May 31, 2008
While the US celebrated Mother´s day a few weeks past, Nicaragua had their celebration for mother´s on May 30. In Sabana Grande, the fiesta was hosted at the Solar Center. After spending the morning decorating with the other volunteers, we joined the kids from the village by acting out various skits (including, the Prodigal Son), passing out small gifts for the mother´s, followed by snacks, and lots of dancing. Everyone in Sabana Grande loves the dancing. I´m so glad that we were able to be here for this celebration. It was a wonderful introduction to the community and a great way to spend time with all of the families!
While electricty within houses is hit or miss, running water is incredibly scarce. Therefore, everyday multiple trips to the water pump are required to fill up buckets for cooking, cleaning dishes, and showering. Yesterday, Gladyis and Masiel taught me how to use the water pump so that I can help with that chore. While using the pump is not terribly strenuous, the real task for me is carrying the bucket back to the house on top of my head. Oh dear. The first attempt resulted in me completely soaking my right side as I walked very slowly down the dirt path, over the massive tree roots, and through the tiny gateways. I´m fascinated by how swiftly everyone here is able to carry these buckets. This is another task that I hope to improve upon this summer.
Last night I attempted to teach my host family UNO. My thought was that this game has simple instructions, would be able to learn more verbs and colors from the kids. However, Marvin and Masiel were so excited to play that I could not speak Spanish fast enough for them to understand instructions. The game we played was far from the actual strategy of UNO, instead it was more of who can lay down their cards that match the color the fastest. I´m convinced that this version was even more entertaining.
I really enjoy walking to El Centro duing the week. There are two different ways to go, one route passes the beautiful 500 year old tree in the middle of the village, and the other passes by horse fields. It´s a win win situation for finding a scenic route to work. Poco a poco (little by little) my spanish is improving. Along with the two hour daily classes I am making every effort to talk with my family, read all of the spanish children´s books from El Centro, and to follow the TV shows when they are on. Good news, Sunday night at 6:00 Harry Potter and the Sorcer´s Stone will be on in Spanish! That will be a great bonding experience with the kids. Everytime there is a fun show on, there are about six other kids from around the neighborhood that come over to watch with the family. Much fun and helpful for learning more from conversations. All of these experiences have resulted in many wonderful photos, I hope to be able to post more next week!
- Anna
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3 Responses to “Dia de los Madres”
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Annnna!! I love love love reading your blog, its so great to hear what you are up to down there. The picture of you is really awesome, it looks very pretty there! Thank you so much for the phone call yesterday, it made my day! Compared to your adventures, mine are very small, I am back at work..Mondays are never fun, but tonight Kelsey is going to come down and see the house and stay with me so I am really looking forward to that. The DC trip was great, I will try to send some pictures when Caitlin gets them posted! Love you Aimee
Anna,
I love seeing your smiling face!!
Keep up the great work, honey.
Thanks to Daniel also for keeping really informed, i.e. “watering hole”!!!!!
Love, mom
Anna,
We’re really enjoying your blog updates. Sounds like you’re learning just as much as you’re teaching. Don’t worry…you’ll be at the head of the “bucket brigade” class before you know it! When you make it down the hill DRY you’ll know you’ve graduated! Glad you’re enjoying yourself as well as doing well with your research. It all sounds so fascinating! We’ll check in on your mom and try to take her mind off worrying about you! Stay safe and keep the updates coming!
Love,
Robb & Kathleen