Marzo!

A sunset from my front porch :) Some of my favorite memories here come from my times spent on our front porch..

Hogar Belen

In recent times at Hogar Belen we have had some staff changes. Our last supervisor was from Jamaica, and returned in March to work at a children´s home there. Our new supervisor is Nicaraguan, and I am really enjoying her presence at the center. There was also a psychologist recently added to our staff. She too is from Nicaragua, in her late 20`s, and has spent the last few years working at another children´s home. She has many ideas when it comes to working with the kids. Yelba (the psychologist) and I not only spend time working together, but also eat lunch and do the walk back to Santo Domingo together in the evening. (Hogar Belen is actually located in a village called San Antonio, and is about a 25 minute walk to where I live and where Yelba takes the bus to her home). In addition to learning from and sharing ideas, I am enjoying new friendship as well.

Semana Santa

My sister, Ruth, after some time in the waves :)

This month was the celebration of Holy Week. Holy Week has some traditions here. There are some traditional foods that are prepared during this week. One is Mivel- a sweet dessert of fruits (papaya, mango, jocotes) cooked over fire with honey and sugar. It is typically served with a corn-based drink called pinolio. It is also traditional for people here to make dishes with fish. At my house we had fish soup with fried fish.

Another tradition for this week is a trip to the ocean. I don`t know how this became a tradition for Holy Week, but it is quite popular. Some people goes as far as to camp out on the beach for the week. My family went to one of the well known beaches, San Juan del Sur, the Saturday before Easter. I was pretty hesitant about the trip because I knew the beach would be packed, and we had to get up at 3:00 am to take the bus there, spend the morning and afternoon, and take another long bus ride back for the evening. But we honestly had a great time. The ocean was beautiful, the waves were huge, and it was yet another great bonding experience with my family.

The next morning we had a sun-rise service at 4am. Again, I was skeptical about this being a positive experience, but there was something special about gathering together at this time to honor the day.

My New Chore

I like to try and give small tid-bits from everyday life, because I think it helps to illustrate my experience here more wholistically than just the large events from each month. So here is a description of my latest household chore.

As we are in the dry season here, we only get water at the house during specific times. The water typically comes on arund 10 at night (we hope), and is off again before 6 in the morning. In order to have water for the day to bathe with, wash clothes, dishes, cook with , flush the toilet, wash hands, etc. etc., we fill large barrels, buckets, pans, and even down to two liter pop bottles with water each night. I have been designated Friday nights to do the filling. It is quite a long process and I am typically up until at least 2 in the morning Friday nights, outside with the hose, filling barrels.

I don't mean this to complain, because I am well aware that in many places in Nicaragua people have no access to water in their homes. They walk distances, carrying the water that they need each day. Clean water directly to our house, at whatever hours it might be is a blessing. I admit though that at 2 am on Friday nights, I often have to remind myself of this several times. :)

Jorgito
This month there was an addition to my family. Jorge Jr. was born to my host brother Jorge and his wife Raquel. Our entire family was at the hospital the day he was to be born. In events like this I am able to see how I have become a part of the family. There was no question that I too would go to the hospital for the birth of my "nephew," and I felt that I truly shared in the excitement and anticipation.

Jorge had some complications when he was born, but thankfully he was able to leave the hospital after several days. Jorge, Raquel, their son Huberni (7 yrs.), and little Jorgito stayed at our house for a little over a week. That means that there were nine people staying in our little house (I'm still not sure how we did that), which was very different. I spent a lot of time entertaining Huberni. I really did enjoy the atmosphere of a gigantic family for this amount of time, but I was relieved that this was not a long term situation..

(Huberni, spending some serious time with my headphones :)

(Jorgito's very first bath)

Until next time...:)