Hello GG’s families!

My name is Jocelyn Morales and I am from Pittsburg, California. I’ve spent the majority of my life living in Pittsburg and I’m grateful to be part of city that is fill with so much diversity and acceptance of everyone’s unique culture. I wanted to be a part of Global Glimpse ever since I heard about it my freshmen year of high school. This program caught my attention because it was a great opportunity to see a different part of the world while giving back to the community that has open up their arms to us. Since I am Mexican-American I have experience of living in a city for a short period of time that is different from the city that I was raised in, I wanted to embark on this journey to see how different Nicaragua is from Mexico. The main reason I wanted to be part of this experience was to change my view on my everyday life while being the given the chance to practice my Spanish and become a better Spanish speaker. So far this trip has been everything I’ve hope it would be. The delegation has become very close and it’s only the fourth day of our trip, everyone seems very comfortable with one another and willing to share their views on whatever subject is being discuss. I can’t wait to see what is yet to come.

After a fantastic breakfast of gallo pinto, we had a group discussion on the history of the Nicaraguan government. The group discussed what it means to live in a society where we, as Americans have the luxury to discuss and take action against the corruption in found in our government. The discussion got heated up as many members of our delegation had strong opinions on how individuals should treat the corruption found within their life.

Today we glimpsers got a chance to dress up as we took a field trip to a local radio station. There we met a group of Nicaragua’s youth that had a passion for the radio. We met Augusto and he explain the history of the radio station, explaining how it’s transforming from a social station to a marketing one. After hearing from a couple of the teenagers Spencer, Erica, Anaya, Grace, and I were given an opportunity to practice our Spanish skills by speaking on the radio. We introduce the delegation and reminded the people of Estelí that English classes were starting again. After being asked a few question the glimpsers said goodbye to Augusto and presented him with a picture of us from one of the hiking trails last night.

After the field trip to the radio station, the group met up with Carlos, Miguel, Osmeriln and Fabrizio from EcoEs an organization of young adults, teenagers working to improve environmental education among youth in Esteli, and creating activities in which ideas can be shared. They have also built the city’s first ever eco park. After participating in few activities that were meant to increase our communication skills, we travel back to the hotel to have dinner with our new friends. Osmerlin and Fabrizio were really passionate about the canal that is supposed to be built in Nicaragua, both men believe that the canal should not be built because it’s going to bring more negative effects to Nicaragua then positive ones. Fabrizio believes the canal does NOT work on paper, because physically it is not possible to build a canal in the time period that the plan proposes. Erica and I spent lunch time talking to Carlos about the differences of Mexico and Nicaragua while finding out a bit about his girlfriend which he is crazy about. After lunch we had our first ever money exchange! All the glimpsers were excited to finally have some money in our pockets to buy all the wonderful items found in Estelí.

Tonight was our first ever English class and everyone was really excited preparing for our students. We arrived to Mas Vida at 5:30 and it was so moving to see that there were already people waiting outside when class wasn’t going to start until 5:45. Aditi and I had a class called Basic B, although they were a bit rowdy it was so great to see a group of people from various age groups excited to learn a new language. I speak for everyone when I say that teaching is hard, especially if your students are much older then you. Class ended at 7:15 and at that time we had a group reflection and how our classes went and what we could do to improve as teachers. This reflection was emotionally for a few of our glimpsers, but parents don’t worry, their spirits were lifted by their fellow teachers because everyone did great! Each person contributed something great for their classes and were a valuable part of the team.

After English class we had dinner at Hotel Chico and got ready for our nightly meeting. At ten thirty it was lights out and everyone was ready to go to bed after such a tiring day.

Today was a special day for our team. We had so much fun, so much excitement and laughter, that we have started to feel like family.