Sorry for my absence, internet is scarce, and I have been busy

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año
I wouldn’t say that my X-mas this year was much like any other that I have ever experienced in the U.S. We traveled to the city of Chinandega and celebrated there. However, there was no snow for me this year, instead it was a humid and dust covered holiday. Here they traditionally give only the children presents and the celebration usually takes place on the 24th. For the New Year, I headed back to my training town and celebrated with my original host family and was introduced to their new little family addition. The towns people dress up as Grim Reapers and clowns for the New Years Festivals, then they lite off a bunch of fireworks and such. It was pretty awesome!
I haven’t been able to do a whole lot at my new / permanent site. School vacation started at the end of November and continues until the first week of February; it doesn’t look like things are really going to pick-up until then. I continue to work with a group of young boys on an assortment of projects. We recently had a scavenger hunt and I taught them how to make friendship bracelets. I suspect that the girls would be better at some of the art projects but the boys make up for their lack of artistic ability with their enthusiasm. They have also taken it upon themselves to water and weed the garden every day. The garden fence is still a disaster, despite my daily effort to improve it. Something is still eating the plants. I am not sure if it is a worm/plague or the chickens and hens. I have been putting a special solution on the leaves to discourage whatever, but it doesn’t seem to be making much of a difference. Even with these setbacks the garden continues to grow!
I plan to work with a local water engineer to help determine what is contaminating the drinking water here (don’t worry I purify my water). He said that he is very concerned about the quality of the water and that he believes that it may be the source of many health problems. The contaminants may be coming from a number of sources; chemicals on the sugar cane that are released when it is burned, the improper disposal of garbage, the inadequate cleaning of the water tanks, and the use of latrines without sufficient lining for the waste.

Some tidbits:
• They love Tweety Bird here (just for you mom). You can find stickers of her on everything!
• They say people with green eyes have CAT EYES
• Sometimes they say “Está salado” You are feeling salty…I like that one
• The women are almost always wearing knee-length skirts with heels
• Telenovelas or soap operas are HUGE …I have a few favorites
• The illegal movie / CD burning industry is also popular here. My understanding is that the CD has up to 4 movies on it, sometimes dubbed, sometimes not, sometimes good quality, sometimes not- The CDs are sold for $1
• We have a little pig living at the house that likes to follow my host sister all day.
• Most people don’t have cars and use bicycles instead. They are almost always traveling with more than one person on their bike. I have seen up to 6 at a time rolling on by.
• To eat oranges, they peel them with a knife, cut them in half and then suck-out the juice and usually discard the actual fruit. They also sometimes peel grapes to eat them.