I’ve been running a lot more lately to train for a 30k in December while I’m back at home on leave. It’s so motivating and wonderful to have something to train for again!
Running to the neighboring town of Momotombo has gotten quite hilarious. I feel pseudo famous now. Everyone along the way seems to know me now. They all think it’s the weirdest thing ever that I run that far. And the real kicker is that I run BACK to La Paz Centro. I don’t know what people previously thought I did in Momotombo, but they were all under the impression that I simply ran there, and stopped. I have cheering sections along the very rural route when I pass clusters of houses, men working in the fields, and people making the trek along the same path. Now that we’re all familiar with each other, I don’t have to explain why I’m sweating so much anymore. The people at the pulperia (like a tiny convenience store) that I always stop at used to ask me if I had just showered. But know they know the story. Every time I stop there we all learn a lot about each other. They are the typical friendly, curious Nicaraguans. The girl has shown me pictures of her newborn, and discussed differences between the US and here. The man and I exchange a few English words, s he spent 10 years working in Alabama, along with other stories.
Along the way boys on their bikes usually end up accompanying me for a couple miles and we chat. They just pull up alongside me, ask how tired I am, and then we go over the everyday clarification that no, I am not German, I’m American (there’s tons of German NGO’s all over the country). Then we proceed to talk about how weird it is that I run. I’ve even got a couple people that have seen Forest Gump here, and compare me to Forest, which is hilarious. I love it.
21/Sept/2010
Woah woah woah. If everything could just slow down so I could get a nap in, that’d be great. Way too much is going on. In addition, I have 2 back to back trips to Managua, one for my 1 year medical review, and one to give an info session of physical assault. Then some trainees are coming to my site for 4 days to see how I live. Then I’m apparently going back to Managua to give another info session about materials development (ahem, I was not actually consulted about this). And then there’s the map. Ohhh the map. This is number 2. It’s going much slower than before, because I had to contract a mason to cement the brick wall of the school so it’s smooth enough to paint on. It took a little longer than expected due to a lot of, um, how should I say, “chillin” on his part, plus some bad timing on the rain’s behalf. My friend Carla came to visit and help me start the map. We went to the school to paint the blue background and noticed that some of the cement was already chipping off (because the paint underneath hadn’t been completely removed like it needed to be). We asked some other men working at the school what we should do. To exemplify that the job was done poorly, on of the men started picking away at the falling cement with the blunt end of a shovel and I assured him that yes, I get it, it was done poorly. But please step away from the wall…. Carla and I had to decide what else to do with our weekend. We were going to go camping, but got too scared (ok it was just me). So we went to Leon one day for lunch, then danced our faces off at the local disco in my town, which by the way, is remarkably nice. Come Monday, Henry (my mason)came and fixed the wall like the good guy he is. So assuming the rain cooperates, we should start pretty soon.
25/Sept/2010
So….the rain is NOT cooperating. I really shouldn’t complain, I LOVE the rain. It lowers the temperature substantially and it’s just lovely. But this is Hurricane Matthew and this is a lot of rain. Maybe the most I’ve ever seen? We were supposed to start painting and drawing this weekend but very obviously that won’t be happening. Even if it stops raining for a few hours, we still need a perfectly dry wall to put the paint on. But at this point in time, I always have something to do. I’ll be preparing my hour long session on TPR (total physical response) to present to all the English teachers here in Leon and Chinandega at our annual conference to be held October 1st. Besides planning my presentation this weekend, I expect to do a lot of hammock lounging while I watch the rain fall, and workout out to this crazy lady called “Tracy Anderson” from the States. My friend Jenn sent me a workout video by this crazy woman. So when I can’t run, she keeps me going.
Monday is our Regional Safety and Security Meeting (assuming we can still have it if the hurricane is still looming). Right from there I head to Managua for my annual medical checkup. Because I’ve been here that long. Which is still bizarre. Luckily my 2 smart friends Carla and Jocelyn made the appointment for me so that we could all be there the same day, and share a hotel room together and revel in the a/c, internet, bedsheets, and grocery store nearby. We call it the “den”. Once we enter that hotel room, there’s no getting us out of there, it’s just too wonderful. Plus, the 3 of us are rarely together.
Some pictures of our school marching in the Independence Day Parade:
In front of my house within the first couple hours of Hurricane Matthew (which didn't directly hit us):
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