Estoy aprendiendo todo el tiempo

The school of hope - right in the middle of La Chureca,
the largest municipal and industrial dump in Central
America. 

That is probably the best phrase I learned while in Nicaragua: "I am learning all the time."

And after that was Estamos haciendo olas ("We are making waves"). Because you never know when you'll need to throw that one out there.

Other really important words I learned while working with the children at Colegio Cristiano La Esperanza:

¡Siéntese! (Sit down!)
¡Escucha! (Listen!)
¡Comparté! (Share!)

Of course, I always tried to include "por favor."

I just spent two hours watching recent and not-so-recent videos of La Chureca on YouTube and Vimeo. I want to convey some of what I experienced, but so much has changed even in the past six months. It's amazing to me how many blogs and videos I've found. The thousands of people who have served where I served. I pore through the footage and see some of the children and other people I met. I see the dirt and the smoke. I close my eyes and remember the heat and the smells.

Conditions are improving at La Chureca, but it is still tragic that people live and work and go to school there. It is complex.

Estoy aprendiendo todo el tiempo.