Niblits (Nica Newsy Tidbits)

Oh dear I am a slacker. I haven´t written anything of substance, or given an update of sorts for months! Life here is treating me so well! Things here are busy, yet the days are long and tranquil. I have been teaching three choirs (all different ages), an English class (of 10-14 year-olds), voice lessons, and have even managed to score a night with a family once per week where I give a piano lesson to their daughter in exchange for great company and dinner! I am feeling more and more at home in my community, connecting with my co-workers on a deeper level, and my language has improved drastically. It´s been interesting to have my language capabilities and trust in relationships develop at a similar pace, and I have found in the past months more and more deep conversations with my students and co-workers.

The electricity situation in the country has not improved at all, we are power-less from 7 AM until 3 PM most days… at first I was annoyed with the lack of light, but I have realized that it has freed up time I probably would have spent browsing around on the internet, and have been able to use this time to do MUCH better things. My guitar playing is improving bit by bit (thanks to finding a beginners Beatles book and some Christmas songs with tabs on them), and I have a lot more time to lesson plan, and to engage in any student who happens to pop in to my office. That being said, the power situation is OK for me but is affecting Nicaragua drastically on the economic front. I can´t imagine what the lack of electricity does for businesses around the country, we are blessed in Cusmapa to have less reliance on electricity. Candles are a wonderful, wonderful invention indeed! But I do miss being able to rely on my refrigerator to keep things from spoiling, and showers in the morning…

I spent two weeks in the US at the beginning of August, one week with my dad´s family in Wisconsin at our family reunion (highlighted by dancing to blues bands, card games galore, golf tournaments, great time with cousins, and my new stepsister Emily getting jabbed in the leg with a lawn dart… welcome to the family!). The second week I spent in Montana, seeing my mom´s family and hanging out with friends. It was incredible to see all my loved ones again! The highlights of that week were many barbeques, bluegrass dancing at the Top Hat, shuffleboard, croquet at the Miller´s house, going to Flathead Lake with my mom, Cece, Kate, Tira, and Kayla, getting to see my favourite cousins, lots of laughter, great food, even greater company! It was so hard for me to leave Missoula, a place I feel that will always be my roots and soul. I cried through the entire first two flights back to Nicaragua… but the moment I set foot on this country´s soil again I felt rejuvenated and ready to get back to Cusmapa. That, combined with the amount of incredible little kid hugs I received upon my arrival (and every day since) has lessened the homesickness. But I still crave the sound of banjos, my mom´s hugs, my little sister´s laughter, and the bright eyes of my friends. I am so excited to see all of you again next July!

Since I´ve been back, things are busy and wonderful. There´s been an influx of new Fabretto volunteers (up until this point in my trip I had been the only one). Hannah, who is in Esteli, Mike who is living in Somoto, and Lauren who is my new roomie in Cusmapa! It´s great to have folks to bomb around and travel with, and to have places to go on the weekends. And more company so I can quit doing dorky things like playing Scrabble against myself for fun. (wow, yeah… lame, I know) About a month ago, we had an unprecedentedly crazy weekend in Cusmapa, attended by Josh and Adriana (of JVI clan), and Hannah and Mike. We spent the weekend basically cooking glorious amounts of food and drinking rum… plans to hike on Saturday were thwarted with a late night Friday, spent carrying on and dancing and playing cards. The food highlights included fresh pineapple, alfredo, the best cuajada (fresh cheese!) I have ever tasted, French toast, banana bread, mojitos, and CALZONES (something I never thought in a million years I would eat in Nicaragua). Lots of giggles and ridiculousness. My new roommate Lauren arrived this week and I can already tell we are going to be great friends. She seems like a really compassionate, driven, mindful, artsy type and we are settling into living together and enjoying each other´s company.

For those of you who read the twisted ankles and toothbrushes story, my ankle is feeling a bit better these days. I fell again last week (yeah, I know) which made for a nasty return to the swelling and more pain than I had initially experienced… but it seems to be healing. I went to the school doctor (the same one who told me after the scorpion sting incident that I would ´feel better in a week´) and I think he basically told me what I needed to do to get better was to QUIT FALLING. Which I totally agree with the fellow. It´s difficult, however, to quit falling when I constantly want to be looking at the trees and clouds and the man riding past me on his horse carrying a machete, and the little kids playing in the street. I don´t want to be constantly looking at my feet, I feel like if I do that I will miss what´s really going on in the world! I told the doctor that and he sort of looked at me like I was nuts. It´s true though! I want to look at the clouds while I´m walking sometimes, darnit! So I have been very careful each step the past few weeks and have not noticed a single thing walking too and from school, I am too busy pondering my muddy stinky feet.

A bit of exciting news, I found out last week that my high school choir will be travelling to Spain in March! Apparently there´s a big Georgetown University event (the bigwigs at Fabretto are alumni) and it will be in Madrid, and they want to have Coro Fabrettino sing at the huge banquet of the weekend. Intense! Also, Fabretto has a sister organization in Barcelona, and donors from some beach town in the south of Spain, so we can make it into a tour and travel all over the place singing for people who´ve donated to the organization over the years. EXCELLENT! I am so excited for the trip, it´s sort of overwhelming to think about it now as I know it will be stressful… but I am hoping to get more chaperones in on this adventure so I am not running all over the place the whole time I am there. So that´s my sweet travel news, which means I may have to spend part of my planned vacation time (in January) doing practices with the high schoolers for the trip. But… for a free trip to Spain I guess I could probably manage that.

I am getting ready to have a slew of visitors the next few months! My buddy Evin from college gets here in a few weeks, Katie AND Pat are coming for Thanksgiving (Katie´s one of my best friends from high school and Pat was the last choir director in Cusmapa), then my family will be here for Christmas (and Cece and Cory might stay an extra week so we can have some sibling adventures!!!), then Steph is coming in February for two weeks! AND hopefully Reghan will quit her job and come live with me for a couple of months next Spring. It will be wonderful to get to show all these folks around my home, to have them meet my students and friends and get to know the community.

I am headed to Managua this weekend to do something I never thought I would do in my lifetime… see the Black Eyed Peas in concert. There´s about 10 of us going to the concert, so I think it should be a great time. Hannah, Lauren, and I will also be helping our friend Karlita celebrate her birthday this weekend with margaritas and dancing! So my days of being a hermit here may be officially over, moved to a new phase of having constant company… good stuff! I´m glad to have had the alone time at the beginning to have to really get through things myself, but it feels great now to have some real support and great friends here. Josh and James have also been ´brewing´ some wine type beverage, which sounds very sketchy, and we may get our first taste of that this weekend. We are also planning on going to Leon (a great cultural center of the country, and an hour from the beach) for my birthday here in a couple of weekends. Lots and lots of things happening! Goodness all over the place!

On that note I must sign off, but I send all of you many blessings, and hope all´s well in the rest of the world!
Celebrating 9 months of living in Nicaragua, and loving every moment! And all of you! Love, Cal