Happy Mother´s Day!

This post is dedicated to my mom on the occasion of Mother’s Day. Here in Nicaragua Mother’s Day is celebrated later in the month, the 30^th I believe. But in actuality the whole month of May should be for mothers because they are so damn great. The other day I was talking to mom and she asked me to blog about directions in Nicaragua. Let me explain. So I’ve been told, after The Earthquake in the 70s or 80s (I don’t remember) Managua was almost completely destroyed. The city was built back up but no one bothered renaming the streets. Some say the U2 song, Where the Streets Have No Name, refers to Managua. So, having no street names makes giving directions a little more complicated. Good luck using Google maps here. For example, my address is from the Cristo Rey rotunda, two blocks south, and half a block down. Then when you get half a block down you look for the second green house on the right or just go house to house asking where the gringos live. The cardinal directions here in Managua are a little different too. North, south, east, and west are known as al lago, al sur, arriba, and abajo (to the lake, to the south, up, and down). Lake Managua is north of the city, south is still south, and up and down refer to the sun going up and down, east to west. It took a little getting used to and I have to constantly reorient myself wherever I go in the city. Sometimes directions are incredibly long or are given from a landmark that doesn’t even exist. For example, some directions are like three blocks toward the lake from where this restaurant used to be then two blocks up.

In other news…Work has been up and down. I suppose that’s not really news but has come to be common knowledge. It’s really tough working with the little kids. The first and second graders are wild and nunca no me hacen caso. My soccer and baseball afternoons have petered out. No one really comes anymore. One little fourth grade kid still comes almost everyday. He lives around the corner from school and I think he’s just really bored and looking for something to do. He follows me around and sits near me while I read my book at lunch. Sometimes it’s really endearing and other times it’s just annoying. I have started helping out the phys ed. teacher who is coaching volleyball in the afternoons. It has been good to actually accompany someone in their work, to learn from them, and be able to ask questions. So often at work I’m put into a situation empty handed and unsupported and expected to make things work. I usually do alright but I don’t think the students nor I particularly thrive in these situations. One surprising thing is that the kids, when I’m not in class with them, love me. They attack me with hugs and salutations. I am often self-conscious because I’ll be walking by a class and kids will yell out the window to me. Sometimes I feel more like a distraction than a help.