¡Hola amigos y familias! We are Randy and Alex and we were the leaders of this amazing day in Granada, Nicaragua.

Our day started off with our fellow Glimpsers hearing lovely bird sounds played by Randy on his souvenir whistle and really loud knocking from me (Alex). After everyone was woken up and cranky, we ate a wonderful breakfast consisting of pancakes and bananas. (Thanks Don Carlos!) As an energizer for the whole group, we played a game called Watermelon. It was confusing at first, but once everyone understood it, we had a blast. Congrats to Matthew and Rylie for winning the game!!

Following our morning of fun, we boarded the bus to head to the San Juan Pablo II center, where we were doing the Community Action Project. While the other Glimpsers got to work on painting furniture and walls, we had the pleasure of riding around the city and searching for the most valuable resource: PAINT. BLUE PAINT. (Azúl 143.) After an hour and a half, we finally returned to the site with a half gallon of the paint. Right away, we joined the other Glimpsers in beautifying the center. After about two hours of hard work, we took a break for lunch, which included white rice, pork, and some great vegetables.

After the delicious lunch from Don Carlos, we went back to work! By 1:00 PM, everything was pretty much done: Leila’s calligraphy for the Disney quote, the workroom with piñatas painted on the walls, and the blue benches, table, and cubby. Since we had extra time, we went ahead and had our self-reflection for the whole project experience. Following our discussion, it was TIME TO PARTY! People performed, including the community, the Glimpsers, and the GGLs. Some danced, some sang, and one boy even played pop songs on the recorder! One of the highlights of the party was bashing the ice cream-shaped piñata open for candy. Kids danced with the stick as Rylie fixed the string a couple times. Once everything was good, Matthew moved it around for the kids to hit. Soon after, the community and the Glimpsers showed off even more of their dance moves. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, as the time to leave the center drew closer. As a sign of gratitude, Luz Marina and Tania presented us with wunderschöne (wonderful) gifts. It was difficult to say goodbye, but we did and headed back to the hostel for English Tutoring prep.

For dinner, we ate a hearty meal of gallo pinto (Rocket’s favorite), fried cheese, and plantains. Right after dinner, we went to our English Tutoring classes for the last day of teaching, since we will be celebrating tomorrow with class dance parties. Halfway through the class, the school was suddenly struck by a heavy rainstorm, which made it quite hard to teach because of how loud it was. Once class was over, we lined up together and headed back to the hostel for our nightly meeting. Sylvia demonstrated her magnificent talents and our day of being leaders of the day was officially over!

Today, we finally accomplished what has been a dream a few days ago. We thank you for your time reading this and we will see you soon! (3 days!)

 

Shoutouts

From Alex: Hi Mom, Dad, and Sister!! I’ve seen some of your comments and have been missing you! I love you all and will call you tomorrow because it’s free day! ❤️

From Randy: I hope I don’t worry my family too much! I really miss you guys and I hope you have a good time back at home! I’ll see you in 3 days!

Gathering for our talent show!