Anardo:
TODAY WAS THE FIRST FREE DAY! A free day is a day when we don’t exactly have anything planned such as a speaker or a tour. Today Elijah and I woke up around 8 to wake everyone up. I was so nervous about waking up late that I couldn’t stay asleep. I woke up at 5, 6, 7, and then finally 7:50. I woke everyone up individually by saying, “Morning beautiful!” since it was such a gloomy day. We left out for breakfast at 9 . The breakfast was the most American breakfast thus far. We had pancakes! They were really good too.
After breakfast we all came back to hostel to wait for the “money guy”. He’s the guy that exchanges our U.S. currency for the cooler Nicaraguan dollars. We waited the longest 10 minutes ever and eventually he came to restock our dwindling wallets. As soon as we got our stacks (The ratio is 1 to 28.5) we were out. My group went straight to the internet cafe. I debated calling home and eventually decided not to. I knew I would get really emotional so I decided to save that for another day. After the internet cafe we hit a couple other spots, such as the supermarket and the bakery. You can guess that we spent a lot of money on food, snacks, and even more food. My group made plans to go to the park to play soccer with some little homies but it started pouring rain so we ended up just getting fries. We finished the day off with the Nightly Meeting and reading some of the heart-warming comments under the blog. Leave more comments please!
Elijah:
Today we finally received our free day! Being leader of the day, I anxiously woke up almost every hour in anticipation for the next day. At 8 am, Anardo and I made the rounds waking everyone up in some way or another whether it was just knocking on the door or jumping on their beds (specifically Cesar). After attending breakfast, we received more money (and by the way, the money here is beautiful) and were out to explore Esteli and have some fun! As for me, I went out with Clara, Morgan, Raquel, Gab and Sophia and we went to the internet cafe where I was able to get in contact with my grandmother which I loved oh so very much, it was definitely the highlight of my day. We then went strolling around and stopping by the supermarket. Reaching the hostel, we had our first CAP project brainstorm. It was amazing just seeing how engaged people were with coming up with ideas to try and improve the school garden (which was our task) and how excited everyone was to get started. Once the meeting was over, I headed out again with Sierra, Gaelle, Tommy, Joli, Katey and Angie and we hit up the supermarket (again for me) to get some snacks for those times when we get a bit hungry in the hostel. After that, we managed to stop by the internet cafe where some more of us got to get in contact with our families. Sadly, Katey was not feeling that well and we dropped her off back at the hostel, as for us, we headed back out to the streets and headed for the bakery. The bakery had many delicious treats! I had bought a pastry with a hot dog stuffed in the middle and also a sweet cinnamon roll. Leaving the bakery, we were doing our best to avoid the rain, but we had caught a glimpse of a man selling bracelets which most of us purchased. Our night (or afternoon) on the town was amazing, but we had to get ready for English tutoring. At tutoring, my beginners class learned the parts of the human body in English which they seemed to pick up on fast. We them went to dinner and had a great meal before heading back to the hostel where we started our nightly meeting and Anardo and I passed the torch to Sean and Cesar. I just want to give a big love to my Mom, Grandma and the rest of my fam, I miss you and love that you leave me comments.
-Peace out, Elijah
Sounds like a relaxing day for everyone!!!
Tommy we missed you today. We took Krystal out for margaritas and Mexican food. Wish you were here. Your senior pictures came. We send you lots of love and kisses.
Mom
Elijah, we all miss you so much it is highly boring without you dude i can not wait until you come home so we can get you caught up on big brother it’s interesting Lol …..we love you have fun, stay safe , see you soon.
First I must say, Elijah, you are a grandson any grandmother would envy and I am blessed that you ate mine. It was so good to hear your voice even though I noted some something in it in addition to quiet excitement. You looked forward to this experience from the moment of your being nominated and I know you are soaking in new knowledge and perspectives on life and what you want to do in the future. I anticipate your telling me about everything face to face so I can see the passion you exhibit when you are excited. I love you.
G….
Free at last. I am overjoyed that you all got to enjoy a beautiful leisure day in your new temporary home. Sounds like you all had a blast enjoying some of what Esteli has to offer.
Elijah, it touched my should to read your words. I love and miss you but at the same time so very happy for you.
P.S. I want to see some of this beautiful money.
Lol touched my soul. This darn smart phone.
Hope you’re having an interesting and fun time, Morgan! We all miss you (especially Spakey) but I’m looking forward to hearing all about it when I come home later this summer! You’ll be in better practice at Spanish than me when you’re back.
-Hermano Drew
Hi Anardo its mommy. Glad to hear that your doing well, missing you like crazy. Everyone asking me if I heard form you yet making me very emotional. So glad to hear that everything is good thank you for writing on the blog If I knew that I could of wrote on this earlier I would have been writing this the whole time. Don’t be spending all your money on food lol. it sounds like it rains a lot there. your sister misses you like crazy. She keep asking me when is my D coming home. Everything is the same here. we had a party yesterday for K.K. it went well. I will show you the video later. Very very happy for you and for you to get this experience. very proud of you. love you to death, how are the people there treating you. what type of food did you eat? keep bloging love to hear from you. this made my day. love you so much. I will let Shawna know that she can blog. Ive been checking this site for days and I didn’t see anything until today
Danisha Deans
how often can you check the blog
Good Afternoon D hope everything is going good. Sounds like your enjoying yourself. How is your hair holding up lol… I’m not doing much today. your sister stayed over aunt Shinika house last night with the girls. so Im going to go over there later to pick her up. go to the market to get some waters, same daily routine. cooking and cleaning. OH!!! guess who came to visit me? Maurice… we had a ball when he came hear I took him to green eggs and we when to the movies. we had a great time. next time he come in town we all probably do something together. can’t wait for that day. did you guy get in the water yet I haven’t seen you in any of the pictures yet. does this site takes a while to load up.
Hello Anardo, this is Aunt Shinika. How are you. I can’t tell you how so very proud of you and glad that you are getting this experience. I see things didn’t change from home, you still have money in your wallet lol. We miss you so much and can’t wait until you come home. The basement is back up and running so you can come visit more again. Well continue to enjoy your trip and be safe. We love you.
Hi D I love you I hope you can come back soon your lil sister.and your mommy love you. Can I go in your room? Love you by
Elijah…..you are so very missed. Sounds like you are having fun there and doing alot of amazing things, cant wait to hear all about it. I took your mom to Quickly for the first time (sour green apple slush) Lol… thought of you of course, no popcorn chicken that time. Dr. PHIL?….Lol. Morgan, Savage, Daisy and Bailey miss you, Love you, have a blast… See you soon. ?
P.S. I miss my late night texts and spontaneous store runs. ???
Hey anardo what are you eating for dinner tonight. How often can you call home. Dont be cheating me out of my call. I need to hear you voice as much as possible. Love you very much…
Hello, son hope your having the time of your life. Looking forward to you telling me all about it when you return. Have fun, be careful. Love you.
Hi chia,its your nana i miss you can’t wait for you to get home,I will have some curry chicken waiting for you love you
Hi chipmunk how’s your day. Missing you so much can’t wait to see you and talk to you. whats was on your agenda for today. Don’t forget to call home. Waiting to hear your voice. Haven’t seen a new blog of yours yet . you will be home very soon. You have 2 packages that came in the mail. See you soon. Love you so much
Elijah you are amazing