Good News, bad news

I'd like to save the good news for the end, but the bad news only makes sense after the good news. I made up my mind to buy the motorcycle, and I went in on Wednesday to check out the prices and see what all would be involved, since i never did receive the call. I decided on the 4-speed, 125cc mensajera, which was the smallest and cheapest they had aside from a little moped which was only $100 less. I made the purchase, also got a helmet, and rode it home while an employee named Rolando drove. I set up a practice time with him, and he said he'd be able to teach me saturday afternoon (today) for a few hours. Well, just like last time, he didn't show up either. So now I have a bike at my house, but I don't know how to drive it. That's the good news and the bad, but now i have some separate happenings that push things towards the happy side.

I had a great time on Tuesday with Christain, the boy from La Chureca. We went to my house, and I introduced him to everyone, and then we went with Esmir to eat lunch. We ate outside a university, and afterwards just walked around and checked out different parts of the school. We saw some judo classes going on, and also visited a reptile farm where there were hundreds of iguanas and turtles. I think it was the perfect place to take him, because he saw where he could go if he kept up with school. He's way behind, 16 years old in just the second grade, but next year they are starting an accelerated program at the school, Lord willing, which is designed to catch kids up rapidly. If he keeps attending and working hard, he'll be able to graduate in four or five years, which would put him just a couple years behind his peers in the rest of Managua. The difficult thing is to help the kids believe that they are valuable and that they were not made for a life in the trash.

On Thursday I took a huge group of kids (seven) from La Chureca to my house. It might have been a mistake, but it was a pretty good experience. We walked about a half hour to the bus stop, and then took the bus for 20 minutes to La Universidad Centro America and from there walked to my house. I told them to all bring clothes to swim in, as well as towels, but none had swimming suits, and only one had a towel, so they just brought changes of clothes. They changed in my room and then we took a bus to Dylan's house. We missed the bus stop and got off late, so we had to walk another 20 minutes. But when we got there, everyone was excited. More good news gone bad. I tell the security guard there that we're just going to use the pool, and he says ok. Just as everyone gets in the pool, he tells us that we can't swim because the pool is being cleaned and the chemicals are too strong. So i get everyone out and dry, and we take the bus to a place for lunch instead. We played for a few minutes in a park, and then took the bus back to La Chureca. It was a fun time, but boy was it hectic. The kids go crazy on the busses, and are so noisy that everyone stares at us... a gringo with a bunch of poor, unbehaved kids, what is going on?

I hope to do more of that type of thing, but this week i probably won't be able to because there are some friends of mine coming down for a week, including Graham and his dad Bob again, who came down during my first week here. I look forward to spending some time with them, but i'll also be busy with HSM dance class and hitting the weights, not to mention figuring out how to get started with my motorcycle.

Adios!