The Fun House

We attended Brad´s church yesterday morning and quickly discovered why he likes it so much. Upon our entrance we were greeted and welcomed by several people, many of whom spoke English and a brave few who didn´t. The service was modern and quite similar to a service at home--as far as I could tell--since my understanding was very limited. But, we sang songs accompanied by an electric guitar and followed the lyrics on a projection on the wall, much like we do at home. A girl gave her testimony and the pastor spoke. The church is quite close to my old apartment and I regret not finding it while I was living here.

The big activity of the day was our party at the Fun House. The Fun House is virtually Nicaragúa´s Chuck-E-Cheese, although the only Nicaraguan aspect is the location. All of the games and tickets are in English. Emily remarked that we´re not sure how the kids know how to follow the instructions since they arrive in the form of a computer voice speaking English to them. I guess that´s more incentive to keep studying English in school!

We gave each child a card for an hour of unlimited play. Predictably, we did not see them much until their cards ran out. I especially enjoyed watching Emily as she took a little boy, David, around and played games with him. I´m going to guess David is around 2 years old, and he must have a vivid imagination because his version of playing games consisted of hitting all of the buttons without even swiping a card. He wasn´t interested in winning games or tickets. He was more than content with pushing buttons and watching the demo screen.

After they were sufficiently overstimulated we sat them down (no small task) and passed out letters that children from The Big Top had written to our Nica kids. Let me tell you, the letters were a big hit. The Nica kids were captivated by the letters, repeatedly reading them and taking immense efforts to write them back. I think it was brilliant for The Big Top to connect our kids with kids in the US who are around the same ages but live vastly different lives. I am sure the Nica kids felt quite special and encouraged in their studies to receive supportive letters from their peers.

Cake was the next big attraction. We had significant trouble lighting the candles (who knew it was hard to do so while positioned underneath a fan?) but once everything was squared away everything went well.

We left and all started walking towards the car to retrieve the kids´presents. On the way, we passed a clown/deejay who was promoting some baby formula by having impromptu dance contests in the middle of the mall. Good marketing. If our kids had money I´m sure they would buy it, since they stole the show for about 30 minutes. VISEDAL kids ended up winning the contest, and pairs of our kids also finished in second and third. Dynasty.

Once we finally tore the kids away from the clown we had them sit just inside the mall near the entrance to the parking garage while Brad and Emily went to get the car with their gifts. Once they came back and we passed out the bags full of school supplies, clothes, toys, and stuffed animals (all donations!) we realized 3 boys were still without bags. Due to the random kids who emerge from I´m not sure where each time we spend time together, we were prepared with unexpected gifts. But we had already passed these gifts out. And these three boys were not new kids, but some of the original ones.

It turns out we had been played by the hotel maid. She had reorganized pretty much everything in our room (for example, Brad´s toothbrush ended up in my shaving kit) and had moved a suitcase of the kids´gifts to the other side of the room. (Oh, and the other suitcases with the gifts ended up in the bathroom closet). So the three boys, Brad, and Emily went back to the hotel, which is very close, to get the gifts. I think the car ride made our mistake up to them.

Although we only spent five hours together it felt like a whole day. Sure, some of that sentiment comes from my depleted energy level following the party, but most of it is derived from the copious amount of memories we created in that short time. Maybe because communication is so difficult, but I get the sense that each interaction with the kids is so rich in meaning. No one can say these kids lack personality, heart, and passion. They are something else.

Ok, time for breakfast. Today we´re visiting the kids in their schools. They asked us to get dressed up, since we will be meeting their new friends.

-dw