The Realities of Life in San Juan

Ok folks, it's time for Jess to get real!

After nearly 2 weeks in San Juan,  I am utterly exhausted.  Every small task,  like going to the market,  completely zaps your energy. The sun is extremely hot, but on the bright side,  there's always a wonderful breeze. However,  if you are indoors without a fan RIGHT on you, the hot air is suffocating. The over-crowded, hot bus rides are extremely annoying

Ok, now that I've vented, I really do like it here, but it's really hard to get used to being hot, tired & gross all the time...& the locals call this WINTER !?!

Fortunately,  the cheap local food is really good.  A brother from Spanish has a stall in the market & said his job is to make sure his English brothers don't get cheated. He's so sweet. Also,  great foreign owned restaurants if we need a fix...can find good happy hour appetizers for about $2 to meals from $7 to $15 (lobster for $12 :-). We had a wonderful lunch at home yesterday...All-American ham & cheese sandwich w/sour cream & onion chips (block of cheddar cost $6 though :-/ 

The friends are great here (game night once a week)...we now have 3 irish brothers helping our English group...love their accents,  but not their hipster mustaches LOL

Time to get ready for the meeting.  Luv & miss you

Heat and the Hills

Today service was in town...but not really in town :-$

We walked just to the outskirts of town, but that means it's nothing but hills, mainly straight up the mountain! Some of it is paved but not always. I wore the wrong pair of shoes. Our legs were like jelly and by the time we got home we nearly passed out.

We realized no matter how much water you drink if it's not cool, it just doesn't help. I got a major headache and Jessica got a heat rash. We learn what not to do everyday. The brothers here don't always have the answers because most of the time they haven't done that section of town before.

Tuesday Rivas Days

Tuesday our first all day service day in Rivas. We take a chicken bus from San Juan del Sur @745am, we arrive in Rivas "the big city" about 9am, @915am service meeting in central park. It was a very long day and we learned a lesson because of it...

Rivas is where we shop, things are cheaper and in more variety, but it's way hotter and lots of walking, only walking. We went in service in the morning and in the afternoon we went shopping for stuff for the house. We were so exhausted by 3 o'clock that we decided to go home without more than half our list, the way home is another hour ride on a non A/C chicken bus. The next day we slept in till 11am.

We can't wait to get a motorbike after this experience,  because Rivas is just a 30 min drive, aslo a shopping day and a service day need to be 2 separate days.

Spanish Congregation Annual Get Together

Sorry to post this so late, we have been so busy making our home into our home :-D

On Sunday the Congregation had an annual get together, where the children perform. They had a small drama that was based off of the bible account of King Solomon and the 2 women arguing over who's baby was dead and alive. They then sang kingdom melodies. It was so cute, all the kids from as young as 4 years old took part.

Our New Home

We got a good price we are paying $380 - electric,  water, Internet and laundry included. It's great so far, only a 2 min walk from the kingdom hall.

FUN after the meeting

After our first meeting Wednesday night everyone, except 2 older sister in there 80s, went to Joe, Mikaila and Mark's house to play Crainium...The Aussie version apparently. The Americans only understood half the words. What is a fruit machine? Or space hopper? Or boxercise?

It was so much fun, especially with so many different cultures in one room. There are Aussies (Australians), kiwis (New Zealanders), Americans, Mexicans, Colombian's and next week there will be 3 Irishmen.

House Hunting & Happy Hour

We had a long day of house hunting we have to walk everywhere to find signs, it's not like you can go to apartmenthunter.com

We saw an apartment for $125 right by the Kingdom Hall, but it was too dark and not enough ventilation. One we really liked was a little outside of town but it had a big yard (for Jessica's chickens) and a gate for vehicles. That is $300, 3 bed, 1 bath, furniture not included.

For break we stopped @ an American Restaurant owned by a New Jersey guy and his brother. HAPPY HOUR from 12-6 this is for you KRIPAS. 5yr Rum $1, bowl of chili $2 (meal itself), chips and salsa $2. Total bill for lunch for 2, with tip, $6.60, Jessica able to order in english...priceless.

ALWAYS Wear Shoes!!!

Well, I squished my first scorpion today...in the bathroom. It was only the size of a large tree ant, though. Yesterday was kinda rough for me.. starting to sink in now that this is our new home

We met a married couple from San Antonio,  who moved here 5 months ago & are serving in Spanish.  I was SO happy to hear English! They are really fun & energetic...they're helping us find a place:-) - JESSICA

Safe Travels

We arrived safely last night, about 1030p Houston time. We are 1hr behind ya'll. It was a loooonnnng day, considering we started off @530a. I'm glad we came late though because there was no traffic on the Panamerican Freeway so it only took us 2.5hrs to get to San Juan from Managua.

The picture is where we are staying @ right now, a Hostil in town, about 3 blocks away from the Kingdom Hall. Today we will chill, roam town a bit and go to the meeting tonight, the Theocratic School.

We are off!

Well, all our lives summed up in 8 bags...good bye Houston, farewell cruel mistress of humidity. We will miss all our friends.

We knew we where loved, but we didn't realize how much! The support of the congregation was tremendous and heart warming. We wouldn't be where we are spiritually or completing our spiritual goals without the support of both Magnolia Creek and South Shore! We love you all, May Jehovah continue blessing all your efforts in the League City territory.

Nicaragua Here We Come!

The days are counting down quick! What a jump start to our new life. After that amazing boost from our Regional Convention we have no doubt Jehovah is guiding our efforts, just in case we forgot he reminded us by selling our 2 cars within 2hrs of each other the Monday after the convention.

We want to thank everyone who has been supporting and encouraging us from the start. You must know that you got us through the difficult decisions we have had to make the last 2yrs. We also would like to thank you for the wonderful going away party we had. The Terrels and the Grays did an amazing job, we couldn't have asked for more!

Our goal is to keep our friends and family up to date with new experiences and wonderful stories through this blog. Please feel free to post comments, they are always encouraging, since anyone can comment they may take a day or so to post since we have to approve them.

OUR NEW ADVENTURE STARTS MONDAY!