estoy cansada y contenta

Hay muchas cosas que necesito compartir con ustedes! espero que yo pueda recordar todos!

Here goes

I´m terribly sorry I haven´t blogged in a few days. I´ve been busy! In about two hours I will have been in Nicaragua for 1 week! I´m really beginning to feel at home and comfortable here. However, not everything has been peaches and cream.

I will do my best to recount the happenstances since I wrote last.
There´s not much to say for Saturday. I went to a couple Supermercados with the Tellez family. I had a bit of frustration because my ATM card wouldn´t work. In fact I actually became unsure of my pin number. (Fortunately it turns out that it was the machine´s fault)
Saturday night is Youth Group (sort of) and the Jovenes de la Iglesia El Buen Pastor fueron a un otra iglesia para culto. (the young people of my church went to another church for worship). It´s just like when Youth Groups in the states take a trip to another church. It was this night that I befriended Karla. Karla is 18 and a leader in El Buen Pastor. She teaches Sunday School and she works a lot with the Youth. I really enjoy her a lot!

Sunday was a blessing as well. Isaac (he´s become my crutch because he speaks English with me) went to another town because he had to work on something for college with a peer. Therefore, I was left alone all day. I wasn´t physically alone, I just didn´t have any fellow English speakers. This proved to be wonderful because I had to practice! I spoke with Guillen (Pablo - my host dad - says that if you can understand Guillen you can say ¨I speak Spanish!¨) Rafael and Ricardo. We had two services on Sunday, one in the morning, and the next in the evening. I have been able to basically understand the main points of the message, and I always understand the Bible readings (yes, even when I don´t have my English Bible with me). Sometimes I know the songs in English, sometimes I know them in Spanish, and sometimes my hands do a whole lot of extra praising =)

Monday I went to the Project for the first time. I met some of the people, the teachers, was reintroduced to some of the children whom I remember well, and to others I hadn´t known. It was nice as I spent my time observing. I observed first grade. There are 12 students ranging between the ages of 6 and 10. I discovered that first grade Math is just like I remembered it, and that I really do love Math - because it´s the same in every language. After lunch I returned to Sabana Grande for another night of great worship and visiting with the young people afterwards. The Tellez home is ¨the place to be¨after culto and on the weekends.

Yesterday I went to the Project again and met Verma. He is the English and Art teacher. Verma is from Nicaragua originally, but he lived in the States for most of his life. He began working at the Project 2 months ago. I think he may be an extra project of mine, I see in him a lot of interest in the faith, but no foundation. I hope that I can be a witness to him.
I spent the morning helping him with Art. The school principal - Javier - was at a meeting Tuesday, so his office was locked. All of the art supplies are in the office, therefore, Verma didn´t have a lesson plan. (sidenote please excuse my lack of colons and semicolons because I have yet to find the key for it on this tecladora!) So, we borrowed some construction paper and crayons, and he asked me if I had any ideas. I happened to have O Cuan Lejos Llegaras (Oh the Places You´ll Go by Dr. Suess - in Spanish) in my bookbag! So, I read them the story, and then had the students draw a place that they would like to go.

It was a rewarding morning. I left early again because I had to learn the bus system and Charlotte and Samantha (two girls from the Cayman Islands who had volunteered at Chacocente in the past and were visiting the country for awhile) had to show me the way. The buses are an interesting experience, and I hope that tomorrow afternoon I can do it by myself. I am nervous about it but Pablo assures me that I will be fine. He tells me that if I believe I was called to Nicaragua by God to do His work then I have no reason to worry.

Today I went to the Project again, I have been placed with an assignment finally! I am going to be working with the Advanced First Graders in their reading. There are 5 who are significantly past the rest of the class. They are Nelson, Adriana, Edwin, Ramon, and Douglas. I´m sure I´ll be talking a lot about these children in the future. Yamileth (the first grade teacher) and I spent awhile working out a rough lesson plan for them. Then I spent the rest of the day just spending time with the first graders. I love the class, it is filled with intelligent eager students.
I was able to practice my Spanish a lot today with Yamileth and her son, and also with the other teachers at lunch. I think I am improving!

The rough part of today was the bikeride to catch the bus. We left around 330 and it´s a long walk (I know because I walked it yesterday) and a difficult bikeride. Especially because my bike needs some work. It isn´t as safe as Juan Carlos and Omar deemed it. The right brake doesn´t work, the gears don´t shift so it´s in 3rd forever, and it veers significantly to the left. I was riding with Jacqueline (the third grade teacher) and at one point we actually tried to switch bikes and she was having trouble on mine as well. Hers was too tall for me. We had to walk quite of bit of it because of my bike. She was so helpful and kind though. I felt bad because I haven´t ridden a bike in awhile anyway, so I probably would´ve been a better companion, even on a broken bike, if it hadn´t been so long since I´d ridden. But although I was sweaty, hot, tired, dehydrated, and my hands were blistering, we made it to the road to catch the bus. We had to wait awhile there and I chatted quite a bit with Jacqueline. She is so sweet and truly caring.
I met up with Charlotte in Tipitapa and she road the bus system home with me again. God has placed so many wonderful people here to help me along the way!!!

Well, I´m late to church because I had to send this out, AND it´s a song that I actually know in Spanish!!!