Just the beginning

I’ve arrived in Nicaragua and everything is going well. Life is busy these days, as Rachel (who is finishing her two years here and is now training me in on the job) transfers her knowledge to me during her last couple weeks. My job has a million descriptions, but I’m the ELCA /South Dakota Synod Representative/ Delegation Coordinator/ English Communications Liaison for the Lutheran Church of Nicaragua (La Iglesia Luterana de Fe y Esperanza), among other things. One of my primary jobs is to plan and organize trips for different groups that come from the US to visit. Once they get here, I am also their guide and translator while they traveling around the country. The delegations that visit usually go out to different church communities to participate in home stays for a night or two, so tomorrow I’ll head out for a couple days to orient myself to some of these communities before actually taking a delegation. I’m currently working on plans for getting a medical delegation to the Atlantic coast to have clinics where last month’s Hurricane Felix hit the hardest, so that should be an interesting trip. I’ve also started working with the youth/young adult group at the central church. Their major project for the time being is CONCASIDA (The Central American Conference on HIV-AIDS), so for now I’m tagging along to see how they run their show. I have an office at the central building, so when I’m not with delegations, you’ll find me in there, listening to salsa music and working on a variety of things. Random written translation projects, email communication with delegations, weekly meetings with all of the pastors from various communities, and the CONCASIDA drama team I just joined, to name a few.

In other news, I’ve settled into a house across town with Rachel and a couple new volunteers from Germany. I now find myself in the midst of three different cultures and languages, but it somehow blends together. I was initiated into the Bavarian culture with a home-cooked meal of schweinebraten, kraut, and knödel last Saturday. My housemates are really fun. Approximately one hour arriving in Managua, they had already planted a banana tree, some type of flowering tree, birds of paradise, ginger flowers, and European tomatoes on our back patio. They are now looking for vegetable seeds so they can grow their own cabbage to make sauerkraut. No, I’m not lying.

I’m exploring my way around town and have become quite skilled at some of the best strategies for stabling myself while standing on a city bus that exceeds capacity by about 97 people. I am also learning the careful balance between watching the ground while I walk so I don’t fall into the four-foot open rain gutters, and watching what’s going on around me. If you weren’t watching, you could literally disappear into the earth. Seriously.

The hand-washing laundry skills that I picked up in Tanzania are once again coming in handy; as washing machines are not something you see much of here. Nicaragua might be one step up on Tanzania though, and the addition of the washboard is something I’m getting used to. I generally just stick to a bucket and my sun-scented soap. I was not previously aware that the sun had a fragrance, but the Xedex Multiacción company has apparently been able to capture it in a detergent. I guess you learn something new every day.

Well, friends, I believe that is all I have in me for now. Feel free to send email and fill me in on the happenings of the northern part of the Americas. I’ll update this blog as often as possible, and if you have questions, comments or suggestions for what I should write about, just let me know.