 Hey everyone, first off i need to warn you, i am not too good at this whole xanga thing; i have already messed up and submitted a title with no text :S
so, with that said, i can get to the details of our trip! i warn you, there is lots of text, loads of spelling errors and absolutly nothing that follows any kind of organizational pattern, hopefully my prof doesnt go over this:) thank you so much to everyone who supported us. for nearly 8 months our team put a lot of work into fundraising and preparing for our trip and it was all worth it. the trip was AWESOME!!! i dont even know where to begin...  we got there saturday nite and made the one hour drive to the center where we stayed all week. initial reaction...WOW!!! our patio was so awesome. it had hammocks and really comfy rocking chairs. this is where we ate our meals, played ping-pong, did our bible studies, and relaxed after a hard days work.
you can't see it, but to the left of our deck is the...jungle... i guess it would be. it was really peaceful and beautiful to sit and just enjoy the scenery. through out the week we painted the rafters of the buildings. maybe i should first explain where we were. the location we stayed at was the site for Nicaragua Christian Academy Nejapa campus, which is a spanish school for middle class students. the tuition is $60 a month, average income in nicaragua is about $120 a month. WCS focuses on the middle class because the middle class are the people who will one day run the country, their goal is to have these children raised in a christian environment with the hope that in the future the country can be less corrupt (for mor info see wwcs.org). also on location is the Nehemiah Center. the Nehemiah Center is a central location where a number of organizations work together to accomplish a common goal. i will get into those organizations later. so..where was i? oh yes, the school already has an elementary and temporary highschool. most of our efforts went into painting the rafters of the new highschool and nehemiah center. the guys also did cement for the last few days. this was quite a eye opener! usually the workers make their own cement, we were lucky enough to have a cement truck come, the first time ever. so...we painted, we dug, we wheelbarrowed cement...lets see if i can get some pics to accompany what we've done so far... (while i do that, what is with the constant switching of font?!?)   HOLD UP! i missed a day, Sunday the first sunday we were there we went to the missionary church. while there we also got a tour of Nicaragua Christian Academy, which is an english school. most of the students are nicaraguan, but classes are in english. all the students that can't speak enough english go to NCA Nejapa. anyways, so far 100% of the students have gone to university, a lot in America, but also some in Nicaragua (i really hope my details are correct, but either way, they are pretty close). that afternoon we went to the Pacific Ocean, it was amazing! it was warm! :) we spent most of the afternoon frolicking in the waves and warm water. there isnt much else to say about that, it was awesome! on the way we drove to the top of a mountian (hill by our standards:) ), from there we could see to Lake Managua, Managua and...yah that is about it.  
ok ok ok, this is getting long, but there is soo much to say!!! during the week we had people from the organizations that are a part of Nehemiah Center come and talk to us and tell us what they are doing. There was a guy working with gangs, a guy who works with communities making products that they can sell to earn money...hm...history of nicaragua.... Lots of info. which was great, i really feel like i know what is going on there and i can better understand the need. it's really overwhelming, there is so much need. i dont think i could really get the message across on the computer. we also had the opportunity to go to some of the english classes at NCA nejapa. this was great!!! we played games with the kids and they asked us questions...what is you name? what is the weather? what is your favorite colour? and so on. we also co-ordinated our break with theirs so that we could play soccer with them at recess. It was awesome to be able to connect a little with the kids, speak with them and see what their classes are like.  
  so where are we...oh yah, the stuff we did during the week other than work:) we played soccer with all of our fellow workers, it was great! Canada beat Nicaragua so we had to have a rematch and we beat them again:) we also tried baseball but it was a little difficult considering us canadians aren't used to a small ball or a ball the same colour as the ground...excuses yes i know, we sucked:)
(check out keith getting taken out, sorry i dont know how to edit on the computer or i would have cropped the photo better) our week was rather busy. between working, socializing and playing games with the guards, workers, and students we had bible study, presentations and some time for hammocks, cards and relaxing. which also reminds me of the food, AWESOME!!! with the exeption of a few meals, we had cooks that came in the mornign and made us our meals and snacks for the day, it was great.  our weekend was also really cool. we went to momotombo, a volcanoe that has a look out that you can see granada and the ------- islets (dont remeber the name). the islets were formed when the volcanoe erupted millions or years ago, you know how that goes. either way, there is a really cool chain of islands that we later went on a boat tour around. there is one for sale for $40 000, any one i know is allowed to purchase it, i volunteer to be there personal custodian:) we also went to the market and an active volcanoe, again, dont remember the name but very cool! we could hear the volcanoe rumbling!
 we also went to Laguna de Apollo, AMAZING!!! it is a lagoon in the crater of a volcanoe, obviously not active:) it is so beautiful, the water was so warm and blue, we got some kayaks and a paddle boat and enjoyed the serenity (i think thats the word i am lookign for) of the calm water. it was so amazing, it makes you think how do things like that occur...other than the millions of years ago theory. we decided the volcano blew its top before the flood and now its full of water, but really we dont know. either way, it was awesome.
almost done! bear with me:) on monday we went to a different school, Re de Gloria? something like that. it is a much poorer school, i am not sure what words to use to explain how poor. tuition at this school is 50 cents a month and some families struggle. i should also mention the tuition if more for family support and putting a value on education. if families are paying money for the kdis to go they tend to put more effort into it and work harder in school. the pictures may show it a bit more. the school has a program that runs in the afternoon with more than a hundred kids, these kids are meeting in an old chicken coop. currently they have a preschool that runs out of the buildings. in Nicaragua if you have grade one you need to pay a school teacher, so the preschool classes have students from about 4-10. in nicaragua you don't go to school by age, you go by level. so one class may have a range in age of 4 years, but they are all learning at the same level.   
so that just about covers it. really there is so much to tell i hope it all makes sense:) once again thank you to everyone who supported our trip, it was truly a learning experience that we will benefit from for the rest of our lives. i also added a shot of us beutiful veldman girls for all you relatives out there, given that this is our family connection:)  | 
