Apartment Shopping

Our first full day in Nicaragua was quite successful, although also quite tiring. It is only 6:30pm and I am contemplating going to bed within the hour. We met with the language school and were impressed with the facilities and friendliness of the instructors. Classes start on Monday and we can’t wait.

After visiting the language school we caught a taxi to the office of the real estate agent we met with in May. An interesting side note – Lauren and I are estimating that the percentage of our taxi rides during which the driver has to get out of the car and ask someone the location of our destination is approximately 80%. This trip indeed increased that value.

The agents were great – we ended up touring 5 apartments and settled on a nice two-bedroom furnished condo in a safe neighborhood near the center of the city. The complex has 24/7 security and even has access to a pool. I think it’s going to be a great place. Our lease starts on Monday, although we probably won’t move in for another two weeks, as our home mother’s house is 3 blocks from the language school. Afterward deciding on our condo we went out to lunch with our real estate agents and enjoyed some typical Nicaraguan chicken, rice, and salad.

We then stopped by the mall to pick up a cell phone for Lauren and search, unsuccessfully, for a rechargeable lantern. The taxi ride back to our home mother’s further increased the aforementioned percentage. There certainly is no Google Mapping here.

Even though we have only been awake for about 12 hours the day seems like it lasted forever. I’m guessing that the mental strain from concentrating so hard on attempting to understand the language, along with the heat, contributed to us being so exhausted.

I am so happy to be here. Although I am certainly missing the comforts of home I am excited to finally be down here and start getting settled. I am sure that I am supposed to be here, although I’m still not certain in the capacity I’ll be serving. God is definitely testing me and my desire to plan my future, instead asking me to just wait and listen.

I’m hoping to shift the focus of the blog away from strictly a factual account of what I’ve been doing and start incorporating my thoughts on life here and what God’s been teaching me. I’ll still update you all on the basics of day-to-day life, but just be warned that you will, if for some reason you want to keep reading, likely be subject to my ponderings.

Much love to you all.

We're here!

I thought it would be a good idea to write an entry describing the house in which we’re renting a room for the next two and a half weeks. My motivations for doing this are twofold. One, I figure it would be beneficial to give you a taste of our lives here and, two, we are without power so my laptop is doing a decent job of providing light for the room.

As we were being driven here from the airport, Lyndon, the owner/director of the language school, mentioned the rolling blackouts currently in effect. Never experiencing such a phenomenon before, I selectively disregarded his comment until I noticed the lack of street lights; or any lights for that matter. We were then told that the section in which we’re staying is without power this week from 5-10pm each weekday. The schedule changes weekly, but for the next two days we will have to find ways to entertain ourselves 16^th-century style for 5 hours a night. Very interesting.

Anyways, the room is quite nice, although a bit small. We have a bed, a wardrobe, a table, and a plastic chair. We also have access to our own bathroom, and, the highlight of the room, a mosquito net hanging over our bed. Perfect.

Tonight we went to an internet café, which was powered by generators, to send emails home announcing our safe arrival. We then returned home to a lovely dinner of rice, vegetables, and bread prepared by our house mother, Mara. I then showered, but resumed sweating approximately 25 seconds after toweling off.

Tomorrow we plan on meeting with the language school people to pay them and set up our schedule for the next two weeks. Then we’ll try to meet with the real estate agent and perhaps get cell phones. Should be tight.

Almost there...

Hello from Miami! Lauren and I missed a connection yesterday so we are currently hanging out at our friend Denis’ condo in Miami awaiting our 4:15pm flight to Managua. Despite the delay in getting to Nicaragua we are so glad we had the chance to see Denis and spend some time at his sweet place.

Our plan is to arrive in Managua this evening and spend the rest of this week and this weekend getting settled. We will be taking Spanish classes for two weeks, starting on on Monday, October 1^st, at the Viva Spanish School and are renting a room from them until we find an apartment. Hopefully we can find a place to rent, get cell phones, look into buying a scooter, and get ourselves a bit acclimated with Managua before we start classes.

Lauren will be splitting her time between two orphanages in Managua. We had the chance to visit both of them when we were here in May, during which Lauren fell in love with the kids. I know that she will do an amazing job in developing relationships with them and showing them love.

I am still in the process of figuring out what I’ll be doing. I was fairly certain I had a volunteer position set up with a microfinance organization, but it appears that those plans have perhaps fallen through. I’ve been busy contacting other organizations about the possibility of volunteering with them and I’ll be sure to post when I get things figured out. Good thing we have 2 weeks of classes before I need to get my act together!

Thank you all so much for all of the encouragement you’ve given me throughout this process. I feel so loved by my family and friends and your thoughts, prayers, and support have made this transition so much easier.

Hopefully my next post will be from Nicaragua!

Introduction

Hey! First of all, thanks for reading my blog. I am not quite sure what this blog will look like in terms of how often I’ll be writing and what kind of reports I’ll be giving, but I promise to make it as interesting as possible and try to give you a look into what I’m doing in Nicaragua. So, check back as frequently, or infrequently, as you would like and don’t hesitate to contact me via email (dylanwaugh@gmail.com) or skype (dylanwaugh). Hope all is well back in the States, and know that as you read this I am missing you.