Heating Up

So Semana Santa is right around the corner. That means mangos are ripening and the temperature is rising and rising. In the next two months, prior to the start of the rainy season, the temp in Managua will often rise about 100ºF. I can already start to feel it. I know on my blog today it said something like 90º and that has to be wrong. It feels much hotter.
Everything here is just coasting along. I´m into a rhythm at school. I cherish my weekends which are used for chores, cold beer, catching up on email, and sitting around relaxing. One place I´ve found really relaxing is sitting on the stoop of our house. Jenna caught a picture of me without me realizing. I like how it caught some of our local artwork on the wall across the street.


Well, that´s about all I´ve got for now. La Paz.

Solidarity...wow

Well, it sure has been longer than I had planned between blog entries. So it goes.
This is going to be something of a shotgun blog entry. I have so much on my mind. So much has happened in the past couple weeks that I feel completely discombobulated and also the need to write.
Work has its ups and downs. Mondays and Tuesdays are still incredibly difficult for me. Sometimes in the midst of my days I am reminded of Winston Churchill’s quote: “If you find yourself walking through hell, keep walking.” That’s how I feel when I’m in class with some of my first graders. Wow, they are crazy. Last week a kid was dancing on a table. After telling him numerous times to get down, he finally did, face first. I was not intending for him to face plant right in front of me. He got up crying and came to me for help. All I could do was shake my head and sigh. Despite the struggles of little nesio children, there are so many redeeming moments in my days at work. I get so many hugs and cute little kids yelling, “adios profesor Patrix!” (That’s about how it’s pronounced here)
Yesterday I had a real experience, call it a test, of solidarity. A coworker invited me to her house for lunch. On the way to her house she confessed to me that her sister just had a baby only 15 days ago. She went on to tell me that the child was born with a serious birth defect. She was born with two vaginas and two anuses. I nodded and said, “hmm.” At the time I had no idea why she was telling me about this. She brought me to her sister’s home for lunch. I met the child’s family, who are all incredibly sweet, especially the three year old sun who incessantly showed me his baseball bat and ran around in his own fantasy world. They wanted me to help them in any way I could. I fell speechless. This wasn’t in my JVI contract. She thought that I’m a gringo from the States and therefore I have money and connections that could fix this. This is partially true I suppose, but not really what I am here to do. I talked with some doctor friends of mine who suggested the family stay connected with the local children’s hospital and that the local doctors would have the best care for the child available. This situation is an interesting opportunity for discernment for me. What is my role here in Nicaragua? This is truly an experience of accompaniment. I sat and talked with the family for a couple hours, and I’m sure I’ll be back to visit. I can’t fix the problem, but I can be there when I can.
On a lighter note, our community went on our first retreat. We went to a place called La Granacha. It is in the north, in Esteli, up in the mountains. The bus ride there was like traveling through a portal to another world. The landscape turned from dry hot grasslands to cool pinewood mountains. At night we were actually COLD! I couldn’t believe that I was wearing fleece pants, a wool undershirt, fleece, and a wool beanie and it was still a bit nippy. I loved it. What and enchanting place. We dined on beans and local Swiss and goat cheese and caught a breathtaking sunset every night. It was a really good time for our community to get out of the bustling hot city and kick it in a peaceful and bucolic mountain town. I wish our JV house was there. The 4-6 hour commute probably wouldn’t work too well though. Over the next two years I can see this area being very special for me, a place of solitude and rejuvenation.





Sunset with the community, on retreat, at La Granacha.

Sick days

My alarm went off this morning at 4:50AM. I jolted into a semi-state of consciousness as I groggily stumbled around looking for my watch. I turned off the alarm only to realize how incredibly terrible I felt. Now, honestly, waking up at this time typically makes me feel this way, but today was different. I felt sick. A sore throat, headache, and thorough exhaustion were enough to put me right back to sleep. Long story short I called in sick to work and have taken the the day to recoup and rest. I haven’t slept this much in quite awhile. It’s really a miracle teachers all over aren’t dropping like flies. Just yesterday I was sneezed on by countless preschoolers and first graders. At about this time all you mothers out there should be chiming in, saying, “Do you take your vitamins…are you sleeping enough…are you drinking enough water?” Yes. I’m doing the best I can. And for the record, my health is comparatively excellent.
What else can I tell you about my life here in Nicaragua? Ohh! Today marks three months since arriving. Part of me can’t believe it has flown by so quickly and part of me feels like it really has been three months. I was just thinking about how at this time last year I still didn’t know what I was doing to do and JVI was still a dream. It’s weird how life has changed so much in such a small amount of time. It’s amazing how much has changed in my life in the past three months and I can only imagine much has changed in the lives of those in the States and elsewhere.
Work update: Baseball is fun. There are around 10-20 young guys that come out to play. Soccer is intimidating and mildly overwhelming. There were about 60 boys and girls who showed up to play soccer. I have two balls. TWO. We had a couple games but mostly I walked around and got hassled because this group or that group wanted to play. I am now coordinating with one of the English teachers to make an intramural league at the school. Apparently they’ve done that before. I had no idea. I have no intentions of reinventing the wheel. Sometimes I feel like it’s the blind leading the not-blind but the not-blind don’t want to bring up the blindness for risk of hurting my feelings. Ha. Did that make sense? Anyway, I want to say that playing shortstop on a tee-ball team and playing rugby are not the best prerequisites for coaching neither baseball nor soccer. That said, I´m having a ball.
Lately I’ve been reading A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. I like it although at times it can be rather arduous and long. I think it will be worth it. I get most of my reading time on the bus to and from work. That’s all for now. Hasta Luego.



Check out our hanging garden of herbs, mostly basil.