Settling in

So, my internet here isn't working very well, but occasionally (like right now) it works quite well. Carmen said she's going to try to get it fixed soon or get a new router, so hopefully it gets resolved a bit (but welcome to Latin America, right?) Wifi at UAM works very well so i'll use it there if it doesn't work here. I'll also upload pictures when I go there (it's not working right now)

Thursday Valtteri and I went on an "excursion" with Cristoph and his friend from the Spanish school he's been attending. We went to Lago de Managua, which is probably the dirtiest ugliest lake I've ever seen (thanks mostly to Kodak, I hear). The Germans have just opened a plant to clean the lake up, so hopefully it works. There was an exhibition of military vehicles used in the war here, including tanks, trucks, and a helicopter. We got to climb inside them and look around, which was kinda cool. They were all supplied to Nicaragua by the Soviets during the Sandinista revolution in the late 70's-early 80's, when the US-backed-and-funded Contras were fighting the revolution. Interesting to read up on...

We also went to Mercado Huembes, an open air market that is HUGE and has just about anything you can imagine ever wanting to buy. I just bought ribbons and clothespins to make a photo collage on my wall (pictures to come soon).

Our schedules are finally settled and I'm anxious for classes to start. It'll be nice to meet more people. Valtteri and I did meet 2 other Americans yesterday though. We were walking around our neighborhood and passed a girl who was obviously not Nicaraguan, so we said hi and started talking to her. Her name is Greer, and she and 3 others are studying at UNAN, another university in Managua. She's from Ohio and Brendan is from North Carolina. We didn't meet the other 2 yet, but it'll be great to get to know them more. It was also really comforting to discover potential friend that's a girl.

We might go to the beach later today for the rest of the weekend, but we're not sure yet, and tomorrow I'll hopefully go check out one of the churches around here. I have had 3 different suggestions of churches, so I'll probably check them all out in the coming weeks, although I'll probably end up going to the one in Spanish.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell about Maria Valeria and Ligia Maria. They're Carmen and Emilio's granddaughters and are AWESOME. Maria Valeria is 10 and Ligia is 7 (I think...). They spent the night last night and this morning took me to the school-supply/art-supply store to get thumbtacks and some things I needed for school, then helped me in my collage-making project. They're seriously so fun, and I love having them around. They are both super intelligent, Ligia writes poetry and is at the top of her class, and they help me with my Spanish grammar when I make errors (which I do frequently). I hope we get to spend lots more time with them here. Pictures to come...