Hola from Esteli,
Last night we started to live like a local by having no electricity (no lights, no fans, and no sockets) and doing bucket showers for 24 hours. Today we visited La Estanzuela and met Dona Nubia and her community. We all had a great time bonding with our assigned families as they were very welcoming and loving. Many of us had memorable moments of making different foods, playing soccer, and other chores.
Today we and our peers learned how happiness still pertains in poverty areas. This was seen first-hand by the locals as they interacted with their family and with their neighbors.
One of the biggest surprises today was the feeling of warmth and openness by the families at the community to us. Another surprising factor was when Dona Nubia thanked “God” for allowing this day to happen.
Everyone was very respectful in regards to the “Living like a Local Day”. This included having beans for all meals of the day (living on 1 dollar a day lifestyle), having no electricity, and having bucket showers. This really showed how everyone embraced the day and the opportunity to live like a local.
(Rishi) The most inspiring person I had met today was my local family, they were the most inspiring because they showed happiness through their interactions they had with one another. Also the way that they made good of what they had, whether it was food or clothing.
(Tejas) The most inspiring person I had met to was Andy and his best friend who I had bonded over soccer, basketball and love for fruit snacks. They had so much happiness in their lives, which shows how no matter the situation you are in, there is always a positive outlook in life.
Being Leader of the Day, was a surprising journey from start to finish. This job was not a joke or a position to take lightly, and we both complemented each other in our leadership qualities. We learned to more assertive in our actions, and when to speak up but also speak less.
We learned to always have a positive outlook in life, and no matter how tired you are, or distressed, it is beneficial to stay motivated and be happy with whatever you have.
Thank you to everyone who has been commenting on the blogs, as we have been reading them out during our nightly meetings. We hope that you continue to read the upcoming blogs and type comments to your child and us.
Yours truly,
Rishi and Tejas
Truly a memorable day. An invaluable lesson on how to lead a simple life and be happy about it.
Bringing back memories when we used to have take bucket showers. This is how food was cooked back in our villages and it still continues to this day.
Make sure you get local recipe
Great to see you and rishi with your assigned families in photo.
Nice job both of you!
Really proud of the entire group!!!
Stay safe and have fun.
Love,
Dad
Hi Alison, sounds like you have a cool experience there. Can’t wait to hear all about it. Love, Jocelyn
Hi Alison, we had a swim meet this weekend and we popped all our times. I hope you have a good time in Esteli. We miss you. Love, Brycen
Thank you Rishi and Tejas for the update. We are very proud of all of you Glimpsers for stepping out of your comfort zone. Keep up the adventure. We look forward to reading your blog every evening.
Alison, we saw your smiling face! Love you! Mom & Dad
Wonderful to be reminded that love of family, friends, and simple pleasures bring such joy. The vegetation is so lush and beautiful. Looking forward to reading about tomorrow’s adventure. Great job keeping us so well informed.
Wow, great job GG Esteli1 team! So proud of you all, nothing like a first hand experience of all the diversity and challenges around us.
Tejas and Rishi, love how you embraced and led your experience with a positive outlook. Very proud of you both!! Reading your blog reminds of famous quotes :
“Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other and
Leadership is not so much in words as in attitude and in action “.
You lived up to it! Great job kiddos!!
Hope not too many mosquito bites (yet ). Stay safe, (remember the bug spray and sunscreen :-))
Have fun all of you. Looking forward to tomorrow’s blog.
Love,
Mom
Hi Rishi,
Good to see your photos and reading your living like a local blog. Who would have imagined that 12 years later, you and your kindergarten buddy Tejas, would be leaders for a day in Nicaragua together!
Good to see you all learning that the simple things in life can bring happiness.
Love
Papa & Mummy
What a wonderful opportunity to experience such a simple life filled with love & happiness. We’re very proud of all of you.
Jessica – we can’t wait to hear all the details of your experience. We love seeing your smiling face in all the pictures! We love you. (Charlie misses you too!)
Hi RishiBhai
Hope you having a nice time. We also had beans for lunch and dinner today. We miss you. Your day sounds very fun.
Love
Anjali
Hi Rishi,
Hope your having good time in Nicaragua. It is wonderful that your learning about life in Nicaragua and having amazing experiences there. Great job in being the leader of your global glimpse group. Have a good rest of your trip.
Love,
Shaan
Hi Everyone – reading the blog is becoming such a fun nightly ritual for me! All of you look lovely in the pictures and Ridhi and Tejas’s blog is very inspiring…it is amazing how little one really needs to be happy:-)! Very proud of all of you for embracing the dollar a day way of life and appreciating the warmth and generosity of your hosts! Keep it up – have fun! Anya – love your braids?…Avi is really missing you since he gets to make all the ‘choices’ till you get back:-)! Love, Mom and Dad
I always knew that you are a special person with great passion for people around you and especially to the needy ones! I’m very positive that you are thoroughly enjoying every moment helping the community and as well as learning from them. Have fun and keep us posted on great stories everyday.
As always, we are very Proud of you Tejas!
With Lots of Love – Kumar uncle and Family!
Live like a local! Wow! This is even harder then loosing your iPhone. You guys survived. Great job. Lots of team support I bet. The house with the tiny television and some pictures on the wall tells me that the local has so little. This reminds me not to take things for granted.
I miss my Vivian.
Love mommy
Hi Zach,
How did you like your bucket shower? You can ask Carleen about hers when she lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil for 18 months. If I got to pick, I would take the bucket shower over the no electricity. A good experience to share with everyone.
Love you!
p.s. While you’re on your first trip out of the country, your sister got her first concussion. She ran into the edge of the fence on the baseball field. She’s fine. You know how talented she is with these types of things.
What a wonderful writeup Tejas and Rishi! The experiences all of you have during these precious two weeks will leave an indelible mark on how you see the world. I can scarcely imagine what it must be like to live in a world in which there is no electricity or running water.
Back here in “good ‘ole” San Ramon, we sit around the dinner table waiting anxiously for the next chapter of your wonderful adventure to be posted! Please continue to share all of your experiences from Esteli with us!
Love to all!
PS – L_O_V_E the wonderful pics! They capture all the sight and sound that’s can’t come through text!
Thanks for the update, Rishi and Tejas. Its great hearing about the group’s experience and interactions with the local community. Makenna – Now that you’ve had a bucket shower I expect only 2 minute showers from now on! 😉 Lucas and Logan are asking about you and miss seeing their big sister. Hope you are enjoying yourself and having fun learning about the Nicaraguan culture and way of life. Can’t wait to see all your pictures and hear more about your trip. We love you!!
Dear Tejas,
We are so proud of you and so happy to see you have a chance to experience lifestyle when we were young like you. It has its own thrill and charm and so glad you saw through the challenges, the beauty and appreciation that persists with simple living. It takes a very kind, intelligent, sensitive human being like you to understand and acknowledge the diversity. Life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how we take it. So glad you and your team are getting to learn so much and also have fun together.
Take care and be safe.
With lots of love,
Proud Grandparents (Kandasamy Thatha, and Patti)
What an adventure…I look forward to seeing the evolution of pictures from Day 1 to present. The styles of writing capture the day’s events well with each Daily Leader.
Seems like all of you are having amazing and humbling experiences! An experience like this will stick with you through out your lives widening your perspective of the world that we live in today. I look forward to the many stories that you will bring back!
Have fun Tejas & Friends.
Thanks for a wonderful write up Rishi and Tejas with the pictures with your host families. I am sure these life experiences will give all of you a different perspective about how to be happy and content even when you don’t have much of the material pleasures in life. I look forward to the updates each night.
Hi Resha- We reached Lima yesterday night and we do have wi-if in the hotel. It is a beautiful place near the ocean. We will be heading to Cuzco tomorrow afternoon. Today we have a packed iteniary with city, museum tours. We miss you. But we know that you are having a great time. Love you!
So inspiring to read you Tejas and Rishi! Both of your comments regarding happiness – no matter what – is really inspiring.
Nita and I (Resha’s parents) are traveling in Peru. We are so hooked on to your blogs, that every time we get a wifi connection, the first page we open is this blog.
Love you all. And proud to see that you are allowing yourself to see another perspective to happiness and life.
What an amazing and humbling experience! I’m so proud of all of you.
Makenna, I’m so glad that you’re able to experience another culture and way of living. Now you know what I mean when I use to tell you, we didn’t have much growing up but we had each other, and that’s all that mattered. Take care and enjoy every minute out there. We can’t wait to hear more stories of your adventures.
P.S. Your brother and his baseball team made it to the championship game…can you believe it! 🙂 They placed second, but the boys played their heart out. You would’ve been very proud of him. Lucas says, hi and he misses you a lot. We love you, Kenna.
Look like you guys are having fun and learning a lot. I specially like the dance moves! Keep up the Good work and make sure to make the most out of this great experience. Learn as much as you can and give as much of your self to the people around you.
Look like you guys are having fun and learning a lot. I specially like the dance moves! Keep up the Good work and make sure to make the most out of this great experience. Learn as much as you can and give as much of your self to the people around you.
Just to let you know Warriors won Game 5!
Warriors Won!!!!
Hey Tejas & Oji!!
This is such an unique experience and it is amazing to see the change you are all doing as a group.
Safe travels and have fun, see you soon!
Denise
Makenna, we’re so proud of you here. You’re able to experience something not many can.
We’re thinking of you and can’t wait to hear more about this trip!