Routine…but not…

Some of the girls on my team during a sunrise 🙂

This week we started to feel set into a routine (although “routines” are never quite set in Nicaragua…) with our ESL
classes, trash pick-up, church services, and discipleship time. Monday and Tuesday afternoon when we taught
English were both surprisingly rewarding. There were more students than we expected, which was encouraging. The nuns at Sisters of Charity Orphanage
(where we teach and help at the daycare) opened this ESL class up to the
community so some of the students are girls from the orphanage but most of them
are other kids who live nearby. Since it
was the second week, we had a better grasp on the students’ level of English so
we could split the class according to their language foundation. I ended up teaching the beginner level and
had so much fun doing it!  The ages of
kids in our class range from Victor, age, 9, to Raoul, age 26. So sometimes it’s tricky to think of teaching
techniques that appeal to the whole spectrum of ages…but I am enjoying getting
to know the students better and hope this will be a way to develop friendships
that extend beyond the classroom. On
Friday, for example, we were walking home from the daycare when I bumped into
Daisy and Conception-two sisters in my class. They were walking home from school so we got to walk a ways together,
getting to know each other better and they also practiced some of the English
we had learned this week!  

On Wednesday we went back to the same street to pick up
trash and the part we had worked on last time was noticeably less littered than
the rest of the street, although by no means clean, but that was a little
encouraging. We prayed on the steps of
El Puente before we started and when we opened our eyes there were about six
kids that helped us last time, sitting there giggling and waiting for us to
open our eyes. They were ready to help! We had so much fun getting to know them
better while also being productive, picking up trash along the street. Many of their parents were in their yards and
so got to know some of them as well, including one woman who expressed her
thanks and how she thinks this is what their neighborhood needs-so we’re
hopeful that our efforts may spark a community-wide initiative to keep their
barrio clean. It has been a great way to
get to know more families, though, and I’m excited to continue this weekly
activity.