Day 5 began early with a quick knock and a warm “Happy Birthday” from our student leader Sam Sheldon, which prompted Us To breakfast at 7:00 AM. After a now familiar meal of Gallo pinto and plantain, we began our festivities, pardon, activities, with an academic seminar about effective forms of foreign aid to developing countries. To illustrate, we performed skits about various effective, and disastrously ineffective forms of foreign aid.

Unfortunately, a call from one of the coordinators forced a quick change of plans, and we took a trip to a local recycled paper organization, known as “Mujeres Ambientalistas”, Where we all had a chance to try our hand at creating recycled paper, as well as buying a couple of souvenirs. From there we were dropped off for lunch, where a welcome change of pace was waiting in the form of fried fish, though as usual, supplies were limited. Next up on our improvised itinerary was a trip to a local community NGO, or non government organization. We learned about what sort of community assistance they provided, ranging from handy crafts to music to dance, and a select few of us(me included), were asked to join them in a dance that they teach to the community. As a quick side note, they learned that it was in fact my birthday, and sang to me, which was awesome.

After touring their educational and arts and crafts facilities, we returned home to finalize our plans for our English tutoring session, and then headed out to put them in action. In accordance with Nica time, students poured in throughout the entirety of our lesson, and for my group, an unexpected student demographic lead to an improvised lesson plan for much of our tutoring. Despite a few hiccups, the tutoring went swimmingly, with laughter and excitement filling the classroom. Tired and happy, we returned to buffet Esteli, where we were served a dinner of, you guessed it, rice, plantains, and chicken.

At that point, I thought the day was over, with only the evening meeting standing between me and sweet slumber. My fellow glimpsers had other plans. I was quickly blindfolded and handed a stick, spun around until I had no idea where I was, and instructed to hit a piñata. After a lot of close calls, I finally managed to hit it, showering candy all over everyone in proximity. I have to hand it to them, they thought of everything, including cake. We enjoyed a delicious chocolate cherry cake while we finished up our evening meeting. Thank you everyone for the wonderful birthday.

Well, that about sums up our day, and I’ll be going to bed tired, but excited for what tomorrow will bring!