Work at Fundación Fénix: I’ve been teaching English to high schoolers in the mornings, but attendance has gradually dwindled down. Now it’s gotten to the point where it looks like the students aren’t going to come anymore due to several different reasons outside of my control, but it’s alright because we have a lot to do in these last couple weeks. English classes with the preschoolers in the afternoon is fun but exhausting, so I’m glad that’s only two days a week. I think we’re going to try to have a little graduation ceremony for them in the last week with caps and everything :) I’ve been getting a lot more involved in the microfinance program over the past few weeks, which is good since that’s what I came here for after all. We’ve been doing case studies on new women who want to enter the program. We lend money in small amounts to women who wouldn’t be able to get a loan from a bank because they don’t have collateral or can’t pay the high interest rates, and the case studies are interviews and visits to their house/business that we do to figure out if they’ll actually be able to pay back the loan. Rather than coming to your house to take away your possessions if you don’t pay, the program is set up so that the women are in groups of three or four, and if one person doesn’t pay then the others can’t continue to borrow. It’s a very interesting (and effective) system, and one of the coolest things about the program is that my bosses, Licenciada Torres and Licenciada Karla (Licenciado/a is just a title for a person with a college degree) really emphasize the fact that they’re not just a bank. They don’t just loan money; they focus on educating the women and developing the community. They even work with the women in their personal and family issues (Lic. Torres is a social worker and Lic. Karla is a clinical psychologist, so they’re pretty well qualified for the role they’re in). We’re also getting close to being able to make our first batch of samples with the encurtidos and the other products with the label and everything, so hopefully we’ll be able to do that before I leave. We got an $800 grant approved through FSD to help with the product commercialization, which is AWESOME! I was pretty stressed because the directors didn't get me the information I needed for the grant proposal until very close to the deadline so it was very rough and I even had a mistake in the project title, so all credit goes to God for it somehow getting approved!
Midterm Retreat in San Juan del Sur: FSD (the organization I came here through) puts together a little midterm retreat for interns who are here for nine weeks or longer, so we went to the beach town of San Juan del Sur. It’s technically supposed to be a chance for you to evaluate your experience with the other interns and learn from each other, but it was pretty much just a little vacation (which I was completely fine with). We did have a little meeting on the first day to talk business, but the rest of the time was spent relaxing at the beach and going out to eat. San Juan del Sur is apparently pretty famous as a legendary surf spot, so it was extremely interesting to see Central American surfing culture. The surfers act pretty much exactly like the typical surfer stereotype, just with a Latino twist. They act muyyyy tranquiiiiilo and have dreads and talk pretty much exactly like Totally Kyle from the Amanda Show (look it up on Youtube if you don’t know what I’m talking about).
Not only are there a lot of Nicaraguan surfer dudes, but there’s also a buttload of cheles (white people). Now THAT was strange for me. Ciudad Sandino isn’t exactly the biggest attraction Nicaragua has to offer, so I’ve seen around 5 white people total, and they’re normally on mission trips or something similar. In San Juan del Sur, the town was FULL of them! I’m not gonna lie, Americans in Nicaragua can be pretty embarrassing. We passed by some obnoxious girls who said to us in a super strong English accent “Hola!” and we all just kind of stared at them and then they got fake angry because we didn’t answer them. I looked at our bus driver (who was a super cool guy, by the way) and said, “Ayyy, Americanos.. ¡No me gustan para nada!” Don’t worry, I’m still as ‘Murican as it gets, I just get annoyed by loud Americans who give us a bad rep. I kinda see myself as a separate from them because I feel like I know the real Nicaragua. Those gringos probably think a bus where every seat is filled is crowded. I know that if you’re standing in the aisle on a Nicaraguan bus and can move more than 2 inches in any direction, there’s PLENTY of room for more people! I’m always telling the Nicaraguans I know, “Es que no soy gringo, soy nica.” And contrary to Google Translate might tell you with that last sentence, “nica” means Nicaraguan.
So while we were there, we stayed in a hostel that was literally right on the beach. Probably pretty expensive, right? $10 a night. I know what I’m doing next time I go on vacation! The beaches and the scenery were beautiful, and they weren’t crowded at all. It’s pretty much impossible to capture the beauty of the landscape in a photo, so I took some videos too, but that still doesn’t do it justice. Some of these pictures may or may not have been stolen from a guy named Ray that I met there who was doing a three week trip through FSD with some other students from Stanford (they were in a town called Masaya and were invited to the retreat as well).
Masaya: I really needed to do some souvenir shopping, and Masaya is like the artisan handicraft capital of Nicaragua, so I took a day trip there with the other intern in Ciudad Sandino. Our first stop was the Masaya Volcano. We hiked 4km up it (which felt like a LOT more than 4km) only to find out that the trails and things were all closed :( However, there was a gaping crater spewing out smoke, so I suppose that was pretty cool.
After that we got some food at a restaurant called Las Sillas Altas. We weren’t sure what it looked like, but it became pretty obvious when we saw the chairs.
So we got some great food there along with some delicious fruit smoothies and then headed to the market. Masaya’s famous for its handicraft market, but since I’m 100% nica, I knew that you can buy the same products for about a quarter of the price at the municipal market where the locals shop. So we hit up the handicraft market to look around and then headed to the municipal market to actually buy things.
Later we headed to a place called Coyotepe which is a stronghold which was later turned into a prison and is now a tourist attraction. It’s on top of a big hill, so there’s a pretty amazing view from the top.
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| This is just a flower that I thought was really pretty |
Apart from being a place rich in history and boasting of picturesque views of the surrounding countryside, it turns out that Coyotepe is also apparently Nicaragua’s number one makeout spot, as you can tell by the couple awkwardly lying on top of each other on the dome at the 17 second mark of the video. The other lookout dome had another couple doing the exact same thing, so I guess that’s just the thing to do here.
Miscellaneous: So the other day I had my first Nicaraguan cooking lessons. I’ve been asking my host family for a while to teach me to make some comida nicaragüense, and today I was able to finally learn how to make a couple dishes. The first was manuelitas, which are kind of like crepes rolled up with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and shaved cheese inside. Now before you start judging thinking that's a weird combo, I’ll just have you know that those manuelitas were DANG good so you best BACK OFF.
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| Luis and Leonor (who everyone calls "chela" because I guess her skin's a little bit lighter) |
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| The finished product! |
I also learned how to make gallo pinto, which is the staple of Nicaraguan food and what I eat 1-2 times a day every day. It’s pretty much just rice and beans cooked together, so it wasn’t too complicated.
Jesus Stuff: Very characteristically of my blog-writing self, I actually wrote this part a few weeks ago. That’s ok though, because it still applies!
I think that I’ve been going about the whole spiritual growth thing wrong for a while now. Not completely wrong, but definitely lacking some crucial parts. First off, I have to be writing down the things I learn. It’s way easier to forget what God teaches me if I don’t record it and look over it every once in a while. Even if it’s not anything groundbreaking, it’s still important to have a clear idea of what I’m learning at the moment. The second area I’ve been lacking in has been applying what I’m learning to my life in concrete, practical ways. Now this may not be possible when I read something like a genealogy in Numbers, but I should always be looking for ways to not just know the truth, but to live the truth.
“Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth”
Psalm 86:11a
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it---he will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:22-25
That stuff about looking in a mirror and immediately forgetting what you look like is way too familiar to me. So often I’ll learn something, and rather than writing it down and figuring out practical ways to apply it to my life, I’ll just pray that day and maybe the next couple of days that God would help me in that area, and then *poof* it’s gone and I don’t think about it anymore. I probably need to write down the stuff I pray about too so that I’m not just praying aimlessly and forgetting the things I’ve asked God to do. Either way, I need to be doing my part and not just expecting God to magically change me into the man he’s created me to be without any effort whatsoever on my end. It’s like when I was struggling with porn (Oh dang, things just got real!). I had to take conscious steps to fight it (talking to my college pastor about it, leaving my door open at all times, etc.) and not just pray that God would just make it all go away. Of course, the key thing is to realize that any precautions I take will do jack squat if I’m not completely relying on God’s power and not my own; however, that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a responsibility. I believe the same thing applies to spiritual growth. Although God’s the one who causes me to grow (1 Corinthians 3:6-7), I have a responsibility to “make every effort” (spoiler alert!) to facilitate that growth. Speaking of making every effort to grow, here’s what I’ve been learning recently!
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you fro being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2 Peter 1:5-8
Now, two-weeks-ago Scottie would read this and think, Wow, what a cool verse! I want to grow and be effective and productive in my knowledge of Jesus, so I’ll pray for a few days that God would make these qualities real in my life while I keep them as only vague ideas that sound nice instead of examining myself and seeing how these qualities can actually be developed in my life! But I’m not two-weeks-ago Scottie anymore, so here’s my list of practical ways that I’m going to be working on developing these things in my life (while trusting and acknowledging that only God can make me grow):
Goodness: Help workers at Fénix with their responsibilities
Knowledge: Meditate on God’s word rather than just reading it to know the Bible better, continue to memorize and review scripture
Self-control: Don’t use the computer for several hours in a row, don’t use Facebook more than absolutely necessary
Perseverance: Don’t complain when people frustrate me (I have specific examples, but I’m not going to mention them because that would probably count as complaining )
Godliness: Honor God with my time in the morning rather than waiting until the day’s almost over
Brotherly Kindness: Greet people with joy, get to know the brothers and sisters at the local church
Love: Treat the host grandpa with respect (he’s bed-ridden and is a very difficult person that puts a lot of stress on the family), bear with the directors at Fénix when they’re not able to show up, be intentional about spending time with the host family and really getting to know them, treat my English students as human beings and not just students
Ok, that’s all for now. I’m just gonna be honest and say that the chances of me making another blog post after this are preeeeeeetty slim. But hey, you never know! I’ll be back in the good ole US of A in less than two weeks and I’d love to share more about my experiences here if anyone’s interested. Please pray that I would not go on autopilot for these last few days I have here but that I would work hard and love God and love people with all the strength that the Lord gives me. ¡Gracias!
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