Oh, what a contrast...

One of the many good things about moving to a brand new country for a while is the vast amount of new material to blog about. I’m overwhelmed by how different life is here in Nicaragua compared to any place I’ve ever been… and this is especially true when I just look back to the different places we’ve visited in the last two weeks. From Morocco to London to Texas to Nicaragua- can you imagine a greater culture shock between these places?

There’s the change…
-in scenery (snake charmers -- Big Ben – big trucks -- palm trees and volcanoes),
-in weather (75 degrees – 30 degrees – 80 degrees -- 95 degrees with 85% humidity),
-in prices (moderate dinner for two: $26 -- $50++ -- free via Continental airlines -- $12),
-in languages (French/Arabic – English – English – Spanish),
-in food (flavorful tangines – pub grub – hamburger & cobb salad -- rice and beans at all meals),
-in religion (predominately Muslim – Anglican/Church of England – Baptist – Catholic),
-in our accommodation (Riads/B&B’s – short-term apartment rental – hotel – with a family)
-in the pace of life in general (Super fast – faster – fastest (USA/not TX) – SUPER slow)…

Wow, I’ve kind of just been stunned all week when I think about this. It’s taken us a few days to adjust to our new home, lifestyle and environment, but I’d say we are doing pretty well. In fact, I am really falling in love with Nika life. First of all, I am definitely a warm-weather girl, so I am loving the fact that I’m back wearing flip-flops and tank tops again. Travis isn’t quite as enthusiastic about all this heat and humidity, but he is surviving with the constant use of our fan (no AC’s here). I do think it’s time to buy him a little dew-rag though… to wipe the ever-present glow from his brow. Secondly, the scenery (architecture, flora, fauna, volcano backdrops and more) here is delightful. From the coconut and plantain trees to homes painted in every color of the rainbow, there’s never a lack of interesting views. Furthermore, I like the pace of Nika life. The #1 thing people do here is sit on their rocking chairs and watch the world go by (everyone owns classic, wooden rocker). Our family’s house alone probably has about 12 or more rockers in and outside. In the evenings the Nikas pull their chairs outside and sit out on the streets to rock, stay cool and watch people walk by. I haven’t seen one person here who appears to be in a hurry. There’s no need. Life is all about enjoying the day and whatever it has to offer.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to cover in detail our many different impressions and the interesting “typical Nicaraguan” things in my blogs. But today, I think I’ll begin by telling you a little bit more about the lovely Nika family we are living with. Let’s see, let’s start with the family members. We have the parents (in their 50’s), the mama- Sophia and the papa- Javier. The mom stays at home all day except for occasional visits to relatives, and prays dutifully to her garden statue of the Virgin Mary every morning while still in her pajamas. This is usually when we are eating breakfast so it’s a rather interesting scene to observe. Afterward, she sits on the rocker and reads from the large family Bible. One morning she shared with us in her very rapid Spanish about her Catholic church. Although we find her speech very difficult to understand, we got about 70% of what she told us, and her church seems to be one of those that is focused on healing and miracles. She enjoyed vibrantly telling us the stories about some of the miracles she’s observed at services. Although we don’t talk to the mom a lot (she doesn’t have her meals with us because she eats at different times due to her diabetes), she is plenty smiley and friendly.

The dad, Javier, is a compassionate countryman. Our first impression of him came without him present, during our initial tour of the house as we viewed his collection of Nika antiques (coins, dollars, stamps, political items and many other things) and surprising collection of birds. The back of our house opens up to a garden containing many birdcages and birds of all types, colors and sizes. Grandma Mulder and Grandma Beltman- you both would love it! He has parrots, doves and tons more, including several chickens, roosters, some beautiful type of pelican, and even a goose! He also has two little dogs, but we never see them because they are tied up in the back of the house all of the time (So strange- why have dogs then?). We actually didn’t meet Javier until our 2nd night at the home when we visited his workplace during a city fiesta. He loves to talk! We just wish he spoke about half as fast. He runs a historical family-run kiosk in the central town square of Granada. It’s been in the family for more than 50 years and serves up amazing, tropical, typical Nika fresh juices, as well as a famous dish called vigeron. This is cooked yucca squash topped with a savory cabbage salad containing various unusual Nika vegetables and fried pork rinds. Sounds super strange but it’s actually one of my favorite dishes so far. In the central town square, each corner has a historic kiosk- they all sell the tropical drinks, but each sells only one type of specialty dish of Nika food. It’s a pretty cool tradition I think. Families and tourists come to sit on the painted tables and chairs splashing color all throughout the square and they choose their favorite drinks and dishes to enjoy. We don’t see Javier often because he works from 8am-9pm.

The sisters Javiera and Maria Teresa (in their 20’s) are our main comrades in the house. Especially Javiera, the elder of the two. We think it’s her who is mainly responsible for us, as she’s the one who serves us all meals, cleans our room and explains things to us. She speaks the most clearly and slowly, and sits down with us for meals. She is very thoughtful of our needs, has a friendly personality, and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know her. As far as what she does for a living, we’re pretty sure it’s just “sitting” at home. She doesn’t seem to possess any ambition to work, nor does she like leaving the house. She told us we don’t have to worry about having a key to the outside door because she’s always here. So far this has proven to be absolutely true! Telenovellas (Spanish soap operas), rocking, eating and talking with family members seem to be her favorite activities. Although she talks about her mom’s good cooking, I’m pretty sure she does most of the family’s cooking herself. We haven’t actually seen her in the cooking process (I think she must do it all in the morning, possibly with her mom, when we’re at school), but have observed her dish up our plates everyday from the various pots and pans continuously stewing on the stove. What I find to be especially precious is the way she passionately describes to us the different types of comida tipico, typical Nicaraguan foods, she serves at each meal. She always presents our food to us with a big smile. In another blog I will tell about the food- there is much, much to say!

Maria Teresa is the younger sister, and is a typical gal in her early 20’s. She’s also around the house ALL of the time, but she must get out a little because she has a boyfriend and knows more about the good restaurants and best stores in town. Being that I’ve needed to buy a few more pieces of clothing that are for this warm weather, her recommendations have been helpful. At first we thought Maria Teresa wasn’t too interested in having us in her house, but after 2 days she started joining us for our meals and it’s really been a kick getting to know her. Her “youthful” perspective adds a lot to our conversations. Unlike her sister, Teresa must have some ambition to work; she attends computer classes on the weekends in Managua in order to find work later as a computer technician/programmer.

Next we have the son, Francisco Javier (19). He is your classic teenager who is in and out of his bedroom all day playing video games, listening to music, using the computer and watching DVD’s till the wee hours every morning. Although he knows our names and is friendly enough, we haven’t really had any conversations with him yet. He’s always pretty occupied with his hobbies or with friends who are visiting. He is actually studying to be a lawyer, so he also attends classes in Managua at a University. Because all of the Nika schools are on break right now (similar to our summer break in the USA- here their school year follows along with the calendar year, so their school years will commence with the new year), Francisco is also in the house all day long right now. Being that we’re pretty active people and are in and out of the house many times each day, it just enthralls us to always find these family members hanging out. We can’t imagine how they fill the hours each day of the week. But, as we’re finding out through talking to our Spanish teachers and other students, this is VERY typical of most Nikas. Although we’re not totally sure why this is, we have a few thoughts. We’re sure a lot of it has to do with the hot weather; it really zaps your energy. It also may be contributed to a lack of employment. The rest of it might have to do with contentment level. Our family members and a lot of Nika people in general all seem very happy. They aren’t doing more things with their life because they don’t possess the desire; therefore, why not just kick back and enjoy a little R & R each day!

That’s about it for the family members. There’s one more son and daughter-in-law with 2 adorable girls who live four houses away. They’re at the house hanging out often (especially the grandkids), as well as various other extended family members who like to stop by for visits. So, it’s a nice full house! As far as all of their interesting customs and our schedule here with our family, I’ll have to save that for a later blog… I think I’ve given you enough information for one day. All in all though, we couldn’t have chosen a better family to live with. They are all very passionate about their country and culture and enjoy showing it to us. We’re convinced there isn’t a more authentic way to experience Nika life and learn the language.