Some might remember the last time I had to replace those supporting deck beams at Applewod. Then, it was with Mark Queijoís help, this time strong-like-bull Chris and I wrestled with the impossibly heavy timbers.

We replaced four, two at ground level and two over our heads for second floor decks. If you watch this movie youíll see me waltz into the frame and lift the beam as if it were a toothpick -camera rolling, adrenaline flowing. But it gets more amusing after that, although itís mostly a view of Chris’s back. Fortunately, my grimacing face is lost in the shadows. It took three stages to get this beam in place, and Iíve combined the movies from my digital camera into one. At the time, Chris called them Death Scene I, II and III, but unfortunately for the blog, there were no deaths.

This is a 3.7mb Quicktime movie which means you need a fast connection and QT installed.

If Mr. Clean were allowed to age he’d look like Jock. Tall, shaved head with broad shoulders, but a golf pro’s weathered face and legs that bow out – the result of long ago football injuries. At fifty-three, Jock wed Amelia, a native of Chile, and though he knew some Spanish from his own dogged pursuits, it wasn’t until he brought her to his home in Boxborough that he resolved to learn more. “It just wouldn’t be fair to her.” Often when I talk to his wife, Jock translates.

Yesterday it was time to work on his deck, and as I walked past his open slider I heard, “Work, I love work. I can watch it all day long. I think I’ll bring my chair out here so I can watch your skinny ass slaving away.” Yeah, the funny thing was not so much that he noticed my skinny ass, but that he said something about it.

“While you’re watching me work, tell he how you learned to speak Spanish long after your brain had fossilized. My son’s in Nicaragua (I tell everyone about Matt and Hil), and he’s studying Spanish four hours every morning. He, I understand, but you…?”

“I picked up a thirty year old Spanish vocabulary book and I married it. Conjugated the verbs, completed the lessons and so on. But you know what helped me most? I stopped being afraid of making mistakes. They don’t care if you make mistakes, they enjoy it, it shows you are trying.”

I don’t know who the “they” is he was referring to. Maybe all the Spanish speakers in the world, or more likely, Amelia’s friends and family.

“I don’t care how much you study. If you’re not willing to practice it, you won’t be any good. When I made a mistake that I was aware of, or couldn’t think of the right word, I’d say, I’m a little bit embarazado. I made many mistakes, I repeated it often, A little bit embarazado’. Do you know what embarazado means?”

Wanting to impress him with my own grasp of a foreign language, I paused for a moment and replied, “Sure, it means embarrassed.”

“ No, it means pregnant. I kept repeating, ‘ I’m a little bit pregnant.’ “

As planned, we called Matt at 6 Pm to sing Happy Birthday, but no one answered. We checked the country code and dialed again, but no answer. We thought it terribly unlikely that out of a family of ten (eleven with Matthew), that the house would be empty. This time Diane found Egdelina’s original email and compared it to the phone number on her typed piece of paper. It matched, we dialed again, no answer. We were about to give up when the phone rang. It was Matthew calling from his cybercafe, four blocks from his house.

“Matt we tried to call but the phone just rang and rang.”

“I know. I was home, but the phone is in a room and when they are not home they lock the door. I could hear it ring, but I couldn’t answer it. It broke my heart.”

haha, whatever it was that i had or have, well…. i am taking the helen route of mind over matter. It makes things a bit easier to deal with. Tonight i am not sure when i will be home. but i think your best bet would be to call around… .hmmm good question. I am going out to dinner tonight, so i would suggest that you call at 11 ur time. That two hour difference doesn’t sound like much, but really makes a difference as to when i will be around. Now that i think about it, ur best bet would be to call around six your time. I will try my hardest to be around. Quiero halbar con mateo, if you didn’t know. this will probably be followed by a large amount of confusing fast words and then by them putting down the phone to find me. No esta aqui, means he isn’t here. at which point you could try again later tonight. I would kill for some steak from the 99 at the moment. Although i do enjoy the food here a lot.
Yes we did start work at the school, although i am not exactly sure of the name, but we are translating letters to american sponsors who give money to the school and to the family of the kids. It is not exactly the easiest thing to read spanish written by a seven year old. But it is doable and pretty fun. Anyways, we leave tmorrow at 520 for miraflor. Should be interesting to see if we can get up that early.

Much love as usual
matt

Hil’s email address – sun_moon_and_hilly@hotmail.com
Matt’s – abstudent16@hotmail.com
Matt’s Phone Number – 011-505-713-3274

°Feliz CumpleaÒos, Mateo!

Globos

Que tengas un buen dia!

(In Latin countries, girls get serenaded on their birthday–when is Hil’s?)

Haha, i bet you are loving the emails, keeps you knowing we are alive. I was sick yesterday and for most of the morning, but i seem to be recovering at the moment(knocks on wood). I agree that the trip to managua is a must, as does hilary so i don’t think that is a problem. We are meeting some wonderful people , such as this couple from the states. They are abagados and have been living down here for the last year, working with organizations. Humanitarians they seem, and are awfully helpful. Tomorrow is not only my birthday, but the revolution celebrations. I am thinking it is going to be a very interesting day. As for today, i am sitting in this internet cafe, looking out the window at a portion of the street that has been blocked off. They are playing music and volleyball and other games. I have no idea why or if it is even a celebration. But it is all very interesting to watch. As to where i am sleeping, no it is not a closet, in fact the room is fairly large. As is their house. They own a new izuzu rodeo and a four wheeler, and i wake up one morning and it turns out they also use the kitchen as a garage. As you will see from the pictures. I think today is going to be our first day of volunteer work at the schooll. If i feel well enough to go. Everything is going great, and as for the connection…. i think it may be a DSL type thing, because it goes faster then dial up… but we are in central america and it still isn’t what i would call fast. 21 days left according to hil.. anyway
much love
mateo

Bob Lewis, Johnís father, was at that party and told me later that he enjoyed Floís story so much heís now passed it on to , ìAbout a half dozen people. But gosh,î he continued, ìsome people donít get it. They look at me like they are waiting for the next line.î

Dan Downing
In case others have started to wonder, as I have…

Closest Linda and I have gotten is Costa Rica’s northwestern border, to see the giant turtles laying their eggs on the deserted, sandy beaches on the Carribean.

And here are pictures of the school Matt and Hil are attending.

Hello parents and friends, since there is a limited amount of time that we are able to use the computers, i think i am just going to write one email to all of you at the moment, sorry. lol. Well, my family is possibly the best thing to happen yet on this trip. There are ten of them living with me in my house. The grandmother, mother, father, three brothers, one brothers wife, two children of the brother, one child of the brother’s wife, and another kid whose mother is living in north carolina with two more brothers. The way we have figured it out, they start popping kids out when they are about twenty, and do so every two years for a very long time. The house is actually very nice, and yes there is a shower. However no hot water, but there isn’t any anywhere in Esteli. Today was the first chance i got to take a shower, and it was not as bad as you would think. Any amount of cleaning is very looked forward to by me. God does my hair feel great today. The father is a pastor, the mother is a teacher, and the oldest brother owns a store with his wife. I’m not really sure about any ages, except that the two youngest brothers are 19 and 21, and both of them are currently attending a university. The four smallest children are wonderful, they are the grandchildren or the great grandchildren, depending on how you look at it. The five year old girl, who up until today would not talk to me, is awesome, and turns out she speaks better English then me. She speaks better spanish than any nicaraguan i have met so far, except for bertha. Yes, we have one teacher per child, and we study for three and a half hours every day. It is pretty intense but we are learning a lot, and are getting pretty good at basic communication. Me and hil visited a very poor school yesterday, It really makes you think. Three hundred and twenty students attend, and there are four classrooms. Me and hilary are going to be doing some volunteer work there, once or twice a week. The camera was such a good idea, and you are going to love the pictures that i bring back. Everyone is welcome to write me by email, or snail mail, depending on what you prefer. I would love to get emails from all of you.

This is such a beautiful country, but it doesn’t keep me from missing all of you.
Have a wonderful day.
Always,
Matt

abstudent16@hotmail.com

Hey,
Well, we have finally found an internet cafe that we can use and understand….. kinda.
We made it safe and sound to Esteli and we happened to meet the president of Nicaragua in the airport and again on the plane. It was a very intresting experience. We made a new friend, her name is Bertha and we met her in the airport. She is Nicaraguan and lives in Managua. She was traveling back from a vacation with her family and they seem very nice, I know that you did not want us traveling to Managua but they have offered to let us stay in their house and show us around. They also have a house in San Juan Del Sur that they might take us too. If we go to Managua we would go on our second or third weekend. Second if it is up to me, third if it is up to Hilary. I love the family I am staying with, it is huge. There are ten of them. 11 including me. They are very nice and both me and Hilary really enjoy talking to them….. if you can call it talking. Class¥s are going very well, although they are a pain in the ass. Our Spanish is improving rapidly but we still have no idea what we are doing. Esteli is a very nice little city, and aside from the daily harassment Hilary receives, it is going very well. Much much love, and I will talk to you soon. As I said phones are few and far between, but you may be able to call my house. If you want to , you should try to call around 8 or 9 ur time. Hilary would like to say something so…
love matt

HEYA! just to reiterate what Matt said, we¥re doing just dandy. His family is really, really sweet, and one of them speaks pretty good English so it’s a) easy to talk with him and b) we learn a lot because he can say a word in English if we don’t understand it in Spanish.
I’m trying to get Matt to go to MIRAFLOR this weekend, LEON AND MASAYA next weekend, and MANAGUA the third weekend. Bertha and her family are really nice, and they tried to slip us past customs, but the Presidents bodyguards wouldn’t let us cuz we had too many bags. Deeply amusing. and when we were confused in the airport in Managua and couldn’t find our driver (because we are stupid and blind) the President helped us out.
We aren’t getting into trouble, so no worries.
Matt is learning a ridiculous amount of Spanish tambien.
adios, much love, and tell everyone we say hi (you could post this in the blog if you wish)
love and Light, Hilary

He did, however, let me in on a secret today. He said the work he does for me gets him out of cutting the grass on weekends. I laughed and told him I saw his dad, John, cutting the grass on Sunday and he replied, “He needs the exercise.” Sharp, smart words from an equally sharp boy. Anyway, we have fun – okay, maybe only I have fun – and I learn tons of interesting things about his life and the lives of his friends.

Such as what is the primary entry door into their houses. Ever had a conversation with anyone about such a thing? Probably not, but here in Acton it’s not as strange as it sounds. Joy Hertz once told me that if someone rings the front door bell she knows it’s a salesman and she doesn’t answer it. Chris listed every friend and the door they used, and not once did he say front door. The closest he came was, “The secondary front door.” I think this topic came up after we had stained someone out of their condo.

Without disclosing anything of a personal nature that might get Chris in trouble, some of the other topics we’ve touched on include: his primary and secondary friends, the parents he used to consider scary, all kinds of baseball related things (readers of the blog and friends of Chris know he is an accomplished athlete with hopes of pitching in the majors), the uptight locals who call the police for the most trivial of transgressions (yes, a reference to Matt, Chris and their friends will appear AGAIN in the local paper under the police blotter), his grades, how much he studies, and of course how brave Matt and Hil are to have traveled to Nicaragua.

Which leads me to the latest news about my son. At 3 PM my cell phone beeped to announce I had missed a call. Instead of the usual display of the time and the calling number, it said — UNKNOWN 12 AM 1/1/00 .
Chris and I were both convinced it was Matt, which made me feel real good. Send my only born off to a foreign land and then make it impossible to get a hold of us. Bad enough that he was back in school, had no access to hot showers or video games, and was surely feeling isolated because of a lack of a common language, but then to be unavailable when he needed me most. Do I sound self-pitying or just pitiful? Chris wondered why Matt didn’t leave his usual message, “Dad, you never answer your cell phone!” However, Chris also assured me that there would be a message on my machine at home, and sure enough there was.

I played it multiple times, happy to hear his deep voice sounding like a self assured twenty-three year old. Here it is, almost verbatim:

“Anybody there, hello. Mother, Father. Well I’m trying to call now and we can’t find phones that work much less get out to America so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to call. Umm we arrived in Esteli safe and sound so everything is all set. We actually made a friend in the airport. Aaah… and we might be staying with them in Managua for a weekend or something. We’ll try to set up an email address so we can send you some email. I’ll try calling back when it’s convenient. Love you guys, bye.” Click!

Diane is out tonight enjoying dinner with her long time social work group, but you know I had to call and relay Matt’s message. I know how much better Diane is going to feel knowing that Matt and Hil met some stranger in Managua, the only town he was warned to stay out of, and that he’s going to be spending his weekends there. What a chip off the old block.

Chris’ only demand, that he be driven from job site to job site in this chair atop my truck.

View larger image

View larger image

Photos from yesterdayís American Repertory Theatre and the Minneapolis based Theatre de la Jeune Luneís presentation of MoliËre’s, The Miser. The best play weíve seen since Amadeus. Sorry Molly. Globe Review

9:30 PM
Diane did the math and decided that Matt and Hil would be calling between 8 and 9 PM. She went upstairs earlier to wait under the covers and I just ran up to say something like, ìWell! Itís 9:30 and they havenít called. Arenít you worried?î And I would have, but sheís snoring too loudly to hear me.
11:30 AM
Fun facts we now know about Esteli, the town Matt and Hil will be spending most of their time. For the home stay families this can be their only income so they are quite grateful for having boarders. They donít have hot water – Matt will miss his lengthy showers – and the families do all the laundry on wash boards. Taxis in Esteli to any other part of Esteli costs thirty-five cents.

Earlier when I wrote about how we were going to the airport, I didnít mean me. Diane and Lou took the kids, stood in line, and waved an early security proscribed goodbye. Diane reports they both appeared happy and confident, and that their leg to Miami arrived an hour early. Matt has strict instructions to call from Esteli tonight, and tomorrow night and at least once a week after that. If he wants to check-in more often, fine, but those are my bare minimum demands.

This turned out to be much harder for both of us that I could have imagined. Diane didnít sleep and when she returned chose the couch in the living room rather than be reminded of her fitful night in our bed. The couch didnít help and now weíre both wondering when our next sound sleep will come. My guess is after his second call when he tells us heís okay, and his voice confirms it.

Outside Hil’s house before the ride to the airport.

Matt’s surprise going away/birthday party was a surprise and from the parent-in-a-corner’s view, a rollicking good time. Now, however, it is 4:30 AM and we’re off to the airport. What a fine, stomach in knots, sleepless night I had. I suspect Diane’s was not much better.