My First Tarantula

I have now been living with my host family for 6 days in a small town called Santa Teresa. I have been having mixed emotions while living here. While excited to see new things and meet new people, I have found that I can not communicate with anyone. My Spanish is worse than I even thought and that is not good haha. I arrived here on Saturday and was greeted by a large Nicaraguan family who speak absolutely no English. Let me tell you, it was very awkward sitting with them and not understanding a single word they were saying to me. My family owns 2 houses and an ice cream shop which is right next to my casa. I'm still not exactly sure who lives where as my mama, papa, brother, sister, their spouses, cousins, neices and nephews are constantly between the two homes. Nicas don't seem to have boundries when it comes to this. Doors are always open and people walk into other families homes without a second thought.

I have now taken a week of Spanish classes, each day consisting of 6 hours of classes. This whole immersion thing actually does work because I do see a big difference in myself in only this short period. On my first day here I had no idea what anyone was saying and I can now survive in a very basic conversation (with many mas despacios, por favor or slow down please). The food here is actually very good. Everything is fresh and cooked in the home. They even fresh squeeze the juice each morning that we have with every meal.

On Sunday I attended a large festival in the nearby city of Diriamba with my sister-in-law which I would compare to the feast for all you New Bedfordites. There was a huge parade of horses and everyone in the crowd was wearing cowboy hats, which I found very odd. All the people in Nicaragua wear clothes made my American brands. I see people walking around everywhere with Hollister, Nike, and Polo shirts that they have bought at second hand stores. People buy this clothing, which is apparently very expensive here, and most don't even know what their shirt is saying. I saw a girl a couple of days ago walking around with a shirt that said "I'm F***ing awesome!" and I'm sure she had no idea what she was broadcasting across her chest.

There is a large festival in Santa Teresa this weekend which the whole community is very excited about. Everyone is abuzz about the upcoming "fiesta". My house is in the center of the party as it is directly accross the street from the park. Our street is filled with small ferris wheels and carnival games. Needless to say, I doubt I'll be getting much sleep this weekend, but I'm excited to experience this type of event as a member of the community.

Oh, and about the spider.. I went into my bathroom last night to brush my teeth and next to the sink was the largest spider I have ever seen. Larger than a doorknob. When I gasped loudly my sister-in-law came rushing in, smacked it with her shoe, and walked out unscathed. I, on the other hand, was traumatized.