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!
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