But first I have to mention something that I have no pictures of....which is a shame. Last week I was a judge in an English competition between a few schools near where I work, including Roberto Clemente. There were 25 groups and individuals singing songs in English. I was enlisted to judge pronuciation, intonation, security, and domain. Highlights included Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and Crank That by Solja Boy. The kid who sang Crank That actually did an amazing job and unanimously won between me and the two other judges. The actual event lasted over four hours and by the end I was exhausted. It was a really interesting cultural experience. The songs kids chose, and English songs that tend to be popular in Nicaragua, were from the 70s and 80s. Michael Jackson songs were definately a hit. (Not surprising to those close to me, they were not high scorers from the American judge. I tried to be unbiased but I can only listen to Thriller so many times.) At the end of the event, when I and the two other Nicaraguan judges tallied the scores I noticed our scores were sooo different. They scored the cheesy 70s songs really high and I scored the newer pop-ier songs higher. Since I speak English, they tended to just accept my scores and forget their own. This made me feel really uncomfortable because the kids were not being judged fair. I told them we should just tally the points and not guestimate like they were doing. I was saved by the bell because my ride home showed up and I had to leave. I gave them my scores and walked away hoping they would do what's right but also realizing it was out of my hands. It was so uncomfortable and a good example of unintended gringo priveledge.
This photo was taken from our patio after a rain storm. The view of the sky through our little window of razor wire is often the only natural beauty we get in the house and around Managua.
I went SURFING. Well, kind of, I tried. I went with friends Kelly and Joe (above). It was so great to get out of the house and head to the beach. It was even better because we drove in the pickup of a friend of theirs and I got to use the unofficial JV surfboard, which was left here by some backpackers a couple years ago.
This shot is of the community overlooking Lake Masaya. We took an overnight retreat at Flor de Pochote. It was really good to get out of the heat of Managua and relax a bit.
I love me some slackline.
Chritine and I washing our feet in the pila at Flor de Pochote after some intense barefooted slacklining adventures.
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