A Day in the Life of Kelsey

So you may or may not have asked yourself: “What in the world is Kelsey doing in Nicaragua anyway?”  Which happens to be a very good question.  Unfortunately, my response could fill the pages of a small book (not necessarily a page turner by any means… more of a manual or boring documentary).  Instead, I’ll limit my response to giving you a small glimpse into one day of my life: today.

7 hours later and my ant friends are making
quick work of the dead roach carcass

I wake up this morning, my fan blowing on me keeping me fairly cool.  7am sharp the siren in town goes off, as does my alarm.  I ignore both.  My attempts at catching a few more seconds of half-sleep are fully interrupted by my roommate saying goodbye (she’s off to Managua for the day) and the meows of my cat.  She’s hungry.  And I’m her food dispenser.  The world needs me.  I wake up, dish out a bowl full of kitty food, heat up some water and make me some coffee.  Before anything else, there is coffee.  While I wait for the water to boil I notice a small ant hill has taken up residence in the kitchen.  I get the broom and sweep away the unwanted housemates.  An ant retaliates and bites my toe.  I pour my coffee and am half scared out of my mind by the sudden appearance of a giant cockroach in our sink.  I grab an empty pop bottle and proceed to beat it up.  It scurries away so I follow in hot pursuit.  In the end, I win.  I grab my coffee and scarf down some yogurt as I catch up on some emails I failed to respond to yesterday.  I then realize how unkempt I must look and so I hop in the shower, the cold water instantly shocking me awake.  There’s nothing like coffee and a cold water shower to kick-start your day.  After throwing on some jeans and a nice shirt, a friend texts me and says he’ll stop by in 15 minutes to drop off something.  In this country, you just never know when you’ll have company.  After his visit, I grab my things and head out to do some house visits.  Today’s goal: stop by all 7 of our host families, see how they’re doing and collect the program evaluations I gave them last week.  At each house I make small talk about their families and the weather and the weekend and the Ruben Dario festival going on in town and anything else that pops into my mind.  We briefly talk about the SPIN semester abroad program and the evaluations.  I gently end each visit, say my goodbyes, and head on to the next house.  The total 16 block walk is nothing too terribly difficult—what’s hard is the hot sun beating down and the guys on the street leering and catcalling as I walk by.  Unfortunately, after all my walking and visiting, I’ve only managed to collect 4 out of 7 evaluations… I should have the other 3 by the end of the week.  I manage to finish my house calling just as the noon siren rings to let us know its lunchtime.  I get home only to realize we desperately need to go grocery shopping… so I grab a cucumber, some chips, some bread and some avocado and have a quasi-picnic sort of lunch.  A lady selling fruit and vegetables rolls by the house and my hungry stomach urges me outside.  I buy a dozen bananas and a papaya for $1.  I eat my gourmet meal while I check on my emails again—more have come in throughout the morning.  (Here’s a little secret: at least 50% of my job involves the internet or a computer…).  I then get a phone call from my roommate telling me to go pay the electric bill as it may or may not be past due.  So I head out once again to pay last month’s electric bill: a total of 232 córdoba, or roughly $8.70.  On my way back, I buy a French baguette from a small bakery to reward me for my morning endeavors.  Once home, I head to the kitchen to make my second round of coffee—vitally important in keeping up one’s energy during the hottest part of the day.  My mid-afternoon snack of coffee, fruit, and bread hits the spot and I’m once again energized to work some more.  So, as no one will be surprised, I open up my computer and start working.  Which brings me to this very moment, typing about my day thus far.  Which means this blog has just taken a strange turn: form blogging to blogging about blogging.  Meta-blogging.  Anyway, back to reality.  The rest of my day is rather uneventful: finish up pertinent emailing, do my daily devotional, maybe sweep the floors, eat some dinner, and watch a movie tonight with a friend and her popcorn. 

So there you have it: one day in the life of Kelsey.  Maybe if another more exciting day happens I’ll share it with you all :)

Stay tuned!