As I´m sitting here.....

...I have lost about 10 pounds from sweating alone. It has got to be one of the hottest days since i´ve been here and it is pretty miserable. But it is indeed friday which is a relief....i don´t think i could take another spanish class without a break! Classes this week have been fine....they become longer throughout the day and seem to drag on but i seem to be learning a lot as well. Our teacher is very paitent...and goes very slow....which sometimes get redudant after 3 hours in the morning...but it´s better than being lost and confused right?

Our assignments range from conversations about our host families, written paragraphs over lectures, and random debates where each are student is a different type of fruit and we have to fight over who is the best fruit! haha...that´s been the most interesting so far! We have also had some assignments where we read a newspaper article and spanish and are only allowed to ask our families questions over the words we don´t know....those have sparked some funny conversations. Nicaraguans are very animated and like to act out their descriptions...my host father did some funny things that night.

Let´s see...a typical day for Ashley Nichole....i was called Nichole for the first 3 days because my parents needed to practice saying ashley...i enjoy hearing them say my name everytime...ashwy...kinda sounds like that!

But yes...I wake up for class about 7 or 8ish...depending on how hard i am sleeping. The rest of my family wakes up at 6 every morning which sometimes wakes me up as well...they get up stinkin early here! But then my mother offers me breakfast. I told her I don´t usually eat breakfast and oh did that worry her. she insists i eat breakfast even if it is a little yogurt or chocolate cake. Yeah that´s right, i had chocolate cake for breakfast this morning...it was delicious but very surprising. Every kid´s dream right? Then I head for Jonna´s house...which is approxametly 30 seconds away and then we walk to the park where the buses pick people up for Jinotepe. We ride the bus for about 10 minutes...pay 5 cordobas...and walk about 1 minute to class. Class goes from 9 to 11:30 and then we head out on our own to eat lunch in Jinotepe. We´ve had pizza, shakes, steak and chicken, vegetarian malaysian, and lots and lots and lots of RICE AND BEANS (gallo pinto). No one give me rice and beans when i come home....I might die! Then we have a lecture from 1-3 on various topics. some this week have been on the history of Nicaragua and organic coffee farming. It´s been really interesting to hear about how much influence the United states has had on little countries like Nicaragua...sometimes I feel ashamed and wonder why the people here don´t run me over with their cars. But that just shows their hospitality and kindness towards others. They are so nice here, opening their home and time for me with no complaints. Not to mention they are very patient with my spanish...haha

But it seems a lot of times after lecture some of the girls and I walk around the market, or visit each other´s houses, sip on lemonade and talk to other host families, and etc! I came home at 4 today and my parents were freakin out asking why i was back so early and why i haven´t hung out with my friends. they are funny. But yes, i spend a lot of time talking about random things with my family, hanging out with Jonna and doing homework, or hitting up the cyber cafe for some blog writing :) Jonna and I have become really close...and not just because our houses are so close. haha. I´ve made my first new SST friend!

The weather is hot of course but when you sit for a while in the breeze, it feels amazing! and the nights are beautiful...no sun...cool breeze. oh man! and when it rains here...IT POURS! like golf ball size rain drops. The mosqutos aren´t as bad as i thought they would be...they are just in the house which makes the bites easier to get. I also have a few friends who scurry around my room...some cockroaches, lizards, crickets....we´re best friends now. They don´t bother me anymore...I never thought this day would come :) I´ve also watched more spanish soap operas here than i watched regular television during the year! they are obsessed, not to mention that they are the only things on the 2 channels in my house! i got to jonna´s house to watch english channels!

Now for the funny stories....

1. I have found out what a lot of random things meant a week later. say for instance, my mom gave me a huge wad of toilet paper when i left for the day once and i had no idea why, plus i did´n´t understand her. come to find out, a lot of places don´t have toilet paper...i realized this yesterday and then it all made sense!

2. My parents can leave the house and come back 30 seconds later with toilet paper and cold gatorade for me. I thought it was a magic trick! the closest store i knew of was about 5 blocks away...it was impossible! i found out yesterday that there is a store inside a house on my block...go figure. I am an idiot.

3. a group of us was visiting Bethany´s house and her dad asked what we did during the day. we had cookies so i was trying to figure out what cookies was in my head and i remembered dulces. He asked how our spanish was as I said ¨dulces!¨ but i didn´t hear his other question. so everyone thought i answered with dulces! they laughed a lot at me after we figured out the confusion....also, Dulces doesn´t mean cookies :)

But overall the days seem to be going fast. When i think about how much time is left...i cringe. But when i think about all that´s happened so far...the time has flown! it´s a vicious cycle...slow....fast....slow....fast.

We also talked about control in our reunion session with the whole group on wednesday and how we are feeling with the out of control life-style we are living right now. I am always in control of my everyday in the U.S. and it has been a real growing process for me to let go of the control this summer. I can´t control my spanish and the fact that i am stuck here for a while. But i do have control over my attitude and what i can get out of this whole experience. I know i am getting a lot....but I am gradually starting to find out what that actually is. This week has been hard and mind boggling. I´m just trying to grasp my head around the whole picture...yikes! the sweat is clogging my brain!

But in all my free time to think, i´ve also finally been able to relax (in a new way) and bask in all the glory of the engagement that happened about 4 weeks ago. When asked questions about the wedding and engagement, i remember how blessed i am and what it all means...I´M GETTING MARRIED! I was so busy before i left that i didn´t have time to just sit and dwell on the fact that about a year from now i will be tying the knot with the one i love and spending the rest of my life with him! HOLY COW! I am smiling real big right now! But get excited because i will be so ready to nip this wedding planning in the bud when i return! haha

Well, that was a really long entry, but I needed to update you all!

Nicaragua is beautiful, great, lonely, hard, challenging, blessed, and causing me to stretch my comfort zone to a whole new level!

Thank you all for being that comfort zone....and I can´t wait to experience you all again when I return!

Love,
Ash