Best Chicken Ever!!!

Our morning started off by the smell of freshly made omelettes by the wonderful cooking staff here at the Nehemiah Centre. We then headed to Centro de Fe to have a tour of the school and experience what the classes are like. The first class that we saw was the computer lab. The teacher told us that they only had enough computers for half of the class so they had to switch half way. She also told us that they do not have WIFI, but the kids do enjoy playing solitaire and pinball. Then we went over to see the library which was a very small room with only a few shelves of books with some spare room which was used for storing the musical instruments.

We also got another chance to visit our little amigos on their recess break. They were extremely excited to see us all again. They smothered us with kisses and hugs as we began to run around and play with them. Despite the dripping sweat and red faces we all had a blast in the 37 degree heat.

We got a wonderful treat when we came back into the sanctuary (the school is also the church) and the grade 11 Nicaraguan students acted out a traditional poem for us. We got into groups afterwards and discussed the culture that was in the poem. It was great bonding time with the students and it was fun trying out new Spanish words when we had to present in the opposite language. Each of the students made us a poetry book in Spanish and gave one to each person on our team. It will be nice to look back on that and remember what they taught us about their culture.

By this time we were all cooled off and eaten some yummy lunch! Man those plantains are good! We had some spare time before the talent show so many people practiced their talents for the upcoming talent show while others played hacky sack or went for a walk. We got the opportunity to embrace the heat and walked the streets of Nicaragua. It was cool to see a few of the student’s homes and meet some of their family. A few hours passed and by this time we were getting really good at hacky sack… almost talent show worthy!

It was about 2:00pm and we started off the talent show with a large bang… of drums! Literally… We alternated between schools and went up in groups or individually to present a talent or testimony. At one point in the talent show a group of gr. 10 girls presented us with a traditional Nicaraguan dance. After, they invited us Canadian girls up the front and taught us how to dance, it was hard to follow but fun to learn. We realized that Nicaragua has many traditions and talents.

Lennin (our translator) invited us and the Centro De Fe students over for supper and fire at his house. The chicken was phenominal! (And I quote Chelsea... "I don't even like rotisseri chicken... but that was so good!")  We all had so much fun! We played an ice breaker game to mix up who we were sitting by. It was a good to get to know students that we didn’t talk to as much at the school. We really noticed later that it impacted our interactions between one another. We found ourselves hanging out as if we were in our hallways at our own school. Everybody connected and was stepping out of our comfort zones to communicate with each other. We kept one-uping one another with new dance moves and such. It was hard to say goodbye and we won’t be able to imagine what it will be like at the end of the trip.  

(written by Courtney and Chelsea)