Nicaragua, day eight
Today Sara came to visit my family, which was really fun. We went to the see where my aunt works which was awesome. She works for the community to ensure that they all have potable water and electricity. Next door to her, they work to make sure that when someone dies (which someone did today), there’s a coffin ready and 150 chairs for “La Vela” (kinda like a wake, I think). The coffin was an amazing work of craftsmanship – detailed in incredibly beautiful wood. The organization works to give them these things at first and then the family pays them back little by little when they can get the money to do so. Again, these are more examples of the government screwing the poor people, so they start to take care of themselves.
On the way there, I got to ride in the back of a truck, which is extremely typical of Nicaragua and extremely fun! I know it’s dangerous, but it was certainly a lot of fun. I thought that it was legal to do it here since everyone does, but apparently it’s against the law. The thing is, though, that they still do it and don’t really get many tickets for it. I can’t imagine if we tried to do the same thing in the States. We have so many police around that we’d be ticketed in a heartbeat! But, I wonder what the mortality rate is percentage-wise for those who die in car accidents… Hmmm…
We went to an Internet café in Masaya to make an e-mail address for my aunt DaMaris. It was kinda cute to watch her learn how to do something I’ve been doing for the last 8 years and is so taken for granted for me. It makes me feel a lot better about leaving, knowing that I’ll be able to communicate with my Nica family still, even though I’m all over the place. After the internet café, we bought some pastries and then went to this marketplace that looked all pretty but wasn’t very cheap. So then, my aunts and uncle took us to the other marketplace and we bought Sara some shoes and myself an umbrella. They seemed so pleased to find what we needed for a good price. J Also, we tasted quesillos which are very yummy – they’re cheese, onions and cream wrapped in a corn tortilla and I really like them! It’s fun to try new things, but especially when you really enjoy them.
We left from there to go to Ryan’s house and visit his family a bit. They showed us around and we watched fireflies, which are just incredible and then we talked a bit with the family and together. I decided that I don’t really like to speak in English when there are people around who only speak Spanish. It’s one thing for others to speak in Spanish and have them try to include me and explain more clearly so I can participate. It’s another thing when we’re speaking English, knowing full well that they can’t understand us.
After we left Ryan’s house, we walked back to our house and encountered Sara’s family which was interesting. They’re distant family of my family and so my family wanted to have Sara spend the night. When we told this to her family, they were very hesitant and seemed like that’s not what they wanted to do, but under pressure they said yes. When I asked my Aunt about this, they said that Nicaraguans are very straightforward – if they say yes, they mean yes. There’s nothing behind the yes. So, apparently this must mean that it’s totally okay for Sara to have spent the night… Let’s hope so…
We went to the Vela shortly thereafter and it totally touched my heart. My family (along with all the rest of the families in the community) showed up with a bag of food and a little bit of money for the family who’s dad had died. They were all there for the service and then after the service, we continued to sit. I asked my sister about this and she told me that it’s custom for everyone to bring a bag of something and/or money to help out the family and then it’s also custom to stay outside the house for the entire night, talking and supporting the family just by being there with them. Not everyone stays all night long, but at this point there were about 200-250 people there, just being supportive for this family who was in pain. I almost cried, realizing that the priorities are so different here – they care more about supporting someone in their community than they do about the fact that they might have something ‘more important’ to do the next day. It was incredible. Now, I’m sure, like every other culture, they have their flaws. I’ve definitely seen a larger presence of violence than I’ve seen other places. At the same time, I’ve never seen love like this except in my own family. Such a sacrificial, selfless love, supporting one another – this showed me the body of Christ more than I’ve seen in my whole life.
Another thing that really struck me is that today, Sara’s feet where just full of mud while we were walking, which always happens because there’s mud everywhere. So, to help out, my aunt took her rag (that everyone around here carries around to wipe the sweat off their forehead from so much humidity) and literally cleaned her legs and feet. This was a huge picture to me of when Christ washed his disciples’ feet. I understand better now, what it really means to have dirty feet that need to be washed – I understand why this would be so significant. So maybe there is something to this liberation theology. Maybe the poorer people have somewhat of a hermeneutical advantage of understanding Scripture… I’m not saying for sure, I’m just wondering if it’s possible that it could be true.
One last thing that really touched my heart was that my sister and my cousin and my other little cousin asked me, “So… when you talk about your family in Costa Rica, you say your mom and dad and sisters and brother-in-law and niece. Why?” So I told them that they asked me to do so and so I take pleasure in calling them my family. So they sat a little bit and thought about that and then my cousin said, “From now on, you should call us your sisters.” I almost cried again… which of course, is not normal. It was really sweet and really amazing. I don’t know how it’s possible that within only the last 5 days we’ve truly formed a friendship deep enough to call them my sisters, but we have. Ahhh… so sweet.
On the way there, I got to ride in the back of a truck, which is extremely typical of Nicaragua and extremely fun! I know it’s dangerous, but it was certainly a lot of fun. I thought that it was legal to do it here since everyone does, but apparently it’s against the law. The thing is, though, that they still do it and don’t really get many tickets for it. I can’t imagine if we tried to do the same thing in the States. We have so many police around that we’d be ticketed in a heartbeat! But, I wonder what the mortality rate is percentage-wise for those who die in car accidents… Hmmm…
We went to an Internet café in Masaya to make an e-mail address for my aunt DaMaris. It was kinda cute to watch her learn how to do something I’ve been doing for the last 8 years and is so taken for granted for me. It makes me feel a lot better about leaving, knowing that I’ll be able to communicate with my Nica family still, even though I’m all over the place. After the internet café, we bought some pastries and then went to this marketplace that looked all pretty but wasn’t very cheap. So then, my aunts and uncle took us to the other marketplace and we bought Sara some shoes and myself an umbrella. They seemed so pleased to find what we needed for a good price. J Also, we tasted quesillos which are very yummy – they’re cheese, onions and cream wrapped in a corn tortilla and I really like them! It’s fun to try new things, but especially when you really enjoy them.
We left from there to go to Ryan’s house and visit his family a bit. They showed us around and we watched fireflies, which are just incredible and then we talked a bit with the family and together. I decided that I don’t really like to speak in English when there are people around who only speak Spanish. It’s one thing for others to speak in Spanish and have them try to include me and explain more clearly so I can participate. It’s another thing when we’re speaking English, knowing full well that they can’t understand us.
After we left Ryan’s house, we walked back to our house and encountered Sara’s family which was interesting. They’re distant family of my family and so my family wanted to have Sara spend the night. When we told this to her family, they were very hesitant and seemed like that’s not what they wanted to do, but under pressure they said yes. When I asked my Aunt about this, they said that Nicaraguans are very straightforward – if they say yes, they mean yes. There’s nothing behind the yes. So, apparently this must mean that it’s totally okay for Sara to have spent the night… Let’s hope so…
We went to the Vela shortly thereafter and it totally touched my heart. My family (along with all the rest of the families in the community) showed up with a bag of food and a little bit of money for the family who’s dad had died. They were all there for the service and then after the service, we continued to sit. I asked my sister about this and she told me that it’s custom for everyone to bring a bag of something and/or money to help out the family and then it’s also custom to stay outside the house for the entire night, talking and supporting the family just by being there with them. Not everyone stays all night long, but at this point there were about 200-250 people there, just being supportive for this family who was in pain. I almost cried, realizing that the priorities are so different here – they care more about supporting someone in their community than they do about the fact that they might have something ‘more important’ to do the next day. It was incredible. Now, I’m sure, like every other culture, they have their flaws. I’ve definitely seen a larger presence of violence than I’ve seen other places. At the same time, I’ve never seen love like this except in my own family. Such a sacrificial, selfless love, supporting one another – this showed me the body of Christ more than I’ve seen in my whole life.
Another thing that really struck me is that today, Sara’s feet where just full of mud while we were walking, which always happens because there’s mud everywhere. So, to help out, my aunt took her rag (that everyone around here carries around to wipe the sweat off their forehead from so much humidity) and literally cleaned her legs and feet. This was a huge picture to me of when Christ washed his disciples’ feet. I understand better now, what it really means to have dirty feet that need to be washed – I understand why this would be so significant. So maybe there is something to this liberation theology. Maybe the poorer people have somewhat of a hermeneutical advantage of understanding Scripture… I’m not saying for sure, I’m just wondering if it’s possible that it could be true.
One last thing that really touched my heart was that my sister and my cousin and my other little cousin asked me, “So… when you talk about your family in Costa Rica, you say your mom and dad and sisters and brother-in-law and niece. Why?” So I told them that they asked me to do so and so I take pleasure in calling them my family. So they sat a little bit and thought about that and then my cousin said, “From now on, you should call us your sisters.” I almost cried again… which of course, is not normal. It was really sweet and really amazing. I don’t know how it’s possible that within only the last 5 days we’ve truly formed a friendship deep enough to call them my sisters, but we have. Ahhh… so sweet.
posted by Sings in the Sunshine at
5:59 PM
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