September Oddities

- When it rains here, it RAINS...and that rain sometime will bring lots of thunder, lightning and heavy winds. Last night was one of those nights. In front of my house, there is a small patio type area that is covered by a roof- when it rains, the patio usually fills up with people trying to escape the storm. Last night a family of 3- a mom and her 2 kids-came to stand under the covered patio and happened to stand right in front of my door. The storm had not hit us at full strength at this point, so it was not too dangerous or wet. 5 minutes later, the storm hit us. As I am chopping up vegetables for my friend and I's dinner, I hear someone say, "Discupla muchacha...podriamos entrar?" (excuse me, could we come in?) The 3 year old little boy and his mother were terrified of the thunder and lightning. I of course let them in and serve them some gaseosa to calm the little boy down(I know giving a child soda to calm him down would not make sense in the US,especially an hour or so before bedtime, but here it works). We chat as the electricity comes and goes for about half an hour while the storm is in its strongest moment and then they leave and make their way back home. Interactions like these make me smile.

--My PCV friend from up north-Sarah- and I went to the local casino one day to watch soccer and play bananagrams. There is a great small usually empty room in the back with a big tv and a couples of very powerful fans-great spot to hang out. We arrive and the room, as usual, is empty. Perfect! We find the Man U game and set up our table for Bananagrams-who needs to play gambling money eating games, when you can play words games! Anyway, about 10-15 minutes after us being there, stumble in 5 on-their-way-to-drunk men. They grab the table next to us. 10 minutes later, a similar looking group of 4 more men walk in...followed 5 minutes later....yes, another group of almost drunk men. Our perfectly secluded soccer viewing word making game room is not infested by drunk men. They are being polite though and we make pleasant enough conversation. Next thing we know, someone is trying to change the channel and put on music videos-you should know- there already is music BLASTING from the front of the casino and we are still watching soccer. The men keep talking about wanting to stop watching soccer and put on music videos. So to sum up why this story is actually interesting- Sarah and I are surrounded by about 15 men, in a gender roles driven culture and the only two women in the room are the ones who want to watch sports. All of the men and looking to watch old cheesy 1970s disco music videos...strange.

---I was on my way to work this morning when I passed by, on the side of the road, an old man with a very curly mullet-like hair do. He only had one boot on and was hopping up and down on one foot, while banging his shoe on the sidewalk and yelling. In the middle of this hilariously weird scene, he stopped what he was doing and yelled out to me, "Hola mi bonita chelita!" (Hello my pretty little white girl!) For some strange reason, the scene just did not seem as funny anymore.

----Sometimes what you ask for, you do receive. And sometimes what you receive is not exactly what you were asking for (or maybe it was, but you did not actually want to receive it.) For example >>> Yesterday I was visiting the local beach in Corinto with Sarah and my Nica friend Muriel, sitting at a rancho (thatched roof hut restaurants), drinking a Tona and enjoying the beautiful ocean breeze. In the middle of our conversation, we notice that a little girl and her family are snapping a foto of us with her phone. Now I understand the need to take a picture of a beautiful landscape, of a famous person or of your family and friends, but to take pictures of random white people whom you've never met? I just do not get it. Neither does Sarah. The three of us begin to discuss this idea of taking pictures of people without asking them first. We come to the conclusion that if people want to take pictures of us, they should at least ask first-our discussion is in Spanish. We are speaking in a normal tone of voice, not particularly loud, but not extremely quiet. The tables are not too far apart from each other, but listening in on other people's conversations over the music, is not the easiest of tasks. 5 minutes after we finish this conversation, a man walks up to our table and says (in Spanish), "Excuse me, but would you mind, please, if I took a picture with you?" Was it coincidence or did he overhear our conversation...we may never know.