<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="State"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place" downloadurl="http://www.5iantlavalamp.com/"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:#606420;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:Arial;
color:windowtext;}
@page Section1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:.5in .5in .5in .5in;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink="#606420">
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal align=right style='text-align:right;line-height:150%;
text-autospace:none'><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;
line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>Letter 7 (2/20/07)/p. 1<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>These
are scattered notes from this morning. Iīd rather be sending photos, but I
need the right machine and my guide Manuel, who is not here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> This
is my favorite sort of morning. I got up at eight to find that Mario had left
early for a principalsīmeeting. I folded my clothes that were washed last night
and dried outside overnight, hauled out my little bedside rug and did my yoga
exercises in the living room, turned on the TV and heard a doctor explaining
hyperactivity and attention deficit in children, had <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>melocoton</span></i> juice (in the dictionary thatīs peach but here
itīs a star-shaped fruit--donīt have one handy to check) in corn flakes for
breakfast, am now sitting here writing, will shortly take a shower and be off
to do friendly battle with my students at 12:30--unless theyīve changed the
schedule on me (they did).<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Often
I have wished to be a linguist. Common sense soon returns -- but at least, to
be one of those people who can be told a word once--and itīs theirs forever.
For me it takes time and repetition for it to sink in that a pig here is a <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>chancho</span></i> and <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>ahora mismo</span></i> is <i><span style='font-style:italic'>ahorita</span></i>.
The subtleties of common words sail right by me: <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>suave</span></i>, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>bravo</span></i>.
I am half-deaf to the differences between <i><span style='font-style:italic'>ya</span></i>
and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>todavia</span></i>, <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>traer </span></i>and <i><span style='font-style:italic'>llevar.</span></i>
There is a whole vocabulary of food that Iīm going to have to write down or
lose. More broadly, I would like to be Henry Jamesīs ideal writer. Jamesīs
bottomline advice to young writers was 'Try to be one of the people on whom
nothing is lost.' (Those of you who know me well may stop chuckling any time.)
Sometimes observations will hit me over the head because they affect my behavior:
for example, Nicaraguans do not put their napkins in their laps. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Well,
the act of writing consists in knowing what to leave out, as Henry Adams used
to say, and youīll never know what I chose to leave out and what I just didnīt
get. Fitting everything together is another matter. For example, does it fit
right here for me to observe that Ana and Mario's next door neighbors have a
pool table, and though I canīt assess its quality, the mere sound of balls
cracking on balls is enough to take me all the way back, if I close my eyes (if
it werenīt for the heat) to Mingles?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>Lagune de Apoyo</span></i> is the name of the crater
lake I described in the last letter. I donīt know why they call it a lagoon.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> An
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>esperanza</span></i> is walking the ceiling
above me. It is a green insect about three inches long, with a slender oval
body and a long straight tail, and the two rear legs are themselves 2 inches long.
It is supposed to bring good luck if it enters your house, which is why its
name is “hope,” but if you grab it to escort outside it leaves a
bad smell on your hand, according to Aura. I and it leave each other in piece.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> The
last two days have been noticeably cooler, crisper, clearer, and a lovely
breeze, occasionally a strong wind. But the coolest day here is still hot by
11am and doesnīt begin to ease up until around 4pm. The sun rises just after
6am and sets just before 6pm. Mario says this never changes much. The idea
that <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></st1:place>
has little more than 8 hours of sun in December and almost 16 in June is
striking to him.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Certain
trees are beginning to flower now, one in a startling blue, some in yellow.
Who wants to be a linguist? itīs botany I need. Last night Mario planted a
cypress, about three feet tall, in their tiny front yard, and potted two types
of what look like ferns, except an <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Idaho</st1:State></st1:place>
fern wouldnīt last a week here. A few days ago I found what looked like a
cotton plant -- and it was. This one was probably planted by bird droppings,
but cotton used to be planted here and still is in some areas.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> Two
<i><span style='font-style:italic'>Dias del Amor y la Amistad</span></i>. When
I was visiting the Los Cedros school last Wednesday, both the primary and the
secondary teachers invited me to their separate Valentineīs Day parties. As
far as I could tell the students did not have parties, but the teachers did.
At both parties the feature was an exhange of gifts, each <i><span
style='font-style:italic'>maestro</span></i> giving to one other so that
everyone got one gift. The recipients must have been assigned, but the little
speeches that each giver delivered to the recipient suggested there was a
special relationship between the two. Everyone was laughing and hugging and
having a good time. At each party lunch was served: cabbage-carrot-tomato
salad with pieces of yucca and pork.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> The
primary teachers had more fun. They played “pin the cola on the burro”
for a while, then passed around balloons with little pieces of paper inside.
These papers gave directions, and to get at the directions you had to put the
balloon on a chair at the center of the room and sit down on it. One woman in
classy chartreuse pants came over and gave me a big <i><span style='font-style:
italic'>beso</span></i> on the cheek -- I never knew just exactly what the
paper slip told her to do. Mine said, <i><span style='font-style:italic'>BAILE
EL PALO DE MAYO</span></i>. But I didnīt know this particular dance, it being
from the Atlantic coast. So a woman stood up with me and we bumped and grinded
for a couple of minutes and got close enough to the real thing to satisfy
everyone. This was my second Nicaraguan dance.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> On
Friday Instituto Gustavo Carrion Zamora, the school in town, had a special
delayed Valentine Day program just for me -- or I was the excuse to party at
the end of the school day. On the wall behind the platform were large gold letters
saying <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Bienvenido David Barber</span></i>.
The students were packed into the dirt court area, deliriously happy because it
was Friday and they were missing their last class. The program included four
sets of dancers, three students reading welcomes to me in English, and two who
recited poems from memory with great flair. Twelve little girls came up with
cards and each gave me a <i><span style='font-style:italic'>besito</span></i>.
Getting <i><span style='font-style:italic'>besitos</span></i> from little girls
is like playing Bach: do it long enough and youīll go straight to Heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> At
the end I had a Santa Claus bag full of gifts: a clock, which now ticks away
on my bedroom wall, two heavy photo frames, cards, candy, ornamental trinkets.
Mario and Ana joke about my needing another suitcase to get home.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'> An
inch-long black bug is walking across the ceiling. No little lizards appear to
take him out: I figure they are spooked by the wind rattling the ceiling
plates. The white ceiling provides a great backdrop, Lauren and Chris, for
studying insects. This one has long antennas that sweep back and forth. If
only I were an entomologist . . .<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:150%;text-autospace:none'><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:Arial'>Dave<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>--<BR>
No virus found in this outgoing message.<BR>
Checked by AVG Free Edition.<BR>
Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.3/694 - Release Date: 2/20/2007 1:44 PM<BR>
</FONT> </P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Arial"> </FONT> </P>