Sibling love!

Happy Hump Day!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! A few people have told me how much they enjoy reading and checking up on me so I’m happy to report that I am still doing great and have even more fun stories for this week.

This past weekend was the first time I took part in the “Programa Familiar” in the home. Although two siblings may both be living here at NPH, when they are in different grades, live in different houses and rarely have the same free time it can be hard to maintain a strong relationship. The point of this family program is to bring each set of siblings together for some special activity, allowing them to cherish that special sibling love. Each families within NPH loves when it is their turn to participate, especially since each set of siblings gets to participate about twice a year. Running these family activities is another one of the volunteer’s responsibilities here so every weekend that I work I must spend either a morning or an afternoon with one set of siblings.

This weekend I had a boy from my house and his younger brother. Since I am not allowed to use names we will call them Bob and Carl (very Nicaraguan, right?). Bob is ten and extremely well behaved, only two years older than Carl but Carl has a small developmental disability and behavioral problems so the two don’t seem close in age at all. I was free to pick whatever activity I wanted to do with them so I chose to help them bake sugar cookies. What kid doesn’t love sweets, right? I managed to find cookie cutters in my house so they had a blast making hearts and letters and even a turkey.

While I watched Bob teach Carl how to crack an egg and later how to roll out the dough I was reminded so much of my “motherly” older sister. When the two started sneaking bites of raw dough and licking the bowls, I couldn’t help but see myself fighting with my two sisters over who got to lick the spatula. Whether it’s three girls in the states or two boys in Nicaragua, we’re all the same when it comes to cookie dough!

Although I’m not sure how much batter went into the cookies versus their stomachs, by the end they had a bunch of cookies to take back to their houses!   I can’t wait to work with another family in two weeks! Here are a few pictures of them...

As far as school, this past week was surprisingly nice. On both Tuesday and Friday several students were missing so we were down to less than ten students in every class. This ended up being a blessing because I was finally able to give the individual attention I wanted to! Without such a large group, the students behaved better and listened while I explained new material. I got all the way through a lesson plan and we had time for games! In one class there were only 4 students so my co teacher bought them all cookies and we ate and played and had a great day. Although the other kids missed the lesson, those that were there truly benefited from the class. At the end of the day I could say that I had showed love and attention to every student in my classes. What more can I ask?

Since a post of mine wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some great food I ate…this past Friday I tried my first Nacatamale! No, this is not a typo. It is a Nicaraguan tamale (get it?), which is what every guidebook tells you is the typical food here-besides rice and beans. Like any other tamale it is wrapped in a plantain leaf with a corn based filling but these have meat, peppers, chili peppers, potatoes and, of course, rice. My co-teacher brought it to me as a “snack” during our mid-morning break on Friday. When she brought out a cup of coffee and two pieces of bread “to help with digestion” I realized snack may have a different meaning here…Nonetheless, I finished it all and loved every bite. Tamales can be pretty tasteless but the Nacatamale has so many flavors! Since we are entering the corn harvest now I am crossing my fingers that we start eating Nacatamales for lunch or dinner. I will keep you all posted. As for the recipe, everyone here knows how to make them so I am also planning on learning how. We’ll see how that goes…

Until next time!