"Who causes so much happiness? Mary's Conception!"

On December 7th Nicaraguans filed into the streets to celebrate the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary. Also known as La Griteria. I had heard a lot about this day, and didn't really know what to expect. I thought it was going to be much like Hallowe'en, so I brought home a few bags of candies. Turns out, I was a little off.
Like Hallowe'en, families go out in the street and receive candies and gifts from their neighbours. Unlike Hallowe'en, only a few houses in every neighbourhood give out treats. And you have to sing a song praising the Virgin Mary before you can cash in. You can tell which house is handing out gifts because they are the ones with the Virgin Mary alter in front of their house and the long line of patient families snaking down the street.
It was quite a sight to see and I was really happy to be able to share it with the family I am living with and my visitors from home.
I could have done without the fireworks though.

Livin la vida luxe

Last week I was treated to a visit from my Mom and my Aunt Kerry. It was the first time since I've been here that I've welcomed people from home into my new little world. It was also a chance for me to be reminded about the old comforts of home. I didn't realize how much I had adjusted to developing world life until I got into a shower that had two knobs. One for hot water. I barely knew what to do with the option.
You'd think that staying at places with all the comforts of home would be easy. Having the luxury to stay in uberclean hotels, with "American" food options, airconditioning and cable TV. But I actually found it a little difficult to adjust to.

It was an interesting experience; to feel out of place in a familiar environment. I can't believe I'm actually writing this but I think I actually missed the rice and beans *gasp*!
Not to worry, it took a few days, but I did get used to rolling around in a comfy bed with a comforter and the power of a remote control.
And then *poof*, my turn as Cinderella disappeared and I'm back to showering from a paint bucket.

Cabbing it

It was recommended to me that, when homesick, instead of focusing on what I miss about Canada, I should think about what I´ll miss about Nicaragua. So, in true Audrey fashion, I made a list.
First on my list was that I will miss the the taxi experience here.
In Nicaragua, the custom is to negotiate the taxi fare before accepting the ride. I love the bartering. I will share my pride with whoever will listen to me when I can negotiate a taxi driver down from 50 to 25Cordobas (from about $2.50 to $1.50 Canadian).
There are a few tricks I´ve learned to negotiate a reasonable taxi fare. It helps that I´ve been living in this maze of a city for a few months now. Depending how touristy I look that day or depending on what part of town I´m going to - I can be often offered the ¨white tax¨. It helps when I can counteract the cabbies ¨but it´s so far¨ by saying ¨actually, no it´s not that far, it´s just down this street for a few blocks¨.
I´ve also perfected the shocked/I´m outraged look at the cabbie´s first offer, reading them correctly as to how low I can offer without them speeding off in digust and then the slow ¨fake-out¨walking away to see if they´ll admit defeat and accept my offer.
I know it´s going to be hard going back into a cab in Canada and watching the taxi meter creep up while stuck in traffic.

How to make a joke...in Spanish

Improving my Spanish. Learning about work for a non-profit. Experiencing a new culture. These are things I knew I would learn coming into this internship. But I've come to realize that I'm also learning skills I didn't anticipate, skills I didn't even know existed.
Like pretending to understand what is being said. If I stopped the conversation every time I didn't understand something, I would become a huge pain to talk to. So I pretend like I know what is going on. It involves a combination of head nods and mirroring the facial expression of the speaker. I'm working on my fake laugh, laughing along just because everyone else is even though I have no clue what is being said.
It's risky to attempt sarcasm in a foreign language, but I needed to try. I find I'm a lot more animated when I'm trying to make a joke, over exaggerate my facial expression and flail my hands around. There's also this desperate look in my face hoping that the person understands I'm trying to make a joke, and not being offensive.
Everyone seems to get my jokes, or maybe they're just laughing AT me. That's where humility comes in. I have been in situations where I look like a complete idiot more times than I would like to count. I've come to learn to embrace it. I've had to suck it up and acknowledge that I don't understand the language, and that I am confused about 75% of the time here.
Besides getting around the language barrier, there are a few other skills I'm learning from living in a developing country.
Like how to have a shower, flush the toilet and brush my teeth with no running water (it involves an organized system of buckets and old water bottles). How to get out of a car that doesn't have a functioning inside door handle (car safety standards are non-existent). How to balance on the back of a motorbike with a bag of oranges, a tripod and a smelly bag of fish. And the list goes on.....

Is it true?

When I found out I was going to be moving to Managua, I started reading about the city to try and find things that I will love about the city. I ended up getting more and more dissapointed. As a tourist destination, Managua is not at the top of the list. The phrase "if you HAVE to go" is always used when the city is mentioned. Managua's main purpose is as a stop-over between the southern beaches and the northern mountains. It's dirty, hot, polluted and busy. It borders lake Managua, but the lake is no spot for a quick dip or a leisurely stroll.
To give the city credit, it was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1973. Only 4 buildings remained standing. There never really was a plan for rebuilding the city. The city just kind of grew out, organically, in a series of semi-circles.
Thus, there is no method to the madness that is Nicaragua's capital city.

Then I read somewhere that the song "Where the streets have no name" by U2 was actually written about Managua. Sold! I then started using this tidbit as a selling point for the city. Managua now joins the exclusive club of songs named after them. Take that Toronto!
But wait, is it actually true? I have spent way to many minutes "researching" this fact online. And it's still deemed a disputed fact (see here and here). Darn!

Elections

On Sunday November 9th, Nicaraguans headed to the polls for the mayoral elections. ("mayoral" is the literal translation, I believe "provincial" would be the best political translation, for Canadians). The lead up to these elections has been quite interesting, for a non-Nicaraguan like me. The passion that Nicaraguans have for politics and elections is amazing. At least 2 months before the actual election, there were political billboards all over the city. Houses and lampposts were painted to reflect ,the preferred political party. Frequent rallies would pop up, groups of supporters driving around the city, waving flags, honking horns and blocking traffic at any day or time of the week.

There are two main political parties in Nicaragua: the FSLN(the Sandanista party, currently the federal ruling party, their idols are Che Guevara and Sandino) and the PLN (the Liberal party, but Nicaragua's Liberals are more similar to Canada's Conservatives.
The Wednesday before the election it was announced that all offices would be closed on Friday and Saturday (most Nicaraguans work Saturdays as well). Then on Thursday, around 3 p.m. it was announced that the holidays were canceled and it would be business as usual the next day. I can't seem to understand how the government was able to relay this information on such short notice - and the fact that everyone seemed to just go along with it.

After 2 months of rallying and propaganda, a 72 hours "quiet period" was enforced. No public political activity was allowed for 2 days before the elections. The sale and consumption of alcohol was banned on Saturday and Sunday. Then the election happened. And the rallying and demonstrations resumed. In major cities, it took a few days for an official winner to be announced. And even if the winner was announced, the losing party would inevitably protest it and claim fraud. This morning in the paper there was an insert from the PLN candidate for Managua. This insert listed all the votes calculated in every polling station in Managua.

Throughout the week there have been groups of Nicaraguans gathering in various rotundas, wearing masks, and armed with air guns and rocks. My landlord didn't go to her class on Thursday night because she "didn't want to get hit in the head with a rock". It's sounding like things are starting to calm down a bit - but it's been quite a hectic week. And these aren't even the presidential elections.

I saw the new James Bond movie before you

I like movies. I enjoy going to the movies in Canada, but I find the $10 cost prohibitive at times. In Nicaragua, going to the movies has become a lovely escape. It's air-conditioned to nearly freezing temperatures and the seats are clean and comfy. And it only costs about $3.
The only catch is that Nicaraguan theatres decide to release the poorest selection of movies. Made of Honour was playing in theatres for my first 6 weeks here. Six weeks.
Then a movie called Love Wrecked opened. I had never heard of the movie and thought maybe I was out of touch on my Hollywood movies. So I looked it up. The movie was released in the U.S. in 2005. It starred Amanda Bynes and Lance Bass played the character of "cell phone Dan". I decided to save $3 and pass up that opportunity.
Then, last week, all of a sudden the new James Bond movie opens in theatres. And I realize that the movie hasn't even opened in North America yet.
How does this make any sense?
ps - as for my review - movie was o.k., too many fight scenes make me a little dizzy