Experiencing Nicaragua

I am in Nicaragua this week, visiting the current GC SST unit. My friend Tamara and I will be leading a unit of 15-23 students here next year, and as part of our "training" we come down for a week while another unit is in country to experience an SST unit in action.

We arrived on Monday evening in the capital city, Managua, after a long but uneventful trip that included train, plane and automobile. We took the South Shore train to downtown Chicago, the L/Blue Line train from downtown to O'Hare, flew to Miami, then to Managua, and were picked up at the airport by Tamara's friend Gonzalo. We stayed at his house overnight, then he showed us around Managua a little bit, especially places where his company Companeros works. GC is also partnering with Companeros for aspects of the SST program, so it was good to connect with him, as Tamara and I will likely be working with him quite a bit next year. He then drove us to Jinotepe and Lisa and Jen's house. After lunch we walked down to the school where the students have daily afternoon lectures and listened to a lecture about the Nicaraguan economy.

The students gathered at Casa Chela (white house) at 5:30 out for a dinner out to celebrate a student's birthday. The story was that we were going to a restaurant in Diriamba (neighboring town), but we actually went to the student's host family who threw a wonderful birthday party, complete with pinata, pin the tail on the donkey (Eeyore), a home cooked meal, and an ice cream cake. We had lots of laughter and a good time.

Today we enjoyed a leisurely morning at our hotel (Casa Mateo), including time on our own personal balcony, and then walked to Jen and Lisa's house for some computer time, lunch with students, and the weekly reunion (meeting) with student for reporting/debriefing, and information. After a snack the students dispersed for the rest of the day. One of the students took Tamara and I down to the mercado (outdoor marketplace) to exchange some money, and we stopped in the supermarket to explore. Now we are back at Casa Chela (Lisa and Jen's house) for internet time, and soon out to eat with Lisa and Jen.

Tomorrow is a full morning of meeting the Spanish tutors, orientation with Jen & Lisa, and afternoon lecture on the Nicaraguan environment.

I am realizing my Spanish is severely lacking, and hopefully not being able to communicate as well as I would like here will be motivation for me to work harder on Spanish when I get back!

Hasta luego! (See you later!)