Vacation

“Understanding makes love and compassion possible, and where love and compassion are present, understanding deepens.”

[Thich Naht Hahn, Living Buddha, Living Christ]

7 MOS and 7 days! Almost a third of the way. Still thirsting for The Way.
Wishing you sunny smiling, sweet savoring, and summer lovin’!

Just finished up a week of vacation. Vacation, all I ever wanted! Mid-year vacation for the Nicaraguan school system, which runs with the calendar year. I managed to fill it with all kinds of treats and retreats!

Started Monday visiting James at work. He is an English teacher at a Padre Fabretto school in a rural section a ways outside the city of Managua. A completely different working-environment than mine. A cooler temperature, for one. A less rough-and-tough neighborhood. Tranquil farm and country scene. But a heck of a storm inside the classroom! All day long he is the only non-Nica English teacher to students, ages 11-20, who respect him just enough to constantly shout “Mister Meinert” as they walk by while he tries to manage the classroom. He endures the challenges of teaching English at a second-chance school, for students from the rural area in order than they might “get out of” the land they were born in, and “get into” the city, where just maybe they’ll get a “good job.” A growing mission, lacking fullness, one might say. Despite the obstacles to his work-situation, I was proud to watch fulfill what he’s been more or less called here to do. Best thing ever> He has posted “Rules for Peace” Classroom rules. And has cited each rule with various Gospel quotations. To a Nica student, any rule from God will hold more weight than the same rule from Mister Meinert. Still, on a daily basis, he deals with, “Because he hit me first!” “Yes, but why did you hit him back?” “BECAUSE he hit me FIRST!!!”

Next stop: 3 day trip to the mountainous Mataglapa! A little city in the north of Nica, located in a valley of the coffee-central. Josh and I went traveling with the goal of “chilin” and we did. We stayed at the Casa Materna, which is a shelter for pregnant women from rural Matagalpa to stay and be treated WELL, well-deserved, before their delivery. A SUPER service to women which I delighted in witnessing. One day was spent in it’s entirety, NAPPING. While the other two consisted of exploring this cute, quaint little city. Stellar way to think and pray for COUSIN CEILA, who with Pete just welcomed baby NORA KATHLEEN into the world!!

Climbing a 854m. mountain, el cerro El Calvario! Mount Calvary. A cross and dedication to Mary at the top. A vacation in Nicaragua is never without the reality. As we ventured up the hardly beaten path to the top, we passed people’s homes situated on the edge of the mountain. Homes = garbage bags and clothes tied together with sticks for a structure. No exaggeration here. I passed one woman on the side and said, “Que bonita la vista!” What a beautiful view! And she responded, “Lo que sea ser pobre” That’s what it is to be this poor. At the top of the mount we met a woman, Carmen, who is the only woman of a group of 26 farmers who are cleaning the land around the mountain to make it more tourist friendly. She was SO proud to tell us about what work they were doing. And so welcoming to us, “Siempre estan bienvenidos aqui! Estan en su casa!” You are always welcomed here in Nicaragua. You are in your house. I wanted to stay longer on the house, on top of the mountain, with the gushing winds and gorgeous city view, but our delicate skin didn’t quite allow for that.

We enjoyed a BELLISIMA Italian dinner in the middle of Nicaragua! “La Vita e Bella!” The best penne and chicken marsala I’ve had since… well, the best penne and chicken marsala I’ve had. The dinner wasn’t without small children running in and out asking people for a bit of food. It seemed routine for them to be doing this. I’m ashamed to say that it took about 3 times of them coming in before I gave them my bread. They didn’t come back in after that.

A quick getaway allowed for quality time on the JVI home front. It’s such a safe haven to spend some days just sitting in the house, filling it with just living in it. Reading, writing, rambling. Saturday morning was notable. 7.7.7 The world celebrating Happy Birthday Gus Nuzz! “Muscular 49!” He proclaims. Woke up late (8.30a). James was already up and moving – that’s BIG, because it means COFFEE is already on! Even bigger, seeing stuff laid out for pancakes! DElish! Biggest: three different groups knocked on our door before 9am, begging different needs. Health Care. Money. Candy. While I didn’t finish reading the daily Gospel, or Thomas Merton, or the All Saints book that morning, I felt like I was somehow stuck in the middle of it.

Traveling home from Matagalpa, I admired the mountains, hills, farms, lovely Nica landscapes. And reflected yet again on how thankful I am to be living here right now. Thankful to be seeing and experience ALL of this, the beauty and the sheer ugliness. The GIFT it is to see the layers of my ignorance slowly peel off. Like an onion. And an Ogre. Ironically, I finished The Country Under My Skin, by Giocanda Belli – a famous Nica woman’s memoir of love and war, READ IT if you can! – finished just in time to celebrate living in Nicaragua on the 5^th of July. I struggled to embrace the Stars and Stripes this year, knowing just some of the atrocities that my country has contributed to. If ignorance is bliss, awareness is blessed. God, bring on the blessings!

Family and friends, for your thoughts and prayers and accompaniment as we seek only peaceful justice, loving community, and simple faith, THANK YOU so much.

With love, for love,

Margaret