shakira.

the past month has had a lot of travel in it and, especially because i'm totally surrounded in spanish, i find myself looking for any kind of similarity. somehow, the biggest constant in my life right now is......... shakira. who would have thought that waka waka would be the most familiar thing in my life.

i have yet to meet a kid that doesn't know all the moves and most of the lyrics to waka waka. i'm betting adults, myself included, don't let on to as much as they know.

right now i'm living in matagalpa, nicaragua where torrential downpours (3 today) compete with shakira (1 play today) in frequency.... its also the coffee capital of the country (hooray!). i'm trying desperately to learn spanish this week before my actual job in central america starts. so far, ive surprised myself with how much french i remember, and have surprised nicaraguans with my english/french/spanish accent. esta es muy curioso.

its frustrating as hell not speaking the language. i am staying with a grandmother and grand daughter and take spanish lessons all day so i'm pretty much entirely immersed. cool experience and what not... lots of learning... but really frustrating. i came down here with pretty generic knowledge of nicaraguan history and politics and already am being bombarded with new perspectives and details. it drives me nuts that i can't absorb more, and that classes haven't made me fluent overnight. thankfully there is an american girl who has been here twice now and can fill me in on what i'd miss out on otherwise. there are so many spanish lessons in my future..........

howweeevvver. poco a poco. managed to hold up (understand? not really contribute) a conversation about homosexuality in nicaragua which was pretty interesting, especially given how psychotically catholic this country is. still wish i could contribute more than basic statements about homosexuality and the gay pride week in toronto.

nice thing about being 95% surrounded in spanish is that i don't have the opportunity to rely on the translator. despite being a mute, i still get to (have to?) maintain a lot of independence. as much as i look forward to my days of having a woman work with me in part as a translator, having to figure this all out on my own is... an experience...?

anyway. this coming weekend my spanish days end when the laurier outreach trip gets to nicaragua. we move to a really small village to build a school... they'll be there for 2 weeks, i'll be there for a week before i move to meet up with another SOS trip in costa rica. excited for english conversation again but its really good to have such a huge challenge that i can focus all of my energy on.

oh, and an aside? nicaraguan food is fantastic. big staples include cheese, beans and coffee... and a bit of chocolate and cinnamon.