Fighting Fires

So far¨"fire" is the theme. Yesterday we were having lunch when a fire truck pulls up in front of the restaurant and firemen proceed in with the hose. Of course, we´re looking around like "what the heck???". No one else in the place was reacting at all. A waitress saw our looks of confusement and explained it was nothing more than filling up the ponds in the garden and to stay calm. It provided us some funny pictures though. Then to today we went to the volcano. On our way up the guide told us just last week the volcano shook and blew out smoke, but hasn´t actually erupted since 2001. Needless to say, I was nervous (especially when fireworks went off and our guide ducked). We made it though. Smoke was coming out and we looked down the crater. The magma can only be seen at night though. That would have freaked me out.
We´ve done a lot of walking around looking at churches and buildings, eating, and drinking. Grananda is so laid back. It reminds us of Antigua but with much more of a community feel and no stress (not that Antigua does). We also took a day trip to Masaya. The people were friendly and since we had a guide we actually got to see more of the people as they live (lots of small homes behind their place of employment). We even went to an artisan´s place where he showed us how to mold clay. Of course, we added to our plate collection (we buy plates in each country we visit, made by local artists only).
And now we need your help. We´re not sure where we are staying....yes we know it is the La Gran Francia Hotel, but listen. It is the nicest hotel in Granada. As a matter of fact Samantha Brown (my idol) stayed there in her "Passport to Latin America" series. It costs more than we would normally spend but we just could not pass up pretending to be Samantha (since she is who I want to be when I grow up). Anyway, we are the ONLY guests in this place!!!! We made friends with soem lawyers from New Yourk last night and they said it was just creepy. So are we staying in Samantha Brown´s crib or the Bate´s Motel????***
Tomorrow we head off to Omotepe for three nights. Not sure of our internet connection from here on out.

***we feel extremely safe, so don´t worry

P.S. The keyboards are a little different here and no spell check so be forgiving of typos.

Nica-Normal

Well, we made it in last night. Tim did get stopped at the airport trying to smuggle contraband.*
Our cab ride to Granda was "interesting". The engine wouldn´t start at first and it just went from there ( almost ran over a few cyclist and pedestrians). Just had a few drinks last night and breakfast this morning so not much to report. Just life as normal here in Nicaragua...well we guess we don´t really know what normal is here yet.


*more than 3 ounces of face wash

Sheer PANIC

Yep, that's what happened to me last night.  Tim was still at work and I was packing.  My mind started thinking about all these things...how was I going to exchange my money?, what if the school doesn't pick me up at the airport?, what if I can't access my ticket home?, what if I loose my passport, why am I doing this?, why did I choose 5 weeks?, two weeks would have been plenty....and on and on and on.  I just simply could not stop my mind.  I was all shaky and had a shallow clavicle breathing pattern, which made me panic even more because I couldn't get enough air (in my mind at least).  Then the breathing was annoying because I started thinking, "I'm an SLP.  I've been through voice therapy for this.  I should not how to stop breathing like this." (I didn't start doing any of the techniques to change it though, even though sometimes I do them around the loft just because they are so funny-my brain was not working) I emailed Tim and his words of advice, "Go get a drink."  Nothing else.  That was it.  However, this made me laugh and relax and the panic subsided and now I'm back to nervous but excited.

Rita emailed me last night.  She had to cancel her trip due to some medical concerns with her husband.  He is okay but she needs to be here with him.  She said she will just have to read my blog and be green with envy.  

We had breakfast with my dad this morning.  He found a great mexican place that has fabulous breakfast for cheap. After a while, I was able to ignore the bars on the window.  We will definitely start going there.  Dad and I took our pic in front of the sign to document my "see-you-in-August" breakfast.  The sign looks great even though he didn't think it would show up.  I was a little disappointed that the barred windows didn't show though.  I'll post it at a different time.  I need to finish up some last minute details right now.

Tim and I leave for the airport in a bit.  Being in Nicaragua with him will put me at ease and into travel mode, I'm sure.

Next post will be from Nicaragua!

Lee Harvey's, Wii Heart Neiman's, and Reefs!

Lee Harvey's-This weekend was fabulous! Friday night was spent celebrating our good friend, Lori's, birthday. She had a dinner party catered by Ali Baba's and their hummus is oh so very yummy! Saturday, night some of my friends and I gathered at Lee Harvey's for dinner and drinks (it was my send off party). The chicken panini and onion rings did not disappoint. Finally on Sunday, Tim and I had lunch at Chuy's with the Hawkinsons. As I write all of this, I'm acutely aware of how many calories I consumed. Note to self: Go to the exercise to Spanish songs class offered by the school in Guatemala! Anyway, at lunch, I finally held baby Paige! You know my rule of thumb is to not hold a baby until he/she has head control. Well, I let Paige Sofie keep slipping her little head down my arm until I realized something wasn't right. Once I asked, Ginny quickly informed me that Paige was falling. I wonder how long she would have let me hold her baby like that before telling me. Note to self #2: Don't bring home any babies from Guatemala, you can't even hold one correctly!

Wii heart Neiman's-Tim and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday. We had dinner at the Dream Cafe. This is where we met in 2005. We also exchanged gifts. We don't normally do the gift thing but have decided that each anniversary we will buy a gift for the other that is the traditional gift for that anniversary year. This year was "paper".  Thinking of a "paper" gift was hard. Trust me, my husband does not want monogrammed stationary. This is the man that at one point thought that boxer shorts made great oven mitts. This is not a stationary man. So I gave him a book on Wii Tips. Now we don't own a Wii so I had to get him the Wii as an accessory to his gift. Yes, I pushed the limits on the "paper" gift. Now my gift...he handed me a $1 bill as a hint. I had no clue so he gave me an ugly brown shipping box, which further makes my argument that he would not have appreciated a traditional "paper" gift. After, I sort through the packaging paper there is a very pretty box with a ribbon proudly stating the store name "Neiman Marcus". Maybe he would have liked the matching card/envelope set?  My sweet husband bought me the MK wallet that goes with my purse. It is to hold "paper" money. Even if you all think we cheated, we had fun and are going to continue this next year with "cotton".

Reefs-I love Reef flip flops!!! My friend, Wendy, introduced me to them last year and now I refuse to wear any others. I needed a new pair, specifically in brown, so I headed to the mall this morning. The first store did not have them. Next store did not have them. I was pressed on time so I almost considered buying a pair of Roxy flops but just could not make myself. Third store had them! Now, I had to call Tim and tell him I could only find the pair I wanted at Nordstrom's and the price was a little different than normal. The tone of his voice told me he was not too happy about this (he was leaving the bank, preparing for my "Third World Excursion"). What he didn't know is I still had some North Park Gold left from school so my reef's only cost $1!!! Actually, 93 cents to be exact. He laughed.
Gotta go finish packing!

Here is a picture of me holding Paige Sofie (Morrison Totem Pole):

And here is a picture of Tiffany, Mandi, and me at Lee Harvey's:

Sneak Peek

Wanna see where I'll be this summer?  Here are some pics from our trip last year.

Non-Refundable Tickets and Why Are You Doing This?

Some friends and I are getting together this Saturday to hang out before I leave for the summer.  As part of the invite Tim wrote, "Please join us to help send-off Alicia as she embarks on her "Immersion Excursion." (The plane tickets are non-refundable, so she ain't coming back until August!)"  Wow!  This is for real!!!  No safety-net to back out.  I'm still excited but I can't lie I'm getting a little nervous.  At my family reunion I got lots of "great" comments/advice:  "Why are you doing this?", "You know they eat funny stuff there?", and "Don't watch them cook it and don't ask what's in it".  I'm not worried about the food.  I loved it last year.  I'm just nervous about getting through the airport and to Antigua, meeting my family the first time, knowing when to hang out with the family and when to leave them alone, and then getting back home in August.  But, I'm doing it and there's more excitement than being nervous.  

On another note, I bought a book about Guatemalan culture.  Great book! Now Tim has challenged me to get to know the culture well enough to bring him back something that truly represents Guatemala.  This will be especially hard since he was there last year and has a surface knowledge.  However, this is really why I am going.  Learning Spanish will be a bonus, but to have the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, be immersed in another culture, and truly get to know the people is an opportunity not to be missed in my opinion.  In our wedding vows, Tim and I promised to try to better understand ourselves, the world, and God.  I believe that if we can do these three things then our marriage will be enriched and strengthened.  So, I'm starting out our 2nd year of marriage trying to better understand the world...starting with Guatemala.