Jaime, the other volunteer who’s staying at the house with me, arrived last night. After 9 hours of traveling. She left the house in Managua around 10 am and got to Achuapa 9 hours later, hotter and sweatier and generally more exhausted.
Even though today was July 19th, the revolution celebration day (like July 4th), there were no festivities here. They celebrate more their personal village revolution that happened June 30th. Oh well. We just saw some boys in the street playing volleyball. As we were walking by the ball came sailing towards me and I thought ‘Weee! FUN!’ and got ready to hit it before some boy stole my glory. Jerk.
I need to start writing down some recipes. I think that would help my endeavor to make Nicaraguan food when I get home. I love everyone in the house, but Juan is never really around since he has a girlfriend. Oh well. No loss. He just sits around in a towel when he is home. Carlo, on the other hand, is my favorite. He’s so sweet. Today I taught him and Jaime how to play some card games since Jaime brought them some cards for a present for the family (they’re boston red sox cards. Carlo was not very pleased. Haaaahahaha. It’s a great ongoing joke, since he’s in love with the Yankees). So we played games for a while and hung out. It’s so nice to have someone to talk in English to.
My daily schedule has been realllly ridiculously slow. Wake up. Hang out. Lunch. Hang out. Dinner. Hang out. during ‘hang out’ time I’ve been reading, writing, talking to the family, napping, etc. It’s been really nice but a little boring. Hopefully tomorrow the library will work out, although I’ll be a little sad to not be able to hang out with Carlo. But he has school tomorrow so I wouldn’t be able to play with him anyways.
The deal with the library and the photo sessions is thus: there is a computer but the keyboard is broken. So the computer software is out. AND the electricity isn’t working in the library either since the transformer or something is broken. Someone was supposed to come for several days but has not yet shown up. So I’ll have to use the printer in my house and just work with the kids and the cameras during the day at the library.
I tried to wash my clothes today. ‘Tried’ being the keyword because I got through 4 items before wanting to be dead. It takes forever, arm strength, energy, water, soap, uugh. I used to read books about people paying one another to do the laundry and thought ‘PSH! So weird! Why PAY someone to do that. It’s just a little scrubbing!’ but you have to get your whole body into the scrubbing and then once something isn’t dirty anymore with sweat and mud you have to get the soap out. That’s the hardest part. So, I’m thinking that my clothing is going to feel a little starchy because I can’t get the soap out. OH FRICKIN WELL. GIVE ME STARCHY CLOTHES ANY DAY! My hands are red from it. And I have SO much more laundry to do.
Write back. Tell me specific things you want to hear about.
Love and Light, Hilary
P.S. What did Matt end up doing for his birthday? Anything exciting?

This is a birthday card a female friend sent me. We both love black humor and she usually sends her cards unsigned so that I may pass them on. I’ve shown this to a random sampling of friends and most of the women flip to the inside for the punchline (it’s all on the cover) because they don’t see the gun. Admittedly it is much obvious on your computer screen where the clutter of life is mostly absent but still … .

Peter popped onto my screen tonight using his iSight camera with iChat. T’was a positively mystical experience looking out his window and seeing palm trees waving with the ocean beyond.

My old buddy from last summer is working with me again, but this time on his family’s wraparound Victorian style porch. Short commute for me, shorter for him. Though the tool belt I bought him last year fits without adjustment, heís bigger by fifteen pounds.

ìHey, Chris, you know those beams we struggled with last year at Applewood?î

ìYeah. They would be so much easier to pick up this year.î

ìNo they wouldnít. We would have the same struggle.î

ìIím stronger this year.î

ìAnd Iím weaker. Weíd cancel each other out.î

Chris is still playing baseball and besides working with me he works two days a week at Drumlin Farms. If you call driving a Ford F350 Diesel truck work. Chris doesnít.

And, I might add, he sits comfortably behind that wheel.

ìUPS dropped something off at your side door.î

ìWhat size package was it?î

ìSmall, like a loaf of bread someone stepped on.î

ìMust be my underwear.î

ìYour underwear?î

ìSilk.î

ìSilk underwear?î

They cost more but they last longer.î

ìOh, pretty boy.î

ìIím not a pretty boy.î

ìSilk underwear?î

ìHow long does your underwear last?î

Thinking about what my underwear looks like when I finally retire them made me want to drop the subject real fast.

ìYou win, but I get a picture for the blog.î

Matthew Miller wasn’t the only Matthew celebrating his birthday yesterday.

Friday night we fled Willow Books after unknowingly walking into ìHarry Potter Night,î and as I slowed to turn into our driveway, a dark green Ford Taurus in the opposite lane stopped, almost blocking my turn. A thin young woman with thick rimmed black glasses and hair pulled into a tight bun shouted from her window, ìDo you know where Fort Devens is?î Not wanting to block traffic, I turned into my driveway, and then not wanting to get run over, I walked back to her passenger side window and waited for her to roll it down. On the seat I could see her camo uniform. Iraq bound?

She repeated the question and though Iíve driven by the exit on route 2 a zillion times I wanted to make sure she got to Devens without anymore trouble.

ìIt’s real easy but Iím tired and I canít think of exactly how to get there. Look, this is my house and Iíll go in and Google you a map. Why donít you pull into my driveway?î

She turned her head and looked back out the windshield, then turned back at me and said in a soft voice, ìDo you mind if I stay here?î

Follow The Uranium

Hey Diane and Michael and Matt and the Blog if you so choose!

We¥ll see how my ambitious plan goes, considering the librarian wasn¥t at the library yesterday and today when I went to talk to her she said that electricity had been out. I don¥t know if that is a problem with the lines or outlets or what, but I¥ll need outlets for the printer.

My Spanish is already improving. I¥m the only english speaker in Achuapa right now, so it makes life interesting. This morning I talked to Marjine, my ®sister® about all sorts of things for a while. It was really fun. She understood most of what I said and I understood what she said, even if my thoughts were a litte on the simple side. It was still nice. I asked my mother to teach me how to cook and she gave me some dough to make a tortilla with. I suck at it. A lot. Like, she can do this little thing where she turns the dough and flattens and it stays in a circle. Of course I can do it, right? Absolutely not. She kinda just laughed at me. I got a little better at a different stage in the molding, but I still suck at it. We¥ll see how it goes. Hopefully I¥ll get better. They have baby corn here that I helped Marjine to husk while we talked and made lunch. O man, we had this vegetable (pipian, I think she said?) that I¥ve never seen in the States before. And they put cheese in the middle where it¥s squishy with the seeds and then put it in a batter of egg, flour and water, and then fry it. It¥s so good. I¥m going to come back muy gorda! I was trying to decide if there¥s another kind of veggie that that would taste good with, but I couldn¥t think of any. Any ideas for when I get back and know how to make it?!

Last year on Matt¥s birthday we went out and I got locked out. I¥m sure he has great memories of trying to unlock my door and the Dutch woman refusing to wake up DoÒa Luisa. Grrrr. Oh well.

Much love, Love and Light, Hilary

P.S. IÂ¥m not sick. Yet. Knocking on wood.

Well hello there! I just showed my `sister` that picture of me cuando era
joven. `QuÈ bonita!` – Marguina. `QuÈ blanca!` – yo.
I got here yesterday afternoon and now IÂ¥m here in a tiny little town called
Achuapa, about an hour from EstelÌ. It¥s only 20 km or so from a town named
Sauce (pronounced with the e at the end) but it takes approximately 45
minutes from there since the roads are just great. Wonderful. Perfect. The
government definitely does it¥s job when it comes to taking care of the poor
here. It took 4 hours to get here all together.
IÂ¥ll hopefully start helping in the library tomorrow, since the librarian is
I-don¥t-know-where right now. I brought down a lot of coloring/playing
supplies AND a printer and 5 digital cameras. IÂ¥m going to teach some of the
kids here (15 is my max. More than that might kill me) how to take
photographs, what to look for in framing a photo, boundaries, light, motion,
etc. It¥s going to be frickin¥ impossible. Hopefully fun at the same time.
So I just sent an email to my parents and read an email from my friend
Deanna and then the hotmail site stopped working, but please everyone feel
free to write to me! I can¥t exactly find the `at` button on the computer,
but my email is sun_moon_and_hilly@hotmail.com
Much love to you all, especially those of you who I know.
I hope Matt is accustoming himself to the US ok after his spectacular time
in Spain.
Love and Light, Hilary
P.S. So I tried to send this without putting at email address and it
wouldn¥t let me so I humbled myself and asked my sister, and you press Alt 6
4. Gotta love life…
So how are you, Miller/Canning people? I miss Acton a bunch, but not nearly
as bad as last year. But I¥ve only been here for about 24 hours. So that¥s
definitely going to change. The hotmail site just started working but the
blog won¥t let me post. Grrrr. It¥s pouring here. I want to go play in it. I
also don¥t want to get some gross disease from the mud. Damn flip-flops.
Much amor y luz, Hilary (Hilaria)

Well hello there! I just showed my `sister` that picture of me cuando era
joven. `QuÈ bonita!` – Marguina. `QuÈ blanca!` – yo.
I got here yesterday afternoon and now IÂ¥m here in a tiny little town called
Achuapa, about an hour from EstelÌ. It¥s only 20 km or so from a town named
Sauce (pronounced with the e at the end) but it takes approximately 45
minutes from there since the roads are just great. Wonderful. Perfect. The
government definitely does it¥s job when it comes to taking care of the poor
here. It took 4 hours to get here all together.
IÂ¥ll hopefully start helping in the library tomorrow, since the librarian is
I-don¥t-know-where right now. I brought down a lot of coloring/playing
supplies AND a printer and 5 digital cameras. IÂ¥m going to teach some of the
kids here (15 is my max. More than that might kill me) how to take
photographs, what to look for in framing a photo, boundaries, light, motion,
etc. It¥s going to be frickin¥ impossible. Hopefully fun at the same time.
So I just sent an email to my parents and read an email from my friend
Deanna and then the hotmail site stopped working, but please everyone feel
free to write to me! I can¥t exactly find the `at` button on the computer,
but my email is sun_moon_and_hilly@hotmail.com
Much love to you all, especially those of you who I know.
I hope Matt is accustoming himself to the US ok after his spectacular time
in Spain.
Love and Light, Hilary
P.S. So I tried to send this without putting at email address and it
wouldn¥t let me so I humbled myself and asked my sister, and you press Alt 6
4. Gotta love life…
So how are you, Miller/Canning people? I miss Acton a bunch, but not nearly
as bad as last year. But I¥ve only been here for about 24 hours. So that¥s
definitely going to change. The hotmail site just started working but the
blog won¥t let me post. Grrrr. It¥s pouring here. I want to go play in it. I
also don¥t want to get some gross disease from the mud. Damn flip-flops.
Much amor y luz, Hilary (Hilaria)

Guess what? As of yesterday, Hilaryís back hanging out in Nicaragua, but this time alone.

Hil, please write to us.

Go Away Dixie Gillian

Matt’s Gallery

I should ask Matthew where this is but he’s asleep.
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