Today being my birthday (for those of you who managed to forget - shame on you!) I'm taking time out from catching up on my adventures in this blog to give you a picture of my lovely today here. Although reading all your birthday messages has been really nice, it does make me miss you all, so thank goodness I've managed to make lots of good friends here already.
As usual I woke up horribly early with the heat and light, plus construction noise from next door, but I decided to put that behind me and go to the gym (yes, I have managed to find some trainers and join a gym even here) for a short workout on the exercise bike, etc. It was hot and sweaty, but lifted my tired mood... Then I got back home around 9am to find that we had two sets of visitors: firstly a strange little old man and a boy, clearing out all the grass and weeds from our patch of inside patio garden (I later found out this was to remove the risk of snakes breeding there!), and even more excitingly Jose, our lovely handyman, who had come to finally install ceiling fans in our rooms (the best birthday present I could ask for right now, as the breeze is dropping and the temperature rising with the onset of summer). And I opened my fantastic birthday card and present from Mike and Kate (thanks a million guys!) brought over from England in my rucksack and carefully not opened until today.
The water was off again this morning, so I had a quick outdoor shower in the garden from our emergency rainwater tank (actually a lovely experience, so I hope the water holds out for a while) before heading down into town to the office. About an hour later and dustier, another volunteer Erin and I had more or less finished boxing up packs of missing schools materials from the office supplies/donations for the four schools we work with. Then Erin took me off for a birthday drink - my choice, so I opted for a clementine refesco (fresh juice drink) at one of the stalls in the parque central (main square/park). Erin had made me the most amazing collage birthday card with a full story told inside about my last weekend's adventures. And a couple of other volunteer friends here passed by and said hi. Then it was off to the market to buy tape, pencil sharpeners, balls and crochet hooks (how I love bargaining!) for the kits and women's group.
After lunch I had a meeting with the other women's working group volunteers, Fiona and Johanna, at a very nice house where the English parents of a long-term volunteer here are staying. They wanted to talk to us about a couple of possible handicrafts projects, and also to invite us to use their wonderful refreshing pool. I should mention that all pools here are plunge pools, rather than for swimming, but in this heat it's divine no matter how small. And as they'd heard it was my birthday, they had bought in some cakes and lit a candle in my honour - plus they plied me with a very English tanqueray gin and tonic for good measure too. It was absolutely a lovely afternoon (the perfect mix of work and pleasure). Now it's back home, after a quick stop off at the second hand clothes shop for a new (sort of) T-shirt and sundress (who says you can't buy your own presents!), and then here at the internet cafe to let you all know about my day.
For tonight I've arranged a caballo bayo (a sort of Nicaraguan mixed feast) cooked by Erin's host mother here, who runs a comedor (local in-house dining room). She insisted I taste various dishes before committing to the dinner, and the food was spectacular in a home-cooking way. So I've invited all the volunteers I know well and anyone else I've become friendly with here to come over, and I think we may be about 30 people in the house. Then probably we'll head off to Cafe Nuit afterwards for more celebrations...
I have to say that despite today being a day when I miss my friends and family back home, I'm actually having a beautiful day in Nicaragua and I can sincerely say that I feel loved here too.
Well, as my dinner is arriving at the house in just 50 mins, I'd better sign off now and go home to have a shower and get changed. Have a great evening, everyone!
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