Frolicking Sandanistas and Marching Band Wonders

Well, the last two weeks have been full of all kinds of sandanista fun. The mayoral elections are underway so the parties are getting together for parades and such.. well, so far we have only seen the sandanistas. They fill up al kinds o fcars with people and drive around. Nothing more organized. In matagalpa they got poured on. While I was in managua, two kids got hit about five feet from our front door by a driver that drove off. The boys both had head injuries and were picked up and ran to the health center where they were wrapped up and sent home without any long term observation.. or even short term. It was really sad. Im not relating this to the sandanistas, only that people are driving around quite crazy.

We have never been so sick of marching bands, and really with reason. Ive never seen so many in my live put together. They LOVE them here! In out little town they only know one song or beat. There is actually one marching about 50 feet from me as I type here in matagalpa and its far more creative and they have several songs.

I thought I would throw in a few pics of our church and a Relief Society activity we did. Here is the gymnasium. The building is incredibly beautiful by nicaraguan standards. But some things are wacky. Like last sundy just as the president got up to conduct the meeting a ceiling tile covering the lights fell unexepectadly and landed on brother Guillermo. Sad.

We were asked to sew some baptismal clothing. We had no pattern, which isnt strange here. They dont sell them, people just make them up. So the lady on the right came and just cut this dress out and the rest were learning how to do it. So thats how you learn to sew. Done. Taught. My job is done. I will come home. Just kidding
I wanted to tell Anna HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! Adriana got a 2 bunny rabbits which live in her house, she says happy birthday too! I love you soo much! Aunt becky sent me a video of your campout at her house that i will watch soon. I love you all!

In Service Training Week

Well, we were in training in Estelí for the week with our Nicaraguan colegues receiving training on Community Banks, which if we do one I will explain more, but basically its getting a group of people together and pooling their money every month in a lockbox and lending it out to members and gaining interest and then at the end of the specified term, everybody gets their money back plus interest and get to learn about saving money and also having money available to borrow IN their community for little things. It sounds very interesting. Also we talked about doing pre and post interviews for AIDS tests. We are going to train out health center staff to do this.We also had the chance to hang out with some friends up in Madriz. This is their ¨easy bake oven¨which, yes, they really use. We made bread and pasta and awsome tacos. Matt made us pancakes with red bean paste, sour creme and honey. I know it sounds attrocious, but it was really good. This is their dog Astro which they got shortley after arriving in the site. The little black specs in the bowel are ticks that they just picked off him. THEY DO THIS EVERY NIGHT! Troupers I tell you. But this is why we do not have a pet!
We also saw our first turantula (Balls, I cant spell that). Anyway. FULL ON, this guy was just crawling around in their back yard that night! He wasnt huge, but he was about an inch and a half! I was going to catch him, but could not find a sufficient recipient and he got away.
We made a bon fire in their back yard and roasted smores! The marshmallos were flavored, but thats ok. They were good! We had a good time!

Today is a holiday here and so tomarrow we have off. We have nicaraguan guests coming and so I have to think of what to cook them! I promised something from soya. BUT MAN! Nicaraguans are some picky people! They think that the weirdest things make them sick. So its a challenge. Well. Also, kory bought his plane ticket. He says thanks to all that helped him, it was very helpful (redundancy.. I know) Well. Over and out.

Help!

Hi. This is Kory. I am trying to book a flight from Managua to Salt Lake City leaving the 20th of November and returning the 28th. The problem is, the internet is slow and unreliable, making price comparison nearly impossible. If anyone can help with a little high-speed research, I would greatly appreciate it! I am going to try again to book my flight next weekend (Sept 13th). Please send any useful information to my functioning e-mail address at kory.fluckiger@gmail. Thanks.

cooking and artwork

well, what to say about this week other than cooking. We had a radio training finally for our youth group so they could start working on the radio. We will have one more. They were quite shy. I wonder if kids in the states are as shy as they are here. I dont thinks so.

Well, lets start with this delicious garden bread. It is sooo delicious. It tastes like those vegetable crackers! Heres the recipe (the american version) Also, these are oranges (they are always green here and quite bitter so you mix them with lots of water and sugar like you make lemon juice. Its good!)

Whole Wheat Garden Bread
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
2 cups water? I think...
1Tablespoon yeast
1 Tablespoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
1 small bell pepper or (jalapiño if you want)
1 Tblspn cumin seeds
3 cloves of garlic
1 smaill onion chopped

mix half the flour together with yeast and water. Mix for one minute. Add oil, salt, honey, and all the veggies and cumin. Then add the rest of the flour a little at a time. Kneed for 15 mins! (Yes really 15 mins) Adding more flour if needed so it isnt a sticky mess. Make a loaf and put in a preheated 150 degree oven for 20 mins or until doubled, then turn the tempurature to 350 and bake until golden brown and delicious. Enjoy!

The next thing is called Gizo here. Its basically a chunky vegetable sauce with creme in it and served with rice. The cool thing about this specific dish is that it was the first time we used the new supertree Marango. I will send more facts about marango at a later time, but it is a tree I planted in my garden that is extremly useful and healthy. I forgot the nutricional facts today. We used the leaves in this dish. It was good.

Kory tryed grinding his cocoa beans with a little coconut for added moisture and oil. It was quite liquid. He is also experiementing with the roasting technique. It was really messy but it tasted pretty good. We had another encounter with Gillermo, the fat chocolate man. We ADORE visiting him. We took him some of the delectable chocolate that you all have sent us and shared it with him. He recited a poem for us.

These two pieces of artwork were part of an assignement that we gave our little art club, to make something of garbage. The can one is kory, and the suckky one is mine.

This week instead of mopping, I moved the table and hosed down our whole house. then swept it out the door! It was super fun. Next time im going to tie soap to my shoes and skate around or make a slip n slide . I will miss cement houses a little when I come home.