First, I want to say thank you for the support I've gotten on my decision to go home. It really, really means a lot to me.
Last night I had a weird dream last night, in which Clayton (my brother-in-law) mentioned that the only thing they (he and my sister) could afford to eat were egg sprouts. I, of course, asked what egg sprouts were, and found out that when a chicken egg is fertilized but is eaten before it hatches, that's an egg sprout. Yeah. And I guess in dream-land, egg sprouts are cheaper than regular eggs.
Although the majority of Nicaraguans are Catholic, evangelical Christian denominations have made inroads in recent years. Dona Adilia, for example, is a Jehovah's Witness, and sometimes she gives me articles to read in "Despertad!" (Awake!), the little magazine that the J.W.'s leave with you when they come door to door. I don't usually mind reading the articles because they're not overtly aimed at converting me--they seem to be aimed more at an audience that is already convinced. Sometimes they're a little ridiculous (did you know that Wiccans worship Satan? Well, now you do), but usually not too bad. Last night Adilia pointed out an article to me that was written by an Indian in Oklahoma. I read through it and ended up kind of annoyed. The author grew up on a reservation and was supposed to be his (Kickapoo) tribe's medicine man. His grandfather passed on all of his knowledge to him. Then the author went away to college in another state, and ended up living in Los Angeles for a while. He and his wife were visited occasionally by a Jehovah's Witness, and ended up being converted. Now this guy has gone back to live on the reservation to try to convert other Indians. He tells how the tribe has selected someone new to be the medicine man, but that there's no one to train him. You can almost see the author smirk as he writes how they're not going to get any of the ancient knowledge out of *him*. I try to be tolerant of other people's religious beliefs, but I don't have a lot of patience with evangelism. In this case, it's robbing a tribe of the knowledge that should be community property, in the guise of a practicing medicine man who is willing to work in tribe. I've been told that telling an evangelist "I respect your religion, but don't try to convert me" is like telling a gay person "I respect you, as long as you don't engage in homosexual activity." Converting people is an integral part of evangelists' belief system, and if they don't do it, then they're not evangelists. But dammit, I still don't like it.
On a lighter note, an important lesson learned: although avellana (hazelnut) and avena (oats) are similar-sounding words, there is a big difference between the two. When you are offered a hazelnut drink, you might be tempted, but you will be sorely disappointed when it turns out to be an oat drink. On the other hand, Lesbia thought I was crazy when I explained that in the U.S., we eat oats hot, with a spoon, out of a bowl. I've also been tricked into drinking "chocolate," which does indeed contain chocolate, in addition to corn meal. I guess I like my drinks non-textured, for the most part.
Last night I had a weird dream last night, in which Clayton (my brother-in-law) mentioned that the only thing they (he and my sister) could afford to eat were egg sprouts. I, of course, asked what egg sprouts were, and found out that when a chicken egg is fertilized but is eaten before it hatches, that's an egg sprout. Yeah. And I guess in dream-land, egg sprouts are cheaper than regular eggs.
Although the majority of Nicaraguans are Catholic, evangelical Christian denominations have made inroads in recent years. Dona Adilia, for example, is a Jehovah's Witness, and sometimes she gives me articles to read in "Despertad!" (Awake!), the little magazine that the J.W.'s leave with you when they come door to door. I don't usually mind reading the articles because they're not overtly aimed at converting me--they seem to be aimed more at an audience that is already convinced. Sometimes they're a little ridiculous (did you know that Wiccans worship Satan? Well, now you do), but usually not too bad. Last night Adilia pointed out an article to me that was written by an Indian in Oklahoma. I read through it and ended up kind of annoyed. The author grew up on a reservation and was supposed to be his (Kickapoo) tribe's medicine man. His grandfather passed on all of his knowledge to him. Then the author went away to college in another state, and ended up living in Los Angeles for a while. He and his wife were visited occasionally by a Jehovah's Witness, and ended up being converted. Now this guy has gone back to live on the reservation to try to convert other Indians. He tells how the tribe has selected someone new to be the medicine man, but that there's no one to train him. You can almost see the author smirk as he writes how they're not going to get any of the ancient knowledge out of *him*. I try to be tolerant of other people's religious beliefs, but I don't have a lot of patience with evangelism. In this case, it's robbing a tribe of the knowledge that should be community property, in the guise of a practicing medicine man who is willing to work in tribe. I've been told that telling an evangelist "I respect your religion, but don't try to convert me" is like telling a gay person "I respect you, as long as you don't engage in homosexual activity." Converting people is an integral part of evangelists' belief system, and if they don't do it, then they're not evangelists. But dammit, I still don't like it.
On a lighter note, an important lesson learned: although avellana (hazelnut) and avena (oats) are similar-sounding words, there is a big difference between the two. When you are offered a hazelnut drink, you might be tempted, but you will be sorely disappointed when it turns out to be an oat drink. On the other hand, Lesbia thought I was crazy when I explained that in the U.S., we eat oats hot, with a spoon, out of a bowl. I've also been tricked into drinking "chocolate," which does indeed contain chocolate, in addition to corn meal. I guess I like my drinks non-textured, for the most part.
Comments