Evening Thoughts: Nicarágua Day 3
Nervous is not what I ever expected to feel about playing with children. Today, that’s exactly what it was.
Over the past few days, I heard about how well my friends had been doing in their company, and I felt I had a lot to live up to.But, to my surprise, the kids made it easy, changing my perspective instantly. Although I don’t know a lot of Spanish, it felt like we didn’t have a language barrier - we just decided to communicate in smiles and laughter.
Community was the subject of today.From the start of our day at 5amto the “late nights” (9pm😅) hanging by the pool, the experience hasn’t fallen short of just that.
We played all types of games from cards, baseball, soccer, and more and they ran me in circles. I could not keep up with the amount of energy and cheer that all the children had and even when I would sit down for a bit of a break I’d have the kids coming up to me and grabbing me by the air to continue playing with them.
As we continued to play the day became shorter and before I noticed it was time for everyone to leave. In the short amount of time these kids allowed me to go back to the simplicity of life and really just enjoy it. The laughs and the smiles really helped me self reflect. I realized what stresses me out doesn’t begin to compare to what these children hav been through.
There was one child that did stick out to me the most, and his name was Fabian. The simply interaction we had playing soccer brought me back to my childhood. We kicked the ball around and competed with one another until we were both huffing and puffing out of breath.
It came time for Fabian and his friends to head home but we continued to hang out in the front of church chatting it up and just showing each other tricks with the soccer ball.
Day 3 has very much impressed me and showed me what life really is about. It’s going back to the basics and just taking the time to enjoy the little things in life like kicking a ball around. Perspective means everything.
-Marcelo Armondes
Nervous is not what I ever expected to feel about playing with children. Today, that’s exactly what it was.
Over the past few days, I heard about how well my friends had been doing in their company, and I felt I had a lot to live up to.But, to my surprise, the kids made it easy, changing my perspective instantly. Although I don’t know a lot of Spanish, it felt like we didn’t have a language barrier - we just decided to communicate in smiles and laughter.
Community was the subject of today.From the start of our day at 5amto the “late nights” (9pm😅) hanging by the pool, the experience hasn’t fallen short of just that.
We played all types of games from cards, baseball, soccer, and more and they ran me in circles. I could not keep up with the amount of energy and cheer that all the children had and even when I would sit down for a bit of a break I’d have the kids coming up to me and grabbing me by the air to continue playing with them.
As we continued to play the day became shorter and before I noticed it was time for everyone to leave. In the short amount of time these kids allowed me to go back to the simplicity of life and really just enjoy it. The laughs and the smiles really helped me self reflect. I realized what stresses me out doesn’t begin to compare to what these children hav been through.
There was one child that did stick out to me the most, and his name was Fabian. The simply interaction we had playing soccer brought me back to my childhood. We kicked the ball around and competed with one another until we were both huffing and puffing out of breath.
It came time for Fabian and his friends to head home but we continued to hang out in the front of church chatting it up and just showing each other tricks with the soccer ball.
Day 3 has very much impressed me and showed me what life really is about. It’s going back to the basics and just taking the time to enjoy the little things in life like kicking a ball around. Perspective means everything.
-Marcelo Armondes