Fourth Grade is Pretty Awesome

Last Wednesday we celebrated American Thanksgiving at NCA. Parents came for a program put on by the Pre-kinder to sixth grade students.

Third grade boys waiting for their part in the program.

Fourth grade did an act called 'Behind the Scenes'. We wrote a skit about what it was like to plan an act for the Thanksgiving Program. They included things they were thankful for and Thanksgiving Day jokes. Want to hear one?

What do you get when you cross an octopus and a turkey?

Enough drumsticks for Thanksgiving.

They did a great job! I was so proud of them.

After the program the 4th-6th grade students served a Thanksgiving meal complete with chicken, potatoes, rice, and salad.

From Land to Sea

Since we were off from school for Thanksgiving Break, I participated in a fundraising event. It was a two day bike trip to raise funds for San Lucas, also known as the Luke Society. San Lucas in Nicaragua focuses on helping farmers and on community development. The money from the fundraiser would go towards the purchase of a land bank. San Lucas is working with about 100 farmers and one of their biggest needs presently is land.

The trip started on Friday morning. We had about 25 bikers and 15 participants in cars. The first half of the journey was on pavement. The second part of the journey was more treacherous with some steep, rocky inclines but a magnificent landscape. We crossed several rivers and rode through a mountainous/hilly region. The ride was a challenge but was a lot of fun.

We stayed the night at a wildlife reserve which was right on the ocean. This is the time of year for sea turtles to come out of the ocean to lay their eggs. That night 100's of baby turtles left their nests and about 60 mama turtles came ashore to lay their eggs. You need to be a night owl to catch all this, so sadly I have to admit I only got to see one nest of babies come out. See the picture gallery below for some pictures.

The next morning we started the journey back. This too was challenging because we were climbing up in altitude. We completed the trip with a great lunch of rice, beans, fried plantains, and fried chicken.

Overall the trip raised about $1,700. We pray that this money will be used effectively for farmers and they will see abundant blessings from it. This is a difficult time of year because many farmers lost their seeds and crops with recent heavy rains and tropical storms. We pray that San Lucas may be effective in helping farmers gain back what they lost.

You can do it! You can do it!

Aren't they adorable? Their journey of life has just begun. There will be many challenges for them along the way. The first is to make it safely into the ocean.

And we made it. Jason (former teacher at NCA) me, Mary (missionary) and Carey (teacher at NCA)

Enjoying the sights and taking a breather for the upcoming challenges on the road ahead.

Giving the bikes a break. We stopped here for a fruit and water break and to learn more about what San Lucas is doing in this community.

Anything Creepin' and Crawlin'

In class we just started our unit on insects so of course without a doubt the following day we had a wave of creepy insects come in. It's great though because the students can right away identify body parts and appendages that we've been studying. Then on Friday there was a humongous tarantula in the courtyard. I couldn't resist so I scooped him up and he is making his home in our classroom for a little while. It is the biggest one I have seen in this area.

On Friday students took what they had learned about insects during the week and had to create their own insect. It was tricky for them to think of all the characteristics of an insect and apply them to their own, but they were very creative. You wouldn't want to encounter one of these in your back yard. Below are some pictures of their creations.

Although I've posted a picture of the Goliath beetle before, their size continues to amaze me. This one was dead but we took a closer look at it under a magnifying glass.

Here it is. Our tarantula. What a beauty!

Halloween, Not a Nicaraguan Holiday

It is quite clear that Halloween is not an accepted holiday in Nicaragua. Last week I saw more than one person wearing a shirt that took a stand against it. We stay clear of this topic in school as well since it has become such a controversial subject. Halloween is clearly a North American tradition and one that the people in Nicaragua clearly do not want to adopt.

In our apartment, we wanted to have some fun knowing it is a very colorful time of year back home with all the pumpkins and colorful leaves. So, we bought 2 watermelon to gut and carve. Since that was working well we also carved some passion fruit. See the results below.

On Sunday Dave, Joel, Carey and I went on a little scouting trip to find the road we will take for our 2 day bike trip/fundraiser at the end of November. We went on the motos to make the trip a little more adventurous... and adventurous it was indeed. Every mode of transportation gives you a different view of the country. Riding on the back of a moto gives you two views; to the right or to the left. It was a beautiful ride but we did run into a little bit of mud since we had a huge rain storm the night before.

At that point we took out a map to find out our options whether it was better to continue forward or turn around and go where we came from. We choose the second one which seemed to be a reoccurring theme of the day.

A little ways from Managua it was pouring hence the rain suits.

And the end of the story is we never did arrive at the place we will be biking; perhaps another day.