Today, us Glimpers had a veryyyyy earlyyyyyyyyy morning. We had a amazing, ecstatic, and wonderful wake up call at 4:30 am. ( YAYY!!) By 5:30 we were on the bus, on our way to a farm, called La Canavalia. After having Scrambled eggs, Gallo Pinto, and Cheese for breakfast, we split up into three groups: “the poop crew,” the vegetable group, and the fruit group. Each group was exposed to different jobs that farmers here in Nicaragua do daily. The poop crew had the best task of all three, which was to scrape the Cow’s poop off the floor (Yuuummm).  However, we did get to carry bunnies. We got to experience how cleaning up after an animal is just as important as milking a cow or collecting eggs. The Vegetable group did not have as much “fun.” They just picked weeds with a hoe. The fruit group did the same thing but used their hands and a machete, which Alex was salty about because he wasn’t in that group. After 3 1/2 hours of grueling work in La Canavalia, we ate a little snack, which was a potato with chicken inside. The manager of the farm, Sara, gave us a very eye-opening speech about being grateful, rather than wasteful. She talked about how hard it is to produce the food we eat, which takes a long time to make, but very little time to eat or throw away. This speech definitely changed our perception on how much food we buy, eat, and waste. Not only are grateful for the food we eat, but also for the hard work put into it,  from our parents to the farmers all the way back picking the food set on our table.

After the very touching speech, we traveled back to the hostel with light music from Dennis (MUCH better than the morning.) We ate lunch which was Teriyaki style chicken with white rice. We had three hours of free time, where some people bought a lot of gifts ( Hint, hint @ family members,) called home, tried new approved food, or simply went to the cyber cafe. After learning from yesterday’s Alpha group experience, we all arrived on time! During those three hours, we also prepared for our second English tutoring classes, which all went extremely well and had Dinner, which was rice with some unusual substance (don’t worry, we’re all still alive.)  Both the Glimpers and the students are getting the hang to learn from each other. We walked back to the hostel after 1 1/2 hours of teaching, and had our wonderful nightly meeting. We passed the torch to Lee, who will update y’all tomorrow.

Despite being a very tiring, long day, we learned A LOT and grew together as a group.

Working like a local, mucking out the stalls.

Working like a local, mucking out the stalls.

We made some friends at the farm.

We made some friends at the farm.

Preparing our lessons for English tutoring.

Preparing our lessons for English tutoring.

Walking through to our morning jobs.

Walking through to our morning jobs.

Teaching locals English and helping them practice.

Teaching locals English and helping them practice.

Everyone with Sarah after our morning working like a local.

Everyone with Sarah after our morning working like a local.