Serve or be Served

Defeated by Nicaragua. Well, almost. This morning we awoke to a breakfast of rice and beans and…the dreaded cheese. Three consecutive days of the cheese just couldn’t be done. As our toilet flushing option didn’t prove to be such a great idea last night, we opted to wrap the cheese in a napkin and toss it in the street garbage.

Other than our fight with the cheese, today proved to be a rather uneventful day. Classes were a bit of a struggle to get through after such hard work and studying yesterday – but we made it. As Dylan told me today, we are already ¼ of the way through with school. I can honestly say that both of our Spanish skills have improved dramatically even in just this short period of time. Dylan has done a fantastic job of conversing (in Spanish of course) with everyone we encounter while I stand in silence (although I am coming to understand the basis of some of the conversations – a vast improvement from last week).

After language school we headed to our new apt. with the mindset that we were going to do some laundry and sit by the pool for a few hours while we studied our Spanish lessons from today. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans and it rained all afternoon. So, while we did go to our new apt. and do some laundry, there was no poolside studying involved. Perhaps tomorrow? As for our laundry – it was an adventure. Dylan and I loaded the washing machine and then spent 15 minutes watching our laundry turn in the machine as we played with all of the settings, attempting to understand how to work the machine. After the wash cycle finished, we went through a similar process with the dryer (quite possibly the world’s smallest dryer). It must be kept in mind that our dryer is not an actual dryer that emits heat to actually dry our clothes, but rather has up to a 5 minute setting to spin your clothes “dry.” After a few spin sessions, we were able to hang our clothes on the clotheslines – minus the clothespins that we forgot to purchase. Perhaps our clothes will be dry by the time we return tomorrow?

Other than our laundry adventure, we spent some time studying and napping in our new apt. We are hoping to move in to our new apt. by this weekend – so we will be bringing our belongings over in bits and pieces, a little each day. Perhaps tomorrow there will be time for poolside studying. As we were leaving our apartment, we were stopped by the guard at the front gate who handed us a piece of paper with an English note. The note was asking us if we were in need of a cleaning lady, as the woman from apartment #1 was available to clean our apartment. We explained that we had not yet moved in to our apt. but would be happy to speak with her in more detail once we were settled. We then asked the guard if he could help us get a taxi back to our home stay – and after he made a phone call for us, he ran down the street and spoke with someone. When he returned, he walked us back down the street towards Doña Norma (our landlady) who just happened to be at one of the other apartments on our street. Doña Norma made a phone call, put Dylan on the phone with someone who spoke English, and then gave us the telephone number for a taxi company in case we ever needed to call a taxi again. She also passed the taxi number on to the guard so that he could call a taxi for us if need be. Then, instead of getting us a taxi to go home, Doña Norma drove us the whole way home.

Serve to be served. That’s what Dylan and I have realized today. We came down here hoping to serve others – with the intention of serving others, but instead, we are being served left and right by everyone down here. They are going out of their way to help us feel more comfortable and at home. It is such a humbling experience to be here and be served in this manner. It’s also tough to think, if the situation were reversed, would we act the same as the Nicaraguans? Are we always so quick to help others who “don’t belong?” I have officially been here one week as of today and I already feel myself growing so much. The Nicaraguans have so much to teach about love, servitude and life. Each day seems to offer a new lesson. I can only imagine what knowledge I will leave here with…