I Walked to the Lake...the Bike Walked with Me

(10 points to whomever can place the quote that inspired the title of this blog...)

Well, it’s been a big week, full of new friends and exciting experiences. Would you like to hear about it? Too bad, I’m going to tell you anyway. We worked in the clinic Monday through Thursday. I asked Cecilia on Monday if Rebecca and I could work in separate sections of the clinic for the remainder of the week. We both felt it would be more beneficial for our language acquisition to avoid being around people who spoke only English...namely, each other. On Tuesday and part of Wednesday, I helped out in the office area, filing patient records and re-writing some of the labels that were illegible. Some of them were so bad that Olivia (one of the secretaries) and Cecilia couldn’t read them either. In addition to meeting Olivia, I also met Thelma, who is another volunteer. Since they both speak only Spanish, I had a great time conversing with them.

The other part of Wednesday and Thursday, I was back in the pharmacy again with Rebecca. They’re really pushing to get the medicines organized, because they will get a new shipment soon. Cecilia has said again, though, that next week she’ll show us both how to do the weight, blood pressure, and blood tests, so that we can help with some of the patients.

As much as we enjoy the people at the pharmacy and appreciate the help we’re able to offer, we’ve realized that we really need more interaction. After some brainstorming, we stopped by the Spanish school to talk with Angelica about the volunteer opportunities the school advertises. I was thrilled to discover that there is a free learning center about a 30 minutes walk from where we live. This center is primarily targeted at poor children who need additional help. They go there for lessons in reading, English, math, dancing, cooking, sewing, etc. etc. The children’s sewing work is displayed and for sale, the proceeds of which go to the child who made them, which I think is great!

The director of the school said their greatest need was in the area of English. I think she just said that because she saw two English-speaking girls and knew we’d be great help with pronunciation. I was skeptical at first, but they assured me that we would interact in Spanish. The only English would be the specific words the children were learning and helping them with pronunciation. So, the arrangement is for me to help in English the first week while Rebecca helps in math. Then we’ll switch for the second week. We can only get there for the final 90-minute class of the day, but I think the director was really excited to learn that we would be able to volunteer for 4 weeks. I gather it’s unusual for them to get volunteers that long. We start on Monday.

In addition to the exciting new volunteer opportunity, we unexpectedly made a new friend in the neighborhood as well. On our way home from the park one day, we decided we really wanted sodas. So, we stopped in at a local convenience store and bought a couple of drinks, forgetting that drinks in the glass bottles have to be consumed at the store itself. We sat down and after a couple of minutes, the lady at the counter started chatting with us (in Spanish of course). We conversed for a little bit, and have stopped by since to say hello. We’re now hoping to stop there periodically for drinks and conversation.

Another person we’ve developed a friendship with is Dali, who is another student. You may remember our attempt to socialize last Friday night with a group from the school. Dali is the one I identified as French. Well, he’s actually Swiss, but he speaks French. He paid for our taxi ride home that night because he felt it would be too dangerous for us to walk...he’s very thoughtful. Anyway, he hangs out at the school a lot so we ran into him one day and he asked if we wanted to go to a nearby cafe. We ended up getting ice cream, coffee, and fruit smoothies. He doesn’t speak English (or hasn’t let on that he does anyway), so we communicate in Spanish, which is great. Grammatically, we probably know (or remember) more than he does, but he’s such an outgoing person that he just communicates with everyone. So he understands quite a bit, and hanging out with him has definitely loosened us up in our willingness to just “out with it” whether we really know exactly how to say it or not. Wednesday night we went out for mojitos with him and his friend, Norlan (who is Nicaraguan). We also met another friend of Dali’s, a 14-year-old local boy who has grown quite attached to him. He sat at the table with us and we learned all about his 15-year-old wife in Managua and their 3 kids... :) He’s quite a character!

Dali invited us out to Cafe Nuit on Friday night and we ended up staying out until 1:30 in the morning. It’s a great atmosphere, and Rebecca “wowed” everyone once again with her dancing. At one point she even participated in a “threesome,” being twirled and whirled by two guys! We had told Susanna that we wouldn’t be eating breakfast the next morning because we wanted to sleep in, which I am proud to say we did. I personally slept until 9:30. I really thought I’d end up waking up at 7 and not be able to get back to sleep, so 9:30 was quite an accomplishment.

We had lunch a little early and then met Dali and Angelica again. The four of us rented bicycles and biked out to Laguna de Apoyo. On the way there, we were witnesses to a poor cow being chased by a small herd of dogs, which was slightly amusing for us...less so for the cow. Of course, on the way back, I was chased by a dog, and ended up feeling a certain empathy for the cow. I managed to nearly kill myself on the way to the Laguna, because it was in the middle of the afternoon, hot, humid, and mostly uphill. Also, we hadn’t brought nearly enough water. Once we arrived, we had a bit of a hike down to the Laguna, where we all rushed to jump in. Because we biked and hiked, this particular beach, or cove, is rather secluded. We were the only ones there, which made it really fun and a different experience than last time. In spite of the fact that I was worried I’d have to turn back early on, I was really glad we made it. The hike back up was a bit strenuous, but riding the bike back downhill was great. I liked that part a lot... :) Dali invited us to go out again Saturday night, but we were so exhausted. We ate dinner, showered, then climbed into bed and crashed!

After breakfast on Sunday morning, we went to a club where Uncle Gerard is a member. He had arranged for us to get temporary membership cards, so we spent about an hour there. It was a really nice atmosphere for relaxing and a little studying. The only other errand of the day was stopping at the big supermarket, where we got a cappuccino before heading home for lunch. We’ve had a long, entertaining weekend, and are now ready for a busy week of volunteering (and hopefully lots of Spanish speaking)!!!