So, I've officially been back for a week now, and I decided it's about time for a debrief.
By now everyone knows that I changed my flight to be able to stay an extra five days. The decision was a no-brainer, since I hadn't prepared myself to leave and the group that was here really needed my help. It was one of the best decisions I've ever made!
During that last week, the Indiana group had a lot of stuff planned, and although everything didn't go exactly as planned (since nothing in Nicaragua does), God was definitely glorified and we were able to minister in lots of different ways throughout the city.
I can't remember on exactly which day we did each thing, because I'm horrible at journaling and it all sort of blends together, but I'm going to try to sum up what we did during the last week:
- The Indiana group came prepared with three different bible school stories, which we did at the church, at La Grassa (where they are building the new church), and at La Resistencia. La Resistencia is a barrio where Marlon (otherwise known as Lito) is from. Lito used to be in a gang and was an all-around real rough guy, which is hard to believe given his gentle spirit. He found God and has since started a gang outreach program and comes back to the same area he used to live to minister to the people there. He has helped win hearts over for God and continues to do amazing things in that area.
- Two nurses came with the Indiana group, so we were able to hold two medical clinics. It is so neat to see how someone's career so directly enables them to serve God in different areas of the world. The first day we started a clinic (just for kids, except for vitamins and parasite meds for adults) in the area where we do the feeding line. The nurses had gone the day before with Freddy to the pharmacy to buy tons of medicine - mostly vitamins, parasite meds, antibiotics, rash cream, etc. We set up the clinic without any real notion of how to best go about doing it, and boy did we learn from that - the line (or lack thereof) was insane, and there was just no order to the day. After a little less than two hours and only having seen a couple patients, we called it a day. I could feel the sense of discouragement among the group, as the nurses sort of felt overwhelmed and we didn't know how to organize things to make everything go more smoothly. It's always hard when you have something in mind and it doesn't pan out. However, the pastor announced that we would be holding the clinic again the next day, but at the church. This way, the people that really needed to see someone would travel, and the ones who just wanted "free meds" wouldn't make the trip. I believe they also gave money to some people who seemed like they really wanted to come but couldn't afford the trip.
One reason I felt the clinic was going to go so well was that we had randomly met a Nicaraguan family at the hotel the group was staying at. They are Nicaraguan but have lived in Texas and are currently in Costa Rica. The family was there on the dad's business trip, and the mom and three kids were pretty bored during the day while he was at work. They met the group and talked with them a bunch and when they found out what we were doing, got really excited and said they'd love to come help instead of sitting around the hotel all day. What a blessing! They are all perfectly fluent in both Spanish and English, which was a HUGE help. Two of the kids also want to be doctors, so it was right up their alley. They helped out a TON that first day. However, we found out the second day that they weren't going to be able to come, as they are actually relocating to Chinandega and it was the only day their realtor could show them houses (and they wanted to check out the schools for the kids).
The next morning we went into the clinic not knowing what to expect, since we wouldn't have the help of the family, and since the day before had been so chaotic. However, God went ahead and set everything up for us. The pastor and church leaders had already set up a system, so when we got there we were pretty much good to go. As people came in the church, they signed in with Karla, the pastor's daughter. They then were called in order to go to a table to meet with two or so of the church leaders, who asked them their name, age and symptoms, and wrote it all on a piece of paper. They also took that opportunity to ask them about their faith and to give them copies of the book of John and other "literature". Then the patients came to us in order with their little paper with all their info, and we were able to quickly tell the nurses what was up and figure out what they needed. I was on duty as the main translator, which scared me, since I knew about zero medical terms before this day. However, Chris (the leader of the Indiana group) had his trusty dictionary, and boy did I use it. I often wondered if it scared people to see me looking up words in a dictionary when we're talking health here... Anyway, I learned how to say things like rash, bumps, itchy, and other much grosser words I don't want to share. Also Talia, who has been studying English for a while, was a HUGE help. Between the two of us and Sara, whose English is much better than she claims, we were able to see about 100 kids (and treat most of their parents for parasites), as well as give everyone that came through vitamins to last a few weeks. We certainly felt day two went extremely well, and I was so proud of the nurses, because it had to be very intimidating to walk into this knowing that they were in charge, and yet there was a huge language barrier there.
- We had promised the girls at the orphanage that we'd be back on Wednesday to play with them and have ice cream, and after a long day at the clinic (and most of the guys doing construction all morning), many people were exhausted and, I think, not too excited about going straight to the orphanage and acting like they had energy. However, when we got there, everyone's spirits were immediately lifted and they were so stoked, because these girls were SO happy to see us, and were expecting us. They had each made a handmade card to welcome us, and went around handing them out. We played outside on the basketball courts for a while, writing with sidewalk chalk, playing with a plastic bowling set, and eating popsicles. Then we headed inside to where the TV is, and the girls jammed out to random music videos. Current favs in Nica right now are Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, not unlike in the US, I suppose. It was hilarious to watch them all singing along to JB, even though they had no idea what the words meant, and also to see the guys from our group dancing and singing with them, screaming like little girls. It's so fun to see these girls so easygoing and carefree, because their lives are not easy. The ladies who work there take great care of them though, and they love on them a whole lot. It's just hard when the ratio is about 3 ladies to 35 girls. You can imagine how little individual attention each girl gets on a daily basis.
- At the last regular church service while we were there, the gringos pretty much took over. Brittany, who is my age, sang a solo (in Spanish, which was awesome), a boy Shane, who's about 21, gave his testimony, and Daniel, another man, preached. It was really interesting to see this group loving the Nicaraguans and showing them how they worship their God. Neat stuff.
- On Friday morning, the group headed to the handicapped children's orphanage. This is always the toughest thing (I think, anyway) that the groups do down there because it is so hard to see these kids. Most of them can't walk or talk, and some of them can't move at all on their own. Their families just couldn't handle raising a kid "like them" so they leave them here. The children are in GREAT hands, though. One of the nurses with our group said she had never seen kids taken care of so well anywhere in the States. I always bring bubbles, because many of the kids that lay on mats on the floor love when you blow bubbles over them, and just talk to them, brush their hair off their face, etc. They just love attention, and they eat it up like crazy. Lots of kids were sitting up in wheelchairs, and they love just racing around the building. It is a very tough emotional experience, and I'd dare say nobody ever walks out of their with dry eyes, including me with my cold, cold heart that has been numb to many of these things for the past several years.
- Friday afternoon's plans were that the group wanted to thank all the Nicaraguans who had helped us so much over the course of their trip, so we loaded up the bus and went to Paso Caballo, a local beach. We swam for what seemed like hours, and then we all sat (about 53 I think) at a long table and had a nice dinner together! The food was great (I had curry chicken) and the conversation even greater. You could tell the Nicaraguans really enjoyed themselves and of course, we all loved being treated to a great meal! It was a long day, and the ride home was very quiet. Swimming in those rough Pacific waves sure takes it out of you...
- Saturday was the group's last day, and in the morning we decided to take them to Leon, which is a very historical city (used to be the capital of Nicaragua) about an hour away. We stopped first, though, at the hot springs - Hervideros de San Jacinto. Because of the nearby volcanoes, these hot springs formed, and man are they cool. I long ago gave up on putting pictures into these posts, mainly because I'm super lazy, but I believe I put some up in my facebook album. There are lots of little kids who live in the area or whose parents work there, and they act as little tour guides. Two girls quickly took me by the hand and started showing me around, all the while explaining what each thing was and where the volcanoes were, etc. Too adorable. The kids also make pots and little trinkets out of all the fresh clay in the area, and they "give" them to you, meaning you are of course expected to give them a donation. It was a really neat experience, especially because at this point, I've seen almost everything else touristy in the area!
We then headed to Leon, which usually is full of cute little shops and people in the park. There is a beautiful ancient cathedral, and it's just a really pretty little area. This day, however, was very rainy, which brought most people inside. It is still always neat to see the church though, and a few people from the group were able to get some great souvenirs nearby. I didn't buy a souvenir, but instead a delicious cacao drink. Man, I miss that stuff!!!
On the way back from Leon, everybody was really excited because we were off to give a bed to a family that we had met over the course of the trip. This story is just one of many examples of how God works in mysterious ways and how we never know one-one-millionth (not sure if that makes sense) of his plan... During the first week the Atlanta group was in Nica, we ate at a local restaurant a lot, and kept seeing these two little girls who were hanging around outside. Jim kept playing with them and making them laugh, and one day we gave them a big plate of leftovers. Then they talked to the girls and found out they were out selling plastic all day for their mom (no, I don't know who buys plastic). We invited them to our bible school at the church. Turns out they didn't show because they were out selling plastic, but they did show up to church the next day. That night, Steve and Freddy took them home because it was late and dark out, and they met the girls' mother and talked and prayed with her. Turns out there are 5 kids all together, one being a tiny baby, with no father, all living in a tiny shack. The kids were all sleeping on cardboard on the mud floor. Just imagine. By this time the Indiana group was in town and Steve shared this with the group. God placed on the group's heart to buy this family a bed, a bunk bed, in fact, so that all the kids would have somewhere to sleep. The group purchased the bed and that afternoon we all went over to deliver it. They were surprised, but the crazy thing is, the day before at the feeding line, the oldest girl handed a note that she had written to Hannah, who asked me to translate it for her. In the note, she was basically asking for Hannah's help to get them a bed. I know that you might read that and say, "wow, I can't believe they would ask for that," and that is how I used to think, but when you are that down and out, and you see an opportunity to get something you need, any sort of politeness or courtesy go out the window. And I don't blame them one bit. So the neat thing is, the group had already decided to get them a bed and were actually already in the process of getting it, when this girl wrote Hannah the letter. God is so good!
It was a great time watching the guys set up the bed and seeing the glowing smiles on the kids' faces, as well as how grateful their mom was for it all.
Saturday evening the church had a little surprise for us. We showed up and they had a whole table of fresh fruit ready for us, and they had gifts for everyone. The women all got a wood bracelet and little purse/backpacks that have the name of the church on them, and the men got bracelets that say the name of the church. They are so sweet to think of giving us gifts like that. They said they wanted to show us appreciation, but in reality I think we all realize how much more they always do for us. We ate the fruit and said our goodbyes (even though some of us still had one more day), and I could really tell how much the Indiana group fell in love with these people. There were lots of tears and lots of "next year"s... I know they'll be back; in fact, I think they'll be back soon and with a lot more people!
That night Freddy and Lito came over to the group's hotel to share their testimonies. I have seen Lito speak before, and his story is ALWAYS so inspiring and such a great testimony to God's goodness and faithfulness, and I had never heard Freddy speak before. He is always just translating what other people say. Freddy is a really strong man of God that has endured a lot, and it was very interesting to sit and listen to my good friend share his heart. Definitely a great night.
I woke up Sunday with a heavy heart, knowing it was my last day in this city that has completely taken over my heart. It was a busy day spent with people I desperately wanted to see as much as possible before I left. It wasn't enough, but I knew in my heart it was a great trip filled with wonderful people and the knowledge that God was glorified, and that, of course, I'd be back.
This trip was definitely the most inspiring, the most life-changing, the most attitude-changing, the most amazing time of my life. This trip has made me question where and how I'll live, what I'll do, and what my life will look like. Most of all, it has made it very clear to me who I am and whose I am.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Five More Days!
So, I have been extremely blessed by being able to stay five more days here, which means I´ll be coming back on the 19th. With everything being so busy with the group here, I hadn´t prepared myself mentally to leave, so two days ago I practically had a melt down at the thought. Also, the group from Indiana REALLY needs my help. I have had very little rest time for sure, except at night when they all go to sleep. My brain hurts from all the translating, but I recognize that this is what I have to offer to God as my service here, so I enjoy it. My Spanish is also getting a LOT better. I´ve learned a lot of medical terms too, as we did a medical clinic from about 8:00 - 2:00 today. Things are going great. These five days will buy me lots of time, and I´ll be able to visit Emilio and his family again.
I´m off to take care of a few logistical items, like buying essentials for things I ran out of right on time - IF I were leaving today as planned. We´re off to the girls´ orphanage to have ice cream and play with them at 4:30, so I´ve got an hour to shop, go to the hotel, shower, change, etc. We´ll see! More to come.
I´ll leave you with the words to one of my new favorite Spanish praise songs.
Tu amor por mi es mas dulce que la miel Your love for me is sweeter than honey
Tu misericordia es nueva cada dia Your mercies are new every day
es por eso que te alabo It´s because of this I worship you
es por eso que te sigo It´s because of this I follow you
es por eso que te doy todo mi amor It´s because of this I give you all my love
It sounds much prettier in Spanish than it translates into English. Trust me.
I´m off to take care of a few logistical items, like buying essentials for things I ran out of right on time - IF I were leaving today as planned. We´re off to the girls´ orphanage to have ice cream and play with them at 4:30, so I´ve got an hour to shop, go to the hotel, shower, change, etc. We´ll see! More to come.
I´ll leave you with the words to one of my new favorite Spanish praise songs.
Tu amor por mi es mas dulce que la miel Your love for me is sweeter than honey
Tu misericordia es nueva cada dia Your mercies are new every day
es por eso que te alabo It´s because of this I worship you
es por eso que te sigo It´s because of this I follow you
es por eso que te doy todo mi amor It´s because of this I give you all my love
It sounds much prettier in Spanish than it translates into English. Trust me.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Chasing Bulls, Bible Schools and Eyeglasses
I know, I know. I suck. Just like I feared, when the group came in, my life became super hectic and I have had absolutely NO time to come and write. The few precious moments I´ve had to myself have been spent relaxing. Yesterday I finally just got overtired and felt like crap, but I slept a lot last night and have been taking it easy this morning.
There is definitely no way I have time right now to explain all the events of the past week, but I just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I´m still alive and still have lots to tell. Here´s a glimpse of what´s to come...
- Chili went well - the women loved it and we had a great time cooking together.
- At night, the church had planned a special 4th of July celebration for us gringos - they even bought fireworks - massive, legal-in-the-US-fireworks. And one of them is a wooden box that´s supposed to be a bull. A guy puts it on his head and chases after everybody. You´re supposed to taunt him by running towards him and running away, but the entire time, fireworks are shooting off both sides at you. It was pretty crazy, to say the least. And no, there are no pictures, because I was basically running for my life. Oh yea, and it all took place in the middle of a busy street at night time.
- We have done four one-day bible schools, two eyeglass clinics, and about a million church services.
- I went to Managua Friday night with a bunch of the Nicaraguans to pick up the group that came in from Indiana.
- I moved back to my hotel after only 3 nights at the fancy hotel. Everybody changed hotels. Long story, but it worked out REALLY well.
- I am leaving in two days and as usual, have mixed emotions about it. I have absolutely fallen in love all over again with this place, and am really starting to wonder where God´s taking me. Sure, I´ll be happy to have warm water again, but I really am starting to question the way I´ve been living my life in a lot of ways and how much happier I seem to be when things are simple. Í don´t know why it´s taken me six years..
Updates soon, promise!!!
There is definitely no way I have time right now to explain all the events of the past week, but I just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I´m still alive and still have lots to tell. Here´s a glimpse of what´s to come...
- Chili went well - the women loved it and we had a great time cooking together.
- At night, the church had planned a special 4th of July celebration for us gringos - they even bought fireworks - massive, legal-in-the-US-fireworks. And one of them is a wooden box that´s supposed to be a bull. A guy puts it on his head and chases after everybody. You´re supposed to taunt him by running towards him and running away, but the entire time, fireworks are shooting off both sides at you. It was pretty crazy, to say the least. And no, there are no pictures, because I was basically running for my life. Oh yea, and it all took place in the middle of a busy street at night time.
- We have done four one-day bible schools, two eyeglass clinics, and about a million church services.
- I went to Managua Friday night with a bunch of the Nicaraguans to pick up the group that came in from Indiana.
- I moved back to my hotel after only 3 nights at the fancy hotel. Everybody changed hotels. Long story, but it worked out REALLY well.
- I am leaving in two days and as usual, have mixed emotions about it. I have absolutely fallen in love all over again with this place, and am really starting to wonder where God´s taking me. Sure, I´ll be happy to have warm water again, but I really am starting to question the way I´ve been living my life in a lot of ways and how much happier I seem to be when things are simple. Í don´t know why it´s taken me six years..
Updates soon, promise!!!
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Time Flies When You´re Sweating This Much
So, while it has still been raining every day, it´s been more at night and less during the day, which means the days are really, really hot. So I have finally been ¨Nicaragua sweating¨, which is like regular people sweating but to a much higher extreme. It´s all good, though. Who doesn´t like sweaty gringos?
To catch up, Thursday´s day in town was awesome. The only bad part was that it was blazing hot. We set to meet at 11:00, and last time we met they were punctual, so imagine my dismay when the family showed up at 12:00. Hmmm. First we went to Tip Top, which is like a Chic-Fil-A with a play place upstairs. However, the last two times we´ve gone, the whole upstairs with the play place has been reserved for a private party, so that was a bummer. Anyway, we always have the same waiter when we go. It´s a guy who lived in Miami for years, so he speaks English, and he always recognizes us and we speak in English and it´s all very enjoyable. I don´t know what I would do at Tip Top if he weren´t there. It´s as if he is part of the restaurant. The boys and mom chose their food (little Manuel wanted an entire roasted chicken, which of course he didn´t get) and after eating, headed out to the playground in the park. The park is always filled with lots of kids, and this day was no exception. Lots of kids were just getting out of school so it was hopping. The boys went on the swings, the slides, the jungle gym-type thing. It was great. Then we headed to the arcade to play air hockey, shoot some hoops, and for the little guy to ride in the fake police car. After beating Oscar 7 to 6 in air hockey, I was pretty proud of myself, even if he is 8 years younger than I am. After arcade games, we went to the Eskimo ice cream place and had huge ice cream cones. There is a little jungle gym inside the store, so the younger boys played while I saw with mom and Oscar. There was a little boy outside selling gum, and as each boy handed their ice cream to their mom so they could play, she would hand them to the boy outside. He was obviously VERY excited to have TWO ice cream cones in one day.
The routine is so familiar to the boys now, as this was the 5th or 6th time we´ve gone to the park. They look forward to it SO much, and you can see the excitement in their eyes as they´re walking up to Tip Top. They know that whatever they ask for on that day, I´m going to get it for them, and it doesn´t bother me at all, because they so deserve a day like that, even if it´s just once or twice a year. I love being able to do that for them, and their mom obviously loves seeing their smiling faces too. And truth be told, the entire day cost me about $50, which included food for 6, about $5 worth of arcade games, and ice cream for 6. Not bad at all, considering 6 ice cream cones at Bruster´s or Cold Stone would be about $35 in itself.
After I left the family in a taxi to head for home, I headed back to the hotel to rest for a while before church. Church starts at 6:30, so naturally I showed up around 7:10, to find that they had not yet started. The pastor had taken Jim and some other guys down to this neighborhood where they were doing some gang outreach, so everyone just waited for him to get back and set up all the sound equipment. I love how patient people are here. Definitely something I´ve had to learn and am still learning. So once church started, the rain started. And this was some serious rain. Eventually the lights went out and 50 people just sat there in complete darkness for about ten minutes. The night ended early since there was nothing to do, and I just headed back to the hotel for the rest of the night.
Friday morning, after I wrote, I was headed to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients for chili. When I make chili at home, I use turkey meat (because I´m not a big beef fan), three types of beans, cumin, chili powder, etc. You can probably guess that ground turkey is not available here, nor are Great Northern beans. Or chili powder. They don´t use a lot of spice in their food here. So I definitely had to improvise. The chili was still okay, it just didn´t have that kick that I would like it to have, without chili powder and all. The best part about that afternoon was when I asked Liza how Freddy and I were going to get the chili to the school (about a 3 qt. pot), since we normally would take the motorcycle. She asked if I felt comfortable riding on the motorcycle with the pot on my leg. I thought she was kidding. She was not. So yes, I rode on a motorcycle on the bumpy, pothole ridden streets of Chinandega, with a towel and pot holder underneath the pot (since we had JUST taken it off the stove), with a giant pot of chili on top, and held the lid on with one hand holding a towel, and the other side with the bottom of my left rib cage, since I thought it was a good idea to hold on to the motorcyel with at least one hand. It was awesome. I felt like the best gringo ever.
I felt horrible going to Freddy´s English class so gross and sweaty, as cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen with no air or fan will make you hot and sweaty, but there was no time to change. All the kids were dressed in their school uniforms, and their parents were there as well. Here it´s customary for parents to come get the kids´ final grades, which I think is kind of neat. After a couple skits (students practicing conversational English), and a few songs sung by students and one playing the guitar, it was time for me to introduce myself. Freddy had told me that he wanted me to tell the students the recipe for chili in English, so they could write it down. Well, once I went up in front of the room full of 40 people, he then told them that I was going to ¨tell them a little bit about myself, as well as what the 4th of July is like in my country, how we celebrate it, and all about the chili¨. I was surprised, to say the least, and a little flustered, since I had to speak in Spanish about everything except the recipe and I hadn´t exactly prepared. And what exactly DO we do on the 4th of July? I don´t do a whole lot. Last year, if I remember correctly, I walked to the bridge to see the fireworks with two people and then we went to Squid Lips and had some drinks and appetizers. It went well though, because the kids are SO sweet and I think they can appreciate how hard it is for me to stand up in front of a group of people and speak a second language, since that is basically what they were doing too.
After that, we passed out little bowls of the chili for everyone to try. I think mostly people were impressed with how easy it was to make. ¨Cook the meat and then put everything into the pot¨ is a lot easier than most of the things they cook here. Then Freddy called each student´s name and their mom-dad-grandma-grandpa-older sister, or some family member, went up to the front to get their final exam and final report card. Freddy also called out each student´s grade, which made me laugh, since we´d probably get sued for doing that. The student with the highest grade then gave a little speech to thank their families and Freddy for everything they do. It was really sweet to see such devoted students. Freddy´s ¨normal¨job is at a private school, where the students are mostly spoiled rich kids who don´t appreciate much, so Liza has told me how much better these students are for him to work with, and also for her to be around at school events.
Back at the hotel later on, it started raining, and it was the biggest storm there has been since I´ve been here. It is fascinating to sit outside and watch the lightning in the distance, but it was raining so much that they shut the hotel doors and I even shut my room door because the rain was so crazy. By this time, it was just the hotel worker, the one I´m not friends with, and me in the hotel. The TV in my room was busted, and there wasn´t enough light to read, and this guy, Carlos, does NOT make conversation with me, or really with anybody, so I was BORED out of my mind. I thought many times, once the rain stopped, about going out to Liza´s house just to see if she was there and wanted to get something to eat, since I really didn´t want to go out at night by myself, but I thought she might not be there and the whole trip might be a bust, etc. So imagine how happy I was when I heard her voice in the distance. I slammed open my door and there she was, asking Carlos if I was there. I was SO happy to see her, and even more so when she told me she came to see if I wanted to go get something to eat. She read my mind!!! So we walked down to this place that sells the best darn taquitos in this hemisphere. SO good. It´s so nice to spend time alone with Liza where we can just talk and be like ¨regular¨ friends. We have no shortage of things to talk about, and she is one of the few people here that I feel this closeness with.
By the time we got back, my hotel worker friend, Moises, was back, so she left me to visit with him for the rest of the night. About a half hour later, the power went out for about 10 blocks, including the hotel. So we sat in pitch blackness for about a half hour, just talking. It was strange, to say the least. At 12:00 we watched the show we´d become obsessed with the last few nights, I Love Money (which is horrible, really), and then I went to bed. It was my last night in the hotel and it was very bittersweet. I absolutely LOVE that hotel, both for its location and for the people that work there. I hate to leave, but the other group came in Friday night and it was time to go. So, in the morning, I packed my things and moved to Villas del Cortijo, the Ritz Carlton of Nicaraguan hotels.
and the rest will have to wait. It´s about to start pouring, and I am going to run back to my old hotel to sit in the lobby to wait out the storm. At 2:00 I´m due back at the church to start cooking the chili! We´ll see how this goes. We are supposed to be making enough for 100 people... Stay tuned. Hopefully pictures next time. I forgot the cord for the camera.
And oh yea, Happy 4th of July!
To catch up, Thursday´s day in town was awesome. The only bad part was that it was blazing hot. We set to meet at 11:00, and last time we met they were punctual, so imagine my dismay when the family showed up at 12:00. Hmmm. First we went to Tip Top, which is like a Chic-Fil-A with a play place upstairs. However, the last two times we´ve gone, the whole upstairs with the play place has been reserved for a private party, so that was a bummer. Anyway, we always have the same waiter when we go. It´s a guy who lived in Miami for years, so he speaks English, and he always recognizes us and we speak in English and it´s all very enjoyable. I don´t know what I would do at Tip Top if he weren´t there. It´s as if he is part of the restaurant. The boys and mom chose their food (little Manuel wanted an entire roasted chicken, which of course he didn´t get) and after eating, headed out to the playground in the park. The park is always filled with lots of kids, and this day was no exception. Lots of kids were just getting out of school so it was hopping. The boys went on the swings, the slides, the jungle gym-type thing. It was great. Then we headed to the arcade to play air hockey, shoot some hoops, and for the little guy to ride in the fake police car. After beating Oscar 7 to 6 in air hockey, I was pretty proud of myself, even if he is 8 years younger than I am. After arcade games, we went to the Eskimo ice cream place and had huge ice cream cones. There is a little jungle gym inside the store, so the younger boys played while I saw with mom and Oscar. There was a little boy outside selling gum, and as each boy handed their ice cream to their mom so they could play, she would hand them to the boy outside. He was obviously VERY excited to have TWO ice cream cones in one day.
The routine is so familiar to the boys now, as this was the 5th or 6th time we´ve gone to the park. They look forward to it SO much, and you can see the excitement in their eyes as they´re walking up to Tip Top. They know that whatever they ask for on that day, I´m going to get it for them, and it doesn´t bother me at all, because they so deserve a day like that, even if it´s just once or twice a year. I love being able to do that for them, and their mom obviously loves seeing their smiling faces too. And truth be told, the entire day cost me about $50, which included food for 6, about $5 worth of arcade games, and ice cream for 6. Not bad at all, considering 6 ice cream cones at Bruster´s or Cold Stone would be about $35 in itself.
After I left the family in a taxi to head for home, I headed back to the hotel to rest for a while before church. Church starts at 6:30, so naturally I showed up around 7:10, to find that they had not yet started. The pastor had taken Jim and some other guys down to this neighborhood where they were doing some gang outreach, so everyone just waited for him to get back and set up all the sound equipment. I love how patient people are here. Definitely something I´ve had to learn and am still learning. So once church started, the rain started. And this was some serious rain. Eventually the lights went out and 50 people just sat there in complete darkness for about ten minutes. The night ended early since there was nothing to do, and I just headed back to the hotel for the rest of the night.
Friday morning, after I wrote, I was headed to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients for chili. When I make chili at home, I use turkey meat (because I´m not a big beef fan), three types of beans, cumin, chili powder, etc. You can probably guess that ground turkey is not available here, nor are Great Northern beans. Or chili powder. They don´t use a lot of spice in their food here. So I definitely had to improvise. The chili was still okay, it just didn´t have that kick that I would like it to have, without chili powder and all. The best part about that afternoon was when I asked Liza how Freddy and I were going to get the chili to the school (about a 3 qt. pot), since we normally would take the motorcycle. She asked if I felt comfortable riding on the motorcycle with the pot on my leg. I thought she was kidding. She was not. So yes, I rode on a motorcycle on the bumpy, pothole ridden streets of Chinandega, with a towel and pot holder underneath the pot (since we had JUST taken it off the stove), with a giant pot of chili on top, and held the lid on with one hand holding a towel, and the other side with the bottom of my left rib cage, since I thought it was a good idea to hold on to the motorcyel with at least one hand. It was awesome. I felt like the best gringo ever.
I felt horrible going to Freddy´s English class so gross and sweaty, as cooking a hot meal in a hot kitchen with no air or fan will make you hot and sweaty, but there was no time to change. All the kids were dressed in their school uniforms, and their parents were there as well. Here it´s customary for parents to come get the kids´ final grades, which I think is kind of neat. After a couple skits (students practicing conversational English), and a few songs sung by students and one playing the guitar, it was time for me to introduce myself. Freddy had told me that he wanted me to tell the students the recipe for chili in English, so they could write it down. Well, once I went up in front of the room full of 40 people, he then told them that I was going to ¨tell them a little bit about myself, as well as what the 4th of July is like in my country, how we celebrate it, and all about the chili¨. I was surprised, to say the least, and a little flustered, since I had to speak in Spanish about everything except the recipe and I hadn´t exactly prepared. And what exactly DO we do on the 4th of July? I don´t do a whole lot. Last year, if I remember correctly, I walked to the bridge to see the fireworks with two people and then we went to Squid Lips and had some drinks and appetizers. It went well though, because the kids are SO sweet and I think they can appreciate how hard it is for me to stand up in front of a group of people and speak a second language, since that is basically what they were doing too.
After that, we passed out little bowls of the chili for everyone to try. I think mostly people were impressed with how easy it was to make. ¨Cook the meat and then put everything into the pot¨ is a lot easier than most of the things they cook here. Then Freddy called each student´s name and their mom-dad-grandma-grandpa-older sister, or some family member, went up to the front to get their final exam and final report card. Freddy also called out each student´s grade, which made me laugh, since we´d probably get sued for doing that. The student with the highest grade then gave a little speech to thank their families and Freddy for everything they do. It was really sweet to see such devoted students. Freddy´s ¨normal¨job is at a private school, where the students are mostly spoiled rich kids who don´t appreciate much, so Liza has told me how much better these students are for him to work with, and also for her to be around at school events.
Back at the hotel later on, it started raining, and it was the biggest storm there has been since I´ve been here. It is fascinating to sit outside and watch the lightning in the distance, but it was raining so much that they shut the hotel doors and I even shut my room door because the rain was so crazy. By this time, it was just the hotel worker, the one I´m not friends with, and me in the hotel. The TV in my room was busted, and there wasn´t enough light to read, and this guy, Carlos, does NOT make conversation with me, or really with anybody, so I was BORED out of my mind. I thought many times, once the rain stopped, about going out to Liza´s house just to see if she was there and wanted to get something to eat, since I really didn´t want to go out at night by myself, but I thought she might not be there and the whole trip might be a bust, etc. So imagine how happy I was when I heard her voice in the distance. I slammed open my door and there she was, asking Carlos if I was there. I was SO happy to see her, and even more so when she told me she came to see if I wanted to go get something to eat. She read my mind!!! So we walked down to this place that sells the best darn taquitos in this hemisphere. SO good. It´s so nice to spend time alone with Liza where we can just talk and be like ¨regular¨ friends. We have no shortage of things to talk about, and she is one of the few people here that I feel this closeness with.
By the time we got back, my hotel worker friend, Moises, was back, so she left me to visit with him for the rest of the night. About a half hour later, the power went out for about 10 blocks, including the hotel. So we sat in pitch blackness for about a half hour, just talking. It was strange, to say the least. At 12:00 we watched the show we´d become obsessed with the last few nights, I Love Money (which is horrible, really), and then I went to bed. It was my last night in the hotel and it was very bittersweet. I absolutely LOVE that hotel, both for its location and for the people that work there. I hate to leave, but the other group came in Friday night and it was time to go. So, in the morning, I packed my things and moved to Villas del Cortijo, the Ritz Carlton of Nicaraguan hotels.
and the rest will have to wait. It´s about to start pouring, and I am going to run back to my old hotel to sit in the lobby to wait out the storm. At 2:00 I´m due back at the church to start cooking the chili! We´ll see how this goes. We are supposed to be making enough for 100 people... Stay tuned. Hopefully pictures next time. I forgot the cord for the camera.
And oh yea, Happy 4th of July!
Friday, July 2, 2010
American Cooking for Nicaraguans 101
I feel like a lot has happened since I last wrote (well, since I really wrote last), but now it´s all fuzzy and hard to remember, and I guess this is why I said I was going to write every other day, so this wouldn´t happen.
Anywho, when I last left you it was Tuesday morning, and there was no water (just in the shower) at the hotel. Each day since, there has also been no water in the shower. Which stinks. I guess they are still working on fixing some filter or whatnot. The sink water runs very weakly though, so it´s enough. By the time I get back in the afternoon from whatever I´ve been doing, the water is usually back on. So no worries about my lack of showering.
Tuesday afternoon I went back to the supermarket to take a real good look at what all I could find there, so that I would know what I might be able to make on Wed. night. I ran a few other errands and when i got back to the hotel, Freddy called and invited me to come to his English class. He teaches English at a private school in town; he also teaches English at a local academy, he also does a lot of tutoring outside of school, AND he now teaches another class. It was set up through the US Embassy here. The students had to apply for the class, and must be low-income, high-performing students, ages 14-16, at the beginning English level. Freddy was helping a few students with their applications and decided to apply, and he got the job. I was happy to go, as I´ve gone to his classes before and they are lots of fun, because the kids love practicing English with a ¨real¨ English speaker - not that Freddy is not one, but since he is the teacher, they´re too used to him. Also, I was sort of excited to speak English for a while.... It´s so NICE not to have to think so much when you talk!
Freddy came and picked me up on his motorcycle (ride number 2). The class is held at a local school run by an orphanage in a beautiful, tropical location sort of hidden from the main road. I waited outside while Freddy reviewed with the kids and told them that I was there. He told them that I didn´t speak Spanish, so they had to speak to me in English. I could hear them all saying they were nervous and scared, and it was pretty funny, because as far as scary goes, I think I´m not.Then I went in and as a review for their tests the following two days, they practiced asking me questions about myself and my life. They thought of some really good questions, and their English was REALLY good, for the most part. I already mentioned how Twilight came up. They also love to ask about if you´re married, how many kids you have, what your hobbies are, what your favorite movie is, etc. They also had some original humdingers!
The kids started asking if I was going to come back on Friday, when they receive their final grades. Freddy and I talked and decided that I would make chili and bring it (because of the upcoming 4th of July) as a sort of celebration. (I digress, but I have to insert here that the Nicaraguans that have been to the States are fascinated by chili. Tina cooked it for them when they were visiting, and they just loved it. So they all now consider that a ¨typical¨ U.S. meal, which I guess in a way, it is).
After getting dropped back off at the hotel (ride number 3), I showered and got ready for church. The longer I´m here, the more Nicaraguan I feel, and that shows in how late I start arriving at things. There was a time when I would show up at church at 6:30 no matter what, because that is what time it ¨starts¨, and my anal gringa head tells me I must.be.punctual. But this day I didn´t go until about five minutes before 7:00. There I saw Jim, who I met a few years ago here wiith the group from Georgia. He is sort of like me, as he just comes when he can with whatever money he can. Unlike me though, he is leading the building of a church in an area called La Graxa, which is heavily gang-infested. He is pretty tough, as he was in Vietnam and also has lived in villages with cannbials. He has lots of interesting stories, to say the least. After church, the pastor and his family treated Jim, me, Freddy and Liza to dinner. We went to a Mexican place that has delicious tacos. It is on the corner of a road and a highway, and it sits up high, about two flights of stairs, which gives it a really neat view. The tacos were great, although a little too onion-heavy for my taste.
The next morning, FINALLY, I headed to Villa Catalina to see my people. I hopped in a taxi and was there by 10:00. Of course, the rain finally stopped and this was a bona-fide hot Nicaraguan day. I stopped first at Zayda´s house. If you recall, Zayda was the first Nicaraguan friend I met, and she is my age. When I met her, her oldest daughter Eli was a little under 2 years old, and she was pregnant with another. Now, Jeni is almost 5, and she now has a three-month-old boy, Andy. When Jessica and I were in late March, we saw and held Andy when he was just 9 days old. He was so tiny. That is certainly not the case now. He has the
rolliest polliest legs and arms, and he is just adorable. And no, I know what you´re thinking, he wasn´t looking for nutrition from me. He´s just really squirmy.
Upon leaving Zayda´s house, I walked down about 10 houses to Emilio´s house. I knew the family wasn´t there, because during the week when school is in, they stay in town in Chinandega, at a house that their dad is watching, along with some cows, for some dude. But I knew Oscar was there because I had seen him walking home from school. Oscar is 16 and he stays to watch the house and go to school in the Villa. I went and talked with him for a while, and then he took me into town to go to the house where the family was, which is actually only a few miles from my hotel and from the church. The two little boys were a little sick, so they were sort of mopey, but still glad to see me. The land they´re staying on is beautiful, and they´re not the most social family, so I think they really like being away from the millions of people in the Villa. It was decided that the next day we´d do our ¨day in town¨ like we always do, and I left.
I went back to the hotel to get ready for cooking dinner that night. I decided to make chicken piccata, which I´ve made once before, mashed potatoes, which I´ve actually never made but of course know how to make, and corn, which of course I´ve made tons of times, as it comes from a can! I was even able to buy the same exact brand that I buy at home. I made my list and went to the supermarket to buy all the cold ingredients I didn´t buy the day before. Chicken piccata has lemons, but they only have limes here, so I used those. From the store, I went to Liza´s house and started cooking. Everything turned out well, and they really love butter, so we loaded up those mashed potatoes good. Liza said she liked how in the States we serve all the food in the middle of the table and eat from there, whereas here they just leave it on the cooktop and serve the plates. I explained to her that I eat my dinner on a plate on top of a pillow on my lap sitting on the couch watching TV, so there are all types. Although when I lived with my parents, we did eat a little more formally...
After cleaning up, we went to the church. There was a group of American kids on a mission trip to Managua, who came to Chinandega just for the night to have some fellowship with the church here. I didn´t realize until that night that it was Americans coming. I thought it was Nicaraguans from Managua. So I felt bad that we came just about when all the fun was ending. But it was still nice to get to meet them and again, speak English. The group was going to spend one night at a local hotel here, but didn´t know how to get there, so Freddy was going to lead them on his motorcycle, and then take me home afterwards. The group was hungry though, so we stopped at On The Run for them to load up on some essentials, and I got a cup of coffee. To go. On a motorcycle. I watched as all the gringo teenagers looked at me like I was absolutely nuts as I climbed up onto that motorcycle with a cup of coffee in my left hand. And I rode that way all the way back to my hotel. One-handed. With coffee. I thought it was awesome.
Thursday´s ´day in town´ will have to wait for another post. I´m in desperate need of a shower and am hoping the water is back on by now. I need to go buy all the stuff to make chili and then head over to Liza´s to cook it, and then to bring it to the school.
I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July weekend!!!
Anywho, when I last left you it was Tuesday morning, and there was no water (just in the shower) at the hotel. Each day since, there has also been no water in the shower. Which stinks. I guess they are still working on fixing some filter or whatnot. The sink water runs very weakly though, so it´s enough. By the time I get back in the afternoon from whatever I´ve been doing, the water is usually back on. So no worries about my lack of showering.
Tuesday afternoon I went back to the supermarket to take a real good look at what all I could find there, so that I would know what I might be able to make on Wed. night. I ran a few other errands and when i got back to the hotel, Freddy called and invited me to come to his English class. He teaches English at a private school in town; he also teaches English at a local academy, he also does a lot of tutoring outside of school, AND he now teaches another class. It was set up through the US Embassy here. The students had to apply for the class, and must be low-income, high-performing students, ages 14-16, at the beginning English level. Freddy was helping a few students with their applications and decided to apply, and he got the job. I was happy to go, as I´ve gone to his classes before and they are lots of fun, because the kids love practicing English with a ¨real¨ English speaker - not that Freddy is not one, but since he is the teacher, they´re too used to him. Also, I was sort of excited to speak English for a while.... It´s so NICE not to have to think so much when you talk!
Freddy came and picked me up on his motorcycle (ride number 2). The class is held at a local school run by an orphanage in a beautiful, tropical location sort of hidden from the main road. I waited outside while Freddy reviewed with the kids and told them that I was there. He told them that I didn´t speak Spanish, so they had to speak to me in English. I could hear them all saying they were nervous and scared, and it was pretty funny, because as far as scary goes, I think I´m not.Then I went in and as a review for their tests the following two days, they practiced asking me questions about myself and my life. They thought of some really good questions, and their English was REALLY good, for the most part. I already mentioned how Twilight came up. They also love to ask about if you´re married, how many kids you have, what your hobbies are, what your favorite movie is, etc. They also had some original humdingers!
The kids started asking if I was going to come back on Friday, when they receive their final grades. Freddy and I talked and decided that I would make chili and bring it (because of the upcoming 4th of July) as a sort of celebration. (I digress, but I have to insert here that the Nicaraguans that have been to the States are fascinated by chili. Tina cooked it for them when they were visiting, and they just loved it. So they all now consider that a ¨typical¨ U.S. meal, which I guess in a way, it is).
After getting dropped back off at the hotel (ride number 3), I showered and got ready for church. The longer I´m here, the more Nicaraguan I feel, and that shows in how late I start arriving at things. There was a time when I would show up at church at 6:30 no matter what, because that is what time it ¨starts¨, and my anal gringa head tells me I must.be.punctual. But this day I didn´t go until about five minutes before 7:00. There I saw Jim, who I met a few years ago here wiith the group from Georgia. He is sort of like me, as he just comes when he can with whatever money he can. Unlike me though, he is leading the building of a church in an area called La Graxa, which is heavily gang-infested. He is pretty tough, as he was in Vietnam and also has lived in villages with cannbials. He has lots of interesting stories, to say the least. After church, the pastor and his family treated Jim, me, Freddy and Liza to dinner. We went to a Mexican place that has delicious tacos. It is on the corner of a road and a highway, and it sits up high, about two flights of stairs, which gives it a really neat view. The tacos were great, although a little too onion-heavy for my taste.
The next morning, FINALLY, I headed to Villa Catalina to see my people. I hopped in a taxi and was there by 10:00. Of course, the rain finally stopped and this was a bona-fide hot Nicaraguan day. I stopped first at Zayda´s house. If you recall, Zayda was the first Nicaraguan friend I met, and she is my age. When I met her, her oldest daughter Eli was a little under 2 years old, and she was pregnant with another. Now, Jeni is almost 5, and she now has a three-month-old boy, Andy. When Jessica and I were in late March, we saw and held Andy when he was just 9 days old. He was so tiny. That is certainly not the case now. He has the
rolliest polliest legs and arms, and he is just adorable. And no, I know what you´re thinking, he wasn´t looking for nutrition from me. He´s just really squirmy. Upon leaving Zayda´s house, I walked down about 10 houses to Emilio´s house. I knew the family wasn´t there, because during the week when school is in, they stay in town in Chinandega, at a house that their dad is watching, along with some cows, for some dude. But I knew Oscar was there because I had seen him walking home from school. Oscar is 16 and he stays to watch the house and go to school in the Villa. I went and talked with him for a while, and then he took me into town to go to the house where the family was, which is actually only a few miles from my hotel and from the church. The two little boys were a little sick, so they were sort of mopey, but still glad to see me. The land they´re staying on is beautiful, and they´re not the most social family, so I think they really like being away from the millions of people in the Villa. It was decided that the next day we´d do our ¨day in town¨ like we always do, and I left.
I went back to the hotel to get ready for cooking dinner that night. I decided to make chicken piccata, which I´ve made once before, mashed potatoes, which I´ve actually never made but of course know how to make, and corn, which of course I´ve made tons of times, as it comes from a can! I was even able to buy the same exact brand that I buy at home. I made my list and went to the supermarket to buy all the cold ingredients I didn´t buy the day before. Chicken piccata has lemons, but they only have limes here, so I used those. From the store, I went to Liza´s house and started cooking. Everything turned out well, and they really love butter, so we loaded up those mashed potatoes good. Liza said she liked how in the States we serve all the food in the middle of the table and eat from there, whereas here they just leave it on the cooktop and serve the plates. I explained to her that I eat my dinner on a plate on top of a pillow on my lap sitting on the couch watching TV, so there are all types. Although when I lived with my parents, we did eat a little more formally...
After cleaning up, we went to the church. There was a group of American kids on a mission trip to Managua, who came to Chinandega just for the night to have some fellowship with the church here. I didn´t realize until that night that it was Americans coming. I thought it was Nicaraguans from Managua. So I felt bad that we came just about when all the fun was ending. But it was still nice to get to meet them and again, speak English. The group was going to spend one night at a local hotel here, but didn´t know how to get there, so Freddy was going to lead them on his motorcycle, and then take me home afterwards. The group was hungry though, so we stopped at On The Run for them to load up on some essentials, and I got a cup of coffee. To go. On a motorcycle. I watched as all the gringo teenagers looked at me like I was absolutely nuts as I climbed up onto that motorcycle with a cup of coffee in my left hand. And I rode that way all the way back to my hotel. One-handed. With coffee. I thought it was awesome.
Thursday´s ´day in town´ will have to wait for another post. I´m in desperate need of a shower and am hoping the water is back on by now. I need to go buy all the stuff to make chili and then head over to Liza´s to cook it, and then to bring it to the school.
I hope you all have a fabulous 4th of July weekend!!!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
One Week Down
This is really sort of a fake post. I vowed to write every other day, and I just don´t have the energy to put into a lengthy writing today. I do have stories and fun pictures to share, but I have about an hour before I need to leave, and I really don´t feel like spending it trying to recall what I´ve been doing for the past two days. I WILL write tomorrow. So until then, I leave you with the fact that all Nicaraguan teenagers love Twilight. And I love talking about Twilight with them. I visited Freddy´s English class on Tuesday afternoon and they were practicing conversational skills by asking me questions about my life. One girl asked if I liked Twilight, and I went on and on about how much I like it and I loved the books. So then one girl asked if I liked Edward or Jacob better, which then spiraled into a class discussion about who´s better and why. I love it. Team Edward.
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