Well here you have it, post number two. I believe that this makes this an official blog, though I am not sure of the specifics. Sit back and enjoy a story or two, won´t you?
Allow myself to start with a fun Nicaraguan fact. Because of the fragile state of the plumbing infrastructure in the country, one does not flush one´s toilet paper down the toilet but rather one places it in a garbage pail beside the toilet. Strangely enough, this isn´t really mentioned (it was written in our first hostel but I haven´t seen it written or posted anywhere else, not even my handy guidebook) and seems to be a mostly unspoken rule. Either that or everyone is laughing at the white guy who doesn´t flush his toilet paper...
Allow myself to continue with a quiz game based on a horrendous character that Amy and I met yesterday on our way to school. While I don´t mean to spoil the answer to the quiz, it is worth noting that I consider this gentleman to be the face of racism and living proof of the legacy of colonialism. This man, a 60-something year old British man who has been living in Estelí for five months, told us that while there are drawbacks to living in Estelí / Nicaragua, there are advantages as well. What were the advantages? (¡Quiz time!)
A) The beautiful landscape and warm climate.
B) The welcoming attitude of families and individuals in Estelí.
C) The fresh fruit, delicious food, and wonderful eateries.
D) "I can finally get some domestic help. It´s funny, she´s very clever but utterly ignorant. She knows nothing. Luckily for her I´ve been teaching her some things."
Don´t let the quotation marks give the answer away...
Amy commented that it is weird to meet these types of people here. Normally close-minded, overtly racist individuals like that don´t leave their homes...
Now on to happier times! My Spanish classes are going well- nearly four hours of classes every day fly by because I´m learning so much. It is tough to develop vocabulary (I´m stuck on school terms, food terms, and clothing terms that I learned in my earlier Spanish classes) but I´m learning more as I start to read things in Spanish.
It´s been a pretty quiet week as I´ve just been getting things set up and familiarizing myself with the area. I haven´t taken pictures yet but will get on that this weekend. I´m here for a while so there doesn´t seem to be a lot of urgency to take pictures.
This is the end of blog posting number two. I have high hopes that #3 will show up this weekend. We can all cross our fingers...
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Hoi Vince, your holiday in the Netherlands with your brother Mark was "a little bit" different!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck there and we follow your stories with interest !
Greetings from Haelen
I am very impressed with your blogging skills. I anxiously await the next installment...hopefully involving toucans. Can you post pictures on here? If you can, I would like to see a picture of you holding a toucan. If that's allowed. :)
ReplyDeleteVince! I figured out how to comment... It really wasn't that hard, actually, I just had to sign up with the blogger site.
ReplyDeleteLoving the stories so far... I'm pretty sure I got your quiz questions right. And I understand the toilet paper uncertainty. My rule of thumb was always that if there's a basket right next to the toilet, and if it has a cover or some sort of lid, then definitely you're in a no-flush-paper zone. That being said, I often didn't want to take the risk of screwing up the plumbing and so probably didn't take advantage of flush-paper toilets when they presented themselves... But that's probably far too much information.
I'm excited to hear about the rest of your adventures. Buenas noches and buena suerte en los aseos (from google translate - I hope it worked okay!).
Hey Vince! Your blog is hilarious! I love you style.
ReplyDeleteThey do the same thing with toilet paper in Lima as well, and I assume the rest of Peru. They also did it in Mexico when I went last year. I think it's a Latin American thing (I consider Mexico not part of the US even though I know it is).
Hope your time in Nicaragua is going well! How long are you there for? Too bad we probably won't be able to find a way to meet up. After my internship I'll be traveling S. America but I don't think I'll have the time to get to to Central America.
Let me know if you find yourself in Peru for some reason!