Getting Back to Normal

Since Mama left I have attempted to get back to some sort of normal. I mean it is not common to go parading around Nicaragua on a limitless budget, to go to the mall, eat a fancy dinner, and return the there following night solo. I guess I forgot to mention that, after I dropped Mama off at the airport I had a few doctor appointments and thus had to spend the night. I promised Mama I would go out for one more nice dinner and to me that meant the mall. So I went and in a last minute splurge went to see Avatar complete with popcorn and later went to the wings place to get a burger and watch the basketball game. The waiter got a kick of it, but I tipped him well so he can’t say anything.

So this last week has been me trying to reestablish bonds with the community. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I was worried that I had been gone too long and just feared that no one would want to talk to me. Luckily quite the opposite happened, I got right into work mode, visited all my schools and picked up where I left off playing baseball. I am now some how the co-leader of an infantil baseball team and I got them hooked on playing American Football. I also dug my compost pit and prepped my backyard for a garden. That is as far as I am going to get on the garden because we have just entered the dry season and it is drought time. I am already out of water and hoping I have enough stored in my barrel until it comes back. So that means I am using the water for me, not some plants that my program idiotically says I need to grow during the dry season. Yet, the one thing I am having success with is my water filtration project. I got a fire lit under me when the director said she was coming in two weeks to use my site as an example to a group of donors. Well since Monday I have been able to install two filters in the Casa de Materna and a NGO called PCAC. Both groups were very excited for this project and I already have at least 4 people lined up to buy their own filters and hopefully more once they too see the filters in use. It feels good to finally see some tangible results of me being here, but I guess this project is no different than me playing with the kids down at the field and sharing my experiences. I struggle with identifying my success and how to measure it, but it is days like this that I realize I am doing something when I am walking home and everybody is yelling my name and smiling.