Apartment Shopping

Our first full day in Nicaragua was quite successful, although also quite tiring. It is only 6:30pm and I am contemplating going to bed within the hour. We met with the language school and were impressed with the facilities and friendliness of the instructors. Classes start on Monday and we can’t wait.

After visiting the language school we caught a taxi to the office of the real estate agent we met with in May. An interesting side note – Lauren and I are estimating that the percentage of our taxi rides during which the driver has to get out of the car and ask someone the location of our destination is approximately 80%. This trip indeed increased that value.

The agents were great – we ended up touring 5 apartments and settled on a nice two-bedroom furnished condo in a safe neighborhood near the center of the city. The complex has 24/7 security and even has access to a pool. I think it’s going to be a great place. Our lease starts on Monday, although we probably won’t move in for another two weeks, as our home mother’s house is 3 blocks from the language school. Afterward deciding on our condo we went out to lunch with our real estate agents and enjoyed some typical Nicaraguan chicken, rice, and salad.

We then stopped by the mall to pick up a cell phone for Lauren and search, unsuccessfully, for a rechargeable lantern. The taxi ride back to our home mother’s further increased the aforementioned percentage. There certainly is no Google Mapping here.

Even though we have only been awake for about 12 hours the day seems like it lasted forever. I’m guessing that the mental strain from concentrating so hard on attempting to understand the language, along with the heat, contributed to us being so exhausted.

I am so happy to be here. Although I am certainly missing the comforts of home I am excited to finally be down here and start getting settled. I am sure that I am supposed to be here, although I’m still not certain in the capacity I’ll be serving. God is definitely testing me and my desire to plan my future, instead asking me to just wait and listen.

I’m hoping to shift the focus of the blog away from strictly a factual account of what I’ve been doing and start incorporating my thoughts on life here and what God’s been teaching me. I’ll still update you all on the basics of day-to-day life, but just be warned that you will, if for some reason you want to keep reading, likely be subject to my ponderings.

Much love to you all.