Hi everyone!
We arrived here in La Concepción on Sunday, May 14 (Happy Mother’s Day!!) after a 45 minute drive from Masaya. We had a brief introduction with Hazel, the director of La Mariposa language school, then it was time to meet our host families that we would be living with for the coming week. That night we got to know our families and were exposed to the lives of the average Nicaraguan. The majority of us had latrines outside the home, were served traditional Nicaraguan dishes, learned how to do laundry by hand, and quickly learned the difficulties of not having running water.
Monday began the week of volunteer work we would be doing in the community. An average day looked like service in a daycare, cultural center, ecological reserve, or local public school. The second half of the day we would engage in Spanish classes with La Mariposa. Our group was split into two groups where we would alternate between service and language school. This was a difficult adjustment, as we had all gotten used to spending time in each other’s company. Luckily we all were able to take a lunch break in the middle of the day to have a meal together and reflect on these experiences.
As the week progressed with the language school, many of us noticed improvements in our Spanish speaking ability and found it easier to communicate with our host families and make connections with the children we have been working with. Even though the living conditions were surprisingly difficult for some of us, we were all ready to help each other and learn from this experience. The service work we have engaged in allowed us to gain various perspectives of life in Nicaragua. Many of us appreciated the opportunity to use our Spanish in real world interaction.
The highlight for many of us came on the excursion we took Thursday night to El Volcan Masaya. We were extremely lucky to be in Nicaragua when the volcano is the most active it has been in over 15 years. Looking into the volcano was a truly magical sight. You were able to see volcanic lava and smoke. We were all stunned and left speechless by this sight.
Tomorrow we head to Matagalpa for another week of service. Many of us are disappointed to be leaving the people we have met here but we are still excited to be moving onto a new place and new experiences!
~ Emily and Faith
