Hello Everyone. My name is Michael Martinez, however, I prefer to go by Haitch (Pronounced Hey-ch). For today, I was given the opportunity to be the next Leader of the Day, which I found to be very interesting and exciting. For today, we had our very first fun day where we went on a tour at a Mangrove reserve and then we went to hang out and play at a nearby beach. For the rest of the week, we will be very busy, so we used today to have as much fun as we can before we get different work done in the days to come.
For breakfast this morning, we had some surprisingly sweet pancakes with a side of either fruit or vanilla yogurt and a bowl of fruit. After we were all done with our food, we all got ready to go down to the beach, which was a part of a wildlife reserve. We went down to the beach of Nicaragua where we met our tour guides. We took a tour on motor boats as we rode down a Mangrove River. We saw different types of birds, a few spiders and other bugs, and even a Racoon! But, sadly he was in the shrubbery and it was difficult to keep an eye on it.
After the tour was over, we were dropped off at a nearby beach where we had a majority of our fun. We all walked around the beach and saw some beautiful sea shells that were scattered throughout the area, and most of us spent some time in the water, which was a ton of fun.
For lunch, we went to a restaurant that was at another beach that was only five minutes away from the first beach. We had some pasta and salad as we all had varying discussions and stories about each other, which, I believe, helped us build a stronger bond as a community and as friends. After lunch was over, we spent a couple of hours at this beach. We played soccer, we played in the water, we climbed some rocks to get pictures of us at the shoreline, which was fun in itself.
After everything was said and done, we all had to go down to the hostel to talk about things we’re going to do for tomorrow. We talked about a some of people in 3rd world countries are impoverished, a quarter of the whole world don’t have access to electricity, they’re more likely to die from preventable diseases, etc. Things that will be talking more in depth about tomorrow evening.
We all had dinner and a very enthusiastic nightly meeting. As of tonight, we will start our “Living like a Local” day, where we’ll simulate what it would be like to be a local. I feel that our group, as a whole, has really bonded from this fun day and I hope in the future that this bond will grow stronger in the next couple of weeks. We’re having so much fun and we all miss you greatly. I hope that things are going well for you guys back in California, take care!
Sounds like you had a pretty awesome day bonding and getting to know eachother. It’s hard to believe you guys have been gone less than a week. It seems like ages since we said goodbye at the airport. Continue to have a great time. Natalie, hope the spiders and incects aren’t too bad. We miss you.
Mommy,Daddy, Nathan and Olive
Hi Josh G., Pastor Greg talked about you and the trip your on and how proud he is of you and all the other kids for taking up such a great experience. Also Byron wanted me to make sure to tell you Hi, and that he really missed working with you on the sound board today. Mom and I pray for your team daily. Enjoy your busy upcoming week.
Hi Sophia
I hope everything is going well. Sounds like a fun day and a lot to think about.
Miss you Tio said everything is fine at home.
Keep cool, be safe and hang in there.
Thank you michael for the days recap.
So glad to hear that you guys are bonding and building friendships. It’s very important. The beach sound lovely and fun.
Special, hope you are enjoying yourself, we miss you dearly.
Love you
Mom.
Thank You Haitch for the very descriptive blog. Hey Maria today we finally went to the beach after weeks that Cutie has been wanting to go. We all missed your presence specially at dinner where the table we sat has 6 chairs and yours was empty. Anyways im very excited to show you a couple face masks I made at home.
Hi Maria!
I’m officially done with work for another 2 days but it sucks not being able to spend my days off with you. Instead I’ll be watching buzzfeed videos and catching Pokemon by myself ?. I miss you so much but by the look of your smile I know you’re definitely enjoying your time over there and having a good time. I wish time could go faster but I know three weeks will be over in no time.. I love you and keep having fun because as soon as you get back you have a 50 page summer assignment to do ?
Thanks Haitch for the eventful update!
Hi Ada, I’m sure you enjoyed the fun day at the beach and bonded wth your fellow “glimpsers” (wait, is that how you guys call each other?) Are you used to the heat and humidity yet? Continue to take in the sights and culture and maximize the experience while you’re there.
Pintxo can’t stop licking my hand while I’m typing this…we love you!
Hey Stella! Hope your having fun over there it looks really fun so far. Hang in there I know you hate the heat and mosquitos but you’ll survive and i know you’re having a great time by the looks of it! I miss you lots, good luck on your busy week! I’m grinding really hard over here too ;-;
Love you!! Can’t wait to hear from you again sigh
Dear Kenny
Daddy and I are in Chicago visiting Jessica this week. The first thing for us in every morning is reading your trip blog and looking for your photos. It sounds you all have tons of great fun so far.
姐姐 misses you very much, she bought a funny gift fou you.
We left Koda with Hecules, they are getting along very well. 阿姨comes .to our house taking care Mimi and 豆豆.
Hope you cotinuesly have great time with your friends and community.
Hello Michael, sounds like you had the best day to be the leader of the group. I hope you took your camera along. I expect pictures! I’m so glad you are able to have this experience. Enjoy yourself. So proud of you Son. Love Mom
Hey Kush,
It sounds like you had a fun day. I’m glad to hear it 🙂 I miss you so much, but I hope you’ll continue to have a lot of fun in Nicaragua. I think Peach forgot about you already though….yikes ?
¡Hola estudiantes estadounidense de San Francisco, California en León, Nicaragua! Espero que practiquen tu Español mucho allí. No te preocupes, la gente nicaraguense son muy amables y puede apoyan a ustedes a aprender más.
Chuckle, ok that was my Spanish practice for the day. Experiences like the ones you’re having right now can be rare, and should definitely taken advantage of. Everyone there knows that you’re traveling from the US and still learning Spanish, so why not be bold, and go ahead and make mistakes so that you learn. No one should be judging you, you all are probably your own harshest critics. Immersing yourself in a Spanish-speaking (hispano-hablante) environment is super valuable for your language and cultural-humility skills. How do you think I got up to my current 5th-grade level spanish? 😀
Y querido Kali, ¿cómo estás prima? I really enjoy seeing the photos of you and your colleagues out there. Lots of good memories come up for me of exciting experiences like this. Can’t wait for you to come back and share with the family about it, but also hope you take your time in enjoying it all, learning from it, and seeing/touching/smelling/tasting/hearing new things. And remember, when in Nicaragua, keep it tuanis 😉
Peace and love,
Primo Tim (como Timoteo)
Hi Gina!
The beach day sounded fun! Maybe I should go to the beach after my sunburn heals from the Camp EDMO event at Dolores Park. I would probably just ended up sitting there catching Pokemons. Miss Luna’s always. Due to a massive miscommunication, I don’t know if I will be working this week at Sunset. Besides the only other new thing is that I’m going to a Panic at the Disco concert on Sunday with Ethan and Cameron. Miss you a lot so trying to kill time everyday. I love you and be safe as always!
Thank you Haitch for the post! I look forward to reading these everyday!
Hi Mallie – I finally was able to get a hold of the photography for your senior pictures, they had you scheduled for 8/1. I told them no can do, she is out of the country. 🙂 Your new date is 9/10, you will have a whole month to even out all your tan lines before senior pictures. Miss you!
Thanks for the update Haitch! What a nice break at the beach–I’m sure everyone is now ready for all the activity and work in the days ahead.
Hi Maya, hoping all is well! Dad and I are fine, Lolo and Lola called to see how things are going for you. It’s been hot but nothing like the heat and humidity there. Be sure to take photos and notes of your trip, we can’t wait to hear all about your adventures in Nicaragua. We love you! 🙂 old fashioned エモジ
Hi Hillary, Hope you’re doing okay with the heat and the mosquitoes are being nice to you. Please protect your skin from the sun by putting lots of sunscreen on your face since you’ll have senior portrait session right after you return from the trip. Everyone was asking about you and missed you at Po Po’s birthday dinner last night. So far I haven’t seen much clear pictures of you. Can’t wait to see more to come. BTW, Harvey has moved to your room right after you left (party time for him)…lol
cheer, love, peace
MoM
Hey special. Sounds like you guys had a fun day! I hope this week of working hard is still fun and you enjoy it! Would love to see you in more pictures on here. Hope you’re sleeping good and eating good 🙂 love you we miss you! -Unique
Hey Elizabeth!!!
Omg, I miss you! Hope you’re having the time of your life because it sounds like you guys are. I loved those sweet pancakes too when I was in Nicaragua 🙂 Living like a local will change your perspective of people’s living situations there. Can’t wait to hear your stories when you come back.