“There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Happy 4th of July!!

Today we had the chance to shadow a Nicaraguan student at a local high school. We woke up at 7:00 to have breakfast at the Comedor Deja Vu. When we returned I led phase two of our Community Action Project (CAP). During this hour the group had to agree on a project to implement in the Goyena community. The leader, Don Fabio, came in order to make sure our project was feasible and was needed within the community. Although many great ideas were proposed, we eventually decided that we would focus on getting clean water into the homes of the people. Given our budget, time span, and manpower, we decided to fix the water pipe that supplies the community school with water, and to possibly implement a filtration system.

After the meeting we took a bus to an orphanage. The Hermana showed us the facilities, and we gave a pinata to the kids. Then we were allowed to play with the kids outside, which included various soccer and kickball games. Our time was cut short, however, because we had to head straight back to the hostel to be on time for the “Shadow a Student” part of the day.

At the high school, we were split into two groups to observe two different classrooms. Many of us agreed that there was a serious lack of structure in the Nicaraguan education system. Students seemed very disengaged, and it was almost impossible to hear the teacher over the constant talking in the room. At least this was true for the classroom I was in – the other group had a somewhat better experience. Students also have to pay for their worksheets, 1 Cordova per copy. The student who is asked to pass out the worksheets also collects the money for the teacher. On the bright side, the students were really kind and happy to chat with us about the U.S.

When we got back to the hostel, Elisa and I surprised the group with pizza and drinks to celebrate the 4th of July! We went to our last session of English tutoring for this week, and afterwards went out to Eskimo to get ice cream to treat ourselves. We ended the day with our usual nightly meeting.

Tomorrow is Beach Day!!

P.S. Hey Mom, Dad, and Leslie,