Hello family, friends and any random visitors 🙂
Min and Victor slidin’ through. Today was our high school shadowing and education day, so we got to visit Nicaraguan schools and spend our day in class-rooms after being in our vacation/summer hibernation mode for so long. We started our day at 5am with the usual greeting from the rooster that cries every morning. I (Min) almost missed the wake-up call time, but luckily Victor, who wakes up an hour before the wake-up call every morning to maintain his gainz, was able to wake me up. Although waking up at 5 was not the easiest task we’ve done throughout the trip, most of us managed to get ready on time for breakfast. Since we had to go straight to the schools right after breakfast, we got dressed in our white button up shirts/polos along with navy blue bottoms to match the school uniform. We probably had the fanciest outfits for pancakes. *moment of silence in respect for the delicious pancakes made by don Carlos*
After stuffing our stomachs with syrup and guava jelly, we speed walked to our schools. We had two separate groups: one group that went to San Pablo Apostol and the other that went to Maria Auxiliadora. Both were private Catholic schools, with Maria Auxiliadora being the school we went to teach students English. I (Min) got to visit San Pablo Apostol while Victor visited Maria Aux.
I (Victor) was able to shadow a student of mine that I taught English to. In the beginning, it started off awkwardly, due to feeling out of place because of the language barrier, but as time went on, I was able to see Alexander (my student) as my friend, instead of my student. Alexander showed me and my group (Kevin & Kat) how his typical school day looked like. We were surprised to see that students had to be self reliant because of how often the teachers were not present to teach their students. By the end of the day, my group and I were able to make a bunch of new friends with whom we exchanged our Facebook and Instagram accounts.
I (Min) went to the school across the street from the school Victor went. I was put into a classroom along with Emely and Jorge, in which none of the students really talked to us until the English teacher wanted us to introduce ourselves to the class during first period. Lots of students told me that their favorite subject is English and that they wanted to practice English with me. Another student, who caught me doodling in Spanish class, decided to show off his art skills and drew me the Nicaraguan national bird and handed it to me as a gift after signing his name. The learning atmosphere in the classroom was very different from what I usually experience, since students and teachers were leaving the classroom freely during class. Although I spent the first half an hour in silence, by the end of the day, I was able to make some new friends, who will (hopefully) friend me on Facebook…
After the visit, we went directly to El Comedor and had some great fried chicken with cole-slaw. Then we had our academic seminar back at the hostel, and shared our experiences and thoughts from our shadowing day. We discussed how the school system is different in Nicaragua compared to the U.S. and how those differences can affect the country’s development. We realized how privileged and lucky we are to have teachers and communities in general who care about students receiving high standard education.
Staying in Today’s theme of education, we walked to Casa Xalteva, where we were greeted by Simon, our English guest speaker, who talked about the reality of Nicaraguan education. Casa Xalteva is an after school tutoring/school help “center” with a mission to help students who may be at a risk of going down the wrong paths, such as joining gangs, being a victim of domestic violence and/or human trafficking, and giving up their education. Then we got to play capture the flag with some of the students at a nearby park. Shout-out to Destiny for being a trooper and taking a fall with a smile still on her face.
After dinner, we had our nightly meeting to wrap up the long day and passed the torch to Andres/Andy/Dres/Dy to be El Leader Del Dia for our last full day tomorrow.
Big love shout outs to everyone for not getting too mad at us for waking him or her up so early this morning and powering through school! yay!
Lastly, Big Huge Super Love to Stephanie Skyme for her 23rd Birthday from all the glimpse <3
Sounds like another great day in Nicaragua. And while I know you don’t like the count down of days Dylan, we are all so excited to see you again here in Fremont. We even had a minor earthquake last night. I was the only one who felt it and then I went back to sleep and dreamt that you were here but still there at the same time. Anyway, we are excited for you to come home soon. We can’t wait to hear all about your adventures, big and small.
Vic!!!!!! nice blog, I see u keepin up with this gainz but u still skinny mfer jk luv u -Bobby
ayy vicdic! long time no see man where you been – saeng
hi Phan-Brian
f u mami – ming
Dear Elizabeth and all the Glimpsers,
Another day packed full of learning and great to see you can understand how valuable your education is and how it will take you far in the future! As I write this, I realize this is your last full day in Granada. What a great experience you’ve had and we are so happy for you to have all the memories from this incredible trip. We are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night and especially looking forward to all the stories you will share with us in the coming days. I hope you had some time to keep a personal journal and write down some of the special times you had. See you soon! Love Papa, Mama, Ruben and Maya
Hey bobarino! Did you wake up early today to maintain your gainzzzz *wink wink* LOL I laughed so hard when I read that part from yesterday’s blog. Your sister messaged me yesterday and I told her I was going to pick you up. She said they all miss seeing me at your house LOL and of course you! Oh yeah, your mom is making both of us pho because they believe you miss Vietnamese food. Today was a great day, I wasn’t at the ebmud office at all, I was in Danville inspecting the lawns of people’s mansions and inspecting their water use. Can you believe one of the houses there use 8,000 gallons PER DAY and only 2 people live there?! Fentons was fun too, I got Saeng and Toby each a GameStop gift card. Sorry, we had to celebrate Toby’s birthday today because Adam is leaving Thursday. But hey, your birthday is coming up! Just a few more hours… I think, gooooodnight and sweeetdreamsssss bobakins! 🙂 Oh just in case, I don’t know if you read it already on the other comment but yes I can pick you up at the airport for sure.
You guys are seriously the sweetest! Thank you for the birthday wishes. It is so nice to hear your eye opening stories. You guys are all so inspiring.
On another note, we all miss you at home and cannot wait to hear the wonderful stories in person!
Love you Kitter!!
Everyday I read these blogs and everyday you give me such smiles to read how you are all pulling together to help out a community, families, children, needy, just everyday locals and each other! Intense the love you are giving out! And the shout out to kat sister stephanie, what a blessing each and everyone of you are!
Continue to reach for the stars, dream big, anything is possible if you work hard enough and put your mind to it!
Sending love your way