Day five.  An exciting and thrilling day filled with a reality challenge to mentally and physically challenge us all.

We woke everyone up at seven as usual and after a delicious breakfast we hopped on a public bus for the first time and had to stand in the center of packed and sweaty people which was fun and exciting for some of us. The bumpy transportation took us to a public high school where we had the chance to experience what school is like for the children here in Leon. We sat in a classroom with about other 40 students, the challenge here was that not all of the glimpsers in our delegation spoke Spanish so there was a lot of translation going on yet ‘lots of fun conversations and laughs’. Everyone tried their best to make sense of what the teacher was saying and also what the kind students in the classroom said.

After this activity we caught another bus ride back to the hostel and went straight to dinner where we all relaxed and spoke about the students we had just learned about and what they go through everyday. We then had our first English class. For many this was the first time teaching people, but we all enjoyed the experience. The students ages range from fourteen through fifties. In the beginners class one of my students Hector, a man in his 50’s, showed from the minute he walked in that he was eager to learn. Throughout the entire class he asked questions and made sure to make me think, I was even a bit embarrassed because at times I wasn’t able to translate as accurately as I wish I could. One of the most valuable things that I got out of this experience was seeing that age did not face him. He inspires me to believe in myself, and reminds me that no matter what there is, there’s always room for learning and growing.

After the English tutoring, we came back to the hostel and had a little celebration for our global glimpse leader Alex who turned twenty five today. We had a mini dance and cake to go along. Now, we are starting our simulation for Living like a Local day. We will be spending the day with families who live on less then two dollars a day. To fully understand their everyday lives we are going to be doing a simulation. No electricity. No running water. Part of the simulation is showering with a bucket as well and using candles as lights in our rooms! We hope to all gain knowledge to see how it feels to live under these conditions for 24 hours.

Ari and Jasmine are now stepping down from being leader of the day and passing the torch to Trong to be leader for an emotional and eventful day tomorrow.