Today, after saying goodbye to my host mom Alba, I took a taxi to meet up with some other students in San Jose that were going to the same city. After asking for directions a few times, we found our bus stop and then got on the bus and after about 15 minutes, it left for Acosta (our destination city). It was an awkward bus ride because people kept getting picked up and I had a suitcase and backpack to try to fit somewhere and the overhead compartments were too tiny for anything... but after an hour and some scenic mountain driving (going up for quite a ways and then down again) we made it to the town. Some guy, whose name was'y even mentioned at the time, asked if we were "the students" and then took us to some little park near by. Our families (or someone from the family) were waiting and after a short little welcoming to Acosta, we split up.
My host dad has a cool offbrand? Jeep with like seats that are up against the sides of the car in the back instead of facing the front.. so that was cool. We made our way up a paved road, stopped for a little grocery store, and then kept on going. The paved road soon became dirt/rock and we continued climbing up. Every now and then we'd slow down and they'd let me marvel at the awesome view from the mountain. And after 15 minutes of climbing, with some downward parts too, I kept thinking with every road that veered off, "This must be it!" I mean it's a one lane road- how far away can the house be after all? well, after probably 30 minutes driving up the mountain, we finally arrived at a quaint well-painted little house, which happened to be theirs.
The house is really nice and I found out later that the neighbors that span for about a quarter of a mile down the road are all relatives. The property, which actually extends (as I was also told) all the way down the mountain, has been through 3 or 4 generations of the Arias family... it's pretty awesome.
After talking with random relatives for a while, a typical tico lunch, and then some more chatting with my host mother and father about politics, materialism and history, Felipe invited me to go feed the pig.
He told me I should put on better shoes for the hike so I don't get my tennis shoes dirty so I put on some rain boots that I am borrowing from LASP. Before leaving he grabbed his machete and tied it to his waist, gave me some really fat species of banana to carry for the pig, and then he grabbed a big old bag of pig food (seemed like corn meal or something). As we made our way down a steep dirt road in between mostly sugar cane crops, we got to a cool clearing with a big Guanacaste tree sitting right in the middle. The Guanacaste is the national tree and it's really awesome- big ol' trunk with super thick branches that extend mostly horizontal. It seemed like he wanted to rest from carrying the pig food so we went towards the tree and he, using the pig food as a pillow, lay his head back while laying down on a really thick/long stump or wood or something. I guess it was probably a tree trunk but it was laying horizontal... Anyways, he gave me a little log to use and I went and sat in the tree while he laid on the log thing. The view from where we are at is cool because we are on the side of the mountain so we pretty much just sat there for an hour, talking every now and then about living simply, nature, life, etc., and enjoying the scenery.
After some rest, we kept walking and got to the little pig pen. The pig started squealing when he heard people and we began dropping in the weird shaped bananas for the pig and he absolutely snarfed them down. When I was talking in the tree, I mentioned to Felipe that I don't like killing animals but that I like to eat them.. I also mentioned that it was a really naive opinion to be for "good treatment of animals" when I am not the one that has to kill them. Anyway, as I was watching this pig snarf down chubby bananas and his powdery yellow stuff, I was struggling with this thought about how I would totally be willing to eat the pig but I don't know if I could intentionally kill it without feeling really bad. At this moment, I decided that if I can hardly kill a pig and keep a clear conscience, if I wanted to eat pig really bad, maybe I will have more respect and honor for the animal whose life I am ending to sustain my own. All I know is that when we are separated from the labor and pain that go into things, we typically are left conscience free. Example: buying things from wal-mart without thinking about the sweat shops full of poorly paid workers that in essence are the reason we can buy things so cheaply in the first place. Yeah, we (myself included) don't like to think about that stuff because it reminds us that we often make ourselves forget certain facts of life if they mean that we are going to be uncomfortable or have to change something that we don't feel like changing.
We left the pig and walked down the path a little more and then went and sat down again off to the side, with another cool view. We chilled for about 15 minutes and he told me about some of the animals while we sat.. evidently there are lots of toucans around these parts which is neat! As we made our way back up, we checked on Mr. Pig and then grabbed some really sweet tasting manadrins (essentially clementines?) from one of the handful of trees along the path. We walked back through the oxen "field" (even though the angle is steep I guess it's technically a field) and Felipe fed the 2 guys some mandarins while I legitimately feared of a death by ox mauling. I told him that they scare me and I stood in between him and the oxen for the whole duration that we were near them.. they are seriously gigantic.
After dinner time, the family watched some Mr. Bean secret agent movie I've never heard of. It had Spanish voice dubs and they laughed hysterically more than a few times. What can I say, it was actually a pretty funny movie.
I'm not sure what's in store for me tomorrow but I think it involves cleaning a manure/compost area near Mr. Pig and also preparing for the rain season to begin (I'm told it hasn't rained once this season).
I'm definitely going to try to get pictures over the next few weeks and probably won't have this big of a blog post to make in quite some time.. but we shall see.
Thanks!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Grammar and Literature
So last week and this week I have been working on 3 different things for "school." Firstly, we have had 5 sessions of Faith & Integration where we have a speaker talk to us about something faith-related and then ask questions and meet a few times to discuss our thoughts in smaller groups. For my language and literature concentration, we have grammar and literature. We meet for grammar every day and our class is split into two groups.. I am in the lower level of the two groups, although I feel like all of us in this concentration are now pretty decent at Spanish. For literature we were given a packet with various poetry and also short book to read during our internship.
Okay so, workload-wise, it's really relaxed. For 4 of the Faith & Integration sessions, we have had readings that take about 15 minutes long to do beforehand. Also for that class, we have had two 2~ page responses due (in Spanish) about the readings and our responses/analyses.
The first lecture we had was over the context in which Jesus lived. I had already learned the majority of the information that was given through my Old/New Testament classes at IWU and a book I never finished called Who is This Man, by John Ortberg. However, I enjoyed the session and gained some new insights about contextual evidence through parables. For example, in one parable Jesus describes a man that goes to the town to get workers and then keeps going back every hour throughout the day- in the end, he pays them all the same wage (the wage of a day's work). However, while the parable has a very strong point, we are able to see interesting contextual information through the fact that the vineyard owner was returning back to town throughout the day and there were laborers still looking for work. Dr. Irene Foulkes, who gave the lecture, explained that during this time, there was a labor crisis in the Roman empire which is why there would be people waiting around all day in hopes of finding some work. Anyway, I thought that was a cool nuance for reading the Bible's parables.
The second lecture was about liberation theology. As I understand it, liberation theology is essentially the theology that believes that poverty and major inequality are not God's will and that it's our job as Christians to fix the vast inequalities. And that we are called to have "incarnational" ministry, getting our hands dirty, just as Jesus did.
The third lecture was given by a white missionary that has been living as a missionary for over 60 years. He is a very well respected theologian (evidently), very well respected missionary, and very well respected professor. His story was awesome and the man is a character for sure. He's participated in some 'big' things and even told us that during a meeting with Fidel Castro, Fidel asked if any of them could explain their opinion on the book of revelation, of which John Stam had studied greatly. Dr. John Stam (or Dr. Juan Stam in Latin America) has acquired a very 'Latin American perspective' after living here for so long and he has seen some incredible things in his life. He has also just finished the fourth part (I believe) of his bible commentary on Revelation... and it is supposedly "incredible." So that's cool..
The fourth lecture was actually today and was given by a homosexual guy from Costa Rica. He told us his story- growing up knowing that he was gay but also wanting to be religious and having a relationship with God. He grew up Catholic and later became Pentecostal. He had some girlfriends but eventually had 'relations' with another guy during this same time and began to plan his suicide. A few months later he took (as he said) about 20 sleeping pills hoping to go to sleep and never wake up. He woke up in the hospital and evidently they put him on more sleeping medicine because he had 'overdosed from something'. After a week of being in a coma-like state, he was better and decided to confess to his pastor about being gay. He had an exorcism performed on him but a few days afterwards, he realized that nothing had changed. He felt he had to leave the church because it still was not accepting and after 8 years of being churchless, he felt that God wanted him to start a place for the LGBT community in Costa Rica. He currently runs a community type thing (I guess it's kind of a church?) that is open to all people and functions like a church. Also, he has been with his current male partner for 13~ years. Definitely an interesting and beneficial time.
Tomorrow we will have our 5th lecture over "An evangelical view on service and missions." The readings for this lecture were very anti-service/missions because of the long-term harm that is often caused. I'm more or less excited for the lecture though.
As for grammar, the class has been great. The profesora is very intelligent- I would say she definitely has more linguistic knowledge of English than any of us have. She's also a very good teacher. It's been a lot of fun and I feel like I've learned a lot just over the past week and a half.
Literature hasn't been bad either. The poetry has been really good although at times a bit hard to initially understand. Also, the work load is spread out really well so that I am not really under much stress. We have one 3-5 page paper due on Friday, another one due sometime during our internship, and then a like 5-6 page paper due at the very end of our internship.
As for my internship.... On Monday I will be taking a bus with one of my suitcases (leaving the other one at the LASP offices until we end the internship to come home) and traveling up to where ever it is I am going. As far as I know, I am going to be working on an organic farm. The family I will be with has a mother, father, daughter (19) and son (25). I'm a little anxious to meet them and settle in again but am obviously excited as well.
Peace!
Okay so, workload-wise, it's really relaxed. For 4 of the Faith & Integration sessions, we have had readings that take about 15 minutes long to do beforehand. Also for that class, we have had two 2~ page responses due (in Spanish) about the readings and our responses/analyses.
The first lecture we had was over the context in which Jesus lived. I had already learned the majority of the information that was given through my Old/New Testament classes at IWU and a book I never finished called Who is This Man, by John Ortberg. However, I enjoyed the session and gained some new insights about contextual evidence through parables. For example, in one parable Jesus describes a man that goes to the town to get workers and then keeps going back every hour throughout the day- in the end, he pays them all the same wage (the wage of a day's work). However, while the parable has a very strong point, we are able to see interesting contextual information through the fact that the vineyard owner was returning back to town throughout the day and there were laborers still looking for work. Dr. Irene Foulkes, who gave the lecture, explained that during this time, there was a labor crisis in the Roman empire which is why there would be people waiting around all day in hopes of finding some work. Anyway, I thought that was a cool nuance for reading the Bible's parables.
The second lecture was about liberation theology. As I understand it, liberation theology is essentially the theology that believes that poverty and major inequality are not God's will and that it's our job as Christians to fix the vast inequalities. And that we are called to have "incarnational" ministry, getting our hands dirty, just as Jesus did.
The third lecture was given by a white missionary that has been living as a missionary for over 60 years. He is a very well respected theologian (evidently), very well respected missionary, and very well respected professor. His story was awesome and the man is a character for sure. He's participated in some 'big' things and even told us that during a meeting with Fidel Castro, Fidel asked if any of them could explain their opinion on the book of revelation, of which John Stam had studied greatly. Dr. John Stam (or Dr. Juan Stam in Latin America) has acquired a very 'Latin American perspective' after living here for so long and he has seen some incredible things in his life. He has also just finished the fourth part (I believe) of his bible commentary on Revelation... and it is supposedly "incredible." So that's cool..
The fourth lecture was actually today and was given by a homosexual guy from Costa Rica. He told us his story- growing up knowing that he was gay but also wanting to be religious and having a relationship with God. He grew up Catholic and later became Pentecostal. He had some girlfriends but eventually had 'relations' with another guy during this same time and began to plan his suicide. A few months later he took (as he said) about 20 sleeping pills hoping to go to sleep and never wake up. He woke up in the hospital and evidently they put him on more sleeping medicine because he had 'overdosed from something'. After a week of being in a coma-like state, he was better and decided to confess to his pastor about being gay. He had an exorcism performed on him but a few days afterwards, he realized that nothing had changed. He felt he had to leave the church because it still was not accepting and after 8 years of being churchless, he felt that God wanted him to start a place for the LGBT community in Costa Rica. He currently runs a community type thing (I guess it's kind of a church?) that is open to all people and functions like a church. Also, he has been with his current male partner for 13~ years. Definitely an interesting and beneficial time.
Tomorrow we will have our 5th lecture over "An evangelical view on service and missions." The readings for this lecture were very anti-service/missions because of the long-term harm that is often caused. I'm more or less excited for the lecture though.
As for grammar, the class has been great. The profesora is very intelligent- I would say she definitely has more linguistic knowledge of English than any of us have. She's also a very good teacher. It's been a lot of fun and I feel like I've learned a lot just over the past week and a half.
Literature hasn't been bad either. The poetry has been really good although at times a bit hard to initially understand. Also, the work load is spread out really well so that I am not really under much stress. We have one 3-5 page paper due on Friday, another one due sometime during our internship, and then a like 5-6 page paper due at the very end of our internship.
As for my internship.... On Monday I will be taking a bus with one of my suitcases (leaving the other one at the LASP offices until we end the internship to come home) and traveling up to where ever it is I am going. As far as I know, I am going to be working on an organic farm. The family I will be with has a mother, father, daughter (19) and son (25). I'm a little anxious to meet them and settle in again but am obviously excited as well.
Peace!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Montezuma
My Spring break was spent in a place called Montezuma. Of the 7 people that I was with, two or three of them had been figuring out all the details. When it came to the specifics, I just was going with the flow and following their lead- I had no idea where or what Montezuma was until the day we headed there!
We took a few different buses and walked some good distances before reaching the ferry that would save us hours of travel (because Montezuma is on the bottom of a peninsula- in order to drive to it, you have to go far up north, then west, and then way south on a 6 or something hour drive)! The ferry was cool and was a 70 minutes trip... once we got to the peninsula, we had a 2 hour bus ride and then arrived at Montezuma.
This is how wikipedia describes Montezuma, "Montezuma is a town in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica which began as a remote fishing village and has gained popularity since the 1980s among tourists on a budget." So there you have it. It's a small little area with probably about 12 or so different restaurants, multiple hostiles, a grocery store, souvenir shops, etc. When we got there, we went to the closest hostile we could find and, when their pricing seemed good, we bought rooms for the night. It was $10 a night and the hostile had beds, free lockers that they give a key to, free wifi, and running water... and at night when it was really hot, they did have some fans... but if the power goes out, fans don't help much :p.
For dinner our first night most of us got typical Costa Rican cuisine. It was the cheapest thing we could find and we all were missing it after out 10 days in Nicaragua! On our first morning, we got breakfast from the grocery store (I had cereal with a little milk carton). After breakfast, we prepared PB&J's and then set off down the coast on a journey to a waterfall we heard of that flows directly into the ocean. Some people said it was 45 minutes away and others 2 hours, so we prepared for the worst.
That night we found large mango trees all around our hostile and, with the use of a huge bamboo stick like the one I found walking, we collected 20-30 smaller mangos and had an awesome, free dinner/snack!
On the second day, we went the other way down the beach, which was much more of a popular destination. After walking for only one hour during our first day expedition, there was little to no one in either direction. However, during the second day, we encountered many people as we made the 15~ minute walk to a group of nearby waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome and we spent a few hours jumping into the water beneath them- some jumped from on top.. not me though (I'm not that hardcore).
We took a few different buses and walked some good distances before reaching the ferry that would save us hours of travel (because Montezuma is on the bottom of a peninsula- in order to drive to it, you have to go far up north, then west, and then way south on a 6 or something hour drive)! The ferry was cool and was a 70 minutes trip... once we got to the peninsula, we had a 2 hour bus ride and then arrived at Montezuma.
This is how wikipedia describes Montezuma, "Montezuma is a town in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica which began as a remote fishing village and has gained popularity since the 1980s among tourists on a budget." So there you have it. It's a small little area with probably about 12 or so different restaurants, multiple hostiles, a grocery store, souvenir shops, etc. When we got there, we went to the closest hostile we could find and, when their pricing seemed good, we bought rooms for the night. It was $10 a night and the hostile had beds, free lockers that they give a key to, free wifi, and running water... and at night when it was really hot, they did have some fans... but if the power goes out, fans don't help much :p.
For dinner our first night most of us got typical Costa Rican cuisine. It was the cheapest thing we could find and we all were missing it after out 10 days in Nicaragua! On our first morning, we got breakfast from the grocery store (I had cereal with a little milk carton). After breakfast, we prepared PB&J's and then set off down the coast on a journey to a waterfall we heard of that flows directly into the ocean. Some people said it was 45 minutes away and others 2 hours, so we prepared for the worst.
The walk was fun and went for who knows how many miles.. with frequent breaks to explore the rock formations and scenery. At one point I found a large bamboo stick and enjoyed using it as a walking stick and a support as I crossed little ravines in the rocks we explored.
 |
| Up on rocks with my stick! |
After 2 or so hours of walking and exploring, we got to our destination.
We couldn't really go under the waterfall because there were huge rocks underneath it. However, we did find a path to climb up and could walk around above the waterfall. We ate lunch up near the trees that can kind of be seen in the second picture and then spent the rest of the afternoon making our way back to Montezuma.
That night we found large mango trees all around our hostile and, with the use of a huge bamboo stick like the one I found walking, we collected 20-30 smaller mangos and had an awesome, free dinner/snack!
On the second day, we went the other way down the beach, which was much more of a popular destination. After walking for only one hour during our first day expedition, there was little to no one in either direction. However, during the second day, we encountered many people as we made the 15~ minute walk to a group of nearby waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome and we spent a few hours jumping into the water beneath them- some jumped from on top.. not me though (I'm not that hardcore).
Actually getting to where they were standing (in the 2nd picture) was pretty freaky because you had to hug the wall and kind of rock climb across. I jumped once from where Bailey (in the green) was standing but didn't do anything more with this waterfall.. it kind of freaked me out.
You were not supposed to jump off of the first waterfall (seen in the pictures). However, many people jumped from the waterfall above the one seen here. It was about half this waterfall's size and the jump didn't require any momentum so it was much safer. Above that waterfall (the 2nd one) was an even smaller set of 2 little waterfalls plus a rope swing that went into the body of water.
You were not supposed to jump off of the first waterfall (seen in the pictures). However, many people jumped from the waterfall above the one seen here. It was about half this waterfall's size and the jump didn't require any momentum so it was much safer. Above that waterfall (the 2nd one) was an even smaller set of 2 little waterfalls plus a rope swing that went into the body of water.
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| This was the view from on top of the "Third" waterfall area |
and here is a picture of me swinging into the water.
After a good hunk of time at the falls, we went back towards where we explored the first day in hopes of building a shelter and finding a good place to sleep on the beach.
Only 45 minutes from the hostile, we set up on this "long beach." The sand was smooth and the beach was long and wide. Driftwood was everywhere along the tree line and we used it to construct an awesome little camp and sleeping site.
Only 45 minutes from the hostile, we set up on this "long beach." The sand was smooth and the beach was long and wide. Driftwood was everywhere along the tree line and we used it to construct an awesome little camp and sleeping site.
We got a fire started and had a good fortress set up behind the fire area to sleep behind so that if the tide rose more than we expected, it would be stopped. It was beautiful and we were all euphoric. Then out of the blue some random lady showed up and pooped on our party. She explained to us that the beach is protected because of sea turtle hatcheries and that we needed to put out our fire and leave (in nicer terms).
In the dusk we walked back towards our hostile and eventually found a small little area where there had seemed to have been a campfire set up recently. In the dark we worked to get a fire started to cook our hotdogs we'd had with us. Once the fire got started, things went smooth. Except that hotdogs here have plastic covering them which we didn't know until I discovered really hot plastic on the hotdog I was trying to eat!
We all spent some time laying down in the sand with our heads on the sheet that Katey brought staring at the stars, sharing whatever pieces of astronomy knowledge we had, and trying to spot as many shooting stars as possible. At one point, we saw headlights coming directly for us and for some stupid reason we all thought we were going to get run over (it was a good distance away) and we ran behind the tree and ducked down in the leaves. We looked super sketchy and quickly realized how idiotic we look... and then went back to stargazing.
Sleeping on the beach was tough. I had brought my really thin and poor quality towel that I purchased just for Nicaragua (because I could fit it in my backpack) and I slept curled up on it. I woke up about every 45 minutes to switch sides because my neck would be cramping up and just about every time I would get up, I could see some of my friends sitting up because they were struggling as well. Also, there were little hermit crabs all over the beaches... they made me a little paranoid at night but during they day, they were awesome.
thats me sleeping on the left!
I forgot to mention that we had a hermit crab race during our first day expedition.. it was hilarious and awesome and my little guy finished in 2nd place behind the winner by seriously a millisecond.
Me and the other Kyle got breakfast with the group that morning and then left for home through pretty much the same route we came. The rest of the group stayed another day, went to a national park a good ways away and then slept on the beach again.
It was an awesome Spring break but I was relieved to get back and stop living out of a backpack.
And as always, there's more I could tell but just not enough time or attention span in the world to do that right now.
Thanks
Me and the other Kyle got breakfast with the group that morning and then left for home through pretty much the same route we came. The rest of the group stayed another day, went to a national park a good ways away and then slept on the beach again.
It was an awesome Spring break but I was relieved to get back and stop living out of a backpack.
And as always, there's more I could tell but just not enough time or attention span in the world to do that right now.
Thanks
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Nicaragua Pt. 2
So, me and 3 girls in the program got brought to our community (like every other group of students did). However, unlike all the other students, my group of 4 was staying in the same house together. The girls had a room with 3 beds on the first floor and I slept on a bed upstairs with Lenny (an 18 year old and also the oldest 'kid' of those living with us). The house was, compared to neighboring houses, very nice. It had a pretty fancyish dining room area and multiple rooms that seemed like they had been added on over time. I think there are normally 3 families that live there (all relatives) but it also seemed to me that one or two of the families slept in a different house at night and during the day spent their free time at the house we stayed at. They had 7 parrots, 3 of which were the type that could kinda talk.. one of them was only a year old and would always be playing with his bowl in his cage- picking it up with his feet and rolling around with it while on his back.. and he would also lightly bite and lick anything you poked into the cage. I wanted to be friends with it... Also, I'm pretty sure the other parrots bit pretty hard (so the family told me) and I wasn't really willing to find out. The 4 that didn't talk chirped pretty loudly.. constantly :p. We had running water during the daylight and buckets to collect water and use when there wasn't running water, which was really convenient considering many students didn't have any running water. Also, the food was in giant proportions and was, for the most part, really good.
The family/families that we stayed with were super friendly and caring and there were 4 younger kids 2, 5, 6, and 10 that we spent a lot of time with. One of the other students brought uno (the card game) and I had a blast playing it with one of the host fathers and host mother who was also the pastor of the church down the street. As I understand it, all of the students were staying with people affiliated with the Hermanos en Cristo church (brothers in Christ) and most communities had a pastor doing the home stay thing.
When we went to church the first night we were there, we had to sing a song- luckily Lilly (the pastora) was able to find a guitar for me to use and so me and the other students stumbled through an English rendition of Open The Eyes of my Heart. I definitely didn't know the chords as well as I thought I did but eh.. it went alright. Later in the week we played another song for the church in Spanish called Señor te Exalto... and for that one I made sure I knew the chords and lyrics. The pastora preached fiery sermons, getting into points where she was yelling and the small congregation was "amening" and stuff- it was cool that I could actually follow the majority of what she was saying! I enjoyed the church services. They contained a lot of a capella singing with clapping, some scripture read, a time for testimony/sharing, and a sermon.
One of my favorite experiences in Nicaragua, and this is kind of dumb, was getting to stand in the back of a camioneta (pickup truck) while we drove around Managua. I was hanging on and felt safe and secure, in case you were nervous for me. I think I liked it so much because Managua is just a really pretty city at night and riding fast in the back of a pickup truck while standing up is just awesome. Also, I'm not sure why but, maybe for positive publicity, the streets in the city have tons of multicolored Christmas lights up all year long and huge Christmas lights cones shaped to look like trees at many of their roundabouts. Really cool at night!
Another fun time was when our family drove us about an hour away to visit a family farm. There were fresh mandarins and coconuts and I got to drink fresh coconut water and then eat the white 'meat' inside... I also tried a fruit that was redish pinkish, had a dry seed in the middle (like a plum), and tasted legitimately like the smell of a flower.. it was kind of bizarre.. but I liked it, haha! I am amazed by how many fruits I've never heard of that are eaten in Nicaragua!
Leaving the family was pretty sad- and they were all especially torn up. We took a bus to the historic city of Granada with Lenny (the 19 y/o), Estrella (the 2 y/o) and Látima (technically my mom for the 5 days) and they helped us find our Hotel.
Once we got to the Hotel, we said goodbye to the last of our family and said hello to all of our friends who were also getting back from their home stays. I realized after only a few conversations with other students that my home stay was substantially more comfortable and 'easy.' One girl described her outdoor 'hole in the ground' toilet as being filled with huge cockroaches at night. She also mentioned that as she lay in bed at night she could hear rats running around on her roof and sometimes entering through the window.
During our 2 days in Granada we explored the city and took a short boat tour around a small part of the huge Lake Nicaragua (2nd biggest lake in Latin America I believe). The Lake has over 300 little islands, many of which are for sale, and we rode past many of them while our boat driver told us their value (one fancier one was ~2 million). We also stopped by a little island that is home to 4 monkeys. Our driver, using a piece of granola bar, got one to come onto our boat. I was super apprehensive because wild monkeys are just that.. wild monkeys. It kinda scrounged around our boat looking for more food and when one girl tried to take back her camera that it was inspecting, the monkey through it to the ground and screamed. Eventually we got close to the island again and it left. I was relieved... no one got their face ripped and bitten by a wild monkey!
After getting to know Granada for 2 days, we left early in the morning to head back to Costa Rica and begin our Spring Break. With 7 other students, the bus dropped us off in Puntarenas Costa Rica while we made our way back to San Jose. Trevor, one of the LASP professors, essentially told us to be safe and get back to San Jose in time for class on Tuesday, and then the bus left...
I'll talk about Spring Break in the next post.
Today, however, I began 9 days of Language and Literature study. Every day I will have 2 hours of grammar/language practice with 6 other students, literature reading assignments, and also a faith integration seminar 4 times over the next 2 weeks. It seems like the work load should be manageable. After these 9 days, we will go to 4 weeks of home stay/internships during which I will have to write 2 more papers for the Language and Literature class- still not a very heavy load though.
Peace!
The family/families that we stayed with were super friendly and caring and there were 4 younger kids 2, 5, 6, and 10 that we spent a lot of time with. One of the other students brought uno (the card game) and I had a blast playing it with one of the host fathers and host mother who was also the pastor of the church down the street. As I understand it, all of the students were staying with people affiliated with the Hermanos en Cristo church (brothers in Christ) and most communities had a pastor doing the home stay thing.
When we went to church the first night we were there, we had to sing a song- luckily Lilly (the pastora) was able to find a guitar for me to use and so me and the other students stumbled through an English rendition of Open The Eyes of my Heart. I definitely didn't know the chords as well as I thought I did but eh.. it went alright. Later in the week we played another song for the church in Spanish called Señor te Exalto... and for that one I made sure I knew the chords and lyrics. The pastora preached fiery sermons, getting into points where she was yelling and the small congregation was "amening" and stuff- it was cool that I could actually follow the majority of what she was saying! I enjoyed the church services. They contained a lot of a capella singing with clapping, some scripture read, a time for testimony/sharing, and a sermon.
One of my favorite experiences in Nicaragua, and this is kind of dumb, was getting to stand in the back of a camioneta (pickup truck) while we drove around Managua. I was hanging on and felt safe and secure, in case you were nervous for me. I think I liked it so much because Managua is just a really pretty city at night and riding fast in the back of a pickup truck while standing up is just awesome. Also, I'm not sure why but, maybe for positive publicity, the streets in the city have tons of multicolored Christmas lights up all year long and huge Christmas lights cones shaped to look like trees at many of their roundabouts. Really cool at night!
Another fun time was when our family drove us about an hour away to visit a family farm. There were fresh mandarins and coconuts and I got to drink fresh coconut water and then eat the white 'meat' inside... I also tried a fruit that was redish pinkish, had a dry seed in the middle (like a plum), and tasted legitimately like the smell of a flower.. it was kind of bizarre.. but I liked it, haha! I am amazed by how many fruits I've never heard of that are eaten in Nicaragua!
Leaving the family was pretty sad- and they were all especially torn up. We took a bus to the historic city of Granada with Lenny (the 19 y/o), Estrella (the 2 y/o) and Látima (technically my mom for the 5 days) and they helped us find our Hotel.
Once we got to the Hotel, we said goodbye to the last of our family and said hello to all of our friends who were also getting back from their home stays. I realized after only a few conversations with other students that my home stay was substantially more comfortable and 'easy.' One girl described her outdoor 'hole in the ground' toilet as being filled with huge cockroaches at night. She also mentioned that as she lay in bed at night she could hear rats running around on her roof and sometimes entering through the window.
During our 2 days in Granada we explored the city and took a short boat tour around a small part of the huge Lake Nicaragua (2nd biggest lake in Latin America I believe). The Lake has over 300 little islands, many of which are for sale, and we rode past many of them while our boat driver told us their value (one fancier one was ~2 million). We also stopped by a little island that is home to 4 monkeys. Our driver, using a piece of granola bar, got one to come onto our boat. I was super apprehensive because wild monkeys are just that.. wild monkeys. It kinda scrounged around our boat looking for more food and when one girl tried to take back her camera that it was inspecting, the monkey through it to the ground and screamed. Eventually we got close to the island again and it left. I was relieved... no one got their face ripped and bitten by a wild monkey!
After getting to know Granada for 2 days, we left early in the morning to head back to Costa Rica and begin our Spring Break. With 7 other students, the bus dropped us off in Puntarenas Costa Rica while we made our way back to San Jose. Trevor, one of the LASP professors, essentially told us to be safe and get back to San Jose in time for class on Tuesday, and then the bus left...
I'll talk about Spring Break in the next post.
Today, however, I began 9 days of Language and Literature study. Every day I will have 2 hours of grammar/language practice with 6 other students, literature reading assignments, and also a faith integration seminar 4 times over the next 2 weeks. It seems like the work load should be manageable. After these 9 days, we will go to 4 weeks of home stay/internships during which I will have to write 2 more papers for the Language and Literature class- still not a very heavy load though.
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| Some of the coconuts we drank/ate from |
Monday, March 11, 2013
Nicaragua Pt.1
So, because I have been gone for so long, I am going to split my trip into multiple posts.. mostly because I don't feel like writing out that much.
We left for Nicaragua early in the early in the morning.. and all we could take were our backpacks (and I guess whatever you could hold in your hands). Passing through the boarder was really easy.. because we were an American group, I think we got the privilege of not even having our bags and stuff checked- on the Nicaragua side, we had all our passports checked/stamped at the same time and then some guy called our name and handed them back to us. Easy peasy. When we got to the city of Managua, we stayed at a compound that's associated with some mission organization and often has groups staying there. We got dinner at a respected diner and chilled/played games that night.
Over the next 2 days, we traveled around Managua a bit, visiting interesting historic sites and stuff, and had some charlas (talks/presentations). The most memorable charla occurred in a trash dump. They tried to be really nonchalant about where we were going.. "to hear from a pastor in a place that's 'kind of dusty', so wear shoes." When we were getting towards a part of town with lots of trash around, I assumed where we were going, and was correct. We drove past a large recycling plant with garbage trucks driving around and tons of manual laborers visibly sorting through garbage on a conveyor belt. Shortly after, we pulled up by two little shantyish buildings down the hill where the garbage trucks were headed. One of the buildings was an abandoned church in which we were told by a very bright eyed and passionate young woman about the call she believed God gave her. Essentially, in the late 90's she was watching a show talking about people that live in trash dumps- surviving off the trash, without education opportunities, in hunger and in pain, and addicted to drugs. She consoled herself by saying that what she was watching must have been from Africa.. however, it wasn't. She heard God call her to the trash dump that she hadn't known existed, only a few minutes from her home. Over the next 20 years she brought many people to faith in Christ which brought about a church, school, and feeding program to the trash dump commnity. Within the last few years, the government provided government housing and, with the help of all the people working together and some American donor(s), they were able to build a school/church in the place that they were being forced to move to. Many of the parents now work at recycling plant now.
So, after she explained her awesome story, we took our bus through the dump to the town (still in construction) less than a mile away. On our way there, our Nicaraguan bus driver was blaring American hip hop music (Applebottom Jeans by Nelly) and I was seriously awestruck. Here we are, driving through a trash dump where only a few months ago kids were searching for food amongst the garbage- and families were living in little shelters made of rubble and trash... and as we sit in the bus, we are being hit by American hip hop music. Even weirder, the school bus had a TV screen in it, so we weren't just hearing the music, we were seeing the music video! So, this picture of vanity and consumerism was being visually and audibly blasted at us as we drove through this trash dump- and in this moment, I was forced to reconcile with the fact that both realities exist in the same world. The trash dump is still there today and it will still be there when I am back in the United States... and although there aren't families living in it, I still have to accept the fact that even when I am comfortable in the U.S. thinking about purchasing a nice pair of applebottom jeans, there are kids and adults around the world scrounging through trash looking for anything edible that they can find. It's not a fun reality to have in my mind but I feel better off facing it than forgetting it.
This same kind of contrast was visible in that my host family (and the other host families) often watched TV that seemed to display a standard of living and 'reality' that they will never in their lives feel. Maybe for them the realities of TV seem like separate and unattainable realities, just like they often do for us? In the same way that we can leave an impoverished place/people and go back to living a consumerist lifestyle, maybe these people can watch a show depicting a glamorous and surreal lifestyle and have no problem with it. Who knows.. but the fact that there are little Nicaraguan kids watching the same Disney channel shows that our 'kids' are watching still stands and is just strange to fathom.
Anyway... on our 3rd day in Nicaragua we met our families... and I guess I'll end this post there! I'll talk about all the home stay in my next post.. Hopefully i'll get these going every day.
And tomorrow/today I start my language/lit class!
We left for Nicaragua early in the early in the morning.. and all we could take were our backpacks (and I guess whatever you could hold in your hands). Passing through the boarder was really easy.. because we were an American group, I think we got the privilege of not even having our bags and stuff checked- on the Nicaragua side, we had all our passports checked/stamped at the same time and then some guy called our name and handed them back to us. Easy peasy. When we got to the city of Managua, we stayed at a compound that's associated with some mission organization and often has groups staying there. We got dinner at a respected diner and chilled/played games that night.
Over the next 2 days, we traveled around Managua a bit, visiting interesting historic sites and stuff, and had some charlas (talks/presentations). The most memorable charla occurred in a trash dump. They tried to be really nonchalant about where we were going.. "to hear from a pastor in a place that's 'kind of dusty', so wear shoes." When we were getting towards a part of town with lots of trash around, I assumed where we were going, and was correct. We drove past a large recycling plant with garbage trucks driving around and tons of manual laborers visibly sorting through garbage on a conveyor belt. Shortly after, we pulled up by two little shantyish buildings down the hill where the garbage trucks were headed. One of the buildings was an abandoned church in which we were told by a very bright eyed and passionate young woman about the call she believed God gave her. Essentially, in the late 90's she was watching a show talking about people that live in trash dumps- surviving off the trash, without education opportunities, in hunger and in pain, and addicted to drugs. She consoled herself by saying that what she was watching must have been from Africa.. however, it wasn't. She heard God call her to the trash dump that she hadn't known existed, only a few minutes from her home. Over the next 20 years she brought many people to faith in Christ which brought about a church, school, and feeding program to the trash dump commnity. Within the last few years, the government provided government housing and, with the help of all the people working together and some American donor(s), they were able to build a school/church in the place that they were being forced to move to. Many of the parents now work at recycling plant now.
So, after she explained her awesome story, we took our bus through the dump to the town (still in construction) less than a mile away. On our way there, our Nicaraguan bus driver was blaring American hip hop music (Applebottom Jeans by Nelly) and I was seriously awestruck. Here we are, driving through a trash dump where only a few months ago kids were searching for food amongst the garbage- and families were living in little shelters made of rubble and trash... and as we sit in the bus, we are being hit by American hip hop music. Even weirder, the school bus had a TV screen in it, so we weren't just hearing the music, we were seeing the music video! So, this picture of vanity and consumerism was being visually and audibly blasted at us as we drove through this trash dump- and in this moment, I was forced to reconcile with the fact that both realities exist in the same world. The trash dump is still there today and it will still be there when I am back in the United States... and although there aren't families living in it, I still have to accept the fact that even when I am comfortable in the U.S. thinking about purchasing a nice pair of applebottom jeans, there are kids and adults around the world scrounging through trash looking for anything edible that they can find. It's not a fun reality to have in my mind but I feel better off facing it than forgetting it.
This same kind of contrast was visible in that my host family (and the other host families) often watched TV that seemed to display a standard of living and 'reality' that they will never in their lives feel. Maybe for them the realities of TV seem like separate and unattainable realities, just like they often do for us? In the same way that we can leave an impoverished place/people and go back to living a consumerist lifestyle, maybe these people can watch a show depicting a glamorous and surreal lifestyle and have no problem with it. Who knows.. but the fact that there are little Nicaraguan kids watching the same Disney channel shows that our 'kids' are watching still stands and is just strange to fathom.
Anyway... on our 3rd day in Nicaragua we met our families... and I guess I'll end this post there! I'll talk about all the home stay in my next post.. Hopefully i'll get these going every day.
And tomorrow/today I start my language/lit class!
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