Charity Pick-Up Game!

We are hosting a charity pick-up game tomorrow, Sunday, December 30th at 6:00pm at St. Paul's School for Boys gym. We will be playing futsal!
This charity game will go to support our upcoming trip to Nicaragua and Belize that we leave for on January 5th!

La Casa De Ravine

Originally, when we arrived Katia, the leader of the church organized for Bridgette and I to stay in separate houses. Not because they wanted to separate us but because they thought this would be a more comfortable sleeping arrangement. For my sister who has never been outside of the United States, let alone to a third world country, to be separated from me was terrifying. I cannot even begin to describe the look on her face when she heard this. I, however, was not phased because in my mind being separated was absolutely not an option and I let Katia know this immediately. I was ready to just go pay for a hotel before I was separated from my sister. This was a little disappointing because I wanted Bridgette to live with the people and have the real authentic experience but we had to do what we had to do. Once I told Katia that we absolutely had to be together, they quickly organized  solution for us to stay together at Ravine's house. Win win! Authentic experience and we stay together! This really worked out perfectly. Ravine and his mother were wonderful hosts. 

The house was a typical Nicaraguan house. Concrete structure including a bathroom and living room and rooms added on with scraps of metal. It's amazing how little you really need to live. We have huge comfy beds, TVs, AC, and countless other comforts. What do you really need? A cot, a friend, and maybe a fan :-) How much better spent would your time be if you had fun with friends, building quality relationships based on mutual care for each other rather than watching TV or playing on the computer. It's almost comical that we spend our time doing such meaningless activities. I'm a huge culprit myself, I love my computer and Facebook and all of that. It's good to have a refresher like this from time to time to remind myself what the Pura Vida is. 

Anyways, Bridgette was awesome. Not being used to this type of living conditions, she really responded well. She didn't mind the shower, beds, or any of the situation. The only thing that caught her by surprise was the amount of stray cats that walked across everyone's roofs. Since Ravine's house was elevated above the houses that backed up to it on the next street over there were many cats walking across the roof right in front of us! It was only scary when one would jump down out of nowhere haha! Every time I come to Nicaragua I experience something a little different and this was definitely a surprise for me on this trip. I've seen cars with megaphones blaring commercials and music rolling up and down neighborhood streets, roosters that begin crowing at 3 in the morning, skinny horses with ribs showing and ferrel dogs everywhere. Cats is a new one for me. 

I'm so proud of my sister :-) 

Carosa

Carosa is a small town located about 1 hour from Managua. Carosa is situated on the top of a mountain and although it is accessible, I wouldn't want to attempt it with anything other than an SUV.  The homes are standard Nica homes: a concrete structure that contains a living room and rooms built off of this with scrap metal, an outdoor sink and an outhouse. As with many rural homes this home also had some farm animals/pets; a goat, puppy and pig. This is a very new community in the church and so we decided that it would be the perfect place to do an interview with our good friend and youth pastor, Emmanuel, in order to demonstrate to the youth something really cool that being involved with the church has to offer. 

The youth were very energetic and excited to be a part of the interview and we put them in the background of 4 seats, for me, Bridgette, Solliette, and Emmanuel. I would ask a question in spanish, Bridgette would translate in english, Emmanuel would answer in spanish and Solliette would translate into English. We asked a series of questions about who Emmanuel is, what is involvement is with the church and the camp. We also asked him to discuss the camps benefits for the community. These are all very important questions to have answered for people at home and it is also very interesting to hear a Nica's perspective on the benefits of our camp. Emmanuel discussed how soccer is a fun tool that everyone enjoys and a great way to bring the people of different communities together in the spirit of uniting the church. It is also a great opportunity for most of the youth that perform hard labor work and do not ever have the opportunity for fun. Organized sports in Nicaragua are almost nonexistent. Even where there is opportunity, it is not an option for these youth that work rather than go to school to provide for their families. 

The Beginning...

Having traveled to Nicaragua 5 times, I'm well accustomed to the culture. However, watching my sister's uncertainty and reactions to arriving in Nicaragua stirred up memories of an old Ali who is so different from who I am today I can barely recognize her. My first trip I was very scared, I felt terrified by the living conditions and even more so that I had to live in them.... pretty much as sheltered as they come. Bridgette was scared by the poverty and the conditions of living also. She  was especially intimidated by the language and felt so out of place I could see the fear in her eyes and feel the tightness in her chest. However, if you come to Nicaragua you will see that it does not take long to figure out that these people are so amazing and the culture is so beautiful that it heavily outweighs anything that could initially seem like a negative. It didn't take long for me to get over my fear on my first trip and neither for my baby sister! 

We went to "Tip Top", a sort of KFC type fast food restaurant, and nothing could make Bridgette more happy than chicken and french fries. As we sat and waited for our food… and waited for our food…. and waited for our food Bridgette started to laugh about the length of time it took to get our "fast" food. I explained that this is how the rest of the world operates… no one lives at the fast pace of Americans. No one in Nicaragua wants to finish their food quick so they can catch a TV show or so something that is more pressing. What do they do at meal time? They sit down, talk, laugh, enjoy each others company. Once you have a meal like this you'll realize how relaxed you are and how "in the moment" you feel. There's no cell phones, there's no place to go, just time to enjoy that time, that place, and that moment. 

So can you guess what happened in this time? Bridgette started to talk and was so shocked to realize that everyone was really patient with her trying to do her best to communicate with some of the spanish she learned in school. I explained that no one was going to make her feel bad if she didn't say something correctly, if anything, they would help her try to speak better. This was a huge confidence booster for Bridgette and before I knew it, Bridgette started using words in spanish that she didn't even realize she knew from her classes! Luis, Alexander, Ravine, and Solliette welcomed her with opened arms and had a great conversation with her! If only fast food had this type of affect in the United States. haha. Bridgette opened up and started to officially love her experience in Nicaragua! 

A Summer Trip To Nicaragua! (Intro)

Returning from yet another trip down to Central America. I have to say, it is absolutely one of my favorite places on earth. There is not a feeling quite like it when you have the combination of great adventure, exploring new things, spending time with Nica friends and making new friends, diving into another amazing culture, and all the meanwhile making a difference. 

It makes me so happy to say that on this trip my sister accompanied me. Not only was this her first time to Nicaragua, but also her first time out of the United States!!! 

We have two goals for this trip and both are a bit different than our previous trips where we put on huge soccer camps. One very important part was to take some videos and interviews of some of the youth involved with and affected by the soccer program. This is so important for people at home to hear from the people of Nicaragua, how beneficial the soccer program is. This is where all of the donations of soccer balls, clothes, shoes, and money, and volunteer efforts go! Thanks to iMovie, these videos should be up pretty soon! Anyone want to help me translate for subtitles? 

This summer we are flying Tony Mardiaga, of the community Somotillo (where we hosted our last camp in Nicaragua), to Maryland to experience the US and interact with our soccer community to help educate people and create a tangible connection for our soccer community to Nicaragua. Because Tony does not speak english and has not yet been outside of the Nicaragua, let alone on an airplane, we decided to travel down to Nicaragua to accompany him back to the US and help him on his journey. Of course, we would not simply fly down to Nicaragua just to fly back so we decided to spend some time exploring the country and interacting with our friends of the church. It was quite the adventure… 

Last Days in Belize and Final Thoughts...

Hey Everybody, the end of the trip got a bit hectic and I wasn't able to write. First, I just want to say thank you all for your interest in the trip, reading the blog, and all of your support! And now, for the tale of our last 6 days...

"And my hands hold my heart, let love grow." - Mumford and Sons

Wednesday morning Justin, Liza, and I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed to go fishing off the island! We jumped on the boat with Captain John and headed out to do some reef fishing. Captain John took us to 3 good spots. The first spot was right next to the reef and the waves were-a-crashin', the boat was-a-rockin'. Everyone was feeling a little sick but we didn't let that stop us from catching some pretty gnarly fish.

I even caught a "lion fish" which is poisoness if its jagged body punctures your skin. I think it can even kill you. It's a bottom feeder so its that fish you hear about people stepping on... yikes!

The second fishing spot was a little off the waves so Liza and I started feeling better but Justin was down for the count- he slept the rest of the day! We caught a ton of grouper and snapper and lemon fish! Next we did some trolling for Baracuda! Liza and I both caught one and it was awesome. Those fish are a little tricky and they put up a pretty good fight! By the end of the morning we were feeling great with a TON of fish fillets to give Cruz to sell that evening.

After we got off the boat Kathy, Liza, and I went to get sandwiches from the man in the hole in the wall and went straight to the school to meet 2 classes of 4 and 5 year olds.

Justin stayed behind to go pick up our latest arrival to the gang, Geoff, off the water taxi. When we arrived to the school one class of 4 and 5 year olds came out, then another, then another, then another. Oh. My. Gosh. There were eighty 4 and 5 year olds running around. Taking the soccer balls out would have been a disaster. We played two fun games of chain tag and then we brought everyone in for our version of musical chairs. I had my speakers with me so we played music and all of the kids had to dance and when the music stopped they had to sit down. It was like a bouncing concert crowd of small kids all around me. The kids loved it and we had a great time.

Next we had the 8th graders come out for their second class with us but only girls. The girls played a fun shooting game and before we knew it time was out! Finally, we had the practice with the middle school teams. Every day we grew closer and closer to the kids and the practices just grew better and better. Mr. Coba was in meetings so I took the boys and Justin took the girls and we tried to teach them some tactical understanding of game- defending and attacking as a team. Once Mr. Coba came back out I went back with the girls and we ended with a fun scrimmage.

To celebrate the first night on the island for Geoff we headed to the local favorite, Waraguma. Great seafood. We had an awesome dinner and then Kathy and Liza turned in for the night while Justin, Geoff, and I checked out Ladies night at Wet Willies, needless to say, no cover for me :-) Wet Willy's is a bar located out on the water- you have to take the pier to get to it. It was just bought by Baltimore people a few weeks ago. We had an early morning of scuba diving and snorkeling so we didn't stay out late but really enjoyed some good music and tiny bit of dancing!
Thursday morning we woke up and pryed ourselves out of bed to go the Shark Ray Alley and Hol Chen- two of the more popular spots to visit off the island. When we got to Shark Ray Alley I threw my fins on and jumped straight in only to find 4 or 5 lemon sharks chillin' all around me and TONS of Sting Rays- huge sting rays! They are kind of mean looking!
The snorkeling was amazing and then we went over to Hol Chen and Justin and I went scuba diving while Kathy, Geoff, and Liza snorkeled. Justin and I waved up to the gang as we swam Eagle Rays, a ton of fish, eels, a beautiful reef, and even Conchs. Like the crustaceans that live in Conch Shells- that was wild.

Not your typical "deli"

When we finished up we headed to, where else, My Secret Deli. We're officially the best customers of this place. Food was awesome, of course, and then we headed straight up to the school for practice with the 4th grade. We weren't about to risk the debacle that was the crazy chaotic-ness of the 3rd graders we had earlier in the week so we got them organized into teams straight away and played a tournament for the entire class ending in a Penalty Kick Shoot Out! The kids had a great time- I think they enjoyed the format and organization of the time we spent with them. I gather they do not receive very much of that typically.

Geoff had already won over the kids in his short time, ready to coach or even step into play the games with the kids if they needed an extra player!
We had the girls team only in the middle school practice after school. It was really nice and we got a really good opportunity to teach them so great skills. This was definitely the most instructive we were with any of the kids throughout the week and the girls responded really well. At the end, I heard one of the girls say that she was tired but wanted to keep practicing and when I asked why she said, "because i don't want to go home, I don't like home." This seems to be a very common sentiment amongst many of the kids at Holy Cross, it is really Heart Breaking.
After we washed up we went and ate an awesome dinner at the Mojito Bar. This place was niiice. Great atmosphere, food, and mojitos... or so I hear, I'm not a big Mojito drinker but Justin was definitely hooked.
Friday morning Justin woke up at 5:00am to go diving the elusive Blue Hole of Belize. As for the rest of us, we slept in and enjoyed a lazy morning. We have been so on the go that we have had barely any chance to rest. After a late breakfast, we explored the town for a bit and then got ready to head up to Holy Cross. The kids had a soccer tournament Saturday so the coach wanted to play a practice game against the boys and the girls got a "rest day." This is typical of the soccer program in Belize. The girls seem to get pushed aside a little bit. I think that next year I would love to slant the camp towards the girls to give them a little extra attention and confidence/self-esteem building.
Anyways, the game was awesome. We played two 20 minute halves that somehow took 2 hours. 45 minutes to get the game started, and a 20 minute. We had a lot of fun playing against the kids and did not let up (as instructed). We beat them 4-0 with 2 goals from Geoff, 1 goal from me, and 1 from one of the teachers. Geoff got pretty beat up and had to take a seat at half time with a gashed open leg and hurt knee, poor guy.

We went to dinner at Caramba's the last night, a sure deal. Kathy, Geoff, and Liza hadn't eaten there yet and the food was awesome. A great way to end the last night. Promptly after dinner we crashed. What a week!
Saturday morning Geoff and I woke up early to grab breakfast and go take some pictures for him at Holy Cross. Geoff visit was coming to an end! Amazing how much you can do in just a few days! Once I got back from dropping Geoff off at the ferry Justin said, "He forgot his shoes!" Geoff wasn't going home- he was going for a month in Costa Rica! With no shoes! Oh no.

I jumped into a cab and high tailed it for the airport with only 15 minutes to try and meet Kathy and Liza before their puddle jumper took off! First airport, no sign. when I went to jump into the cab I gashed my leg on a jagged piece of rusty metal sticking out. "Do I have my tetnus shot?" (is that what its called?), is the first thing I thought. Next airport, there they were, hurrah! It was really nice to get to see Kathy and Liza before they took off for a hug goodbye!
And then there were 2. Again. Justin and I headed up to the school called "RC" for "Roman Catholic". They were hosting a soccer tournament for all the schools and our girls and boys were playing in it. There was no schedule, no one knew when they were playing, no water provided. It was futsal on a hard court (this is the only type of soccer they know how to play here).

We got there around 1 and left at about 5:30 and throughout the day we got to hang out with the kids between games and then cheer them on and give them some tips during the game! It was a lot of fun and a great way to end our time spent with them. The girls won the tournament! All their hard work in the past week paid off and the boys lost in the semis :-(

As we wished farewell to the kids, Justin and I embarked on our last stint of gift shopping through the stands in the town center. How exhausting! I was caught in the middle of a very intense haggling war between two vendors. Yikes. That was intense.

Sunday we woke up with no idea of the adventure we were about to have. We went to breakfast at this awesome new spot on the beach, well new for us. It had live music and awesome smoothies. Where has this place been all week! Come on, we find it on the last day! After breakfast we rented a golf cart and headed to the other end of the island. We had until 1:20pm to complete our adventure in Rojo, the red golf cart. Plenty of time to turn in the cart and get ready for the Ravens game at Wet Willy's. On the way we saw some incredible beaches and an entirely new side to the island. Less people, awesome hotels and condos. I thought, "next year, when I convince my parents to come, this is definitely where I'm gonna have them stay." We met some nice folks who told us that just a mile and a half up the road there is mayan ruins! Nice! They warned us that the road got a little bumpy but was fine.
That was an HUGE understatement, we were going through huge puddles that splashed up and over the golf cart drenching us!

Then we hit the mother of puddles, backed up the cart for speed, took a before picture, and then held our breath as we sped ahead. We made it through! and then... putter, putter, putter, dead, Rojo the golf cart was dead. Not only did we break down but this was in the middle of nowhere in an area that we know had Crocodiles, Coral Snakes, Vipers, and Rattle Snakes. Oh My!
Finally, in the distance a couple of bikers road up and helped us fix it enough to make it about 200 yards back down the road. Then we ran into a golf cart of Belizeans who really got into the engine and helped us fix it.

Justin pushing

A push from a few of the guys and we were off again. I was in the driver's seat since I was the weakest pusher and then once we got it going we were so scared to take the foot even a tinie bit off the pedal that we went full throttle the whole way back. Full throttle was like 10 mph haha. Once we hit the paved road Rojo got a little excited and started going mega fast and we were passing golf carts and bikes and cars, turning corners at full speed practically tipping the golf cart. haha. The entire time Rojo was making painful puttering sounds. If you can believe it, at 1:21 we puttered right into the parking spot in front of the rental place, thankful that we made it back in one piece and didn't have to pay the damage fee. What a ride!
Once we got back my eyes were BURNING from the getting splashed by the water and intensely staring down the street willing Rojo to make it back to town. There was no choice, a nap was out of the question, we had to watch the Ravens game. I'm not going to write about the Ravens game but I will say that it was a mood killer. At least the Sting Rays came up to make us feel better.

A little Sting Ray pet and a Belikin (the native beer) and I was ready to go grab a bite of dinner. We had our last meal at a new restaurant, Lily's and decided to go out with a bang and grab some Lobster tails! After we ate, we packed and got ready to go home and then passed out.
This morning we woke up early and went and got breakfast at our new spot and sat out on a table on the beach taking about 2 hours to eat, tan, and reminesce. We grabbed our bags, jumped on the ferry and went to the airport. What I took one last look back and then got on the plane.

I've felt more at peace in my heart than ever, but it weighs very heavily on me that we are leaving these kids. For this week, we watched out for them, took good care of them, had a great time. We walked Garyelle, my favorite 7-year old assistant coach, home every day. Who is going to walk Garyelle home now? The girls that don't want to go home after practice might not even get to have a lot of practices now because the coaches primary focus is on the boys- what are they going to do? Who will instill confidence in them and take the time with the kids? They are incredible, bright kids and if they were in the US they would have the education and means to create amazing lives for themselves but they don't have that opportunity in Belize.
They looked so sad when we left and I ran into two of the parents, Paulina, and another woman who sells jewelery in the town center and they were also so sad to see us leave. They said how much it meant to the kids, and please don't forget them, and please come back. Broke my heart. Paulina and I parted ways last night and hugged at least 7 or 8 times. I started tearing up. I've been feeling that way since last night. On the verge of tears. In Nicaragua and Belize what we have done in these communities and the many many relationships I have created with the kids and friendships I've created with the parents and teachers at Holy Cross and the Youth in Nicarauga have meant so much to me, and I don't want to leave. There's so much to be done, so much more we coudl do here. I want to be there for these kids all the time.

But then I think of my kids at home and it comforts me. I can't wait to see them. I realize that all the wonderful families and the community at home is what enables this whole trip to happen in the first place. The many donations of clothes and shoes fueled all of the soccer programs. It was amazing, you all are amazing. We are so blessed and these kids are so blessed to receive it. We can only build it up. Holy Cross wants us back for a longer period of time to work with other schools on the island and in addition to our already existing program in Nicaragua we are adding some work at an orphanage in Nicaragua to the itinerary for next year! I'm also looking into a school in Costa Rica to add to the trip. I had several wonderful people accompany me on this trip and help to enrich my own experience as well as having an amazing impact on the kids we worked with. I only hope that more people from home will want to come next year, parents, kids, whoever- all are welcome. Central America is a beautiful, wonderful, place on this earth and I cannot absolutely not wait to return. It is a truly life changing experience. I am coming back a different person. I can feel it in my heart and my outlook on life.

It will change you forever in the best way possible.

"And my hands hold my heart, let love grow." - Mumford and Sons

Day 12: Bullies in Belize

Early morning at Reef adventures fizzled out fast. Engine problems prohibited us from going on our dive and snorkel today! Buuutt... it was very windy and they said visibility would be bad. In fact, someone canceled their trip while we were waiting. So we grabbed a bigger breakfast and hit the beach. I started reading "The Last Lecture" (very good so far) and worked on my tan :-)

After I grabbed a sandwich from the man in the hole in the wall (that's what they call him), it was time to head up to Holy Cross for the afternoon. When we arrived at Holy Cross there was an American singer of some kind performing for the kids. I've also noticed that there is a group of college students here tutoring kids and an older gentleman that comes to the school to help the kids prepare for the high school exam. He says that when he arrives the kids are no where near prepared to take the exam to be eligible to attend high school. Only 10% of the kids here will attend high school and out of those students, most of them cannot afford to continue their high school education. The teachers in Belize are only required to have a high school education so the level of education for the students is not where it should be. It's amazing, however, how much support this school has from many different volunteers and various groups coming in. We are here doing soccer camp, tutors are here helping the kids, a singer comes in to perform, all in the same week! When everyone does a little bit for these kids it all adds up to give them a much better school experience.

To begin today, we had 2 classes at once, Standard 3 and Standard 4 (5th and 6th grade). These kids were out of control. Running all over the place. As soon as you got a few to listen, others would act up, then you would settle them down and the originally good kids would act up. Finally, we stopped doing organized games and just played a big fun game of world cup. I felt bad for the kids who really wanted to play. The ones acting up were ruining it for the rest. They all did seem to have fun in the end. When I say act up, I saw a 11 year old boy pick up a 3 year old by the neck as if choking him. I told him to put him down immediately and then checked on the boy and all he kept doing was rubbing his neck. There were other kids picking on little kids and fighting each other. It was nothing dangerous to any of the adults but these kids are like survival of the fitest. There is no kind of discipline enforced and the teachers just walk by without addressing it. The sad part is that instead of being the fun coaches, we, at times, have turned into drill sargeants to keep the kids under control. These two classes were the first to be a problem for us.

The kids are clearly acting out for lack of attention. There is nothing organized for these kids, their parents are working, they have no money. They have nothing to do but create this survival of the fittest lifestyle. That is why our work here is so important. We've really brought some structure to their physical education and after school soccer teams. All they do after school is make the kids run and play adults vs. kids scrimmages or make the kids scrimmage. Not to be critical, but this is very evident. It's been great to introduce a lot of technical and tactical education for the kids after school, not only for their own benefit but also for the coaches. Although they may seem like they are not paying attention, I saw one of the coaches use one of our drills in his practice yesterday, so I know they are picking some things up. Hopefully, this helps the coaches to get some new training ideas for the kids!

The school soccer teams that we work with at 3:00 every day have really taken to us. They want to learn, they work hard, they are excited to see us every day and we've had a great time working with them. The boys are really intense and the girls are really focused yet playful. A joy to coach. Today we had a HUGE downpour right at the beginning of practice for 30 minutes. We were doing some springing relays with the kids (since the coach wants to make sure they run). It was soooo much fun running in the rain. The kids loved it, I loved it, it made the contest seem so intense!

Tomorrow we work with the 4 and 5 year olds and I am so excited! I have my music speakers that I use at soccer camp to play musical soccer balls! That's always a big hit! We also have the 8th graders again who are really good to work with- they are focused and want to learn. The major distraction is that school lets out at 2:15 and all the rush of kids out onto the field is very distracting. Kids and even teachers will literally walk through the middle of the field, the middle of a drill on their way out. Cars will even drive through the middle. It's absurd. So we will have that challenge with the 8th grade class tomorrow. The idea we came up with was instead of trying to work on skills or play a fun game we should just do a mini tournament. This way we only have 2 balls out instead of all 30 and that should help keep the other kids contained.
"My Secret Deli" is our new favorite spot to eat. They have these ginormous smoothies that come in these chalice like cups. Very cool. And good food of course.
Early morning again tomorrow. We've been assured that the boat is going to be working and we can go fishing tomorrow! I'm so excited! We are going to take everything we catch to Cruz at the town center for him to barbeque and sell to raise money for his son! (Maybe he'll cook us some too :-)