Little Lod's Life Chronicles: Soaking Up Spanish

Nuevo Blog

2010-01-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

Hola, amigos. Estoy regresando a mi blog original. Es público ahora, entonces puede mirar si quiere. Yo lo extraño por que lo tiene mis listas, fotos, y Dark Conflicted Men (TM). Para celebrar mi regreso, escribí un artículo de Walmart y cómo personas deben hacer de compras allí. ¡Gracias por su attención!

Hello, friends. I am returning to my original blog. It's set to public now, so you can all access it if you want. I've missed it because it has my lists, pick-too-rays, and my Dark Conflicted Men (TM). To celebrate my return, I have written an article about Walmart and how people should go about shopping there. Thanx for you attention!

Here's the link...

snivelluslyozalan.spaces.live.com

Did ew know...?
Disney likes to ruin things.
Thank you for choosing Lod's Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Pik-too-rays: Clinical Madness

2009-07-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

1:16 am -- I've gotta stop making these posts in the middle of the night. My brain does frightening things. Er. Frighteninger.
5:05 pm -- The problem is, now I'm under pressure to be sane. I can't take that much pressure.
6:45 pm -- But I'll take a shot anyway. Well, as you probably know, we did a lot of work at Clinica Alabama, a medical clinic in Granada for those with very little income. I got to try our hands at several different tasks (the harm to my pronoun regulator is irreparable, I fear), one of which was helping to organize their rather messy and scattered pharmacy. Now, I happen to do very well with menial and monotonous tas---er, moiling, that is, a monotone metier if you will, but I'm afraid my dear sister gets rather bored rather quickly. She begins to amuse herself in any way available, and though I'd be content to let my mind wander, who am I to turn down a bit of...patternizing...and playing...with pill packaging.

We made all kinds of patterns with these bottles...and I mean all kinds. I just selected one for your enjoyment. But, O, and Lo, the suspense each time of what pattern we would try next, I tell you, the joy is uncontainable. Or unattainable. No, it's the first one.

Sometimes we shook up the order of things. Rather than do one bottle at a time, we'd open all the bottles at once. Elizabeth decided to make a lovely pyramid.

And not to be outdone, I proceeded to make an upside down pyramid...and then some.

Now, at first glance, this may look like just some stacks of pill bottles, but if you look closer, you'll realize it's a very intricate design to give that 3D appearance. There are actually three layers of barcodes here, arranged very deliberately, and I have to say, I could stare at it for hours. No, I really could.

I have one word for you: Furosemide. That little devil of a pill will be in my nightmares for years to come. They were little pills that came in those punch out packages, but the material was paper instead of that aluminum stuff, so they wouldn't just punch out. You had to individually rip each one out. The fastest way we found to do it (which was not actually fast at all) was to cut zigzag patterns across the packaging and then peel back the paper. The result was a bunch of gold coloured strips with spikes on one side. Now who wouldn't look at that and think crowns? Honestly? So we saved some strips and made Furosemide crowns. And then modeled them.

And if ever I got bored of pills, there were plenty of other things to get creative with. Here we have scissors, tape, a marker, and a container of paper strips for labeling. I can make art out of anything. You give me an anything and I will give you the whole world. Or, ya know, art.

And in case you were starting to doubt it, yes of course we did other things. Here I'm helping fill prescriptions. Or rather, taking a break from filling prescriptions and looking...what? Bored? Wistful? Mischievous? In love with my water bottle? Well, I was that. I mean, look at the thing. It's beautiful. I'll tell you what though. And something else too. You know how people say their math classes are a waste of time? Well it's a good thing I took all my math classes. I would have been lost in that pharmacy if I hadn't learned to count to sixty. And with all the preceding numbers too. Them pharmacists have it real tough, man.

And now, to give you a break from the clinic and to close off my Nicaragua posting, I give you...my legs. But not just any legs, I...well look at those beauties. "Lobster red" doesn't do them justice. This was the only time on the trip I got burned, and when I get burned, I do it with style. I mean, I've got four colours going on there. If you count white as a colour. And off-white as tan. I could barely walk for days. And the cruel, cruel irony of life is that the one time my sunburn turns into a tan, it's splotchy and uneven, with clear lines where the strings of my capris were. I defy anyone to have a more stylish sunburn.

But wait, there's more! We're not done with my legs yet! The mosquitos decided my legs needed even more distinction. I look diseased.

So there you go. My Nicaragua Chronicling is done.

Did ew know...?

Spiders are good at playing dead.

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

Cas*: Ew. I hate Spongebob. But if you mean to say they're cute, I heartily agree. ;-)= Our allergies were not bad at all. The heat (and consequently the headaches) was much more of a problem than allergies were. Also, hardly any kitties ( :-(= ), so again, no allergies. There are more pics, if you're interesting in seeing them sometime. I do actually have them on a CD, so we don't have to wait for Elizabeth, if you're interested. Or did you see them already? Oh, and I'm glad I have such a strong power of suggestion. :D

Pik-too-rays: The Side Trips

2009-07-20T23:01:00.000-07:00

12:17 am -- Well, I discussed Granada, our home away from. I really loved it there, heat and all, but of course there were some things we really had to see outside of Granada since we were in the country. I mean, how lame would "There are tons of volcanos" "How many did you get to see" "None really, but I hear they're nifty" sound? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Amn't I cute? I loved those hammock chairs. I loved them so much that I bought two when I got the chance. They're sitting in the corner of my room. I hear you're supposed to use them, but meh. N-E-wayz, here is me on El Mango Falls, my uncle's island.

Here's a nice shot of the island...

...and another...

...and another, from a distance this time.

When we visited another island, this was the view we got. Lovely, neh?

Oh, the irony of life. The room we were invited to stay in on the island was called "The Spider Room." It was pleasant though, with air-conditioning, and I'm happy to say that I encountered no spee-drays. (That's "spiders," for the Rebeccalese deprived) Which means either that there were none, or they waited until night to attack with their knives.

Aren't they cute? Uncle Gerard and Maria Celia on El Mango Falls. There was a nice plaque in prominent view on the island sporting that name, which I still didn't realize was the island's name until someone drew the connection for me. I...thought it was a random tiled display? Score a point for Rebecca's deductive reasoning.

This tour was handy-dandy-notebook fun!!!! We drove up one side of the Mombacho volcano, where they had these zip-lines set up between trees. We were harnessed in, and got to zip from tree to tree on these ropes, really high up. I can't even stress how fun it was!!! And I'm pleased to say that I don't look totally ridiculous in a harness, though the helmet was iffy...I'm sure I could have survived smacking into a tree...George does it all the time....

Well, no one really said, but it sure looks like bamboo to me!!!!! Bamboozled!!!!! :D Bamboo makes me very happy. This was on the hike back down the volcano, as the truck desided to go and flatten all its tires. Lazy little minx.

Xavier y Susana took us to Caterina one weekend. Isn't it lovely? Oh, and the water's quite nice as well. This photo also features the elegant half-liter water bottle, the near constant companion.

Aw, aren't they cute? These were the taxis in Caterina, and yes, we took one. I mean, no stealing or anything...just went riding in one.

This picture demonstrates a few useful pieces of information. One is that when we biked to Laguna de Apoyo, the bikes only took us so far. We had to hike the rest of the way. Secondly, we did said hiking (and almost everything else) in those fantabulous Adidas flip-flops, that had incidentally already seen us through a six month trip, with equally a great deal of action. Impressive little shoes, those. Only excepting those are in fact not the same flip-flops...OoPs. Well, I'm wearing the Adidas. You just can't see them in this pic, but that's...completely not important. So thirdly, Elizabeth seems to have been more affected by that monkey bite than we had realized.

Dali kept claiming all the mischief ocurring in the water was pescados (fish) and not himself, throwing rocks and attacking us under water. Psh. I'm holding one of said pescados. It's such a rocky looking fish.

Dali, Angelica, and Elizabeth on their bikes on the way back. The way back was pleasant. The way back was easy. The way back was downhill. What of it?

Our trip would not have been complete without seeing Ome Tepe, the largest island there, with two volcanos. This require more time than other side trips, so we spent two nights away from home sweet Granada. Here is one of the volcanos as we're approacing the island. And yes, there always seems to be smoke around the top of the volcanos there. Very cool.

I kid you not...they're frogs. We were crossing a little bridge, and saw a largeish puddle with swarms and swarms of weird black beetle looking thingies. Hopping. As the others walked away, I bent down to look closer...well, I'm sure you can see. They're frogs.

We were able to get even more out of the way at the mineral pools of Ojo de Agua. It was quite lovely and relaxing.

And also someone provided Elizabeth with birthday cake, since it was her birthday and all. Couldn't have planned her birthday better if I tried.

Later that night, our newfound friends (Ryan and Rebecca) had dinner at the same place we'd been eating for every other meal...it was locally run, cheaper, and much much tastier than other places. Well, THE other place. We really didn't have many options. There's that Tona beer again. And the giant water bottle that had by now replaced the small one. Forget the pain of having to lug that monster around...it was way better than the pain of a dehydration headache.

12:16 am -- Seviche. I'm going to get that typed before I forget it. I'll be back in a mo' to explain further.

12:55 am -- Ah. Here we are again. Seviche is a traditional appetizer dish with fish, garlic, onion, seasonings and citrusy stuffs and then crackers to dip in it. Of course, it ended up being our whole meal rather than an appetizer, due to some confusion, but it was quite tasty, so we weren't complaining.

This was the view from our hostel's deck. It was very nicely situated. I have to say, much as I loved staying in one place for most of this trip, hosteling it for a few nights reminded me of Europe, and it was far from an unpleasant reminder. Part of me misses the crazy moving around. Just part of me.

Uncle Gerard took us to a crater. It smoked a lot. I guess no one warned it against lung cancer.

O shut up. It was funny.

Having been invited on many adventures by our dear friends, we were happy to return the favour and invite them out to the island. All six of us had a blast!

Dali noticed some people fishing around a neighbouring island, and called them over to buy some fish off them. We cooked them, seasoned them (they used salt on most of them, but I insisted on Tony Chacheres), and...

...ate them.

Our final side trip, right before heading to Managua and then home, was San Juan del Sur. Not really my cup o' tea, as it's a beach town, but it's just one of those must sees. The town though, was actually quite pleasant. I don't suppose it's its fault for being next to a beach. The pink bottle there is mayo. They call it creme. Weird.

They were actually quite good. Nothing all that special, but we were hungry, and the sauces were really nice.

I suppose I couldn't really get away without a picture of the actual beach. So here I am, getting about as close as I wanted to. Of course I did walk along the beach several times. And what most people would consider to be not a great beach (it's much "nicer" on the other side where the nice beach houses are), I was rather pleased with, since most of the sand was damp and therefore not hot and sharp and sinky and irritating. But it still got everywhere.

Aaaaahhhhh. When it's that hot, you have to appreciate frappuccinos. It had been months since I'd had one.

Nacatamale is a traditional breakfast there, especially on Sundays. It's quite good, and we had it several times. On Sundays, of course. Also cafe con leche, which is very good there.

Now this is my idea of fun at the beach. I beautiful beach house, where you can effectively shut out the beach and enjoy a lovely pool instead. Complete with hammocks.

Well, that's it for the side trips. Only one post remains.

Next Up: ............I don't know...something.

Did you know...?

When you look in a mirror, you can see what's behind you. Unless it's a vampire.

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

Pik-too-rays: Granada: Six Fixed Pics

2009-07-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

Heh, say that ten times fast...

So once again, some pics decided to be sideways. Little scamps. Here they are not sideways. I even provided the descriptions again for your convenience, though I can't promise they'll all make sense without the context of the others. Of course, I can't promise they make sense anyway, but all the same, I'd recommend you read the original post first, and then look at these pictures upright. Upright and steadfast. Like a bell. And a lizard. Like a lizard on a bell eating a tortilla. Yeah. Man, I'm tired.

On our little tour of Granada which our school took us on, we got to go up into the bell tower of a church and have a lovely view of the yellow church and the lake beyond. They had signs saying not to ring the bells. Which of course I had no temptation to do until I saw signs that said not to ring the bells. Sometimes there's no justice in the world.

Inspite of my lack of attention, I did manage to draw my eyes away from the kitten long enough to make my own tortilla.

Gustavo is the pharmacist at Clinica Alabama. We loved working with him, which was good because we worked with him a lot. You'll see in the third picture post just what that grueling work entailed.

This was another, though slightly less frequent, favourite snack...mangos!!!! Yummy.

Look, I had a friend!!! Actually there were lizards all over the place in the homes. And they make the cutest little clicking sounds. I was very pleased that this guy showed up to say goodbye. In case you can't make sense of the picture, the wall next to my bed was cement, and had a row of those holes in it. I assume in order to keep bugs out (which I greatly appreciate because there were swarms of mosquitos), they had a screen on the inside of the holes, and my friend is sitting on the outside of the screen.

Here I am ready to leave for the last time ('sniff'), with only my small bag packed and ready for San Juan del Sur. We had sent the rest of our luggage to Maria Celia's home for safekeeping while we were gone, to be picked up on our way to Managua later. Which was without doubt more info than you needed. No worries.

Pik-too-rays: Granada

2009-07-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

What? It hasn't been that long. Maybe almost that long, but not quite. Anyhoos, since I don't currently have the next Ender book, and won't until the library opens, which is, in fact, tomorrow, I decided I ought to attempt to finish up my travel blogging. And hey, it's what you've been waiting for...pictures!!!!!!!

Maybe it seems wrong to you for me to open up my Granada pictures with one that is not, in fact, in Granada. But there are probably many things about you that seem wrong to me, so how's about we just leave that where it is. This is our luggage. Which may seem unimpressive, but when you consider that before we had giant backpacks to lug around everywhere, you can perhaps understand my excitement to have only carry-ons.

On our little tour of Granada which our school took us on, we got to go up into the bell tower of a church and have a lovely view of the yellow church and the lake beyond. They had signs saying not to ring the bells. Which of course I had no temptation to do until I saw signs that said not to ring the bells. Sometimes there's no justice in the world.

One might wonder why in the states, we're all about the grey and brown houses with little to no variation...ever...when people in other countries have buildings like this. I say One might wonder, as I do indeed wonder, and so I wonder if One might not wonder too.

On one of our field trips with our school, we were taken to a nearby woman's house to make (and of course eat) tortillas. There happened to be a kitten there...one of the only kittens I saw on the whole trip. I wasn't paying much attention to the tortillas.

This cat would not leave the poor dog alone. She kept pouncing and jumping and slapping, and the dog just sat there and did nothing...it was fantastically funny.

Inspite of my lack of attention, I did manage to draw my eyes away from the kitten long enough to make my own tortilla.

Look, I graduated!!! I actually learned Spanish!!! This is my teacher, Maria.

We learned to make churritos at the school. Here I am expertly rolling them as Janine watches my grace and epertise with envy.

Angelica proceeded to fry the churritos we had rolled. They were quite tasty.

We later had a party for all the students still in the area. They made mojitos. We helped by squeezing the limes...ow...but it was worth it. Oh, and the Victoria is their local beer. That and the Tona. The Tona seems to be more popular, at least with the men. To me, they both taste like beer.

Here I am at the Cocibolca Jockey Club that my uncle belongs to. He got us guest passes. It was very relaxing and quiet there.

On our way out of the jockey club, we spotted these horses on the island in the middle of the road. It was such a bizzarre sight to a city girl like me, so a picture was needed.

Thanks to a small refrigerator our uncle provided for us, we were able to keep a few snacks and things in stock. Our favourite by far was the vanilla waffle wafers. You see them here, along with our homemade mint iced-tea. I had some tea bags, so we took the last of them, made hot tea, put that in one of the water bottles and left it in the refrigerator. It was so refreshing, especially considering how HOT it is there.

??? It's by the main square, I can tell you that. I've no idea why it's crooked like that, but I like it.

This is a nice view of the main square. The yellow church is on the left (clearly) and the central park is on the right.

...'sigh'...Moving on...

This is the old church...I think it was used before the yellow church. But now it's just old and cool looking, neh?

Carita Feliz kids!!!! Aren't they cute? Well, as cute as kids can be.

This was our standard breakfast, with occasional variation. Watermelon, melon, banana, and pineapple, plus bread and an egg, and coffee to drink.

Gustavo is the pharmacist at Clinica Alabama. We loved working with him, which was good because we worked with him a lot. You'll see in the third picture post just what that grueling work entailed.

Cecilia is the administrator at Clinica Alabama. She made us feel welcome right from the start, and we enjoyed working with her immensely.

Finally, some pictures of our apartment. It took us all the way until the day we were leaving. It was just one of those things that you could keep putting off. It wasn't like in Europe where we knew we'd be gone the next day. Anyhoo, here's a view from the door inwards. The refrigerator's on the floor behind that counter on the left. And the stairs lead to...

The bedroom! My bed was just a matress on that platform. The shelves were full for most of our stay. It was nice to be able to unpack. Very nice. Elizabeth called me a weirdo because of the coke...

...and yet...'nuff said. But do note the fans, if you would. Talk about life savers. I would lie down every night on the very edge of my bed with my face in the fan.

Clearly, by this time I had completely abandoned the .5 liter water bottles and gone for those three times that size. And I was chugging three to four of those per day. Criminey, but it was so hot! And there on my plate is the infamous gallo pinto. Actually quite good, especially with some chile sauce.

This was another, though slightly less frequent, favourite snack...mangos!!!! Yummy.

Sarita (we never could quite figure out if that was her name, but it's close to that), Susana, and Xavier. Our hosts and their hired help. And also our family while we were there. They are wonderfully sweet people, and made our stay there so pleasant and comfortable.

So, that's Granada in a nutshell. A very pleasant and smallish city, with plenty of nice shops, walks, views, and foods. :-)= It really was the perfect place for us to stay.

Next up, our little weekend trips away from Granada...

Estoy Cansada

2009-05-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

I feel somehow like I'm always tired now. And when I say that, I mean the last two days, obviously. Honestly, how deep do you think I am? En serio, I love traveling. The experiences I've had over the last year have strengthened me, enlightened me, tried me, and ultimately....something. 'snort' Still expecting depth, aren't you? I'm tired. Cansada de viajando. Tired deep down where you can't really do anything about it, except curl up with your kitty and shut everything out. Hay problema...no tengo mi gata preciosa aquí. I'm weary of a world that won't, that can't understand me. Of people who absolutely cannot comprehend a life outside of partying. Yo extraño mis amigos. Yo extraño mi familia. I miss my cat. Ella se odia las fiestas. And though I find the trip approaching the end, a trip that's been muy rewarding in so many ways, it seems this next week is stretching out ahead of me longer and longer. In other words, muchas cosas han ocurrido, y yo no tengo nada para decir.

All that said, yo me repito, yo he habido a great time, y he aprendido mucho, de español, and about myself.

Ahora...¿donde está mi gata?

¿Sabías que...?
La palabra del día está: mezclandoing.
Gracias para eligiendo Lod's Little Tidbits, y tengas un buen día.

Questioning Answers

2009-05-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

OoPs! I forgot to answer comment questions in my last blog.

Daddy: You haven't seen pictures because the connection here is too slow to upload them. There there. You'll see them when we get back. And if I could find a piano? That's a big if. A very big if, as it turns out, because I have not seen one. I wish.

SaraBee: Actually, SHE´s not a Lizzie Plant, but there is a plant called the Busy Lizzie plant. It became part of my blog through a complicated process of a thesaurus and a search engine. I wouldn´t bother questioning it too closely.

Sanna: Excellent point...but I can´t just randomly set up music ministries in a few weeks. It´s convenient for the teaching because things are already set up. At home I have more opportunities. And then there´s the language barrier. And the lack of instruments here. And no church content. Enough whinging yet?¿? :-)= I guess I´ll just have to come back with more resources.

And then to answer the questions already posted to my last blog...

Cas*: Heavens no, and a world of no, and any other no you could possibly think of. This was NOT the end...we have another season. I´d be wallowing in the depths of despair if THAT was the end. Not even plum puffs could minister to a mind diseased and a world that has crumbled into pieces. Okay...I´m already wallowing a little, I´ll admit. But we will certainly get a season 6, no worries there.

Sanna and SaraBee: The taxi drivers are liars. And the bus drivers too. I don´t just mean deceptive. That I expect. I expect that the taxi drivers will press you to ride with them rather than take the bus...because there´s not enough time...because the bus isn´t safe...I expect that. But when we were dropped off by the bus, we asked where the next bus was to the port. The taxi drivers said there wasn´t one. The bus driver said there wasn´t one. We pressed and pressed...right up until the bus pulled away without us. Thankfully, another taxi driver pulled up and offered us a cheaper price than the first taxi driver had given...but when we arrived at the port, there was the bus sitting pretty as you please. Let´s just say, I had a few words to say on the way back from the port two days later to that taxi driver...who was also pushy and I had had enough...

And yes, Sanna, I think we needn´t worry that Rebeccas and Susannas are becoming extinct just yet...it is comforting, is it not?¿?

...I feel like there´s something wrong with my title...

El-Banko

2009-05-12T16:12:00.000-07:00

We don´t meet many Americans where we are. We´ve met Canadians and tons of people from Holland, but no Americans. They do exist here...we´ve heard them talking along Calle Calzada (the main tourist street), but they don't seem to frequent the same places as we do. However, in order to walk from our apartment to Carita Feliz (the center where we´re helping teach), we walk along Calle Calzada, and hear bits of English conversations. I need to explain this to you, because you have to understand my amusement and delight over one particular snippet I was lucky enough to hear. This man from the south (or is that The South?¿?) was speaking in English, and then turned to a Nicaraguan and said something about "ehl bank-o." It´s moments like this that make me glad to be alive.

And now, to speak of my weekend. Elizabeth and I left for the weekend to see Ometepe Island, the largest island on the lake here, sporting two whole volcanos. Cool, eh?¿? You´ll have to excuse the "eh..." we hung out with a Canadian couple while we were there. We had a great time. When we arrived in Moyogalpa, we boarded a bus for Charco Verde, which is near the middle of the island, and is supposed to be relaxing. We were not disappointed. It was pretty out of the way, with no busy cities nearby. Not that there are any huge cities...it´s the biggest island on the lake here, but it´s still not THAT big. We stayed in a hostel right on the coast (is it still a coast if it´s a lake?). It was well priced, so they made up for it by charging too much for meals and giving a little food. It turned out alright though, because our Canadian friends (who shared our dorm room) knew of a little place about ten to fifteen minutes away that had great food for great prices. The owners got to know us, because we were there for every meal. They had different options all the time, and everything was great. We even got to try Sebiche, which is a traditional dish here.

Sunday was Elizabeth´s birthday, and we celebrated to the best of our ability. In the morning, Rebecca, Ryan, Elizabeth and I went hiking along the hiking paths in the area. We saw some wildlife (no monkeys unfortunately, but we did see monkeys the first day on our way in to the hostel) and got some good views of one of the volcanos. They always seem to have a ring of smoke around them...wonder why that could be...

That afternoon, after lunch (at our regular place, Sinai I think was the name), we took a taxi to Ojo de Agua, a relaxing location with hammocks and chairs located next to a pool/spring. Because of the hot weather here, the springs were delightful, and we relaxed and chatted all afternoon. After we had finished swimming, we relocated to the hammocks and chairs, and chatted for a little while. The subject of Elizabeth's birthday came up, and it was decided we should ask around if there was any kind of bakery with cake around. As this was being discussed, a nearby woman who had overheard us walked over with a plate of cake and handed it to Elizabeth. Turns out, they had been celebrating a birthday as well, and had plenty of cake. What a delightful coincidence!

That evening when the taxi driver picked us up, we had him drop us off back at the restaurant, as it was now dinner time and honestly, where else were we going to eat? As I understand it, sebiche is something of an appetizer, and so Ryan ordered one large for the four of us. When he brought out separate cups for us, we thought he must have separated it for us...until we thought about it more logically, assessed how very large each cup was, and came to the opinion that rather than one large for four, we got large sebiche cups for four. Hence, the appetizer became the meal, our bellies were full, our mouths happy, and our pocketbooks satisfied, as they were kind enough to charge a little less for the sebiche, due to the mistake. :-)= Afterwards, Rebecca (no, I'm not discussing myself in the third person, silly) asked if they had anything suitable for birthdays. One kind soul ran to another store and picked up little Eskimo ice cream containers, and we celebrated a little more with vanilla ice cream with chocolate topping. My birthday present to my sister was a nice birthday massage (I'm certain I put a little more care into this one than our regular "My-neck-is-killing-me-just-like-every-day" massages).

And now it's back to work, but I don't mind. It's kind of like coming home. Three more weeks now, and then we'll be heading back. I'm sure by the time we leave, we'll just barely be feeling like we're getting the hang of Spanish, and the weather will just be getting better and cooler, but I guess that's the way it goes.

Okay...phew...it's taken me a long time to get this blog written. I've just been too busy with other things!!!! Like watching House, for instance. ;-)= Anyhoo, that's about it for now.

Did ew know...?

Taxi drivers are as evil as lawyers.

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

Busy Lizzie Plant

2009-05-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Our days just got a bit busier. Which is too bad, since I came here to relax and shut out the world. Oh, I came here to learn Spanish?¿? Well...fine then.

We decided a few days ago that we have too much down time, specifically in the afternoons, so we inquired at our Spanish school about volunteer options she was aware of, and yesterday she took us to a center for children, specifically for those who can´t pay. School here lasts only for half the day, and the other half of the day the children are free. This center offers more education for them, teaching them a number of things such as cooking, sewing, Mathematics, English, and Spanish. Each session lasts for an hour and a half, and we´ll be helping with Mathematics and English for one session each afternoon. For the first week I´ll help with Math and Elizabeth with English, and then the following week we´ll switch. If everything goes as planned. Which is actually quite an assumption, but we´ll see.

All this means that we´ll wake up at 7 each morning, have breakfast at 7:30, work at the clinic 8-12, run a few errands or study (or sleep) until lunch at 1, leave for the center at 2, get back to the house around 5 or 5:30, and have dinner at 7. Yowza. We really will be busy. It´s good though. They were really excited to have help with the English class...whereas we were worried that ironically we would go to practice Spanish and end up practicing English. But they´ll need explanations in Spanish, so it should be fine.

Truth be told, my mouth goes a bit dry at the thought of not having Elizabeth to fall back on when someone tries to speak to me. I understand people just fine when they´re talking to her, but when they speak to me I tend to stare at them blankly. I´ve gotten in the habit of just turning pointedly towards Elizabeth when they´re done speaking. So I guess it´ll be good for me.

And this all brings me to my complaint: Why is it that wherever we go, there´s a way Elizabeth can help in the area of her profession, but not for me and mine?¿? Of course there´s a center where we can help teach English. Why isn´t there a place where we can teach music? Why isn´t there a music theory session?¿? Personally, I think it´s Elizabeth´s plot to take over the world. And need I mention there´s a cannon right next to the central park here? Yeah. ´Nuff said.

Did ew know...?
Busy Lizzies are succulent.
Thank you for choosing Lod´s Little Tidbits, and have a nice day.

Crrrkkk--Bing!

2009-04-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

-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

2009-04-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-16T11:27:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

...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

2009-04-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-04T18:14:00.001-07:00

Lo siento. Anyone can comment now.

Living Conditions

2009-04-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

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

2009-04-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-04-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

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.