ChelsDill

My goodbye party at Chacocente was yesterday. It was amazing...and sad. Way too sad. At this point I pretty much feel like my heart has been ripped out and thrown on the floor. Extreme, I know, but thats how I am. The school gave me a diploma! haha And then Manuela and Karen cooked food and made punch. We all met under the one big tree and had a small culto and the kids sang to me and then every family got up and said some words. Thanking me and things like that. I was doing well, not crying, even when my Chacocente mom, Manuela, was speaking. And then when Veronica got up to speak, she couldn't even finish because she was crying so much so she just gave up and came and hugged me. At ... read more

Bus strikes suck. They really do. Last Monday a bunch of the taxi and bus drivers went on strike protesting the price of gas. I can get anywhere within Managua without problem but to try to get to Chacocente. hah. Won't work. I can get the bus as far as Tipitapa where I would then normally pick up a bus to Masaya but they aren't running. The other teachers have been going in trucks that are running from Tipitapa to Masaya every day. They're like..pirated trucks haha. But theyre more dangerous, especially for me, a little white girl, so I havent gone to the project at all in the last week. Its been nice to hang out around the house, I'm not gonna lie, but I MISS THE PROJECT! I only have one week left in ... read more

Tomorrow is only 3 weeks until I come home, and no offense to anyone but I have no desire to leave. This country and it's people have officially stolen my heart. I think the animals here need to be fed better. Also the churches need to open up a bit more. A lot are still very strict and critical. Chacocente is wonderful no matter how many problems it has. Although I am relieved to not have to teach classes after the end of this week, I don't want to leave the kids. I need to learn to cook more Nicaraguan food. I think I have adopted about 4 mothers in this country. One of my moms has 10 kids. Well, plus me, 11. I am going to study to be a missionary, because I want to ... read more

So after getting an e-mail just now from my father telling me very bluntly that I need to update, and since I'm finallyyyyy in a cyber and have time, here goes a hopefully nice, long entry for you all. I apologize for the delay but I rarely have time to go to a cyber anymore and when I am on the computer in the house I don't like to be on for very long because the whole family uses it! Where did I leave off on the last one? Hmmm...Ah! The arrival of Ted Anderson and Bille and MOPers! So that was back in February. Lo siento!!! (Sorry!) So Isaac and Pablo and Susan and I were all so excited about them arriving, (four of my MOPers came with Ted so it was a big deal ... read more

Whoops. Still doing horribly at updating this thing. Sorry! I've actually barely been home the last two weeks so I never really had the chance to keep you all updated on my oh-so-exciting life. hah. It'll be a very random entry. Some of it will be things actually going on in my life, whereas others will most likely just be random thoughts about the culture or things here. You are all probably used to my randomness by now. I know I wrote a very long time ago about a friend of mine that was saying he is depressed and wants to kill himself, and I'm still worried about him. He has his really good days where he is laughing with me and joking with me and then he has days where he is just miserable and ... read more

I just held a chicken in a plastic bag for a while. It is now tied by its leg to the pole on our patio. I love this country. And I promise sometime soon I will try to make a real entry. I don't have much time lately at all. ... read more

This is going to be a short one. I'll get the long one up on Sunday most likely. But I just feel the need to put this up to give you a very simple, but very helpful view of life in Nicaragua. I have been up since 630 am. I have already run around playing with my 2 year old cousin. Taken him to a pulperia (small store) to get a snack. Gone to the store twice for my "mom." Eaten breakfast. Washed all my clothes, and not in the washing machine. In the washing thing where there are ridges and you physically scrub your clothes yourself. Its not easy but Im building muscle, I think. And I also swept the patio. Ive also managed to get on here and check my emails and reply to ... read more

So it is now summer here and the weather is...interesting. It is hotter during the day than it was before, because it isnt raining at all. But there is this gorgeoussss breeze that is almost always there, so if you're outside, you don't feel the heat quite so badly. Buttttt, because its not raining there is more dust than I think I have ever seen in my life, and those nice cooling breezes love throwing all that dust into your eyes, hair, and well, everywhere. I thought the mud was bad during the rainy season, but the dust is most definitely worse haha. But oh well. Not a problem! Nothing that interesting has really been happening lately. Ive been doing the usual spending two nights in Chacocente, working with the people and all that kind of ... read more

I am back in Nicaragua and loving it!!! :-) When I got to the airport I practically ran once I got through customs and got my luggage. And a bunch of people were there waiting for me :-) Pablo, Janeth, Isaac and Belen. (My family) And then Hermana Cony. And Joel, Norvin, Guillen, Sharon and karla. Ah I was so excited!!! haha. We went right from the airport to a persons house because we were having dinner there so I got to start catching up with everyone and it really felt like I had barely been gone the way we all just settled back into our normal ways of acting and hanging out. After that we went back home and I gave everyone that was there their presents and happily went to my room and put ... read more

So I am very sorry that I haven't updated this in forever. The last few weeks that I was in Nicaragua, nothing exciting was really happening so I didn't really know what to write about. Mostly I was just going back and forth between spending two or three days at Chacocente and hanging around Sabana Grande with all my friends. School ended on the 22 or so of November so I wasn't obligated to go to Chacocente. But, since I love it there, I still went anyway. I have now slept in every house in Chacocente and have generally really enjoyed myself. Well, except for when one of my first grade students stole some of my money, but oh well. He comes fromm the most troubled family in the project and although that doesn't excuse his ... read more