Today was our last free day here in Nicaragua, yet we still had some work to do. Being that our CAP project wasn’t able to be completed yesterday, we had to finish it this morning. We worked for two hours on painting the rest of the park and then thanked Sonati for their help. The mural wasn’t able to be completed by the end of our two hours of work, though, so seven people stayed behind and sacrificed their free time to finish what they started. All I can say is that our hard work paid off. After the park was finished, we had about two hours of free time where people went shopping or just to hang out. Afterwards, we had English prep for our last English class, dinner, our last English class, and then our nightly meeting. It wasn’t much of a free day but it was much more chill than past days.

My peers and I have learned a lot while we have been here. Some more than others, but we have all learned nonetheless. Today, we learned the true meaning of team work and determination. All 21 of us worked as a whole and were beyond determined to finish our Community Action Project. I think that is what surprised me the most about today. The fact that we were all able to put our differences aside, come together, and complete such a stressful and exhausting project was truly an eye-opener for me. We know we’re all here for each other and that the process of becoming a family is slowly but surely moving along and might even be at its final step.

The amount of pride I have in my group is through the roof. I’m so proud of the work we were able to accomplish and the way in which it got done. We did have our ups and downs but we got over our disputes and finished what needed to be finished. I’m also very proud of the way we worked together. I couldn’t ask for a better team to work with. There was very little arguing today.  The most inspiring people I met today was probably the two women from Sonati (the environmental organization that makes murals out of recyclables). They were there from the start of the project to the end. They led our team on the right track and were a big help towards getting this project done.

Being El Lider Del Dia was surprisingly fun. I’m not one to take charge and lead a whole group but I really enjoyed myself. Don’t get me wrong, I was stressed out at some points in the day but I was able to move pass those points and continue to lead my peers. It’s also was pretty scary for me. Being responsible for 20 other people can be intimidating. I’m glad I was leading this particular group, though. They really made a not so bad experience. I learned that I’m a very assertive person when I’m under pressure. I take charge when needed and I keep that role for as long as it needs to be kept. I also learned that I need to control my temper. I lose it over the smallest things and that’s a very bad trait for a leader to have. All in all, I really enjoyed being El Lider Del Dia. This delegation is an amazing group to lead and I appreciate the chance I got to take this role.