Nicaragua Day 5: Wednesday

The one day I was sleeping past 5:30 we were awakened by sudden silence.  Our AC had turned off on it's own. Uh oh!  Moments later we learned that the water was off too.  It turns out that the water pump went out, and, since our AC was on the same breaker, they had to turn it off too.  Much of the morning was spent stressing about the water being fixed so we could flush the toilet!  We got just a small glimpse of what the families in the village go through each day to get clean water.  And, at least in the village, you don't have to worry about flushing!

The devotional was good; Jorge wasn't there, so we spent the time sharing our thoughts so far.  There was bacon for breakfast, and it was good!

Today was my first time to teach the women, and I'm suddenly nervous.  My lesson was very geared toward the kids, so I'm worried it will be too juvenile for the moms.  When we arrive at the village, we sit in the van for a few extra mintues, soaking in the air conditioning and gathering energy for the children.  We have new women at the classes today; they have come because they want a well closer to their house, about a 1/4 mile away. 

While Theresa and I teach our lessons, Kristin and Karen set the kids up with coloring.  They enjoy it but are losing interest fast as the week goes on.  Several are really wild today!  The toothbrushing lessons goes ok; I think they already knew the basics.  One mom says that toothpaste is very expensive, and most of the time there's not enough money for that.  Buying food takes priority.  Theresa's lesson on nutrition went great, even though most of the example foods are foreign to these people.  She is just really great at engaging both the women and the children.

After a rousing game of pato, pato, pollo, we decide I will teach the toothbrushing lesson to the kids before lunch.  They just too much energy for us, and we can't keep playing that game!  The kids enjoyed the lesson with the giant teeth and were excited to make Super Tooth puppets.  We decide to hold onto them and use them to hold all other crafts for the day.

While we're making puppets, a child steals water from Santo's water bucket at his home (it's right behind where we teach).  Daniela (his daughter)  sees this and immediately cleans the cup.  She brings out a jug for the children to share but only one cup.  We are touched by her thoughtfulness, but tell the children they can't all share one cup because of the germs.  Poor Daniela looks like her feelings are hurt; she was really trying to be helpful but protect her family's clean water at the same time.  It was such a hard situation because the reality is that most families may not have enough cups for each person to have their own.

Lunch was hot dogs; a little scary but I eat one anyway.

Here's what was going on at the drill site:

At 1 the kids trickle back to the drill site to find us.  There are several new faces this afternoon, even Dante from church.  For the past couple of days, Katarin insists on holding my hand as we walk back and makes sure her little sister, Rosa, has the other.  She calls me her "hermanita" (sister).  The kids love to help us carry our things to and from the "classroom".  Today 2 boys fight over who will carry a chair and it breaks.  We will have to take a trip into town to replace it. 
Theresa teaches her nutrition lesson to the kids.  Look at the crowd we had!  Close to 50 kids!

 The kids' attention spans were short today, and some were quite wild.  Theresa's craft took a long time, and there was chaos while handing out supplies.  One of the moms, Estebana, has been spending most of the day with us.  She is great at wrangling the kids into submission!  I do wish my Spanish was better so that I could visit with the women more.

We let the kids play with play doh today.  They loved it!

We let them each take their ball of play doh home at the end of the day because it was so filthy that we would've just thrown it away.

We decided to skip the Bible lesson for today and let the kids play.  They really needed to get some energy out!  It ended up being short-lived, though, because the air compressor went out at the drill site, so they packed up early.

Thankfully there is running water back at the compound!  Because it was a short day, there is some time to relax.  Theresa and Kristin convince Ernesto to take them into town for a new chair and some soccer balls.  Apparently it was quite the adventure; hopefully Kristin writes about it in her blog.  I read a little and enjoy some time to visit with the rest of the team.  We all agree that after 3 days, the scariness of the latrine is gone!

Dinner is taco salad and pineapple juice.  It was good, but I am so missing dessert!  How spoiled am I!

We spend the evening packing goody bags with toothbrushes and shampoos for the kids to give their moms.  It's frustrating to find that there isn't enough for everyone to get one of everything.  I wish we had done a supply drive sooner. 

I hit the sack about 9:40 and enjoy the best sleep I've had so far.  It's hard to believe that we have only one more day with the village.

 

Meanwhile, in San Antonio:

Poppy's "baby" came for a visit.  She loves Eli!

 Our friend, Wee, was kind enough to invite the whole gang over for some real Thai food before church.  This may have been the highlight of Troy's week!
Jonas enjoyed their tire swing.

 Reef ejoyed the frisbee.  I was so excited to see this since I've been playing frisbee all week.  Maybe I'll get him one, and we can play together when I get home.

 The spread of food Wee prepared.  Troy was in heaven!

 Poppy was also in heaven with all the girl toys.  That doll is as big as she is!

 For church, Reef's age group went caroling at a nursing home.  Poppy fit right in with the big girls.  Reef said he really enjoyed it because he felt like it showed the "sick" people that God loved them and so did we.