Wheww, it´s been a long week. My fellow classmates and I just finished our week long service project. We were to build a makeshift stove for the ladies in a rural impoverished area of Granada. Currently most women cook inside their homes on literally a pile of wood with a little sheet of metal over the top of it (note to self don´t complain my microwave takes too long) As you can imagine this produces an atmosphere akin to a smokey bar (so I´ve been told) and the ladies and children breathe in all this soot and it builds up in their lungs. So the idea was to build this outdoor stove called a Fogon outside of the home. This is what our list of materials consisted of 4 full sized bricks, 2 brick halves, 1 pile of dirt, straw, a sort of dry grass( pokey, ouch) lots of annoying rocks (rude, who invited them?) water, ashes and dry cow poop! Yeppers people lots of cow poopie which we had to go out and collect ourselves. Mix it all up, with your hands of course and what do you get? Brownies of course. Just kidding, you get a cement mixture that led to the final product of a functioning stove for the family. We built 5 altogether under the most humid, hot, and buggy conditions. Did I mention we had no bathrooms? I promise to never complain about cleaning my kitchen again( ok at least not too often) I thought these women were living under extremely harsh conditions, but I soon found out that they actually didn´t have it too bad compared to the next set of ladies we were to visit.
Over the next few days we spent time with women living in an even more rural and impoverished area of Granada called El Pantanal (means swampy area) (trust me they were´nt kidding!) These women live in little homes made out of sheets of tin with dirt floors and only a few of them have running water. I never asked about the toilet situation (I tried to not drink water, so I didn´t have to ask, which is hard to do in sweltering heat/humidity) Each one of us was assigned a woman and we were to spend the day shadowing them and jotting down everything they did. My host was named Kenia and she was 31 with three children ages 10, 6, and 1. I never met the oldest child (girl) because she´d gone to live in town with Grandma (I can´t imagine not having my child with me) that left her with the 6 yr. old daughter and the little boy( a handfull) Thier home was the size of half my garage. I need to add that my garage at its messiest is nicer than her living area! In this tiny oven of a home she has a little fridge, a small stove (not sure either function) a little area to wash dishes and bodies and a sleeping area ( the little sleeps in a hamock in the middle of the room) Her husband abandoned her (sadly way too common here : ( She rescued her oldest daughter from being donated to the church, because the baby´s mom (her 15 yr. old cousin) couldn´t raise her. Kenia is a sweet woman who is overwhelmed (and who wouldn´t) and dealing with depression (she didn´t even know what she felt had a name) It shamed me to realize that no matter what curve balls life has dealt me I´ve always had resources available to me. I never had to make a go of it by myself. There were agencies I could apply to, friends to turn to, my church family ect. She does not have any of this, but the saddest part is that she feels God is about religion and that religion has done nothing but oppress her. It´s all she´s ever known. I shared my story with her (yes, I was with her all day) and I told her about the God I know and love and long for her to get aquainted with. No, she did not break down and accept Christ (it doesn´t always work this way ) but the seed was planted. I hope to keep in touch with her and am trying to find a way to get mail/packages to her to show her Gods provision for her. Anywho, long story shortened ( I really did try ) I walked away humbled at all I have been blessed with. I lay in my bed that night thinking of Kenia and her children in their cramped sweltering shack out in the middle of no where and whispered a prayer to God. Please Lord, take good care of all of them and whisper your soothing love over them.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Okie dokie, when last I posted I was still in Chicago and way too much has happened since then. I´ve now been away from home for twenty two days and counting and I miss my family and friends a lot. I´ll do a quick synopsis of the most intersting things that have transpired thus far (wow, that sounds way too educated!)Here goes:
Arrived in Managua and traveled to Granada through a torrential down pour. It looked like we were going to be washed away but our driver said "Oh that´s just our afternoon rain". Anywho, I spent two days in Granada with my friends host family and we were off to Costa Rica. Our bus driver failed to let us know when we reached our destination of Liberia(no, not the frozen tundra) and we almost went all the way to San Jose. Luckily a girl that lived there clued us in. The bus driver the peachy guy he is dropped us off literally in the middle of the busiest intersection in the entire town(way to go dude, get the tourists killed!) By now you get the picture so I´m going to speed things up a little so hang on.
We asked around about how to get to Monte Verde which is an amazing canopy forest in the mountains of CR. Lesson number one, never trust what one person tells you. Ask at least six and see which answer pops up the most. First of all bus schedules or bus stops do not exist. Seriously, I don´t how people get around here. Long story short it took a bus, taxi and old school bus to get us up the windy topsy turvy mountain. I don´t know how the cows(which have the cutest long ears) hang on and don´t fall off while they´re grazing. I found that people live along the way and use the bus as a sort of parcel, letter and message delivery system. Pretty innovative. Sorry I digress, Í´ll put the pedal to the medal and speed up. Here´s what the bus ride up the mountain included. Shoulders hunched because there were too many people to sit normally, a marathon smooch session in the seat behind me(snuck a photo hee hee) by an old toothless guy with a much younger girl(ewww) a weird guy who chose to stand in the aisle and place his sorry hind end(not a nice one by the way) in my friends face, bouncing up and down so hard I almost hit my head and then almost fell out of my seat´(didn´t know you could get sea sick this way) yes indeedy folks all this included in the bus fare! Wow , what a deal.
Long story short had a blast in the beautiful mountains, zip lined 13 cables of canopy, jumped off the Tarzan swing(sung The greatest young lady on the flying trapeze song) after I quit screaming. Visited an outdoor frog museum by flashlight(amazing little critters), danced with the butterflys (ok they were airborne and I wasn´t, darned gravity) stayed at the cutest hostel (my 1st) and had an all round great time.
Next leg of the trip places me back in Granada after experiencing the tortures of customs and immigration from both CR and Nicaragua borders. It turns out being Latin American tends to work against me with them. My friend had no prob at all, but me no way. It was a literal inquisition every time. Sheesh, give the girl a break I say! Oops sorry, going below the speed limit again, I´ll speed up. A quick list of the major things. Read Freddy? Ok here we go. Got to meet my host family, got semi mugged(I´m ok!) got moved to another fam(they´re great) dying of humid hot hot weather(yes I know you are too, but you have a/c) legs are tenderized by bugs(thank you malaria pills)walk to class every morning to find goats, horses, bulls and lots of other critters mosying along the road. I even had one that was working on getting a pooper out and he had the funniest look on his face. Since I´m bilingual I´ll translate it for you. Fido was clearly saying "Hello, I´m working on this, can I have some privacy please?) I wish I could take photos but walking around with a camera will only invite more unwanted attention, as if I haven´t already had enough. So suffice it to say I´ve already visited lots of other places and seen many crazy things but seriousley my dear friends(yes, that means all five of you) things here are hard.
Life here is very difficult. It´s hot, loud, dirty and smelly and it´s truly the best example I´ve seen up to this point of survival of the fittest. I cannot judge people for the choices they make(stealing my backpack off my back, trying to steal my camera from my hand) because I don´t know what I would do if my children were going hungry and shoeless. All I can say it that I give people here lots of credit for getting out of bed every morning and loving each other the way they do. My question is How do you dream, how do you hope? I thank God that he placed me where he did in the world, my own little heaven. I´m grateful that my children have what they do and I choose to believe that God wants to show me a whole lot more while I´m here. I love you guys and I send you a great big hug!
Arrived in Managua and traveled to Granada through a torrential down pour. It looked like we were going to be washed away but our driver said "Oh that´s just our afternoon rain". Anywho, I spent two days in Granada with my friends host family and we were off to Costa Rica. Our bus driver failed to let us know when we reached our destination of Liberia(no, not the frozen tundra) and we almost went all the way to San Jose. Luckily a girl that lived there clued us in. The bus driver the peachy guy he is dropped us off literally in the middle of the busiest intersection in the entire town(way to go dude, get the tourists killed!) By now you get the picture so I´m going to speed things up a little so hang on.
We asked around about how to get to Monte Verde which is an amazing canopy forest in the mountains of CR. Lesson number one, never trust what one person tells you. Ask at least six and see which answer pops up the most. First of all bus schedules or bus stops do not exist. Seriously, I don´t how people get around here. Long story short it took a bus, taxi and old school bus to get us up the windy topsy turvy mountain. I don´t know how the cows(which have the cutest long ears) hang on and don´t fall off while they´re grazing. I found that people live along the way and use the bus as a sort of parcel, letter and message delivery system. Pretty innovative. Sorry I digress, Í´ll put the pedal to the medal and speed up. Here´s what the bus ride up the mountain included. Shoulders hunched because there were too many people to sit normally, a marathon smooch session in the seat behind me(snuck a photo hee hee) by an old toothless guy with a much younger girl(ewww) a weird guy who chose to stand in the aisle and place his sorry hind end(not a nice one by the way) in my friends face, bouncing up and down so hard I almost hit my head and then almost fell out of my seat´(didn´t know you could get sea sick this way) yes indeedy folks all this included in the bus fare! Wow , what a deal.
Long story short had a blast in the beautiful mountains, zip lined 13 cables of canopy, jumped off the Tarzan swing(sung The greatest young lady on the flying trapeze song) after I quit screaming. Visited an outdoor frog museum by flashlight(amazing little critters), danced with the butterflys (ok they were airborne and I wasn´t, darned gravity) stayed at the cutest hostel (my 1st) and had an all round great time.
Next leg of the trip places me back in Granada after experiencing the tortures of customs and immigration from both CR and Nicaragua borders. It turns out being Latin American tends to work against me with them. My friend had no prob at all, but me no way. It was a literal inquisition every time. Sheesh, give the girl a break I say! Oops sorry, going below the speed limit again, I´ll speed up. A quick list of the major things. Read Freddy? Ok here we go. Got to meet my host family, got semi mugged(I´m ok!) got moved to another fam(they´re great) dying of humid hot hot weather(yes I know you are too, but you have a/c) legs are tenderized by bugs(thank you malaria pills)walk to class every morning to find goats, horses, bulls and lots of other critters mosying along the road. I even had one that was working on getting a pooper out and he had the funniest look on his face. Since I´m bilingual I´ll translate it for you. Fido was clearly saying "Hello, I´m working on this, can I have some privacy please?) I wish I could take photos but walking around with a camera will only invite more unwanted attention, as if I haven´t already had enough. So suffice it to say I´ve already visited lots of other places and seen many crazy things but seriousley my dear friends(yes, that means all five of you) things here are hard.
Life here is very difficult. It´s hot, loud, dirty and smelly and it´s truly the best example I´ve seen up to this point of survival of the fittest. I cannot judge people for the choices they make(stealing my backpack off my back, trying to steal my camera from my hand) because I don´t know what I would do if my children were going hungry and shoeless. All I can say it that I give people here lots of credit for getting out of bed every morning and loving each other the way they do. My question is How do you dream, how do you hope? I thank God that he placed me where he did in the world, my own little heaven. I´m grateful that my children have what they do and I choose to believe that God wants to show me a whole lot more while I´m here. I love you guys and I send you a great big hug!
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
As the stomach churns in Chicago : (
Today was the day! The lists had been checked not once but twice and every item was safely tucked away in its rightful spot. One suitcase, a backpack and one carry on (cute but functional and Hollie approved for fashion sense) were now loaded into the van. Suffice it to say I never bothered going to bed as we were to head out at 4am (ok 4:30 and for the record Rod never rolled his eyes at me) for the airport in Minneapolis. Anyways, you get the picture. My wonderful husband and trusty chauffer got me to the airport right on time, safe and sound lickety split :)
Air fare to central America isn't cheap my friends and I thought I'd done rather well when I booked my flight many months ago. Well it turns out you should be leery of those "wow, I got a good deal!" sites. I can't explain it well so let's just leave it at I had more than 3 airlines involved in my flight plans that I was unaware of. It's like being slammed ( not in the head silly!) but like in the old days when the phone company switched your service without your knowledge or consent. Anywho, I was sent back and forth from one airline carrier to another like a slap happy ping pong ball and I was not very happy. After all it was really way too early for a stressed out sleep deprived woman to behave nicely. Rod was afraid I was going to get hauled out of there, but I finally made it to the security point.
Well folks, it just gets better from here. It didn't take too long for the security agent to announce over the loud speaker " I need a baggage check!!" (now just pretend all the letters in the aforementioned quote were capitalized) and he followed it with " Who's bag is this?" as he held it up and away from himself as if were a Pepe le pew like offender. Yes of course it was my cute Hollie approved bag and there I was signaled out for all the world to see. I was now the vile person who was holding up the line. The nerve of some people! Long story short, the securtity agent took every single thing out of my bag. It was a good thing I had placed all my lady like unmentionables in pretty pink floral cloth bags. Somewhere under that burlish exterior he must have had a remnant of chivalry because he never rifled through them. At last I was home free and my travel bud Kelsey and I booked it for the gate. Phew we made it!
Or so we thought but wait, there's more. I was way in the back of the plane and seperated from Kelsey. No prob I thought, I'm a social kinda person, I will just chat my seat mates up a little. Problem was that I was sandwiched between two people and believe you me there is no way that even sardines should be relegated to such tight quarters. I really had to use the ladies room (yes I still use that archaic term!) but I thought I'd better get situated and wait for the flight to get underway as I'd already gotten some not so friendly stares from the passengers (that apparently were once again being held up by moi) as I boarded. Unfortunately the said lack of space coupled with my trying to squeeze into my seat and the "Dragon Lady" sitting in the aisle seat caused a slight "love tap" by my shoe to the aforementioned "Dragon Ladies" neon green pedicured toes. She let out a howl/shriek (totally unnecessary by the way) and she lashed out at me. She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead and would not acknowledge me.I swear I felt the temp drop in the cabin, she was so cold to me. I tried apologizing to her and she gave me a loud "well!"
But wait if you read on you'll find there's still more. In case you'd forgotten I still had to go visit the ladies room and I tried so hard to wait it out but a girls got to do what a girls got to do! Wouldn't you agree? By now the nice lady sitting to my opposite by the window seat turned to me and patted me on the arm and gave me a wink. She was such a sweetie that she volunteered to help me take dragon lady down should it come to that. So we looked each other in the eye and I told her "cover me I'm going in." Somehow I feel like there should have been some scary movie music but alas there was none. Anyhow the lady, and I use that term lightly refused to move from her seat and I had to literally catapult myself out of my seat. Well as we all know what comes out must go back in, at least in this case and it meant I had to get past DL and into my seat. I have to give it to her, she's one stubborn cookie. She woudn't budge from her seat and she ended up my hiney in her face. Not on purpose of course. Anyhow, I ended up having a lovely time chatting it up with my seat mate(the nice one) and we talked about God and his provision. I now have her business card and know that DL is one sad puppy. It must take an awful lot of energy to be that nasty. God bless her, and I do mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Aww, isn't that a happy ending? Nope, as you already guessed there's more. My flight got into Chicago and I don't think I ever want to be in that airport again. Really who planned/mapped that thing out? Once again chaos showed it's ugly little rear( oops, I meant its head he he)and made a mess of things. I wont go into the details because I've already ranted way too much but suffice it to say I am still in Chicago and not Nicaragua where I should have been to by now: (
Kelsey and I missed our flight by two (count them) stinkin minutes and poof our entire morning really hit the fan. There we were trying to get someone to help us but we couldn't get someone to even listen to us. What we were told was that our ticket was non replaceable and that we'd have to pay for an entirely new one. Really, got an extra $900.00 bucks? We tried calling the numbers on our intineraries an those of the carriers involved but nothing worked. It finally struck me as I was sitting on the cold floor surrounded by my luggage and my forlorn travel buddy that our God, my God was bigger than the situation and that He could fix it in a flash if it should please him. So then and there I began to pray and ask God that He would give me the courage to stant at the scary ledge of fear and be okay with whatever the outcome was. I didn't ask God to prove himself or his love for me but rather to let me know that He was there in the circumstance. In the end I was able to speak to a kind woman by the name of Dina (God bless her soul!) who extended God's grace to us right then and there. I am now booked on a flight that goes out at 3am (who cares, it gets me closer to Nicaragua) and I hope to be in Nicaragua by 4pm tomorrow. One day later than scheduled but abudantly blessed. There were no additonal fees to pay and I gave Dina a huge hug and I shared with her that I'd prayed and that she had been His provision to me. Point is, it was all worth it. Can you believe all this took place by 10:30 am?
I realize this posting is tremedousley long and I hope I haven't lost my four followers yet. I've chosen to take this chaotic day and have fun with it. Are you wondering where I'm typing this from? Surprise, I'm at the Chicago public libray. Kelsey and I decided to throw caution to the wind and we've discovered the joy of the rail/train system. Except for the heavy bags I'm carrying( Just call me a little pack mule) we have explored the downtown area a little and met some very nice, kind and funny people. I hope that the next time I post it will be briefer and that I will be doing it from my new location of Nicaragua or Costa Rica. Please pray, and I do mean please pray that God will continue to open my eyes and heart to his invitation to trust and turn to Him no matter the outcome. I love and miss you all.
Araceli/Kitti
Air fare to central America isn't cheap my friends and I thought I'd done rather well when I booked my flight many months ago. Well it turns out you should be leery of those "wow, I got a good deal!" sites. I can't explain it well so let's just leave it at I had more than 3 airlines involved in my flight plans that I was unaware of. It's like being slammed ( not in the head silly!) but like in the old days when the phone company switched your service without your knowledge or consent. Anywho, I was sent back and forth from one airline carrier to another like a slap happy ping pong ball and I was not very happy. After all it was really way too early for a stressed out sleep deprived woman to behave nicely. Rod was afraid I was going to get hauled out of there, but I finally made it to the security point.
Well folks, it just gets better from here. It didn't take too long for the security agent to announce over the loud speaker " I need a baggage check!!" (now just pretend all the letters in the aforementioned quote were capitalized) and he followed it with " Who's bag is this?" as he held it up and away from himself as if were a Pepe le pew like offender. Yes of course it was my cute Hollie approved bag and there I was signaled out for all the world to see. I was now the vile person who was holding up the line. The nerve of some people! Long story short, the securtity agent took every single thing out of my bag. It was a good thing I had placed all my lady like unmentionables in pretty pink floral cloth bags. Somewhere under that burlish exterior he must have had a remnant of chivalry because he never rifled through them. At last I was home free and my travel bud Kelsey and I booked it for the gate. Phew we made it!
Or so we thought but wait, there's more. I was way in the back of the plane and seperated from Kelsey. No prob I thought, I'm a social kinda person, I will just chat my seat mates up a little. Problem was that I was sandwiched between two people and believe you me there is no way that even sardines should be relegated to such tight quarters. I really had to use the ladies room (yes I still use that archaic term!) but I thought I'd better get situated and wait for the flight to get underway as I'd already gotten some not so friendly stares from the passengers (that apparently were once again being held up by moi) as I boarded. Unfortunately the said lack of space coupled with my trying to squeeze into my seat and the "Dragon Lady" sitting in the aisle seat caused a slight "love tap" by my shoe to the aforementioned "Dragon Ladies" neon green pedicured toes. She let out a howl/shriek (totally unnecessary by the way) and she lashed out at me. She crossed her arms and stared straight ahead and would not acknowledge me.I swear I felt the temp drop in the cabin, she was so cold to me. I tried apologizing to her and she gave me a loud "well!"
But wait if you read on you'll find there's still more. In case you'd forgotten I still had to go visit the ladies room and I tried so hard to wait it out but a girls got to do what a girls got to do! Wouldn't you agree? By now the nice lady sitting to my opposite by the window seat turned to me and patted me on the arm and gave me a wink. She was such a sweetie that she volunteered to help me take dragon lady down should it come to that. So we looked each other in the eye and I told her "cover me I'm going in." Somehow I feel like there should have been some scary movie music but alas there was none. Anyhow the lady, and I use that term lightly refused to move from her seat and I had to literally catapult myself out of my seat. Well as we all know what comes out must go back in, at least in this case and it meant I had to get past DL and into my seat. I have to give it to her, she's one stubborn cookie. She woudn't budge from her seat and she ended up my hiney in her face. Not on purpose of course. Anyhow, I ended up having a lovely time chatting it up with my seat mate(the nice one) and we talked about God and his provision. I now have her business card and know that DL is one sad puppy. It must take an awful lot of energy to be that nasty. God bless her, and I do mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Aww, isn't that a happy ending? Nope, as you already guessed there's more. My flight got into Chicago and I don't think I ever want to be in that airport again. Really who planned/mapped that thing out? Once again chaos showed it's ugly little rear( oops, I meant its head he he)and made a mess of things. I wont go into the details because I've already ranted way too much but suffice it to say I am still in Chicago and not Nicaragua where I should have been to by now: (
Kelsey and I missed our flight by two (count them) stinkin minutes and poof our entire morning really hit the fan. There we were trying to get someone to help us but we couldn't get someone to even listen to us. What we were told was that our ticket was non replaceable and that we'd have to pay for an entirely new one. Really, got an extra $900.00 bucks? We tried calling the numbers on our intineraries an those of the carriers involved but nothing worked. It finally struck me as I was sitting on the cold floor surrounded by my luggage and my forlorn travel buddy that our God, my God was bigger than the situation and that He could fix it in a flash if it should please him. So then and there I began to pray and ask God that He would give me the courage to stant at the scary ledge of fear and be okay with whatever the outcome was. I didn't ask God to prove himself or his love for me but rather to let me know that He was there in the circumstance. In the end I was able to speak to a kind woman by the name of Dina (God bless her soul!) who extended God's grace to us right then and there. I am now booked on a flight that goes out at 3am (who cares, it gets me closer to Nicaragua) and I hope to be in Nicaragua by 4pm tomorrow. One day later than scheduled but abudantly blessed. There were no additonal fees to pay and I gave Dina a huge hug and I shared with her that I'd prayed and that she had been His provision to me. Point is, it was all worth it. Can you believe all this took place by 10:30 am?
I realize this posting is tremedousley long and I hope I haven't lost my four followers yet. I've chosen to take this chaotic day and have fun with it. Are you wondering where I'm typing this from? Surprise, I'm at the Chicago public libray. Kelsey and I decided to throw caution to the wind and we've discovered the joy of the rail/train system. Except for the heavy bags I'm carrying( Just call me a little pack mule) we have explored the downtown area a little and met some very nice, kind and funny people. I hope that the next time I post it will be briefer and that I will be doing it from my new location of Nicaragua or Costa Rica. Please pray, and I do mean please pray that God will continue to open my eyes and heart to his invitation to trust and turn to Him no matter the outcome. I love and miss you all.
Araceli/Kitti
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Anxious in Wisconsin
It's late at night and I'm down to four more days until I depart for Nicaragua. As you can guess I'm super excited and super nervous. Your guess is as good as mine as to what I'm getting into. It's hard to believe that two years have lapsed since I first began to dream of attending this program through UWEC and now it's here! It's no longer a dream and there are no dress rehearsals. No refunds, returns or exchanges folks!
Thousands of miles and two months will lie between me my husband and children. I've never done anything remotely like this and I have to almost pinch myself (but I wont, cuz it would hurt) to remind myself that I'm actually awake and not sleepwalking. My dear friend Ellie Hurd reminded recently reminded me during our brief "6 hour Panera lunch, and maybe early dinner date" that I only need to trust God for "today"and that's what I intend to do. He's the one who put this crazy but compelling desire in me. He's the one who provided the "what seemed impossible[But he's the God of impossible isn't he?) Scholarship to come through and pay for this program in its entirety. And yes He is the one who is giving me the courage to step out of my lovely and safe (but sometimes boring) comfort zone.
It's almost a new day and a new opportunity to say,"Yes God, I choose to trust you for today" and I will close for now. Stay tuned as I hope to add a post in a few days with details of my host family and what I will be doing while studying abroad.
Till later
Araceli/Kitti
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