mas y mas

things are still good! we've had another full week of 4 hour morning spanish classes and are filling up our afternoons quickly with baseball, english classes and spanish conversations.

baseball (beisbol) has been super fun. all my church league softball practice has really paid off - now dave and i help lead drills and games for groups of country kids that get trucked into town to play. it's really interesting on days when not many helpers show up and dave and i are in charge of all the girls. they find it really amusing to interpret what we mean when we say "you push ball to her when i bat the ball in the earth."

we've also been checking out some english schools to look for volunteer opportunities. sitting in on some classes has made us realize how hard english is. i received an e-mail from someone studying english and she closed the e-mail with this phrase: "I wait for your comprehesion...overcoat for our englishman." she is still waiting for my comprehension.

getting involved in these activities has enabled us to talk to native nicaraguans not in the tourist industry. we went to a dinner party last night and much of the conversation revolved around the recent civil war and how much poverty nicaragua still has. it's been kind of a rough week in that sense, seeing more of the poverty as we venture out of the city center and trying to comprehend what kind of life these people have. the government has changed from dictatorship to democratic, but only in name, it seems. there is no enforced minimum wage and people work for whatever they can get. the hospitals and school are now free, but they don't pay teachers and nurses enough to live on, so they are all terrible. it's hard to live near poverty with no idea what to do about it. any ideas are welcome....

love you guys! hopefully you can see the video of kids playing kickball we took on our way to breakfast. more from dave soon!