"Welcome to Your Embassy."

Last night I had reverse culture shock...and it has only been three weeks.

We were invited to the US Embassy in Managua to attend a town meeting in which the ambassador to Nicaragua, Robert J. Callahan, spoke to the US citizens of Nicaragua. Let´s just say that when they tell you that you are now on American soil, they mean it.

When we arrived at the gate, a security officer walked on to our bus to check all of our passports. Unfortunately, Juan Pablo was not allowed to come in to the Embassy as he is not a citizen. We were told to leave everything on the bus - we were not allowed to take anything into the Embassy - then walked up to the door and had our names and passports checked again before going through a security checkpoint with a metal detector. Once we passed this step, we moved in groups of six to the main building of the Embassy. On the way, I felt like I was at a Hawaiian resort, because there were palm trees with lights illuminating them from below, and green, perfectly trimmed grass on either side of the immaculate stone paths. At the main building door, they checked passports again, I put on my nametag and the officer said to me, "Thank you Ms. Kahn, and welcome to Your Embassy." Unreal.

We walked in, and everyone spoke English. For some reason we all must have thought we were the only ones here who could, because we were so surprised to be able to understand all the conversations around us without looking straight at the speaker or asking him/her to slow down so we could understand. The ambassador and two other men spoke, and then they served refreshments. I saw a picture of Dick Cheney smirking on the wall, and I went to a bathroom where I could flush toilet paper, the toilet flushed on its own, and I saw myself in the mirror for basically the first time in three weeks. Holy shmoley.

I took advantage of my time at the Embassy. I ate five cookies (four chocolate chip and a star shaped one with red, white, and blue sprinkles) and one brownie, and used the bathroom twice. I think it is safe to say that my two hours in the United States last night were well spent.

In other news, today we have a family reunion at my house (hoorah for being part of the family!) because my mom is distributing the weekly food supplies from the government to the entire Colonia. Yeah, she is pretty cool.

I´m off to write a paper, but I hope everyone is enjoying their day, whether they are in the United States, pretending they are in the United States, or enjoying the rich culture of another country.

Love,
Nicole