Our night in Nueva Vida

Last night was our first night in Nueva Vida. We are staying with Tomossa's family (her, her husband, and her two sons that are 3 and 21 years old). It is a 30-40 minute walk to and from the cooperative each day.

Yesterday we got to hang out at the co-op. They recently finished with a big project for a Canadian company that sells baby clothes (Golly Gee Baby -- super cute). Since they have some down-time right now, a few of the co-op members are taking English lessons two afternoons per week, so we got to sit-in on a lesson. They are learning pretty basic things, but it was kind of a relief to see how hard it can be to learn English, since sometimes Spanish can be so challenging too! I've never seen someone learn English from such a basic state, so it was fun to observe and help out.

This morning (after breakfast of rice, tortillas, and fried chicken...which could really only ever happen here) the group capstone group stopped by for a tour before they head up to Siares.

Robyn and I got to translate Julia's presentation about the history of the co-op for the group. Then Carl and Leslie (missionaries through CEPAD) stopped by to take us to a mural that a Nicaraguan artist they know painted at a school for disabled kids.

We are doing some more translating work this afternoon then hopefully going over some of the development work with Maria Elena. They work long days here - 7am to 6pm, plus our walk on either side makes for long days!