Waking up at 6 is just one of the many difficulties some Glimpsers have yet to get used to. Living in Nicaragua takes some getting used to. Many of the small things we think is normal in the United states, we take advantage of. Like the luxury of a warm shower, being able to take baths, having clean water, and even having the option to flush toilet paper without worrying about clogging the pipes.

Before anyone could wake up, we discussed one of the funnest subjects, Politics! We learned that Nicaragua has two dominate political parties, the Sandinistas and Liberals. Their government is very different from ours in the sense that they do have parties that are as politically involved in the government. In terms of political affiliation to the US, the Sandinistas would be considered socialists and liberals would be more democratic. In a brief over view of the parties, Sandinistas have a leader named Daniel Ortega, who has been in and out of office since 1979 til present. Everyone considers him to be a dictator but are too scared to make the move to remove him. The Sandinstas are a group that formed to get rid of a dictator (Samosa family) from power. Now they are a group that are connected directly to the government, since they are in power, to help the community with any needs they have. The Liberals are a group of people who are trying to reach out to kids to teach them democracy to educate them on the type of government they could have. Liberals believe that there is a better way of solving the problems, by fixing the causes instead of curing the outcomes of the causes.

After everyone had breakfast, eggs and toast, we reviewed what we learned. It showed that everyone understood the different parties and gave everyone a chance to see how they viewed the parties. To get everyone’s brains churning they made us do a political debate against our fellow Glimpsers. The topics were; legalize same sex marriage, legalize marijuana, dream act, and increase college funds. We had to argue why we should or should not do it and that let us get a feel for how lawyers and politicians feel when debating their arguments.

After some free time, we all had to prepare for our culture day when we exchange some of our culture for Nica culture. In this case we will be exchanging a famous song and dance. After some debate we all agreed to pass on Crank that Soulja Boy to the Nica students. We all had to learn how to do the dance and create formations.

Since we stayed in the hostel for most of the day, the leaders took us out to an Italian pizza restaurant. While we were there it would rain in and out, some lightening even started to show. The pizza was very delicious and the atmosphere was very delightful. Before we left, some Nicas who are like street performers, came up and wanted to know if we were interested in listening to them play. For 100 cordobas they would play 3 songs. Two guitar players played and sang songs of our preference. During this time some Glimpsers began to dance or sing along.

Although politics is not a very popular subject for teens, today was a very informative and fun day. Many questions were asked and answered, and many of us have a new understanding for politics. How it effects the community, how important it is, how it effects those in Nicaragua, and how they view politics.

Damita