I was waiting at the bus stop for a friend when a drunk man
started stumbling toward me with the usual comments most Nicarguan men say to
me or any other “gringa” (totally weird that I’m considered a gringa here). As he approached more closely I moved and
continued to ignore him. My friend
arrived shortly after and we stood waiting for our bus. As he continued his drunken comments I was
honestly surprised that the other Nica men who were at the stop didn’t
intervene and tell him to go sleep it off on some street corner. No comments were made from any of the 4 men
that were there, they looked more entertained than anything else which really
just pissed me off. I put up with the
drunken comments for what seemed like forever but was about 20 minutes before
our bus arrived and we took off.
Two days after on Tuesday I was walking back from the cyber
after talking with Aaron when the procession of the saint and all the people
came down the street. The same drunk man was the first to approach me and made
some comment about seeing me run every day.
I blew past him and went home.
About 30 minutes later as I was reading in bed the same drunk man starts
screaming on my street. I love you he said
in English, “Te quiero” . I pretty much
wanted to throw up. He continued his
antics right outside of my window which faces the streetI was not only scared
but mortified, he was doing this in front of my neighbors. The crazy drunk even asked Diego to open the
door for him so he could talk to me. It was at this time I came out of my room
and asked my host mom what was going on and she assured me, “Don’t worry, we won’t
open the door.” I didn’t feel that
reassured so I slept with a pair of scissors under my pillow and barricaded my
bedroom door with a rocking chair. The next day I called the Peace Corps
Security guy who is pretty much the coolest guy ever. He took all of my information and told me he
would come to my house that day. When he
showed up he pretended it was just a routine security visit. He met with my neighbors, my host family and
the police. He asked my neighbors and my
host family about the incident the previous night and if they knew the drunks
name. They did. Apparently this guy is the “big” drunk of the
town, which is pretty hard to become considering all of the heavy drinking that
goes on here especially during fiesta patronales (to be honest seeing people
drink in excess has put me off alcohol entirely, for the time being). Oh and to make matters worse this guy has
mental problems…just my luck. After he me with my family and neighbors he
visited the police station and reported the incident on my behalf.
Since then I haven’t been bothered by the creeper drunk guy
and I don’t sleep with scissors under my pillow.
…And now for the truly good part of the blog…Nicaraguan
Idol. So this was one of the first
things I had been told after becoming a volunteer that I would be asked to
judge an English singing competition. I couldn’t
wait. My chance finally came this past
Tuesday. I was asked to show up a bit
early for the competition so we could start at exactly noon. Of course in
true Nica form the competition started 2 hours later J…The competition was
held in one of the rural schools I co-teach at and I was the only judge that
really spoke English. One judge was a
teachers brother who spoke hardly any English and the other was an English professor
from the district who could speak more.
So as my professor said I would be the judge that would score the
hardest, but I couldn’t. These kids were
getting up in front of their entire school singing songs in a different
language, I had to cut them some slack.
I definitely wouldn’t be able to do that. Honestly, the only time I’ve ever sang songs
in Spanish was when I was a little girl and would sing Luis Miguel songs to my
mom and grandma for their entertainment.
There were 7 groups of students and some of their song choices
were pretty awesome. I was serenaded by
Rhianna, Backstreet Boys, Lady Gaga and the Offspring. The offspring song was my favorite, not
because these girls were good but because the only word they pronounced correctly
in the entire song was the F word. The
song they sang was you’re gonna go far kid, which chorus says “so dance fucker
dance”. When they first said it I
thought no they’re not saying that in school but yup they were. I’m pretty sure I was the only one who picked
up on it and had to stop myself from laughing. By the end of the contest there was
unfortunately a 3 way tie between Rhianna, Lady Gaga and Backstreet boys, which
meant the groups would have to sing again.
Not only were my ears aching from the singing but from the worst sound
system ever that I was seated in front of. By the end of this round we had a
clear winner…Lady Gaga. The groups were judged on tone, pronunciation, knowing
the lyrics and stage presence. Lady Gaga
won because of the pronunciation and knowing the lyrics but as far as
entertainment goes Rhianna group had my vote.
These girls sang Diamond and had a dance routine and had glitter
everywhere. It was a pretty entertaining
experience and one I hope to do again soon.
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