On the ground, making it work

We arrived in Managua in the wee hours of Monday. We had a TON of luggage for the 11 members of the team because we brought so much with us. Sherri is a one-woman team to help local women learn how to sew and bake but she also had baking pans of various types plus material for sewing plus I don't even know other than she had three huge suitcases.

As we waited in the airport, she explained how she was going to have the men help her build reflector ovens using tin so she could show the women how to bake using the ovens. Not for camping or "roughing it," but because of the conditions in which they live. Survive.

Yesterday was a planning day for the teaching team. Turns out it was some sort of holiday so no school. That meant the sports team had about 150 kids--half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The morning was rainy but it cleared up in the afternoon with an nice breeze much of the day. We hardly knew it was in the upper 80s.

We're at the Villa Esperanza for planning and meals. We'll be teaching here next week, but this week we're off to Nueva Vida, and that's all I know about that so pictures to come.

I was grateful we had the planning day yesterday. We would have been a mess without it, but we were able to lay out the rest of the week with some great brainstorming.  We worked in our glassed-in space, listening to the bird shriek and call around us.

I walked the property a few times. It's behind high walls with barbed wire rolled across the top of the walls. That's for protection of people and property. It's patrolled at night by men and dogs, though I've met the dogs: Lucy, Blacky, and Rosie. The dogs don't speak English, but a nice rump or belly scratch is the same in any language.

We're eating well. Fresh (!!) fruit for nearly every meal. Pineapple, mango, watermelon. Yummy. Lots of rice and beans, but they're doing a great job and cooking for the Norte Americanos.


At this point the hardest part is sleeping and not just because it's hot, humid, and we have only fans though we have windows on two walls. We have dorm arrangements so there are 5 women in a room with 6 bunk beds. I didn't move fast enough and have an upper bunk. The bunk beds are homemade and the ladders are not quite built for adults with a long first (or last) step and the hand rails that aren't quite high enough. I should pretty adept at the end of the two weeks. I hope.

Today we go to work. We'll be traveling by bus to wherever we're going. We first heard there would be about 30 teachers, then before we left last night the number was up to 52. So we'll see, and we'll go with whatever. The teachers are hungry for any kind of professional development so this is going to be exhausting and exciting, especially working with a translator. Ah yes, the adventure continues.