Dale pue

This past week, October 18, 19, and 20 I interned at Food for the Hungry again in the middle of the week and I got to go out into a few other communities again and help the social workers with whatever tasks they had to do in the specific communities we visited. At one community we went to the school as the kids were getting done with class and got to help kids write their potential sponsors letters telling a little about themselves. That was interesting as a few of the kids weren’t old enough to know how to write very well so I had to basically tell them every single letter to write! Ha, I also got to talk to a bunch of kids that day and one in particular that was very interested in using the English he knew talked to me. He wanted to learn more so I taught him some words and phrases and he was very happy to learn. One sad thing that happened in one of the communities was a 3-month-old baby had died only a few days earlier. We heard from another family as we were walking around that day and so went to visit that family. Rosaline, the social worker I was with at the time knew the family a little so she got to comfort them. It was interesting though that when we got there the casket with the baby in it was right out in the open and people were coming to say their sympathies and view the baby. It was a sad thing but a very communal time for the people to be there for the family in this hard time. Also, on Wednesday I was working with Nancy and Meybelline and as we were riding in the taxi to the community we compared our skin colors and I am tanner than both of them. They are both Nicaraguan and have dark colored hair, but pretty light colored skin. It was just interesting that I as a North American had darker skin than the two Nicaraguans whom are normally pretty moreno, dark skinned. We all found it pretty funny!

Our weekend was pretty chill as we watched a few movies on Friday night then on Saturday for lunch we got to cook with our professor, Zhenia. We went to the store and picked out some food, Zhenia mostly picking out the ingredients and cooking it, with us helping with a few things and watching how it was done. It was a delicious meal and we got to hang out with her for awhile at her house which was super fun as she’s a crazy fun Nicaraguan about 24 years old!

Sunday my family didn’t go to church, but Alejandra, mi mama and I went to a baby shower for one of my host cousins in the afternoon. It was a very fun time, with lots of food, games and laughter. The word for baby shower is the same as in English so that was a fun fact! It was a lot similar to a North American baby shower in the feel of the party but men and kids attended this shower instead of just women.

Another random observation: When you are trying to get someone to be quiet there is a specific sound that you make such as shhhhhhh. Well the type of “shh” we do in the United States is different than in Nicaragua. Here it’s more like a “ssss”. Our sound is like the ‘s’ at the beginning of the word shower, and the Nicaraguan way of saying it is like the beginning of the word sister. It has no different meaning, just a small difference that I thought was interesting to note because it definitely threw me off for a little bit the first time I heard it.

I was reminded of something really cool as I attended a bible study group this Saturday night with mi mama, Alejandra, Christian and only one other person. It was a really simple time where we sang, prayed and talked about a few bible verses. I first thought it was kind of weird as there were only 5 of us there and 4 live in this house, but then I thought about how cool it actually was that we could worship God in what first seemed like such an insignificant way to me, but was actually exactly right. We worshiped God just as we were for His sake not our own, not worrying about external appearances. My family here, and other Nicaraguan Evangelical Christians have impressed me in their strong outward faith. I have seen this present in the politics here, or rather in the abstaining from getting too involved in politics. As the election is the 2^nd week of November, a lot of people are not for one candidate or party because they don’t see any of the leaders being a strong President for this country. It was frustrating at first to hear people explain they didn’t care who won, “Dios es mi Presidente” (God is my President) they would say. It was kind of a depressing thing and at first it was hard to see a lot of people really pessimistic about the future of their country and really not having hope in any of the Presidential candidates. I then saw that this only made their faith in God stronger as they did not trust their country leaders, they knew they could always trust their heavenly King. They praised Him louder as they were unsure, and I was impressed. I think this is a very important thing to learn from these Nicaraguans. North Americans take politics too seriously sometimes, and as it is a very important thing to be a part of, maybe in some ways we could learn from Nicaraguans. To an extent we should have a say in worldly leaders and should care about how our nation is working in regards to politics, but in most ways we should learn to give up the areas that we can’t control to God. He is our ultimate leader, and sometimes I think we forget that, me included. I thought this was a great reminder to me and something very important to constantly remember.


Some pictures..
Alejandra and I played in the rain one day...

 making food with Zhenia, or rather watching her make it, ha...

 so ready for the dessert...

 me making tiste, a very typical Nicaraguan drink...I had to crush the sticks of tiste with my hands to make it into the drink and then we added a whole bunch of sugar, haha...

Cara.

being Jincho is the life..

It is October, normally fall in the United States, but I was just in the Caribbean for 5 days…it was an experience and I can’t believe we are back already! It has been nice to be back with my host family because we had been away for awhile. They seemed to be worried about me a bit because it rained in Leon the 5 days we were gone and us students went by ourselves and that always worries our families here a bit. Ha, so needless to say they were excited to see me in one piece when we got home on Thursday night.

Being jincho in Big Corn Island is what we did best…this is the Nica way of saying being chill, Maynor taught it to us. We got there early on Sunday morning after leaving Leon around 4 am and then getting to the Managua airport around 7. We didn’t wait long after we got to Managua to board the plane and it kinda made sense when we stepped onto a 14 person plane! It was definitely a different experience, very packed in there and no flight attendants. Ha. We had a great view, the clouds were beautiful and it was crazy when we flew over the ocean, it was something I had never done before. About an hour plane ride and we were landing onto the island! We stepped right off the plane onto the ground, something you only see in movies, and a taxi from our resort was there to pick us up. It took less than 5 minutes to get to La Paraiso (Paradise) our resort for the week. We got checked in and then just explored the place which was right on the beach…how awesome! The water right away looked very clear and so different than I’d seen it before. It was a little rainy right when we got there so we just hung out that morning/afternoon and eventually decided to swim in the rain because we were so excited we were actually there! We then decided to explore the island a little more—its 12 km around which is about 8 miles, so not big at all. We rented a golf cart and had a map and went around the whole thing. A few observations we made about the island was that it was a very chill place with not too much going on, the people were a lot darker skinned than people on the pacific side of Nicaragua (which meant we stuck out even more with our white skin!), there weren’t many other tourists because it is the hurricane season right now, and the ocean water was so clear all around the island! Our golf cart decided to be a little difficult and stopped on us twice but that just made the journey a little more exciting. When we brought the golf cart back we stopped at a beach that looked nice and the water was super calm so we swam in it for awhile. It was such a nice night and a great start to our vacation! We got back and showered then figured out the internet and used that for awhile, which we were really excited about because we don’t have internet all the time in our host homes in Leon. We slept great that night after watching the movie Bridesmaids!

Monday came and we slept in a bit and got up and had breakfast (cinnamon french toast and pineapple that is 10x more delicious in Nicaragua) and hung out that morning-reading, walking along the beach, and using the internet. We had lunch at the restaurant right at our resort called the Bucaneer and then headed out to the awesome beach we had discovered the night before. It was a chill day, and the water was again super calm. It was also clear and we got to see a few starfish, which we flipped upside down so we could see them turn back over, it was very neat. It was great also to just float atop the water because there were no waves and the salt water allowed us to float easily. We stayed there for awhile, and hung out on the couches that were on this particular beach! We were pretty much the only ones on that beach besides a few other people that came later in the day-it was the life. That day was Canadian Thanksgiving so we celebrated with Curtis by dressing up a bit and then eating a nice supper at the Bucaneer that night. It was a good time in the words of Curtis.

Tuesday was similar to Monday; we hung out at our resort that morning and had an early lunch and then headed to the same beach for awhile. It was a little windier than the day before so there were more waves, but it was still sunny outside and not much to complain about. We headed to an outdoor restaurant on the beach for supper with our swimsuits still on. We were the only ones there partly because it wasn’t tourist season, but also because it was 5 pm and people eat supper quite a bit later in Nicaragua in general. It was nice and quiet place and we got to see the sun set right from there, so beautiful. I ate a breaded fish fillet and got to try a piña colada too, a typical Caribbean drink so that was fun! We played some cards that night (scum with Curtis’ rules which was actually pretty fun) and went to bed on time.

Wednesday was different in that we got to go snorkeling in the afternoon! It was a bit windy but the places we went were actually quite calm and it was totally worth it. We went out on a fishing boat just around Big Corn Island (there is a Little Corn Island as well which is obviously smaller, but we never visited it) with 2 guys and one of their sons. It was an interesting ride because the waves of the ocean were quite different than at a lake, much more intense and I had never experienced ocean boating before. We first stopped at a location with a sunken ship and looked around there awhile, seeing lots of different colored fish. The water was super clear and so we got to see them up close and personal! We saw lots of “Finding Nemo” fish and our guide pointed out a sea cucumber, rainbow fish, stingray, and many neat shells and coral to us! We got in the boat and went to two other locations to view the marine life, and we were out for about 2 and a half hours. It was a great time, and we wished we could have done it for longer. We ended the trip by boating around the rest of the island, encountering many large waves and getting soaked but that was all part of the experience! Snorkeling was definitely a highlight of our trip and that night we played some cards and hung out more. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 that night, which we figured was quite fitting because we were of course on a Caribbean island.

Thursday was our last day on the island, so we hung out, finished our books, played in the ocean one last time and said goodbye to the beautiful white beaches and clear water, which was definitely a little sad. We hung out in the airport for about an hour before we boarded our slightly larger plane than last time of about 30 people. We also stopped in the Bluefields airport which is on the east coast before heading to the Managua airport. Another beautiful flight, this time with a sunset. We arrived in Managua around 5 pm and in Leon around 7…I briefly told my family about our trip then headed to bed for the night after unpacking from an unforgettable chill mid semester break!

Today was a homework day as I definitely didn’t do any of that on our trip. It rained again, so it has pretty much rained all day every day this week my family said, which is quite a bit more than the 10 minute rains a day normally. I think Alejandra and I are going to watch the Little Rascals movie tonight so that will be a good time! Next week will be a normal week again, but it was nice to have a few days to recuperate back to normal life after our super chill Caribbean vacation J

PICTURES of the beautiful island…

 just enjoying the soft white sand on our feet and the warm sun...

 a dead pufferfish!...

 the beautiful beach we discovered, you can see the couches under the huts in the background...

 the sun cast beautiful reflections...

 me being all artsy...

 snorkeling...so much fun..

 our gear...

 a view of la paraiso, the palm trees all had white painted on the bottom of the trunks because apparently its better for them to grow...

 our plane ride back, walking right onto the plane, how cool...

Cara.

Interning at Food for the Hungry

Well the week of October 4 is the week I started my internship at Food for the Hungry. I was super nervous to start there just because I was unsure what I was going to do and how I was going to do it without knowing much Spanish. My first day was Tuesday and I traveled from the bus terminal in Leon to the Chinandega office with Marlen, an FH worker early in the morning. It takes about 45 minutes to get there and we took a 15 passenger van type thing (they call them short buses) and we arrived around 8 am. I met the people in the office, they all seemed super friendly, only 3 of them speak English, and then right away went out with Marlen to a community. We got there and right away I noticed some white people and it was a church group from Grand Rapids, Michigan…what a small world they even knew of Dordt! I chatted with them for a bit and they were in Nicaragua for a week visiting a few communities to see which one they were going to help sponsor with their church back home. We got to see the school in that community and then Marlen and I did a few family visits there. There were about 90 families in this particular community. We got to give out Bibles to some families; one for the parent and a story Bible for the children, it was really neat to see them receive them because most of them voiced that they had attended church but not had their own Bible ever. Marlen also asked some questions to the parents of the kids in the child sponsorship program to see how they were doing to give an update to their sponsors. I didn’t understand all of it, but I picked up bits and pieces of what their conversation was about. Marlen also helped explain to me better later, still in Spanish though, ha. We ate lunch with a family, and then headed back to the FH office. The road to the community was about 10 minutes long and super bumpy and rough, so that was an interesting time. Back at the FH office, I got to translate child sponsor cards for the rest of the day. These cards were from the sponsors so I had to translate from English to Spanish, which was pretty difficult, but Nancy, a bilingual worker at FH, told me she was just glad I was here because they were really behind in translating so I was helping whether my translating was perfect or not. That was good to know. I worked until 5 pm, and then left on the bus back to Leon with a few other girls from the office. The bus didn’t go right to the terminal in Leon, so Meybelline, another intern at FH who only speaks Spanish, had to explain to me that the stop I got off at was 2 blocks from the terminal. She didn’t get off at this stop, so I was pretty much on my own from there. Once I got off I was dumbfounded because I did not recognize where I was, but soon enough I started walking and after asking which way the terminal was I found it and from there I knew where to go. It was kinda scary for a little bit being somewhere I really did not recognize, but I guess its good for me to learn on my own! I got home and was super tired but hung out with my family a little, but went to bed early that night.

Wednesday came, and I got up bright and early to head to Chinandega again. I pretty much translated child sponsorship cards all day, but this time they were the cards from the children in Nicaragua, so I translated from Spanish to English, which was much easier for me and it definitely was good practice. It was kind of a long day, but the others in the office were fun to randomly chat with and observe. 5 pm came and I was ready to head home. I did some homework that night but was again super tired so went to bed early!

Thursday I again went to Chinandega (I will be going to the FH office for 3 days a week for the next 3 weeks). I went out to another community with Libeth, a social worker at FH, and we did lots of walking that day! Ha, other than walking we visited with families, teachers, and children just getting a sense of how they were doing. I think they had worked in this community for awhile now, as many of the people knew Libeth and she knew many of them as well. It was quite a large community with over 70 families. For awhile in the afternoon we went around to a couple families getting information about their child that was going to be put in the child sponsorship program, so we took a picture of the child, had them write a note and draw a picture to their sponsor and got information about their family for records. It was a fun time, and I got to listen in and see how they did this program. One family that we hung out with for awhile had a few rambunctious kids and so I entertained them while Libeth got the information from their mom. I taught one of the kids the alphabet and he was showing me his drawings, it was adorable. Libeth also introduced me to a few of the teachers of the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd graders in this community that I will probably work with to do art with the kids in a few weeks. It was overall a really fun day just hanging out with the members of the community, and learning what all is done in a typical day for a social worker at FH. It was a very valuable experience, and I am learning a lot by just talking in Spanish with the social workers so far that I hope I will learn even more throughout the rest of my weeks interning there. My bus ride on this day was a bit interesting as well as I thought I knew my way from the first day I did the same thing but I took the wrong turn as I was walking back to my host home and was lost for a bit. It was crazy because I didn’t know where I was at all but I stayed calm and eventually recognized the intersection I needed to cross and I was so relieved that I had found it! I think I will know my way for next time for sure!

My three days of interning at FH were very tiring and so Friday was nice to sleep in a bit until we had class in the afternoon. Also, Friday morning I woke up to find a chicken with a bag around its feet chillin in our kitchen. I was surprised to watch mi mama take it back to the back room sink and bring it back with no head or feathers. They informed me that it was “una gallina sin pelo”, a hen without feathers. I laughed and then at lunch on my plate was the leg of that same chicken which was live in my kitchen only a few hours earlier, funny how that works. Another story of my family’s differences here was when I started to get a stuffy nose and sore throat my family told me that I should not take a shower at night. I asked why that would matter and they told me that as you are really hot during the day and then take a cold shower after that, it is bad for you because of the extreme heat and then cold, and that is how you get sick. So, I didn’t shower that night to put their superstitions to the test, but I didn’t really believe it would work because I have always showered at night and have just now gotten sick. It was just different to hear this being something that they believed was a reason people got sick, because it doesn’t make sense to me at all and isn’t even given a thought in the United States. 

I don’t have any pictures of this leg of my journey, but my next blog will be of Corn Island and I will for sure add pictures of that beautiful place!

Cara.

more gallo pinto..

Last week we had another field trip, this time to rural Nicaragua to learn a bit about how the farming goes in this part of the country. It was us students and Alma, a lady who works at the Nehemiah Center that traveled to Jinotepe on Tuesday morning, about an hour away to an organization called Fundacion de San Lucas. This organization works with many small communities around this area; helping families start their own farms (by loaning money for them to start and educating them on how to organic farm), working with the local youth in a few neighborhoods and a variety of other groups of people. A few people from this organization took us to a land bank where farmers are given their own land to farm. This is a very exciting thing for these farmers and their families because it isn’t often that they own their own farms.

Many men in rural Nicaragua live on farmlands and work them while most of the profit is given to the rich landowners who own them, and there is not much left for them and their families in the end. So the families that we visited here actually had just recently moved to their farms within the past 6 months, but were very optimistic about their lives and what they could do with their own land. Our drive up there was very interesting as we took a truck because the roads to the farm were mud and very rough; like huge holes in the roads and many streams we had to pass through. We were glad the guy that was driving seemed confident because many times I wasn’t sure we were going to make it! When we arrived there we met the family that we would stay with that night; it was Hilberto and his wife Marta and their 4 year old son. They were very welcoming to us and wanted us to learn about what they were doing with their land and there plans for the future; they were very proud and optimistic. They had a very beautiful view of the mountains as well, and the stars at night were SO clear. It was a very developing area, but they had done a lot to the land already with only being there for a short time. The house was very tiny, with a room for the kitchen, beds, and then a small porch area. The floors were mud and the shower and bathroom were outside. It was pretty much like camping, but a great experience. Soon after we got there, we helped with several projects around the farms that Foundacion de San Lucas was helping the farmers with. We first helped dig up topsoil for a few planters where they were starting tomato and pepper seeds. We turned tires inside out, filled them with dirt, planted seeds in them, and then built a stick table thing to prop them up high so no animals could get them. The other project was a water filtration system to turn their dirty laundry and dishwater that drained off into usable irrigation water for the fields.

After these projects were finished we got the chance to meet the other families in this community; there were 4 in total. This community was pretty new and the longest anyone had lived there was 6 months, so everything was just developing but very exciting to see their new lives and what they are going to do now that they have their own land. Many of the houses on these farmlands were very small and the one house that particularly stuck out was on for a family of 5 people. It was a one-room area; I don’t think it even counted as a house. Granted these people had only been here for a few months, but they were definitely scraping by each day. Their lives will definitely improve with the profits they will make with their farming, but those conditions were still hard to see.

            After supper we were all pretty exhausted and as the sun goes down around 5:30 pm, it was no use staying up too late because the sun also rises early, which means people get up with the sun! Sure enough we got up around 7 am, ha. It was an interesting night because Malorie, Megan and I shared a bed and it was basically a comforter on a bed frame…not exactly comfortable, but we made it work and it was only one night.

            After eating some breakfast at the farm, we trekked once again on the rough road back to Jinotepe. Our afternoon was spent in a different community in a more urban area at a center for youth to hang out that the Foundacion de San Lucas also puts on. We got to play games, compete in ping pong games, and make bracelets with the kids who came. It was a great time just hanging out and attempting to talk to them. Ha. Later we got to attend a soccer tournament, which turned out to be way more intense than we imagined! I guess we should have expected intensity from Latin Americans competing in any type of soccer game. It was a good time, a few younger kids teams and many teenager teams; most of them guys but all of them amazing at soccer! Curtis played on the San Lucas team but us girls opted not to join the intense game. It was awesome to watch. Later that afternoon we headed back to Leon to our host homes. It was such a fun trip in which we learned a lot but also got to have a little fun interacting with people in the different communities we visited.

            It was nice to be back at our host homes that night and to get some sleep! The next day, Thursday, we made a few visits around town for our classes. In the morning we went to the Museum of Myths and Legends in Leon and then in the afternoon we attended a Catholic Mass. Both were very informative but not worth writing too much about in here, lol. I already have to write papers about both of them!

            Our weekend was definitely an amazing worthwhile one. We didn’t have class on Friday so the other students and I decided to head to Granada for an overnight trip. Granada, like Leon was one of the first cities in Nicaragua. There is a bit of a rivalry between the two cities because of their past, but it was a fun city to visit. It was a lot like Leon, but more touristy as we noticed in the higher prices of things and the amount of white people we saw compared to Leon. We pretty much spent the day walking around Granada, shopping around and stopping at random fun places. We didn’t have much of a plan for the weekend so that was a little fun to just kinda do wherever looked good. It helped that people on the buses watched out for us as we probably just looked like we had no idea what we were doing, and we pretty much were very successful at finding awesome fun. For the night we spotted a brochure for a tree house hostel type thing. We decided it looked sweet and right away called to reserve a spot! That was a great life decision. We had to walk a little ways basically in the jungle to find it but it was so awesome when we did. The people that owned it were very indie/hippie type and really chill. They were fun to hang out with for the night as they spoke English and were very friendly. We got to see an awesome sunset way up there, eat supper, and just chill in the outdoors. The next day we got on a bus that took us to Laguna de Apoyo, a gorgeous crater lake with clear blue refreshing water. We spent $6 to hang out there for the day and we got to use their kayaks, tubes, and rafts. It was a great relaxing day and we even got a little tan to show for it! We sadly headed back to Leon that night, as we could have easily spent another few days there. We were quite tired by the last bus trip as we counted up to 11 buses/taxis we had taken during 2 days, very exhausting but so worth it! What an adventure to remember.

            Well mostly the rest of my semester (except the last 3 weeks which will change to working at FH 5 days of the week) will consist of 2 classes, History and Worldview, in Managua on Mondays, and Cultural class on Fridays in Leon. In the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) I will be interning at an organization called Food for the Hungry based in Chinandega. This organization works a lot with kids and making sure they are living in safe conditions (http://www.fhi.net/fhinicaragua/) and getting good nutrition to grow up healthy and strong. I will be helping out in any area they need while I am there for about 5 hours a day. I will most likely go out on home visits with the workers to get a sense of what type of social work they do. I am very nervous about not knowing too much Spanish and having to communicate with the workers and the people we visit but am mostly excited to learn more about this type of organization and to practice my Spanish through that hopefully! I know that I also will be able to work at the arts camp that they put on during the last week of November for kids in certain communities. It is a great time to introduce them to art and being creative as it is a great way to stimulate these kids that might not get much of that in their homes. I think God placed me at this organization for a reason, and I am really excited to explore that reason. I ask for prayers though as this is very much out of my comfort zone. I will update on what I am learning and participating in as much as I can!

            So here I am a third or more of the way through my semester, I can’t believe it. Next week the other students and I are heading to Corn Island on the east Caribbean side of Nicaragua for our semester break! We are super pumped to have a week to hang out at a beautiful location and once again marvel at how awesome God has made Nicaragua and its people and how blessed we are to be here. We will definitely enjoy it for everyone back in the Midwest gearing up for the cold and maybe snow soonJ

PICTURES::

at the farm on our trip, chillin with our awesome work boots on...

 being tourists in Granada...

 the treehouse we stayed in friday night...so legit

 an awesome time...

 a great chill place to hang out...

 LAGUNA DE APOLLO...beautiful

 fending off curtis with our kayak paddles...lol

Cara.