Nicaragua Day 2: The Start of Camp!

Nicaragua: Day 2!

I cannot believe this morning was this morning. The first thing I remember is the alarm clock going off and me saying “Noooo…. nooooo” and the girls laughing, saying, “just because you say ‘no’ doesn’t mean you can keep sleeping!” haha. We were all especially tired since we were up with the giggles until 1am. Everything anyone said was just so funny. Like belly-laughing funny. Clearly we were delirious from the big travel day! 

We came out of our room to find Alexander and Maria with a table set for breakfast :-) We bought some bread, peanut butter, granola bars, bananas, and juice last night so we brought out all of our food and prepared delicioso breakfast! We

were surprised by Isaac and Chicho (2 of the youth leaders, been around since the beginning) visiting us to say hi at breakfast! After we finished eating we packed all of our stuff up and got ready to head to the retreat center for camp. As we walked out to load the truck, there was Enmanual and his brother Jordy! I shed a small tear in seeing my dear friend and gave him a huge hug. Emmanuel has been in camp since I can remember. He is now one of the main leaders and actually traveled to the US to train in coaching with Champions Soccer Training for 6 weeks during the summer of 2013.

Usually, we travel at least an hour or 2 to wherever we are going for camp, but this time it was only 15 minutes away… and a beautiful retreat center where I got my own room, and the girls got a room for the 3 of them to share. With our own shower! We also have WiFi… sweet! All of the buildings are a rosey pink color surrounded by beautiful plants and trees! The weather was mild today… hot but we didn’t feel overheated. Then again, we were in the shade for most of the day. 

When we arrived at camp, everyone was standing out front. It was so exciting to see everyone ready and excited for camp! Several of the campers are repeat campers, which is great because we really get to develop a friendship with them over time. We put our things down in the rooms and met in the main hall area. Every retreat center in Nicaragua (and there are many) has dormitories and a main hall that is used as a cafeteria and meeting place. This hall has a stage that can be used for presentations and church
service. In fact right now, they are projecting a movie up on the back wall of the stage. The service was very nice and  full of fun Nicaraguan church songs. The Nicaraguans sing almost everything, the prayers and all. The sermon was about how we are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”- a very good way to start camp off! After the service, we had lunch and then began to prepare for the soccer tournament.

We took the bags into a big open room to unpack and, with the help of Sergio, Enmanuel, and Alexander, the girls and I unpacked all of the bags and organized the equipment we had for the tournament. 96 water bottles, 10 teams of uniforms, and shoes. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to use the shoes this year as the soccer field in this retreat center is cement. Nicaraguans play a lot of soccer on courts (like our futsal). It’s just a basketball court with soccer goals on each end. There are actually 2 fields here side by side, with real goals! This will make the tournament feel very authentic! 

All of the donated uniforms that we brought to Nicaragua this year are from St. Joseph’s in Cockeysville. They donated hundreds of uniforms! It’s very exciting because everyone in camp received the SAME uniform- jersey, shorts, and socks! AND the color of the uniforms are the same as the Nicaraguan flag. Sergio said they are very alike to the Nicaraguan national team uniforms! Buenisimo! 

sleepy Sergio

As we organized the gear, Enmanuel and Alexander created teams of 6 for the camp- 4 teams of girls and 5 teams of boys. The organization could not have been completed

without the genius help of Sergio! (haha)

After everything was ready to go, we put all of the uniforms and water bottles on display for the campers. We created a board for the team names and then began the Opening Ceremony of the More Than Futbol (Mas Que Futbol) tournament! I started by introducing myself and the girls and saying how happy we are to be her to share this experience with everyone. I explained that we are here in this camp to share our faith and soccer is a great opportunity to improve cooperation, friendship, communication, teamwork, leadership,

etc. The benefit of the tournament is “More Than Futbol”- it is the strength we gain that we will carry onward.

We then went over all of the rules: no profanity, no arguing with the referee (me :-/) and most importantly, when we are playing we are to remember the spirit in which the tournament was founded- to help support and build this community through soccer. 

We gave all of the teams 10 minutes to congregate and come up with a good team name and then we listed all of the names on the board. Among these names were “the Fast and Furious” and “Chikagunya” (something that some mosquitos carry down here :-/). This gives you the symptoms of fever, joint pain, and generally can make you feel sick for a few weeks. Needless to say, we spray our bugspray all the time. The 4 of us have paired up into “bug spray buddies” to help remind each other to keep spraying! So far, so good. Just a few red ants. 

       

The central church hosts the camp, but there are 40 other small churches around the country that are part of the main church. Youth have come in from all over to participate in camp so when we construct the teams, rather than have them play with their friends from their own communities, we mix them up so they can make new friends. This is the 3rd year in a row that we have done it this way. When I first presented the idea, the Nicaraguans were not too fond of it since they know everyone prefers to play with their friends. We found that there is a great deal more camaraderie in camp and the atmosphere of the tournament is very competitive but a lot less heated. Everyone is used to it now and looks forward to the new friends they will play with during the tournament. It also makes it fair since the teams are divided up by ability! 

Since the teams are so mixed up we did a fun team bonding activity to help the teams begin some positive communication, get to know each other better, and have a little fun. Each team had 30 minutes to come up with a skit that included the words: “Banana, swim, paint, smurfs, coconut, giant, rooster, and fart.“ Each team also had to add a song into the skit! Everyone had a lot of fun coming up with the skits and even more fun performing them in front of the camp. My favorite part was when Kevin (a youth leader) knelt down on the floor and put his hands behind is back pecking at the ground like

he was a rooster. haha. Ariel, Amy, and Elena all performed with their respective teams as well and did a great job trying to communicate with and integrate into their team. Each one is a team captain of one of the girls teams!

After the skits, it was time for dinner! I’ll give you one guess what it was….. rice and beans! haha. Also, some kind of meat taco- deliciosa! After dinner we were so tired that we could not believe when they called out the itinerary of events for the evening… finish the movie, movie review, 15 minute bathroom break, presentation of all of the communities, and the beginning of the talent show. About 10 of the different church communities in Nicaragua are represented here at camp and each group has to do something fun in their presentation like a song or dance and then introduce each person. The funny part was when everyone got up after the movie, the girls thought it was time to get ready of bed. This picture is their reaction when I told them we were only taking a 15 minute bathroom break! haha. 

The presentations were fun! We were super surprised when we realized that we also had to present something to the group. After bouncing around some quick ideas we did a dance to “What does the fox say?”

We took turns jumping out and doing a funny little dance. We asked Gigiermo to take pictures for us and I think to joke with me about calling him “Giggy-Azalea” early in the day, he video taped just my dance out of everyone in the group! *Palm to forehead* Keep in mind, this is not how I really dance! Just my funny dance haha.

After everyone presented their communities, a few groups did their talents (more to come

so sleepy

tomorrow night) and then we finally went back to our rooms for a LONG AWAITED SHOWER! sigh* Feeling so so so so much better now!

7am wake up call will be here before we know it! Good night from Nicaragua! 

(Journal entry questions and answers below from the girls) 

1) What was the first thing that really caught your attention? 

Elena: “There are different smells, bright colors, and lively houses.”

Amy: “The poverty in the country. Everything is made with simple materials and we are extremely blessed with the conditions we live in (in the US).”

2) Have you made any fast friends? 

Elena: “I met Gigiermo at lunch and he was so nice and funny and spoke english, which is comforting. He showed us his photography and talked about music and how he wants to be an English teacher when he finishes college.”

Amy: “We made friends with Gigiermo! He’s so nice and welcoming. In addition, he knows english!”

3) How has communication been? 

Elena: “The slow conversations are fun and the fast paced conversations are overwhelming” 

Amy: “I can only understand a few words but with help from everyone I can communicate when necessary. Also, the people try to help me when I don’t have a clue.”

4) What is the country like? 

Elena: “It’s very green and colorful and lively. The weather isn’t nearly as hot as I expected. It’s bearable.”

Amy: “All the buildings are simply made but there are beautiful colors everywhere. It is very poor and dry. The retreat center is beautiful!”

5) What is the poverty like? 

Elena: “The people don’t seem poor to me. When you think of ‘poor’ you think of sadness. The people I’ve met are as happy as anyone I’ve experienced. They have everything they need and are surrounded by friends and faith.”

Amy: “The conditions aren’t great but they have what they need and are still happy, loving people.”

6) What are some things that are different from what you initially expected?

Amy: “Even though the people live in poverty, they are happy and loving. They don’t seem sad or angry about their conditions.”

7) Favorite part so far? 

Elena: “I really enjoyed talking to Gigiermo- ‘Giggy Azalea’- because he was so nice and welcoming and he made us laugh”

Amy: “I really loved the church service, we ‘shared the peace’ with EVERYONE by giving hugs (unlike shaking hands with just the people around you).” 

8) Hardest part so far? 

Elena: “Definitely battling the language barrier”

Amy: “Communicating with the people with spanish” 

PS- one of the best moments of my day… Discovering that there is a water dispenser that has a switch for hot and a switch for cold water. Time to put those 100 tea bags to use!

YESSSSSSSS. I’m already 5 tea bags down since I found out about this at 5:00. :-) :-) :-)