Somotillo does not walk it out

Since I now go by "Profe" (the shortened nickname for profesores en espanol) I spent last night at the dance/fund-raiser put on by one of my high schools (here we call them institutos). It was a different experience for me as my high school did not throw dances on school-nights nor did they serve beer at said fund-raiser. Not to mention, I've never been a school chaperon before. The DJ played a lot of music from the states, mostly rap but also some Madonna. When "Walk it Out" came on I was excited to see everyone get into it. Unfortunately since the lyrics were not understood, during the chorus everyone took the opportunity to grind into one another. Absolutely no one walked it out. In the event that someone reading this does not know how to walk it out, please watch the youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxjZM-d_ShI

In other news. Two days ago, a man come to our front door and asked my mom to "gift me" to him. When she refused he offered to pay. INSANE!

Yesterday when I was walking down the street two girls from the elementary school asked me to walk them home. They actually live really far outside of regular Somotillo so I agreed to walk them half way. The girls were ages 12 and 9. Each of them took me by the hand and skipped along as I walked. The older girl asked me if I had a legal visa to the US. I told her that I didn't need a visa since I was born there. Her next question startled me. She wanted to know if I could (for example, she says) take her to the states and give her to a rich gringo family. She also wanted to know if gringos give presents to their kids on occasions like birthdays and Christmas. I felt bad having to crush her dreams of being "gifted" to a gringo family but I told her I couldn't gift her to anyone, or bring her to the states. She looked crushed.

Tomorrow I head to Managua (the capital) for a check-up with the doctor and a meeting with the Agriculture APCD. I´m seeking his advice on a project I´ve been asked to design for Save The Children. He is supposed to be an expert on the topic so I´ve got high hopes for what we can get accomplished. I was hoping to meet up with a friend from Nandasmo while I was there but I don´t think it is going to work out.

This weekend is the patron saint festivals of my town (¡Viva San Lorenzo!). There are carnival rides, arts and crafts being sold, lots of beer. One of the girls will be elected queen of the fiesta. Sunday night there is a big concert in the park where the queen gets crowned. There have been parades every day all week, dance competitions and lots of dancing/drinking. I haven´t made it out to the parties because I have class early most mornings but I think I will go to the concert this weekend.

One funny thing I noticed about the pageant for queen of the carnival is that I am now too old to enter. Reality check! Time has not been passing me by. I´ve actually come to think about that a lot lately with so many of my friends getting married/engaged/divorced/pregnant. I´ve only been gone three months and already so much has changed. I can´t imagine the magnitude of change the next two years will bring to all of our lives.

I recommend the book ¨The Death of Ben Linder¨(I forget the authors name). It´s about the first US citizen killed by the Contras during the Nicaraguan revolution.
Surprisingly, I´m not homesick yet. Still hasn´t happened, maybe it never will.

This post has a stream-of-consciousnes flow to it. I hope it´s not too hard to follow.

Abrazos.