Election and laziness

The Nicaraguan presidential election finally came and went this past Sunday. I spent pretty much the entire day watching the local news that was following the progress at each large voting center, but mostly in Managua. Everything seemed to go really smooth, no fighting or rioting, just nice quiet lines and order in the voting booths. There wasn't any sign of fraud or mishandling of the voting system, from what could be seen on the news. There were observers from the U.S., OEA (Observadores Electional de America, or something close to that) that were placed in the larger voting centers in Managua to make sure everything was fair and equal, with no funny business. The next morning it was revealed that the FSLN (Sandinista) party had won with 63% of the votes. So Daniel Ortega will continue to be this country's president for at least the next 5 years. So far everything has been really calm. Of course the Sandinistas are celebrating here and there in the streets, and there have been a few protests here and there, but nothing huge.  The next day on the news the question of election fraud was a big one, but I haven't really heard any serious accusations.  

About what I've been  up to, I actually don't have much to report. This past week I've been extremely lazy. I got back from my week in Diriamba and weekend in Matagalpa and just did nothing. I got home on Halloween and spent the night watching “Thriller” that I had downloaded earlier that day, wearing an “I (heart) Halloween” glow in the dark t-shirt that I bought a few months ago in Jinotega (that's actually too small for me, it's a kid shirt but I didn't realize it when I bought it) and ate candy corn (thanks Elisa!). Yeah, it was totally dorky, but it's all I had. Hopefully Thanksgiving will be more active. Not sure what I'm going to do just yet. I have the choice to spend it with an American Embassy family in Managua, or with some other Jinotega volunteers at one of their houses. Then Christmas is next! It all feels right around the corner. 

I did go visit the school garden to see what state it was in after a week of me not being there. Things are growing, which is good, but so are the weeds, so I spent part of the afternoon weeding with a small group of kids from few classes. Then the next day I helped the 2^nd grade class write their second letter to the class in California that they're exchanging letters with. This month the theme is traditional food, so they wrote their favorite Nicaraguan dishes and provided the recipe for Nacatamales. Then the next day I went to a neighbor's house to watch her make Nacatamales. I wanted to help make them, but she never really offered, so I just sat and watched. I did at one point ask her if I could practice wrapping one of them, since it looks like a tricky process. Sure enough, it takes some practice. The banana leaves are big and can be cumbersome when trying to wrap a liquidy mixture in the middle. Hopefully I'll have more practice in the future. They're very common during Christmastime here, so I should get my fill. 

Well, hopefully the next blog will be way more interesting, if I can get my act together and get out of bed and go do something this month.   Sometimes it's just so easy to stay at home and read a good book or catch up a movie on my computer.  Plus, my family just upgraded their cable, so now we get 60 channels, including National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild (all about animals!), Animal Planet, History Channel, Discovery, MTV, VH1, BBC World News, and NBC and ABC!  So I watched the last two days' Live with Regis and Kelly in the morning (so I know Regis only has 7 days left on the show), and sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get a peek at who's on Dancing with Stars.  But I don't watch too much TV since it feels weird taking control of the remote in this house.  They like to watch other things, of course, and some of the US news and entertainment channels are only in English, so that's not fair.  I try to get a peek at some stuff when I can when no else is using the TV.  If and when I move I won't have access like I do now, so I'm taking advantage of it.  I just can't get too involved!

Don't forget to keep me posted on what you all are doing in your lives!  I miss everyone. . .

~Sarah~