Orientation Complete

So, I have finished my first 7 days or so in Nicaragua. I am orientated. I am trying to write in English with a keyboard configured for Spanish. I have no idea where to find apostrophes. It is a bit odd, and makes for choppy writing.

Anywho, I have a host mom, Eduviges, who owns a small convenience store (pulperia) attached to her house. I have two host siblings. Heyling, female, 10 years old, and Edubar, male, 7 years old. Edubar is ridiculously shy, but Heyling likes to talk to me and help me out when I start fumbling my Spanish. It is a pretty quite house compared to other people in the group, but I like it. Also, my host mom talks nice and slow, taking care to use words I understand. This is not the case in my Spanish class and my seminar.

The seminar is going to be pretty frustrating for a while. I am in level 1 Spanish, which is the lowest tier. So while I know I will be a lot better by the end of the semester, I am really struggling at the moment. This is rather unpleasant. Hopefully, this helps how I interact with foreign exchange students in the future. I wonder if I can turn this into a Writing Center presentation?

Managua. There probably will not be many pictures of this city, since I do not want my camera stolen. Maybe pictures of my neighborhood, Maximo Jerez, will happen. But here is a description. (I do not know where the colon key is either. I am surprised how much a simple apostrophe helped my flow. Or it was a cheat. No, definetly keeps a paper suave (smooth).)

The houses consist of a solid concrete wall bordering the sidewalks. You know when one house ends and another begins thanks to the different paint colors. Everything is on one floor, as far as I know. This is probably mostly a low income thing, but could also be from the 1972 earthquake. Most people have front porches that double as garages occasionally, with several rocking chairs behind a solid metal gate that stretches from the floor to the ceiling. My host moms pulperia has something similar to a metal garage door to keep it secure. The colonia (neighborhood) has a little park in the center, with multicolored swings, monkey bars, and slides. It also has a basketball park, where I hear teenagers gather for games. Due to all this concern for safety, it is hard to convince myself to explore the area. No doubt there are cute little andens (pedestrian streets) yet to be explored, with imaginative color combinations on the houses and adorable children playing in the streets.

Food is always an adventure. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and for around $2, one can get quite a spread. The fare is carb heavy, what with the rice and tortillas, which can lead to a mid afternoon crash if one does not look out. Fortunately, coffee is offered at around this time for my afternoon class, so I have no problems.

I will try to remember some of my funnier bilingual moments in the future. For now, take care not to mistake infierno for fuego. Infierno is an adjective pertaining to hell, which is not quite accurate when trying to talk about firemen in my Spanish class.