Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

First, I am still driving around in a rental car because they still aren't done fixing my car from what I thought was a relatively minor fender bender. Apparently not. Here are some pics of my car after it got backed into. They are replacing that back side panel, so they have to replace the panel and paint it and everything. I guess that takes a while. As a result, I may not get the car back in time to take it to get serviced this week, which means my mom and I might not be able to leave for our roadtrip until the 20th, 2 days later than planned. Speaking of the roadtrip, I think I'll have the occasional chance to update and post pics. Hope so anyway. ************************************************************************************* Also, tomorrow I get my second tattoo. I wanted to get it before I went to Albuquerque so TJ can see it. I'm nervous because this one will be a little bigger. I am getting it done at the Purple Lotus and Shavon does beautiful work. ...

So Briana said I might have something interesting to offer - my view of the US after 7 months in Nicaragua. I honestly can't imagine how coming back would be after two years. Here's some of the weirdness I have noticed. 1. Grocery stores are large terrifying places. I know that I used to go to La Union every now and then, but in the US, the sheer variety of things is overwhelming. There's 600 kinds of everything, all in full fat, low fat, non-fat and with infinite tiny flavor alterations. Would you like black bean dip, chipotle black bean dip, or lime chipotle black bean dip? I don't know, where are the beans, I'll make my own!! My old sensation of being paralyzed in the grocery store is back, but it's a million times worse now. 2. I'm still dreaming in Spanish. I actually kind of like that since I'm not practicing Spanish much during my waking hours. However, this can lead to serious cognitive dissonance when suddenly awakened from Spanish wor...