Day two with the team was the first day spent at La Panamá. The last post ended with us leaving the school and going to the mission house for lunch. The plan after that was supposed to be going back to the school for work. Instead the while group took the afternoon to go to the Mesiah market. It was the same one I went to last year. We had about an hour to shop around because we were going to see a movie. There was a big mall near the market that had a theater. That was also the same mall we went to last year where we walked around and ate crepes. We ended up seeing Superman and everyone pretty much agreed it wasn't a great movie. It was nice, though, because we got a break from all the heat due to the fact it felt like Antartica in the theater. The movie didn't end until 7:30 so we had a late dinner. Taylor and I got back home at a reasonable time and went to sleep because we had to wake up at 5:30 this morning.
We visited La Panamá again today to do something fun with the kids and get to work. When we got to the school there were a few kids running around and another guy, Pero (Peter in English), was there. He was my age and spoke English so Taylor and I talked to him for a bit. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay to help us. After he left we started cleaning up the concrete bleachers and upper court. The lower court was once buried in dirt and they had already cleaned that off a long time ago. The one up top was starte to get covered on the edges so we shoveled and swept off the dirt.
We got to spend recess with them and Taylor and I had quite the fan club. Little girls surrounded us and were braiding Taylor's hair while I drew with them in their notebooks. We had a few kids ask us to write our names in their notebooks and had to tell them we would another day. Really what they wanted was to remember our names by having us write them down. How do you say no to that? It's hard, but what's harder is not being able to understand them. I can sometimes figure out bits and pieces, but when you have ten little kids speaking at once and speaking fast it tends to be difficult. When recess was over we had to say goodbye:( The best feeling is having a bunch of kids loving on you and getting to love on them right back. Even though we can't communicate well with them or we forget their names they still come up and hug us. It's easier for them to remember us when we walk into the school but that doesn't change anything. I usually ask the same kid three times what their name is and I still don't remember it afterwards.
After the kids went back to class we headed to the preschool building. We didn't get to visit them the first day so today we went into their classes. We had piñatas and the kids absolutely loved that. Then we went behind the building and had bubble machines going for the kids to play with. We broke pieces of chalk into smaller pieces for the kids to draw on the concrete wall surrounding the school. One little girl, Naomi, was with me the whole time and she was so sweet. She would hug me and then hold my hand and lead me wherever she went.
The preschoolers were heading home then so we all went back to where the bus was parked and ate lunch. The rest of the kids were leaving so we said our goodbyes and hasta mañanas and started to work. Today the team mixed concrete to fill cracks in the stairs leading up to the next building. Mixing concrete in Nicaragua is very difficult. We had to mix rocks and sand together with shovels on the ground and then add the concrete mix. With the shovels we made a hole in the center of yhe pile and added water. After adding water a few times we then had to mix it all together fast before the water got out. Taylor and I only helped once because it was hard and the guys were much better at it. :) That was pretty much all the work we did today and at two o'clock we headed back to the mission house. There is a church service tonight we are going to after dinner. Tomorrow we will be back at the school to do more work and another lesson.
Adios!
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