Thursday, October 20, 2011
Another great day! The sun was shining when we got up and it continued until mid afternoon! Woohoo!
I got up and wanted to hurry and take my shower so that Saturnino and Alberto could work in my room putting up my shelves. It was a tough decision not to walk first, but I didn’t want to waste any time or delay them getting it done. I was in the shower and turned on the knob and it was stripped or something and wouldn’t start the water. It just spinned. So I got redressed and went to find Alberto. He found a set of pliers and turned the water on for me. Then I got my shower and got dressed and went to find him to turn the water back off. Saturnino found a replacement knob from a new sink faucet set and put it on my shower. When he can get a new knob for the shower we will exchange the smaller sink faucet knob for it. The guys are pretty resourceful.
I got to spend some time talking with the ladies of the mission team staying with us while they had breakfast. I let them use my computer to check emails and facebook since I still had the internet cable. The Pastor showed me their church’s website. They seem to have a very nice church.
The Pastor asked if we had an iron and I had Alberto unlock some doors so that I could find it. The ladies asked to use the washer and dryer and I gave them some laundry soap and dryer sheets. They went out to start the washer and were looking at the water going in slowly and waiting for a little more water before they put in the washing powder. Alberto must have thought that they didn’t know how to use the washer (they aren’t common down here) and came and asked me to go and explain it to them. I was a little confused that they would need help, but went anyway. We all got a laugh about it when they said they were just waiting for the water to fill up more. It takes a long time for a load to go through since it fills up so slowly, but we are very thankful to have it.
The Pastor and his wife, who are our Landlords, came by to say hello to the mission team Pastor. They had rented rooms to them before in past years.
The Hulsey’s got here and Manuel and I had our special first five minutes together. Today we pretended to be husband and wife (as usual) and we drove to the airport to pick up a mission team. Of course the van broke down again, but we got it going. We got to the airport and Manuel was reading the ‘board’ that normally displays info for arriving and departing flights. But in our world, the board tells who is on the plane. We could pick and choose who we wanted to take with us. There were the usual people we know, and then Justin Beiber, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble and Usher came with us. We opted to leave Michael Jackson and Little Wayne behind. All together Manuel said we had 27 people in our little van. It was quite cozy. It also took 30 hours of driving to get back to the Mission House and we stopped at Sonic for cherry limeades on the way. We had fun playing.
It was nice enough for Manuel to go for a swim and I put my stuff back together in my room on my new shelves. I was doing a happy dance!
The Hulsey’s and I went to lunch at Callejon again today. I never get tired of it! I had churrasco today with beans, steamed veggies and a tortilla. Yum! We got back to the house and Manuel and I got to have an extra 5 minutes of play time. That was a treat. The Hulsey’s left for home and I was going to settle in for a short rest, but decided to change things around in my room. Then it was time to leave for English class.
I had decided to walk to class today since it wasn’t raining and I haven’t gotten to walk in forever. Alberto asked if I had called a taxi and I said no, that I wanted to walk. I had not even gotten to the gate before it started raining! Urgh! I called Rigoberto and he picked me up and took me to class. He said he could pick me up at 5:30 and bring me home, and I like that better than grabbing a taxi at the busy corner.
Jonathan was already at class when I got there, so we started talking about our day and such. Salvador arrived and we started talking about Nicaraguan culture and lifestyle. It was their assignment to share this info with me in English. They covered many topics. It was a very good discussion.
Here are some of the topics we discussed: Food (including their limited knowledge of the recipes for favorite foods like nacatamal, tiste, pinalia, indo Viejo, gallo pinto, gallina rellena, quesillos), favorite past-times (soccer, card games like desmoche which is like rummy, poker, solitare, blackjack and games like dominoes), movies at the cinema cost about $2, most people have TVs and cable with 80 channels that cost about $15 a month. If people have pets (if they can afford the food to feed them) they usually have a dog or lots of birds. They don’t have pet laws, but sometimes a vet will give free vaccinations to all dogs, including strays. I’m not sure who foots the bill for this. They put a special color ‘necklace’ on the dogs so that people can know that they have been vaccinated. They buy their clothes at small stores here in town and very rarely make it to Managua to buy anything at the very expensive mall. They don’t feel the need to have lots of clothes and will sometimes buy a new outfit for a special event. Men mostly wear jeans and t-shirts when out of the house, even in the hot weather. They wear shorts and sandals at home. They wear long sleeve shirts in winter (rainy season). Very few people have washing machines and only rich people have dryers. A lot of people, but not everyone have refrigerators. A lot of people have bicycles and few have cars. There are lots of taxis and people mostly use the city bus (which is a small truck with a tarp over the top that they cram lots of people into). There are driving schools to teach you to drive. A driver’s license is available through the police department. Usually, young people live at home until they marry, no matter what age. There is legal marriage and church marriage. (in the US they legal part is usually done by the licensed pastor, but here you have to do it separate) We discussed pregnancy prevention, abortion (illegal but available here and they are trying to change the laws to allow it), and over population of the world. We also discussed the life plan for each of these 2 gentlemen. Salvador is 22 and has been dating Jonathan’s sister for 4 ½ years. He is through with college and is going to try to get a job in marketing and publishing. His girlfriend, Shirley, is studying to be a lawyer. They haven’t set a wedding date yet, because they want to finish their ‘career studies’ and get jobs first. Jonathan is almost 25 and is planning on waiting until he is about 32 years old for marriage, although he didn’t mention a girlfriend. He wants to have a job and get a house and furnish it before he starts a marriage relationship. Good life plan!
We were running out of time and I asked them if they still wanted to discuss religion more, but they said no, they would just wait. They did promise to come to our Voice of Hope Bible study on Monday night. Perhaps that is where God has planned for them to meet Jesus. Keep praying for them. Juan, the teacher was working all day and evening translating for a mission team, so I led the whole class time. His wife Ana, who also teaches a class during that time, thanked me very much for helping out. Jonathan and Salvador thanked me very much, too. I gave them cookies again. I’m very blessed to be there.
While waiting for my taxi to pick me up, Ana and I got to talk a little bit. It’s hard for her when Juan is translating, because he is gone for long hours. They have a 5 year old girl and a 7 month old boy. She takes them to the sitter’s for the day when she is working. She said that she had mentioned that she wanted to rain to stop for a while. Her daughter told her to just pray to Jesus. She did and the rain stopped for most of today. Giant, practical faith in a little girl.
Rigoberto arrived to pick me up and he had a friend with him. She is originally from Nicaragua, but now has lived in Costa Rica for 19 years. She said that there are many North Americans in Costa Rica and that it is very expensive to live there compared to Nica. She speaks English very well and said that my Spanish was pretty good. We discussed how you just have to try and practice and keep on. I asked Rigoberto if he speaks any English (he was listening an English version of ‘Sittin on the Dock of the Bay’ when he picked me up earlier). He said he knows very little. I told him that he would have to practice with me when I rode in his taxi. He said he is embarrassed and shy to try it. I told him to do it anyway and that he shouldn’t be embarrassed around people who like and care for him. I’ll keep encouraging him every time I ride in his taxi.
I fixed a baked potato in my microwave and cut it up into my chicken noodle soup. I know, it’s weird, but it was what I was craving. I ‘baked’ apples in the microwave again. Yum!
Tomorrow we will start the Women’s Bible study at Rose of Sharon CC church. I’m looking forward to that.
While I was waiting for the taxi this afternoon, Alberto was standing with me at our little gate. We were chatting about various things. We ended up on the subject of Mike and Sherry and Alberto said that they are good people and called Mike a noble man. I think he very much likes working for them and I have to agree!
Things are getting busier and busier all the time. There is much to do and many people to share with. The time is going by so fast. I’m trying to make the most of every minute and not miss any opportunity that God brings my way. So much fun in this journey called ‘life’. So blessed…
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