My diary - December 5-7, 1972
- Susan Fisch Good
- Oct 24
- 3 min read
December 5, 1972 Tues.
Dear Flowers:
We voted for Hall of Fame. Good old Julio put me down as most likely to succeed. I felt as a really good-goodie today. Science its 18 days since we had that 1 test! Not back yet. Had tennis lesson with Oscar!!! GROSS. Brought my radio along which was good idea. Went to Dentist & I now FINALLY have my tooth in. BAD news I will most probably have to get braces. My teeth are straight but the bottom 2 arent & are supposlbly pushing my front teeth out. Oh well such is life. Got letter from Missy. Got to study for Science test (quiz.
BYE!
Note: It was nice of Julio to nominate me, but I don’t remember ever winning. Not sure why I felt like a “good-goodie” but such is life, as I stated in my diary.
Good to have gotten my front tooth permanently glued in. The bad news wasn’t too bad: I never did have to wear braces; I just left the bottom ones crooked because they didn’t affect my bite.
December 6, 1972 Wed.
Dear Flowers:
School was sick. Science Quiz not Bad. I got a 100%. Lily’s birthday today. I had to stay for lab. I have an enormous English test tomorrow. I studied & studied. Memorized 75 words. YEAKS. Watched T.V. Talked to Pat.
BYE!!
Note: Not sure why I said school was sick but I guess boring. Having to learn 75 words is a lot but I was pretty good at memorizing; hopefully I retained most of their meanings!
December 7, 1972 Thrus.
Dear Flowers:
English test HARD!! YEAKS. I bought 2 stuffed animals from Mary for Mom to give to little Larry & Danny. Mom went out to lunch with Ray Carol & Sandra. We went to Masaya. I invited Pat to come too. It wa pretty fun. Watched T.V. I have to finish Gabriel Hounds tonight. LOADS of fire crackers tonight outside.
P.S. I finished Gabriel hounds. It was good!
BYE!!!
Note: Not sure if Mary Lucas had made the stuffed animals, but I bought them for my Del Regno cousins in Ohio.
Masaya was always a fun visit as we stopped at the market, which had beautiful handmade local items.
La Purísima is a uniquely Nicaraguan festival held on December 7 that celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The holiday — Nicaragua's biggest of the year — is a mixture of Halloween, Christmas, and even a little bit of the Fourth of July. It's a time when it's great to give and it's great to receive. Many people set up altars to the Virgin Mary in their homes; adults and children visit the different homes and receive sweets. There are also dances with la Gigantona (the large woman, an oversized puppet made of wood and papier-mache) through the streets, and of course lots of fireworks. I remember one year when La Gigantona and her followers paraded past our house. We joined the celebration and ended up a few streets over at Dr. Caldera’s house (our pediatrician). We were invited into their patio, where an altar was set up to La Virgen, a simple mass was held, and all of us children were given a “caña de azucar” (sugar cane) to chew on and an orange. It was a unique experience. The memory makes me smile.
You know, that jogged a memory; I remember Dad saying, that next to Puerto Rican rum (they liked Bacardi Reserva and Don Q) they really liked Flor de Caña, too. Nicaraguan rums are among the best in L.A.
And that's it for songs, can't remember any others, except the beginnings of their National Anthems.
First semester in C.R. was 4th Grade in the Colegio Metodista in Sabanilla, where I learned the Pollitos song and with one or two other Gringos, Spanish lessons, consisting mostly of verb conjugations. I remember thinking, why does Spanish have to be so complicated? Never mind that English is one of the hardest languages to learn proper spelling.
What wonderful experiences you had growing up! So cool that you have your diary to remind you of this time in your life-and I'd say 100% is "not bad"
Good Grief! Seeing La Gigantona, our matronly Bogotana neighbor would have exclaimed "Ay, que cosa mas espantosa!" The Latinos sure liked to party, especially when adult beverages flowed.
Costa Ricans liked their guano, (thus their unofficial drinking song "De La Caña Se Hace El Guaro" of which I can only ever remember the first verse, so I'll have to look up the rest).
The Bogotanos' party poison of choice was "aguardiente", another sugar cane derived drink with a distinct anise flavour. I was about 16 when I first tried it; we had just signed a lease with the owner of our house in Torca, and a jigger of aguardiente was passed around to all present, even my sisters (11 …