“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” ~Nelson Mandela
Greetings, family and friends. That sounded way too formal…
Hi everybody! Today was the Good Neighbors’ free day numero dos. However, much of today’s “free” time was dedicated to the CAP. But lets start from the beginning.
Today was another glorious day to wake up at the wonderful hour of 8, to a song my mom would always sing to me to wake me up. However, due to the fact that I cannot sing to save my life, it was not quite as soothing. Breakfast this morning was eggs with plantains and rice & beans. (Big surprise…). After breakfast, one of our wonderful leaders, Robert, and myself handed out t-shirts with Nicaragua on them. Robert was kind enough to pay for them with his own money as a gift to all of us. These shirts will be the ones that the families of us kids will see as we step off the airplane, go through customs, and go to pick up our luggage. Unfortunately, there was a bit of confusion and rough waters in the t-shirt exchange, but I believe everything has been settled.
After the awesome shirt handout, it was free time! Most students and some adults chose to visit the Laundromat to hopefully get our clothes washed one last time. Unfortunately, most of us will not receive our laundry until Monday, due to the lack of water. Since yesterday’s CAP meeting did not go that entirely well, the Good Neighbors decided to return to the hostel one hour earlier, so we could all meet and discus the project. And that we did! We actually made tremendous progress today. We have decided, as plan A, to create movable walls for La Amistad in the dance studio, due to the fact that there is very little visual and auditory barrier between the sections of the room. As a side project, if we have leftover resources (time & money), we will be creating garbage reciprocals to place throughout the courtyard. As a plan B, we will work to beautify and enhance the school in general, donating recess supplies (balls, jump ropes, etc.), building basketball hoops, and creating flower beds. We have already created presentation posters for plan A, so we are ready to present the idea to the principal on Sunday.
So! That was the last hour of our free time. Next we had an amazing lunch of fried chicken, French fries, and salad. After lunch, we finished up our CAP discussion and created the posters. Also, no English tutoring today! Tonight was a celebration of the school’s 99th year. Therefore, we had a little while for free time. When I say free time, I mean CAP time. But luckily, we were finished up in time for dinner.
Dinner tonight was spaghetti and meatballs with a dinner roll. At 6:00, after dinner, we got special permission to be out late. Everybody had to be back at 8:45 pm, which is much later than usual. Students split off into groups. I went with Melanie, Tranette, Shannon, and Robert. We first wanted to see if the hardware store was open. Sadly, they were closed, so we went to the supermarket across the street. I finally found salsa verde Zambos!! A friend of mine who visited Nicaragua last year with Global Glimpse specifically requested I bring her back some salsa verde Zambos, but I could not find them anywhere. But at last!
![A small stage at the Festival Del Agua tonight.](https://www.globalglimpse.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DSC01757-300x199.jpg)
A small stage at the Festival Del Agua tonight.
Anyway, we then went to the bakery. Miles introduced the group to the amazing pineapple roll things and we all wanted to try some. After the bakery, the four students went to the Internet Café while Robert headed home. After the Internet Café, we all followed suit. Before we completed the trip, we stopped by the other delegation’s hostel to see if they were there. They weren’t, so we headed home. At the house, Robert introduced me to a much harder and more complex version of Uno, called Ocho. The three girls and I had planned to go see if the other delegation were home yet, but Mr. G. and I got so into one round that ended up lasting about fifteen minutes. Once all students returned and were accounted for, we had our nightly meeting and were off to bed. And that goes for me as well. Quinnton Barringer, signing off!
Our delegation got into playing Bang! when we had free time. Oh, the memories. 🙂 Have an amazing time with your project!
Nice reporting, Quinnton. Thank you for filling all of us curious readers in on the details of your free day. You write really well!
Hola adventurers,I am enjoying my latest favorite activity.Reading the blog. The plans for the school sound great and I can tell a lot of thought was put into it. Sending lots of positive vibes your way as your project comes to life. Keep focused and moving forward toward your goals. Glad to hear you are looking out for each other too. Can hardly wait to see those shirts and beautiful faces coming through security at SFO. To my sweetie the sound of your voice made some hearts soar today. We love you!
So wonderful to hear from you! Sorry to have missed your call – I was at work, but great to hear your voice and “hear” it here in this post as well. I will be interested to hear about the parade and festival in the photos here. Your CAP of movable walls sounds fantastic. Good idea to use your set design and construction skills. Was that a need the school identified or did you all come up with it based on observation?
Nice to hear that you all were willing to use some of your free time to help move the project forward.
I did not realize there was going to be another GG delegation in the same town at the same time – I wonder if you will join forces on the project?
Looking forward to hearing more!
Hi Allison!!!
I HOPE WE RUN INTO YOU! :–( Thuong, Shashank, Linh-Mai, and I are still on day 10 and are on the lookout for you! Hope you end your Global Glimpse trip swell and we hope to hear from you soon!
Honestly, come visit us ♥♥