It's been a difficult trip. Being in Nicaragua itself was uncomfortable as compared to America, but that wasn't the entire battle. Most of the obstacles lay in being the first person to live with Preston and Carrie. In all honesty, I really believe that any other person who decides to also briefly live here with the Kolbs will have an easier time than I did. But while it's been the most difficult experience, it's also been the most wonderful.
Want to know why?
- Figuring out Nicaragua at the same time as Preston and Carrie. It was hard because we were all in the dark together. We stuck close together for a long time, and the first several weeks we had nothing to do, which was frustrating and caused a lot of problems in the house. Often P & C expressed their wish that they could tell me about places to go and people to see, but none of us just had any idea. It was pretty difficult to not know what to do and who to talk to. Three months later, we've made friends and have an insanely busy schedule from people constantly inviting us to events. All of us are wiser about Nicaragua and are able to advise future visitors about it, but it really did suck to be the tester. The nice thing, though, is that now I'll seem like a wise elder figure who one comes to for advice about my own experiences. Plus bragging rights for originating the whole idea of living in Nicaragua with the Kolbs. Do I sound like I'm proud of that to you? Because I am. Sorry, guys.
- Trying to get the internet. Oh sweet Jesus, that was agonizing. It took us almost a month to get our internet modem because the stupid company basically did. Not. Care. About. Us. We often walked to the internet cafe by our house, but that was crap because we could only go online for a half hour. Have you ever been timed on your internet browsing? It's a frantic experience, especially when you have a lot of mail from concerned people back home. There's hardly any time to really respond to all of them. Then, when we finally got our modem, it didn't work. We called for someone to come and fix it. No one ever came.
- The euphoric joy of finally getting the internet. We went to Granada one day, and when we came home the internet was mysteriously working. Who knows why? We didn't question it--just gleefully got online to spread the good news and immediately called our parents. We spent hours on the computer that day and the next, just catching up with everyone.
- The Costa Rica mission trip. That was a huge part of my Nicaragua experience because it was the first time I started making friends with people around my own age. I found out about the trip the day before they had to buy the bus tickets. God was definitely wanting me to go because I asked to join at the very last minute and they said yes. Two days later I found myself leaving a foreign country for a 5 day trip to another foreign country, surrounded by Nicaraguan youth I didn't know, who were speaking a language I barely knew. The entire trip, I'm afraid I wasn't quite myself because I was extremely frustrated at hardly being able to communicate with anyone. Very often I felt bored, isolated, in the dark. Many times I wondered what kind of an idiot I was, going on this trip in the first place. But after expressing my frustration, I discovered that everyone was very sympathetic and was eager to practice their English with me. The Costa Rica trip turned out to be a great (and humbling) experience.
- New friends from Costa Rica/Nicaragua + Soccer + Freezing cold rain + Slippery grass = AWESOME. Soccer in the rain is definitely one of my favorite memories. Do you know how great it is to see nimble, athletic people who are totally into the game try to make a fantastic kick, only to start sliding and skidding and completely miss and fall down? It's amazing, my friends. Simply amazing. I burned a lot of calories from laughing that afternoon. (I was goalie, so while I didn't run around enough to fall, I got just as bruised as everyone else from getting kicked at. Win some, lose some.)
- Meeting a bunch of people in general was great. We've gotten to know a lot of people from church, the neighbors, and other random people met in various ways. They are happy people and genuinely want to get to know us... well, except for the few people that try to spend time with us just to ask for money. Not cool. But most people are very friendly and likable and will add you on Facebook without even thinking. I've made a bunch of great friends here who I will sorely miss.
- Getting used to the culture without warning wasn't all that pleasant. Learning to throw away toilet paper, trying not to die in the insane traffic, trying to be late to everything just like everyone else, and more... all of this we hadn't known about until actually arriving in Nicaragua. Who could've warned us that everyone jaywalks and that it's legal to pee on walls? Figuring everything out was confusing, but you gotta do what you gotta do to live here. Every time P & C and I see a jaywalker or a motorcycle overflowing with people or a bus cutting us off or a woman walking around without a bra, etc. etc., we throw back our heads and scream "CULTURAL!"
- Somehow, the blend of Taiwanese/Irish/Scottish/German/Spanish/white that created the wonderful creature named Ashley Petty that's speaking to you right now also creates the illusion that I'm a native Nicaraguan. That's right--for whatever reason, I just so happen to look like I actually live here. How the heck did that work out? Beats me. But it was great, because for once in my life no one was asking me "What are you?" They just looked at me and decided that I blended in, which I LOVED. Seriously, that's never happened to me before! Do you KNOW how much I stick out in America?? It was wonderful because I got all the good prices (if people think you're a gringo, they charge higher prices), but it was also bad because people would start nonchalantly talking to me in Spanish. And then I would say "Um... mi espanol es muy malo." They'd look at me strangely, and I would quickly add "Muy malo," followed by hastily fleeing the vicinity the first chance I'd get.
- All the adventures. Bodysurfing at the beach, visiting Granada, Masaya, and different areas, going to Costa Rica, soccer in the rain, drinking one Smirnoff and getting insanely dizzy, climbing volcanoes, attending musclemen competitions, talking ourselves out of police tickets... ah, these aren't even half of the adventures I've had in the two-and-a-half months I've been here.
- As I've mentioned before: all the sights. So many hilarious, gross, just plain bizarre sights. And yet... I've neglected to mention Nicaragua's beauty. Nicaragua is a colorful, dirty, unique, frustrating, calm, sensible and yet not sensible, beautiful country. I say "beautiful" because I just absolutely love how green it is. Being from Texas where everything brown grows (I'm exaggerating... but not by much), I really appreciate the natural beauty of trees and plants and flowers. And I love how simply people live here. It's not as complicated as life in America with all of our technology and laws and rules... and yet it's more complicated for me because of the lack thereof.
- Gaining a place in the Kolb household. Seriously. While I've spent over half my trip irritated with the Kolb kids, their home really did become mine as well. If I spent a few days away from the house, I began to think longingly of my "bed"--an air mattress with two sheets, a mosquito net and a fan shoved inside so I can actually feel it--and Carrie and Preston's American sarcasm. I've got a few places in my list of things to call home: my dad's house, my mom's house, my church... and the Kolbs' house in Nicaragua has definitely added itself to the list. Heck, I regard Nicaragua to be one of my homes. I guess that tends to happen when your skin color and appearance blend into a place you're living for an extended time.
There's a lot of other things I can't think of at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I've gotten the big ones out of my system and onto this screen.While I'm extremely excited to go home to Texas and see my loved ones, I'm also melancholic about leaving this country I've grown to love and all my friends I've made here. I don't know when I will next get the opportunity to visit again, but I promise that I will go back and forth from Texas and Nicaragua with arms wide open.
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