muchas cosas

Have I made it clear yet that I love Nicaragua? Because I'm head-over-heels.

It feels like so much has gone on in the past two days...I just got back to the Manna house after spending a little more than 24 hours out in the community and in programs, etc. I get really bored just writing out what I've done, so I'll make a little list and hopefully it will encompass some of my recent activities.

My Nica obsessions:

1) Fanta naranja (I'm not much of a soda drinker, but man-oh-man do I LOVE orange soda here. I seriously cannot get enough of it. They use real cane sugar in gaseosas (sodas) here instead of high fructose corn syrup, and it tastes fabuloso)

2) rando holidays (on Sunday, it was Dio de los Madres, mother's Day, and kids seriously got THREE days off of school for it. Yesterday was Dio de los Ninos, Kid's Day. We had a big fiesta in Tuani Hour, complete with a massive pinata and cake. I feel like there is always some festival or celebration going on here, and that's pretty cool)

3) the kids of 13.5 (I spent the night with a family in a community called 13.5 last night. It was such a blast! Carmen, the mom, is so sweet and wonderful, and it was a good time for me to practice spanish, because she doesn't speak any english. I had such fun playing futbol and other various games with Tatiana and Michael and Geral and Lester and Marcos and Freiddy and Norma and all the other precious kids in that neighborhood. This morning, Karen, a girl around my age who lives nearby and attends an english class I help out with, came by and we played Diddy Kong together. It was such a cool experience to live in the community for a day...maybe I'll blog more about it later)

4) Spanglish (Since my spanish is no bueno, I kind of like to mix it up with english now and again. (but, I will say, I have learned a TON since being here, and am now determined to do something when I get home to learn more). Actually, everyone in the Manna house seems to be fans of Spanglish. For example, we will often say "Are we vamanos-ing?" for "are we leaving now?" I think our favorite phrase, though, is "se fue", which translates to "he/she left". We like to use it for pretty much anything. Anytime something has run out, or someone leaves, or we can't find something, we'll dramatically flip out hand and say "SE FUE!" or add an -ed. For example: Where is the micro? I don't know..it se fue-ed. )

5) Cuddling (Today in preschool, I read with a little snuggle-bug named Adilece...she was so precious and just curled up next to me to look through books. She decided she would be the one to "read" to me. She'd quickly flip every page and go "entonces eso, entonces eso, entonces eso, EL FIN!" Also, Mi Comarca has the cutest little gatitos (kittens) you've ever seen. Every time I go past there, I just want to go in a snuggle with them. The weigh practically nothing and have the most adorable "meows" (Actually, one of them is named "Meow"). No run in with Spanky yet, but hopefully that'll happen soon)