We began our reality challenge at 10:00 last night. This meant no water or electricity for the next 24 hours. There were ‘mixed’ reactions.  The next day we had our earliest wake-up call so far, but because of the previous nights, activities, most people were already awake. Continuing the reality challenge, breakfast consisted of 2 small loaves of bread and a cup of hot chocolate. Despite the meager portions people seemed satisfied.

After breakfast we were split up into our family groups and each got small bios of the people we would be spending the next couple days with. With that, we boarded the bus and took a 40 minute ride to Guanito.

When we arrived in Guanito, we were greeted by our new mothers and were invited into their homes. Inside we helped with chores around the house (Maybe when your child returns home you can put their new talento use) and conversed with our families through our group translators.

 

After helping out, the fun began. Everyone played many different games with their families like uno, knockoff sorry, ball games, etc. Eventually everyone coalesced around a big game of volleyball, which worked up our appetites.This was quickly resolved with a large community lunch, where it felt like a family BBQ. After this we discussed what issues the community was facing and what specific projects they wanted us to accomplish. Next came the worst part of the day, which was saying goodbye to our mothers and returning to San Juan.

 

 

With the first half of the day done, we quickly changed in to our business casual attire and began our first trek to the school where we would be teaching English. Everybody was split into groups where they taught a wide range of English levels and age groups (8-20+). Some groups’ lessons went better than others but overall it was a good learning experience (for the teachers, not always the students)

Once we returned to the accommodations we had a candle light dinner because we still didn’t have access to electricity. From then on out it was business as usual, a nightly meeting where we discussed the wide range of activities we experienced in small groups and as a whole. Some of the important topics we touched on were the new perspectives we gained, our first hand exposure to poverty, and brainstorming possible long term solutions.

In summary, today was very eventful and tiring, but it was also a great experience that we would relive in a heartbeat!