Some of you may have heard that I have moved in with a Nicaraguan family for two months. The perfect opportunity came up when a student teacher needed a place to stay for 2 months. She took my room and I moved out to San Judas, about a 10 minute drive from the school. Many people asked me why I wanted to do this. For me this was a chance to learn more about Nicaragua: its culture, its people, and its language. So far it has been a rich experience and I've been very blessed by it.
Living more closely in a Nicaraguan culture, I can see that our lifestyle and culture is very different. For me, I think I like more aspects of the Nicaraguan culture and the things they value. For sure the most obvious distinction of this culture is the value placed on relationships and community. With warm weather people naturally congregate in the streets. After a full day of work people visit with neighbours and family in the evenings, but even more so on the weekends. In our house, there are always things to do but just chatting and laughing together takes the highest priority.
Food seems to be the biggest change for me but definitely not in a bad way. Let's start with breakfast. A good breakfast would consist of rice, beans, cheese, and a tortilla or a nacatamale and a tortilla. This just doesn't suit me well in the morning so I've chosen to stick to Corn Flakes. The lunch meal is the biggest meal of the day which is commonly rice, beans, tortilla, meat, and fried plantains. In the evening, we usually eat a smaller portion of what was prepared for lunch. We have fresh fruit juice daily. Yolanda prepares all the food in the house and is an amazing cook. I thoroughly enjoy all her meals. She watches me closely though to be sure I'm eating enough. Sometimes she sneaks an extra pancake on my plate on the weekends. They're hoping I'll be round and plump by the end of February. I think they might just succeed.
One of the most interesting concepts about culture I've learned was in a conversation we had about the word ambitious. In North America ambitious would be a positive attribute. Someone who is energetic to become successful; someone with good ideas and is motivated to accomplish them. In Nicaragua ambitious is a negative attribute. It describes a person who is never satisfied with where they are and always needs to pursue more. Left me thinking that is for sure.
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