When Is An Error Not An Error

Home of the Revolution

Well, its another sunny hot and humid day here in the land that still has the revolutionary feel. It was a long week of studying for this TESL Certificate . I had as hard a week as anyone and come yesterday afternoon my brain shutdown. All that resonated in my synapses was Beer, Ken go get a Tona...and so I listened very well as happens at times. It was a fun night sitting with my new friends at La Casitas, a nice restaurant with an open air courtyard, knocking back Ice Cold Tona's at $1 a pop while watching the Jays beat Tampa 8 - 4. Yes Virginia there is Television and electricity in Nicaragua. We then strolled over to Via Via for some live local music. It was a good night but I am glad I made the smart choice (for a change) to be home by 11ish

One of the students here is Ruth Seymour. Not only is she a former University Professor in Media and Journalism she was also in Nicaragua in the last 70s and early 80's as a reporter for the Detroit Free Press, which I was to learn was the 6th biggest publication in the States at that time. I asked if I could "interview" her about her time here during the Revolution to which she said "of course". I look forward to it and will post it word for word here.

A typical street in Leon

Right now as I gather my thoughts to attempt work on my assignments I have Sixto Rodriguez playing and just put down  Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon. For those who do not know Sixto Rodriguez was the subject of a film a few years ago "Searching For Sugarman". I you have not seen it take the time to. He was a singer song writer / poet extraordinaire who holds his own with Dylan and Morrison. His back story is amazing.

William Least Heat Moon is an interesting author and in one passage he was referencing the history and evolution of words. I will quote him directly.
Again on the road, I drove up a lumpy, dry plateau, all the while thinking of the error that had led me to Hat Creek. The word "error" comes from a Middle English word "erren", which means "to wander about" as in the Knight errant. The word evolved to mean "going astray" and that evolved to "mistake". As for mistake, it derives from Old Norse and once meant "to take wrongly".
Yesterday I had been mistaken and in error, taking one wrong road after another. As a result, I had come to a place of clear beauty. So my friends, take heed with your supposed "errors" as they too may lead you to a place of clear beauty

A limo outside of a local nightclub

The perspective of all of our collective complaining and a few tears about hard work, to many assignments, the heat, not enough free time or whatever hit us straight in the face yesterday. Our School Manager/head teacher suffered a seizure yesterday morning. Without going into any details I am happy to report she is doing well.
We human are a funny bunch with our ability to loose perspective on things, myself included. I do not think anyone can live a life of complete reflection in order to maintain balance. (I suspect monks and others of that ilk would disagree with me). We just have to do the best we can and keep moving forward and try to learn a few things along the way.To that point I am a huge procrastinator. I can actually put off putting something off. With that being said I have work to do and a few tears to shed before this task is complete.

A final quote by WLHM on learning. "People tend to stop learning because it usually means you have to leave your comfort zone and put yourself out there, which opens you up to embarrassment and criticism".

Being photobombed while eating street tacos