Surprise Surprise

Over the course of my many months here, lots of things have surprised me, including lizards falling from the ceiling, chickens running into my legs when I was playing soccer and my host sister's surprise visit from England. On top of all that, I have surprised myself with many things I have said and done...

Things I have said that have surprised me....

• “I hope it rains today” –I never really enjoyed the rain in the states
• “I think I just have a stomach parasite”
• “This air-conditioning is giving me a cold” – A common Nicaraguan belief that the change of climate, or going from hot to cold in any sense will make you sick. This includes baking or going for a run and jumping in a cold shower right away afterwards. Or ironing and then opening the fridge to find something to eat. I am starting to believe it’s true, at least for me and air-conditioning. 
• “I like washing my clothes by hand”
• “I don’t want to eat pizza or spaghetti for a long time” –I once made Spaghetti for lunch and dinner for 3 days straight because I was too lazy to cook, and my host mom was perfecting her pizza recipe for a while, making pizza almost daily.
• “I think I am allergic to Managua”
• “I drank soy milk at lunch and fell asleep for 3 hours, so I was un-able to come back into work in the afternoon”-To my counterpart the following day
• “I’m craving rice and beans”
•  “I only have $4 to get me through the next 3 days until payday on Thursday” –That was this week

Things I have done here that surprised me...

• Milk a cow (Coming from the Dairy state, I think it is ironic that the first time I milked a cow was in Nicaragua)
• Get up regularly before 6am
• Talk so openly and comfortably about everything related to sexual health
• Enjoy fried food and soda so often :/
• Spit in public – This is an accepted thing to do here, especially if you have a cough… I never really spit while living in Madison.
• Make cheese by hand (again coming from the dairy state)
• Enjoy swimming in a polluted (and enchanted) river...at one point the mayor’s office claimed that it had up to 40% fecal matter based on bacteria levels... I don't want to believe that's true
• Watch a baby being born
• Regularly enjoy dragon fruit, star fruit, passion fruit, jocote, mamones and mangos
• Visit the crater of an active volcano – And I’d like to visit more before my time is up here
• Climb through coffee fields talking during the coffee harvest
• Regularly travel 5-6 hours in a day, sometimes standing most of the way
• Enjoy Nicaraguan cheese… it has a very distinct flavor, and it is often fairly salty
• Make soy milk and soy meat by hand, starting from the beans, yum!
• Learn to ride on horseback

Horseback riding for my 24th birthday at my host cousin's farm