Day 24

What a day!!!

Today was the big day! The opening of Casa VISEDAL…that is our name for it, which in english is simply VISEDAL House. That's why it's in spanish because it sounds way cooler! Oh and because spanish is the language here. :)

This morning I woke up at 5am naturally, mainly because of the sun but I was also really excited. So I just laid in bed until 8am and then got up and showered and ate cereal and got my thoughts together for my project because I wanted to give the girls their journals today. Brad came down shortly after and we both sat downstairs and talked about the plans for today and the order of events……pizza first, then the mural with hand prints, then the piñata, then giving the older girls their journals, and throughout the whole time Brad would be making the schedule with the kids of when they could meet with Rocío. We were ready to go! We made sure Jessie was ready and were so excited we even took a pre-party selfie!

Brad, Jessie, and myself excited about the fiesta

We went to grab lunch at noon at our usual spot around the corner from the house. After lunch we came back to the house to grab our things and then dropped off the supplies at Casa VISEDAL and then it was off to the store to pick up sodas. We each brought our back packs so we could easily carry them back. Brad carried two 3 liter sodas and Jessie and myself carried four 1.75 liter sodas in our bags. We also bought ice since we don't have a fridge to keep the drinks cold. We then headed back to Casa and started cleaning up, setting up, and stuffing the piñatas. 

I have never stuffed a piñata before but it felt almost like I was performing surgery! I had to cut it open delicately enough so I could glue it back and then put my hand in it to find where it was hollow to put the candy and then stuffing it with candy and coins. Then I had to glue it back up. It was fun and my first time which made it even more fun.

Brad stuffing one of the piñatas

The kids all got there and helped clean up a little and then the pizza arrived exactly at 3pm, which was great because that is when we told everyone to be there. We got 7 boxes of pizza which had 14 slices in each box. We planned for 50 people. We had about 50 people show up. Which was really awesome! It was our 31 scholars and their families. So everyone ate and while everyone was eating Brad again explained what would happen at the house and how things would work. Everyone sounds like they are excited and willing to come. It was really nice to see a lot of them together and just having fun. 

After eating, we had the kids decorate a mural for Casa which said Casa VISEDAL 2014 on it and we had the kids trace their hands and then decorate the hands. They look really cute and the kids did a great job and they had fun coloring and decorating this mural. 

Some of the scholars decorating their hands on the mural

After the mural was finished, it was time for the piñata. Now if you thought that kids in the states go crazy over a piñata, you haven't seen anything! Here, the kids are so crazy! When the candy falls and especially the coins, they all jump into a pile and are jumping on top of each other and the kids came out with cuts and scrapes from trying to get candy and coins. Even the parents went crazy jumping onto the pile and even pulling their kids out so they could get the candy and money. It was a pretty funny sight to see! 

We had two piñatas which was perfect for the kids to get plenty of candy and coins. We had a female chicken and a male chicken. The girls were to break the female one and the boys the male one. This also gave each kid a chance to hit the piñata. One thing also that they do is they play really loud music and while hitting the piñata the kids had to dance. It was hilarious! Watching these little kids try to multi-task by dancing and hitting a piñata was pretty funny. Also the piñata doesn't just sit still hanging in the tree. They have one person holding the string and it gets pulled up and down while you are trying to hit it. It is so funny and definitely a pretty crazy event here! But it is a tradition! At every celebration that they have here you will find a piñata. But the kids really enjoyed it. 

The female piñata hanging in the tree

Today was a fun day! It was definitely crazy and trying to keep things orderly was exhausting but worth it! I greatly enjoyed it! So after everything was wrapping up and people started to leave, I gathered the older girls together and gave them their journals and a pen. I told them that this week they had to write in them every day, whether it was about their day or it could be anything. I then told them to bring the journals back with them when we all meet on Friday and we will use them then too. And so my project begins! I am excited to get it started but also hope that the girls will follow through on their end. I know some of the girls who will definitely keep up with it but others might not want to as much, but we will see. :) 

So the fiesta ended at 5:30pm when they left but we stayed until 6:30pm cleaning everything up. The day was a success! We had fun and were able to get the kids signed up for times with Rocío and get my project started. I had a nice time talking to a few of the girls and playing with some of the little ones. There are a few scholars who I have been able to form a really good relationship with and we talk and hang out every time I see them. It's really great! :)

Myself and Joseling

Myself and Belén

Jostyn and myself

These three scholars I have had the opportunity of spending a lot of time with and we have been able to really bond and always have fun together! :) I love all of the scholars and I hope that I can have a really good relationship with all of them. I am definitely working on it by just showing them love, being myself, being transparent, and listening to them. I love these kids and am so blessed to have the opportunity to work with each of them. This definitely won't be my last time in Nicaragua! :) 

So we got back to the house and then headed to metrocentro to get dinner because we were all so exhausted that we didn't feel like making anything! So it was McDonalds for me. Surprisingly I have been craving it and enjoy it and have gotten it for dinner multiple times! Well I definitely work it all off with all the walking I do to go almost everywhere! So after dinner we came back and got settled in for the night. I was able to FaceTime my folks and usually when I'm home I sit on their bed in between them and watch TV with them typically while eating dinner. Well my parents were eating dinner when they FaceTimed me and watching TV so they put the phone on a pillow in the middle of them and I watched Last Comic Standing with them! It was nice just to spend that time with them as silly as that sounds it is always special for me. After a great day with the kids it was nice to end it with a TV show with my folks! :) Well I am happy to say that it is bedtime for me!

Until next time, buenas noches