Week 2 Done!

Well it officially has been 2 weeks and I am still sweating, don´t worry!

But we had our first trip this past weekend and it was a lot of fun to get out of little Diriamba and see more of this beautiful country. We left sunday morning around 7 a.m. for Mombacho- a volcano here in Nicaragua. It was about a half hour bus drive to the base of the volcano and another half hour ride up the mountain. We took this HUGE truck with all 30 or so of us up these steap hills that tipped and turned to what seemed our death, but we made it up alive. Then we hiked some beautiful trails on the top of the volcano and once we reached the top, we could see for days! It was very pretty and none of my picutres did it justice.

Then from their we went to the Granada Islands which they are about 375 chunks of volcanic rock that were shot into the ocean a long time ago because of a volcano arruption. They were sold to very rich people who built their own little palaces on these chunks of rock. How would you like to own an island? But we took 2 little boats and toured around these islands- it was really really pretty but probably the most touristy thing we will do all summer. We stopped at a specific island who was home to a lot of monkeys! Lola decided to come on our boat and hang out with us for a while. It was so cool! They are going to be a lot of pictures on Goshen´s blog. I think Gwen got about a 100!

Then we got off the boat and were bombarded with vendors trying to sell us neckalces, bracelets, and anything you could think of. It was overwhelming. But nothing beat what happened next. A group of drunk South Africans pulled up in their boat after a long ride with a lot of rum and decided to talk to all us girls- very closely! They spòke perfect english and started to talk of our beauty and such....let´s just say that one of the men bought me a white shell necklace and crowned me the new queen of South africa- forcing me to get in tons of pictures with them. I think they were trying to win me over or something? But what the hey- i got a free necklace out of the deal! Lisa also announced that she was going to take a picture of us for my fiance and they thought that was awesome and proceeded to harrass me more and take more pics! haha, it was really funny but we gave him a false name so that i wouldn´t be stalked or something. So if you see any pictures of me on the blog with a white shell necklace- remember to bow to me when i return to the states, because i am the new queen of south africa! haha

But other than that, I am started to feel like a part of my family here in Nica. I am actually able to incorporate humor into our conversations which makes it easier to feel more comfortable and not so much like an outsider. They still make fun of spanish, but that´s ok because my spanish is awful! They are also starting to feed me more food now that i am feeling better, which is starting to be a lot for my poor little stomach! They laugh and say ¨va a ser mas gordita¨ which means i am going to get fat....how nice of them! haha. that´s one difference that i´ve noticed, Nicas like a little chub- but people hate it in the U.S. - go figure!

But spanish class is going fine of course- i am starting to feel more like i am in school with all the homework we are assigned and the confusion with spanish....i thought i was done with school? NOT! But the lectures this week have been very important and interesting. Monday we had the Nicaraguan equivelant of Obama come and speak to us about his work with the Literacy Crusade in the 70s. This crusade brought irliteracy in Nicaragua from 76% to 14%! and this man was in charge of it! He had done more things in his liffe than i could ever imagine doing in 5! He was truly inspirational and taught us all a lot of life lessons. I really enjoyed his lecture. If you have time- look up the Literacy Crusade of Nicaragua- it is shocking!

Also, sometimes at my house we listen to english praise and worship songs that really keep my spirits up! It is nice to know that these people that i live with praise and worship the same God as I do. And that no matter how strong of a language barrier we have, that God can always connect us together in a beautiful way! It´s like someone told me before I left, ¨Just know that you can not go where God is not¨ and that has become evident in these first 2 weeks- which also gives me motivation for the next 10!

I love you all and keep praying for me! I heard these next 2 weeks are the hardest!

Love,
Ash