Coming Home

Currently listening to: Coming Home
Artist: New Found Glory

These past few weeks, as I´ve explained, have fallen under Chapter 2: Lori´s Arrival. Now begins Chapter 3: Aftermath (Or, as Matt likes to think of it... Chapter 3: AfterMatt). This is the part where they fix all the damage we´ve caused.



Kidding! But we do hope to have left behind some projects and have made some impact on the community. As I sit and think about it, I am sure we have. We have taught them how to use computers and the internet, both of which are huge. I taught the kids how to play Ultimate (I expect to see leauges when I return). Lori and I taught them how to properly set up tests and take data. Basically, Lori and I taught them the scientific method! Anna and Jessica have successfully started a new business at the Solar Center, called ACESol, which could really take off and create wonderful opportunities for the center. Matt built a cool cistern and gutter system to collect all the rainwater to use for the new gardens. Pete has been all over the place, providing help for everyone. On top of that, we all have pitched in to aid with all the other various projects going on here at the Solar Center. Yeah, I´d like to think we made a positive impact.



This past weekend I kind of took it easy, still just getting over my sickness. I went to ProFamilia, where I had an exam and consultation, and got some pills to kill off the parasites as I leave. I´m going to time my medication so that it carries over into as I´m getting home, so that I can be sure all the parasites are gone. I don´t want to be sick for 6 months after I get home like Lori was. I have been taking Cipro, which Matt described really well as the Atom Bomb to the war going on in your stomach... it takes out everything. In fact, I´ve been eating yogurt to get the good germs back into my stomach.



Actually, I feel that healthiest I´ve felt in... probably ever! I´ve lost a LOT of weight. I know it´s going to scare my mom because she´s going to think that I didn´t eat, but that´s not true. I ate more than I could handle at every meal, and just a few snacks here and there. The food isn´t exactly healthy, because a lot of things are fried. However, it helps that I had rice and beans, salads and soups, and heaps of fruit every morning for breakfast. Mostly, though, I think it was the controlled consumption of food. Rather than eating a lot of little snacks and meals, it was just 3 big meals a day, at 7AM, 12PM, and 7PM. Every once and a while I´ll get an ice cream or some chips in between meals, and I almost always have a coke or something too, but it´s still dramatically different than eating habits in the US. Finally, it helps that I have to walk 20 minutes every day to get to the Solar Center, then back for lunch, then back to work after lunch, then back home after work. Then, sometimes I´ll even return to the Solar Center after work, for various reasons, meaning I have to walk back home once again. It´s a lot of walking. And the work itself is excercising too. In conjunction, of course, is all the Ultimate and Soccer I have been playing as well. Basically, I feel good.



Over the past week I have put together all my things that I am taking home, and given away my gifts and left the clothes that I am leaving to Tiende Verde. I am ready to go!



So, now comes the part that I´ve been wanting to write about for a while, but have been kind of nervously putting off. I wanted to write about Dayana, who she is, and my experiences with her here in Sabana Grande. Dayana is my girlfriend. You can see pictures of her on my facebook profile. She is gorgeous and very sweet. (I wrote a bit about how pretty the women here are... she was one of them I had in mind, of course). Obviously, I didn´t come to Nicaragua looking for a girlfriend or expecting to get one, and, naturally, I was a little hesitant to have one. But, we have been together for a almost two months now, and it has been excellent. For some reason, I can understand just about everything she says (she speaks Spanish, of course). In fact, when other people talk to me, sometimes I´ll turn to her and she will repeat what they said to me, but in a way that I get it. Also, I can talk to her easily, and she can understand just about everything this foreigner is saying. There is really not much of a communication gap here. She´ll guess what I´m trying to say, and correct me. She´s a great and patient teacher. And I can have a conversation with her just like I can have a conversation with any of you in English.



Like I said, she is sweet. For example, when I was sick, she brought me apple juice, crackers, and Ibuprofen. Of course, I always return the favors as well. I have taught her the computers and internet, and how to do testing. She is very smart (she recieves one of the Las Mujeras Solares´scholarships for school), and so it was easy to teach her all these. She learned so quickly. She now has an email account and has shared it with all of her friends. I have been teaching her some English, and one day she surprised me by telling me that she signed up to take English classes in Ocotal! That was pretty cool.



We are trying to have her come to the US. If we are still talking in a few months, which we certainly plan to, then we will work to have her come stay with me for awhile. This is a great and rare opportunity for her, and it would make me very happy to have her. The problem, however, is getting her here. You might have guessed that her family doesn´t exactly have money to spare. So, as my parting gift to her, I bought her a passport. It was $18US, and I feel that it is something very, very important to have.

The real problem in her coming to visit, though, is in the Visa. She needs to get a Tourist Visa to come to the US, which is very difficult to obtain. You have to have money in the bank, pay to process papers, and get an interview. All this is in order to prove that she intends to actually return to Nicaragua. I feel that her chances are better than others, because she has school here, a family, and a job here. She can also prove that she knows someone in the US and has a place to stay. Finally, I can put in a recommendation for her, or, even better yet, go to the interview with her. That is the preferable option, but I´m not sure how we would work that out just yet.

Anyway, so Dayana is a very special person to me, and is one of the biggest reasons this trip has been great. Her family is wonderful too (they cried when I left Sabana Grande this afternoon). They are caring and kind, and her father is an Evangelical pastor. Naturally, it was very hard to leave her this afternoon. However, we left with the promise that I would return. Even more amazingly, we left with the promise that she was going to wait for me, and her family told me that they were going to strongly enforce that.

So it is now Thursday night, the night before my departure! As sad as I am to leave Sabana Grande and Dayana, and my work, I really excited. To get home. Eat Chipotle. See the Dark Knight. Watch LOST. Pet a healthy cat and dog (key word ¨healthy¨). Sit in a couch (there are NO couches in Nicaragua! Come to think of it, it is pretty hard to find a really, really comforatable place to sit). Go to a nice bar. And, of course, see my loving family and friends. I´ve missed you guys.

My flight leaves tommorrow, Friday, morning at 6:50AM. It will be another early morning, but that is more than fine by us. We get into Houston for a couple hours, and then I think I get into Cleveland at around 5PM. I´m not sure on that, but in any case, I´ll be home tomorrow night. I´m excited to turn on my cell phone in Houston! Heck, I´m excited for a lot of things.

Second to last thing: I expect to speak a lot of Spanish when I return. Those ¨involuntary fillers¨ such as ¨entonces¨ (meaning ¨then¨), or ¨pues¨ (meaning ¨well¨) , or, my favorite, ¨¡Ay!¨ (meaning ¨¡Ay!¨), which I´ve picked up from Dayana. I think it´s her favorite expression cause she uses it a LOT. Also, completely on my own accord, I´ve appeared to have picked up an English accent as well. Instead of yelling ¨Hey!¨, I yell ¨¡Oy!¨. I like that one too. Anyway, so that is something to be aware of in my speech.

Finally, I´d like to say that, due to popular demand, I will continue blogging just a little longer. I had originally planned to write one more reflective blog after I arrived home, but now I have had several people tell me to keep going. So, one thing I will blog on is the project I hope to do with my father when I get home: build a solar cooker. My father does not know yet that I plan to do this with him, and he is going to get a big surprise when he reads this. However, I think he´ll be pleaseed. I think it is a nostalgic way to take a piece of Nicaragua back with me (I now have the instructions and the knowledge on how to build a real solar cooker), as well as a memorable way to spend some time with the family. After we build it, I thought it´d be fun to try and use it in concordance with the new solar cooking cookbook I have and try to cook a meal or two.

Ok, so I think that´s it! My last post from Nicaragua! Next time I work on the internet will hopefully be in my home study in Ohio. Wish me safe travels. And thanks for following along with me so diligently. Sincerely, I have felt your presence with me here in Nicaragua. So thank you.

Oh, and parasite medicine turns your pee into color stuff that would make glowsticks jealous.

Pace y Salud,
-Daniel