And one from Hubs...

ValentinaMyra speaking about SWB
Bunk beds at the Sports Academy

Hello from sunny, warm, beautiful Nicaragua. As I sit here in EuroCafé (one of our favorite internet cafés in Granada), I struggle to calm my nerves while composing my first blog entry. Perhaps it’s the caffeine from my iced latté, but I’m nearly convinced that the butterflies fluttering in my stomach are from having to write a blog entry following the masterpieces composed by Becky and Myra…here I go.

As Myra discussed in her blog, we were unsuccessful in our attempt to watch a movie at Chepe and Suyen’s the other night. (Sip of coffee, sigh). With high hopes, Tuesday night we decided to try again after dinner. Some could call it luck, but I think it was our optimism and sheer determination that led us to victory in our movie quest. We thoroughly enjoyed watching Cinderella Man in the comfort of our living room, accompanied by Fernanda (our host “sister”). Though some dozed off towards the end of the film (Rebecca…?), I’d say the showing was a success.

Yesterday was productive from the start. Myra, Becky, Suyen, Chepe, and I met in EuroCafé to reevaluate, discuss, and revise our “to-do list” for our time here in Granada. After breaking down our big projects into smaller tasks, we were able to assign deadlines and overseers for each task to ensure proper progress and eventual completion. After that meeting, Suyen, My, Posk, and I met with Peder Kollind, the founder of Carita Feliz, at his museum. The meeting started off a bit shaky after Suyen started speaking to Peder in Spanish. The three of us were focused on speaking in Spanish until Peder fortunately asked us, “¿Dónde están?” (Where are you all from?). We responded, “Los Estados Unidos,” and he immediately replied with “Oh, the States. We can just talk in English.” I don’t know about Becky and Myra, but my entire body relaxed and I stopped sweating as profusely as I had been before. From there, the meeting continued much more smoothly, and he even drove us to one of his schools, F.C. Carita Sports College, located near our own house. The five of us fit comfortably in his Rav4 (although Myra was forced to sit up front with his Dalmatian “Valentina”), and we eagerly anticipated our arrival to his school. The school was beautiful, but there were no kids there as matriculation starts today (Thursday). We managed to stay for a meeting held for all of the instructors of the school. The instructors shared their findings on health issues, number of students from previous terms, and ideas they had for the upcoming term. The meeting was long and at times difficult to follow, and I found myself gazing at the different rooms with bunk beds for the students and at the beautiful view of the water just outside. However, once the “healthy” snacks were served (cookies and Coca-Cola…apologies to our soccer coaches, but there was no hesitation in our decision to devour the cookies and chug the soda), my attention seemed to return. At the end of the meeting we introduced ourselves, and Myra delivered an amazing spiel on Soccer Without Borders (in Spanish!) to the audience. It was a great day with Peder, and we were grateful that he shared all of his hard work and accomplishments with us.

After the meeting, we got (our favorite) chicken-in-a-bag for dinner and headed to the office to finish some painting and clean up a bit. Chepe and Caesar were already there with ladders, brushes, brooms, and mops, and we all got to work. We were able to finish painting and cleaned the floor in the back room. It was a great way to close our busy day.

This morning we had a practice session at 10:00 a.m., and this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. we will have another practice for those children who had school in the morning. Posk will bring Yelba to her pre-matriculation today (Posk will miss the second practice session) so that she can start school next week. We’re all very excited for her to get settled into a routine, so keep your fingers crossed that all goes well today!

Although we were unable to meet with Milton on Tuesday, we literally bumped into him on our way out of Carita Feliz yesterday. After an awkward greeting (due to the surprise of seeing him), we were able to set up a meeting with him for tomorrow (Friday) at 9:00 a.m., which hopefully does not follow Tuesday’s pattern of events.

As my iced latté seems to no longer have ice, my stomach seems to have eaten the butterflies that were once fluttering there, and my legs are crossed to use the restroom, I think that means my time is up. Stay tuned for another update soon from Becky!

Adios,

Ali