I have been living in Somoto for 2 short days, and as I said before I could already write a book. So what I have decided to do is write about things in themes, if I told you exactly what I did everyday you would get bored and stop reading, if you havnt already. So today I have decided to write about my experiance with my host families and my day to day life here in Somoto. This is in no way a complete representation of their life, and definaty not a representation of Nicaraguans in general, but I feel their life is inspirational none the less.
My host family´s day starts between 4:30 (hey look found the colon buttton) and 5:30am. My host father generally wakes up around that time to go to work. I still do not know what he does as my spanish is not good enough to ask that question. Me and my host brother Luis wake up at 5:30am to go play soccer with the locals at central park. Central park consists of one basketball court and a fountain in the corner. We end up playing soccer on the hard court with two small nets. There is no diving here, because if you do you will pay the punishment of a bloody knee, this is real soccer!
We play soccer till about 7:30-8:00, back home I would still be asleep in my bed wasting life away. We then get back home, and by that time my host father is back home from work, and breakfast is waiting for us. I am very lucky to have such a caring host family, I am yet to even wash my own dishes. I really wish I could thank them properly, my thanks consists of alot of smiling and saying Gracias profucely, and I feel that is not enough for their hospitality. After breakfast it is almost time for the first world cup game of the day, and this is a full family ordeal. The whole family sits infront of the TV and watches, even Luis´uncle comes over to watch. Currently they are watching the Korea and Paraguay game, the score is 0-0 if youd like to know, and korea just had a really good chance.
Usually once the game is done Luis and I head over with the whole group of volunteers for meetings. Luis says hi to everyone he knows on the way, which is pretty much everyone. Cars even honk in salutation. It is quite incredible to see how tight knit this community is.
I find the people here very caring, and each of the vounteers from Somoto are very helpful and constantly trying to assist the Canadians to learn spanish. My spanish is getting better, so hopefully when this is done I wont sound like a complete idiota!
My host parents have an everyday tradition, at around 5pm they bring two chairs outside and they go out just to breathe the fresh air. This is something that many people do not do in Canada, we always have to be doing something, but in this case they enjoy the solitude of doing nothing. It brings about a calming air.
In Nicaragua all clothes are washed by hand and it is very rare for a family to have a washing machine. My inpiration for this post and the title came from something Luis said to me. He told me on the first day I moved in that he does not have a washing machine, which was what I expected. He then said that maybe in december when his family has a reunion they would get his mother a washing machine as a gift. Who would ever truly say in Canada that a washing machine is a gift. It is something that we expect. This truly shows how simple their lives really are. I have no doubt in my mind that my host mother would be extatic by this gift. This has brought me many appreciations for the things we have at my house.
Well here ends my description of ¨the simple life,¨ but as promised the picture of the day plus a little description...relax just a bit longer!
This picture was taken at a look-out point on the out skirts of Somoto. I have so many pictures from this spot that I had no idea which picture to pick. I picked this picture because I really think it really captures the beauty of this plae but also shows some of the living conditions. The building on the left is someones house, and the thing on the right is the washroom. I just think this picture says alotabout this place...what does it say to you?
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