Yo what’s up. Today was truly a humbling experience as we walked a mile (some of us literally) in the shoes of families living in the rural hills outside Estelí. I was honored to lead us through it but in all honesty they made it really easy on me. Believe it or not, your children can and will wake up at 5am.
After our earliest wake up call yet we headed to Buffet Estelí to pick up our breakfast of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans) to eat on the bus during our drive to Robledal. We were dropped of with our host families like kids coming home on a school bus. Although most of our families were incredibly shy we were welcomed with open arms. Despite their reserved nature they wasted no time in putting us to work. Yet again you would be surprised to witness your children’s willingness to partake in these actives. Chores included making tortillas, hand washing clothes and milking cows (some better than others). The day wasn’t all work and no play though. We spent time getting to know our families and asked them questions over a lunch of rice with carrots and chicken.
Later on we all headed down to the school to watch the neighborhood children take hits at a soccer player piñata. The joy on their faces as they scrambled the floor in the most aggressive dash for candy most of us had ever seen, certainly warmed our hearts . After heartfelt thanks and goodbyes to our host families we boarded the bus back to Estelí with a few adorable stow aways that we unfortunately had to drop off back at home. When we arrived back at Hostel Tamabu we were awarded free time in which most of us went out to buy boots to visit the dump tomorrow. Others decided on a nap after our early start. As you can imagine we were all extremely excited for dinner only to find out that we would be eating gallo pinto for the second time today, but after the day we had had, we welcomed it wholeheartedly.
Tonight was a movie night of sorts as we watched a documentary on poverty in Nicaragua; we snacked on our new favorite fruit – mamones – in place of popcorn. We ended the night with our nightly meeting as usual and our most reflective reflection to date. Hope to hear from you guys soon! Thanks to those who answer their phones when we call. A special shout out to our family member Anne! We hope your reading this, although we totally understand if you’re not lol. We miss you and we can’t wait to be reunited with you back home. Buenas Noches de Esteli!
Dear jeonna you have chosen a perfect title! Thank you.
Dear Ishwa, these life experiences are priceless. I am glad you are part of it. Momyjan is sending her love. She says she misses you a lot and thinks about you all the time.
Love you
mom
Alex- make sure you go back and look at comments on the blog from your free day – Jasmine left you a message 🙂
Hopefully you are feeling completely better and were able to fully enjoy the cow milking 🙂
Keep having fun and learning!
Doing daily chores like a local family member is the most unique day so far! I was so amazed that you all could do chores like one of host family members. From the pictures, I could tell that you were all so into the work, hand washing jeans, mopping the floor, paving the ground. May this positive attitude apply to the home chores after you are back home!
Thank you,Jeonna,for this interesting blog post and the vivid pictures! Eric, I am so glad to see you be so close with your host family. This little boy in the picture is so cute, isn’t he?
I am looking forward to reading more blog posts. Keep up the good work and take care!
Hola Jeonna, gracias por escribir el resumen del día! Wow…what a day ! The whole day putting yourselves on someone else’s shoes and humbling doing all the things you described (hand made tortillas! Hand washing clothes, and milking the cows. etc) is for sure admirable, I am very proud of all of you! But again as in previous day, the learnings, the experiences and specially the moments that matter that you all experienced today with your hosted families are priceless! I can definitely imagine you all there, enjoying the happiness on those kids as the piñata finally broke and all the candy flew to the floor… Thanks for clarifying what Gallo Pinto was (I didn’t know the name for rice and beans together!) I have to admit is one of my favorite simple meals (just ask Natalia how many times she gets that for her school lunch back home…) …I can imagine also your reflection time on all the learnings as you spent your day with all the heart-riched hosting families, such a worthy day!…gracias y hasta mañana !
P.d. Natalia I loved your picture in this post with your hosting family ! 🙂
Hey guys!
Of course I’m keeping up with all the blogs! It’s usually one of the first things I check when I wake up. I actually was kind of sad when I didn’t see Natalia’s post yesterday, but now I understand why there was a delay! I can tell you all are having a great time, and learning more and more as each day passes. I’ll definitely be waiting at the airport once you all fly back home.
I miss you all!
Anne
P.S-I hope you guys remember all the funny/embarrassing stories we all tell up on the terrace, I wanna know them too!!
Hi Ella and everyone! Living like a local was definitely everyone’s favorite and most emotional day for my delegation and I hope it was for you all as well. It’s definitely very humbling and eye opening to experience for yourself how others live and to personally know the families. Good job for getting through this day with so much energy and reflection!! It really gives one a new perspective and I can’t wait to hear all about the family you were with Ella!! P.s did you guys take bucket showers??
Hi Jeonna (& Sidra). Thanks for such a wonderful description of your day walking a mile in the shoes of the local families. I’ve been reading the blog religiously every day and it’s become a competition between our family who can spot the latest post first.
Sidra – I can see you got your hands dirty!! Ha, ha, ha. Now your chores at home will seem like a piece of cake. I can see you all are experiencing the true life of a native of Nicaragua. Missed you at Universal earlier this week. We’ll have to go back then HP opens next year. I got some pictures of the ongoing construction.
Next off to the dump, huh? Can’t wait to hear the gritty, slimy details! 🙂