Blogs from Capital Region, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 24

OK, it´s been now a month, I´m more than half way finished with my mission. I´m taking stock on what has happened --the big picture. What have I learned and what will I do for the remaining 2 weeks? There´s been the good and the bad and the ups and downs. I had (have) dreams of what I wanted to accomplish and I´m happy to report that those dreams are happening as I had envisioned, and at different degrees! My relationship with the families is better than ever. My spanish is coming along! I didn´t know what to expect in the¨"lows". I tried to visualize them to prepare myself and I really couldn´t. I now have experienced them and fortunately they haven´t been for long intervals of time. When I´m in those moments I remind myself ... read more

On Monday Gabriel and I picked up the remaining 2 children needing shoes and 6 youth-young adults jumped into the back of the truck, and away we went back to Pay Less shoes in Masaya. The actual choosing and buying of the shoes was easier than before since most of the kids could pick them out themselves. We just had to give them some guidelines on cost! What was more difficult was deciding where to draw the line. Now all the children have shoes for school. This is the dusty season in Nica. It´s impossible to stay clean as it´s windy and dusty. Jacqueline mops her flow about 3 times a day to get rid of the dust and dirt that comes in the casita. Everyone keeps their appliances, pots and pans and anything else out ... read more

Wendy "What day is it?" Debbie "I think it´s Wednesday." Wendy "It feels like Friday." Debbie "It can´t be Friday because I´m sure yesterday was Tuesday." Wendy "Yesterday couldn´t have been Tuesday. I´m sure we´re closer to the weekend than that." Debbie "We can´t be that close to the weekend because we still have two more nights here and that left two nights before I was leaving back to Managua." "What day is it?" we ask in unison, to the group in the room. "It´s Thursday." they answer. "I´m glad it´s not Friday," I said. "So am I." said Wendy. An actual conversation I had yesterday with my new friend Wendy from Wales, yet a classic example of how one loses track of time in a place such as Laguna de Apoyo. This place is spectacular. ... read more

This morning, Summer and I left Esteli and headed back to Managua, to spend our last weekend in Nicaragua. It´s still incredible that these weeks have been so full of travel, people, emotions, and activities--but yet, time still flew by so fast, i have a bit of mental whiplash. Today I had to make sure it was really Friday by asking Summah, and even she hesitated for a second. So, to back up and share things from the last few days: Summer, Josh, and I stayed in Esteli the past few days. Josh joined us last minute, and took classes at the same Spanish school as me. Summer took off and spent the night at Miraflor on Tues-Weds, and then came back to Esteli on Weds. On Weds, my spanish class took a field trip to ... read more

Today was our last day here in Nicaragua :( For our last day we did work, and I thought it was good that we ended with a work day. The whole time I was thinking that I wish we still had a couple more days and I was definitely not ready to end this experience. In the morning I asked Dr. Stecksholtie if I could shadow him at the clinic, so I was pretty much just a fly on the wall as he examined patients. Jessica was in the room too, helping him translate. I am so glad I had the chance to do this because out of all the things we did down in Nicaragua, what was most impressive to me was the interaction with the people. It was interesting to see what types of ... read more