oh, nica.

Here in Managua it was a brisk 70 degrees this morning (21 degrees Celsius for you mathematicians out there...no, I did not do the math myself; yes, I googled it) - I got so chilled in fact that as I sat at the table drinking my delectable cup of steaming hot, made in Central America (aka the good stuff) coffee, I had to run upstairs to thrown on my most-comfy-of-all-time grey sweatshirt. I giggled to myself I imagined the wintry blast that has thrown itself across the United States, causing certain states (cough cough South Carolina) to go into an arctic meltdown and shut down the entire state for days at a time - while I have to snuggle down into a copious amount of clothing when the thermometer (or let's be honest...everyone just uses their smart phone weather app these days) hits below 80. Don't worry though, folks - the chilly, crispy morning I just described lasted all of an hour before the heat made its debut and decided to bring the sweat along with it.

As I sit here now, after a day of running errands and checking finances (you know, all that adult stuff I'm suppose to do now), I keep thinking back to this weekend and how wonderful it was, so I thought I would share it with y'all! So to my twenty loyal blog followers - this one's for you!

Well, let's back up to last Tuesday. Last Tuesday I had one of those culture experiences I set myself up for and all you can do is laugh about it later. Jen (my teammate), Meredith (her roommate) and I ventured out into the unknown territory of the musical harmonies of Marc Anthony. Yes, we attended (or rather, attempted to) the Marc Anthony concert. Right here in our very own country of Nicaragua. The night started out great with some cheap Nica food called papusas (actually the staple food of El Salvador, not Nica but still cost about 3 dollars, coke included and delicious) and of course the typical  North American McDonalds drive through for a McFlurry (note: not actually a McFlurry, but soft serve ice cream with MnMs or Oreo on top none-the-less). This additional dessert necessity caused us to show up at 9:30 to the 8:30 concert. Uh oh! We may have missed the opening act! We thought to ourselves as we searched for parking. Well this just in team: parking lots are for wusses and here in Nica the main road that goes through Managua becomes the parking lot when needed. A short hike up a dirt hill and some 30 minutes standing in winding lines later, we make it to our $18, nosebleed section to prepare ourselves to be bewitched by the smooth, Latino melodies of Marc.

Don't worry everyone, we made it into the concert just in time for the opening act! Which happened to be a woman (Meredith swore "she" was a "he" due to her low voice octaves) who decided the best way to open for a Marc Anthony concert was to sing us some lullabies. Literally, every slow song she could possibly think of, she sang - and along with the language barrier, it was enough to make the cement benches we were sitting on feel like a great place to lay my head for a nap. By 10:15(ish) the first act wrapped up her last song, giving Jen, Mer and I a second wind, ready for some Marc Anthony! ...who did not begin singing his first song until 10:54pm. You heard me, the 8:30pm concert began at 10:54pm. ON A TUESDAY NIGHT. You'd think we would have been prepared for this - you'd think we would have learned by now - we knew the concert wouldn't start right on time but almost two and half hours late was a shock to us all. The below picture proves it:

To make things even better, we knew one Marc Anthony song. Count them: o-n-e. Did we think that through before we subjected ourselves to Marc blowing awkward kisses from stage to his faithful fans (one who decided it would be a good idea to take off her shirt and throw it on stage)? Nope, we didn't. All we wanted was the one song. But it was late. And we are old. And we were tired. So we left. We listened to Marc and awkwardly swayed back and forth as we pretended to know the lyrics for about an hour and then decided it wasn't worth it anymore. So like the good gringas we are, we left the concert early to find solace in our beds. The next day, I was talking to a friend at Young Life club. He also had been to the concert. Do you know what time it ended? 2:30 AM. And do you know what the last song he played was? THE ONLY ONE WE KNEW. The one we were desperately waiting for all.night.long. Needless to say, it was a failure of a night. But yet, we laughed. we pouted. we swayed. we pretend-sang. we almost fell asleep. we made memories. we experienced culture. and did all this in the midst of failure. So really, it was a success of a night. Cause in my book, the glass is half full.

Fast forward to Thursday. Thursday was a glorious day. It was one for the books. A day to celebrate! Why? Because after a 6 week search, after buying one and then having to return it...a final, official car purchase was made and she's mine all mine! 

What a beauty, huh? Now, she's got big shoes to fill from the car I sold in the States but so far she's doing great. I cannot even begin to explain the thrill of freedom it felt driving her home from the dealership. I love her and the gift she is!

Next comes Friday. I can't even explain the greatness of what Friday was - I will spare you the gory details and skip to the good stuff but it includes: buying car insurance (by myself!), eating a delicious salad, and an hour and fifteen minute car ride to a coffee shop (that usually takes ab 7 min) with some crazy girls. And then we arrive at Kermesse, on Friday afternoon. Kermesse is a (weirdly enough) German word but it is basically a giant carnival put on by the school. Each club has a different game that you buy tickets to play. There is food, entertainment and carnival rides galore.

After meeting up with some freshmen ladies, I somehow got persuaded to ride one of the carnival rides...this was the result:

You may not be able to see it but that is pure TERROR on my face right there. I do not (I repeat DO NOT) enjoy heights...much less in an old, rickety, set up in a hour ride...in Nicaragua of all places! But I did it. And I survived (hence the writing of this post). We spent the rest of the night running around from carnival games to photo booths to...you guessed it: snow cones!

 Oh yes. And yes we did run around with purple, blue and red tongues for the rest of the night. #winning.

The rest of the weekend was spent working on homework for a Young Life training class, searching all over Managua for some Greek food with Jen (which we found...at the mall food court, no less), an earthquake (all is well, don't worry!) at three am to jolt me awake (and jump out of bed ready to run out of the house...which later was learned is not the correct response to an earthquake) and attending Spanish church on Sunday morning. It was one of the weekends where I laid my head on my pillow on Sunday night and thought to myself: this is my life. and it is a good one. (after swatting away multiple mosquitos and killing three spiders in my room within fifteen minutes, no less).

Oh, Nica. You are stealing my heart.