Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua

Currently I am in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.  We have three volunteers there and they are working at a Catholic school and a school for kids with disabilities.  The school for kids with disabilities is the only one in the town.  The town is right on the Caribbean Ocean and the place where I am staying overlooks the ocean. 

I am not sure how large the town is, but pretty much everything you would need is in walking distance.  There is an outdoor market that can be accessed in the day.  The town is very mutlicultural, but the predominate people and language is Miskto.  After Miskto, most people speak Spanish.

One of the interesting things about this town is that after World War II there was a pretty large migration of Chinese people to the town.  They came by boat and set up businesses.  Many people intermarried and I have met numerous people with the last name of Chow.  Some of the folks look more Chinese than others, but the langauge was not carried on.    I am told that after the Sandista revolution, many of the Chinese people left the town because they were afraid that they would no longer be able to operate their businesses.  The people still have remenants of the culture in some of the food and decorations, and of course the last names. 

Life here is much slower than in the U.S. and things happen, usually, within half a hour of when they are scheduled.  I have mostly been spending time with the volunteers and meeting with the directors of the schools. 

Overall it has been a good visit and I have been able to obtain a better understanding of the work here and of the volunteers.  Tomorrow I return to Managua, Nicaragua to meet with the volunteers there…

Thanks for journey with me!

right here, right now.

One of the things I have been working on is being present.  I have been living a lot both past and future, but not so good about being in the present.  The other challenge has been to be present in a way that believes that my life is real.  I think because I have been traveling so much (a week in Panama, two weeks in Granada, half a week in Puerto Cabezas, half a week somewhere in the south Atlantic area of Nicaragua, a few days here and there in Managua) and the familiarity and unfamiliarity of Nicaragua.  Or maybe it’s just my inability to be present…poco a poco.

Nicaragua feels like a familiar unfamiliar place.  The weather, the markets, and way of living, reminds of the a mixture of where my grandma lives and the rural areas of Taiwan.  Obviously, the culture, the people, the housing, etc. is completely different, but there is a bit of similarity that exisits.

My daily life, for the last couple of weeks: study 6:30-7:30, breakfast at 7:30, class at 8:00-12:00, lunch 12:00-1:00, teach math in spanish or play games with junior high/high schoolers from 1-3, study/do work for work from 3-6, teach English from 6-7:30, eat dinner 7ish-8, hang out with the family I am staying with for half an hour or an hour.  Go to sleep around 9:30-10.

I’ve been learning a lot, both about myself and in speaking Spanish.  Thankfully, it is starting to come back a little by little.  I need to learn alot more vocabulary and memorize the grammer, but it’s good to know that I did learn a bit in college.

Apart from school, this past weekend I ran around a lot.  Went out on Thursday night with one of the women in the homestay I am at, climbed volcano Monbacho, visited an old crater of a volcano that is now a lake called Laguna Apoyo, and visited briefly a small town called Masaya that is located next to an active volcano.

So as it is, lots happening and on the surface it all sounds amazing and it definitely is, but sometimes I am still lost.  The key to it all, I think is to be present.  To a degree I am here, but to a degree I am in the U.S. thinking about things that have happened, what it means to have a home, and how to be at home whereever I am.  Thinking about people at home and trying to balance myself.   So this is the story right now of my life.  Poco a poco.

Thanks for journeying with me.

¿Que es bueno?

About 6 years ago, a group of women and I started sending out ´what´s good emails.´ Often times we don´t focus enough on the good things and sometimes people have a hard time accepting the good in each other´s lives.  So I wanted a space where I can share joy.  Since we begin with maybe 5 or 6 women, the group has expanded with each woman coming in and bringing in her community and her good people.  The group now has about 40 people from liberal to conservative from Alaska to Kyrgyzstan from early 20s to mind 90s.  Below is the what´s good that I sent out today and wanted to share with you.  If you so choose, and would like to share you´re what´s goods on this post, I would love to receive them.  Thank you for bringing good into my life.

What´s Good…
Seeing the small things and working on being famous like a buttonhook-not because I did anything special, but because I never forgot what I could do                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     greeness of this place, the rain and the sun.  the banana trees, people of many hues and colors, walking
Learning that love does not mean that you have be in contact and just know love of the other without expecting nothing in return for self        Learning to love in a way that wants only home and joy for the other
Being in Panama and feeling at home in the heat and the must, feeling my skin relax
Seeing and hearing about friends accomplishing their dreams in ways that they never would have expected and feeling an overwhelmeing sense of  pride and joy
Watching and participating in other people´s conflicts move from confrontation to healing
Having someone ask how i am doing and remind me to take care of myself and then taking care of me
Knowing that change is possible and seeing a 73 year old friar change and shift.insipriing me to change and shift
Practicing vipassana again
Step by step bit by bit day by day
Singing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God in Spanish
Communion, Eucharist, and community prayer
Figuring out the best way to rest                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Speaking in Spanish, however broken
Finding home inside myself

Today. You. God. Me. Today.

Chinese food y papas fritas

yesterday I had my first Chinese food with French fries. They had cafteria style tables and glass bottles of coke. The options for what went with the western style ‘ chinese’ food, as you would get at magic wok and the like, were: white rice, noodles, fried rice , and French fries. I like French fries and all the rest of the folks I was with ordered it. So I did too. Sadly I did not have a camera with me to show you, but basically, it is the same as any other Chinese food and you have it over French fries. … I wonder what other straches that people eat with Chinese food…

In Panama!

Mira!  Dos posts in dos dias!  amazing   I´m in Panama.  New discovery for today:  living tree fences!  There is a type of tree where you can cut the brances and plant them and then they will grow.  So then you have your fences in a straight line, made from branches/trees and then you can grow trees.

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/jdhermann/2/1205341320/imgp1583.jpg/tpod.html

Too Day

Every day is a new adventure.  Today is preparation.  Tomorrow I will be going to Panama and Nicaragua for a month.  I am told that the place in the body that is for nervous and excitement are the same, I am not sure which one I am feeling… probably both.

I will try to be more prompt in sharing reflections on this trip as I would like to walk with you on it.  Here we go!