This is the Jesus purisima we had at my house in Mérida before I left for Christmas.
Well, Christmas has come and gone, and here's a brief recap of my experiences. I went to Managua and actually managed to get a lot done at the office. Then went Masatepe for Christmas with my host family. In the middle there, I managed to go to the Laguna de Apoyo with some other volunteers, which was a relaxing opportunity to catch up and cook a lot. A-A and Cris came up with a menu and we all contributed money and had some absolutely DELICIOUS food, gringo style. Not to diss the Nica food, I love it as much as the next girl, but none of us have houses yet, and for at least a few of us, one of the things we look forward to the most is cooking again. We had Mexican style beans and mashed potatoes with a vegetable medley salad for dinner. For breakfast, there was french toast, eggs, orange juice, and banana milkshakes. For lunch pasta primavera. We also made coconut cajeta, which means yummy Nicaraguan candy. So see, we do like Nica food. Anyway, we also floated around on innertubes, which was fun, but rather bizarre given that it was the day before Christmas eve.
My time in Masatepe with my host family was also wonderful. I gave them the Christmas presents I made them, a few pics at Picasa, and also the bracelets my mom made for the ladies of the family that are absolutely georgeous and put my gifts to shame. But they liked all of them because they are nice people.
Anyway, so we did the Christmas thing and it was really nice. It's amazing to think that there's this family here that I feel so at home with. It gives me hope that in the future I will no longer thing of Mérida as "my site," but rather as "home." Sometimes that seems a long way off, but then I think of how foreign everything felt when I arrived, and how not strange so much of it feels now. Back to Christmas... we ate yummy food, shot off some small fireworks, and talked a lot. There were brownies, and at midnight on Christmas Eve, it seemed like the whole world shot off fireworks. I was staying the upstairs bedroom at my host family's house, and it has windows all around since it's kind of it's own little floor up there, so I could see the fireworks going off all around me. It was lovely. I spoke to the family back in the good old US of A, and even called my Aunt Libby's house on Christmas Eve to say hi during the annual family get together. And finally, one of the strangest, yet nicest touches. My family in Masatepe is Baptist, and they have a lot of exchanges with Baptists in the US. At some point a Baptist woman from Georgia came and taught them all the traditional popular US religious Christmas songs in Spanish. You can't buy the Spanish version here, so my host mom was playing the English versions all night. We had Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney singing in the background, while my mom walked around singing the same songs in Spanish. It made me really homesick, but it also made things feel a little more like home. There's also no cable here, at least not from anyone I know, and no newspapers in Mérida, so I read a lot of news and watched a lot of BBC. I feel so out of touch sometimes, and I guess that's the flip side of having a site like mine. Yes, I live in a place where people go for vacation, but the reason they come here is to get away from it all. And as we know, where the world can invade, it has. Therefore, logically speaking, the reason you can get away from it all here is because "it all" is still having quite a difficult time getting in. This means even for people like me, who just want to read a newspaper! I know people who own hotels and stuff pay to have them delivered or they bring them from Moyogalpa, but there isn't a pulperia or anything here that sells them, so your average citizen is out of luck.
Anyway, so now I am back here in Mérida, and looking forward to trying to get some work done, continuing negotiations on my potential house, and celebrating the New Year.
Well, Christmas has come and gone, and here's a brief recap of my experiences. I went to Managua and actually managed to get a lot done at the office. Then went Masatepe for Christmas with my host family. In the middle there, I managed to go to the Laguna de Apoyo with some other volunteers, which was a relaxing opportunity to catch up and cook a lot. A-A and Cris came up with a menu and we all contributed money and had some absolutely DELICIOUS food, gringo style. Not to diss the Nica food, I love it as much as the next girl, but none of us have houses yet, and for at least a few of us, one of the things we look forward to the most is cooking again. We had Mexican style beans and mashed potatoes with a vegetable medley salad for dinner. For breakfast, there was french toast, eggs, orange juice, and banana milkshakes. For lunch pasta primavera. We also made coconut cajeta, which means yummy Nicaraguan candy. So see, we do like Nica food. Anyway, we also floated around on innertubes, which was fun, but rather bizarre given that it was the day before Christmas eve.
My time in Masatepe with my host family was also wonderful. I gave them the Christmas presents I made them, a few pics at Picasa, and also the bracelets my mom made for the ladies of the family that are absolutely georgeous and put my gifts to shame. But they liked all of them because they are nice people.
Anyway, so we did the Christmas thing and it was really nice. It's amazing to think that there's this family here that I feel so at home with. It gives me hope that in the future I will no longer thing of Mérida as "my site," but rather as "home." Sometimes that seems a long way off, but then I think of how foreign everything felt when I arrived, and how not strange so much of it feels now. Back to Christmas... we ate yummy food, shot off some small fireworks, and talked a lot. There were brownies, and at midnight on Christmas Eve, it seemed like the whole world shot off fireworks. I was staying the upstairs bedroom at my host family's house, and it has windows all around since it's kind of it's own little floor up there, so I could see the fireworks going off all around me. It was lovely. I spoke to the family back in the good old US of A, and even called my Aunt Libby's house on Christmas Eve to say hi during the annual family get together. And finally, one of the strangest, yet nicest touches. My family in Masatepe is Baptist, and they have a lot of exchanges with Baptists in the US. At some point a Baptist woman from Georgia came and taught them all the traditional popular US religious Christmas songs in Spanish. You can't buy the Spanish version here, so my host mom was playing the English versions all night. We had Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney singing in the background, while my mom walked around singing the same songs in Spanish. It made me really homesick, but it also made things feel a little more like home. There's also no cable here, at least not from anyone I know, and no newspapers in Mérida, so I read a lot of news and watched a lot of BBC. I feel so out of touch sometimes, and I guess that's the flip side of having a site like mine. Yes, I live in a place where people go for vacation, but the reason they come here is to get away from it all. And as we know, where the world can invade, it has. Therefore, logically speaking, the reason you can get away from it all here is because "it all" is still having quite a difficult time getting in. This means even for people like me, who just want to read a newspaper! I know people who own hotels and stuff pay to have them delivered or they bring them from Moyogalpa, but there isn't a pulperia or anything here that sells them, so your average citizen is out of luck.
Anyway, so now I am back here in Mérida, and looking forward to trying to get some work done, continuing negotiations on my potential house, and celebrating the New Year.
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