Day 7: Un Viaje para Cambiar Tu Vida

My last day in Nicaragua started off with a very welcomed relaxing morning. After a very long and tiring day yesterday, I got to sleep in (which was 8am since my body is used to 6am now). I lasted the entire night with my headphones in so my sleep was completely uninterupted by roosters and passing cars. When I woke up there was a huge plate of eggs waiting for me, and let me tell you, the Nicaraguans know how to scramble an egg. Good spices and sliced onions. Yummy. After a little facebooking and e-mailing, Mike and Phil picked me up to go to the market.
Oh, the market, a shopper´s heaven. Anything you could think of at a ridiculously low price. I bought 6 of those cool wooden bracelets that you would get at a beach shop for $5.00 (sorry if you now know the price of your gift Bridgette, Cait, Mom, Amanda, Maria, and Ida... it´s about the thought, not the cost ;-). I also got a cool purse and a gift for the family I have been staying with here in Managua. Phil found some cool jewelery for his family as well and then we headed for the airport!

On the way we stopped for lunch at the mall in Managua. The mall was really nice and we went straight to the food court. Last night, when we were driving, I legitamitely hallucinated and thought I saw a Starbucks sign... it wasn´t a Starbucks sign or a sign at all. So when we got to the food court and I saw a Subway sign, I thought for a second that I was going crazy again. Low and behold, IT WAS A SUBWAY! A break from arroz y frijoles (rice and beans)? Be still my heart! I got a foot long turkey sandwich and IT.WAS.WONDERFUL, a total taste bud explosion, melted in my mouth! For any of my Eagles players, yes, I did manage to find a subway in Nicaragua (they give me a hard time bc I always make them eat subway at our tournaments) haha.

After lunch we took Phil to the airport and said Adios! He was sad to go of course, but I know he was really excited to get back home to his family! Hello Sheehey´s! I know you are reading this...

After we dropped Phil home we went to Mike´s Nicaraguan family´s home and hung out for an hour before we had to leave for the soccer game. Tonight we rented out a turf field for the youth of the central church to come together and play a soccer game! It was a lot of fun, I got to play with everyone and I´m sorry to say that our team got creamed. Twice. Ugh. It was great to see everyone having a great time and it was also the last time I was going to see the majority of the youth that I had become so close with over the course of the past week. It feels like I´ve known them forever. Oh, the water works. It hit me out of no where. I was fine and then all of sudden when I went to give my first hug goodbye I burst into tears with that quivering lip you can´t control. How embarassing.
Finally, after I hugged everyone I jumped in the car and we came back to Sergio´s where Sergio and I were able to have a nice dinner and talk together. He told me how he originally came to the church (they lured him by telling him they would teach him the drums) and how much of a blessing it has been since he has been there. It was really great to hear about the church from the perspective of a Nicaraguan.

I´m all packed up ready to go and writing to all of you for the last time in Nicaragua. Tomorrow morning I fly to Belize at 6:30am and arrive at 9:30am. Then I have to take a taxi to the water taxi and the water taxi to the island where the school is located. I have no idea what to expect or what the travel alone through central America will be like but I´m looking forward to it and hoping that it´s a safe travel. I´m so sad to leave Nicaragua. It truly does feel like home. Phil and I both agreed that it feels like we´ve been here for a month and yet the trip flew by. I think it´s because you can´t imagine being this close to people after only knowing them for a week. Friends for a lifetime, hence the tears. Not to worry, many of the Nicaraguans in the central church have FACEBOOK! yay!

This is my fourth time down to Nicaragua and the amazing affect that these people and this experience has each time I come down, does not cease to amaze me.
It changes your heart.


See you in Belize!