Fingernails and Frijoles

Nothing too exciting to report now, except that I have two packages waiting for me at the post office, one of which may contain a USB cable, which means I will soon be posting more photos. I am excited to share with you a piece that I like to call "Nails in Nicaragua" which showcases all of the awesome manicures and pedicures I have been given by my very talented host sister. Not sure if I have already mentioned it here but this week I am sporting dolphins on my fingers and a very valentine-y motif on the toes. I am feeling good these days. As I mentioned in the last blog entry the stress about site placement has subsided for the most part. I am no longer super concerned about where I go. I would be lying, though, if I said I was not at all nervous about being on my own. This last week I have been investigating about how to live here. I know that probably sounds weird considering that I have been here for almost seven weeks but really I have not been taking care of myself at all. I have my wonderful host family, who cooks all my meals, washes my clothes, collects water when we have none in the pipes, (which is 75% of the time), buys the groceries and pays all the bills. I have no idea how to make gallo pinto or tortillas or anything else that is, in my opinion, necessary to live here. I know a lot of people don{t think it is necessary to learn these things because you can buy cooked frijoles on the street but I kind of like the idea of doing as the Nicaraguans do and spending a Sunday cooking beans that I will eat all week. Routine and domesticity are very important to me, (much to the horror of my 23 year old self I am sure.) And I want to have a nice home life. Maybe I will feel differently later when I am super busy with all of my awesome community projects, but for now I am going to try to learn all I can about how the house runs. This Sunday my "Mom" (sorry Mom) is going to teach me how to cook frijoles and how to maintain them throughout the week. I am pretty excited. There is so much that goes into the process. It really gives me a whole perspective on things like convenience. This is probably extremely boring to anyone reading this but for some reason I find it really interesting. I guess because I have never really thought about these things. Like for example, you can{t cook the beans on the gas stove because it uses too much gas so you have to cook them outside on the outside stove or on a campfire. And that is just one part of the process. Who knew that making lunch could be so complicated? Well, that{s all for now. I will cease boring you all with tales of bean boiling.