Cumpleaños

Hello all,
Last night I got the great pleasure of being invited to Ana´s birthday party. Ana is a first cousin (primero) of Samaria, Tamara, Denis, and William. She has two beautiful children Javier and Paulo.
At times I feel alone, being the only one of the group of Canadians to be living on their own with a family. Megan and Malinda are together and now Jess, Marissa and Benny are together too (although Benny is leaving for Miraflor soon during the weeks.) It is at times like last night, however, that I realize how lucky I am to be so immersed in the family and to be so taken in by them all. I had so much fun last night, I couldnt stop smiling. The strong rain of the afternoon cooled the night down sooo much so everyone was comfortable and ready to sing, dance and tell jokes until the early hours of the morning. Toña (the very loved Nicaraguan beer) was in the hand of everyone who was old enough. Denis was sent out twice throughout the night for reinforcements. Ana´s husband is so talented with the guitar and William brought his piano. We all danced together (after they simply refused to have me stay seated.) It also made me realize how fortunate I am for my family back home. Despite the lack of very latino music and torillas and Toña, the festivities and the love were not so far off from when the Sweeny´s get together. Even the Stauch´s gather round Jan´s piano playing and have a similar night. The gathering of family made me feel right at home.
It also reminded me what a powerful thing music can be. I am constantly humbled with the language barrier (although I´ve improved ten fold I still cant understand a good 50% when these guys get together and speak at the speed of light.) Music is universal. I picked up the refrain and instantly I was speaking the same as everyone else. This was beyond refreshing. Lupe and her family were the last to leave Ana´s house. I even left with Samaria (who had written a four hour exam just hours earlier) before Denis and William. Who stayed to the very end, around 2:30. Perhaps why they still are not awake...
Today is market Domingo! And then the Nicaraguan football finals with Esteli, the undefeated champions.
Mass again at 5 tonight. I go to the 5pm one now because the 10 am is WAY too hot. The priest is so good at preaching because he speaks so clearly, I can almost understand everything. It just happens to always start a good 40 minutes from when it was suppose to have and then go on for an extra hour. I am going to appreciate Toronto Masses a lot when I get home.

xo
S

La Cascada

Marissa and I didnt have work today (we start tomorrow) so we decided to make good use of our morning off and go for a 10km hike and a swim in a waterfall! Took the Urbano bus from our usual corner and got off at the end of the line by the Hospital. From there we were told from our friends who run the bus which way to go (they also happen to mention how nuts we were to walk it.) The hike was mostly uphill, I´d say a good 85%. Sweaty and disgusting, our excitment came as no surprise when a man came by in his pick up truck and we did not hesitate to jump in the back for the final 1km. At the gate we paid the family 15 cordoba to see their waterfall. Climbed down a very steep 800m to this beautiful lagoon with a skyscrapping waterfall that did not disappoint. There was this awkward couple kissing at the bottom that Marissa and I tried to avoid...Once they got the idea that we were going to go swimming they shy´d off somewhere. So we got our privacy and our swim in peace. That water felt soooo good after sweating out a 4km incline plus the hike down past the gate! The water was murky and brown but I was not phased. Marissa and I stripped down to our bathing suits and just went for it. We swam behind and through the falls numerous times. I just floated there and tried to soak up everything in that moment, haunted by thoughts of the long trek home. Once we had our fill of swimming we changed into our sweat drenched clothes and ventured up the steep ridge back up to the gate and homeward bound. We were very proud of ourselves when we got back to the hospital in exactly an hour! That is a 5km hike of hill ridden terrain in very hot weather! An hour was a great accomplishment on our part. Must have been all the endorphines we worked up on the way there. Got home at 11am and just lay in bed until I was called down for lunch (Boiling hot Soup!!) Ate my entire bowl of the hot soup, sweat some more and took a shower. I swear I would never imagine myself doing all of this physical activity back home on less than three meals a day! It makes for greaaaat night sleeps though so I suppose I´ll keep it up.

Tomorrow I´m meeting with Funarte to work out my schedule for work! Im pumped!
XO
S

Masaya and la Lluvia

Hello everyone,
So i suppose I´ve fallen behind on the updates! Two big things have happened since my last post. 1) Day trip to Masaya and 2) the crazzzy rain.

Last Saturday Benny, Marissa, Jess and I decided to wake up at 4:30 and hitch a ride with a cousin of the family to Tipi Tapa where we would there catch a crowded and stuffy bus to Masaya, the market city! After a wander around the marked Benny and I decided to venture out and climbed a 2km mountain in 36 degrees weather. Are we crazy or what? I drank my weight in water, no joke. At the top of this mountain, called COYOTEPE btw, there lays one of the three Somozan prisons that the horrible dictator used to imprison Sandinistas during the revolution. This prison was used for unhumane acts of torture beyond comprehension up until the 1980s!! Let me tell you it was horrible. Benny and i went to the 1st and 2nd levels, the 2nd being pitch black. Torture rooms with blood still stained on the walls, it was so unbelievable I cant even describe it. What these people have lived through I can never know. There were scorpions, huge spiders and a heck of a lot of bats down there too. How exciting.... I actually am quite surprised at the calm and saving face kind of manner I had while down there.
I´ve still got quite the cold and am trying very very hard to get healthy. I had a bad experience last Saturday night with drinking untreated water too. So that didnt help situations. Felt as though I was going to die. Oi, not a fun night. I keep thinking I can drink the water but I really cant. From now on I have to chlorinate it with my drops or just buy bottles.
Ali makes me so happy, he can be quite the unruly monkey but when he sees me and squeals with many a SHARI SHARI my heart melts. He and I are quite the pair.

On to the rain situations! It was raining so hard the other day, I think it was Monday, that a stream built up in the street outside my house as deep as my knees with a violently rapid current. Garbage and childrens shoes wizzed by me standing out on the porch of the house. Cars were caught and had to remain stagnant as they couldnt move. The courtyard of the house was completely flooded. Flooded so badly that water was coming in to the house. I was soaking wet from running around the kitchen and dinning room with buckets to try and catch the water...of course to almost NO avail. Insane. Apparently its like this during the rain season. Monsoons. Ive never seen rain come down that hard that strong for that long. Samaria just looked at me and said, ¨All we can do is pray that it stops.¨ (In spanish of course.)

Boy oh boy am I in for an interesting three months. How does one get to their work placement in knee high rapid current? HOW????? They did NOT prepare me for this! I wish I could have taken pictures to show you guys but my camera was upstairs in my room beyond reach. I´ll keep it on my person for the next time, I assure you. You can´t believe what I am describing until you can see it for yourself. Amazing. Truly truly amazing.

until the next time,
xo
S

funarte studio! im excited to spend my sabado mornings here looking after 400 kids in spanish...YIKES

Hola

Man, I cant believe im this sick. Stupid stupid stupid sinus infections. Ive been medicated for two days straight and I still can´t function let alone converse in Spanish. And today my Toronto cell stopped working tambien. It was on the CLARO service here like all nicaraguan phones and then today it magically decided to be on Emergency Calls Only. I never used it to call anyone, as I have a cell that I got here to call people, but it was just kind of a security blanket, a way back home, an escape. My esteli phone wont let me text most of the time so it was like this sudden feeling of extreme isolation came over me today. Could be the sickness wearing me down too. I also read some emails sent to me from my other dear intercordians. Apparently many of them are having a really really difficult time. Swaziland is a huge huge huge challenge. And so is Ghana as malaria has already affected our dear Isobel. Ecuador hasnt been an easy go either. It makes me sad to think of my really great friends suffereing. We met in Intercordia and we bonded through the process. Its like we´re in this together and so because they are suffering so am I. I just hope it all works out for them. Some may have to come home before the three months, I just hope they know that if that is what has to happen, they arent disappointing anyone. Its only the second week in. That is really intimidating. I have to remember what my mom has told me time and time again, BABY STEPS: Little by little, Poco a poco. Dont look at the grand picture because then it all seems impossible. Day by day and just focus on getting healthy again.

Thanks for all the support
xo
S

My Sabado

So I am going to try, with all my heart and might, to put into words everything I felt and experienced hayer, Nueve de Mayo.

The day commenced with an alarm from my cell phone notifying me it was 4 30, time to get up. I had to drink a yogurt piña down and run to meet Benny y Marissa so that we could grab a cab to Cotran Norte (North Bus Terminal) together as driving in a cab that early in the morning by yourself as a tourist is very dangerous. Once at the terminal we met up with the three other Canadians and boarded a school bus Miraflor bound. The bus, seemingly comfortable and harmless in the beginning, began packing in more and more people each stop. Megan and I were quickly surrounded by women holding one or two babies struggling for any inch of our bus seat. As I was by the window I noticed the wall of the bus i was sitting beside was covered with cardboard. Folding the cardboard back towards me a gaping hole in the metal wall was revealed and all the screws keeping my side of the bus together had been replaced with patches of ducktape. This bus ride was by far the most incredible bus ride of my life. Pressed up against a cardboard wall, children screaming, only second hand oxygen available, all the while climbing very very slowly up a steeply vertical mountain on a road that was made up of displaced rock, ledge and cliff. The ride that should have taken 40 minutes at most lasted up to two hours and a half.
When we finally unloaded ourselves off the bus we had arrived atop a misty plateau and started hiking up right away, not knowing where the heck we were suppose to be going. Tired and very very hungry we just kept going until we reached a huge field cultivating cabbage, this was the neighbours land of the German couple we were visiting. Their names were Gene and Katharine, spoke perfect spanish but were born in Germany and grew up in America. They came to Miraflor in 83 to escape to their garden of eden. At this time in the hills of Miraflor it was not a safe place at all though, this couple lived through the Catras raping the land and brutally murdering the hiding farming families. They have this beautiful cottage now though and they served us breakfast and spoke about their lives here. Organic coffee from their farm with a little fresh milk from that morning made the most scrumptous drink Ive ever tasted. They proceeded to bring out six horses and asked us who the most skilled rider was of the group. Since nearly no one had ever ridden before in their lives, I was it. They gave me Ray, the young male lusting after the female of the group. He needed someone who knew what they were doing so as to insure he would not mount her with me on top of him. Very daunting stuff to say the least. On horse back we road down what use to be a river, but now was just a mangle of huge unstable rocks. We stopped at an orchid garden and had a lesson on growing orchids, coffee and bananas and how the three make an ideal living situation for the other. Wandering further into the forest we came upon the oldest tree of Nicaragua, that wasnt a tree at all. It is a vine parasite that is many hundreds of years old. I was the second one inside of it and climbed up its interior as far as I was able. Took many pictures.
Got back on our horses for a long treck down to this stream, tied up our horses and were lead to a little waterfall and grotto. Our guide said it was a favourite spot for swimming, so being the craziest one of the bunch, i ripped of my waterproof jacket and hiking shoes and jumped in ( I kid you not.) The others stood around in amazement and decided I was MUCHOS LOCO, which is undeniably true. Soaking wet I untied my horse and Cantored home (Riding a horse that fast on rocks was exhilerating, I cant even try to describe it.) When we got back to the cottage Megan looked at me and said that I was the bravest girl shes ever met which immediately striked me as very odd, Nooo one had ever really called me brave before. I was the homesick kid who never wanted to go to Summer camp, not the daring kid riding horseback and jumping into waterfalls. This trip has changed me already.
Lunch was ready for us, mangos, pineapples, steamed beens, rice, home made bread, and chicken and vegetable soup. I honestly felt so at peace there, it was the first time I think i´ve been to paradise. Katharine came to the group and asked us how we were getting back to the city, we answered ¨By Bus.¨ She asked because one of the visitors there was riding back to the city in her pick up truck and had room for us if we wanted to hitch a ride.
Again, THERE ARE NO WORDS. The six of us loaded into the open back of a rusty pick up truck along with about seven other NIcaraguans and drove down the same route we had driven up by bus. Cramped, bruised, and all holding onto the sides of the truck for our lives I could only take in the ominous view of the mountains, mist and valley and smile. At about 6 30 she pulled into a gas station just outside the city of Esteli and told us in spanish that that is were her ride would end.
We were disgusting. We smelt of horse and sweat and about two milimeters of dirt on ever surface of our being. We then walked home from there, a pretty sizeable distance. I got to my house and collapsed, only able to lift myself up for a shower (La Ducha.)

What a day, What a day.

Buenos Tardes!

Hello Beautiful Canadians,

Spanish Lessons start every mañana at 8am and go until doze for duos semena. They are exhausting to say the least. Learning another language with no alternative takes a lot of brain work 24-7. I´m put in the class with Marissa as the beginner-intermediate group (I have no idea how they thought I was almost intermediate...I guess I have Maria to thank!.) Jessica, Megan and Malinda are all in the very very very beginners class, they can only say HOLA, and Benny is solo in the intermediate class. He is our rescource for understanding most of the time. I dont think this thrills him at all. Megan´s luggage was found yesterday (as we all told her it would be) so she was very very contente. After class I´m always starving. I thought I´d be extra adventurous and walk back to my house all the way from Los Pipitos. Let me tell you I regreted that decision pretty rapido as it was MUCHOS CALOR. But I got here safely and ate a huge plate of pollo and rice with a simple salad of cocombre and tomado with white vinegar and jugo fresco (freshly squeezed juice) of melon and limone. Mucho Gusto!!! They make this salad with non ripe mangos and sea salt too for an afternoon snack. The food here is always very very good. Little Ali, the two year old I spoke of before, now has a nickname for me as he cannnnot pronounce my name. (NO ONE HERE CAN PRONOUNCE MY NAME. I am often found cursing my parents for naming me the most complicated name in spanish. They all look at me with the strangest face and attempt a syyyohbhhagnna? And I have to answer, Ce Irlandais, loco nombre irlandais.) So Ali runs around the house yelling SHARI SHARIII as that is what i am called here. We play hide and go seek all the time and we both drink yogurt in between our games. He is fascinated with my purple water bottle and whenever i drink from it he says Por Favor Shari Aqua! Aqua! So I end up giving him a tonne of water too. He has these two bicycles that he rides around the house all the time. They are his only toys but he loves them so so much. He has this stick that he pretends is his guitar and we both pretend to play it and cantan (sing.) Very cute. Yesterday is the first day it hasnt rained. In fact last night was soooo cold I could not sleep for more than half an hour with only a sheet to cover me. I put on two sweaters and socks and I was still so cold I couldnt concentrate of sleep. I kept dreaming of the word ¨blankets¨ in espagnol to ask them for another one. I should get on that before Im sorry tonight. I might meet up with Benny and Marissa later as we have cell phones and text to keep in touch. I may just stay here with the family though. They treat me completely equal. Theyve hosted two other girls two years in a row and Im not a novelty whatsoever. I guess its the best way to fully grasp what its like to vivre here day by day without being treated like royalty but instead igual (equal.) I love it here though with them, they are very very kind and always singing and smiling. They go about their own life and just let me do my own thing. William, who is 16, speaks the most english. I showed him all the New York pictures that were already on my camera from my family´s trip there. He loved the Empire States building. He plays his playstation three all the time and loves learning english songs like ¨Yellow¨by coldplay on the piano. He studies the chords for so long. Anways I could ramble on and on about everyone. I will keep you all posted as I want you to experience all of these things with me. Sayda (the cleaning girl) just brought me a steaming cup of cafe, so I will get on drinking that!
MUCHOS MUCHOS AMORE
I love you all so much

xo
Shari.

Pictures

http://ccsunicaraguatrip.shutterfly.com/
my host sister Tamara just showed my this site, created by a girl who had a trip to Nicaragua simlar to mine and took pictures wherever she went. Please do check them out, you´ll get a better idea of how it is here until i can send you all some personal pictures.

XO
S

I´m Here!!

I made it here safely after a couple bumps on the way. They wouldnt let us into Nicaragua without an address here and of course with Intercordia we are given no information whatsover' so i had to be escorted by security guards (all wearing swine flu masks) to the outside of the airport where I had to frantically search an Intercordia sign and beg them for an address to return to the customs desk with. After that we had a two and a half hour bus ride to Esteli, the mountains were huge black silhouettes and ominous at best. Very very vast valleys and dry lightning and thunder. The air is thick here and I always feel very grimy. Benny and Marissa live with eachother for orientation week, so do Meghan from Friedrichton and Maljinda from Saskatoon. Jessica and I are the only ones by ourselves with a family for this week. Yesterday night I hardly got to meet with them as it was 2 30 Canada time when I arrived and I was very disoriented and overwhelmed with fatigue. They helped me lift my 66 kilo bag up this very trecherous spiral iron staircase and said goodnight. I sleep alone in the only attick room upstaird under a tin roof that amplifies the sound of the terrential down pours that come each night in the rain season. I actually really enjoy listening to it. The view from my window is amazing. And the nights are not too too hot to sleep in. For breakfast I had coffee and a simple sandwich. Tamara, the sister of Samaria (who I live with) spilt my coffee mug all over me by accident so I started the morning of the first day tending to boiling water burns on my stomach and thighs. They made me a new coffee and i washed my outfit (including my drenched coffee stained underwear.) Tamara has a little boy, Ali, who is two years old and the most mature little boy I´ve ever met. He is my favourite thing about Nicaragua so far. We are inseperable. Tamara and Ali and their Abolita dont live in this house though, they live far away and will be returning home on saturday. I will live with Samaria and her brother William (about 13-14) and their cleaning girl Sayda (who is 18, she is very nice we get along very well but she speaks no english.) Samaria knows some english so we can understand one another. Samaria and Williams mother, Lupa, and older brother, Denis, live in Managua by week and here in Esteli by weekend.
Meghan, one of our intercordians, never got her baggage yesterday night. It was really tragic as she was already having a really hard time coping being by far the most homesick on the flights over. The airport really convinced her she´d get the luggage back though so I have full confidence she will. Today I get to know my family and then get picked up with the other intercordians to attend spanish lessons and initiation exercises.
My host family does have internet and a computer so i will be in touch. My cell phone still works here for texts as well and I´m planning on buying a twenty dollar one as soon as possible for emergency circumstances. Here is very very different from anything I´ve ever seen. I started feeling as though I was living outside of Rome like I did one summer but Rome doesnt have half as much barbed wire as here or as many tin rooves. So many paintings and bright murals around the city though. I´m excited to go exploring with my family.

Talk to you all again soon. They dont get any postal service so I´ll find out the address of the post office and get your letters and mail from there.

XO

S