Nica Chica: Week one in retrospect...nothing major

Ok, I've been here for almost a month and this is my first post. Shame on me, I know. Things have been going so quickly that despite this being on my never ending list of things to do, I never quite get to it. But enough with the excuses... I will try to write the first few posts in retrospect rather than bore you with one tremendously long post. As you will find, I can get a bit lengthy when I write! Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll learn how to edit my photos better an make his look a lot better.

I got here on September 16th after a flight that included screams from the passengers due to lots of turbulence and ended in applause once we finally bounced down the run way. I had had only 2 hours of sleep in the previous 48 hours so I was mainly looking forward to a bed/cot/floor. After a brief meeting at Bethel (the headquarters for Jehovah's Witnesses) I went to the dormitory where I would be staying for two days. I slept in and was so quiet that eventually they banged on my door to make sure nothing had happened to me since they had not seen me all day. I was elated to find hot water and a very comfortable room with towels in the shape of swans (or something like that) on my bed. I had a well stocked mini fridge (mini fridge not mini bar!) and the place to myself for the most part. Evening number two, I went to a bible study meeting with my "Bethel Mom." She was assigned to take care of me. She spoke no more English than I spoke Spanish so it was a long couple of hours especially since I was already sleepy. She is a sweetheart though. She is from Costa Rica and works in the translation department helping with the production of literature in Nicaraguan sign language. We went to the sign language meeting which interestingly enough I was able to understand parts of. There was a video screen in the front of the room so when anyone wanted to comment, a person on the stage would turn the camera on them and everyone would look at the screen on stage to make sure they didn't miss a thing. I was so excited at everything going on that people next to me kept having to nudge me to lean down so that the people behind me could be seen! I am proud to say that I still know how to sign "Hello my name is Kim...what's your name?" When they sign their name I have no idea what they are saying and pretty much just smile blankly and walk away :-( When we got back to the dormitory, I asked the others what they do for fun since it was Friday night. They said they sing the songs from our new song book. Man no board games or anything?! I excused myself to pop some popcorn thinking this was going to be a long night but before long, I was belting out songs with them! We sang in English, Spanish, Miskito and Italian. It was actually a lot of fun. I ended up being the one to not want to stop. I spent the next day or so visiting my Nica spiritual parents in Masaya. They were assigned to Nicaragua after completing Gilead (missionary training school) in the late 90s. They are a huge reason I am here. After leaving them, I headed to my new home in Granada...