Onward

I've been thinking about posting this series of events for quite some time now, but lately I've been so distracted. Either by a 5-day movie marathon with P Daddy (which is a nickname worth explaining... another time, another post), shopping with Madre or creeping out on facebook. It is time, I have now been home from Nicaragua for over 2 weeks, and I like this story and think its worth sharing. Its a good example of bad times turned good times.

This is the story of how I ended up in Nicaragua in the first place and how I will be returning there in January for an undetermined amount of time (my guess is about 3 months, which isn't a super long time, but it kind of is). It all began when I graduated college last December. I was ecstatic to be done. Three weeks later I received a letter informing me that I had, in fact, NOT GRADUATED. Heart failure (not really). I was short 1 credit. Can I just repeat that?? I was short ONE STINKING CREDIT! How I happened to overlook that little detail, I'll never know. But this news along with another seriously shocking event in my life (a shitty break up) left me feeling pretty devastated. As a result, I made a panicked phone call to my college adviser/favorite professor and here were my options:

1. take a class at North Park and commute in/whatever for the whole semester 3x a week (uhhh... ok)

2. take a trip with with class and favorite professor to learn about the Prairie/Ranch for 2 weeks in the beginning of August. The Catch: the trip might not happen. Yikes. Then what?

Ultimately, I decided to chance it and take the Prairie/Ranch course. So, I waited. And worked on the farm through the winter, spring and summer (truly wonderful). I went to the beach. I hung out with friends. I tried to get a job teaching English in Thailand (consequently...no degree=no legit job teaching English in Thailand) Finally I got news saying that the trip was ON. Yesssssss.

I went on the trip, where Favorite Professor inspired me to do language course and where I also met Man of My Dreams. Sadly, though, MOMD hasn't realized that I'm the girl of his dreams. Yet. Anyway, this post really isn't about that. Although, Favorite Professor pretty much tried to get MOMD to ask for my hand in marriage on that trip. Talk about uncomfortable (but favorable).

When I returned home I immediatly started looking at language schools. They were everywhere. Costa Rica. Ecuador. Argentina. I researched for weeks. In the end I chose a school in Nicaragua that fit me perfectly. Who would have thought... me? In Nicaragua? Who even goes to Nicaragua? I emailed the school, bought a plane ticket and three weeks later I was on a plane to Managua, Nicaragua. The farthest away from home I had ever been, culturally and in distance (but ESPECIALLY culturally). I loved it.

A few days into the Spanish-learning adventure, our class took a trip into the mountains on the back of an old truck, up some very rain-washed roads (I don't even know if you could call them roads) and into the most acidic air I have ever breathed. And there, on top of a mountian, next to a sulfuric-air seeping volcano, was an elementary school. Here was a school where the attendance was nearly perfect because of one thing: lunch. Think about that. So I started asking Mariposa (the British Lady that runs the Spanish School and started this particular elementary school) why there weren't any gardens (because I think that organic gardens/farms are the solution to almost any problem. Obviously, I'm bias.) She nudges me (she knows I'm a farmer) and says that there isn't anyone around that has the time or the knowledge to start anything like that.

That night I thought a lot about what had gone on that day. What I saw. What I could see happening in that place. My ideas. The fact that the previous summer I had taken a Tropical Agriculture and Missions Class. Why in the world would I not come back?? The next morning I told Mariposa that I was making myself available for farming come January, and that when I came back I would like to live with a Nicaraguan family and keep taking Spanish classes. She was ecstatic and so was I.

My plan now is to go on vacation with my family and possibly (hopefully) [Lists from a College Girl] (wink wink) and then head off to Nicaragua come the middle of January. Who would have guessed that not graduating when I thought I graduated would lead me to farming in Nicaragua?? Life is good.