The Honor of Hosting

The concept of hosting here in Nicaragua is crucial to the understanding of Nicaraguan culture.  I’m sure that somewhere here it is written on a fortune cookie: To be a bad host is to be a bad person (lucky number 7, 15, 23, 49).  When you have a guest in your household, regardless of who they are, they are your honored guest.  They are to be served their meals first; they are to sit in the best spot at the table, closest to the fan; they are to given control of the TV remote; they are to be given a good bed with all the amenities.  Essentially, they are to be taken care of so they could want for nothing.  Sounds crazy right?  I mean, they are basically asking to be taken advantage of, giving away all their stuff like that.  Who does that anymore?  Well, the Nicaraguans for starters.  Surprisingly, hosting is a two-way street.  It is not a society-approved parasitic operation; rather, it is just as much the role of the host to give as it is the guest’s role to accept what is being given.  And in this exchange of gifts, there is a silent covenant being struck: I host you so that, someday, you can host me. It’s kind of like Jesus’ command to “love one another as you love yourself” but with a twist: host one another as you would want to be hosted.

This past weekend, the Cohort of Nicaragua hosted a group of volunteers out of Muskegon, Michigan (Calvin CRC).  I am not yet living at the Caminante house but was invited to come and help lead the group and get a feel for how group are usually coordinated.  Saturday afternoon we all went to the beach to enjoy the sand and waves for a bit.  I myself am a bit scared of the Nicaraguan waves and undertow so I stayed back, sipping a coffee and admiring the beautiful waters before me.  While I was taking a walk along the beach with Adrianna, we felt a few raindrops and then in the distance we heard the loud descent of rain heading our way.  We ran as fast as we could to the safety of the restaurant but we were too late.  I was soaked and, for the first time since I’ve been here, I was cold.  It was so beautiful!

Later that evening, we took a tour of León on a tourist bus known as the bus pelón, or “bald bus”.  It’s a bus that has no top on it and it’s quite a hoot, with way to many people sitting and standing everywhere and obnoxious music blaring from the speakers.  The following morning, we all went to church at Adrianna’s church.  A normal evangelical service here is very charismatic, filled with singing, dancing, praying, and preaching with energy.  After church, we hung out at our house and shared a bit about what the Cohort is and what we do.  Several of the high schoolers seem very interested in what our program has to offer.  Hopefully they are interested enough to join us here in Central America!!

That evening, we had a girl’s sleepover at our house, just Guissell, my new friend Jovi from Haiti, and myself.  We made a great dinner from leftovers and watched Frozen together :)  It was a great way to end the weekend.

This morning I woke up with quite the cold: my nose is runny, my head pounds, and my throat aches and burns with every swallow.  I am hoping it is just a 24 hour bug and that by tomorrow I will be back to my normal self.  Please pray for a speedy recovery!

Until next time, stay tuned!

Here We Go Again

Being here is so surreal, as if I am watching Kelsey experience all of this but I'm not really here yet. It's as if I have a split personality of a sort: Central American Kelsey and Me. This is of course not an uncurable affliction--given time the two Kelsey's will merge into one being, both fully Central American and North American. In that moment, I will be at peace with my life here, fully at ease with my new surroundings. But for now, I live with two people in my head--one that's adjusting and one that knows completely what to do and say. 

To say the least this can cause some hiccups! One moment I'm fluently conversing in Spanish, enjoying myself and the feeling of being back. The next moment, I'm tripping over my words, suddenly self conscious of my actions, my thoughts wandering to a different place with different people at a different point in time.  In those moments, I feel foolish and retreat back into myself, cautious and hesitant to spread my wings again.  

My hope is that these moments will soon disappear altogether!

It's also strange because I feel older now, wizened to a certain extent. I've been here before, experienced this before, stumbled here before. I know this path I walk--in fact if I glance down I can see my own footprints in the dirt before me.  

It's almost like déjà vu but with a different flavor, not like a carbon copy of a past experience, but like a weird twin sister of past events. And so I think that's why it's so weird--I've done all of this and yet, I actually haven't.

And so I continue on this path that I've quasi-traveled before :)

                 With my host mom Wilma

Since I've arrived on Sunday, I've had nothing but a whirlwind of activities: meeting new people, visiting new places, doing new things.  I've moved in my host family and they are really great.  My host mom Wilma is an excellent cook and is helping me to get to know León, my host dad Anderson is quite the jokester, my host brother Lolo is a whiz at technology, and my host sister Sadie is my roommate and works at a university. We live only 12 blocks from the center of town and only 2 blocks from the closest open air market.  I think living here will be fun!

I've also had to learn how to get around here in town and let me tell you, my sense of direction isn't the best.  I found out that to give directions you say arriba (up) to say East and abajo (down) for West, even though everything here is flat as a pancake! I asked why, my question accompanied by my own giggles of how weird those directions are, and the response I was given is that the sun rises in the East (hence up) and sets in the West (hence down). Which totally makes sense! Haha!

I will write again soon to share with you all the activities of the weekend.  In the meantime, God Bless! 

Stay tuned!

It's Almost Here!

Just under 2 weeks before I make my way to sunny Nicaragua, my new home for a good while.  Am I nervous?  Of course.  Am I excited?  Definitely!  Am I packed?  Not one bit.

When I get to Nicaragua, my first few days will be a matter of orientation—staying at the Nehemiah Center, getting to know people, the job, and the location.  From there I will move in with my host family in León and live with them for a month or so.  Part of my job with the Nehemiah Center is coordinating the host families and familiarizing myself with different living options for students, so this month will be dedicated to learning what that's all about so I am better equipped to work with my students.  It’s also a great way for me to jump right into León life and Nicaraguan culture.  It’ll also help me brush up on my rusty Spanish :)

From the host family I will move into a house shared by some of my friends: Guissel Brenes Paz, Adrianna Oudman, and Mark Heidmann.  These three are a part of a program, called the Cohort, in which I am somewhat a leader.  Living with them is a great opportunity to get to know them better and, plus, I get to live with friends :)

Adrianna and Guiss buying house stuff

Guiss signing the lease

Guiss in front of the house

This house, currently fondly known as the Caminante house, is amazing to say the least.  I haven’t actually seen much of it, just what you see in the pictures below, but already I love it.  There’s a lot of room where we can host friends from the community, hold meetings, have bible studies, and more.  From what I’ve been told, there are 5-6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a small inner courtyard, and a large from porch area (which doubles as a garage).  The landlady really wanted us to rent the place and so she spent a lot of time and money painting and updating most of the plumbing fixtures.  

And, the best part is, our total monthly rent is a bargain price of $350!  Why so cheap, you ask?  Well, the house doesn’t come with a lick of furniture—no beds, no closets, no chairs, no tables, no fridge, no stove.  So, for the first good while we are going to be Pinteresting our way into having great furniture and a great looking house on a small budget.  If you’ve got any cool ideas for us, please send them my way!

Stay tuned as I make my last minute preparations before I move!