Merry Christmas!

A VERY Merry Christmas to all of you from my house to yours. I hope you find great joy, love, and peace as you celebrate the birth of our Saviour, the greatest gift we will every receive. I couldn't decide between the beach picture or the house picture so you get both.

Christmas Eve in Nicaragua

So I have officially experienced my first Christmas in Nicaragua and it was lots of fun. I spent Christmas Eve in the home of the Penas, a Nicaraguan family I've gotten to know well over the years. The evening started with a meal at 9:00pm of rice, a chicken dish that was cooked over the fire, and two slices of white bread. For dessert we had almost like a Swiss bread with cinnamin, banana pudding inside. It was all very delicious. After this we exchanged some gifts amongst eachother. Traditionally fireworks are let off at 12:00 but we let them go a little earlier than that. Here are some pictures from the evening:
Yolanda recieved this bag which she just LOVED! That's not hard to tell from her expression.

Here I am with Ana celebrating with sparklers.
and Debora too!

The crazy part of the evening started about about 11:45pm when we heard a big crash. A motorcycle and a car crashed at the corner. Immediately 20-25 people rushed to the scene and many more were coming down the streets when they heard the news. They don't seems to get involved they just come to see but are right in close to the scene of the accident. Since 12:00 is when all the fire works start up this was all happening at the same time. It was SOOO loud because everyone does it at the same time for about 20 minutes. I got a little freaked out when the nieghbour lit a string of fireworks and than a police truck drove down the street right over top of it! I just wanted to shout, "SLOW DOWN I can't take this all in so fast." This last picture isn't very clear but it has the fireworks in the background with the accident, people, and police car infront of it.

Photos on the Fly

Thought I would share some unusual sighting, although perhaps not so unusual in Nicaragua, that we've past lately on the road. At first I thought that this cement truck had a flat tire, but that wasn't the case. Perhaps it got heavy on one side and just started leaning over. It was leaking gas, but traffic just kept on moving along by it.

As the title says photos on the fly so it's a bit blurry. This evening we spotted two wedding processions walking down the street. We asked about this later on and found out that Christmas is a really popular time of year to get married.

Moving day!

The Big Surprises

When I left home this summer I said good bye to my family thinking that I wouldn't see them again until June. That was until I got to thinking that it was high time I surprised my family and so I did. I left Nicaragua on Friday and was met that night at the airport by my sister Sara (can't keep secrets from your POA). The following morning we first stopped in and saw Tanya and the kids. Then we moved on to the farm where everyone was up and mom was at the counter making tea. I walked in the door and said "Merry Christmas"! At first mom thought I was Wayne with glasses but when she recognized who I was; I think she was speechless and motionless because she just kind of stood there with a look of disbelief on her face. Faye, Jason, and the kids were there too and came to see the commotion. Faye and mom had similar responses and if you know anything about the Bootsma family you might guess that they cried; tears of happiness I'm assuming.

From there the weekend kind of passed in a blur. In just the four days at home I was able to attend the Miedema Christmas Dinner (a family tradition I haven't been able to attend in over 10 years), celebrate Andrew's (my nephew) birthday, be apart of the 'traditional girls out at Christmas' tradition (we went out for dinner and to the movie Australia; a real chick-flick), Rachel's (my niece) piano recital. I also got to help decorate mom and dad's house for Christmas, have mom's Sunday soup and pea soup, have gouda cheese on raisin bread, experience a snow storm and cold temperatures, sleep with a hot water bottle, and play Rook.

My favourite picture of the weekend is below, taken by Faye of Charlie and Annika in the snow.

Also found this fan club of supporters sporting Sea to Sea T-shirts.

This picture was taken at the Christmas Dinner of Faye, Sara, and I with mom and Beppe.

The title says 'surprises' because the last surprise was the trip back to Nicaragua. Arriving in Houston, Texas I was surprised to see snow flying but didn't think too much of it because it didn't seem to be coming down too hard. I guess I was wrong because any snow in Texas is making history and so we had big problems at the airport. All the planes had to be deiced by one machine. We were told that this process would take 20 minutes per plane and that there were 30 planes on the runway needing to be deiced. It didn't take us long to figure out that we were going to be waiting a long time. Looking back I'm glad I didn't know ahead of time that it would be a 8 and a half hour wait or I wouldn't have boarded that plane. I didn't get back to Managua until 6:00am on the day I was to be back at work. A quick shower and some breakfast and I made it to school with a couple minutes to spare. Now I'm just waiting on my luggage to arrive. Oh the joys of air travel!

Thanksgiving Again

Can never be thankful enough, so I'm learning to enjoy the opportunity to celebrate it twice; once in Canadian timing and once in American timing. I wish I was a more grateful person; God has given me so much that I don't even really deserve. I need to learn to appreciate it more. I've been particularly thankful this year for:

*Family: Always one for the top of the list right? I've been thankful that I've found a easy, accessible, and cheap way to talk to family.

*Friends: Super thankful for a great community of friends here in Nicaragua and in Canada.

*Bible Study: We have been studying the book of Daniel and are almost through it. I have realized from this study that there is soooooo much more to learn in God's Word.

*Students: I'm thankful for the energy and enthusiasm of my students. I'm thankful for their simple words of wisdom.

*Health: So many people have been sick in the past couple weeks. I'm so glad that I've been spared any illnesses in the past couple weeks.

*Opportunities.

I've realized that I've been a little shy lately, either that or too busy. It's not that there isn't anything to write about though. Lots has been going on in the past couple weeks, but I'll keep this update school related. We are heading into the time of year where classes seem to get interrupted for lots of different reasons. Today we had our Thanksgiving program for parents. For the program my students told the story "I know an old woman who swallowed a pie" which is a play off the book "I know an old woman who swallowed a fly." I think some people thought the story was never going to end. After the program the students served the parents a Thanksgiving meal: potatoes, chicken, salad, bread, and rice. We were told that Nicaraguans must have rice in the meal hence the 3 carbs meal. Next week we have our Christmas program already which seems early but after this weekend it is December. I guess I will tell the rest of the update through pictures.

Making turkeys to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The Thanksgiving FeastTeamwork! There were lots of tumbles and crashes prior to this pyramid.

But all in good fun!

Sea to Sea Nicaragua Update

In Nicaragua we are continuing to train for our trip in December. We have had some beautiful rides and have enjoyed the beauty of Nicaragua along the way. Efforts to raise funds are going well and we are very excited to announce that we have collected just over $21 000 so far. Our projected goal is $30,000. Thank you to all those who have supported us in this project. We ask for your continued prayers that the funds raised for this project will be multiplied to be a great blessing to the people living on the East Coast of Nicaragua.

I want to invite you to check out our website. If you would like to still donate you can find out how on this site. You can get there from this blog page. Just check the right hand margain to where you see And These too!: Sea to Sea Nicaragua. We will be updating it more frequently as we get closer to the date of the trip. Or you can go to:

http://bikenica.wordpress.com

Fellow bikers infront of the best view I've ever seen of Managua, the 2 lakes, and a volcano.
One hot biking woman!

Sea to Sea Training: Part 2

We're always up for a good challenge and something new. This event definitely fit into that category. Last weekend a group of us went to the mountains to participate in a road race. We had tried hard to train for the event, but nothing could prepare us for the change in altitude and mountainous terrain. The race was suppose to be 15 kilometers, but when we got there they told us they had changed it t0 11 kilometers. Oh don't let me fail to mention that the race started at 6:00am! And so we have our first picture of the morning; all bright eyed and cheery. The 11 km was just the fun run portion of the race. Other runners were competing in a 40km or 80km race. Who in their right mind does a double marathon! One of the race rules is if you don't finish in 12 hours you will be disqualified. There were runners from other countries who came to participate in this race. The terrain was challenging; first 3 to 4 km were uphill, it was muddy, and rocky. The great part was that we had two short rain showers, the weather was cool, and the views were amazing. The race took us through a coffee plantation with spectacular views of the mountains.
Here are a bunch of us at the end of the race. Every participant got a medal as they crossed the finish line. We're all winners!

One thing I've learned to love about running and biking is that there's alot of time to think and to listen. In my last newsletter I mentioned our weakness in being good listeners. The open road is a great place to start being a good listener. Come down and ride anytime!

Fourth Grade Photo Gallery

It's time for a look inside the fourth grade classroom. I've been very proud of my energetic students. They have made so much progress in such a short period of time. They have also recieved many compliments on their good behavior from others around the school which is a huge step for them.

Their first assignment of the year was to draw a 'hieroglyphic' based on a chapter in the Bible and then present it to the class. Here they are in front of their Egyptian wall.

Urim picks up peanuts with chopsticks in Science class.
Ramiro tests to see if pliers are a better tool to use.
Jennifer uses chopsticks to pull raisins out of water.
It's chapel time! My students prepared the poem Shoe Talk by Shel Silverstien. Ramiro, the boy in the chair, is acting it out.
Jonathan paints a tree on his group's flower pot. Genid and Andrea painting in art class.
Anna getting her group's pot ready to have a plant in it.

Cinnamon Rolls

I guess you can call them the cinnamon rolls that just keep on giving. Almost every visitor who comes to the Bootsma home has been served cinnamon rolls and love them. Making cinnamon rolls was something we learned to do at about the time we were learning to walk. And we didn't stop making them until we left the house. Most people loved the cinnamon rolls but very few people chose to make them because it involves sour dough.

A couple months ago my roommate brought over some dough she had gotten from our neighbour. She asked me to care for it by stirring it every day while she was gone. The dough stirred up those childhood memories so I thought I'd using it to make cinnamon rolls and sure enough it was the same stuff. Once again the cinnamon rolls have gotten lots of compliments and have been a big hit. They often don't last more than a couple of hours after coming out of the oven.
Last night I shared the Bootsma recipe for cinnamon rolls with a Nicaraguan family. All the ingredients are very accessible here, except the powdered sugar to make icing. The only problem we had was keeping the cinnamon rolls from burning because their was no thermometer on the stove to say how hot it was. And...once again not soon after coming out of the oven the cinnamon rolls were eaten and enjoyed.

Adding the brown sugar.

Learning to roll them up.

Sea to Sea Training: Part 1

Of course with Independence Day came a few days off school. In preparation for the Sea to Sea trip across Nicaragua in December, myself and two friends decided to do some training this weekend. It involved planning a trip to the beach. Our destination was about 55 km away. We started Friday morning, stayed 2 nights at the beach, and returned the following day. We discovered there was 3 stages to the trip:

This picture was taken after putting 110 kilometers on our bikes in 2 days of biking. We look better than we feel.

Stage 1: This was the highway that has suffered greatly from excessive rains so it is covered with potholes. The first 6 or 7 kilometers are uphill and then there is a great downhill. This stage was 21 kilometers long.

Stage 2: This was the cobblestone highway that had lots of hills. At one point this huge herd of cows was being driven down the road. There was a bank on both sides of the road. I've grown up around cows, but I was a little unsure of what to do. I got off my bike and put it between me and the oncoming cows. As I should have known they just verred around us without even slowing down. This stage was 19 kilometers long.

Stage 3: This was the dirt road stage. On the way in it was dusty and bumpy. On the way out, after it had rained, it was muddy, slick, and bumpy. This stage was 16 kilometers long.

So I'm trying to figure out what the biggest challenges will be for riding bikes in Nicaragua. I don't think it will be the potholes or traffic. It's going to be the heat. Is it possible to drink too much water? I think I drank about 5 liters of water, probably more, per day this weekend. But I know we needed it. We were sweating profusely. After the sun dried up our sweat it left remnants of salt behind on our skin. It was almost like we had just been swimming in the ocean.

When it rains, it pours. While at the beach, we watched a strom come in. All afternoon it s eemed like it was going to start raining, but it held out until early evening. When it finally started raining it came down heavy and hard. Two of the people with us had gone out in the van to get more water. They had difficulty getting back to the house we were staying at because the dirt road turned to mud. They left the van down the road about a kilometer or more. After the rain stopped three of us went out to try to find a safe place to park it for the night. The road was still very slick and muddy so we ended up running through it with our bare feet. By the time we returned to the house we had clay soles stuck to the bottom of our feet. What an adventure!

Independence Day

This week's school announcement included this message for the students:

If you have taken guns or weapons to school please keep them in your locker or classroom or give them to your teacher.

Wow! Where would you find an announcement like that?... Nicaragua. It's Independence Day and once again we went all out to celebrate. This year my students had to present the battle that took place at Hacienda (farm) San Jacinto which was the battle of Independence. I don't know all the details, but it was a battle between the Americans and the Nicaraguans. I hope to have it explained to me better sometime this week. If I do my homework well I'll be able to update this blog entry with a better explanation.

My students are getting ready for their drama/presentation of the battle.

Rebeca, Vicky, and Lindsey play their part in the battle.

Drastic change in outfits. The girls ready to preform their dance.

And so are the boys.

The boys salut with their sombreros

The girls dance along side them.

The program lasts about an hour and a half. The whole school body along with thier parents are squished into our chapel which is far to small for an event like this. That part I can handle just fine, but the part I can't is sitting in that dress the whole time. It's made of so much material that it could be used to make 4 dresses; I'm sure of it. Anyway the last dance was the famous teacher dance; yep that's me in the picture above and that's my "get me out of this dress" look.
And here are some of the other teachers who danced as well. Our dances this year centered around the theme of corn. In our dance many of our movements resembled something you would do with corn (ex. working the ground, planting, harvesting, making tortillas, etc.)

Through the Eyes of a Child

So I just dropped Faye, Jason, Annika, and Jacob off at the airport today. They were in Nicaragua for 2 weeks and I must say the time went by very quickly. Faye got to visit a number of different places around Nicaragua. She went to the city dump to visit women with young children. She went to the public hospital and taught women about breast feeding. We also took a 4 hour drive to a more rural city where Faye got to talk with doctors and teach another class to expecting women. Jason worked a couple days at Nicaragua Christian Academy doing various tasks to get ready for the school year. We were able to visit a Nicaraguan home where Annika got her very own pinata and we all got to enjoy the some wonderful Nicaragaun food. For their last weekend in Nicaragua we enjoyed an overnight stay at the beach which was amazing! I learned very quickly that feeding a family of 4 is MUCH more work and involves much more food than feeding one.

Visiting friends in Nicaragua

One of the highlights of their visit was watching Annika take everything in. It's hard to get any concrete thoughts or responses from a 2 1/2 year old, but she did a pretty good job of telling us what she was seeing and thinking:

Jackpot! The mango tree got cut down and Annika scored some great fruit.

It was probably the second day we were driving around Managua and asked Annika what she thought about Nicaragua. Without thinking she said, "It's bumpy." She's not kidding. We are in the middle of the rainy season and we have some enormous potholes. Annika also loved to spot the cows and horses which were often just outside her window.

Not so sure about the hermit crabs

One afternoon after her nap, Annika came over and heard some geckos. She looked around and spotted them on the wall and said, "Look, lizards just like in my bedroom." I guess when she went down for her nap that day she said to her mom, "Look mommy lizards came to play in my room." I'm thinking at 2 1/2 I might have been scared.

Cool shot of Jason on the boogie board

Annika had a hard time adjusting to the tile floors here. The first couple days it rained making everything a little slick. She biffed it a couple times but the best fall was down the stairs. Somehow she missed a step and did a summersault down the stairs, her head hit the last step but amazingly her feet hit the ground. She got a ten for that gymnastic stunt; thankfully there were no serious injuries.

And this is what happens when you hang out too long with me

So before leaving for the airport we were explaining to Annika that she would be going in the airplane with mommy, daddy, and baby and Aunt Aimee would be staying in Nicaragua. She matter of factly responded, "Me stay in 'Caragua too." Then while waiting in the airport Annika and I were having our final heart to heart chat. I asked her what she would be doing in the airplane...eating?...reading?...sleeping?...etc. She said, "Crying." Whoa that was not what I expected her to say. After I got over the shock I asked her why she would be crying and she said, "Me to to Gulp (that's Guelph, Ontario ). Aunt Aimee stay in 'Caragua." Well so much more my plan not to cry when saying good-bye.

Life is great in Nicaragua

Thanks for the great 2 weeks Stoters. You helped to slide me into transitioning from Canada to life in Nicaragua. Good times and great memories. Tomorrow its back to work. We have a week of meetings and preparation before classes start again.