Top Ten- Nica 52

1. The local drunks know me now. I see them every morning on my run to Diriamba or Dolores and recently they started saying, ‘Good afternoon,’ to me, in English! It’s pretty great.

2. Nicaraguans use gestures for everything. They point with their lips. This they can do while talking. They slap their left elbow when someone is being cheap. And best of all, they have a lovely gesture they use when someone has diarrhea. Bahaha.

3. Andar por los aguacates, which literally means, ‘walking for the avocados,’ is a popular expression here that means you have your head in the clouds.

4. My little sister found me working on a contraception poster for the local health center yesterday. She pointed to a penis, looked at me with these huge brown eyes and asked me what it was. It said PENIS in Spanish directly underneath. What and endearing little monster. She knew exactly what she was pointing to.

5. I taught my first Nica 5^th grade class and survived.

6. Gallo Pinto, a Nicaraguan dish consisting of only rice and beans, has been a part of or the entirety of my last 9 meals.

7. Nicaraguans use the term fatty as in the most blasé way. If anyone is every curvy or slightly overweight they will be known as the ‘Gordita’ forever.

8. When passing someone on the street here is common to say Adios. This means goodbye, but in Nicaragua it is used as a passing hello. Odd but so satisfying to say to someone. Sometimes I even feel like a local.

9. Peace Corps training has turned everyone into the biggest gossips ever, even if they were totally anti-gossip their entire lives before coming here. It is our new favorite pastime and it is incredible. Don’t judge. (Stolen from Kate Spangler’s top ten, and wonderfully true).

10. I’ve almost been a month in country! Less then 3 days to go.