Masaya (say it like "Messiah")

On Sunday, we went to a couple volcanoes and a nearby town with Lydell Steiner and his family. (Lydell is one of our MCC team members here). One volcano, which is still active, is called "La Boca del Infierno" (the mouth of hell) - exciting, right? We enjoyed hiking and being tourists.

--Elizabet

Birthday! (Cumpleaños)

Saturday was my birthday! Beth took me out for pizza, and then we went to the MCC office where she had organized a party for me. (I sort of knew about it because I helped pick out the cake) My birthday present was a Bible en Español (up until now, we´ve only had the NT in Spanish). --Alan

Granada

Today we traveled to Granada, a city about an hour south-east of Managua, where we attended a conference sponsored by UPOLI (Polytechnic University of Nicaragua), the university where I (Alan) will work. In February, I will work with a team to develop seminars on peacemaking and conflict transformation, primarily geared for the staff and faculty of the university. I will work my way up to teaching courses in peacemaking, theology, & conflict transformation when my Spanish is better.






The conference took place in an old convent in this beautiful city near Lake Nicaragua (see our handy map at the bottom of this page). It is the oldest city in Nicaragua, dating back to the 1500s, and it is filled with brilliantly colored buildings and horse-drawn carriages. --Alan

!Estamos aprendiendo muchas cosas!

It is now our 2nd weekend in Managua. When we think about all the warm people we have met, the church services we have participated in, and the whirlwind of places we´ve seen, it feels like we have been here much longer than 8 days. But then we try to make basic conversation with our host family (their house is in the picture), and we remember that we are still very new to the language and culture. We are full time students of Spanish now, with tutors in the morning, class all afternoon, and practicing with our family in the evening. For the most part, we have really been enjoying the process, especially since we both enjoy word games! We have been extremely successful at making mistakes and embarrassing ourselves frequently.
-Elizabet

Election Fever

We arrived in Nicaragua on the first of three `silent´days before the election - no campaigning allowed. Politics were the hot conversation, however, and campaign banners, signs, and flags were and are everywhere. We met one international election observer from Canada on our flight. Sunday was the election, and after several days of counting, they announced that Daniel Ortega and the FSLN party won. There were many late-night fireworks, parties, and a huge FSLN bash that we drove past on Thursday after Spanish class.

Orientation Fun

After an intense week of orientation, we banded together for some good-natured 'pranking.' Inspired by a video we watched about a Seattle fish market that throws their fish and has lots of fun doing it, we decided to 'fish' the MCC offices by hanging paper from the ceilings and providing fish cracker snacks. Here's a small part of what we did.