I think none of us thought that we would wake up to the one of the most life changing days of our life. It started this morning when we woke up at 5 am to bucket showers. These showers were definitely by far the quickest, coldest, and most uncomfortable showers I’ve ever taken. After pouring a bucket of freezing cold water on ourselves, we got ready and headed to breakfast. We ate a surprisingly filling breakfast of bread and a traditional Nicaraguan drink. We quickly finished and hopped onto the bus to get ready for our exciting adventure. Everyone was extremely anxious to meet their host family and a little nervous about talking with them. But after much thought, we came up with the plan to always smile as happiness will definitely spread. We soon arrived at the community and one by one we saw our friends leave the bus to start their day. Many glimpsers started helping their families right away with household chores. Some even went deep into the mountains to collect fire wood. As the day went on, the glimpsers cooked, played games, built houses, cleaned, and simply appreciated everything they saw. Not wanting to leave, we all meet up once again where we let the local kids hit a piñata and finished with a friendly game of dodgeball.We boarded the bus and headed back to hostel to reflect on what we experienced. Almost everyone was extremely tired and most took a nap in their hour and a half of free time. With hungry stomachs and with rested minds, we ate dinner at our usual restaurant.
We couldn’t help but talk about what we were going to teach at our English class that was in about an hour. We soon left Abya Yala and saw our classroom. Being the first day, many of us had difficultly teaching, communicating, and commanding. But being the awesome leaders we are, we took control and overall it became a very successful evening. I couldn’t help but notice that attitude of everyone and how they had definitely changed throughout the days. Although some people might be poor in material, they rich in creativity, imagination, and appreciating.
Enjoying the day to day reviews, hope everyone is gaining lots of knowledge. Have fun and stay safe. Aaron despite everything your missed and loved, can’t wait to have you home…lots of love MOM!!!
I miss you a lot Jerielita , but I am so happy that you have the opportunity to have such a wonderful experience . enjoy every moment and learn as much as possible.
Thanks JohnPaul for sharing a detailed account of the day. I am eager to hear about the new experiences you guys will encounter.
Cold bucket showers, what an experience! I bet you guys were alert for the rest of the day, and what a day it turned out to be. Glad to hear that you guys are fully engaged and acclimating yourselves to the Nicaraguan culture.
JP, it sounds like this day was very powerful for your group. I know it was for our glimpsers here in Esteli. Love seeing it through the eyes of a WP student but also in another location.