Lists...
Funny things I have seen here that you don't see in the U.S.:
-bicycles often carry 2 or more people. I saw one with 4 people in Leon.
-a person dressed up like Jesus with a cross (well, maybe you could see that in NYC)
-an FBI baseball hat at a Sandinista rally (Central America is full of third hand clothes from the U.S.)
-cars with speakers on the top announcing community events
-old school buses packed full of people (including people on top of the bus), with little kids, with a song in English playing about wanting to have sex on the beach and then later, "November Rain."
-You can buy almost anything on the street from women walking around with baskets full of fruits and food on their head yelling out the name of whatever they are selling. There's also a large market of burned CDs and DVDs.
Things I have learned while travelling:
-It requires a lot of peace of mind. Certain categories that you put yourself in (like someone who doesn't like bugs or dirt, for example) have to remain flexible to deal with the fact of cultural and environmental differences. I think the hardest thing related to this for me has been being flexible about being vegan. Every time I looked at a plate of scrambled eggs, which honestly kind of grossed me out before I was even vegan, I've just had to find some place in my head where I could deal with the fact that I had to eat them.
-The rest of the world lives really differently than we do. Namely, with a lot less stuff. A majority of people in Nicaragua are poor, and I mean like they live in a shack that doesn't have electricity or running water. There have been so many points here where I have just thought about the lifestyle we lead in the U.S. and it has seemed so ridiculous. On the one hand, I do miss hot showers. But on the other hand, I wish we weren't so greedy and closed off to each other. There are a lot of poor happy people here, too, and sharing things, especially within families, is much more common.
-You can learn a lot by just listening. Since I am still pretty limited in my ability to speak, I have learned a lot about spending time quietly listening to people. This morning I asked my host mom about the candidate they supported who died just this past week, and I got a 20 minute impassioned speech all about the sorry state of things for people in Nicaragua and the lack of hope
...I will try to add more later when I have more time..
-bicycles often carry 2 or more people. I saw one with 4 people in Leon.
-a person dressed up like Jesus with a cross (well, maybe you could see that in NYC)
-an FBI baseball hat at a Sandinista rally (Central America is full of third hand clothes from the U.S.)
-cars with speakers on the top announcing community events
-old school buses packed full of people (including people on top of the bus), with little kids, with a song in English playing about wanting to have sex on the beach and then later, "November Rain."
-You can buy almost anything on the street from women walking around with baskets full of fruits and food on their head yelling out the name of whatever they are selling. There's also a large market of burned CDs and DVDs.
Things I have learned while travelling:
-It requires a lot of peace of mind. Certain categories that you put yourself in (like someone who doesn't like bugs or dirt, for example) have to remain flexible to deal with the fact of cultural and environmental differences. I think the hardest thing related to this for me has been being flexible about being vegan. Every time I looked at a plate of scrambled eggs, which honestly kind of grossed me out before I was even vegan, I've just had to find some place in my head where I could deal with the fact that I had to eat them.
-The rest of the world lives really differently than we do. Namely, with a lot less stuff. A majority of people in Nicaragua are poor, and I mean like they live in a shack that doesn't have electricity or running water. There have been so many points here where I have just thought about the lifestyle we lead in the U.S. and it has seemed so ridiculous. On the one hand, I do miss hot showers. But on the other hand, I wish we weren't so greedy and closed off to each other. There are a lot of poor happy people here, too, and sharing things, especially within families, is much more common.
-You can learn a lot by just listening. Since I am still pretty limited in my ability to speak, I have learned a lot about spending time quietly listening to people. This morning I asked my host mom about the candidate they supported who died just this past week, and I got a 20 minute impassioned speech all about the sorry state of things for people in Nicaragua and the lack of hope
...I will try to add more later when I have more time..