The rainy season has started here and we have had some noticeably cooler days so I was glad the season had changed. And I still am, but I have learned that there are some drawbacks to rain when you are riding a bus.
The Nicas will be sitting in the bus, sweated totally wet but when it starts to rain and a few drops fly in from the window in front of them, up go all the windows and the bus is almost totally without air !! Its incredible...they will sit there, windows up, sweating their guts out but saved from the rain drops. My Spanish is waay to low to try to logic it out with them soooo...I have discovered, that if you sit or stand near the front of the bus, should it start to rain and all those windows go clicking up, you can still get air from the door which, if not open all the time, at least opens and closes when someone get on or gets squeezed out. Its actually good that there are still things to learn...it reminds me that just because something looks easy, like riding a bus, it isn't necessarily so !!!
I also discovered a good analogy to describe those long sweaty rides. I was telling someone how you just sit arm to arm sharing sweat and I likened it to the way weiners, when they are packed tightly together in those plastic packages, sort of take on the shape of the weiner next to them....thats what its like on the bus some days.
I have also been having the pleasure of the company of the folks from Nebraska and have been involved in a few more planning sessions with them and folks from UNAN. I had a little visit to the escuela educacion especial ( Special Ed. School) here in Leon this morning and was pleasantly surprised. They have lots of staff and there were about 15 young people there from University of Barcelona doing some special activities with the kids. They have their own bus that goes around Leon and picks up the kids - they have all types of disabilities and ages together. deaf, blind, autistic, down syndrome, and other kids with disabilities which are not easily visible and therefore not easily labeled. I also got to visit a little private school for deaf kids in Leon which is a great opportunity for the kids who can get there. The problem is, all these services are available to kids in Leon, the rural kids have almost nothing. So, clearly, more teachers need to be trained and out in the classrooms.
The folks from Nebraska are not Spanish speakers, although Julie can do sign language and communicate with the deaf folks pretty successfully. Wonder of wonders, I have been serving as their interpreter....can you believe it ????? I sort of had an out of body experience when I realized what I was doing....people would look at me to find out what the other person had just said....OMG !!!!!
I've only been back a little over three weeks but I have settled back in and feel part of the community again. I am doing my exercises religiously and have learned a few adaptations in addition to those the physical therapist gave me. We have these light trucks that serve as inner city transportation around Leon. They have benchs down both sides so when they go around a corner, which they do at high speeds, you have to either hold on or get tossed across the aisle onto the unsuspecting folks over there. Well, I have perfected the skill of squeezing my toes and feet to brace myself into my seat, rather than only using my arms. It works so well and I think I am getting very shapely feet as a result !!! The same technique works when you are standing on the bigger buses between Leon and Malpaisillo. I have developed a "wide stance" ala Larry Craig to counter act hard turns and stops rather than hanging onto the overhead rails with all my weight. This may be boring to you, but to me its rocket science !!
I'll add a couple photos to spice things up.
Love to all,
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| God bless these guys. They are in some sort of race on a highway where they have to dodge trucks and buses of all sorts but also ox carts, free range cattle and horses, pedestrians and......everything imaginable. |
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| This little girl, one of my thrid graders showed up in the mercado one morning with a crown and a shirt that reads , :"Let it snow" She'll get a copy of this one for sure. |
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| My new next door neighbors. They look angelic....not. In the dish are nancitas which grow on a tree in my backyard and which these boys LOVE . The boys are Dariel and Eugenia. |
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| This is a shot of the inside of the cathedral during the mass that morning. It was packed. |
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| These "puppets" appear at most fiestas. The music starts and somebody gets underneath the skirt and lifts the puppet up and dances it around, spinning a lot so the arms,hair and the skirts fly out. The children just go nuts. This was part of the celebration of the UNESCO naming. It went on for a week....or more. |
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| The exterior of the Cathedral in Leon. It was just added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. The people of Nicaragua were very very proud. Construction of it began in 1747 and took a while. It is huge...covers an entire city block. |
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