Saturday, October 3

Another bird, this time in my shower. I simply ceded shower power to the bird and sought another bathroom. When I returned from class, it had departed…without using my razor. I could do without this wildlife connection. I stuck my hand in my bag of cashews, only to be bitten by a band of ants. I didn’t know that kitchen ants bite. My hand hurt and itched like mad for the next two days. My housekeeper attacked the cupboards w/ Raid but I lost a lot of food to the roving buggers. Cereal, pasta, flour, nuts. I had to toss it all. Now everything just goes in the refrigerator. Safer there. This city is not without its hazards. Daniel was sweating his appt. at the police station, but his boss at the circus asked him to work so Daniel switched his police station audience to the following day. And then he went yesterday and they told him to come back on Monday because they were busy w/ a protest mob. Things are done very strangely here. Today Daniel was going to try to go to the hospital to find out about the motorcyclist’s condition. Monday is the last performance day in Managua of the circus and then it moves back to Granada on Tuesday for at least 10 days. Daniel came back to Granada w/ his boss for a meeting at the television station re advertising. The circus donates a lot of free tickets the station can use as giveaways to callers. Daniel stopped by the house w/ his boss and a couple of others. They fell in love w/ the house, and they all went swimming. Emmett Kelly and assorted clowns in my pool! In one of our lesson exercises on comparisons, I asked a student, “Who is someone more famous than you?” She answered, “Katy Perry is more famous than I.” I thought that made sense. Then I asked another student the same. She answered, “John Travolta is more famous than I.” I thought it odd that these young Nica kids should come up w/ Travolta's name instead of someone more contemporary. I speak as clearly as possible. The students write down my pronunciation phonetically so they’ll remember. But I see them writing the ending -sh on some words that I thought ended with a -t. I’m obviously not pronouncing as clearly as I think.