Nicaragua 2015- Day 5 and 6!

The fiesta went super late Tuesday night and the girls and I danced the night away... well, until we could physically not dance any longer. We were being passed around all of the campers. The guys here are such great dancers and not shy AT ALL to get out there and shake their hips... come on American men! Be brave! We girls love to dance and be spun around the dance floor! Enmanuel is the only shy guy- he doesn't like to dance at all. I have never, in all of the camps, every seen Enmanuel dance in the party on the last night of camp. I was impressed with the girls high dance energy... especially Ariel, she had done the Miss Camp competition and instead of being super tired, she was dancing the night away. All the girls, especially Ariel were fighting over Armando... apparently, he is a very good dancer haha. I think the girls may have developed a little crush here. I joked with him the next day that he was a "Mujercita" (ladies man). I could hear the music pumping for at least another hour after we had turned in for the night at 11:30! Nicaraguans sure can dance....

With only a few hours of sleep, 6:45am came way too soon. Shuffling into the cafeteria we were soooo happy to see that we had beans and rice for breakfast...... and CHEESY EGGS! wahoo! 

Yesterday, before we started the afternoon I talked to the entire camp about mentality and attitude when playing in the game. I said, "If someone makes a mistake, they know that they made a mistake. So, if you get upset with them it only hurts their confidence. Instead, say something to support them to pick them back up. It will help your teammate and it will help the team. In both soccer and life, we have opportunities to grow and these opportunites only come in big and small moments when things get hard or we get frustrated. So the next time in the game that you have a moment of frustration, try to turn it into a positive reaction. These moments will help you to grow as both a person and a player." It was amazing to see the positive energy on the field Tuesday in all of the games. The games went well Monday, but there was definitely an elevation in positive energy. 

Yesterday was the big day... the semifinals and the finals of the tournament. I was hoping very much that the competitiveness of the game did not slow the positive roll we were on in

the tournament on Tuesday. Before we started I met with the whole camp once again, wished them luck, summarized our talk from yesterday, and gave them a quick tip for the tournament. In soccer the majority of goals are scored in the first and last 5 minutes of the half or the 5 minutes after a team scores... often times you see a team score right away again (think of Brazil's terrible loss in the World Cup) or you see a team score and then get scored on right away. This was maybe 90% of the goals in the tournament. I explained this to the camp and told them to STAY ALERT. 

We all went out to the fields, got ready to start and before long, the tournament was under way! The semifinal games were super competitive. There was a ton of talking and a lot of very hard work. The games were super intense and I was trying as hard as I could to pay very close attention so that I didn't miss a call. It was hard because everyone kept yelling "hand ball" and different things when there was to hand ball or foul. I could never referee for real, lol, too much pressure. The entire camp gathered around to watch the games. Once we finished
the semifinal games, the girls played in the final game first while all the boys and the rest of the girls watched. The 2 two teams ended up being Amy's and Ariel's. They both had good players but Amy really lucked out with a girl named, Nancy. Nancy scored a ton of goals and was very instrumental throughout the tournament. In the end, Amy's team won! The game was definitely a strong game for both teams but because no one on Ariel's team wanted to play goalie and she ended up

playing there for most of the time, it really hurt them on the field. The best they did was when Ariel came on the field at the end of the game and by then it was too late. 

Next was the boys final game. The two teams in the finals for the boys were Enmanuel and Rabin! It was a really great game and super intense. Sergio kept telling Enmanuel to play softer, that he was going in too hard! When the final whistle blew, the game was TIED. Then we went into overtime, then PKs! Finally, it came down to the very last PK for each team and the last 2 kickers were Enmanuel vs. Rabin!!!! Enmanuel stepped up and confidently made is PK. Rabin stepped up and with Sergio taunting "#SoySexy" Rabin missed his PK! He fell to the ground in disappointment as Enmanuel's team went crazy! 

After the games were over we all showered up and then got ready for the award ceremony. I started with a long speech and said, "First I want to say thank you to everyone for your hospitality. We feel very fortunate for the opportunity to be here and share this experience with all of you. I coach, I play, I breathe soccer every moment of my life and I am so happy that I am able to share this passion for the game with everyone here. This year, I am also very lucky to be here with 3 of my players- they are the light of my life and it makes me so happy that they can meet all of you and participate in the camp. I truly feel that this is my church, here with all of you. Although I am only here with you all for one week, every one of you is in my heart for the entire year. I love you all, you are like family to me, and I thank you for letting me be a part of this community. Now for the moment we've been waiting for..." 

I really can't believe how well I am doing with my spanish this year. It's like something is unlocked in me and my spanish went from being ok to pretty conversational.  I was able to do that whole speech on my own! Truth be told, I got a little choked up while I was speaking... I'm glad that I made it through! 

The award ceremony was very fun... we gave out the prize for most goals in the tournament, Most Valuable Player, and Sportsmanship award. Every player that received an award was very very deserving! For the prizes we gave trophies, a jersey, and soccer ball. WE also

brought up the teams that won for the girls and the boys and we allowed them all to select one pair of cleats as their prize (thank you to everyone who donated, they love love love the cleats down here)!

Many of the campers are going home now to communities outside of Managua (where we are now) and we will not get to see them until next year. It pains my heart to see them get on the bus. Saying goodbye was so hard and so sad. So many good friendships developed over the course of the week, especially for the girls. We took pictures and Elena handed out bows that she had brought for all of the girls. Fortunately, most of the Nicaraguans have Facebook, so we will be able to keep up with them throughout the year! 

Packing up the truck was surreal. It felt so strange to be leaving the retreat center. We had such an awesome routine and so much fun. We could not believe it had come to an end… but it was time to leave. At 3:00pm was early enough in the day where we still had time for an activity. We had talked about doing the volcano surfing which sounds super fun but when we called ahead they said that that trip goes out every morning at 8am and gets back at 2pm. This means that we wouldn’t be able to go Wednesday so we would have had to wake up at 6am today to drive to Leon and then would not get back until 4pm. We weren't sure how much fun it would be and we were just so tired and sleep deprived from the week at camp so we decided to skip it, sleep in, and spend a peaceful and relaxing day at the monkey hut. 

That still left us with some time.... so Sergio and I talked and decided to take the girls to Catarina, a small town on the top of this hill (/mountain-ish) that overlooks a chain of lakes, including Lake Nicaragua- one of only 2 lakes in the world that has sharks (Great White and Bull Sharks)!!! This lake used to be open to the ocean, which is how they got in there! 

We took some pictures of the beautiful view and then we went to the little street shops that sell alllll kinds of cool Nicaraguan things. We did a little shopping..... and by a little, I mean a lot, a whole lot (sorry to the girl’s parents who are reading this) haha. Everything they sell here in Nicaragua in these street shops- the wood carvings, paintings, handmade jewlery, etc. is all so unique and beautiful, the girls were absolutely captivated! You have to haggle for everything, which seems so ridiculous and crazy. Like this… you see the most beautiful hand-made, hand-painted vase and you ask how much it cost and the lady says $8.00 to which you have to respond, “8 dollars? That is too much. How about $6.00?” It feels as ridiculous as it sounds but you do end up getting the price down! 

After we finished our shopping excursion, we decided to go to a restaurant that overlooked the lakes and had a delicious steak dinner- Carne Asada is my favorite dish in Nicaragua. If you ever come, you HAVE to try it! We all filled up our tanks with Carne Asada and then hit the road to head back to Managua. By the time we got in the car to come back, the girls were so exhausted and sleep deprived that they started laughing at absolutely everything.... hysterically laughing for the hour car ride back and then for the next hour after we got back. When we all crashed, we crashed super super hard. 

This morning we woke up at 9:30... yessssss and got ready to go to the monkey hut. We grabbed some breakfast on the way out and after an hour of the girls singing (and by singing, I mean border-line screaming) Taylor Swift in the car, we arrived at the monkey hut. This is, by far, one of my favorite spots in Nicaragua. It is so peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing... the slogan for the Monkey Hut is "Relajate" which means "Relax!" in spanish. The monkey hut is on Lake Masaya and is kind of like a little retreat center/beach club Nicaraguan style. There are tubes, swimming platforms, kayaks, lounge chairs, a restaurant
and bar, hammocks, and WiFi :-)" Katia, Alexander, Maria, Sergio, the girls and I have all been enjoying the view, lounging around, and playing in the water today. I told the girls to gear up for a "beach day" meaning we were just going to chill here for the entire, to which they replied, "That sounds awesome to us!" 

We went swimming out to the platforms and played around in the water, laid out on the pier, did our nails :-), and then went next door to order some food. We heard they have better food than the monkey hut. While we were over there we made friends with Matt and Cecilia! They are from Argentina and they found this place on "Work Away." Work away is a website where you can volunteer to work at different places around the world. While there you get free stay and food! So they are staying in this amazing place on Lake Masaya for free while they work only 4 hours a day. They have traveled to Ecuador, Panama, Hondorus, Costa Rica, Peru, and now here to Nicaragua. Matt loves to surf and Cecilia is still learning.
We also met another mission group from Oklahoma that came to the Monkey Hut for the last day of their trip. They were working in Somotillo for the entire week and did not know about Chikagunya! This is something from Africa that the mosquitos are carrying down here. It gives you terrible fever, body aches, achey joints, and makes you sick for 2-3 weeks, very sick. We were originally going to go to Somotillo tomorrow but decided on another course because the mosquitos with Chikagunya are more prevalent in Somotillo. They had worked there all week and didn't know anything about it until last night! Luckily, they said, they were spraying bug spray the entire trip! Chikagunya is much less prevalent here, and we have been super vigilant all week long in spraying ourselves! Bug Spray Buddies!
We went to get some food at the restaurant next store and made friends with the guy working there, Matt, and his girlfriend Cecilia! They were only working there for 2 weeks and had gotten the job on “WorkAway.com.” They said that they have traveled to Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras, and are now in Nicaragua. Apparently, through this website you can apply for jobs and they work at this awesome place where they get free stay and free food and have to work for only 4 hours a day. So cool!

Today has been a tremendous day for us. So fun and relaxing. It has been very windy but very warm so the wind feels great! The perfect temperature. It was also great to spend the day with Katia and some of the people from the church doing something non-camp, non-soccer related, which is all the time we usually get to spend together. We are feeling very recharged and rested from such a beautiful and relaxing day. Just what we needed to end on a good note tomorrow!

After we left the monkey hut, we headed back into Managua and stopped at one of the best Fritanga’s in town and got some more Carne Asada, tejadas (fried plantain chips) and RICE AND BEANS :-). Delicious. We took the food back to Sergio’s house to eat, visit with his mother, “Mama Sylvia,” meet with Alexander about tomorrow, and also to post the blog entry tonight (since the Monkey Hut had really weak internet). I love Mama Sylvia, she has taken care of me multiple times when I come down here and is like my Nicaragua Mama!
The meeting went great with Alexander. He will be running the session tomorrow with my assistance. I will set every drill up for him, but he will be responsible for giving instructions and controlling the group. We spent almost an hour talking simply about coaching conduct… how he needs to carry himself, how to handle certain situations, how to control a group of kids, and how to actually run a session. I told him how important it is to keep the group focused and moving. To be clear and concise in his instructions and to be very encouraging with the kids during the drills but very strict in the boundaries he is setting for the practice. We expect that tomorrow will be very difficult since the kids in Nicaragua are not used to organized sports. I told him not to be nervous, that we will expect it to be difficult and be happy with results that are any better. It will also be helpful to have the girls here who can help to demonstrate the drills and assist Alex in controlling the group by example. The girls will participate in the training session to help set an example.

Well time to wrap up the blog from Sergio’s house. We need to head back and get ready for bed and a big day tomorrow! We will run the soccer session in the morning and then in the afternoon we will have our soccer game for all of the central church youth. Kind of like a 5v5, winner stay on, kind of thing. It will be a ton of fun- it is every year… a great way to close out the week. Then we will have the final closing dinner with Katia where we review the week and talk about some of our future plans. I can’t wait!

Thanks again to everyone for following along on our trip! PS- Sorry for only a few pictures. The internet connection is a little slow in uploading so I can only do a few tonight but will add more tomorrow!

Good night from Nicaragua!