from our Spanish school went to Laguna Apoyo, they were in the public restaurant and beach area. When we went, we were in a private area with a private pool, hammocks, music, etc. And, of course, excellent company. Come on, you´d feel crunchy too. What can I say?¿? I know people.

-Being told I have nice lips-
Well, that doesn´t really having anything to do with...anything. But since I´m so fond of lips myself, I admit it is a compliment I particularly appreciate. Rather like Anne Shirley feeling crunchy because of a compliment on her nose, I suppose.

Well, I´m sure there are plenty of other things that make me feel crunchy. But I´ll leave it at that for now.

Did ew know...?¿?
One should be able to center one´s title if one wants.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

SaraBee: I´m sorry dear, your angry face just doesn´t scare me. I think you were going to work on making it scarier. Have you gotten a round tuit yet?¿? Would you like to borrow one?¿? Besides which, I´m sure you´re only angry over the "government employee" thingy because you know it´s really true. Truth hurts, doesn´t it? And regarding sarcasm, never fear, I´ve found ways. I will have Spanish completely mutilated by the time I get home. We´ve already worked on saying things like "Don´t you feel crunchy?" and "Arrow´d!!!" It´s great fun.

Sanna: Tired of Zac´s face?¿? Not possible, I tell you. He´s much too pretty. And Smart Zac is now just Other Zac? Hee hee. He´s been demoted. Now that we know he doesn´t really have to work hard at all. :-)=

Throwing Up Isn´t Fun

Two days ago, I insulted pharmacists, engineers, and government employees...and then I threw up all afternoon and evening. But I´m sure they´re not connected...I´m sure it wasn´t some big payback...right?¿?

So, yeah, that was my last two days. I threw up. I watched House. I tried to eat. I threw up again. I went to sleep. I refused to eat the next day. Finally ate dinner. Went to sleep...and I´m mostly better now. I´m pretty sure there was some more sleeping mixed in there somewhere. Wanna guess what the highlight of all that was? No, not sleeping, silly pants. Not that I´m knocking sleeping. It can be quite pleasant...depending on the dreams...but House wins hands down. Unless it´s House I´m dreaming about. Aaaaand...yeeeahh...if I ever had more to say, it´s gone now. Sorry. Throwing up was kinda my major event.

Did ew know...?
Water is kind of important.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Cas*: re. The ice thing: What a seemingly random suggestion. Don´t get me wrong...it made me laugh. A lot. And granted Scottish dancing on a block of ice sounds like a very appropriate thing to do. The imagery...it´s fantastic...but...what?¿?

Pharmacists

I scoff at all of you who bothered going to school to be a pharmacist.  That's right, consider yourself scoffed.  I'm a pharmacist now.  And so is my sister.  We volunteered at a pharmacy today, and it was a piece of cake...taking pills out of their containers...dumping them in bigger containers...labeling the containers...closing the containers...psh, child's play.

Really, you're all just like government employees, aren't you?  You talk big about how hard and complicated your school and work are, but the only training you actually receive is how to make your job sound hard and complicated.  Government employees play solitaire all day, and you play around with pills all day.

...

*ducks head to avoid volley of tomatoes*

That's weird...wonder where those came from...

Anyquien, that's what we did today.  We helped out in the pharmacy for about four hours organizing pills and what-not.  It's monotonous work, but I enjoy that kind of work, so it's all good.  I'm also pleased with how much Spanish I can understand.  We will be going back tomorrow morning, but I gather she's going to vary our tasks a little so we don't get bored.  Next I'm going to find out that doctors spend their time having wheelchair wars...

Did ew know...?

A is for Bee.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Mother:  Please don't go there.  I don't know what possessed you to give your son the same initials as my Dark Conflicted Men...it's a little strange...but I just prefer not to think about it.

Cas*:  Requests?  Just keep commenting!  I love reading comments.  :-)=  Oh, and also, you can tell me why I can't seem to comment on Susanna's blog site.  OoPs.  Never mind...it worked that time.  Oh, and one more thing.  Can you make it snow here?  :-)=

Graduation Day

Yesterday, we graduated from our intensive Spanish course. We got certificates and everything. Tomorrow we´ll start volunteering at Clinica Alabama, probably starting out helping in the pharmacy...I think. Which means that today...erm...I have nothing to talk about. Stuffs tomorrow, stuffs yesterday, but never ever stuffs today.

So my exciting k-news for now, is:
-We finished watching Buffy season 7, and have now started Firefly. Both shows have Dark Conflicted Men, so I´m a happy girl.
-We´re going out for one more activity with the Spanish School this afternoon, where I think we´ll be learning to make a traditional Nicaraguense bread thingy. But I guess I could be way off...we may be learning to pick mangos with our toes...blindfolded...
-I got to watch House, which was a treat because the connection at our house is really slow and it would take too long to load a show...and believe it or not, we´re not here to spend all our time on the internet. But the connection at the school is much faster, so we loaded it there and watched it a couple nights ago. While eating mangos...mmmm...
I had a conversation with a sales-guy at the Masaya market we went to on Monday. In Spanish, of course. The downside, obviously, is that I had to talk to a man, but the upside is that I carried on a conversation in another language. A fairly simple one, but still...
-I´m on pins and needles to watch the new Doctor Who special. If all goes well, I´ll get to watch it tonight.

Mmkay, enough k-news. Cheerio.

Did ew know...?¿?
The Spanish language doesn´t register sarcasm.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Me-Translation:
Since I know it´ll be asked, my tidbit is based on our viewing of Buffy in Spanish. A remark that in English was something like, "Sure, of course we can do that (in sarcastic tone)," was translated to, "No, we can´t do that." I thought it was funny. Ergo, the tidbit. I´m pretty sure there is no higher authority than Buffy. Except maybe The Doctor.

Mother: Well, as a matter of fact, I did get a bit of a tan. You can even see it if you compare me to...well, me. My arms to my legs. Lovely.

Cas*: I won´t have eye candy for long, since the classes are about over. And then what will I look at? Well, aside from the fact that we´re going through Firefly now, and Mal is one of my Dark Conflicted Men (TM). But hey, if you want to send me a care package, you won´t get any arguments from me!!! :-)=

I´m an Islander

Well, er, no, I´m really not. I´m too white. And I don´t wear bikinis.  Or even a bikini.  But I did spend the weekend on my uncle's island.  The Spanish ambassador and his family came to visit on Friday.  We spent a lot of time relaxing, swimming, drinking coke and whisky, and visiting with friends from other islands.  And how snobby do I sound?  It's all true.  I can't believe how wonderfully pampered I've been over the last weekend.  Uncle Gerard and Maria Celia (I hope I spelled that correctly) have been so generous.  Much as I enjoyed myself, I have to say that coming back to Granada was a bit like coming home, which was nice.  I suppose one can only relax so much.  Or, well, at least I can only relax so much.  And after moving around every couple of days for six months last year, it is fantastic to be able to unpack my stuff.

I could spend a lot more time giving details on my weekend, but quite frankly, I'm not inclined to spend hours on the internet, nor could I really even if I wanted to...so suffice it to say that my weekend was great, and it's good to be back in Granada now to learn more Spanish.  So in case you were wondering where we were (Cassie, ya little minx), that's where we were.  Can you believe it...no wireless connection on the islands.  Psh.  :-)=

Okay, that's enough typing for me.  I'm far too distracted.  Being in the school instead of the house equals mas distracciones.

Did ew know...?

A cold shower when it's hot can be as heavenly as a hot shower when it's cold.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Susanna: Alas, the connection here is slow, so I may not be able to watch the new Zac movie online. But I fully intend to see it as soon as I get the chance. Sure, the movie may be completely predictable, but hello...it´s Zac!  Now if only there was a poster above my head right now that had Zac on it so I could think about him some more.  Oh, look, there is!  No seriously, I'm at the Spanish school right now (my class just ended for the day), and I'm using their internet, and there's a High School Musical 2 poster on the wall in front of me.  How pleasant.

The Plot of the Pugnacious Pests

I know, I know. After a title like that one, you´re waiting for a tale of epic proportions. Well, I´m sorry. I´m tired. My brain hurts. My blood hurts. And I really just pulled the title out of a hat (yes, I have hats in my head...don´t you?). It has nothing to do with anything I really wanted to talk about. I´m going to eat lunch. Maybe when I come back to this I can give you a story worthy of the title.

I downed a truckload of water yesterday. Yesterday being the date of this post, since that´s when I started it. But today, the day after the date of the post, is the day I posted this...post. Yeah. I felt like I was on the verge of a headache all day yesterday, and was barely fending it off with...a truckload of water. Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was that I saw my first gato (cat) yesterday, when we went and helped make tortillas. It was this adoroble, teeny little kitty, all thin and scraggly. And very feisty. She kept jumping all over the perro (dog) and biting and batting, and the dog just sat there...and sat there...it was really funny.

But if you want a story about the title...
We have an ant problem in our room. And they´re not just after the food. I´m not exactly sure what they want, but almost every night they crawl across the wall, past Elizabeth´s bed, to the shelf next to my bed, and swarm. Over nothing. Just the water pitcher...and a few books. When we wash dishes, we have to dry immediately, or they´ll swarm to the dishes. They´re so weird. I think eating isn´t enough for them. I think they´re holding meetings. I think they want to take over the world.
But that´s all. No worries.

In other k-news, yesterday, for the second half of our class, we walked to a woman´s home and helped make tortillas. And then we helped eat them. In the afternoon, for our activity, we took a boat over to one of the islands and relaxed and chatted. It was nice. We sat in the shade, and there was a breeze, so it was very pleasant. And we got una cerveza (a beer) and un vaso de jugo de mango (a glass of mango juice...or something like that) for a dollar each. Which is completely uninteresting, but hey, not everything here can be exciting, can it? I´m so sorry I don´t have any exciting stories about the mango juice. Stop pressuring me. But one of the teachers with us, Josue, is a very good singer and dancer, and he´s also very...energetic...and happy...so that was a lot of fun. I mean, I didn´t dance, but I had fun watching others have fun. Wow. I´m such a waste of space. I´m gonna go rethink my life...

Mmkay, enough thinking. But enough typing too. I obviously ran out of things to say...mmm...about fifteen minutes ago.

Did ew know...?
Tortillas in Nicaragua are easier to make than the tortillas in Mexico.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Cas*: Hmm. I think you may give me too much credit of forethought. Either that, or I´m so brilliant that I plan things like that without thinking. Really, it´s more likely, since this is me we´re talking about, that I simply forgot to tell you the name of the book. But who knows...I could be a closet genius. And as far as the translation...give a few months, mmkay? And yes I have seen that website...and love it...and thanx for thinking of me! :-)=

Mother: Oh, I was nice. Believe me. I didn´t mention any names, did I? And it won´t be me, because even if I do know a lot by then, I won´t have a superiority complex. Or at least I´ll hide it better. :-)=

Cas*: Ha ha. You thought I forgot the name again, didn´t you? Hee hee hee. The book´s called Ender´s Game.

Spanish and Church Classes...

...Or is it the other way around?

Yesterday we went to church with our landlady, Susana. It was a Catholic church, and of course I wasn´t able to recite along with the liturgy, but with some context, I could follow the Bible readings pretty well. For instance, I could not, for the life of me, figure out why they kept talking about food, and a table, and more food. Then Elizabeth explained they were reading about the Last Supper...and it was suddenly so clear! Of course, then I had to ask myself why I hadn´t figured that out already. Why else would they keep talking about food? Anyway, we enjoyed the whole service, but by far the best part was the music. It was typical of a Catholic service, with the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, etc., but with Spanish guitars, harmonies, and singing style. It was absolutely heavenly.

Today, we started our Spanish classes. They will be primarily one-on-one, talking with my teacher for four hours and imroving my grammatical knowledge, vocabulary list, and conversational skills. Occasionally the whole group will come together and doing an activity, which translates as everyone making idiots of themselves, except that one person who knows more than everyone else, knows they know more than everyone else, and tries to act like they don´t feel superior because they know more than everyone else. Each class period is four hours, and we´ll have five of them. In addition to that, every afternoon we´ll have activities that last a few hours, where we´ll go out and see things around the city or the nearby cities. Unfortunately, we´ll probably miss the activity on Thursday, since we plan to be with our uncle in Managua. The activity on Thursday is learning to cook some traditional dishes here...which would be really cool. Ah well, can´t win them all. The important thing is that on Wednesday we will be getting dance lessons, including salsa and merengue, for which I´m duly excited. So far, in the one-on-one, I´m fairly pleased with how much I understand, and fairly frustrated with my lack of ability to respond. Nothing unusual, but frustrating nonetheless.

In our down time, we´re continuing to watch Buffy, which has actually helped a lot, giving us great vocabulary words like slaying, blood, soul, help me, death, devour...I´m rather fond of "sin duda," which means "no doubt." Good old Joss. But kidding aside (well, actually, that´s all true, but in addition to that) we really find that the more we watch, the better we´re able to understand the quick talking, and catch the gist of what they´re saying. It´s a good feeling. Also, some of the annoying characters are less annoying with a different voice and language. On the flip side, some of the delightful characters are more annoying with a different voice and language. Ya win some, ya lose some.

In other k-news, it´s been decided that I have a new Dark Conflicted Man (TM). His name is Ender Wiggin (or Andrew Wiggin), and I suppose he´s the youngest yet, even though he´s 21ish by the end of the first book. But he starts out at 6, so I think he counts as the youngest. He now officially joins the ranks of the DCM (TM) as number twenty-four, and I´m sure he will bear the title proudly.

Did ew know...?
There are too many irregular verbs.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Con o Sin Acompañamiento

Or something like that. Ya know, if you´re ever confused, there´s this great site called www.freetranslation.com where you can get pretty good translations of words. But I can´t promise that will always translate me...so the title above says ¨With or Without Accompaniment..." I hope.

So, Anonymous. What´s a Nony Mouse? Eeehehehehehhhh...shut up. It was funny.

Anyquien (that means anyhoo, for the less me-minded), yesterday we walked around the town twice. The first time was on our own, walking down the main street towards the lake. It´s completely different at night, with cafes, stores, and bars open, and lots of music and street performance. Our apartment is a bit out of the way of tourists, so it´s a little bit of a surprise in that area to see the occasional white person and hear the occasional English word...you know, aside from,"GHhello ba-by, I love u..." Speaking of, **warning**rant in progress** I´m getting ready to start saying "No comprendo" when they start with the catcalls in English. "Lo siento, yo hablo Español solamente." If they´re going to catcall, they might as well do it in Spanish so I can learn something. **rant over** Anyway, it was a pleasant walk (the temperature is very nice here when the sun goes down). We did try to start out at a strolling pace, and were succeeding, but with the busy restaurants came more hassling, and by the time we´d passed all the stores and were well on our way to the lake, we found ourselves at a brisk walk. Well, a speed walk.

After making our way back to the apartment and having dinner, we were invited on a walk by a guy who works here. I was amazingly able to enjoy our walk much more, without having to worry about where we were going and ignoring what went on around me for fear of being hassled some more. It´s not like they´re mean, but I tend to hate attention from men in any shape or form, so there you have it. It was great to take in the music and sites around me. It seems to be traditional to have someone with a dress over them that´s about twice as tall. They have a square they can see through that´s about halfway down the dress, while the dress itself has arms attached and a head at the top. The person will spin to the beat of drums, spinning this way and that, while the arms flap around with the motion. We saw several of those...while...WHY am I in Nicaragua and hearing Hollaback Girl?¿?¿?¿?¿? How annoying...

Ahem...there was a lunar eclipse last night, which was a big source of entertainment and there were a lot of people around the park with their heads craned upwards. Elizabeth and I decided it didn´t look any different than the normal phases of the moon...I thought of Stephen Fry...and we still kept looking up at the moon. Orlando (I think that´s the name of the man who showed us around...but alas he´d probably laugh and say I was way off...) showed us the lake side of the town, and also the other side we hadn´t ventured to yet. He was also very patient at helping us with our Spanish, which was very nice. He still speaks rather fast, but he´s patient to repeat and restate as needed, and at times I could understand whole sentences, which was thrilling.

Okay, it´s about lunchtime, so I shall wrap this up. *wrap wrap* Shut up. That was funny too.

Tu sabisteis...?
I really hope I got that translation right.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

P.S. Okay, a couple of me-translations. The not a ship thing...it´s about Pirates of the Caribbean. When Jack says, "It´s such a pretty boat...SHIP!" it in reality is a boat. This knowledge is thanks to Max.

I gather that next month is the start of their winter season. Not that it´ll be cold like there...´sigh´...but it should be cooler. Hopefully.

And finally, since it will probably be asked (except it won´t be because I´m answering the unasked question...I am that good...), the eclipse made me think of Stephen Fry because of a little sketch (skit) he did a long time ago, where he mentions a solar eclipse. Not a lunar eclipse, but even the Eclipse gum makes me think of Stephen Fry now, so there you go. When I make associations, I go all...out...is that Shakira? Oooh!

Settings Fixed

Lo siento. Anyone can comment now.

Living Conditions

Well, I still haven´t started Spanish classes or volunteering or any such stuffs, so I´ll dig up something else to talk about. How about our living conditions here?¿?¿?¿ Since I can´t seem to upload pictures, I´ll just describe it.

Our apartment is right next to our landlady´s home, but separate. We have a small but comfortable living room...well, it would be more comfortable if it wasn´t so hot...so even though it´s really cute, we spend most time upstairs where we have fans. Anyquien, the living room has a TV, a bench, and two chairs. Nothing fancy, but like I said, very cute. Right behind that room is the kitchen. We´re well taken care of here, with three meals a day, so we don´t have to do any cooking. But it´s nice to keep some snacks and cold drinks around, so we have a small fridge which we are very grateful for. Cold drinks in this heat is a mercy. And since we´re a bit concerned about ants and small spiders, we´ve been keeping most of our food in the refrigerator too.

The stairs are very steep, and they lead up to our bedroom. My bed is at the end of the stairs, and is actually a mattress on top of a kind of wooden nook, with shelves on either side. Elizabeth has the cot next to it. We have a small closet, and a table with a mirror next to it. The toilet is in a separate room, but there´s no door, which is a little strange. Then the shower is next to that, again with no door, but behind a wall that you walk behind. If that makes any sense. But never mind if it doesn´t. I´m just filling up space. Anyway, it´s very nice for our purposes, and it´s only about a five minute´s walk to the main park which is fun.

Now don´t get me wrong, because I love the comforts of home, but I have to say there´s something very refocusing about living simply for a little while. And without a ton of responsibilities, you´re kind of forced to unwind. So I´m really looking forward to the next eight weeks. My Spanish is already improving a little too. A very little. Huzzah! And that´s all for now, I guess.

Did ew know...?
It really was a boat. Not a ship.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

The Refried Side of Life

I have never liked refried beans. I´ll just say that now. ¿I mean, re - fried? ¿What´s that supposed to mean? (Heh, cool...I found a new toy...¿¿¿¿¿) What, they fried the beans, and then fried them again? Is that like getting second-hand beans? The whole idea was preposterous. But now, having been exposed to delicious refried beans, refried beans in their natural habitat, I have seen the light. They´re beans! And they´ve been fried! Twice!! Honestly, they´re way better here. And the potato salad too.

Well, we´ve settled into our apartment in Granada (about half-an-hour away from Managua, the capital). It´s very very hot here, but as long as we stay hydrated, we´re fine. Next month is supposed to be cooler. One can hope...Next week we start an intensive Spanish class, and soon we should start volunteering with a clinic here. Other than that, we haven´t been up to much here...just settling in. We did some grocery shopping, walked around a bit, dealt with spiders in the room, watched a lizard slither up the wall and disappear through a hole...all very exciting. We´ve spoken a little with the woman we´re renting from, but we don´t understand a whole lot yet, partially because we don´t know much, and partially because they speak so quickly. Ah well. I did bring some movies/shows that have been dubbed in Spanish, so when it´s extremely extremely hot and we want to stay inside, we´ve been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Spanish. You´d be amazed how hard it is for them to capture their funny way of talking in a different language. The subtitles make a fair effort. The dubbed voices don´t even try. Pity.

With the holy week and Easter coming up, there´s a lot going on right now. A bunch of kids (I suppose from a Catholic school) went up and down the street reciting the stations of the cross and singing. They´ve done this several times, and I would guess will continue to do so until the Holy Week is over. On Monday (and I think on Thursday too) they have a traditional performance of the stations of the cross, where they move around to different islands and do a different station on each. We´re looking forward to that and of course any other cultural experiences we get.

I guess that´s about all for now. Except that I´ve been reading a book, and I may have a new Dark Conflicted Man (TM). I suppose it´s a trial period. Stay tuned.

¿Did ew know...?
Flechaste!!!! It means "Arrow´d!!!!" Not anything else.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

P.S. Cas*: Rough translation, we had a great dinner with our uncle, after settling in at his apartment. Something like that. It was a fantastic mix of English, Spanish, and French, so no worries.

P.P.S. Mother: GUS = Go Up Syndrome, as in paying exorbitant amounts of money for a panoramic view just like every other. And pifs means nothing. Or so I thought. But the computer recognized it. Little minx.

They Never Got to Five...

Let me tell you about our exciting adventures on the plane ride here to Nicaragua. Liz and Lod fearlessly elected to sit in the exit rows (for the sole purpose of it being our solemn duty to aid those of lesser intelligence, and having nothing to do with the extra leg room, of course) on the second part of their flight. Having settled in to this very serious duty with all due solemnity, we proceeded to educate ourselves on how we must proceed should anything disastrous happen, by meditating deeply on the force, and also by reading the instructions in the pockets in front of us.

Liz and Lod noticed that while the front and back emergency exits had emergency slides as well, their own emergency exit merely opened up onto the wing where you could step down. However, filled as they were with all equitable earnestness, when the time came, they knew what had to be done. Much as one expects one will never actually crash in an airplane, I must inform you that the pleasure was bestowed upon us. But the situation could be salvaged, and you would have been proud of how calm and collected we were. We pushed open the door at the appropriate time, and as we found ourselves in a body of water, we bravely inflated the the raft, attached it to the plane, and beckoned everyone aboard. All was well. We breathed a collective sigh of relief as we floated away to safety. But as the plane began to sink, it began to take us with it. Lod turned confusedly to Liz. "We followed the instructions all the way through four," said she. "I don't remember a five." And now, as I write to you from beyond the grave, I would like to inform you that there was indeed a five, albeit somewhat hidden. It showed the person detaching the rope from the plane.

That's how it could have happened...but how about this?

Liz and Lod noticed that while the front and back emergency exits had emergency slides as well, their own emergency exit merely opened up onto the wing where you could step down. This was entirely unacceptable. Therefore, when the plane crashed somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico, Liz and Lod, shirking all equitable earnestness, ran to the back yelling, "I wanna go down the slide!!!!!!!"

But here's what really happened.

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"Well that was a good and uneventful flight," said Little Lod. "I got to see all of Keanu Reeve's facial expression, and the cheeseburger was really good."

The end.

Then we were met by Uncle (Tio) Gerard (Gerard) y asentado en el apartamento por la noche, apres un diner fantastique a El Eskimo.

Did ew know...?

There is nothing wrong with mixing the romance languages together.

Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.