Last month, I (Cassie) took a trip back to the snowy north (yes, there really was snow in May!) in order to complete my Continuing Education Hours for my Social Work License. I was able to attend a few different conferences and really enjoyed being back in the world of Social Work. Although I am practicing in a sense with my work here in Managua, it felt wonderful to be back in the classroom, learning about the latest research and methods for applying this to our practice. I was also able to fit in some friend and family time. Below are a few pictures from my time at home, I won’t bore you with pictures of the classrooms I sat in for many hours.
I was glad to come back and still feel a bit immersed in the Latin Culture. I was able to use my Spanish off and on and was glad to know that I hadn’t forgot it!
I enjoyed a wonderful 24 hours with my oldest niece Lauren and SIL Carrie. It was so good to see them and it meant so much that they made the trip.
Some family time with food. I had my first burger at the famous, Matt’s Bar and we enjoyed brats at the Minneapolis farmers market.
I spent a day at the Jubilee and Ten Thousand Villages sale selling these beautiful handmade cards from South Africa. I also co-taught with my mom for a day in her English Language Learning (ELL) classroom, using a Nicaraguan book called Mi Delantal.
I spent one weekend in Chicago celebrating my friend Mandy’s Bachelorette Party. It was a fabulous weekend and I can’t wait to stand by her side in August.
I made sure to eat the foods that we miss so much in Nicaragua – Thai, Ethiopian, Indian and Korean. I wasn’t able to bring any of these foods back for Kevin, but I did pack a bag of apples (he was sooo excited!) and some other favorite treats of his.
My sister flew in for a day from Colorado to surprise me. It was a quick 24 hours together, but so incredibly sweet.
And just a few more pictures with friends and family.
And on another note, the electronic world has really changed since we left in 2011 for Nicaragua. A few things that were most markedly different were:
- Everyone seems to have a smart phone.
- The gates at airports are no longer rows of chairs, but rather booths with ipads (see picture above).
- You can buy your newspaper with a credit card. This is quite different from how we get our papers here.
- Friends of mine stream live videos of their dogs while they are at doggy daycare.
All of this was a bit overwhelming for me, the gap between these two worlds seems so great at times. But I do know that there is good in both.
1 comment:
It was so good to see you!
Sarah
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