Hello family and friends!

This morning we woke up at 8 AM, and we had breakfast at Roma Santa: beef stew, bread, sweet butter, carrot and orange marmalade, dragonfruit, and watermelon agua fresca. The two buses picked us up from there, and we headed to Utopia, a small organization that focuses on economic sovereignty and building a relationship between the consumer and farmer. During our Consumer Choices workshop, we learned more about who they are, what they do, and what they need. Cecilia, the treasurer of Utopia, and Gabriela, an advisor to their producers, informed us about their goal to open a storefront with the intention to bring organic products directly to consumers. After meeting with them, we brainstormed ideas of how to open their store. Some of these ideas included different types of wooden shelves, a coffee table, and farmer snapshots. We will also be doing a marketing campaign to bring attention to their organization, and students identified skills they possess that will be beneficial to the project.

With these ideas in mind, we went to lunch: rice, fried fish, french fries, salad, chochos, popcorn and plantain chips, and homemade cherry ice cream. When we got back to the hotel, we did a fun energizer called “Where the Wind Blows” (this was the most exercise we’ve had all trip, as we ran from seat to seat). After we finished sweating, we finished our preparations for our first English tutoring lesson and we hopped on a bus to Colegio Nazareno, a private high school. We worked Non-Stop to help the students in three different levels: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Glimpsers who are fluent in Spanish taught the basic class, composed primarily of younger children. Those who knew limited Spanish were in charge of the intermediate class, and those of us who don’t know any Spanish (including the three of us) taught the advanced class. We went into the tutoring sessions feeling nervous and unsure about what we were going to do, but came out feeling more confident and realizing we had more in common with our students than we originally thought. Shoutout to Nelson (aka Doctor Strange) for helping us connect more with the other students!

From Nazareno, we went to dinner. Mama Isabel surprised us with a special cake and pizza dinner for fellow Glimpser Desiree’s birthday. This was a real treat because pizza is primarily served at special occasions. When we first arrived at Roma Santa, we were ushered into a separate room where we waited for Desiree to come in, and surprised her with her cake and a sparkler. Nelson, Isabel’s son, gave a touching speech wishing Desiree a happy birthday. The three of us followed him and gave short speeches as well. Our nightly meeting was a little different than usual– we started with an eye-opening discussion about differences in opinion about our tutoring program. After that, we continued with our normal agenda and welcomed Ryan, Nathan, and Shreya as our LDDs for tomorrow. Ryan showed us contortion, Nathan showed us card tricks, and Shreya showed us that she touch her nose with her tongue as their talents. The torch was passed and the blog was written.

Signing off,

Fabiana, Elena, and Pana