So its come to one week left in Esteli, Nicaragua. I can`t believe that I´ve made it through. Not because I doubted myself but because of everything we as a group have experienced in our time here. I´m very proud of my accomplishment - I´ve learned Spanish enough to become a sort of translator for my house; I´m starting to see people in the streets that I know and can say hi to; at work, I´m better friends with my co-workers, joking and laughing with them. Its amazing what I´ve developed here in 13 weeks. Most of my stay here was spent getting used to everything and wishing I could be back home in Canada. I can see why people say 3 months not enough, thats its only the beginning of good times to come. While I´m still super excited to go home, I can´t help but realize that I will miss FUNARTE staff and my host mom, and all the great people I´ve met during my trip. I didn´t think I would but now...

This has been an incredible experience and I´m so glad that I decided to do it and stay when times got rough. I think as a person I´ve grown so much and experienced so many new and exciting things, broadening my worldview and opening my eyes to different things about the world. For instance, poverty and what it really looks and feels like; living in a third world country; putting yourself in the situation where you don´t speak a word in the language. Challenging and pushing myself through all that has made me a more worldly person and I´m very thankful for that.

This past week, on Thursday, I got to go to Managua with FUNARTE to experience a day there and to see what they do. From 5am to 9:30pm we were there, working hard the entire day with kids from the streets at different workshop locations. Painting, cleaning, talking, teaching....oh my. The kids were so unlike the kids in Esteli - they were louder, dirtier, more demanding and overall more work. But they also come from different situations than the kids in Esteli; most of the kids in Managua that we work with are street kids. It was a tiring day but I enjoyed it, mostly because it was new and I got to spend time with people from work. Driving home at night, all sitting crammed into the bus, it felt like we were friends that had gone for a camping trip and were driving through the desert at night. I loved it and I will miss it.

In funnier news: today I was SUPPOSED to go to Miraflor with the girls for our final weekend in Miraflor. Siobhan and I were going to take the 3pm bus and meet Jess and Megan there. Instead, at 8:15am, Siobhan calls me and says: ``I have lice, I need help washing my hair and getting rid of it.`` So all morning, Edna and I were cleaning her hair. While we´re pretty sure we got most of it, we didn´t want to take the chance of it re-appearing the next morning or spreading to others. So we opted out of Miraflor and are having a sleepover instead. Its not Miraflor but hey...its still fun. Hopefully I don´t get lice though. Ew.


Hasta luego!