Monday:
So after we left the coffee shop Monday we headed back to the orphanage. The rain storm never "passed over" and it continued into the night. When it rains in Nicaragua during raining season, it pours, and usually for a very long time. At night we decided to go rent "Where the Wild Things Are" for a movie night with all the kids. But, because there is STILL no power at the orphanage, we all trecked down to the school to watch it on a generator there and eat hot dogs for dinner. Well, the breaker couldn't handle a laptop (for the dvd to play) a projector and a speaker and proceeded to shut down repeatedly. After that failure, we attempetd to run two very long extension chords to a house in the neighborhood with power and watch it at the boys room. Again, fail. Everything ended perfectly though, and we ate hot dogs and the kids sang songs and ran around outside with the candles Luca had bought at the supermarket. It turned out to be a great night.
Tuesday:
We woke up early (what's new ... 7 am) and began stripping the swingswet of paint. It looked like a simple task, but it took over 4 hours to do about 75% of it. Finally, as rain started to set in (as it usually does in the afternoons) we decided to put off the painting for another day. Tony (our translator from March) had finished up with a trip he was translating on and joined us. We played a vey competitive game of 5-5 soccer, but the kids beat me, Tony, Luca and Ryan 6-5. Ryan Luca and I took a much needed shower (after almost 2 days) and headed out with Tony to to Granada.
Granada is about an hours drive south of Managua and located on the northern tip of Lake Nicaragua (one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the world). Granada is one of the oldest cities in central america and was a hub for colonists spreading Christianity in the new world. Granada is covered with churches, many having been restored, and Tony took us to one of the tallest towers so we could have a look. The pictures are on facebook, so check them out! We got up to the top just as another huge tropical thunderstorm rolled in off the Lake. We ran to our car and proceeded to the restaurant district. Granada is much more touristy than Managua, and we found a pretty nice American Sports bar. We kicked it back for a couple hours and enjoyed some Tonas and burgers and watched some baseball. Finally, around 9, we drove back. We dropped Tony off at his house and he gave us directions back to the orphanage. We made it okay, and I now consider myself a pretty good driver, and know (somewhat) where to go if I needed to go on my own (don't worry mom, I won't). Anyway, now we're off to Huembes (big market) and going to Nueva Vida for lunch (refugee camp) with Tony. We'll try to keep the posts up every other day, at least. We are planning a weekend trip to Granada / Ometepe (island volcano in Lake Nicaragua) with Tony for Friday-Sunday that should be a lot of fun! Anyways, here is Anna!
Anna:
Hi everyone! I thought I would give my female perspective on the trip so far. It's been really great. I'm staying in the girls side of the orphanage right next to the little kids room (kids under 7, about 8 of them sleep there) so waking up is VERY early! It's all made up for by walking into their rooms and having EVERYONE start screaming "Anna" and running up to hug me. It's soooo cute. While the boys are playing soccer and stripping paint, I've been able to play with the little ones and do a lot of stuff with the girls. I brought a ton of nailpolish so we do that on a daily basis. I didn't bring any nailpolish remover though so we all have about 6 layers of paint on our nails. I also brought sidewalk chalk so we had a great time "beautifying" the sidewalks yesterday. I also went to English class with Freddy, the English teacher, so the kids had a chance to practice with me. The UVa. trip leader from March, Christina, surprised us by visiting a couple of nights ago, so it was nice to see another familiar face! She had just led a trip for ONet last week. While we were at the movies, the guy in front of us in line buying tickets had actually gone to EMU in Harrisonburg! It really is a small world.
We're in a huge rush right now to get to the market, so I'm going to have to keep it short. Sorry these thoughts are probably all completely disorganized. So much to share! Keep us in your thoughts, we need it! :)
Ryan here. I think its time we change this blogname to cornerdeAlejandro (alex). We werent sure he'd ever pass over control of the blog, haha just kidding. Anyways, we've had an awesome trip so far. I'm sure Alex has done a solid recap of everything, but one of my favorite experiences so far has been sleeping in the boys room. It's your typical version of an orphanage bedroom, with two sides of bunk beds all lined up. Every morning, all the boys are up extremely early doing chores and they always wake us up. One of my favorite boys, Juan, or Juancito as i call him, who is hopefully getting adopted soon by a couple in Maryland, wakes me up every morning before he goes to school. Buneos Dios Ryan... Adios Ryan, he says. He's 8 years old, and he is the man. Anyways, we are off now so I must wrap up. Talk to you all soon, and keep reading. Adios
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
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