One week

We've been here for a week! It's pretty incredible to think back on all the things that have happened since we arrived. The thing that sticks out the most is how God has provided for us through the people we've met. Everyone has been helpful and gone out of their way to help us feel welcomed and familiar with the city.

But before recapping our adventures so far, for those of you who were wondering: the earthquake here in Nicaragua was far from Managua, and there was no damage in our area. Schools were closed because there were parts of Managua without power, but we had no disruptions in our area. In fact, we didn't even know there had been an earthquake until the next day!

When we woke up, we had a regular morning. Then, as we arrived at our Spanish school for classes, everyone was talking about the huge earthquake off the coast. [It registered as a 7.4, and parts of the coastal region were evacuated because of fears of a tsunami.] Everyone was sharing their story of their house rocking and swaying. Lauren and I looked at one another and felt completely out of the loop. Apparently we had slept through the entire earthquake! Everyone else was dumbfounded that we had not woken up.

When we got home, our landlady came by and asked where we had spent the night. We said we were at home, but she didn't believe us. She said she had pounded on our door and yelled our names because she wanted to make sure we were okay and nothing had fallen in the house. We must have been extremely tired from our first day of Spanish classes because nothing could rouse us!

Speaking of Spanish classes, we are about to start our third day at VIVA Spanish School. Our teachers are great, and we are enjoying the way things are set up. Right now we are reviewing many things we already know, but we're finding that there are many things we don't know thoroughly. We have 4 hours of classes each morning, so we have a good opportunity to correct any mistakes!

After class ends at noon, we take the bus home or to a restaurant or store because we have a little free time until 3:00. At 3:00 we go to CINAFE to teach English to the children and staff. Right now we have two groups, about 45 minutes each, and we are doing our best to figure out what they already know. We're excited to spend that time at CINAFE building relationship with the kids and the staff.

There are lots of other things that we've experienced so far, but we'll save some for a future post. Just wanted to let you know that we've started classes and that the earthquake didn't harm us!

Make it a great day,

Mitch and Lauren