In with the "new!"

These first few days have been a whirlwind! MANY people have said to write down those first impressions and experiences, because after a while things begin to feel "normal." So I know we've posted a lot recently, and this blog will probably only be updated weekly, but sorry. . .I just want to write down some NEW experiences we've had over the last few days as we've gotten life started. Just a quick aside: our neighbors were assigned to us to be our "mentor" family, and they have been INCREDIBLE at translating for us, making phone calls, taking us shopping (three times already), arranging playdates for our kids, making us a meal. We could not possibly do this alone. Because of them, we have a car (a 2003 Honda Odyssey, the same car we had in the States!), living room furniture, and food to eat! God is good in providing people to step in where needed. We hope we'll become expert enough here that we can reciprocate the favor for others relocating here to Nicaragua!

Okay, here are some of the "new" experiences:

--Test-driving a car with an armed guard in the backseat! 

--eating gallo pinto at a local corner market we walked to this AM with the family (about a mile away)

--Henry and friends chopping up coconuts and collecting their "water" to drink in our yard

--Remembering to turn the hot water heater on for ONLY 15 minutes in the AM to save on electricity (which is VERY high here)

--Cutting up a HUGE papaya for the kids for breakfast, only to find out that it was actually a HUGE avocado. OOPS.

--Going into the "Costco" of Managua. It is seriously just like Sams or Costco, just more expensive. They even have the cheap pizza slices for sale there!

--Driving our new car home alone in rush hour, about a 30 minute drive, and only having a decent idea of where I was going. And it was getting dark, too! I made it, however!

--Enjoying the amazing weather. We were bracing ourselves for a wicked heat blast, but we've been so comfortable. The breezes and the rains are amazing. March and April are supposedly the worst in terms of the heat. 

--Seeing the MANY ways people make ends meet here. . .washing your windshield and selling things at stoplights is very common; saw two jugglers today at busy intersections, including a man juggling with fire. Lots of poverty and contrast between the haves and have-nots here. We're most certainly in the "haves," and that comes with much responsibility that we are working on figuring out.

--Buying bread from a small bakery, fruit from a stand that you simply drive up to, and Nicaraguan style-tamales that are DELICIOUS! We can easily buy all American food here (for a price), but we hope to eat comida Nicaraguense a few times a week at least.

That's all for now!